Chapter 3: Connected Feelings
Kari suddenly found herself back in that abandoned village that smelled of fish and decay. This was the place of her nightmares, but this time it was very real. Kari was once again at the Dark Ocean. Suddenly Kari heard noises from all around her. Noises that were not from anything human. From the alleys, houses, and up though the manhole covers they emerged. The creatures that may or may not be Digimon, the things that called themselves Divermon when Kari first saw them. Whatever they were though, they were frightening to behold. They were tall, humanoid, with sunken eyes and small fins on the sides of their heads and arms. Their skin somehow made them look like walking shadows. Aside from their eyes, Kari could make out no other features on them. The creatures surrounded her. Kari wanted to scream, but couldn't. She was too terrified. As the creatures began to advance, Kari suddenly found herself passing out.
***
Back in the human world, T.K., Patamon, and Gatomon sat on a bench in front of the coffee house. T.K. had never felt more powerless than he did now. He looked over at Gatomon and saw that the white cat Digimon felt the same way as he did. Neither of them could do anything to prevent Kari from being taken back to that Dark Ocean. T.K. was full of regret. Not just regret about not being able to save Kari, but regret about not telling her how he felt. T.K. had been in love with Kari for many years. In the beginning they were just good friends, but overtime T.K. realized that his feelings for Kari had grown into something more. T.K. tried several times in high school to tell Kari how he felt about her, but he never seemed to be able to. He seemed to lack the courage. Than one day Davis just swopped in and took Kari before T.K. could tell her how he felt. T.K. thought that the relationship would never last, that Kari would dump Davis after two dates, but than when T.K. had heard that Davis had moved into Kari's apartment, it seemed like the relationship was going to last after all. Of course in the end, T.K. turned out to be right in the first place. Kari had broken up with Davis the previous day, but that was no comfort to T.K. now. Kari was gone, perhaps for good now, and T.K. had blown all the chances he had to tell her how he felt.
***
Kari awoke to find herself on a cliff over looking the Dark Ocean, standing upright between two poles which her arms were chained to. She was relieved to find her cloths intact, remembering what the Divermon wanted to do with her last time. Suddenly Kari heard the flopping footsteps of one of the creatures coming up from behind her. As the footsteps came closer, terror began to rise up in Kari again. Now Kari could see the creature on her left. It seemed to be making sure that the chain on that pole was secure. The creature than came closer to Kari to check if the shackle on Kari's left wrist was secure. Kari almost passed out again when the creature touched her. The creature than went over to check the chain on the right side. Desperately wanting to know what the creature and its brethren were going to do with her Kari managed to gather the courage to speak.
"W-What are you going to do with me?" Kari asked the creature with a noticeable amount of terror in her voice. The creature paused, looked at Kari, and moved to a position where it could speak to Kari face to face. "You are to be sacrificed to our God," the creature replied, "the great Dragomon."
Kari was now a bit relieved, since it now seemed that the creatures no longer wished to mate with her, but the idea of being sacrificed to an ocean god was not too pleasant either.
"We originally wanted you to mate with us so that we would have powerful offspring," the creature continued, "but now that is no longer necessary. Soon the stars will be right again, and great Dragomon will rise to destroy your world. Behold!"
The creature than pointed to spot out over the ocean. Kari looked to see what the creature was pointing at and saw a giant mass of dark whirling clouds.
"That is a portal to your world," the creature continued, "When the stars are fully right, the portal will open wide enough for great Dragomon to pass through, and we shall follow him as his army. If you had chosen to mate with us all those years ago, you could have lived a life of joy and splendor beyond your imagination, but instead you shall serve a greater purpose. Once great Dragomon devours you, your power shall increase his own and he shall become unstoppable. I both pity you and envy you, for it is a great honer to be a sacrifice."
With those words, the creature finished checking Kari's restraints and left. Kari was greatly relieved when the creature left. Although she still had the problem of being a sacrifice to an evil ocean god. Kari suddenly found herself thinking about T.K., and how she ran away from him at the coffee house. She had no idea why she ran away like that, but she regretted it very much. Kari hated herself for running away, in fact. When she thought back to when T.K. touched her hand back at the coffee house, she remembered having a feeling that shocked her. Kari didn't know what to make of that feeling, and that's why she ran. What was that Kari felt? Kari began to wonder if it was love. Was she in love with T.K.? Sure, Kari always considered T.K. a close friend, but had her feelings about T.K. developed into something more over time? Kari thought back to when the nightmares began happening again, and remembered how she would sometimes wish that T.K. was there after she woke up from them. Kari also remembered how easy it was to tell T.K. about the nightmares, while she found it impossible to tell even Davis or Gatomon about them. Kari still wasn't quite sure if she really was in love with T.K., but at that moment, she wished with all her heart that T.K. was with her.
***
Meanwhile, in the human world, T.K. still sat on the bench in front of the coffee house with his two Digimon companions, still wallowing in regret. The world around was now dead to him. Than Patamon asked a question that snapped T.K. out of his despair.
"Come on T.K., what are we gonna do to rescue Kari?" the flying mammal Digimon asked. "What can we do?" Gatomon replied, "Kari is in the Dark Ocean. We can't get to her."
"We got to the Dark Ocean before," Patamon said, replying to the cat Digimon's question, "Why can't we go there again?"
T.K. realized that Patamon was right. All those years ago when Kari was taken to the Dark Ocean, he, Patamon, and Gatomon were able to go there to rescue her. T.K. tried to remember how the three of them got to the Dark Ocean. Then he suddenly remembered. T.K. got up and suddenly started calling out Kari's name. Patamon and Gatomon soon joined him. T.K. noticed that people passing by were giving him and the two Digimon funny looks, but he didn't care. He had to concentrate all of his thoughts and feelings on getting to Kari, because if he did it hard enough, he would be able to get to the Dark Ocean. Suddenly he saw a pink spark of light forming in front of him on the street. The two Digimon saw it too. The light grew and expanded into an image of Kari that was reaching out to them. It had worked, their feelings had connected to form a portal to the Dark Ocean. T.K. ran into the light with Patamon and Gatomon following close behind.
A moment later, T.K. and the two Digimon found themselves standing in the middle of an abandoned town that smelled of dead fish. The sky above them was grey. They had made it to the Dark Ocean. T.K. was now determined to rescue Kari, even if it cost him his life.
