Ysa sat, running her claws over the writing in carved into the walls. The walls shuddered, and the castle trembled. Ysa jerked her paw back, eyes wide. Kay laughed.
"We cannot leave now. The worlds are sealed shut. We cannot leave, and none can come in, save Darkdramon and his kin."
"And Mokushi." Ysa said, quietly.
"And Karen."
"Mokushi does not wish to leave. . ."
Kay paused, and scratched behind his ear. "I don't know about Karen
. . . she's very volatile."
Ysa nodded. The castle shook again.
"What's going on?" Ysa stood, and headed for
the huge doors.
"Don't open the door." Kay said.
"The darkness that eats out the world's soul is here and rending cleaning
ripping out the castle and soon it shall be empty but for the flies."
Ysa looked sick. "So soon?"
"Yes yes of course my master is rising again
and the world will bow to him he laughs so much stronger now blood drip
down walls is his dark power can you see it the dark streams?"
Ysa turned away, and went back to trying to decipher
the writing on the walls.
Ken woke up. His chest and arm hurt.
"Feeling better?" someone beside him chirped, cheerfully.
" . . . no."
"Oh. Well, I hope you get better soon."
" . . . where am I?" he said, not quite awake and
still preoccupied with the fact that he felt like hell.
"Karen's tower." The cheerful, high-pitched voice
was staring to annoy him. It reminded him of Wormmon, but a lot more
perky.
He sat up. A little, almost snake-like, pink Digimon stared up at him with big, shiny blue eyes. Her antenna twitched worriedly.
"DeviCybermon?" Ken said, still not completely
lucid.
"No! I'm Karen's Digimon, Ceamon. DeviCybermon
doesn't even really work for Karen. He comes and goes. In fact,
he just left again, yesterday."
The little Digimon could have been Karen's antithesis.
"How long have I been here?" Ken asked. Suddenly, his head was aching
as well. He leaned over, his head in his hands. His long, straight
hair brushed against his fingers.
Ceamon shrugged. "Dunno. I only found
out that you were here this morning, and Karen didn't want me to see you
so I had to sneak away."
Ken looked up. "Where's my hair?"
"I think you're delirious." Ceamon looked
worried. "Karen almost broke a few of your ribs. I think she
needs anger management. Luckily, they're only bruised. But
what happened to your arm?"
"No . . . my hair . . . spiky . . ."
"Oh . . . the wig. Karen took it. It
looked ugly on you anyway."
"Where is it?"
"I think she burned it. Your cape, too.
And the glasses. The grey clothes you're wearing . . . is that your
school uniform? It looks a lot like Karen's used to. Then she
went to high school."
Ken lay back down. Ceamon was making his headache
worse, and he was still having trouble remembering what was going on.
Although he had a fresh bandage on his arm.
The door opened, and Karen stood there. Ceamon
looked up and shrunk away.
"Sorry." Ceamon said, sounding pitiful and tiny.
She looked like she was afraid of getting hurt.
"Get out, you filthy worm." Karen hissed.
Her eyes blazed with anger. Ceamon started to slither out the door.
Karen kicked her into the hallway and slammed the door, almost catching
Ceamon's bladed tail.
Karen looked down at Ken. "Feeling better?"
Ken fought down the hysterical urge to laugh.
Ceamon had said the same thing. He shook his head.
"I have no use for someone who doesn't heal quickly.
You've been sleeping for two days." Karen sat down the bed, and watched
him with her cold blue eyes. "What happened to your arm?"
"Yamato attacked me."
"Interesting." Karen stood up, and walked
over to the door. "How did you get into my tower?"
"Airdramon. Balcony."
Karen laughed. "You'll be pleased to hear
that Airdramon has abandoned you." She opened the door. "Wormmon
is waiting in the hallway. I will not let him in." She walked
out into the hallway, and shut the door behind herself.
Ken tried his best to go back to sleep, but it hurt
too much. Eventually, he settled for lying on his back and counting
the dark stones of the walls.
Matt walked. He no longer cared where
he was going, just that he went somewhere, and that Takeru would be waiting
there for him, laughing, asking him why it took him so long to get up.
Or maybe he would wake up, and the whole thing would
have been a dream.
"Yamato?" Gabumon said, softly. "The
sun's setting. Do you want to stop now?"
"No." Matt said. His voice broke, and
tears slid down his face. "I want to find my brother."
Gabumon nodded, and kept walking by Matt's legs.
The forest was long behind them, and only dry wasteland
stretched before them now. Very far ahead, framed by the setting
sun, he could see another forest, or a swamp or something with trees.
"Matt, your dad will be worried."
"I don't care. Let him worry."
"All right."
The sun set, and darkness swallowed the land.
The moon was unusually dark, and the stars glittered faintly like glitter
on a black highway.
Matt finally sat down, and cried for a while, until
he couldn't cry anymore. Gabumon sat by him silently, waiting.
"Do you think T.K. could still be alive?" he asked
Gabumon, finally.
"He could be." Gabumon said. "But . . . it
was a long fall."
Matt stood up, and turned away from Gabumon.
"I'm sorry, Matt."
Matt looked up at the sky, wide and dark.
"T.K. . ." he said, and then screamed. "Takeru! I swear, if
you are not alive, I will kill the Digimon Kaizer for you, I will kill
him. You hear me? You hear me, T.K.? I swear by this
night sky I will kill him!"
"I'm not sure that's what T.K. would have wanted."
Gabumon said, quietly.
"I don't care." Matt said. His face
was streaked with tears. "I don't care anymore, Gabumon."
"Really? You don't care at all? About
anything?" The voice came out of the darkness, laughing, mocking
him and his sorrow.
Matt snarled, his grief twisted into rage.
"Who are you?!"
"I . . ." Two red eyes opened in the darkness.
"I am Shadowdramon."
Gabumon froze. "Matt, run."
"No."
"Matt, please, I beg you. I know who this
is. I can hold her off long enough for you to get away."
Shadowdramon fanned her wings, the outline of her
body only discernable by the stars she blotted out. "Actually, you
can't, my dear little furry thing, but it would be very cute if you tried."
Gabumon snarled. "Matt, digivolve me."
"Matt, unless you want to be short one Digimon,
don't digivolve him." Shadowdramon settled down, folding her wings
into her body. "Would you like to see your dear brother again?"
"Matt, she's lying. She can't take you unless
she has your consent." Gabumon pleaded.
Shadowdramon's red eyes blazed like fire.
"I assure you, I don't blatantly lie. I know where Takeru is, and
I can take you to him."
Matt looked at her. "You . . . know where
he is?"
"She's lying to you." Gabumon said, desperately.
Matt took a step towards Shadowdramon. "He's
. . . alive?"
Shadowdramon grinned broadly. "Yes."
"Please, Yamato."
"You can take me to him?"
"Of course I can."
"Then . . . I will come with you."
"No, Matt! Please, Matt, don't do this."
Gabumon begged. "You can't do this."
"Oh, very good, Yamato. Come over here."
Shadowdramon uncurled, unfurling her wings and reaching out with a claw.
Matt walked over next to Shadowdramon, and looked
at Gabumon with sorrow in his eyes. "You don't understand, Gabumon
. . . he's my brother." Shadowdramon pulled Matt closer, into a dark
embrace. Matt gritted his teeth. "Your . . . touch . . . hurts."
he said.
"Of course it does." Shadowdramon said.
"I am Darkie's daughter, after all. Just be thankful it isn't him
who is holding you-" she lowered her head until she was talking into Yamato's
ear, "-because it's agony."
"Just . . . take me to Takeru."
"Oh, foolish boy." Shadowdramon said, and
threw her head back and laughed. "I said I _could_ take you to him
. . . but I never said I would."
Matt's expression went blank, and he tried to move.
Shadowdramon tightened her grip and laughed again.
"You see?!" Gabumon cried. "You see?!
But now it's too late!"
"Don't worry, Gabumon." Shadowdramon said,
and grabbed Gabumon with her other claw. "I would never make you
stay anywhere alone, without your precious partner Yamato."
Gabumon didn't even bother struggling.
"Good boy." Shadowdramon said, smoothly, and
vanished.
The wastelands lay empty and dark, Yamato and Gabumon's
footprints trailing from the forest and ending in a pool of drying tears.
"This is the tree, right?" Iori said,
and sat down in the shade that its leafless limbs provided
Miyako nodded. "Should be." The little
stream trickled by next to her, and she took out her laptop and turned
it on. She adjusted the screen for a few minutes, until the glare
from the sun was compensated for.
"I hope Yamato's okay . . ." Hikari said,
sitting next to Iori with her arms around her knees. "I hope Tai's
getting better . . ."
"They are, Hikari. Don't worry about it so
much. Your worrying doesn't change anything." Gatomon said.
V-mon nodded in assent. "It's true.
You have to take things as they come."
"You just don't care." Hikari said.
"He's not your brother."
Gatomon looked insulted, and put her paw on Hikari's
leg. "I care, Hikari. He's my friend." She met Hikari's
eyes. "I just think that you should spend more time worrying about
the Digital World, and less about Taichi."
"How can you ask that of me?!" Hikari yelled.
"How can you ask me not to worry about my brother!?"
Gatomon glared at Hikari, arms crossed. "Taichi,"
she said, grimly, "is one person. The Digital World is a world.
Can you measure one life against a world?"
"This isn't a real world! It's something that
just happened. It's an accident!"
Gatomon and V-mon snarled. "How can you
say that? What happens here is as real as anywhere else. If
you die here, you're dead. Is that not real?" Gatomon said.
"Shut up!" Hikari screamed. "Takeru is not
dead!"
"Gatomon!" Hawkmon snapped. "What do
you think you're doing?"
Gatomon glanced at Hawkmon, and then at the other
Digi-Destined and their Digimon, all staring at her.
"Sorry." Gatomon muttered, and then sat down
next to Hikari. "I'm sorry, Hikari. I didn't mean it.
I'm worried, too."
"I know." Hikari whispered. She stroked
Gatomon's head, and Gatomon purred.
Daisuke stretched. "Anything, Miyako?"
"Wait a second, Daisuke. I'm trying to figure
out how I got this to work yesterday."
"Yo." A black-scaled, draconian Digimon wearing
baggy khakis and a ratty t-shirt stood, arms crossed, looking at them all.
She had a padded bag slung over her shoulder.
"Dracaemon?" Armadillomon asked.
"No, I'm someone else." Dracaemon said, and
rolled her eyes. "So . . . what's up?"
Daisuke stood up. "Why are you chasing us
around?"
"It's my duty, as a good Digimon." Dracaemon
said, almost sarcastically. "No, I have to."
"Why?"
"Because . . . Almighty Goddramon hath ordered me
to, and so it shall be done!"
Daisuke blinked. "Goddramon?"
"Jeez, you don't know who Goddramon is?" Dracaemon
sat down next to Iori, legs crossed.
"No." Iori said. "Who is he?"
"The most powerful being in this world . . ."
Dracaemon paused. " . . . right now, though, I'm afraid he's the
second-most powerful."
"What?"
"It happens occasionally . . . it always means change,
for the worse. Darkdramon is rising again, and the world is dying."
"What?" Daisuke repeated.
Dracaemon ruffled Iori's hair. Iori scooted
away from Dracaemon. "I'm here to help you save the world." she said,
patiently, like it helped explain everything.
"The world is dying?" Hikari said.
"That's what I was trying to tell you." Gatomon
glared at Dracaemon. "Were you there, before?"
"Yeah, I was. Stroke of luck I survived.
Mainly thanks to Kang."
"Kang?"
"My boyfriend."
"Digimon have boyfriends?" Daisuke said, looking
very surprised.
"Sure." Dracaemon paused, and then grinned
mischievously. "How do you think all the little Digimon come around?"
Daisuke looked profoundly disturbed, Miyako coughed,
and Hikari and the four other Digimon tried to keep from giggling.
Dracaemon laughed.
Iori blinked, confused. "I don't get it."
he said.
Dracaemon ruffled his hair again, before he could
dodge out of the way. "I'll explain it to you later."
Miyako tapped on her laptop. "Stupid thing."
She stretched out on her back, and then jerked up again. "Daisuke!
It's almost 4:00!"
"Oh! We have to go!" Daisuke looked
sideways at Dracaemon. "Will you meet us here tomorrow?"
Dracaemon clicked her claws together. "I would,
but you're not leaving."
"Is that a threat?" V-mon growled.
"No, it's a statement of fact." Dracaemon
stood up again, and stretched. "You can't leave. Don't even
bother trying."
"Why not?" Daisuke said, facing off Dracaemon,
arms crossed defiantly. Dracaemon was taller than him.
"You know how I said Darkdramon is more powerful
than Goddramon right now?"
"Yeah."
"Well, he decides who goes out and in now, and he's
sealed both worlds. Now only he and his shadows can pass through."
"Darkdramon . . . can pass into the worlds whenever
he wants to?" V-mon said, and shivered.
"Thank Goddramon, no," Dracaemon looked up at the
sky, "but his daughter can."
Miyako stood up. "We can't go home?!"
"No." Dracaemon said. "Trust me, I'd
rather be in the real world right now too."
"Shit." Miyako snapped her laptop shut.
"So! I hope you brought camping stuff." Dracaemon
said, cheerfully.
The Digi-Destined and their Digimon glared at her.
"Okay, I hope it doesn't rain." Dracaemon
shrugged, and then turned towards the forest. "C'mon, Iori, the place
we're needed most is back through there."
Iori stood up.
"Where are you going with Iori?" Armadillomon
snapped, stepping forward.
"Aren't you coming, too?" Dracaemon said.
"I think we have no choice but to trust her."
Hawkmon said, and got up as well.
Miyako stood and closed her laptop. "All right,
I'm coming too."
"I was sort of hoping you'd all come . . . strength
in numbers, you know." Dracaemon waited, until all of the Digi-Destined
and their Digimon were standing behind her, and then they all started off
into the forest.
Takeru jerked awake. He'd heard something . . . no . . . nothing . . .
"Takeru?" Patamon said. It sounded
like he was standing next to him, but Takeru couldn't see him in the blackness..
"Where are you?" Takeru said. "It's
dark . . . I can't see . . ."
"It's nighttime." Patamon said. He sounded
worried. "I'm right here, Takeru."
"What . . . happened?" Takeru tried to sit
up, but the darkness tilted around him and he thought he was falling, down,
a very long way down.
"You don't remember?" Patamon said.
"No . . . it's dark . . . why is it dark?
Am I . . . am I dying?"
"No! No, T.K., it's night. That's why
it's dark."
"It hurts . . ." Takeru said, lying on his
back. His leg felt wet and swollen, bleeding. He could feel
something, a shard, something sharp, breaking the skin from the inside.
"Yeah . . . your leg is broken . . I
think some of your ribs, too . . . and maybe your collarbone. . .
there's a lot of blood, I don't know . . . you'll be okay . . . the fever's
getting better, it was worse yesterday. . ."
"Water. . ."
"I'll be right back, T.K., don't move, okay?
I'll get you some water."
"Okay. . ." Takeru said. He was cold, and
he shivered, but it hurt. "Patamon? Patamon, I can't move."
He heard skittering, and Patamon was hovering above
him. He could feel Patamon breathing. "Don't try to move, T.K.
I have some water . . . there's a stream outside . . . I soaked a
rag, see?"
Water splashed onto Takeru's face. He yelled,
and Patamon moved away.
"Sorry . . . I'm going to go get some help, okay?
Stay here, I'll be right back . . . go to sleep . . ."
"No. . . wait. . ." Takeru said, but he wasn't sure
if Patamon heard him.
He waited a while, alone, in the darkness, but he
didn't hear anything after that, and eventually the blackness around him
swallowed him again.
