Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ For They Shall Be Filled ❯ Guardians, Gods, and the Whore Destiny ( Chapter 9 )

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For They Shall Be Filled

The future is only a reaction to the past.

By: Vain (Vainglorious696) 5/31/2001-1/26/2002

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I do not own Digimon, Ichijouji Ken, the Digidestined, or the Digital World, nor am I making any money off of this. Kazunori, Sanghee, the Golden Triangle, the Revelationas Arch, all its OC's and original concepts all belong to me.

Please DO NOT use or "borrow" them without my written permission.

Special Thanks goes to Herongale and the Guardian for betaing and thank you's are extended to everyone who reviewed on FF.net, especially Athena, ShinniJekka, KA, Pan-chan, Crew of the Clow, Mink, and Soulfull Ishida.

Because of the FF.net situation, this story will be posted here gradually. The entire fic and its sequel can be found here: http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=91738

Thank you and please read and review.

~ Vain

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~Let them alone. They are the blind leaders of the blind.

And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a ditch.

-Matthew 15: 14

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Chapter Nine

Guardians, Gods, and the Whore Destiny

Gennai was sitting down on a chair that wasn't quite real, patiently waiting to be escorted out of one not-quite-real room and into another of similar dimensional disproportion. He looked down at his watch and was not at all surprised to see the long hand rapidly spinning around without rhyme or reason. A raccoon floated past with a Chihuahua in its mouth and the young-looking inter-dimensional traveler frowned. What is taking so long?

On cue, a large rectangle of fire appeared in the air, hovered a moment, and then exploded inward, leaving a door in the theoretical wall of the non-room. Gennai stood and carefully gathered his robes around him before stepping through the door into a brightly lit area.

The light did not come from one source, but rather from the four beings that stood before him. The creature on Gennai's far left emitted a yellow light; the one in front of him and to the left, a blue light; the creature to the blue one's left threw off an overtone of red; while the last creature to the far right added in it's own silver light to the spectrum. The lights all blended together to create a sharp white brilliance that filled the pseudo room's immensity and stretched beyond into infinity. These were the Four Guardians of the Digital World.

Gennai knelt before his former masters. Normally, the creatures would have appeared in a corporeal form to the traveler and Gennai would have embraced them as friends instead of kneeling before them as an inferior, but circumstance and time now prevented such a thing from occurring, and for cleanliness' sake everyone knew that it was best to just do things by the Book.

"You summoned me?"

The red entity spoke first. "Yes, Gennai." It was neither a voice nor a thought, but something in between. "The Crest of Kindness has been awakened. Were you aware of this?"

"Yes. It is due to my manipulations that--"

The silver one pulsed slightly. "Did you ask for our approval in this matter?"

Gennai's head snapped up, hazel eyes hardening. "No, I assumed--"

"You assume too much, old friend." This gentle rebuff came from the blue entity.

The red entity spoke again. "Were you also responsible for the reformatting of this Child's Wormmon?"

Gennai frowned darkly and stood. "You charged me with protecting the Digidestined and their partners. That is what I was doing. Granted, Ken Ichijouji has made errors, terrible, terrible errors, in the past, but he is still Digidestined!"

"He is dangerous!" replied the silver one sharply. "How can you justify his return to the Digital World--a world which you are sworn to preserve?"

"You judge too harshly." rumbled the blue entity to the silver. "The Child could prove to be a great asset to us."

Gennai looked from one Guardian to another, still scowling. "If he is dangerous it is our own fault and no one else's. He did the best he could given the materials presented. The problem is the Dark Spore Millenniumon implanted in him when he was destroyed."

"That," interjected the yellow being, "is only part of the problem. Are you not aware of what has been transpiring in the Sixth Dimension-- the Dark World?"

"No . . . I thought that you were to make sure Ken was safe from the Dark Ocean's reach."

"We tried," sighed the blue one. "But we are chained beyond the Digital World and our powers only extend so far . . . It was the influence of the Dark Ocean in conjunction with the Dark Spore which was driving the Child of Kindness mad. And, while the Spore now lays dormant, the Darkness reaches for him still."

"Indeed," agreed the silver being. "The Dark Undersea Master is quite interested in Ichijouji-- and it is through Kindness that he has seen another Child: the Child of Light."

Gennai sat down heavily. "Oh, no . . ."

"Yes," the other continued grimly. "It was only due to our negligence that either Child was exposed to the Dark World, but--"

"Wait a minute," interrupted the traveler, "Kari was never in the Dark World."

The red one seemed to shift and look to its companions. "Yes, she was. And Hope pursued her there and returned her to her own dimension. The fact that not one, but three of the Chosen Children have ventured that far away from their own dimension is proof that the Dimensional Seals are weakening and that the Dark Undersea Master's grip on all three dimensions is getting stronger."

"What can be done?"

"The Dark Undersea Master is intent on possessing the powers of Light and Kindness," the yellow being replied. "Ichijouji and the young Yagami present both the greatest possible threats and allies to his supremacy and cannot be allowed to fall under his power. Both are capable of finding, focusing, and channeling tremendous amounts of energy and both possess awareness far above the others of their kind. They must be protected. If the Child of Kindness had not activated his Crest, he would have been safe with the Dark Spore in hibernation. Now however, he is in grave danger."

Gennai felt suddenly ill. "And Kari?"

The rumble that came from the red creature sounded like rolling thunder. "Because of the nature of her Crest, she will always bear the touch of Darkness on her soul, but she is in no immediate danger. The Dark One is focusing most his attention on Kindness because he has already tried to taint the Child's soul. He very nearly succeeded. The Black Digivice, which Kindness bears, is a testament to this fact. Another entity, a spirit from a different dimension where we hold no sway, is trying to intercede of behalf of the Child, but this one has little influence here and the Dark One interferes and uses him to frighten the boy. Do not underestimate our opponent's intelligence or skill. He knows that, having once been turned to Darkness, the boy can easily be turned again."

"But you have a solution?"

There was a shifting amongst the Guardians and Gennai watched them closely. They looked almost . . . afraid?

The yellow being answered his question. "It is possible that the power of their digivolutions can be increased even while the taint in their souls is . . . equalized."

"I don't understand."

There was another discontented shift and then the blue Guardian explained further, saying simply: "You must release to them the Dark Crests."

The non-world around Gennai spun for a moment as he tried to absorb the implications of those words. Release the Dark Crests . . . Such a thing had been done only once before and it had nearly resulted in the destruction of the Digital World as well as the Real World. In the end it had worked out, but things had been very close for a while. Kari, Gennai knew, would most likely be able to handle the effects of possessing her Anti-Crest eventually, but Ken . . . That boy was hanging onto his sanity by a thread. A very, very thin thread.

"Y-You just can't do that," the young man finally stuttered. "It could destroy them . . ."

"There is another option," offered the red one.

"What?"

"They must all be tested. They must use their Crests to accept the Blessings of the Light into their soul. Our Blessing cannot expel the Darkness, but it can offer them protection from the Dark One."

The traveler's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "And what is the nature of this test?"

The blue Guardian seemed almost sad for a moment. "That knowledge is for the Digidestined alone, Gennai."

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A shadow was moving through that place where Gennai was. It knew how to navigate the pockets between worlds and to how to slide to the place that lay between a second: the place where Gennai met with the Four Guardians of the Digital World. It saw and heard the meeting between the forces which protected the worlds, and it listened closely as Gennai was carefully instructed on what must be done before it scurried back to it's own world: the Dark Dimension. Once there, it wasted no time in finding its master--for one simply did not keep the Dark Undersea Master waiting--and proceeded to report everything it had seen and heard in great detail.

The Master was not pleased.

"So the fools think to plot against me?"

The creature cringed, praying to whatever deity would condescend to listen to a being such as itself that the Master didn't destroy it--or at least that he destroyed it quickly. The Master, however, was oblivious to his cowering slave.

"Can they see nothing? I AM A GOD! What are they to me?! They are nothing! They're only toys for my amusements: something to be used until it is worthless and then discarded. The fools . . ."

A figure detached itself from the wall and cautiously approached the Master. It was not wise to disturb him during one of his rages. "Shall I destroy the Children?" she asked.

"Destroy the Children?!" He struck her hard, sending her flying in a shower of white hair. "Imbecile. The Child of Kindness is already mine, I must only move to claim him. And the Child of Light? What is she in comparison with my might? The lightest touch of but a fragment of my power reduces her to a whimpering heap! She is almost as useless as the other Digi-fools. Those two children will make especially lovely pets. Ha! No, let the Guardians and their simpleton servant play their little mind games . . . It will be to no avail. But perhaps I can use this to my advantage . . ."

The dark figure began to pace, deep in thought. Finally he stopped and turned to the crumpled figure he had tossed across the room. "Has Devimon been reformatted yet? The one that Angemon destroyed on File Island?"

"Yes, Master." She pulled herself to her feet, struggling not to whimper in pain. "He recently digivolved into the demidevimon stage. He does not have any memories of his past incarnation, though."

"Excellent. Go to him and give him these tasks. First: destroy the Child of Hope. He is source of the Yagami girl's strength and intrinsic to the team. If possible, blame Ichijouji. This will alienate him and the loss will destroy the girl's inner light. Second: Ken Ichijouji must NOT pass his test for the Blessings. This will force Gennai to surrender a Dark Crest to the Child, not only increasing his own power, but cementing my hold over him."

"And what of Gennai and the Guardians?"

"Let them alone. They are the blind leaders of the blind and if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the ditch. You are to join Demidevimon in these tasks. I will not accept failure. Now go."

"Yes, Master," replied the woman with a bow. Her purple sunglasses glittered dully and her long white hair caught the poor light. Then she stood and exited the chamber with quiet relief. She was, of course, only using the Dark One to further her own goals, but the promise of eliminating those irritating brats was simply too good to pass by. As for the Dark Master . . . well, if she was lucky, they would all destroy each other, delivering the Digital World to her on a golden platter . . .

Hovering lightly above the entire scene, an unknown ghostly entity frowned in displeasure. Kenny-boy . . . What will become of you . . . ?

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