Reminder: no, I don't own Digimon. Not like I wouldn't buy it overnight...someday...

Running and Digging

The atmosphere was heavy and tense, and the two walked along the beach in nervous silence. TK didn't have much to say. His mind was preoccupied with the evil digimon's words. He knew that he shut a lot of himself off from the other kids, but was it really that obvious? He didn't exactly want to isolate himself. It was just that he'd rather be looking out for others more than them looking out for him. It was one of the great transitions he had made during their first trip to the Digital World. He had found out part of what it meant to take hope. Being able to stand up on your own for those you care for and what you believe in.

TK felt the already edgy body of the rookie on his head stiffen, and he stopped walking. "Patamon? What is it?"

"Another digimon. Not as powerful as Daemon, but still means trouble."

"Where is he?" TK replied, looking around, finding nothing on the smooth, trackless beach and still water.

"I can sense him, buddy. Not see him," retorted the little digimon.

The two fell silent, and TK resumed his walking at a much slower pace, not wishing to make any disturbance. The air was as high-strung as a Gatomon ready to pounce, and yet there was no sign of the digimon in question. His shoes, despite his ginger steps, still gave a soft crunch on the sand with every movement. TK heard the other noise a moment too late: the gentle lapping of water.

Something cold and wet coiled around his ankle and pulled hard, yanking him off his feet. TK yelped as he found himself in the icy ocean, struggling to get free and onto the dry sand. His partner had fallen off his perch, and now had him by the collar, pulling hard against the force of whatever was holding TK. The boy himself flailed against the water and tried to dig his free leg into the ground to get a footing and push himself to the shore. The sand gave way to the pressure, however, and his efforts were in vain. His digimon soon came around to fight whatever was attacking.

"Boom Bubble!"

The air blast made a big splash in the water, and TK felt the coils slowly unravel from his leg. He scrambled to shore, keeping his eyes on the disturbed ocean. Something big was in there and was now surfacing. TK stared as he recognized the navy, squid-like head, the white limbs and tail, the black tentacles, the tattered cape. A towering MarineDevimon. TK exchanged a glance with the rookie by his side. What to do? The evil digimon leered at the pair, the two limbs stretching from its back reaching for them.

"We can't do this without any backup," murmured TK to his companion.

The water had begun rising again, TK had noticed. He scooped up the little rookie and fled from the shoreline. There was nothing they could do. Not until they found out how to digivolve. TK glanced back as they neared the cliffs. MarineDevimon had made no move to pursue them, but was snickering as he watched them run.

"Any idea why he's not following us?"

"Well," said the flying rookie, struggling free of TK's hold. "Maybe because he's a marine digimon?"

TK snorted. "That didn't stop him before in the Real World."

"Hey, if I had any better answer, I'd give it."

They continued on towards the distant buildings. TK gave one last look behind to be sure they weren't pursued and saw MarineDevimon retreating slowly back under the surface of the ocean. He didn't find the sight comforting in any way.

"Rock Crackin'!"

Digmon drove his drills into the ground, and momentarily disappeared into the hole he dug. WarGreymon stood nearby, as the rest of the Digidestined and Chosen digimon waited in the distance to see if the method of digging would work. It was the best anyone could come up with to get to the Dark Area in a hurry. For the time being, they had chosen a wide, secluded place in the desert on Server that lay below sea level, travelling there via Imperialdramon. Izzy was still discussing other options with Gennai, though their conversation had been abandoned by the others due to the excessive jargon.

The armour digimon soon appeared back on the surface. "It's ready! Let's see it, WarGreymon."

"Alright, stand clear Digmon," the mega replied. He formed a sphere of power between outstretched hands. It shone brightly, and though it wasn't as powerful as his normal catastrophic attack, it was still efficient. "Terra Force!"

WarGreymon threw the missile into the hole with perfect accuracy, and the earth shook with the explosion underground seconds after. The force of the impact shoved the dirt up and out in a rather spectacular display. It was like watching geysers spew up sand and rock. A large sized crater now lay in the middle of the desert with the sand loosened up and mostly cleared away. They had even reached the rocky ground underneath, telling from several boulders that were scattered about. As Digmon dove back in to drill another segment, other digivolved digimon came to clear up the debris. After all, the kids were planning on going down that hole. Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon hauled away the biggest rocks, while others like Garurumon and Raidramon dug away the excess dirt and sand.

Digmon presently came back up from his burrow, and all the digimon except WarGreymon cleared out. The mega digimon repeated the process from before. "Terra Force!"

They proceeded along in this manner, carving out a huge crater in the middle of the Server desert. The hole had to be reasonably wide so that it wouldn't collapse on itself and be safely accessible to the children. Off to the side, Gatomon was one of those digimon sitting idle with the humans, absent-mindedly watching the work of the others. If it weren't for the crisis at hand, she would have curled up for a cat nap right there. Not that it would have done any good, since Izzy had come up to Kari with a question that caught Gatomon's ear.

"Do you remember how you got into the world of darkness?"

Gatomon looked up at her partner. Kari was staring off thoughtfully, trying to find a way to explain. She eventually shook her head. "I don't know how to put it. You can just...feel the darkness. It comes in your dreams and you can't stop thinking about it all day. It's cold, and really...close."

"Like claustrophobic close?"

Kari nodded. "I don't know how I got there though. All the times I've gone the darkness pulled me in. TK was the one who found out how to come in after me. And..." She stopped and turned to her partner. "Gatomon, you were with him, weren't you?"

The cat-like digimon nodded. "It was strange, and not pleasant at all."

Izzy cocked his head. "How did it happen?"

"I was following TK when he was looking for Kari the first time." Gatomon found herself unable to but a paw on how it happened. But she tried. "It seemed like emotions were a big part of it. The friendships between the two. TK was shouting out into thin air for Kari, and there she was."

"That opened the gate?"

"Yeah. It made no sense to me either. I just went along, and I never wanted to do it again after that. Maybe you should ask Patamon. He was yelling right beside TK. I thought they both went crazy."

Tentomon was the next to speak. "Well, they're both missing. Could that mean something?"

Everyone paused, looking amongst themselves. The humans quickly dissolved into a panic. None of them had noticed Patamon's absence. Each turned in every direction, calling the little digimon's name. Their cries rose above the ruckus of the working digimon, especially Yolei's. Kari wandered off searching, wondering where the digimon could have possibly gone. Sora went after her with Biyomon in tow.

Within the rest of the group, Matt forced himself to think clearly. TK has disappeared into the Dark World. If Patamon disappeared too, that was where he was as well. It was a simple truth, but the question of what to do about it was what everyone was panicking about. He had to calm himself. They were, after all, digging straight to the Dark World. The whole group had to get a grip, yet it didn't help that Sora came running franticly over the crest of the nearest sand dune, only one intelligent sentence coming from her mouth.

"Kari's gone!"

Well, you like?

Onto the next chapter!