| Chapter 4: Escape From Insanity The park was maybe the most beautiful thing Iris had ever seen. Despite the fact she had traveled around the digiworld so many times she had lost count, despite the fact she had seen things most humans would never even dream of. She had seen ruins from civilizations that had lived before time itself, she sat by and watched as volcanoes spewed out molten lava, she had lay down in the snow and stared up at as aurora borealis spread it’s light across the sky. The sense of peace she felt when she walked through the park at twilight couldn’t be compared. The fact that when she looked up and saw the buildings of Tokyo looming over the Sakura trees made her feel at ease. It made her feel like she was truly home forever. It made her feel comfortable and wanted. “Hey Iris…” Davis’ voice pulled her out of her daydream and back into reality, “How did you know witchmon was there?” Iris studied Davis’ eyes carefully. Even though he tried to hide it she could tell he was hurting, what from she couldn’t tell, she just knew that something was troubling him. “When you spend half your life in the digiworld you learn to hone your senses.” She replied carefully. They fell into silence again. Iris would occasionally glance over at Davis who was obviously lost in thought. Davis had called her earlier that afternoon and asked her to meet him at the park, he had said he wanted to ‘talk’. “So what did you want to talk about?” She asked trying to break the silence. Davis glanced at her then back down at his feet; he let out an exhausted sigh. “Um I was…” he trailed off into an awkward silence. “You were…” She prodded. “You know what it’s funny I can’t think what I asked you out here for.” He said laughing nervously. Iris stared at him suspiciously, then shook her head and stared at her feet. “Actually I do remember what I wanted to say to you but I don’t think it’s that important anymore.” “Well what was it anyway, I’m intrigued.” They stopped walking and she sat down on a nearby bench. “Well I wanted to ask you if… umm…when your birthday is.” “My birthday? Why do you want to know?” “I-I can’t tell you.” He said mysteriously. “It’s on the twenty third of May.” “Oh well now that I got that off my shoulders, I better be going.” He started to walk off. “Hey wait! She yelled standing up, “Aren’t you gonna walk me home?” “Uh yeah I was just going to do that.” He said turning around and running back to her, “well lets go.” ** “So how do you feel Melodye?” Flamon asked jumping onto Melodye’s stomach. “About what?” She pretended not to know what Flamon was talking about, but she knew full well. Finding others like herself was the best thing that could have happened to her, most her life she had to hide that fact she was, what the others called a ‘digidestined’. She had never really fit in with the other kids at school, they knew she was different, and so did she but being able to fit in with a group like her was almost moving. The only bad part was the fact that she was supposed to save the digiworld. She had Yolie fill her in on the details, the digidestined were a group of people who were destined to save the digiworld, and consequently earth as well. Apparently the two were linked and travel between them was relatively easy. She wasn’t really sure how the others got to the digiworld, but they talked as if they went there every weekend. Maybe it was something to do with those little gadgets they carried with them, what had she called them? ‘Digivices’. Anyway having to save the digiworld didn’t really sit well with her, because she knew they would just end up in a bunch of pointless fighting, and people would get hurt. “Well you know about finding the digidestined and stuff.” “I gotta admit it’s pretty good, finally finding some people I can relate to.” “Yeah you’ve always been so lonely.” “That’s not true, I’ve had you.” ** “Damn those digidestined!” Witchmon bellowed as she strode through the halls of her castle, “You know what Gatomon I’m almost starting to believe those rumors about the digidestined.” “Now, now mistress you don’t really mean that do you?” “…I’m not sure Gatomon.” “Mistress you didn’t even really try back there you can’t truly judge them on that one little incident.” “You’re right Gatomon I’m not done yet.” “That’s the spirit your evilness, that group of children doesn’t scare me, and it certainly shouldn’t scare you.” “Of course not, but we’re going to need a plan to defeat them.” “Ah of course, well from the information I’ve received, these digidestined usually work best in packs.” The black Gatomon started, and evil grin plastered on her face. “So if we break them up then they’ll be useless.” Witchmon finished. “Then well capture them and make the others watch while we torture them one by one, as I’ve always said, revenge is a dish that can be eaten cold” Witchmon grinned at the thought. “That’s the most perfect plan I’ve ever heard, I’ve been itching to use those torture tools in the dungeon.” “Well no worries, my plan can not fail.” ** “Melodye you ready for the digiworld?” Yolie asked as they walked up to the schools computer room. “I-I think so, what’s it like?” “I think it’s better to judge that by yourself.” “Well guys here we are, are you all ready?” Davis asked opening the door to the computer room. The group walked in, in silence. As soon one of them neared the first computer a strange screen came up. The computer started to glow with a white light and two colored beams of light shot out from it. One beam went straight to Melodye and the other flew out of the room. “Uh where’d the other one go?” Davis asked walking to the door. “Ow what the hell?” A cry was heard from out in the hallway. “I knew it.” Iris mumbled. “Knew what?” Cody asked walking over to join Davis “I sensed another digidestined.” She ran out the door and disappeared in the halls. “Wait Iris!” Davis yelled and ran after her. The rest of the group followed suit. They found Iris standing over a boy about their age, maybe older. He had short messy golden hair. He was wearing a plain blue long sleeved shirt with a green hood, covered by a red vest and some long cargo pants that reached to his knees. “Are you okay?” She asked helping him up. “I’m fine.” He said snatching his hand away from hers and wiping it on his jeans. ”But what the hell is this?” He held up and orange digivice to the group. “You’re a digidestined?” TK asked moving closer to him to get a better look. “What the hell are you talking about?” the kid backed away and looked suspiciously at them and their digimon. “You’ve got a digivice just like mine.” Melodye held up her own red digivice for him to see. “Yeah so?” He looked over his digivice once more, “what does this thing do magical tricks or something?” “No but it allows pass into the digiworld.” Ken said knowingly, “We’ve all got one, and we are all digidestined.” Everyone in the group pulled out their digivices, “So therefor you must also be a destined.” “And what do you destined do, collect bottle caps or something?” “No we are destined to save the digiworld from the evil that plagues it.” Kari explained. “Yeah right, you guys are crazy.” The kid tossed his digivice into a nearby bin and walked off. Davis ran over and grabbed the digivice out of the bin, his face red with anger. “You don’t just throw these things away like an old toy!” He yelled and threw the digivice at the kid’s head. It hit him right in the back of the head and sent him sprawling to the ground. He instantly got up and yelled to Davis. “What the hell’d you do that for you maniac, I could have been hurt!” “That was the point you knave!” Davis yelled back. “Stop it!” Iris yelled, the two boys immediately ceased their yelling. Iris walked over to the digivice that lay on the ground and picked it up. She handed it to the boy, who reluctantly took it. “You obviously got this for a reason, the digiworld has chosen you to be one of the digidestined weather you like it or not. Now I know we got off to a bad start…” “A bad start?” The boy yelled backing away from Iris, “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. You crazy people send some cursed gadget to smash me in the head and then start yelling at me.” he took tome to glance at Davis, “And you think it’s a ‘bad start’ that’s an understatement” “Alright why don’t we start again. My names Iris, what’s yours?” “Clive.” The boy replied. “Hello Clive, these are my friends, “Iris motioned to the group behind her, “Yolie, Cody, Kari, TK, Ken and Davis. “ Clive glared daggers at Davis. “I know this is all confusing for you, I know its all knew to me as well. Let me try to explain. The digidestined are a group of people who are sent to reap the digiworld of all its evils. You have been chosen to take part in this, it is your fate to walk the same path as us.” “This is too much,” The boy sighed, “What the hell is the digiworld?” “It’s a parallel universe, home to the digimon.” “And what’s a digimon.” “We’re digimon, Oopamon said from Yolie’s arms. The boy seemed taken back by the talking toy. “I must be dreaming, yeah this is all a dream.” Clive assured himself “Believe me this is no dream, more like a nightmare.” Davis said. “Surly…” The boy agreed, “Alright what do you want me to do?” “Come with us, we were just about to go to the digiworld.” TK said “Fine whatever, I’m bound to wake up soon enough.” “But you’re not…” Davis started but was cut off by Kari, “Don’t Davis.” The nine of them made their way down the halls to the computer room. Once again the digiport came up on the screen. All of them pulled out their digivices as Davis yelled, “Digiport open!” They all underwent the downloading process and they fell out in a cavern, much like the one Davis had found Iris in, just without the pool. “This is the digiworld?” Clive asked looking around the cave, “Doesn’t look very special to me. Why are we saving it again?” “Because it is directly linked to the real word, so if one falls the other does too.” Ken explained. “Oh…” Clive looked around in disgust, how and why would he ‘save’ this place? Was he supposed to use the little gadget that hit him in the head? He pulled his digivice out again and looked at it carefully, it didn’t look very special. He looked up to try spot one of the other kids but all he saw was white; he backed away from whatever it was to get a better look. Sitting about thirty centimeters from his face was a small white ghost, a childishe smile spread across it’s face. Clive screamed and backed away from it. “Clive!” The thing yelled coming closer as if to hug him. He let out another scream and ran behind TK. “Get it away from me!” He hollered. TK stared at Clive in confusion then looked up to see what he was hiding from. A small cute ghost digimon floated in front of him. “Clive?” It asked looking hurt “Get it away from me.” Clive whimpered gripping onto TK’s shirt. “What are you scared of Clive? It’s just a harmless digimon.” TK said trying to pry Clive off his shirt. Clive looked up at him; his eyes filled with fear, “Digimon?” He asked. He released his grip on TK’s shirt and composed himself. The digimon’s eyes lit up and it floated closer to Clive. “I’ve been waiting so long for you to come Clive, and when the digivices flew off I knew you were coming and I was so excited…” The little ghost rattle on for a moment. Realizing the way Clive was staring at her she cocked her head to one side and questioned, “Clive?” “What… the hell is this thing?” He asked, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Clive…I’m your digimon.” The little digimon said, hurt obvious in its voice. “Wraithmon,” Yolie started reading off her D-terminal, “The ghost digimon, digivolves to Bakemon, watch out for her scary face attack, it’ll scare your pants off.” “Wraithmon?” Clive asked, circling the ghost. “I thought Bakemon were virus digimon.” Cody said opening up his D-terminal and reading the information on Bakemon. “Oh great, lemme guess I get the evil one so I’m gonna turn evil or something?” Clive asked poking Wraithmon, his finger merely went through her as if she weren’t there. “That’s not true,” Wraithmon said looking Clive in the eye, “I’m not bad, I swear.” Clive studied her some more before turning to look at the group’s digimon. “So what do these things do? Do they dance and sing or just sit there and look ugly?” There were a few mumbled protests from the digimon but Patamon spoke up, “We are the digidestined faithful protectors, we are to watch over our human and make sure they are okay. That is a digimon’s duty.” Clive glanced at Wraithmon once more then shrugged his shoulders. “Why not,” He said turning to Wraithmon. She smiled brightly and hugged him. “Thank you so much Clive we’re gonna be the bestest of friends, I’ve got so much to tell you!” “Whatever,” He mumbled. “Well now that that’s over and done with can we get on with the show?” Davis asked impatiently. “Yeah let’s get out of this smelly cave before I choke.” Cody agreed. The group made their way through the cavern. Yolie nearly choked, the air was thick and it clogged her nose and throat, not to mention it smelt terrible, like old gym socks and mothballs. Sort of like Davis’ room. They left the cavern they were in and were led through a network of dank dark caves. This was probably the worst thing she had ever experienced; they would walk through one narrow hall like cave and end up in front of two or three more. Wraithmon would float in front of each one, thinking. She would each time pick the worst possible cave. The only person who could walk through it comfortably was Cody, and the ground was littered with stalagmites and because it was so dark she would trip on them and badly skin her knees and hands or she would just plain run into them. Sometimes the air would get so thick and muggy she couldn’t breath, small droplets of water would instantly stick to her but that wasn’t any relief, she would get so hot she felt she was about to faint. Luckily for them the cave wasn’t that big, after about the fourth turn off the air started to lighten and the smell got less overpowering, the end was in sight. When they finally made it out everyone was so relieved, they were blessing whatever gods ruled the digiworld for their release from the horrible catacombs. She glanced over at Wraithmon, she obviously had no idea what everyone was so happy about, but then again, she was a ghost, and she didn’t fully understand how terrible it felt to be hot and cramped in a smelly cave. “Well where do we go now?” Yolie asked the question that was on everyone’s mind. “Well Wraithmon what have you heard of Witchmon?” TK inquired. “Who?” Wraithmon cocked her head to the side and stared at Clive questioningly. Clive just shrugged his shoulders, “I’m new to this too.” “You know the evil digimon that’s been terrorizing the Digiworld?” “There’s someone terrorizing the digiworld?” She asked, her eyes getting big with anger, “Who? Where are they? Lemme at em’!” She flew around the group throwing punches in the air. Everyone looked at each other questioningly. “Um wraithmon where have you been for the last couple of months?” Polarmon asked hesitantly. “Why I’ve been watching over the digivices, I have been ever since I was a baby, I knew that the day they went flying my master would come and we’d…” She trailed off into silence. “We’d…” Clive prodded. “Well I never really thought about what we’d do I was concentrating on guarding the digivices.” “You spent your whole life guarding one digivice?” Cody asked in shock “Two.” She said knowingly “Who’s was the other one?” Clive asked. “How should I know, I just knew if they got into the wrong hands then I’d be in trouble.” “Did it look like this?” Melodye asked pulling out her digivice and waving it in front of Wraithmon. “Yeah! That’s it! You should be grateful I took care of it so well.” Wraithmon said proudly. “What were you protecting it from?” Clive asked “Well…” She looked down at the ground embarrassed, “Well I don’t know, nothing really came that far into the caves, but if they had I woulda’ beat em’ up good!” She threw a few more punches in the air, then looked around at the confused kids. She stopped in mid punch and blushed, if that was at all possible for a ghost. “Umm right…” The group trailed off into silence. “So you know nothing about Witchmon?” Ken asked scratching the back of his head. “Don’t worry, I know all about her.” Polarmon said walking into the middle of the group, “Bad news travels fast.” “Do you know where her hide out is?” Davis asked hopefully, hoping to get some action in before the day ended. “Well not exactly…” Polarmon replied, Davis face fell, “But I’ve seen what she’s done, if you’d like me to show you, there’s a village not far from here…” “Witchmon destroyed it.” Iris finished “Was there any survivors?” Ken asked, concerned for the digimon. “I don’t know. There was nobody there when we got there, it was just a pile of rubble.” “We might as well check it out.” Yolie said, “There’s no harm in that, right?” There was a chorus of mumbles from the group, “Well lead us the way.” Davis piped up pushing Iris to the front of the group and waiting for her to start leading them. “You sure you’re all ready for this?” She asked looking at Cody particularly. “I’m fine.” Cody mumbled in his raspy voice. “Alright…” Iris took the lead and walked the group straight into the forest that lay outside the cave. It seemed to Clive they’d been walking for hours. He’d never been a big fan of hiking sure if he was hiking through a park or well paved area he’d be fine but the woods was no place for a well bread child like himself. His mother was a well-respected businesswoman, and his father, a trader. He’d always been offered the finest things in life. Some would say he’d grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth or however the saying went, and it was true. How he ended up hiking through the woods with a bunch of beggars and mutated animals was beyond him. He was absolutely sure he was dreaming, nothing this absurd happened in real life. He glanced a Davis, who was at the front of the group, holding a conversation with the one they called Iris. How could one person be so disrespectful? It disgusted him; the way he lacked even the simplest manners appalled Clive. He had grown up being taught to respect everyone, even if they were animals like him. Clive ignored it though, even though this seemed way too real to be a dream, it had to be. He rubbed the spot on the back of his head where he’d been hit twice with his digivice. It hurt, a lot, and it was so vivid as well, but he convinced himself it was all a dream. “Whatcha thinkin bout Clive?” Wraithmon said in her slack tongue. “I’m thinking about how vivid this dream is, I’ve never felt pain in one of my dreams before.” “Dream?” She asked, cocking her head to one side, like animals did when they were confused, “What are you talking about Clive, this isn’t a dream.” “How am I supposed to believe that? Here I am trekking through some uncharted forest, like a feral cat or something, with a bunch of dirty beggars, and I’m talking to a ghost. I swear I’m never eating cheese before I go to sleep, even though I don’t remember ever going to sleep…” He trailed off into thought again. “Clive, your not dreaming, I’m real, and so is the digiworld, and your friends aren’t beggars.” Wraithmon said, floating backwards in front of Clive so she could look into his eyes. “Of course it’s a dream!” He yelled exasperated, “You don’t really expect me to believe any of this is real do you?” Wraithmon looked hurt by this, she seemed to disappear, but she then reappeared next to Clive. He sort of felt guilty for hurting her feelings. What was he thinking, it doesn’t really matter this is all just a dream. “Poor guy, he probably thinks he’s going insane.” TK said turning around to look at Clive. “Well do you remember how you felt when you first came into the digiworld?” Kari asked him poking him in the arm. “Well not really, I was only eight when I first came in, I thought it was pretty cool.” “I guess your right, it must be really hard for him.” “But it’s Melodye’s first time in the digiworld, and she doesn’t seem to mind.” TK pointed out. “Yeah but she had a digimon to start off with, so it wouldn’t be as bad.” “Hmm I remember Joe acted almost the same when we first came in, he was so scared of Gomamon he almost wet his pants.” TK laughed at the memory. “That’s not nice TK.” Kari said, but she couldn’t help but laugh at the mental image she had of Joe frantically trying to get away from cute little Gomamon. “How did you feel when you first came into the digiworld?” TK asked more seriously. “Well I wasn’t very indifferent to it, I remembered when I first saw digimon so I wasn’t very creeped out, just from the fact I was away from my mother.” “Hey you know how every digidestined saw a digimon when they were younger, that’s how they became digidestined?” “Yeah…” “Well wouldn’t Clive remember his encounter with a digimon?” Kari pondered this. It was a very long time ago when she first saw a digimon so it was easy to understand if he just forgot, or thought it was a dream. Then there was that incident in Tokyo when they first went to the digiworld, where the whole country was overrun by digimon. How could he forget something like that? Even if he happened to be in another country at the time, it was happening all around the world from what she could gather. Why was it he seemed to never have seen a digimon before? She glanced over her shoulder at him; he seemed to be having a lot of trouble keeping up with the group. He musn’t be very fit. It was also very obvious he had been brought up in a fairly rich household. The clothes that he wore and the overall way he held himself just gave it away. She didn’t know very much about him, of course she didn’t she only met him, but why hadn’t she seen him before? And why was he in the school to start off with, and on the weekend? These were all questions she would have to find out. Just not right now. “So how far away is this village?” Davis asked walking next to Iris, he couldn’t stand it when other people took the lead, but in this case it was necessary. “It’s not too far, it should take another five, ten minuets.” “Of course it’s a dream!” They heard Clive yell from the back of the group. Davis and Iris both looked at each other amused. “That was weird.” Davis said, Iris giggled at this. She looked over her shoulder at the new member to their group. He didn’t look very well, he lagged behind the rest of the group, and his face was red from exhaustion. It was obvious just by looking at him his parents were rich. “Hey Iris how many years did you say you were in the digiworld for?” Davis asked, breaking her chain of thought. “Eight.” She replied “That means you would have been here when we came in here for the first time. Right?” “Well yeah I was…” “Then why didn’t we see you?” “I was on the other side of the digiworld when you guys came, I heard about the digiemperor and the prophet of the digidestined but by the time I made to where you guys had been it was all over. I missed my only chance of getting back to the real world.” “How big is the digiworld?” “How big is the real world?” Iris asked in reply “You know it’s not polite to answer a question with a question.” Davis replied haughtily. Iris punched him hard in the arm. “It’s also rude to act superior to someone.” She said knowingly. He punched her back lightly. “Ooowww…” She whined grabbing the spot on her arm as if it had been shot, “It’s also rude to hit girls.” “You think that was a hit? “He asked pulling his hand back ready to hit her. He slowly brought his had over and tapped her on the shoulder. She screamed in pain and grabbed onto her arm again. “Aiyaahh you really, really hurt me.” She said playfully. “Oh gosh I’m sorry,” he pulled her hand away and looked carefully at the spot he had tapped her, “Yep there’s gonna be a bruise there. You want me to kiss it better?” He made kissy faces at her arm. She pulled away from him roughly. “Uh no I’ll be alright.” She kept her eyes locked forward, but couldn’t brush off the feeling he was watching her. She glanced his way and found him smiling and staring at her funny, as soon as she looked though he turned away and pretended to be looking at the trees. She purposely ran into him, “Quit looking at me funny.” She said, now walking shoulder to shoulder with him. “Wha… I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He said looking at her confused. She growled in her throat but couldn’t stop a smile from creeping up to her lips. “Hey Iris,” Polarmon interrupted their conversation, “I hate to interrupt you guys cause you look so cute but we’re here.” “What do you mean we look cute?” She half yelled at her digimon. “Well you two seemed to be having such fun…” She trailed off, glancing at Davis who was blushing a bright crimson, “Anyway that’s not the point, we’re here now.” She motioned towards the remains of a town that lay just below the hill they were standing on. Clive walked up to the front of the group, “Are we there yet…” His sentence was cut short when he saw the charred remains of what once seemed to be a village. Pictures of a village, not unlike this one, burning to the ground, flashed across his vision. Flames and smoke ran across his sight, blurring his eyes. It seemed so real, he could smell burning wood, and flesh, he could feel the heat of the flames on his skin. But of all the scenes that flashed before his eyes one stood out the most. A women was laying under a huge piece of lumber, calling his name, he tried to save her, even to call out to her, but he was frozen. He tried to move his arms but they wouldn’t respond. All he could do was watch on as the women died before his eyes. “Clive you okay?” Yolie’s voice broke him out of his daze, he looked around himself, at the trees that loomed over him, but he avoided looking at the village. “Yeah I just lost it for a moment there, I’m fine.” He followed her down the hill to join the rest of the group who were already in the ruins. He stopped before he entered; the picture of that lady lying under a huge piece of wood was still fresh in his mind. “Aren’t you coming?” She asked waiting for him at the entrance of the town. “No, I-I think I’ll just wait out here, I got a bit of a headache.” She looked at him suspiciously for a moment then shrugged. “Oh well, just stay where you are.” She ordered him. “Whatever.” He mumbled as he sat down on the soft grass. “What’s the matter Clive?” Wraithmon asked floating down so she was eye level with him. “Nothing, you wouldn’t understand.” He said rubbing his temple to relieve the pain in his head. “I could try to understand.” She said floating around him. “I said you wouldn’t understand, “ He scalded, “I-I just need to be alone.” Wraithmon easily got the message and disappeared before he yelled at her anymore. “I’m here if you need me.” Her voice lingered where she had just been. Clive sighed and flopped down on his back. “This is terrible!” Gatomon said walking through the ruins of the once peaceful village. “I know, what kind of heartless evil would do something like this?” Patamon said flying just above Gatomon. Wormmon crawled over to the two. “Now I know…” He said, crawling over to a small singed lump on the ground, “Now I know the pain that these digimon felt when Ken…” He picked up the lump and dusted it off with his claws. He revealed a small pumpkinmon doll; his eyes started to fill up with tears. “Wormmon, you know it wasn’t his fault.” Hawkmon said walking over to comfort the little worm. “I know it’s just, now I couldn’t picture Ken doing anything like that.” He held the doll out to Gatomon who took it and looked it over. “This must’ve been a pumpkinmon village.” She inspected the doll more carefully and found some crude writing under its dress. ‘Kayla’. Gatomon’s eyes involuntarily filled up with tears, stinging her eyes. She quickly wiped them away and held the doll to her chest. “I can’t bear to think what happened to this girl.” She said, her tears now rolling down her cheeks. “There’s no use crying Gatomon, “ Veemon said laying his hand on her shoulder, and glancing at the doll, “There’s only one thing we can do now.” “…Fight.” Armadillomon finished for him. “There’s no way we’re gonna let this happen again.” Flamon bounced over to the group. “She’s right. Wraithmon appeared next to Flamon, “We all need to fight to our best abilities.” “For all the digimon who have suffered from the hand of evil.” Polarmon put her paw out in front of her. Gatomon glanced down at the dirty doll. She looked up at Polarmon, determination in her eyes. “For the digimon.” She said putting her paw on top of Polarmon’s. The other digimon followed each placing a paw, claw, wing or hand on top of the others. “We will fight for justice.” Hawkmon stated. “For justice,” They all said at once, throwing their hands in the air. “I-I can’t believe someone would do something like this…” Melodye climbed over the ruins of another hut. “It’s awful…,” Cody added “How?” Melodye asked herself, “How, why, why would somebody…?” She walked over next to Cody. “I don’t know…” They stood staring in amazement at the destroyed houses. “I wonder if there was any survivors…” Cody glance around the town. He caught sight of a small graveyard just out side the village. He pulled on Melodye’s sleeve, and motioned for her to follow him. They made their way over to the graveyard in silence. It consisted of about twenty or so crudely made crosses, the lumber used was evidently taken from the rubble of houses that used to occupy the village. Across some of them, names were written messily, obviously in haste. “This is so sad.” Melodye said inspecting one of the crosses. Across it was written in black ink ‘Manny’. Cody called the rest of the group over to the graveyard. “I-I just don’t understand…” Kari said, staring at a small cross. She knelt down beside it and whispered a prayer. TK helped her up, and held onto her hand tightly. “Now I know…” Ken said, tears building up in the corner of his eyes, “How could I do something like this?” He knelt down next to a cross and cupped his head in his hands. Yolie was immediately at his side, “Ken you didn’t do this,” She tried her best to comfort him, but her efforts were in vain. He roughly pulled away from Yolie and looked up at her accusingly. “You know what I’m talking about!” He yelled at her, tears spilling down his cheeks, “So many, I hurt so many digimon… how could I?” “Don’t cry Ken.” Wormmon said crawling up next to Ken, “I knew all along that you didn’t really want to hurt those digimon, I knew all along that you were the kindest soul I’d ever meet.” He nudged Ken’s arm, “You were mislead, you were hurt…” “I know, I know all that, but how many digimon suffered? How many lives did I take in my selfishness?” He stood up, avoiding eye contact with the other digidestined, "I have to be alone,” He said coldly. “No Ken let us help you.” Kari pleaded grabbing Ken’s arm, “Please.” He looked her straight in the eye; she could see the hurt and anguish he felt in his bright blue eyes. “You wouldn’t understand.” He mumbled. He pulled away from Kari and walked away from the town. “Ken wait!” Wormmon yelled, crawling after him as fast as his little legs could carry him. “Poor Ken…” Davis watched his back as he disappeared over a grassy knoll that lay jut outside the town. “What happened to him?” Melodye asked Cody softly. “It’s a long story.” Was all Cody said in return. ‘Why’ Ken asked himself, ‘why did I do it? Was it because I was hurt, what did I think I would accomplish? I just can’t believe I could do something like this, I never wanted to hurt anyone. I just, I blamed myself, but it wasn’t a reason to go and hurt so many digimon, it wasn’t a reason to…Kill.’ Ken stumbled over his feet trying to walk. He felt weak in the knees, and his legs felt like they were made out of lead. He tripped over and landed hard on his hands and knees. He knelt there crying to the heavens for what seemed like an eternity, pleading whatever gods watched over him to forgive. How could he ask for forgiveness when he couldn’t even forgive himself? How was he ever going to repent? How was he ever going to wash his hands clean of the blood that stained them? It wasn’t just enough to say he was sorry, that wasn’t going to bring back the thousands of digimon that were killed or hurt during his reign of terror. What was he to do? The only thing that came to his mind was to destroy what had plagued this land. He stared at his hands in horror. They were covered with blood, the blood of the innocent. He frantically wiped his hands on the grass, but it didn’t help. The blood was thick. “Can any white rain from the heavens wash the blood of the innocent off my hands?” He screamed to the heavens. He rubbed his hands on his pants, trying his best to wipe off the blood, to release himself from his own accusations. He looked down at his pants; they too were covered in blood. He looked himself over; his whole body was dripping with blood, none of it being his own. He could taste in his mouth, the strong metallic flavor of blood. He spat on the grass, and gasped at what he saw. His mouth was filled with blood, he could taste it, smell it, feel it all over his body. He screamed, wiping his tongue off with his shirt, but it didn’t help he could still taste the salty tang, all over him. He cupped his head in his hands, trying to block out the sight, but it was in vain. He could feel it dripping from his hair and clothes, running down his bare arms to form a puddle around his knees. He opened his eyes and stared up to the heavens. “I’m sorry…” He whispered, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry.” He jumped up to his feet yelling up at the sky, “I’m sorry!” “That’s not going to help Ken.” Ken glared down at Wormmon. “What would you know?” He spat accusingly at Wormmon; “You see these hand? Do you Wormmon?” He shoved his hands in Wormmon’s face. “I see them Ken, they look like hands.” Wormmon backed away from Ken. “They’re covered in blood, stained with the blood of the innocent.” He stared down at his hands in disgust, “How many lives did these hands take?” “It doesn’t matter Ken.” “Yes it does, of course it does! How can I go on knowing I was the cause of so much pain?” “Ken I know this is hard for you…” Wormmon was cut off by Ken’s frantic shouting. “Hard for me? What would you know? How would you know what I’m feeling?” “I don’t, I never said I did.” Wormmon stared up at Ken defiantly, “Just listen to me, I know its hard for you to forget, but there’s only one thing you can do. You know and I know that if we don’t fight, more unsuspecting digimon will suffer, more innocents will die.” Ken stared down at Wormmon, “What do you want me to do? You want me to just forget what I did?” “I didn’t say that, I just said seek forgiveness by helping those in need. Ken I’ve known you for as long as I can remember, to me you’ve always been the most kind and loving soul I’ve ever known, and I know for a fact you would do anything for someone in need. So Ken please, you saw what happened to that village back there. If we don’t do something about it Witchmon will keep destroying everything in her path.” Ken’s sobbing softened as he studied Wormmon's face. Tears still ran down his cheeks, but he seemed to stop crying. “You’re right, I must repent.” Ken bent down and picked up Wormmon, holding him close. “I knew I’d find you again Ken.” Ken hugged Wormmon close, tears trickling down his cheeks. “Nooo!” A scream came from down in the village. It was Yolie he could tell. “No…” Ken whispered. He took off towards the village, Wormmon in tow |