Digimon Season two and a half Chapter 4: Darkness Gathers, a digimon fanfic

Last time on Digimon.

Anna and Hydromon showed up just in time to save Tyler from Skullgreymon. Anna and Tyler both power merged but were still no match for the monster. When Candlemon and Midokibetamon finally digivolved to champion they were able to take Skullgreymon out. Later, the hospital where Tyler was recovering was attacked by Tuskmon. Tyler and Anna got to meet the other new digidestined Josh and Dave. Josh and Hyogamon took out Tuskmon but Josh wasn't interested in sticking around to make friends. It looked like the trouble was finally over when a column of light just appeared in the sky. What now?

Di Di Di...

Digimon, Digital Monsters, Digimon are the champions!

Change into digital champions, to save and defend the world!

Digimon, Digital Monsters, Digimon are the champions!

Digivolve into champions! Power merge!

Digimon, Digital Monsters, Digimon are the champions!

Digimon, Digital Monsters! Digimon!

DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS

Darkness Gathers

"Mom, I thought you were making normal food for my party."

Mrs. Kamiya looked up from the steaming plate she held with a confused expression on her face. "This is normal. I make eggplant cookies and tofu balls all of the time."

Kari sighed. "I assumed you meant normal for other people."

"You mean everyone doesn't eat these things?", her mom asked innocently.

Kari decided to just give up. "Never mind. I'm sure it will all be fine."

"Will Izzy be coming today? He loves my cooking."

"Izzy's still at school in America mom. He couldn't fly out here just for my birthday."

Mrs. Kamiya sighed. "That's too bad. He's such a polite young man."

As the women talked, Gatomon had snuck into the kitchen and grabbed a cookie off of the towering platter. She sneakily took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. Her face suddenly turned green and she ran from the room with her hands over her mouth. The sounds of retching were suddenly heard from the bathroom.

Mrs. Kamiya looked in the direction of the bathroom. "What is that sound?"

Kari sighed. "I think I better go check."

Kari approached the bathroom door which was only slightly ajar. She knocked tentatively. "Gatomon? Are you okay?"

The large white kitten appeared at the door looking somewhat bedraggled. "Exactly what did I just eat?"

Kari tried to suppress a smile. "It's probably better you don't know."

Gatomon suddenly grasped her stomach and ran for the toilet again. Kari turned away from the spectacle and gently closed the door. She walked back into the kitchen and leaned over the counter.

"I think your cookies just killed Gatomon."

Mrs. Kamiya blinked. "Maybe I used too much salt. I'd better double check the recipe."

Kari discreetly made her way our of the kitchen and into her bedroom. The sight of the huge hole in her wall covered by a sheet of plastic did little to console her. The attack of the night before came rushing back to her. The idea of being attacked by a digimon was not so disturbing although it had been the first time it had happened in her home. Far more disturbing was the fact that she herself had blasted the attacking digimon through a wall using powers she didn't even know she had.

Kari had known that she possessed some level of power beyond that of her digidestined comrades. But she had never experienced anything like what had happened the night before. As amazing as it had been, she was truly scared of what could happen if it turned out she was unable to control these new powers, whatever they were.

On top of that was the fact that her younger friend Rumiko had been revealed to be a newly chosen digidestined during the previous night's commotion. The fact that new digidestined were being chosen meant that there was some threat on the horizon. Whatever was coming, Kari was not looking forward to facing it and she did not envy the new digidestined who would most likely have to take the brunt of whatever came.

Sighing Kari tried to put it out of her mind. Her friends and fellow digidestined would be over soon to help celebrate her eighteenth birthday and Kari did not want to worry them by seeming overly concerned. The party would be an excellent chance for Rumiko to meet some of the other digidestined and get to know more about what her new responsibilities would involve.

The sound of a knock at the door signaled the arrival of the first party guests. Closing her bedroom door behind her Kari made her way into the main room of the Kamiya apartment and put her best smile on. She noted with relief that Gatomon had left the bathroom and was now draped over the top of an armchair with a dazed expression on her face.

As she reached for the doorknob, Kari drew her hand back in shock as she saw that it was glowing faintly. She held it up to the light to examine it again but the glow was gone. Had she imagined it? Slowly she reached for the door again and this time noticed nothing out of the ordinary. She opened the door to find Rumiko standing in the hall holding a small, neatly wrapped package. A yellow ball with a small beak and lightning shaped eyes was perched on Rumiko's shoulder.

Kari bowed slightly and stepped back as Rumiko returned the gesture and entered the apartment. Kari noticed the younger girl was looking fretfully at the lock on the door. Rumiko had kicked the door in the night before to get into the apartment.

"Don't worry.", Kari said with a smile. "My dad fixed it this morning. It was nothing compared to my bedroom wall."

"I'd still like to pay for the damage.", Rumiko said.

Kari waver her off. "Don't be silly. If you hadn't broken in here last night, I'd probably be Asuramon's prisoner by now."

At that moment, Mrs. Kamiya entered the room. "Rumiko! Thank you so much for your help last night. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been there."

"I'm just glad that I..." The sound of a small cough from the creature on Rumiko's shoulder stopped her. "...Larvamon and I were able to help." Rumiko patted the small digimon on the head.

"Well thank you both.", Mrs. Kamiya said with a smile and a bow.

There was another knock at the door. Mrs. Kamiya turned back to the kitchen. "You get your friends settled Kari. I'll finish getting things ready in the kitchen."

Kari opened the door again to meet a grinning young man wearing a leather jacket with flame decals on the arms and collar. "Davis.", she said warmly. "Nice jacket."

Davis looked down at himself with a smile. "Pretty cool huh? Just like the one I used to wear in the digital world." Suddenly noticing Rumiko Davis faltered. "Er...that is...I mean that video game we used to play."

"It's okay Davis.", Kari said. "Rumiko knows about the digital world. In fact, say hello to the latest addition to the digidestined."

Davis raised an eyebrow and gave Rumiko an appraising glance. "No kidding?" He walked over to the girl who stood nearly a foot shorter than him. He made a show of taking her hand and kissing it gently. "Well, we can never have enough beautiful ladies on the team."

Rumiko just gaped at him. "Um, hi."

Kari grabbed Davis' arm and dragged him away. "Take it easy Casanova. She's only thirteen."

Davis grinned mischievously. "Already legal then?"

Kari just shook her head and went to answer the door. A rather disgruntled looking blue lizard holding a wrapped box huffed into he apartment. "Thanks a lot for waiting Davis. I wasn't even on the elevator."

Davis raised his eyebrows innocently. "I'm sorry. I didn't notice."

"Here.", Veemon said dropping the gift on a table and flopping down on the couch.

The door had barely closed before it swung open to reveal Kari's older brother Tai, his roommate and best friend Matt, and Sora a mutual friend and Matt's girlfriend.

Kari ran to hug her brother who returned the embrace. Tai held her at arm's length and looker her over. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine big brother. Just another day in the life."

Tai shook his head. "I'm sorry I wasn't here."

"You're at college now. You can't blame yourself. Besides I'm all right. Thanks to Rumiko."

"Thank you for helping my family.", Tai said to Rumiko.

"And welcome to the team.", Sora added giving Rumiko a hug.

Matt had grabbed Davis who was getting ready to flirt with Rumiko again. "C'mon Davis. Let's use your D-3 to get Gabumon and the others here." Davis grumblingly agreed and followed Matt into a small study where the Kamiyas kept their computer.

Once in the office Davis held his digivice up the computer screen. "Digi-port open." There was a flare of light and a window opened on the screen. The image of a yellow lizard wearing a fur coat could be seen.

"You ready Gabumon?", Matt asked.

"Ready Matt.", the digimon replied. "Agumon and Biyomon are with me."

Matt and Davis stepped back from the computer. "Come on through." There was another flash of light and Gabumon along with two other digimon were standing in the room.

Back in the main room Kari had admitted Yolei and Ken along with their digimon Hawkmon and Wormmon. Ken was carrying a plastic covered tray with a huge cake on it. Much to Kari's relief, Yolei was laden down with bags full of food from her family's convenience store. Kari escorted the couple back into the kitchen where they gratefully divested their loads.

"Why Yolei!", Kari's mother said. "You didn't have to bring all this. I've already made plenty of food for the party."

"Oh well.", Yolei smiled. "I guess we'll just have a little extra."

As soon as her mom's back was turned Kari mouthed the words "Thank you" to Yolei.

"Will you mother be staying for the entire party?", Ken asked politely.

Kari grinned. "No. She'll be leaving soon to get some things for the party with my relatives later. My dad has already made himself scarce."

"Well once she's gone, we can get the special party favors I brought.", Yolei said quietly.

"I heard about the attack last night. Are you all right.", Ken asked.

Kari sighed. "I'm fine I guess. I guess I just wish I knew why Asuramon was after me to begin with."

"Well don't worry.", Yolei said. "No one would dare attack you with all of us here."

Tai was just opening the door to admit the final party guest as they reentered the room. Kari's boyfriend Takeru or T.K. for short came in with his digimon Patamon hovering right behind him.

Kari rushed over to him and they kissed briefly. "Kari...", he began.

"If one more person asks me if I'm all right, I am going to scream.", Kari said with a growl.

"Well I'll try to refrain.". T.K. said with smile.

Mrs. Kamiya came in then. "You kids have fun. I'll be back in a few hours."

As soon as she had left Yolei whispered something to Hawkmon who promptly flew out the window. He returned a moment later carrying a bag filled with bottles of various shapes and sizes.

"Where'd you have that hidden?", Davis asked.

"I had Hawkmon stash it on the roof. Now the party can really begin."

Yolei began to unpack bottles of various brands of beer as well as several bottles of Sake. Davis, Veemon, and Agumon cheered. Tai groaned, and Sora exchanged a worried glance with Matt. Alcohol was difficult to come by in the digital world, so some of the digimon tended to over do it when they had the opportunity to drink.

Agumon had already opened a bottle of beer and was about to pour it into his open maw when Tai grabbed the bottle away from him. "Sorry pal. But alcohol and fire breath do not mix."

Agumon walked away grumbling. "Set a guy's hair on fire once and you're paying for it forever."

While the others selected their drink of choice, Kari and Yolei went to the kitchen to get the food.

"It's too bad the others couldn't make it.", Yolei remarked.

"Yes.", Kari agreed. "Izzy, Mimi, and Joe couldn't get away from their responsibilities in America and Cody's away on a family trip. At least everyone else was able to come."

They worked in silence for a moment. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about what happened last night?", Yolei finally asked.

"I guess I am still kind of freaked out by it.", Kari admitted. "Getting attacked was nothing new, but those weird powers I displayed. It felt so strange. I've known there was something different about me for a long time. I learned that I has abilities none of the other digidestined had back when I first came to the digital world. But this was different. Whatever it was it seemed so primal. I didn't feel like myself when I was using it."

"Well whatever this is about, you're not going to deal with it alone. You've got all of us behind you."

Kari smiled at her friend. "Thank you Yolei. Now let's get this food out there before the guys start eating the furniture."

In the living room, everyone seemed to be having a god time. Tai, Matt, and Sora were keeping an eye on the younger kids to make sure things didn't get out of hand with the alcohol. Their job was made easier by the fact that T.K. and Ken had chosen to refrain from drinking and Rumiko, who had never drank anyway, wasn't really interested. Davis and Veemon were another story. They had each had several shots of Sake and had several more lined up on the table in front of them. Hawkmon had had a shot himself and was working on his second beer. Wormmon clung to a wall nursing a beer and Gatomon was already on her second. Gabumon and Patamon had already had a few and were starting to show it. Agumon kept trying to sneak a bottle but Tai had succeeded in stopping him so far.

Kari sighed as she had to step aside to avoid Patamon who was wobbling unsteadily through the air. "You've really got to stop bringing alcohol when the digimon are around.", Kari said to Yolei.

"Hey it could be worse. At least we won't have to listen to Armadillomon sing."

Yolei set her tray of food down and grabbed a beer for herself.

Davis had abandoned the shots and had walked over to talk to Rumiko. "So your a digidestined huh? I like that in a girl."

Rumiko smiled politely. "So you and Kari have known each other for awhile?"

Davis nodded vigorously. "Oh yes! We go way back. Kari and I have been through a lot together. She used to be crazy about me but I knew T.K. liked her so I did my best to keep things platonic between us."

From nearby Yolei snorted. Davis glared at her. "She had the hots for me too, but she wasn't my type."

Davis noticed that Yolei was now smirking. He slowly followed her line of sight over his shoulder to see Ken standing a few feet away with a bemused expression on his face. Davis swallowed hard and blushed. "Uh, hey Ken. Have you and Rumiko been introduced."

"Only briefly by Kari." Ken shook the new digidestined's hand. "Congratulations. I'm sure you'll do well."

Meanwhile Larvamon had been getting to know the other digimon. Patamon, Veemon, and Gabumon were too drunk to make much in the way of civilized conversation but Agumon and Biyomon were doing their best to give her a crash course on their history.

"So you can both reach the mega level?", Larvamon asked with a tone of awe.

"Well Agumon can.", Biyomon answered. "I've only done it once and I'm not sure if I could again."

"Do you know anything about the other digidestined who were chosen at the same time as Rumiko?", Agumon asked.

Larvamon shook her head. "All I know are that there are four others besides Rumiko. I suppose we should make an effort to find them soon."

"That shouldn't be too hard.", Biyomon said. "Rumiko's digivice has a locator doesn't it?"

"Yes. After the party is over maybe one of the others can come with us so we can go look for the others."

While Larvamon received her education, T.K. and Kari were doing the same for Rumiko.

"So you've all killed digimon before?", Rumiko asked hesitantly.

Kari nodded. "Not personally of course. But our digimon do whatever we need them to do. Because of our emotional connections with them, whenever they kill, it's like we have as well."

Rumiko was quiet for a moment. "What's it like."

T.K. answered this time. "It isn't easy to explain. Sometimes it happens so quickly in the heat of battle that you don't have time to realize what's happened until it's over. But there have also been plenty of times when we've gone into battles knowing that killing our opponents is the only way. That's hard. Most of the digimon we've killed have been evil but that doesn't necessarily make it easier. Making the decision that taking a life is the only option is the worst thing any of us have had to do. We avoid it whenever possible."

"Will I, will Larvamon have to kill?", Rumiko asked.

T.K. and Kari looked at each other. "I'm afraid so.", Kari said. "It may be awhile, but you wouldn't have been chosen if whatever threat is coming would be easy to deal with. Sooner or later, individually or as a group, you and the other new digidestined will have to make a choice between your own life and that of your enemies."

"I don't know if I can do that.", Rumiko said as she hung her head.

"I know you may not think so now. But when the time comes, you'll do what you know you have too. It may seem unfair, but you wouldn't have been chosen if you weren't strong enough to make difficult choices like that."

For the next hour the party continued. At Tai's insistence the drinking was toned down. But by that point some of the digimon had already passed out. After being cut off, Davis had gone to the bathroom and then proceeded to fall asleep in a chair. After most of the food was gone, Kari opened her gifts. Davis had given her a CD of an American band she had never heard of. When she thanked him he woke up long enough to mumble something unintelligible and conked out again. Yolei and Ken gave her a lovely pink dress which she promised to wear at the party for her family later. T.K. gave her a pair of diamond earrings which she promised to thank him properly for later. From Matt was a copy of his band's latest CD as well as an autographed photo of himself which earned him an elbow in the ribs from Sora. Sora's gift was a gift certificate to a store which sold all manner of scented soaps and lotions. Tai gave her a new digital camera which Kari knew must have cost him a fortune. Gatomon gave her a small crystal statue of an angel which Kari loved but she had no idea where the digimon had gotten the money for it. From the other digimon was a basket of fruits and wild flowers gathered form the digital world as well as a coupon for a free meal at Digitamemon's Diner. Rumiko gave her a book of short stories by one of her favorite authors.

Kari thanked them all and at Yolei's urgings went to try on her new dress. While she was away, the digidestined chatted amongst themselves. Tai and Matt removed what was left of the alcohol primarily to keep the remaining digimon out of trouble. Davis woke up and flipped on a small TV in the corner of the room. He absently scanned the channels until he came to a news program. A reporter stood in what appeared to be a warzone but a caption on the bottom of the screen identified the location as a small park on the other side of the city. The park itself had been completely leveled and only a bare lot of scorched earth and smoldering fires remained. The surrounding buildings were mostly intact but all of the windows on the lower floors had been shattered and some of the walls were suffering from partial collapse. Medical crews were treating several injured people and police were interviewing witnesses. Davis turned up the volume attracting the attention of the others. The newscaster was in the middle of his report.

"...claim the damage was caused by a battle between several monsters. This is not the first time such reports have been made. Police have speculated that the damage may have been caused by an exploding gas line and refuse to comment on the possibility of the involvement of the so-called monsters often referred to as Digimon."

"Oh-no.", Sora said.

"Digimon.", Tai groaned. "It has to be."

"Maybe we should go over there. Check it out.", Yolei said.

Matt shook his head. "Whatever happened is already over. The authorities have things under control. There isn't much we could do now anyway."

In her room, Kari was standing in front of a mirror as she smoothed the wrinkles out of her new dress. Yolei had gotten her sizes almost completely right. The dress was a little snug on the waist but that could be easily fixed. She had just picked up a brush to smooth her hair when the voice filled her mind.

"Kari."

Kari looked around her, startled. The room was empty.

"Kari."

"Who's there?", she cried. The voice was quiet, even gentle, but it filled her with dread like nothing else she could remember.

"Come to me Kari."

This time the voice was louder and she knew it came from inside her mind. Sudden, irrational fear flooded her.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"I want you Kari. Only you."

She pressed her hands over her ears as if to shut out voice but it did no good.

"You belong with me Kari. Come to me."

"No!", she screamed. "Leave me alone."

Suddenly cold and menacing the voice spoke so loudly it made her cry out.

"You will be mine! You cannot deny me!"

Kari fell to her knees as the world seemed to turn black around her. Her entire body felt like ice and as she sank to the floor it seemed to give way beneath her. She felt as though she were sinking in quicksand. But she could not move to struggle nor could she cry out any longer. Faintly, far away she heard a door slam and then everything went white.

T.K. had turned away from the T.V. He could have sworn he heard a voice from Kari's room. But everyone was right there gathered around the television. It must have been his imagination. Then he heard the scream. Without thinking he turned and ran for Kari's door. Tai and Matt were right behind him. He heard her cry out again as they reached the door. Unhesitating, he grabbed the doorknob and threw the door open.

The air in the room was icy cold and a frigid wind swept past him although the plastic sheet over the hole on the wall did not so much as flutter. Kari lay on the floor of her room. She was curled in a fetal position with her eyes closed and her hands over her head. Her entire body looked as though it had been stripped of color. Here skin and clothes were all the same dull tone of gray. He had seen her like this once before and he knew what it meant. He rushed forward but had only taken a few steps when the entire room exploded in white light.

T.K. felt himself thrown back as if he had been hit by a truck. He flew backwards into Tai who was only a step behind him and together they sailed through the open door back into the outside hallway. Dazed he stared into the doorway in front of him as the blazing light within blinked out as if it had never been there. He heard Tai groan and felt someone lift him up. It took a moment before he could stand without Davis supporting him. Matt and Ken had entered the room and now Matt came out holding an unconscious Kari in his arms.

"My God, what happened?", Sora asked.

"I don't know.", Matt replied carrying the smaller girl into the living room. "Clear of the sofa for me."

Sora nodded and quickly brushed away the remains of wrapping paper and dishes. Matt gently laid Kari out on the sofa with her head resting on a pillow. She was breathing heavily but other than that she appeared fine. Her skin color had returned to normal and the now rumpled dress was it's normal shade of pink.

The other digidestined stood back, seemingly afraid to get any closer but Davis pushed through them and knelt by Kari's side. Gatomon likewise jumped onto the back of the couch and stared down fearfully at her friend and partner.

"What happened to her?", the cat digimon asked.

"I don't know.", Matt replied. "We heard a scream from her room. T.K. and Tai ran in there and the next thing I know the whole room goes white and they both come flying out of there, literally.

"It happened again.", Rumiko said quietly.

"This is what happened last night?", Sora asked.

"Sort of. Before it was more like Kari just started to glow and then she shot a ray of light out of her hand that knocked Asuramon through the wall."

"Still. This looks like another manifestation of the same phenomena.", Ken said slowly.

Kari groaned slightly and began to stir. T.K. ran to her side and Davis stepped back self consciously.

T.K. gently took her hand. "Are you okay?"

Kari blinked and held her head with her free hand. "What happened? I was trying on my dress and then..." She sat up with a gasp. "The voice!"

"Voice? What voice?", Tai cried.

"I heard a voice calling for me, and then..."

"Kari...", T.K. said slowly. "When we found you, you looked like you did before you were pulled into the dark ocean years ago."

"The Dark Ocean..", Ken said softly.

"Whose voice did you hear Kari?", Sora asked slowly.

Kari shook her head. "I don't know. I didn't recognize it. But the sound of it, it was like hearing pure evil."

Davis spoke up. "You're sure it wasn't...Daemon?"

"No. I couldn't forget that voice."

T.K. frowned. "Those creatures posing as Divermon who brought you to the Dark Ocean, they said they served some kind of undersea master. Could he be the one behind this?"

"Who knows?", Tai said. "We never learned anything else about him. After we sent Daemon into that dimension we never heard from any of them again."

Rumiko spoke up tentatively. "I'm sorry. But I really don't know what you guys are talking about."

As Kari rested the other digidestined filled Rumiko in on what little they knew about the dark ocean. Years ago, shortly after Davis and Yolei became digidestined, Kari had been pulled into another dimension which seemed to be almost entirely covered by a black ocean. The entire place had been shrouded in darkness . Kari had been brought to the dark ocean by a group of creatures who wanted her help in overthrowing their master. Kari had refused and with help from T.K. and Angewomon had escaped.

Later, Kari, Yolei, and Ken had been sent into the dark ocean dimension by another enemy. They had escaped again but learned that Ken himself had been to the dark ocean before although he remembered little of it.

Finally, when an evil digimon known as Daemon had attempted to take the dark spore which had turned Ken into the Digimon Emperor, they had succeeded in opening a portal tot he dark ocean and casting Daemon into it. Since then they had not heard from Daemon or the dark ocean again.

By the time the story was finished, Kari had calmed down and was resting on the couch with T.K. and Gatomon by her side. Tai and Matt had gone to check out her room and found most of the furniture demolished by the same energy wave that threw Tai and T.K. from the room.

Tai sighed as he picked up the remains of a bed leg. "Looks like Kari will be sleeping on the couch for a while."

In the living room, Davis had gone back to watching the T.V. The news continued to give periodic updates on the clean up at the park but no new information was provided. Suddenly a live feed broke into the current report. A reporter stood in front of a hospital as several creatures tore up the street in front of it. Suddenly one of the monsters, a large green one with huge horns coming out of the side of it's head charged at a smaller one with light blue skin and crashed into the front of the hospital tearing a gaping hole in the building.

"Oh geez! Guys! Look at this!"

The other digidestined gathered around the T.V;, including Kari, despite T.K. protests.

"Could these be the same digimon who destroyed the park?", Yolei asked.

"We've got to do something!", Ken cried. "That's a hospital they're tearing up!"

The pictured suddenly dissolved into static as the cameraman apparently lost his nerve and dropped the camera.

"All right guys! Let's get to it!", Davis said jumping up. "Come on Veemon!"

The small blue lizard mumbled something before slipping back into his drunken sleep. Davis groaned.

Patamon and Gabumon were in a similar state. Wormmon had spun a cocoon around himself and was fast asleep on the wall. Biyomon and Hawkmon were conscious and ready to go but Biyomon was still swaying slightly and Hawkmon's voice was slightly slurred.

"I really don't think we should be flying around with those two.", Sora commented.

Only Larvamon, and Agumon were completely sober but Gatomon seemed to have gotten over the effects of her drinks. Tai rejoined them in time to see a recap of the fight footage on the T.V. as well as a promise from the station's reporters that they would get back to the scene as soon as possible.

"All right. Agumon and I will go. The rest of you stay here and make sure Kari stays safe.", Tai said.

"No way!", Kari said stepping forward. "Gatomon and I are coming with you."

"Kari...", Gatomon began.

"No! I'm not going to start ignoring my responsibilities because of this. You might need help Tai, and right now Gatomon and I are the only ones who can give it."

Tai stared helplessly at his sister trying to come up with a valid response.

It was Ken who made the next argument. "Kari. I know better than anyone that the dark ocean is nothing to mess with. And that on top of these new powers you're starting to display means that you need to be careful. I know you want to prove that you're all right but this isn't the time for pride. If these powers of yours flare up again you may be a danger to yourself and Tai."

"But...", Kari tried to protest.

"Ken is right.", T.K. said. "It may be hard to admit it, but something's happening to you and until we figure out what it is you can't just act like it's business as usual."

"I...You're right, I know. I'll stay here. But I still don't like the idea of Tai going alone."

"I'll go with him.", Rumiko said.

"Rumiko, I don't know if you should.", Sora said. "This could be dangerous and..."

"And that's exactly why I should go. You guys are my friends and my teammates now. If there's anything I can do to help then I want to."

"She's right. Whatever this is could be connected to the reason Rumiko was chosen in the first place.", Matt said.

"Okay then, Rumiko and Larvamon will come with us. Hopefully whatever's going on will have already broken up by the time we get there."

The two humans and their digimon headed for the apartment door. "We'll head up to the roof and then you can digivolve to Metalgreymon.", Tai said to Agumon. Hopefully we can avoid too much attention if we fly high enough."

Tai's hand was on the doorknob when Kari screamed.

Her body suddenly convulsing as if electricity were pouring through it, Kari lurched across the room. T.K. and Davis ran to help her but were thrown back as the room suddenly flashed white. Kari cried out as another sudden flash sent the couch and anything else close to her spinning across the room and Kari herself stumbling towards the kitchen. T.K. struggled to his feet but Tai had already sprinted across the room and grabbed Kari by the shoulders.

"Kari, listen to me! You have to calm down before..." He didn't get to finish as another violent flash sent him hurtling away. In the kitchen, Kari grabbed the counter trying to steady herself but her body flashed again reducing the counter to a pile of plastic and wooden splinters. She stumbled backwards approaching the windows on the back wall of the kitchen. She strobed again and this time an entire section of the wall vaporized leaving a hole with nothing but open air behind it.

"Oh my god!", T.K. yelled. "We have to get her away from there!"

Gatomon ran towards her partner on all fours. "Kari! You have to stop!"

Blinded by the convulsions wracking her body, Kari took another step backwards and found nothing beneath her foot. Flailing her arms and screaming she pitched backwards. Only Gatomon grabbing the hem of her dress kept her from falling through the open wall. For a moment Kari hung with one foot on the ledge of the hole and Gatomon trying desperately to pull her back in. Stumbling, T.K. ran to help but a final flash sent both he and Gatomon hurtling away. Kari fell backwards through the hole.

She had only fallen a few feet when the light around her flashed again and this time she simply hung in the air surrounded by a halo of light. The dazed digidestined watched as she floated back up to the level of the hole in the apartment wall. Her back was arched and her arms were spread away from her sides. Her eyes were completely white.

"K-Kari?", Tai called.

If she heard him, Kari gave no indication. She simply continued to float upwards. Once she was suspended well over the level of the apartment rooftop, she topped and hung there in midair. A column of light extended from her body to the ground and into the sky. She stayed like this for a moment and then a bolt of light arced from her body and tore a hole in a nearby rooftop. Another streaked towards the ground and blew a jagged hole in the street below.

By now panic was spreading on the street. All along the street people ran from shops and buildings trying to get away from the sudden destruction. A parked car erupted in flames as another bolt of light struck it causing the people nearby to scream and take cover. A fire hydrant disappeared in a blaze of light sending a geyser of water into the air. A police cruiser pulled up and two officers emerged with their weapons drawn. They stared up in bewilderment at the column of light as it continues to spew destructive bolts into the neighboring buildings and streets. Cautiously the officers raised their guns and prepared to fire at the epicenter of the light. Another blast struck down and hit the front of their car, completely flipping it over. Terrified, the officers turned tail and ran. From the remains of the Kamiya apartment, the Digidestined watched the spectacle in horror.

"What do we do?", Rumiko asked in a whisper.

Gatomon could only stare up at her closest friends. "Oh Kari. Oh no."

"We...we have to do something! We have to help her!", T.K. cried.

"She's...I...I think we have to find a way to stop her. She's...she's dangerous.", Matt stammered.

T.K. spun on his brother. "Dangerous? She can't control herself! Whatever this is, it isn't her fault. We have to help!"

"You're both right.", Ken said. "We have to stop her, help her before she hurts herself or anyone else more than she already has."

"But what do we...?", Yolei was cut off as a fireball shot up from the ground and slammed into Kari.

With the sudden attack, the light around Kari cut out, the pillar of light vanished, and Kari plummeted towards the ground unconscious.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Well it looks like whatever happens this will be a birthday to remember. What's happening to Kari and what's going on with the Dark Ocean? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters.