The Fountain Of Youth

Chapter 13

The Dark Horizon

Guilmon glanced around confused. Where were all of the pretty colors and the butterfly he was chasing? He looked around at the new surroundings, and immediately decided that he didn't like it. Everything was so dreary, gray and black seemed to be the only colors that stood in existence, but Guilmon couldn't see that , all of his red lensed eyes could see was the large vast Dark Ocean.

"He's here, Takatomon." Guilmon said, his face going feral, growling at the unseen enemy. "This place, it reeks of his scent."

"I can't smell anything, but I'm going to have to agree, I don't like this place." Gomamon told the group walking over to water. He placed a paw in it, testing it. He quickly pulled it out. "What is this place?"

"I was about to ask you the same question." Jyou told his partner as they all took a look around at their surroundings.

"This is the Dark Ocean." Renamon told them, "Another Universe connected to the digital world much like the human world."

"Why does a place like this exist?" Takato asked out loud, "I mean, what's the point of having a place full of blackness and evil?"

"What's the point of having a place full of life and light?" Ruki snapped at him, "Use you're head Takato. This place is a scapegoat. For every existence of Light, their must be a Shadow behind it. From the light created in the Digital World and Real World, their must be an equivalent blackness. This is where ninety percent of that equivalent blackness resides."

"Momenti Ruki." Jyou said off handly to her, "Like you said yourself, this place holds a lot of darkness, it'll amplify any you hold within yourself."

"This place... it's odd." Renamon told them, "Unlike the digital World, and unlike the Real World, but has qualities and aspects of both." She observed.

"Well..." Gomamon went on to speak. "If this place is a place where the Darkness of the digital World and Real world exists... or at least a good portion of it, then it would have to exist as both Data and Elementally."

Jyou thought about that, "That makes sense. Although I wish we had more time to study this place, but we need to find Shuichon now."

"I know, but exactly how are we supposed to do that? I mean, if this place is as big as the Digital World or Real World. Exactly how are we supposed to find anything?" Takato asked.

"Can't we just use our digivices to find her?" Gomamon asked.

Renamon shook her head, "Shuichon is a Tamer. Our D-Arcs don't read her position."

The group thought for a moment, before Ruki turned to Takato, "Hey, Hazard, can't you sense Shadow?" she asked him.

They all looked at Takato expectantly, until about a minute passed. He squirmed from all of the stares at him, "Ummmmm..."

"Oh, by the Sovereigns, don't tell me we've lost that pain in rear Hazard!" Ruki growled at him.

Takato jumped, "Well, ummm... not exactly?" he offered hopingly.

"Exactly what do you mean... not exactly?" Ruki's voice laced with a threatening tone.

"Well...uh... Hazards... kind of... stuck..." Takato stumbled out.

"Stuck?" Jyou asked curiously, "I wonder, perhaps it's this place that's affected Hazard?"

Takato shook his head, "No, he says that its the seal Barbamon placed on him. He doesn't have as much energy to fight it anymore."

Ruki rolled her eyes, "Whatever. Come on, I don't like this place, we should at least get moving. If there is life in this Darkness layered land, then we should probably try and find it.

"Although, its not exactly the most effective of plans, we really don't have much better." Jyou stated. The started to walk, each digimon having a far different reaction. Gomamon kept glancing at the water, a nervous look on his face. Guilmon was getting more and more feral as they went, Takato was afraid his poor digimon was going to start dripping venom at this rate. Renamon had decided to hid herself into the shadows.

Their was little comment among the three humans and even less among the digimon as they walked. The Gray twilight seemed to haunt them. Each of them feeling the different effects of the Dark Ocean. It was a small while later when Jyou finally spoke up, being the unofficial leader of the group, more because he was four years older then the rest. "You two alright?" he asked, the group having sat down at the first change of scenery, a place were the gray sand held a few outcroppings of rocks.

"I'm fine, it's just this Azulongmon placed wind." Ruki told him, as she shivered slightly. Jyou glanced at her confused, glancing over to Takato, who seemed to be sweating.

"You alright, Takato?" Jyou asked him.

Takato looked over, his face red, "Wha... yeah... I'm ok..." he said slightly out of it.

Jyou glanced at Ruki, who shivered yet again, "Gomamon?

"Don't ask me to do anything Jyou, I'm sick to my stomach because of this water."

"Do you feel a wind?" he asked.

Gomamon eyes raised, "No, I don't."

"And how much to you want to bet me that you have a fever Takato." Jyou said. "Renamon."

"Yes Jyou?" she asked, reappearing next to her Tamer. The Holder of Faith went through his bag, bringing out some aspirin.

He tossed the bottle to Ruki along with a twenty ounce water bottle, "Give that to Takato when your done. Renamon," Jyou said getting up and putting his bag back around him. "This place is having too much of an effect on us. Do you have any ideas?"

Takato popped four of the pills. "I may have an idea." he stood up, before tossing a card up into the air, before catching it in his hand in his traditional form. "Digi-Modify!" he voice came as he slashed his card through his digivice above his head, "High Noon Activate!"

Everyone held their breath... before nothing happened. "It was worth a shot." Ruki told him, before shivering again.

"I don't understand, how do Ruki and Takato get sick, but you're just fine." Renamon asked.

"I think I may be able to answer that." Midna said coming out from the shadows. Everyone glanced over to her.

"Shadow!" Takato said quickly.

"Oh, Takato-San, you're here!" an eighteen year old girl said, running to him, and jumping on him. Her very pale arms wrapped around his body. Takato immediately blushed at the proximity of the girl, feeling every part of her body on his. He became almost as red as Guilmon when the strange Girl grabbed his lips in hers, and forced his tongue in his mouth.

He became completely stunned silent, as well as everybody else in the room. The girl finished the kiss and rested her head on his shoulder before looking over at Ruki. She quickly stuck her tongue out at the Red Haired girl. Ruki glared at her, and the girl snuggled up to Takato even more.

"Uhh... Shuichon..." Lopmon said slowly, "I don't think that this is one of your dreams. You've never mentioned Jyou being in any of them."

The pale girl looked at the brown digimon confused, then her eyes widened, her cheeks turning a hazard red. She immediately leapt off of Takato.

Dang. That was awsome! You really have it good. She's really rather hot, isn't she?

Takato's face started to become red, Wha?... ah... uh... No... no she's not.

You have bad taste my friend. That brown haired girl may be cute and pretty and all... but she just doesn't hold any power. What's the fun in having a girl that can't even defend herself. You're always going and rescuing them and everything else. Haven't you played any RPGS? Come on. Jeri may be the hot light character, but there's just no strength to her.

Takato blushed even more as images of the brown haired girl popped into his head. You don't know anything. Jeri's a lot stronger then you give her credit for. Takato instantly backed up for her.

More then you're average chosen or tamer, however, I must say, why settle for second best.

Takato cocked his head, curious at Hazards words, wondering who could be better then Jeri... well, other then perhaps Sora.

Close, but no Mega Digivolving for you. I do believe that you have your own certain Redhead, and Baihumon... is she ever hot.

Takato's face turned even redder as his imagination came up with spoken certain redhead. Ruki glanced over at him to see him in a fret, and was about to ask what was wrong, when Guilmon's low growling voice pierced them all. "He comes Takatomon... the Demon Comes." Guilmon's eyes and body seemed to get even more feral by the second, every vein and muscle on the small digimon bulging. His pupil, hardly a slit in his white eyes.

"Shuichon, I can't get us all out of here!" Midna yelled to her partner.

"Wait a second... who's coming?" Jyou asked, "I mean seriously, we just found you!"

"Perhaps I can answer that question." a sweet and pure voice came from the ocean as the Digimon rose itself out of the waters.

"Why can't anything ever be simple?" Jyou complained, his body slumped.

"That's easy... cause if it were simple, you wouldn't be Chosen." Gomamon piped up.

Jyou glanced at his digimon before face palming.

-

-

-

Luke Allen, The President of the United States watched the scene unfold in front of him. He sat in a balcony overlooking the meeting the United Nations was holding. Across from him, seen in a different balcony was the Prime Minister of United Kingdom. This was just another meeting like any other U.N. Meeting... this one was just being broadcast across the world. For the first time, a U.N. Meeting was to have such global impact on every country, that nobody wanted missed out on what was to happen.

Every nation was in attendence instead of just those who turn it was. All for a single reason... the fate of the Republic of the Digital World.

Sora stood at the podium, a slide show clicker in her right hand, her digivice gripped firmly in her left. It had been a full week since she had told her own Country to straighten up, and that they were Chosen for Ebowumon's sake. Since then, a full scale evacuation had begun. Already eight thousand Chosen not only had a place to stay, but a job as well in the Real World. Still, twenty-thousand Chosen said that they would stay. It was ninteen-thousand, nine hundred ninety-nine more then she wanted and five thousand more then she had hoped.

The placed settled down and somebody gave Sora the signal to go. Sora glanced over to the stool that Koromon and Yokomon were sitting at, getting courage from their warm faces.

It was now or never. This was her last chance to resolve this peacefully. "You all know that the RDW is a new country. I don't need to go over this, however, in three years we have become the third wealthiest country in the world and our pressing beyond that. I am the General of the RDW and I come to you in a plea, to stick up for the rights of every human being in existance. The right to not have Genocide placed upon them."

Her last sentence caused a slight stir in the crowd, but it quickly calmed everyone interested in what she had to say. A small mechanical sound was heard as the power point on the screen flipped to the first slide. The U.N. Looked at the picture of a purple mechanical digimon, with green lined wings for arms a large red eye. "I present to you, a digimon named Gizmon." She glanced around the room. "There are three basic components to a digimon. A Digimon's wire framing... which act like the bones for a digimon, giving it a basis to which it shapes it's body. Next comes a digimon's data form. This is the equivalent of skin and flesh. What makes one species of digimon different from the next. An Agumon and a Agumon(Black) both have the same wire framing, but have different data forms."

Sora had clicked through two different pictures, the first one, a wire frame of Agumon, the next Agumon and Agumon(Black). "The final component to a digimon is a digimon's core. This is what you would call the mind and soul of a digimon, differing one Agumon from the next." Sora sighed in her mind 'Where the heck did Jyou go? I really could have used him or Koushiro to explain this. To bad Jenyra is in such a wreck too, with the loss of his sister and all. Where's all of the geeks when you need them?' Sora focused back onto the job at hand.

"However, these Gizmon... have no Core... they are the product of a human creation. These human abominations are now ravaging the digital world." Sora flipped up a few pictures showing towns in the digital world. Each town was totally trashed, in a few of the pictures, digitama's could be seen strewn around the desolate streets and broken down buildings. She glared at everyone. "An entire nation and species is about to be wiped out... so the questions becomes... what do you do?"

"This is happening in the digital world... what do you want us to do... arrest Kasan... he has transgressed no law that the U.N. Can call him on." the Russian representative spoke.

Sora's eyes fell onto him, as everyone watched her in her casual clothes. Something was odd about his statement, and she couldn't figure it out... then it clicked... and so did a whole bunch of other things. Her fist clenched, and her voice snapped, "Who said anything about Youn Kasan?" Sora demanded of him. Her eyes turned deadly. "Every last one of you knew... Youn Kasan... here to fight the tyranny of the digital world... is that it? Oh, I forgot, Digimon are just data! Useless pieces of data that have decided to join up with humans!" She roared, "DAMN IT! Is that what we Chosen have become... just a way to make sure Digimon stay in line!"

" You never supported the RDW from the beginning. You were just all so scared of the digimon that you had to have some way to protect your filthy scumbag hides, and the resources we provided became to much of a gold mine to let it go! Here Kasan comes along and says that he can not only get rid of the digimon, but the oh so precious resources from the digital world as well... so obviously he must be right." Sora's anger flared, and she breathed hard, until her voice became a firm cold spell, chilling every last listener to the bones.

"Hitlers... Stalins... that's what you are. Run up the Schwastica flag, for that is the true colors of the United Nations... Digimon are nothing more then greedy Jews, holding all the money to themselves and are worth nothing. You're armies are nothing but the SS, forcing the rule upon everyone else. Hell itself doesn't open up it's jaws to swallow you... because you simply walk right into it's belly. Digimon have a right to call you humons... monstrosities worse then any digimon that's ever walked, flown or swam." Sora glared across the crowd, some flinching, but others refusing. "Digimon are just data... right?" she asked deadly.

"Do not be a fool!" the United Kingdom representative spoke aloud, "You know as well as we do that the RDW would not, and can not survive without the support the United Nations gives you. Perhaps Taichi may have been able to support a country on it's own. Do not put yourself at the level of Taichi, walking around with you're digimon, wearing casual clothes, breaking every political custom in existence. General Yagami may have been able to do that, but you, can not. Do not be so foolish, you are but twenty-two years old, you no nothing of how this world works."

Sora smiled, "I am General Yagami... and you have just pissed off one very Hormonal pregnant women who now hold the most powerful army in all of history... Good luck." she said almost sadistically.

Sora swiftly walked off of the stage and into the hallway, Agumon and Piyomon following behind her. She brought out her phone, when she saw President Allan standing to the side of the hallway. He raised his hand to his head in salute, "Good Luck... General!"

Sora paused for a second then bowed gratefully, "Thank you... I'll need it."

She continued on dialing a number in her cell phone. It rang four times before Michael Barton picked up, "Sora, the U.N. Is going crazy over what you just did." Michael said, watching the live broadcast as he talked to her.

"The U.N. Can go to the Dark Zone Michael... we've got trouble we need to deal with. Close down every port except for one in Odiba, D.C. and the Digital Island. I want them all closed by tomorrow night. Speed up the timeline for everything. We need anybody who's not going to stay in the digital world, out of there by the same time."

"Alright, Sora, but we have something else that we need to take care... you need to get to my place now." Michael told her urgently. Sora paused, ready to yell at him at how busy she was going to be, and their wasn't really anything more important right now... but then decided that Michael knew that, and this must be something of great importance.

"I'll be there in ten minutes, I need to call Ryo-san first." she told him.

"Alright." Michael said, before hanging up.

Sora paused, halfway through dialing Ryo's number before glancing at the awaiting reporters outside. She stopped and continued dialing Ryo's number, "Ryo... yeah... I know... look, Security access code 10001010000000..."

Ryo paused, "Sora... 8832... You do realize how many basic rights you're talking away." he told her.

"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of property?... That's why any Chosen who wants too, can opt out by tomorrow evening." She told him.

Ryo shook his head, "I'll get right on it." he told her.

Sora gave a sigh of gladness that he wasn't pressing. She knew that she was doing things that she shouldn't... then again... a certain quote came to her mind.

It's Violent.

It's Wrong.

... It's Working.