Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Digital Awakenings ❯ Harsh Light ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer:Digimon belongs not to me, but to a number of other companies; including Toei, Disney, Bandai, and Fox Kids. None of which seem to want it any more, but oh well.

This fanfiction is rated PG-13 for certain sexual and violent elements, along with swearing. This chapter in particular contains one especially morbid scene, so please heed this warning.

Taichi woke up grudgingly, the bright light of morning ending his slumber. His body and spirit

were still tired from last night's battle, and he was so comfortable here that he didn't want to face

his new, harsher reality.

But it wasn't his bed, and he couldn't ignore the three dimunitive In-Training Digimon dozing

softly on the shelf across from him. Quietly, Taichi wiggled out of his wife's unconcious

embrace, taking care not to wake Sora. He noticed that the kids, sleeping on an old mattress they

had scrounged up, were gone.

Last night, after being defeated by Nightdramon, Taichi and the remainder of the Digidestined had

flew over to Daisuke's house. The young man had insisted on coming along despite everyone

else's protests. But he did prove a useful asset: the enemies wouldn't know to look here, and his

house was pretty much unharmed by the attacks.

Taichi walked into the living room of Daisuke's appartment. Nick and Anzu were sitting on the

couch, watching cartoons like nothing had happened. Funny how kids can bounce back like that.

Matt, presumably awakened by the aforementioned children, sat on the recliner in the same

clothes as yesterday, knocking back a few bottles of beer. Normally, Taichi would have chided

him for drinking in front of the children, but current circumstances suggested that they would

soon be exposed to a lot worse. Jou was in the appartment's small kitchen, making breakfast.

"Morning, everybody," Taichi yawned. Nick and Anzu gave a cursory nod, Matt muttered

something, and Jou gave a cheery hello. Taichi sat down next to his kids, and began to watch the

cartoon with some bemusement.

After a while Sora got up, and the bouncing balls of energy (also known as In-Training Digimon)

joined them. Jou served up omlettes around noon, but with the meager provisions Daisuke

stocked ("Ah, single living," Taichi had reminisced) they weren't enough to fill the bellies of four

adults, two children and three black holes. Their host had yet to emerge from his room.

"So Jou," Taichi said as he scraped the last of his omlette of his plate. "What's our game plan?"

Taichi hated to bring up the subject of this battle now, but they couldn't afford to pretend like

nothing had happened.

"Well, the way I see it's a fight or flight situation," Jou said, happy to be in charge of tactics now

that Koushiro was gone (though he wouldn't have been happy if he realized that was the reason.)

"We either confront this guy--at day, since that's when he's probably weakest--or try to get away

and maybe defeat him some other way."

"What's the situation in the city?" Agumon asked. Taichi glanced over, not having realized that

the In-trainings had digivolved to Rookies. Can anyone say "blink and miss it?"

"There are a couple of minions, same ones we saw last night, circling around and generally

keeping 'order'," Jou said. "There's some sporadic gaurding of the roads out of town, but

nothing to really worry about."

"Then how about," Sora said, interjecting into the conversation, "We get out of town, smash

whatever passes for gaurds around here, go over to America and Australia and pick up Mimi and

Takeru, maybe try to get some backup from the Digital World, then we head back and kill this

Freak.

"Uh, just one problem," Matt muttered cynically. "How?"

"I think I can answer part of that," Biyomon chirped. "When I was in the Digital World,

Birdramon was pretty much my natural form. I can probably fly across the ocean without

reverting, but I could only carry a couple people."

"Or we could try to get access to the Digital World through that portal in the sky," Jou suggested.

"Bad idea," Matt said flatly. "We'd most likely land in the middle of Nightdramon's stronghold,

and that wouldn't be good."

"We can discuss this later," Sora said with a wave of her hand, noticing the confused expression

on Nick and Anzu's face. The two left the table and went back to their cartoons. "For now, let's

get that damn sack of potatoes out of bed. It's nearly one!"

Kei's head throbbed dully as he began to stir. What had happened? He remembered heading into the Shrine of Courage with the Paladimon...but after that everything was a blur. He felt that his head was lying against warm concrete, begging for him to get up. Slowly, he rose himself from the ground, bringing himself from a kneeling position. He opened his eyes, under much pressure from the bright sunlight, and looked downwards at the sidewalk.

Wait a minute...sidewalk?

Filled with a new energy, Kei got up and looked around wildly. He was home! Regular Tokyo, with it's dominating skyline and (strangely absent now) giant crowds. Wonderful Tokyo!

And in front of him...his house! Rejoycing inside, Kei ran up to the front door of his small house and threw it open. "Mom! Dad! Hayako! I'm hooome!" Expecting to be swept up in welcomes (and stern punishment, as he didn't expect them to believe his side of the story... he wasn't even sure if he believed it himself), he was instead humbled by the silence that followed.

"Guys?" he asked, a dread feeling coming over him as he walked through the house. It looked as if things had been stopped in mid-dinner, as there were still (conspicuous-smelling) bowls out, half-filled with soup, and the living room was as messy as ever. But he got his biggest surprise when he turned the corner towards the basement.

Against the storage closet, his little sister Hayako hung motionless, nailed to the cabinet by a large butcher's knife. The knife had pierced through the young girl, and she was clearly devoid of life. The blood ran down her school uniform, finally pooling into a puddle at the landing. Her face, however, was clean and pristine, eyes closed and expression neutral in the calm of death. "Oh my god..."

He leaned over and vomited, taking care not to touch his sister's prone form. From the corner of his ear, he heard a low chuckle. Kei sat up, trying to gauge the sound, but there was just silence again. Not wanting to risk stepping in the horrid mix of blood and vomit, Kei decided to tiptoe away, hoping that somebody was around to explain what had happened.

He heard the laugh again, upstairs. Hoping to catch it's owner, Kei sprinted up the stairs, hoping that he wouldn't find another catastrophe.

It was in vain. The door to his parents' bedroom was wide open, inviting anyone to see the grotesque scene within. The wardrobe had toppled over, and clearly taken something with it. Kei knew that the blood-red stain on the carpet was all that remained of his mother. His father's death was more clear: he lay downward on the bed, his head two feet away, mounted on the bed's headboard.

Kei trembled, and began to dry heave when he heard the voice behind him. "Sad, isn't it?" The second he heard those words, he knew who was responsible...and who he must kill.

He stood up slowly, and came face to face with Ryo Ayanami. Ryo was still in the school uniform that Kei had last seen him in, which seemed prim and untouched by anything. Kei's, in contrast, was full of holes and was covered in stains of one sort or another. In his right hand, Ryo wielded an ebon broadsword stained with blood. Rage fueling him, Kei layed into Ryo with a vicious uppercut.

The punch connected, but did not seem to faze Ryo in the slightest. "Tsk tsk," he chided, shaking his head. "I could have counted on you to do that. Always sinking to the lowest common denominator to resolve a problem. But that's okay. Isn't that what they taught you to do?"

Kei flew at Ryo in a whirlwind of fists and feet, but the older boy barely seemed to notice it. "Don't...you...DARE! Talk...bad...about...THEM!"

"Oh, not your parents," Ryo said, waving his hand in the air casually. The simple movement sent Kei flying back in a whirlwind, not harming him but keeping him away from Ryo. "Society. The only way to get ahead in this world is by slavishly serving those who are more powerful than you, and then taking their power. The only way to be known is to do something so despicable it shows up on the TV news. The path of least resistance is the most grotesque."

Kei stopped. Why was Ryo philosiphizing now? All of a sudden, he saw his father's decapitated head, and flew at Ryo with a new fury. He seemed just as indifferent as before to Kei's raging strikes. "Do you understand, now? I didn't hate you because you did anything to me. I did it because you forgot all your hatred and rolled over for me on command once I became popular."

There was an unwelcome flash of memory. Motoro, an older boy, and a couple of his friends--including an eight-year-old Kei--stood over a third-grade Ryo, sporting a bruised face and a pair of shiny braces. A Gundam comic hit the ground beside him.

"Ah, look," Motoro sneered. "Has the kid lost his comic book? Why don't you check over here?" The upperclassman hefted Ryo up by his shirt, and threw him into the pool of mud created by a recent rainstorm.

"H-hey!" Kei exclaimed. "Looks like it's there after all!" The younger boy kicked the comic into the same puddle, obscuring its pages and ruining it permanently.

Ryo, full of pent-up rage, slowly stood up from the ground, shaking in anger. "I...I'll kill you!" With a howl, he launched himself at Kei, delivering a vicious blow that knocked the blond-haired boy to the ground.

Kei was snapped out of his memory, but he still felt the blow, for the present Ryo had followed it through. "After that, I was top dog in school for beating up Motoro. Barbaric, isn't it? You are only as respected as your power. And they call this civilization," he said with a sneer.

Kei hoisted himself to his feet, and he was about to retort or resume attacking, but Ryo continued. "Your family couldn't see it my way. So I did what I had done before to gain their dependance--I showed them my power. Turns out there's quite the double standard here, eh Kei? So I'm giving you a chance right here and now. Come with me, and we'll create a society in which all are truly equal. Or, if it resorts to the barbarism of this world, then we shall at least be honest about it. Or continue this pointless struggle and die like the rest of your kin. Your choice."

Kei stood still for a moment. Then he raised his eyes angrily. "You're right. I was stupid, always going with the flow, never thinking for myself. Starting from now, I'm going to have principles. The first of which, of course, is to never go with you!" With this, Kei delivered a powerful punch to Ryo's chest. As soon as the fist connected, his world flashed bright orange.

Kei was catapulted out of that world and into another. He was in a dimly lit room, with a cold stone floor and walls. Laying on the floor, collapsed, were Lily and their entourage of Paladimon. All of them were unconcious, and had a dark haze around their head. Was that what happened to me?

Kei peered through the doorway. They were still in the Shrine of Courage. Ryo, or his house, was nowhere to be seen. Behind him, some of the Paladimon started stirring. And from his perspective, Kei could see an obsidian black shape heading into the doorway.

He had never seen them before, but Kei knew that they were DarkKnightmon.

To Be Continued...

[AN:Hey everybody! Sorry that his fic hasn't been updated in a while, but I've been working on others. (If you're into Yu-Gi-Oh! or Shaman King, take a look via my profile.) This chapter is (I think) a lot longer than the other ones, but it really only encompasses a third of what I initially had planned. I've also started a website, dedicated to a whole bunch of stuff. Once again, check it out through my profile.]