A lighthouse stood tall in the thick fog, but the light it cast was black. Against the surrounding white mist, everything looked bleak and desolate.
A gigantic head slowly rose from the sea. Just its ears were already higher than the lighthouse. Eyes glowing red stared into the distance. At last, it fully stood up—yet the pitch-black seawater only reached halfway up its calves. Compared to its height, everything around it seemed to shrink. Black water surged and washed over a gray shoreline. Not far from the beach were black mountain peaks, and at the foot of those mountains lay a deathly pale village. The eerie part was that the village showed no sign of life at all—no people, no color, nothing.
That immense shadow opened its mouth, and a wave of sound burst out. The surrounding seawater was blown clear in an instant, rippling outward in rings.
On a bustling street, cars flowed by and pedestrians weaved through one another. It was morning, the time when kids went to school. Both sides of the road leading to Odaiba Elementary School were full of children walking toward campus.
Kari walked ahead with her backpack. A hand stretched out from behind, about to tap her shoulder—but Kari suddenly turned around.
"Tai."
T.K. froze, startled. His arm was still raised, but now he didn't know whether to put it down or keep it up.
Kari blinked, then smiled and greeted him as if nothing happened. "Good morning, T.K."
"Uh…" T.K. wanted to say something—
Just then, Davis came charging up from behind in a rush. "Hey, morning! If we don't hurry, we're going to be late!"
Kari quickly ran forward with him. T.K. could only swallow the words he'd been about to say and sprint after them.
On a nearby tree, Gatomon and Patamon poked their heads out from the branches, watching Davis, Kari, and T.K. run into the school.
"Kari looks like she's in great spirits," Patamon said, eyes wide and admiring.
But Gatomon looked like she had something on her mind. "We haven't changed at all… but the kids keep growing up, day by day." As she said it, her ears drooped.
"What's wrong?" Patamon asked, confused by Gatomon's sudden lack of energy.
"Nothing." Gatomon paused, then continued, "I just feel like… lately Kari seems like she has something on her mind."
"What is it?" Patamon pressed.
"I don't know. Maybe it's just my imagination." Gatomon didn't want to say more. "Let's go."
"Hey—wait for me! I'm coming too!"
Inside the classroom, the teacher wrote on the blackboard. The steady, rhythmic tapping of chalk echoed through the room. T.K. watched the board attentively, but as if he sensed something, his gaze drifted toward Kari without realizing it.
At that moment, Kari's eyes weren't seeing the blackboard at all—she was seeing faint mist. And the mist slowly thickened, while the sound of water washing over a shoreline filled her ears.
Everything in front of her began to fade away, leaving only the dense fog. The sky gradually darkened too. Kari lowered her head and saw that her calves were completely submerged in pitch-black seawater. Only around her calves, a layer of light enveloped her, illuminating the surrounding darkness.
"Whose voice…? It's that voice again…" Panic welled up inside Kari. Light began to glow from her body as well, wrapping around her like a shell and separating her from the darkness around her.
From T.K.'s perspective, Kari's body began flickering—shifting back and forth between black-and-white and full color, and slowly leaning more and more toward black-and-white. T.K. didn't know what was happening, but he knew it couldn't be good.
Without thinking, T.K. stood up. "Kari!"
At his shout, everyone turned to look at him. Davis immediately snapped his head toward Kari—only to see Kari staring back at T.K. in confusion.
The class looked back to Kari again. Kari suddenly pressed a hand to her forehead, dizziness hitting her in a wave. Her body swayed, and a classmate behind her hurriedly caught her.
"Are you not feeling well? Why don't you go rest in the nurse's office?" the teacher suggested.
Kari stood, gave a small bow to the teacher, and walked out of the classroom.
Tai sat in his own classroom with his left hand propping up his head, spinning a pencil idly in his right. The teacher at the front was still explaining boring material.
"Hm?" Tai's pencil slipped from his fingers and clattered down. A sharp unease rose in his chest. "What's going on…? Why do I have such a bad feeling?"
Kari walked down the hallway, murmuring to herself, "How can this be…? It hasn't happened like this in so long…"
Suddenly, she stopped.
She saw a familiar place. A familiar scene.
Tai stood there, furious, glaring at her. Kari lowered her head and apologized, "I'm sorry, Tai…"
This was all too familiar to Kari. Just like the last few times—just like today—whenever that unknown voice called her, she didn't tell anyone. She hid instead. Tai found her here. Right when she was about to be pulled into that fog, that familiar, strong arm yanked her back. That day, Kari saw her brother—who always doted on her—explode with anger. The face that always smiled at her was filled with rage as he scolded her harshly. Yet inside those words, Kari could feel the worry and love behind them.
Kari turned her head away, sadness in her eyes.
Plop.
Plop.
The sound of dripping water echoed through the corridor. Kari's body trembled as she heard it.
A ripple spread through the space behind her. The world around Kari seemed to change in an instant—everything turned black-and-white.
Kari's neck stiffened as she turned around. In the stairwell stood a black figure, eyes glowing red, its entire body shrouded in thin mist. Pitch-black water dripped from it, striking the floor again and again with those same "plop" sounds.
"Kari!" Tai suddenly shot to his feet. The force of it kicked his chair back with a loud scrape and bang, drawing every eye in the room to him.
"Kamiya—" the teacher started to speak, but Tai didn't have time to listen. He shoved open the window and jumped out. When he hit the ground, he only bent his knees slightly before pushing off and sprinting at full speed.
Up on the third floor, the classroom windows flew open, heads packed tight as students stared wide-eyed at Tai running below. The teacher's mouth was open as if shouting something, but Tai couldn't hear a word.
Right now, Tai had only one thought:
He absolutely could not let anything happen to Kari.
This time, he was going to erase that thing for good.
The end-of-class bell rang. T.K. was the first to bolt out of the classroom, racing toward the nurse's office. Behind him, Davis stared at T.K.'s back, completely confused.
With a loud slam, T.K. yanked open the nurse's office door—only to see an empty bed.
"Excuse me—has Yagami come here?" he asked urgently.
"No one has come here," the nurse replied.
"Uh… thank you."
T.K. took off running again, searching anywhere Kari might have gone. As he rushed past a long corridor, he caught sight of a familiar figure sitting on a bench outside.
In the distance were children's playful shouts from the schoolyard, but Kari sat there as if she couldn't hear any of it. She looked like she didn't belong to this world at all—cold, silent, and completely detached.
T.K. walked over and stopped beside her. Kari stayed in that same distant posture.
"I went to the seaside just now," she said softly.
"Huh?" T.K. didn't understand. "The seaside?"
"I might be leaving here soon," Kari said, her voice full of sadness and reluctance. "I keep feeling like someone is calling me."
"Someone is calling you? Who?" T.K. asked, bewildered.
"I don't know." Kari's tone sank even lower. "But if they call me again… I'll definitely go to them."
"What…?" T.K. was so shocked his face went pale. "Who would call you to leave?!"
Kari didn't answer. She just kept speaking as if talking to herself. "Tai always says he'll protect me. He's always wearing himself down trying to protect me… but now…"
She didn't get to finish. T.K. cut her off, anger surging out.
"It's always Tai! Tai, Tai, Tai—when are you going to stop needing your brother to protect you? Kari, you can't keep being like this!"
Kari looked up, staring at T.K. with wide eyes. The confusion and hurt in her gaze made T.K.'s voice falter. He lowered his head, unable to keep speaking. He took two steps back and turned away in silence.
Kari watched him leave, then lowered her head again and whispered, "I really don't want Tai to be that tired anymore… He's always done all of that because of me. I'm the one holding Tai back…"
She bowed her head, her face hidden in shadow—then she heard it again.
That calling voice from within the mist.
T.K. stood at the corner with his head down. Under Kari's gaze earlier, he hadn't managed to say the words that had nearly come out—
"I want to protect you too."
But now, he had no courage left to say them.
Kari walked out through the school gate. Across the road, near the curb, she saw the steps—yet in her eyes, they weren't steps anymore. They had become a black ocean.
Fog churned along the shore, hiding the distance. A pillar of black light kept piercing through the white mist, sweeping across the sea.
Kari took one step back, but T.K.'s words echoed in her mind:
"When are you going to stop needing your brother to protect you?"
Kari's expression hardened. She stepped forward, striding straight toward that black ocean across the road. A sea wind blew from nowhere, lifting and tugging at her hair.
Up in a tree, Gatomon had been sleeping soundly. As if sensing something, she snapped her eyes open and saw Kari walking step by step toward the other side. Kari felt different—wrong. Gatomon leapt down, then froze in shock as she saw Kari's body flickering between full color and black-and-white over and over.
Gatomon tried to run to her, but a large truck blocked her path. When it finally passed, Gatomon stared in disbelief as Kari's backpack fell from the air—
And Kari herself vanished into nothing.
"Kari disappeared!!"
The twisting of time and space made Kari's head swim, but faintly, she heard that familiar voice again.
"Was Tai calling me just now?"
(Please recommend.)
Tai saw Kari disappear from a distance. He only had time to let out a single shout before her figure was gone.
"Tai… Kari—" Gatomon ran up, gasping.
"Go tell everyone—and Agumon and the others," Tai said fast. "I'm going after Kari."
He sprinted to the spot where Kari had vanished. With a sharp motion of his right hand, the Holy Sword: Genesis Blade appeared out of thin air in his grip. He swung with full force, and a massive裂缝 tore open in front of him—an enormous rift. Inside, light and shadow flickered, lines warped and twisted, and incomprehensible images crawled everywhere, unknown and impossible to interpret.
Tai jumped into the rift without hesitation.
A moment later, the rift dissipated, as if it had never been there.
Back at school, Davis, Yolei, and Cody were still waiting in the computer lab for the others to arrive. Yolei was demonstrating a program on the computer for Davis and Cody. Neither of them understood it, but it still somehow felt impressive—well… it felt impressive mostly because they didn't understand it.
When they heard the door open, Davis turned around and saw T.K. walk in, looking gloomy. Davis glanced at him and then turned back, continuing to listen to Yolei explain things he absolutely didn't get.
Only Patamon was at least concerned about his partner. "T.K., what's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm fine," T.K. could only say—he couldn't exactly say he'd been…
The door suddenly ripped open again.
Everyone turned—and this time it was Gatomon, panting. The moment she spoke, she scared them half to death.
"Kari—she—she disappeared!"
"What?!" The kids and Digimon all stared with their mouths hanging open.
When Kari opened her eyes, she saw a gray world.
In front of her was an ocean—but its water was an unnatural black. Looking out, it was like a black vortex that could swallow a person's mind whole. A thick layer of fog drifted over the sea, making it impossible to see the distance clearly. Yet again and again, a pillar of pitch-black light pierced the white mist and swept across the waters. Following the beam back toward its source, Kari could faintly make out a lighthouse standing far away.
The entire world was silent.
The ocean kept washing over the shore, but there was no sound of water at all. Aside from Kari's own breathing and heartbeat, there wasn't a single other noise—so quiet it felt as if the whole world held nothing else alive, nothing else existing.
Kari looked around. Everything was only black and white—no other colors anywhere. Even her clothes were no longer bright; they looked bleached, drained of color.
"Where… is this?" Kari backed away, instinct screaming at her to stay away from that sea.
As she retreated, she suddenly bumped into a warm embrace.
"Don't be afraid, Kari. I'm here."
Kari spun around and saw Tai standing behind her, smiling.
"Tai…" Kari burst into tears and threw herself into his arms, clinging tightly like she was terrified that if she let go, he would vanish.
"Disappeared? How is that possible?! We always go to the Digital World from here!" Davis said, agitated.
"Maybe Kari didn't leave from here," Cody said. "Tai usually goes to the Digital World from his house, doesn't he?"
"Maybe Kari… didn't go to the Digital World at all," T.K. said, thinking of that unmistakably abnormal flickering between color and black-and-white in the classroom. His voice sank as he spoke.
"What did you say?" Davis clenched his fist, bristling.
"Kari didn't go to the Digital World," T.K. said firmly. Then he suddenly raised his head, realization hitting him. "The seaside. Yeah—she went to the seaside."
Leaving those words behind, T.K. bolted out. Patamon hurriedly flapped after him.
T.K. ran to the shoreline across from the school. Opposite Odaiba Elementary School were two man-made islands, with a large bridge connecting both sides of the shore.
"Kari! Kari!" T.K. shouted toward the sea at the top of his lungs.
Meanwhile, Tai and Kari were walking through that village. Everything around them felt strange and unfamiliar. All the houses and fences were gray. None of the plants were green—everything was gray or black. It was as if all vivid color had vanished from the world.
Whoosh!
A tearing rush of wind sounded above Tai and Kari, then vanished into the thick fog so fast they couldn't see anything. When they looked up, there was only endless mist.
"Tai, what was that?" Kari pressed close to Tai, both hands tightly wrapped around his left arm. Most of her body hid behind him.
They finally passed through the eerie village. Outside was still a white beach and black seawater. At the foot of a gray mountain was a small cave. Its entrance was pitch-dark, revealing nothing inside.
Huff… huff…
Heavy breathing came from deep within the cave. Kari moved even closer to Tai. Tai turned back and smiled at her, placing himself fully in front of her. His right hand lowered slightly as faint light gathered there, condensing.
"Hi, everyone."
The arguing kids jumped at the sudden voice. Turning around, they saw Agumon on the monitor, greeting them.
"Agumon, don't just pop up like that—you scared me!" Davis complained.
"Sorry," Agumon said, scratching his head awkwardly. "Is T.K., Patamon, and Gatomon there?"
"What's wrong? T.K. just left with Patamon and Gatomon," Yolei replied.
"Tai told me to bring them to save Kari."
"What?!" The kids blurted out in unison.
"Where are Tai and Kari?" Davis demanded urgently.
"I don't know," Agumon replied.
That answer made the veins on Davis's forehead jump.
"Then how are you supposed to save them if you don't know where they are?!" Davis grabbed the monitor and shook it in agitation. Afraid he'd break it, Yolei rushed to stop him.
"Tai told me to go to Tai City and find Andromon," Agumon explained. "Andromon will help us find Tai."
"Okay. I'll tell T.K. right now," Cody said, pulling out his D-Terminal to send a message.
At that moment, T.K. was walking down the sea embankment with his head lowered, Patamon and Gatomon trailing behind him. His D-Terminal beeped. T.K. checked it—and immediately broke into a run.
Patamon and Gatomon didn't know what was going on, but they hurried after him anyway.
"I found Kari!" T.K. panted as he rushed into the computer lab. Without even catching his breath, he asked anxiously.
"Good. Then we're going to the Digital World right now," Yolei said, raising her D-3 Digivice and aiming it at the screen.
"Are Tai and Kari in the Digital World?" T.K. asked.
"We can't explain that much. Just go first," Davis said. Then he charged into the light.
T.K. had no choice but to follow.
Out of the cave came a group of Divermon—each one shrouded in faint mist.
Divermon are Ultimate-level Aquatic Beast Man Digimon. Wearing simple diving suits, they swim boldly through the vast ocean. Their body structure is suited for movement underwater, and with the high-speed underwater motor mounted on their backs, they chase prey everywhere. Their attack and defense aren't particularly strong, but they're fast and agile. Their special move is Strike Fishing, launching their harpoons at the enemy like a torrential downpour, dense and unstoppable as it races toward its target.
"Are you Digimon…?" Kari peeked her small head out from behind Tai, asking uncertainly.
"Digimon?" Divermon said in confusion. "I don't know. I don't know who we are, and I don't know why we're in this place. I only know we came here by the orders of the god beneath the deep sea."
"Then how did you end up like this?" Kari asked sympathetically.
Divermon raised an arm. Wrapped around it was a Dark Spiral.
"One day, this thing suddenly stole our power. And a voice forced us to worship a god that isn't ours."
"It's the Digimon Emperor," Kari said with disgust as she recognized the Dark Spiral.
"So you really do know what this is," the Divermon said. "We can see you clearly—no matter where you are, no matter what place you're in." All the Divermon lifted their heads. Their eyes glowed red, and their voices became excited, almost feverish. "Only you. Only you, the DigiDestined, can help us remove this from our bodies. That's why we've been calling you again and again, hoping you would hear our call and come here."
"Hah." Tai let out a cold, dismissive laugh. "You? Don't joke with me. You think you can call Kari?" He raised his chin slightly, eyes sharp. "Stop putting on an act. Show your true form already."
"Huh?" Kari stared at Tai in surprise. "Tai… aren't they Digimon?"
"I don't know what they are," Tai said, the light in his right hand steadily condensing into a glowing blade, "but they definitely aren't Digimon." His grip tightened. "Let me see what you really are."
A dazzling beam shot from Tai's sword, streaking toward the strange group of Divermon.
Boom!
Flames surged into the sky. The spot where the Divermon had been standing became a massive crater. When the smoke and dust cleared, the Divermon were gone—
And in their place was a swarm of bizarre creatures, their bodies wrapped in black miasma, eyes glowing red.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810