DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I am putting the characters into situations of my own devising. A warning, this chapter deals with mature subject matters, and reader discretion is advised. I would probably rate this chapter closer to R than PG-13. Here it is.
Jake walked along the path for a little while, before spotting a girl a few years younger than him waving in his direction near a grove of maple trees. He sped up his pace and reached the girl a few minutes later. She was a brunette with shoulder length hair and bright hazel eyes. She wore a sleeveless pink and white shirt that cut off above her belly button, and long gloves that came up past her elbows. She had bright yellow shorts, and high cut pink shoes. She looked relieved when Jake approached her.
"I was afraid you had been hurt," she told him, "Spike only acts like that when it comes to people he doesn't like, but I assume that you've already guessed that." Jake nodded.
"It was kind of hard not to notice," he agreed, "You're glad that I'm alright, but you don't even know my name." The girl smiled shyly.
“I may not know your name," she replied, bowing slightly, "but maybe I'd like to know it. My name's Kari Kamiya." Jake smiled and bowed in response.
"You have a beautiful name, Kari," he said, "I'm Jake Stevens." Kari's eyes lit up as she thought of something.
"Would you like to come with me?" she asked, "I could introduce you to some friends of mine, since you're new in town." Jake shook his head, and her gaze faltered.
"I'm sorry, Kari," he said soothingly, "I have to meet my parents back near the front of the park. I've already been gone too long." He turned to go, but craned his neck back towards Kari. "Who knows," he said, "The next time I see you, maybe you can take me to meet these friends of yours." He took off at a run down the path, calling back over his shoulder, "See you around, Kari!" Kari smiled, waving at Jake's retreating figure before he rounded a bend leading to the entrance of the main clearing of the park. Suddenly, it occurred to her to follow him, to see what kind of people his family was.
Who knows, she thought to herself, Maybe he can make an excuse to his parents and we can meet up with TK and the others right now. With renewed vigour, she dashed down the path after Jake.
Something's out of place, Jake realized as he sped along the well- tread path through the park. The sun was shining brightly, reflecting the natural colours found within the park. I should be able to hear people talking. The silence is so thick that I could hear a pindrop from the front of the park. Something's not right...and I have a bad feeling about this. He upped his speed, and was soon running full speed along the path. The wind was wipping through his hair, sending it in all different directions.
As he arrived at the head of the clearing, he realized what was so out of place. A shady figure was waving a 10' switchblade at two middle aged people, a man and a woman, and his voice was so loud that the trees vibrated with the noise.
"Give me the money, and the woman doesn't get hurt," the figure saied, menacingly. The man was scared, Jake was sure, but he did a good job of hiding it. He calmly reached into his back pocket, and retrieved a wallet. He extended his hand to the thug, who grabbed the wallet greedily. "The watch, too," the thug said. The man sighed, and unclasped the latch holding his watch in place. As he lifted it off of his wrist, the sunlight reflected off of a finely polished gold watchband.
What the hell, Jake whispered, realizing that he vaguely recognized the watch, Oh my god... The thug accepted the watch, and began to look it over, obviously trying to see if it was genuine. Satisfied, he turned to the couple. "Alright," he said, gesturing with the switchblade, "You two can go." The woman sighed in relief, and the pair turned to leave. "Oh wait," the thug said, sounding strangely nice, "There's just one more thing." The man turned to the thug, and was obviously impatient, wanting to get himself and the woman out of there as soon as possible.
"Yes?" he asked quizzicaly. The voice sounded strangely familiar to Jake, and he began up the path towards the scene. The thug smirked, grabbing the woman, who shrieked in response.
"Goodbye," he said, running the switchblade across the woman's neck, slitting her throat. The man cried out in rage and horror, and moved to attack the murderer. The murderer released the woman, and had stabbed the man in the gut before she had even hit the dirt. The man clasped his hands over the wound, trying to staunch the bleeding, but it was a wide slash. He fell to his knees as his lifeblood drained from his body. He turned his head in the opposite direction, and his gaze met Jake's.
Dear god, Jake gasped, please tell me that wasn't who I think it was. He rushed forward at an alarming rate, and was able to catch the man before he fell. Whipping off his jacket, he bunched it into a ball and lay it under the man's head and turned the head so that he could see the man's face. His father's eyes gazed up at him distantly, and Jake felt tears beginning to form in his eyes.
"Father," he whispered, "I'm so sorry. I should have been here. If only I hadn't left..." His father shook his head furiously, nearly choking in the process.
"Jake...it's not...your fau--" he began, but was unable to finish the sentence. He looked fondly upon his son one last time...and went limp in Jake's arms, never to look upon anything again. Jake choked down a sob, and slowly brought his hand across his father's eyes, closing them. He collapsed to his knees, pounding his fists into the ground.
"This can't be happening!" he bellowed, "Please god...tell me this isn't happening..."
As Kari dashed down the path, she questioned herself about Jake. I feel something about him, she mused, He seems...unique. As if he's different from everyone else. Kind of like what I notice about myself...and TK... Suddenly, a scream cut through the air, causing her to speed up her pace. As she entered the clearing, she found the source of the scream. She saw Jake, pounding the ground with tears in his eyes, bellowing in rage. His head snapped around, catching a glimpse of a dark figure attempting to slink his way out of the park. Jake was after him in a flash, growling sadistically. It was obvious that Jake wanted the figure dead. When the figure noticed Jake coming towards him, he smirked, and held out his hand in challenge, motioning Jake to take his best shot. The rate at which Jake ate up the distance between the two of them was astounding, but not completely unexpected. The figure had just killed his parents, after all.
However, Jake was blinded by his rage, and his attacks were not very accurate. The figure was able to counter-attack each time, and Jake was barely able to evade the counter-attacks. He suddenly tripped over a loose piece of dirt, and with a cry of surprise, fell backward heavily on his back, knocking the wind out of him. That slip up was what the figure was waiting for. He dashed forward and jumped on top of Jake, pinning him to the ground.
Meanwhile, Kari approached the scene tentatively, unsure how to proceed. Her first urge was to try and help Jake, but it was obvious that he was dealing with someone very skilled, and she would very likely get in his way. As she was walking forward, she tripped over something, causing her to stumble to the ground. She cried out in surprise and pain as her right knee scraped across the rough pavement that comprised the path. She turned to see what she had tripped over...and gasped in horror at the sight of two dead bodies. She reflexively began to gag, but managed to keep herself under control. She noticed something propping up the head of one of the bodies. She reached out and gently lowered the head to the ground while taking the object. She held the jacket that Jake had been wearing a scant few minutes ago. Her gaze turned to Jake, who was still struggling with the figure, who she assumed was the killer, on top of him, with sympathy in her eyes. These people must have been his parents, she thought sadly, Oh, Jake...
The killer suddenly cried out in surprise as he caught a glimpse of Jake's face. "You!" he cried out, "You are the one that has been spoken of! I must end you before you become a nuiscance to me." The killer flicked his wrist, and out came the switchblade. The once brightly polished blade was now dark with blood. The sight of it made Jake's blood boil, and he tensed his muscles to strike when his adversary's guard came down. "Farewell, chosen one," the killer said smugly, raising the switchblade in a killing stroke. Jake, anticipating this move, brought his right leg up and sent a kick to the back of the killer's head, sending him sprawling forward. Jake flipped himself to his feet, and leapt upon his assailant, deliviring punch after punch to the killer's face. The killer smirked as he was getting pounded on by Jake.
"You're more resilient then I first realized," he said calmly, "I'll have to keep an eye on you." He brought his right hand to Jake's chest and traced a symbol on Jake's chest, just above his heart. Jake cried out in pain and clapped a hand over his heart, attempting to regain his hold on the killer with his free hand, but he was too weak to react in time. The killer smirked, and began walking down the other end of the path.
"You bastard!" Jake yelled, "I don't care how long it takes, but you will pay for this, I swear it!" He groaned and fell to his knees. "I'll get you..." he mumbled weakly, before his knees gave way, and fell onto his stomach, unconscious.
When Jake collapsed to the ground, Kari quickly got up and began to walk towards him. Before she got far, however, a pair of hands clamped onto her shoulder and spun her around. She found herself looking up into the face of a police officer.
"What are you doing here?" Kari asked tentatively. The cop looked grimly over to where Jake was lying.
"While we were driving by, we saw that kid over there," he began, gesturing towards Jake, "beating up a defenseless man for no apparent reason. So we circled around to enter the park from the other direction. We're here to take him down to the station for questioning." Kari was staring at the cop in shock.
"For no apparent reason!?!" Kari exclaimed, "Are you out of your mind!?! You don't know the half of what happened." The cop crossed his hands across his chest.
"Then why don't you tell us, miss," he said politely. Kari growled.
"That 'defenseless man' that he was beating up killed his parents!" she yelled. The police officer scoffed.
"Do you have any proof of this?" the officer asked. Kari jerked her hand towards the bodies of Jake's parents.
"What, two dead bodies aren't evidence enough?" she asked. The cop's eyes widened as his gaze went to the two bodies. He brought out his radio, and was calling people as fast as he could talk. Once finished with the radio, he went over to the officers holding Jake, who was still unconscious.
"Bring him down to the station," he said in an undertone, "We need to find out what really happened here." The cops holding Jake nodded, and began to half carry, half drag Jake to their waiting cop car. He turned and walked back towards Kari. "Move along now, miss," he told her, "There's nothing more to see." Kari clutched the jacket in a shaking hand.
"You're not blaming him for it, are you?" she asked. The cop shrugged his shoulders.
"We don't know yet. We can't set him free, solely based on what was seen by one witness," he said, "Besides, did you see the murder happen?" Kari bit her lip.
"Well, no," she said. The cop sighed.
"Then there's no way for you to prove his innocence," he stated. Kari's gaze faltered. The cop took a step forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Look, miss, we have to find a motive before we can do anything. If we can't find one, then he's free to go." Kari sighed and nodded. The cop nodded and smiled, then slowly walked back to the cop car. Taking one last look at the car that Jake had been put in, Kari went to go look for a phone booth to call her brother.