They all stood up rigid, only their heads moving in the deathly still silence that followed the anguished cry of pain. Slowly, ever so slowly, lest they disturb whatever had caused such a pained screech from near the edge of the forest to be uttered. Almost in unison the fourteen heads turned to face the source of the cry. Nothing, all that they could see was the trees. Forests gave good cover for them Izzy had quickly decided, but also good cover to whatever was out there that they were supposed to track down and exterminate.
Another piercing scream echoed through the trees, seemingly homing in on them, the chosen defenders of this world, pleading for their help for the few seconds before the sound abruptly stopped. Only silence echoed through the forest, only the scream echoed through their minds.
Tai nodded once, barely perceptible to most people, but noticed at once by the group. The stresses of having to fight to merely survive had honed all of their instincts as a team to some extent, and as time wore on Tai quickly became their impromptu leader. Matt was the only one who would challenge him, but at a time like this it seemed unlikely.
"Let's go." Tai started walking towards the sound, followed by the others just half a step behind him. Quickly they picked up speed into a jog, then a full fledged sprint, flashes of green and brown rushing past them as they let their legs work almost on automatic, their minds all absorbed by trying to imagine what caused the scream. Or, perhaps, in trying to not imagine what had caused the scream.
Blindly they ran onwards. Running towards the where they could still imagine the sound coming from, even though there had been nothing but silence before they started running. The only real sounds that existed now were the constant thudding of their shoes and feet against the ground, pushing them inexorably onwards towards the imaginary screech. Blood pumped hard in their ears, almost threatening to pulse out of their bodies with the adrenaline induced effort they were putting themselves through.
Semi-hidden reserves of energy were tapped, even Mimi managing to keep up with the group, albeit with Tai running a little slower than he could if needed. Greens and browns started merging into a single and strange colour in her eyes, there was no way she could keep this speed up for much longer. Exhaustion would have already set into her were it not for the sheer concentration of adrenaline inside her bloodstream.
Half with effort and half with fear she pushed herself onwards, stumbling once, then once more before she regained her footing on the uneven ground. Roots snaked around as though they wanted to snag her feet, trip her, and bring her crashing down to the dirty soil below. A lighter patch ahead caught her sight, a clearing. It must be a clearing. Izzy must have mentioned something about it she thought as she took the next here steps.
They burst into a tranquil looking clearing, breath coming from most of them in ragged gasps. Quickly half of them bent over, hands on their knees as they gulped down lungfuls of sweet tasting air. Seconds later the heavy breathing stopped, their short but unusually rapid sprint quickly being recovered from.
Tai looked around the large clearing they had found their way to. It was an ideal location for a picnic at first glance. Unsurprisingly it was surrounded by trees, but all were tall and elegant looking, holding themselves up with pride as they guarded the space in the forest. Above there was a clear blue sky that shone down on them, not a single wisp of cloud was marring it. In the centre of the place, and taking up maybe half of the entire thing, was a lake, presumably one that was normally crystal clear and that sparkled in the sunlight. The place should have been a natural vista of just what nature could produce.
It was not.
In the very middle of the lake was a tree stump. Smoke gently rose from its blackened husk, lazily heading towards the sky. Jagged spikes of brittle wood spearing upwards crowned its head, possibly showing where the rest of the tree had been exploded off of it. A metre or so below that was where all eyes were drawn to, the first gruesome display that this place had been defiled.
A limp head of a Seadramon stared out at them, totally severed from its body which wasn't even nearby. Blood still trickled down the tree on which it had been mercilessly impaled, staining most of the wood a deep dark red colour. A single dribble of blood moved on down as they watched, colouring over another blackened part of the charred trunk with red.
The water should have been as clear as crystal they thought, but it was now also tainted by whatever evil had visited this place. A light pinkish colour spread out in a circle around the stump impaled head, stretching outwards towards the shore millimetre by millimetre. A gross parody of the pretty colour it had produced.
On the ground there appeared to lay most of the remains. Armoured bones were strewn all over, thrown around as though nothing more than toothpicks. Jagged rips and clean cuts were obvious on some of the bones to all of them, while only Joe guessed that the small pile of fine white dust might be more ground up bones.
Their heads turned towards the trees that had failed so miserably to guard this paradise turned hell. Even they had not escaped the slaughter unharmed. Pieces of chitin were thrown into them, sap pouring out of gaping wounds where it had been hurled in with enough force to smash its way completely through a dozen or more feet of solid wood.
A small retching sound tore most of them away from the sight for barely a second as one of their number proceeded to vomit his breakfast over the floor, involuntarily adding his own little bit to the defacement of the clearing.
Black particles rose up from all over the area, the poor digimon's body finally having given up its futile and silent struggle to stay there. Slowly the chunks of chitin disappeared, unplugging the holes in the trees, which once more started to bleed their sap down their trunks and over the ground. The armoured bones evapourated next, their heavy weight in life floating away so easily in death. Particle by black particle the water turned from pink to clear, absorbing the looks of all who could see the amazing change in it.
Slowly but surely the blood on the trunk also disappeared into the sky leaving only the impaled head, which stared out at the digidestined with its sunken eyes. That baleful stare locked onto them to the last, the head finally losing its battle against the inevitable and exploding in a cloud of black data which rapidly dispersed away and travelled over the horizon that they couldn't see.
In what may have been only seconds, or may have been minutes, they watched the hellish scene turn into something resembling normality and peace. Only the oozing trees surrounding them and the burnt trunk in the centre of the lake now gave any physical indication that something had happened here. In their minds, though, they could still see the corpse, plastered around like a mad artist playing with a model to try and produce the most horrific effect his warped and twisted mind could hope to make.
"Wh-what could do such a thing?" Tai asked in shock, still staring at the now clean area on the trunk where the head had been brutally impaled.
"Nothing we've seen before I think." Izzy said, dropping his computer to the floor as his fingers slowly opened of their own accord, not even noticing when his most treasured item hit the rock with a loud thud that was almost deafening in the now broken silence.
But even silence was preferable to the sight that followed. Blocking out the sun was a giant creature of enormous proportions. Covered in luminous black armour that was painted in the blood of fallen warriors it flew overhead, wings outstretched. Its axe was swung from side to side with practise blows in perfect synchronisation with the flaps of its black, leathery wings. Inch by inch it dropped down towards the clearing, its bestial half dog half human face grinning at them like a madman in an asylum. There was no doubt in any of their minds; this was the creature that had turned this paradise into a hell, and by the looks of the creature, quite possibly, its heaven.
TK took a quick step backward. Another quick step followed by his other foot as his body turned first through forty five degrees, then through a full one hundred and eighty with a final half jump half step. Now facing the way he had come in TK didn't look back towards the once idyllic clearing and simply bolted, fear now completely controlling all of his actions.
Mimi looked up at the hellish beast which might very well have literally stepped straight out of Hell. Its fanged maw opened wide, a great and guttural growl erupted from it, shaking the very foundations of the world it seemed. As the volume rose and rose that gaping mouth seemed to draw closer and closer, ready to swallow her up whole, consume her in a single, famished, bite. A small noise, somewhere between a scream and a squeak escaped her lips as her eyes met the dimly glowing red eyes of the descending monster. Finally her body and mind could take no more, giving up as she collapsed to the ground with a quiet thud, unconscious.
The other five members of the digidestined and all of the digimon remained still, frozen as their eyes were locked onto the slowly approaching nightmare. Its midnight black wings stopped beating, folding up behind the creature, the deadly looking tusk like bones that stuck out of the top of them pointed directly at the group as it landed on the ground, bending its knees slightly as its huge bulk caused the place to shake for a few moments.
"We're going to die…." Joe whispered without realising it. The creature changed the direction of its gaze, raising its head up to the cloudless sky and letting out a deafening and earth-rending roar, as though to challenge everything that lived. A fear greater than any of them realised could existed rapidly fell over them and took hold. As one they turned towards where TK had fled mere seconds beforehand. As one they also fled, sprinting with all their might, running for their lives, fear alone fuelling their legs and arms as they pumped.
Silent screams and prayers escaped their lips, the vain hope that any deity out there would listen and hep them was entertained by most of them in the short time before their thoughts devolved into nothing but fleeing from what they had just seen.
Trees stopped becoming distinct. No longer were there many trees inside the forest. There was now just a single blob of green, resting on a single blob of brown. Brownish arrows and spikes shot from the trees, scratching and clawing at their faces and arms and legs and bodies as they ran. Blood spilled from them all, over the attacking branches and onto the ground, totally unnoticed by them. But blood that was very much noticed by a monster drawn to even this small scant scent of blood.
The roar bellowed out behind them. Louder than before. Louder, barely, even than the blood in their ears. Accompanying the growl was a ripping and tearing, a noise that they deep down feared being created through the trees by the sheer brute strength of the oncoming behemoth of a thing. Reserves of energy were torn into by their bodies, their minds freeing every last erg of energy lest they meet with their untimely demise at the hands, whip, or axe of the blood red and black giant behind them.
The ripping, the tearing, the roaring grew louder. The beast was closing on them, and closing fast. It was merely a matter of time until it caught up with them. Someone stumbled a single step, but managed to plant their foot down safely on the next step. Hands and feet had gone completely numb, although none of them noticed in their blind and outright panic. Arms and legs, too, were beginning to numb, all the oxygen they could get being burnt up as quickly as it came in.
A giant explosion rocked out behind them, trees hurled themselves through the sky, and the shockwave on the ground smashed the thirteen runners twenty or more metres ahead and then to the floor.
They lay there. Panting.
There was not the breath for them to get up yet.
Blood and heartbeats pounded against their ears as blackness tinged the edges of their vision. Silence was the only thing behind them they slowly realised. Blessed silence. It was a silence that meant that they could no longer be being chased. Breaths still came in ragged gasps as they regained enough air to sit up.
Sora climbed up slowly and tentatively from the floor. Easing her body towards it she sat against the nearest tree, resting her aching body against it. She looked around, regretting it instantly as her head spun and ears refused to hear anything but her own heartbeat. Quickly and instinctively she buried her head between her knees as she vomited from the strain of the run, the sickly brown and yellow pool of half digested food and bile spreading out over the ground as she moved away from it.
As the minutes passed the others all slowly propped themselves against a tree, returning tenuously, bit by bit, to normal as their breaths became more and more normal, instead of the ragged gasps of air they had been needing.
No one remembered Mimi, lying unconscious on the ground.
All their heads shot around as they heard a loud sound from where they had just fled from. Not the creature, of that though could be certain. This was a scream instead a high-pitched scream. A female scream. A scream that abruptly fell silent in mid-scream.
"Mimi!" Matt shouted as he leapt up. Blood rushed around inside his ears as he heard while his head began to feel light, almost as if it was floating off of his shoulders which were beginning to feel more like lead. Almost instantly he fell, face first into the ground, collapsing as his knees buckled out from underneath him. With his head down in the dirt he slipped rapidly into unconsciousness, his body no longer able to, or wanting to, cope with both the physical and mental strains of the last few minutes, a time that seemed like hours to them all.
Gabumon collapsed with a groan a few seconds later, his energy drained along with Matt's. Joe was up as soon as he could, carefully walking over to them lest he faint like they had. Quickly he made a rough check on them, making sure that it was only exhaustion, and maybe shock, that had made them both pass out.
After he was done they pulled Matt and Gabumon underneath some thicker cover, before acknowledging the unspoken decision to get rest themselves. No one even thought about them having a watch while the others slept, something Joe would probably have been glad about had he thought about it. It took mere seconds for them to start surrendering to the same blissful slumber that Matt and Gabumon had already found. Less than two minutes later, all thirteen of them were deeply asleep.
Darkness.
That was all TK saw when he woke up. He waited a while, trying to let his eyes adjust to the gloom. Nothing happened as he waiting, impatiently trying to peer into the encompassing darkness. Hesitantly he stood up, before realising that he couldn't even see the ground. Every source of light had been destroyed it seemed, darkness had won the eternal fight.
One by one the figures of the other digidestined appeared around him, asleep peacefully on the invisible floor, the bright colours of their forms making a stark contrast against the pitch black universe. He looked at them. All were there, all except for Mimi. He had heard her scream after they had been thrown to the ground and stopped running. He had heard the scream end abruptly. He was certain something bad had happened to her. Only one thing stopped him from believing she was dead; his seemingly endless supply of hope deep within, the quality for which he had been chosen to be the bearer of the crest of Hope.
Will I ever see Mimi again? TK wondered. Why did this have to happen to us? WHY? He shouted inside his head, throwing his head towards the starless and empty blackness that the night sky should have occupied.
Because you are a coward… a voice offered in his head.
Unbeknownst to him, the sleeping figure of Tai was enveloped in the darkness. Quickly it sunk beneath the pure black ground, swallowed up by the darkness around him as his courage was swallowed up by the darkness within.
"Wh-who are you?" TK said looking futilely around the echoing void, instantly fully awake, the now familiar feeling of fear returning to him like a punch to the face.
That is irrelevant. I answered your question though. You ran from the clearing. The others had to choose between yourself and Mimi….
"I don't understand, how do you…"
Do not interrupt…. Matt, of course, chose to run after his brother…. You see, you were to blame for this…. Had you cared for her, or any of your companions, you would not have fled like the coward you are…. You would not have fled to leave them to face that thing alone….
The sleeping form of Sora slowly sunk into and through the ground while darkness covered over her like a thin but rapidly thickening blanket. Seconds later she disappeared fully, consumed in the same manner as Tai had been before her.
"No…. Surely not…? I couldn't be. Could I?" TK asked in whispers to the still air.
You should know that you were the one who caused her death…. The other members of your group know this…. Only you are too blind to know the truth….
Like the two before him Izzy disappeared, eaten up quickly by the pitch black ground, once more without TK even noticing that one of his friends had gone missing.
They will never trust you again… TK…. You let them down…. You failed them…. They are not fools enough to place trust in a failure like you once more….
"No…. Please…. I-I didn't kill her…."
Joe's form disappeared in what was almost a flash of even more darkness. His still form rushing beneath the ground instantly, this time attracting TK's attention. Slowly he looked around, seeing only Matt's slumbering body on the ground before him now as his mind quickly tried to fathom what had happened to the others.
You did not even notice your comrades disappearing…. You did not even notice your friends being consumed by the darkness…. There is no place in you for friendship….
TK locked his eyes onto Matt's face. "No…. Leave him alone… please…."
I do nothing to these slumbering forms…. Their disappearances are all down to you…. As Mimi's death was down to you…. As this one is disappearing now….
TK looked on in horror as the darkness cut into Matt, eating him up quickly, maggots of darkness consuming his clothes and flesh in an orgy of feasting, leaving only his bones behind mere seconds later. Even those bones were soon gone, eaten by the invisible black maggots, leaving him alone in this dark universe, just him and the tormenting voice and the darkness.
And when all others are destroyed, Hope too, is destroyed….
The darkness intensified somehow. TK felt something leave him from inside. Courage left him, love left him, all the good qualities that the digidestined were supposed to represent left him. And finally, hope also left him. There was no escape anymore. He had killed Mimi. Now this darkness was coming to kill him.
One last small spurt of hope surged up within him and he looked around, looking for the voice in his head that had so quickly beaten him down into near nothingness. "I didn't kill her, did I…? Please tell me I didn't kill her…."
There was no answer. Only the deathly silence of the darkness greeted his ears this time.
"Answer me!" TK shouted in rage. "Answer me, damn you!"
A shadowy figure stepped towards him; its armoured bulk towered over him, its deep purple glinting, impossibly, off of something in the all encompassing darkness. "I am already damned I think, little boy bearer of Hope. And now it is my turn to damn you…."
TK looked at it, eyes opening wide with fear as a sword extended from its hand with supernatural speed. A scream escaped his lips as the sword hurtled towards him, a dull explosion of sound echoing in his ears as it did so.
A scream rang out throughout the forest, waking the digidestined from their exhaustion induced slumber in seconds. A few seconds of panic passed when they saw TK, now sobbing into his hands instead screaming like a banshee.
They all went over to TK, ready to comfort the youngest member of the group from whatever nightmare he had had. Probably something to do with Mimi being left behind by them, none of them had had particularly pleasant dreams that night.
Matt knelt down next to TK as the others stood or crouched a little further away from him, hanging back to let the brothers comfort each other. "It's ok TK, it was just a dream. Just a bad dream. Everyone gets them once in a while. We're all tired. Why don't you go back to sleep?"
"It wasn't a dream! Mimi isn't here, is she? I got her killed!" TK screamed once more, his voice quivering and tears streaming down his eyes. "I killed her!"