Disclaimer-I don't own Digimon.
Dedication- To GemmaniGirl for sticking with me thus far, and to Seaseal, have a happy belated b-day. Everyone else, enjoy the last days of summer...
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The Beginning of The End
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In the dark of the night, I awoke.
Wolves. The sound of wolves. The first picture that came to mind was Lobomon.
I missed the Digital World. I didn't miss the trouble.
Fighting Lucemon...Murmixmon...all that trouble, and in all honesty...
I hate to say it, but at times, I wonder if it was worth it. The thought only came to me after we defeated Murmixmon. Why, I'm asking you, do we have to defeat all these idiots?
With all these thoughts, you'd think I'd get the spirit of darkness. I didn't. I got light.
Now Lucemon is here again. Well...kind of. This entire thing...it's like a really bad video game. Nothing seems to add up. Nothing.
I suppose I should get on with my meaningless story now, huh?
Truth is, I had to run out on Kouichi like that. He's my brother, yeah, and I love him (Hah! There's a lie!), but I have to leave, or he really will die. And maybe Hideki'll kill him again in the afterlife, but my head will really be at stake, especially if the afterlife is anything like it is in Yu Yu Hakusho. I'm not ready for some spirit guide to tell my brother it's my fault this all happened.
Really, it is. I gave Lucemon ideas to let Chaos through. Pretty much everything he planned, he planned because of me.
Me. Moi. Yours truly. Wa-ta-shi. All me. (I know that it isn't something to be proud of. Don't tell me that).
So I had to skip out this time. It's my fault. I have to skip the direct physical battle and go fight the indirect one.
The bandana boxes, you see, and every single bandana...I got confused when I yanked out a dead-looking Piximon. I knew, though, that was just an illusion. No one notices Piximon, because he's a dud to us (in other words, no one knows his 'body' disappeared when we snapped out of the illusion). Unimportant. Well...to them, at the very least. For me, it's different. I needed Piximon dead then and now...
I suppose it's a go-figure, what with him being in Limbo and whatnot. Maybe guardian angels really do exist. Uh...I'm trying to say Marise...as Seraphimon, succeeded in interfering with Lucemon's illusion. Now I can get the actual Piximon's body, fuse it with his soul form, and this is too complicated for you, isn't it?
Don't tell me to shut up. And don't call me a jerk! If anyone is...
On with my story.
It was quite interesting, really. I got lost. Not just lost, cluelessly stranded in a labyrinth from HELL. That's more like it.
Fine. I WAS LOST. I SAW KAKO. I SAVED BOTH WORLD'S. Geez, you can guess how it ends, but you want the long story anyway just to see how I mess up...? SCHADENFREUDE! And you're calling me a jerk!
Kako was practically choking Ryuusei, and the older Egawa didn't really seem to care (I know I wouldn't have, if I were him). He was preoccupied with the events happening to that twin of mine whose name I shall not speak. I mean...write. Speak, write, whatever.
Take your schadenfreude elsewhere!
By the time Kako noticed me, Ryuusei was probably thinking his last prayers (probably regretting liking her, too).
He should've paid me. I saved him.
The second Kako noticed me, she dropped her hold on Ryuusei. "Why...aren't...you...down there? Are you letting him die?" she screamed.
Kako lunged.
I tripped.
And thus began the wonderful strangling.
A few things passed my mind as she began choking me (and I wondered if Ryuusei thought like this, except with his life). First...my family. I wanted everyone together as much as Kouichi. Then, Kouichi reminded me of my bet with Takuya. I drove everyone nuts. More than that. I bet Kouichi lost quite a few years off his life, thanks to me (probably sacrificed them for sanity. I knew Amaterasu favored him). But then I realized that the insanity was embedded in me. It was my new cover. Hey, why go emo when you can make people laugh? And so, I came to on the dusty (and rocky) floor of the labyrinth from HELL.
Ryuusei was holding Kako back and Ichiro was helping. I'm surprised they didn't need a third person.
Somehow (despite the aching bones. My back sure didn't feel the same), I rose to my feet and brushed myself off. "Another jacket gone to waste," I muttered. "Good thing I bumped into you three. I need help pronto...saurus."
"WHY AREN'T YOU-" Helping Kouichi? I thought this to myself, watching as Kako bit Ichiro when he tried to cover her mouth. Really, I thought the answer was obvious.
But Kako's stupid (don't tell her I said that). She wouldn't get it if you shoved it in her face. So I told her, very slowly, too.
"Because," I said, looking around. I mean honestly, does she expect me to tell her at a moment like this? We had more important things to do. "Who has something fast to get us to Japan? My place, even."
Silence.
I stared.
They stared back. Kako was actually silent.
Finally, Ryuusei sighed, and I smirked. Yeah, I'd figured. He is Sorcermon's shadow, after all.
"No, no...Allow me," he muttered, pulling out that small digivice thing.
Actually, I really liked it. If I could just take Kako's...it'd be of real use. After all, she isn't using it.
I really missed digivolving. Ryuusei was making me jealous, just taking his time like that to digivolve. In time (yeah, not, 'In no time.' It seemed like forever!) a grumpy looking Sorcermon stood in front of us. "Mmm..." he murmured, lowering his gaze to the ground. "Close your eyes."
"WHAT? WHY?" both Kako and I demanded. I just didn't want him to pull any funny stuff. I mean, the guy hates my guts. I don't know about Kako, though.
"Shut up and close your eyes," he suddenly snapped.
I'm hurt. Really, what a jerk.
So we closed our eyes. Presto, humbledy doop, abra, kazam. And then we opened our eyes. And we were there (in which 'there' refers to my room).
I didn't care how we got there. Ryuusei had already de-digivolved. Ichiro looked at his brother, one eyebrow raised in askance. Kako was just blinking and looking around.
Why is it I'm the only one doing something useful. "Kako, open the closet. Pull out the bandana boxes," I snapped, slipping into the seat in front of my desk and pulling my laptop onto the desk. "Come on, load...load..."
"You realize it won't load if the Area is giving off certain...waves?" Ryuusei told me.
"THAT'S WHY I WAVE-PROOFED THE THING!" I snapped.
Ichiro pushed me aside. Hey, he's pretty talented, designing those digivice things. So I let him type and whatnot.
The computer loaded. Which was cool, because a second later, my lamp turned on...
...and the bulb broke. Big 'KABOOM,' too.
Enough of the being sidetracked.
Ichiro made way for me, and I waited a bit longer for everything to finalize before I opened my pride and joy…(and I'm not telling you what it is exactly, because I don't have a name for it yet).
Me being me, I had learned to use my computer for cool things, for example, scout the Digital World. Since the Area belonged to the Digital World, I could scout that too. It's a really cool and complex camera thing no one will ever have.
Ryuusei didn't look impressed at the least. Ichiro was nodding, if that meant anything, and Kako was busy with the boxes (and Piximon's other form lay on the bed).
"What now?" Kako asked, gazing at the boxes curiously.
"Open them," I told her, not taking my eyes off the computer. Although, it would have been funny if I snuck a glance. I was tempted.
She opened the boxes one by one while I waited for the screen to appear and show us what was going on. The picture appeared.
Kako screamed.
My room became bright.
I'm seriously surprised that nothing except the lamp blew up.
Kako was positively furious, glaring at me (like I was paying attention) and yelling, "You knew that would happen, didn't you?" She also said a few other things, but I don't think it would be that great to repeat them. Do you?
"Kako," Ryuusei muttered. I managed to look behind me long enough to catch him pointing at the box. "Piximon..."
Startled, she returned her attention to what was inside the first box she opened. "What? No!"
"Yes." I mimicked her tone as I said that. "It's Piximon's body."
"Then what's...that?" Who had to look at what she was pointing at to know what she was talking about? Not me. Besides, I was too busy trying to adjust the camera. It was being difficult.
"Piximon's soul."
"WHAT?"
"Just...put the two together," I told her impatiently.
"How?"
"I don't know!" Scowling, I turned to her. "Who do you think I am? Einstein? Figure it out yourself."
Kako stuck her tongue out at me before carefully placing Piximon's body by...Piximon. I returned to my camera, and Ichiro and Ryuusei stood there, half-stunned, half-annoyed, and completely useless.
I hate useless people. Still concentrating on the screen, I told them, "Do something."
Yes, it's obvious Ryuusei hates me. I don't know how he couldn't see the many things that he could have done. He was twitching slightly as he asked, "LIKE...?"
You shouldn't use that tone of voice when at someone else's house. I had half a mind to throw him out. "Open the next box."
"I got it," Ichiro said quickly, noticing his brother's...state. With a sigh, he walked to the boxes, frowning at them. "I'll open the one to the north," he mumbled. "That's always a good sign."
"You and your signs," Ryu and I muttered under our breaths before exchanging glares.
This time it wasn't so bad. Really pale, green light, not as strong. If you blinked, you missed it. It was that fast.
"Anything in there?" I asked, still trying to locate the part Kouichi and the others were. Who knew that the Core was that big? Maybe it was only because it's the labyrinth from HELL.
"Noth-"
Another light, this time blue. Pale like before. Just as fast.
"-ing..." Ichiro frowned. "Kouji...did you open any of these before?"
"Before? No. Kouichi did, I think," I murmured, too preoccupied with the damn camera to care. I bet Lucemon and Chaos were somehow interfering with the connection.
"MOVE," Ryuusei suddenly snapped, pushing me aside. "You can't even work your own computer? How stupid are you? Why don't you go open the next box?" he snapped, furiously typing on the keyboard.
"It's my computer," I mumbled, sulking to the box. Why is it that I got pushed out of my own seat? In my own room? IN MY OWN HOUSE? See the injustice?
But I suppose it was for the better.
'I want you both to promise me that you won't do anything that could put your life in danger,' Mom told us. And opening a box wasn't going to kill me, was it?
I opened the third box, sticking my head over it and looking down. What was there? Bandanas. Two seconds later, a column of pale red light shot up, quickly followed by violet light of the same intensity.
"We're on!" Ryuusei shouted.
"Great!" I ran back over and pushed him out of the seat, causing him to fall onto the floor. "Go open the next box. Hey! It's Kou-ou-oh..."
"Chaos and Lucemon have fused," Ichiro murmured quietly. He stood behind me, eyes narrowed onto the screen. "Do you have a plan, Kouji?"
A plan? I had a plan. My plan was to stop Lucemon before any of this happened. Who ruined these plans? Duskmon, Piximon...Duskmon again. Lucemon.
"Kako..."
She looked at me, obviously confused. All this time, she'd been sitting and watching Piximon. I tried not to look at her...I felt guilty, seeing her look all depressed...
"I need you to find a way to get Piximon back. If not for me, then for Kouichi. If not for Kouichi, then Hideki. If not for Hideki, then for the worlds, okay?" I told her, eyes glued to the computer screen. For a brief moment, I wondered if Kouichi ever felt this way.
"Uh...okay..." she murmured. "But Kouji...you have a plan, right?"
With Piximon...
"Yeah. I have a plan," I said quietly. "Get me Piximon, and it'll work for sure."
"I'll try."
Try...it didn't seem like much, but to me, 'try' was better than nothing.
"Ichiro...that 'knowledge' you gave us..." Kako began.
"Nothing," he replied.
"So..."
Ichiro nodded. "If we lose, there will be nothing. If we win, there will be nothing. It is a lose-lose situation. But sometimes, even among nothing, you can find the hope to create something. Isn't that right, Kouji...?"
I really hate it when people are on to me. But if I had scowled and looked away, I wonder what would have happened. "Right," I affirmed strongly, looking at Ryuusei. "So what about that last box?"
"Do I have to?" he scowled.
"YES," we all yelled in unison. It felt pretty good, in all honesty. I was sure everything would go as planned.
If only Kouichi wasn't getting beaten up. Everyone else looked pretty down in spirits, too.
I still had my D-Tector.
"Heh. So maybe we're lucky after all," I murmured, taking my D-Tector out of my pocket and examining it. USB can go in here...and...here! I shivered slightly as I connected my USB port's extension cable to the D-Tector and connected the other end to the laptop. It fit, at least. As for it working...
Did you know that D-Tectors are awesome memory sticks? They hold like...a terabyte of info.
"How does this voice thing work?" I don't think I ever really used it.
"W-wait...Kouji, are they really the same?"
Kako. Again.
The same? "What do you mean?" I asked, trying not to look annoyed that my work had been halted.
"Are they really the same digimon?" she asked with that same tone of voice that made me feel guilty.
"Uh, yeah, Kako, they are. I don't know how, but they just are. Don't tell me you're doubting the fact that they are..."
"No...it's just..."
THAT VOICE. IT ANNOYED ME.
"I don't want a replacement."
I stared at her. I couldn't not. Kouichi had said something about that before. He made me promise I wouldn't hurt myself, because nothing could replace me.
I never really thought about it before, but...nothing could ever replace any of us.
The silence lingered a while longer. I knew Kouichi was having a tough time. I knew Kako was having an even harder time. I hadn't started paying attention until now.
We all wanted to win so badly, even if it meant we wouldn't be able to see our digimon...our friends probably...ever again.
Ryuusei was making his way towards the last box, staring at it skeptically. I had been staring at Kako, but through my peripheral vision, I watched him open it, kneeling on the ground and slowly lifting the flaps. Kako was watching, too, and for the first time, you couldn't see a bit of a child in her. She actually looked mature...more so than Izumi, if that's possible.
The second the light left that box, I think I nearly cried. If you've ever seen those pictures of DNA...it's like that. Somewhat of a double helix...one strand black, one white. Dark and light. The column rose up, hitting the ceiling before it practically blasted down onto my bed, where both Piximons lay. All our eyes followed the light, unable to do otherwise.
It was...beautiful.
I don't think I've ever missed Kouichi more. Him, Lobomon, and everyone else. I regretted everything I had done, and at the same time, I was happy that it had taken place.
That was the moment that I finally realized that everything I had hoped for...all my dreams...all my sorrows...
...our goal...
Piximon sat up, blinking tiredly at me. "You," he mumbled. "Kako...where is she?"
"P-P-P-..." Kako sputtered, unable to say anything more.
"You!" Piximon, looking furious, sprang up into the air, scowling at Kako. "Did you finish your homework?"
She burst into tears, grabbing Piximon and squeezing him to death. I kind of felt jealous, watching her sink down and cry on Ryuusei.
If I had opened that box, would that have been me?
But...our goal...it was closer than I expected. One look at the computer screen, and there was no doubt in my mind that we would win.
It would be easy.
"Hey...Piximon," I mumbled, trying to hide the tears that were threatening to escape my eyes. "I-It's time. Now."
"Is it? So soon? I've been gone longer than expected," he muttered, pushing Kako away and floating towards me. Perching himself on my head, he declared, "I knew you misfits would be nothing without me! Don't tell me we're losing."
"Of course not. We've never been better," I told him in a firm voice, walking over to the box Ryuusei opened and looking down at the bandana that was folded neatly at the top. I picked it up and smiled at it, deciding it was time I wore it again.
That feeling, from so long ago...when Kouichi vanished from the Digital World...when his fractal code had been scanned by Lucemon...when he gave me his spirits...
I remember, so faintly, hearing a voice sing to me in my distress.
'So then the townsfolk smiled,
Returned to their work, leaving the child.
In the end, although he cried, cold, alone,
Darkness took him and showed him warmth.'
I wondered...
Who was that boy?
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A/N-
First off, reference: Schadenfreude is actually a song from the musical, 'Avenue Q.' I don't have the lyrics (I mean, it's in English, and my friends sang it around me during PE last year), but the song claims it is German for 'taking pleasure in another's pain.' The musical is slightly disturbing (I gather this from the songs), but otherwise, it doesn't lie.
Ummmm...I'm sorry. Kouji kind of...sort of...took over me, and he had me scribble down the first few pages. Then, he had me cut it short. REAL short. He didn't even explain half the stuff he was supposed to! So sorry if there are any mistakes.
.:Kouji:. DON'T blame it on me! I'm just a character. You're the writer! See the difference?
Blame him. Next chapter...should be the last.
.:Kouji:. Wait...you forgot something. Go fix it!
GAAAH. I fixed it. Happy?
.:Kouji:. No. One measly sentence doesn't make much of a difference.
IGNORE HIM. In a way, I'm kind of glad, because NTB is almost at an end, but...it's also depressing in its own way. I'll miss it. Still, Cursed Gifts is calling, and my summer is almost at an end. I wonder...was it about this time that I wrote Second Thoughts? I honestly don't remember. But thank you, everyone who has taken the time to read NTB.
Review or PM or Flame.