| Chapter 11: Game of Pain “Alright Veemon you ready?” Davis yelled holding his D3 out in front of him. He had been waiting almost one and a half days for this; he couldn’t wait any longer. He’d finally get revenge on those blasted Airdramon for taking Kari away. After their fight with them all of the digimon had been hurt and they couldn’t go after them straight away. But now Veemon was fully healed and they were ready to fly. They still hadn’t Clive, when they had gone back to the camp site there was no sign of him, Wraithmon or Armadillomon. They’d probably walked heedlessly off into the forest, led by that idiot Clive; no doubt he’d get them lost. But Davis didn’t have time to worry about them; he had a mission, to find Kari. “You betcha!” Veemon replied jumping up in the air and being engulfed by the light from Davis D3 he called, “Veemon digivolve to… Exveemon.” The light faded and Veemon had been replaced by his larger counterpart. “Come on Wormmon!” Ken said holding out his Black digivice. “Right” Wormmon said back preparing himself for the transformation. The familiar purplish light flew out of Ken’s digivice and hit Wormmon, surrounding and cloaking him from them, “Wormmon digivolve too… Stingmon.” “You ready Ken?” Davis asked his friend, holding up his digivice. Ken nodded in reply and held up his own to face Davis’. Each digivice shot out a ray of light, one blue the other purple. They hit each other and spread out to engulf Exveemon and Stingmon. Exveemon could feel the power of the digivice well up in him until he could no longer contain it. “Exveemon DNA digivolve to…” He said blue and green bubbles spinning wildly around him. “Stingmon DNA digivolve too…” He heard his partner say as the bubbles surrounded him as well. Exveemon closed his eyes as the two merged together. This always overwhelmed him. Knowing exactly what the other digimon was feeling, thinking hearing, saying, everything, it scared him sometimes. Knowing that Stingmon could hear what he was thinking right at this moment as they merged to become one. He could sometimes feel the inner torment that Stingmon had gone through as Wormmon. The way he pictured Ken as the only thing that mattered above everything, even himself. The way that everything he did, everything he aspired to do was t please Ken, to make him happy after failing him that one time. He still thought Ken didn’t want him as his digimon, that as soon as he found another digimon stronger or better looking he’d ditch him and go off with that one. But Exveemon couldn’t blame him, he had felt the same way when Patamon had digivolved into Angemon, and when he was the only digimon that couldn’t fly, he felt he was letting Davis down. But now who was the one that could fly? He sure showed that snooty little Patamon. He squeezed his eyes tighter, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He tried his best to forget all his worries, he knew he could trust Wormmon. He concentrated on digivolving. He felt the small bubbles swirl around him more and disappear to reveal his new form. “Paildramon!” They shouted together. “Come on just once more.” Davis said his digivice still held out in front of him. “Yeah you can do it.” Ken joined in. Paildramon squeezed its eyes together tightly feeling the power of Zolongmon surge up from deep within it’s body. “Paildramon Mega-digivolve too…” Paildramon’s features started to change as an image of Zolongmon swirled around it, “Imperialdramon!” It finished landing next to Davis on the cliff. “Alright let’s get this show on the road!” Davis yelled jumping on Imperialdramon’s back along with Ken, TK, Patamon and Polarmon “Hold on tight.” Imperialdramon said as it took off at the speed of light over the mountain range. “Davis do you have any idea where we’re going?” TK asked looking out the window at the blurry scenery below. “Well not really, but when we get there I’ll know.” He said hopefully, his eyes frantically scanning the mountains below for anything that wasn’t a big grey blur. “How are you going to know we’re there if you can’t see anything?” Ken asked, his eyes too scanning the blur below them. “Hey Imperialdramon you wanna slow it down a bit I can’t see anything while your going this fast!” Davis yelled out to Imperialdramon. “Sorry Davis.” It replied slowing down slightly. But not enough so they could see the scenery below. “I still can’t see anything.” TK pointed out. “Eh don’t worry,” Davis said pulling away from the window to sit on the ground, “I’m sure Imperialdramon can see something or it wouldn’t be able to fly this fast.” Davis rested his head in his hands. When were they going to find Kari? He missed her already. Although he was supposed to be forgetting about the feelings he had for her, he just couldn’t. Veemon had been right, if he didn’t stop this soon he’d go crazy. He knew TK and Kari had a thing, not a relationship, just a thing and everyone thought he didn’t know, but he did. Everyone thought he didn’t notice the way they made eyes with each other or how when they thought no one was looking they’d flash each other little smile, mocking smiles, about him and how stupid he was. And how he was stupid he was to think he could even get a chance with Kari. Davis sighed in defeat; there was nothing for him now. If he couldn’t have Kari’s affection then he’d just be a hollow shell. A hollow shell going about Davis normal life, it’d look like him, sound like him and even act like him. But it’d just be a shell, a body without a heart, or a soul, without meaning or direction. Just floating. Veemon was so right, if he kept thinking like this he’d probably lead himself into suicide, or some other ‘untimely’ death. Kari wasn’t that good was she? She had her flaws just like everyone else. Of course he couldn’t think of any right now, but if he had some more time he could probably find something wrong with her, but he would need a lot of time. “I think I see something.” Imperialdramon’s voice broke him from his brooding. Davis jumped up from his seat and was immediately at the window. Now, instead of the mountain range that had met them at the edge of the forest, huge brown plains soared underneath them. The landscape looked so dead, like a desert. Nothing grew here apart from a few tufts of brown grass and skeleton trees. How could Imperialdramon see anything here when nothing could possible live out here. “What is it?” Ken asked his face plastered against the window. “I don’t know it just looks like a brick house.” “I can’t see anything.” TK said “Hold on.” Imperialdramon replied speeding up slightly. He came to a sudden stop sending everyone flying to the back of the room. Davis peeled himself off the floor and rubbed the back of his head. “You think you could make that landing any more painful?” Davis shouted up at Imperialdramon. “Sorry.” Imperialdramon apologized opening the hatch to let the humans out, immediately de-digivolving back into Chibamon and Leafmon. “What is this place?” Davis asked walking up a small bluff to the lonely brick building. “It looks like a jail.” TK said noticing a barred window in the center of the brick wall. “What's in there?” Davis jumped up and grabbed hold of the bars lifting himself up to see inside. It was a pitifully small cell, only about the size of his toilet, and it didn’t even have one. It appeared to be one of many cells that lined the walls of the building. The walls and bars seemed to be in serious need of repair. The bars had rust covering them and the walls were covered with crack and holes. “What's in there?” Kan asked walking up next to Davis. “Nothing.” Davis said jumping down from the window. “Did you see a way in?” TK asked walking to the edge of the building and disappearing around the side. “Well I didn’t see one,” Davis said following TK. “Here we go.” TK mumbled locating a door on the opposite side. He tugged on the solid metal handles trying to move the rusted doors. But they refused to budge. He groaned and dug his heels into the ground using his weight to pull on the doors, but still they didn’t move. “Little help.” He groaned letting go of the handles. “C’mon Ken.” Davis said motioning to Ken. The three boys set themselves around the door, each holding onto a handle. “Okay on the count of three” TK said positioning himself again, “I… 2… 3” On TK’s count they all started to pull on the door. It gave a loud groan of protest as it started to open. It was obvious it hadn’t been used in a long time and mould and rust had encrusted around the edges. It creaked and shuddered as the boys managed to unjar it and pull it open. Davis let go of the handle, stumbling to catch his balance. He stood up straight and glanced into the dimly lit cellblock. It was just as it had looked through the window, small dirty and in serious disrepair. “What is this place?” Davis asked walking heedlessly into the dingy cellblock. “Did the others come here?” Ken asked following Davis. “I don’t think this place had been used in a while.” TK said wiping a thick layer of dust off one of the small cots that lined the wall. “Well this was a big waste of time.” Patamon commented flying over their heads to the back of the room. “Are we ever going to find Kari?” Davis asked himself sighing and leaning against the wall. He fingered the small cracks in the bricks as she sat up against the moldy wall. How were they supposed to find Kari now, they had absolutely no idea where those Airdramon had taken her. Just flying around looking for them was useless, they could have already passed them and not even know it. If Tai were here he’d know what to do, Davis had to face it he was a terrible leader. No one listened to anything he said anymore, even if they did before. It was all about TK. TK was the perfect one, the one with all the good plans, the one Kari admired. But Davis wasn’t going to let that pretty boy get away with it anymore! Davis stood up stamping his foot on the ground; sending small bits of cement flying from the cracks in the wall. He couldn’t just give up, what would Tai think of him? What would Kari think of him? He had to do something right away! “Davis you’re a genius!” TK said running up to him and slapping him on the back. Davis stared dumbfounded as TK admired his ‘knowledge’. This must be the first step to stardom; from now on he was going to think positive about everything. “I should have thought of that!” TK said slapping himself on the head, “I bet they’re down there.” He took off past Davis. Right in to the wall behind him. “Of course,” Ken yelled running after TK. Why were they running into the wall? Davis slowly turned around; so many possibilities going through his head, at this point nothing would surprise him. He was met with, instead of a large dirty brick wall, a narrow, dimly lit stairway. Where it lead, Davis didn’t know, but TK was right; Kari might be down there. He plunged himself into the darkness, heedless of anything that stood in his way; he had to get to Kari before anything happened to her. ** Yolie had never been a big fan of hiking, but she didn’t exactly hate it. Not until now, they had been walking through the dark wet forest for almost four days now; it was too much for Yolie to handle. Not only was she missing her soap operas but also her feet hurt and she hadn’t had a decent meal since she came here. If it were up to her she’d never go hiking again, if she ever saw another tree she swore she would puke. “Hawkmon can we stop now.” She whined. She knew it was useless but she had to try, ever since she had seen that ghost the forest had gotten slowly thicker and thick until every step she took she’d get hit by a branch or trip over a tree root or get scratched by spiky vines and flowers. But Hawkmon didn’t even seen to notice he just kept on walking like metronome. He was completely dead to the world, to her. She had been trying for the last hour and a half to get his attention, but her complaints lay on deaf ears. He said he was following the trail the others had left, but she couldn’t see any trail, it was all just trees and trees and more trees. If the others had lasted this long on the trail with Davis she’d eat her hat. No one could last this long with Davis even if they weren’t hiking through a thick, hot, trailess forest. A forest that made noises and was dark and scary. Yolie’s head darted from side to side; she had just successfully scared herself again. Usually it wasn’t this bad though, this time she could actually hear voices. Usually she would imagine ghosts and evil looking digimon were watching her from afar, their eyes glowing purple like that Meramon they had fought. Whenever the wind howled through the trees she would picture ghost and ghouls swirling around her like bats. But of course it was all in her head, is what Hawkmon would say. But this time it was more real than before. The voices were clear; not clear enough to hear what they were saying, but clear enough to know they were very close by. “Hawkmon.” Yolie whispered, not catching the birds’ attention at all, “Hawkmon I can hear voices.” To Yolie’s complete surprise, Hawkmon stopped his mechanical pace and turned to face her. “Where?” He asked, completely serious. Yolie was so taken aback with surprise she could barely reply. She managed to point a shaky finger in the directions of the voices. Real or not Hawkmon actually listened to her this time. He followed the direction she was pointing with his eyes, trying to locate the voices. He froze for a moment, listening then, like a bullet took off into the underbrush. Yolie tried her best to keep up with him but she was much too big. She lost sight of him for a moment, but she soon found him again. “Clive?” Yolie whispered here eyes big with amazement. Hawkmon had done it; he had found them! Sure it wasn’t all of them, but it was good enough for her. To Clive’s amazement Yolie ran up to him and slung her arms around his shoulders and started crying into his shirt. “I thought I’d never see anyone again I was so scared and tired and my feet hurt oh you have no idea how terrible it was.” She blubbered hugging Clive so tight he could barely breath. “Get off me women!” Clive shouted pushing her away and wiping his clothes with the back of his hands. “Where is everyone?” she asked, her anguish and tears immediately forgotten. Clive stared at her for a moment before turning his back and shrugging his shoulders. Yolie could hardly believe it. She had walked all this way, gone through all that torment just to find Clive, with no one else. “What do you mean you don’t know?” She screamed grabbing his shirt and glaring at him. “I didn’t say I didn’t know.” He said turning his head to the side and closing his eyes to avoid her piercing gaze. “So where are they?” She asked tightening her grip on his shirt. “I don’t know.” He replied smartly folding his arms across his chest. Yolie’s blood boiled. Not only was she tired, hungry and frustrated but also she was stuck with this cocky, arrogant smart-ass. Anyone within a twenty-mile radiance of them could tell Clive was in for a lot of yelling on behalf of his female counterpart. “Settle down Yolie.” He said pulling away from her death grip, “So who cares if everyone’s not here? Well just find them.” “How are we supposed to find them?” She yelled in his face, “Have you looked around yourself lately, we’re stuck in a thick dark forest that has no end. There’s absolutely no way out of here how are we supposed to find everyone?” “We’ll just get Hawkmon to digivolve, that’s what you do in this dream world right? Whenever you’re in trouble you get your little pals here to grow big and fly, so just get bigger, it cant be that hard you’ve done it before right?” “Well it’s not that easy…” Hawkmon started looking up at Clive, “I haven’t had a proper meal and I’m worn out from our walk. Digivolving takes up a lot of energy and I’m out.” “Oh no we’re doomed.” Yolie yelled dramatically dropping to her knees and pulling at her hair. “What's wrong with her? “Armadillomon asked shuffling away from her. “She’s just tired, I think if we get some rest I should be able to digivolve and Yolie might be in a better mood.” Clive sat down next to the small fire Wraithmon had constructed. This was just what he needed right now a crazed woman yelling at him all night. It was hard enough to think with Wraithmon yapping away in his ear, but now this. He remembered some information his father had given him on one of their not to frequent father son talks. He said women were just like wild animals, especially when they were mad. They could smell fear; the best way to calm them down was to just agree with everything they said, and not to make eye contact. Clive shuddered as Yolie’s screaming voice pierced the air once again. He lifted his eyes to watch the scene unfold. Wraithmon floated near Yolie, but far enough away to avoid her fists. She was carrying the same poorly woven flax bag filled with berries and fruit. Yolie however wasn’t satisfied with only fruit and had almost broken down in tears over it. “Why does this always happen, I need real food not just berries.” She whined clawing the ground ripping tufts of grass out with her fingernails. “I’m sorry Yolie but this is all we’ve got.” Wraithmon said setting the bag down in front of her. Yolie slowly lifted her eyes up to meet Wraithmons, burning with a fiery rage. She lashed out trying to grab Wraithmon so she could squeeze the life out of the annoying little wraith but her hand merely passed through her sending shivers and Goosebumps up her arm. She stared in shock at Wraithmon for a moment before breaking down into hysterical tears. “I’m so tired and I wanna go home.” She wailed shaking her head violently messing up her long purple hair. “Come on Yolie don’t cry, now that I’m stronger I can digivolve and we can find the others.” Hawkmon said patting her back. Yolie raised her bleary tear stained eyes to meet Hawkmon. He did look a lot stronger, but how did he get so much better in such a short time. Yolie glanced over to where Wraithmon had set down the sack full of fruit. Now all was left was the broken bag, every morsel of food gone. Yolie looked back at Hawkmon, too tired to even show her anger. “You ate all the food.” She said weakly her eyes filling up with tears again. “Oops.” Hawkmon mumbled covering his beak with his wing. “I’m so hungry…” She whispered curling up in a fetus position in the dirt, “…And tired.” She shivered once and started drifting off into a deep empty sleep. Her mind blank of everything but the fact that she wished she were home in her warm bed, with her chocolate and rice balls, and chocolate covered rice balls. Unfortunately she was woken from her exhausted daze by Wraithmon whispering softly in her ear. “Yolie?” She asked her cold dead breath making Yolie shiver. “Go away.” She mumbled waving her hand in Wraithmons general direction. “Yolie I got you some food.” She whispered still. Yolie’s eyes shot open, her mind instantly kicking into gear at the thought of food. She sat up grabbing the overused basket off Wraithmon shoving the contents into her mouth like a crazy woman. She shoveled it in without any thought of taste or looks. She didn’t care what it was, as long as it filled her up. At an inhumanly speed the food was gone and Yolie satisfied. She leaned back holding her stomach, she knew she was going to get indigestion now but she didn’t care, as long as she wasn’t that hungry ever again. “Thank you Wraithmon.” She said sighing and lying back down. “Oh no your not going to sleep again.” Clive said walking up next to her and glaring down at her. “What do you mean, I haven’t had a good sleep since I came here.” She argued sitting up returning Clives hardened glare. “You were asleep for eight hours how can you say you haven’t had a good sleep?” “Eight hours?” Yolie echoed him; “Did I really sleep for that long?” “Yes you did, and I’m not waiting for you any longer.” Clive said keeping his eyes locked on Yolie’s, “So either you get your rear into gear or you stay here and get eaten by some feral animal.” Yolie stared dumbfounded at Clive. He had been so nice before, well as nice as a guy like that could be, what was his problem? She shuffled nervously under his piercing glare. Why was he looking at her like that? She felt her cheeks go hot and knew she probably looked like a tomato right now. “What are you waiting for?” He asked crossing his arms over his chest. “Uh nothing…” She whispered pulling herself to her feet. “Yolie are you ready?” Hawkmon asked tugging on her pants. “Huh oh yeah.” She mumbled blushing even brighter avoiding eye contact with Clive. “Well…” Clive said impatiently tapping his foot on the ground. “Right.” She replied pulling out her D3. A red beam shot out hitting Hawkmon blocking him from view as he digivolved. “Hawkmon digivolve to… Arquillamon.” Arquillamon landed awkwardly in the forest, his large body barely fitting in the clearing they had been camped at. Yolie, Clive and Armadillomon climbed on his back, Wraithmon floating close by. Without a second thought from anyone they took off, leaving the dreaded forest far behind. ** The world spun wildly around Gatomon as she fell deeper into the black hole. Darkness surrounded her on every side, trapping her within its claws. There was no escape from it, no escape from the claws. Gatomon looked around herself at the familiar surroundings and gasped. She hadn’t been here for ages, since she found Kari, since she worked for Myotismon. She could never forget it though, the dirty walls, the cobwebs, Myotismon always liked his castle dirty and old. She walked around the familiar premises; she had walked these halls so many times before, running errands for that monster that dared call himself a digimon. Nothing could be more evil in her eyes; not even darkness was a dark as Myotismon. He made the darkness look like the brightest day. Suddenly the castle dropped away to be replaced only by his chuckle. Another thing she could never forget. His laugh was permanently etched into her brain. Every night in her nightmare (because she never had dreams) she would hear that laugh echo through her head like a ghost. And here it was again. I surrounded her on every side, bearing down on her like a giant. Each chuckle would send shivers down her spine, beating into her like fists. It gradually got louder and louder until it was unbearable, her ears drummed with each ‘ha’, her brain throbbing and her limbs aching. “Gatomon…” His voice cut through the laughs, silencing them, “Gatomon…” He said again in his mocking cynical tone. “Gatomon…” Gatomon rolled over on her side ignoring Melodye’s sweet voice, “Gatomon are you awake?” Gatomon’s eyes shot open as she sat up, knocking Melodye over. It was another dream, but she couldn’t remember going to sleep. “Your awake.” Melodye said picking up the cloth that had flown from her head in her haste. “How long have I been out?” Gatomon asked rubbing the sleep from her eyes, “And when did we stop for camp? The last thing I remember is… The cell block.” She glanced around herself in the early morning light. She remembered now, they had found the cellblock, but once they got there she got a headache and must’ve passed out. “You were out for about eight hours.” Cody said from his seat against the cell wall. “Was I really out for that long?” “Mmm Hmm.” Melodye mumbled standing up and dusting herself off. “Well what are we waiting for lets go find Kari.” Gatomon said jumping to her feet with newly found vigor. She lead them heedlessly around to the door that led into the small building. It looked a little broken and misused but it shouldn’t be too much from them to handle. “Okay everyone grab on and pull hard.” She instructed grabbing onto one of the handles and pulling as hard as the little strength she had let her. The others followed without a word, but the door didn’t budge. Rust and mould clogged up the crack in the two doors it would be virtually impossible from anything to open it. “I can help.” Flamon said flying over next to Gatomon, “I can digivolve.” Melodye pulled out her D3 holding it out in front of her, “Are you sure you can do this Flamon?” She asked hesitating a bit. “Of course I can, you can count on me!” As soon as the words were spoken orange light burst forth from Melodye’s digivice surrounding Flamon blocking her from view. Flamon could feel the power build up in her, it was this feeling she would never forget. The feeling of power, knowing that she could actually be of some help to Melodye and the others. She let the power inside her build until she couldn’t contain herself anymore. “Flamon digivolve too…” She started feeling her body change and morph into something stronger, her more powerful self, “Nichimon.” She finished landing next to the door. “Alright here I go…” She pulled her beak back readying her powerful fire blast, “Fire blast!” She yelled fire bursting from her beak and landing in the center of the door making it creak and groan. “Alright we’ll try again now.” Gatomon said grabbing one of the handles again. It groaned with reluctance but eventually the doors scraped apart, moss and rust falling from the cracks to the floor. They made their way slowly into the dimly lit cellblocks careful not to disturb anything. It reminded Gatomon of a graveyard, how they felt obliged not to talk or to move anything in memory of the poor souls that might have once inhabited this cell. Ken probably used it in his reign as the digimon emperor, she could picture digimon of all sorts locked in the tiny cells, deprived of food or sleep as the Digimon Emperors slaves. “There’s nothing in here.” Melodye observed, and she was right. Not a thing looked like it had been used in the last few years. Few digimon liked to visit the past, especially if it had been one of Ken’s slaves. Gatomon shivered involuntarily shivered the fur on the back of her neck standing on end. She could feel her head start to throb and her vision get blurry. It was happening again, whatever had happened to her before was happening again. She felt another wave of shivers run up her spine and the room started to spin around her. “So nice you could join me Gatomon.” Someone’s voice floated to her ears, making her shiver even more. She had head that voice before but she couldn’t remember when, everything seemed blurry at the moment and she couldn’t focus her mind on any one thing. She could hear Melodye talking to her but her voice sounded so far away. “I see you’ve brought some friends, well I better not leave them out of the fun.” The voice sounded again. It was so alien to her, but yet so familiar as if she shared some bond with the voice speaker. Her heart pounded in her ears blocking every sound but that of the mocking feminine voice that ran through her head. It gave her the same sensation as Myotismon did; the same shivers and fears. It was filled with the same malice Myotismon’s was the same sick twisted sense of evil that caught her and strangled her every night in her dreams. Where had she heard it before? She was suddenly snapped from her dizziness and drawn to the far wall. She felt around for a moment with her paws locating the spot she needed. She slammed her paw down on a certain brick and the wall slid open revealing a dark stairway. Without another though of her own she ran down the stairs to meet the source of the voice. She raveled swiftly down the narrow corridor running with all the swiftness of her cat like body. She reached the bottom of the stairwell covering her eyes with her paws from the sudden burst of light that she was met with. She stumbled through the end of the passage blinking furiously to adjust to the blinding glare of the white walls. “Ah here you are.” The voice said making every muscle in her body tense. She glanced around the room for the source of the voice. Surprise washing over her features as she spotted the speaker. She remembered now where she had heard that voice, how could she forget. Memories and images flooded into her mind, overwhelming her causing her to stumble and land on her knees. “Silia…” She whispered staring up at the Black cat. “That’s right Chelsea, remember me? The black sheep of the family, the ugly duckling.” “Silia what are you doing?” Gatomon asked pulling herself to her feet. “Chelsea I’m surprised you even remember me, you were always mothers little pet.” “Silia I-I…” gatomon trailed off gaping in awe at the little black Gatomon. “What have you been doing with yourself hey Chelsea? I heard you joined up with those digidestined.” ‘Silia’ said, that familiar cynical grin plastered on her face, just the way Gatomon remembered. “Silia what have you been doing? Everyone thought you were dead.” Gatomon said tears stinging the corners of her eyes, “We looked everywhere for you that day.” “Oh please don’t even try to console me with your pathetic stories of how mother really did love me because I know for a fact that she didn’t.” Silia yelled to Gatomon spitting on the floor at her feet. “Silia she did love you, she loved all of us.” Gatomon pleaded, tears bubbling over her eyes and sliding down her furry cheek. “Hmph, well it doesn’t really matter now.” She spat, “I’m here to finish off the last of the family that hated me.” “What do you mean by that?” Gatomon asked stepping back from Silia fear written in her eyes. “Oh don’t worry you’ll find out soon enough, but first will you let me have some fun, for old times sake?” She stuck her claws in her mouth and let out a deafening whistle. Gatomon spun around in time to see a black blur fly her way. She tried to avoid whatever it was but a sharp pain shot down her spine and in an instant her limbs lost all feeling and she fell to the floor, blackness overcoming her. ** Life was pain. Life had always been pain. But this pain exceeded all other pain felt by any human in history. Until this moment Kari had never even had a taste of real pain. Every hour of every day was filled with unimaginable pain of all sorts. Her body constantly ached with the memory of pain, and the anticipation of more pain. Kari wasn’t sure how long she had been lying on her deathbed but every moment was torture. She would wake up with white-hot pain searing through all her veins, but she wasn’t even sure when she had fallen asleep. Sometimes, in the periods between torture and waking, which weren’t many, she would glance over at Iris. Her vision was usually blurred with tears and weariness, but what she saw horrified her even beyond the pain she felt, for this pain was in her heart. Her friend, who she had no way of saving, lay like a corpse on a table, much like her own. Her skin, pale as death, cuts and bruises littered her skin like a disease. Her breathing was heavy, much like her own, and her body shook wit h every breath. Kari wished so much TK were here. He was here to release her from this never-ending pain. To shed hope on her battered soul. She sometimes, when she woke to the pain would almost give up hope. Would almost give up her life to the pain, to the hell that surrounded her on every side. But she would look over to her friend, her friend that she was helpless to save, even if the solid metal bindings hadn’t held her down. If TK were here he would renew the light that had lived inside her before the pain, but it was gone now. Everything had died with the pain. Her body and soul tortured beyond repair and thrown aside like a rag. But still she woke to the pain. Kari wasn’t sure how long she lay there, every waking moment filled with pain. It could have been one week or it could have been one year, she didn’t know. Time was of no importance next to the pain. The only thing keeping her alive was the hope that soon someone would come. TK, Davis Yolie, Cody, any of them would come and stop the pain, or she’d die. Shed die like everything else. She’d fall like a bug under a shoe; there was no winning in this game of pain. But one day it stopped. It stopped for a while. She wasn’t sure what happened, but she woke to pain again. After waking for the umpteenth time to pain she was not greeted with the unbearable torture tools. Instead there was silence. Silence like she’d never heard. She turned her head to glance at Iris, but she too, like the pain, was gone. She gasped with one of her long deep breaths. Where had they taken her? What had they done with her? Was she dead? They were all thoughts running wildly through Kari’s tired weakened mind. What was she to do? She tried to sit up, and to her complete surprise her bindings were gone, nothing held her down but her weak muscles and stiff limbs. She sat up leaning heavily on her hands for support. For once she could look around and observe her surroundings; not that this was a place she particularly wanted to remember. The torture chamber was a small dimly lit cellar, probably meant for wine or storage. In the middle of the room two metal beds sat, which was what she had been lying on for the last pain filled forever. On the wall large metal instruments hung, warning her of the pain that was surely to come. She hopped down from the bed, her shaky legs barely holding her weight. The floor was damp and mossy under her bare feet. She wasn’t sure where her shoes or clothes had gone, but at some point she had been issued with a gown, once white but now covered with spots of her own, or someone else’s blood. She took a few shaky steps, like a child first learning to walk, but collapsed on the next table. Her legs had been immobile for so long she couldn’t remember over the pain how to use them. She pulled herself to her feet again depending heavily on the table. She glanced around the room again, locating a door on the opposite wall. She took a deep breath preparing herself for the pain that was to follow and pushed herself away from the table stumbling over to the door. She grabbed onto the doorframe to support herself breathing heavily from the effort it took her to walk. She glanced through the door, down the dark passage it led to. She couldn’t remember through her fuzzy memory of the last few days this door ever being here. But of course she could have easily over looked it. She took another long shaky breath pushing away from the doorframe trying to support herself on her own. She feared her legs would give out on her but they managed to hold. She walked slowly down the dark passage, each step carefully placed to avoid anything she could possibly trip on. The passage almost seemed to go on forever. Eventually light broke the darkness, blinding Karis eyes. She blinked a few times trying to adjust to the sudden burst of light that flooded into the passage. Here eyes had been so used to the dim light of the cell that this light made her eyes water. She shaded her face walking closer still to the light it growing bigger as she closed in on the source. She broke out of the passage into a large pure white room. The glare created by the lights was almost too much for her. She closed her eyes rubbing them with the back of her hand. She squinted against the blinding glare waiting for her eyes to focus and adjust to the light. Everything soon came into focus, some things still blurry but mostly clear. She could barely even start to examine the room before a spinchillingly familiar voice cut through the air. “Nice you could join us Kari.” Black Gatomon said in her cynical voice. Kari located the little cat giving it the most piercing glare she could muster. She was the cause of all her pain; the reason life seemed so dull right now. The reason her light had faded so much so couldn’t even stand it anymore. The reason Iris was in pain, the reason she couldn’t save her. “You.” She whispered memories of pain filling her head until a blind rage consumed everything, “You’re the reason.” “What? The reason for what?” She asked her voice dripping with a pleased sarcasm. “You the reason I couldn’t help her.” Kari yelled up at Gatomon, “You’re the reason the light hurts my eyes! You’ll pay for this!” “Kari…” A weak voice pleaded bringing Kari from her rage. Kari glanced around her until she found the source of the voice. Chained to the far wall with thick metal chains was Iris. She looked so tired and hurt Kari could barely tell it was her. She looked directly into Kari’s eyes her own pleading and hurt. Kari could barely recognize her friend in the state she was in. Her usually perfect hair was messed up around her face, her body soaked with sweat and blood. But her eyes scared Kari the most. For as long as she had know Iris, which wasn’t particularly long her eyes had always had this glow to them, a charisma almost that drew you to them. But now, after the blinding mental and physical torture she had gone through her eyes seemed dull. They looked glazed and the color had faded, but most of all the life had drained out of them, the glow that had once drawn her to them like bugs to a fire was gone. “You monster.” Kari whispered shaking her head, “What kind of monster would do this?” “Kari…” Iris whispered lifting her head slightly, “Kari don’t worry about me…” “Iris…” Kari whispered back, tears forming on the side of her eyes. This was her chance. This was her chance to finally save her, save her from the blinding pain she had been put through. Kari started slowly making her way over to Iris, each step getting faster and faster until she was almost running. “Kari no… “Iris whispered, “Kari it’s a… trap.” “Take one more step…” Gatomon said halting Kari’s progress, “And your friends will die.” Kari spun around to face Black Gatomon to find the door she had entered through gone, replaced by a wall holding Cody, Melodye, Flamon and Gatomon. “You monster let them go what did they do to you?” Kari yelled. “Kari don’t worry about us save yourself.” Cody said struggling against the metal chains that pinned him to the wall. What was she supposed to do? How was she ever going do this? If Tai were here he would know what to do he always did. But he wasn’t, she was on her own and she had to realize that. If she saved Iris then the other would die, but if she saved the others Iris would have to die. She couldn’t handle all this pressure, how was she supposed to make a decision like this? She didn’t want any of her friends to die, but she owed it to Iris to save her, she couldn’t release her from the pain before so now was her chance. But if she did she’d be writing on the others tombstones. She couldn’t condemn them to death just because of her selfish needs. What was she supposed to do? “Take me.” She said. She didn’t even know where that had come from but now that she had said it, it had made a lot of sense. To take just one life than all of them made a lot of sense. It was just like the time when Davis had volunteered to sacrifice himself to save them, even though they were actually just Bakemon. At the time it hadn’t made a lot of sense to her, she got the basic point but what feelings compelled him to do such a selfless thing she now understood. The fear that was involved, the fear of having the blood of your companions on your hands was too much for anyone to handle. The fear of choosing the wrong person or having everyone else blame it on you was too much. “Kari no.” She heard Gatomon call. She turned to face her digimon partner. Gatomon had been so good to her, she had got her and the others out of more jams than she could count on her fingers and toes. And she had been a friend; a friend when she was in need, a friend that she knew would be there forever, in body and spirit. How could she let her die like that? How could she possibly have to choose her best friend in the whole world? “Kari don’t do it!” Cody yelled out. How could she choose Cody either? They may not be that close but he had been there like all her other friends. How could she have the burden of sacrificing such an innocent soul on her shoulders? How would she be able to live with herself knowing she was the reason Cody missed his mothers’ macaroni and Cheese? Kari could feel the tears well up and spill over her eyes. “Kari don’t worry about us!” Melodye and Flamon shouted in unison. She may not have known those two for very long but having to kill someone like that was too much for her to handle. She could only imagine what her family in America would think if they found out their child had gone missing in Japan and never found again. The tears ran freely down her cheeks now, she could barely contain her wracking sobs as she turned to Iris, the one she owed the most. “Kari…” She whispered, “Don’t worry about me… save yourself and the others.” How could she have let this go so far? How could she let her friend down so much so she had to go through so much pain? She knew; she knew what it was like to go through that pain, and she did not want anyone else to. But Iris knew the pain as well and Kari had been helpless to save her. She didn’t even try, all she did was lay there absorbed in her own pain, completely oblivious to the pain they were causing her friend. “No, I’m not going to let them hurt you anymore.” She choked out coughing from the pain her sobs gave her. “Very well.” Black Gatomon said sitting back in the large chair she occupied, “I’ll take you, and your friends.” She said smiling mockingly down at Kari. “No, No that’s not the way it goes.” Kari screamed up at her, “Take me and let my friends go!” “Oh but that wouldn’t be half as fun.” She teased, “Then I’d only have one subject.” “Let them go!” Kari screamed in vain falling to her knees in the middle of the cold metal floor, “Please let them go.” “Hmm I’ll think about it.” She teased some more, a malicious grin spreading over her face, “But you have to beg me.” “I already am.” Kari whispered, her body shaking violently with sobs, “Please, I beg of you, let my friends go.” “I…” Black Gatomon started but she was interrupted as the wall Cody and the others were hanging from burst into a million pieces, releasing them from their binds. “What is this?” Black Gatomon asked standing up on her chair. “Kari what are you doing on the ground?” Kari heard Davis ask. She lifted her head, her hair falling messily around her face. Her eyes brightened at the sight of her savior, her knight in shining armor. TK… |