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Running Innocence
By: Abby Ebon & Firehedgehog
Disclaimer: We do not own Digimon or Pokemon.
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Chapter Five: Nightmares
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Last time:
Impmon's golden green eyes gleamed at them but he curled up against Gary's side. Neither Patamon nor TK knew he was asleep or resting. But as TK rested against a near by tree he could've sworn he heard Impmon whisper 'thanks'.
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"Murderer Monster!" A girl very familiar to him sobbed, bloody tears slipped down her cheeks from rotting eyes. She pulled apart the clothing across her chest, revealing a bloody hole; it was black with her dried blood, a slit from naval to stomach. Something within her squirmed out, it was a fly, escaping from the spill of rotting intestines that were pooling out of her without the cloth to hold them in place.
"Kari – stop – stop it, it wasn't me," TK pleaded with her, backing away, disgust and fear rolling within him, "…please…please stop!" TK cried out his voice hoarse as she came nearer. With every step the smell of death, the rotting flash, became unavoidable, and TK knew he could not bare it for long. He knew if she did not stop, he would bolt – and somehow he felt that if he ran, she would haunt him forever, murderer or not.
The brunette did not listen as she continued to walk towards him, her eyes blank and intestines gooey with drying black blood spilling from her front.
"You never loved me like I loved you…you rejected me! Now look, I'm dead because of you!" she hissed hateful, accusing – and he knew it was true. Remembered her confession – which her murder had shocked from his mind, had he, after all – played a part in her death that he had not realized?
"No…no…stop!" TK cried out, falling, falling into black nothingness as she came ever nearer.
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TK woke with a scream, his sapphire eyes gazed around wildly unseeing of reality, expecting at any moment to see Kari, the walking dead, coming out of the shadows of the night. Something held him, he struggled wildly – he heard a grunt, and then felt himself pinned to the ground, and blindly he waited for death.
"TK, its okay!" The warm, if worried voice, reassured – it was muscular -male, not high and feminine, slowly TK became aware of the scent of the other. He was musky, slightly sweaty – but not the rotting scent of death that had penetrated his senses in the nightmare-dream. Warm arms gathered him up to a warm, living chest where the sound of another's heartbeat calmed – reassured him as no other thing could. He was alive – he could not be killed by the walking dead…
"It's just a nightmare, TK…" Gary whispered – seeing TK relax, his face nestled in TK's golden hair, his breath hot. TK now remembered that this was their forth night in the digital world.
"Why... why would anyone kill Kari?" TK asked Gary, sure that although Gary had never met her he would have answers. "She was a nice person…my friend, though it made things…difficult that she wanted to go out with me... but… why make it look like I did it?" TK whispered his confession, crystalline tears slipped down his face making Gary's shirt damp.
'I don't know, TK – I wish I had a answer for you… but if there is one thing I learned from my friend Ash... is that the truth always comes out... and we will find that truth,' Gary thought, still holding the blond boy comfortingly, 'that I promise you – and when we find the truth I will make whoever has hurt you so pay'…,
"I don't like the smell of this Kari thing, something feels off," Impmon announced to them from his spot as lookout, for if TK's screams had woken them – it was a sure thing it had woken something else, and most digimon did not like being woken from a peaceful nights sleep. It was better to expect trouble then to have it surprise them. Gary looked down at TK's form in his arms; the blond had fallen into a more peaceful sleep.
"I don't either, Impmon." Gary whispered back to his partner, right now he could really use Ash with his ability to always sort out trouble easily. Gary knew that in a few hours the sun would rise, and they'd once again set out for - hopefully shelter, and, he knew- a chance to find out the truth.
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When they arrived in Primary Village, beneath the evening sun it was to find it peaceful, the eggs were safely nested the littlest digimon at play; it took TK by surprise for the last time he had seen the village Myotismon had attacked it. He was glad to see it had recovered. Gary just found it strange, though Impmon and Patamon seemed perfectly at ease.
"Why, exactly, are we here?" Gary asked warily, and TK smiled at him as he answered.
"If there is some new danger- this would be the place to find out." Gary was glad to see the shadows had passed from TK's eyes, but his still lingered; questioningly, Gary tilted his head at the eggs.
"How would they know?" TK sighed softly, and knew he would have to answer, even if he didn't quite understand it.
"When a digimon is destroyed, they are reborn here – every digimon. If Kari's digimon is here, she'll know what happened." TK assured, though his fingers rubbed the edge of his digivice, some part of him hoping not to find the digimon in question. He couldn't find it in himself to believe Kari was truly gone.
There had to be another answer…he couldn't have killed her…
"Kari's digimon isn't here!" Patamon said as he slumped onto his shoulder, wings fluttering in his excitement.
"What does that mean, exactly?" Gary asked then, and Impmon hovered near him, the tips of his ears twitching.
"It means…Kari isn't dead. I'm fairly certain that if something had happened to one of the Destined, the digimon would have been deleted, and then reborn." TK theorized, and though Gary was glad TK had his answer – that he wasn't, after all, guilty – it left more questions then answers. If Kari and, in theory, her digimon was alive – why had they claimed TK had killed her?
"We should spend the night here, just to be sure." Gary told him, but not even that prospect daunted TK's rekindled hope. That night, he learned about Kari – and what TK remembered from his shared adventures with her in their youth. Gary did not say anything to interrupt, for he knew TK had to get this off his chest.
It was with these thoughts that the four fell asleep, the most important question remained unanswered – if Kari and her partner Gatomon were not dead – where were they?
Gary work to the earth shaking beneath him – TK was struggling from the clutches of sleep, then as one they saw what had caused the earth to move so – a cloaked man stood before them, smirking, his hands held aloft as bats seemed to appear from no where, surrounding them.
"What do you want Myotismon?" TK demanded, somehow standing even while Gary struggled to do the same, Impmon hovering protectively in front of him.
"That does not concern you, little Hope, the child of Light has fled into the Dark – and it will be the Dark that reigns!" Myotismon then chuckled, seeing that TK was frowning at him in confusion, trying to grasp what the digimon had told him in riddles.
"Now it is your turn to be scattered to the winds!" Myotismon taunted, and as if that was what the bats had been waiting for – they flew foreword, screeching, their fangs glinting. Both humans fell to the ground, screwing their eyes shut and hoping for a swift parting. For they knew they were surrounded and to fight was pointless – there was no time, their digimon desperately covered their vulnerable flesh with their own hides.
In the end, it was the hope that saved them – for when the child of Hope willed for safety – it was answered.
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Why Ash woke up he didn't know; it was a beautiful night, the type perfect for camping out under the stars. Frowning a little, Ash sat up; his brown-and-golden eyes gazed up at the starlit heavens. The small fingernail shape of the moon was barely visible, so he knew that nothing about the night sky had awoken him.
'What woke me?' Ash thought, now very confused, absentmindedly he flicked his ebony bangs out of his eyes as he leaned back, to better enjoy the sights above him.
"Pika-pi?" A small voice stated from the ground, Ash smiled softly as he saw Pikachu settle onto his lap, he hadn't meant to wake up his first pokemon friend.
"Something woke me up; I don't know what it was though…" Ash explained to the curious creature, his fingers stroking the soft fur reassuringly.
"Pi…" Pikachu murmured soothingly while closing its eyes in pleasure at the caress, clearly convinced Ash would figure it all out sooner or later.
"I'm sure I will buddy…" Ash muttered recognizing the assurance when he heard it, in the next moment he chuckled, for Pikachu had rolled over onto its belly, in a clear invitation. They sat together, in the otherwise silence of the night, their companions breathing familiar and calming.
"Whoa!" Ash spoke then, shocked, for as he watched the night sky four streaks of light thrust down from the starry heavens, vanishing just beyond the horizon.
'Beautiful' Ash thought, resolving then and there that the next day he would try to find what had fallen from the sky.
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With a low groan Gary came to, sleepily he surveyed the ground before him– not far from him a Clefairy peeked out from behind a rock then with a startled noise ran off when Gary's eyes had widened in shock and he jolted into a sitting position, for the last thing he remembered clearly was Myotismon.
"Where are we?" TK asked softly from beside him, having awoken, blinking in the darkness of the cave although he could see clearly their partners, Impmon's palm a reassuring weight on Patamon's side.
"We're… in my world…." Gary spoke, his voice shaky in his shock; TK looked to him as they traded confused glances between each other.
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TBC