The child of light stood atop a jagged point, overlooking everything. Her long black hair rustled a bit as she stared down into a dark hole below her. The purplish sky was beginning to fade into a midnight blue as the pit began to stretch wider. ~It won't be much longer now…~
"BOO!" A slight shove almost sent her tumbling over the edge, but she caught her balance in the knick of time. "What's the matter, did I scare you?" The child of darkness smugly grinned, "You should be scared. Four have fallen. And the one who can save them will be terminated shortly. She looked down at the pit. "Quite lovely isn't it? When one is thrown in there, they cannot return unless they have enough hope to overcome the darkness…but if someone could survive the mental anguish it puts you through…they'd deserve to be free…" The child of light shot a glare at her. "Want to test it out? Or maybe I should throw that girl in there first. Hikari, isn't it? Ironic name. If I throw her in there, then your hopes would be lost…what do you have to say to that?" The child of light grasped the one of darkness's arm and continued to glare,
~You shall never win. Are you so foolish?! The balance must be upheld at all costs.~
"No my dear, the darkness can exist without the light. It is you who cannot exist without I." With a cackle, she leapt into the air, "Oh, and I'd start saying your prayers now. Once I have all the light bearers, then you shall not only bow to me, but experience despair at it's extreme…" Vanishing, she left the child of light stunned.
~Hikari, you must stop her…it all depends on you…~
******
As Hikari was in mid-sentence, the front door flew open. A panting pink-haired girl stood in front of them, clutching to the wall. "Minna…I came…as fast…as I could…"
"Mimi-chan?!" She nodded, slipped off her shoes, and ran to embrace Sora.
"I was so worried, I hopped on the fastest flight!"
"I'm ok, it's nothing."
"I'm so glad you're alright!" Mimi hugged her tightly, and Sora warmly smiled and hugged her back.
"I hate to break up the reunion, but we need to get moving." As the two pulled apart, Sora asked,
"But where do we start?"
"Now that we know the one dot was Mimi, I'm sure the other is Ken." Yamato explained.
"Right, so we have to move towards Miyako's house."
"Mimi-chan, do you by chance have your crest?"
"Right here." She touched the pocket of her blouse. Sora nodded approvingly, and Mimi questioned, "Why?"
"You need to hold onto that. They can overpower you with darkness if you don't…and then you'll have a dark spore implanted in you." Hikari explained, and Mimi gulped,
"Charming."
"But wait, how do you suppose we approach this? If Ken's trying to get us to turn, then aren't we playing into his hands? We don't have digimon to back us up. So how will this work?" Silence.
"Well, we can't just stand around here!" Yamato growled, "I mean, c'mon, we have to do something."
"But what? Hikari-chan's crest wouldn't charge by either of us."
"Charge?" Pulling it out, Hikari showed Mimi her darkened crest.
"Ichijouji-kun drained the energy from the crest. I can't use light to stop him…"
"Well then, let me try." Mimi took it and looked at it for a moment. Taking out her crest, she tried touching them together. She tried to fit them together, rubbed them, almost broke them, and then sighed, defeated. "Guess it's not for me to do. But if not me, then who?" The phone rang, and Hikari picked it up,
"Moshi-moshi, Hikari-desu." There was a pause, and Hikari paled a bit. "We'll be right over." Hanging up the phone, she announced, "There's something wrong with Koushiro-san, and Miyako-chan says we need to get over there, now."
******
Iori watched the dot that was seemingly getting closer. Slightly nervous, he picked up the phone to try and call Hikari, only he noticed the dots from her section were moving. Setting the phone back down, he watched the dot some more. It seemed to be really close now. In fact, it was almost as close as-
The doorbell rang. Iori slid off the chair and walked into the living room. Looking out the peephole, he saw Takeru standing there. Breathing a sigh of relief, he opened the door, "Takeru-san, where have you been? We haven't gotten any messages from you for awhile…"
"I know, sorry about that Iori. Didn't mean to worry you."
"Come in, Miyako-san went to go talk to Izumi-sempai. I'm the only one here."
"I see." He stepped over the threshold, closed the door with his foot, and smiled. "Ne, Iori, what kind of creature of darkness scares you?"
"Creature of darkness?"
"You know, like a werewolf, or a-"
"Vampires." He shuddered a bit. "Why do you ask?"
"Really? Vampires. Hm, how interesting."
"Takeru-san, you're really starting to make me nervous…"
"Oh am I?" He grinned, showing slight fangs. Iori's eyes widened and he dashed for Miyako's room, where the phone was. However, Taichi greeted him in front of the desk.
"Hey there Iori, how's it going?" His cynical smile revealed fangs as well.
"Leave me alone!" He went to run, but was grabbed by two pairs of arms.
"We obviously can't do that…"
"You'll tell the others what we've become…"
"Jyou-sempai…Ichijouji-san…"
"Takeru, go on, have the first feast." Ken smiled maliciously. Takeru knelt down to Iori's height, grabbed him by the head and tore it to the side, clamping his jaw onto his collarbone.
"AHHHH!!!" The small boy screamed so much he was crying, but eventually, he fell forward, gray encompassing his body. Takeru paused as energy crackled around him, then faded.
"One down, and oh so many more to go…"
******
Miyako rushed to the door and flung it open for the four to enter. "It's…it's…I've never seen anything like it!" They hurried to Koushiro's room, where he was standing rigidly upright.
"Koushiro?"
"Yamato-san, Mimi-san, Sora-san, Hikari-san…" He sighed heavily. "I'm afraid I can't be of much assistance." He was straining to look over his, and then turned his head back to the front.
"What's wrong with you, why can't you turn around?" Yamato walked around to the front of him. His eyes widened as he began, "Kami-sama, nanio jigoku?!"
"That's what I want to know…"
"What is it?" As everyone filed around, they gasped to see Koushiro half-turned into a statue. From his legs to his chest, he was completely stone.
"But…"
"HOW?!"
"I don't know, and sparatically, the stone would spread a bit more. I have no idea what started it or how to cure it."
"So what do we do?"
"We keep getting backed into corners…"
"We should call Iori and see how much time we'll have until Ichijouji-kun approaches. We should send someone over there, too."
"I forgot all about that in the rush…" Sora lowered her head. Miyako grabbed Koushiro's phone and punched in the number to her home. When no one picked up, she felt a churning in her stomach.
"There's no answer." They all exchanged glances.
"Try the D-terminal." Miyako nodded, and e-mailed him. After a few moments, a response came up,
"Oh, good, I was so wor-"
"What is it?" Hikari looked over her shoulder and covered her mouth. "Kami-sama…"
"Iori bit the dust and it's your turn next. Can't wait to see you in a few. –Takeru." Miyako read for the group to hear.
"Takeru?!" Yamato grabbed it from her hands and scanned the message. He immediately sent a severely pissed off threat to whoever was using his brother's name. A moment later another message appeared, and he read aloud, "I'm not lying and when my face is the last thing you see before you die maybe then you'll realize it…" Choking down his mix of anger, resentment and disbelief, he found no words came to his mouth. The D-terminal slip from his fingers, and fell to the ground.
"I don't believe this." It beeped again, and Hikari hesitantly reached over, picking it up. "Hikari-chan you better be there…your energy is the best of all. And once you fall, all will fall…signed Ichijouji-kun…"
"Do we hide?"
"We can't leave Koushiro here!"
"But how do we fight them?!"
"Don't worry about me, get out of here!"
"No way, we won't sacrifice anyone. Besides, there's only two of them versus the five of us. We outnumber them, they can't possibly get us."
"I hope you're right, Yamato-san."
"I better be right because if I'm wrong, then we're royally screwed…"