Chapter Two: Hatching

Oikawa's long, pale body lay on the sand, the remaining butterflies drifting sluggishly around it, as Koushirou watched some kind of information scroll by on his laptop. Gennai peered over his shoulder, frowning, concerned. He wanted to go and find Datirimon - the little Digimon should be by his partner's side. But right now, Oikawa needed the Guardian's help.

"He doesn't look so good," Tentomon observed. "Do you think he'll be ok?"

"I'm not sure," the human replied, concentrating on his work. "Honestly, it doesn't look good. He collected most of the energy available to him here, but he wasn't able to integrate it all. I think he may need some energy from something of his type to stabilize."

"His type?" the insect Digimon asked, "But isn't he just human?"

Gennai shook his head. "He lost much of his humanity for good when he became a part of the Digital World."

"I was thinking Arukenimon and Mummymon," Koushirou said. "They're probably our best chance for success. And I happen to know exactly where they are."

"Oh?" Gennai said. "Where?"

Koushirou projected a small map into the air in front of his laptop. "Here. I asked them to investigate an energy anomaly there, this morning."

Gennai blinked at the black square on the map grid in shock. He'd missed something? "An anomaly? I've been sensing something unsettling in the Digital World for some time now, but I wasn't able to discover anything about it. What is it?"

"I don't know," the human said, surprised. "It showed up late yesterday. As far as I can infer from the readings, it's what you would call a corrupt sector, but that doesn't really tell us anything. That's why I sent- I'm sorry," he apologized as he retrieved his ringing Digivice. "Hello? Yes? Is this Mummymon?"

After a short conversation, Koushirou snapped his laptop shut and handed it to Tentomon. "We should go there right away," he advised. "Mr. Oikawa needs energy, and something strange is going on. I need to investigate."

"So do I. All of this sounds like trouble." Gennai stepped forward to pick up Yukio, scattering the butterflies, and was surprised at his lightness. Yukio was not a small man by any standards, but slumped against the Guardian's chest, he felt just like a child.

Arukenimon made a face. The eggs looked disgusting. She certainly didn't want to go near them. And the familiar feeling was really throwing her off.

"Well," said Mummymon, "I guess this is it."

"Brilliant deduction. Do you feel what I'm feeling?"

"I think so," he said, cocking his head in thought. "That stone is familiar. Like a tiny Dark Tower. I wonder if this is a leak from the Dark Ocean?"

She hmm'd contemplatively, walking around the nine foot tall spire. "It would explain the feeling." Well, there was one thing she could do to be certain. She ran a hand through her hair, and even though she hadn't practiced in years, she moved with skill and purpose. She smiled. Then she plucked a hair.

Mummymon was too surprised to say a thing as she called out, "Spirit Needle!"

The silver strand shot like an arrow towards it. It hit and slowly sank into the spire, rippling its smooth black surface like a pool of water. Their skin pricked with the energy in the air. Arukenimon smirked smugly. Mummymon couldn't help but find her adorable like that.

A beat passed. Then another. Arukenimon's smile faltered.

"W.. What's going on, my dear?"

She narrowed her eyes, but her grin stayed angrily up. "Maybe a puccimon was too much to ask for from such a little Dark Tower."

"Ah," he said, trying very hard not to look as relieved as he felt. "It failed, then? I'm so sorry, my dear.."

But she was already starting to snarl. "It wasn't me! It was this vile rock! It's clearly not a Dark Ocean artifact after all."

"Clearly not,"

"Don't patronize me!"

"Huh? But I-" he broke off, listening. "What was that?"

"What are you blathering about?" she muttered, trying to calm herself down.

"There's something.. Something's happening," he said, shrugging. He didn't even know what - he just had a feeling.

"Well, it's probably your fault."

"Oh?" said Mummymon, again the picture of innocence, "You're probably right.. The way I didn't touch anything or infuse life force into any stones was very reckless."

She rounded on him, eyes blazing. "Don't you practice your wit on me!"

"I'm sorry, my dear," he grinned in a way he hoped was disarming.

She growled and grabbed him by one of his coat buckles. "And don't call me 'my dear!'" she snapped, and with a flick of her arm, sent him flying.

He yelped in shock, yanked off his feet, but it was the slimy, cold, hollowly scraping landing that ended up bothering him. He lifted a hand, and viscid goo stretched back to the rounded shape beneath, like mozzarella. "Euuuugh," he said eloquently, and made a horrified face. He had landed in the nest of eggs.

Arukenimon winced at her unfortunate direction but was otherwise unmoved. "Stop fooling around and get out of there."

His horror turned to utter indignity. "But YOU-"

Then one of the eggs rocked beneath him. Mummymon looked down at it and yelped, then scrambled to get his footing amongst the eggs and shot back away from them. Arukenimon came over by his side to stare as it hatched.

It was a blob as big as the egg, slightly prune-surfaced, shiny black and green. It was also translucent enough to foggily see through.

"Where are its eyes?" Mummymon asked, scowling at it warily as it wobbled slightly.

But Arukenimon couldn't find any eyes either.. and something still felt wrong.

Then, soundlessly, the blob rolled forward and out of the group of eggs. Arukenimon and Mummymon blinked in surprise, watching it roll away over the black grass, then sprang to follow. The moment it rolled onto the green of the neighboring ground, they heard a worrying hiss and watched a wisp of steam rising.

They both gasped in shock at the sight of the plain black and green wireframe it left in its path.

"Stop it!" shouted Arukenimon, transforming into her Digimon form. "It's a null type!" And with that she threw Spider Thread at it.

The attack landed, but her fibers were quickly dissolved by the creature. Mummymon threw Snake Bandage the moment he was transformed, wrapping the creature with layers of tough linen. "What are we going to do?" he cried, as that too began to dissolve, even as he tried to pull the creature back.

"Keep wrapping it, stupid!" she yelled, throwing Spider Thread on top of the bandages and hauling back. "More, more!"

He nodded and attacked again and again with Snake Bandage, keeping it wrapped as Arukenimon dragged it back towards the dark area. Now that it was captured, the full situation hit Mummymon, and he didn't like it one bit. Whatever it was - a null type, an energy absorber - it was unstoppable. And definitely too large a problem for him. "Arukenimon!" he begged suddenly and fervently, "Arukenimon, we should call the Chosen Children - we should call them right now!"

"Just a damn minute. I can't call and tow this horrible thing- HEY!" she shouted, twisting away from the clawed hand that had just picked the Digivice from her stowage space. "Don't you ever do that again!"

Loops of linen continued to shoot from his other hand as he poked small buttons delicately with huge, shaky claws. "Koushirou? Hello? Please, anybody.."

There was a too-long pause. Then, "Hello? Yes? Is this Mummymon?"

"Of course it's me, you... Uh.. You've got to come quick and bring help. There are these eggs here, and they have null type creatures in them!"

There was an unresponsive pause.

"They destroy everything they touch," he clarified.

Koushirou's eyes widened. "I don't see how such a creature-"

Arukenimon yelled, loud and angrily, and Mummymon turned to see two more of the blobs had been hatched, and were rolling away towards the green grass. He pointed the Digivice's screen at them, hoping the idiot human could see. "Those! We can't stop them - nothing holds them for long. I haven't tried shooting yet but-"

"Don't," Koushirou interrupted. "There's no knowing what that will do."

Mummymon looked around in a gesture of hopelessness. "Then what DO I do?"

"Hm," he paused, thinking, looking like he was choosing something from a menu. "Well, try to keep them together, if you can't keep them contained. Just don't let any of them out of your sight, and I'll be right there."

"How wonderfully useless," Arukenimon commented, kicking one of the new blobs, which took the lovely shine off the surface of her thick-shelled leg.

He frowned, disappointed, and put the Digivice away to shoot more Snake Bandage at the slime-things, trying to corral them together. When he pulled it tight and the two new blobs touched, they joined, like a liquid. He made a daunted face. "That can't be good..."

Arukenimon sneered, walking cautiously around the new larger blob. "What ARE these? They can't be Digimon..."

It lurched towards her and wrapped around her nearest leg. She yelped and kicked at it, but it stuck tight. "Mummymon!" she shrieked.

Horrified, Mummymon dove for the creature and grabbed it, and pulled. He could pull the bulk of it away, but it stretched, stuck and resilient. He grimaced - it felt like warm oatmeal in a bag - and dug his heels in, pulling harder.

"Hurry," Arukenimon demanded, pulling back herself, helping to loosen the horrible thing by scraping it off with her other legs. It didn't hurt yet, but if it ate through the shells of her legs she knew it would, and she only JUST finished healing her legs to her satisfaction after last time...

Suddenly, Mummymon realized that was going to be a problem for him, too, as his palms began to sting furiously. He made a frustrated noise and gave it a solid yank, and at last it snapped free of his companion. Before it could wrap around any part of him he threw it disgustedly back towards the other eggs, where it landed with a splat, paused, then started to roll aimlessly around again. He looked for the first one, spied it behind him, and jumped skittishly out of its way. "Are you all right, my darling?" he begged.

"Fine," she grumbled, rubbing the dull and pitted surface of her leg with one hand.

His hands were really starting to hurt now, and he inspected them to find the bandages on his hands had mostly fallen off due to the part over his palms being destroyed. His claws were essentially fine, but the pads of his gray palms were now white, wet, stinging: skinned. "Ow," he complained. At least it looked like it would heal quickly.

"Oh yes, 'we'll be happy to go,'" Arukenimon mocked sourly.

Oikawa's dreams raged chaotically on, his human mind shaking itself out after long disuse. He fretted in his dreams, trying to settle himself within them, unable to find much lucidity or control. He kept half-seeing Vamdemon in the shadows, but most of the time he couldn't connect who that was, only felt a sick fear.

Most of the important things in his life made their appearances too. Sometimes he'd turn away from his old friend, Hida Hiroki, and turn back to find him gone. He visited Hiroki's familiar grave, expecting loneliness, and found Chikara, Iori, and his Digimon there waiting for him - Datirimon, and his creations Arukenimon and Mummymon.

In this moment, a twelve year old Yukio grinned and laughed, clutching a video game controller, and elbowed his friend in the ribs. "You're gonna lose!"

Hiroki elbowed back, holding his controller away. "Nuh-uh!"

The elbowing degenerated into leaning, and in the end Yukio won from the floor, pinned halfway down under Hiroki's weight. "Ha!" he whooped, tossing his controller away and redoubling his efforts to sit back up, as his friend chuckled against him.

They both froze as they heard the door slide open. Hiroki righted himself and stared at the floor. Yukio risked a glance up into the stern face of his friend's father.

But it wasn't Hida Chikara standing there in the doorway. It was a tall man, gray, with short hair that hung in spikes in front of his sunken, dark, dead eyes. With a thrill of shock he realized it was himself.

"Oikawa Yukio," the man said, sounding smooth and confident. "How long has it been since you abandoned me? I imagine you hoped you'd never see this miserable face of yours again..."

Hiroki cut in. "Abandoned..? What are you talking about? Yuki wouldn't abandon anyone!"

Oikawa turned his cold eyes onto him. "Just like you wouldn't ever leave me, is that right?"

Hiroki frowned, standing up. "Just who are you, anyway?" he demanded.

Yukio could see the far wall through his friend. He wanted to shout a warning, but his throat was frozen. Oikawa just watched with a grim expression as Hiroki noticed he was fading, cried out in alarm, and disappeared.

Yukio sat, his head bowed, feeling tears on his face, falling from his chin. The world had suddenly gotten a lot more disjointed - he wasn't sure where he was, anymore. He didn't want to look at this part of his past, this snapshot of an Oikawa who had been so hopeless and who had let evil use him so completely.

"Ah.. so you aren't pretending it never happened," Oikawa observed smugly.

"No - I was just having fun with him, ok? I know... I know everything."

Oikawa's face lost its smarmy smile. "Fun, with a memory, while I who was once part of you am left utterly - listen to me, boy," he snapped, lifting his shoe to Yukio's shoulder and pushing him over backwards with it. Their eyes met, and Oikawa's icy voice continued, "utterly alone, Yukio, more alone than you have ever been."

"I didn't - I don't know what you mean!" Yukio cried, trying to get up, to turn away so he could hide his eyes again, but the foot kept him down.

"Your change of heart, Your sacrifice," Oikawa explained. "Your wish. Do you remember it?"

"No.." he sobbed. He knew all of this... It was why he had brought himself back: to try to set it right. Wasn't that enough?

"We said 'yes' to that monster together, Yukio - but when you changed your mind, do you know what you did to me?"

"I only wanted-"

"Your self-deception, your weakness, your hunger - these things were abhorrent to you. They had allowed you to make your ultimate mistake." He smiled righteously, leaning down. "So you pushed them down, far away from you, as you gave yourself away. Because you were ashamed. You didn't want to give me to the Digital World."

"I couldn't help feeling ashamed!" Yukio cried. "Everything was ruined... My own creations were dead because of me!"

"Did you dare to believe forgetting your evils would make them disappear? No-"

"No! I just-"

"Those things lived on. And they have been lurking beneath the surface of the Digital World, alone, devoid of everything you held close when you died."

Yukio shook his head. "No..."

"You held on to all the shame for yourself, and left none for me. So I have, let's see... No shame, no love, no regrets, no hope."

"I know! I'm sorry!" the boy said, putting his hands over his eyes. "I'll fix it!"

"No," Oikawa disagreed, and everything went black. "You won't."