Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Descent into Darkness ❯ CHAPTER TWO ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. I do not claim to own Digimon. Toei own Digimon and Sensation Animation (formally known as Saban) make the dub. This is for fun not profit.

Please R&R

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Descent into Darkness

Part 2

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They had intended to meet up in the computer lab but when they got there it was in use so they had ended up squeezing into Koushiro's room again. This time it was worse because all of the Chosen Children except Mimi were there.

Hikari was sitting in the corner looking like she'd rather be anywhere else. Every time someone spoke she winced as if it hurt her, she only spoke when she was spoken to and even then she was pretty short. Daisuke watched her worriedly. He could hardly believe that she was the same girl as a few days earlier. He desperately wanted to believe that she was just tired but somehow he couldn't. Looking around at the others he noticed that Ken had the same worried expression on his face. The former Kaiser met his eyes briefly and Daisuke could almost hear the other boy's thoughts. Ken thought that there was something very seriously wrong with Hikari.

When the meeting started and Hikari had to tell them about her nightmares she seemed to brighten up a bit but he got the feeling that it was only because if she was speaking no one else was. Of course it didn't take her long to describe the strange things that had been happening to her and as soon as other people started discussing it he saw her close up again. The only voices that didn't seem to make her cringe belonged to Taichi, Gatomon and Takeru. He was so busy trying to figure out exactly what was wrong with her that he ignored most of what was being said. At least until Ken began to speak. That made him look up.

"It sounds like the Darkness is trying to … undermine her." The indigo haired boy said softly. Daisuke didn't know how but he knew that the other boy had changed what he was going to say. He looked round quickly none of the others, with the possible exception of Hikari herself, seemed to have noticed the brief hesitation. She was staring at Ken thoughtfully. "That's not really surprising if I understand this crest thing correctly. She is the Chosen Child of Light and that must make her the Dark's most dangerous enemy, potentially anyway." Again Daisuke got the impression Ken wasn't saying everything that he was thinking. He also felt sure he knew what it was the other boy was skirting around. He wasn't sure how he knew what Ken was thinking but he had the feeling that it had something to do with the strange bond he had always sensed between them. When he was the Kaiser Ken had always gone after him first. The others had thought that it was just because he was the supposed leader of their group but Daisuke had felt that there was something more to it than that. After what had happened in the last few days he was sure of it. He still didn't know exactly what it was yet though.

"Daisuke-kun, are you listening?" Taichi asked suddenly, making him jump.

"Sorry. I was thinking. Did I miss something?"

"Not really." Takeru replied. "I just suggested that she should ignore the voice or even better do the opposite of anything it suggested. It's about all we've got until we know what's going on. We are also going to make sure that she isn't left alone."

"That sounds sensible." He agreed. "Let's hope that it works."

"Is that all?" Hikari asked. "If it is shouldn't we get to the Digital World and knock down some more Spires?"

"The lab's in use." Koushiro reminded her.

"Why is that a problem?" Ken asked. "We have a computer right here."

"It doesn't…" Koushiro began then he blinked. "You mean we can open a port on any computer with a D3?"

"You didn't know?"

"So are we going?" Hikari asked.

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Takeru was trailing along after Ken and Daisuke as they headed towards the area that they intended to clear today. He'd intended to pair up with Hikari but she had said that she wanted some space and fresh air and the Digital World had seemed a good place to get it. That's why she had suggested this trip in the first place. She'd insisted that Gatomon would be enough protection for her. He hadn't liked it but had agreed reluctantly. He chewed on his lip as he worried about her. Then he noticed that Daisuke and Ken were talking in a quiet tone and speeded up slightly. They had been exchanging some odd glances during the meeting and he wanted to know what they were saying. He was sure they suspected something that they weren't saying.

"I know what you didn't say." He heard Daisuke tell Ken. "Do you really think that it's that?"

"It's very possible. It fits the evidence and I recognise the symptoms."

"What can we do?"

"Apart from keep our eyes peeled and offer moral support? Not much. It really is her fight." Ken sighed. He sounded really unhappy about that. "Should we tell the others? It doesn't even seem to have occurred to them… though I think that Hikari suspects."

"We have to though I don't know if they'll believe us. I think you're right though. She was behaving strangely all day and I don't think that it was just tiredness."

Takeru was about to demand to know what they meant when they heard Hikari shriek near by. The three boys fought through the undergrowth and found her kneeling in a clearing. She was in tears and Gatomon was trying to comfort her without much success. Her digivice was lying on the ground close by. It looked like it had been thrown there. "Kari-chan? What happened?" He looked round and saw the other Chosen Children approaching.

"It's happening! It's really happening!" she sounded hysterical.

Gatomon looked up from where she was trying to comfort her partner. "She tried to armour digivolve me but couldn't access her Digimental. She tried it three times before she lost it and threw her digivice at a tree before collapsing." She looked a little panicked herself. "What's happening?"

Takeru frowned and shook his head. This couldn't be good. He picked up the D3 and placed it gently in Hikari's hand. "Concentrate on your inner light, Kari-chan." He said softly. "And then try it again, please. For me. And try to believe it will work. Come on, Kari-chan, I believe in you."

She looked up at him. "Okay, I'll try it for you." She said finally but her face seemed oddly closed. She held up her D3 and the unnerving blankness was replaced by intense concentration. "Digimental up!"

This time it worked and everyone sighed in relief.

"There you see." Takeru said. "Everything's all right."

"No it's not." She replied. "I shouldn't have to fight to access my own Digimental.

"We'll find out." He reassured her. "And then we'll stop it."

The group was so focused on Hikari that no one noticed the two dark digimon sneaking off in opposite directions. The two creatures didn't even see each other.

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"It's working, master." BlackGatomon bowed before the throne. "But she's incredibly strong. It took her four attempts and some help from the Child of Hope but she did manage to armour digivolve my good sister eventually." She carefully hid how pleased that fact made her.

"That's only to be expected, my little one, if she wasn't strong she wouldn't be worth all the effort that I'm putting into her." He held out one clawed hand and an image of Hikari floated there. "Isn't she beautiful. It would be foolish of me to fixate on the Child of Kindness alone. The seed might be an interesting power source but Milleniummon created it for his own purposes and that might make controlling it problematic. Still," He purred, "I will have it too and that little power thief that serves at its host's heart on a plate before I'm done."

"I'm sure that you will, master." She mouthed the platitude in a sincere tone as she bowed again even though she didn't mean a word of it. "For who can stand against your might."

"So true, little one, so true. No one can stand against me! All those who fight me will pay." Her master chuckled. "But it's besides the point. You'll have to sneak in and dose her again tonight. What a fine weapon she'll be."

{Obviously someone can and did.} She added in her head. {Because you don't rule that world yet. And my Queen will find out who and how eventually and then you will be doomed here as well.)

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+drip+

Once again she found herself standing on the shore looking out across that strange, dark sea. She couldn't see him this time but she could hear his voice. It seemed to come from all directions as it whispered to her on the wind.

+drip+

"Soon, Child of Light, very soon you will be mine."

+drip+

"No!" She said. Her voice was firm but inside she knew that the denial was more of an attempt to convince herself than him. She lifted her chin. "You are my enemy."

+drip+

"For now." He sounded amused and abruptly his voice had a direction. It was coming from behind her. "But for how long?"

+drip+

She turned and sure enough he was standing there, towering over her. She looked up and forced herself to meet those glowing eyes. "I am on the side of good. You aren't. We will always be enemies."

+drip+

He laughed a cold, hard laugh and shrank down to roughly human size. She found herself powerless to stop him as her reached down with one clawed hand and took hold of one of hers. He raised it to where his lips would be if she could see anything of his face other than those eyes. "We shall see, Child of Light, we shall see." He sounded amused by her defiance.

Hikari was hyperventilating as she sat bolt up right in bed and reached for the water by her bed.

"Did you have another nightmare, Kari-chan?" Her abrupt movement had obviously woken Gatomon up. Hikari nodded and then described the dream.

"I don't like this." Gatomon said when she finished. "Something really is severely wrong here."

Her digimon was serious of course, the whole situation was but Hikari smiled in spite of her fear and tiredness. "You mean you've only just noticed that?" She said dryly.

"Of course not. It's just … who the hell is he? And what does he want?"

Hikari took another sip of water. "Me I think. I'm not sure what for though but I'm scared, Gatomon. Whatever he'd doing to me seems to be working." She paused and bit her lip. "Look at what happened yesterday and I'm behaving strangely. Badly even.."

"You mustn't dwell on that. You mustn't let him get to you. I think that that's what's causing the trouble. You have to believe in yourself."

"I know that. It's just that that's easier said than done at the moment." Hikari finished her drink and lay back down. "I'd better try and sleep again." She took a breath. "I hope I don't have any more nightmares."

"Okay." Gatomon settled down as well.

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Ken couldn't sleep. He paced the floor of his bedroom trying to decide how to explain his fears to the others. He was also trying to figure what had happened the previous afternoon.

"Ken-chan what's wrong?" Wormmon had been sleeping on Ken's pillow but his partner's restlessness had obviously woken him.

"I'm worried about Hikari." He told him. "I don't understand what happened to her yesterday afternoon or why."

"You mean why she had trouble getting Gatomon to armour digivolve?"

"Exactly. I never figured out a way to stop it. To be honest I never even came close. So I doubt that anyone else has. Anyway none of the others had any problems so it had to be a problem with her." He frowned and sat down on the bed. "The Digimentals are empowered by their holder aren't they? They have to have an abundance of the Digimental's particular trait to activate it?"

"Yes, that's right. It's similar to the crests but not as… absolute. A crest requires it to be your strongest trait to work or at least you can't have any trait stronger. In theory you could have another trait that's just as strong but that would be . . . unusual. The Digimentals on the other hand just require the holder to be strong in the trait. That's why Daisuke can hold two Digimentals neither of which are for his strongest trait."

"So if Hikari is having trouble using her Digimental it means…" Ken trailed off.

"That she's having trouble accessing her own Inner Light. It's the same reason that I couldn't digivolve until you found yourself again."

Found himself? Ken guessed that was accurate but that meant he was right. Damn. "I was afraid that you'd say that." Ken pulled his legs up and hugged his knees. "I just wish I knew why. It's not just the dreams. I'm sure of that. There's something else that is happening to her." Realisation dawned suddenly, making him gasp. "Is being done to her!" He grabbed his d-terminal. "I'd better email Daisuke."

"Now?" Wormmon asked. "Wouldn't the morning be better?"

"No, I'll do it now." Maybe he won't read it until the morning but I've got a feeling that he's awake."

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Daisuke was indeed awake. He too was worrying about Hikari and when the email arrived he opened it immediately. Demi-veemon hopped up to his shoulder and read it too. He was just considering the content when there was a quiet tap on his door and Jun's head appeared.

"I noticed your light was on." She said quietly. "Is everything alright?" She leaned against the doorpost. "Can I come in?"

"Sure." He shrugged. It had only been days since she'd discovered he was a Chosen Child and Daisuke had already discovered a completely different side to his sister. A side he liked much more than the one he usually saw. "I just got an email from Ken."

"At two o'clock in the morning?" She asked as she shut the door. "Is there a problem? I can cover for you if you need to go somewhere."

"Thanks but it's not that easy." He shook his head. "I just wish it was. There is a problem but I'm afraid that it isn't going to be simple to fix."

"Would you like to talk about it?" she asked. "Sometimes a view from the outside helps to clarify things."

He considered her suggestion. It probably wasn't a bad idea. "Okay." He said finally. "But you can't talk about… He saw her expression and cringed. "Sorry, I'm making you out to be a gossip. I know that you know when to keep a secret." He apologised and was relieved to hear her chuckle.

"And don't you forget it, brat. I do understand how important this is. I promise I'll never discuss anything you tell me about this Digital World place with anyone who isn't Digidestined or whatever it's called."

"Thanks. You'd better sit down. This may take a little while to explain." He said. She smiled again and sat down on the chair by his desk. As he explained what had been happening to Hikari and what he and Ken suspected he saw her expression become serious. When he finished she swung the chair idly from side to side as she considered what he'd said.

"You have to tell your friends everything that you two suspect… and soon. If someone is doing something to Hikari-san you need to find out what and stop it. Before they succeed in doing whatever it is they have planned. You're all important and can't afford to lose any of you to forces that might unbalance the Digital World. Remember what Koushiro told us about the various worlds being all tied up together when you were explaining to me about what was going on and why it was important. If bad things happen in the Digital World it'll screw up all the others including this one. It's up to you lot to stop it."

"Yeah. I know." He sighed. He just wished he knew how to tell them. "Any other wise advice?"

She seemed to consider for a moment. "Please always recycle? Don't forget to use sunscreen? That sort of thing?" She smiled impishly at him and he groaned.

"I meant about the situation." He sighed. "We need to know what we're up against. Which means we need to get it to tip its hand before it's ready."

"You're right but that might be dangerous, but then you already know that don't you?"

"I know." He smiled at her. "Thanks, Onee-chan." He began to type a reply to Ken as she left to return to her room.

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R&R please