I.V "With that of a Mission"
Chiisu was in a state of a calm panic. His mind was racing swiftly to concoct a plan. A plan that, he figured, would train the others, Melissa, Carl, and Alex, to be ready for nearly anything in the Dejitaru. He knew it was a deadly place. Danger and death lurked around every corner, known and unknown. Chiisu, lying on his bed, procured a pocketwatch from the covers. He swung it gently, back and forth, back and forth.
"I don't want them all to die..." he sighed tiredly, glancing up at the clock. It read 2:00 AM, and he sighed some more. "I just need a plan...a plan..."
Something then clicked in his mind, and a devious smile spread across his face.
The next morning had arrived, involving a scribbled letter saying:
Shirubi-san--
Come over.
It's what stereotypical people may call a "tea party"...
-Chiisu
And thus the weird "tea party" ensued for a strange hour or two. Shirubi had arrived, wearing her normal garb of a white turtleneck underneath a red tank shirt. Chiisu was still immensely confused about everything Shirubi consisted of, but he still valued her as an ally. She walked in, a huge smile plastered on her face.
Lying on the wooden floor apart from each other, the two got to talking.
"So," Shirubi remarked, "you want to pretty much 'Level' Alex up?"
"You may be able to say that," Chiisu replied with his stomach on the floor. "I just don't want them to die. It'd be too messy..."
"Messy?" Shirubi laughed and tossed her arms toward the ceiling fan, lying on her back. "That's funny."
"But it's true, Shi," he nearly shouted. "All of them have parents, friends and family... and we..."
Shirubi looked at him funny as she tilted her head to face him.
"Excuse me, 'we'?"
Chiisu held himself in contemplation and soon stammered,
"W-well, I th-think that people like you and I, Shi, could disappear without a trace..."
The girl closed her eyes and put her hands on her stomach.
"Hey," she muttered, "...what do ya think of that Kai-kun?"
"Let's not start this again..."
"No, really," she urged. "I mean... does that make him just like us? The fact that..." she changed the subject of her sentence immediately, "...if we disappeared, there'd just be something else..."
"Something else, you say?" Chiisu asked as he sat up. Shirubi nodded her head,
"Yeah, I mean, you just get that feeling that something's after that--after you...disappear..." She closed her eyes and then hopped up to her feet. "I've got a great idea! Let's talk to Kai-kun!"
"Shirubi, we need to find a..."
"Aw, shush! Maybe he can help us!"
--a few hours later, the group had gotten situated. Shirubi lay on the floor on her back, Chiisu on his stomach not too far away, and Kai-kun on the couch, who looked rather irritable.
"Why am I here again?"
"'cause you're just like Chii-kun," Shirubi replied happily.
"Wait a minute!" Chiisu shouted as he stood up in defiance.
"Hee hee hee."
"So, lemme get this straight," Kai-kun, suited in a white T-shirt and black pants--much different than usual--, huffed stoically, "you guys want me to find a 'Training Place'?"
"Uh-huh," Shirubi nodded from the floor. Chiisu still stood and began pacing.
"Hmmm..."
"Hmmmm..."
"Hmmmmmmm..."
There was a long, long silence.
"There's always..." Chiisu smiled deviously.
"Yes, there's always that..." Shirubi cackled quietly.
"Ah, yes..." Kai-kun sighed wistfully, "but isn't that, dare I pry, a little... high-ranked?"
Chiisu nodded,
"Yeah, it is. It's listed as perhaps the third most dangerous place in the Dejitaru, which then it crosses into the Dark World, where that's a whole new can of worms..."
"So your logic is, then," Shirubi noted, "that if they can survive there, they can survive pretty much everything else?"
"Exactly."
"That's a little half-baked of a plan," Kai-kun reasoned. "You keep talking about keeping them safe... what if they die there? It's just like you pointing a gun to their heads!"
There was a silence. Chiisu's rage flared.
"I'm trying to keep them alive, so you better stay the hell out of my way!"
Shirubi stood up and put a hand over Chiisu's fist.
"That's enough, Kimura-kun," she sighed. "You're both right and you're both horribly wrong. The truth is they need it, and yes, it is immensely dangerous. However," there was a formality in her voice that didn't quite suit her, to Chiisu's observation, "there is no reason to act like itsy-bitsy babies over it. We'll see what happens, alright?"
Another silence.
"Alright..." they moaned.
"Good."
To skip unimportant detail, they chatted and talked for awhile, then dispersed to wherever.
"Hey, Shi," he asked her, after Kai-kun had left and she was nearly out the door, "...how'd you get him to come here, anyways...?"
She smiled sheepishly in reply, which made Chiisu nearly scream,
"Oh, no, you...didn't...?!"
Shirubi quickly shook her head,
"No, no, no, dear Lord, no!" She laughed loudly and explained. "You see... I went to one of them Mailbox-Trees and asked where he was... I found out that he actually has his own place there...ur, anyways, I went there and asked him to..."
Chiisu cringed at the pause.
"I asked him to go out on a date with me..." she continued after smiling sadistically while observing Chiisu, "..and he replied with...some words I really shouldn't repeat aloud that meant, in short, no."
"Where's this even going?"
"I don't know anymore."
Shirubi smiled and left his home.
"...what a crazy, crazy girl..."
"What the hell is Kimura thinking?!" Melissa grinded through her teeth the next morning, shoving things into a knapsack. "Training...please!" Tailmon eyed her.
"I'm not sure about this," she warned the girl ominously. "The Youkai Caverns are an immensely dangerous place..."
"Yah," Melissa scoffed, "that Kimura boy is probably trying to kill us all." She sighed irritably and shoved Tailmon into her knapsack. "Let's go. Time to die, I guess."
"Uhh..." Carl eyed his bookshelf carefully. "Where's that...ah, here it is...'Worst Case Scenarios Handbook'...there..." Hawkmon was as sceptical as Tailmon had been.
"The Youkai Caverns..." he whispered softly.
"Don't worry, I figure we'll be alright..." he replied quickly and nervously with a first-aid kit in his hand. "Chiisu wouldn't send us to our deaths, now would he?"
Hawkmon was silent in his reply.
All of them had met back in the school's computer lab.
"Alright," Chiisu commanded, looking rather nervous, "...did everyone pack what they needed for the training course?" He had been strangely formal with them.
"I brought the provisions, aka food," Melissa grunted, holding up her knapsack which held the food with Tailmon. "Just like you said. Are we gonna die?"
Chiisu ignored the question and turned to Carl.
"First aid kit," he muttered.
He looked to Alex, then remembered that he hadn't assigned her a task. She can't be trusted with something like this... maybe we should leave her here...
"Alex," Chiisu began, "...do you...er, want to come with us?"
She looked hesitant, clutching the egg in her arms,
"N-not really, but if it's part of the team's duty..."
Chiisu sighed deeply.
"Alex, if you don't want to," Melissa taunted, "you don't have to. Be a wuss and stay here, then!"
"I-I'm not a wuss!"
Chiisu immediately changed the subject,
"Okay, we ready?"
All of them, the children and the Digimon, nodded, though Alex was hesitant.
I hate this... she whined inside her head.
And thus began their strange and dangerous mission.
To Alex's horror, the group had arrived to which looked like a deep, dark cave, a pitch black inside with a tunnel going downwards, into the earth. It was deep. And dark. And scary.
"Uhh...Uhhh..." Alex stammered while pacing backward.
"Come on, Alex," Tailmon urged from Melissa's knapsack, "as Melissa said, if you don't want to come, don't come."
"No, no, I'm okay, really...!"
"Boo," an ominous voice spoke from behind them. Alex, Melissa, Carl and Tailmon screeched in horror while Chiisu, Armadimon and Hawkmon laughed from the entrance of the dungeon.
"Shi-chan," Armadimon greeted cheerfully, "nice to see ya here."
"How could I miss this?" Shirubi laughed as she strode forward to the entrance with Chiisu, a sword sheathed at her side. "The Youkai Caverns, really, what kind of chance is that?!"
"You sure seem happy about this," Chiisu grinned darkly.
"Happy ain't the word," Shi replied, "really more like ready to test myself..."
Hawkmon cleared his throat to announce that Chiisu was to speak.
"Okay, everyone," Chiisu began seriously, "we must stick together. I have no idea what we'll encounter down there, but I'm 68 sure we'll be able to handle it..."
"Sixty-eight...?" Alex cringed.
"Don't ask," Chiisu continued. "Okay, here's our setup, Shi, you lead, please?"
"Coitan'ly!" Shirubi laughed loudly as she snatched the flashlight from him.
"I'll go after her, Alex, you be behind me, okay?"
"Uhh...uhh...okay...?"
"Then Melissa, then Carl. Tailmon, Hawkmon, Armadimon," he addressed the Digimon, "Tail-chan, stay by Melissa, Hawkmon, by Carl, and Armadimon...guard Alex, okay?"
"What about you, Chii-kun?!" Alex and the Digimon cried in unison. Chiisu answered by procuring a small tree branch.
"I'll manage."
The "team en progress", as Shirubi had called it, was soon on their way into the deadly, disasterous Youkai Caverns.
"This sucks..."
Inside, the cavern was just as they'd expected, though much, much more horrifying. Darkness spread out far before them. Dim lanterns hung high above the group, obscuring vision.
Alex saw a figure through the corner of her eye dash from one side of the cave to another. Melissa and Carl had seen it, too. The darkness glinted against Melissa's glasses as she and Alex screamed in horror,
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
Shirubi, Chiisu, and Armadimon looked confused.
"A...a shadow...a shadow thing...!" Carl gasped as he attepted to find the exit in the dark, black cavern. "Where's the exit?! Where the hell did it go?!"
To the team's horror, the exit was missing. No light was visible at this point, for the flashlight had gone out and the light of the lanterns had ceased. The only "light" was the vague glow of Shirubi's eyes, which held within them no fear.
"Chiisu," she grunted, "...have you heard why this place is called the Youkai Caverns..?"
The light returned, and Alex, Melissa, Carl, and Hawkmon were gone.
"Dammit!" Chiisu screamed after the shock. "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"
"The Youkai?" Shirubi continued. "Beings those who have clean hearts can see. Those tortured by humanity, however...those who hold dark secrets within their blackened hearts, cannot see the shadow demons."
"Shirubi," Chiisu sighed questionably, "...why can't you see them?"
He was replied to with a large smile.
In the darkness, his mind played tricks on him.
Give it up.
"Go away...!" he shouted. "Leave me alone!"
You really think you're a human?!
"Shut up! Shut up and leave me alone!"
He swatted at the shadows surrounding him. Unseen demons peered into his mind and tortured him with what they found.
You're afraid of yourself.
You're afraid of her.
You've sinned too much, boy.
You're going to Hell.
You'll never have a chance...
..with her...
"SHUT UP!" He screamed once more. "SHUT UP!"
"Kai-kun-sama?" A voice in the darkness called out. "Kai-kun?! Is that you?"
"Who...?" The demons surrounding him dispersed and backed away from him. Light shone from a little ways away. A white figure, illuminated with light, stood in the clearing ahead of him. He watched her, as he was rooted to the rock ground by his troubles, turn her head about and begin to start walking again. He shouted after her,
"Please, please don't leave me here! Help me! Help me!"
At least, that's what he wanted to shout...
Please...! He cried silently as the demons returned to eat away at him.
Please, please don't leave me here to die! I want...I want to...
"Kai-kun?"
He looked up, finding he had been sprawled out on the ground, and saw Shirubi, staring at him worriedly with Chiisu right behind her. Tailmon and Armadimon clung to Chiisu's feet in fear.
"You alright, Kai-kun?" Shirubi questioned as she held her hand out to him tenderly. "Come on, let's get you outta here."
"Why are we helping him...?" The light from the returning lanterns in the mysterious darkness gistened off the tears running down Kai-kun's face. He was afraid, very, very afraid. Shirubi felt sorry for him, he figured.
"Come on, it's alright," Shirubi sighed motherly, as she helped him to his feet. He suddenly clutched her near and buried his face in her shoulder. He then began to cry.
"What's wrong with..." Chiisu was quickly silenced.
"Chii-kun?" Armadimon asked quietly to his friend, who currently was silent. His eyes were wide, his throat was dry, and he quivered in an unseen fear.
...Why?! it echoed in his mind, why'd you do this...why did you do this to Ryou! Ryou! You killed him...! With an image of bloodshed that crossed his line of vision with a blue-haired smiling demon, Chiisu broke down and started to scream, cry, and beg for mercy from the Youkai.
"Leave me alone...leave me alone!" He pleaded. "Get that memory away from me! Let me forget it all happened!"
"Pull yourselves together, boys," Shirubi sighed softly, placing a hand on Kai-kun's head of messy, unkept blue hair. "Things happen in our pasts that we can't change or couldn't change... you can't let this beat you."
"Shirubi..." Chiisu cried, "...why aren't you affected by this?! You can't see them either!"
Shirubi was silent, and then she smiled deviously, secretly.
"I express my fear in another way," she replied, gently shifting Kai-kun to her other arm while she held the other up. "Alright, you freaky bastards," she laughed, "...show yourselves."
A light emerged from Shirubi's hand, stretching across the ground. "AMPLIFY!"
The light exploded to each end of the dungeon, revealing the demons that had been torturing them.
"Ah, ha..." Shirubi laughed, licking her lips maniacally, "..found ya..."
Alex awoke in a strange apartment with a worried and tired Chiisu repairing a large gash in her arm with bandages and disinfectant. It began to sting.
"Ow," she cried, "that hurts!"
"Go cry your problems to someone who cares!" He replied abruptly and irritably. He caught himself and apologized. "Look... sorry, just... something happened in there..."
"Tell me about it..." Alex whispered, glancing around the apartment, seeing Carl sleeping, Melissa phoning her parents, and the night sky outside the few windows. "...where are we?"
"Shirubi's apartment," he replied. "And she told me to tell you all not to touch anything. By the by, what happened when you guys disappeared...?"
Alex hesitated,
"...well... it was odd, but we saw all the demons surrounding us. Thousands of scary little demons with fangs... but when they came up to us, they peeked into our heads through our ears..." she pointed to her ear, "...and looked into our eyes. Then they just left..."
Chiisu shivered. He relived the feeling; the claws along his neck, the whisper in his ears, the visions through his eyes...
"Why didn't they try to kill us, or eat us, Chiisu?" She asked.
"...I'm not too sure..." he answered. "...it had something to do with our thoughts...or our memories...or some crap like that...hey! Melissa, don't touch that!"
"Where'd Shi get to..?"
"Here we are," Shirubi announced, arriving to a distant city in the Dejitaru by the name of Heliopolis. "Think you can walk yet?"Kai-kun, hanging off of her shoulder, nodded silently as he stood up. He didn't stand to his full height; he looked rather pale, sickened. Shirubi closed her eyes as they stood hesitantly outside the city.
"Hey...what did you see...?" she pried. "The Youkai...they..." Kai-kun closed his eyes and shook his head.
"Nothing... just leave me alone."
"Uhh...okay..." she sighed and walked off. "...Hey, Kai-kun!" she called as she ran back up to him with a large smile. "I got a great idea to get our minds off of this mess of terrible memories of rape and other crap!"
"Rape...?" He parroted. "Is that...?"
"Wanna go on a date with me?!" She shouted. He was as silent as the wind was that night.
"NO FREAKING WAY!" He screamed back. "You're crazy!"
"C'mon, how bad can it be?" She smiled kindly. "Pleeeease...?"
"No..." he looked nervous. "...maybe..."
"Okay, then! How 'bout 10:00 tomorrow night, this place called Trascuri? You know it?"
"...yeah..uhh...wait...no I..."
"See ya!"
"...what...?"
fin
Shirubi: Again, that episode SUCKED ASS.
Kai-kun: I'll agree.
Me: I have better things to do. This is difficult.
Chiisu: Plus, we can always have Ten-kun write it!
All: Yaaaay!
Shirubi: Won't our date be fuuuun?!
Kai-kun: wha...WHAT?!
Shirubi: Yup, yup! The next episode of DC02, episode 6:
"...and with that, he was dragged around without complaint"
Ken: and miss it if you like. We don't really care anymore.
All: yeah.
Me: I should just write the good scenes...
Chaos: Hehehehheh....
Shirubi: OO
Alex: What the hell...?
---