Disclaimer: Never owned Digimon ever.
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To tell you the truth, I was a little disappointed. I expected some horribly misshapen/disgusting/nightmarish face, you know, like "Phantom of the Opera" horrible. He was actually kind of handsome; well, if you could get past the long scar going from the top right side of his head down the bottom left side.
He had dark brown eyes and even darker hair with a long face and nose. Not exactly my type, but not bad either.
"Do you see what he did to me?" He asked. "How he brought repulsiveness to my beautiful world! He marred perfection!"
"Who? Who are you talking about?"
He stared into my eyes and told me a story. For some strange reason, I felt as if I could actually see what he was telling me about, but it was probably something he was doing to me, like hypnosis or something similar. Anyway, the story went like this:
"A long time ago, when I first took the throne, I had a younger brother named Unev. He was jealous and resentful of me and wished the throne for himself. One day, he came up to me and said 'Larzalere, you are not fit for that throne! I can not allow you to bring our land to ruin!' He wasn't right in the head, of course. He challenged me then and there! I had full support from our sister, Alma, but he was alone.
We fought for days on the battlefield, and I was winning, but I was also beginning to weaken. Then came the most devastating blow he could have wrought upon me. He damaged my face, my beautiful face! In my anger and rage, I fought heroically, and when the last hit that would destroy that traitor, he begged for his life like a dog! Now, I'm a very merciful person, as you will find out, so I spared his life.
I stripped him of his powers and banished him to the farthest realm of our kingdom, and I haven't had any serious trouble from him since, but this scar, this hideous scar, is a reminder of that fight that I have to live with day after day! And that is why I wear this mask!"
The "story haze" lifted off of me and I was back in the dining room. Frankly, the story was a little bit... melodramatic. He seemed a little full of himself, but I'd never say that to his face, no matter how "grotesque" and "marred" it was.
He put the mask back on and turned away from me. "You and your pet may go back to your room now, Hikari. You will be escorted."
When we got back to my room, I turned to Gatomon. "Was that the worst story ever?"
"Yeah! I couldn't wait for it to be over!" She jumped over to the window. "It's a long way down, Kari..."
I joined her at the window and looked down. It was insane to try and escape through the window! It looked like we were about 10 stories high! "Gatomon, I don't think I can jump that far and not squash when I hit the bottom."
"Well, who said anything about jumping?" She went over to the bed and started dragging the sheets and blanket off. "Haven't you ever watched those old movies where the beautiful princess is engaged to an evil old man and she has to make an escape rope out of sheets and escape out the window?"
"No, I must have missed that one..." I started to help her knot the sheets. There was a surprising amount of them, but there weren't quite enough. It didn't reach nearly far enough.
"Well, what do we do now?" I said, slumping back down on the bed.
"We can't give up now!" Gatomon started tearing down the curtains. "We can use these! And those things over the bed!"
"The canopy?" I got up and pulled down everything we could find to lengthen our rope. When we finally decided that it was long enough, it was time to try it out.
"Kari, maybe I should go first, in case something happens..."
"Don't worry... besides, you're lighter than me, so even if you did go first, we wouldn't know if it would hold me!" I climbed up onto the window ledge with rope in hand. "Wish me luck!"
"Good luck." Gatomon said as I began my descent towards the ground.
I tried really hard to not look down, just at my feet. It was a bit uncomfortable doing this in a dress for two reasons. The first was that it was so big it made maneuvering hard, and second was that you never know who might be down on the ground below looking up.
I was got pretty far before I noticed something was wrong. I could feel the rope slipping, and I looked up to see one of the knots was coming undone! I climbed as fast as I could to get back up to the knot in time, but it came all the way undone. I had just enough time to grab the end of the remaining rope.
There I was, literally at the end of my rope, hanging on for dear life!
"Gatomon!" I yelled. Gatomon looked out the window down at me.
"Kari, are you all right?" She asked.
"What do you think? Come down here and help me!" She slowly creeped down the rope towards me. She was halfway there when the knot above me started to come undone. "Gatomon, hurry!"
She got to the loose knot and tightened it. "There! Nothing to worry about!"
I sighed. "Good! I'll try and go back up..." I heard a rip and looked up. The sheet I was holding on to was ripping apart in the middle!
"Go slowly..." Gatomon warned.
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To tell you the truth, I was a little disappointed. I expected some horribly misshapen/disgusting/nightmarish face, you know, like "Phantom of the Opera" horrible. He was actually kind of handsome; well, if you could get past the long scar going from the top right side of his head down the bottom left side.
He had dark brown eyes and even darker hair with a long face and nose. Not exactly my type, but not bad either.
"Do you see what he did to me?" He asked. "How he brought repulsiveness to my beautiful world! He marred perfection!"
"Who? Who are you talking about?"
He stared into my eyes and told me a story. For some strange reason, I felt as if I could actually see what he was telling me about, but it was probably something he was doing to me, like hypnosis or something similar. Anyway, the story went like this:
"A long time ago, when I first took the throne, I had a younger brother named Unev. He was jealous and resentful of me and wished the throne for himself. One day, he came up to me and said 'Larzalere, you are not fit for that throne! I can not allow you to bring our land to ruin!' He wasn't right in the head, of course. He challenged me then and there! I had full support from our sister, Alma, but he was alone.
We fought for days on the battlefield, and I was winning, but I was also beginning to weaken. Then came the most devastating blow he could have wrought upon me. He damaged my face, my beautiful face! In my anger and rage, I fought heroically, and when the last hit that would destroy that traitor, he begged for his life like a dog! Now, I'm a very merciful person, as you will find out, so I spared his life.
I stripped him of his powers and banished him to the farthest realm of our kingdom, and I haven't had any serious trouble from him since, but this scar, this hideous scar, is a reminder of that fight that I have to live with day after day! And that is why I wear this mask!"
The "story haze" lifted off of me and I was back in the dining room. Frankly, the story was a little bit... melodramatic. He seemed a little full of himself, but I'd never say that to his face, no matter how "grotesque" and "marred" it was.
He put the mask back on and turned away from me. "You and your pet may go back to your room now, Hikari. You will be escorted."
When we got back to my room, I turned to Gatomon. "Was that the worst story ever?"
"Yeah! I couldn't wait for it to be over!" She jumped over to the window. "It's a long way down, Kari..."
I joined her at the window and looked down. It was insane to try and escape through the window! It looked like we were about 10 stories high! "Gatomon, I don't think I can jump that far and not squash when I hit the bottom."
"Well, who said anything about jumping?" She went over to the bed and started dragging the sheets and blanket off. "Haven't you ever watched those old movies where the beautiful princess is engaged to an evil old man and she has to make an escape rope out of sheets and escape out the window?"
"No, I must have missed that one..." I started to help her knot the sheets. There was a surprising amount of them, but there weren't quite enough. It didn't reach nearly far enough.
"Well, what do we do now?" I said, slumping back down on the bed.
"We can't give up now!" Gatomon started tearing down the curtains. "We can use these! And those things over the bed!"
"The canopy?" I got up and pulled down everything we could find to lengthen our rope. When we finally decided that it was long enough, it was time to try it out.
"Kari, maybe I should go first, in case something happens..."
"Don't worry... besides, you're lighter than me, so even if you did go first, we wouldn't know if it would hold me!" I climbed up onto the window ledge with rope in hand. "Wish me luck!"
"Good luck." Gatomon said as I began my descent towards the ground.
I tried really hard to not look down, just at my feet. It was a bit uncomfortable doing this in a dress for two reasons. The first was that it was so big it made maneuvering hard, and second was that you never know who might be down on the ground below looking up.
I was got pretty far before I noticed something was wrong. I could feel the rope slipping, and I looked up to see one of the knots was coming undone! I climbed as fast as I could to get back up to the knot in time, but it came all the way undone. I had just enough time to grab the end of the remaining rope.
There I was, literally at the end of my rope, hanging on for dear life!
"Gatomon!" I yelled. Gatomon looked out the window down at me.
"Kari, are you all right?" She asked.
"What do you think? Come down here and help me!" She slowly creeped down the rope towards me. She was halfway there when the knot above me started to come undone. "Gatomon, hurry!"
She got to the loose knot and tightened it. "There! Nothing to worry about!"
I sighed. "Good! I'll try and go back up..." I heard a rip and looked up. The sheet I was holding on to was ripping apart in the middle!
"Go slowly..." Gatomon warned.