Disclaimer: Digimon was not created by and does not belong to me.

Recap: Since the digidestined destroyed Malomyotismon, a lot has happened. They discovered and explored the Demon Underworld, where Kari was taken after being kidnapped by Daemon. A human named Talya and her digimon Hebimon stole a mysterious, powerful object called the Rainbow Key, and no one knows what they're planning to do with it. Izzy fell in love with a genius named Tsukiyo. Now, if only they knew how to stop Daemon...

Ygdrasil

Tsukiyo's eyes shot open in the dark. She reached over and shook her husband. "Are you awake?" she whispered.

"I am now." Izzy yawned as he sat up. Midnight epiphanies were one of the hazards of being married to a genius. "What is it?"

"Daemon," she said. "Have you ever bothered to wonder why he created the dark spore in the first place?" she didn't wait for an answer. "It was created for humans! It's the human equivalent of a Black Gear. Daemon wanted to take over our world by making humans his followers. But it didnt' work perfectly. Understand? The one in Ken's head was just a prototype."

"Okay...It it's the only one, why hasn't Daemon taken it back? He's had opportunities..."

"Why would he be so hasty? The longer he waits, the more digimon followers he amasses. It benefits him to take his time. Do you see why he kidnapped Kari? If he had corrupted Kari and returned her seemingly unharmed..."

"A plant," Izzy said. "To keep and eye on Ken. And we would have been so happy to have her back we wouldn't have even wondered..."

"Exactly."

They fell into a thoughtful silence.

"So what should we do?" Izzy finally asked.

"Endanger Ken's life," Tsukiyo responded.

"What?"

"The Dark Spore in Ken is inert. Daemon needs it for the eventual fruition of his plans. If Ken's life was in danger, something that would risk damaging the spore, Daemon won't hide in the shadows and watch."

"It would draw him out," Izzy said, comprehending. "It would force him to face us. But he's so powerful..."

"And the longer we wait, the more powerful he becomes."

Yolei paced her room like a caged tiger. She had been doing that for over an hour, ever since the meeting Izzy and Tsukiyo called to tell them about their plan to draw Daemon out of hiding.

Hawkmon couldn't take it anymore. "Yolei, I implore you, relax."

"Relax?" she scoffed. "You expect me to relax when my friend - my Ken - is risking his life to face Daemon, who, need I remind you, almost defeated us once before? How am I supposed to relax!" She thought back to the meeting. "I can't believe Tsukiyo can even suggest putting Ken in danger!"

"Tsukiyo knows what she's doing; she always does."

"And I can't believe everyone else eventually agreed to go along with it. What's wrong with them?"

"They're doing what they have to do to defeat Daemon."

"And I can't believe Ken agreed to do it!"

"You followed him to the digiworld. Did you talk to him about your concerns?"

"Of course I did!"

Flashback

Yolei ran after Ken, but couldn't reach him before he opened a digiport and vanished into his laptop. She dove through the digiport after him, and emerged in the digiworld.

"Ken!"

He looked back when he heard Yolei. There was no indication of surprise in his expression, just that vague, subtle, undefinable melancholy sweetness that Yolei had never seen on anyone else's face.

She sprinted to him. "Don't...don't go through with this. There has to be another way."

He just looked at her, and she realized he'd deliberately tried to leave without giving her a chance to talk him out of it.

She shook her head. "You know, your kindness can be almost cruel sometimes."

He chuckled. "You think my kindness can be cruelty?" he said softly. "You once forgave me when I couldn't forgive myself, when all I wanted was for you to hate me, like I deserved. You have no idea how much that hurt."

"That was a long time ago. What does it have to do with anything?"

He put his arms around her. "You have no idea how much you mean to me. All of you. If I die, my life would still mean something because of your friendship. That's why I have to do my part to stop Daemon. I don't expect you to understand, but I hope that you'll let me."

"But...but if it doesn't work...I don't know what I would do. I can't lose you," she whispered.

"That's always a risk. That's what we have to face as digidestined, and that's what we have to live with if we..." He sighed, unable to find words to express himself. He kissed her. "You know I love you, right?"

Present

"And then he left. Just like that! That jerk just kissed me, told me he loved me, and left before I could follow him." She began to weep. "Of course I knew that! I knew he loved me every time he kissed me, every time he looked at me, but until that moment..." her voice dropped to a whisper. "I didn't know that I love him." She took a deep breath, and her voice returned to normal. "I mean, I figured I did, because I liked him more than any other boyfriend I've had, but that might just have been because he's also my friend. But no. I love him. I really do. And now...I may never see him again.

Talya turned in her chair as she scanned several screens showing images of the digital world. "What is Ken Ichijouji doing?" she wondered.

Hebimon emerged from the shadows behind her. "My guess is that it has something to do with Daemon."

Talya's grey eyes narrowed. "What can you tell me, my digimon?"

"Only that Daemon is very powerful. He's been trying to get digimon to join him, and those who won't join him are afraid of him. The digidestined don't know how to defeat him."

"How problematic. Does he know about Ken's hidden powers?"

"Does anyone?" the green, snake-like digimon asked rhetorically. "We don't even know for sure that Ken is the vessel of the Dark Key."

The girl's eyes returned to the screen. "He doesn't have his digimon with him. Ken be in more danger than he can imagine. If he is the Dark Key, we can't let Daemon get him, no matter what. Daemon will not threaten our world, not if I can help it. Hebimon, see if you can find Wormmon. I'll keep an eye on this stray digidestined."

Ken wandered between boulders and gnarled, twisted trees. He knew this place well, this nearly empty, gloomy hill region.

He arrived at his destination. The trail opened to a gaping chasm in the stone, with a single rope bridge strung across it. He walked to the center of the bridge, and gazed down at the river far, far below. He climbed over the rope, hanging on precariously, and waited. His thoughts, as he gazed into the abyss, were mostly of Yolei. If she had pleaded with him, he might have refused to go along with this risky plan. That was why he'd tried to leave before she could talk to him. It was his fear that the plan would fail - the thought that he might never see her again - that gave him the courage to tell her he loved her. He closed his eyes for a moment and thought of their last date: singing and dancing in the karaoke bar, and the kiss in the park in the rain.

From the cover of a nearby boulder, a digimon kept watch. The bearer of the Dark Spore was acting strangely. The digimon worried that his master's plans would be compromised. But as long as the human remained where he was, there was no need for immediate action. Daemon had been notified, and would come himself shortly.

Ken got a chill deep inside him, and a twinging in his neck. He looked around. Even though he couldn't see Daemon, he was somehow sure the evil digimon was near. He activated his digivice, sending a signal to the others.

And then Daemon appeared, emerging from behind the boulders on the cliff's edge. He floated toward Ken. "What do you think you're doing, little human?"

Even though inside he was quaking with fear, Ken looked brave and defiant. "If I fall," he asked, "what will happen to the Dark Spore?" There had been a time once, long ago, when he would have considered destroying himself to destroy the dark spore, but now he had too much to live for. But Daemon didn't need to know that.

"Of course not."

"Then," he loosened one hand from the rope, "why are you here?"

Daemon's eyes narrowed with anger. "Let's make a deal, Ken. If you do manage to destroy my dark spore by destroying yourself, I get to kill your friends one by one, starting with your little digimon."

"Whatever it takes to stop you."

"I don't believe you."

A smile spread on Ken's lips. "It doesn't matter if you believe me or not. You're too late."

"Vee-laser!"

Daemon spun around to dodge the attack. Exveemon was followed by Angemon, Angewomon, Ankylomon, Aquilamon, Kabuterimon, Birdramon, Garurumon, Lazulimon, Pyromon, Cryomon, Xylomon, Smilomon, and Tsukiyo's little Reimeimon scurrying to catch up. The digidestined ran along behind them.

Daemon glared at Ken. "You think you can fool me that easily? I have a surprise for you."

Ken smirked. "I don't think even you could defeat all of these digimon at once."

"Not alone, perhaps. But I'm not alone."

From the other side of the gorge, Daemon's minions appeared. Among them were Jinxmon, Sinanmon, Uvamon, Hitsujimon, Dokugumon, and many more.

Aquilamon, with Yolei on his back, swooped down and scooped Ken from the bridge. Wormmon jumped from Yolei's arms to Ken's.

"You ready little guy?" Ken asked.

"Let me at 'em."

"Okay!"

"Wormmon digivolve to...Stingmon!"

Yolei and Ken joined the other digidestined on the ground and watched their digimon prepare for battle.

"This is futile!" Daemon taunted. "You can never defeat me! Join me while you have the choice!"

"Never!" Davis shouted back.

"Very well. Attack!"

Daemon's followers launched themselves at the assembled alliance of digimon. The battle began.

The four sisters from the underworld - Pyromon, Cryomon, Xylomon, and Phytomon - stood together. The identical aquamarine gems gleamed in unison. "Aquafoil!" they chanted. Beams of light from the gems joined, twisted, and shot out like a striking snake, wrapping around and immobilizing their nearest foe, before moving on to the next.

The digidestined digimon converged on Daemon, but were driven back by the evil minions. But in minutes, Daemon's forces started dwindling.

"We're winning!" Davis announced triumphantly.

The demon quadruplets launched their Aquafoil attack at Daemon. Dark red fire came from his body to repel it.

As they struggled, the grape-like Uvamon broke from the attack and ran toward the digidestined. "Grape ball!" It called as a bowling ball-like giant grape flew toward the humans.

The blue, lizard-like Reimeimon caught it in her mouth and swallowed it in one gulp. Then she faced Uvamon. "Vesperumbra," she chanted. "Vesper Umbra, Vesper Umbra." Dark blue shadows floated up wraith-like from the ground and surrounded Uvamon, trapping it and then levitating it away.

The Aquafoil attack began encompassing Daemon, but he laughed harshly. "Have you forgotten, digidestined? You sent me to the Dark Ocean, where I saw nightmares you can't imagine, and learned some new tricks. Come forth, my secret weapon!"

Kari suddenly felt like an icy vice tightened around her heart. Her head snapped up, and against her will she stepped forward.

"Kari?" Davis grabbed her arm.

She held out her hand, and a cloud of pearl light gathered around her and exploded, knocking Davis back. She pointed at the demon sisters and the same cloud formed around them, cutting off their attack.

Then Kari pointed at Ken. Her eyes glowed with a sickening white light.

A bubble of light formed around Ken and lifted him off the ground.

Daemon laughed. "You see, I know how to unlock the power the Key of Light doesn't even know she has. I meant for you to rescue her from the Dark Pyramid. Her time there allowed me to gain a foothold in her mind. Come to me, Key of Light."

There was a battle in Kari's mind. The darkness in the Underworld pyramid had overwhelmed her. It wasn't Daemon, but a much deeper darkness that wormed its way inside her. But that evil was content to go along with Daemon for now, and her body obeyed even as her mind struggled to hold on to what thread of goodness she still had.

"Fight it, Kari!" Ken shouted at her. "You're stronger than this! Stronger than me!"

Kari's fist clenched, and Ken screamed.

Yolei threw herself forward, and she grabbed Kari by the shoulders and shook her violently. "Stop it! You're going to hurt Ken!"

With a flick of his hand, Daemon sent Yolei flying backward.

"I assure you," Daemon said, "Ken and Kari are the only two of you who won't get hurt. Now let us go."

Kari didn't move. Her eyes lost focus, and the unnatural light in them faded. "Something's coming," she said.

Ken sensed it, too. He smiled through his pain.

Dokuhebimon flew up from the gorge, followed by Nimbusmon. Daemon turned to face them.

"I would politely ask you to stop messing with my world," Nimbusmon said, "but I know you won't, so let me get straight to the point. Thunder Staff!"

Her attack only irritated Daemon. "You meddling little pest..."

"Rattle Attack!" Dokuhebimon's attack knocked Daemon back.

With an indignant flick he sent a fireball at her. Her form began to dissolve into pixels.

"Dokuhebimon!" Nimbusmon screamed, and dove toward her.

"Dokuhebimon digivolve to...Coatlmon!" Black wings spread from a rainbow dragon-like digimon with glowing yellow eyes.

"Huh?" Davis said. "How did she get to Ultimate?"

The others were too awed by the spectacle to answer.

Coatlmon flew at Daemon. "Xochimix!" It's attack looked like a rainbow firework exploding against Daemon.

"You think a little thing like that can stop me?" Daemon laughed.

But the explosions continued, following him as he flew back. It distracted him enough for Coatlmon to get in her next attack. "Coatl meteor!"

A flash at light sped toward Daemon. He managed to dodge it, barely, but the size of the hole it left in the cliff face where it impacted proved it would have done a lot of damage if it had hit him. With eyes blazing, he turned on Coatlmon. "Darkness Blanch!"

The blaze of light struck Coatlmon full force and she dedigivolved to to her baby form of Ophidiamon.

"Infernal Arrow!" Daemon sent a less powerful but more focused attack at the little digimon, but Nimbusmon interfered.

"Lightning net!" She caught the attack with hers and sent it flying back.

Daemon glared at her. "What are you?"

"I'm a digimon keeping you from taking over my world. What else do you need to know?"

"Why would I bother taking over the digital world?" Daemon asked. "Every digimon with a partner is loyal to its human. Soon every digimon will have a human partner, so all I need to do is make the humans loyal to me and I will control both worlds!"

"Why would you want to do that?" Nimbusmon asked.

"What a stupid question. How else would I achieve ultimate power?"

"You're insane," she informed him.

"And what are you going to do about it?"

Her eyes narrowed. "I'm going to demonstrate the full power of the Rainbow Key, which I control!" A rainbow arched from her skeletal hands. The rainbow light roped around Daemon, and constricted.

With an explosion of red light, Daemon broke free. "Darkness Blanch!"

Nimbusmon absorbed the attack, then renewed her own.

"Kari!" Ken called. "She needs more energy. Can you do it?"

The war in Kari's mind raged on. "He poisoned me," she said.

"Yes, and it may be impossible to fight. But you can fight Daemon. Evil can be used against evil; that's why good keeps winning. Trust me!"

Kari gave up fighting, and had a moment to redirect her power to strengthen that of the Rainbow Key. She then collapsed into unconsciousness.

With the increased energy, Talya/Nimbusmon directed more force against Daemon. She knew the Key was draining energy from her, but she would not give up until Daemon was stopped.

Ken held out his digivice, and a stream of Dark energy joined the Rainbow and the Light against Daemon. Three Keys struggled against the might of an enemy who had spent hundreds of years making himself stronger. He felt himself being defeated. He could take one of them down with him. Ken, who had trapped him in the Dark Ocean? Kari? Not her; she was already poisoned. Even if she survived, she would suffer with her demons for the rest of her life. Nimbusmon? Ken, too, was scarred by evil, and it was Nimbusmon who had shown up at just the wrong time and stolen victory from his grip. Nimbusmon it was.

"Darkness...Blanch!"

As the energies collided, Daemon was destroyed in a cloud of pixels and smoke. But the energy rebounded on Nimbusmon. Her scream became white light as she vanished into pixels.

"No!" Ophidiamon screamed. "No no nononono!"

The energy field created by the battle disappeared, as did Daemon's surviving supporters when they saw their leader destroyed.

The digidestined reunited with their partners. They were all strangely silent. Even Davis.

The scraped and bruised Yolei crawled to Kari. She checked her pulse. Then she went to Ken.

"Is she...?"

"Alive." She wrapped her arms around him. His tears fell onto her shoulder.

"Talya is dead," he whimpered.

"You were right, Ken," Yolei said. "You told me you didn't think Talya was evil, and she wasn't. She saved us."

The other digidestined gathered around Kari. "Is she going to be okay?" Tai asked.

No one answered.

Wormmon went to Ophidiamon, who was sobbing quietly for her partner.

Ken's tears subsided. He and Yolei joined the others around Kari. The others looked at him expectantly. He took a deep breath as he knelt next to Kari. "I think she'll pull through," he said. "I did, and she's stronger than me." He didn't sound very hopeful.

Tsukiyo stayed back from the others. Her plan had succeeded, but at such a terrible cost she wished she'd never come up with one.

"But Talya..." Izzy said.

"She loved the digital world more than anything. She died protecting what she loved," Tsukiyo remarked. She looked at Izzy when she said, "I would have done the same thing."

"Something just occurred to me," Cody said. "When digimon die in our world they become ghosts, right? So what happens to a human who dies in the digital world?"

Kari found herself in a dark place. She had been here before, she realized. She was so alone.

She found herself surrounded by images of her memories. There were pictures of her friends. She smiled at them, but they didn't seem to see her. How did she get here?

Then she remembered the battle. Daemon had used her, turned her against her friends. But then Nimbusmon came and used the Rainbow Key. She and Ken had helped. The evil inside her wanted to hurt something; it didn't care what. She'd been able to turn it against Daemon. Then what happened? Did they win?

"Am I dead?" she wondered.

"No."

She turned around, and faced a mirror image of herself in negative colors.

"Your friends left you to die. They sacrificed you to save themselves."

"To save everyone," Kari argued. "Besides. I'm still alive." She didn't know who this thing was that looked like her, but it wasn't her. It didn't belong in her mind.

"They didn't know that using your powers would cut off the evil. How could they have known? They would have let it take you."

"Shut up!" Kari said. "Get out of my head."

"But I could help you learn to use your powers. I could help you become the most powerful thing in all the worlds."

"But it wouldn't be me," she said. "This is my mind, and you're not welcome here."

"Don't be so stubborn, human!"

"I am Light! And I won't let you use me to hurt my friends. Get OUT!" She reached toward it, and it shattered into thousands of pieces like a mirror.

Her eyes opened. She was in a hospital bed. Tai slept on a chair next to her, and Gatomon dozed at the foot of the bed.

At Kari's movement, Gatomon awoke. "Oh, Kari!" She bounded into her arms. "I was so worried about you."

"What happened?"

"We won, of course. Daemon's a goner."

"Is everyone alright?"

Gatomon's tail twitched.

"Gatomon?"

"Talya is dead."

"Oh no." She frowned, and would have cried if she wasn't too tired.

"But so is Daemon," Gatomon reminded her, trying to cheer her up.

"Daemon is gone. The digiworld is safe again." Kari managed to smile.

In Primary Village, a new egg appeared. It didn't look like any of the other eggs. Its shell was all the colors of the rainbow.

The End