Chapter 4: Into the Dark

Deathbatmon led Gatomon and T.K. up a wall on which narrow handholds and footholds had been carved. After several strenuous and nerve-wracking minutes, they reached an upper level.

"That was a shortcut," Deathbatmon said apologetically. "Perhaps you should have gone the long way."

"Whichever way helps us find Kari faster is the way we should go," Gatomon replied.

"The way will be easier now. Follow me."

"Does anyone else feel a little bit dizzy?" T.K. asked.

"This place feels a little like the Dark Ocean," Gatomon determined.

"This pyramid was built ages ago by the Fourteen Fallen Lords over a portal to another dimension," Deathbatmon informed them.

They came to a fork in the corridor.

"Now which way?" T.K. asked as he peered down one passage, then the other. "Should we split up?"

Gatomon's ears flicked forward. "You might want to wait for a moment. I hear Yolei and Ken coming."

"Ken's here?" Deathbatmon asked excitedly.

"Ken, Yolei! This way!" T.K. called.

A moment later, they arrived from one of the passages. Ken was pale and shaking.

"Are you okay?" T.K. asked him.

Yolei answered before Ken could. "You know that feeling of evil in here? Well, Ken's more sensitive to it than we are."

"Kari may be even worse," Ken warned them. "I think someone brought her here hoping to destroy her so they could use her power."

"Who would do something like that?" Yolei gasped.

"Balaammon would if he had the chance, but..." he shook his head, "He couldn't have taken Kari from our world. I don't know who could."

"We know," said T.K.

"Who?" Yolei asked.

"You're not going to like this," Gatomon said.

"Well don't keep us in suspense!" Yolei yelled. "Who took Kari?"

"Daemon."

"No," Ken whispered in dismay.

Yolei put a comforting hand on his shoulder. After a moment of gathering her courage, she looked up with an expression of determination. "Come on, Kari's in trouble. We know which way to go, so what are we waiting for?"

She started down the unexplored passage; Ken followed a few steps behind. T.K. stared after Yolei in amazement for a moment. "When did Yolei get so brave?" he wondered.

Gatomon shrugged and scampered after them.

"I've never been this far in the pyramid," Deathbatmon said nervously.

"You can go back if you want," T.K. said.

"No way! Ken might need me."

They followed after the others. The passage began sloping downward and winding in a spiral.

Ken shivered.

"Are you sure you want to keep going?" Yolei asked.

"I've made it this far." He forced a smile. "We're getting very close."

To what? Yolei wondered: Kari, Daemon, or something worse?

The passage ended at the mouth of a natural cave. A dim, sickly light emanated from it. Ken and Yolei stopped at the entrance, staring at something within. T.K., Gatomon, and Deathbatmon caught up to them. They saw where the light came from.

"The Dark Ocean," T.K. whispered.

The portal was at the back of the cave. They could see the ocean waves of that evil, empty world crash against a dark shore, on which a black tower stood like a negative image of a light house, beckoning to death instead of life.

Ken shut his eyes and took a deep, shaking breath. Then he took a step inside the cave.

Yolei saw his face tighten as he fought against some internal torment. "Ken, you don't have to go."

"Yes, I do. I need to do this, Yolei."

She put her arm around him. "Can't I help you, at least?"

He smiled a sincere but pained smile at her, and gratefully accepted her help.

"The darkness is so strong in here," T.K. said as he followed them into the cave.

Gatomon gasped as she spotted something. "Kari!"

She was tied to a stalagmite near the portal. She looked unconscious. Gatomon and T.K. ran to her. T.K. fumbled to untie her, then caught her as she fell forward.

"Kari, Kari, wake up!"

"We have to get her out of here," Ken said. "Fast."

Yolei ran to Kari and helped T.K. carry her out of the cave. Ken took a last look at the portal, wishing he could find a way to collapse it but knowing they didn't have time. Then he joined them outside the cave.

"Come on, Kari. Wake up!" Gatomon urged.

Kari's eyes were open, but they were dull and unseeing. Her breathing was slow and regular. T.K. held her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. "Come back to me Kari. Please." He looked up at Ken. "Can she even hear me?"

"I don't know." Ken stared at her, trying to remember or think of or sense anything that could help. There was something...something he could almost grasp.

"Is she going to wake up?" Gatomon asked with worry.

Yolei suddenly became angry. "Of course she's going to wake up, Gatomon! She's always fought off the Dark Ocean before, why would this time be different?"

Tears began to well in T.K.'s eyes. "Kari...Kari, please wake up! I need you." He suddenly kissed her. Then he looked at her as a fat tear fell from his eye. "I guess that only works in fairy tales," he said sadly.

Something flashed in Ken's mind. There was a wall that stretched out of sight in both directions, and a mirror topped with a silver sculpture of an owl. He and Kari were lying side by side in a garden. They both had the same vacant look in their eyes that Kari had now. Yolei reached for him, touched him, and his eyes focused on her...

The images disappeared. He remembered the time he dipped his digivice into the Dark Ocean. He remembered hearing echoes from his future. Was that what he just experienced?

"Yolei," he said, "You were the one who saved Kari from the Dark Ocean before. Maybe you can reach her now."

"How?"

"Talk to her, touch her, help connect her to reality, the way you helped me earlier."

She blinked in confusion, but went to Kari. "Kari," she said softly. "Can you hear me? Listen to me. I'm your best friend, and I'm not leaving here without you, so you'd better wake up, or...or I'm going to have to drag you all the way back to the digital world!" She grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Kari, you're stronger than this! Wake up now so we can get out of here!"

Kari blinked.

"Kari?" T.K. nudged Yolei out of the way.

Kari looked at him. "T.K. Where am I? I feel so strange..."

"It's okay," he said gently. "Can you walk? We need to get out of here." He helped her up and kept his arm around her for support.

She looked around at the pyramid walls, then she caught sight of Deathbatmon, who was waiting quietly. "Who is that? What's going on?"

"I'll explain later," Gatomon promised. "But right now we need to get going!"

Kari seemed dazed and didn't speak as they ascended the passageway. When they reached the fork, Deathbatmon stopped and listened. "I hear something coming," he said. "Come this way." He led them down the passage that Yolei and Ken had taken. They hid in a shadowy corner and watched.

It was he. It was Daemon.

T.K. covered Kari's mouth with his hand to keep her from gasping loud enough to give them away. They all held their breath and hoped Daemon couldn't see them, and couldn't hear their pounding hearts. A paranoid thought crossed T.K.'s mind: suppose Deathbatmon had been working for Daemon all along and would now betray them? But Deathbatmon remained as silent as the rest of them.

When Daemon came to the fork, he turned down the other passage, toward the portal. They waited a minute before trusting themselves to breathe again, then wordlessly and quickly continued down the passage.

"Daemon," Kari finally broke the silence. "That was Daemon. What is he doing here? I though he was in the Dark Ocean."

"I hoped the Dark Ocean would hold him forever," Ken said, "but I never really believed it would."

"He kidnapped you," T.K. told Kari.

"Why me? Why not..." She glanced at Ken.

"I'm not sure. Balaammon said you and I both have a power; maybe Daemon realized you're more powerful," he said.

They came to the room with the red and black mosaic. Ken froze and a shiver ran down his spine. He wondered if the room would affect Kari the same way, and watched her as she and T.K. crossed the floor. She didn't seem to have a problem with it. Maybe it was something to do with the Dark power Ken possessed that wouldn't affect her Light, or maybe compared to what she had been through since being brought to the cave, the evil here wasn't even enough to notice.

"Come on, Ballplayer," Deathbatmon encouraged when he saw Ken hesitate.

Yolei took his hand. "We're almost there," she said.

Ken nodded. He fixed his eyes on Yolei as they crossed the room. This time he made it without faltering.


After safely returning to their world, Yolei paid Kari a visit.

She took a seat at the foot of Kari's bed. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Better. But I keep remembering snatches of what happened to me. I wish I didn't."

"It will be okay," Yolei assured her. "You're back now. The digimon are keeping their eyes out for Daemon. We'll find a way to stop him."

Kari nodded, but she looked worried. Then she brightened up and changed the subject. "Are you still dating that boy Tommi?"

"Yes. Why?"

She blushed a little. "T.K. asked me to dinner next Friday, and I was wondering if you wanted to double-date."

"That would be fun." Yolei smiled, but didn't sound overly enthusiastic.

"Yolei, is there something wrong? Are you and Tommi having problems?"

"Well, we're going through a rough patch, but we'll work it out."

Kari rolled her eyes. Since Yolei had started dating, she'd been through at least half a dozen boyfriends. The truth was, she fell in love far too easily for any of them to last long.

"But it's you and T.K. I'm not sure about," she added.

Kari frowned. "Why not?"

"Well, I know he's liked you for years, but..."

"But what?"

She sighed. "I think Ken likes you, and I think you and Ken would make a perfect couple. You have so much in common. You're both gentle and quiet and sensitive, you both have that weird mystical power thing, or whatever..."

"What makes you think Ken likes me?"

"Just some things he said while we were looking for you. He didn't actually say he likes you like that, but I got that impression."

"I don't think he does," Kari decided. "I would be able to tell. And…I like T.K."

"If you say so. But I know which one I would choose if I were you," she said. Kari thought she sounded a little wistful. But then she perked up. "Anyway, Tommi and I would love to double date with you and T.K. Just tell me where and when and we'll meet you there."


Thanks for reviewing, JyouraKoumi, CStini, zodiacFnD, and Samreen Matthews.

On the next installment of Frost Deejn's Digimon Fanfiction: Tsukiyo invites the digidestined to holiday at her family's cabin. Will they have a relaxing, uneventful vacation? Not a chance.