Author's Note: This chapter took a bit longer than I initially planned but now, I have two more chapters left before this story is complete and tomorrow will be Easter, this is my Easter present to everyone. Also, I wasn't happy with the initial cover of my story so I decided to change it. And finally, I would like to give a big thank you for melia2 for such a lovely review and I wish everyone a Happy early Easter!
Drowned Out
Chapter Thirteen
Davis glared fiercely at the cloaked Digimon. "That doesn't matter! We sent you to the Dark Ocean once, we can do it again! Right, Ken?"
Ken nodded. "Right."
"Don't even bother trying to send me back there," Daemon said rather flatly, "It's no use now."
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Yolei cried.
"It means, foolish girl," the demon replied, "that after defeating that pathetic Dragomon, I'm the new ruler of the Dark Ocean!"
Kari couldn't believe what she just heard. The Undersea Master, defeated just like that? It didn't seem possible.
"How come we can't close that portal then," T.K. questioned, "if it's not a Digi-Port, what is it?"
"This is no ordinary portal," Daemon said, "but rather a gateway to the Dark Area."
"Dark Area?" Yolei turned to Izzy. "Do you have any idea what he's talking about?"
"No, I don't. Gennai never mentioned a place called the Dark Area." Izzy replied.
The lack of answers only fueled Davis's frustration.
"So, where is this Dark Area then!?" demanded the goggle boy, "Is it another part of the Dark Ocean?!"
"No, the Dark Area is located within Digital World but I was able to link it from the Dark Ocean through the Dark Whirlpool. You see, my goal was to open a gate from the Dark Area to unleash my army of Nightmare Soldiers upon your world!"
"Nightmare…Soldiers?" Cody reiterated, horrified. "What kind of Digimon are those?" he asked, glancing over towards Izzy.
Izzy immediately pulled out his laptop, opening up his Digimon Analyzer. His heart leapt in his throat as a screen opened up revealing the information.
"Nightmare Soldiers," the Bearer of Knowledge read, "a category of dark Digimon consisting mainly of demonic or undead types." His eyes widened with horror as he clicked on a link, seeing the large list of Digimon that were classified as Nightmare Soldiers. Many of them being enemies that the Digidestined had previously fought and defeated.
"This was my original intent for the Dark Spore," Daemon explained, his eyes shifting towards Ken. "but now since the Spore's power has weakened due to being copied, I set out to find a new source."
"A new source?" repeated Davis, "What do you mean?"
"You see, after destroying Dragomon and taking control of the Dark Ocean, I began spying on you Digidestined. Although you children and your Digimon are strong, there's always a weak link in the chain." Daemon narrowed his eyes. "I just needed to find it, and weaken it further."
The Digidestined exchanged nervous glances at one another.
Daemon continued. "I noticed that some of those bonds shared with your Digimon ran a little deeper than genuine companionship. More like a crutch. And if that crutch was taken away, I would find the weak link…"
"Isn't that right, Ishida?"
Matt's eyes widened with shock.
"It was by sheer luck that I found your Digimon partner before you did but I must admit, for a Digimon as strong as he is, he was a pathetic fighter."
"Then, it was you who killed Gabumon!" T.K. shouted, balling up his fists. "What did you do to Gabumon's egg to keep it from hatching?!"
"Nothing," replied the hooded Digimon, "but I did bestow a gift to your older brother."
The Bearer of Hope raised an eyebrow. "A gift?"
"I just gave his digivice a little upgrade, so to speak but first, I had to be sure that there weren't any outside sources that would've interfered with completing the process."
Izzy gasped. It all made sense now! Daemon was the one behind the sabotage of his laptop and was the reason why his findings were unable to reach Gennai.
"And now that everything has fallen into place, I have you, Digidestined of Friendship, to thank for lending a hand in unleashing my Nightmare Soldiers!"
T.K. quickly glanced at his brother, who had fallen to his knees, trembling all over and clutching his bloodred digivice.
"Don't listen to him, Matt!"
But Matt didn't hear his younger brother, he just kept staring vacantly at the device in his hand.
Daemon then fired a blast at the barrier and with a loud crack that filled the air, it shattered into pieces.
The moment the barrier was destroyed, even more Nightmare Soldier Digimon began pouring out from the portal than before, quickly wreaking havoc upon the city.
While everyone was aghast of Daemon's plan unfolding before them, Davis was still unfazed.
"It doesn't matter how many you unleash! We can still stop you, Daemon!"
"Stop me?" the demonic Digimon said, letting out a wicked cackle, "Such an ignorant boy, did you forget that how strong I was last time? Let me show you, Digidestined, my true power!"
With that, Daemon began to glow as his form started to change. His red cloak fell away while his body grew in size, his form contorting as he changed shape. As the aura gradually faded, what stood in Daemon's place was a large demonic beast with a gaping mouth filled with sharp fangs. His arms and legs were covered with dark red fur, along with black hair protruding wildly on his horned head. His left arm had elongated with long claws extending from his hand while his feet had warped into massive talons.
While the older Digidestined and their Digimon immediately focused their attention on stopping the Nightmare Soldiers that were escaping, the younger Digidestined assisted them and trying to figure out a new plan to stop Daemon, only for him to disappear before their eyes.
Matt, meanwhile, remained slumped in the same position, his eyes still fixated on his digivice as he continued quivering in shock. T.K. once again, looked over where his brother was and saw the demonic Digimon slowly emerge from the ground behind him.
"Matt, look out!"
The older blonde snapped out of his trance as he turned around and saw Daemon looming over him.
"You're coming with me, Ishida!"
As he got up and tried to flee, Daemon caught him and wrapped his long arm around Matt. Matt struggled to fight back and break loose, but his attempts were fruitless.
Just as Daemon was about to take flight with the captive blonde, T.K. ran and latched onto his brother's wrists with Matt doing the same.
"NO! You're not taking him!"
T.K. struggled to maintain a firm hold on Matt's wrists but he could feel the grip of his brother's hands steadily weakening.
"I'm not letting Daemon have you, Matt!"
He suddenly felt several pairs of hands on his own and was surprised to see Davis' group lending their strength to help free his older brother.
"You mess with one of our friends," Yolei cried, "and you mess with all of us!"
Kari nodded. "We're not letting Matt fall into the clutches of darkness!"
"Come on, guys!" the goggle boy told the others, "Pull! We gotta help T.K.!"
In spite of the combined effort, the younger blonde winced a bit as he felt his older brother's grip slide from his wrists and press hard on his still bruised knuckles.
"Don't give up, Matt!"
The Bearer of Friendship nodded as he focused on not letting go of his brother's hands but he could feel the strain on his arms from being tugged in opposing directions.
"What are you and the other Digimon waiting for, Imperialdramon?" Davis shouted. "Attack Daemon now!"
"They can't, Davis!" Cody reminded, "Remember how attacking Daemon just made him more powerful? And even if they tried, Matt will be caught in the crossfire!"
Davis bit his lip in frustration, but he knew the younger boy was right.
"Still a persistent bunch I see."
Flapping his wings, Daemon began to whip up a growing gust but the younger Digidestined continued to stand their ground by their friend. He scowled, growing vexed by their unwillingness to surrender his prize and started beating his wings even faster, picking up more wind.
The other five were quickly knocked to the ground by the increasing gale, and although T.K. stood firm, he and Matt were now hanging onto each other by their fingers.
"Don't let go! Just hang on!"
"T-t-t-t"
Although Matt was stuttering, T.K. could plainly hear the panic in his brother's tone.
With his free hand, Daemon swiped at the younger blonde, forcing him to step back.
And release his brother.
The moment their fingers separated; Matt cried out his younger brother's name.
" T.K.!"
Gasping in shock, T.K. stood stunned momentarily hearing his brother speak for the first time before trying to catch up to them but Daemon had flown beyond his reach and the Digidestined and their Digimon could only watch helplessly as their friend vanished into the portal, with only his screams echoing from within.
T.K. futilely stretched his hand out towards the portal before he stopped running and slumped to the ground.
"Matt…no…"
Tai gritted his teeth angrily.
"What are we waiting for?!" The Bearer of Courage shouted at the others, "Come on, we can still catch him! Izzy, do you think that there's a way that we could track Daemon down?"
The redhead genius hesitantly looked at his digivice.
"None of the digivices or D-3s were able to pick up Matt's signal earlier," Izzy replied sadly, "without that, there's no telling where Daemon is or where he could've taken Matt."
Yolei groaned, "What are we going do? Matt might be in the Dark Ocean for all we know!"
"However," Izzy pointed out, "if one of us followed Daemon through the portal there's a possibility that we'll be able to rescue Matt much sooner while the rest of us will stay here and try to stop the Nightmare Soldiers from causing more damage."
"I'll go!" Tai declared, "Matt's my friend besides Agumon can warp digivolve into WarGreymon if we run into any strong Digimon!"
"No, I should go!" stated Ken, "It's me whom Daemon wanted at first."
Davis was shocked by his friend's words. "I'm not letting you fall into that creep's clutches again! No way! Besides, we need Imperialdramon to make quick work of these Boogie-mon that are everywhere!"
"For once," Yolei said surprised, "Davis is right about something!"
The goggle boy beamed. "Of course, I'm r-, hey, what do you-"
"I'm the one that needs to go!"
Both groups turned to see T.K. slowly rise to his feet, with his Digimon flying near him.
"Matt was always looking out for me when we were little and now, I've got to do the same for him! I'll be the one to save him!"
The others said nothing as they watched the blonde walk steadfastly, his eyes focused on the hole in the sky.
"T.K., wait!" Kari cried as she caught up with him, "I'll go with you."
T.K. gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Kari but I'm going to the Dark Area alone."
"Are you sure that you can handle it by yourself?" Cody asked.
"I'm positive," the Bearer of Hope reassured, "you guys have seen how strong Patamon is, I'll be fine."
"Ready, Patamon?" he asked, holding out his green D-3.
"You bet!"
"Digi-armor energize!"
"Patamon armor-digivolve to…Pegasusmon, Flying Hope!"
"Be careful, T.K." Tai said with the Digidestined nodding in agreement. "We're counting on you."
"And please," Sora added, "come back safely after you rescue your brother."
"I will, and I'll find Matt and get him out of there!" T.K. replied, hoisting himself onto the winged horse. "Let's go, Pegasusmon!"
With a nod, Pegasusmon leapt into the air and took flight, heading straight into the portal and disappeared into the hole.
…
At the Odaiba Hospital, Nancy winced slightly as the doctor finished adjusting a sling around her broken shoulder.
"Ma'am, you're lucky that your scapula only fractured from the impact," the doctor told her, "but you need to be very careful as your shoulder heals. I suggest starting physical therapy to help with the recovery process."
Nancy nodded, "I understand but what about Hiroaki, the other patient?"
"You mean Mr. Ishida?" the doctor asked.
"Yes, how is he doing?"
The doctor's expression turned grim.
"Mr. Ishida, I'm afraid, is still in the Emergency Room. He has lost a significant amount of blood from his lacerations and the treatment required for his procedure must be done very delicately or else the consequences may be dire."
Nancy felt her heart drop. After her ex-husband bravely tried to protect her by attacking that demon, if something went wrong during the operation, he could die?
I would never forgive myself if that happened!
"I need to go home now and find my sons!" she said, grabbing her purse.
"Wait a minute!" cried the doctor, "You can't leave the building, ma'am, there have been reports of more sightings of strange creatures attacking the district again and we've been placed on lockdown for our safety!"
"But," Nancy protested, "my children!"
"I'm sorry, Ms. Takaishi."
She was about to object but she knew the doctor was right. And even if she was allowed to leave, she would be an easy target for those monsters which would leave her with worser injuries than a fractured shoulder if they attacked her.
Matt, T.K., she thought, wherever you are, I hope that you're both staying safe through this.
…
T.K. and Pegasusmon continued flying through the portal but sight was quickly fading as they went in deeper and deeper and it wasn't long until they were ambushed by Nightmare Soldiers that were trying to escape.
"Star Shower!"
The bright stars briefly illuminated the abyss as they destroyed the enemy Digimon effortlessly reducing them into data but soon, even more Nightmare Soldiers appeared ready to attack them.
In the increasing darkness, T.K. struggled to hang on to Pegasusmon as he dodged multiple attacks coming towards them, but it was getting harder for the armored stallion to find an opening to attack while protecting his human partner from harm.
"There's just too many of them!" Pegasusmon said, firing off another attack. "Equus Beam! We'll never reach Matt at this rate!"
"We'll just have to keep fighting our way through!" the Bearer of Hope cried, "It's the only way!"
He then suddenly heard a loud screech which caused the dark Digimon to scamper away, coming from behind but just as T.K. was about to proceed, he turned to look and found himself staring into the red eyes of a massive bird Digimon.
"Pegasusmon," T.K. whispered, almost afraid to breathe, "what is that?"
"That's Ornismon," the winged horse said, worriedly, "a Digimon thought to no longer exist."
Ornismon eyed the two with a hungry look.
"Mane Wind!" The hair needles shot out hitting Ornismon in the eyes and with the bird blinded from the assault, Pegasusmon was able to buy some time to escape the avian monster. But they heard Ornismon screech again in pain and with a few flaps of its wings, was already right behind them. Pegasusmon tried to increase his speed and changing directions but Ornismon was able to keep up in spite of its blindness.
Flying closer and closer to its meal, Ornismon opened its large beak and T.K. could feel its hot breath beating down on him. He urged Pegasumon to fly faster but it was no use and just as Ornismon was about bite down on the pair, another dark beast suddenly appeared. Ornismon turned its attention to the large creature, no longer interested in pursuing its smaller prey but before it could launch an attack, the dark monster destroyed Ornismon, quickly devouring the data remains of the bird.
Once again, T.K. and Pegasusmon attempted to flee at the chance but were suddenly held in place by a powerful, unknown force.
"HALT! Who goes there?" a voice bellowed.
-To be continued…
