Chapter Four:
Broken Family
Matt looked around himself as he stood high-up on the roof of a building; a really tall building that seemed to almost touch the clouds. He slowly walked over to the edge to look down on everyone and everything below, but he was too high to see anything but specks on the ground. Then, he heard a faint, but strange noise that was not too faraway from where he was. He turned around and squinted his eyes to see Kyle on the other end of the roof. Her back was turned from him. Matt quickly walked toward and called out her name, "Kyle? Kyle!" The girl heard her name and slowly turned her head and looked over her shoulder to Matt. As the young man got closer to her, he suddenly stopped and gasped at what he saw on Kyle. Blood -- there was blood streaming down her face from the eyes, and the blooded tears continued to cry themselves out. Her hands were also bloody as well. The girl smiled evilly at Matt, and this made him a little frightened of her. "Kyle... what's happened to you?..."
"Matt..." her voice didn't even match the girl's actual vocal. It sounded more of a snake; a low, hissing sound, "Matt... I'm -- I'm a..." Kyle turned back around and stretched out her arms as she edged her feet closer to the ends of the roof.
Matt's eyes grew wide and he took a couple steps closer to Kyle. "Kyle, what are you doing?"
Without hesitation, no last spoken words -- she didn't want to just jump off and think she was going to fly like some bird -- no, she just let her body go and it slowly toppled over the roof, and then she was not in sight anymore. Matt ran to the edge of the roof and screamed out her name in agony. "KYLE! KYLE!"
As he kept screaming her name and hoping she would come back, everything around him suddenly grew black. He was now just floating in some odd space. He opened his eyes and realized... it was all just one bad dream; a nightmare...
"Hey, man... are you okay? You were mumbling something in your sleep... what happened?" Matt opened his eyes fully to see his friends and their digimon all starring down at him with wide eyes, full of concern for the young man. The boy turned to Tai, for he was the one who had spoken. "A bad dream, huh Matt?" Tai held out his hand to help up his friend, and Matt grabbed Tai's hand and got up. Matt looked around to see that they all were near a building, which was now abandoned because of Myotismon and his wicked henchmen. There were a few other buildings near them, but mostly it was just bare land as far as the eye could see -- at least, for their eyes.
Everyone looked toward the hills or horizon of this new world they had entered, and saw millions and millions of bats huddled and formed some sort of sphere around a particular area of a town or city. "I know for sure that Myotismon is bound to be there. Look at all the bats! I've never seen so many bats all in one place!" Sora shivered badly at the thought of those cold and creepy creatures. So frightening to have a master such as Myotismon.
Tai and the others nodded in agreement. "Than that's where we're all gonna start walking too..."
Davis raised an eyebrow at Tai. "Walking all the way there? Do you know how long it's gonna take us? Like -- forever! By then, I bet Myotismon would of found that girl!" He rolled his eyes and turned away from everyone. Veemon, who was standing right next to Davis, frowned up at him.
Izzy sighed softly, "Well... we better start walking and get somewhere for the day. Um... I'm pretty sure it's light out now. Really hard to tell since that fog barrier is now surrounding this state..." Everyone looked around themselves and above to see that the fog was starting to get heavier. If the fog kept getting thicker, than no one would be able to see what's in front of them!
"Come on... let's just go, and hopefully we'll find a town or something on the way there..." murmured Ken quietly, and he started to walk ahead of everyone else while carrying Wormmon in his arms. The digidestined children looked at one another and than at their digimon. In moments, they all walked away from the abandoned buildings, and didn't say much to each other after that. It pained them all to be heading closer and nearer to the sphere of bats, for they kept passing people and vehicles that were driving horribly. The people that they passed by... were so terribly frightened, scared, and even angered by the whole situation. Some people cried out to family members they were searching for, some of them wondered why the police or army is not doing anything, and some people wondered... just what is going on in their world. The digidestined... they would close their eyes briefly as a few tears went down there face. Why would Myotismon be so cruel to all of those people?
The children and the digimon probably would of reached a town much faster, if some of them didn't want to stop for a few moments or try to look for some food. Everyone was getting weary of walking, and if felt like forever for them when they finally reached a deserted town. From where they were standing, they could see that allot of the vehicles were blown away and even tipped over. The buildings were all ruined with large chunks taken out of them. The children wondered why Myotismon would want to destroy all these towns and cities, but than again, the vampire lord would want a world in his own way; thus, he would decide what goes and what stays...
"Myotismon... why would you do this? To look for just one girl... this is madness..." Matt shook his head sadly and lightly kicked a broken piece of a vehicle away from him.
Sora lightly put a hand on Matt's shoulder for comfort. Tai looked slightly jealous of that. "Matt... we'll find her, so don't give up hope yet..." Matt managed to form a small smile on his face as he looked at her.
"Let's just go into this town and hopefully we can try to find some more food, but more importantly, some car we can use to get us to where we want to go faster..." Tai ordered his friends as he looked at two buildings that were to the side of him. "I just hope we can find a car that works, and has keys in the ignition or something..." Everyone nodded slowly and began to wander a little ways from each other to find something useful that would help them in their travels -- oh yes, and some food.
It seemed that the only sounds that were going through this town were the whirring of the winds passing by, the very distant screams and cries of people trying to get away from this disaster, and the footsteps and muttering of the children and digimon wandering quietly in town. Than suddenly, in the distance, they heard a humming noise that was getting louder and louder very quickly.
"Is that... a car?" Sora wondered out loud, and she leaned to the side a little to hear this sound better. Before the rest of the children could reply, or even get a chance to hear also, a car came racing to the edge of town, but as soon as this person saw the digidestined in the street, he slammed on his brakes and went swerving badly. The car stopped a few feet from everyone, and the children could hear this person cursing badly from inside the vehicle.
"Why would someone want to come back into this place? I thought everybody wanted out," said Davis who was somewhat confused.
The person who got out of the car appeared to be a man in his late twenties, with dark brown hair and eyes. His dressing seemed to be almost of a punk or a gangster. "What the hell are you doing out in the middle of the street?" Asked the man with anger in his voice, "You lucky I stopped in time or you all would of been road kill." Than the man noticed the digimon standing by their masters. He rolled his eyes and threw his arms in the air. "This is all I need: more of them freaks running around here!"
Izzy shook his head quickly at the man, "No, you don't understand, these monsters belong to us. They're good, and are going to try and stop those evil ones that you saw before..." The man raised an eyebrow at them. "They're digimon."
The man looked away from the children and digimon and put his hands on his hips. "Look, I really don't care what the hell those things are. All I want to do is go back in my car and look for my daughter..."
The children and digimon looked at one another and than back at the man. "We passed allot of people that were heading in the opposite direction. Do you think your daughter was with the crowd?" Asked Sora softly to the man.
The man was growing impatient for he wanted to go search for his daughter, but was trying to be as calm as he could with these children and their questions. He went into his pockets and walked up to Tai. He took out his wallet and flipped through it to find photos of his family. "Did you happen to see her? --" He showed Tai a picture of a little girl that looked no older than six. The little girl had dark brown, wavy hair and was wearing a long white dress.
The rest of the children gathered around the photo of the little girl and they all shook their heads slowly. "No... we haven't see anyone that looked like her," Matt said disappointingly to the man, than he squinted his eyes as he caught sight of another picture next to his daughter's. "Hey... who's that?..." There was another picture of the man's daughter, but a young woman was holding her. This young woman wore a black T-shirt with slightly baggy jeans. The young woman's green eyes and black hair made her look somewhat creepy...
Matt's mouth was left a gap, and his eyes grew very wide as he looked at this young woman. "Who... is that woman?" He asked slowly.
The man looked at the picture and than eyed Matt oddly, "That's my sister, Kyle, and she's holding my daughter, Victoria. Actually... have you seen my sister anywhere? She's the one who has Victoria..."
The children all looked up at the man with wide eyes, "Um... who are you?" Asked Davis.
The man grunted and looked down at the children irritably, "I'm Shaun: Kyle's older brother. That's my Victoria in the picture -- Kyle's niece, okay now?"
The digidestined just blinked at him. "Kyle never told me... she had an older brother..." Matt said shockingly, "I only saw her younger brother, but that was a long time ago..."
The man, now known as the girl's older brother Shaun, grabbed Matt's shoulders roughly, "You know Kyle? Do you know where she is? Does she have Victoria with her? Is she okay?" His eyes were wide with wonderment, and up close, Matt could see that this man's eyes were somewhat bloodshot. Perhaps he didn't get much sleep from all that's happened.
Matt took a step back and looked at Tai. Tai nodded, "Yeah -- well, Matt here would know about that goth girl better than us, but we know her. We don't know where she is, but we're looking for her before -- " Tai thought for a moment at how to explain this to Shaun. Shaun's eyes grew wide and waited for Tai to get to the point. "Look: all of this is happening, because this creepy vampire guy is looking for your sister. We don't know where he is either, but we have to find Kyle before he does."
Shaun just stood there silently for a moment, but when he grunted playfully and turned away from the children, Tai knew Shaun thought they were wrong. "Wait, do you think I'm stupid? Do you think I'm gonna believe that some 'vampire' wants my sister? For what? She hasn't done anything except stay home and watch over Ed -- oh yeah, and go to school."
Davis wide-eyed Shaun, "Look around you man, you're gonna have to believe what we tell you, alright? And since you're that girl's brother, than we could use your help finding her. Hopefully that Kyle still has your daughter. We find the girl, we find the little one, too."
Shaun thought for a moment as his eyes shifted from the digimon to the children again. He rolled his eyes and sighed, "Alright than, even though I still don't believe any of this crap, but alright. First things first, we gotta find another ride. You guys' freaks can't fit in the car with all the rest of ya..." He turned away from the children and digimon and started to walk away quickly, while looking around himself for a vehicle that would hold everyone. "Follow me and help me find a bus or something big, there's gotta be one in a town like this..." The digidestined looked at each other and shrugged, and they followed behind Shaun slowly to look for a large transportation vehicle to carry them all.
When they all went to the next street over, Veemon pointed out, "Hey... is that a bus?" There was a bus that was slightly damaged, but looked as if it would still run.
Shaun nodded, "Yeah... it'll have to do..." He quickly ran over to it and forced the doors open to look inside. The children and digimon all gathered around the doors to see what the man was doing. Shaun was sitting in the drivers seat, and shook his head slowly as he looked around the radio and such. "There's no keys in here... I guess I'll have to hot-wire it or something." He gestured everyone to get on the bus as he was trying to figure out a way to get the bus going.
The digidestined all got on the bus and sat on the seats and waited for Shaun to get it started. Everyone was mostly sitting by themselves, all except they were accompanied by their own digimon, but Tai and Sora were the only children sitting together. "Where do you think he'll take us?" Asked Sora while whispering to Tai.
Tai shrugged slightly, "I don't know, but hopefully someplace that might give a clue to where that girl is or Myotismon... I just hope we're not too late..."
About a few minutes later, they all heard odd electrical sounds coming from the driver's seat, and than, the bus started up and rattled slightly. "Well... got the bus to work now. Good thing I still know how to hot-wire these things..." Said Shaun proudly as he started to make the bus move.
"Um..." began Izzy, "Just where are we going?"
"Back to my place. I'm hoping Kyle at least called and telling me what the hell's going on here..." Shaun looked over his shoulder slightly to the children, "And hoping that she's telling me where she gone too..."
As Shaun drove down the empty streets of towns and other landscapes, the children looked out their side windows to see more damaged vehicles and ruined buildings as they seemed to get closer to all the commotion Myotismon and his henchmen have caused. Suddenly, along an empty road, Shaun slammed down on his brakes, and the children and digimon lunged forward slightly, but only took minor damage.
"What the heck?" Complained Davis, "Why did we stop?"
Shaun pointed out the window and the children all stood up to see where he was pointing too. In front of the bus, but at a distance, was Arukenimon and Mummymon standing in their way. The two vile looking digimon just stood there starring evilly at the passengers on the bus.
"Well, well... it looks like someone wants to be with Lord Myotismon, how foolish," chuckled Arukenimon in that raspy voice of hers, and she turned her head to look at Mummymon.
Mummymon nodded in agreement, "How about we take these humans to the other prisoners. Shall we, my dear?" Arukenimon nodded as well, and then the two evil digimon started to approach the bus slowly. Everyone gasped at them.
"Mummymon and Arukenimon! But... just how did they come back alive? MaloMyotismon killed them a long time ago." Ken wondered, and he took a few steps towards the exit of the bus.
Izzy frowned sternly, "It must be Myotismon; Gennai was right: he is more powerful than before, especially if he can bring back two digimon from the dead!"
Shaun turned around and eyed the children oddly, "Just who the hell are you talking about?" He asked sarcastically, but turned back around to see the two evil digimon coming ever so closer to the bus.
Tai ignored Shaun's question and stated, "We'll take care of those two, they're not that hard to defeat, and than we can be on our way again."
Izzy piped up, "Than may I suggest that we only send out at least three digimon, while the rest can save up their strength if we're gonna face tougher enemies?"
Everyone looked at each other and nodded, "Than I, Sora and Izzy can come with me while the rest can stay on the bus. If we start losing, than we'll call for back up," said Tai boldly, than he, Sora and Izzy have gotten off the bus, while the rest of the digidestined sat back down in their seats.
When Arukenimon and Mummymon saw the three digidestined children, along with their digimon that came out of the bus, the two evil digimon stopped walking and their eyes became wide. "Arukenimon, it's them! It's those digidestined brats!" Mummymon said while pointing a tattered finger at the children.
Arukenimon growled and prepared herself to attack the digimon. "How did they get to this world -- but no matter, we'll destroy them all the same!"
Tai held out his digivice, "Time to digivolve you guys!"
"Agumon... digivolve to... GREYMON!"
"Biyomon... digivolve to... BIRDRAMON!"
"Tentomon... digivolve to... KABUTERIMON!"
Right after their digievolution, Arukenimon cried out, "SPIDER THREAD!" The fearsome attack hit Birdramon, but she only took minor damage from it and still continued on forward to the evil digimon. Everyone, including the people on the bus, ducked and cowered as Mummymon brought out his odd, but large looking gun, and started to fire rapidly all around himself. Arukenimon growled at Mummymon and shoved him hard. "You idiot, you almost hit me!"
Mummymon stopped and said apologetically, "Sorry, my dear..." he was about to use his Snake Bandage attack on Greymon, but the giant dinosaur digimon whacked his tail at the mummy, and the evil digimon fell to the ground hard.
Arukenimon got angered by this and lashed at the dinosaur with her massive claws. Greymon cowered back slightly when he now saw a long gash across himself. Kabuterimon flew to the skies and cried out, "ELECTRO SHOCKER!" His attack got both Arukenimon and Mummymon. The evil digimon groaned in pain.
"This is just a waste of time!" Tai said somewhat sarcastically to the evil digimon, "You are just as weak as before, and somehow I don't think that's going to change!"
Arukenimon and Mummymon slowly got up from the ground, and the evil spider shot back, "You may be as powerful as ever, but you will never be more powerful than our master: Myotismon! You'll see... you will all cower before his wrath!" She gestured her head to Mummymon, "Come on, let us go back to Lord Myotismon and tell him of the digidestined presence... he will not be happy to hear this..."
"Wait!" Called out Sora to the evil digimon, but they disappeared within a blinding smoke. As the smoke cleared, the road was now empty, which meant that the bus could now pass through again. The three good digimon digivolved back to their rookie forms. The children looked at one another and than they all got back on the bus.
As they passed Shaun to go sit in their seats, he smirked at them, "That was some show... Didn't last long, though..."
Matt frowned at the man, "They're the vampire's henchmen, who are probably looking for your sister as well. We better be extra careful now since they know we're here..."
Shaun rolled his eyes and began to drive again, "Whatever..." It was a long ride to where this Shaun lives, but as they were getting closer to his home, it seemed that the damage that Myotismon had caused gets worse, and more horrible to look at -- so horrible, that most of the digidestined turned their heads away, and a few tears lingered in their eyes. He was cruel, blood thirsty, and brilliant; that Myotismon: a vampire that seeks to make a world his own, and to find his wife... to make her his, and no one else.
Shaun slowed to a stop in front of medium sized house that needed work to be down in the yard. The children gazed out the window and saw that the house needed a new coat of paint as well. "Well... this is it: my house. I know it's crap looking, but hey, it's home to me and Victoria..." He got off the bus while everyone else followed suit, but the children advised their digimon to stay on the bus and call if needed. They all walked on the narrow gravel pavement to the front door, where Shaun rummaged through his pockets to find the key to the house. As soon as he opened the door, a rather large, gray cat ran in. This startled Shaun badly. "Damn that cat!" He muttered angrily, "Why does Kyle have to bring that cat wherever she goes!"
They all walked in and saw the large cat sit by the door and stare up at them with those jade eyes. "Pretty cat..." said Sora softly as she bent down on her knees to pet it. "What's her name?"
"Katie..." grumbled Shaun as he quickly walked into the small kitchen. "Our mom got the cat a long while ago, and by that time, Kyle put this annoying blue bell on the cat's collar. It's so friggin' noisy -- and besides that, every time I try to take it off, it shocks me. Kyle refuses to take it off!" Shaun saw his phone on the kitchen table and looked to see if anyone called the house. There was only one message on his machine. "Kyle called about twenty minutes ago..." He pressed a button and listened to the message. Kyle's voice on it sounded desperate, panicked, and even frightened.
"Shaun -- it's Kyle, me and Victoria are okay, but... we're in trouble. By the time you get this, you know what kind of trouble we're in..." Shaun looked up and starred at the children with wide eyes. "We're on the train now and we're headed for -- a big city. Please, don't come after us! I don't want him to get you! I don't want him to hurt you or our family. He doesn't want you, mom, Eddie or Victoria... he just wants me..." They heard the girl starting to sob as the message ended. Shaun turned away from the children when tears were welling up in his eyes. He was too proud to admit he was crying.
Shaun sat down on a chair and put his elbows on the table. "No one wanted this to happen..." he said quietly, "All I want is my family back safe and sound. I wish none of this had happened. Everyone's lives are all screwed up... And now there's this bastard after my sister..." he buried his face in his hands. Sora slowly walked up to him and she patted his back gently.
"It's not over yet... we'll find them..." Sora said softly, "That girl mentioned a 'big city,' do you know what she's talking about?"
Shaun looked at the children while his eyes were slightly closed. "The only train that's close by is the Metro Train, and all them trains lead to one place: Chicago, and that's a big city. Kyle and Victoria are most likely going there, since that would be a good place to hide..."
Sora turned to her other friends and nodded at them. They all nodded back at her. "You gotta know where this city is..." said Tai, who was approaching Shaun. "Can you take us there?"
Shaun nodded and got up from the chair, "Yeah, I want to kick whoever's ass if they touch Victoria and my sister..." Then everyone started to head out the door, but Matt suddenly stopped as the cat, Katie came by his feet. Matt just blinked down at her.
Matt reached down and tried to take the blue bell off the cat, but it static shocked him as well. He quickly pulled back and shook his hand to ease the pain. "That's very weird that something like that would keep shocking you..." When things didn't get any stranger, someone suddenly grabbed the boy's shoulder roughly and whispered in his ear, "You stay away from her, she's mine!" Whispered the voice furiously, "She will love me, and I'll make her forget you and everyone else! If you value your lives, than you should just give yourselves up to me!" Matt jumped in shock and turned around to see who it was, but there was absolutely no one behind him... how strange indeed.
"Matt!" Called out Davis, "Come on, let's go!" Matt walked out the door of the house and closed the door behind him. He slowly turned back around and looked at the house one more time. That voice which whispered to him so angrily... sounded so familiar to the boy, but he just couldn't place it... and that cat. There was something about that cat; more than meets the eye. He remembers Kyle telling him that she was so allergic to cats. Why would she bring this one everywhere she went?