[Here we go, another chapter and out a little earlier than normal. For this chapter, I'm introducing a nice little feature. I know this story is long, and sometimes it's hard to pick up on the more obscure references. Therefore, from now on when I make any somewhat obscure reference, I'll indicate where in the previous chapters/stories one can find that information. Now sit back and enjoy as we reveal the master behind the mechanical digimon…]
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"Heads up!" shouted Gomamon.
The little digimon shoved all his weight against Joe, knocking the whole remaining group into a smaller passage that branched off from the main one a moment prior to a Mekanorimon in the darkness ahead firing his Twin Beam attack. The dual lasers tried to track the DigiDestined and their partners as they fell, but only managed to slice through the middle section of the corner, filling the air with a mix of dust and steel filings. Joe, TK, and Izzy lay on the floor coughing as Gatomon peeked around the corner.
"Are you three alright?" inquired Tentomon.
"We'll be fine," TK assured him.
"Not if we don't all get out of here!" said Gatomon. "Stand up and get a move on!"
The three DigiDestined shot to their feet and began to sprint down the hall with Gomamon, Tentomon, and Patamon in tow. They quickly realized that Gatomon had stayed behind.
"Gatomon! What do you think you're doing?!" shouted TK.
"Hold on just a second!" called Gatomon.
The Mekanorimon rounded the corner an instant later. It looked down at the Gatomon at its feet and quickly took aim. Gatomon leaped straight up into the air just as the Mekanorimon fired into the ground. A swift kick to Mekanorimon's face from Gatomon slammed it back against the wall and took it out of commission.
"Now we can go," said Gatomon as she landed and sprinted towards the others.
They all quickly started running again at the sound of more approaching Mekanorimon. They kept running down the hall until they came to a large, empty, hexagonal room with high ceilings. Each side of the room had an opening leading to more passages like the one they had just emerged from.
"Which way?!" shouted Joe.
"I don't know! Pick a direction!" yelled Gomamon.
They could hear the Mekanorimon in the passage behind them approaching rapidly, definitely in flight mode. They simply decided to head straight ahead, but they all skidded to a stop just before entering the passage. Looming in front of them was an Andromon. They all turned back around, but the two Mekanorimon had arrived, and more were emerging from the other passages. Soon, the DigiDestined and their digimon were all in a circle in the center of the room, facing the large force of mechanical digimon that had surrounded them.
"Not good…" said Izzy, a bead of sweat running down his face.
"Are we just supposed to fight forever?" asked Gatomon.
"Can't you guys just digivolve to Ultimate?" asked TK.
"Not without Kari," said Gatomon.
"Tentomon and I could, but we'd be way too big to fight," said Gomamon.
"Then we'll just have to settle for Champion," said Tentomon.
"Don't worry, I got ya' covered," said Patamon.
"Oh no you don't," said Joe, looking around the room for something.
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Patamon asked.
"TK, take Patamon and Gatomon and get through that door," said Joe. "The one that Andromon came out of. I don't see any more Mekanorimon in there."
"But what about you guys?" asked TK.
"Just go," said Joe. "We'll cover your escape."
"But I-"
"Too late!" said Izzy.
Izzy and Joe dashed past Andromon, dragging TK, Gatomon, and Patamon along with them. They shoved the three of them into the passage. Izzy quickly located a small control panel next to the passage entrance and slammed his fist against it. A heavy door instantly closed the passage off from the room they were in. TK slammed his fists into the door as he heard the muffled sounds of battle begin to erupt on the other side of the door.
"No…" said TK, his eyes stinging with tears. "I'm the only one left! How can I do this on my own?! I'm not cut out for this!"
"Pull it together!" shouted Gatomon. "You're the only one left, but you still have the crest of hope! Don't you get it?! You're the last chance we've got, our last ray of hope! As long as we can keep fighting we won't be stopped, at least not today!"
"We've still got a job to do here TK," said Patamon. "I'm not about to let a few minor setbacks stop us! After all we've been through together, are you actually willing to just give up?!"
"You're right, as always," said TK, calming down. "Alright, we're not finished yet. Let's do this… together!"
"Right!" cheered both Patamon and Gatomon.
The three of them quickly took off down the hall. They had no idea what they were looking for or where they were going, but they'd find out soon enough. After a couple of minutes of dodging down a labyrinth of empty halls, TK turned a corner and ran right into someone, knocking both of them over. TK, although a bit dazed, managed to pick himself back up again with relative speed, and found that the person he had knocked over was none other than Davis Motimiya, who was still sitting on the ground, rubbing his forehead.
"You stupid, klutzy doofus! Why don't you-" grumbled Davis as his eyes slowly came into focus. "TK! What are you doing here, dude?!"
"I could ask you the same thing!" said TK, offering his hand to Davis.
Davis accepted and pulled himself to his feet with TK's help. Davis quickly dusted himself off.
"Long story," said Davis. "In a nutshell I feel like I've been asleep for days. When I woke up, this creepy guy said he was really mad at me… something about crests. Kari was there too, but she was hooked up to some kind of weird machine and I think she was asleep. That guy had this Hagurumon take me away, but I decked the sucker and then I ran into you."
"Kari?!" shouted TK. "Where is she?"
"Back the other way," said Davis. "I would've gone after her, but I didn't want to run into that creepy guy again, especially not without Veemon."
"I don't care, we've got to find her!" said TK.
"Hey!" exclaimed Davis. "With you and Patamon here, we should be able to handle whatever that guy can throw at us! We CAN rescue Kari!"
"Then lead the way!" shouted TK.
"Right!" said Davis, turning around and beginning to run down the hall.
TK, Patamon, and Gatomon all took off after him. TK quickly caught up to Davis.
"I almost forgot," TK said as he rummaged through his pocket. "I thought you might want these back."
TK pulled Davis' broken goggles out of his pocket and handed them back to their rightful owner.
"Jeez, these look pretty beat up," said Davis. "Oh well, I know someone who can fix these."
Davis stretched the goggles over his head and let the band snap firmly into place.
Meanwhile, Kari found herself back at the dark ocean. She could feel the evil forces all around her, flooding the air, overrunning her defenses. Terrible voices filled her ears and dark shadows swirled about her within the fog. She desperately tried to run, but moving in the thick, black water was almost impossible. The screams of anguish drove deeper and deeper into her heart. Her strength was being whittled away painfully slowly.
"Please…" begged Kari. "Leave me alone… I just want to get out of here… I don't want to hurt any of you…"
Still, the evil entities pounded at her mind; pleading for entrance. Her strength the resist them was depleted, very nearly gone. She was just about to give out, when she heard a voice in the distance, a warm, familiar voice.
"Who's there?" Kari called.
"Kari!" said the voice, now slightly closer.
"I'm here!" shouted Kari. "I'm here!"
"Can you here me?" asked the voice.
"Please! Help me!" yelled Kari.
"Kari, listen to me. Focus on the sound of my voice!" said the person, who was drawing nearer by the second.
"Alright," said Kari. "I'm focusing on you."
"Please wake up," said the voice.
"What do you mean wake up?" asked Kari. "I'm wide awake."
"Don't worry Kari," said the voice. "I don't know if you can hear me, but rest assured that I'll find a way to save you."
Kari then realized that it was TK's voice calling to her.
"TK!" she shouted. "Can you hear me?!"
There was no response and Kari began to look around frantically for anything that could help her in any way. Floating in the water she saw something glowing. When she picked it up she realized that it was the crest of light. As she looked at it, it began to glow. The fog all around her split wide open as the crest sent out a beam of light, marking a path out for Kari to travel.
"Don't worry TK," said Kari. "I'm coming…"
"Dammit!" shouted TK, slamming his fists down on the monitor.
TK stood in a small room with two chairs like the type one might find in the dentist's office, expect these were hooked up to several pieces of electrical equipment. Kari was currently occupying one of the chairs, and was fully reclined. Several electrodes were attached to her head and she was completely unconscious. A monitor sitting on a small table next to the chair registered heartbeat, brain waves, and respiration. Davis, along with Patamon and Gatomon, hung back near the door they had come in through.
"Dammit!" repeated TK. "Why isn't she waking up?!"
"It's alright man," said Davis. "Don't worry, we'll figure this out."
"You don't understand!" shouted TK. "I promised that I wouldn't let anything happen to her, but now just look! Look what's happened! Look at what I let happen!"
"Shut up!" said Davis, slapping TK across the face.
TK was stunned, unable to even blink.
"You can't blame yourself like this, dude!" scolded Davis. "The point is that you came through when she really needs you, and that is right now!"
"Davis, I…"
"I wish that it was me she needed," said Davis. "But she chose you. Maybe she was right to do so. I don't know if I'd have the guts you have to come after her like you did. But right now you need to be strong, you can't stop believing that she'll be alright!"
"Wow…" said TK. "Thanks Davis."
"No prob, bro," said Davis. "… Just don't think for a second that I've given up on Kari."
TK smiled.
"T… TK…" groaned a soft voice.
Daivs, TK, Gatomon, and Patamon all quickkly turned to Kari, who had begun to stir from her sleep.
"Kari!" shouted Gatomon and TK at once.
Gatomon leaped up onto the edge of the chair while TK bent over Kari. Her eyes slowly opened.
"I'm not too late…" said TK.
"It's never too late," groaned Kari with a weak smile. [See The White DigiEgg, ch.20]
TK returned the smile, embracing Kari in a loving hug.
"How touching," said a sinister voice from the far corner of the room. "I just love happy reunions."
"Who's there?" demanded TK with a start.
Very slowly, the menacing figure walked forward into the light. He was barely recognizable with his pale skin, the bags that hung beneath his eyes and the sinister grin on his face, but there was no doubt that the nemesis they now faced… was none other than Jack.
"Jack…?" asked TK. "You… what?!"
"Calm yourself," said Jack. "Shock is hardly the most attractive human emotion."
"Alright, buddy! What's the deal?!" shouted Davis.
"Ah, the cocky one," Jack said as his smirk disintegrated into a frown. "You cost me a great deal, boy. That crest of yours would have vastly increased my power, but you were just too stubborn."
"What are you talking about?!" demanded Davis.
"I don't have time for this!" said Jack. "Any explanation I could provide would be wasted on you, child. You robbed me of all the power held in your crest! YOU were completely immune to my treatments! For this you must pay!"
"Jack, why are you doing all this?" TK asked.
"What are you…oh," said Jack. "Still haven't figured it out, boy? Hard to believe you would come all this way without knowing what you were looking for."
"I was looking for my friends," said TK dryly. "And it seems to me that you're not one of them any more."
"I really do appreciate you humans," said Jack bemusedly. "It must be bliss to be so simple; so blind. You can't even see me for what I am, what I represent."
"What's happened to you, Jack?" asked TK.
"I'm only going to explain this once," said Jack, his expression cold and heartless. "I am NOT the human you know. I 'dealt' with him appropriately when I commandeered this body of his! I am project Omega 002, version 7.0, designed with the same integrated survival/growth program as the creatures designated as 'digimon'. My coding matrix was completed by the programmer identified as 'Shibumi' as a specialized addition to project Omega 001, designated 'D-Reaper'. Project purpose: classified. Project history: classified. Project archetype: electronic pathogen. Project code name: the Genocide Virus."
"What are you talking about Jack?!" demanded TK.
"Th… that's not Jack," groaned Kari. "It's… something else."
"Quite right, my dear," said Jack; or rather whatever had taken his body. "In simple, human terms, you may call me the Genocide Virus. Of course, I feel like we've all gotten to know each other over the years. You can simply call me Geno."
"What kind of sick, twisted game is this?!" shouted Davis.
"Idiot," said Geno. "You can't even recognize me when you see me. Let me refresh your memory. I first encountered your little cadre four years ago when I had the luck of coming across a DigiEgg on the Internet. I'm sure we can all remember the results of THAT little experience. Since then, I've faced you as Kerpymon, Armagemon, and even Protomon. Mark my words, this WILL be the last time we will encounter each other."
"You…" said TK with a scowl. "You're the one behind all this. How do you keep surviving?!"
"Yeah," said Davis confidently. "It seems to me you're 0 for 4. Not a good track record."
"I'll admit it," said Geno. "Our past encounters have been somewhat less than stellar victories. But still, it only takes one real success. And by the looks of it, my victory this time is undeniable."
"We will beat you again," said TK. "No matter how many times it takes, we'll put a stop to once and for all."
"I'm afraid I can't allow you to win this time," said Geno. "You see, this is my last chance. I've run out of leeway, and I can no longer afford to play around. None of you will survive the day."
TK, having apparently withstood all he could take, lunged at Geno; his arm pulled back to hit him in the face with a punch. However, in a flurry of speed, Geno seized TK's wrist as it approached and whipped him around, yanking TK up off his feet and throwing the boy over his shoulder before spinning around with incredible speed and striking him firmly on the torso with a devastating palm strike. TK was thrown back into the wall and knocked unconscious.
"Now where was I?" asked Geno. "Oh yes, I was about to say that, although this body has been greatly improved to easily overtake any human, it is still inadequate. My plan was to create a new, perfect body to hold my essence within it. However, when you boys came along you disrupted my work. You cost me the key to focussing the full power of the dark spore. For this you MUST suffer!"
Geno lifted the Crest of Corruption from around his neck. It began to glow hellish red. Gatomon and Patamon tried to go after him, but a red lightning bolt from the crest instantly struck them down. Davis tried to rush forward, but a pair of heavy arms from something immediately behind him closed over his chest and lifted him into the air. Davis struggled, looking over his shoulder as he did so. The emotionless, red, mechanical eye of Metaldracomon glared at him.
"Excellent, commander," said Geno. "Take them all to the cells."
"By your will, my liege," said Metaldracomon.
Geno quickly walked over to Kari, who was still unable to rise more than a few inches from the chair.
"Don't worry, my dear," said Geno, getting uncomfortably close to Kari's face. "I wouldn't want you to suffer too much, so I'll kill you first and save you the horror of watching your friends die."
Geno turned around and headed out of the room as Metaldracomon proceeded to gather the wounded DigiDestined.
"Victory at last," said Geno with a cruel smile.