Digimon: A Bigger Threat
Episode 13-
"Labrynth Island Part 3"
By: Shmeilia Rockie
"Where do you think he went?"
"I don't know," Matt frowned. "But right now I'm parched."
"That means you're nervous," Joe commented off-handedly.
"How so?"
He shrugged, "Dunno. Saw it on TV once."
Matt narrowed his eyes, "Are you impling something?"
"Nooo... Just making conversation."
Davis leaned against a moss-covered statue, emotionally drained by the loss of his best friend. Or maybe he was just permantly drained because he only had half a soul. "You aren't blaming yourself for what happened, are you, Matt?"
Matt didn't respond, just looked away.
"'Cause, you know, that's supposed to be my job. I take all the blame. He was standing right next to me, and I couldn't do anything. He's probably dead now, and it's all my fault. That's the second time today I failed to-"
"All right, Davis, that's enough!" Matt snapped. "Yes, I do blame myself. I was trying really hard to be a good leader, and I failed. I couldn't save Ken, I couldn't even boost morale, and I HAVEN'T GOT THE FOGGIEST CLUE WHERE WE ARE!"
Davis shrank away from him, until he litteraly hid behind the statue. That was a very un-Davis-like thing to do. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to tick you off!"
But Matt wasn't done. He sat down on a rock and burried his face in his hands. "And look at me! I can't help feeling like I'm fading into the scenery. It just keeps getting worse and worse. Like eventually I'll disappear all together." Indeed, he seemed awfully pale.
Gabumon patted his head. "It's the energy of this place. It just radiates a feeling of doom and dispare. I know I sound cliché, but it's not just you. I feel it too. This is one of the most evil places in the universe."
"When will it stop?"
"When you become a Megadigidestined," Joe told him quietly.
"GREAT, when will that happen?"
"I don't know. When you pass your test, I guess."
"But wasn't beating that dog a test?"
Davis crept out from behind the statue. "It was a test, but it wasn't THE test. Your's will have something to do with your crest, Friendship."
Matt eyed the crest on Davis's armor, "What was yours?"
Davis looked at the scar on his hand and blushed, "I don't want to talk about it."
This got a snort out of Matt.
"Besides," he added quickly, "I don't think your test will be the same as mine."
"Hey, guys, look who I found!" It was Tai, also still in dull colors.
"Nice work," Cody told him. Then he turned to Izzy, "See, I told you. Everything will be answered in time."
"Hey, guys, how's it goin'?"
Matt groaned.
Tai made a disappointed face. "It's good to see you too, Matt."
"EX-CUSE ME! FOR YOUR INFO, I LOST KEN!"
There was a collective "WHAT?" from the gold group.
"The ground just opened up and swallowed him!"
"You lost someone too, huh?" Kari asked casually, popping out of seemingly no where. "We lost Yolei AND Mimi."
Sora jumped into Tai's arms and began crying. "I don't know what happened to them! They ate some diseased peaches and disappeared."
Desprite to stop her wailing, Tai rubbed her back. He made a face like he was trying to swallow some nasty medicine. "Calm down, Sora. It will be okay. We'll find them."
"But, but, but..." She whimpered almost TOO convencingly.
Matt rolled his eyes and looked away. She was over-reacting, just to make him jealous. He had thought she was more mature than that, but now he knew the truth.
"I lost Mimi-ee-hee-ee!" Palmon shrieked, also crying her eyes out.
* * * *
Ken sat up, suddenly remembering he'd fallen down a hole. He couldn't see anything, but the air was musty and cold. "Great. Where am I?"
Surprisingly, a familiar voice answered, "You're in an obliette."
"W-what am I doing here?"
Darkness struck a match, illuminating his face in an eeire way. "I brought you here." He lit a lamp and waved the match out.
Suddenly, Ken could see again. He looked around the cave-like area for a way out.
"In case you're wondering, there aren't any doors. Only the hole...And me."
"Oh, that makes me feel SO much better," he mumbled.
"Sarcastic, aren't we? I like that." Darkness cracked the award-winning smile, sending a chill through Ken's very existance. On the side, he added with distinct bitterness, "Emperor."
Ken was half way through asking "What do you people want with me?" before he realized what Darkness had just called him. Naturally, his eyes went wide with a mixture of surprise and anger. Darkness just laughed at him.
"You look like a bird when you get angry, you know that, don't you? Always have."
That made his blood run cold. Sam used to tell him that when he was little, but that was because Sam didn't like to see him angry. It was supposed to make him laugh.
Ken didn't feel like laughing now.
Darkness pulled out the chair and calmly sat at the stone table. After he brushed the hair out of his eyes, he put the tips of his fingers together and said in a voice distinctly Sam's, "It's been a long time, Kenny-boy."
He was still speachless, but with some extreme effort, he managed to force his mind to work again. He leaned forward, the light casting a shadow over his unusually pale face. He spoke slowly, "You...Are NOT my brother."
Darkness stared at him with an unreadable expression for what felt like a very long time. Finally, he bowed his head, "I know, Kindness. I know. Sometimes I forget, though. It's hard."
"I bet." (Use of extreme sarcasm here)
"No, really. Sometimes I wake up and I don't remember who I really am. Sometimes I think I'm sharing my room with my clingy little brother, then I remember that I don't HAVE a brother. Every once in a while I sign my name on my homework, then realize that the name I signed was not Justin Harvey. My parents swear I'm crazy. They don't even talk to me anymore. Not that I care, but it's the principle of the thing."
Ken raised his eyebrows, trying to imagine what that felt like.
"I, as Justin, grew up seeing you as an untouchable celebrity. The first time I heard your name...I was eight? I unwittingly pointed at the screen and yelled 'Kenny-boy? A genious? No way! He's as dumb as a brick!' I'd kept my secret until that moment, then I just couldn't stay quiet. I spent all my time trying to tell my parents that you were my brother, and they had my head examined.
"It's odd having two sets of memories. I'm Justin. I'm Sam. I'm both, and yet neither. I am, simply, Darkness."
"Why?" The question surprised Ken, but he went with it. "Did you think selling your soul would make you a big-shot?"
Any trace of humor vanished from Darkness's face. He burned holes through Ken for a moment before speaking in a deadly quiet voice, "I didn't have a soul until Keesma saved me. I was a fluke, accidentally born without a life essence. I was the weakest child alive, always sick. I didn't care about a thing. Nothing. I was nothing. Now, I have purpose."
"You are her slave. You realize that don't you?"
Suddenly, Darkness exploded in rage, "I don't care! Nothingness, or um, eternal servitude to the woman that gave me life? Hmm, THAT'S a difficult decision!"
A surprising feeling washed over Ken, and it slightly disturbed him. He looked Darkness in the eye and whispered, "I feel sorry for you."
"YOU SHOULD FEEL SORRY FOR YOUR GOOD-FOR-NOTHING FRIENDS!" With a wave from Darkness's hand the table disappeared and was replaced with a window on a dark fog-filled room.
* * * *
"Merissa?"
"My, my, my, dear cousin. It has been a long time," Hate jumped off the stone pillar and landed nicely on her feet in front of Yolei and Mimi. She smiled at Yolei's horror.
Hate looked almost exactly like Yolei, except her hair was dark blue, almost black. And she was a bit shorter, but that was probably due to the difference in their ages.
Yolei's shock turned into suspecion. She narrowed her eyes, "What are YOU doing here?"
"Couldn't let you have all the fun, now could I?"
"You've always gotta out-do me, don't you Meriss?" She turned to a clueless Mimi, "She thinks she's better than I am."
"THAT'S BECAUSE I AM!"
Mimi, appalled by this sudden outburst, decided to put her foot down. "You're a rotten, evil creature. You'll never be better than Yolei!"
Hate's eye twitched, but she managed to react in a calm manner, "Who's the girlfriend?"
Yolei opened her mouth to say something incredibly nasty, but Mimi held up her hand, "Don't even give her that satisfaction."
*snicker* "You gonna let her order you around like that?"
"When you argue back, you're letting her control you."
"Shut up, the both of you!" She glared at her over-acheiving cousin. "You always were a brat, but I never thought you'd stoop so low as becoming one of the Dark Digidestined. Which one are you? Annoyance?"
"HATE!" Hate roared, shaking. "Duh, I hate your very BEING!"
"The feeling's quite mutal," Yolei mumbled. "Believe me, I hate you too."
"Would you care to do something about it, Goodie-Goodie?"
"I'm not stooping that low." The words came out slowly. Hate's magic was working.
"Parrot," Hate spat.
That was it. "Morph Digi-Armor Energize!"
In a flash of green light, Yolei had once again merged with her Digimon.
"Arkie, get your butt out here!"
Arukenimon popped out from behind the column and yawned loudly, "Yeah, Hate, what is it?"
Hate pointed wildly at Yolei, "Beat her up for ME-EE!"
"Yeah, whatever." Arukenimon stretched like she was in no big hurry and pulled a hair from her head. She stared at it, then shoved it into the pillar. It suddenly animated, grew legs and charged at Yolei. As the shadow of a giant moving pillar-monster fell over her, she gulped feeling suddenly small. At the last second she grabbed Mimi by the wrist and ran away as quickly as she could.
"I wish the others were here!" Mimi shrieked as they scampered for their lives.
* * * *
Commercial Break!
The Digimon are standing around in a cluster, their heads thrown back, gargling. They each have a carton of milk in one hand and a bottle of chocolate syrup in the other.
Matt, Yolei, Cody, Tai and Izzy enter and stare at the group with wide eyes for a few seconds.
Matt (shakes his head): Now I have seen EVERYTHING.
He starts to walk off.
Cody (A goofy grin spreads over his face): Hey, Matt, isn't that the most disturbing thing you've ever seen?
Matt (turns around, points at Cody with one eye squeezed closed and speaks in a fed up voice): No, I have seen the giant hot dog. Seriously, I think can die now.
He disappears from view.
The words 'Got Chocolate Milk?' flash inappropriately on the screen.
Tai (stares at the gargling Digimon for a few seconds with a blank look on his face before asking): What giant hot dog?
* * * *
Suddenly, they appeared out of nowhere about two feet off the ground and fell not-so-lightly onto their butts. All except for Ken, who was nowhere to be seen. Before they had time to be confused, Yolei and Mimi flew by in a blurr and yelled for them to head for the hills. They turned in unison, saw the Pillar-Monster charging at them and gasped.
Agumon and Gabumon jumped in front of the others, "Show time, guys!"
Things began to get confusing.
"Agumon Warp Digivolve to..."
"Gabumon Warp Digivolve to..."
Cody slammed his staff on the ground and grabbed his D-3. "TK, Kari, Morph Digivolve!"
They held their D-3's high over their heads and screamed, "Morph Digivolve!" The digivices shattered into millions of pieces, spiralled down their arms and were absorbed. At the same time...
"Patamon Warp Digivolve to..."
"Gatomon Warp Digivolve to..."
"Armadillomon Digivolve to..."
"WarGreymon!"
"MetalGarurumon!"
"Hey, guys, let's not let them have all the fun!" Gomamon called to all the left over people/digimon.
Joe nodded, "Go to it!"
"Gomamon Digivolve to..."
"Byiomon Digivolve to..."
"Tentomon Digivolve to..."
"Serphimon!"
"Magnadramon!
"Ankilomon!"
At this point, they merged with their Megadigidestined parners in a flash of colored light.
Yolei ran by shreiking, dragging poor Mimi along behind her. Mimi squeezed her eyes shut and yelled, "I wish Palmon was here!"
POOF! Palmon was in her arms, extremely confused. "Mimi?"
"Palmon! I...I..." The reality of what she'd just done dawned on her.
"Let's go, it's time to stop running!"
Mimi wrinched herself free of Yolei, who surprisingly didn't notice. She skidded to a halt in front of the monster. "Go!"
"Palmon Digivolve to..."
"Zudomon!"
"Garudamon!"
"MegaKabuterrimon!"
"Come on, Davis!" Veemon whined.
Davis swallowed hard, an unreasonable amount of fear threating to overwhelm him. "Digi-Armor Energize!"
"Veemon Armor Digivolve to..."
"Lillymon!"
"Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship!"
"Hey, guys, they're trying to win!" Hate called out into the darkness.
Chaos stepped out of the shadows, followed by her big lumbering Kimeramon that surprisingly wore saftey goggles. She was followed by Fear, who's Digimon-DemiDevimon-hadn't Digivolved yet. Instead, he hid behind Fear in shame. Lust burst onto the scene with confetti and lights and glitter, and oh yeah, LadyDevimon. There was a pause and they realized They were missing a member.
"Oh, freak, that Apathy!" Lust cursed, shaking her fists and jumping up and down like a spoiled child, "I bet he fell asleep again!"
She marched off screen and a big 'thump' could be heard followed by two different voices yelling 'Ow!' She returned, followed by Apathy and...Mummymon?
"Cody?" TK said.
"Yeah?"
"This is 'All-Holy-TK'" And he charged into battle, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Then the real fighting started.
* * * *
Ken collapsed next to the viewing portal, shaking with the dread of not being able to help his friends. The battle became one big blur with flashes of light and screams everywhere. Arukenimon animated things left and right, sending a wave of horrible monsters at our heros who had their hands full with the Dark Digidestined as it was. The viewing portal acted like a very slow computer, the unfolding scene was choppy and slightly blurred.
The image did a close-up of Tai. He'd been chased by a boulder-moster, but decided he wasn't going to run anymore. He skidded to a halt and held his hands out to his sides, seemingly ready embrace the monster. It came within five feet of him, hit a wall of fire, and dissentigrated.
"Woah, no way!" Fear shouted, as WarGreymon loomed over him. "Hate, do something!"
Out of nowhere, Hate drew out a long nasty looking weapon. The end split open into fourths and before anyone realized was going on, she fired an energy bast at Tai. He blinked and put his hand over the hole in his side, a look of total disbelief on his face. Without making a sound, he fell over.
"Tai!" WarGreymon started to rush to his friend's side, but Mummymon stopped him with a way-too powerful 'snake bandage' attack.
Matt and Sora rushed over to help, but it was too late.
Ken blinked his wide terrified eyes and a single tear ran down his cheek. "This is all my fault."
"That's right," Darkness whispered triumphantly into Ken's ear. "You should have been able to do something. After all you are the Key."
"The Key..." Ken repeated as he looked down the portal at the grim scene. He shook his head, "I should have been able to stop this."
"I'm sorry," Tai said, his vision getting fuzzy. "I didn't think..."
"No, Tai, stay with us!" Sora gasped, taking a hold of his cold hand. "I can't stand to loose you. I-I love you too much."
He let go, unconsious.
"Do something, Matt!" Sora shrieked.
Matt's eyes were wide with horror and rapidly filling with tears. His mind snapped then over the loss of his friend. He took a couple of deep breaths and stood up. Slowly, he turned to Hate (who still had the blaster pointed at him) with a look of a ruthless thirst for vengance hardening on his features. His beautiful blue eyes were cold and almost evil. She smiled, taking total credit for this hate. "Aww, I'm sorry. Did I do that?"
"You killed my best friend," he told her with deadly quiet in his voice. "Now you will pay."
"What can you do?" She jerked the weapon to show him who was boss.
"Give it here!" Mimi held out her hand and even though she was several hundred feet away, the weapon appeared in her hands.
Hate gasped as the weapon disappeared. "Hey, no fair!"
"What you did to Tai wasn't fair," she screamed and pointed the blaster at Hate.
Hate just laughed arrogantly and put her hands on her hips. "You wouldn't even fire that thing, girlie, you don't have the guts."
Just then, the rock beside her exploded. "Just be happy I don't have very good aim!"
Hate opened her mouth to say something horrible to Mimi when Matt interrupted her. "Enough!"
He held out his hands and blasted her with a cold wind, freezing her on the spot. He viciously kicked the block of ice over, sending it shattering to the floor.
"You killed my cousin!" Yolei said in awe as she ran to Tai. She held her hands out to Matt. "Thank you! You have absolutely no idea how miserable she made me!"
"She was a filthy demon," he told her coldly, nealing beside her. His voice softened a bit. "Can you help him, or is it too late?"
She held her hands over Tai's body. "I don't know, but I will try." A warm red light glowed from her fingertips, but quickly died. She tried it again, with no success. Defeated, she looked away. "I-I can't heal the dead."
"But you brought Cody back!"
She sniffed and tried again with the same affect. "But Cody was still sort of in there. Besides, he wasn't injured. I'm afraid Tai is...I'm afraid he's gone."
On the other side of the room, another battle raged.
Kimeramon blasted the group of Digimon, sending them scattering.
"We can't keep this up much longer!" MegaKabuterrimon rasped.
MetalGarurumon hit the far wall and bounced back. "What are we going to do? Our attacks aren't even phasing it!"
Lilymon picked herself up off the ground and winced at a pain in her shoulder. One of her wings was crumpled. "It's like this thing has no weakness. It's more like a machine than a living Digimon!"
"We need to regroup," MetalGarurumon ordered. He was so busy barking orders that he didn't notice Kimeramon powering up another attack. Raidramon did, and pushed MetalGarurumon out of the way of the blast, taking the full blow of it himself.
"Raidramon, no!" Davis cried, sheilding his eyes from the light of the explosion. When the smoke cleared he ran to his fallen friend. He put his arms around the wolf's burned head and cried.
"Davis..."
"Don't leave me, Raidramon! I-I need you. I don't know what I'm doing."
Raidramon coughed once and smiled up at the boy. "I'll never leave you, Davis. I'll always be here to guide you...if only in your...dreams."
"But..." Raidramon broke up into pieces and fell over Davis, who drew his hands back, tears streaming down his face. It was as if his whole world shattered around him. "Wait, no! Don't go!"
Chaos cackled at Davis. He stared at her for a long time with narrowed eyes. Suddenly an explosion of electricity urupted from him. It bounced in bolts around the entire enclosure, striking each of the evil Digimon, destroying them all. Even Kimeramon. It barely lasted thirty seconds before flickering and dying away. He panted strongly, wondering with the rest of them where that had come from.
Lust took a look around and started to run for the hills. Matt grabbed her by the wrist and penned her to the wall. She managed a weak seductive smile, "Oh, are you trying to play tough with me, Matt?"
"Don't even think about it, child. I have half a mind to freeze you like a did to Hate."
Chaos landed on her butt and shrieked at the others, "He destroyed our Digimon. Let's make him pa-ay!"
Fear and Apathy ran to help her. They backed the weakened Davis into a corner and held out their Digivices, blasting him with dark energy. His eyes clouded over as he began absorbing their essences.
"No!" Ken stood up, fists clenched. "Not Davis. I won't let you hurt Davis!"
"What can you do about it?"
Ken waved his arms wildly. "Are you forgetting, I am the Key? I control the Power Orb, I can do whatever I want!"
With that a pure white light flooded the room. Ken stood transformed, wearing the white armor of a Freedom Spirit. He grew three pairs of pure white wings. His hair and eyes were wild. The Power Orb floated in front of him, radiating it's wonderful light.
"Ah, so you figured out how to control it," Darkness said calmly. "Now we will finally see you worthy of it you really are." He closed his eyes and transformed into the direct opposite of Ken. With black wings and black armor, he radiated dark energy.
Together they jumped through the portal and ended up above the battle scene.
Darkness drew a long sickle from nowhere and charged at Ken. Ken barely had time to block with his sheild, let alone react to the threat. By the time he drew his own sickle, the other had dropped down to where the other Dark Digidestined stood over Davis and threw a sheild around them. Ken banged into it repeatedly, but with no progress. Darkness smiled triumphantly up at him. Davis began howling as they finished pouring their essences into him.
Suddenly, a rip in space opened up. Keesma reached through the rip and pulled Darkness through. It closed back up. With the sheild gone, Ken got to them. He made good use of his mighty sickle as Davis collapsed, overwhelmed.
Suddenly, all was quiet.
Ken stood over Tai and put a finger to the wound. It healed instantly. He commanded, "Get up, Courage. You're still needed." Tai's eyes fluttered open and he climbed to his feet, confused. He, as well as Matt and Sora were officially Megadigidestined.
Everyone de-digivolved. Ken floated over to Davis and picked him up as easily as if the boy were a feather. He turned to the Megadigidestined. "Let's go home."
Matt weakly shook Lust's arm. "What about this one?"
"She has been spared. Bring her with us."
With that, they went back to the Digital World.
Is this the end of their quest?
Find out in the next episode of Digimon: A Bigger Threat
"A Future Wide Open"
Episode 13-
"Labrynth Island Part 3"
By: Shmeilia Rockie
"Where do you think he went?"
"I don't know," Matt frowned. "But right now I'm parched."
"That means you're nervous," Joe commented off-handedly.
"How so?"
He shrugged, "Dunno. Saw it on TV once."
Matt narrowed his eyes, "Are you impling something?"
"Nooo... Just making conversation."
Davis leaned against a moss-covered statue, emotionally drained by the loss of his best friend. Or maybe he was just permantly drained because he only had half a soul. "You aren't blaming yourself for what happened, are you, Matt?"
Matt didn't respond, just looked away.
"'Cause, you know, that's supposed to be my job. I take all the blame. He was standing right next to me, and I couldn't do anything. He's probably dead now, and it's all my fault. That's the second time today I failed to-"
"All right, Davis, that's enough!" Matt snapped. "Yes, I do blame myself. I was trying really hard to be a good leader, and I failed. I couldn't save Ken, I couldn't even boost morale, and I HAVEN'T GOT THE FOGGIEST CLUE WHERE WE ARE!"
Davis shrank away from him, until he litteraly hid behind the statue. That was a very un-Davis-like thing to do. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to tick you off!"
But Matt wasn't done. He sat down on a rock and burried his face in his hands. "And look at me! I can't help feeling like I'm fading into the scenery. It just keeps getting worse and worse. Like eventually I'll disappear all together." Indeed, he seemed awfully pale.
Gabumon patted his head. "It's the energy of this place. It just radiates a feeling of doom and dispare. I know I sound cliché, but it's not just you. I feel it too. This is one of the most evil places in the universe."
"When will it stop?"
"When you become a Megadigidestined," Joe told him quietly.
"GREAT, when will that happen?"
"I don't know. When you pass your test, I guess."
"But wasn't beating that dog a test?"
Davis crept out from behind the statue. "It was a test, but it wasn't THE test. Your's will have something to do with your crest, Friendship."
Matt eyed the crest on Davis's armor, "What was yours?"
Davis looked at the scar on his hand and blushed, "I don't want to talk about it."
This got a snort out of Matt.
"Besides," he added quickly, "I don't think your test will be the same as mine."
"Hey, guys, look who I found!" It was Tai, also still in dull colors.
"Nice work," Cody told him. Then he turned to Izzy, "See, I told you. Everything will be answered in time."
"Hey, guys, how's it goin'?"
Matt groaned.
Tai made a disappointed face. "It's good to see you too, Matt."
"EX-CUSE ME! FOR YOUR INFO, I LOST KEN!"
There was a collective "WHAT?" from the gold group.
"The ground just opened up and swallowed him!"
"You lost someone too, huh?" Kari asked casually, popping out of seemingly no where. "We lost Yolei AND Mimi."
Sora jumped into Tai's arms and began crying. "I don't know what happened to them! They ate some diseased peaches and disappeared."
Desprite to stop her wailing, Tai rubbed her back. He made a face like he was trying to swallow some nasty medicine. "Calm down, Sora. It will be okay. We'll find them."
"But, but, but..." She whimpered almost TOO convencingly.
Matt rolled his eyes and looked away. She was over-reacting, just to make him jealous. He had thought she was more mature than that, but now he knew the truth.
"I lost Mimi-ee-hee-ee!" Palmon shrieked, also crying her eyes out.
* * * *
Ken sat up, suddenly remembering he'd fallen down a hole. He couldn't see anything, but the air was musty and cold. "Great. Where am I?"
Surprisingly, a familiar voice answered, "You're in an obliette."
"W-what am I doing here?"
Darkness struck a match, illuminating his face in an eeire way. "I brought you here." He lit a lamp and waved the match out.
Suddenly, Ken could see again. He looked around the cave-like area for a way out.
"In case you're wondering, there aren't any doors. Only the hole...And me."
"Oh, that makes me feel SO much better," he mumbled.
"Sarcastic, aren't we? I like that." Darkness cracked the award-winning smile, sending a chill through Ken's very existance. On the side, he added with distinct bitterness, "Emperor."
Ken was half way through asking "What do you people want with me?" before he realized what Darkness had just called him. Naturally, his eyes went wide with a mixture of surprise and anger. Darkness just laughed at him.
"You look like a bird when you get angry, you know that, don't you? Always have."
That made his blood run cold. Sam used to tell him that when he was little, but that was because Sam didn't like to see him angry. It was supposed to make him laugh.
Ken didn't feel like laughing now.
Darkness pulled out the chair and calmly sat at the stone table. After he brushed the hair out of his eyes, he put the tips of his fingers together and said in a voice distinctly Sam's, "It's been a long time, Kenny-boy."
He was still speachless, but with some extreme effort, he managed to force his mind to work again. He leaned forward, the light casting a shadow over his unusually pale face. He spoke slowly, "You...Are NOT my brother."
Darkness stared at him with an unreadable expression for what felt like a very long time. Finally, he bowed his head, "I know, Kindness. I know. Sometimes I forget, though. It's hard."
"I bet." (Use of extreme sarcasm here)
"No, really. Sometimes I wake up and I don't remember who I really am. Sometimes I think I'm sharing my room with my clingy little brother, then I remember that I don't HAVE a brother. Every once in a while I sign my name on my homework, then realize that the name I signed was not Justin Harvey. My parents swear I'm crazy. They don't even talk to me anymore. Not that I care, but it's the principle of the thing."
Ken raised his eyebrows, trying to imagine what that felt like.
"I, as Justin, grew up seeing you as an untouchable celebrity. The first time I heard your name...I was eight? I unwittingly pointed at the screen and yelled 'Kenny-boy? A genious? No way! He's as dumb as a brick!' I'd kept my secret until that moment, then I just couldn't stay quiet. I spent all my time trying to tell my parents that you were my brother, and they had my head examined.
"It's odd having two sets of memories. I'm Justin. I'm Sam. I'm both, and yet neither. I am, simply, Darkness."
"Why?" The question surprised Ken, but he went with it. "Did you think selling your soul would make you a big-shot?"
Any trace of humor vanished from Darkness's face. He burned holes through Ken for a moment before speaking in a deadly quiet voice, "I didn't have a soul until Keesma saved me. I was a fluke, accidentally born without a life essence. I was the weakest child alive, always sick. I didn't care about a thing. Nothing. I was nothing. Now, I have purpose."
"You are her slave. You realize that don't you?"
Suddenly, Darkness exploded in rage, "I don't care! Nothingness, or um, eternal servitude to the woman that gave me life? Hmm, THAT'S a difficult decision!"
A surprising feeling washed over Ken, and it slightly disturbed him. He looked Darkness in the eye and whispered, "I feel sorry for you."
"YOU SHOULD FEEL SORRY FOR YOUR GOOD-FOR-NOTHING FRIENDS!" With a wave from Darkness's hand the table disappeared and was replaced with a window on a dark fog-filled room.
* * * *
"Merissa?"
"My, my, my, dear cousin. It has been a long time," Hate jumped off the stone pillar and landed nicely on her feet in front of Yolei and Mimi. She smiled at Yolei's horror.
Hate looked almost exactly like Yolei, except her hair was dark blue, almost black. And she was a bit shorter, but that was probably due to the difference in their ages.
Yolei's shock turned into suspecion. She narrowed her eyes, "What are YOU doing here?"
"Couldn't let you have all the fun, now could I?"
"You've always gotta out-do me, don't you Meriss?" She turned to a clueless Mimi, "She thinks she's better than I am."
"THAT'S BECAUSE I AM!"
Mimi, appalled by this sudden outburst, decided to put her foot down. "You're a rotten, evil creature. You'll never be better than Yolei!"
Hate's eye twitched, but she managed to react in a calm manner, "Who's the girlfriend?"
Yolei opened her mouth to say something incredibly nasty, but Mimi held up her hand, "Don't even give her that satisfaction."
*snicker* "You gonna let her order you around like that?"
"When you argue back, you're letting her control you."
"Shut up, the both of you!" She glared at her over-acheiving cousin. "You always were a brat, but I never thought you'd stoop so low as becoming one of the Dark Digidestined. Which one are you? Annoyance?"
"HATE!" Hate roared, shaking. "Duh, I hate your very BEING!"
"The feeling's quite mutal," Yolei mumbled. "Believe me, I hate you too."
"Would you care to do something about it, Goodie-Goodie?"
"I'm not stooping that low." The words came out slowly. Hate's magic was working.
"Parrot," Hate spat.
That was it. "Morph Digi-Armor Energize!"
In a flash of green light, Yolei had once again merged with her Digimon.
"Arkie, get your butt out here!"
Arukenimon popped out from behind the column and yawned loudly, "Yeah, Hate, what is it?"
Hate pointed wildly at Yolei, "Beat her up for ME-EE!"
"Yeah, whatever." Arukenimon stretched like she was in no big hurry and pulled a hair from her head. She stared at it, then shoved it into the pillar. It suddenly animated, grew legs and charged at Yolei. As the shadow of a giant moving pillar-monster fell over her, she gulped feeling suddenly small. At the last second she grabbed Mimi by the wrist and ran away as quickly as she could.
"I wish the others were here!" Mimi shrieked as they scampered for their lives.
* * * *
Commercial Break!
The Digimon are standing around in a cluster, their heads thrown back, gargling. They each have a carton of milk in one hand and a bottle of chocolate syrup in the other.
Matt, Yolei, Cody, Tai and Izzy enter and stare at the group with wide eyes for a few seconds.
Matt (shakes his head): Now I have seen EVERYTHING.
He starts to walk off.
Cody (A goofy grin spreads over his face): Hey, Matt, isn't that the most disturbing thing you've ever seen?
Matt (turns around, points at Cody with one eye squeezed closed and speaks in a fed up voice): No, I have seen the giant hot dog. Seriously, I think can die now.
He disappears from view.
The words 'Got Chocolate Milk?' flash inappropriately on the screen.
Tai (stares at the gargling Digimon for a few seconds with a blank look on his face before asking): What giant hot dog?
* * * *
Suddenly, they appeared out of nowhere about two feet off the ground and fell not-so-lightly onto their butts. All except for Ken, who was nowhere to be seen. Before they had time to be confused, Yolei and Mimi flew by in a blurr and yelled for them to head for the hills. They turned in unison, saw the Pillar-Monster charging at them and gasped.
Agumon and Gabumon jumped in front of the others, "Show time, guys!"
Things began to get confusing.
"Agumon Warp Digivolve to..."
"Gabumon Warp Digivolve to..."
Cody slammed his staff on the ground and grabbed his D-3. "TK, Kari, Morph Digivolve!"
They held their D-3's high over their heads and screamed, "Morph Digivolve!" The digivices shattered into millions of pieces, spiralled down their arms and were absorbed. At the same time...
"Patamon Warp Digivolve to..."
"Gatomon Warp Digivolve to..."
"Armadillomon Digivolve to..."
"WarGreymon!"
"MetalGarurumon!"
"Hey, guys, let's not let them have all the fun!" Gomamon called to all the left over people/digimon.
Joe nodded, "Go to it!"
"Gomamon Digivolve to..."
"Byiomon Digivolve to..."
"Tentomon Digivolve to..."
"Serphimon!"
"Magnadramon!
"Ankilomon!"
At this point, they merged with their Megadigidestined parners in a flash of colored light.
Yolei ran by shreiking, dragging poor Mimi along behind her. Mimi squeezed her eyes shut and yelled, "I wish Palmon was here!"
POOF! Palmon was in her arms, extremely confused. "Mimi?"
"Palmon! I...I..." The reality of what she'd just done dawned on her.
"Let's go, it's time to stop running!"
Mimi wrinched herself free of Yolei, who surprisingly didn't notice. She skidded to a halt in front of the monster. "Go!"
"Palmon Digivolve to..."
"Zudomon!"
"Garudamon!"
"MegaKabuterrimon!"
"Come on, Davis!" Veemon whined.
Davis swallowed hard, an unreasonable amount of fear threating to overwhelm him. "Digi-Armor Energize!"
"Veemon Armor Digivolve to..."
"Lillymon!"
"Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship!"
"Hey, guys, they're trying to win!" Hate called out into the darkness.
Chaos stepped out of the shadows, followed by her big lumbering Kimeramon that surprisingly wore saftey goggles. She was followed by Fear, who's Digimon-DemiDevimon-hadn't Digivolved yet. Instead, he hid behind Fear in shame. Lust burst onto the scene with confetti and lights and glitter, and oh yeah, LadyDevimon. There was a pause and they realized They were missing a member.
"Oh, freak, that Apathy!" Lust cursed, shaking her fists and jumping up and down like a spoiled child, "I bet he fell asleep again!"
She marched off screen and a big 'thump' could be heard followed by two different voices yelling 'Ow!' She returned, followed by Apathy and...Mummymon?
"Cody?" TK said.
"Yeah?"
"This is 'All-Holy-TK'" And he charged into battle, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Then the real fighting started.
* * * *
Ken collapsed next to the viewing portal, shaking with the dread of not being able to help his friends. The battle became one big blur with flashes of light and screams everywhere. Arukenimon animated things left and right, sending a wave of horrible monsters at our heros who had their hands full with the Dark Digidestined as it was. The viewing portal acted like a very slow computer, the unfolding scene was choppy and slightly blurred.
The image did a close-up of Tai. He'd been chased by a boulder-moster, but decided he wasn't going to run anymore. He skidded to a halt and held his hands out to his sides, seemingly ready embrace the monster. It came within five feet of him, hit a wall of fire, and dissentigrated.
"Woah, no way!" Fear shouted, as WarGreymon loomed over him. "Hate, do something!"
Out of nowhere, Hate drew out a long nasty looking weapon. The end split open into fourths and before anyone realized was going on, she fired an energy bast at Tai. He blinked and put his hand over the hole in his side, a look of total disbelief on his face. Without making a sound, he fell over.
"Tai!" WarGreymon started to rush to his friend's side, but Mummymon stopped him with a way-too powerful 'snake bandage' attack.
Matt and Sora rushed over to help, but it was too late.
Ken blinked his wide terrified eyes and a single tear ran down his cheek. "This is all my fault."
"That's right," Darkness whispered triumphantly into Ken's ear. "You should have been able to do something. After all you are the Key."
"The Key..." Ken repeated as he looked down the portal at the grim scene. He shook his head, "I should have been able to stop this."
"I'm sorry," Tai said, his vision getting fuzzy. "I didn't think..."
"No, Tai, stay with us!" Sora gasped, taking a hold of his cold hand. "I can't stand to loose you. I-I love you too much."
He let go, unconsious.
"Do something, Matt!" Sora shrieked.
Matt's eyes were wide with horror and rapidly filling with tears. His mind snapped then over the loss of his friend. He took a couple of deep breaths and stood up. Slowly, he turned to Hate (who still had the blaster pointed at him) with a look of a ruthless thirst for vengance hardening on his features. His beautiful blue eyes were cold and almost evil. She smiled, taking total credit for this hate. "Aww, I'm sorry. Did I do that?"
"You killed my best friend," he told her with deadly quiet in his voice. "Now you will pay."
"What can you do?" She jerked the weapon to show him who was boss.
"Give it here!" Mimi held out her hand and even though she was several hundred feet away, the weapon appeared in her hands.
Hate gasped as the weapon disappeared. "Hey, no fair!"
"What you did to Tai wasn't fair," she screamed and pointed the blaster at Hate.
Hate just laughed arrogantly and put her hands on her hips. "You wouldn't even fire that thing, girlie, you don't have the guts."
Just then, the rock beside her exploded. "Just be happy I don't have very good aim!"
Hate opened her mouth to say something horrible to Mimi when Matt interrupted her. "Enough!"
He held out his hands and blasted her with a cold wind, freezing her on the spot. He viciously kicked the block of ice over, sending it shattering to the floor.
"You killed my cousin!" Yolei said in awe as she ran to Tai. She held her hands out to Matt. "Thank you! You have absolutely no idea how miserable she made me!"
"She was a filthy demon," he told her coldly, nealing beside her. His voice softened a bit. "Can you help him, or is it too late?"
She held her hands over Tai's body. "I don't know, but I will try." A warm red light glowed from her fingertips, but quickly died. She tried it again, with no success. Defeated, she looked away. "I-I can't heal the dead."
"But you brought Cody back!"
She sniffed and tried again with the same affect. "But Cody was still sort of in there. Besides, he wasn't injured. I'm afraid Tai is...I'm afraid he's gone."
On the other side of the room, another battle raged.
Kimeramon blasted the group of Digimon, sending them scattering.
"We can't keep this up much longer!" MegaKabuterrimon rasped.
MetalGarurumon hit the far wall and bounced back. "What are we going to do? Our attacks aren't even phasing it!"
Lilymon picked herself up off the ground and winced at a pain in her shoulder. One of her wings was crumpled. "It's like this thing has no weakness. It's more like a machine than a living Digimon!"
"We need to regroup," MetalGarurumon ordered. He was so busy barking orders that he didn't notice Kimeramon powering up another attack. Raidramon did, and pushed MetalGarurumon out of the way of the blast, taking the full blow of it himself.
"Raidramon, no!" Davis cried, sheilding his eyes from the light of the explosion. When the smoke cleared he ran to his fallen friend. He put his arms around the wolf's burned head and cried.
"Davis..."
"Don't leave me, Raidramon! I-I need you. I don't know what I'm doing."
Raidramon coughed once and smiled up at the boy. "I'll never leave you, Davis. I'll always be here to guide you...if only in your...dreams."
"But..." Raidramon broke up into pieces and fell over Davis, who drew his hands back, tears streaming down his face. It was as if his whole world shattered around him. "Wait, no! Don't go!"
Chaos cackled at Davis. He stared at her for a long time with narrowed eyes. Suddenly an explosion of electricity urupted from him. It bounced in bolts around the entire enclosure, striking each of the evil Digimon, destroying them all. Even Kimeramon. It barely lasted thirty seconds before flickering and dying away. He panted strongly, wondering with the rest of them where that had come from.
Lust took a look around and started to run for the hills. Matt grabbed her by the wrist and penned her to the wall. She managed a weak seductive smile, "Oh, are you trying to play tough with me, Matt?"
"Don't even think about it, child. I have half a mind to freeze you like a did to Hate."
Chaos landed on her butt and shrieked at the others, "He destroyed our Digimon. Let's make him pa-ay!"
Fear and Apathy ran to help her. They backed the weakened Davis into a corner and held out their Digivices, blasting him with dark energy. His eyes clouded over as he began absorbing their essences.
"No!" Ken stood up, fists clenched. "Not Davis. I won't let you hurt Davis!"
"What can you do about it?"
Ken waved his arms wildly. "Are you forgetting, I am the Key? I control the Power Orb, I can do whatever I want!"
With that a pure white light flooded the room. Ken stood transformed, wearing the white armor of a Freedom Spirit. He grew three pairs of pure white wings. His hair and eyes were wild. The Power Orb floated in front of him, radiating it's wonderful light.
"Ah, so you figured out how to control it," Darkness said calmly. "Now we will finally see you worthy of it you really are." He closed his eyes and transformed into the direct opposite of Ken. With black wings and black armor, he radiated dark energy.
Together they jumped through the portal and ended up above the battle scene.
Darkness drew a long sickle from nowhere and charged at Ken. Ken barely had time to block with his sheild, let alone react to the threat. By the time he drew his own sickle, the other had dropped down to where the other Dark Digidestined stood over Davis and threw a sheild around them. Ken banged into it repeatedly, but with no progress. Darkness smiled triumphantly up at him. Davis began howling as they finished pouring their essences into him.
Suddenly, a rip in space opened up. Keesma reached through the rip and pulled Darkness through. It closed back up. With the sheild gone, Ken got to them. He made good use of his mighty sickle as Davis collapsed, overwhelmed.
Suddenly, all was quiet.
Ken stood over Tai and put a finger to the wound. It healed instantly. He commanded, "Get up, Courage. You're still needed." Tai's eyes fluttered open and he climbed to his feet, confused. He, as well as Matt and Sora were officially Megadigidestined.
Everyone de-digivolved. Ken floated over to Davis and picked him up as easily as if the boy were a feather. He turned to the Megadigidestined. "Let's go home."
Matt weakly shook Lust's arm. "What about this one?"
"She has been spared. Bring her with us."
With that, they went back to the Digital World.
Is this the end of their quest?
Find out in the next episode of Digimon: A Bigger Threat
"A Future Wide Open"