"Get away from me!" TK screamed, running from a ghostly figure that seemed to always be right behind him. He was panting with every step, his breath quickly escaping him. As he fell to the ground, he felt hands wrapping around his neck. He gasped for air and his breath shortened. "Patamon!" He screamed forcing the hands off of him. He tripped once again, hitting his head in the ground. He pounded his fists into the hard earth below him. "Matt!" He looked up, but there was nothing but darkness. "Anyone!" He yelped in pain as his entire body seemed to be pierced with tiny needles.
He woke up to his brother, Matt, looking at him with wide eyes. He sighed as he saw that his brother was okay, well, alive at least. "What happened? My head is throbbing!" The younger boy grabbed the side of his head with one of his hands. "Let's just say, don't look in the mirror. Kari got the side of your face pretty well with her fist." Matt winked at the comment he'd just made. TK reached for his face, but quickly retreated his hand at the first sensation of pain.
"She, but why?" He looked up once again at her older brother. "You went crazy. You were attacked by a dark ring and put under the emperor's control." Matt laughed. TK didn't think it was so funny. "And Davis, he has a digimon now, right?" TK asked once again getting a grasp on reality. Matt nodded. "Wait, what day is it?" TK jumped up to check the calendar on the fridge. It was Saturday?! He thought to himself. The first day of school had been on Tuesday. "Was I out for that long?" His eyes glowed with anticipation.
TK growled once again in pain. "I feel like I just got ran over by a Monochromon." He sighed at the relief that at least he didn't have school today. "Oh, Kari came by yesterday to check on you." Matt turned to see TK blushing slightly. It was my fault, he thought. She must've been mad at me for... well... everything. It's my first day back and I'm already getting taken over by evil in the digital world.
There was an odd knock at the door.
Matt opened the door to see Kari, Davis, Cody, and Yolei standing at the door with digimon in their arms. Not questioning, he let them inside. TK had returned to the couch with a glass of water. He turned to face the group as they were coming in. He was a little embarrassed after what had happened. He offered them a seat on the couch. Patamon flew into his arms. He hugged the small digimon like he hadn't seen him in years. "I'm so sorry, Patamon." He hugged him tighter. "It's ok, that Emperor had a collar on you that was just a little bit too tight." Gatomon giggled, jumping up onto Kari's lap.
TK's stomach growled. "Oh man. I'm starving." He placed a hand on his stomach, underneath Patamon. "I second that motion!" A small yellow ball moved in Cody's arms. "Oh, this is Armadillomon. Well, not technically. But..." Cody tried explaining, but TK nodded. "I get the idea." He laughed. He remembered when Patamon was in his in-training form of Tokomon.
All of a sudden, TK's head started throbbing once again. He fell on his side, into Yolei's lap. She was too surprised to do anything but stair down at the boy in pain. "What's wrong?!" Kari jumped to his side. Something inside of TK seemed to crack. He was done, done with being in pain and done with being used. When the height of the pain was gone, he pretended he was fine. "I swear, I'm fine." He waved goodbye as his friends left. He turned to face Matt once the door was closed. Matt knew better then his friends, he knew his brother was anything but fine, and so did Patamon.
"I don't want to talk about it." TK snapped bitterly, shoving Patamon into his light green backpack. He had to go home to his mom's. She was probably worried about him. Matt agreed that he should go back home, but he was worried on the inside. What was becoming of his once innocent brother? Was he ever going to be himself again?
TK didn't bother contacting anyone until Monday. As he walked out of the apartment that him and his mom shared, Patamon popped his head out from his backpack. The little digimon felt an absence inside of TK. Something that was missing, and whatever it was, something bad had taken its place. When they reached the elevator, TK looked up from his feet to see Yolei and Cody standing inside. He sighed and entered without saying a word.
The school day went by slowly to Kari. TK had sat next to her in almost every class, but hadn't spoken a word to her. He normally would have laughed or smiled, but instead he was stuck in his daydreams. During gym, Gatomon and Patamon watched from above and talked quietly about the way that TK was acting.
"He hasn't said a word to Kari all day, I know she's worried." Gatomon sat on a beam beside Patamon. Patamon sighed. "He hasn't been the same since he was taken over by the Digimon Emperor." Patamon looked down at TK, who was playing basketball. He wasn't even playing like usual, Patamon thought. He'd always thought that TK would be the one passing the ball throughout the court, but that wasn't the case.
TK thought to himself in the semi-warm shower inside the locker room. All of his classmates had already returned to the gym, but this gave TK time to think. He felt different, strange. Something inside of him was lost, he had no idea what it was, but he knew that it was gone and gone for good. What was it? He asked himself. And there he was again, in the darkness; not only was he in the darkness, but he was alone.
The boy's eyes glowed red for a second before returning to normal. He let out a small, satanical laugh.
Kari was waiting for TK outside of the boy's locker room. She tapped the tips of her fingers against the bricks of the wall behind her. As he emerged from the room with wet hair, Kari stopped him "What's wrong with you?" She asked, her eyes innocent as they'd always been. The boy looked back with narrow eyes and shrugged. Kari's eyes widened even more. He'd never been that rude to anyone before. He snickered and pushed her aside.
"You!" She started to steam. Her face was now flushed with color. Davis came up behind her and held her back. "What are you doing, Davis?" She barked, trying to run after TK. "He's not himself!" Davis defended the boy. Kari sighed and turned to face Davis. She ran into his arms, making the boy blush uncontrollably.
Patamon flew down and landed on TK's head. "What's the big idea?" TK screamed at the small orange digimon. TK's eyes were filled with hatred. His eyes started to fill up with tears and he flew back up to the rafters of the gym to cry.
"Where's TK?" Cody asked as Kari and Davis walked into the computer lab without saying a word. Kari's face turned red as if she was about to cry. She opened her mouth to scream, but Davis quickly covered it. "We'd rather not talk about it." As Davis uncovered her mouth, Patamon flew into the room with tears still flowing from his eyes. He flew into Kari's arms and continued to cry. "What's wrong, Patamon?" She tried to comfort the sobbing digimon. "That's not TK!" He screamed, the salty taste of tears invading his mouth. Kari looked at Davis who nodded.
"We have to get to the digital world. If anyone's behind this, it's the Digimon Emperor." Yolei opened the gate on the computer. The entire group, including the partner-less Patamon flowed through the digital gate. TK laughed evilly as he walked into the now empty room. He took his digivice and loaded up the digital portal once again. Light seemed to grab onto him and pull him into the computer.
The team of digidestined were walking through the forest near the portal they had come through. Davis stopped as the Digimon Emperor seemed to appear in front of him. He growled for a second before lunging at the Emperor. Throwing a punch, he soon fell to the ground right through the Digimon Emperor. "It's just a projection." Cody said noticing how he could see right through him.
"How dare you sneak into the digital world, what do you think this is?" He laughed. "What have you done with TK?" Patamon protested and flew towards the hologram. "I have no idea what you mean. There is no TK in the digital world." He laughed once again. "No." A voice boomed from behind him. "But there is me." The voice appeared to be coming closer. The image of the Emperor seemed to vanish before the group's eyes.
Behind them appeared not only the Digimon Emperor riding on the back of a Tyrannomon that was controlled by one of his evil dark rings, but on the Tyrannomon beside him, to the groups awe, was TK. His eyes were once again a glowing red color. His clothes had changed too. He was wearing a golden suit similar to the emperor's except with a black cape. From his neck up was still the same except his glowing red eyes. Kari gasped in horror, looking up at the boy who had previously been her best friend.
Patamon's eyes once again filled with tears at the sight of TK being on the side of evil. The rest of the group was speechless. "Tyrannomon, attack!" TK's words boomed over them. It felt like Kari's heart had a whip being cracked against it. "There are five of them now!" Yolei exclaimed before her partner, Hawkmon, armor digivolved into Halsemon. Flamedramon was already shooting his fire rockets at the Tyrannomon, but Kari was just standing there with her eyes glued on TK. "TK!" She screamed out in pain. His face didn't seem to change, but he slowly looked down at the girl with a pitiful look. "I'm not TK anymore, sweetheart." Her blood began to boil even more. Her eyes narrowed at the boy continued. "And as you'll learn, I never will be again!" The boy began to laugh ferociously.
Both the Digimon Emperor and what was left of TK jumped down off their Tyrannomon simultaneously. They both exchanged glances with each other before looking up. A large, black digimon appeared from the sky and landed on the ground. Both of the boys hopped on, let out a sort of strange, yet evil, laugh, and commanded the digimon to fly them back to wherever they'd come from.
"TK!" Kari screamed after the boy. Her voice was full of agony, her heart was breaking.
He thought he heard his voice, but he wasn't quite sure. His eyelids slid down halfway across his eyes once again. Visions bounced through his head. Ones of his face, but at the same time he knew it wasn't his face- it may look like him, but it wasn't. Visions of Kari's face with her eyes full of tears crowded his mind. It all seemed hopeless. It is hopeless, he thought. Suddenly, he smelt something he remembered quite well, the smell of the salty sea air.