The Remains Of Heaven
Chapter Seven: The Shadow World
By Ryan Bodle
A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed my story so far but keep sending them in won't you? Okay, this is gonna get weird from this chapter, but stay with me won't you cause I'm planning entertainment all the way through this. If you don't agree, you know where that review button is ^^;
Standard Annoying Disclaimer: Well done, you guessed it. I don't own digimon so don't bother suing. Although you're more than welcome to take up my debts.
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He carried on staring at Gabumon. The cub digimon lay hopelessly unconscious still. Joe had observed Matt watching over his partner for two hours now. He was quite amazed how he could keep his sight locked in one place for that long, focused on his digimon partner.
In Matt's head he had stumbled on the word partner from thinking one thing to the next. Partner. That word suddenly ran a lot deeper to him now more than ever. If they were partners, why was it that Gabumon lay hurt and out cold whilst he stared back in perfect health. Matt didn't have a scratch on him for all the battles they had been through. He moved for the first time since two hours ago, laying a hand on his digimon and gingerly stroked his hand over the fur. He drew it back. Closed his eyes and looked away, opening them at Joe who stood watching dumb founded.
Matt picked himself up and stepped out of the room silently. Joe's gaze followed him and after a delayed reaction the rest of him did.
The three digidestined that had come back to the real world were now in the Ishida's apartment. Kari sat still on the couch; her hands lay on Gatomon, who was on the edge of sleep on Kari's lap. It was a tested and proved theory that when Kari wanted to talk finally, Gatomon would be the first person to talk to.
"How are you feeling?" Joe asked cheerily. A mere guise of his true mood.
"As well as can be expected," Kari replied indifferently. Joe tried to smile but it wore pretty quickly.
"You hungry?" He tried again.
"I don't know, I can't think about that right now."
"How about I fix you something up and if you don't like it, we'll it give to Gomamon? That way nothing's lost."
"Ok." Joe could have sworn he saw Kari shrug. He turned and walked into the kitchen. A back wall, surface with sink and cooker. Every inch covered with piles of plates and boxes, all with an array of dried Chinese or some other take out food.
"Maybe a clean up first."
"Good luck," Matt retorted. "Tried that not too long ago and didn't get anywhere." Joe began searching cupboards.
"With what? I don't see anything to clean with" Matt hesitated before replying.
"Bathroom soap and paper towels?" Joe sweat dropped.
"No wonder, I guess we should get some supplies," Joe went for the door. "Anyone else want to join me in the great outdoors?" There was a silence as Matt turned his neck to Kari who said nothing.
"I think we'll wallow in our own self pity just for now." Joe sighed.
"It's not that bad you know?"
"Yeah I know, it's just a big sting. We'll be here when you get back." Joe saw himself out.
~*~
T.K cracked his eyes open, pure light hitting his retina, he snapped them closed again and gingerly tried again. Cracks of light was let through, he turned away from the source, directly above him and let his eyes adjust.
He could barely remember a thing. He remembered the cave where CyberDatamon followed Tai and Sora into the depths. He suddenly swallowed hard and his stomach jumped over backwards. He hoped that they were ok, then remembered that hope may not prevail this time. He still didn't fear the worst.
He remembered that shockwave that hit him and Angemon, sending them upwards, then just swirling light before he hit something, more screaming. Stop. His memory went blank there so he could only assume he lost consciousness. His eyes had adjusted and he sat up from the tangle his body was in.
His joints and muscles ached from the strange position he was left to lie in. He found himself on top of and under limbs and bodies of Davis, Ken and representing digimon, all in a calamity, still out cold. He figured that's who he hit on the way out. He noticed Biyomon and Agumon, some way away from them.
Form there he took the time to familiarize himself with the immediate surroundings. He saw rock and earth, tightly packed so that it would be difficult to shift and it held in place to bare a roof over is head. was he still in that cave? How did he escape without being hurt in the least? He got up and stood still as he realized his head was not in prime condition, his sight wavering.
Once it came to normal again he turned and looked at the pile of human and mon. He saw chest heave up and down, concluding that they were ok for now. As far as he was concerned he needed to make a plan of action for when the others woke up.
If he didn't, Davis would go blaring off and causing more ruckus no doubt. What was he to do though? He needed a definite line to work along and convince the others it was the right thing to do.
He glanced to his left to see light diminish, obviously it led deeper into the cave. Looking to his right he saw gleams of light stream towards him. An exit, and it seemed nearby. He deemed it safe enough to venture and find out what was all around them beyond this shelter.
He took slow but sure steps. His head still seemed to swim as he wandered further to the source of light, bending round a corner. There was the exit, snow lay right on the entrance. Some was blown in by a chilling wind whilst sometimes it fell gracefully to the immediate step inside the doorway made by rock.
They had reached a cold climate. Funny how he couldn't feel the cold further in the cave, he would have thought that wind would have blown right through. HE gripped his shirt and hugged his clothes tight to his skin. It made no difference, but it felt instinctive to do so.
From desert to snow, he figured they had traveled some way to end up in this temperature. He turned back to the depths of the cave, he figured if he left the other unconscious for too long it wouldn't be good.
~*~
As a vigilant worker of INS inc, Izumi Amiya relentlessly typed at his keyboard, entering coding into the vast super computers that housed a very big database. One owned by the biggest Insurance Companies in the country. Everyone stopped for lunch, he carried on typing away.
His office was a mere closet in which he shut away the world. No light, except that of his monitor, which at current had engulfed his entire face in light, nothing but the glint in his thick glasses could be seen of him.
In the last hour he'd seen glitches in the system he wasn't happy with. He was never happy with glitches, the system was perfect, he had devised it. He carried on typing. He feared an attack on his wonderful, masterminded system, he carried on typing. Was it a new strain of virus? A hacker perhaps? He couldn't tell. He continued typing. Every thing he tried to unveil the mystery just led to more questions and so he typed further.
It had started. There were blanks in records starting to appear. He stopped typing, something had beaten him. Whatever had come, started to wash over like a tidal wave. A wave of darkness swam over. Pixel by pixel, his screen went black.
His mouth hung low as he watched, baffled by the events. "Huh?" he managed. Now in complete dark, events had caught up in his mind. He raised a fist and slammed it down on his desk. "Dammit!"
The next knock was from the door of his office. "Hey Izumi! Something weird is happening to my computer, can you check it out?"
~*~
"So? Where are we?" Davis piped again. T.K blamed the repeated question on the huge head ache Davis felt obliged to tell everyone about, must have affected his brain that much.
"Again Davis, I don't know, but it's some place cold," T.K answered. He wished he never woke him up now. It was just a series of questions since he did.
"So we're still in the digital world?"
"I guess, snow in mid autumn is pretty strange for Odaiba." Ken concluded. "Does anyone else have a signal on their digivice? Mine looks busted." The purple haired kid tapped at the dead screen.
T.K and Davis pulled theirs out, nothing, no power. They couldn't even send an email. "Mine too," Davis slumped.
"Guess we're on our own, no digivice means no digivolving," T.K concluded. "I say the best thing to do is to find out as much about our surroundings as possible."
"Sounds good, do we go deeper into this cave or brave outside?" Ken asked.
"I'm not dressed for snow, so I guess we should check out what's in the cave," T.K suggested.
"It gets pretty dark," Davis commented.
"Awww, you scared Davis?" Davis looked at him discontent.
"You got a light?" It brought a sharp end to T.K's sneering. T.K looked into the cave. Davis was right. Without a torch or something, they wouldn't get far.
"Can we even make a torch from something?" Ken asked. They immediately looked behind Davis, just recently they had grabbed every scrap of wood that lay about. There was a surprisingly plentiful supply inside the cave. Davis lifted one bough, still with its leaves, dried and ready to fall off.
"Agumon?"
"Pepper Breath!" The attack made the branch blaze with flame that licked the fuel around it sumptuously. Davis held it aloft and watched it illuminate the rocky ceiling above them.
"Shall we?" He asked them as he started off. Agumon and Veemon followed, bringing up his flank. At this point, T.K felt a ruffle on his hat, he peered up to see Patamon make himself comfortable.
"You know, one I'll stop wearing a hat."
"Oh no, best keep one, you're hair makes me itch."
"You'd never move though huh?" Patamon raised his chin and smiled proudly before shaking his head. T.K sighed and started off. Ken knelt down and let his hand out. Wormmon, crawled up and perched on his shoulder before glancing at Ken.
"Don't worry Wormmon, you're quite welcome." The digimon chuckled.
~*~
"Man, Joe I never you could cook," Matt let a heavy breath out and supported his expanded gut.
"I picked up a few things, so to say," the eldest digidestined looked to the other side of the table, Kari picked at her plate but otherwise ate a sufficient amount to not be depressed. "Well if we're regrouped, how about going to find Sora and Tai?"
"Most definitely," Matt answered. "But you may want to tear them away from their plates." He pointed to a feeding frenzy, where Gabumon and Gommamon ferociously attacked their plates with a vengeance and wouldn't relent. Just next to them Gatomon watched bewildered. She turned her nose up to them and walked away in a very dignified manor.
Gommamon stopped and looked up in a very surprised look. He held his breath and looked like he was going to throw up, then without warning he exploded, unleashing the loudest belch anyone present had ever heard.
"Whoo!" Gommamon exclaimed. "That's one spicy meat-a-ball Joe!" Joe smacked a hand to his forehead.
"Gommamon."
"Guys, I think we may have a problem," Kari sat upon the couch again and looked endlessly into Joe's laptop. "I can't open a digiport."
"Try again," Matt insisted, he slipped behind her and craned his neck to the screen. "Nothing?" He lifted his own digivice. Neither reacted. He looked at the device in the palm of his hand. "It's completely dead, what about yours Joe?"
"No," Joe answered. "It's lifeless." The laptop screen was dark and motionless.
"Is it even on?" Matt asked. Kari retorted and pointed at the power LED. "Wait, the screen is moving, he pointed at swirling shadows, stirring over the screen."
"What do you suppose it is?" Joe asked.
"Like I'm the expert," Matt replied. "Check it out a white dot," he pointed to the dead centre, a small white pixel stood out, and suddenly exploded to a bigger portion.
Now the laptop came to life, now their digivices came to life. Joe and Matt looked at each other.
"Something big is going on in the digital world," Joe said, grabbing his digivice tight.
"Let's go check it out, Gabumon!"
"Digi-port Open!" Kari thrust her own digivice forward. The screen lit up as the digidestined and their partners were engulfed in light, the familiar feeling of being sucked into the digital world took them and they were gone from the room.
"Where are we going to end up!" Matt shouted as their persons crashed through the light barrier that was a shield between the worlds.
"Primary village!" Kari answered. "That's where we'll find Izzy, Yolei and Cody." They went deaf for a second and all perceptions that they were moving stopped suddenly and they had finished their travel in a matter of seconds.
Joe held his stomach. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that," he whined.
"Kari, I thought we were gonna end up in Primary Village," Matt drifted through his sentence.
"So did I," Kari answered just the same.
They stood on red dirt, barren and fruitless. Pastures they were used to had gone. For all the eye could see was a dark and desolate place. The mud o which they stood spanned beyond their sight could muster the strength to focus. The only change would be the mountains it ran into.
Mountains, that seemed to once stand so proud and noble, illustrating power of the lands. They now were sad and beaten to a dull grey. Even now they reached out to the sky, equally sullen.
There was a mix of crimson reds like the surface and grey to almost black clouds hanging over the lands. No wind could move them, they were too full of sorrow to move.
"What happened here?" Matt asked. He understood a massive change had undergone the digital world. He could barely begin to know what. "Is this the Dark Ocean's doing?" Kari almost failed to catch her breath.
Gatomon stared blankly at her home, she only snapped to tweak her ears. She turned her head. "I hear something." Not long after, Gabumon growled for the first time ever.
"I smell something, and it's not friendly." They looked toward the mountains and saw a silhouette or rather many bound towards them. They galloped across the plains, each having four legs, thin and yet seemingly so strong, they supported a thin body, many feet above the ground. The only feature to be distinguished from their stare were two golden eyes, gazing blankly at the group they charged.
"Howling blaster!" Gabumon's attack hurtled forward, a blue beam dividing the group as they effortlessly avoided the target area of the blast. They came dangerously close.
Instinctively, Matt stepped in front of Kari and drew a fist, his eyes fixed on the shadowed creatures "Anybody's digivice working?" Matt asked, a determined glare fixed in his eyes.
Joe and Kari took their digivices from their belts and clicked them in unison, none worked. "Looks like we have to do this the hard way with just one digimon," Kari said aloud, she took out her digi-egg.
"Digi-armour energise!" Gatomon became enveloped in a blinding light, the creatures faltered at the purity of it as Gatomon was left in it wake to reveal Nefertimon.
"At least we're not completely defenseless," Matt murmured as he walked upside his digimon partner.
"Matt get back, you'll get hurt," Gabumon told him in a pleading tone.
"Not this time Gabumon, you can't take these things on your own and I'm not going to let you. In any case, I can do as much damage as you right now if not more." Gabumon stayed silent and bent his knees in readiness, he poised both claws in front of him.
Matt left his bawled fist behind him and bent his knees just the same. The shadowed creatures were almost upon them.
"Rosetta Stone!" Nefertimon unleashed her attack to the floor in front of the galloping enemy and sent the front row to their knees. With a loud war cry, Matt stepped forward and threw his fist at what he assumed to be the head of the creature and made contact with soft flesh, pushing right through it. The tissue of the creature gave way and reformed it self. Finally Matt's fist reached an almost tougher centre and knocked with just as much force as he hit the dark and soft outer layer, the beast squealed and made the ear quiver.
"What the hell are these things?" Matt exclaimed as his target fell completely, he was overwhelmed in the presence of another.
"Howling blaster!" Gabumon ripped through the skin of another to reveal a pink material underneath. He sent his claw forth, digging into it and drew a strange light pink blood. The deceased shadow creature fell and another had died. "No idea, but once you get past their skin it's easy to kill them!"
"Cat's Eye Beam!" Nefertimon ripped through the skin of another from above, seeing the exposed centre, she dove with amazing speed and held out her claws, gripping the body of it and ripping away flesh, the crippled beast fell to it's knees. Matt climbed on top of it and seeing the exposed body, drove his fist forward once more ending the wretched life.
He was overshadowed, looking up in a crouched position, he saw another raise a fore leg and bring it down on him, piercing his shoulder, a blunt end never achieved such a feat. His scream of pain was almost as bad as the creature's.
"Matt!" Gabumon rushed to his aid by slicing at the leg. His claw hit solid rock and the digimon winced but didn't stop. "Howling Blaster!" the energy ripped through the skin again, by now his mouth was burning from the amount of times he'd attacked in such a manor.
And as if a supreme deity had been watching them, a volley of energy shots burst passed the digidestined and into the hearts of the creatures, felling Matt's assailant. Another was ripped to shreds by the blasts.
Seeing that they were outnumbered and overpowered, the last two fled as energy blasts chased them off. With a hurt tone they yelped into the distance.
Matt was held in the lap of Kari by now as Joe looked on at the wound. "It goes right through, we have to get him to a hospital," he looked on. The wound was strange, clean cut and a dark powdered residue was left behind. "That almost looks like infection, but its been a matter of seconds, how can anything start to breed by now?"
"Only that which is neither living nor dead," Necks turned to see a full grown man standing over them. He was tall, dark skinned and muscular. His jaw line was very square and he had a menacing stare about him. He was dressed in rags, amongst his belt he carried a variety of items. Water bottle, knife, electronic equipment, and holstered in his arms a large rifle that looked like it came from a sci-fi movie. Matt almost gasped but failed from lack of strength. He spoke again. "He has been wounded by the shadow, if we don't act fast we'll lose him."
"Who are you?" Joe asked incoherently, staring in awe as if a saviour had arrived.
"That doesn't matter now, we must get him to a person of healing." He knelt and took the burden of Matt from the two and slung him over his shoulder.
"Hey wait!" Kari got to her feet, you're to going anywhere with him until we know who you are."
"Care to try your luck," the man spat back. "I'm going to save him, you're free to follow me to shelter." He carried on.
"Something is strange about that guy," Joe spoke silently. "I think its ok to follow him Kari, he just saved our lives by turning up, perhaps he can help Matt." He got up himself and picked up Gomamon.
"Excuse me sir, perhaps you can help us," Joe piped again. "This may sound like a stupid question but we were trying to get to the digital world, you wouldn't know how to get there from here."
"You stand in it's ruminants," the man answered. Blunt and to the point, Joe felt he wasn't up to conversation.
"So this is the digital world?"
"Yes, but we call it by another name, for this place is just a shadow of that glorious time and place," as they peered over a hill, they saw a desolate valley, in the centre what looked like a fortress built on Primary Village." Horrified, Joe let his jaw fall.
"What is this place?" Gomamon asked. Again so blunt the man answered.
"The Shadow World."
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Well that's it until I come up with the rest of it. Show your appreciation or grief by hitting that review button. Please? Pretty please?
Chapter Seven: The Shadow World
By Ryan Bodle
A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed my story so far but keep sending them in won't you? Okay, this is gonna get weird from this chapter, but stay with me won't you cause I'm planning entertainment all the way through this. If you don't agree, you know where that review button is ^^;
Standard Annoying Disclaimer: Well done, you guessed it. I don't own digimon so don't bother suing. Although you're more than welcome to take up my debts.
=======================================================================
He carried on staring at Gabumon. The cub digimon lay hopelessly unconscious still. Joe had observed Matt watching over his partner for two hours now. He was quite amazed how he could keep his sight locked in one place for that long, focused on his digimon partner.
In Matt's head he had stumbled on the word partner from thinking one thing to the next. Partner. That word suddenly ran a lot deeper to him now more than ever. If they were partners, why was it that Gabumon lay hurt and out cold whilst he stared back in perfect health. Matt didn't have a scratch on him for all the battles they had been through. He moved for the first time since two hours ago, laying a hand on his digimon and gingerly stroked his hand over the fur. He drew it back. Closed his eyes and looked away, opening them at Joe who stood watching dumb founded.
Matt picked himself up and stepped out of the room silently. Joe's gaze followed him and after a delayed reaction the rest of him did.
The three digidestined that had come back to the real world were now in the Ishida's apartment. Kari sat still on the couch; her hands lay on Gatomon, who was on the edge of sleep on Kari's lap. It was a tested and proved theory that when Kari wanted to talk finally, Gatomon would be the first person to talk to.
"How are you feeling?" Joe asked cheerily. A mere guise of his true mood.
"As well as can be expected," Kari replied indifferently. Joe tried to smile but it wore pretty quickly.
"You hungry?" He tried again.
"I don't know, I can't think about that right now."
"How about I fix you something up and if you don't like it, we'll it give to Gomamon? That way nothing's lost."
"Ok." Joe could have sworn he saw Kari shrug. He turned and walked into the kitchen. A back wall, surface with sink and cooker. Every inch covered with piles of plates and boxes, all with an array of dried Chinese or some other take out food.
"Maybe a clean up first."
"Good luck," Matt retorted. "Tried that not too long ago and didn't get anywhere." Joe began searching cupboards.
"With what? I don't see anything to clean with" Matt hesitated before replying.
"Bathroom soap and paper towels?" Joe sweat dropped.
"No wonder, I guess we should get some supplies," Joe went for the door. "Anyone else want to join me in the great outdoors?" There was a silence as Matt turned his neck to Kari who said nothing.
"I think we'll wallow in our own self pity just for now." Joe sighed.
"It's not that bad you know?"
"Yeah I know, it's just a big sting. We'll be here when you get back." Joe saw himself out.
~*~
T.K cracked his eyes open, pure light hitting his retina, he snapped them closed again and gingerly tried again. Cracks of light was let through, he turned away from the source, directly above him and let his eyes adjust.
He could barely remember a thing. He remembered the cave where CyberDatamon followed Tai and Sora into the depths. He suddenly swallowed hard and his stomach jumped over backwards. He hoped that they were ok, then remembered that hope may not prevail this time. He still didn't fear the worst.
He remembered that shockwave that hit him and Angemon, sending them upwards, then just swirling light before he hit something, more screaming. Stop. His memory went blank there so he could only assume he lost consciousness. His eyes had adjusted and he sat up from the tangle his body was in.
His joints and muscles ached from the strange position he was left to lie in. He found himself on top of and under limbs and bodies of Davis, Ken and representing digimon, all in a calamity, still out cold. He figured that's who he hit on the way out. He noticed Biyomon and Agumon, some way away from them.
Form there he took the time to familiarize himself with the immediate surroundings. He saw rock and earth, tightly packed so that it would be difficult to shift and it held in place to bare a roof over is head. was he still in that cave? How did he escape without being hurt in the least? He got up and stood still as he realized his head was not in prime condition, his sight wavering.
Once it came to normal again he turned and looked at the pile of human and mon. He saw chest heave up and down, concluding that they were ok for now. As far as he was concerned he needed to make a plan of action for when the others woke up.
If he didn't, Davis would go blaring off and causing more ruckus no doubt. What was he to do though? He needed a definite line to work along and convince the others it was the right thing to do.
He glanced to his left to see light diminish, obviously it led deeper into the cave. Looking to his right he saw gleams of light stream towards him. An exit, and it seemed nearby. He deemed it safe enough to venture and find out what was all around them beyond this shelter.
He took slow but sure steps. His head still seemed to swim as he wandered further to the source of light, bending round a corner. There was the exit, snow lay right on the entrance. Some was blown in by a chilling wind whilst sometimes it fell gracefully to the immediate step inside the doorway made by rock.
They had reached a cold climate. Funny how he couldn't feel the cold further in the cave, he would have thought that wind would have blown right through. HE gripped his shirt and hugged his clothes tight to his skin. It made no difference, but it felt instinctive to do so.
From desert to snow, he figured they had traveled some way to end up in this temperature. He turned back to the depths of the cave, he figured if he left the other unconscious for too long it wouldn't be good.
~*~
As a vigilant worker of INS inc, Izumi Amiya relentlessly typed at his keyboard, entering coding into the vast super computers that housed a very big database. One owned by the biggest Insurance Companies in the country. Everyone stopped for lunch, he carried on typing away.
His office was a mere closet in which he shut away the world. No light, except that of his monitor, which at current had engulfed his entire face in light, nothing but the glint in his thick glasses could be seen of him.
In the last hour he'd seen glitches in the system he wasn't happy with. He was never happy with glitches, the system was perfect, he had devised it. He carried on typing. He feared an attack on his wonderful, masterminded system, he carried on typing. Was it a new strain of virus? A hacker perhaps? He couldn't tell. He continued typing. Every thing he tried to unveil the mystery just led to more questions and so he typed further.
It had started. There were blanks in records starting to appear. He stopped typing, something had beaten him. Whatever had come, started to wash over like a tidal wave. A wave of darkness swam over. Pixel by pixel, his screen went black.
His mouth hung low as he watched, baffled by the events. "Huh?" he managed. Now in complete dark, events had caught up in his mind. He raised a fist and slammed it down on his desk. "Dammit!"
The next knock was from the door of his office. "Hey Izumi! Something weird is happening to my computer, can you check it out?"
~*~
"So? Where are we?" Davis piped again. T.K blamed the repeated question on the huge head ache Davis felt obliged to tell everyone about, must have affected his brain that much.
"Again Davis, I don't know, but it's some place cold," T.K answered. He wished he never woke him up now. It was just a series of questions since he did.
"So we're still in the digital world?"
"I guess, snow in mid autumn is pretty strange for Odaiba." Ken concluded. "Does anyone else have a signal on their digivice? Mine looks busted." The purple haired kid tapped at the dead screen.
T.K and Davis pulled theirs out, nothing, no power. They couldn't even send an email. "Mine too," Davis slumped.
"Guess we're on our own, no digivice means no digivolving," T.K concluded. "I say the best thing to do is to find out as much about our surroundings as possible."
"Sounds good, do we go deeper into this cave or brave outside?" Ken asked.
"I'm not dressed for snow, so I guess we should check out what's in the cave," T.K suggested.
"It gets pretty dark," Davis commented.
"Awww, you scared Davis?" Davis looked at him discontent.
"You got a light?" It brought a sharp end to T.K's sneering. T.K looked into the cave. Davis was right. Without a torch or something, they wouldn't get far.
"Can we even make a torch from something?" Ken asked. They immediately looked behind Davis, just recently they had grabbed every scrap of wood that lay about. There was a surprisingly plentiful supply inside the cave. Davis lifted one bough, still with its leaves, dried and ready to fall off.
"Agumon?"
"Pepper Breath!" The attack made the branch blaze with flame that licked the fuel around it sumptuously. Davis held it aloft and watched it illuminate the rocky ceiling above them.
"Shall we?" He asked them as he started off. Agumon and Veemon followed, bringing up his flank. At this point, T.K felt a ruffle on his hat, he peered up to see Patamon make himself comfortable.
"You know, one I'll stop wearing a hat."
"Oh no, best keep one, you're hair makes me itch."
"You'd never move though huh?" Patamon raised his chin and smiled proudly before shaking his head. T.K sighed and started off. Ken knelt down and let his hand out. Wormmon, crawled up and perched on his shoulder before glancing at Ken.
"Don't worry Wormmon, you're quite welcome." The digimon chuckled.
~*~
"Man, Joe I never you could cook," Matt let a heavy breath out and supported his expanded gut.
"I picked up a few things, so to say," the eldest digidestined looked to the other side of the table, Kari picked at her plate but otherwise ate a sufficient amount to not be depressed. "Well if we're regrouped, how about going to find Sora and Tai?"
"Most definitely," Matt answered. "But you may want to tear them away from their plates." He pointed to a feeding frenzy, where Gabumon and Gommamon ferociously attacked their plates with a vengeance and wouldn't relent. Just next to them Gatomon watched bewildered. She turned her nose up to them and walked away in a very dignified manor.
Gommamon stopped and looked up in a very surprised look. He held his breath and looked like he was going to throw up, then without warning he exploded, unleashing the loudest belch anyone present had ever heard.
"Whoo!" Gommamon exclaimed. "That's one spicy meat-a-ball Joe!" Joe smacked a hand to his forehead.
"Gommamon."
"Guys, I think we may have a problem," Kari sat upon the couch again and looked endlessly into Joe's laptop. "I can't open a digiport."
"Try again," Matt insisted, he slipped behind her and craned his neck to the screen. "Nothing?" He lifted his own digivice. Neither reacted. He looked at the device in the palm of his hand. "It's completely dead, what about yours Joe?"
"No," Joe answered. "It's lifeless." The laptop screen was dark and motionless.
"Is it even on?" Matt asked. Kari retorted and pointed at the power LED. "Wait, the screen is moving, he pointed at swirling shadows, stirring over the screen."
"What do you suppose it is?" Joe asked.
"Like I'm the expert," Matt replied. "Check it out a white dot," he pointed to the dead centre, a small white pixel stood out, and suddenly exploded to a bigger portion.
Now the laptop came to life, now their digivices came to life. Joe and Matt looked at each other.
"Something big is going on in the digital world," Joe said, grabbing his digivice tight.
"Let's go check it out, Gabumon!"
"Digi-port Open!" Kari thrust her own digivice forward. The screen lit up as the digidestined and their partners were engulfed in light, the familiar feeling of being sucked into the digital world took them and they were gone from the room.
"Where are we going to end up!" Matt shouted as their persons crashed through the light barrier that was a shield between the worlds.
"Primary village!" Kari answered. "That's where we'll find Izzy, Yolei and Cody." They went deaf for a second and all perceptions that they were moving stopped suddenly and they had finished their travel in a matter of seconds.
Joe held his stomach. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that," he whined.
"Kari, I thought we were gonna end up in Primary Village," Matt drifted through his sentence.
"So did I," Kari answered just the same.
They stood on red dirt, barren and fruitless. Pastures they were used to had gone. For all the eye could see was a dark and desolate place. The mud o which they stood spanned beyond their sight could muster the strength to focus. The only change would be the mountains it ran into.
Mountains, that seemed to once stand so proud and noble, illustrating power of the lands. They now were sad and beaten to a dull grey. Even now they reached out to the sky, equally sullen.
There was a mix of crimson reds like the surface and grey to almost black clouds hanging over the lands. No wind could move them, they were too full of sorrow to move.
"What happened here?" Matt asked. He understood a massive change had undergone the digital world. He could barely begin to know what. "Is this the Dark Ocean's doing?" Kari almost failed to catch her breath.
Gatomon stared blankly at her home, she only snapped to tweak her ears. She turned her head. "I hear something." Not long after, Gabumon growled for the first time ever.
"I smell something, and it's not friendly." They looked toward the mountains and saw a silhouette or rather many bound towards them. They galloped across the plains, each having four legs, thin and yet seemingly so strong, they supported a thin body, many feet above the ground. The only feature to be distinguished from their stare were two golden eyes, gazing blankly at the group they charged.
"Howling blaster!" Gabumon's attack hurtled forward, a blue beam dividing the group as they effortlessly avoided the target area of the blast. They came dangerously close.
Instinctively, Matt stepped in front of Kari and drew a fist, his eyes fixed on the shadowed creatures "Anybody's digivice working?" Matt asked, a determined glare fixed in his eyes.
Joe and Kari took their digivices from their belts and clicked them in unison, none worked. "Looks like we have to do this the hard way with just one digimon," Kari said aloud, she took out her digi-egg.
"Digi-armour energise!" Gatomon became enveloped in a blinding light, the creatures faltered at the purity of it as Gatomon was left in it wake to reveal Nefertimon.
"At least we're not completely defenseless," Matt murmured as he walked upside his digimon partner.
"Matt get back, you'll get hurt," Gabumon told him in a pleading tone.
"Not this time Gabumon, you can't take these things on your own and I'm not going to let you. In any case, I can do as much damage as you right now if not more." Gabumon stayed silent and bent his knees in readiness, he poised both claws in front of him.
Matt left his bawled fist behind him and bent his knees just the same. The shadowed creatures were almost upon them.
"Rosetta Stone!" Nefertimon unleashed her attack to the floor in front of the galloping enemy and sent the front row to their knees. With a loud war cry, Matt stepped forward and threw his fist at what he assumed to be the head of the creature and made contact with soft flesh, pushing right through it. The tissue of the creature gave way and reformed it self. Finally Matt's fist reached an almost tougher centre and knocked with just as much force as he hit the dark and soft outer layer, the beast squealed and made the ear quiver.
"What the hell are these things?" Matt exclaimed as his target fell completely, he was overwhelmed in the presence of another.
"Howling blaster!" Gabumon ripped through the skin of another to reveal a pink material underneath. He sent his claw forth, digging into it and drew a strange light pink blood. The deceased shadow creature fell and another had died. "No idea, but once you get past their skin it's easy to kill them!"
"Cat's Eye Beam!" Nefertimon ripped through the skin of another from above, seeing the exposed centre, she dove with amazing speed and held out her claws, gripping the body of it and ripping away flesh, the crippled beast fell to it's knees. Matt climbed on top of it and seeing the exposed body, drove his fist forward once more ending the wretched life.
He was overshadowed, looking up in a crouched position, he saw another raise a fore leg and bring it down on him, piercing his shoulder, a blunt end never achieved such a feat. His scream of pain was almost as bad as the creature's.
"Matt!" Gabumon rushed to his aid by slicing at the leg. His claw hit solid rock and the digimon winced but didn't stop. "Howling Blaster!" the energy ripped through the skin again, by now his mouth was burning from the amount of times he'd attacked in such a manor.
And as if a supreme deity had been watching them, a volley of energy shots burst passed the digidestined and into the hearts of the creatures, felling Matt's assailant. Another was ripped to shreds by the blasts.
Seeing that they were outnumbered and overpowered, the last two fled as energy blasts chased them off. With a hurt tone they yelped into the distance.
Matt was held in the lap of Kari by now as Joe looked on at the wound. "It goes right through, we have to get him to a hospital," he looked on. The wound was strange, clean cut and a dark powdered residue was left behind. "That almost looks like infection, but its been a matter of seconds, how can anything start to breed by now?"
"Only that which is neither living nor dead," Necks turned to see a full grown man standing over them. He was tall, dark skinned and muscular. His jaw line was very square and he had a menacing stare about him. He was dressed in rags, amongst his belt he carried a variety of items. Water bottle, knife, electronic equipment, and holstered in his arms a large rifle that looked like it came from a sci-fi movie. Matt almost gasped but failed from lack of strength. He spoke again. "He has been wounded by the shadow, if we don't act fast we'll lose him."
"Who are you?" Joe asked incoherently, staring in awe as if a saviour had arrived.
"That doesn't matter now, we must get him to a person of healing." He knelt and took the burden of Matt from the two and slung him over his shoulder.
"Hey wait!" Kari got to her feet, you're to going anywhere with him until we know who you are."
"Care to try your luck," the man spat back. "I'm going to save him, you're free to follow me to shelter." He carried on.
"Something is strange about that guy," Joe spoke silently. "I think its ok to follow him Kari, he just saved our lives by turning up, perhaps he can help Matt." He got up himself and picked up Gomamon.
"Excuse me sir, perhaps you can help us," Joe piped again. "This may sound like a stupid question but we were trying to get to the digital world, you wouldn't know how to get there from here."
"You stand in it's ruminants," the man answered. Blunt and to the point, Joe felt he wasn't up to conversation.
"So this is the digital world?"
"Yes, but we call it by another name, for this place is just a shadow of that glorious time and place," as they peered over a hill, they saw a desolate valley, in the centre what looked like a fortress built on Primary Village." Horrified, Joe let his jaw fall.
"What is this place?" Gomamon asked. Again so blunt the man answered.
"The Shadow World."
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Well that's it until I come up with the rest of it. Show your appreciation or grief by hitting that review button. Please? Pretty please?