Hey everyone. I apologise for taking so long to get the third chapter out and also realise it's a lot shorter. Surprisingly, people didn't give me much concrit before on this chapter and I liked the way it turned out. I am taking a darker route with certain characters so if they seem OOC, it is intentional.
3. Tainted
Veemon felt his heart falter as he saw their little group. They had been separated from Agumon and the others long ago and even though he, Wormmon, Hawkmon, Armadillomon, Patamon and Gatomon had stayed together, they were no longer what they used to be. So much had happened in the last couple of years.
"Patamon!" Gatomon cried, kneeling beside her hamster-like friend as he suddenly collapsed, beginning to let out whimpering noises. Unsure of what to do without getting them caught, she simply pulled her friend into her arms. "Pata? Pata, what is it?"
Patamon coughed, whimpering. "I feel like someone is shredding my heart...it hurts Gatomon, I want TK..."
"Hang in there, Patamon," Armadillomon said moving to put a supportive paw on his wing. "Our friends will come soon."
"What do you mean, shredding your heart though?" Hawkmon asked voice drowned in concern. "Is there anything we can do?"
A painful scream left Patamon as he thrashed around as if something invisible were choking him. He gasped, struggling to breathe even as evil digimon surrounded them. Veemon tensed immediately.
"Wormmon, help Gatomon get Patamon to safety," Veemon said, sounding a lot like Davis at that moment. "I'll try to hold them off."
"We're in this together, Veemon," Gatomon said firmly and Wormmon nodded.
"I won't leave you," Wormmon also agreed with Veemon causing him to frown as the others were firm. Honestly…all they had was each other but survival was more important, especially because Patamon would not be able to fight his way out right now.
Gatomon moved to shield Patamon though, but an attack hit the two, causing them to go flying back. This made the feline Digimon sound out a groan of frustration. If only she could become Angewomon. If only Kari hadn't abandoned them. She shook her head – the others told her not to think this way but seeing the condition the digital world was in, it reminded her of the time she had been with Myotismon.
"Give it up, chosen Digimon," A very familiar voice said as Hawkmon had moved to help Patamon and Gatomon. This caused all of the Digimon to freeze. It…no, it couldn't be. In a blue robe that was much different to the white one that he usually wore, standing before them was Gennai. The look in his eyes was not his warm, friendly one that they had seen before.
"Why?" Veemon voiced what they were all thinking. "Why would you turn on us like this?"
"The Hollow wishes to have Imperialdramon," Gennai said simply. "Patamon is the Bringer of Hope. Destroying him and capturing Veemon and Wormmon are simply my methods of surviving." He stepped forward. "Nothing personal but your partners were the ones that would risk their own lives to save you. I prioritise saving my own life first." Strange discs appeared in his hands and Veemon stepped back.
"Like hell," Gatomon's voice was cold and unlike what any of them had heard before, albeit Patamon shivered slightly as he heard it.
"Gatomon, don't…" Patamon began.
"No," Gatomon said firmly. "Nothing has changed since I was a rookie. If I want something done, if I want to protect what's precious to me, I have to do it myself. You're right, Gennai. No one comes to save the weak." Her icy voice could cut through glass. "That's why no one is going to come to save you either." In order to survive, she couldn't stop holding herself back. To protect everything that she had left, she had to solve things herself. Just like she had to with Myotismon. That was the principle she had lived by before she had met Kari and it seemed she would have to go back to that again if she wanted to survive. Pushing back all emotions, her gaze hardened, a dark aura beginning to flicker as she lunged with her claws out towards the Digimon attacking. The others watched, almost hypnotised as she deleted them as if they were nothing.
Her cold gaze then returned to Gennai.
"Do you want to be next?" A cold, almost foreign voice left Gatomon's lips that even she, herself didn't recognise. It seemed as if Gennai got the message and vanished from there.
"Gatomon," Hawkmon began slowly. "Was that really the right thing to do?"
"All we have left is each other, Hawkmon," Gatomon said coldly. "If I have to kill to preserve that, I'll do it."
There was that day and Gatomon had only become worse. Veemon wished someone would be able to snap her out of it but at the same time, if it weren't for her and Wormmon, the rest of them might be prisoners of the Hollow as well. As if Gatomon wasn't bad enough, Wormmon was definitely his fault.
"Go, Wormmon, Hawkmon!" Veemon encouraged his friends, trying to headbutt the Digimon that had attacked. He didn't understand. Centarumon, someone who had helped them in their many adventures in the digital world was hunting them down as if they were fresh meat. Why? Were all the sacrifices they had made for nothing?
"Veemon!" Wormmon cried. "I can't leave you!"
"None of us will," Hawkmon said. "You know, Gatomon will be furious with you."
Veemon frowned, struggling to keep dodging the enemy and encouraging his friends to run. "I know! But if both Wormmon and I are captured, the digital world is doomed. The enemy can't have Imperialdramon."
"The Hollow will gain Imperialdramon!" Leomon growled, eyes glowing red and all three Digimon jumped back.
"Wormmon!" Veemon hurried to shield his friend but was grabbed instead and thrown down, wincing as he felt Leomon's hot punches against his blue skin. He tried to roll out from underneath the lion Digimon, who unlike the others was merely being controlled by The Hollow, instead of doing this of his own will.
Hawkmon had moved to shield Wormmon instead, but Wormmon didn't back down, his eyes becoming cold. Gatomon's words echoed in his mind. She had been right – all they had was each other. Every hit that Veemon took for him – every time Hawkmon was blasted back was a prick to his heart.
'No matter what, all we have to do is be kind to each other and everyone else, right?' Ken had spoken those words the last time they had been together, and at the time, he had agreed whole-heartedly. But if kindness was his friends being hurt for him – if kindness was those relationships that they had once trusted turning on them then…he didn't want to be kind anymore. Not when all it was doing was hurting those that were precious to him.
"Get away from my friends," Wormmon's voice may have not sounded any different but if the purple aura around him was any indication, you didn't want to mess with him right now. He crawled over to Veemon. "It's okay, Veemon. We're never going to give up Imperialdramon or each other. We don't have to come back here ever again."
Veemon coughed, able to barely move even though Leomon had moved away and Centarumon had stopped his attack on Hawkmon. "Wormmon, what's…"
Wormmon didn't reply but it was then that the surroundings around them had changed to that of the World of Darkness.
Somehow, that day, Wormmon's emotions had not only transported the three of them to the Dark Ocean but Patamon, Gatomon and Armadillomon as well. This, of course, had both its benefits and disadvantages.
"Veemon," Armadillomon's voice snapped him out of it as he came outside of one of the small tents that they had set up with everyone's help. "What are ya thinking about?"
"I don't know," Veemon said. "I mean, I know the evil Digimon or the Hollow haven't been able to open a gate into this place but are we really any safer here? I dunno…" He sighed. "I don't like thinking this much, I kinda wish Davis was here."
"I know how you feel," Armadillomon agreed. "But we all got to keep it together, you know? I mean, I'm sure Cody and the others want to find a way to the digital world too…right?"
Veemon smiled. "Yeah, of course! Davis would never abandon us, if he's not here, it's because he probably hasn't found a way to open the gates." He knew deep inside that his best friend would never abandon them but why wasn't he coming? There had to be some effects of what was happening in the real world. Gatomon had always said they were connected, after all. But maybe this time is different – Davis doesn't know, he doesn't know that hell has broken loose here. If he did, he'd be here. Somehow, that childish reassurance did set his mind at ease.