Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Passage Through Shadow - Prelude to a Storm ❯ Chapter 1

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

This is the rewrite. It's highly important you reread this if you've already read it AND it's equally important that people who haven't read it read remembering to burn and descent into darkness first.

I've started making pictures of the Counterdestined for your edification (well actually for me to practice with paintshoppro but I thought you might like to see them.) links on my profile.

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Passage Through Shadow

Prelude to a Storm

Part One

"Are you saying that Hikari actually threatened you?" Takeru asked. His eyes were wide with shock.

"Well not right out." Taichi told him. "She told me not to get involved because she didn't want to see me get hurt." He opened a can of cola from the bag Miyako had bought along and sipped it. "She sounded genuinely concerned as opposed to threatening but the implications were clear. If I got involved I'd get hurt."

"What did you say?" Miyako looked up from where she was sharing a large bar of chocolate out between the digimon.

"What could I say? I told her that I was already involved." He sighed. "And before you ask she didn't reply to that."

There was a long pause while the Chosen Children considered what Taichi had told them. The silence was finally broken by Iori. "We knew that this was possible. Likely, even. She even warned us." The youngest chosen child was leaning against a rock in the clearing in the Digital World where they'd met to discuss the situation. "The question is what can we do about it?"

"Since we don't even know exactly what's happened to her we're definitely on the back foot here." Daisuke pointed out. "We have no idea what she might be planning so we'll have to wait, see and then react." He snorted ironically. "She did tell us to put a backup plan in place. We didn't listen and now we're scrambling to figure out what to do."

"Whatever it is it'll be something bad. With Devimon involved it can't be anything else." Takeru muttered as he punched the ground. "Why did it have to be him?" He growled then glared at his brother when he began to laugh.

"You know, Takeru, I can't help wondering if you'd rather face one of the Dark Masters than Devimon?" Yamato asked wryly. "I mean Devimon might be a strong Champion but he is only a Champion."

"To be honest I'm not sure. I know it's illogical but…" He trailed off and shuddered.

"It's understandable in the circumstances." Taichi noted. "But he's right. You have to try and think clearly. We need to figure out what she might do so that we can come up with some plans."

Iori looked over at Ken. "You're the only person here who has ever tried to take over the Digital World. What do you think that she'll do next?"

"I have no idea." He replied. "She isn't me… and she doesn't seem to be thinking the way I did." He closed his eyes and thought about it. "There are some things that we can work out logically. For example she'll be trying to form a power base for herself. Without that she can't do much. She'll also want as much information as possible … Oh no!" He suddenly leapt to his feet and ran back towards the port.

"What's wrong?" Taichi and the others followed him.

"I-I-my computer…" He started then paused and took a deep breath to compose himself and become coherent. "I hadn't finished destroying all the disks of code from when I was Kaiser." He explained. "If she does anything like what I would have done then I think she'll be after them. I have to go and…" He trailed off and came to a halt as he rounded a bend and found Hikari waiting there. She looked casual and poised as she stood with one foot on top of the gate. The others raced round after him and nearly knocked him over. Only the fact they screeched to a halt when they saw her saved him. They all stared at her in amazement.

"Hikari-san," Once again it was Iori who broke the silence. "You look different."

"That's an understatement!" Taichi muttered quietly. He looked at his sister then on impulse glanced at Takeru and Daisuke. Both boys were staring at her with open mouths. He looked back to his sister. "How did you grow your hair so quickly?" He asked trying to ignore the other changes. "And where's you plaster cast?"

"My hair?" She laughed brightly. "The same way that they change their clothes." She gestured towards Daisuke, Miyako and Iori. Then she glanced down at herself and smirked. "And now me." She added. "As to the arm… I figured out how to fix it here. Unfortunately it'll still be broken in the real world so the cast'll have to come back when I leave. Ah well, I guess even I can't have everything." She glanced over at Ken. "And where were you going in such a hurry, Ichijouji-san?" She sounded amused.

"Nowhere." He said stiffly.

"Oh? And here was I thinking you were rushing home to destroy these." She held up a handful of colour coded computer disks and fanned them out. From the way his shoulders slumped Taichi guessed that she was right. "Rather silly to make them stick out by not labelling them and hiding them under your mattress." She chuckled. "So I thought that maybe they were a decoy but when I checked them they were the real thing." She shook her head. "Why do geniuses always lack common sense?" She returned the disks to a pocket of the black catsuit that she was wearing and folded her arms as she surveyed the digidestined. "I wish you guys could see the looks on your faces… oh wait!" She produced her digital camera from another pocket.

"Kari-chan, we can help you. You don't have to do this!" Takeru said desperately. She lowered her camera without taking the picture and looked at him thoughtfully. All traces of amusement had vanished.

"You're wrong, Takeru, I do have to do this." She sounded almost sad. "Maybe one day you'll understand."

He shook his head. "I'll never understand how you can do this." He said emphatically. "How can you betray us?"

"Betray you?" Fury rose momentarily in her eyes. "I warned you this was happening to me. I haven't tried to hide it at all." There was a flash and suddenly she looked just like the old Hikari. "I could have pretended nothing had happened, that I was still the same and lured you into your destruction if I wanted. That would have been betrayal." Another flash signalled her return to her new look. "This might be changing forms but it isn't betrayal. I don't want to fight with you but I will if I have to." She sighed. "I was hoping that I could talk some sense in to you but obviously I can't." She closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate. Moments later a Devidramon dropped out of the sky. She climbed aboard and they took off.

"How's she controlling it?" Miyako asked. Having noticed the lack of a dark ring.

"It could be a dark gear." Yamato said. "She is working with Devimon." There was a rumbling laugh from the dark dragon.

"Crazy Chosen Children. Why would she need to control me? Any inward attending dark digimon would give their life to serve the Shadow Queen." It said before flying off with Hikari. The digidestined looked at each other.

"Shadow Queen?" They asked simultaneously.

----

Chiharu listened to her spy's report with growing consternation. "Is this actually possible?" She asked finally. "Could the Child of Light really have allied herself with Devimon?"

"Anything is possible, Chiharu-chan." Denbe said mildly. "The Child of Kindness's little aberration should have taught us that if nothing else."

"He was acting under external influences." The Child of Dark stroked her digimon's head thoughtfully. "From what I could pick up Dagomon dosed her pretty thoroughly but she shrugged him off some how. Who else could be influencing her?"

"I don't know." He admitted. "There's something odd about this entire situation. It doesn't feel right and I don't know why."

"The brighter the light, the deeper the darkness." Chiharu murmured to herself. She found herself staring into space trying to figure out why she'd thought of that.

"What?" Denbe asked.

"I said 'the brighter the light, the deeper the darkness.'" She repeated. "It's something I heard once I think and it just popped into my head. I'm not sure why. I mean it doesn't even make any sense. Light drives out dark or dark smothers light. They don't co-exist."

"I don't know." Denbe mused. "The brightest lights cast the darkest shadows. That's why it gets dark during a total eclipse. It's the moon's shadow. That's probably what it means." He looked thoughtful. "I wonder if it's significant that the Devidramon called Kamiya the 'Shadow Queen'."

"It might be." Chiharu conceded. "Do you think that this is what I sensed in her?"

"Probably. It would make sense. You're attuned to Kamiya in the same way I'm attuned to Hope boy -- this is effecting him badly by the way -- and that Ali is to Ichijouji. If she had this in her of her own nature you'd sense it."

"I'm missing something key…" Chiharu muttered, rubbing her forehead. "I don't understand how the Child of Light can turn to the Dark and still be attuned to me… surely she'd lose her crest?"

"Well, she can't use her Digimental but she summoned the power to digivolve her digimon from somewhere. Can you still sense her?"

Chiharu thought about it. "Yes, but focussing on her is more unpleasant than ever." She paused. "I wonder if there are counter-crest forms of the Digimentals." Chiharu mused.

"I doubt it. Why?"

"We'll need something like that if Kamiya manages to lock digivolution. I mean she's got a D3 and from what I've seen it isn't exactly a difficult thing to work out how to do." She cupped her chin in one hand and looked at her own digivice, which was lying on the table in front of her. "Come to think of it trading these things in for D3s would be useful." She picked up her digivice and then jumped when it began to radiate darkness and turned into a dark green and black D3. "Woah! Did I do that?"

"Yes." Denbe confirmed. He looked stunned. "But there's no way the internal forces of the Digital World will provide us with Digimentals I'm afraid and the maker of our crests died. I'd bet Dagomon could provide them."

"I am not going crawling to Dagomon." Chiharu flared.

"The boss warned us about Dagomon. He wants out crests and our life force not us." Ali added from where she was sitting quietly. "Anyway I may be the Child of Cruelty but there are some things too evil for me to stomach and Dagomon is one of them. He creeps me out."

Denbe frowned. "But our only possible allies are external to the Digital World and I don't know anyone else out there who could do this."

"You know if we could get Ichijouji's spore we could resurrect the boss." Ali suggested from where she'd been sitting silently.

"And just how do you intend to do that, Ali-chan?" Denbe asked. "And did you have a new host in mind?"

"I'll think about it." She replied. "The truth about it might work if we can find a patsy to get it out of him."

"Even if we can get it and find a host it would take us months to rebuild even his Ultimate form." Chiharu mused. "We need help now."

"Yes, you do don't you." The soft voice spoke from thin air "And the Child of Fear spoke wisely, Chosen of Darkness. Your allies lie outside the Digital World. What you desire can be arranged but only once you understand why you exist. Your true role is far more complex than you know."

The three teenagers stared at each other then Chiharu took a breath. "Speak on. We're listening."

----

"They didn't listen." Hikari sighed as she climbed down from the Devidramon and told it to go and eat. "I think Takeru hates me." She added.

"You knew that they wouldn't, Kari-chan." Gatomon pointed out. "Can you blame them? And it might have helped if you hadn't teased Ken quite so much. Or worn that outfit."

"Oh you watched then." She laughed. "Anyway Ken deserved it and I'm not going to lie about what I am… and it's a cool outfit."

"Anyway, Takeru doesn't hate you. He's hurt and confused -- not to mention totally jaw dropped -- but he doesn't hate you. I don't think he's actually capable of hating you."

"Really?" Hikari asked in a hopeful tone as she began bringing the code from the disks she'd misappropriated from Ken up on a screen. She glanced over at Devimon. "And I'm still fond enough of the Child of Hope that I'd be very unhappy if anything happened to him."

Devimon snorted. "I have no reason to. He only gets to kill me once anyway and he's already done it." He sounded amused. "And the prophecy suggests he has another important role to play."

"You'll have to show me this prophecy someti…" Hikari broke off as a piercing pain shot through her head. Everything went black momentarily and then she quite clearly saw Chiharu Maruyama holding a D3 for a second before the blackness returned. When her vision cleared she was on her knees clutching her head.

"Are you alright, Kamiya-sama?" Devimon asked.

"I don't know. I had this sudden stabbing pain in my head and I saw the Child of Dark holding a D3." She looked up when Devimon hissed. He was scowling. "It wasn't a hallucination was it?"

"Almost certainly not." He didn't elaborate but he seemed worried. Hikari climbed back into her chair and smiled as Gatomon climbed into her lap. After a moment Devimon spoke again. "So have you come up with a plan yet?"

"The first thing I need is something to replace those Control Spires. They are way too heavy handed in their effects and there's something about them that makes me feel ill."

Devimon glanced at the code she'd taken from Ken's room. "I'm not surprised he must've lifted that directly from the Dark Ocean World."

"Doesn't alter the fact I'll need an alternative that doesn't make me feel dizzy." She began to examine the code and called up another screen to work on.

"Are you sure that you should mess with Ken's code, Kari-chan?" Gatomon said dubiously. "He's a genius."

"Whereas I have only gut instinct and an innate feel for the Digital World's code To go on? Not exactly normal programming qualifications but this is not a normal situation. I know which I'd rather trust." Hikari laughed and looked at her program. "What do you think?" She tapped a key and her work screen split in two. On one side was the code on the other and image.

"Innate feel indeed." Devimon murmured. "You've sorted the useful code from the dangerous stuff. I like the design as well."

Hikari looked over at Gatomon. "What do you think?"

"It'll work." Her partner replied in a neutral tone."

"Don't worry about being tactful, Gatomon." Hikari smiled. "Tell me what you're thinking."

"It's just… this is wrong, Kari-chan… you can't imagine what it's like trying to digivolve. Knowing you should be able to and then finding that you can't."

"Unpleasant." Devimon said.

"And how would you know?" Gatomon said acidly.

He looked over at her. "Because, my little vaccine friend, The Child of Kindness wasn't the first person to build control spires here. Dagomon… or more exactly the mega that he used to be… was. He was the first ever outsider digimon to try and control the Digital World. That was when the first five Chosen Children were called."

"You remember that?" Gatomon asked. She sounded amazed. That was millennia ago."

"I've always been here." He replied.

"How long ago was it in human years?" Hikari asked curiously.

"Hmm… times been synchronised for the last few years right?"

"Three years."

"Then it was six or seven years ago depending if you mean when he first attacked or when he broke through."

"Seven…" Hikari whispered. "Highton View Terrace?"

"Exactly."

Her eyes narrowed. "The first five must have seen that as well then?"

"Yes and when he broke through they were summoned."

"How come it took him centuries to break through."

"It didn't time in the Dark Ocean at the time was slightly slower than your world… though it's also been faster and concurrent. Lack of temporal stability on the digital plane is one of the most common causes of imbalance."

"Oh, I see." She looked back at the screen. "So this will work?"

"You might want to make an override for it. It wouldn't do for the babies to be stuck that way."

"True… but apart from that?" She closed her eyes and let the code she needed form in her mind.

"It's fine."

----

R&R, minna-san