Title: Latent Epidemic
Rating: PG-13 - R
Pairings: Yamachi/Taito (Matt/Tai, Tai/Matt), Miora/Sorami (Mimi/Sora, Sora/Mimi), Kensuke/Daiken (Ken/Davis, Davis/Ken), Takari (TK/Kari), Yolei is single, Joe and Izzy are single, and Cody is married to a woman called Allison (Original Character).
Warnings: Yaoi, slash, het, basically male/male, and female/female relationships. If this isn't your cup of tea then it's best that you press the little button at the top of your screen that says 'back' and read something else.
Disclaimer: I don't own digimon. That honour belongs to someone else, and is something I can only dream of achieving. I am only borrowing the characters for a while with the promise to return them in one piece. Erm... well, I'll try and keep them in one piece anyway. uu
Well, this is the first digimon story that I've attempted.
I did post this before but one of my friends (and a few reviewers) mentioned that this was long and thought that I should split it up.
That said, Latent Epidemic has been split into chapters.
If you've already read this before then fine, but if you haven't I hope that this version is easier to read.
Thanks for reading this story, or at least getting to the bottom of the notes.
Alilacia
Latent Epidemic by Alilacia
Chapter 4: The enemy of my enemy is my friend
"It's only a matter of time until the other crests are attacked as well. We only had the power to go after red first."
This caught Ken's attention and the wheels started turning in his head.
"What do you mean 'we only had the power to go after red first'?"
She sighed and looked annoyed, like she didn't really feel that she should have to explain this.
"Duh! The crest have one thing in common, they are all represented by a colour. Luckily both the crests of Courage and Love have near enough the same colour. That took two down. It was a surprise when the other two fell ill as well. We didn't know that more than one person could be a bearer of a crest. Oh and that means you'd better get ready to say goodbye to one more of your precious little group. Oh you can't figure out who.." she smiled bitterly as the digidestined exchanged confused glances. "Well, let me put it this way. Who out of the five of you has a crest with a colour similar to the colour red." The smirk appeared on her face as realisation hit the digidestined. Four looked worried, concerned and angry, while the other looked resigned to her fate.
"Why'd you have to drag Hikari into this!" shouted TK and lunged at Shiatar. He didn't get very far as Kerpymon held out his big rabbit like arms and calmly swatted TK out of the way.
"TK!" Yamato shouted out as his brother was thrown onto the ground. He ran to his side and knelt down next to him. "TK are you alright!"
TK gave a shaky smile and got to his knees. "I'm fine Matt, but I'll say one thing though, that rabbit sure knows how to pack a punch!"
Shiatar turned to give Kerpymon a look. "Thanks for the help Kerpymon but I could have taken him." She turned back to the chosen children, no... adults, in front of her. "Well, what's it going to be? You gonna fight me and die now or surrender and die later?"
Matt and TK joined the group and stood defiantly before her. "We'll never surrender!"
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, have it your way. Kerpymon, attack!"
Kerpymon nodded at his masters orders and shot forward.
"Lightning Spear!"
The digidestined had to cover their eyes as the bright attack from Kerpymon lit up the sky. When the light died down all the digimon were lying on the ground in various states of injury.
Shiatar laughed cruelly from her place on the ground. "Do you really think that your measly champion level digimon can defeat my mega level digimon?"
"I hate to admit it but she's right, we need to digivolve further if we have any hope of beating her."
Garurumon nodded by his side and reverted back to his rookie form.
"Gabumon warp digivolve to..." the digivolution process started and Shiatar sighed.
"Do you really think that I would let you do that. Kerpymon attack."
"Lightning Spear!"
The attack cut Gabumon's transformation off and he fell to the ground. The other digidestined exchanged a look and all flew in to attack Kerpymon.
"Ugh, they'll never learn." Shiatar sighed in disgust from her place on the ground and continued watching the fight.
"Are you ready to try again Gabumon?" Matt whispered to his friend.
"Sure am Matt." Gabumon whispered back and prepared to transform again.
"Gabumon warp digivolve to... Metal Garurumon."
Matt grinned as the digivolution of his digimon was complete.
"Attack!" he cried, as Metal Garurumon bounded towards the unsuspecting Kerpymon.
The others backed out of the way just in time leaving enough space for Metal Garurumon's metal wolf claw attack to hit home.
While Metal Garurumon kept Kerpymon busy the other's decided to digivolve to Mega as well.
"Palmon warp digivolve to... Rosemon!"
"Gatomon warp digivolve to... Magnadramon!"
"Patamon warp digivolve to... Seraphymon!"
"Wormon warp digivolve to... Grand Kuwagamon!"
As the digivolutions finished the digidestined smiled. They had a fighting chance now!
Rosemon looked just like a human. She had red skin-tight cat suit esque clothing on, with black stretching from her thighs to her feet. What looked like green leaves fanned out from her shoulders and fell down her back as a white cape. Her hair had turned long and yellow and red petals were adorning her head from the neck upwards. Green vines stretched over her chest and arms and were hanging to the floor.
Magnadramon was a dragon like digimon. Her body was pink and what looked to be spikes jutted out of her body. There were two black horns jutting out of the top of her head. Both look deadly and razor sharp. The under side of her belly was dark pink.
Seraphymon was an angel type digimon. He looked just like Magna Angemon except he was blue and ten golden wings could be seen on his back. His armour was blue and gold could be seen on the chest. A gold cloth falls from his waist to his feet and there is a crest of hope in the center of his chest.
Grand Kuwagamon was totally black and looked like a giant insect. His wings were red, and his feet and claws were silver.
Shiatar grew angry as she noticed the new mega forms of the digimon. I really have to keep track of what the enemy are doing. Turning to Kerpymon she shouted, "leave him and get the others!"
Matt turned at her shout and saw that the others had digivolved into their mega forms as well. He grinned. I'd like to see Kerpymon fight off five mega's.
TK started cheering but stopped when he heard a low moan beside him. A dead weight fell into his arms and he felt tears come to his eyes.
"No, KARI!"
The group turned to see TK gently place Kari's prone form on the ground. Takeru turned with a murderous gaze to Shiatar. She appeared not to be fazed and had that ever present smirk on her face. TK fought to control his anger and turned to look at Seraphymon.
"Seraphymon, attack Kerpymon... now!"
Seraphymon stared down at the woman who made TK so angry. But since he wasn't going to fight a human (no matter how much he wanted to now that she had hurt TK) he'd start with her digimon... Kerpymon.
"Seven Heavens!" His attack shot out and hit Kerpymon. The rabbit/angel digimon cried out in pain and turned towards him with a murderous look in his usually passive face.
"Lightning Spear!" The attack caught Seraphymon in the side and he drifted to the ground.
"Seraphymon!" TK cried and ran to his side. "Are you okay?" Seraphymon nodded and took to the skies again. "Be careful." TK went back to the child of light's side and watched the fight.
"I'm going to clip his wings," muttered Magnadramon as she watched Seraphymon take to the skies again. No-one, and she means no-one hurts her friends and gets away with it. Not to mention that Shiatar had hurt Kari. She was not going to let her get away with this even if it took her nine lives to do it! She noted that Kerpymon's attention was focused on Seraphymon and smiled grimly. She was going to teach him to not turn his back to an opponent. And not to mess with her partner.
"Dragon Fire!" Her attack was fast and deadly, shooting towards her unsuspecting prey. Her grim smile turned into a smirk. That'll teach him to mess with her friends. He's not paying attention.
She didn't count on Shiatar.
"Kerpymon, dodge it! Jump up now!"
Kerpymon followed his masters order and jumped. Her attack passed beneath him and nearly hit Seraphymon. Only TK's warning and Seraphymon's quick reflexes stopped him from being fried.
Ken walked up to Matt and placed his hand on his shoulder. "We should end this soon before our digimon get too tired to fight."
Matt nodded and looked up. Metal Garurumon was floating off to the side and looked to be conversing with Grand Kuwagamon. Matt motioned to Metal Garurumon while Ken did to Grand Kuwagamon. Both digimon looked down and nodded at their partners before nodding at each other.
"Metal Wolf Claw!"
"Catastrophe!"
The two attacks merged into one and struck Kerpymon clean in the back. Kerpymon was starting to look a little worse for wear, and his anger wasn't faring much better.
"Lightning Spe-" Kerpymon's attack was cut off as green vines shot out and wrapped around his upper torso, holding his arms in place.
"Kerpymon!" Shiatar looked up in fear. This was new for her. It wasn't like her to be afraid. Kerpymon was just a digimon, so why would she be worried about anything happening to him.
She looked over to the other digidestined. The concern they had for their digimon was obvious as was the bond they shared. They truly were partners.
She shook her head and berated herself silently. He's just data, if he dies he'll be reborn... it's no biggie. But deep down, although she refused to believe it, she knew that it wasn't true. She would be hurt if anything happened to him.
She felt that feeling in her heart again as the digidestined and their digimon nodded as one.
"Catastrophe!"
"Fire Tornado!"
"Metal Wolf Claw!"
"Seven Heavens!"
As the four attacks hit their target Rosemon released Kerpymon and initiated her own attack.
"Rose Rapier!"
The razor sharp petals were the final blow and Kerpymon fell to the ground, badly injured and barely conscious.
Shiatar forgot her cold persona for a moment and ran to Kerpymon's side. She didn't notice the tear that ran down her face as Kerpymon digivolved back to Kokomon.
"No... Kokomon..."
She didn't notice as a black cloud started gathering around them. Her only thoughts were for Kokomon.
For some reason the digidestined started to fell incredibly guilty. Suddenly Shiatar didn't look quite so threatening and looked more like a lost child.
"Shiatar Takanawa."
The voice echoed in the darkness and all the humans and digimon jumped.
"Hey doesn't this darkness...-" started Matt.
"It looks just like...-" continued Mimi.
"The darkness that surrounded us the last time we fought Apocolymon." finished TK and looked around nervously.
Ken tensed at Grand Kuwagamon's side. He had been told of this battle a long time ago. While he had found the tale interesting... he really didn't want to meet Apocolymon first hand.
An evil laugh echoed in the air and the older digidestined stiffened.
"And that laugh is the same too." Matt dryly commented as the darkness seemed to coalesce. "Remember guys, don't let him catch you in his claws." he warned, "at least he can't get our crests now." The digimon nodded and awaited Apocolymon's arrival.
Soon a multi faceted object appeared and Ken felt a chill settle over him. He had a really bad feeling about this.
The three other digidestined had only one thing to say: "Apocolymon."
Several arms appeared from the side of the object and that chilling laugh resonated again.
"I'm back... and you thought that you could defeat me..."
That voice was like no other. Although it sounded human, there was a lot of pain in this voice.
Ken shivered and rubbed his arms. He could sense a lot of underlying pain in this digimon's voice. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why a digimon would be in so much pain.
"You have failed me Shiatar Takanawa."
His booming voice rang out again and Shiatar had a stricken look on her face.
"But... but Master, I... I did as I was told. The virus is in the digidestined!" Shiatar cried into the darkness.
"Be that as it may... you were still defeated. I gave you power and you couldn't even defeat the lowly digidestined! You will be cast out of the digital world. I don't need you any more. Leave, and take your pathetic digimon with you."
Shiatar was too stricken to point out that he hadn't been able to defeat the digidestined either.
The group bristled at the 'lowly digidestined' comment and called up to their digimon.
"Metal Garurumon..."
"Grand Kuwagamon..."
"Rosemon..."
"Seraphymon..."
"ATTACK!" The digidestined cried out as one and attacked.
"Thorn Whip!"
"Metal Wolf Claw!"
"Seven Heavens!"
"Dimension Scissors!"
"Dragon Fire!"
The five attacks hit home and several of Apocolymon's hands were destroyed. As Matt watched the shapes that looked like traps took on another form. His eyes widened as he realised it was taking on the form of all the Dark Masters that they had defeated all those years ago.
"It's taking on the attacks of the Dark Master's again!" Matt shouted to the other digidestined who spun in shock to face Apocolymon.
"He's what!" shouted Ken as Grand Kuwagamon dodged Machindramon's attack.
"Apocolymon has the power to imitate other digimon's attacks. The last time we fought him he used the attacks of Machindramon, Puppetmon, Metal Seadramon and Piedmon." shouted TK as he flew past him on Magnadramon's back. The only reason he was on Magnadramon instead of Seraphymon was that Magnadramon was easier to ride on.
Shiatar stayed on her knees as the battle raged around her. Why had it come down to this? Only moments ago she had been powerful, and had Apocolymon on her side... and now...
She repressed the sob that threatened to rise in her throat. She was a warrior, and not to sound cheesy but big girls don't cry.
She wiped her damp eyes and looked at her fallen digimon.
"Kokomon..." she shook his shoulder gently and waited with baited breath. She let out the breath she had been holding as the rabbit like digimon's eyes fluttered before settling on her.
"I'm sorry Emily... I failed you..."
Shiatar shook her head and smiled down at her digimon. "It's okay... you fought your best. I'm proud of you..."
Her heart lurched as she saw Kokomon flicker slightly. His eyes fell shut and she held him close. "No! Kokomon, don't leave me!" More tears fell from her blue eyes. Eyes that had once seemed so cold, but now seemed to be melting. "I didn't realise it before but I really care about you. You can't go away. Please don't go away!"
Kokomon's eyes opened for a brief second as he said, "don't cry Emily... you were the best partner I could ever have hoped for. Do as Apocolymon said... leave the digital world and return to your family. I'm sure they miss you.."
"...Kokomon..." Kokomon's eyes slid shut for the final time and she felt a sob rise in her throat again. "Kokomon!"
She pulled Kokomon to her body and ducked as an attack went flying over her head. She continued to sob as she felt Kokomon dissolving back into the digital matter from which he was made from.
Ken looked down from his place on Grand Kuwagamon's back. He could see Shiatar lying on the ground. Was she...
He squinted and looked closer at her face.
Yes, she was crying!
Crying... why would she be crying?
The woman who had previously looked at them with such a spiteful expression was crying over her fallen digimon.
Ken felt a pang in his heart. He knew exactly what she was feeling because he had felt it too.
He turned to Grand Kuwagamon and said, "can you let me down on the ground?"
Grand Kuwagamon gave him a 'what are you up to' look but did as he asked.
Ken stepped off his digimon and watched him take to the sky.
As soon as Grand Kuwagamon was back in the battle he started walking towards the sobbing woman.
Shiatar felt a presence come up beside her. She gave a rueful laugh and didn't bother to lift her head. "Come to gloat?"
Ken stopped still at the hatred in her voice. He couldn't be sure who the hatred was for but it was there none the less.
"No."
There was something in his voice that made her look up at him.
"I don't want to, and I wouldn't even if I wanted too because I know exactly how you feel."
She scoffed and looked at her hands. "Suuurrre you do." She raised her head to say a retort but something stopped her. It was his eyes.
Not to sound corny or stupid but there was something in his eyes that made her want to believe every word he was saying. Like he knew exactly what she had gone through.
She grew uncomfortable at his steady gaze and had to look away. "What would you know anyway?" she muttered and tried to reign in her emotions.
"Because I have been there. I too have lost my partner digimon because of a mistake I made. You feel it don't you... the darkness inside you. How it grows inside you and if you aren't careful it will consume you whole."
She gasped and raised her head. He had just summed up exactly how she was feeling.
"So you do know, big deal. It's not like you can help me." She refused to allow herself to get close to anyone. Not ever.
Ken could see her pushing him away and felt frustrated. He had been through so much to get where he was, so much pain and hurt. He wasn't about to let this woman go through the same thing if he could help it.
His face was illuminated for a minute as Rosemon's attack hit the ground a few yards away from their position.
He knelt down next to her and tried to look as gentle as possible. "I know what you have been through." he spoke as compassionately as possible in an attempt to reach her. "I was the Digimon Emperor for a very long time before I was given help. And now... I'm giving you the chance to have the same help as I did. Will you accept it?"
Shiatar looked up into his eyes and felt something inside her break. She didn't like to accept help from people, not unless there was something good in it for her. But something about what he said...
Maybe it would be good to accept help just this once...
Ken took her silence as a 'no' and shook his head. If she didn't want his help that was fine. He stood up and started to head over to where Metal Garurumon was going after more of the traps littering the outside of Apocolymon.
"I can help you save your friends..."
The soft voice was barely heard over the sounds of the battle but they reached him. He spun around and face Shiatar.
"What?"
She raised her head and looked him in the eyes, the tear tracks drying on her cheeks.
"I can help you save your friends."
"But earlier you said that they couldn't be saved."
Ken walked back by her side and knelt down next to her.
She scoffed and shook her head. "I was your enemy then, I was hardly going to tell you that there was a way to save your friends... I don't know what I am now, but I owe you that much at least."
"How about... comrades..." She looked to see the one they called Ken Ichijouji hold out his hand in front of her. She looked at it critically for a second and took it.
"Comrades," she agreed and smiled.
It was the first real smile that Ken had seen on her face.
The smile faded and she looked over to the battle.
"The virus that attacked your friends is a latent virus. It works by attacking the colour of their crest. It was programmed to attack the colour red and any similar to it. Red would have been attacked first... then orange... and then pink. The victim would experience light-headedness followed by unconsciousness. Then, over the next 12 hours the power of the crest will be smothered and so will the energy of the victim as the power of the crest stems directly from a person's own energy." She looked over to Ken. "Are you following me so far?"
Ken nodded but looked puzzled.
"So how is it that they were infected in the first place? They haven't had any physical crest for years, or at least I haven't seen one."
"During the final battle with Apocolymon he had access to their crest for a brief period of time. That brief period of time gave him long enough to analyse the crests and get all the information on them that he ever needed. He was really angry with the digidestined and this intensified when they figured out a way past being erased. He was so angry in fact that he used his Total Annihilation attack. When he launched his attack the digidestined banded together and used their digivices to contain the blast that would have ultimately wiped out both the digital and real world." Ken nodded as she told her story. That version coincided with the version he had been told by the older digidestined. "When he was contained by the digivices he figured out that he could implant a virus into their digivices. Since the digivices are a channel for the person's energy the virus would travel into the person and attack the power of the crest. Fortunately it cannot be activated right away and requires the digital matter of the digimon who created it in order to be activated. Apocolymon called upon me and offered me power in exchange for doing a little job for him. If I translated this programme he had found, one he believed would activate the virus within all the digidestined. I'm quite good with computers so it really didn't take me long. The colour red was chosen first as three people had a crest that was near enough to that colour. And also that two of those crest bearers: the child of courage and the child of love, were what held the team together within the digital world. It was believed that if those two were gotten rid of first. The child of light also had to be gotten rid of as she is one of the most powerful out of your group." She looked really crest fallen and continued speaking. "I'm really sorry for what I did. It took Kokomon's death to make me realise that what I was doing was wrong." she looked up at him. "The only way to save your friends is to defeat Apocolymon. It was his digital matter that went in to creating and activating the virus. Even if you just weaken him it should be sufficient. The crests power is strong, but the virus is stronger. If you weaken the virus..."
"Then the crests will fight back!" Ken finished excitedly for her.
Shiatar nodded and looked over to the battle again. Rosemon and Seraphymon were teaming up against all the traps on the right, while Magnadramon went after the ones on the left, and Metal Garurumon and Grand Kuwagamon went after the rest.
"I only hope they win. For your friends sake."
"They'll win... they have defeated him before after all." Ken seemed so sure of his friends and their digimon that it made Shiatar want to believe they could as well.
Shiatar froze as a thought came to her. Eyes wide she turned to Ken. "Do you have a laptop I could borrow?"
Ken threw her a confused expression and shook his head. "No, but Koushiro might."
"Ah... Koushiro Izumi. The child of knowledge. How can we get to him?"
"Like this." Ken stood up and Shiatar watched confused as he returned with what looked like a plastic box. "This is what we use to contact each other." He paused and typed in a brief message to Izzy. Clicking send he turned to Shiatar. "Why do you need a laptop anyway?" he enquired.
She was about to answer when a laptop appeared from the tv a few yards away. Shiatar stood up quickly and went to retrieve it. Ken recognised it as Matt's laptop.
"You'll see." she sat down in front of the laptop and started typing about a mile a minute. Ken watched over her shoulder as she looked to be hacking into some sort of mainframe. "I just realised that if your friends are going to get better it is going to take more than just defeating Apocolymon. An antidote, a digital anti-venom if you will, will have to be administered to those infected. In order to get this anti-venom I'll have to hack into Apocolymon himself a retrieve it."
"What!"
Ken couldn't believe it. He had never heard of anyone hacking into a digimon before.
"Hush, it's quite simple really. I just hope that your friends will keep him busy enough so he doesn't know what I am doing. Ah ha! bingo!" she had a look of victory on her face and started typing faster. "I've found it. Now, if I could just get it out of him."
"What did you do?" asked Ken.
"Well, I took the initial coding for the virus that was lying dormant within Apocolymon's digital matter and extracted the basic information. Like taking the base pairs from DNA. This was then added to a harmless virus. The infected will have to be injected with this virus. It is a watered down version of the original with vaccine digimatter added." she said when she saw Ken's dubious look. "It should help them to fight back against the power of the original virus." she stopped as a vial appeared from out of the computer screen. "If this is administered to your friends then they should recover. If Apocolymon is defeated." She turned to look at the growing battle, an unreadable look on her face.
TBC…