21: Hey everybody, sorry for taking so long to update...I've had a rough couple of months.

Sponsor: It's about time you lowlifes showed up! You have a responsibility as an author to update at least once a month!

George: who died and made you the boss?

Sponsor: Your contracts did!

21: Our what now?

Sponsor: Remember when I had you sign that form that stated that you liked food?

George: yes...

Sponsor: Well that form was actually a contract that made you belong to me!

21: What are you saying?

Sponsor: While you may not own Digimon, I own you!

21 and George: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Sponsor: and so, let's see what garbage 21 has spewed out this time, namely...

Episode 9: Of Light and Darkness part 1

Episode 9.0: Assault on the Ichijouji Appartment!

(Davis): "Last time the new Digidestined and I were sent to the Valley of Death to take out a Control Spire. Unfortunately, it was a trap and the Emperor captured everybody else. I tried to bargain for their lives, but before Deltamon could eat me, George showed up and fought the Emperor. During the conflict the Emperor revealed himself to be Ken Ichijouji and that he had been George's protégé…and I had really looked up to Ken too."

An awkward silence prevailed as the Digidestined trekked back to the Digiport. Upon their arrival in the Real World, George insisted that Matt and Joe be rounded up so he wouldn't have to explain the situation twice. As Tai and Mimi ran out to call them, the fallen warrior sat silently drinking deeply from a bottle of beer, Crocmon at his side, as the others, especially Cody and Sora, glared at him.

"You keep that up and your faces will freeze like that," commented George drily.

Noone laughed.

A few minutes later, Matt ran in.

"What's the idea?" exclaimed the rock star, "I was in the middle of rehersal!"

"I'm sorry Matt," sighed George, "but this is important."

"Well get on with it then!" yelled Matt irritably, "if you hurry I can get back to practice before it gets too late!"

"We have to wait for Joe," interjected Izzy, "everyone needs to be here."

Muttering, Matt sat down in a corner making hand motions that seemed suspiciously like he was trying to strangle someone. (Needless to say, he was staring at Davis.)

Tai walked in a few moments later shaking his head.

"Joe's phone is off," explained the gogglehead, "I can't reach him."

"Allow me," said George, holding out his hand. Tai plunked his cellphone into the awaiting palm and shook his head again.

"Be my guest," he said.


Joe stared nervously at the remaining two questions on his exam. He glanced up at the clock, only ten minutes left.

As he looked back at his paper, something unexpected happened. His cellphone started ringing. The med student nearly jumped ten feet in the air. He was sure he had turned it off!

The proctor walked over and glared at Joe.

"Cellphones are not permitted Mr. Kido," she said angrily, "I'm afraid I will have to ask you to leave!"

"But—" began Joe.

"I don't want to hear excuses!" said the proctor, "just get out!"

Hanging his head, Joe exited the lecture hall. As he left, he looked at his cellphone to see who had called him. Caller ID revealed the culprit to be Tai.

Joe sighed.

"Why am I not surprised?" he thought as he hit the dial button.


Tai's phone rang. It was Joe. The gogglehead picked up.

"Hey Joe," said Tai, "I'm glad you called—"

"What's the idea of calling me in the middle of an exam!" shouted Joe, cutting off Tai's greeting, "you got me kicked out!"

"What?" said Tai, "but your phone was off…"

"I thought so too, until it started ringing!" said Joe heatedly, "if this wrecks my GPA Tai, I swear I'll—"

"I'm sorry Joe," cut in George, "I had Tai call you. Please meet us in the middle school computer lab. It is rather urgent."

"Oh," said Joe, all traces of anger dissolving, "I'll be right there!"

Matt groaned.

"Will this never end?" he mumbled.


In his darkened room Ken Ichijouji, alias the Digimon Emperor, sat typing on his computer. He had suffered a major wardrobe malfunction, and he intended to set it right and repay George for making him look like a chump.

"You may have survived that encounter Helltower," he muttered, "but you won't survive the next! Sooner or later I will beat you at your own game!"


Several agonizing moments later (at least from a certain rock star's point of view) Joe rushed into the lab.

"Whew," he said, "I never knew I could run so quickly."

"You ran all the way here?" asked Davis, "man you're so fast you should be on the soccer team!"

"W-well I-I," stammered Joe, not quite sure on how to take that statement.

Matt cleared his throat loudly.

"While listening to Joe stutter is amusing, I really need to get back to band practice," he said, "so can we please just get on with it already! Why are we here?"

All eyes turned towards George, who sighed and put down his beer.

"As many of you already know, tonight the Emperor's identity became more widely known," began the fallen warrior, choosing his words carefully.

"Don't leave us in suspense!" exclaimed Joe, as George paused briefly, "who is he?"

"The Digimon Emperor is none other than Ken Ichijouji, the boy genius," said Izzy.

"Really?" said the exasperated Joe, "it's hard to believe such a mild mannered kid can be capable of such ruthlessness."

"Ken always was good at masking his true feelings," muttered George.

"What was that?" demanded Matt.

George cleared his throat and continued.

"As many of you also know, I have known from the start who the Emperor truly was," said George.

"…and you didn't tell us because?" said Matt sarcastically.

"That is why I have called you all here," said George, "in order to explain my actions, I have to give some backstory."

He sighed and continued.

"Not that it will justify not telling you, but you have to know why I couldn't bring myself to tell you," he said.

"For the love of Christ get on with it!" yelled Matt, "always so dramatic!"

"You're one to talk," muttered Davis.

"What was that punk?" demanded the rock star.

Izzy broke up the glaring contest by separating the two contenders.

"Enough!" he said firmly, "if you two spent half as much energy obliterating the Emperor as you do fighting with each other, we'd have defeated him already!"

Matt muttered something about not being able to work in these conditions, and George continued.

"Several thousand years ago, the ancient Sovereign Griffinmon was on his deathbed," began the fallen warrior, "as he lay dying, he told me of a prophecy he had just seen. Since then, I have never forgotten those words."

A shadow fell over the former gogglehead's eyes as he pictured his old mentor lying on his deathbed reciting the words that would haunt him forever after.

"In seven years time, a new Digidestined will be revealed. He shall seek out the most powerful being in the world and will be trained under his tutelage. However, a crisis shall rock the young child and he shall one day grow to resent his old master. Darkness shall prevail and the child shall become a threat to the Digital World like no other before or after him. Only the Golden Radiance shall put an end to the tyrant's reign."

A silence pervaded throughout the room as the words hung like a thick fog in the air.

"So what is this Golden Radiance then?" asked Cody, "it seems that if we can find it, defeating Ken will be easy."

"If I knew that I'd have defeated him a long time ago," said George, "that part of the prophecy still makes no sense to me, but know that I have been pondering it for quite some time now."

"That still doesn't explain why you never told us who the Emperor was," said Sora fiercely, "especially considering I asked you point blank once what you knew about him."

"There's more to the story," said George, "as I'm sure you've deduced from the prophecy and our skirmish earlier, I was Ken's mentor…which means that everything he knows is my fault. He is using my knowledge of the Digital World to corrupt it. That is how he is capable of producing pitfalls such as he used today."

"Question," said Matt sarcastically, "if you had heard this prophecy seven years beforehand, why on earth did you train Ken when you knew he'd turn evil?"

"Seven years after Griffinmon's death showed the start of strange occurrences throughout the Digital World. The first of which was the appearance of a bizarre tower in the Center of the Digital World's landmass, which I later found out was the Citadel of Time," replied George.

"The what now?" asked Yolei.

"The Citadel of Time," repeated George, "didn't I tell you about Millenniummon?"

"Not that I can remember, no," replied Izzy.

The others all confirmed Izzy's response, and George looked confused.

Crocmon crawled over to George and whispered something in his ear. The videogame tycoon's eyes widened.

"Oh right," he said, "I forgot."

The fallen warrior then explained about Millenniummon in great detail.

(A/N: See episode 6 for a reminder if necessary.)

"Ah I see," said Izzy at the end, "so the appearance of the Citadel of Time seven years after Griffinmon's death was a prelude to Millenniummon's arrival."

"Indeed," said George.

"So Ken arrived in the Digital World only shortly before Millenniummon?" queried Tai.

"I'd say he arrived about a year or two before," said George.

"That still doesn't explain why you decided to teach Ken despite Griffinmon's warning," said Matt coldly, "and please try to be succinct about it!"

"Very well," said George, taking up the story once again, "amongst the confusion in the seventh year following Griffinmon's death, rumors began to circulate about another human being on the Digital World. Naturally, this got my attention, so I searched for him using my surveillance system. I found him; he was wandering through the wastelands all alone."

"So you took pity on him?" asked Cody, "even though you knew what was at risk?"

"Not nearly," said George offendedly, "I was naturally cautious and therefore decided only to observe him…nothing more."

"Obviously that view changed," said Yolei, "because you yourself said that you trained him."

"Yes well," said George, "I had been on conference with one of my colleagues from my original adventure in the Digital World at the time, and after about a month of observing, she concluded that ignoring him would only lead to complications and feelings of resentment later on. If I was cautious, she advised, I could train the boy while ensuring that he'd have no reason to turn on me and become evil."

"Seems to me like she was wrong," remarked Cody.

"Not at all," said George, "she was dead on."

"Explain," said Izzy.

"Well, I revealed myself to Ken and offered to train him. Naturally he agreed, so the first place we went was to the Primary Village to find Ken's partner," continued George.

"…wait Ken has a partner?" asked Joe.

"You wouldn't think so with his attitude," remarked TK.

"Wormmon!" exclaimed Izzy suddenly.

"I beg your pardon?" asked Tai.

"Wormmon is Ken's partner," explained Izzy.

"Very good Izzy," said George smiling, "you hit the nail on the head."

"That explains why Wormmon remains with Ken even though he's treated worse than kitty litter," commented Gatomon.

"Anyway," continued George, "I began my training, but, taking Griffinmon's words to heart, I tried to make Ken into another version of myself. I believed that if Ken was exactly like me, there would be no possible way he could become evil. Unfortunately, as you've seen, I was wrong. Ken began resisting that form of training, so I switched to another technique. I told him stories of my original adventure. Mostly they were for entertainment purposes, but I snuck in a few stories about the horrifying actions of the evil and how they always overestimate themselves and that becomes their undoing."

"Good work," said Matt sarcastically, "you've really taught him well."

"Shut up Matt!" shouted Davis.

As Matt turned to yell at Davis, Tai stepped between them.

"To be honest Matt," said Tai, "I highly doubt you'd have done any better. In fact, I don't think any of us could have done any better than George did."

"I still say he should never have taught Ken in the first place," grumbled the rock star, "that's what I would have done…"

"You don't know that," said Mimi, "not until you've actually stepped into the other person's shoes and looked at the situation from his point of view."

"In any case," continued George, "Millenniummon showed up shortly thereafter and challenged me for full control of the Digital World. I briefly explained my battle with him, but now I shall go more in depth on the first major battle we had. It was a full year or so after Millenniummon's first appearance. We had been getting into minor skirmishes, but nothing big had come of them. Finally, we met in the middle of the Server Desert, close to where the upsidedown Pyramid now stands. (Although at the time it had been right side up.) I had just succeeded in destroying Millenniummon's body, and thought I had won, but I was wrong. A virtual hailstorm of black spores flew out of the dissolving body. One of them struck Ken square in the nape of his neck. He keeled over."

"What was Ken doing there at the sight of your battle?" demanded Sora, "that doesn't seem very responsible!"

"I had taken him there for a practical lesson in why evil always loses," said George, "and I never did say I was a responsible mentor. I was trying to balance the Digital World's safety with Ken's individual wellbeing. It is…was difficult to do."

"So what happened next?" asked Yolei, intrigued by the story.

"Well Ken took very ill afterwards," answered George, "but I didn't have much time to deal with it personally as Millenniummon was not nearly as dead as I had previously thought. In fact, he had returned and become much stronger in the form of Moon=Millenniummon. Since I'd had my hands full with Millenniummon before, I decided to get help for this one. However, Moon=Millenniummon proved to be completely immune to physical attacks, so in order to overcome him, I had to enter the astral plane."

"The what?" asked Tai and Davis.

"The astral plane," explained Yolei, "the realm where the mind and spirit exist outside of physical bodies and limitations."

"How on earth did you get there?" Izzy wanted to know.

"A long story," said George, "and I can tell Matt's getting impatient, so I'll have to tell you another time."

"What does any of this have to do with why you never told us who the Digimon Emperor is?" asked Cody.

"Well, you see," said George reluctantly, "the reason Ken turned evil wasn't because I trained him. It was because of the manner with which I had trained him."

"How do you figure?" asked Mimi.

"Well," began George, "I was always overly cautious while training him, as though I was dealing with a ticking time bomb. My attitude was standoffish and I never really treated him like the child he was, but the monster I knew he would become…I wasn't very fair to him."

"…and the only reason you treated him like that," began Izzy, whose eyes were starting to widen.

"Was because I had heard Griffinmon's prophecy," finished George, "if I hadn't heard it, I would have treated him better and would not have let him wander the world alone for a month. My actions, or lack thereof, are what caused Ken Ichijouji to become the Digimon Emperor."

"Which is what you meant when you said your colleague was correct in saying you should have trained him from the start," concluded Sora.

"Indeed," said George hanging his head, "the first tipoff I had that my methods were incorrect was after he had healed from his encounter with Millenniummon. He was aloof and seemed more distant than he had in a while. Before he was always smiling, and very friendly, despite my attitude, but he had suddenly transformed after his near death. I often feel that if I had been there for him a little more than I actually was, he wouldn't have turned out this way…"

"So you blame yourself for the Emperor's reign of terror," finished Kari, "and you were afraid we would blame you as well."

"Actually," said Matt coldly, "I think he was more worried about damaging his pride. He is supposedly 'perfect,' remember? Now he has a tarnished reputation."

With that, the rock star stomped coldly out of the room, picking up his guitar case along the way. George meanwhile walked over to the corner of the room and was standing facing the wall, hands clasped behind his back, and remaining perfectly silent.

Eventually, DemiVeemon broke the silence.

"Now what?" asked the tiny blue bipedal dinosaur.

"A good question indeed," remarked Cody, "and I have an answer."

"Oh?" asked Izzy, "what do you propose we do Cody?"

"We need to take the fight to Ken Ichijouji and not the Digimon Emperor," replied the 4th grader.

"Aren't they the same person?" asked Davis.

"What he means is we should confront Ken while he's in the real world," explained Sora, "and that's not a bad idea."

"Unfortunately, it is probably exactly what Ken is expecting," said Izzy, "since he knows that we know his identity."

"Still," said Joe, "there's not much he can do while he's here in the real world right?"

"Quite correct," said Izzy, "even if Ken is capable of transporting digimon into the real world, what good will it do him without his Control Spires, and he can't bring those into the real world now can he?" (A/N: epic foreshadowing FTW!)

"So where do we confront him?" asked Tai, "and when?"

"Obviously we confront him ASAP," replied Izzy, "and as for where, might I suggest his apartment?"

"A good idea," remarked Cody, "if we get there before he does, we can cut him off from his computer."

"And," continued Izzy, "we can likely gain a lot of information from his personal computer."

"Do you think you can take out the Emperor's security then Izzy?" asked Mimi.

"…not likely," said the genius, "not if he was trained by George."

"Well I suppose that means he's needed for the mission then," said Cody, "it's the least he can do after not telling us who the Emperor is sooner."

"You go tell him that," said Tai nervously glancing towards George who seemed to be in a deep meditative state.

DemiVeemon, not perturbed by the fallen warriors self inflicted catatonic state, walked over to George and poked him. Nothing happened. After several more failed poking attempts, DemiVeemon shrugged and walked away, but Davis was determined to wake up the meditating warrior. He walked over to George and pulled back a fist.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Mr. Motamiya," said a voice causing Davis to jump ten feet in the air.

Crocmon stepped out from behind one of the computers where he had been resting.

"George is trying to analyze the situation carefully," continued the reptilian digimon, "interrupting him could be dangerous."

"Well, we already figured out what we're going to do," said Davis, pulling his fist back again, "he doesn't have to do all the thinking around here."

As Davis's fist flew towards George, the fallen warrior casually grabbed it and flipped Davis over and through the open window. A thud was heard as the gogglehead hit the ground two stories below. Tai, Sora and Joe immediately ran down to help him.

"What'd he do that for?" demanded Kari, "he got mad at Davis for attacking Matt and now he flipped Davis out the window!"

"Automated defense," replied Crocmon, "whenever George is deeply meditating, his body reacts to threats on its own. It's a technique George forced himself to learn after several mishaps during our original adventure in the Digital World."

"Well how does one wake him up without getting owned?" Yolei asked.

"Easy," said Crocmon walking over towards his partner, "Mr. Helltower, are you free?"

Immediately, George jumped up in shock. His eyes widened as he took in his surroundings.

"I suppose so," he muttered after calming down, "what's up?"

"How'd you do that?" whispered Izzy.

"Catch phrase," whispered Crocmon, "he also trained himself to respond to that should it become necessary for him to exit his meditative state prematurely."

"But why that phrase?" asked Mimi.

"An inside joke referring to one of George's father's favorite TV shows," replied Crocmon (A/N: I do not own Are You Being Served, I have just been watching too much of it lately…), "when George was younger, he and his father used to watch that show all the time. It reminded George of home while he was trapped in the Digital World."

"Are you all going to stand around whispering, or is someone going to explain why I was woken up?" demanded the former gogglehead, "…by the way, what happened to Tai, Sora, Joe, and Davis?"

A groan could be heard from below, and George stuck his head out the window. He immediately withdrew it looking somewhat confused.

"Is Davis really so stupid as to throw himself out the window?" he asked.

"No," replied Cody, "you threw him out the window."

Crocmon whispered in George's ear and the Warrior of Power shook his head.

"Oops," he remarked.

"Yes well," began Yolei, "the reason Davis was trying to attract your attention is because we've come up with a plan."

"Oh?" said George, "do tell…"

"We will arrive at Ken's home while he is away," explained Cody, "and we shall wait there to ambush him before he can travel to the Digital World."

"In the meantime," continued Izzy, "we need you to download as much information as possible off of Ken's computer."

"…that could work," said George, "in theory, but how will we know when Ken's not home?"

"When he's at school," replied Izzy.

"But then you all will be at school as well," remarked George, "although I'm more than happy to go in alone, I don't know if that is a good idea."

"I tend to agree with that statement," said Cody.

"So how will we know when he's out?" asked a frustrated Mimi.

"Perhaps with a little convincing, your principal would be inclined to allow me to take you all out of school for the day," suggested George.

"Do you think you could pull that off?" asked Izzy.

"Maybe not all of you, but most of you," replied the former gogglehead.

"…that could work," said Yolei.

"Then I'll get right on it," said George picking up his cell phone.


As Ken Ichijouji sat at his computer, he realized that it was only a matter of time before the Digidestined came for him. Knowing them, they'd try to cut him off from his computer, which meant that the most likely time they'd come after him was during school hours when he wouldn't be home, but Ken had a plan to take care of that…

Looking rather pale, the boy genius staggered from his room, doing his best to look tired and haggard. He wandered down the hall to the living room where his parents were sitting.

"Oh Ken!" exclaimed his mother, "you look terrible!"

"What happened to you son?" demanded his father.

"I don't feel so well," replied the devious delinquent, "maybe I should stay home from school tomorrow."

"Okay Ken," replied his mother, "I'll call the principal right away!"

"You rest up son!" said his father, "we wouldn't want you to over exert yourself."

As Ken hobbled back to his room, he flashed an evil smile. That was almost too easy…now to deal with the imminent arrival of his foes.


The next day saw George, Mimi, TK, Cody, Kari, Yolei, and a slightly out of it Davis standing in the Tamachi Train station; their digimon partners carefully hidden from view.

George was looking confusedly at a nearby map.

"This doesn't make any sense," he mumbled.

"That's because you're looking at it upside down," remarked Kari, nearly giggling.

"Oh really?" asked the fallen warrior, as he flipped himself right-side-up, "that's not how it is in the Digital World."

Cody pushed the confused Helltower aside and glanced quickly at the map.

"Ken's apartment is three blocks west of here," he said, "let's go!"

"I'd be willing to bet he's expecting us," muttered TK.

"Then we'll just have to be on our guard," said Mimi cheerfully.

The group began walking west. As they approached the Ichijouji apartment, they failed to notice they were being watched.


"Excellent!" thought Ken as he watched the procession advance along the street, "they'll fall right into my trap, and I'll be rid of them once and for all!"

The boy genius quickly shut the curtains and walked towards his personal computer. After making a few adjustments, he held up his digivice. A flash of light later, he was gone.


"Oh man!" thought Tai, as his teacher passed out surprise math exams, "why couldn't George get me out of class too?"

The gogglehead glanced at the clock, by now the others would have arrived at the Ichijouji apartment and were laying in wait. They had realized they couldn't get there too early or else they'd have to spend the whole day in the area, but they'd have to get there reasonably early in order to download Ken's files before he got home.

Tai groaned internally, thinking about the others didn't make his exam go any quicker. He glanced down at the first problem.

If f(x) = 4x – 7 and g(x) = 8 – 10x, solve 2f(3) – .5g(7). Show your work and explain how you got your solution.

"Aw man!" thought Tai frantically, "I'll never finish this on time!"


"Okay, according to the directory, Ken's apartment is 5G," said TK, looking up from the directory in question.

"Good," said George, "now we should have someone stay here and keep an eye out for Ken."

"I'll stay!" said Mimi enthusiastically, "as soon as I see Ken, I'll send you all an email!"

"How?" asked Davis, "you don't have a mini computer."

"But I have this!" exclaimed the pink princess happily pulling out the latest Blackberry Smartphone, "and it comes with Internet connection!"

"Fancypants," muttered Yolei, a little jealous that her parents couldn't afford to spend so much money on her since she wasn't an only child.

"Troops forward!" exclaimed George, as he walked into the apartment complex's lobby.

The others, sans Mimi, who took a seat on a nearby park bench, followed suit.

One elevator ride later, they found themselves positioned outside of the Ichijouji apartment's front door.

"Alright," said George, "we've got to tread carefully here. What's our excuse for dropping by?"

"We're friends of Ken, of course," said Davis, "and we came to check up on him after his soccer injury yesterday."

"And when she says Ken's not home?" pressed George, "what do we do then?"

"Ask if we can wait here for him," answered Davis proudly.

"Excellent!" said George, thumping Davis on the back, nearly causing him to fall over, "you've memorized the plan, but do you know how to improvise?"

"Impro-who now?" asked Davis.

"Nevermind, just knock," said Cody irritably, he couldn't help but feel like George was stalling.

Kari knocked, and soon the door was opened by Mrs. Ichijouji.

"Hello," she said smiling, "you're a little earlier than I expected."

George froze, they were expected?

"Do you have Ken's homework?" continued Mrs. Ichijouji, prompting George to temporarily sigh in relief.

"Yes ma'am," he answered while the others were staring confusedly, "is Ken in his room?"

"Oh yes," said his mother, then looked again, "a little old for a student aren't you?"

"Yes," said George, "I am not a middle school student, but rather a college student. Ken's been taking some courses with me. I was upset to see he was ill today."

"It was that soccer game yesterday," said Ken's mother as she stood aside to let them in, "one of the other team's players accidentally hurt Ken's shin. The poor soul; he hasn't been the same since…"

"I understand," said George, as he led the others inside, "we'll just go drop off his homework then."

"Okay," said Mrs. Ichijouji smiling.

George led the others down the hall, and observed carefully as Mrs. Ichijouji returned to the kitchen to resume cooking. As she hummed happily, George led the others into the study, and closed the door.

"What's going on?" demanded Davis.

"Apparently, we were expected," said George, "Ken decided to take the day off from school."

"What do we do now?" asked Kari, looking concerned.

"Since we're already here, it would be prudent to continue," said Cody, "he can't stop all of us."

"True," mused George, "but if he is expecting us, perhaps he has already retreated into the Digital World."

"No point in debating it," said Yolei, "we should head into his room and find out."

"Agreed," said TK, "if he's there, we can capture him, and if he isn't we can get to his computer unobstructed."

"It's a win-win," said Yolei.

"Maybe…" said George hesitantly, "I highly doubt it will be that easy."

"You yourself said the Emperor doesn't have powers in this world," snapped Cody, "I think you just want to protect your pride!"

"That's not true…" said George quietly, but aloud he said, "very well Mr. Hida, if you insist, we shall procede onwards."

As the Digidestined were exiting the study, a picture on the desk caught George's eye.

"You go on ahead," he said, "I'll be right behind you. I've got to use the restroom."

When the last Digidestined (Cody) exited the study, George picked up the photograph. It was of a boy not much older than Ken was now. He wore glasses and smiled as though perfectly carefree.

"Interesting," thought George, as he followed the others out of the study.

Carefully, the Digidestined crept down the halway towards Ken's room. As they approached, Davis instinctively reached for his digivice.

"There won't be any need for that Mr. Motamiya," said George quietly, as he caught up, "if Ken is in there, I know how to make him come with us."

They stood now in front of the door. George nodded, and Kari opened the door.

As expected, the room was empty save the furniture and the computer, which was still glowing as they entered the room.

"…so he only just left," said Cody.

George walked over to the window and looked out it. Below he could see Mimi sitting on the park bench, as well as the avenue in front of the apartment complex.

"He must have seen us coming," remarked the fallen warrior.

"Either way, we can still download the contents of his hard drive," said TK, "so the mission isn't a total failure."

George shrugged and took out a flashdrive.

"This won't take too long," he said, "in the interim, I'd suggest a few of you pretend to scour the house looking for Ken. It won't do for Mrs. Ichijouji to believe that Ken was actually here when we arrived. If she asks, just tell her you haven't finished scouting the apartment yet. When I leave his room, we can inform her he's gone."

"What will that do?" asked Yolei.

"That will possibly make his parents check up on him more," said George, "which will limit the amount of time he can spend in the Digital World."

"Good thinking!" exclaimed TK, and he, Kari, and Davis left Ken's room.

George plugged the flashdrive into the computer, sat down, and began typing. However, a few moments later, the others returned with a very worried Mrs. Ichijouji.

"Where's Ken?" she asked.

"I-I don't know," said George.

"Well what're you doing to his computer?" asked Mrs. Ichijouji.

"I'm looking to see if Ken left a message for why he's not here," said George nervously, "that's all."

"Oh," said Mrs. Ichijouji, "okay then. I'll stay here and watch then. Your friends can continue looking around the apartment…by the way, is that girl on the bench outside a friend of yours? She's been sitting on that bench outside for a while."

"Ummm, yeah," said George, "she's my uh, girlfriend."

"Wow," thought TK, "George must be really nervous to lie as clumsily as that."

Luckily, Mrs. Ichijouji was more concerned about the location of her son and not the infeasibility of George's potential relationship with a high school girl.

George nodded, and once again TK, Kari, and Davis exited Ken's room. Under Mrs. Ichijouji's gaze, George continued to type onto Ken's computer. Cody and Yolei noticed he was nervous because he was starting to sweat buckets.

Eventually, George pressed Enter, and sat back. The computer took a second to process the commands given, and displayed a screen with several words on it.

My dear Mr. Helltower,

I knew you'd try to gather information using this computer, so I decided to leave you a message.

"What's going on?" asked Mrs. Ichijouji worriedly.

"Oh no," said George, as the words changed yet again.

It looks as though I have outsmarted you again. As you must realize I'm always at least five steps ahead of you.

The message changed yet again, the letters glowing earily in the low light.

There is nothing left for me in this world, and as such I have decided to leave it…for good.

From now on, I shall be a thorn in the Digital World's side every hour of every day.

George ground his teeth as the message continued.

Farewell my unworthy adversary. It has been my pleasure to defeat you.

Signed,

The Digimon Emperor.

"What does he mean by—" began Yolei, but then the computer displayed a '5'.

"Shit!" swore George, as he quickly turned around, "get out!"

With inhuman speed, George pushed the three others out of the room and shut the door, just before the countdown hit 0.

A small explosion was heard, as the door rocked on its hinges, but held.

"What's going on?" asked Mrs. Ichijouji in a state of frightened confusion.

"George!" yelled Yolei, as she [very nearly] tore the door down.

The room was a wreck. The computer was blasted into a million tiny, scattered, pieces, the furniture was broken and covered in ashes, Ken's desk was still smoldering slightly, the window was shattered and bits of the ceiling had fallen down. However, amidst all the rubble, there was no sign of George.

Narrator: Where has George gone? Has the Emperor managed to finally kill him once and for all? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!

Note: Just in case you usually skip my shtick, please note that there is more to this episode after this break.


21: I apologize for the length being shorter than usual. This episode will likely get extended shortly, but I figured that I had reached a suitable breaking point and that my loyal readers deserved some new material to read.

George: ...so let's deal with the bigger problem, how are we going to get out of our contracts with the Sponsor?

Sponsor: You're not! (Insert maniacal evil laugh here) You're mine for eternity!

To be continued...right now!

21: As promised, here is the addendum to episode 9. Although it has in essence become a separate episode, it was originally not intended as such, and therefore I am attaching it here instead of as a separate chapter, and have renamed the whole segment "Of Light and Darkness part 1". This is a stylistic thing that's only for this chapter since I posted it in two parts. (Also, the end turned out a little differently from what I was originally expecting, but then again it makes more sense to me the way it turned out...)

Sponsor: I shall once again point out that The21stMartian does not own Digimon, even though I did so earlier...just to cover all the bases.

George: and now...on with the fic!

Episode 9.5: The Hunt for Helltower

(Cody): "Last time, George told us about his knowledge of Ken Ichijouji. We decided it would be prudent to attack Ken in his apartment, but when we got there, Ken sprang a trap. His computer exploded, George managed to push us all out of the room before the explosion. When we returned to Ken's destroyed room, however, George had disappeared without a trace."

As Yolei, Cody, and Mrs. Ichijouji stared into the disheveled, empty, room, TK, Kari, and Davis ran over.

"We heard a loud noise," said Davis, "what's happened?"

Yolei pointed and the other three looked into the room.

"Where's George?" asked TK.

Once again, Yolei pointed, and Kari gasped.

"In there?" she said, "tell me he wasn't—"

"The computer was rigged to explode," explained Cody, "only George's fast reflexes saved us…but he couldn't save himself."

"We need to go and tell the others," said TK, "by now they should be out of class."

Davis nodded, and the Digidestined ran out of the Ichijouji apartment leaving behind a confused Mrs. Ichijouji, who eventually decided to call the police, but that is irelevent at this point in the narrative.

Upon informing Mimi of the developments, the pink princess quickly phoned the older Digidestined to tell them what had happened, and that they were heading back to Odaiba to determine what to do next. In the meantime, the available older Digidestined were to try and figure out, if George was in fact alive, where he would be.

As the younger Digidestined (and Mimi) ran towards the train station, they began to wonder if they would ever see George again.


Moments before the explosion, George, who had in fact survived, held up his digivice to the computer. As a result, he had been sucked into whatever territory the Emperor had transported himself to beforehand.

Unfortunately, due to the computer's explosion, the portal began quickly closing behind the fallen warrior, and as such, he had had a particularly bumpy ride. He landed roughly, which caused his sunglasses to fall off. Dizzily, George groped around on the ground for his eye apparel for a few moments before finding them and putting them back on.

When the world finally stopped spinning, George looked at his surroundings. He was on a coast. A narrow strip of beach was immediately in front of him, with a vast, dark gray ocean stretching out into infinity beyond that. The sand was dull gray, and there was a lot of gray driftwood lying scattered around the beach. A lighthouse, painted with white and gray stripes, was standing not too far away, but instead of the usual bright light, this lighthouse was sending out black rays of light towards the vast ocean. Behind him was a dull gray rocky wasteland. Further down the beach were several dilapidated beach houses, their roofs caving in, and dull gray weeds overtaking the crumbling walls. Above, the dull gray sky blocked out all sunlight for as far as the eye could see, yet there were no clouds that were visible to George. The only sound was that of the dark gray waves pounding against the beach.

"What a desolate place this is," thought George, "I've never been here before…which is weird considering I thought that I'd been everywhere in the DigiWorld."

"Well, well, well," came a voice from above, "Mr. Helltower, so you survived the explosion."

Without turning, George addressed the newcomer.

"Hello Ken," he said casually, "fancy seeing you here."

"I figured you'd survive," drawled the tyrant, "and so I was prepared."

"Where are we?" asked the fallen warrior.

"Don't you know?" mocked the Emperor, "I thought nothing in this world was unknown to you."

Upon seeing George's blank expression, the Emperor sighed.

"Very well," he drawled regally, "I shall tell you. We are not actually in the Digital World, at least not the one you are familiar with. We are, in fact, in another Digital World occupying the same space, but in a different dimension."

"How could you get us here?" asked George.

"Trade secret," said the Emperor smiling, "a little computer knowledge goes a long way."

"Why did you bring us here?" asked George.

"Because once I leave, there's no way for you to escape!" revealed the tyrant.

"Well then," said George casually, "forgive me if I don't let you out of my sight for a while."

"Funny you should say that…" said the Emperor snapping his fingers.

Immediately, a group of Airdramon appeared behind him, all of which had Dark Rings encircling their bodies.

"There must be a Control Spire here," thought George scanning the surroundings once again, "but where is it?"

As he was looking around, one of the Airdramon rushed him and lashed out its tail. Luckily, George saw and reacted in time. Unfortunately, he was not quite fast enough; the tail clipped his nose and knocked off his sunglasses once again.

"Shit!" thought George, "this is bad…"


"Alright," said Izzy, "I've got George's surveilence system scanning the entire Digital World for him. If he's found, an icon in the shape of George's Crest will appear on the corresponding sector square on our map."

"…and if the system fails to find him?" asked Sora.

"Then we know for fact that he is not in the Digital World," replied Izzy.

"Are you sure?" asked Tai, "there are no blind spots?"

"Only George's home on Upload Island," said Izzy, "and I already know he's not there."

"How?" asked Joe nervously.

"If he had been there, Crocmon would have reported it," said Izzy, "TK sent him there as soon as they left the Ichijouji's."

"How long will this scan take?" demanded Matt, "I've got a makeup practice this evening thanks to George's meeting last night."

"I don't know," said Izzy pressing the Start button.

A progress bar appeared on the map program. Immediately, most of Upload Island was searched to no avail. The corresponding squares turned gray on the screen, and the bar loaded a little.

There was silence for a little while as the search on Upload Island was completed and the nearby oceans began being searched. Eventually, Tai broke the silence.

"…what do we do if George isn't in the Digital World?" he asked.

"If he isn't in the Digital World, and he hasn't contacted us," said Izzy, "we have to assume he's dead."

"…but if the explosion killed him, wouldn't he be reborn as a DigiEgg?" asked Matt, "the guy's practically immortal!"

"Practically being the key word Matt," said Izzy, "George once told me that there were two ways of killing him. The first was by destroying his DigiEgg before it hatched. The second was to kill him in the real world. You see, only part of George is Digital, so when he is killed in the real world, only part of him would get deleted, and thus only part of him would be available to be reconfigured. In the Digital World, even his human components are digitized, and therefore they get deleted as well, so that he can fully reform in the DigiEgg."

"…so if he isn't in the Digital World," began Sora.

"Don't think about it yet," said Joe, "it's still very likely he managed to get himself out of danger."

"I hope you're right Joe," said Tai.

Matt simply grunted, he was sure George was just hiding to attract attention.

The progress bar showed about 5% complete.


"You should have just let the explosion take you out Helltower," called the Emperor, "because at least then you'd be dead. As it stands, a fate worse than death awaits you."

As he fumbled around for his sunglasses, George was being assaulted by the Airdramon.

"Wing Cutter!"

The lead Airdramon slashed its wings violently sending two blades of pure air crashing towards George, who reared back and accidentally crushed his shades.

Faced with no other choice, the former gogglehead turned and ran towards the dilapidated shanties, picking up his shattered sunglasses along the way.

Laughing, the Emperor, alias Ken Ichijouji, turned and walked away.

"So long my former teacher," were his parting words, "I do hope you enjoy yourself."


"This is ridiculous!" said Matt, "we know George is in the Digital World. He's just fooling around and making us worry!"

"No," said Mimi (having arrived with the others a short time beforehand), "that's not like him. If he had been able to, he'd have sent us a message by now, especially given the ambiguity of his survival."

"…wait," said Davis, "did the cheerleader just use a word that was over three syllables long?"

Mimi blushed.

"Izzy must be rubbing off on me," she mumbled.

Tai was staring holes into the computer screen.

The progress bar read 51% and there was still no sign of George…


Having taken temporary shelter in the abandoned beach huts, George began to consider his situation. His sunglasses sparked and fizzled in a useless mess of plastic and wires, and he didn't have the tools to repair them at the moment. Although no one aside from George knew it, this was a bigger problem than most people would think.

This wasn't simply a wardrobe malfunction; this meant the loss of George's eyesight.

Seeing as how George was roughly 9000 years old, his human eye had deteriorated significantly. Even his digital eye was losing its sight considering it had kept all the files of what George had seen over the years, and the allotted memory space was nearly used up. Not wanting people to know he was almost blind, George had started wearing sunglasses after his original goggles were destroyed during his battle with Millenniummon. Instead of regular tinted lenses, however, George had installed prescription lenses to compensate for his lack of eyesight. He then covered those from the outside with tiny LED screens over which he put the heavily tinted plastic lenses. It had made nighttime a little challenging for a while, but eventually, in the fifth prototype, George had managed to install a night vision correctional view.

Additionally, it also put George out of communication with his comrades as he didn't have a mini computer or cellphone like the other Digidestined since he used his sunglasses for both.

"Alright then," thought George, "I'm on my own, and I can't see…just like old times!"

Cackling madly, the Warrior of Power dashed out of his hideout and charged straight towards the dragonish shaped blurs.


"Still nothing," said Izzy, as the progress bar read 85%, "and most of the remaining territory belongs to the Emperor."

"…so even if he is in the Digital World, it's likely he's in trouble," said Tai.

"I suppose that would explain why he hasn't bothered to call us," said Matt.

"You're sure there are no blind spots with this surveilence system?" asked Cody.

"Well," said Izzy, "that's what George said, but since Ken was George's protégé, I'm sure that he knows how to work around the hidden cameras…"

"So could George, in theory, not show up on the radar, but still be in the Digital World?" asked Yolei.

"It's possible," replied the resident genius, "but not likely. If George was in the Digital World, even if he couldn't communicate, he'd be doing his best to remain visible so that we could find him."

"…so if we don't find him in the Digital World…" began Joe.

"I'd say there's an 85% probability that he's dead," concluded Izzy.

The Digidestined shuddered as they glanced at the screen once again.

The progress bar was just approaching 90%...


"Banzai!" shouted George, as he leapt atop the nearest dragon shaped blob. Unfortunately, it was only a funny shaped rock.

"Fiddlesticks," muttered George, as he dodged the attacks of the remaining Airdramon.

Charging up for an attack of his own, George began collecting energy from his surroundings. He noticed that the energy felt cold and dark, as opposed to the usual bright and warm energy he was used to. It felt weird, but he continued charging and dodging until he was ready.

"Pentagram Laser!"

Spinning around in a perfect circle, George blasted the remaining Airdramon with a black energy blast in the form of a pentagram. Unfortunately, due to his lack of sight, finding the Dark Rings was impossible, so he had to make due with hitting them wherever he could with non-lethal, but KO inducing attacks. He knew this was only a temporary measure, but it would have to do until he found the Control Spire…not that he hadn't figured out where it was, it was in the lighthouse, but he couldn't find said lighthouse due to his lack of vision.

When the last Airdramon hit the ground, George dashed off in a random direction hoping to find shelter. He quickly found a dark tunnel. Strangly enough, there were lights in the tunnel, but, like the lighthouse, these lights only gave off black light. The tunnel was mon-made, and the walls were paved with gray bricks.

"It'll do," thought George, as he ducked inside and pulled his busted sunglasses out of his pocket, "now to try and repair the phone…"


The Digidestined stared intently at the screen as the progress bar reached 99%. There were only a few remote sectors left that George could have been sent to, and they were deep within the Emperor's territory.

"Come to think of it," said Izzy trying to maintain a positive attitude, "since he went through the Emperor's computer, it's fairly likely that he wound up so deep in the Emperor's domain…"

Still, the last remaining sectors turned up negative, as the progress bar finally arrived at 100% complete.

Silence followed this revelation.

"He's gone," sighed Kari tears welling in her eyes.

"Now hold on a blasted minute!" shouted Matt as the sob-fest began, "I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to give up just yet!"

"But George isn't in the Digital World, and he wasn't at the Ichijouji's," said Izzy, "logically, that means he's dead."

"Think about what you're saying for one minute," continued Matt, "George has been through a literal hell surviving through even Millenniummon's rampage, and you're saying he was killed by a simple explosion?"

"Look Matt," said Izzy, "part of the reason George was able to survive so much is that he was able to be reformed since he was in the Digital World…that's not possible here. If he got hit by the explosion, he's dead, simple as that."

"But there was no sign of him at the Ichijouji's," persisted Tai, "if he had died, at least his human parts would have remained right?"

"That is true…" said Izzy, "but perhaps they were just missed in the excitement. Someone should check the news. If they found conclusive evidence of a body, it would be reported."

The Digidestined each took a computer, except for Davis who went to the nearest television and turned it on.

Suddenly, Izzy's phone rang. The boy genius grabbed it, looked at the caller ID, and yelped.

"It's George," he said, "…or at least that's what caller ID says."

"Well pick it up already!" exclaimed Yolei.

Izzy picked up the phone and put it on speaker.

"George?" he inquired, "we've been worried. Where are you?"

A rush of static was heard from the other end, but eventually, George's voice broke through…in bits and pieces.

"Izzy…trapped…altern…uni…se…no way out…..."

"George," said Izzy, "we can't hear you very clearly. What's wrong?"

"…phone…broken…Emperor…ocean…lighthouse…Spire…destroy…"

"I didn't quite catch that," said Izzy, "please repeat."

"Time…running…out…..help!"

"George!" shouted Izzy, but it was no good, after that cryptic message, the line was dead.

"See?" said Matt triumphantly, "he is alive!"

"…and with a broken phone, it's no wonder he couldn't contact us earlier," reasoned Cody, "it must have sustained damaged when George landed…wherever it is he landed."

"A good deduction Cody," said Izzy, "…but where exactly did George land?"

"He mentioned something that sounded suspiciously like alternate universe," said Yolei, "and the Emperor."

"He also said that there's no way out," said Cody.

"That's bullshit!" spat Davis, "if there was a way in, there must be a way out!"

"Well, perhaps there's no way out from within," suggested Izzy, "rather you'd need someone to open the portal for you from the other side."

"…but who on earth could we get that knows about portals and alternate universes?" asked Tai.

"How about Genai?" asked Izzy, "he might know a way to get George back."

"IF we can find him," reminded Matt, "he's always been a slippery one."

"And according to George's message, we don't have much time," added TK.

"Excuse me," came a voice from the main computer, "but I think I can help."

"Crocmon!" exclaimed Kari, "are we glad to see you."

"Yes well, George's message got played back here too," said the reptilian digimon, "it seems as though my partner is in a bit of a predicament."

"Yes," agreed Izzy, "he's trapped in an alternate universe with no way out from the inside. We figured that maybe Gennai could help, but none of us know where to find him…if he's not home that is."

"Have no fear!" said the reptilian digimon, "I shall find Gennai!"

"By yourself?" asked Davis skeptically, "that could take months!"

"Not if you know where to look," said the mini crocodile winking.

With that, George's partner signed off.

"Well," sighed Sora, "it looks like all we can do at this point is trust Crocmon."

"His partner's fate is in his hands," remarked Joe, "he will not fail."


"Damn!" shouted George as the line went dead, "I hope they understood my message…"

Suddenly, George heard footsteps from further within the tunnel. Not wanting to be seen, the Warrior of Power hid himself in a shadowy corner as the steps grew louder. Several shadowy figures could be seen ambling towards George's position.

"It won't do you any good to hide," croaked one of the figures, "we can see in the dark."

George stepped out of his hiding place, palms out in a gesture of peace.

"I'm sorry to disturb you," he said, "but I got trapped here by the Digimon Emperor. Do you know a way out?"

"A way out?" asked the lead figure, "certainly. Follow us…"

The figures, which resembled little more than shadowy blobs with arms, legs, and a head, began shuffling in the direction George had come from.

"Are you sure there's an exit that way?" asked George suspiciously.

"Absolutely," said one of the figures, "you must have missed it."

Shrugging, George once again pocketed his damaged shades and followed the mysterious figures.


Crocmon reappeared on the screen.

"Hey guys," he said, "the good news is I found Gennai."

An old, bald man appeared next to the reptilian digimon.

"The bad news is," said the old man, "I've got no clue as to how to find George."

"He's in an alternate universe," said Izzy.

"I know that!" said Gennai, "but you must realize there are an infinite amount of alternate universes out there."

"Well Ken's digivice was able to open a portal to this one," said Cody, "so it stands to reason we should be able to do so as well."

"Unfortunately," began Gennai, "although your digivices are similar to the Emperor's, his is powered by a dark energy, which is likely what allowed him to open the portal to the particular universe where he stored George."

"…so what you're saying is," prompted TK, "our digivices are useless in this situation."

"Exactly," said Gennai, "the only one who could open that portal is Ken Ichijouji."

"And he's not very likely to do so," added Yolei.

Suddenly, Kari got very pale and nearly collapsed. Tai and Gatomon ran over to her.

"Kari!" they shouted, "what's wrong?"

"The darkness," muttered Kari, as her eyes began rolling wildly, "it's coming!"

"Say what now?" asked DemiVeemon.

Joe walked over to Kari. He pulled a thermometer out of his pack and checked her temperature.

"She's burning up," he said, "get a towel and soak it in cold water!"

Tai and Davis ran off towards the nearest restroom, as Kari lay on the computer lab floor shivering.


Moments before, in the realm of darkness where George was stashed, the shadowy blobs had led George to the coast. Dark waves splashed about on his feet. He shivered involuntarily, this place felt wrong to him, and the sooner he got out of here the better.

One of the figures pushed George forwards towards the neverending ocean with its clammy hand.

"Onward," croaked the figure, "our Master will be able to open a portal to your world."

"Your master?" asked George curiously.

"The great and mighty ruler of this universe," explained the figure, "we are but his humble servants."

"…and just where does your master live?" asked the videogame tycoon.

"In the ocean," replied the figure.

Not knowing what else to do, George followed the figures into the ocean. Suddenly, there was a tremendous blast of wind, the Airdramon were back, and they weren't happy.

They launched attack after attack upon the poor shadowy figures, who were unable to defend themselves. They burst into tiny pixels as they were deleted.

"Shit!" swore George, who could barely see anything going on around him.

Abruptly, the ocean began churning as a massive whirlpool formed not far from where George was standing. The fallen warrior had to struggle to avoid being overwhelmed by the rapid currents formed by the whirlpool. Out of the whirlpool emerged an immense figure. Not being able to see, George could only guess that this was the mysterious ruler the now dead figures had informed him of.

"Incorrigible beasts!" rumbled the giant being, "you shall pay for killing my servants!"

Before George could protest, the figure opened what George assumed was its mouth and spewed out a dark void, which engulfed the Airdramon and completely obliterated them.

"There was no need to do that!" yelled George from below, "they were being controlled by the Digimon Emperor!"

"Ah," said the figure looking down, "you must be the almighty George Helltower. My servants informed me of your arrival here."

"Yes," said George, "I was hoping you could open a portal for me to go home."

The figure's blue eyes glowed evilly.

"Oh I'll open a portal alright," said the figure, as he reached out and grabbed George, "but you're not going home any time soon."

"What?" was all George had time to say before the mighty monarch smashed his head upon the rocks of the coast, effectively knocking him out cold.

"Now then," said the figure grabbing the tag on George's chest, "let's have this returned to its rightful owner."

The tag's string snapped, and George's crest was taken by the mighty ruler. As it transferred hands, the lightning shaped symbol disappeared and was replaced by a skull and crossbones.

"They may have tried to disguise you, but I can always feel your presence…my Crest of Darkness."


"I can't imagine what caused this," said Joe nervously, "she was fine one moment, and the next…"

Kari lay on the floor covered in a cold sweat. Her eyes were rolling frantically, and she was shivering uncontrollably. She kept muttering about the darkness and how it was going to destroy them all.

Gennai peer curiously as far as the view from the Digital World would allow. He had heard of something that might cause this, something dreadful that could have dire consequences.

"The balance between light and dark has been shifted," remarked the old man quietly so that only Crocmon could hear him, "Kari is reacting to the appearance of the Crest of Darkness."

Crocmon's eyes widened.

"But that would mean," he began.

"Not necessarily," said Gennai, "depending on where George is, it could be the Crest's original owner…"

"Which would place George in the dimension of Darkness," said Crocmon, "and he's right. There is no way out from within."

"Which begs the question, how did Ken get out?" asked Gennai, "I highly doubt he'd trust his slaves to help him escape…"

"Well, we can bet that if George is in the dimension of Darkness, the Crest's old owner will be trying to find and destroy the counterpart Crest," said Gennai.

"The Crest of Light…" finished Crocmon.

The two turned back towards the TV.

"Bring Kari to the Digital World," said Gennai, "immediately!"


As he lay on the rocks, George began to regain consciousness. Blood leaked from the wound on his head.

"What happened?" he thought, "did the Airdramon get me?"

A sudden flash of lightning in the sky illuminated the giant figure on the horizon. For a few seconds, George could plainly see the two horns protruding from the hooded head, and the wings emerging from behind the cloaked figure's body. A pair of cold blue eyes were the only visible features of this creature's face. A silver medallion dangled from his neck. His hands were white with red nails, and in one of them was clutched a small pendant.

Automatically, George's hand shot to his chest as he groped for that which he knew was not there.

"Oh no!" he thought, "not you! Not now!"

Narrator: Who is this mysterious figure that George is worried about? What will he do with George's Crest? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!


21: Not too shabby eh?

George: Pretty good if I say so myself...just one question. WHY AM I BLIND?

21: You're not blind, just visually impaired. This was a little change I had thought of introducing at the end of the Millenniummon saga, but since this came first...

Sponsor: Alright you two! No more talking! Back to work!

21: What if I were to say no?

Sponsor: Then I'd fire you and have someone else write these stories. To be honest I've been thinking about it anyways. It'd make a lot more sense if anyone else wrote it. Your head is full of nonsense.

21: Why thank you!

Sponsor: I really don't know why I put up with you and your bullshit so much. I think after this I really will fire you.

21: Question, will you sign off on today's episode, just to show that I actually updated this month?

Sponsor (grumbles and takes the proffered sheet of paper): Fine

21 and George (grin)

Sponsor (signs the sheet and gives it back to 21): What's so amusing? Wipe those smirks off your faces this instant! I command you!

George: You're not the boss of me, now get me a cappuccino!

Sponsor: You can't order me around. Your contract clearly states-

21: I'm afraid said contract, as well my own, is completely void.

Sponsor: What? How is that possible?

21 (holds up the sheet the Sponsor signed): You did it yourself!

Sponsor (rips up 21 and George's contracts and starts swearing)

George: There. there old timer. Why don't you leave and get a nice rest. 21 will try to have the next episode finished soon, so you'll need all the sleep you can get.

Sponsor (storms out of the room, 21 and George start laughing)

21: Silly Sponsor, the sheet you signed was completely blank!

George: I can't believe he actually thought we were smart enough to write a loophole to our contracts...

21: Well, since we couldn't, we did the next best thing...now what say we get rid of this evidence?

George: Agreed.

(21 and George take the scraps to the incinerator and destroy them)

George: That's one way out of a bad deal...

21: That's all for today folks! See you next time!