Disclaimer: I so do not own Digimon. And I'm way too poor for anyone to benefit from suing me.
Author's note: This takes place a couple of years after Season 2. I wrote it the summer between Season 2 and Season 3.
THE RAINBOW KEY
"It is a myth that there are only opposing forces in this Universe. There are such things as good and evil, light and dark, matter and energy, positive and negative, ones and zeros, but nothing is ever so simple, is it? Keep reading."
"'At the inception of the Plane of Living Data'—meaning the digital world—'five Keys were used to create it. When the creating of it was completed, the Keys were not destroyed, for that would have rendered the plane static, unchangeable, but the Keys were too powerful to be kept together, so they were scattered and hidden. When those who would do harm tracked the Keys, two were sent to the Plane of Living Matter and united with matter creatures. These Keys were the Light and the Dark. Three were hidden in the Living Data Plane: the Rainbow, the Earth, and the Invisible. The first of these you hold in your hand.'"
The light of the computer screen barely illuminated the face of the digimon who had just finished reading her translation of the enigmatic inscription. Her ophidian features emerged like a green ghost from the shadow as she turned to face her companion, who was too far from the computer screen to be seen by its light. "Many of the hieroglyphs are ambiguous," the visible digimon explained apologetically. "I can't tell if the two keys that went to the human world invaded human bodies or actually turned into humans."
"Interesting," the other spoke. The voice was female. "I can almost guess who has the Dark Key."
"Who?"
"Ken Ichijouji. Which means, if I'm right, he may know more about how to use the Keys' power than I do. Hmmm..."
Patamon had called the other digimon and their digidestined to an emergency meeting in the digital world. When they all arrived, they saw a surprising face: Gennai.
"Hello," he said. "It's been a long time. Too bad we're not having our reunion under better circumstances."
"What are the circumstances?" asked T.K.
"There's been a theft," Patamon told them.
Gennai gave the details. "A very powerful item was stolen from the basement of the Museum of Digital History. The digimon who were on guard said they didn't see anyone go in, but a girl—a human—left the building and escaped with the help of a digimon matching the discription of the one you fought two weeks ago: Dokuhebimon!"
The digidestined collectively gasped. The virus-type serpent digimon named Dokuhebimon had attacked other digimon for no reason. After they fought her, she fled.
Though he didn't mention it at the time, T.K. had been sure someone or something had been observing that battle from a safe distance.
"What was the item?" Kari inquired.
"It was one of five points of mystical energy, known as Keys, that bind the fabric of the digital world."
Wormmon jolted. He looked up at his partner, who had a troubled look in his eyes.
flashback
The Digimon Emperor paced between a complicated-looking weapon and a cage containing a thistlemon. Wormmon watched from the hallway.
"What is the Key?" the emperor demanded.
"I'll never tell!" the thistlemon screeched.
"I think you will," Ken informed him. "You'll tell me...or be deleted."
"No!" Wormmon threw himself forward. "Master, don't. Please don't. Why don't you put one of your dark rings on him?"
"Because that would impair his memory, fool," the emperor replied.
Wormmon turned to the thistlemon. "Just tell him what he wants to know. Please! Don't make him do it."
"Never!" the thistlemon exclaimed. "Mutant thorn!"
The thistlemon's attack went between the emperor and Wormmon and hit the weapon's activation button. The resulting beam of energy passed through the bars of the cage and hit the thistlemon full blast. The emperor and Wormmon watched in horror as both the cage and the digimon pixelated.
"I...don't...believe it," Ken said. "He destroyed himself." For a moment, Wormmon thought his master might actually feel guilt, but then the emperor slammed his fist against the weapon. "...before he could tell me what the Key is!"
He kicked the ray gun--his most recent invention--so hard that it fell over and broke. He sneered, clenched his fists, and stalked away, muttering, "Stupid machine."
end flashback
"I'm not even sure of the extent of the Key's powers," Gennai was saying. "We must find a way to get it back."
"You can count on us," Davis proclaimed.
There wasn't much else Gennai could tell them.
As they walked away, T.K., who had seen the look on Ken's face, quietly asked him, "Have you ever heard of this Key before?"
"Yes," Ken answered reluctantly.
"What do you know about it?"
"Only that the digimon would do anything to keep it out of my hands."
T.K., to Ken's inexpressible relief, didn't pursue the matter further.
Back in the physical world, the digidestined went to Izzy's apartment to try to think of a way to find the Key.
As they expected, Izzy was eager to help. "If this Key is connected to the underlying fabric of the digital world, it should create measurable distortions. Now if we could only find a way to detect them. Hmmm..." He sat down and started typing things in his computer.
"Wow, Izzy, you make this look easy," Cody commented.
"This should take a while." Izzy mumbled. "I'll have to call Tsukiyo and cancel our brainstorming session."
Something about the way he said the name made Yolei perk up. "Who is this Tsukiyo?" she asked suspiciously.
Izzy looked surprised, as though he hadn't known he'd spoken out loud. "She's my research partner." When he said 'research partner' the wistfulness in his voice and dazed look in his eyes were even more obvious.
The others exchanged curious glances.
"So tell us about her," Kari prodded. "What's she like? When did you meet her?"
"She heard about my computer expertise and asked me to help her with a project she's working on," Izzy explained. "She's absolutely brilliant."
Ken asked, "You don't mean Tsukiyo Nishiyama, do you?"
"Yes," Izzy confirmed. "Do you know her?"
"Only by reputation."
The others had never heard of her before.
"But we really should concentrate on the problem at hand," Izzy said.
Before they could continue, Kari got an e-mail. "It's from Gatomon," she said. "They've spotted Dokuhebimon and a digimon they've never seen before."
"Let's go!" the younger digidestined shouted together.
Before he knew it, Izzy was alone in his room.
Dokuhebimon was nearly invisible but for glowing slits of yellow eyes and a wraith-like outline of a cobra with a rattlesnake's tail. The digidestined had faced her only once, and the battle had ended in a stalemate. Her companion had the dark blue-grey coloration of a stormcloud and a vague, ghostly shape. Clawed hands poked out of long sleeves and all that could be seen in the hooded shadow where its face would be were two white eyes.
The digidestined digimon had digivolved to their champion levels or armor digivolved.
"Well, guys," Ankylomon said, "Let's do it."
They rushed at Dokuhebimon.
"Rattle Attack!"
They remembered Dokuhebimon's main attack and spread out to avoid it. Stingmon was cought by the shockwave and de-digivolved. Ken ran toward him.
"Exveemon! Cover them!" Davis called.
"Venom Spit!" Dokuhebimon's less powerful but more focused attack threw Exveemon off course.
"Thunder Staff!" A glowing rod appeared between the cloud-colored digimon's hands. It was thrown at Exveemon. He de-digivoled in mid air as the metallic staff exploded in his vicinity.
"You're up, Aquilamon," Yolei shouted.
He went for Dokuhebimon, but the other one attacked. "Lightning Net!" A lightning bot sprouted from its hand and wrapped around Aquilamon, pulling him back.
Aquilamon broke loose and went after the unfamiliar digimon. Nefertimon and Pegasusmon were closing in at the same time.
"Rattle attack!" The shockwaves hit Aquilamon, causing him to de-digivolve.
"Thunder Staff!"
An explosion between Nefertimon and Pegasusmon threw them back momentarily.
"I'm running out of time, Dokuhebimon," the cloud-shrouded digimon said.
"I'm on it, Nimbusmon."
Ken had made his way beneath the fighting and had almost reached the fallen Wormmon when Dokuhebimon dove straight for him. He didn't have time to scream. Before anyone knew what was happening, Nimbusmon and Dokuhebimon were gone.
In a daze, the digidestined ran to Wormmon. He looked up at them mournfully, then moved aside to reveal Ken's black digivice, lying on the ground where it had fallen. "Dokuhebimon got him," Wormmon mumbled.
"Is he dead?" Yolei whispered, voice thick with worry.
"He's not dead!" Wormmon insisted. "I would know if he were dead." But he started crying anyway. "I think they planned this whole thing just to get Ken. Why? Why would they do that? What do they want with him?"
"Don't worry," Davis tried to comfort him. "We'll find him."
When Ken woke up, he found himself strapped tightly to what looked disquietingly like an operating table. A bright light blasted him in the face, preventing him from getting a good look at the rest of the room.
After a minute, he heard the sounds of someone typing at a computer.
"Let me go," he said, without harboring any hope that a simple request would work.
The sound of typing paused for a second, then resumed. A few minutes later, a door opened.
"Hebimon," a feminine voice, heavily accented, said pleasantly, "our patient is awake."
The light above him was turned off. When his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the room, Ken looked at his captors. One was human, a girl perhaps a year his junior with grey eyes, pale skin, and copper-colored hair. The other, he reasoned, was Hebimon. He'd never seen Dokuhebimon in her rookie form before. She was a cute, green snake-like digimon with large, curious eyes.
"We're ready to begin," the girl said.
"Begin what?" Ken asked.
"Don't worry," said Hebimon. "We just want to know a few things. Just answer our questions honestly; it will be easier."
"You had to kidnap me to ask me a few questions?"
"Well, it would be hard to walk up to you in broad daylight to interrogate you, considering I'm a wanted thief," the girl explained.
"You stole the Key," Ken finally realized.
"'Stole' is such an ugly word. I just...well, yeah, I stole it."
"Who are you?"
"I'm Hebimon's human," she said as if that were all the explanation necessary. "All I want from you is to learn how to use the Key."
"How would I know?"
She sighed. "I was afraid you'd make this difficult. You know, I know a lot about you, Ken. I know you're smart, athletic, a devoted friend and partner to your digimon, Wormmon; I know you helped save this world from Myotismon; and I know you used to try to take over this world in your spare time. You even once created your own digimon."
He winced. That wasn't an achievement he liked to be reminded of.
"Now, I'm not smart, like you. I'm good with computers, but when it comes to abstract concepts, to theories..." she shook her head. "You were able to manipulate the digital world in ways no one else could even imagine. You had an understanding of it I lack."
"I didn't understand it at all. I didn't even realize digimon could think!"
The girl nodded. "I also know your genius was exploited by evil, and that you've forgotten much about that time." She swiveled a metal gadget over his head. "That's why I have this."
"What is that?" he asked nervously.
"I have discovered some interesting ways to use the Key already. It can unravel the hidden workings of digital data. And guess what? When you're in the digital world, you're digital." She turned on the machine. "I've rigged a device that can find and record even your most deeply buried memories."
"Or you could just tell us," Hebimon suggested.
"I can't help you. I never knew how to use a Key."
The girl looked at him intensely. What she said made his blood run cold. "Tell me how you created Kimeramon."
"I don't remember," he answered honestly.
"I didn't think so." She pressed a button.
"I can't find him anywhere!" Yolei exclaimed in exasperation. She had her digivice and D-3 hooked up to a computer, but couldn't find any way to detect Ken. No one else was having any more success.
Davis was pacing. "Well we're going to find him because we're not going to quit looking until we do!"
"Why do these things keep happening to Ken?" Wormmon lamented.
"What the...?" Yolei jumped back.
Everyone looked at the computer screen, where a flickering image looked back at them. "Greetings, digidestined," a red-haired girl said. "I'm sure you're very worried about your friend. Don't. I'm borrowing him for a while, but when I'm done you have my word he'll be returned unharmed." The screen went dark.
"That must be the girl who stole the Key," T.K. said.
"But what does she want with Ken?" Kari asked.
"At least we know he's alive," Cody reminded them. "Now all we have to do is figure out how to find him."
"I can help with that." Yolei smiled triumphantly. "I managed to trace that message!"
Hebimon and her partner watched their captive as he groaned and thrashed with the pain of whatever memories were replaying in his head. The girl winced. "I wish I could just fast-forward it to the part about Kimeramon."
"Are you sure he used the power of a Key to create Kimeramon?" Hebimon asked.
"Yes. I'm completely sure." She hesitated. "I'm almost completely sure. I can't think of any other power that could do that."
Hebimon turned her head. "Uh oh."
"What?"
"We have company."
The girl turned and looked at their security cameras. "No. How did they find us so fast?"
"I don't know. What shall we do?"
She bit her lip, thinking. "You go and buy some time. I'll join you as soon as I get what I need from Ken's memories."
Hebimon digivolved to Dokuhebimon and flew off to face the digidestined.
After a few minutes, the girl turned off the machine. Ken became vaguely aware of his surroundings; the memories still echoed in his mind. He saw her lift something from the machine. It looked like a tuning fork, but between the prongs was a droplet of pure light shining in rainbow colors.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" she asked, noticing Ken's eyes on it. "It's the Rainbow Key. Amazing that something so small can be so powerful."
Dokuhebimon returned. "I lost them in the forest. They're still looking for the entrance, but it won't take long. I could use you're help, Talya."
"I'll be right there."
Dokuhebimon left as quickly as she came.
"Talya?" Ken managed to enunciate the name.
She looked up sharply. "You're friends are coming for you," she said. "I'm sorry about this." She put on a thick gold wrist band, opened a small latch on it, and carefully inserted the Rainbow Key. A grey mist emerged from the band and wrapped itself around her.
Where Talya had just been, Ken now stared into the white eyes of Nimbusmon.
"Where did she go?" Davis asked, squinting in the fading light for any sign of Dokuhebimon.
"I don't know, but we must be close," T.K. answered.
"I certainly hope so," said Wormmon, who was perched on Davis's shoulder.
Kari looked around. "It will be harder to find their hideout when it gets dark. Do you think we should split up?"
T.K. thought, then nodded. "Good idea, Kari. But let's not go too far. The hideout must be in the direction Dokuhebimon went."
Each human/digimon team spread out in a line, then they began combing the woods.
Suddenly, a grassy hill right in front of Davis burst open. Nimbusmon emerged.
"Go for it, Veemon!"
"Veemon digivolve to...Exveemon!"
"You keep that thing busy," Davis said as he and Wormmon ran to the hole in the hillside. "We'll find Ken."
Yolei and Aquilamon flew towards them. "Davis, wait up!"
Davis wished he'd listened to her when he and Wormmon ran right in to Dokuhebimon in the tight, dark tunnel.
"Sticky net!" Wormmon attacked.
Dokuhebimon hit her head on the roof, sending down a shower of loose dirt.
Taking advantage of the bigger digimon's momentary blindness, Wormmon scampered past her, closely followed by Davis. They found a door that opened into a room full of computer equipment.
A groan of pain attracted their attention.
"Ken!" Wormmon jumped onto the table and began frantically working to untie his partner. "Ken, can you hear me?"
"Wormmon..." Ken mumbled. In his mind, still clogged with memories more vivid than the present, he saw himself hitting Wormmon with his whip and ordering him to be silent. "Wormmon!" he cried.
Wormmon started pushing on the memory scanner, still positioned over Ken's head. It suddenly swung away, and Wormmon tumbled to the floor.
Davis finished untying Ken's bindings. "Come on, Ken, snap out of it." He helped Ken sit up.
"Wormmon..." he mumbled.
"What about Wormmon?"
Ken was still so dazed that he could barely tell the past from the present. "I killed him," he choked out.
"Huh? What are you talking about? Wormmon's alive. He's here."
Ken blinked and finally looked at him. "Wormmon's alive?"
Yolei, Hawkmon, and Demiveemon burst into the room.
"You wouldn't believe what just happened," Yolei gasped as she began piling computer equipment against the door.
"Let me guess...Nimbusmon and Dokuhebimon beat you so you decided to lead them to us?" said Wormmon.
"Well I wasn't counting on Dokuhebimon!"
The door exploded. Yolei ducked. Dokuhebimon entered the room, scattering the computer equipment across the floor.
"How dare you hurt Ken? Sticky net!" Wormmon yelled.
This time the serpentine digimon deftly dodged the attack. "Venom spit!" The attack missed Wormmon by a few centimeters.
Talya ran in and grabbed a computer disk. "Dokuhebimon, I've got what we need; let's go!" She jumped on her digimon's back.
As they departed, Dokuhebimon turned back. "Rattle Attack!"
Earthquake-like tremors shook the underground room. When the dust settled, the reason for Dokuhebimon's attack became apparent: it had caused a cave-in that blocked the door, preventing them from following.
"Just great!" Yolei huffed. "Now what?"
Ken stood up slowly. He looked at the pile of rubble thoughtfully.
Yolei watched him. She could tell he'd been through something terrible. He was tired and pale. She wanted to hold him and comfort him, and simultaneously do something mean to the people who hurt him. "Oh, Ken...here." She tossed him his digivice.
"Thanks Yolei." He looked at Wormmon questioningly.
"It's worth a shot," he said. "Wormmon digivolve to...Stingmon!" He immediately went to work trying to break through the pile of rubble.
"Digmon could get us out of here in no time," Demiveemon pointed out.
"Oh yeah!" Davis took out his digivice. "It isn't working. All of this dirt must be getting in the way."
"But they must have realized where we went by now. They'll have us out in no time," Yolei said, trying to sound optimistic.
"If they find us before our air runs out," Ken mumbled.
Yolei overheard him. "Come on, Ken, don't say things like that..."
"Hey, I just thought of something," said Davis. "What if Nimbusmon finds a way down here first?"
"She was already here," Ken replied. "Talya...she..."
"Who's Talya?" asked Demiveemon.
"Dokuhebimon's partner."
"The Russian girl with the red hair?" Yolei asked.
Ken nodded. "Somehow she used the Key to turn herself into a digimon, Nimbusmon."
"Weird," said Davis.
"My thoughts exactly."
With nothing to do but wait, Davis sat down with Demiveemon on his lap and both fell asleep within a few minutes. Stingmon kept working at the cave-in, but new dirt and stones kept falling to replace the ones he cleared out of the way. Hawkmon joined him, mostly giving suggestions that didn't work.
Ken leaned against a wall. Yolei joined him. "On the bright side, at least we're not trapped under water being circled by a seadramon, like we were that one time."
He closed his eyes and shook his head. "I don't remember..."
"Oh, right. You weren't there, were you."
"I don't know...when I try to remember anything, I get a headache."
Yolei's eyes were full of sympathy. "What did they do to you?"
"She...she took my memories. She wanted to know something, something from my past."
"What did she want to know?"
"She wanted to find out how I created Kimeramon."
Yolei's mouth dropped open. "That's scary. Very scary."
Ken nodded in agreement. "I just wish I knew what she really wants. Talya didn't seem evil."
"How can you say that after what she did to you?"
He shrugged. Yolei was looking at him intently. He met her gaze. "Yolei?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for coming after me."
She took half a step closer to him. "Listen, Ken. I would never abandon you. Never. None of us would; you're one of us."
"What if I returned to evil?"
"We both know that would never happen."
He wasn't so sure. It was his worst fear; he still had nightmares about it. "But what if I did?"
"We would find you, and we would save you. We'd bring you back."
She was so sincere he knew she was telling the truth. He smiled.
The ceiling began to rumble. Davis and Demiveemon woke up, Hawkmon and Stingmon stopped working and looked toward the sound.
Digmon dropped into the room. "Sorry to crash the party," he joked.
"You guys alright down there?" called Kari from above.
"Took you long enough!" Davis complained.
Hebimon and Talya sat inside a hollow tree while rain pounded down outside. Talya had a computer in her lap. She was watching what she'd gotten from Ken's memories.
"Hebimon?" She glanced over, realized she'd roused her digimon from sleep, and smiled apologetically.
"What?" Hebimon asked with a yawn.
"Ken Ichijouji has to be the most fascinating human I've ever met. Not," she added resentfully, "that that's much of an accomplishment. When he was a very young child he had an encounter with digimon that I'm not sure he remembers. I think I was right: I think he has the Dark Key and doesn't even know it."
"Maybe we should tell him."
"I'm not sure that would be a great idea. Not until I learn how to use the Rainbow Key, at least." She opened her wrist band and gazed at the Key. She couldn't get over how beautiful it was. "I've come a long way from the quiet little orphan girl, haven't I? Remember the day we met in the woods by the orphanage, Hebimon?"
"Of course I do. I knew you were my human the first time I saw you, when you were crying by the river."
"I always went to that river to cry," Talya said, a distant look in her eyes. "That day was particularly bad. I slept in and got in trouble, then I had to go to class without breakfast. At lunch I tripped and spilled my food on the floor, and all of the other children laughed at me. Then after school one of the older girls pushed me in the mud. I ran into the woods, and that's when I found your digiegg. When I saw you, that was the first time in my life I can remember being happy." She smiled. "Then I found a way to open the portal." After stepping through the digiport to the digital world, Talya had never even thought of going back. She doubted anyone even realized she was gone, and that didn't sadden her at all. She would stay in the digital world forever; it was where she belonged. "Ken was a fool to try to take over the digital world, to think that a human deserved to rule over it."
"Talya, where do you think the other Keys are?"
"Well, if the Dark Key and Light Key are both in humans, and the Dark Key became a digidestined, maybe the Light Key is a digidestined, too. And since the Dark Key became good, the Light Key could become evil." She frowned. "If that happens...if the Light Key is one of their own, and it does become evil, then it may be up to us to stop them."