There's No Rest for the Wicked
Disclaimer: I pity the fool that thinks Digimon is mine. (G: *shakes head in disapproval at the Mr. T imitation*)
A/N: Ok, since both of the inaccuracies I've made so far occurred when G was in charge of something, (G: WHAT?) I think I'll take over the writing from here. (G: Oh, okay, go right ahead. ^_^) Sheesh. -_-; The correction to the last chapter's explained there and has already been accounted for.
G: You know, Gaia, you're not doing a very good job disproving the myth that sequels are usually worse than the original.
Gaia: What are you talking about?!
G: Well, so far you've made 2 major mistakes whereas in "Reflection" we hardly made any.
Gaia: (grumbling) No thanks to you.
G: And, your updates are less frequent than they were last summer.
Gaia: (still grumbling) I'd like to see you try to write fanfics while participating a 10-hour long preceptorship program every weekday last month….
G: Not to mention our endnotes have stunk lately.
Gaia:…Okay, I can't argue with you there…but can we at least start the fic so I can atone for all of those. The best part of this story hasn't even begun. *pulls out a 3 meter high pile of notes*
G: *gawks at the stack* You've got to be kidding me!
Gaia: Nope, now get out of my way so that I can continue this fic to thank all the reviewers who have supported me through my blunders thus far.
G: (muttering) Some thanks.
Gaia: *kicks G out the second story window* :-) I miss doing that.
Chapter 7 – Mourning Interlude
"This can't be happening…" The turnabout events of the past few minutes starting to sink in, Kari was on the verge of fainting.
Davis caught her before she could collapse, however, and did his best to comfort her.
Meanwhile, Yolei slumped to the ground, her eyes clearly asking the question that was on everybody's minds: "Why?"
After several moments, T. K. was able to pick himself up off the wet sand and stagger towards Yolei. On his haggard face lingered another equally important question that only she could answer.
"Yolei," he croaked out hoarsely. The girl looked up at him vacantly. It was obvious this ordeal had taken its costly toll on her, but he had to ask. "What did he mean by ask you if we ever wanted to see them again?"
Twin streams of tears leaked from her wavering eyes, and she shook her head slowly. Her voice suddenly lost from her, she mouthed her answer to him. I don't know.
Looking from one group of friends to the other, Cody decided it might be wiser to join T. K. and Yolei, if he wanted to get to the bottom of things.
With Upamon forlornly bounding up beside him, he slowly ambled over to the blond and the lavender-haired girl in a half-dazed manner, as if waking up from what he hoped was simply a nightmare. Looking at the distraught female teenager with a sympathetic expression, he hesitated to ask what was on his mind, but some hardened side of him urged him to speak.
"Why do you suppose he took only Salamon and Patamon? I mean, he could have taken all of our digimon just as easily," Cody stated in as levelheaded a fashion as he could, reaching down to pick up Upamon and hold him protectively.
For the slightest moment he saw a twinge of pain in T. K.'s eyes, but the Digidestined of Hope collected himself in time to respond, "I'm not quite sure what he has up his sleeve, but I do know this: we have got to get them back before he follows through with whatever dirty scheme he has in mind for them."
"It could be that he just wants to prevent us from having any DNA-digivolved digimon on our side."
The hushed voice coming from the lavender-haired girl on the ground startled the two teenage boys.
Yolei looked up to meet the eyes of both of them. "Just because I feel as if my heart's been torn to pieces by a Snimon doesn't mean I can't or won't contribute anything to a discussion concerning Ken."
"Yolei…" Cody started.
The girl shook her head. "I of all people should know him the best—how he thinks, how he would act." She began to struggle to her feet. "If it helps get my man back, I'll do everything I can to help."
T. K. and Cody rushed to her side to support her weakened body, and she gratefully accepted, knowing full well that she probably couldn't keep up her charade of strength any longer.
"Come on, guys," she said, looking from T. K. to Cody to Upamon and Poromon and hobbling towards Davis, Veemon, and Kari. "Let's go back to the real world and get the other Digidestined to help us make a plan."
The other three nodded with equal resolve and stumbled alongside the reinvigorated girl, who was determined not to rest until the love of her life had come back to her, safe from the clutches of darkness.
Meanwhile, in an unknown part of the sleeping Digital World, a dark, bulky figure and a long, snake-like shadow glided stealthily into a newly opened hole in a rock wall.
The fresh aperture led not to some small, craggy crevice, nor to a dark, winding series of caverns, but to the inside of a black metallic fortress, hidden beneath a rocky shell.
Once the two flying beasts entered a large chamber with a ceiling four stories high, the rounder one flew up and disappeared into one of the dozens of doorways scattered across the room's tall, circular wall. The longer one stopped in the center of the chamber and let two of four other creatures fall off its back: one an overgrown worm that was bound by a strong, black whip, the other a humanoid dressed in a tight navy blue outfit with a two-pronged cape.
Then the snake-like creature, too, flew up and disappeared down one of the dark doorways—leaving the two smaller figures alone, such that what transpired afterward was only witnessed by them.
The human teenager didn't seem to acknowledge the struggling insect digimon that had fallen a several meters away from him as he staggered towards a door at the far side of the room. He had only taken a few steps when some kind of internal pain forced him to double over and fall to his knees on the hard, metallic floor. In spite of the bitter cold of the room, sweat dripped down his pallid face.
"How dare you!" Ken's voice roared from the boy's body. "You promised that you'd leave as soon as we defeated Daemon."
"Oh come on, Mr. Kind and Gentle, I never said such a thing," came the Emperor's voice from the same boy, whose face had twisted into an evil smirk. "If you recall, I never made any promises. It was your own delusional bull-headedness that got you into this predicament."
Ken's cries burst to the surface soon after. "But you said, this would only be for a little while, that it's not permanent!"
"Well, it's not my fault that my 'little while' is our entire life time and that we'll die before it's proven that this is not permanent." The Emperor poked fun at him, an evil grin appearing.
"That's not funny, you lying son of a—!"
"Ah, ah, ah, watch that mouth of yours. You know how your girlfriend hates it when you swear. Oh, that's right. The little lady probably doesn't want to be your girlfriend anymore, not after what I—or should I say, you—pulled. Knowing that hormone-driven slut, she's already fallen for some other guy…perhaps your best friend even," the cruel tyrant taunted.
"Don't you dare…" Ken suddenly went into a coughing fit not long after he managed to talk. "What's happening? It's getting harder for me to…." Another fit of coughs broke him off.
"You're pathetic. I can't believe you don't remember what such negative emotions do to you; they make you weaker, and me only stronger." The Emperor cackled. "Oh, this is rich! I'm only one step away from gaining complete control, and you don't even know it. Just one more negative emotion is all I need, and I've already evoked the one that I couldn't get from you four years ago." He was about to let out another round of maniacal laughter, but he astonishingly found himself short of breath.
"...That's where you're wrong, Digimon Emperor," Ken gasped, doing his best to keep calm. "Even though it doesn't show, I've been keeping score right along with you. The only thing standing between you and complete control over me is Envy!"
"Hmph, you think you're very clever for figuring that out, don't ya? Think you're another Sam, do you?"
"No, I don't," Ken boldly stated, standing up and turning around to look at the little digimon who was watching him with worried blue eyes. Taking a few tentative steps toward his captive partner, the Digidestined of Kindness continued, "You can't trick me this time. I've put my jealousy of Sam behind me. I know I can never be him, just like he'd never be me had he lived. I'll always simply be Ken, and that's fine by me."
"Ken..." By now, the teenager was only two meters away from Wormmon, who was smiling at him with watery eyes. The insect digimon tried even harder now to break free, so that he could scurry to his partner.
The indigo-haired teenager had the same idea in mind, and was ready to run to him, too, but his inner darkness wasn't about to let him have his happiness. With a cry of pain, the boy fell to one knee in agony.
"Ken!" Wormmon called anxiously.
"Oh, no you don't! You're not going to regain control if I have anything to do with it! Don't forget, Kenny boy, after all that happened today, I'm still the stronger side. I will make you feel that last dark emotion, and I will conquer the Digital World, just you wait."
"No...I won't...let you...You'll never...make me envy...Sam...again..." Ken wheezed.
The Emperor scoffed. "Don't be so naive. There are many forms of jealousy out there; Sam was just easy fuel. I'll make you furious with envy by the week's end—you can count on that. And soon the Digital World will be mine!"
"NO!" Ken wailed in despair, feeling control of his body slowly slipping from his grasp. "I can't—"
"Go take a chill pill." With that, the Emperor stood up and snidely looked down upon the digimon who would have been free had he let his other persona stay in charge for any longer.
It was clear by the icy look in his narrow blue eyes that Ken had lost this battle and wouldn't be able to return any time soon.
"Oh, Wormmon," he said in an oily voice, "how I've missed playing with you. It's been years since I've beaten a digimon, and lucky you—you get to be my first victim."
The Digimon Emperor licked his lips, savoring the look of absolute terror in the poor digimon's eyes as he cast his dark shadow over him in the dimly lit chamber. He bent down, grabbed the handle of his whip, and with a flick of his wrist, sent the forlorn digimon flying across the room.
The Emperor stalked after him like a tiger after the prey it's toying with, all the while recoiling his whip.
Wormmon was too dazed, and more importantly, too broken-hearted, to avoid the black piece of leather that shot like lightning towards him.
"Uhm, Kari?" Davis squeaked, unconsciously almost waking up a sleeping DemiVeemon by squeezing him more tightly in his arms.
Kari slowly turned around to face him, her dull amber eyes meeting his chocolate brown ones as the two of them stepped out of the elevator and walked down the breezy hallway to her apartment.
After meeting up with the others, they had all come to the conclusion—except for Yolei, who needed more persuasion—that it was best to rest up before contacting the older Digidestined and making any future battle plans. Since Cody, T. K., and Yolei still lived in the same apartment complex, they went to their own homes after exiting the Digital World through T. K.'s port, which had been the nearest.
So, Davis took it upon himself to escort Kari home. However, the long trek had been silent up until now, with Davis unable to find anything to say, for once, to the gloomy Digidestined of Light.
"Well, I, uh…" he started, slowly gathering up courage, "I-I know this isn't the time for this, but after what just happened…I just gotta know." He took a deep breath before blurting out the question plaguing his mind. "Do you like me or T. K. better?"
Kari's crystal eyes widened, and her delicate mouth opened slightly but was far from being able to emit a sound.
"I-I'm sorry if this upsets you or anything," he hastily added, stopping alongside her in front of the door to her apartment, "but back there…I-I almost lost you…" He took another deep breath. "…And you almost lost him. I just want this to be out in the open now…you know, in case we never have a chance to say anything to each other again."
The goggle-headed boy looked down, sure that he had just made the biggest fool in the world out of himself in front of the girl he liked the most.
"Davis," Kari spoke gently, resting a soft hand on the side of his worn face.
The teenager raised his head slightly, a bit surprised that she was still talking to him but grateful for it.
She smiled slightly and whispered, "Did you know what I like about you most is how energetic and courageous you are?"
Hope filling his eyes, Davis started to say something, but Kari laid a single finger on his lips to quiet him before continuing, "However, sometimes you can get carried away. On the other hand, T. K. is more responsible, and that's what I like most about him."
At this, Davis averted his eyes, sure that this was going to turn into a rejection speech.
However, Kari's soothing hand turned his head toward her so that their eyes met. "Then again, sometimes T. K. can take his sense of duty too far. What I'm trying to say is, I don't like you any more than I like him—or Cody or Yolei or Ken, for that matter. You're all my friends, and you're all equal to me."
The Digidestined of Light could have sworn she saw a hint of sadness in his dark brown eyes.
"I hope I haven't hurt your feelings," she apologized quietly, removing her hand and looking down.
A small gust of wind blew between them, stirring Kari's short, russet-brown hair a little, but it died down not long after it had come.
A moment of silence passed before Davis squeaked, "So, you're saying that T. K. and I are on the same level?"
Kari wordlessly nodded her head, ready to handle any whimpering she was certain she'd hear from him.
"All right!" Davis jumped up and cheered, punching a fist in the air.
Kari gave a start. Before she could ask him if he'd lost his mind, the goggle-wearing boy exclaimed, "That means you don't like him more than me! I still have a chance!"
Davis took both of Kari's hands excitedly in his. "And here I thought you were starting to fall for him! Now that I know I can still win, I'll redouble my efforts to earn your love, Kari. This is the happiest moment in my life!"
As a shocked Kari stood there with her jaw open and too flustered to explain, Davis dashed towards the stairs, a surprisingly still asleep DemiVeemon in his arms. Over his shoulder, he shouted back, "I'll see you tomorrow then, Kari, bright and early. Hey, maybe we can walk to school together or something. Boy, wait 'til I tell DemiVeemon what he missed!"
Kari could only shake her head slowly and smile while she watched the ecstatic teenager disappear down the stairway. "Gee, can't wait," she mumbled to herself dryly.
As she turned the key in the lock of her front door, she sighed. That boy never learns.
Distractedly, she flung the door open and at first didn't notice the brunette male that fell through the doorway. "What the—? Tai?! What are you doing here?"
"Oh, uh, hi, Kari. Fancy meeting you here this time of night." He sweatdropped heavily.
Kari shook her head and smiled in the same manner she had with Davis. "Big brother, don't you know you're supposed to be staying in the dorm? What, did you come back just to spy on me?" she teased.
"N-No, of course not, I just came back to return something mom told me she needed when she called."
"Mom called you…?" She raised an eyebrow. "What for?"
"Erm…nothing, definitely nothing about you being in trouble or anything…heh heh…Hey," he piped up, looking around for something to change the subject, "where's Gatomon?"
Kari's amber eyes softened at the mention of her partner's name, and they quickly began to fill with water.
The former leader of the Digidestined had a sudden, sinking feeling—the same kind he got whenever he broke something by playing soccer in the apartment. "Kari?" he asked tentatively.
"Oh, Tai!" She launched herself at her older brother and buried her face in his chest, letting a deluge of tears flow.
The older brunette wrapped comforting arms around her, like in the old days when Kari would run to him whenever she was scared.
But he had to remember that his little sister wasn't a child anymore. Whatever had happened to make her act like this must have been bad news.
"It's okay, Kari," he soothed, unsure of what else he could say. "Get inside and tell me all about it."
Still quietly sobbing against him, the Digidestined of Light trudged inside, barely hearing her older brother closing the door behind them.
A full moon hung ominously in the sky like an owl watching for its prey. The lavender-haired girl found herself standing on hard, parched ground, a gaping gorge not too far away from her.
'This place feels so familiar…where am I?' Yolei thought to herself. She could have sworn that she'd gone to bed a few minutes ago crying her head off.
A strangled gasp to her right caught her attention. She swung around in that direction—to see her twelve-year-old self being strangled by a younger version of the Emperor who had recently slipped out of her grasp.
"K-Ke-en?" the other girl croaked.
Yolei watched as the boy gave her throat one last tight squeeze and released his deadly grip on her. "What the heck is this? Is this some kind of dream?" The present Yolei questioned herself.
Meanwhile, the younger girl collapsed to the ground in a gasping heap, both hands immediately flying up to her sore neck.
The figure looming above her crossed his arms over his chest and turned his side towards her.
Yolei's eyes grew wide, and realization dawned on her. "Of course! How could I have forgotten? This is from when Ken and I defeated the Emperor four years ago. It's what brought us together…"
"Never, ever call me that again," the other Emperor warned slowly and menacingly.
"But why am I remembering this now? What good is it for me to watch this painful part?"
The answer to her questions came soon enough.
Turning his back to her, the indigo-haired Emperor walked over to the edge of the cliff he had been standing on earlier and remarked a little more casually, "A suitable spot for a new base, wouldn't you say? The walls of this canyon will guard it well, and the only way to access it would be to fly or climb down, giving me more time to see my enemies coming."
Yolei gasped. She only had mere seconds to study their location before the vision faded.
Her heart pounding against her chest, the lavender-haired girl woke up with a start. "That's it! That's what he meant!" she immediately exclaimed.
She jumped out of bed and began to change. "Poromon, I've got to meet with the others now! This can't wait until after school, or even morning."
"Yolei…" the voice of Hawkmon greeted her instead.
Pulling a blouse over her head and going off to find a miniskirt, she didn't give a glance his way as she interrupted, "Oh, Hawkmon, you're back? Good, then that means the others must be rested up enough, too. Grab the phone in the hallway for me, would ya? It's time to give everyone a wake up call."
"But Yolei…"
"No arguing, Hawkmon!" She grabbed a bandana from the closet and was on her way to pick up the glasses on her dresser.
"But Yolei, it's—!"
"Yolei!" Mimoe Inoue called from outside her door, startling the sixteen-year-old girl. "Aren't you up yet? You're going to be late for school!"
The lavender-haired girl gave a start. "What the—?" She instantly grabbed her glasses to check what time it was.
8:30 A. M.
Hawkmon sweatdropped. "I tried to tell you, it's already morning."
The bird digimon could have sworn he saw steam coming from her ears as her face turned a brilliant red.
"Uh, oh…" In a flash, Hawkmon took off towards the door. He knew what this meant, and he didn't want his eardrums within breaking range.
Just as he reached the door, Yolei exploded, "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SOMETHING EARLIER?!"
On the streets outside, a few alert passersby thought they saw the apartment building shake slightly, but they shook it off, believing it was their imaginations, and continued on their oblivious ways.
"Whoa, good thing I'd already left for school," T. K. commented to Hawkmon when he'd told the blond human what had happened that morning.
The avian digimon flew down from the tree he was perched on outside of the school. Since digimon weren't allowed at school, he had to hide outside until classes were over, along with the other Digidestined's digimon, so that they could meet later to form a plan.
"Yes, unfortunately I hadn't," Hawkmon replied. "She yelled at me for not waking her up sooner, but then she changed her mind and said something about being lucky she hadn't missed her dream."
"A dream?" Armadillomon crawled over from where he'd been napping behind the tree.
"Was it a nice dream?" Veemon asked beside T. K.
Hawkmon answered, "I'm not sure. She didn't say anything more about it when she remembered that she would be late for school and hauled me over here."
"Well, as soon as Izzy arrives like he promised earlier at lunch, we can all go to the computer lab and meet everyone," T. K. assured.
"And I do mean everyone," said a voice behind them.
"Izzy!" The Digidestined of Hope whirled around and greeted his old friend, smiling from ear to ear. "Did you get ahold of the web cam?"
"Right here." The redhead patted the bag slung over his shoulder. "I had to track down a few members of the Computer Club during the last two periods, but this way, we can consult all the other Digidestined over the Internet, even those that went to college on the other side of the world."
"Well, then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" T. K. said as he and the three digimon ran off towards the school entrance.
Before he followed suit, Izzy turned his small smile into a slight frown. It would be nice to see everyone together again, but under what circumstances? To halt another interworld crisis? For once he'd like to have a reunion with everyone when the Digital World wasn't on the verge of crashing. Maybe one day that would happen.
Shaking such wishful thoughts out of his head, Izzy jogged after the blonde teenager. Maybe one day, but not any time soon.
rockinstar has joined the chatroom.
CompMaster: Great, is everyone here now?
rockinstar: you're lucky i don't have to sleep early
digitalbeauty: same here
digitalbeauty: just because all of you are in japan and we're in america doesn't mean you can deprive us of our beauty sleep
CompMaster: Mimi, this is serious. The Digital World is at stake.
CompMaster: Now, Matt, turn on your web cam so you can join the rest of us.
rockinstar: roger
The younger Digidestined crowded closer around Izzy in a relatively quiet corner of the bustling computer room as another window popped up on the monitor, showing a very tired-looking Matt. At their feet, their rookie-level digimon eagerly chowed down on the snacks they'd brought.
"Hey, Matt, great to see ya!" greeted Tai from one of the other windows. "How's the university in Florida going?"
"It's going okay, I guess. The astronomy course I'm taking is really interesting, though," answered the Digidestined of Friendship.
"Hey, cut the chatter, you guys, we have more important things to take care of," Sora interrupted from the lower right hand corner of the monitor.
"Yeah, and the sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get back to studying for the anatomy exam I have to take in two days," Joe chirped.
"Okay, okay, so here's the deal," Izzy said before anyone else could introduce a non-Digital World related topic. It'd taken him an hour just to get everyone together even with the use of emergency alert e-mails and cell phone calls. "Ken's turned into the Emperor again, and we have to stop him before he takes over the Digital World. Everyone with me so far?"
Nods were abundant all over the monitor.
"Now Yolei's on the brink of strangling me, claiming she knows the location of his base so we can attack it—"
"But I do know the location of the base!" Yolei yelled, a bit too close to Izzy's ear.
The red-head let out a cry of pain and clutched his probably deaf right ear. "All right, all right, lemme just pull up a map here and you can show us..."
Izzy opened a program he'd just installed on the computer they were using—the same program they'd used to track Ken's conquests all those years ago, with an added feature that would give a current, detailed picture of any area they wanted.
"I'm sending you guys a copy of the map, too, so that you can see what we're seeing," he stated to all five of the online viewers. "Now let's see...This'll pull up the old checkerboard map of the Digital World since it takes the others longer to load, so don't be surprised if you get a blank—Holy cow!" the seventeen-year-old's eyes nearly bugged out of his head.
"Uh...Izzy, I know what you mean, but why did you send us a cow pattern? I mean really, that went out of style months ago," the brunette girl in the lower left corner of the monitor asked.
"This is no pattern, Mimi," Izzy stated, staring hard at the splotches of black on the white map. "The black spots are areas where the program's detected Control Spires, and the white areas are free parts of the Digital World. But this can't be right. According to this, over 40% of the Digital World is covered in Control Spires, which is impossible for one person to do overnight!"
T. K. laid a solemn hand on the computer genius' shoulder. "This is Ken we're talking about, Izzy," he said gravely. "With that Dark Spore of his, anything's possible."
"But still...why would he need them...?" An unexpectedly quiet murmur came from his right side.
All eyes turned to the lavender-haired girl.
"Um, hello Yolei, don't you remember?" Davis asked pretentiously. "Even I know that he used them to control the digimon he's captured."
"That's just it. I remember him saying four years ago that his Dark Bands don't require Control Spires."
Cody raised an eyebrow. "Four years ago? Yolei, he only used Dark Rings and Spirals four years ago. We've never seen these Dark Bands of his before yesterday."
"Well I have, okay?!" She suddenly shouted.
The younger Digidestined and digimon inadvertently took a step away from her. Cody quickly scanned the room and saw that a few of the other high school students had taken notice, but they soon went back to their work—not wanting anything to do with their problems, no doubt.
"Uh…Yolei, do you want to explain?" Kari asked her friend in a nervous but soothing voice.
All eyes turned to the taller girl warily. The Digidestined present expected another outburst, or perhaps for her to breakdown and cry, but instead, Yolei let out a heavy sigh and reluctantly told the story she and Ken had kept secret these past four years.
"Not long after we had defeated Malomyotismon, Ken's dark side came back and provoked him into taking over. Wormmon was worried about Ken and asked me to keep an eye on him; that's when I found out the Emperor inside of him had come back and was preparing to take over the Digital World again with his Dark Bands. Together, Ken and I drove his dark side back down inside of him, certain that he'd never surface again. However, after that incident with Daemon…" Yolei's voice wavered, a lump forming in her throat.
Kari took one of the lavender-haired girl's hands. "It's okay Yolei; we understand, though you really should have told us so that we could have kept a closer eye on him."
"You didn't want everyone else to worry about him, did you, Yolei?" came a female voice from the monitor.
"Sora…?" The teenage girl looked back up at the monitor.
"As one girl who worries about her boyfriend to another, I know how you feel about this," Sora reassured, "but sometimes even the closest couples need help from their friends. You two can't stand alone against everything, especially if one of you is in trouble."
"I-I know, Sora, but it's just….argh, let's not worry about this now, 'kay? I need to get my boyfriend back. Just pull up a map of the terrain so I can show you the location," Yolei pressed.
No sooner had she said this than a topographical outline appeared over the black and white one.
After surveying the land for a few minutes, she pointed a finger at a white area on the map. "There! That's the gorge where I confronted him. He was thinking of building a base there."
"Are you sure, Yolei? I mean, there aren't any Control Spires within a ten kilometer radius," T. K. queried.
All of a sudden, Cody pounded a fist into his other palm and exclaimed, "Of course!"
"What is it, Cody?" Izzy voiced for the rest of them, turning to face the grown boy.
"Ken told us to ask Yolei if we wanted to find him. If we didn't know the exact location, which we wouldn't have gotten without Yolei, we'd never suspect that place of being where his base was."
"That's right!" Izzy zoomed in on the deserted gorge. "Hmm…the place looks pretty barren all right. Rocks, dust, cliff, tumbleweeds—not a base anywhere, though. If it were here, I'd never guess by the looks of it."
"Ken—I mean, the Emperor—hinted that it'd be on or inside one of the cliffs," Yolei said, taking the mouse from Izzy and zooming in on one of the gorge walls. After some searching, she noticed an opening in one of the cliff faces. "That must be the entrance!"
"Hey, Izzy, what's going on over there? We can't see," Mimi whined.
"I can," said Joe.
"Just wait, Mimi; you're over in New York. The connection's bound to be slower," Izzy advised hastily, taking screenshots of all views of the entrance and its surrounding area.
Davis clenched a hand from behind him. "Well, now that we've got his location, what are we waiting for? Let's go in there and bring Ken back!"
"Wait; don't rush this, Davis," T. K. interrupted. "Remember he's got Control Spires everywhere and probably thousands of controlled digimon as well."
It was Tai's turn to play leader. "Well, let's get a whole bunch of International Digidestined and then storm his base."
Kari slowly shook her head. Those two goggle-heads were still too much alike.
"Tai, this is Ken we're going up against, not some evil digimon like in the old days," Matt countered. "We've got to come up with some kind of strategy first, or we'll be creamed."
The Digidestined of Courage scoffed. "Yeah, sure and in the meantime, the kid genius takes over all of the Digital World. We need to act now."
Izzy groaned. "Save the bickering for some other reunion, guys." He minimized the map and logged into his Digidestined Society website on a separate browser. "For now, I'm e-mailing all the new Digidestined alerting them of the emergency and asking them for their help." As he typed out the e-mail, he continued, "And you guys can start choosing groups of Digidestined to lead in the upcoming battle."
"Us?"
"Lead?"
Joe and Mimi, along with Sora and Matt, wore surprised looks on their faces. Tai simply looked excited.
"Yes, what I have in mind is for us to each lead a group of Digidestined to try to knock out as many Control Spires as we can and free the digimon in the largest areas on this map. Even if they don't power the Dark Bands, the Control Spires will still disrupt the balance of the Digital World, or maybe completely disable digivolving in the surrounding area. While you guys lead the attack, these guys here," he indicated with a motion of his head over his shoulder, "will enter the base and try to bring Ken to his senses. Sounds like a plan?"
"All right! We're going to save the Digital World again!" Tai cheered.
"Izzy, you're a genius!" Sora chimed.
"Count me in to help," Matt offered.
"Can I get back to you on that when I see if it fits into my schedule?" Joe asked.
Izzy ignored him for now and turned to the last of the five, "Mimi, are you going to lend us a hand, too?"
The girl in question put her finger to her mouth and looked up as if thinking. "Well, I'll have to talk to Michael about it and see if he'll join in…" She then faced forward and clapped her hands. "But even if he doesn't, I'll join in—to help out my beloved friends."
"Great! So when do we launch the attack?" Davis piped up.
"Well, I still need to get confirmation how many are going to participate…" Izzy started, preparing to send the e-mail.
Tai cut him off. "How about first thing tomorrow after your school ends?"
"'Sounds good to me," Davis said before the red-headed Digidestined of Knowledge could object.
"Fine, tomorrow, same time it is then," Matt agreed. "I'll talk to you about it more when I get up. I need to go to bed. See ya!" The blond's face disappeared from the screen.
"Wait!" The computer whiz anxiously looked up from his work, but it was too late.
"Yeah, I gotta get my beauty rest also. Talk to ya'll later." Mimi's window also vanished.
"Well, since everything looks settled, I'd better get back to studying." Within seconds, Joe was gone.
"Sorry, Izzy, afternoon practice awaits," Sora apologized. "Contact me later, okay?"
Soon only Tai was left. Izzy looked down disheartenedly and added an extra line to his e-mail to all the Digidestined around the world before sending it. "P. S. Please decide quickly, because we're attacking twenty-four hours from now."
"Uh, I guess since everyone's gone…" Tai began.
"Oh, no you don't; you're staying here with us to plan this out more thoroughly," Izzy ordered.
The college freshman sighed. "No nap for me I guess…"
"This is important, Tai," Kari scolded.
"Fine, what do you need first, Izzy?"
"You can help me plan out who gets the Digidestined from which continents for starters…" the red-head said.
This was going to be a long afternoon—everyone was sure of it. So, all resolved to subdue this new threat, battle preparations began anew in the busy computer room and continued late into the afternoon when the number of students had dwindled.
This wasn't simply any foe there were going up against. It was their friend: the worst enemy they could possibly face…and probably the toughest of all.
Gaia: Okay, guys, since we have a long way to go, we need to start a new running gag in these endnotes.
G: Ah, come on! What could we possibly do besides whine about how long or short the chapters are?
Ken: *walks in wearing bandages* I need to have a talk with you, Gaia.
Gaia: Ken! *huggles Ken*
Ken: Ow, watch the injuries!
Gaia: Oops, sorry. *lets go* If you're looking for Yolei, she was in the last chapter.
Ken: I didn't come here looking for her…*pulls out a briefcase* I'm here to sue.
Gaia, G, and Gwen: WHAT?!
Ken: That's right. Don't you remember what happened near the end of "Reflection"?
Gaia: Erm…all I remember was running away from you when you'd turned into the Emperor…Then you suddenly disappeared….G?
G: Well, uh…heh heh…Gwen kinda tripped…
Gwen: …And G kind of tripped over me…
Ken: Which caused me to fall over them and get injured like this. So, I'm suing you for this amount. *pulls out a handful of papers*
Gaia: *reads over the papers* Your medical bills?
Ken: Yep, feel lucky I don't sue you for more.
Gaia: (sputtering) But…but…I can't afford this.
Ken: Well, see you in court then. *turns to leave*
Gaia: Wait, wait, wait…if it's just your medical bills, why take it to court? *laughs nervously* It's so expensive for lawyers and all.
Ken: Hmmm…you're right; you could always just pay them without going through all the hassle, but you said—
Gaia: *pats his back quickly* Don't worry. I'm sure my muses will help me since it's all their fault. (to muses, sternly) Right?
G and Gwen: *nod*
Ken: Good. I expect the money by next week. Ta ta! *leaves*
G: Why didn't you just take it to court? We might have been able to get out of it!
Gaia: Are you kidding? Us going up against a child prodigy?
Gwen: You have a point.
Gaia: See? Now hurry up and raise this money. *hands bills over to muses*
Gwen: (grumbling) Looks like I'm taking up psychotherapy again. *leaves*
G: Hey, what should I do then?
Gaia: I don't know! Be a psychiatrist like Gwen, for all I care! *exits in a huff*
G: Hmmm…not a bad idea. Heh heh heh…
