Note: I do not own Digimon

Sorry I haven't updated in a long time! Hopefully once I get back in to writing this story will be worth the wait :)
So here is the next chapter of Darkness Calling, Enjoy x

Chapter Four ~

Ken could hear the droning noise as Kuwagamon approached, but it sounded hazy and far away as his head swam and colours danced behind his eyes. He was faintly aware of Minomon's voice urging him to get up and run, but the urgency that he had felt moments ago had seeped away, replaced by a strange sense of calm.

So he was going to die.

Suddenly many hands grabbed his arm, roughly hoisting him up to his feet and dragging him towards the edge of the cliff they had found themselves on. He had almost forgotten about the other children, it seems they had run over to whisk Mimi and him out of harm's way. He almost laughed at the fact that being dragged towards the edge of a cliff was the safe option here. His mum would have a fit.

Mum…His heart tightened.

He glanced up for a moment hoping to catch sight of Osamu, but his brother was not among this group. He hoped he was okay.

"Ken," the high pitched voice of his new friend Minomon caught his attention as the other children sat him down gently on a rock. "Ken, I will fight for you." The creature's eyes met his and burned with an intensity that awed him.

Fight, for me? Ken shook his head, "No, you can't. He's too scary."

Looking around for a moment Ken realised similar exchanges were taking place with all of the other children, it seemed everyone had one of these creatures. The droning grew ever louder, Kuwagamon was fast approaching and the creatures rallied in a protective wall around the children.

"Minomon, don't!" Ken rasped.

The little creatures all shared a look, their large eyes shining with determination as they edged forward; eight small dots facing down a giant, flying beast. The sight brought a lump to Ken's throat as he watched his new friend march fearlessly towards such a monster. For him.

They threw pitiful attacks at the insect, but with no effect. They didn't even slow the Kuwagamon down, merely irked him as he crashed towards the children on his collision course.

Ken was tired beyond anything he had ever felt. His lungs still burned from running for his life and his heart was pounding like a battering ram from fear and exertion, his muscles felt like lead and he wasn't sure he could squeeze another second of use out of his small, trembling body. But seeing Minomon standing there throwing all he had at the enemy in vain he knew he could not just sit by and do nothing. He would join his new friend and they would face their fate together. Standing side by side.

He painfully pushed himself up, nearly collapsing in the process, and dragged himself slowly over towards their creatures.

"Koromon!" Taichi's voice cried out from behind Ken. A bright beam of light shot from Taichi towards one of the creatures and the other children, encouraged by this display, also cried out to their partners. Pleas of love and desperation rang out upon the cliff top and in that moment something changed.

"Minomon!" Ken cried weakly, shocked as a device he had not even noticed before now emitted a similar light to the lights shining all around them. He felt his spirits soar and his body began to feel refreshed as the glow enveloped him and shone in a focussed beam onto Minomon.

"Ken!" Minomon gasped as something incredible took place with all of their creatures.

"Koromon SHINKA…. Agumon!"

"Tsunomon SHINKA…. Gabumon!"

"Yokomon SHINKA…. Piyomon!"

"Tanemon SHINKA… Palmon!"

"Motimon SHINKA… Tentomon!"

"Bukamon SHINKA… Gomamon!"

"Tokomon SHINKA… Patamon!"

"Minomon SHINKA… Wormmon!"

Before their very eyes the creatures had changed completely, becoming bigger and more formidable looking. Something about this seemed so familiar to Ken, but any musings he may have made were pushed aside as the battle before them heated up. The bigger creatures, their creatures, were now giving Kuwagamon a run for his money. Their attacks had an effect, they had become more than just an annoyance and this caused the bug to rethink his attack plan. Instead of heading directly for the children he swerved and aimed to take out their partners.

Ken watched, unable to take his eyes off the scene before them as the eight friendly creatures threw all of their might into a combined attack against their foe, knocking him backwards into the trees and hopefully frying his disgusting red exoskeleton to ash. There was a loud crash at the moment of impact as the monster hit the trees and knocked a number of them over with the force of his fall, and then there was silence.

Ken let out a breath he hadn't even known he was holding. "Minomon!" he cried, holding his arms out shakily as the worm-like creature bounded over to him.

"My name is Wormmon now, Ken." The bug smiled shyly and leapt into his partner's arms.

"Okay," Ken nodded, holding the creature close and sighing.

"Is everyone okay?" Taichi asked, gathering the lost, scared children around him and trying to exude confidence.

Wary, nervous eyes glanced back at him as everyone nodded slowly. "We're all okay, Tai" Sora said softly.

"Good, then we sho-"

The buzzing sound once more returned, interrupting Taichi and causing them all to whip around and watch in horror as the giant red insect picked itself up slowly, shook off chunks of debris and slowly crawled towards them. They could not move as fear paralysed them, but instead watched helplessly as the bug drove its large pincers into the ground several feet away. The edge of the cliff they were standing on began to shake slightly and it dawned on the children one by one what this monster was doing. Ken's stomach flipped as the ground beneath them lurched and tilted, and with one severing motion the bug split the cliff's edge. They were all falling into the sea beneath them!

As one they screamed as they fell down hundreds of feet. Ken tried to prepare himself for what was about to happen but he could not fight down the panic as the wind rushed past him and his small body hurtled towards the waters below. All he could do was cling to Wormmon and close his eyes tightly, praying that this was all just some crazy dream.

And then…

It must be a dream! For, suddenly he was no longer falling but had landed on a soft, squishy, fish-smelling surface which seemed to writhe and move underneath him. If the strange forest and talking bug friend hadn't convinced him this wasn't real, the mattress of fishes he opened his eyes to could surely have no other explanation. He looked around him at the faces of the other children and saw similar thoughts flit across their expressions.

One of the creatures, an adorable seal-like fellow, looked especially pleased with himself as they floated away safely on this pungent magic carpet ride.

They were safe! Every muscle in Ken's body sagged with relief and he smiled goofily at Wormmon, who nestled in to Ken's neck and slowly caught his breath.

After the initial shock had worn off, the group tried to get their bearings. They were all lying on a raft of swimming fish, floating towards a beach. Ken wanted to laugh at how ridiculous it all was, or maybe he wanted to laugh with relief or hysteria. Either way he began to giggle softly to himself, causing the young girl, Hikari, to glance his way. He stopped and blushed, feeling foolish, but she just smiled at him.

He smiled back sheepishly.

It was only then that he realised that, while all of the other children had a creature, she didn't seem to. Unless they were invisible or else just really, really tiny.

"Okay," Taichi blurted out when it finally seemed like they were safe on this bed of fish, "what the hell just happened here? And where even is here? And for that matter who" he looked to his dinosaur-like creature, "are you?"

Before the dinosaur had a chance to explain Hikari tugged softly at her brother's sleeve and whispered, "That's Agumon, remember?"

All eyes spun to her and for a second it looked like this sparked a memory for Taichi too, but then he shook his head in confusion and demanded "What are you talking about, Kar?"

"I.. I don't know but I remember him, from before…" she shrugged and looked at her the whistle in her hands, twisting the string it was attached to around her fingers in concentration, "maybe I'm wrong."

"No," the dinosaur reached out a paw gently and placed it on her shoulder, "you're right. My name is Agumon, but I don't remember meeting you before."

"Oh," Hikari's eyebrows furrowed together.

Ken felt shy around all of these strange children but knew somehow that what Hikari had said made sense. About before.

"I remember something too, about a bird changing." Ken whispered in a voice barely loud enough for anyone to hear over the splashing of the fish. "Changing like you changed when the lights shone."

Hikari stared at him curiously for a moment and he immediately dropped his gaze and blushed, not knowing why but feeling even more bashful suddenly.

After a few minutes of silence as the other children tried to search their own memories and think what this all meant, the seal like creature cried out happily that they were close enough to the beach that they could swim from here. He leapt playfully into the surf and soon all of the other children and creatures followed, leaving the fish to disperse.

"I can't swim, Ken," Wormmon blushed and looked up at his partner with pleading eyes.

Ken grinned back at him. "Then climb on to my head, I'm a great swimmer!"

Wormmon gratefully slid on to the boys head and nestled comfortably, enjoying the bobbing motion as Ken swam happily through the crystal clear waves.

Once they reached shore everyone fell to the ground and rested for a while, soaking in the sun's rays and wondering what they were going to do next.

"Ugh," Mimi complained, pulling at her clothes in disgust. "I'm never going to be able to get the smell of fish out of these, they're ruined."

"Glad to see someone has their priorities straight," muttered Sora under her breath.

The older boys hid smirks at this and everyone felt sorry for the poor plant creature who tried in vain to comfort her partner.

"I'm glad you're so nice," whispered Wormmon as they lay together on the sandy shore. Ken smiled and stroked Wormmon's back gently, causing the bug to squirm and purr.

"I didn't know bugs purred," Ken commented in surprise.

"I'm not a bug," Wormmon explained, "I'm a digimon who must resemble this 'bug' you are talking about. I purr when I'm happy and growl when I'm angry and cry when I'm upset, just like a lot of digimon I know."

"Oh," Ken pondered this for a few minutes. "Do you not have bugs here then?"

"Nope, don't know what they are."

"Good, I don't like them." Ken stated without thinking, then, seeing Wormmon's heartbroken expression he realised what he had said. "But you're not a bug, you're a digimon..."

"A digimon who you thought was a bug, so I must be pretty similar," Wormmon sighed and backed away from Ken slightly, turning his face away in the hope he could hide how much the remark had hurt him.

"No! Bugs are small and crawly and they bite you and make you ill." Ken cried, reaching out to Wormmon as the digimon sidled away. "But you're nothing like that, you talk and you're the size of a puppy and you have cute eyes and you smile at me and you saved my life and I really, really like you Wormmon!" he barely took a breath as he spoke and Wormmon turned back around, his eyes searching the boy's to see if he was being genuine. Ken stood facing him, his lower lip trembling slightly and his eyes pleading, "I thought we were friends, Wormmon... I don't want to lose you."

Wormmon nodded, any words he was hoping to say caught in his throat and he jumped into Ken's arms and hugged him tight. "I'm so glad," he managed to whisper.

As the sun began to drop to the horizon two of the older boys, Taichi and a blonde haired guy, began to talk of finding food and supplies.

"We had a survival pack in our group at the cabin, didn't we?" the blonde asked.

A tall, skinny boy with glasses and blue hair stepped forward offering up a large rucksack. "Yes we did, here it is. There should be enough food for us for a day or so."

"Good," the blonde nodded, relieved.

Ken remembered his baking and smiled. "I've brought some food too," he held his own rucksack out to the blonde and blushed slightly. "It's lots of cake."

"Cake?" the blonde looked amused.

Ken nodded. "I like cake."

The younger blonde child, the one Ken's own age, beamed at him. "I love cake too!"

Ken beamed back and rushed to offer the blonde child a clump of peanut butter cake, now a little sticky and battered but hopefully still tasty. "It's my own special recipe," Ken said proudly.

The younger blonde happily took the cake and gobbled it down, but seeing the mangled state of Ken's offerings the other children were not as eager.

"Your own… 'special' recipe?" the blue haired boy asked, gulping and staring at the bag's cake contents with an odd expression on his face.

"Yep!" Ken nodded enthusiastically.

"How, erm, how is it Takeru?" the older blonde asked the younger blonde as he ate his way through another portion.

Between mouthfuls of peanut butter and sponge, the younger blonde grinned and spluttered "It's yummy!"

This was all the children needed to know and soon they were all sitting around a camp fire, which Agumon had lit with his "baby flame" attack, munching happily on Ken's cake.

"So," Taichi began, looking around at everyone. "I think now is a good time to explain what is going on, Agumon."

"Right," Agumon nodded. "First we should all introduce ourselves. My name is Agumon and I am your digimon, Taichi."

A red headed boy with glasses leaned forward with interest. "When you say 'digimon', what does that mean?"

"It stands for 'digital monster' and it means anyone who lives in the Digital World. This world." He spread his short arms and gestured around them.

"Hold up," the older blonde frowned, "the 'Digital World'? Are you saying we are in a totally different world now? We're not in Japan anymore?"

Taichi sneered, "does this look like Japan to you?!"

The blonde shot him a glare.

"I don't know what this Japan is, but you're definitely not there. This is our world and we called you here to save it because you're the Digidestined." Agumon explained.

"The 'Digidestined'?" queried the red haired child, leaning forward even further and raising his eyebrow with interest.

"Never heard of Japan?!" cried Mimi in panic.

"Save this world?!" spluttered the blue haired boy, pushing his glasses up his nose and taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm down.

Before any of the creatures could get a word in edgeways there was chaos, with everyone speaking over everyone else. Hikari, Takeru and Ken just watched with wide eyes as the older children shouted and argued and ignored their digimons' attempts to calm them.

"I don't have a digimon," Hikari's quiet voice drew everyone's attention and a hush fell over the group as all eyes once more turned to Agumon.

"And oniisan isn't here, he was with us at camp so he should be with us now." Ken added.

"Yes, there has been a problem." Agumon said sadly.

"Osamu!" cried DemiMeramon, rushing forward towards the boy with a strange feeling of elation. The fear which he knew he should be feeling right now, as he headed towards Vandemon-sama, had been washed away by this primal joy that surged through him as he drew closer to the child.

The Digimon Kaiser flinched slightly at the mention of this name and all eyes in the room, from Lucemon to the sentries at the door, snapped to attention on the small fire ball.

"Who is this who dares to approach us?" Lucemon queried, smirking slightly and glancing over to the two in training digimon.

DemiMeramon froze the second the azure eyes fixated on his and the two digimon were locked in each other's gaze for what felt like an eternity. Those eyes, they were indescribable. DemiMeramon could not break the stare, could not move, could not even think as they bored into him. They were so beautiful, it seemed that they pulsated with their own light, hypnotising the small in training digimon as he stood in the centre of this large, dark room.

For a second he was aware of a reaction from the Digimon Kaiser boy who he had felt drawn to seconds before. It seemed the boy was clutching his chest in pain. No matter. Who was the boy anyway, why did he matter? Had he ever mattered? DemiMeramon couldn't remember, his brain felt cloudy but in a good way, clouded with the light from those eyes.

He sighed and felt his expression soften into a smile.

"DemiMeramon!" Nyaromon hissed from somewhere beside him. She had followed him, she was by his side and she sounded worried. Why? Couldn't she see the light? He ignored her.

Nyaromon's hackles rose, Vandemon-sama was smiling at this scene and that could not be a good thing. Why DemiMeramon had decided to rush out here was confusing enough, but to then stop in his tracks and gaze adoringly at the creepy, angelic stranger was too much. Whatever was going on, she didn't like it and it had something to do with that boy.

She bounded in front of DemiMeramon, hoping that in getting between him and the radiant digimon she could get his attention once more.

He blinked and his head immediately cleared as Nyaromon blocked his view of the digimon's eyes. Lucemon also blinked and began to laugh, giggling like a small child.

"We were enjoying that. How did you like our power, little fire ball?" Lucemon's voice was innocent and playful, caressing them from all directions.

Nyaromon's eyes narrowed, disliking this creature whose voice sent shivers up her spine. He was dangerous, no doubt, but also so powerful that he made Vandemon-sama look like a hatchling by comparison. She could feel the energy emanating from him and it was heavy, almost tangible. It could easily crush them.

"I have no interest in you or your power," DemiMeramon managed after a few moments of silence, being sure to stare only at the floor. "My only interest is in the boy."

Vandemon-sama smirked and flicked his wrist, ready to strike the small digimon in outrage over speaking to his superior like that, but Lucemon shook his head.

"This boy?" he waved to indicate the Digimon Kaiser, who stared ahead with a blank expression in his glazed eyes. "What could you possibly want with our new pet?"

DemiMeramon's gut clenched and he bared his teeth angrily. "He is not your pet!" he growled.

Nyaromon glanced at her friend nervously, certain that this behaviour would get them both killed.

Something in DemiMeramon's tone must have reached through to the boy, though, as for a second he lost the glazed look in his eyes and turned his attention to the fireball standing before him. He opened his mouth as if to say something but instead began to choke. A black glow throbbed in his chest and he fell to the ground, writhing as if in pain and coughing violently.

"Osamu!" DemiMeramon cried, rushing to the boy's side.

"Enough!" Lucemon snarled, his expression changing so rapidly the room seemed to freeze under the weight of his power.

DemiMeramon was thrown against the wall on the other side of the room, knocking him out, and even Vandemon-sama looked terrified by the creature's outburst.

"Take him away from the boy, now! Take them both to the basement, we shall see to them later."

Two sentries hurried to drag the in training digimon away as Nyaromon's mind tried to grasp what had happened in there with Lucemon and the boy and DemiMeramon. The last thing she saw as they were taken from the room was the black spark engulfing the boy and his coughing stopping as his eyes once more glazed over like a shroud.

A/N~ Hope that was okay, will update more very soon (now I'm back I should be on a roll) so I do hope you stay tuned :D