Happy New Year, everyone!
Shoutout to sarajama95 for the faves and follows.
And of course to reviews from MadDogLucario96, DigimonAT0318, Whiteling, and Vietnam123, thanks.
Sorry, this was going to be done sooner but I spent all of yesterday watching a playthrough of South Park: The Fractured But Whole. Funniest moment in the game was when the New Kid and Scott Malkinson (Captain Diabetes) are cornered by Italian gangsters, Randy bursts into the room, pants down around his legs, drunk on red wine, and yelling for his keys. Oh, Randy...
Anyways, shall we enter a really dark place?
Chapter 16: The Call of Madness! The Dark World!
'ngathf lgan'hagw heyl'R uhluhtC hfan'wlgm iulgn'hP'
Odaiba Elementary School, Odaiba District, Minato Ward, Tokyo, Japan. June 3rd, 2002. 0733 Hours.
P.O.V. – Third Person
For the Chosen Children, the war continued without any true delay. With the change in their strategy thanks to the creation of the Evil Spiral and the fact that they didn't want their partners to be capture and used for the Kaiser's twisted ambitions, beating him back was taking more effort. Coupled with the problem that they had their own lives like attending school and not being able to focus all their time and effort to fighting in the Digital World as opposed to the Kaiser was also taxing. Still, they carried out the fight, hopeful of a big break or something that would change the tide of war and give them victory over the Kaiser once and for all. On the warm Monday morning of June 3rd, two of children would be pushed into a much darker place that they never expected when their adventures begun once more.
It was getting close to classes starting for the elementary students and all the kids were converging on the school. Takeru was running a bit late so he was trying to catch up to Iori and Miyako who were well ahead of him. He did see Hikari who was moving a bit slower and tried to reach out to her but she quickly turned to him with a scared look on her face.
"Onii-chan!" She stated which confused Takeru. "Takeru-kun…? Good morning!" She chuckled nervously. Daisuke quickly ran up next to them before Takeru could ask about her confusion.
"Good morning! Hurry up or we'll be late!" They both quickly followed his advice and ran after him to make it to their homeroom. Up in a nearby tree, Patamon and Tailmon were looking over the school.
"Hikari looks full of energy." Patamon observed.
"We never change, but children keep growing up…" Tailmon said.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing… It's just that… it seems like Hikari is feeling something…"
"Something?"
"I don't know, maybe it's my imagination. Bye." She crawled back into the tree.
"Wait, I'm going too!"
Homeroom had been going on for a few minutes and already much of the class was bored with what the teacher was saying. Takeru looked over to Hikari and saw she was still… a bit to still which looked very unnatural. For Hikari, she soon began hearing the sounds of water sloshing and being shifted like the sound of the tide coming in before she soon realized a dark fog was beginning to materialize around her. The other students didn't notice and slowly they began to fade. The classroom began to fade and the fog continued to grow thicker.
"What… is… this…?" She muttered to herself. She soon looked down and saw her desk and her legs were leg deep in dark greyish water. She soon came to realize that she was now isolated in an ocean of darkness.
Meanwhile, Takeru was still looking at Hikari before his eyes widened as he noticed something was wrong with her. He could see that she was beginning to get all blurry and static like a corrupted VHS tape.
"Hikari-chan!" He shouted. The whole class looked back at him and the lesson was stopped due to his interruption. However, Hikari suddenly looked fine and looked back at him too.
"What's going on?" Daisuke whispered, mostly to himself. Hikari began to put her hand to her head and almost fell out of her seat, but she was quickly caught by the girl that sat behind her.
"Are you alright, Yagami-kun? Go rest at the nurse's office." The teacher suggested.
"Yes…" Hikari agreed and slowly got up. She quickly nodded 'Thank you' to her classmate that helped from falling on the floor before she walked out of the room.
P.O.V. – Hikari Yagami
These past few days have been nothing but a mess for me. I've been plagued with these nightmares about a dark place, a sort of vile ocean if I could put it into words. At first, I thought it was just a bad dream or something, but the frequency of them says otherwise. And now with what just happened a few seconds ago in class… I fear I'm beginning to lose it. I walked out into the hallway where I could hear the early gym class doing all their exercises outside, what with the chanting and whistle blowing.
"It's been a long time since I've felt like this…" My mind flashed back to our previous adventures involving the Digimon which is when I felt these feelings before… the cold… the darkness.
"I'm sorry, Onii-chan, Ross-chan…" I looked over and saw a younger version of myself apologizing to both younger versions of Taichi and Ross. I quickly looked back forward. Come on, Hikari, pull yourself together.
I froze in fear as I heard a water droplet hit the floor. Soon, more drops began to make noise and I knew for a fact we didn't have a pipe burst or something of that nature. I could feel a dark presence beginning to loom over me. I wonder if the others also experience this or if that just comes with the nature of being the bearer of the Crest of Light. The drops began to sound like there were even more of them and all in a certain location rather than all around me. I slowly began to turn around to look and my eyes suddenly widened. I could see at the stairwell far behind me a black being with glowing red eyes staring at me with water dripping around it. It made a low growling noise and slowly shifted, like it was about to begin moving. I opened my mouth in an attempt to scream out to hopefully get someone's attention but no sound came out.
P.O.V – Takeru Takaishi
Class was almost over but I couldn't wait any longer. I know what I saw, I saw Hikari beginning to fade out and that was truly troubling. I got up out of my seat and headed out of the classroom. I guess maybe the class can assume that I had to use the bathroom or something but I was actually running down to the nurse's station to check on Hikari. After running for a minute or two, I finally reached the room down on the first floor before I knocked on the open door.
"Excuse me! Um… how is Yagami-kun?" The nurse looked at me confused.
"Eh? No one came here." My eyes widened upon hearing that news. I then looked over to the bed to see that there was no one in it which made my fears grows. I soon began running all over the school trying to look for her. If she didn't make it to the nurse's station…
"Then wh… where did she go…?" I said aloud. "She couldn't have…" I ran to the computer lab but then I quickly remembered that we had switched out the computers for the headquarters but I guess going to the lab to go to the Digital World had become second nature to me or something. But my concerns were still there. Did Hikari go home or did she go to the Digital World? "She couldn't' have just disappeared… could she?"
Once more I began running around, desperate for any sign of her. After all, she could be in trouble or hurt or… she's right there. I looked out the window of the skyway to see Hikari was outside sitting on one of the benches near the playground field. She had a downtrodden look on her face, but she appeared fine for the time being. I moved quickly to where she was and hoping that she wouldn't move where I would have to find her again. I ran past some kids who were playing some soccer right now before I walked up to her.
"I…" She said, although I don't know if she even realizes I'm here.
"You what?" I asked. She quickly looked up and saw that I was here before she looked down once more.
"I was at the ocean…"
"The ocean? You walked down to the beach?"
"No, not the bay, but… a different kind of ocean. I… might be going away…"
"Huh?"
"I felt… someone calling me… a presence that was trying to pull me to them."
"Someone…? Who?" I questioned.
"I don't know…" She sighed.
"Hikari-chan… what's going on? What's wrong?"
"I don't know… I'm afraid… I'm afraid the next time they call me… I may end up there…"
"But that's… Who would do something like that?" I had anger in my voice. Was someone threating Hikari?
"Onii-chan… Ross-chan… they always protected me during times like these… I've tried to be strong… but I'm not like them… I'm not strong like they are… always able to stare down their fears and overcome them… but I just can't…
"Taichi-san… Ross-san… It's always Taichi-san and Ross-san… You're always depending on them! You can't do that! You have to know that they won't always be there for you in life and that you are going to have to fight your own battles. And not only that… this thing… this voice that's calling you! You can't just quit and let that thing win; I care too much about you to let anyone take you without a fight!" That last part I didn't mean to say, it just slipped out. Hikari caught it and looked back at me. I didn't say nothing as I was now embarrassed that I accidently admitted to Hikari my feelings for her. I then sighed. "I'm sorry… I don't… I didn't mean… Hikari-chan… you should probably just go home for the rest of the day."
"I think you might be right." She said, not saying anything about what was just said.
"I'll see you tomorrow…" I began to walk away to head back to class.
P.O.V. – Third Person
Hikari had taken Takeru's advice and had gathered up her things to head home. However, by the time she reached the edge of the main school gate and looked out to the bay, she soon began to fall under a trance.
"The ocean…" She said as she begun to walk across the street. Tailmon was up in the same tree from earlier taking a nap when she woke up and saw Hikari walking across the street.
"Hikari?" She jumped out of the tree and attempted to follow her but when she reached the ground, her eyes widened as she saw that Hikari had stopped at some nearby steps that led to the bay. Hikari then began to do the same thing that Takeru had noticed and Tailmon was quickly worried. She was about to cross the street but a large truck had driven by and Tailmon had to stop. By the time it passed, Hikari had vanished and her backpack floated in the air for a second before falling to the ground. "Hikari…!"
"So what are you doing again?" Daisuke asked as he met up with Miyako and Iori in the computer room. Although they didn't go to the Digital World from there anymore, it was still a place to meet up before heading out and their Digimon were staying in there during the school day.
"I thought I could expand the D-Terminal's protocol." Miyako informed.
"What do you mean? Can you explain that in Japanese?" Takeru opened the door to the computer room and walked in with a down look on his face. The only one to really notice him was Daisuke who turned his head to him.
"I think it would be great if we could communicate with the Digital World in real time, not just through mail like we have before."
"That would make us better coordinated especially if we launched a large attack with everyone like we did at the start of last month." Iori agreed. "Besides, I'm sure the Digimon Kaiser is already doing so.
"I see…" Daisuke began to understand. "If only we knew where he is now…"
"Don't worry, Daisuke!" Chibimon hopped onto his shoulder. "We'll find him and stop him from capturing any more of the Digital World!"
"Takeru, what's wrong?" Patamon asked. "You don't look good…"
"It's nothing…" The door opened again to reveal Tailmon who was out of breath.
"Hikari…! She's gone!"
"Eh!?"
P.O.V. – Hikari Yagami
I opened my eyes after closing them and instead of finding the waters of Tokyo Bay; I instead found a sight I didn't want to see. It was that fog and ocean again, and it was in a place devoid of any color or really light. I could see a lighthouse up ahead but instead of shining a bright light, it was shining a light of pure darkness. I had been called to the world that had been haunting my dreams.
P.O.V. – Takeru Takaishi
"Disappeared…? What kind of crazy talk is that?" Daisuke questioned what Tailmon had just told us. "We can't go to the Digital World unless we open the gate at the headquarters!" Daisuke was thinking that Hikari might have been transported to the Digital World.
"For Hikari-chan… it may be different." I admitted.
"What are you talking about?"
"Um…" Iori tried to speak up but was interrupted by Miyako.
"Nothing… with the current system we have in place, we can't know where Hikari-chan is!"
"Then she's got to be in the Digital World!" Daisuke guessed. "Let's get to headquarters and open the gate!"
"Daisuke-san…" Iori tried speaking again but was interrupted by Daisuke this time.
"We're going to bring her back… quickly!"
"Please listen to me!" Iori shouted. "We don't know exactly where Hikari-san is. If we open a gate at random, we'll only get lost in such a vast place."
"It's not the Digital World." I said.
"Huh?"
"The ocean…" I recalled what Hikari was saying earlier. "Yeah, the ocean!" I grabbed my things and ran out of the room and headed down towards the bay. I got across the street where I found Hikari's backpack. I quickly looked inside and found her D-3 and D-Terminal… wherever she was, she was almost completely defenseless.
"Hikari-chan!" I yelled out towards the bay. I then started walking along the beach.
"Is this where Hikari is?" Patamon asked.
"I saw Hikari turning into digital data…" informed Tailmon. "Are you sure she's not in the Digital World?"
"She's not." I told them. "Not the Digital World we always go to."
"Damn it!" I swung at the air as I was more just trying to hit my fist on something but there was nothing around. "I saw it too. I saw Hikari-chan starting to disappear… and I did nothing to try and help!"
"But, but… then, where did she go?" Patamon wondered.
"I don't know…" I was beginning to break down. "I don't know, but I have to find her!" I pulled out my D-3. "I have this thing, but it's useless now!" I kept walking until I found myself on the edge of Daiba Park. "I said something horrible to Hikari-chan…"
"Eh? What?" Patamon asked as a helicopter flew over us.
"I should be protecting her, and still… She was scared that she wasn't as strong as Ross-san or Taichi-san and I got upset at her about that."
"Hikari isn't weak." Tailmon said. I turned to look at her. "Hikari is strong. But that's because she has friends who help her."
"But… What can I do for her right now!?"
P.O.V. – Hikari Yagami
"Where… am I…? Isn't this the Digital World…?" I muttered to myself as I was beginning to walk through a small town. I couldn't exactly tell where it was from but it looked New England in nature, like maybe a small fishing town in Connecticut or Massachusetts. I was walking in the alleyways when I encountered a sign. It was in Digi code but Koushiro had once been nice enough to show me what the basic symbols for the alphabet were. If I was reading it right, I think that this was the name of the town and the letters spelled out 'Innsmouth'. Huh… that sounds familiar, but I can't place it. I eventually ended up walking out of town and unto the large beach beside it, towards the lighthouse, where I noticed a large tunnel that was in the cliffside. Above it was a large forest, but even that was faded in its color. I don't know what was going through my mind but I felt like something was compelling me to go to the tunnel… or maybe I was just morbidly curious about what was inside it. Still, either way, I feared I was going to hate the answer.
I started to walk into the tunnel, the only light was a string of bulbs that were barely illuminating the tunnel and the further I got away from the entrance, the darker it became.
"This… this is scary…" I thought to myself. "I don't have to do this… Why am I?" I stopped as I begun to hear noises coming from up ahead. It sounded like there were people or Digimon moaning. I got a bit closer and I soon saw the same glowing red eyes from earlier in the school.
"Wh… who's that?" I questioned. "Who's there?" No answer. "Who's there!?" I took another step forward and could now see strange creatures all writhing in pain. "Are you… Digimon?"
"Digi…mon…?" The nearest creature to me groaned. I guess that as I saw they resembled Hangyomon, those Digimon that worked for MetalSeadramon when we were trying to escape from him with Whamon. "We do not know who we are or how long we have been here…"
"No…"
"All we know is we used to serve our god, who resides in the depths…"
"God…?" I'm assuming we don't worship the same one. "But… but why are you…?"
"One day, this stole our power." The creature held out its arm and revealed that an Evil Spiral was latched onto him. "We were ordered to worship a god that was not our god…"
"Digimon Kaiser…" He reached out even to this place?
"So you did know something about this. We have been watching you… No matter where you were… We believed that you, the chosen one, could remove these for us."
"That's why you called me?" It tried to reach out and I walked up to it. Unlike with MetalGreymon, these creatures were clearly resisting the power of the Evil Spiral but were greatly weakened by it. I then tried to grab the spiral.
"I don't have that power…" I quickly shook my head. "Why am I telling myself I can't do it? Maybe I can!" My hands began to glow as the power of my Crest began to emerge. Surely the power of light could be able to free these creatures from the Kaiser's will. Of course, this was probably the only time I might be able to do this as other Digimon wouldn't stay still to let me attempt to remove it.
However, before I could be able to remove the Spiral, the whole tunnel began to shake and slowly was starting to collapse!
"Everyone! Get out of there, quick!" I yelled and we all turned to escape. I was the last one out of the tunnel before it collapsed completely. "What's going on…?" I wondered as I coughed due to all the dust and smoke. I then looked up as I heard a roar and saw a dark colored Airdramon sailing through the sky.
"That is the messenger of the new god trying to rule us." The creature informed.
"The Digimon Kaiser!" The Airdramon came back around towards us and unleashed its attack that end up incinerating three of the creatures while the others scattered! "How could he… Something so horrible…!" This was a new precedent for him. Before, all the Kaiser had been doing was enslaving Digimon but he never destroyed them… has he now gone to this length in order to take over the Digital World? Or is he just planning to burn it all as Koushiro feared? "What can I do now…" I said to myself as a few more of the creatures were destroyed in the black flames. "Help me… Onii-chan… Ross-chan… Tailmon… Takeru-kun!"
P.O.V. – Takeru Takaishi
"Hikari-chan!" I yelled across the bay.
"Calling her from here…" Tailmon said. She was right, though; simply calling for her wasn't going to work. Patamon flew up next to me and joined in.
"Hikari-chan!" "Hikari!"
"Feelings…" Now Tailmon joined in.
"Hikari!" "Hikari-chan!" I suddenly stopped as I saw not too far ahead of us this purplish light like some sort of portal but in the center was Hikari who looked like she was trying to reach out for us!
"Hikari-chan…?" All logic was just thrown out in my head as I jumped forward and tried to reach the portal. If there was a snowball's chance in Hell of rescuing her, I was gonna take it!
"Takeru!" Patamon followed me.
"Feelings… connect the worlds!" realized Tailmon and she jumped as well.
There was a bright light but it then quickly died and the three of us landed face first into the ground.
"This… isn't the normal Digital World…" Tailmon looked around. We all then looked down to see an Airdramon attacking a beach, and right there down there was Hikari who noticed us and ran towards us on the cliff.
"Takeru-kun! Tailmon!" She called out.
"Hikari-chan!" I yelled.
"You came to help me!"
"That's right!" I looked back towards the Airdramon that was trying to dive on Hikari. "Let's go, Patamon!"
"Yeah!"
"Digimental Up!"
"Patamon, Armor-Evolve! Soaring Hope, PEGASMON!"
I climbed onto his back and we took off to distract that Airdramon. He nearly took a large bite out of us but we just avoided it. He turned around and fired some more shots at us which we also dodge but I could feel the heat from those. However, one of those shots landed nearby the area Hikari and those Hangyomon were at.
"Damn it!" I cursed. "Pegasmon!"
"Needle Rain!" His shots threw off the Airdramon and we flew past each other once more.
"Hikari! I need to Armor-Evolve, too!" Tailmon ran up to her.
"M-my D-3 is…" She hesitated to say that she didn't have it.
"Is right here." Tailmon handed it to her.
"Thanks, Tailmon. Digimental Up!"
"Tailmon, Armor-Evolve! Light of Smiles, NEFERTIMON!"
That Airdramon seemed hell-bent on getting us and was hard on our tail.
"Pegasmon! Do something, he's hot on us!"
"I'm trying, Takeru, but I can't lose him!"
"Damn it… we won't lose!"
"Curse of the Queen!" Nefertimon's attack blindsided the Airdramon and destroyed the Evil Ring on him.
"Alright!" I cheered. However, that Airdramon just went back to pursuing. "I don't understand! We destroyed the ring!"
"It may be that Airdramon was already twisted and evil before the Kaiser got him!" Nefertimon guessed.
"Then there's only one Digimon who can deal with him… where's that Dark Tower!?"
"Pegasmon, I'll distract the Airdramon, you destroy that lighthouse! The Dark Tower must be there!"
"Understood!" Pegasmon swooped down as Nefertimon drew off the Airdramon.
"Take it out, Pegasmon!" I ordered.
"Silver Blaze!" He struck the lighthouse which blasted apart and revealed a Dark Tower that fell over.
"Good work! Now drop me off on the beach, and then deal with that Airdramon!" I told him. Pegasmon nodded and place me on the beach before devolving back into Patamon.
"Patamon, evolve! ANGEMON!"
"Don't hold back, Angemon! It's either him or us!" I gave him the word to destroy that Airdramon. It had been a while since we had to do that but he was still trying to kill us which meant there was only one way to stop him. He stood his position as the Airdramon started flying right towards him before he finally attacked.
"Heaven's Knuckle!" The blast tore right through the Digimon and destroyed him.
"Good work… we got him." I sighed in relief. Angemon then went back to the beach and launched another one at the Hangyomon which destroyed all the Evil Spirals on them.
Hikari was happy about that until she noticed they were beginning to change. They no longer looked like Hangyomon but rather large humanoid fish/amphibious creatures.
"Is this… your true form…?" Hikari nervously questioned as one of them suddenly grabbed her! "Wh-what are you doing!?" I looked around for something to try to help her with.
"The reason we called you… is because you are worthy of being our bride. In order to fight the new god, we must create new offspring."
"But I helped you!"
"You shall come back with us."
"NEVER!" I screamed as I used a long sharp piece of metal from the destroyed lighthouse to cut the arm off the creature that was holding Hikari. It backed off as I got in front of her. Then Angemon delivered another Heaven's Knuckle that landed in front of the monsters which forced them to back up to the water. They soon began walking backwards into ocean
"Chosen one… we believed you would be glad to be our bride… Very well. We shall return to the depths, to our former god… And… wait for the time." They vanished under the waves.
"Takeru-kun… I want to go home." I placed my hand on her shoulder.
"Let's go… that's why we came for you." She then gave me a small smile.
Hikari and I climbed onto Nefertimon and followed Angemon as we flew up towards a bright light in the sky, similar to the one that we used to get here. It must have been the portal.
"Takeru-kun… what did you mean earlier when you said you cared too much about me?" She asked me as she held on behind me.
"Well, I… I was just…" I couldn't find the words.
"I just want you to know… that I care about you too." She then leaned over my shoulder and gave me a kiss on my left cheek. "Thank you for saving me… Takeru." I couldn't help but smile. The girl I liked just kissed me, I only wish the reason for it was a better time than trying to save her from some sort of unspeakable horror. We kept flying until we finally saw the sun again and flew out of the ground. I guess we ended up back in the Digital World.
Yagami Residence, Odaiba District, Minato Ward, Tokyo, Japan. June 3rd, 2002. 1912 Hours.
P.O.V. – Ross McGlathery
"INNSMOUTH!?" I shouted as Takeru and Hikari finished explaining what had happened to them earlier today.
"You know it?" Takeru looked confused.
"Of course I know it! Any of you familiar with the works of H.P. Lovecraft?"
"I knew I heard it from somewhere before." Hikari muttered.
"Innsmouth played a large role in the mythos of Cthulhu."
"Cthulhu?" Takeru questioned.
"A giant squid like monster, an Elder God that lives in a city called R'lyeh buried deep under the waves, a city full of unspeakable monstrosities that will drive men mad just by looking at it or its ruler." I explained.
"Those creatures you encountered sounded like his servants, the Deep Ones, or at least a Digital World equivalent, which means there's a Digital World equivalent to Cthulhu as well." Taichi guessed.
"Well, they seemed like they were done with me… for the time being at least."
"That's good to hear. Come on, Hikari, you've had a long day." Taichi led her to her room, leaving me and Takeru alone.
"Takeru-kun… you have me and Taichi's thanks about what you did today." I told him.
"It was nothing, I was just doing what I felt like I need to do."
"It was not nothing. You ventured into a world of madness to rescue Hikari when Taichi and I were unaware. You did real good once again." I was referencing back to when he also protected Hikari from Piemon.
"Thanks, Ross-san. I better get back home, Mom should have dinner ready." He started walking for the door.
"By the way… she gave you a peck on the cheek, didn't she?" I smirked. Takeru looked back at me with his eyes widened like he was scared of me. "Relax… you've earned it. See you tomorrow." He calmed down, nodded and then walked out again. I sighed to myself. It was good that Takeru was there for her, but that was a disturbing thing we just discovered. For the time being, though, our worries should be more about the Kaiser and not this Dark World.
Still, I get the feeling we're gonna have to deal with that place sooner or later…
So... that was a chapter. I really would like to write more but... the show move on from there.
Okay, first things first, I have no idea why Tailmon evolved into Angewomon in the original episode or why they destroyed that Airdramon so I just had Angemon fill the role and give good reason why Takeru and Hikari would destroy the Digimon.
The second refers to Dagomon and the Deep Ones... they will not show up again in this story but I won't forget them. There's still more to this story I'm going to write and it all depends on some things. If the Digimon Adventure anniversary movie later this year, or a proposed 4th Series (Still unsure if that's been greenlit yet) deals with Dagomon (and by extension Demon) then it's all well and good. If not, then damn it all, I'll write it myself! But for the time being, Dagomon will not play a role in this story.
Take care everyone, and see you next time.
"Push the button, Frank."