I am making an effort to write more Digimon again – and I will start by focusing on my favourite character from childhood – Davis Motomiya. However, once I am more comfortable with writing for Digimon again, I will switch up between him and Matt Ishida from 01/02. This was a story I admittedly decided to wing it – so you can join me on this journey as well.

1. In the Shadows

Sinking. That was what it felt like when Davis sunk deeper into the darkness. He had never been someone who had a link with darkness – always being one to think on the positive side of things. He had encouraged Ken and the others to face their own demons but this enemy – there was something about him, something he could not face.

He tried to force himself back to his feet, but he couldn't see anything. He could not even see Veemon anymore. The last thing he remembered was that his partner was with him before this happened. Not that it had mattered. Because none of them had been able to digivolve their digimon – there were no dark towers, there was only darkness. A darkness that was never ending. He wasn't sure why he was thinking but these were the visions that were swimming in and out. A battle that would not end and they were not able to evolve, no matter how hard they tried to. The dark towers had done something similar, but he didn't see any dark towers where they were fighting. Were these visions even real?

"You won't be able to escape," A little boy's voice interrupted him, and Davis stopped, blinking, eyes widening as he stepped into the light. He had only seen this person in pictures because they were no longer alive, but Sam Ichijouji stood in front of him right at this very moment. A boy who had been killed in a car crash, burdened by the pressures his parents had unintentionally put on him. He knew Ken's parents regretted it now when they had almost lost their second son but what was he doing here? How was he here?

Whilst he had never known Sam personally, there was one part of Davis that did feel sorry for him while the other part of him wanted to grab him by the shirt and ask. Ask him why he had caused so much pain to his best friend because Ken was so kind. He hadn't deserved any of that. Not the cruelty and not the guilt that he carried for years with him. But right now, that would have to wait. His head was pounding and honestly, he just kind of wanted to puke. Something was really wrong with this place, and he just wanted to be back on Earth. Heck, even the digital world might be better.

"Sam?" Davis asked confused, somehow managing to talk despite the fact that his chest is tightening in on itself. "How are you here? Am I…dead?"

Sam laughed a little and shook his head. "I'm surprised you know who I am. I thought Ken hated me after how I treated him. But to answer your question, no, you're not dead. But they may think you are because that's what the enemy wants. You have to fight this feeling, Davis. Do you have something to go back for?"

Something to go back for? The question was almost ironic given he would always find something but right now – he had something more than that. Kari. The girl he had loved since they had been children – he had been more surprised than anyone when she had rejected T.K., and their blonde friend had moved on. And lately, she had been looking at him quite a lot. Ken and Yolei were dating and sometimes Yolei would invite Kari too. Ken, of course invited Davis in turn and the four of them hung out a lot. When T.K. and Miya started dating, it was almost like the three of them were having a triple date or something. Those little glances – the shy little blush on her face when their fingers accidentally touched, the glancing away, pretending she wasn't looking.

He could feel something, but it was something neither of them ever said to each other. Davis wanted to but the two of them had come so far in their friendship and he didn't want to push her. She was beautiful – no, she was perfect in more ways than one but even if she felt the same now, how was he going to tell her? No, it was him, he'd find a damn way if it was the last thing that he did. It might be the last thing because his ears felt like they were ringing. This place looked a bit like the Dark Ocean place that Kari and Yolei had described but while it still had the dark forest, there was so ocean. No sign of any ocean, layers and layers of sand.

"Kari," Davis admitted softly. "I…I love her. I want to try and fight this for her. But what is this? Can you tell me that much, Sam?"

Sam was quiet for a moment, his expression pondering in thought. He looked so much like Ken when he looked like that – the two might not have been the closest and a part of Davis was protective with the fact that Sam had hurt his best friend – but he also knew one thing. Sam had been hurting too – and probably in a way that was a lot less obvious than Ken's pain was.

"Chimeramon," Sam said simply. "He's the one who put you here and Veemon…your partner, he's in much worse condition than you are."

Davis's heart raced at that – his partner was with him when he was headed home from university but then everything had gone black. He was finding his breath becoming shorter the longer he stayed here. He forced himself to his feet. He needed to find a way – he needed to run.

He stumbled a few steps before he crumbled back to the ground again, a small cry leaving his lips as he scraped his knees, feeling the blood trickle into the dry sand. This was not good – it was like this whole place was draining his energy and if he didn't find a way out, he might be dead soon even if he wasn't now.

A piece of junk came flying, hitting him square in the forehead causing him to try and shield his face but it was too late.

"Doesn't feel good, does it?" An odd voice said, a human voice but it wasn't Sam. It was still a voice that was all too familiar to him, a voice he wished he didn't remember because that whole experience still freaked him out, but Davis also couldn't bring himself to move.

The junk had not hit him that hard and he didn't think he had fallen all that hard either, but it felt like every inch in his body hurt right now. Moving was not a smart idea even as the person he thought it to be, appeared in front of him.

"To be treated like trash? Discarded because you have that so called right or power?" Takuma said, stepping closer to him. "But you and your friends have done so much of that." He kicked Davis in the ribs, causing him to wince. "Did that hurt? That's how you've hurt so many digimon. Bringing in forms of evolution that had been long discarded in the past – how do you know it was not just an evil form of evolution?"

"We…we never did any of that," Davis gasped, forcing himself to breathe. "We couldn't digivolve the normal way due to the dark towers but not all digimon are able to armour evolve anyway." He coughed a little weakly. This was crazy. How did a soccer coach like Takuma get to the digital world anyway? None of this made much sense.

"Yes, exactly," Takuma scoffed. "Not every digimon can. Not every digimon can evolve normally either – digivolutions fail, they go wrong, and armour evolution is the worst kind of wrong that it can go. You're never going to escape here, Davis. And even if your friends figure out the truth, this is the one battle even they can't survive."

Davis shook his head. They would survive. They had been through worse than this. Whatever it took, they would survive.

"I don't understand what you're doing here anyway," Davis managed weakly although he was starting to lose consciousness. No matter how much he was trying to force himself to stay awake, this wasn't working. He knew Sam had encouraged him to fight and he wanted to but dammit, whatever this place was sure had a stronghold.

It was like the longer he stayed here, the more he was drifting away from reality. He tried to think of Kari and her smiling face flitted through the back of his mind but the more he thought about her, the more he wanted to be there with her no matter what it took. Kari being with him made him strong – it made him feel as if he could face anything in the world and while he was glad she wasn't in this world right now, she gave him an unspoken strength that he didn't know he had.

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Davis," Takuma said, in a much softer tone now as he put a hand on Davis's cheek. "But you'll come to know who I really am soon. For now, it's time to say goodnight." He pressed his lips to Davis's and the dizziness took Davis ten-fold. Even thinking of Kari wasn't working with how much the darkness was trying to capture him. Dammit…we have to be stronger than this…I have to be stronger. Kari, Ken, T.K., Cody, Yolei…be careful. I don't think we know what we're up against this time. It might be too much for us, unless we get stronger somehow. That was the last thought that flitted through his mind before his world faded to black, the darkness taking him as he could resist no more.