132

Mental Struggle

"…sending out at last, after cycles incalculable, the thoughts that spread fear to the dreams of the sensitive…" – H. P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

"Gomamon!" Jou called.

Gomamon, like the rest of the Digimon with him, the Agents, and the Deep Ones, had paused in the midst of battle, arrested by Dagomon's cataclysmic display of power. But Jou's voice instantly snapped him out of it.

"Got it!" he replied. "Marching Fishes!"

At his cry, multicolored fish began to swarm in the waters around the four partner Digimon who floated, stunned, less than twenty meters from the place where the concrete of Odaiba abruptly ended. Rapidly they were borne back to land, the schools of fish leaping in a single body to deposit them on dry ground before vanishing.

As the fight between the Deep Ones and the Chosen Children's defenders recommenced, Miyako, Iori, and Takeru ran forward to see to their partners. From Hikari's expression, it seemed that she wanted to go to Tailmon as well, but could not bring herself to take a single step in the direction of the approaching horror.

As Dagomon waded towards them, the Chosen Children felt the weight of his gaze acutely for the first time. At first they thought it was only their combined fear and sense of hopelessness growing on them, but before long they had begun to realize that something more insidious was at work. To varying degrees, each felt something alien and malignant fumbling about in their minds, worming its way into their psyches, affecting their very thoughts. Even Daisuke, for whom the sensation was vaguest, knew it to be both unnatural and intentional.

As for Hikari, she had felt it all along. Ever since Dagomon had finally revealed himself she had sensed his inhuman intellect testing the defenses of her own, all-too-human mind. She knew that he had called to her before, on the shores of the Dark Ocean and in the abysses of her darkest nightmares. She clutched her head, despite knowing well that it could do no good.

This time she was not the only one. Many of her friends had instinctively done the same. Some gritted their teeth against the repulsive mental contact. They all sensed – some dimly and some acutely – the evil will directed against them, a malice as deep and cold and boundless as the sea.

"What the hell…?" Taichi wondered aloud.

"Something's wrong with my…" Miyako began before faltering.

"I don't like this!" Mimi exclaimed.

Other words born of fear and confusion came from other Chosen Children. Many started violently when Ken threw back his head and began to scream. Wormmon squirmed with concern as he stared up at his partner. "Ken-chan, are you okay? Hey!"

"What is it?" Jou asked of no one, digging his fingers into his scalp as if to root out the thing in his head.

"It's him!" Hikari screamed, tottering as if about to lose her balance. "Everyone feels it this time!?"

"'This time?'" Taichi asked, but got no response from his sister.

"Is this what Hikari-chan has felt before?" Miyako wondered. "It's awful."

"Hikari-san has felt this before?" Koshiro asked, having overheard in spite of his own discomfort. "Jou-san, this may be what we talked to Gennai-san about! A psychic enemy! Hikari-san would have felt it first because she's psychic herself!"

"What does that mean?" Daisuke asked. He didn't know what "psychic" was, but for some reason he had the impression that he'd heard the word before, and recently.

"It's a power of the mind," Koshiro explained. "That Digimon has it to an incredible degree."

"Daisuke," Lighdramon said, his eyes still fixed on Dagomon as the vast form loomed ever nearer. "Didn't Shadramon use something like that?"

Daisuke blinked a moment, and then the memory came back to him. He'd heard that word on the day that Wendimon had trapped Ken and him in that wintry forest. Wormmon had used the Digimental of Courage to evolve to Shadramon, and the attack he'd used was called…

"Yeah, he used something called Psychic Wave," Daisuke said. "I heard it in my head!"

Even with his hand pressed to his forehead and his teeth gritted against the invading sensation, Koshiro's interest and curiosity showed in his expression. "How did it work?"

"It… brought us back from a world we'd been trapped in. I think," Daisuke said. "Ichijouji could probably explain it better."

"I wonder if it could counteract this mental attack," Koshiro said. He glanced at Ken, who was now cowering much as Hikari had been, and at Wormmon at his side.

Daisuke understood. He walked quickly up to Ken and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Ken. Ken!"

Ken twisted his head around to look up at his friend, his facial features working as if in response to the dark thing delving into his brain.

"Hey!" Daisuke said, a stern note entering his voice. "Snap out of it! We need your help. Wormmon needs to evolve!"

With a visible effort, squeezing his eyes shut and reopening them, Ken said, "H-He can't…"

"Yes he can, remember?" Daisuke said, pulling his D-Terminal from the pocket of his jacket and holding it out. Ken stared at it as if he'd forgot that such a thing as Armor Evolution existed. "Shadramon might be able to do something about that thing in our heads," Daisuke explained. "Hurry. Say 'Digimental Up!'"

"Let's do it, Ken-chan," Wormmon said. "Maybe it can help."

Seeming to comprehend what was wanted of him – his terror was so strong that he couldn't yet understand why it was wanted – Ken took the D-Terminal. "Di… Digimental Up!"

Lighdramon reverted to V-mon as Wormmon began to glow. It seemed that only one of the D-Terminal's Digimentals could be used at a time.

"Wormmon, Armor Evolve!...Shadramon!"

It was the first time that many of the Chosen Children had seen Wormmon's evolution through the Digimental of Courage, but it was not the time for expressions of admiration. Shadramon rose vertically into the air on his flame-patterned wings. He hovered just over the heads of the Chosen Children, staring across the waves at the oncoming bulk of Dagomon, who, unopposed, had now gotten terribly close.

"I can sense something, Ken-chan," Shadramon said. "I'll try to stop it." An aurora of purple light began to play about his body. "Psychic Wave!"

The purple glow began to fade, and yet the air all about Shadramon still seemed to shimmer, as if with ever-expanding ripples of not quite invisible force. In the seconds that followed, the Chosen Children began to breathe sighs of relief. The intensity of the nasty sensations in their minds began to fade.

Ken raised his face to look up at his partner. "Shadramon… Thank you! It—"

He stopped, and the smile that had begun to form on his face disappeared. Shadramon had begun acting strange. His form visibly shook. He had raised his arms in what might have been a defensive posture, and those on the ground heard him grunting as if making a great physical effort.

"Shadramon? What's wrong?"

The purple aurora flickered transiently, but no attack followed. Shadramon's wings quivered with involuntary little flaps. He began to lose altitude and sink back towards the concrete. He landed gracelessly beside Ken, his knees buckling immediately. The sounds he made began to sound more and more like expressions of pain.

As Koshiro watched, now entirely free of Dagomon's baleful mental influence, a sudden idea came to him.

"I see!" he said. "Dagomon has focused his psychic powers on Shadramon. They're having a mental battle! But…" He began to look worried. "Dagomon's psychic abilities are incredible, powerful enough to spread dreams all over the world. Can Shadramon stand up to that kind of power?"

He seemed to get his answer when Shadramon began to scream.

"Shadramon, are you okay? Hold on!" Immediately the roles of Ken and his partner were reversed from what they had been a minute ago. Shadramon continued to visibly struggle, but Dagomon's pace remained unaltered. The Chosen Children had to angle their heads upward now to see his red eyes, and it would not be much longer before he could reach them with his pulsating tentacles, or simply crush them as he set foot on Odaiba with whatever he had for lower limbs.

To Daisuke especially the stately pace of that approach was maddening. Dagomon knew that his enemies were all but helpless against him, and that he had no need for hurry. That confidence in inevitability infuriated Daisuke, not least because at the moment he himself couldn't see any reason to doubt it. Something of that size and power had nothing to fear from Digimon that couldn't evolve past the Adult level.

Daisuke looked at his partner. V-mon was shouting encouragement at Shadramon, but Daisuke knew that, like him, his partner was inwardly raging at his inability to put up a good fight. Even if he Armor Evolved, neither Fladramon nor Lighdramon, Kangaroomon nor Sagittarimon would have any hope of halting Dagomon's advance.

"Damn it," Taichi said, his thoughts apparently mirroring Daisuke's. "We have to do something to stop that thing."

"But what?" Sora asked.

"Ken's partner won't be able to fight like this," said Jou.

"And Gabumon and the rest are still fighting those things," said Yamato. "There's no end to them!"

Hikari, her head bowed, still conscious of Dagomon's mental contact in spite of Shadramon's efforts, had by now moved to where her unconscious partner lay, her compassion only just overbalancing her reluctance to approach the sea. She cradled Tailmon, steadfastly refusing to look up.

"There's nothing…" she said, in a low voice. "Nothing we can do."

Takeru heard her as he stood nearby with Patamon in his arms, and clenched his teeth. For a moment he was angry at her, but that was unfair. If he felt angry, he should direct that anger at the thing that had reduced her to this state of despair. But even then…

The glare he'd been directing at Dagomon collapsed into an expression of self-reproach. What good did it do to be angry? In the past he'd come to feel ashamed of the times he'd lost his temper, like when he attacked Ken in his Kaiser persona. Maybe he deserved to be angry then, and to be angry now, and often, but looking back he could not point to a single instance in which his anger had accomplished anything. Not many hours ago it had nearly led him to take a human life, an act he would have regretted forever.

No, being angry would accomplish nothing. Dark emotions like hatred were what Dagomon used to achieve his ends. It didn't matter that Takeru was a Chosen Child; his hatred would feed the darkness all the same. Yes. Something else was needed. But what? Other feelings? But what could any mere emotion do against the overwhelming power that threatened everyone?

There was only one way to find out. His friends were suffering no less than he was from doubt and fear. He couldn't do much, but he could at least lend them his support. If it were possible to survive this horror, they only stood a chance if they stood together.

Hikari felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up with a sad expression. "Takeru-kun?"

"It's not over yet," he told her, trying to put into his voice a confidence that he did not quite feel, and which some part of him felt to be foolish.

"But—" Hikari began.

"It's not!" he interrupted her. "As long as we don't give up, it's not over. As long as we're still here, and the Digimon are still here, there's still a chance. It's been this hopeless before, and we've always pulled through." Strangely, as Takeru went on speaking, he found his speech beginning to convince himself of its truth. In a desperate effort to stoke this last spark of optimism, and to convey it somehow to the others, he raised his voice in a yell they could all hear. "Don't give up, everyone!"

There was silence a moment, as some of the other Chosen Children turned their eyes towards him in surprise, or stood as if bewildered. Takeru had begun to believe his plea had failed, when Daisuke spoke up.

"No one said anything about giving up, Takeru!"

It wasn't quite the truth, but Takeru leaped at the encouragement with an almost fevered excitement.

"V-mon is still ready to fight, right?" he asked.

"Of course!" V-mon answered.

Takeru was trying to think of what else he could say when he felt Patamon stir in his arm.

"Patamon?" Takeru said, temporarily forgetting his goal.

"Takeru… I can still fight, too… I'll evolve again… and try…"

Takeru's first instinct was to protest – how could Patamon think of fighting in this condition? – but he stopped himself. For Patamon, not giving up meant not quitting in his fight to protect his friends and partner. Whether he could actually evolve again so soon remained to be seen. He didn't try yet, only marshaled his little strength and waited. For the moment, all he or anyone could do was wait, and try to hope.

Dagomon towered over them. The tentacles of his left arm began to lengthen, seemed even to multiply, snaking towards the tiny figures on the shore…