Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ A Perfect Picture ❯ Repentance ( Chapter 13 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any of the characters thus associated with it. I own only this storyline.

Author's Note: Thank you to wisegirl and adam, who gave me the name of Iori and Takeru's evolved digimon. I'm sorry that this took so long, but I was getting ready for college. Classes start on Monday. However, now that I'm settled, my updates should be a bit more regular, all right? Thanks to everyone who's stuck with me so far. I appreciate it, guys! (and girls-wouldn't do to offend anyone, ne?) Oh, and no, I don't think I'm going to actually describe any more sexual encounters between Dai-pet and Kai-chan, all right? You'll just have to use your imagination. Sorry!

Chapter Thirteen-Repentance

Takeru shook his head in frustration. Dammit! What the hell was wrong with Motomiya-san? He had no right to try and take over the Digital World, especially seeing as that he was the one who turned Ken Ichijouji in the first place. Now he switched sides? What the hell was going on?

Unsurprisingly, it was Hikari who spoke first. "Maybe we should listen to Daisuke and go to his house. He said the answer was there if we could find it. Besides, until we can find Koushiro, we can't reactivate our Digivices to get into the Digital World. We might as well do something useful in the meantime."

The others slowly nodded. Iori and Takeru had the most reservations of all of them, albeit for very different reasons. Iori because he suspected why Daisuke had betrayed them, and also that he wasn't truly doing any major harm to the Digital World, since those digimon appeared to be fighting the Digidestined of their own free will. Takeru's reluctance was the product of a deep mistrust and bitterness inside, that Daisuke had betrayed them all, and brought Ken along-innocent, sweet, kind Ken.

Of course, Takeru Takaishi would be the first to admit that he hadn't trusted Ken in the beginning. After all, he was a tyrannist who had just been knocked from his throne. It only made sense that he wasn't trustworthy. However, over time, the young blonde had learned to trust Ichijouji-san, and to look up to him as a role model of sorts.

Now the feeling of bitter betrayal was thick in his mouth, and he had no desire to visit the home of their former teammate and friend. But he knew full well that nothing would be accomplished if they didn't have some idea as to what had Daisuke's abrupt change in behavior. Reluctantly, he agreed with the others to pay a visit to the Motomiya residence, if only to find some clue or bit of information that might help them take the other boy out.

They set a meeting time for the following day, and Miyako promised to get a hold of Koushiro to employ his aid in reactivating their digivices. With that, the Chosen children-what remained of them-split off in small groups of two or three and headed for home.

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The following day found the Digidestined inside Daisuke's home. His parents were out for the day, so Jun had let them in before going off herself to do who knows what-probably boy-hunting. All of the older Digidestined were there as well. Having been here before, they headed immediately for Daisuke's bedroom.

It was surprisingly neat and well-kept, considering that Daisuke simply didn't seem to be the kind of guy that would bother with cleaning up. Of course, he didn't seem to be the type of person that would turn on his friends, either. That assumption had led to the recent disaster, and they agreed that this time they wouldn't take anything that concerned the boy for granted.

At first glance, there was nothing to tell them what had happened to cause such a drastic change. Everything was neat and tidy; there were no notes throughout the room, nothing to tell them outright what was wrong.

It was Yamato who finally figured out the key to what went wrong. He himself had been very depressed when he was younger, and had more insight as to what Daisuke was going through. It also helped that Daisuke often shared confidential information with him, including the fact that he drew in order to portray his emotions, since he kept them hidden from everyone else.

Wondering if perhaps one of the sketches around the room held the answer, or at least part of the answer, to their dilemma, he started at the far wall and moved from board to board. He saw the pictures of Daisuke, and the ones of the digimon, followed by the board used for drawings of Ken-it was completely covered, without an inch to spare-down to the sketch pad where there were his most recent sketches of all the Chosen and their partners, then onto where the pictures of the Digidestined were-or at least, where they should have been.

Instead of a board filled with pictures of the Chosen, there was a large blank spot. Next to the empty area was the board that had the older Digidestined with their partners, all smiling and posing for Daisuke's art, or sometimes just relaxing casually-Dai had always preferred the natural, unsuspecting look as opposed to posing and whatnot.

Hmm………there might be something in that. Moving back over to the sketchpad, Yamato quickly flipped through it until he reached the pages portraying each of the Digidestined. They were all facing forward, as if they had been facing Daisuke and laughing when he drew the pictures. They must have been his memories, then-otherwise, the laughter would have seemed forced in the drawing.

That was when it clicked. The smiles didn't look forced, they looked downright condescending. It was as if they had all been caught laughing at something Daisuke did. Narrowing his eyes, Yamato wandered back over to the board showing the older Digidestined. Their laughter appeared to be real-just a bunch of people having a good time, not laughing at anyone or anything in particular, just laughing for the sheer sake of doing so.

By now, the others had noticed what Yamato was doing and gathered around him, wondering if he had figured it out yet. Silently, the blonde handed the sketchbook over to Iori and Hikari, since they seemed to catch onto these types of things quickest.

Indeed, Iori glanced at the sketches, then up at the board, then back down to the sketches, studying them a bit more closely this time. His eyes narrowed as a growing suspicion arose in him, then suddenly widened as realization dawned. "We mocked him, we laughed at him………and now we've pushed him away from us."

Hikari's eyes widened as comprehension rose in her, and she whispered, "We never really considered him a valuable member of our group-he was there when we needed him, and stayed in the background when we didn't. We never even took any of his ideas seriously, regardless of what merit they may have possessed. This is our fault………all our fault."

The others around the circle nodded, realizing that both Iori and `Kari were correct. It was their fault that Daisuke had turned from them. Ken, of course, followed because he believed in his best friend, and cared deeply for him. Even Takeru was forced to agree, reluctantly, that at least part of it had been of their own doing.

"However, this doesn't explain why he switched sides," the younger blonde argued. "He could have simply confronted us about it………or at least have gone to one of the older Digidestined. We're missing something here, I know we are."

It was Taichi who answered this time. "Daemon." When the others shot him confused looks, he sighed and clarified his statement. "Daemon captured them, didn't he?" At the nods of confirmation, he continued, "I don't think they were being entirely honest about what happened when that evil Digimon captured them."

"Got it!" cried Koushiro, who had been working on reactivating their digivices while they searched the room. Everybody jumped at the loud noise and turned toward him. Koushiro smiled sheepishly and murmured, "The digivices are now reactivated. It wasn't difficult, just time-consuming," he finished apologetically.

The others grinned at him and took their digivices back. "Good. Let's head back and see what we can do, all right?" Takeru asked. The others nodded their agreement, and their predecessors also reached for their digivices. At Takeru's questioning gaze, Yamato smiled. "We're coming with you this time, buddy. If Daisuke and Ken won't talk to you all, maybe they'll talk to us."

Takeru just nodded before turning to Daisuke's computer. "Digi-port open!" he ordered, and they allowed themselves to be brought to the Digital World, hoping that this time they'd get through to the two boys.

All right, yes, this is the end of this chapter. So sorry, I really can't help it. This was the only good place to stop, so I did. Anyhow, review please! Next chapter is another confrontation, and the older Digidestined get their chance to talk with the Kaiser. Thanks, everyone!