Never Take A Dare Because Life's Too Short

Chapter 9: Boy Toys For You

DF103:wakes up: …I hate you…

M/D DF103: I hate you, too.

DF103:glares: I would like to announce that I have drawn a picture of Jason in a suit from LRIFR&R and it's on my deviantART account site-thingy the link is on my profile page so if you're interested…you can take a quick gander.

M/D DF103: No advertising, you moron. :hits DF103 with a pan again: Uhm…the song that should be played while reading this chapter is by Coheed and Cambria, "Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow)." I didn't put it in, so if you don't know the song, search for the lyrics. However, this is not a must. Mwahahah! Now, the freaky nasty chapter comes. So, I don't own Digimon… Warning: reader's discretion advised.


As the sun set, Kenta approached the Shioda household, carrying his PS2 system in a duffle bag full of clothes and safeguarding a pristine unopened Digimon game he had bought. He set his bag down, and lightly tapped on the door. He pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, waiting for someone to answer. Again, he tapped. "Sheesh, what a way to greet a friend." Kenta inadvertently hit his arm on the doorknob, suddenly forcing the door to slowly open. "Let's surprise him, my sweet Digimon game."

Pushing the door as Kenta pranced inside, an orange butterfly fluttered out. "Hmm, wonder if that was supposed to be in there…" He grabbed his bag and shut the door behind him. Setting his bags down again, he taunted, "Hey Kazu! Come on. I brought something that'll keep us busy for hours!" Nothing. "Fine then…"

Kenta kicked his shoes off and swooped up his bag, making his way to Kazu's room. The house remained eerily quiet as Kenta arrived in front of Kazu's closed door. He gave the door a rapid rapping on Kazu's chamber door. Again, no one answered; instead, music that sounded like Mario resonated from the inside. Gripping and twisting the doorknob, Kenta opened the door to the dark room and found Kazu sitting in front of the television in his chair with his hands on a game controller. Deep into that darkness peering, long he stood there wondering why Kazu didn't answer.

"Hope you don't mind me coming in like that." Kenta dropped his stuff on the floor and approached Kazu. He glanced at the screen where nothing was moving, just a Mario figure standing in place as the music played. "Dude, don't quit playing just because I'm here," Kenta said. Kazu's blank half-opened eyes stared at the screen. "Come on Kazu…" Kenta gently shook him, when Kazu's head rolled back, his bloodshot eyes doing the same. "Oh, my gosh! Kazu? Kazu!"

The lights turned on and Ryo stood at the doorway eating a pint-container of ice cream.

"Ryo!" Kenta exclaimed, "What happened to Kazu?" Kazu's body slowly slipped out of the chair and before long, fell onto the floor. His eyes seemingly popping, Kenta looked up at Ryo and asked, "Is he dead?"

"Looks pretty dead to me…" Ryo replied sticking another spoonful of strawberry ice cream in his mouth.

"Did—did you do this to him?" Kenta stuttered. He shot his head up. "Why are you here anyway?"

Ryo shrugged and held out the container of ice cream in front of Kenta's face. "You want some?"

"Actually, I think we should call an ambulance." Kenta poked Kazu's cheek. "He's cold and not breathing."

Kenta got up and ran up to the door, before Ryo stuck the container in Kenta's face. Ryo narrowed his eyes and hissed, "You didn't answer my question…" He smiled and took another scoop of ice cream. "Now…would you like some delicious strawberry ice cream?"

"Um…no, thanks. I'm good," Kenta replied letting out a nervous chuckle.

Ryo, who had a look of apathy as a dab of ice cream dripped from the spoonful onto the floor, slightly nodded his head in acceptance, before shoving the spoon down Kenta's throat. "Well, have some anyway…"

Kenta gagged and fell onto the floor, dropping his glasses and the spoon. He shuffled around to search for his glasses and as he did, he whined, "What's wrong with you, Ryo? We have to call an ambulance. We might be able to save Kazu."

"Foolish child. Can you not see that he's long gone," Ryo growled, as his voice lowered to Envymon's tone.

Kenta's eyes bolted to Ryo's. Dark red glimmers in his eyes reflected in the light.

"This is where I'm supposed to run, isn't it?" Kenta scuttled into a corner. "Kazu was right. I should've believed him." He closed his eyes and shuffled for his glasses again, only to hear a 'crunch' and indistinctly see Ryo's foot crush them. "Ryo! I needed those. What's wrong with you? You were so nice."

"Maybe I'm not Ryo."

"Then—then who are you?" Kenta asked, squinting.

"This may sound a little cliché but…" Envymon kneeled down and whispered in his ear, "Your worst nightmare."

Kenta stared blankly at him before he raised a brow. "You're joking, right?"

Envymon threw the paper container of half-melted ice cream at Kenta's face. "Pitiful moron."

"Whoever you are…please spare me."

"You know what? Sit your ass down in that chair and maybe I'll think about sparing you," Envymon spat, as he strutted around the room. Kenta scrambled for the seat and sat in it, trying to avoid Kazu's body. Envymon glanced at Kenta's attempted poker face, and laughed. "Are you afraid?"

Sweat trickled down the side of Kenta's face as he clutched the seat of the chair. His arms trembled and his knees quivered. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" Kenta uttered under his breath.

Another low chuckle escaped Envymon's throat. "Do as I say and I will take it easy on you…" He walked around the chair; from behind Kenta, Envymon brought his hands onto his shoulders, and whispered in his ear, "A nice, slow death. How does that sound?" The digimon patted his shoulder as no answer squeaked from his mouth. "I knew you would love that idea. So, I trust that you will stay right here, while I go get something."

Envymon headed out the door, before he stuck his head back into the room. "Or else…"

He entered the kitchen, grabbed the phone, and rushed back into the room, only to find Kenta on the floor with his fingers on the window's edge, trying to climb out the window.

The possessed Ryo squinted his eyes at the window and it slammed shut on Kenta's fingers. A painful yelp resonated throughout the house; Kenta struggled to get his numbing fingers free. Envymon stepped over Kazu and grabbed Kenta's hair. "I thought I told you to stay in the chair."

"J-j-just getting some fresh air. I mean, come on. How far do you think I can go like this…without my glass…in the dark? I-I-I'd probably get run over or something," Kenta hesitated.

Envymon raised an eyebrow. "You. Getting run over by a car." He raised his head and thought. "No, no. That's already been done to someone else. What's his name?" His eye twinkled at the realization as he pointed the phone at Kenta. "Ah… Henry…" An eerie maniacal laugh poured out of Envymon.

"So, he is dead," Kenta whispered, his fingers still caught in the windows grasp.

"Of course…they all are, minus Rika, mind you, all thanks to me," Envymon confessed.

"That's a pretty big confession to make to someone you're going to release…"

"Oh? Then, I have to kill you, too." A smug look spread across his face. "But, I need you to call Rika and tell her to meet you at the old house."

Kenta's jaw dropped, his eyes furrowed with fury. "If I'm going to die anyway, then why should I bother doing anything for you!"

"You have to do it…OR ELSE…"

"Or else what? Are you going to rip out my vocal cords and do it yourself?" At that moment, an awkward silence struck between the two, both eyeing each other. Kenta displayed a self-satisfied grin, as he knew in his head that he had won the last word in the argument until…

"Precisely."

The glassless boy fell over in defeat as much as he could without straining his purple fingers. "Okay, okay. Dial her number and hold the phone up to my ear."

As told, Envymon dialed Rika's home number and put it up to Kenta's ear. "Hello? This is Kenta. May I speak to Rika? …Oh, she's not. Okay, could I leave a message? Could you tell her that we're meeting at that one house in a few minutes? It's kind of important. You know…the old one. Oh, all right then. Bye." He looked up. "She's not home. And she wouldn't be able to go anyway, her mom being a famous model and all."

"Damn."

"I tell you what. Since I did what you asked, can I just go now? I swear I won't tell anyone!"

Right when Envymon was about to answer, the front door opened. "Look what you did Kazu. I walked all the way down to the store and it was closed."

"Shit. Why do people have to interfere?" Envymon sputtered, turning to Kenta. "Your torture will be postponed."

"What?" Kenta said in merriment.

"Come, now!" Envymon whispered, opening the window and freeing Kenta's fingers.

Rapid footsteps approached Kazu's room.

"Where are we going?" Kenta whispered.

The footsteps stopped at the door.

"Just come!" Envymon hissed.

"Kazu, if you're not at your desk studying, you will not have…" Kazu's mother burst the door open and found the room empty, "…dinner."

Melted ice cream with the container, lacking the spoon lay splayed on the floor and the video game was left on. Kenta's bag was left behind also. Kazu's lonely visor sat in the middle of it all as a cold autumn's breeze blew into the room through an open window. Kazu's mother clenched her fists. "Kazu, you're going to get it when you get home!"

- - -

Destined to the old house, Kenta and Envymon carried Kazu as two friends would for their drunken friend. While Envymon held up one side of Kazu, he grasped Kenta's shirt to avoid an escape attempt and to avoid him running into anything, of course. Kazu's shoeless feet dragged along the sidewalk, as the nighttime clubbers emerged from their houses. Stares and strange looks overwhelmed the two as they increased their pace. "So, uh, Ryo. Where do you dump the bodies exactly?"

"You'll know when you're dead, now shut up before anyone hears you."

Kenta whimpered. "Okay. Tell me this. Why do you want to see Rika, especially at this hour?"

Envymon gritted his teeth and shot a glare at Kenta. "Boy, you better shut your mouth. You're lucky I spared you for a bit."

"Your motives?"

With the snap of his wrist, Envymon impetuously shoved Kenta and the corpse of Kazu in an alley. He dropped Kazu and slammed Kenta against the wall. "Look around Sir Former Four-Eyes. It's the 21st century. Motives aren't needed. Too many poorly-made horror movies for you."

"W-well, if you d-don't have any motives…then, why d-did you t-target us, tamers?" Kenta stuttered, glimmers of tears streaming down his cheeks.

Ryo, who hadn't been able to overcome the digimon's power, brought his arm up against Kenta's throat. "If you're so scared, why do you constantly ask stupid obvious questions?" Kenta opened his mouth to answer before more pressure was added to his gullet. "That was a rhetorical question. I think it's about time you're tortured. I've never kept one of my victims alive for this long."

From out of his pocket, Envymon took out a slender, silver object; it twinkled as he brought it up to Kenta's face.

"Ah, a knife!" Kenta's voice cracked.

"No… it's a spoon."

"…Oh."

Envymon ripped and snatched a piece of Kenta's shirt and stuffed it in his mouth. Kenta's retches and sobs were silenced. "Now open wide."

The evil digimon pressed Kenta's body up against the wall while he widened Kenta's eyes. He slid the spoon into his eye socket where he had trouble cutting the nerve. The poor boy struggled, trying to push Envymon back. His muffled shrieks went nowhere. A piercing scream escaped his mouth when Envymon scooped the spoon out, successfully with the eyeball. "There. Now you don't need those silly glasses anymore. Besides, Rika doesn't need anymore wandering eyes on her." He held the eyeball up. "These make gorgeous marbles," he commented, a disgusting smirk growing on his face.

- - -

"Mom? Grandma? I'm home." Rika kicked her shoes off as she entered her house. "Sorry I'm late." She set her D-power down and walked into the dining room.

"Oh Rika. A boy named Kenta called for you," Rumiko said, sitting at the table for dinner.

Rika raised a brow. "Kenta? Really? Did he leave a message or anything?" She sat herself at the table.

"Not that it'd really matter because I told him you couldn't go, but everyone is meeting at the run-down house. Honestly, what kind of parents actually let their kids run around that place at this hour—Rika?" Rumiko looked up and saw Rika putting her shoes back on. "Rika, I don't want you over there."

"They might've found everyone, mom. It'll only be a few minutes," Rika assured before running out of the house and grabbing her bike on her way out of the gate. She turned her bike light on and sped down the road to destination: where it all started.

She nearly leaped off of her bicycle when she skidded onto the lawn of the old house. She approached the door with caution, taking the time to notice that there were four butterflies, fluttering about the yard, each a different color: pale green, golden yellow, lemon yellow, and orange. "What is up with the butterflies, especially at this time of the year?" Rika asked herself.

Digressing, Rika stood at the porch of the house looking for signs of Kenta, or anyone. "They better not be inside," Rika sighed, leaning against the door, which opened with one swoop. Rika regained her balance and wondered I thought this door was jammed before. She let herself inside. Her first few steps were meticulously taken, as she examined the room. It was different; the dust didn't churn and the cobwebs were all gone. Candles that were nonexistent flickered along the walls. It was as if someone had been living there.

A voice in the distance aroused Rika's attention. She tiptoed farther into the house and found herself sidling along the wall toward the library, the epicenter of the voice.

In the library area where more candles flickered, a rancid odor permeated throughout the room. As Rika covered her nose, she saw four people sitting at the desk while someone seemed to be giving them a lesson or a lecture. Could it be them? Rika thought; she was too far away to make out any faces; however, she could distinguish they were all guys. She observed what went on before she acted.

Four ropes hung overhead the speaker as he paced in front of the desks. Rika moved in a little closer behind a shelf of books. She peered at the five again. She saw an outline of everyone's faces, but still couldn't see who it was. But this time around, she heard what was being said.

"So, who will take the honor of calling her, hmm?" the speaker grumbled. "Henry? Takato? Kazu? Kenta?"

It's them. Are they still alive? And, that guy sounds like that digimon from before. Rika asked herself. The speaker pulled one of the ropes and simultaneously a hand went up. They are! "Hey, you guys!" She emerged from hiding and ran up to them.

"Ah, no need for that boys. Our mistress has arrived."

Rika stopped dead in her tracks as she encountered the source of the putrid smell. She hesitated moving, her feet seemingly planted into the floor, her eyes widened in horror.

Henry dripped blood onto the table. One side of Henry's face looked normal, but the other half was scraped away to the bone. What small patch of hair Henry had left was no longer blue, but brown…or maybe it was a dark red. His shirt was tattered, covered in blood. Maggots ate away at the flesh around the neck, where a distinct red ring was; Rika heard them squish around.

Takato, still in a hospital gown, sat motionless in the chair. He no longer had his trademark goggles to hold his bangs up from falling in front of his eyes. His tongue hung loosely from his purple lips and he stared downward blankly with bloodshot eyes. With a complexion lighter than that of Rika's or even a ghost's, the candlelight reflected off of his face the most. Even in death, his face still lit up.

Kazu's mouth hung open, his head still rolled back. Although his feet were under the desk, they bled, all the toes lacking nails from being filed down by the ground. And, Kenta, a gruesome sight, which made him seem like he was crying blood, had tape over his mouth. His body quivered with every slow intake of breath. Both arms and legs were contorted in different directions, his knees and elbows bending the wrong way. "Let's end this torture, eh?" Envymon grabbed Kenta's head and with one thrust. 'Crack.'

Rika whipped around and retched, falling to her knees. A faded lavender colored butterfly appeared over Kenta's head and fluttered away. "Another one…?" Rika whispered.

"Souls flutter out. They wander in the form of butterflies."

"So that means…" Rika's eyes widened. Green, Henry. Gold, Takato. Orange, Kazu. Lavender, Kenta. Whose is the yellow one? Rika's mind raced, before her mind flashed back to when Leomon was killed by Beelzemon. She remembered the yellow D-power, and with that, she remembered Jeri's saddened face. Jeri's dead? Takato's death must've devastated her… "Why the hell are you doing this, Ryo? Envymon?"

"Why don't you ask them? They all know."

"They're all dead, you bastard," Rika roared.

Envymon turned to the four at the table. "Tell her. Why did I do this? Anyone?" He grabbed all four of the ropes and tugged. The other ends led to the hands of Henry, Takato, Kazu, and Kenta; all of their right arms went up. "Pick me, pick me, oh great Ryo. I want to tell her that we're her boy toys now because we made fun of her a long time ago," Envymon ventriloquized, ending in laughter.

"You're sick. You are sick! I told you. You've got me mixed up with someone else! Go to Hell for killing my friends!" Rika jumped up and swung a fist at Envymon, somewhat hesitating that she might hurt Ryo. Envymon fell to the floor, as did the arms of the four corpses. Rika backed away and headed toward the door, before…

"Rika, come…back." Rika stopped and turned around.

"Ryo?"

"I'm sorry, Rika," Ryo said. "I'm sorry I tried to…" Suddenly, his voice reverted to Envymon's, "…bring you back to me. You honestly didn't come back for a reason and now I see why. You choose them over me…" he disappeared and Rika twisted around to look for him. He appeared again behind her and cocked a gun against her back. "If I can't have you…then no one can." He smirked. "It's amazing what you find in a place you once lived," he said, taking the safety off of the gun.

Rika gulped. In the presence of a gun, she was frightened, but she didn't show it. "What kind of relationship did you have with her? You're just a digimon."

"Shut up…"

"I mean, you're pretty lousy if you have some kind of love affair with your tamer."

"Shut…up…"

"Do you even have special attacks?"

"Shut up! You really disappoint me, Erika." He pressed the gun into her back some more and put his finger on the trigger. "Time to meet your friends," and with that…

The gun fell on the floor. No bang, no pow.

"Rika, take the gun. Quickly, before Envymon takes over again…"

Rika turned around and saw Ryo's blue eyes in the light. She nodded and picked it up. "What should I do with it?"

"Shoot me," Ryo replied.

Rika froze. "Ryo, I can't do that!" Rika exclaimed.

A flash in his eyes blinked and regressed to red. "You'll pay for hitting me like that, bitch." Envymon lunged toward Rika.

"I'm not a bitch…" Rika pointed the gun at Envymon, closed her eyes and shot. A groan following a 'thud' led Rika to believe that they were gone. She didn't want to open her eyes and see.

"Ah…" Ryo moaned. "My leg…"

Rika opened her eyes and sighed with relief. "I didn't kill you…" She dropped the gun in front of her and helped Ryo up.

"Or Envymon… Rika, Envymon is going to regain consciousness. I don't think he'll release me from his bind. You have to kill me, Rika."

"Ryo, I'm not doing that. I don't want to lose you, too…"

"Rika, if you really cared, you would shoot me. It's the only way to get rid of Envymon. Hurry, you don't have time."

"No, Ryo."

"Truth or dare, Rika?" Ryo asked in a hurry.

"What does that have to do anything!" Rika asked.

"It was my turn! Just truth or dare!"

"It has nothing to do with this!"

"Yes, it does! Truth or dare!"

"Dare…" Rika said absent-mindedly, before she realized what the dare would be. "No, no. I meant—"

"I dare you to shoot me!"


M/D DF103: So SICK! So PSYCHOTIC! INNUENDOS EVERYWHERE! Ahem...anyway. con2020tran, thanks for letting me know of the mistake in the last chapter. And I agree, this is getting not-so-horrific. Amethyst Blizzard, I surely hope this chapter was longer. And, Tomoyo Shioda, don't be hatin' Ryo, yo… j/k. Anyway, one more chapter! How will it end? And now, here's a short Public Service Announcement, by Immature DF103.

Immature DF103: Guns are bad. Cursing is bad. Mutilating people is bad. Reviewing is good.

M/D DF103: There you have it. Till the next and final chapter, Peace and a HAPPY NEW YEAR, in an evil kind of way.