"Hikari. Time for bed."
Kari glanced up from the travel magazine she had been reading with Gatomon. The glossy pages, laden with brilliantly colored photographs of faraway places entranced her. She wanted to be able to take pictures like those. Someday perhaps she would.
"Put away the magazine and turn out the light," came her mother's voice. Kari sighed. Sometimes she thought her mother could see right through walls. "You can read it tomorrow."
Kari dutifully turned out the light, and climbed into her narrow bed. Gatomon was already asleep, her breathing slow and even. As Kari slid beneath the blanket, a thought crossed her mind.
"Mother?" asked Kari, even as drowsiness crept in, her eyelids getting heavier by the second.
"Yes, Kari?"
"Do you think that someday I could have a camera?"
There was a pause. "If it's important to you. We can talk about it in the morning. Now go to sleep."
Kari smiled, turned over, and was asleep.
Kari sighed, as hands moved deftly over her back, massaging away aches and tension she hadn't even noticed. She burrowed into his side, mouth nuzzling like a newborn, seeking. Fingers traced along her jawline, tilting her chin upward. Her lips parted in surprise, then, only to be covered by another's. Warm and firm, they pressed against hers. Something soft and moist traced the contours of her lips, before slipping into her mouth. Kari froze, even as her body betrayed her, eager for more. No one had ever kissed her like that.
"Open your eyes." A low soft male voice.
Kari obeyed. Until that moment, she was unaware that her eyes were closed. Mocking cold blue eyes met her stunned brown ones. She cried out, and struggled furiously, recognizing her assailant instantly. He laughed at her as she tried to free herself, crimson lips open to reveal fangs sharp as razors. "Do you think that you will ever escape me?"
Kari blanched in terror. "Myotismon."
Myotismon merely nodded. His arms wound around her, imprisoning her tightly. One hand knotted in her hair painfully, jerking her head back, and exposing her throat to him. Kari fought him, even as his greedy mouth drew closer to her tender flesh, tiny fists flailing at him. Her heart raced within her narrow chest, as she felt his breath upon her. She felt nakedly helpless. He drew her close to himself. "Ah, yes. At last, I will have my revenge." She felt his lips touch her throat.
Kari woke then, body trembling, gasping. A dream, she thought. It was just a dream. Somehow she could not quite convince herself of that.
"Kari?" A soft voice in the darkness.
Kari's head snapped around. She turned to see Gatomon peering up at her, tail moving in restless circles. "Oh, Gatomon. You startled me."
"What's wrong?" Gatomon burrowed back into Kari's side, half asleep. But her eyes, bright blue, never left Kari's face.
Kari shivered, forcing the fear away. "Just a bad dream. It's okay."
Gatomon glanced at Kari's pallid face. Even during the worst moments of her life under Myotismon's mastery, she had never had dreams that bad. Something was wrong. She could feel it, deep inside. But it was too vague, nothing she could put words to. Like the first breath of frost in the fall that presaged the coming of winter, its presence was invisible, yet tangible. A most subtle menace. All she could do was hope that Kari would tell her if things got too bad.
Gatomon yawned, unable to keep her eyes open. Soon warmth and softness lured her back into deep sleep.
Kari watched her friend fall asleep. She was relieved, not wanting to explain the dream she'd just had. The sight and feel of it was all too clear. It was so real.
Just a bad dream. Kari lay back down, eyes open, and unseeing, into the darkness of her room. She raised a tentative hand to touch her lips, now tingling. Somehow she could still feel the press of Myotismon's lips on her mouth, and on her--
Kari knew she was blushing. Her cheeks burned with sudden heat. An odd sensation came over her, like a wild bird trapped within her chest, fluttering frantically.
Methodically she willed her mind to put aside the dream, empty itself of trivial matters. She was tired, and wanted to sleep. It was only a dream. She wanted very much to believe that.
An hour passed before she could relax enough to fall asleep once again.
Myotismon wandered aimlessly, the night breezes brushing through his hair. He had not had a dream like that since well before his death. Kari's eyes, filled with fear, staring up at him, even as his mouth had covered her throat. Unpleasant memories came with it, vivid images of his many victims. After so long, he had forgotten how many he had killed. Until now, there had been no reason to remember.
Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon. He remembered their faces as he blasted them into oblivion for their foolishness and disobedience. At the end, neither feared him. Even if he did not care for their motives, he respected their conviction. And, in an odd way, he had missed them. So very little remained of what he was--for good or bad. He now understood what it meant that there was something worse than death, and that was to be completely forgotten.
He laughed, feeling no mirth. Kari would surely not forget him. But he did not want to be remembered that way anymore.
"Kari!"
Kari looked up from the book she was reading. Tai stared at her, leaning against the doorway to her bedroom. "Dinner's ready. Didn't you hear me call you?"
"No," Kari admitted.
"Hey, where's Gatomon?" asked Tai, looking around their room.
"She wanted to see TK and Patamon before she returned to the Digital world, and told me not to wait for her," said Kari.
"Well, yeah," said Tai. "Matt is bringing Gabumon over later." He sauntered out the door. "Come on, then. Dinner's waiting."
Kari stood up. She stretched lazily like a cat, luxuriating in the pleasure it gave. Memory returned, spilling images and sensations into her mind...the velvet soft firmness of lips against hers. She remembered the dream, and blushed vivdly at the recollection of another's touch. So alien, yet familiar. Unwanted, yet... She could not bring herself to admit to wanting such a thing, and that set her off to blushing yet again. Just as well nobody could see her...
"Hey, what's wrong?"
Kari, lost in thought, ran into her brother, who now looked at her, frowning. "What do you mean?"
"Your face is all red. Are you feeling okay?"
Kari turned scarlet all over again. "Ummm...sure, Tai. I...think I might be allergic to something." She put her hand to her face. Not surprisingly, it was hot.
Tai seemed unconvinced. "If there's anything wrong with you, tell someone? I don't want to see you get sick again, like that one time."
Kari nodded. "I promise."
Tai grinned. Kari nodded, her lips curved into a slight fond smile. Being overly serious was never his strong suit anyway. "Hey, race you to the table?"
"Ha! Bet I beat you!" laughed Kari, pushing away the memory. It was, after all, just a dream.
Both dashed down the hall towards the dining room table.
"Myotismon? Your move."
Myotismon glanced toward the chess board. Wizardmon peered up at him, waiting his turn. Try as he might, he could not achieve the concentration to play properly. Long fingers hovered over alabaster and gold pieces. Finally he made his play, taking one of Wizardmon's pawns with his sole remaining bishop.
"Myotismon, something troubles you. Care to tell me what it is?"
Myotismon glanced up from the chess board he had been staring at, without the slightest trace of comprehension. "Eh? What makes you say that?"
"You may be many things, but one of them is not careless. Usually." Wizardmon gestured toward the chess men. "Unless you were trying to put yourself in check?"
Myotismon glanced over, and sighed. Not only check, but mate in three moves.
"So tell me," said Wizardmon.
"I see no point in doing so," said Myotismon, dismissing his defeat with a flick of his fingers. "Relating my problems to you solves nothing."
"Uh-huh," said Wizardmon, with a low chuckle. "I see. Having bad dreams again, are you?"
Myotismon's eyes narrowed in a cold stare. "And if I am?" There was no reason to pretend otherwise. Here, inside the megalithic mainframe, there were no secrets.
"They disturb you, do they not? Perhaps there is something in them to be learned." Wizardmon deftly set up the chess board again.
"They disturb me because they are disturbing," explained Myotismon, a trace of condescention threading through the words. "They would probably disturb anyone in my circumstances." He despised having to state the obvious. "Or perhaps you know that, too?"
Wizardmon merely grinned. He was too used to Myotismon's haughty ways to let them trouble him. "Truthfully I had not...until now." His bright gray-green eyes sought Myotismon's crystal blue ones. "I never knew you felt that way about her, either. Perhaps people can and do change. It should be interesting to see what happens."
Myotismon was baffled, a fact he did nothing to hide. "Her?"
Wizardmon nodded, even as he put the last piece, the black king, into place. "Kari. One of the Digidestined." His grin widened. "As I recall, you tried your best to kill her, did you not?"
"If I was to rule the real world, as well as the digital world, she had to die." Myotismon shrugged. "Wasn't it enough that she lived and I perished? At the time, her death would simply have been the means to an end. Nothing more."
"No more than that?" said Wizardmon. "Well, time will tell."
The corners of Myotismon's mouth twisted downward. He refused to be baited into asking a question he truly did not want answered. Instead he changed the subject. "When can I expect this resurrection you keep needling me about?"
Wizardmon grew serious. "I am not privy to such knowledge. All that I know is, when the time is right, you will know."
Myotismon became annoyed, as he always did, given the topic. "I have yet to be convinced of the legitimacy of this." He rose from his chair.
"Are you not?" This time, Wizardmon openly laughed. "Soon you will be."
Another bit of cryptic, esoteric wisdom, thought Myotismon wearily, as meaningful as...what did the humans call it? A fortune cookie message.
"Face it, Myotismon," said Wizardmon. Myotismon paused. "What disturbs you more than anything else is the utter lack of control you now have."
Myotismon fell silent. At length he spoke. "Yes, it is," said he, in a rare admission.
With that, he turned and left.
Myotismon laughed with the voice of a dark god. No...not Myotismon. He was VenomMyotismon now, with enough hunger to devour worlds. King of the Undead, soon to be Emperor of all that existed. Power seethed within his now-giant frame. There was now nothing he could not do. Here, now, the Prophecy no longer mattered.
This time would be different. The ragtag group of children, known to the world as the Digidestined, would not stop him from achieving his desire. How puny and pointless his enemies now seemed, their digimon weak and ineffectual against his might.
With a brush of his hand, buildings collapsed, and power lines snapped and erupted in a shower of brilliant sparks. VenomMyotismon felt countless gigavolts of electricity surge through his hands, no more than a mild tingle.
Ah, his most hated foes. Angemon and Angewomon hovered nearby, radiant beings of utter hypocrisy and self-righteousness. Their mere existence infuriated him. A single backhanded slap knocked them from the air, sent them tumbling to the ground.
From his lofty height, VenomMyotismon looked down to see both Digidestined and their companion digimon, marshalling their strength. It mattered not. Once again, his attention strayed to the eighth child, Hikari. With but a single step, he could crush her out of existence. Never again would his humiliation at her tiny hands plague him. Once the worlds were plunged into eternal darkness, he would cleanse any trace of his shameful defeat.
Kari looked up at him. Across the improbable difference of space and mind, their eyes met, and VenomMyotismon knew a wash of emotions like no other. Astonishment and impotent hatred seethed within him, as the truth slowly dawned. No matter what he did, he could not conquer her. Kari, the Digidestined eighth child, bearing the Crest of Light, who alone stood before him without hate. He could destroy her, but never defeat her.
Fury in a hot crimson wash took possession of him. He brought one monstrous foot down on them, and stamped. He reveled in the raw screams, suddenly cut off, and the brittle snapping of breaking bones, much like treading on dry twigs and branches.
It was done. He was free of her, of them. Free to conquer and ravage. His destiny loomed before him, waiting to be realized. The prize of two worlds to rule lay just beyond his grasp. But VenomMyotismon turned from it.
He was victorious, yes. But it was an pyrrhic victory at best, devoid of satisfaction. The faint sound of humans screaming in terror and grief assailed his ears as he stared down at his new domain, and the bloody smear that had once been eight children. There was nothing left but smoke, rubble and a gnawing emptiness. Comprehension grew within him, as harsh and merciless to him as the light of the sun. He understood all too well, now. True, he had achieved his goal. But it was not truly his anymore.
Her eyes. Even dead as she was, VenomMyotismon realized that he could still see her eyes, clear and sorrowful. The pity in them burned his spirit like acid.
Tears rained down on him from the grim, overcast sky. Something vital was missing, though he could not explain it. Gone forever, and nothing would ever be the same again. He looked up, as the rain beat down on him, cold and unrelenting, and washed him away.
Myotismon woke, then. His cheeks were oddly wet. With confusion, he wiped away the moisture, feeling the void within him grow ever wider and deeper. Sleep, once his only solace, now gave him no comfort. There was nowhere to go.
No matter. He was still Myotismon. He had to be. Now more than ever before, it was all he had left.
Kari sat up in bed, so suddenly she nearly catapulted off the mattress. Her heart was pounding in her narrow chest. A terrible dream. She could feel herself even yet being crushed under the monstrous foot. VenomMyotismon's demonic grin lingered in her memory.
As always, Gatomon was there. "Another bad dream?" She curled around Kari, tail idly flicking.
"Yes," gasped Kari, hand pressed to her forehead, as she tried to calm herself.
"Kari, tell me. If it scares you this much, you should tell someone," said Gatomon. "You know how much I care about you, don't you?"
Kari nodded mutely. "It was Myotismon. VenomMyotismon, actually."
"VenomMyotismon! But he's dead!" protested Gatomon. "How can this be?"
"I don't know," admitted Kari. "But every time I go to sleep, he's there! What can this mean?"
Gatomon fell silent, tail lashing back and forth in agitation. "I don't know." She curled up against Kari's shoulder.
Kari snuggled Gatomon, her mind blank.
Between the idea
And the reality
An odd feeling came over Kari, as a snatch of verse occurred to her. She recalled it as something she had read once in a literature class.
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
A poem. Kari remembered it. The Hollow Men. She had to memorize it to recite in class.
Between the conception
And the creation
T.S. Eliot. That was the name of the writer. Kari had struggled with that poem. Try as hard as she might to understand it, it never meant anything to her beyond its words.
Between the emotion
And the response
Now it was a clue. It had to mean something.
Falls the Shadow
It did mean something. Kari understood.
"Between the darkness and the light falls the shadow," said Kari, without thinking. She was startled to hear her own voice. Those weren't the words of the poem. But it made more sense to her now.
"What does that mean?" asked Gatomon, now thoroughly confused.
Kari bit her lip. "It means I have to go back."
Myotismon stood in darkness, one shadow among many. He stared out at a world now alien to him, every detail limned in painfully harsh brightness. Fatigue pulled at him, blurring his thoughts. In annoyance, he brushed the sensations away, only to have them return.
"Avoiding the situation will avail you naught, Myotismon."
Myotismon's head snapped round at the sound of Wizardmon's voice. "Don't you have anyplace better to go?" The light still bothered him, illogical as that was. "If I am dead, then there is no need to sleep, or to feel tired."
Wizardmon slowly crossed the great hall. "Perhaps old habits die hard, Myotismon." "And perhaps there is something you need to do."
"Just perhaps it is something you don't know anything about," said Myotismon, fingers pressed to his temples. "Do you have nothing better to do?" He moved away from the windows, and into darker shadows. The ragged shreds of his headache slipped away.
"Than to minister to your needs? I think not," said Wizardmon, smiling. "This is far too important a matter to leave to chance."
Myotismon favored Wizardmon with a weary glare. "And because of this, you want to send me to bed, like any disobedient child?"
Wizardmon's eyebrows rose. "I have seen nothing yet capable of making you do something you don't want to. But tell me this." He moved closer, bright grey-green eyes probing Myotismon's crystal blue ones. "Why do you spurn sleep so adamantly?"
Myotismon did not answer. His eyes, half-lidded and uncomprehending, closed.
Wizardmon muttered under his breath, and grabbed Myotismon by the arm. "Come with me."
Myotismon, too tired to protest, followed Wizardmon down to the crypt.
Gatomon was aghast. "Back? To what?" She stood directly in front of Kari. "And better still, why?"
Kari stopped, eyes wide, filled with visions of things imperceptible. "To do what we always do. We have to save the world."
"But we have saved the world," protested Gatomon, frowning in displeasure. "Twice, now. What more could we do?" Her long pink tail lashed back and forth, restively. "Piedmon and the rest of the Dark Masters have been defeated. What else could there be?"
Kari shrugged, her eyes wide and unfocused. "I don't know. For that matter, I may never know." She rose, and paced slowly. Gatomon looked on, her eyes never leaving Kari's now troubled face. "I can feel it. It's something I have to do, in order to make the right things happen." A small, wan smile turned up the corners of her mouth. "Sometimes even destiny needs help, it seems."
Gatomon was now completely baffled. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know," said Kari. "But it's true. I don't know why or how. You're just going to have to trust me."
Gatomon looked dubious, but said nothing.
Kari picked Gatomon up and hugged the catlike digimon to her small chest. She kissed the furry pink brow. "I'll be fine. You'll see."
Gatomon opened her mouth to speak.
"And I'll call you if I need you," continued Kari, smiling.
"But how did you...?" began Gatomon. She thought about it. "Never mind. After all this time, knowing you as I do? I have no reason to be surprised."
"Well, it was a logical question on your part, and not hard to figure out," admitted Kari, slipping back into bed. She yawned hugely. "Guess I won't have any trouble getting back to sleep."
"No, I suppose not," replied Gatomon, as she settled in beside Kari, curling up. Kari burrowed deeper into the covers. "Gatomon?"
"Yes, Kari."
"Remind me never to take any literature classes again."
Gatomon was confused yet again. Just one of those nights when nothing made sense. "Literature classes?"
"Never mind."
Kari glanced up from the travel magazine she had been reading with Gatomon. The glossy pages, laden with brilliantly colored photographs of faraway places entranced her. She wanted to be able to take pictures like those. Someday perhaps she would.
"Put away the magazine and turn out the light," came her mother's voice. Kari sighed. Sometimes she thought her mother could see right through walls. "You can read it tomorrow."
Kari dutifully turned out the light, and climbed into her narrow bed. Gatomon was already asleep, her breathing slow and even. As Kari slid beneath the blanket, a thought crossed her mind.
"Mother?" asked Kari, even as drowsiness crept in, her eyelids getting heavier by the second.
"Yes, Kari?"
"Do you think that someday I could have a camera?"
There was a pause. "If it's important to you. We can talk about it in the morning. Now go to sleep."
Kari smiled, turned over, and was asleep.
Kari sighed, as hands moved deftly over her back, massaging away aches and tension she hadn't even noticed. She burrowed into his side, mouth nuzzling like a newborn, seeking. Fingers traced along her jawline, tilting her chin upward. Her lips parted in surprise, then, only to be covered by another's. Warm and firm, they pressed against hers. Something soft and moist traced the contours of her lips, before slipping into her mouth. Kari froze, even as her body betrayed her, eager for more. No one had ever kissed her like that.
"Open your eyes." A low soft male voice.
Kari obeyed. Until that moment, she was unaware that her eyes were closed. Mocking cold blue eyes met her stunned brown ones. She cried out, and struggled furiously, recognizing her assailant instantly. He laughed at her as she tried to free herself, crimson lips open to reveal fangs sharp as razors. "Do you think that you will ever escape me?"
Kari blanched in terror. "Myotismon."
Myotismon merely nodded. His arms wound around her, imprisoning her tightly. One hand knotted in her hair painfully, jerking her head back, and exposing her throat to him. Kari fought him, even as his greedy mouth drew closer to her tender flesh, tiny fists flailing at him. Her heart raced within her narrow chest, as she felt his breath upon her. She felt nakedly helpless. He drew her close to himself. "Ah, yes. At last, I will have my revenge." She felt his lips touch her throat.
Kari woke then, body trembling, gasping. A dream, she thought. It was just a dream. Somehow she could not quite convince herself of that.
"Kari?" A soft voice in the darkness.
Kari's head snapped around. She turned to see Gatomon peering up at her, tail moving in restless circles. "Oh, Gatomon. You startled me."
"What's wrong?" Gatomon burrowed back into Kari's side, half asleep. But her eyes, bright blue, never left Kari's face.
Kari shivered, forcing the fear away. "Just a bad dream. It's okay."
Gatomon glanced at Kari's pallid face. Even during the worst moments of her life under Myotismon's mastery, she had never had dreams that bad. Something was wrong. She could feel it, deep inside. But it was too vague, nothing she could put words to. Like the first breath of frost in the fall that presaged the coming of winter, its presence was invisible, yet tangible. A most subtle menace. All she could do was hope that Kari would tell her if things got too bad.
Gatomon yawned, unable to keep her eyes open. Soon warmth and softness lured her back into deep sleep.
Kari watched her friend fall asleep. She was relieved, not wanting to explain the dream she'd just had. The sight and feel of it was all too clear. It was so real.
Just a bad dream. Kari lay back down, eyes open, and unseeing, into the darkness of her room. She raised a tentative hand to touch her lips, now tingling. Somehow she could still feel the press of Myotismon's lips on her mouth, and on her--
Kari knew she was blushing. Her cheeks burned with sudden heat. An odd sensation came over her, like a wild bird trapped within her chest, fluttering frantically.
Methodically she willed her mind to put aside the dream, empty itself of trivial matters. She was tired, and wanted to sleep. It was only a dream. She wanted very much to believe that.
An hour passed before she could relax enough to fall asleep once again.
Myotismon wandered aimlessly, the night breezes brushing through his hair. He had not had a dream like that since well before his death. Kari's eyes, filled with fear, staring up at him, even as his mouth had covered her throat. Unpleasant memories came with it, vivid images of his many victims. After so long, he had forgotten how many he had killed. Until now, there had been no reason to remember.
Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon. He remembered their faces as he blasted them into oblivion for their foolishness and disobedience. At the end, neither feared him. Even if he did not care for their motives, he respected their conviction. And, in an odd way, he had missed them. So very little remained of what he was--for good or bad. He now understood what it meant that there was something worse than death, and that was to be completely forgotten.
He laughed, feeling no mirth. Kari would surely not forget him. But he did not want to be remembered that way anymore.
"Kari!"
Kari looked up from the book she was reading. Tai stared at her, leaning against the doorway to her bedroom. "Dinner's ready. Didn't you hear me call you?"
"No," Kari admitted.
"Hey, where's Gatomon?" asked Tai, looking around their room.
"She wanted to see TK and Patamon before she returned to the Digital world, and told me not to wait for her," said Kari.
"Well, yeah," said Tai. "Matt is bringing Gabumon over later." He sauntered out the door. "Come on, then. Dinner's waiting."
Kari stood up. She stretched lazily like a cat, luxuriating in the pleasure it gave. Memory returned, spilling images and sensations into her mind...the velvet soft firmness of lips against hers. She remembered the dream, and blushed vivdly at the recollection of another's touch. So alien, yet familiar. Unwanted, yet... She could not bring herself to admit to wanting such a thing, and that set her off to blushing yet again. Just as well nobody could see her...
"Hey, what's wrong?"
Kari, lost in thought, ran into her brother, who now looked at her, frowning. "What do you mean?"
"Your face is all red. Are you feeling okay?"
Kari turned scarlet all over again. "Ummm...sure, Tai. I...think I might be allergic to something." She put her hand to her face. Not surprisingly, it was hot.
Tai seemed unconvinced. "If there's anything wrong with you, tell someone? I don't want to see you get sick again, like that one time."
Kari nodded. "I promise."
Tai grinned. Kari nodded, her lips curved into a slight fond smile. Being overly serious was never his strong suit anyway. "Hey, race you to the table?"
"Ha! Bet I beat you!" laughed Kari, pushing away the memory. It was, after all, just a dream.
Both dashed down the hall towards the dining room table.
"Myotismon? Your move."
Myotismon glanced toward the chess board. Wizardmon peered up at him, waiting his turn. Try as he might, he could not achieve the concentration to play properly. Long fingers hovered over alabaster and gold pieces. Finally he made his play, taking one of Wizardmon's pawns with his sole remaining bishop.
"Myotismon, something troubles you. Care to tell me what it is?"
Myotismon glanced up from the chess board he had been staring at, without the slightest trace of comprehension. "Eh? What makes you say that?"
"You may be many things, but one of them is not careless. Usually." Wizardmon gestured toward the chess men. "Unless you were trying to put yourself in check?"
Myotismon glanced over, and sighed. Not only check, but mate in three moves.
"So tell me," said Wizardmon.
"I see no point in doing so," said Myotismon, dismissing his defeat with a flick of his fingers. "Relating my problems to you solves nothing."
"Uh-huh," said Wizardmon, with a low chuckle. "I see. Having bad dreams again, are you?"
Myotismon's eyes narrowed in a cold stare. "And if I am?" There was no reason to pretend otherwise. Here, inside the megalithic mainframe, there were no secrets.
"They disturb you, do they not? Perhaps there is something in them to be learned." Wizardmon deftly set up the chess board again.
"They disturb me because they are disturbing," explained Myotismon, a trace of condescention threading through the words. "They would probably disturb anyone in my circumstances." He despised having to state the obvious. "Or perhaps you know that, too?"
Wizardmon merely grinned. He was too used to Myotismon's haughty ways to let them trouble him. "Truthfully I had not...until now." His bright gray-green eyes sought Myotismon's crystal blue ones. "I never knew you felt that way about her, either. Perhaps people can and do change. It should be interesting to see what happens."
Myotismon was baffled, a fact he did nothing to hide. "Her?"
Wizardmon nodded, even as he put the last piece, the black king, into place. "Kari. One of the Digidestined." His grin widened. "As I recall, you tried your best to kill her, did you not?"
"If I was to rule the real world, as well as the digital world, she had to die." Myotismon shrugged. "Wasn't it enough that she lived and I perished? At the time, her death would simply have been the means to an end. Nothing more."
"No more than that?" said Wizardmon. "Well, time will tell."
The corners of Myotismon's mouth twisted downward. He refused to be baited into asking a question he truly did not want answered. Instead he changed the subject. "When can I expect this resurrection you keep needling me about?"
Wizardmon grew serious. "I am not privy to such knowledge. All that I know is, when the time is right, you will know."
Myotismon became annoyed, as he always did, given the topic. "I have yet to be convinced of the legitimacy of this." He rose from his chair.
"Are you not?" This time, Wizardmon openly laughed. "Soon you will be."
Another bit of cryptic, esoteric wisdom, thought Myotismon wearily, as meaningful as...what did the humans call it? A fortune cookie message.
"Face it, Myotismon," said Wizardmon. Myotismon paused. "What disturbs you more than anything else is the utter lack of control you now have."
Myotismon fell silent. At length he spoke. "Yes, it is," said he, in a rare admission.
With that, he turned and left.
Myotismon laughed with the voice of a dark god. No...not Myotismon. He was VenomMyotismon now, with enough hunger to devour worlds. King of the Undead, soon to be Emperor of all that existed. Power seethed within his now-giant frame. There was now nothing he could not do. Here, now, the Prophecy no longer mattered.
This time would be different. The ragtag group of children, known to the world as the Digidestined, would not stop him from achieving his desire. How puny and pointless his enemies now seemed, their digimon weak and ineffectual against his might.
With a brush of his hand, buildings collapsed, and power lines snapped and erupted in a shower of brilliant sparks. VenomMyotismon felt countless gigavolts of electricity surge through his hands, no more than a mild tingle.
Ah, his most hated foes. Angemon and Angewomon hovered nearby, radiant beings of utter hypocrisy and self-righteousness. Their mere existence infuriated him. A single backhanded slap knocked them from the air, sent them tumbling to the ground.
From his lofty height, VenomMyotismon looked down to see both Digidestined and their companion digimon, marshalling their strength. It mattered not. Once again, his attention strayed to the eighth child, Hikari. With but a single step, he could crush her out of existence. Never again would his humiliation at her tiny hands plague him. Once the worlds were plunged into eternal darkness, he would cleanse any trace of his shameful defeat.
Kari looked up at him. Across the improbable difference of space and mind, their eyes met, and VenomMyotismon knew a wash of emotions like no other. Astonishment and impotent hatred seethed within him, as the truth slowly dawned. No matter what he did, he could not conquer her. Kari, the Digidestined eighth child, bearing the Crest of Light, who alone stood before him without hate. He could destroy her, but never defeat her.
Fury in a hot crimson wash took possession of him. He brought one monstrous foot down on them, and stamped. He reveled in the raw screams, suddenly cut off, and the brittle snapping of breaking bones, much like treading on dry twigs and branches.
It was done. He was free of her, of them. Free to conquer and ravage. His destiny loomed before him, waiting to be realized. The prize of two worlds to rule lay just beyond his grasp. But VenomMyotismon turned from it.
He was victorious, yes. But it was an pyrrhic victory at best, devoid of satisfaction. The faint sound of humans screaming in terror and grief assailed his ears as he stared down at his new domain, and the bloody smear that had once been eight children. There was nothing left but smoke, rubble and a gnawing emptiness. Comprehension grew within him, as harsh and merciless to him as the light of the sun. He understood all too well, now. True, he had achieved his goal. But it was not truly his anymore.
Her eyes. Even dead as she was, VenomMyotismon realized that he could still see her eyes, clear and sorrowful. The pity in them burned his spirit like acid.
Tears rained down on him from the grim, overcast sky. Something vital was missing, though he could not explain it. Gone forever, and nothing would ever be the same again. He looked up, as the rain beat down on him, cold and unrelenting, and washed him away.
Myotismon woke, then. His cheeks were oddly wet. With confusion, he wiped away the moisture, feeling the void within him grow ever wider and deeper. Sleep, once his only solace, now gave him no comfort. There was nowhere to go.
No matter. He was still Myotismon. He had to be. Now more than ever before, it was all he had left.
Kari sat up in bed, so suddenly she nearly catapulted off the mattress. Her heart was pounding in her narrow chest. A terrible dream. She could feel herself even yet being crushed under the monstrous foot. VenomMyotismon's demonic grin lingered in her memory.
As always, Gatomon was there. "Another bad dream?" She curled around Kari, tail idly flicking.
"Yes," gasped Kari, hand pressed to her forehead, as she tried to calm herself.
"Kari, tell me. If it scares you this much, you should tell someone," said Gatomon. "You know how much I care about you, don't you?"
Kari nodded mutely. "It was Myotismon. VenomMyotismon, actually."
"VenomMyotismon! But he's dead!" protested Gatomon. "How can this be?"
"I don't know," admitted Kari. "But every time I go to sleep, he's there! What can this mean?"
Gatomon fell silent, tail lashing back and forth in agitation. "I don't know." She curled up against Kari's shoulder.
Kari snuggled Gatomon, her mind blank.
Between the idea
And the reality
An odd feeling came over Kari, as a snatch of verse occurred to her. She recalled it as something she had read once in a literature class.
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
A poem. Kari remembered it. The Hollow Men. She had to memorize it to recite in class.
Between the conception
And the creation
T.S. Eliot. That was the name of the writer. Kari had struggled with that poem. Try as hard as she might to understand it, it never meant anything to her beyond its words.
Between the emotion
And the response
Now it was a clue. It had to mean something.
Falls the Shadow
It did mean something. Kari understood.
"Between the darkness and the light falls the shadow," said Kari, without thinking. She was startled to hear her own voice. Those weren't the words of the poem. But it made more sense to her now.
"What does that mean?" asked Gatomon, now thoroughly confused.
Kari bit her lip. "It means I have to go back."
Myotismon stood in darkness, one shadow among many. He stared out at a world now alien to him, every detail limned in painfully harsh brightness. Fatigue pulled at him, blurring his thoughts. In annoyance, he brushed the sensations away, only to have them return.
"Avoiding the situation will avail you naught, Myotismon."
Myotismon's head snapped round at the sound of Wizardmon's voice. "Don't you have anyplace better to go?" The light still bothered him, illogical as that was. "If I am dead, then there is no need to sleep, or to feel tired."
Wizardmon slowly crossed the great hall. "Perhaps old habits die hard, Myotismon." "And perhaps there is something you need to do."
"Just perhaps it is something you don't know anything about," said Myotismon, fingers pressed to his temples. "Do you have nothing better to do?" He moved away from the windows, and into darker shadows. The ragged shreds of his headache slipped away.
"Than to minister to your needs? I think not," said Wizardmon, smiling. "This is far too important a matter to leave to chance."
Myotismon favored Wizardmon with a weary glare. "And because of this, you want to send me to bed, like any disobedient child?"
Wizardmon's eyebrows rose. "I have seen nothing yet capable of making you do something you don't want to. But tell me this." He moved closer, bright grey-green eyes probing Myotismon's crystal blue ones. "Why do you spurn sleep so adamantly?"
Myotismon did not answer. His eyes, half-lidded and uncomprehending, closed.
Wizardmon muttered under his breath, and grabbed Myotismon by the arm. "Come with me."
Myotismon, too tired to protest, followed Wizardmon down to the crypt.
Gatomon was aghast. "Back? To what?" She stood directly in front of Kari. "And better still, why?"
Kari stopped, eyes wide, filled with visions of things imperceptible. "To do what we always do. We have to save the world."
"But we have saved the world," protested Gatomon, frowning in displeasure. "Twice, now. What more could we do?" Her long pink tail lashed back and forth, restively. "Piedmon and the rest of the Dark Masters have been defeated. What else could there be?"
Kari shrugged, her eyes wide and unfocused. "I don't know. For that matter, I may never know." She rose, and paced slowly. Gatomon looked on, her eyes never leaving Kari's now troubled face. "I can feel it. It's something I have to do, in order to make the right things happen." A small, wan smile turned up the corners of her mouth. "Sometimes even destiny needs help, it seems."
Gatomon was now completely baffled. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know," said Kari. "But it's true. I don't know why or how. You're just going to have to trust me."
Gatomon looked dubious, but said nothing.
Kari picked Gatomon up and hugged the catlike digimon to her small chest. She kissed the furry pink brow. "I'll be fine. You'll see."
Gatomon opened her mouth to speak.
"And I'll call you if I need you," continued Kari, smiling.
"But how did you...?" began Gatomon. She thought about it. "Never mind. After all this time, knowing you as I do? I have no reason to be surprised."
"Well, it was a logical question on your part, and not hard to figure out," admitted Kari, slipping back into bed. She yawned hugely. "Guess I won't have any trouble getting back to sleep."
"No, I suppose not," replied Gatomon, as she settled in beside Kari, curling up. Kari burrowed deeper into the covers. "Gatomon?"
"Yes, Kari."
"Remind me never to take any literature classes again."
Gatomon was confused yet again. Just one of those nights when nothing made sense. "Literature classes?"
"Never mind."