Hey everybody. Glad to see a couple of reviews for the last chapter. This one isn't a personal favorite of mine, but I wanted to throw in a lighthearted chapter in just to lighten up the mood a little bit before all hell breaks loose. I'm expecting there to be three to four more chapters (depending if I want to make an epilogue chapter or not). Lemme know what you guys think of this chapter!?
Chapter 16:
"F**k Yolei! Don't touch it!"
"Well Ken, we have to do something with it!"
He sighed. This had been going on for at least five minutes now. Once they all had shared the stories of each group's battles they had decided to try to get some more sleep in the woods since it was still dark out and no one felt like they could walk anywhere, especially the digimon. While everyone was trying to fall asleep, Joe and Yolei had been trying to figure out what to do with the back of his neck.
Daemon had taken out the dark spores and used them to increase his power. He felt like the remnants of the Digimon Emperor and his old, evil self had finally been ripped out of his body, but he also felt sort of empty without them. Didn't he have more inside of him than the leftovers of those dark days? Well, at the least he definitely had pain.
"Yolei!"
"Joe, tell him that we have to do something with it!"
"Well..." Joe started, but he cut Joe off.
"Just don't touch it and it'll be fine."
"Ken..."
He looked down at his partner who was obviously worried for his well-being. He knew that his partner more than likely blamed himself for not being able to stop Daemon, but he was not mad at his partner. Daemon was definitely a force to be reckoned with, and they simply did not have the power to face him, yet.
"What is it buddy?"
"Let them help," his partner pleaded. He inwardly sighed as he decided he'd let Joe do what he needed to; even if it was just to make Wormon feel better.
"What do you think Joe?" he asked.
"The cut's not too big, which is surprising because those dark spores weren't the tiniest things in the world. If we were in the real world I would send you to the hospital to get it stitched up with probably about five stitches. But seeing that our resources are limited, I think I'll wash it off with some rubbing alcohol and then cover it up with a Band-Aid."
He watched Joe, the soon-to-be-doctor, grab his bag and carry it over. Joe retrieved the necessary items, and Yolei sat down next to him, cupping his hands into hers. He smiled at the gesture, but this was short lived as the back of his neck started intensely stinging. He grabbed Yolei's hands and squeezed hard to try and hold back a cry of pain that was trying to come out. After what seemed like the longest thirty seconds ever, the stinging sensation started fading and he felt Joe put the Band-Aid on. His body relaxed and the pain started to ebb away.
"You could've told me when you were going to pour that stuff on Joe."
"I always find that it is better when the patient does not know when the pain is coming."
"I'm so glad you're ok Kennie."
Yolei wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. He wondered if it was a bit premature to start coming up with ridiculous nicknames for each other as they only started dating last night, or was it this night? Anyway, he surprisingly didn't mind it. He simply was happy that he, Yolei, and all their friends were safe for now.
"I think I'll leave you two alone for now. You should really get some sleep though, and please don't do anything... uh, conspicuous, if you know what I mean."
"Joe!" he and Yolei both shouted in shock of what came out of their blue-haired friend's mouth.
"Will you guys SHUT UP! What does a woman have to do to get some beauty sleep around here!?"
To those who weren't awake from he and Yolei's sudden outburst, then Mimi's definitely did. Eventually everyone was starting to wake up, albeit a bit dazed and confused.
"Huh... wha... m'goin on he... *yawn*... here?" his best friend, Davis, asked as he started rubbing his eyes. He chuckled.
"Sorry to wake everyone up but everything's fine. Go back to sleep now."
There were a couple of tired grunts that were uttered at his response, but eventually the sound of snoring and heavy breathing filled the air. He and Yolei, as well as Joe, were still in the same position.
"Just remember what I said; I won't be sleeping too far away from you two," Joe said.
This time he and Yolei just looked at each other smiling. Once Joe had found his spot next to Gomamon and laid down with his head facing the opposite direction, he grabbed Yolei'i's face with both of his hands and pulled her mouth to his as they both engaged in a passionate kiss. Yolei returned it and they tasted each other's mouths until they needed to breathe. They were gasping lightly by the lack of air, but both had a smile on their faces.
"I thought we weren't going to do anything conspicuous," Yolei asked playfully.
"I don't think there's anything too conspicuous about a kiss," he stated innocently. "Besides, I don't think that's the kind of conspicuous he had on his mind."
"You mean you think he was thinking of something more along these lines?"
In mere seconds Yolei had pushed his back to the ground, causing his head to bump on the ground, but he didn't care. Yolei was on all fours over top of him as she then lowered her head and they engaged in yet another kiss. Once they released, Yolei then laid down next to him and he wrapped his arm around her. He wasn't certain, but he thought he could hear Joe clearing his throat.
They laid in silence for a bit, every once in a while sharing some giggles, both feeling happy and, simply, light. As if he could float off the ground because of the happiness and love for Yolei inside of him. "I'm pretty lucky I have you," he stated. He could feel drowsiness approaching and knew he would be out of it in a few minutes. He assumed it must be the same for her and he wouldn't have been surprised if she was dead asleep, but he was proven wrong when she quietly muttered back, "I'm lucky I have you too." He then moved to take off the soccer sweatshirt he was wearing and wrapped it around the two of them as a blanket. He then pecked his girlfriend on the cheek before he finally laid down next to her.
Within seconds he could hear Yolei already in a slumber and, despite how annoying he thought snoring was, Yolei's seemed to lullaby him and before he knew it he was engulfed in his dreams.
It was cold. It was dark. She was tired. She didn't like this.
Tai's voice broke her chain of thought, "Mimi, stop complaining!"
She blushed when she realized that she had been muttering her complaints out loud. But still, she does have a point; it's not like she's lying or anything. Isn't she supposed to be the most sincere of them all? Well, somehow she now had the crest of knowledge. She didn't know why, and some of the others had scoffed at the idea that she had received that crest out of all the choices. Ok, she was not stupid, but she also wasn't the brightest crayon in the box either, at least that's what other people had informed her. She thought she was plenty smart enough about the things that mattered, but she knew she didn't have the amount of knowledge that Izzy had. How the heck was she going to learn this crest?
Davis spoke up, "She has a point though. Why is it so dark? Isn't it supposed to be, like, the summer, or whatever summer is here in this wacky world?"
"It appears that darkness is taking over the atmosphere. The darkness seems to be canceling out the Digital World's sun's effects, causing it to appear darker and feel colder," Izzy proposed.
"Izzy's right. But where is this darkness coming from?" Kari asked.
She thought about this. If she was supposed to be the new bearer of knowledge then she should be able to come up with an answer. Her mind drew a blank. Figures.
"It's because of Daemon."
The group looked back at TK, who was trailing in the back of the group with Willis and Matt. They looked back at TK, asking for an explanation.
"When I went with Daemon, he took me to a place that seemed like what we would call heaven. We were on a cloud and there was a big sanctuary. There was a also a statue of a Seraphimon that was supposed to be in the middle of the sanctuary but Daemon had destroyed it and replaced it with a statue of himself. There also was a giant throne that Daemon claimed as his own."
Izzy squeaked and she looked over at him to see if he was ok. Her boyfriend was starting to turn quite pale.
"Uh, TK, what you just described is a place Gennai told me about once, Imperium Adstrum. Those are Latin words for 'heaven' essentially, though the actual translation is 'Absolute Power.;"
"Well what's so special about it Izzy?" she asked.
He sighed. "I think we should all sit down because this seems to be of upmost importance."
The others sat in a circle all facing Izzy, some of the digimon chanting "Story time! Story time!" Once they were all situated, everyone silenced themselves and gave Izzy their full attention.
"Since the creation of the Digital World, there has always been a need for protectors to care for the land and all of the digimon. That is because evil is simply inevitable, and..."
"What do you mean evil is inevitable?" Kari asked.
"Isn't the reason we became digidestined to destroy all the evil?" Yolei asked as well.
Izzy didn't know; she could always tell that look in her boyfriend when he realized he didn't have every answer. Everyone was silent for a while before,
"Wherever there's light, there's always a shadow to follow..." TK muttered ominously. His tone had no trace of the hope and joy it normally had. His voice kind of scared her.
Izzy nodded. "Very interesting hypothesis. There has always been evil; thus, the Digital World has needed someone or something to protect itself against said evil. Azulongmon, Ebonwumon, Zhuqiaomon, and Baihumon, the four digimon Sovereign as we know them, were the first to rule and protect the Digital World. However, there used to be a fifth member whose name is Huanglongmon. The five, practically invincible digimon sustained peace in the Digital World. They themselves rarely fought as they created a sort of cherubim warriors, similar to Angemon and Angewomon, except they were much stronger. One of the strongest of these digimon was a Seraphimon."
Izzy paused to glance over at TK, but TK was not looking as he still had his eyes locked on the ground by his feet. A couple of the others, including herself, looked over at TK and Tokomon as well. Izzy then continued.
"This Seraphion, he was a very powerful digimon. Now, Huanglongmon, the fifth member of the Digimon Soveriegn, grew unhappy with simply ruling eh Digital World; he wanted to expand his reign over many of the other nearby worlds. The Digimon Sovereign disagreed with their self-proclaimed leader, but they were not able to stand a chance at defeating Huanglongmon on their own. This is where that Seraphimon I mentioned before comes into play. Seraphimon gathered all of his other angel-esque digimon and fought alongside the Digimon Sovereign to..."
*Yawn.* She inwardly grumbled and looked over to see Davis still sitting up but not conscious at all. Apparently Davis had found Izzy's story to be uninteresting. She hated to admit it, but the story was a bit dry, even if it did include the history of the Digital World. She hated history more so than any other classroom subject, including math. To her, the past is the past; she focused on what was in front of her. And right now they had to defeat Daemon. What was so important about the past when they can't handle what's happening now. She blamed it on her sincerity.
Luckily her side thoughts lasted long enough for Izzy's story to be finished. Now the others were talking about what they should be doing now.
"Well there's not much that we can do, is there? We can't go back home and we have no way of finding Daemon unless he comes to us," Matt stated.
"But we're not ready to face Daemon yet!" Yolei added.
Sora agreed, "What if Daemon comes back before we learn our new crests."
"We'd be screwed," she said.
The others nodded their agreement and an ominous sense of worry spread across them. It reminded her of their first adventure to the Digital World when the Dark Masters were causing chaos. Piximon had been able to save them before the Dark Masters had a chance to destroy them, but they always were afraid of one of the Dark Masters popping up. At the time, not even WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon were strong enough to defeat Piedmon.
But, at the same time, this was different from back then. On their first adventure, they were still innocent kids. They had began to realize that they were not invincible and could get hurt, but there was still a feeling that nothing bad could happen to them; they would win because they were the digidestinds, they had to win. This was different. Everyone has matured a great deal because of their adventures to the Digital World. A lot of things have happened to them, good and bad, and it had changed them. Well... most of them...
"What are you talking about guys!? When Daemon shows up we're going to give him the fight of his life and we're going to win!" Davis cheered.
Then Tai said something that no one thought would ever come out of any of their mouths.
"I agree with Davis."
There were a few mock gasps around the group.
"Really Tai?" Davis asked excitedly. Apparently Davis had gotten used to people disagreeing with him and was genuinely surprised.
"Well, we can't just sit around doing nothing while we wait for one of the strongest digimon in the Digital World to come and destroy us. We need to prepare ourselves and be ready to fight when the time comes. We need to be ready to give it our all at any time."
"Tai's right," Kari agreed, "We need to have hope you guys. We can't give up!"
"I'm with you Kari!" Davis added, as he put his arm around Kari's waist. She didn't know if she had imagined it or not, but she thought she saw TK wince at the action, as if it hurt him.
"Yeah guys. We've been through times like these before; we'll get through this!" Matt encouraged.
She looked around at the group and saw that a couple of them weren't buying it, but the increased optimism did lighten the atmosphere quite a bit.
"But what are we going to do? How can we get ourselves ready for another attack from Daemon?" she asked to no one in particular.
Izzy answered, "I believe the solution would be to figure out how exactly to activate our new crests. They seem to be the only tool that gives us an advantage."
"But how are we going to learn how to use our crests? They only seem to work when we are in fatal situations," Joe noted.
"Guys! I got a great idea! Why don't we just teach each other our crests?" she stated.
"What do you mean Mimi?" Sora asked her.
"Well, each of us, except for most of the younger digidestineds, have a crest that was once a different person's crest. Like I could teach Kari how to be sincere!"
"And I can teach Matt how to love!" Sora added.
"And I'll teach Sora what I know about light!"
"I will assist Mimi with knowledge," Izzy said. Everyone looked at him and then burst out laughing. She turned red in the face as they laughed at her.
"Good luck with that one Izzy!" Tai said.
"Hmphf. But do we all agree?"
The others nodded, and after some discussion they split up into groups to help teach each other with their new crests. Tai had partnered up with TK to help Joe learn his crests. Sora and Matt were also working together, as well as Davis, Cody, and Yolei; Ken, Michael and Willis; and then Izzy, Kari, and herself. They had decided it was ok if they split up as long as they didn't get too far away from each other, so she led her group away from the others.
Despite the fact that it was supposed to be midday by now, it could have easily been mistaken for dusk; at least it wasn't pitch black. It also was fairly chilly outside, which was something she wasn't used to in the Digital World.
"Ok, which of you wants to go first?" Izzy asked the two girls. They looked at each other trying to read the other. Kari was so hard to read. Mimi had never really connected with the girl, but Kari still held a special place in her heart, as she was sure Kari did with all of the digidestineds.
Despite her love for one of the youngest of the original digidestineds, she had to say that she disagreed with Kari's love life. She, as well as many other members of the group, had figured TK and Kari would grow up to be boyfriend and girlfriend. Now, a lot of things had happened since their first adventure, but when TK had finally rejoined the group and when Kari had kissed him during their battle against Dragomon and Piedmon, everything thought the two were going to get together... but it never happened. She, as she was clearly the love expert among the digidestineds, well, save for Sora, wanted to play matchmaker for her friends. After all, she was the one to talk Tai into asking Sora out and she also has been talking with Yolei about telling Ken how she feels for him. In her mind she thought TK and Kari should be together, and she even thought that Kari wanted the same thing, but Kari was still with Davis. She didn't have anything against Davis... it just didn't make sense.
"Why aren't you dating TK?"
She put her hands to her mouth as she was shocked and embarrassed that the words had escaped her.
Kari blushed instantly and gazed sideways. She turned to her boyfriend looking for help, but Izzy just shrugged his shoulders. Figures, Izzy wouldn't have anything to say on this topic, or to help her out of this, what was sure to be awkward, situation.
"Uh, Mimi... I..."
"It's ok Kari, you don't have to answer. I don't know why I even asked that."
Kari shook her head. "No, I know why you asked it. Yolei's been asking me the same thing ever since I... uh, kissed TK in that battle."
She nodded her head. "So..."
"I don't know Mimi. I feel like I'm torn right down the middle. I've always had feelings for TK, even when we were little, but those were as a best friend. As we grew up, TK wasn't there. It's not his fault, but he simply wasn't. Davis... Davis is awesome. I mean he's hot, he's funny, he's..."
"A bit brainless at times," Izzy interjected.
She looked at her boyfriend and rolled her eyes at him... even though he was very accurate.
"Well... yeah, I guess that's true. But, I guess the main thing is that Davis has always been there for me. I love Davis; I don't think I could ever leave him."
"But do you love TK?" she asked.
Kari immediately shook her head 'no' but she gave Kari an inquiring look and Kari thought about the question. After a few seconds Kari finally nodded.
At this Kari's crest started to glow faintly from under her shirt. Kari looked down in surprise and even Izzy gasped as he was the one who called out, "Kari! Your crest!"
She just smiled at Kari. "And that's called being sincere," she said with a wink.
"Now, as I am the only one in the group that has learned his crests..."
At this his twin partners cheered and gave him a high-five, causing him to smile broadly.
"I think we should start with one of you two. So, Ken, Michael, who wants to go first?"
Neither of the two seemed very eager to learn about their crests. Ken, by what he had come to understand, had been singled out by Daemon and had the dark spores taking out of his neck. That could not have been very pleasant. Ken seemed a bit off, more than likely because of the encounter with Daemon, and he had a feeling it had more to it than just the pain. Even Wormon, Ken's partner, seemed a bit disappointed and sad; probably because he felt like he had failed his partner.
And then there was his best friend, Michael. He was so relieved he finally had his best friend back, but he was still concerned for his friend. Michael seemed much more reserved with his interactions with the other digidestineds than he had been. He was glad the other digidestineds had forgiven Michael for running off on his own, but Michael didn't seem like he had accepted the forgiveness of his friends, nor his own forgiveness. Betamon seemed concerned for his partner and still acted ashamed towards he and his twin partners for attacking them.
"Well my crest seems so simple, but I don't seem to understand it, or why I was chosen for this crest," Ken spoke up.
"Ken, you're the kindest person I know," Wormon reassured.
Terriermon chimed in, "Yeah, you're definitely a lot kinder than Willis. He always makes us clean his room and do all his other chores"
Lopmon agreed. "Yeah, and if we refuse to then he makes us listen to him study for his chemistry class."
"It is soooooo boring too!"
"Hey, you guys be quiet or else I'll make you listen to me study calculus too," he threatened.
"See Ken, you're A LOT kinder than Willis!"
Ken laughed a little bit but then shook his head. "I think there's more to kindness than just not forcing your digimon to do your chores."
"What more could there be?" Lopmon asked.
"Hey guys," he spoke up, "Why don't you go play with the other digimon while we try to sort these things out."
"What? You don't want to be around us!?" Terriermon asked.
"I'm offended!"
"Go," he ordered simply.
"Why don't you go join them too Betamon?"
"You as well Wormon."
Betamon and Wormon were more reluctant to leave their partners behind than Terriermon and Lopmon were, but they eventually ran over to the other digimon and joined in on the tag game that had ensued.
After a couple minutes of laughing at the digimon Michael said, "You think you got it hard Ken? Well mine seems so simple as well but I have no idea what joy is."
"You guys aren't giving yourselves enough credit," he told his two friends, "Michael, you are the embodiment of joy. Whenever I had my rough moments in life, getting picked on in school, being called a nerd by what seemed like everybody in New York, stuff like that; you always were there to cheer me up. No matter how bad things seemed to get, I knew I could always count on you to make me feel better. And Ken. You used to be the Digimon Emperor, but look at how far you've come. You realized the wrongs you've committed and have dedicated yourself to making amends with what you've done. And even after that, you always welcomed Michael and I to the group even though the older digidestineds didn't want anything to do with us half the time. You have always shown us and everyone around you kindness."
He took a deep breath at the end of his speech. If there was one thing he had learned from hanging out with the digidestineds, it was that there was usually half of the group that tended to overestimate their abilities, while the other half underestimated their abilities. Ken, Michael, and even himself belonged in the latter half of the group. And, if it weren't for the fight against Reapermon when he learned how to use his two crests, he would probably be in the same boat Ken and Michael were in right now. He just hoped he could get the point across to them that they are not helpless or hopeless; they are perfectly capable of figuring out their crests. He sure as heck didn't think he would figure out his own two crests, but somehow he had been able to activate them. If he could do it, then Ken and Michael and all of the others could too.
"You make it sound like we're experts on our crests," Michael stated.
"Well of course you're not perfect with your crests; that's why you're still learning how to use them. I'm just saying that you guys are closer to figuring out your crests than what you think you are."
"You're right Willis, thank you," Ken said.
"Yeah, thanks buddy," Michael added.
He smiled at his two friends and then clapped his hands together.
"Alright, now let's get down to business!"
"Don't tell me what to do Yolei!"
"I'll do what I want to do Davis!"
"I could say the same thing!"
"Guys, please stop fighting!"
This had been going on for a good ten or fifteen minutes. Every time one of them would start to talk about their crests someone would interject and then a fight would ensue, usually between Yolei and himself. Cody tried to be the voice of reason, but he just seemed to add more wood to the fire. It wasn't going to be long before they all exploded at each other.
Their last fight had been about his crest, the crest of humility. Yolei seemed to think that he knew absolutely nothing about being humble and she believed she had to 'get it through his thick skull' just what it meant to be humble. Of course he yelled at her for accusing him of being incompetent to which Yolei said that he was. Cody tried to get them to stop, but they ignored the attempts at peace.
"I though you're supposed to have the crest of peace? All you do is yell at me Yolei!"
"Well you think you know everything there is to know about humility, which that is definitely not the case."
"Enough!" he yelled. As much as he wanted to keep fighting with Yolei, they simply weren't making any progress. They were wasting valuable time because who knew how much time they had before Daemon came after them. They needed to figure out how to use their crests, and fighting definitely wasn't the answer.
Once the other two had quieted down enough for him to continue, he said, "Can we stop fighting for once? We need to figure out our crests and this is not helping us. Now, how about we take turns helping each other with out crest? Here, I can go first. Yolei and Cody, tell me what you think I need to know about humility. I won't interrupt."
The two of them looked at each other first before turning they're attention to him.
"Well I think you took one step in the right direction Davis," Cody said.
"Yeah, I mean, you could've kept arguing with me and said that you were right and I was wrong, which is not correct mind you, but instead you stopped arguing and now you're listening to our advice instead of challenging it. You actually might know more about my crest than I do."
"Mine as well."
He looked at them curiously. "What do you mean?"
"Well," Yolei started, "you were able to stop us from fighting. Despite how much we were arguing and disagreed with each other, you were able to make peace between us. That's something I for sure wouldn't have been able to do."
Cody added, "And I have just been yelling at you two for arguing instead of being patient and trying to calm both sides."
"I don't have your crests though. I have humility, and you guys have peace and patience. I definitely don't know everything there is to know about my crest, and even if you guys don't know everything about your own crests, then that means we're in the same boat. That's why we need to help each other; not fight."
Cody and Yolei both nodded and smiled at him.
"I would like to talk about my crest first if you two don't mind," Cody said.
"Go ahead," he encouraged.
"It's hard for me to say this," Cody started, "But... I've been feeling... different, lately."
"What do you mean Cody?" Yolei asked, concerned.
"Well, I have realized that I am developing a short temper. I always and always have been treated as the most unintelligible of the group because of my age and stature. I understand that I am the youngest of the group, but it does not justify you guys treating me as if I am stupid and have nothing to contribute. I have helped save all of your assess at some point in time, and I don't deserve to be treated like I am a baby!"
By the end of his rant Cody was almost screaming. Cody was basically shaking in anger and he had his fists clenched and was looking at the ground. He was quite shocked by Cody's outburst. He had never seen Cody get upset or angry; Cody had always been the calm, steady one of the digidestineds. It now seemed foolish to him that he used to think Cody didn't get angry; everyone got angry, the difference is how each person reacts to their anger.
"Cody, I had no idea," Yolei said. She seemed surprised by Cody's reaction as well and was motioning to hug the boy. Cody dodged the hug, though, and gave Yolei a glare that made even him flinch. The look was gone in a second and Cody ran away from them.
"Cody!" Yolei called out, running after the boy. This left him by himself, watching with concern as two of his friends ran off into the distance.
He was supposed to be the leader of the group; well, second leader, because Tai held the position of official leader of the digidestineds. But still, he was the leader of the young digidestineds back when they had first started fighting Ken, who was the Digimon Emperor at the time. Wasn't he supposed to keep his team together? Shouldn't he know when a member of the group had been feeling upset like Cody had? He should be able to fix this situation, right? But he had no idea what to do. Did he really have what it takes to be a leader? Could he actually learn how to activate his crest before it was too late? Did he even have the ability to help his friends? He wasn't so sure anymore.
This was a bit of a headache. Who could've known that teaching someone how to be hopeful would be so difficult? But this was Joe they were talking about.
It had been close to fifteen minutes ago when the group had split apart to talk to each other about their crests in small groups. He had been partnered with TK and Joe. He had wanted to start with TK first as he had the crest of courage, his old crest, but TK had pushed the subject off and insisted they talked about Joe's crest first. He was reluctant, but had finally agreed and they had began talking about Joe's new crest of hope.
"I'm just not a hopeful person you guys. I never have been and I never will be!"
TK had been strangely quiet throughout the conversation, as if he had a ton of other things on his mind. TK was also on edge as if he were concerned Daemon would show up at a moment's notice. Even Patamon, who had digivolved from Tokomon during the previous night, would not leave TK's head even though all of the other digimon were off playing tag or something. Something was bothering TK, he knew that much, but he couldn't seem to figure out what.
"Everyone has hope, Joe," TK said, making another one of his quick utterances.
"What are you talking about? How could I have any hope?"
"Yeah, TK, why don't you explain that a little more," he encouraged, trying to get the blonde to talk more.
TK looked up into the sky thinking about something. TK stayed like that for a few moments, and just when he was sure TK wasn't going to respond, TK spoke up.
"Do you remember when we were in the Digital World fighting Myotismon? You and I were stuck outside of Odaiba because of the fog Myotismon had created. You, me, and Patamon rode on Ikkakumon and were about to go under the bridge when MegaSeadramon attacked us. I wasn't too good of a swimmer back then and started to drown, but you had saved me."
He had remembered hearing this story back way back a long time ago when they were all separated trying to find Kari and fight Myotismon.
"I..." Joe hesitated, "I didn't think you remembered that TK. That was so long ago."
"But I do remember, Joe. I never forgot about that time because you saved my life, and I thank you for that because I don't remember if I ever thanked you for it. But despite the fact that you always seemed to talk about the negative back then; when it mattered most you were able to muster up the hope to take action and save me. That was when I truly learned I could rely on you Joe, almost as much as I relied on Matt and the others. You have hope Joe, whether you realize it or not."
"Th... thanks TK," Joe managed, clearly touched by TK's complements.
TK smiled at Joe briefly before wiping it back off and looking up at the sky again.
"Well, now that we got that settled, why don't we teach you a few things about courage, ay TK?"
Awkward. This was awkward. Why did he have to get partnered up with his ex and talk about love? He knew what love was. He loved his brother. He loved his friends. He sure as heck didn't need to talk to Sora about love.
"Matt? Earth to Matt? Hello?!"
He didn't realize he had completely blocked Sora out and blushed lightly.
"Sorry Sora."
"It's ok. I wouldn't want to listen to me talk about love."
"It's not that..."
"Matt, please. Besides, I was hoping you could talk to me about my crest."
"Your crest? But I know absolutely nothing about light!"
"I think you do, Matt. So, what do you think I need to know?"
This had taken an unexpected turn. Here he was expecting to already be listening to a lecture on what love is and what he needs to do to understand love. But now Sora was asking him to talk about light. Something he didn't know anything about.
"Uh... well, light brightens up a room...?"
"Come on Matt."
"Sora, I don't know anything about light!"
"Think for a little bit."
He obeyed. Kari was the original possessor of the crest of light. What qualities did Kari have? She always seemed to be smiling and make other people happy. It was as if she brightened up any room she stepped into. Light and darkness didn't go well together, and Kari, likewise, hated the darkness. But it always seemed like Kari was the most susceptible to the darkness. It was her after all that had been taken into the Dark Ocean. But there had to be more to light than just Kari's characteristics. Kari didn't define what light is; light defined the kind of person Kari became and is becoming.
"I think light is part of us that we all have. Some choose to ignore the light, while others engage in it and sometimes even indulge in it. I think light is pure. Light is... kind of like love," he realized.
"Go on," Sora encouraged.
"Light... well, light is what gives us the strength to fight against those who harm us and our friends. Light is pure in itself, though it also is easily tainted as well. I... I think love is better defined by one's actions than the words one can use."
Sora smiled at him.
"I think you nailed it Matt."
He smiled back at her. There was no need to feel awkward hanging around with her. Yeah, maybe Sora had chosen Tai over him, but that was not his or her fault; it was nobody's fault. You cannot force love; he definitely had learned that much. And maybe it had taken him a while to fully come to terms with that, and he probably was still working on it, but at least he realized that things between him, Sora, and Tai didn't have to be as awkward as they have been recently.
"Thanks Sora. I'm glad you're my friend."
"And I'm glad you are my friend. Now, do you want to go see how the others are doing?"
"You betcha!"
"Master?"
He wasn't sure what exactly was going on. He had stayed back with the rest of the digimon that were left at Imperium Adstrum. Daemon had left and took Reapermon, Darkdramon, and GranKuwagamon with him to go cause some trouble among the digidestineds. It didn't look like things had gone exactly as planned.
When Daemon had returned, he was writhing in pain and couldn't utter a word. The pain had seemed to subside a bit, but his master was clearly still in pain. And Daemon had practically doubled in size. The cape that he once wore had ripped, revealing the beast's true form. Just looking at Daemon made him shudder.
"SkullSatamon," Daemon muttered weakly.
He instantly flew to his master's side.
"What is it?"
"Take the digimon... and defeat the... digidestineds."
"What? Are... are you sure?"
"Don't question me."
Even when Daemon was whispering, the menace in his tone was frightening.
"Yes, master. I won't fail you."
He got out of there as fast as he could. Fight the digidestineds. That was what he wanted to do since day one, right? But why was he not looking forward to this? He normally would be thrilled that Daemon had asked him to do such an important task; he would be able to hold it over LadyDevimon and MarineDevimon's heads as proof that he was the most valuable servant of Daemon. But Daemon had gotten rid of LadyDevimon and MarineDevimon as if they were nothing to him. And now Daemon was sending him to go fight the digidestineds, who not even Daemon could defeat. He was being sent on a suicide mission and Daemon didn't even care what happened to him, despite all the years he's spent serving Daemon.
But what other choice did he have? If he failed to obey Daemon, then Daemon would certainly destroy him. He could run away, but he knew Daemon would eventually find him and show him no mercy. He wished he could've led the life of a normal digimon, but Daemon had made sure he had no chance of that. Now it had become his destiny to fight the digidestineds, whether he liked it or not. There was no escaping that.
"Ornismon! Sandiramon! Gaiomon! Let's get going!"
The other digimon, who had been circled around a fire instantly came over to his side.
"What is it SkullSatamon?"
"We have some digidestineds to fight."