Disclaimer: I do not own digimon.

Chapter 4:

It was another hot day in the desert. TK wondered if they would ever find their way out of this wasteland. The group was energetic, though, after recuperating at Piximon's place. They had also found more of Etemon's dark cables that led to some type of power box. He thought that with all of the cables surrounding them he would feel that same power sensation that went through him before, but that was not the case this time. Maybe the cables were broken or something?

TK's mind started to remember what had happened at Piximon's place. Things were a bit fuzzy for some reason, but he remembered running out in front of Piximon when Etemon's dark cables were launched at him. He didn't remember why he had done that; it was almost like an automatic reflex. Then the cables had been destroyed, and he had dropped to his knees from lack of energy. That was all that he had remembered. Apparently Tai had seen what happened because he told TK that whatever he did was really cool. Izzy asked him a bunch of questions, trying to solve the puzzle like he always did. Matt and Sora had yelled at him for being reckless and putting himself in danger. Joe and Mimi were indifferent about the whole thing, almost scared. They had muttered that it was scary because of this dark aura that apparently surrounded him. Luckily they talked to Piximon after what had happened and the little digimon had said it had to do with the power of the digivices. Izzy asked Piximon a multitude of questions, but Piximon said that he couldn't answer all of them. Piximon was lying to his friends, or at least TK thought so. TK was certain that it had to do something with "using the darkness," like Piximon had mentioned, but he still didn't understand any of it. He looked down in the sand in frustration.

"What is it Izzy; some kind of power generator?" Tai asked.

"Even better. Etemon has hardwired the entire desert creating an extensive computer network. My guess is this is one of the remote data access terminals."

"Great, let's crash it!"

Sora was cautious, though. "It could be a booby trap."

"If it is Etemon's, I say we cross the wires and mess it up good," Matt announced.

Izzy didn't pay any attention to any of them, though, as he was messing with the cables.

"What are you going to do with that?" Tentomon asked.

"I wonder," Izzy said distantly, "It is entirely possible that our computers have compatible systems. And if they do, I can tap into Etemon's network!"

TK was intrigued by what Izzy was doing with Etemon's cable, so he moved closer to the boy. He was watching the screen when he saw a red box with the word "Mail" appear.

"Hey, you've got mail."

The e-mail was actually an audio SOS message from someone, or more likely somemon, who apparently was being held captive by Etemon. He could tell by the voice that, whoever this was, was not being one-hundred percent honest with them; the mechanical-sounding voice obviously had some second agenda. The others were trying to figure out the same thing; was this voice believable or not?

In the end, Tai had convinced everyone to agree with him to go help whomever it was asking for help. Well, by "everyone" he meant everyone except for TK and Joe. Joe was honestly just being a scaredy-cat about the whole situation, just like he was with mostly everything. And TK wasn't convinced either, but it wasn't like anyone was going to listen to him. He had noticed that the others never really asked for his opinion on anything and never actually listened to him when he talked unless it benefited them. Like when they were debating on whether or not to come to Server; TK spoke up that they should go, but the only reason anybody paid any attention to him was because he was supporting Tai and Tai had used his comment to get his point across to the others. TK didn't really feel like he was part of a group; he was more or less there for the ride.

The only time anyone seemed to give him any attention was when he was in trouble. Matt was always by his side, but that was because his older brother was constantly worried that something was going to happen to him. It got even worse since he had passed out at the coliseum. It was the same with the others; TK felt like everyone thought of him as a fragile little boy with one of the weakest digimon partners.

That was one of the things that made TK really mad. When they were back on File Island, they never allowed him to fight any of their battles. The only reason Patamon digivolved in the first place was because everyone else had been defeated. TK didn't care too much about how the others treated him, but he sure as heck wanted the others to treat Tokomon with some respect, especially after the digimon had saved all of their butts against Devimon.

"TK?"

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and looked down to his digimon partner that was in his arms.

"What is it Tokomon?"

"You just looked like you were getting really angry about something. Your face is all red and..."

"I'm fine Tokomon," TK replied sharply. He instantly flinched at the harshness in his voice. What was wrong with him? He was always angry or sad all of the time now. He always was thinking about negative things. Was he... broken, for lack of better term?

"I'm sorry Tokomon," he replied, disappointed in himself for once again letting his emotions hinder his relationship with Tokomon.

Tokomon smiled back at him to show there was no harm done, but TK wondered if the little digimon was realizing how much he was changing and how much he was in a bad mood recently. The little digimon surely had, especially since they were partners and were supposed to be the best of friends. Tokomon hadn't said anything about the way he had been acting, but he wondered if the digimon thought about leaving him because of how mean he was. Again with the negative thoughts. He bit his lip in frustration.

"According to my laptop," Izzy announced, "we should be getting close."

Once Izzy finished, TK felt a warmth on his chest. He looked down to see that his stomach was glowing a yellow light. No, it was just his tag. He pulled out the tag from underneath his shirt and looked at it confusingly.

"Hey, look."

"It's glowing," Matt said, stating the obvious.

Tokomon then jumped out of his arms and started running.

"TK, come over here! Look what I found!"

TK looked over to where his partner had ran and saw a big rock with a symbol etched on it behind his partner. The symbol looked like a mountain with a sun on the top. He didn't know why, but a feeling of unease settled in him.

"Look! Another crest!" Sora exclaimed.

He didn't want to go near the crest, but Matt had already grabbed his arm and started pulling him along. The closer they got to the crest, the more shaken up he felt.

Finally he was a couple feet away from the crest.

"Hold your tag up, TK," Tai encouraged.

TK reluctantly obliged, and the crest started shining a bright yellow in response as they were now only a couple of feet away from the etched stone. Everyone had to cover their eyes from the glow of the crest. When the light dimmed, the stone had shrunk to the size of the others' crests. The small rectangle then floated towards him, but it stopped about an arms reach away from the tag. TK felt a burning sensation rush through his entire body and he had to close his eyes shut from the pain. A couple of seconds passed by before the pain stopped, but those seconds felt like hours. He opened his eyes and brought his tag up to his eyes. The crest was a darkish-gray color, similar to the color his digivice currently was. The symbol that was on the stone was not apparent on his crest; instead, his crest bore a symbol that looked like a cross with a loop at the top. Now that the pain was gone, TK felt a rush of energy rejuvenate his body, and it felt like that energy was originating from the crest.

"Uh... that was interesting," Mimi noted.

"Awesome, my own crest!" he said excitedly. He had no idea that getting his crest would feel so great.

He looked around at the others to see that they all had a concerned look on their faces, but Izzy spoke up, brining all of their attention off of TK "Sora's crest is the only one left to find. Maybe if we rescue this guy, he can lead us to it."

"Well, what are we waiting for!?" Tai cheered, clearly over whatever had happened with TK's crest.

It was then that Mimi gasped. "What is that?"

A cave had taken the place the previous crest had been. It looked like there was some kind of writing on the wall, so they all walked into the cave. Izzy started geeking out about the writing on the wall and went into this long explanation of what the Digital World was and so on. TK didn't really pay any attention; he was too busy admiring his crest.

His negative feelings seemed to have intensified since he obtained his crest, but he wasn't so much bothered by his feelings as he felt empowered by them. It felt as if he could do anything he wanted. The feeling of power intensified until he heard his digimon partner speak up.

"What are you thinking about TK?" Tokomon asked.

The energy rush stopped as he turned his focus to his partner.

"Nothing Tokomon."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. It was then that a door opened up and he started paying attention to the others. Izzy had apparently found a way to transport them to the location of the trap they were heading into. They all peered out of the door to see that they were still in a desert, but off in the distance was an upside-down Egyptian pyramid. Tai announced that Etemon was there. It was then that they, well, everyone except TK, started coming up with a plan. After some discussion, it was decided that Sora, Tai, Matt, Izzy, and Joe would go into the pyramid to go find the person or digimon that was asking for their help; Matt, himself, and Mimi would stay at the sphinx they were taking cover in and come help if the others needed it. TK wasn't surprised by their plan. Of course Matt would do whatever TK was doing, and of course they'd leave him behind to "keep him safe" from any "trouble" they might get into. By "trouble," he knew they meant battling. He couldn't help but be angry at the others for their lack of involving him and underestimating his and Tokomon's abilities. He didn't know why this bothered him so much. The others had done the same thing on File Island, but TK couldn't remember if he had felt so upset about it back then as he did now. It probably didn't bother him back then, but he wasn't the same, or at least he didn't feel the same. He put his hands up to his head in confusion and decided to stop thinking about all of this confusing stuff.

For the rest of the day, Izzy sat in the cave with the weird writing on the walls typing away on his computer and everyone else sat around trying to perfect their plan for the next day. TK didn't feel like talking about the plan he wasn't involved in, so he decided to sit in the cave with Tokomon.

He didn't know how much time had gone by, but Izzy finally spoke up.

"Hey... uh... TK?" Izzy stuttered.

He looked up at the red-haired boy curiously. He never really had talked to Izzy one-on-one before, or at least he didn't think he had. He replied, "What is it Izzy?"

"Are... are you ok?"

TK normally would get upset by this question, especially since he had heard it at least a hundred times since they had arrived to Server, but instead he was intrigued. He could tell Izzy was trying to be a caring friend, but apparently the computer geek wasn't comfortable in normal, friendly conversations.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"I... I just have noticed certain things since the incident at... at the coliseum."

"What kind of things?"

"Well, I remember on Kokatorimon's cruise ship, you seemed to disappear from the buffet room without me, Tentomon, Matt, Gabumon, or Tokomon noticing."

"So?" he asked, not quite interested in what the boy was getting at.

"That's not the only thing, I've noticed. At Piximon's place when we were battling Tyrannomon and you saved Piximon from Etemon's cables, I caught a glimpse of your digivice, and it was a different color than mine and the others. It was darker."

"Izzy..."
"And then that incident with your crest. You were engulfed in a black aura, and..."

"Izzy, what are you trying to get at?" he asked, not hiding the annoyance from his voice.

"That's another thing. Ever since we got to Server, your personality seemed to have turned a complete 180 for the worst. You fire snappy comments to your friends, your brother, and Tokomon."

Izzy wasn't trying to scold TK for his actions; the boy was simply just stating facts. He hadn't realized that Izzy had paid so much attention to him, but he should've expected that from the smartest member of their group. Still, there was a rage boiling up inside of him. Whatever he was going through had nothing to do with Izzy; it was none of his business.

"Just spit out whatever it is you have to say."

He noticed his partner wince from his sharp tone, but he didn't care. Izzy was shocked by how harsh TK was getting, and the computer geek didn't know what to do.

"I... I just..."

"What's going on over here?"

TK rolled his eyes. Great, of course he would be here.

"Well?" Matt asked.

"Nothing," TK muttered under his breath and stood up. He then quickly paced away away from Izzy, his brother, and the others, who had followed Matt over to where he and Izzy were conversing.

"TK," Matt yelled. He could hear Matt's footsteps come closer, and his anger shot through the roof.

As soon as Matt put his hand on TK's shoulder, TK quickly turned and grabbed Matt's arm. He twisted his brother's arm and Matt whined from the pain. He gave his brother a death glare and saw fear in his brother's eyes.

It was then that TK realized what he was doing, and he instantly let go of his brother's arm. He looked down to the ground, tears starting to form in his eyes in response to the intense shame and anger he had from his actions.

"I... I'm..." he tried, but the words couldn't leave his mouth. He then turned and ran off into the desert, not watching nor caring where he was heading. After a while he stopped and dropped to his knees. What was going on with him?

The boy was falling apart. Takeru Takaishi, eight-year old human child and supposed bearer of everything he hated, was now falling deeper and deeper into darkness. He hadn't expected the child to fall apart so quickly, but apparently that crest he had obtained had some effect on the darkness.

The other aspects of his plan were going according to plan as well. Devimon was gone and Etemon had laid out his Dark Network all over the deserts of Server. Soon that buffoon of a digimon would be destroyed, but Myotismon was already working on the gate to the Human World. Once Myotismon and the digidestineds were back in that other world, the Dark Masters would begin their takeover of the Digital World. The digidestineds would surely come back to the Digital World if they defeated Myotismom, but the warp in the dimensions would give the Dark Masters plenty of time to prepare their traps.

Everything looked like it favored Apocalymon's plan of engulfing all of the worlds into eternal darkness, but he couldn't be satisfied; satisfaction and pleasure were not feelings he was capable of having. The only thing he could feel was an intensifying anger and sadness that worsened with each passing day. At least the bearer of hope was now starting to experience the darkness he had to feel for eternity, and it would only worsen for the human child.

The orb he had planted, though, was experiencing some side effects. The boy's digivice and, now, his crest were being corrupted with the boy's darkness as well. This was allowing the boy to experience powerful sensations and be allowed to utilize the darkness for positive means. Darkness, as he knows, is a very powerful, deadly force. It is a force that can never be destroyed, and it is the only one equal in power to the light. But darkness is an overwhelming force. It takes a strong being to be able to control and utilize the powers of darkness for their will. The boy appeared to have the potential to utilize these powers, but the darkness inside of him would only get stronger over time and even harder to control. The boy was already falling apart. Takeru Takaishi will soon be overwhelmed by the darkness inside, and then hope will be lost for good.

"Now try not to do anything stupid."

It was now time for them to go rescue Sora. The previous day, Tai, Izzy, Joe, and Sora went into the pyramid to find that the digimon asking for help was Datamon, a digimon who had been defeated and imprisoned by Etemon to run his Dark Network. Datamon, though, had recovered himself over time and needed their help to finally be free. But the digimon had his own agenda, as he thought, and took Sora with him. He, Matt, and Mimi had to go rescue everybody from Etemon and bring them back to the pyramid. Izzy had found out that Datamon had kept Sora in the pyramid, and now Tai and Izzy were going to go save her. But in order for them to do so, TK, Matt, Mimi, and Joe had to serve as decoys to distract Etemon and his guards. And now it was time for their plan to begin.

He still felt upset and uneasy about two nights ago when he attacked his brother, but things had gotten a little better since then. He thought back on the conversation he had with his brother when Tai, Sora, Joe, and Izzy were infiltrating the pyramid.

"TK, you have to say something."

He didn't feel like talking to his brother; he didn't feel like talking to Tokomon; he didn't feel like talking to anyone. He had attacked Izzy verbally and Matt physically the previous night. Luckily everyone left him alone the rest of that night after he returned from running off, but he could tell everyone was scared of and worried about him. Matt was the worst, of course, and he could only imagine how confused his brother must feel. Once the others had left to go into the pyramid, Matt had announced that two of them needed to talk, and Mimi had made some joke about brotherly love, to which he and Matt shot glares at Mimi. Now he was sitting in the cave with just his brother.

"I don't know what you want me to talk about Matt," he said. He knew Matt wanted to talk about his behavior from last night, but he didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to tell the others, not even Tokomon, what he was experiencing. In all honesty, he was embarrassed by how sad and angry he felt and the way he acted because of those feelings. He didn't know what was going on with him, so what was the point of talking about it with other people? It's not like they'd have any type of answer for him.

"TK, just tell me what's bothering you. I want to help you, but I don't know what to do if you don't tell me what's wrong."

He stayed silent. Matt looked at him expecting a response, but TK just stared at his shoes, not daring to make eye contact with his brother. Finally, Matt sighed.

"Listen, TK," Matt said quietly, "I know I haven't always been there for you. When mom and dad separated, I..." Matt stopped. He heard his brother sniffle and then continue. "I was so mad when they got their divorce. I know you were too little to remember, but..."

He interrupted his brother, as a feeling of sadness rushed through his body. "I remember the fights, Matt."

Matt looked at him with his mouth agape, but then nodded. "Well, mom and dad told me that we weren't going to be living together anymore, and I just got so mad. I hated mom for leaving me and dad, and I was so mad that I shut everyone out. What I didn't realize, though, is that I shut you out as well. The only times I ever saw you were when you came over to stay with dad, which wasn't very frequent, as I'm sure you remember. I never wanted to go see mom, but that meant I never got to see you. I know I messed up... and I want to try to make up for it. That's why I've been so protective of you since we got here; I want to make up for the lost time of not being there for you. I want to fix the mistake I made."

He noticed his brother wipe away tears from his eyes. It took all the strength he had to hold his own tears in. "Matt, you can't fix what's already happened; you can't make-up for all of that lost time. There's no way that will ever happen."

He saw more tears fall from his brother's eyes, so he continued, "But you don't have to. What happened in the past is done and there's no changing that, but what's going to happen in the future is not done. You can't change who you were before, but you can change who you are now."

Matt looked over at him and smiled. "How did you become so smart?"

He shrugged his shoulders and continued looking at his shoes. He realized Matt was trying to apologize for not being there for him since their mom and dad divorced, but this whole situation was messy. Ever since that SkullGreymon incident, he had experienced thoughts and feelings he never knew he had about his parent's divorce. All of the hurt, all of the pain, all of the fighting, he started to remember. He remembered all the nights he cried to his mom asking where Matt was, and she would just get frustrated and yell at him, and then she'd start crying and...

Now tears were falling from his eyes. He instantly felt an arm wrap around his shoulder and pull him in closer for a side-hug. He allowed the tears to fall from his eyes and welcomed his brother's embrace.

After minutes of continuous crying, which felt more like hours, he finally spoke up, "Matt... I... I love you."

"I love you two, brother."

They made their way closer to the pyramid and hid behind a sand dune. Joe had Ikkakumon digivolve and start sending out "Harpoon Torpedoes," at the pyramid. Guard digimon started running their way, and Garurumon added to the assault as well. Joe, Ikkakumon, Matt, and Garurumon were attracting the digimon away from the pyramid, just like they were supposed to. Tai and Izzy wasted no time as they ran off to the unguarded pyramid. He and Mimi then saw Etemon start following Joe and Matt.

"Joe and Matt need out help, please Palmon, you got to digivolve right away."

"Right!" Palmon obeyed Mimi's orders and Togemon picked up Mimi.

"Now remember TK, don't move."

He waited until Mimi and Togemon were running off before he gathered the mat they had been using as camouflage and picked up Tokomon.

"TK? What are you doing?" Tokomon asked.

"There's no way I'm just going to sit here on my butt while everyone is risking their lives. We've got to go help them!"

"Right!" Tokomon cheerfully replied.

He then ran as fast as he could towards the ensuing battle between Ikkakumon, Garurumon, Togemon, and the guard digimon, which consisted of Tyrannomon, Monochromon, and Gazimon. Etemon wasn't far behind.

He then watched as Etemon used his Dark Network attack on Ikkakumon. Luckily Ikkakumon was quick enough to run away, so the attack hit the guard digimon instead. Etemon didn't seem to be bothered by this, which enraged TK. Etemon was willing to risk the safety of his minions in order to attack the others.

TK continued running as he saw that Ikkakumon, Togemon, and Garurumon were in a standoff against Etemon. Garurumon charged, but Etemon simply tossed him to the side. Ikkakumon then tried to jump on Etemon, but the monkey caught him, tossed him up in the air, and threw him over by Garurumon. Togemon launched a Needle Spray, but Etemon caught all the needles and threw them back at Togemon. Etemon then started singing his Concert Crush, and the digimon dedigivolved to their rookie forms.

By now he had made his way behind the nearest dune. He was ready to charge into battle, but a Gazimon's voice could be heard informing Etemon that Tai and Izzy were in the pyramid. TK noticed that Etemon was turned towards the pyramid and used this time to flag down his brother, Mimi, and Joe. They quickly noticed him and ran over behind the dune. TK threw the mat overtop of them.

"Huh? Now where did all of those others go? What's a legend gotta do to keep an audience around here, baby? Well, it doesn't matter; I'll just destroy the ones in the pyramid first, and then I'll come back for the rest of them later."

He peaked through the mat to see Etemon riding his Monochromon train thing back to the pyramid.

"He's got a lot of anger," Matt noted.

"And he sure gets mad easily!" he replied, playing along with the playful banter. If there's one thing he learned, it was that if he wanted the others to stop bothering him, he had to make sure he didn't let them see that something was wrong with him. Even if this meant acting like a stupid little cheerful kid, he would go along with it.

They then realized that Tai, Izzy, and Sora were still in danger, so they ran as fast as they could towards the pyramid. As they got closer, they saw Greymon, Birdramon, and Kabuterimon had busted through the pyramid and had Tai, Izzy, and Sora.

They didn't have time for a reunion, though, because they needed to get out of there before Etemon or Datamon showed up. As he was riding Birdramon, a chill ran through TK's spine. He looked back to see dark beams of energy shot through the pyramid and cause an explosion. Birdramon landed on the ground and they all stood and watched the spectacle that was taking place. The dark energy made the pyramid collapse, and out of the rubble appeared Etemon all coiled up in his Dark Network. All of that dark energy made TK fall to the ground in pain.

The others' digimon attacked, but there was no effect. Etemon through a dark energy ball their way which hit a mountain nearby. Etemon threw another which hit the sphinx. Both places of impact started spiraling together into some sort of distortion. TK's pain intensified.

Sora and Joe started uttering comments about giving up, but Tai took charge and decided he was still going to fight. Tai and Greymon ran towards Etemon and TK tried to yell out to them to be careful, but the pain was too much.

He tried to watch the ongoing battle and noticed that Greymon had managed to digivolve and send two giant missiles at Etemon. He watched as the missiles hit their target and Etemon started to spiral as well, but the pain was too much for him to handle. He dropped to his stomach and everything went black.