Author's Note: A pretty peaceful chapter, need a bit of relaxation. Too tense also no good, but sorry, lately the chapters ended a bit lamely. Bear with it and please review.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.

Chapter 9: The Calm before the Storm

Matt's POV

"No. Yes. I'm fine! No, Matt's taking care of me! No, seriously I'm fine. By the way, you want to talk to Matt?" TK rumbled on, answering his persistent yet worried mother.

Matt knew that his mum will be worried, TK had been living in his apartment for about a week already. TK motioned him towards the phone, grinning mischievously.

Sighing, Matt went to grab the phone, "Hey mum! Umm... Long time no talk...?" Matt started awkwardly.

Ignoring the laughter TK was trying his best to smother, Matt continued, "Yeah, I'm fine so is TK. No, really he's fine. He's eating well and um..."

"Mum! Stop! I will get TK to visit you tomorrow! Is that fine with you?" TK's laughter immediately stops, a look of worry replaced his happy face, his gaze flicking from the computer to Matt.

"Okay, goodbye." Matt sighed again, putting the phone down.

"Mum knows about Patamon, you'll be fine!"

"Matt... She is so going to ask about the recent attack at Highton View Terrace! She is going to be suspicious if Patamon is suddenly living with me again."

Matt waved his hand dismissively, walking towards the kitchen to finish cooking their breakfast.

"No! Mum, no, we're fine! Kari's fine!" Tai winced, his voice increased loud enough for Matt to hear. "Kari will visit tomorrow, okay? Yeah, goodbye, Mum."

Sighing, Tai came out from the room and dropped onto the couch.

"Same problem?" Matt asked.

"What do you think?" Tai replied grumpily, his eyes following TK as he walked towards Kari.

A knock on his head caused him to look up, holding a spatula, Matt looked down at Tai.

"I thought you were fine with it?" Matt asked.

"I'm fine as long as TK doesn't do something bad! Plus they seem to be on better terms than before!" Tai answered.

"Maybe they finally realized they like each other?" Matt replied, returning to the kitchen.

"Whatever," Tai said as he sat down in front of a plate of toast and fried eggs.

"Mmm... Good thing I'm living with you!" Tai said.

"Hey, Sora will be mad if she heard that."

Coughing, Tai looked at him incredulously.

"You thought she likes me? She was just returning a favour with her cookies, idiot. And she promised me a date as well. She just doesn't know how to tell you that!" Matt answered sadly.

"Oh..." A happy look appeared on Tai's face before turning sad, "Are you serious? You could have keep letting me think that! I know you like Sora!"

"Then I'm not much of a friend." Matt replied, pointing at his Crest.

"Besides, I'm almost over her. I probably fell in love with her because I didn't have a Mum's affection. And you know how motherly Sora is."

"But..."

"I'm letting you have her, Tai. You had known her longer than I have anyway!"

"Oh~ Onii-chan is acting nice!" TK interrupted, sitting opposite Tai, Kari sat beside him.

Tai blushed profusely when he realized that the younger siblings heard them.

"How much did you hear?" Tai asked fearfully.

"Enough, Onii-chan," Kari replied.

"Why do you guys keep calling us big brother?" Matt asked, taking the last seat.

"Well, you save us from our mothers' attack!" TK answered. "So I and Kari decided to call you big brother."

Tai was busy eating the toast, trying to hide his flaming face. "It's nice to be called that again."

Laughter broke out and TK suddenly said, "It feels weird that Patamon isn't here. I had gotten used to them again."

"No choice about that! They had to recover from the recent fight. Just Millenniummon's presence caused so much damage." Matt replied.

The atmosphere tensed and a recovered Tai just said, "We fight."

Nods of approval answered him before they laughed at Tai's embarrassment.

Mimi's POV

"Come on Sora! I had to buy all the nice clothes before the worlds get destroyed!" Mimi joked as she hurried towards the mall.

"Mimi! We won't let them happen!" Sora replied.

"I know! I was joking! As if we will let the bad guys do what they want!" Mimi answered.

Sighing, Sora quickly followed her energetic friend into the mall.

"Wow~!" Sora involuntarily squealed before shutting up.

"Sora! You really are more like a girl now!" Mimi giggled.

Blushing deeply, Sora put the outfit back onto the rack, planning on walking away.

"Hey~ Your girl side came out because of a certain someone, right?" Mimi asked her, knowing full well what the result will be.

"No! It's not like I wanted to look pretty in front of Tai!" Sora blurted, her face turning even redder.

"Oh~ So it is Tai that you acted more girly!" Mimi snickered, picking up the outfit that Sora had put back. "This will totally make you look gorgeous! And Tai will totally fall for you! Trust me!"

Pushing the protesting girl into the dressing room, Mimi shoved the outfit into Sora's hands and commanded her to try it on.

"Silly girl. Tai already likes you. They should hurry up and confess already!" Mimi mumbled, wondering why her girl best friend is so indecisive and also causing a misunderstanding regarding Matt.

"Um... Mimi?" Sora called quietly.

"Oh~! You really do look gorgeous! I'm good." Mimi complimented.

She was telling the truth too, the yellow dress completely brings out her orange hair. With the white flowers on the dress hem and white glittering belt, she looked absolutely stunning.

"We're buying this!" Mimi exclaimed.

"Eh? Wait! Mimi!" Sora shouted as Mimi started to drag her away.

"Oh. Change out first! I will go find more cute outfits for you!" Mimi happily walked off, though she heard Sora's mumbled, "Why me?"

Mimi sorted through the outfits, finding three ones that Sora will look good in, she will be happy that one of them is matched with jeans. She almost wished that things will be quiet today but she will miss the adventure, she knows everyone else is the same way.

"Mimi! You sure about this?"

"Yes! Now go try it on! I will pay! A little favour for helping her best friend get her boy's attention!"

That caused Sora to blush again, quickly hiding in the dressing room.

"By the way, how come you never blush around Tai?"

Her face red, Sora poked her head out, "My body just moves on its own. Force of habit."

"You really do know him well!" Mimi giggled as Sora retreated back into the dressing room. Mimi knew Tai was the same way as Sora, that force of habit. Shaking her head, Mimi went to try out clothes for herself, determined on using this free time to the fullest.

Joe's POV

Joe was glad that Gennai gave them a day off. No irritating Gomamon and he could focus on his studies. Though he just couldn't focus, with the worlds in danger, who can even focus on studying.

Joe slammed his head on the table, he should take a break from worrying. Joe sighed, he decided to try meditating. He was rather frustrated that five of the children had managed to glow and he, the oldest couldn't. It's his duty to protect them too.

"All this thinking makes me feel like Izzy! I really need a break!" Joe exclaimed, lying on his bed.

"Joe! Stop having a heart attack in there!" Jim, his brother shouted. Joe groaned as he covered his face with a pillow.

Izzy's POV

"If I calibrated this then maybe the structure of the code could be altered. But then the circumstances of doing this might bring forth more problems..." Izzy mumbled, he had been awake the whole night with the Control Spire back, they can't always rely on TK and Kari. They might be getting better but it's still not safe.

Izzy knew he had to find a program or a way to digivolve without being blocked by the Control Spire. As he worked, his body took on a slight purple glow as he cycled through every possible code.

"Izzy? Oh, Izzy! Eat this then go and rest in your bed, okay?" His mother's voice called out, causing Izzy to jumped out of his chair, the purple glow dispelled.

"Thanks, Mum." Izzy took the plate and settled down to eat, his mother smiled at him before leaving. Izzy gave a huge yawn, with his stomach full, he dozed off, leaning on the side of his bed.

Gennai's POV

"The children need rest." Gennai consoled the fretting Digimon.

"A battle will rage over this world before peace could return," Gennai said.

"I hope we can do it..." Palmon whispered.

"Of course we can! No way we're gonna lose!" Gomamon said.

"For once, Gomamon is right. We will win." Biyomon replied.

"What? I'm not Joe!" Gomamon retorted as laughter erupted through the Digimon.

Gennai smiled, these Digidestined are always so trustworthy in times of crisis. He hopes that they will be able to save their friends.

Daemon's POV

Screams of agony ring in the air, causing the nearby Dark creatures to cringed and hide.

"The experiment is going well. The Dark Spore's vessel is becoming eviler, the power is overwhelming. But not yet, there's more! I will bring it out of him!" Daemon bellowed greedily, he stopped the power infusion.

Ken was panting hard, his face paler than usual, eyes completely blank, no light within, only Darkness caused his eyes to glow darkly.

"Master... Please stop..." He pleaded.

"No, I said you aren't ready. But I need to keep the Digidestined busy while I continued my experiments on you." Daemon's face was very close to Ken's as he spoke. He released the Dark red strings and commanded the Dark creatures to bring Ken out of the Chamber.

Davis's POV

"Argh..." Davis breathed out, wondering why he seems to be floating. Opening his eyes and seeing the darkened floor, he nearly let out a scream if he hadn't seen the Dark creatures below.

Davis waited for the creatures to go, seeing Yolei and Cody hanging beside him. "How long was I out? Darn... My memory's foggy."

"They are gone? Okay, Yolei! Wake up!" Davis shouted as loud as he could, when that didn't work, he slowly swung himself.

Swinging himself towards Yolei, once close enough, Davis wind up his leg and kicked Yolei's butt like a soccer ball.

"Oof! Who's the idiot who tries to wake me up!?" Yolei exclaimed, trying to move her arm to hit her attacker.

"Yolei! Shh! It's me, Davis! Now shut up before we're caught!"

Her eyes blinking quickly, her eyes then widened in realization when she remembered what happened.

"Davis! Ohmigosh! What the hell!? What type of sicko hangs kids from the ceiling!? Ah! Where's Ken!? Is he alright!?" Yolei ranted till Davis kicked her again.

"Shut up!" Davis's eyes gestured to the ground. "Now wake Cody! I'm also wondering about Ken, he's not here so Daemon must have got him. Just wake Cody up!" Davis exclaimed impatiently when he saw Yolei about to go hysterical again.

"Right." Yolei swung herself and kicked Cody hard.

"Eh?" Cody's first reaction was to try to raise his hands in a kendo style. "What happened?"

Davis just explained what happened when he woke up when a dark laugh was heard.

"So you finally woke up?" Daemon asked in mock sweetness.

"Hey! You bastard! Where's Ken!? What did you do to him!?" Davis yelled angrily.

"Oh, waking up after two days and this is how you act?" Daemon's mock sweetness switched to toying voice.

Davis trembled in anger, that Digimon is making him really mad but the emotion was soon replaced when he saw a familiar figure.

"Ken?" Yolei whispered, "What happened to you!? Why are you wearing the Digimon Emperor's clothes!?" Yolei screamed.

"Shut up woman, what's wrong with my clothes? I did try to follow the latest trend." Ken, no, the Digimon Emperor smirked as he said this.

"Ken! What did he do to you?" Cody asked.

"Master made me stronger. And my name's not Ken!" He flicked his whip and hit Cody in the side of his body.

"Ken! How could you!? Didn't you swore that you won't fall into Darkness again!? Where's the nice Ken I know!? My DNA partner!?" Davis tried to reach him.

"Do it, my servant," Daemon said as the binds holding Davis lowered to the ground.

"Start with this one, he irritates me."

"Of course Master." The Digimon Emperor stumbled to Davis, who was trying to free himself, Ken's hand was shrouded in Dark mist.

"Ken! Don't do it! Don't do whatever you are doing!" Yolei yelled from above.

"Darn... Hurry... Got to get these ropes off." Davis muttered, his body struggling but to no avail.

"Find comfort in the Darkness," Ken said as he put his shrouded hand onto Davis's face.

Screams of terror burst forth of Davis's mouth, Davis was plunged into Darkness.

Daemon's POV

"Oh, such beautiful screams! Keep going, my servant!" Daemon laughed.

"No...! Ken, stop! STOP!" The girl screamed, her body trembling with fear, tears streaming down her face as she watched the boy screaming.

The younger one was keeping a strong expression but he still noticed his hands trembling hard.

Ken stood up, "Master, it's done."

"Davis! Davis! Are you okay!?" That girl screamed again. The boy, Davis was writhing on the floor, his face frozen in complete terror before his eyes glazed over and a dark tint covered his body.

"Davis?" The younger boy, Cody asked, scared.

Davis let out a crazy laugh as his eyes grow red, he walked off to stand behind Daemon.

"Your turn." Daemon pointed at Yolei, she moves down.

"Davis... Ken! Please stop this!" Yolei was blubbering but her crying sounds soon faded into screams of terror and pain.

"Yolei!" Cody yelled out, his brave mask has dropped completely, eyes full of fear.

Daemon just cackled madly as he watched another one fall.