Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

A/N: Do you love these kids?

Chapter 6

"Sam?" Mom knocked on the door. "It's time to wake up and get ready for school."

I slowly got out of bed. For some reason, it's been very difficult lately. I've also had a lot more episodes than normal. Usually, I would have them twice a week max. But this week, I've had them twice a day. Something was wrong with me. It's only a matter of time before I have one at school.

But today, I felt really...strange. It was like I wasn't here. My body was on auto-pilot as I made my way to the kitchen. Did I turn to a zombie? Am I sleep walking? I leaned against the wall trying to catch my breath. Something was definitely wrong. "Wow. Someone has a bad case of the Mondays." Aika said when she passed me up. "Are you okay?" I didn't say anything. She took a good look at me and gasped.

"What?" I asked.

"Are you okay? You look feverish. Let me go get mom."

I slid down and rested my head using my knees for support. Maybe it is a fever and nothing was wrong with me. Sounds good. Once I sat up Mom and Dad were standing over me. "Oh, my baby!" Mom said. "Don't you worry. I'll call a doctor right away and find a babysitter for Keanu. You'll be just fine."

Dad bent down to me and felt my forehead and cheeks. "It's not a fever." He said. "But maybe we should treat it like one. Get back in bed, Sam. I'll start making a few calls."

I nodded before standing up. But I fell right back down. The Dark Ocean tried to take me away again. Another episode.

"No, Sam..." Mom picked me up so I could rest on her shoulder. "Why does this keep happening?"

"I'll tell you later." Dad said. Then I was out.

()()

"Hi, lil brother." I was feeling okay when I woke up, so I made some play time!

Keanu giggled and wiggled in his crib.

"How are you feeling?" I turned around and saw Aika putting her book bag on the floor.

"Better." I answered.

She smiled and gave me a huge hug. "I was worried."

"I'm okay now."

Aika took out a cookie from her backpack. "I snuck it from the cafeteria. It's the only thing there that's really really good!"

I laughed with her. "Thanks, Aika." I broke (more like ripped) it in half and gave some to her. It was still pretty warm and it melted in my mouth. "This is really good!"

"Tell me what's going on, Ken." Mom demanded from outside the door. Aika and I shared a confused glance before listening in. "What's going on with Sam?"

I gulped, knowing what it was about. But I didn't expect Dad to say "He got it from me."

"What?" Mom gasped. "What did he get?"

"The darkness. The sonagram wasn't wrong. All three children have a dark spore in them but Sam has it worse."

"So he's not bipolar? But he has to be. He got it from me, right? It was the dark spore doing this the whole time?"

"Or worse. It could be a combination of the two mixed in with the darkness inside him."

Mom didn't say anything.

"I just wish we knew what to do."

"But why don't Aika and Keanu have this problem? Why is it just Sam?"

"I assumed it was because Sam has more of me in him."

Mom sighed. "So his condition...isn't caused by his disorder?"

"No." My heart sank. "It's not. It just triggers it."

I started hyperventilating again. My hand was clasped at my chest. I couldn't take this information. I just couldn't take it. It was true. I am a monster. I am. "Sam." Aika rubbed my back. "Sam, calm down." But it was too late. My knees hit the ground. Aika held my arm to keep me up. "Sam, please..."

I had to fight it. I can't go back to the Ocean. And fighting wasn't easy. I was on all fours when Aika couldn't hold on any longer. Keanu started to cry. I started screaming. The darkness was trying to consume me. Aika opened the door and started crying for Mom and Dad. But they were gone. A flash of light came out of nowhere as some mysterious device landed in front of my face. It looked just like Dad's digivice. It was just as dark like it too and it was glowing so I grabbed it. Maybe it could fend off the darkness. The digivice wailed as I held it tight, screaming to get away from Darkness. But then fear overcame and I felt hopeless. A light started to grow from my digivice. It got bigger and bigger the more scared I got. My eyes started rolling to the back of my head. The light swallowed me and Aika. I could still hear Keanu crying.

()()

"Sam..."

I hesitated before opening my eyes. I didn't know where I was. I don't think I even want to find out. Everything looked so strange. We were in a desert but not on Earth. "Where are we?" I asked my sister.

"I have no clue." She said.

We started walking around the strange place. But something caught my eye when I tripped over something. "What's this?" I shifted the sand a bit to dig it up. It was a pair of yellow sharp sunglasses. Someone's been here.

"Don't touch those!" A little voice yelled. "Those belong to the Digimon Emperor!"

"Didn't he die twenty-five years ago?" Aika asked. "That's what Dad told me."

"Yeah." I said. "I remember those stories." I tucked the glasses in my back pocket. Luckily, no one saw.

Then, two Digimon appeared over the dunes of sand. I remembered them vaguely. It was a Poromon and Minomon. "Hi, Sam!" Minomon said.

"Hello, Aika." Poromon greeted.

"Who are you?" Aika asked, taking a step back.

"We're your Digimon!" Poromon cheered, jumping onto her shoulder as Minomon plopped onto my head.

"Our Digimon?" I asked. "You mean, we get Digimon like Mom and Dad?"

"Of course!" Minomon said.

Before we started to cheer, a huge gust of wind started, pushing the sand all around us. Aika wrapped her arms around me. "Let's get out of here." Then she asked "How do we do that?"

"Follow me!" Poromon commanded.

()()

"Aika, Sam!" Mom ran to us and squeezed us extra tight. "Where on earth have you been?"

"Not on Earth." Aika said. "We fell into the Digital World."

"What?" She screamed. "Who sent you there?"

I looked up at Aika who was holding up a hand to block my view of her face. I just knew there was a pointed finger behind it. I gulped. "It was me."

"What?" She asked in disbelief.

"What?" Dad came in and asked in pure curiosity. "What happened?"

"I sent us to Digi World." I began sobbing. "But I don't know how."

Dad swallowed. "I see."

Mom on the other hand was hyperventilating.

"Yolei, remember your exercises." Hawkmon said.

"We even brought back some Digimon." Aika said. "Poromon and Minomon."

Our Digimon came out of Dad's office. "Hello." They both said.

Mom calmed down but was still pretty upset. "I'm going to trust that you guys will take care of them, but I don't want to hear about you guys going to the Digital World aging. Do you understand me?" We nodded. "I mean it. The Digital World is a very very dangerous place. We went through so many near-death situations. The ground swallowed Davis up and we were only there for two minutes. I don't want that to happen to you." We nodded again. "Good. Now, I'm going to make dinner. I hope you're hungry!"

As everyone dispersed and was on their way to do their own things, I held Dad behind. "Can you tell me about the Digimon Emperor?"

"The Digimon Emperor? Who's that?"

"Dad, I know you know."

He gave a small chuckle. "I should've known with that IQ of yours. But, I don't really know him. I came in the DigiDestined group a while after the Emperor was defeated. But I do know he was very vicious."

"Really?" I asked, pulling out the sunglasses I found in the desert. "I found these in Digi World."

Dad took them from me with gentle fingers. "Yes, these are his glasses."

I nodded. "Can I try them on?"

"Of course, but be careful. They're an antique." He smiled and handed it back to me.

I had a smile on my face while I wore them. They were so big! The lenses covered my eyebrows. "There he is! The Digimon Emperor but tinier and a different hair style!" Minomon yelled before trying to tackle me.

"No, it's just me." I took off the glasses. "See?"

"Oh." Minomon jumped onto my head. "Let's eat!"

"Not yet. Mom has to cook it still!"

()()

I slid the glasses on and got a good look at myself. Studying myself, I gave an evil smile. Then I took them off. Something was just too familiar. What is it? I put the glasses in my pocket and went into the living room. Aika was busy dancing with the girls in the music video. Meanwhile, I sat on the couch with Mom's huge photo album. "To Yolei and Ken. Happy Memories by Kari." It said.

I opened it and the first picture was off all twelve of them. "Sora, Matt, T.K., Kari," I quizzed myself, "Davis, Tai, Ken, Yolei, Joe, Izzy, Cody, Mimi." I turned the page to Davis at his soccer game. Then it was Dad and Davis playing together. I skipped ahead to a picture of the Digimon Emperor. He was standing there with the Digital World in the palms of his hands. While Aika was too busy dancing, I snatched the picture out of the album.

"What are you doing?" Aika turned around and stared.

"Nothing. I'm just looking at pictures."

"Okay." She turned off the TV. "I'll be in the shower."

"Have a nice shower." I told her as she left. Then, as quickly as I could, I shoved the album back into the shelf.

"Sam?" Mom and Dad were standing in the kitchen entrance. They were standing pretty close to each other and Dad had his hand on Mom's shoulder which only meant one thing: alone time. "I thought you went to bed." Mom said.

I shook my head. "I was just about to do some more homework." I dashed away in time for them to have a nice time in the living room.

Anyway, I didn't go straight to my room. The mirror in the bathroom was occupied so I used Mom's vanity mirror. I took out the picture of the Digimon Emperor as Minomon came in. "I found you!" He said. I didn't reply. Instead, I found a picture of Dad when he was young and with Uncle Sam. At least that's what he would have been until he died a long time ago.

That's when I noticed something.

The hair. The glasses. He died before Dad came. Uncle Sam was the Digimon Emperor.