Disclaimer: I do not own digimon.
Chapter 5:
It was nighttime and TK once again found himself camping out in a desert. They had been looking for Tai and Agumon ever since they had disappeared against the battle with Etemon. No one had kept track of the exact amount of time had passed since then, but it had to have been a couple of months. Everyone was growing frustrated, tired, and, as Mimi said, "depressed." TK had noticed that the negative feelings the others were feeling were affecting him in certain ways. His negative feelings of anger, sadness, and despair grew worse by the day, but at a much faster rate than the others. His temper was dangerously short, and it physically drained him not to scream at his friends for even doing stupid things, like Mimi and her constant complaining. At the same time of his decreasing mood, his energy levels felt like they were increasing. He knew it had something to do with his crest, as it would glow very dimly, but he never brought this up to the others.
He heard someone walking through the sand and he opened his eyes to see Sora was walking away from the camp. He watched Sora and Biyomon walk away from the others and then head over towards where he was lying, a little bit away from the others. He feigned sleep as Sora got nearer.
"Won't TK be upset?" Biyomon asked.
"Maybe, but he'll be safer here."
He then heard his partner roll over.
"Shh! We're going off to find Tai on our own. Don't wake anyone."
"We'll see you later Tokomon."
His partner yawned an "Ok" and went back to sleep. When he was sure Tokomon was back asleep and Sora and Biyomon were walking away, he sat up and watched Sora and Biyomon head off in a random direction.
So Sora was the first one to leave the group. He had known for a while that the group wasn't going to stay together for very much longer. They all were disturbed by Tai's disappearance, most of them realizing that the potential Tai was dead became greater with each day they didn't find him. TK could feel how uneasy everyone had become, and with Tai not being there, everyone was drifting apart. Now Sora had left, apparently going to find Tai on her own, but TK couldn't help but feel Sora was leaving to find herself. Once everyone woke up and realized Sora was gone, they probably would decide to go looking for her, since they knew that Sora was at least alive. But with Sora gone, TK felt like a chain reaction had begun. As he lied back down to go to sleep, he wondered whom the next one to run off would be.
That night had been at least a week or two ago, and he had been right. Since then, Izzy and Tentomon, Joe and Gomamon, Mimi and Palmon, and even Matt and Gabumon had all gone off in their own directions to try to find Sora, or Tai, or Gennai, in Izzy's case. Or at least that's what each of them rationalized; TK wasn't sure how, but he could feel that each one of his friends felt like they were lost and needed to go off on their own to find themselves.
It had been two days since Matt had left him in the amusement park. Matt had said he would be back in a couple hours, but when he did not return, TK knew that Matt had run off on his own as well.
Now that he was by himself, all of the negative feelings he had felt from the others were gone, and his crest had stopped glowing. Along with that, his energy levels were know down in the dumps. It was as if the others' dark feelings had empowered him in some way, but now with everyone gone he felt weak.
Being alone had given him the time to give up on his facade. Ever since the night at the sphinx where he had physically harmed Matt, he had decided that he would not let his negative feelings show to the others. Because of this, he tried to act like the carefree, joyful little kid that he vaguely remembered being back on File Island and even before they had come to the Digital World. It was exhausting trying to keep up this act and not go off at the others, but he had been able to do it. He even had been able to convince Matt that Matt could go off on his own and that TK would be ok. Now that he was alone, his walls came down and he felt like he could act naturally.
"He'll come back TK," Tokomon said, trying to reassure his human partner.
TK simply laughed. "Do you really think that Tokomon?" he asked sarcastically. He laughed again.
"Of course I do!" Tokomon replied, "Don't you?"
He laughed again. "Tokomon, everyone else left on their own and never came back. If Matt wanted to come back, he would have done so by now. He clearly didn't want to be around me anymore, just like the others."
"That's not true TK!"
He ignored his partner. The whole idea of it made him sad, especially since he knew it was true, but he also felt anger towards Matt and the others. But they had made their own decisions, and now TK had made his own.
"We don't need them anyway, Tokomon," he uttered.
Tokomon looked up at him with a worried look on his face. "You don't mean that, do you TK?"
It was now that TK looked at Tokomon, giving his partner a warning glare. "Do you not think that we can take care of ourselves?"
"No, it's not that... it's just..."
"Just what?"
"Don't you miss your friends? Don't you at least miss Matt?"
TK thought about this question. If he was being completely honest, "No, I don't miss them."
Tokomon had his mouth open in shock. "Why... why not?"
Thinking about his supposed "friends" and "brother" made him angry. Now that he wasn't with the others, he didn't have to hold back. "Because they suck. They treat me like I'm a pathetic, useless kid. They act like we have nothing to bring to the table, and that we need to be protected. When I'm around them, I feel... weak. I feel like they restrain me from becoming what I could."
"But TK, Matt and the others love..."
"Don't you dare use that word, Tokomon."
He felt his face grow warm with anger. "But..."
"My parents once said they 'loved' each other, and now they hate each other's guts. You say my brother 'loves' me when he was never there for me growing up because he didn't want anything to do with my mother, whom he 'loved' at one point too. And now you say my supposed friends 'love' me when all they used to do was act like I was a fragile little boy and then leave me alone in some stupid amusement park. Love brings about destruction, Tokomon. I don't want anything to do with such a useless concept."
Tokomon was silent for a little bit, but finally spoke up. "Does that mean you don't love me, TK?"
TK was shocked by the question. Of course he loved Tokomon; Tokomon was his best friend. His feelings for Tokomon were the only thing that had stayed constant throughout his time in the Digital World. He instantly felt his feelings of anger dissipate to sadness as he dropped to his knees.
"Of... of course I love you... Tokomon" he said before a stream of tears started rushing out of his eyes. He put his hands over his face in shame of yelling at his partner.
Suddenly, a familiar chill ran down his spine as he heard a voice say, "Hey, what's all the squawking about? DemiDevimon's the name, mind if I drop in?"
"DemiDevimon?" Tokomon muttered in confusion, "I've heard about you."
"Oh great, I'm flattered!"
"Don't be. Nothing I heard was good."
DemiDevimon then explained that he was only bad because he was working for Etemon, but supposedly now that Etemon was gone the digimon had turned good. TK knew it was all a load of crap, but he was intrigued by the digimon. This digimon was clearly evil, but the digimon did not appear to be strong enough to cause any real harm. TK had the feeling that DemiDevimon was still a minion of some digimon, but he had no idea who this digimon could be.
"So what's got you down squirt? I'm here to be your friend; I'll help you in whatever way possible."
"Really, you will?" he asked, trying to act intrigued.
"TK, this digimon is lying! He's bad news!"
"What do you mean butterball? Just because I'm not cute and pink like you doesn't mean I'm a bad guy. That's prejudice right there!"
"Don't talk to Tokomon like that," TK warned, shooting the digimon a death glare. DemiDevimon was taken aback by the look. He just picked up Tokomon into his arms and smiled at the digimon, but there was no politeness in his smile.
"Since you're offering, I do need help."
"Go on little guy; just state your problem and I'll fix it. It's the least I could do since you defeated Etemon."
"Well, you see, I think your working for some evil digimon and I want you to tell me everything about this digimon."
DemiDevimon and Tokomon were both shocked by his statement.
"Hey, I told you I worked for Etemon, but he's gone now. I'm a good guy now, I swear! Cross my heart and hope to die!"
"You see, I just don't think you're telling the truth. Either way, I'm not afraid of whoever it is if this digimon's henchmen are as pathetic as you."
Tokomon gasped and DemiDevimon's face twisted in anger.
"Don't talk about Lord Myotismon that way!"
"I didn't think you'd break that easily," he said, laughing, "You really are pathetic, aren't you DemiDevimon?"
"Why you little...!"
DemiDevimon then tucked in his right wing and dove down towards TK, but TK saw this coming and sidestepped the tackle. DemiDevimon, having to shoot through the air at a steep level due to TK's shortness, did not have enough time to recover from his missed tackle and hit the ground hard. DemiDevimon quickly flew back up in the air and glared at TK.
"Tut tut. Violence isn't the answer DemiDevimon."
"Argh, you'll pay for that! Demi Dart!"
A dart with a sharp needle at the end materialized by DemiDevimon's feet. The digimon grabbed the needle with its clawed foot and thrust it right at TK.
"TK!" Tokomon yelled, jumping out of TK's arms and into the trajectory of the dart. The needle penetrated Tokomon's body and the little digimon cried out in pain and hit the ground hard.
"Tokomon!"
"Haha! I'm not so pathetic now, you stupid brat!"
He dropped to his knees beside his partner. He yanked the dart out of Tokomon's body, but Tokomon's body kept shivering in pain. Why had he been so stupid? Why had he pushed this digimon when there was no way Tokomon could protect him? No, TK wanted to be stronger so that he could protect Tokomon, but once again he had failed. He was so disappointed in himself, but a hot, boiling anger also bubbled inside of him towards DemiDevimon.
"You... are... going... to... pay!" he whispered, his body literally shaking in anger. It was then that he noticed his glowing crest and vibrating digivice. He pulled both devices out and saw that they both were now no longer gray, but a black as dark as the sky in the middle of the night. He knew what he had to do now.
"Tokomon... Digivolve!"
His partner started glowing black, just like his crest and digivice. He watched as his partner started changing forms, as part of the digivolution process.
"Tokomon digivolve to... Tsukaimon!"
The glowing stopped, revealing a digimon that resembled Patamon physically in every way, save for the digimon's fur color. Instead of a bright orange, the digimon's fur was a dark purple color.
DemiDevimon just watched, confusion in the digimon's face.
"I thought you held the crest of hope. But... this..."
TK didn't care what the digimon had to say at this point, not after attacking his partner. His anger was apparent in his voice as he ordered Tsukaimon, "Go get him!"
"Evil Spell!"
Tsukaimon flapped its wings and a purple fog surrounded DemiDevimon who started crying out in pain.
"Ah! Please! Make it stop!" DemiDevimon pleaded, obviously in very bad pain by his tone of voice.
"TK?"
A familiar voice was heard from off to the side of the battle. He turned to see that it was indeed Tai and Agumon who were standing there. His focus broke and Tsukaimon stopped his attack.
"Tai?"
"Hey little guy! I'm glad we found you!"
Tai ran over to him and gave him a hug before pulling away and looking over at Tsukaimon.
"Who's that digimon? He sure looks a lot like Patamon. And where's Tokomon?"
"That digimon is Tokomon, Tai," he tried to explain.
"But..." Agumon started, clearly confused, "Tsukaimon are nasty digimon that just want to fight all the time. And they don't digivolve from Tokomon; they digivolve from Pagumon."
"Is that true, Agumon?" Tai asked, also confused.
"Yeah!"
"And who were you fighting anyways?" Tai asked.
DemiDevimon! He had completely forgotten about that pathetic excuse for a digimon because of Tai's surprise appearance. He looked around, but DemiDevimon was nowhere in sight.
"He's gone," he muttered, disappointed.
"Who's gone, TK?"
He didn't pay Tai any attention because now Tsukaimon was flying eye level right in front of him. He wasn't sure what to make of what had just happened, his mind was still reeling too fast.
"Are... are you Tokomon?"
Tsukaimon nodded.
"Tokomon must have dark digivolved, like I did into SkullGreymon," Agumon said.
TK was worried about that. The last time that had happened, Agumon had been in a lot of pain because of the digivolution. He would feel terrible if he had put his partner through the same thing.
"Are you ok?" he asked his partner.
Again, Tsukaimon nodded.
"Well, he isn't rampaging like you did, so maybe this is just a new digivolution for Tokomon?" Tai suggested, though clearly having no idea of what was going on.
"I don't know Tai," Agumon stated, "Tsukaimon are evil digimon. They..."
"Tsukaimon is not evil!" TK snapped as he grabbed his partner and placed the digimon on top of his head. It was the spot Patamon enjoyed the most, so he thought Tsukaimon might enjoy it too.
"TK, calm down! No one's saying your partner is evil."
He gave a slight "Hmph" before saying, "I'm just surprised you're not dead."
Tai was confused by this and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Well you were gone for like multiple months, we spent a long time looking for you."
"Months?" Tai asked, astounded, "And where are the others?"
"Everyone separated while we were looking for you."
"You see Tai? We go away for a couple of days and everything falls apart," Agumon stated.
TK shrugged his shoulders in response.
"Hm, well now that we're with TK, we should go and look for the others. Do you have any idea where anyone would be, TK?"
"I only know Matt went off in a boat in that direction," he said, pointing over to the pier Matt had left from.
"Great, let's go get a boat and go find him."
"Well, as much as I'd love to join you, I'm not going."
"What do you mean TK?"
"Like the others, I have some soul-searching I need to do before I'm ready to rejoin this group of ours."
"What? What could an eight-year old have to soul-search for?"
TK glared at Tai. "I'm not going Tai," he said absolutely.
Tai shook his head. "No, Matt would kill me if he knew I found you and then let you go. You're coming with me and Agumon to find the others, TK, and that's final."
He was being treated like a fragile little kid again, and his temper started flaring.
"Tsukaimon?"
"Purple Haze"
Tsukaimon jumped off of TK's head and blew out purple smog, which surrounded the nearby area. Tai and Agumon started coughing, while TK ran away as fast as he could. He ran for a while before deciding to hide behind a tree, as Tsukaimon flew over and once again perched on top of his head.
He watched as the smoke cleared and Tai and Agumon looked around confusedly. They both started yelling out "TK's" and Tai took out his digivice to try and locate TK, but Tai was not having any luck. He couldn't help but chuckle as Tai and Agumon looked around the nearby area helplessly.
Eventually the two gave up and decided to get on one of the swan boats and paddle off to where he had said Matt had gone. Once they were a safe distance away, TK came out of his hiding spot and watched the swan boat disappear into the horizon.
He wasn't lying to Tai; he did have some soul-searching he had to do. He needed to try to figure out what was going on with him. He needed to understand what had happened just recently with Tsukaimon digivolving. He needed to find a way to use his digivice and crest like he had at Piximon's place. And he also had to get some information on this Lord Myotismon that DemiDevimon had alluded to. Yeah, he had a lot of things on his plate that he needed to take care of, but for right now, he smiled as he was once again alone and this time with his newly digivolved partner.