Willis? He's kind of like a sarcastic, American Tk. Plus, since we don't know too much about him he's hard to write for. However, he and his digimon fit perfectly into this story...as you will see soon.
This chapter is dense. You may have to read it carefully to get my logic. However, any questions you may have should hopefully be answered in subsequent chapters. Plus, when in doubt just ask.
Enjoy and Happy New Year!
Chapter 7. The Continued Prophecy
"I hear footsteps." Ken said in a hushed voice and all three stopped walking. The footsteps got louder as someone approached. Without their digimon for protection Kari, Izzy, and Ken looked to fallen tree limbs and rocks as weapons for defense. However, the voice they heard next made them lose all focus.
"Hey guys, it's been soooooo long!" Patamon's high pitched voice rang with happiness and he easily fluttered around the group.
"Patamon!" Izzy was the first to speak.
"Where's Tk?" Kari said almost as quickly.
"I'm here." The footsteps ceased as Tk appeared from the trees of the forest, but this was not the Tk they knew. It wasn't even the Tk they'd seen six months ago. This Tk was older, much older. He looked to be in his thirties rather than twenties. His face was covered in blond stubble and he had worry wrinkles at the sides of his eyes. He was also much more fit then they remembered; even through his shirt they could tell he was as ripped as a professional athlete.
"Tk?" Ken said in confusion.
"The one and only." Tk answered with a smile. There was no denying the smile was Tk's; it had the same warmth and comfort.
"What happened?"
"It's been a decade since I last saw you; though, you don't look a day older." Tk answered. He was just as shocked at their youth as they were his age.
"Six months and one week." Kari whispered. "You left six months and one week ago."
"I didn't know we'd started speeding up again." Patamon said with ease. He didn't find the matter very important. Izzy agreed simply because he could think of at least a dozen more vital queries offhand.
"Tk, what's going on here?" He asked.
"It's a long story and unfortunately I can't explain it to you." Tk said.
"What, why?" Kari asked.
"Well, let me rephrase that. I can't explain what's going on to Ken and Izzy; you two have got to go home." They and Kari raised their eyebrows in suspicion. "Kari needs to remain here for a while."
"You expect us to let you do that?" Ken said as he took a protective step in front of Kari. Izzy followed.
"You haven't a choice." Suddenly a green light shot from Tk's hand and into the air twenty feet high. "Rest assured, nothing bad is happening and nothing bad will happen."
Before Ken or Izzy could speak their bodies began to fuzz and in a painful pinch they appeared in Izzy's living room two days after they had first left it for the digital world.
"Let go of me!" Kari shouted as she tried to claw her way out of Angemon's arms. The digimon was flying both herself and Tk towards the castle on top of Infinity Mountain. From the stories she'd heard about the castle, Kari didn't want to go there, especially with a suspicious thirty-four year old Tk.
"Please Kari, stop fighting." Tk tried to calm her.
"No! You're not the real Tk! What did you do with him? What did you do with Ken and Izzy?"
"I am the real Tk. I'll explain everything once we get to the castle."
"Why can't you do it now?" Kari was still talking in a hysterical voice.
"It's not the right place. Just try to trust me for five minutes." Tk had great pain in his voice. So much pain that it made Kari believe he was genuine.
"Fine." Kari agreed and stopped struggling, "Five minutes."
Five minutes was all that Angemon needed to reach the castle. He sat Tk and Kari down near the front door and then said, "I'll be back when I find her."
Tk nodded his head and Angemon flew away.
Tk led Kari through the front doors to a large hall. Yet, for being so large there was nothing in it but two ten foot high mirrors. They faced each other at a 90 degree angle but showed very little of a reflection. Kari felt chills from one of the two mirrors and goosebumps formed on her skin.
"This way." Tk said grabbing her wrist and leading her to a side door. Beyond it was another scantily decorated room. However, there were four occupants within. Two were digimon, Terriermon and Lopmon, the other two were humans. Kari couldn't forget the woman; even aged ten years her raven hair and pale skin made Kari uneasy (and though she dared not admit it her resentment also bore from believing that she was still Tk's girlfriend).
"We'll let you talk first." Cory said and walked out the door with a lingering pat on Tk's shoulder; something Kari easily picked up.
"Yes, but first..." the blond man who looked like a stout cousin of Tk's grabbed Kari's hand and kissed it. She blushed. "Hello Kari, you look as cute as ever."
"Do I know you?" Kari said withdrawing her hand.
The man gave a loud sigh, "You've forgotten a face as handsome as mine and to think I thought we meant something to each other once."
"Stop the dramatics, Willis." Cory called back into the room and Willis was quick to rush out the door after her without dropping a beat. Tk and Kari were finally alone.
"Willis?" Kari placed her hand to her forehead in shock and collapsed down into one of the several chairs. Tk picked a chair of his own that directly faced hers so he could watch her every reaction.
"Yes, it's the same Willis we met in America many, many years ago." Tk confirmed.
"Why? Why is he allowed to be here?" Kari began to spit out questions as fast as she could think of them, "Why am I here? Why did you send Ken and Izzy away? To where did you send them? What are you planning? What's happening to the digital world? What are you -
"Kari stop!" Tk said in a raised voice. The questions were coming too fast for him to handle but he regretted his tone and spoke more kindly, "I will tell you everything but please be patient."
"Tell me where Ken and Izzy are." Kari asked in a slightly slower voice than before.
"They're back in the human world. They should arrive in the exact spot where you left."
"Izzy's living room?" Kari asked skeptically.
"Yes." Tk said.
"Why didn't you send me back?" Kari had her hands folded over her chest defensively. She was giving Tk a chance to explain himself but she still wasn't willing to trust him.
"That is more complicated to explain." Tk sighed and looked into the far corner of the room. Kari followed his gaze but saw nothing.
"Tell me." Kari demanded.
"You know that Hope and Light are crests dissimilar from all the rest, right?" Kari nodded her head. Try as she might, she couldn't predict where this conversation was headed. "Well, there are two other crests that Genni and Azulongmon failed to even mention to us: Faith and Darkness."
"What?" Kari gasped holding her hand in front of her mouth. "You can't tell me that those two have the crests of Faith and Darkness. That girl has darkness, right? I knew she was no good. We have to get away before she corrupts you, Tk!"
Kari had bounded to her feet and was looking around the room for another exit aside from the door. Tk grabbed her arm again, "Kari, please sit down."
Kari didn't want to sit down but the force on her arm intimidated her into following Tk's request.
"Cory isn't bad."
"But she's darkness!" Kari's voice was filled with fright.
Tk's own voice sounded frustrated, "You're prejudice against her crest, Kari. Darkness doesn't equal evil." Kari looked like she was about to interrupt but Tk continued in a strong voice, "Are you willing to claim that lightness equals goodness? Are you willing to claim that you yourself are pure goodness, Kari?"
Kari felt her heart ping. Of course she would not make such a claim. She was human like everyone else and had her own moments of selfishness and rebellion. She had sinned.
"What I mean to say," Tk rephrased as he saw the hurt in Kari's eyes, "is that light and dark, good and bad, they are all based on perspective. Darkness can be used for good: it can hide things and bring comfort when the light becomes so intense that it points out every flaw and buried secret. Do you understand?"
Kari took a moment to answer, "I'm trying to, but the darkness has hurt me so many times I can't forgive it. How can you?"
Tk looked away from Kari and into the same corner again as he began to speak in a soft, sad voice, "Yes, I used to hate the darkness more than anything else in the world when I was younger. I thought I had a firm sense on right, wrong, and justice. Alas, I was wrong. When I went to France the dark became a comfort; in the dark I could close my eyes and pretend I was back in Japan with all my friends Plus, I realized that while my crest of Hope was supposed to be a good thing I, myself, was filled with so much hate. It took a long time but eventually I forgave the darkness."
"But I'm light, isn't darkness supposed to be my mortal enemy?"
"That brings me to my next point." Tk's eyes snapped back to Kari, "Did you ever read my thesis. After ten years I had thought it'd eventually find itself to you but with the time lapse it seems unlikely."
"No, I read it." Kari said sadly, "We all read it less than a week ago."
"Good, good." Tk mused. "Did you understand my hints? They were hints just for you."
"No, all I read was an attack on light."
Tk waved her off, "That's not true at all. It was an attack on both light and dark."
"That's supposed to make me feel better?" Kari said.
"Yes." Tk said. "The point I was trying to illustrate is that extremes are bad."
"Extremes of dark and light?" Kari was beginning to follow his train of thought even though she hadn't quite jumped on his band wagon.
"Yes, extreme dark and light have terrorized the digital world for its entire existence to ill results. Let me phrase it more simply: one generation of digimon live happily while the next is nearly extinguished. Extremes way heavily on this world and benefit no one."
"So you're saying that there should be no extremes; we should all live contently in the middle?" Kari said.
"No, everything shouldn't be a dull sameness. There should always be ups and downs so that humans, and digimon, are appreciative of what they have when they have it."
"I don't get it. You hate the light, you hate the dark, and yet you hate the middle! What don't you hate, Tk?"
"First off, hate is too strong a word for anyone to toss around lightly. And secondly, Kari, I'm purposing that an ideal world is neither black, white, or gray. It is multi-colored. I'm talking about equalizing the powers that control the digital world."
"The digital world?" Kari finally saw where the end of this conversation lay, "You and your two new friends are trying to alter the digital world."
"Yes." Tk said simply. There was silence for many heartbeats and then he continued, "Do you remember the prophecy about the nine chosen digidestined coming to save the digital world from evil?" Kari nodded her head, "Well, that was only a part of a much, much longer prophecy. A prophecy that has been coming true since my own 8-year old feet first stepped foot in the digital world."
"And?" Kari encouraged as she found her attention peaked.
"It's much too long to say right now but the gist of it is that the digital world would fall to darkness and misfortune - Myotismon, the Dark Masters, and etc - and that nine chosen children would be able to defeat them by pairing up with their own digital monster. Peace would be restored momentarily before a new internal evil - the Digital Emperor - began to take control. The nine digidestineds would not be strong enough to face the evil alone; they would need thousands of digidestineds around the world. The numerous digidestineds would cause the digital world to become a complete utopia.
"However, the utopia that the digidestineds created would, in turn, need to be balanced out with the most horrific dystopia ever known to man or digimon alike. A dystopia that may - this is important Kari - the new dystopia may put an end to the digital world all together."
Kari didn't say anything as this information sunk in. She didn't know how much of it she believed or even understood. However, there was no doubt that Tk believed what he was saying; there was too much conviction in his voice.
"I know it's a lot to take in." Tk said softly. He wore an understanding and reassuring half-smile on his face.
"It is." Kari said slowly. "I have a question: do you already have a plan to avoid the prophecy?"
Tk nodded his head, "Yes, but I won't tell it to you now."
"Why?" Kari asked.
"You've already got too much to think about." Tk stood up and began to walk towards the door. He opened it and Cory was standing there waiting. "Sleep on it. Cory can take you to a room."
Kari didn't and couldn't argue: there were too many thoughts buzzing around in her head. Unaware of what she was doing, Kari followed Cory up a winding staircase, down a long corridor, and into a quaint room.
"There's some pajamas on the bed. The bathroom is through that door." Cory pointed out the two objects. Her voice was unwavering and still; Kari couldn't find friendliness in it but neither did she find malice.
"Thanks." Kari said automatically.
Cory nodded her head, said goodnight, and left the room.
The next chapter is, in my opinion, absolutely adorable. It's kind of like a Takari side story but is also very relevant. Review and you'll get to read it soon. Thanks, Xanpluto.