Drive Me Crazy Chapter 10: Hollow Victory
Beta Readers: Ine-capa and Vertorm
Author's Note: Massive shout out to Kitsune23, Iamyourlight and Kyoukiuchiha who all worked together to cosplay a scene from this chapter! It's absolutely amazing, I never expected to get such an awesome Tumblr notification first thing in the morning! If you want to see the pictures, you'll have to find this fic on AO3 where I can post links in my author's notes. FanfictionNet won't even let me put links in my bio anymore.
Hikari sighed from atop Nefertimon. She hated lying… She always did her best to avoid it, but there were times when a lie had to be told in order to help another. In the middle of class she'd received an emergency email from Koushiro saying that something had crashed into their trap. She'd simply had no choice at that point but to pretend to faint so that she could leave class and meet up with everyone.
It had been very hard to predict Ken's movements, and he'd arrived much sooner than anticipated. Koushiro told them to head over there as soon as possible, and so far only she, Takeru, Miyako, Iori and Taichi had confirmed that they were on their way. She prayed that more would show up.
Eventually the two mountain peaks were in sight, but something was wrong. What should have been there was a large electric net stretched out between the two mountain tops, sparking and holding whatever it had caught inside. The net was only supposed to shoot out if Ken's D3 signal passed between the peaks. It would drain all of the electronics from the base and stun any digimon it touched. However...
"Nothing?" Takeru asked out loud. The group quickly landed at the base of the mountains. They looked around for any signs of the enemy, but found nothing at all. Even the net itself was missing.
Hikari felt her heart sink. This was terrible! This was supposed to be their chance to finally rescue Daisuke and this was all they were met with?
"What happened?!" Iori exclaimed, taking the words right out of her mouth.
"Koushiro says the net definitely deployed... Ken should be here…" Miyako spoke distractedly as she continued to read Koushiro's message on her D-Terminal. "It wouldn't have activated without him passing through... He can't have gone far…" She stuffed the device back into her pocket after that. "Ugh, this sucks!"
"But..." Hikari turned to face Miyako. "Do you think Ken found a way to rip through the net?"
"It was way too strong for that," Takeru said and shook his head. "We tested it so many times, it couldn't have just been torn apart! Especially not if it was draining power from the base like it should have been."
"Could a digimon have done it?" Iori asked as he scratched his chin in thought. "Ken has some pretty formidable slaves on his side."
"All of our evolved digimon worked together to try and tear it," Takeru reminded him. "As long as the energy was flowing through the net it shouldn't have been able to be destroyed."
"Maybe something shorted out the electricity?" Hikari offered.
"Well, Koushiro should be on his way..." Miyako sighed and crossed her arms. "In the meantime I think we should look around for where Ken might have gone. Better than just sitting around here."
"Right," Takeru said with a nod. "Hikari and I will go-"
"There's no need for that."
Everyone gasped as soon as they turned around and saw who had spoken. Daisuke - the very last person that Hikari had been expecting to see - was walking toward them. His clothes were the same as when he'd been captured except for his goggles, which were broken on his forehead. He had his D3 clipped to his pants and he looked completely unhurt.
Daisuke stopped moving, leaving a good distance between them.
Hikari stiffened up nervously. Something wasn't right… Daisuke's face held no emotion, and the way he stood was strange. There was nothing natural about his posture, it was much too upright for him. His voice was empty as well, and his eyes were cold.
Something was very wrong. Why wouldn't he come closer to them? After being a prisoner in Ken's base for months, the Daisuke she knew would already be hugging them.
"Daisuke!" Miyako exclaimed with a smile as she ran toward him. "You escaped!"
"Wait!" Hikari stepped forward and reached out to try and grab her, but she was already too far away.
"Miyako, stop!" Takeru darted after her, and Hikari could tell that he had sensed the same things in Daisuke that she already had.
"What's the matter?" Iori's question reached Hikari's ears, but she wasn't really listening. Right as Miyako was about to reach Daisuke, Hikari saw his arm move and suddenly she knew what was going to happen.
"Miyako!" Hikari yelled out to her, but it wasn't enough to stop the back of Daisuke's hand from striking hard against her face. Miyako was sent to the ground with a loud shriek and a horrible slap from the impact of his hand on her cheek. Takeru slid in the dirt and caught her just before she hit the ground, coughing as dirt lifted up into the air and clouded around them.
Hikari pulled the D3 out of her pocket and clenched it hard, her knuckles turning white. This wasn't happening... This just couldn't be happening! It was a bad dream or a Bakemon in disguise, it had to be!
"Daisuke!" Iori called out in disbelief. "What are you doing?!"
Miyako whimpered and sat up as she held her wound. As she checked her hand for blood, Takeru got back up to his feet with his fists clenched.
"Get away from him!" Hikari called out as soon as her eyes moved to Daisuke's neck. Underneath the collar of his shirt was a black choker with strange glowing runes. She would have known exactly what that was from a mile away. "Look at his neck! There's some kind of dark ring!"
The digimon tensed up and seemed to prepare for a possible fight. Hikari couldn't wrap her mind around this. They weren't seriously going to fight Daisuke were they?! The point of this mission was to rescue him, not hurt him!
An eerie silence settled in the mountains as the other Chosen found what Hikari had been referring to. No one spoke or moved, not even Daisuke. Small sounds nearby sounded ten times as loud in the awkwardness, until Iori finally managed to snap out of his daze.
"D-Dark rings don't work on humans!" Iori seemed to be talking more to himself than anyone else. "That can't be what it is!"
"W-Why else would Daisuke h-hit Miyako?" Hikari tried to calm herself down, but she failed miserably as her voice came out shivering. This was worse than anything she could have imagined. She knew that something would probably surprise them, but this?! If Daisuke was being controlled by a ring then did that mean Ken could enslave everyone? Did Daisuke have more of these rings on him somewhere? They were in serious danger!
"Ken!" Nefertimon hollered out into the mountains. "Come out here you abomination!"
Miyako stood up suddenly, glaring at Daisuke as she stomped forward. "You are so lucky I'm willing to blame that smack on Ken instead of you!" Even as Takeru held her back she continued shouting. "Don't you recognize us?! Don't listen to that stupid ring!"
"I recognize you," Daisuke replied, his voice just as empty as it was before. "You are Inoue Miyako, and that is Takaishi Takeru. You are both enemies to our master, so it is our job to destroy you."
Before anyone could question his use of the word 'our,' a tall creature came out from behind one of the rocks near Daisuke and stood beside him. Hikari was sadly unsurprised to find that it had been Fladramon to join him with a dark ring around his neck as well.
"Daisuke, wake up!" Iori shouted and pulled out his D3. "Ken is your enemy, not us! You're a Chosen! Don't let that thing confuse you!"
"Discussion is pointless," Daisuke said matter-of-factly and snapped his fingers. There was a loud screech as an army of Airdramon, Unimon, Drimogemon, Centalmon and Devidramon came out from various hiding spots nearby, all with dark rings on their bodies. There appeared to be around twenty enemies, and only four of them.
"Daisuke!" Takeru moved around Miyako so they could see each other better. "Look at me! Do you remember when you first met V-Mon? You were happy that you could help Taichi and the rest of us. You wanted to stop the Kaiser from hurting anyone else. Ken is just using you, he's not your ally!"
"I see that nothing will convince you to join us," Daisuke continued without acknowledging anything that had just been said to him. The enslaved digimon stalked closer to them with their eyes glowing red. Daisuke began walking forward as well, Takeru and Miyako immediately backing away. "So…" Daisuke continued. "We'll just have to kill you instead."
Suddenly Takeru lunged forward and tried to grab at the dark ring around Daisuke's neck. However, the moment his hands touched it there was an explosion of white light. Takeru screamed as electricity sparked and spread out over his body, and he fell to the ground in a shivering heap.
"No!" Hikari cried out and ran toward him, but before she could reach him all of the slaves rushed forward and got in the way. One of the Devidramon dropped down and picked Daisuke up onto its back, flying back up into the air and away from the fight. Fladramon stayed put though, appearing to be waiting for an order from his partner.
"Watch out!" Hikari called out to the others as she frantically tried to think of a plan. She had to get everyone away from this place before they were all-!
"Oh, Hikari," Daisuke's sarcasm echoed down from above the battlefield. When she looked up to meet his gaze, an eerie chuckle escaping his lips, she saw nothing familiar looking back. "Let me show you just how much you mean to me."
"Holy Shot!" three Unimon suddenly broke away from the group and surrounded her, all of them firing at the same time.
Hikari turned and ran away from the large balls of energy as fast as she could. The ground exploded around her and rumbled, her body jerking from the force and sending her crashing against the nearby cliff. She landed on her stomach atop a large rock, a sharp pain searing through her gut. She coughed and gagged as dirt was kicked up into the air, getting into her lungs and making it hard to see.
Through the haze, Hikari managed to see more lights coming at her. She leapt back up and ran forward along the cliff wall. Once again the ground near her crumbled and blew out, many large pieces of rock slamming into her back. She winced and covered her head with her arms, stumbling and closing her eyes as she ran blindly.
"Hikari!" Nefertimon called out, but two of the attacking Unimon blocked her path. She tried to get around them but they rammed, bit and stabbed at her - anything to keep Nefertimon from reaching her partner. The third Unimon continued after Hikari.
Suddenly Hikari realized what Daisuke was doing. His strategy wasn't to beat up their digimon like Ken always did, but to instead hold them off long enough for a few of the slaves to slip away and kill them, the human Chosen themselves. They were the real source of their digimon's power, after all. Even though Ken surely had that knowledge, he'd never truly acknowledged the partnerships between them.
Worse yet, Daisuke seemed to be a lot more willing to cut to the chase and kill them without playing games first. He wouldn't underestimate them as easily as the Kaiser always had.
"Spread Neigh!"
Hikari screamed as two large blades of wind slammed into the cliff on either side of her. She threw her arms up in front of her protectively as the blades nearly cut her in half, one of them tearing a large hole in the side of her shirt from the close proximity.
"Horn Thrust!"
Hikari dove to the ground as the Unimon's sharp, glowing horn rammed into the cliffside where her torso had just been. She quickly rolled underneath as it tried to stomp on her with its back hooves. As soon as she got out, she got back up on her feet.
She was barely able to start running again before the Unimon's back legs slammed into her, flinging her body against the rocks. She groaned and coughed up blood as her body hit the ground again. She ached too much to get back up now, and she knew that trying to crawl away was pointless. The Unimon was faster than her even when she was running.
"Holy Shot!"
Hikari used the last of her strength to curl up into the fetal position on the ground and cover her head with her arms. The sound of an explosion came as expected, but to her surprise there was no pain. Was she dead…?
As soon as she opened her eyes she gasped and felt a surge of relief. Greymon was standing protectively in front of her, having taken the hit.
"Hikari!" Taichi's voice was a welcome change of sound as he raced over to her and scooped her up off the ground, carrying her away from the fight as quickly as he could. As soon as they made it behind a large rock, her stomach started aching terribly. All the running had jostled her around a lot more than her body could really handle at the moment.
Taichi set her down gently and leaned her up against the back of the rock, and it was then that she realized Jyou and Gomamon were there as well. Jyou quickly pulled a bottle of disinfectant out of the large first aid kit he'd brought with and poured some of the liquid onto a rag. He began dabbing her bleeding wounds with it and she did her best to ignore the harsh sting.
"The others..." Hikari coughed and cringed as a sharp pain shot up her throat.
"They're fine," Jyou cut her off quickly before she could speak anymore. "One of the Drimogemon collapsed Iori and Miyako into a pit. Yamato and Garurumon managed to distract them, but Iori twisted his ankle really bad in the fall."
"Takeru's fine," Taichi added quickly before she even had the chance to ask. "Pegasmon got to him in time. They were trying to find you but they couldn't reach you fast enough because of all the Airdramon, so Jyou and I snuck over here while the enemies were distracted."
"What about…" Hikari trailed off, having to take deep breaths between words. "Sora and..."
"They're here now," Jyou cut her off again. "Sora is helping Takeru, and Koushiro's in the real world trying to find Ken. We tried to get Mimi to come but she's asleep."
"Yeah..." Taichi gave a guilty smile. "We forgot that it's still night time in America. I think I pissed her dad off when I called... I left a bunch of messages on her D-Terminal though, so we'll see if she gets them."
Jyou pulled a bottle of water out of his bag and handed it to Hikari. She drank it quickly, the cold liquid soothing her raw throat. She wasn't completely healed but at least she felt a bit better now.
"Thanks," Hikari sat up more as Taichi received a message on his D-Terminal. He quickly pulled it out and read over it.
"I need to get out there," Taichi glanced out onto the battlefield and then back over to Hikari as he put the device back in his pocket. "I know you'll want to come with, but you need to stay here with Jyou."
"But...!" Hikari began, but she couldn't finish her sentence because her throat started hurting again. She gave in at that point. Even if she could stand, it didn't mean she could run. She'd only be a liability like this. "Okay," She nodded sadly, and Taichi quickly ran around the rock and out of sight. The others needed him a lot more now than her.
"It'll be okay!" Gomamon smiled reassuringly as Jyou pulled some more bandages and gauze out of his bag. "Nefertimon is out there so you're still helping!"
"You're right," Hikari nodded and smiled finally, hoping that Nefertimon and the others would be able to capture Daisuke before anyone else got hurt.
Looking up at the sky, she held back the tears that were tugging at her eyes. What Daisuke had said to her before he attacked... She didn't blame him and she knew he hadn't meant it, but she could only imagine how he would feel once this was all over.
Taichi tried to think as he and Greymon ran through the rubble, the Unimon having been knocked out finally. He needed to orient himself… He was pretty sure that Iori and Miyako were still down in that pit. He needed to try and get them out somehow. Everything beyond that was just too chaotic to keep track of anymore. He knew a few of the enemies' dark rings had been removed now, but not enough to tip the scales yet. There were just so many more enemies than there were Chosen!
Upon reaching the edge of the battlefield, Taichi scanned over the scene as quickly as he could. It was hard to see anything through the explosions of energy and all the dust in the air, but it looked like everyone was still okay. Alright, they needed a plan!
"Greymon," Taichi turned to his partner. "We need to get Iori and Miyako to safety, that's the first priority. So let's-"
"Hello, Taichi."
Taichi spun around as a familiar voice came from behind them. A bittersweet emotion filled his heart when he saw Daisuke and Fladramon standing side by side just a few feet away. He immediately noticed Daisuke's neck, and sure enough the dark ring that Miyako had described in her message was plain to see. It looked a bit different, but not enough that it wasn't easily recognizable.
It was so hard to believe that Ken had actually managed to make one that worked on a human, and yet there was the proof standing right in front of him. It wasn't that digimon were any less real than they were, but unlike humans their bodies were made entirely of data. Taichi didn't know the first thing about how the dark rings worked, but he did know that data could be altered and rewritten. How Ken had managed to alter Daisuke's biological, human mind, he had no idea. It was sick...
"Ironic, isn't it?" Daisuke appeared to be taunting him, but his voice was so void of emotion that it didn't sound right. He and Fladramon began walking slowly around Taichi and Greymon like predators. "You were my hero once, and now I couldn't care less. In fact, I find you quite pathetic. That's why I've decided to destroy you personally."
"You sure about that?" Taichi's eyes narrowed as they followed Daisuke carefully. "You should know that Greymon and I won't hold back in a fight, not even against you if it's to protect the others."
"I think you're going to try and capture me, and then take me to where you can remove the ring." Daisuke pulled his D3 out of his pocket. "I won't allow that."
"So you acknowledge that you have a dark ring on?" Taichi frowned, even more confused now than before. "You know that it's controlling you?"
"Controlling me?" Daisuke chuckled a bit, the sound making Taichi's stomach turn. "Don't be foolish. It has enlightened me to the fact that everything I fought for in the past was pointless. Everything I used to believe in was all false. Master Ken is the only thing worth living for, and you are the real enemies. Removing the ring would make me forget what I have learned, and I cannot allow that."
"Ken made you think that, did he?" Taichi verbally spat, his hatred for the Kaiser increasing even more than before. "I see you're wearing the goggles I gave you."
"Yes," Daisuke smirked. "I thought the broken lenses represented our new relationship quite well."
"Ken is a sick bastard," Taichi growled and glared at the shattered lenses of the goggles that had once belonged to him. "I'll make him pay for this."
"Well..." Daisuke trailed off as he finished circling them, once again directly in front of Taichi and Greymon. "Then I guess we have nothing left to talk about."
Fladramon lunged at Greymon with a loud shout, "Fire Rocket!" The blade on Fladramon's helmet hit Greymon square in the chest, and the force of the impact caused him to slide back into the cliffside.
Fladramon kicked off against Greymon's chest and flew backward. Greymon quickly spun around and whipped at Fladramon with his tail. Still in the air, Fladramon was unable to dodge the attack so instead he grabbed onto the tail itself as it came at him. He grunted from the impact, but he held on tightly.
Greymon kept spinning and sent his tail back toward the rocks, clearly intending to smash Fladramon up against them. Fladramon ran up Greymon's body just quickly enough to avoid being crushed though, and was up on his head within seconds.
"Knuckle Fire!" Fladramon's fists lit up and he struck them down against Greymon's skull repeatedly. Greymon cringed and seemed to get disoriented from the blows.
"Greymon, get him off!" Taichi called out, and his partner seemed to hear him. A fireball formed in his mouth, but before he threw it he whipped his head around and tossed Fladramon into the air.
"Mega Flame!" Greymon roared and the fireball soared from his mouth and hit its target perfectly, Fladramon crashing into the cliff this time. He slid down and landed in a heap on the ground, rocks crumbling around him.
"Get up, Fladramon!" Daisuke's voice held no compassion for his partner whatsoever. If anything he just sounded angry. The pile of rocks suddenly flew apart in an eruption of fire and Fladramon burst toward Greymon at top speed.
Fladramon jumped up off the ground and pulled back his claws, ready to slash at his enemy's face. Greymon didn't have enough time to load another fireball and shoot it, so instead he lunged to the side. Fladramon just missed him and was sent sliding along the ground instead.
'I can't evolve Greymon...' Taichi clenched his Digivice in his hand. 'He already degenerated after fighting all those Unimon, he won't have enough strength now.'
Greymon whipped around and leapt into the air, growling ferociously as he attempted to crush Fladramon with all of his weight.
"Move!" Daisuke hollered, and Fladramon leapt blindly in a random direction after hearing his words. Greymon hit the ground just a few inches away from him, and the force sent Fladramon rolling. He didn't stay down for long before he jumped back up and ran circles around Greymon.
"He'll jump at you!" Taichi yelled, noticing the way Fladramon's fists were glowing with fire again. Greymon closed his eyes and tried to listen instead of watching. Sure enough, one of Fladramon's footsteps sounded a bit different than the previous ones had.
"Mega Flame!" Greymon shot the fireball at Fladramon, but he aimed a bit too high. Fladramon lunged and dug his claws into Greymon's shoulder, latching onto him painfully. Greymon roared as Fladramon climbed up his body, sinking his claws into his skin along the way. Once he was back up on his head, Fladramon pelted his flaming fists back down against his skull.
"Greymon!" Taichi gasped as his partner's data began destabilizing. His body was phasing in and out as another degeneration neared. Too much more of this and he'd go back down to Agumon, and the battle would be over.
Greymon suddenly whipped his head downward, flinging Fladramon toward the ground. At first Taichi wasn't sure what he was trying to do, until Greymon caught him with his small arm and pulled him up against his chest. He held onto him with both arms as hard as he could, and then he ran straight for the jagged cliffside.
"Greymon, what are you doing?!" Taichi exclaimed, his partner still pulsing with static. Then it occurred to him… No matter what Greymon did at this point he was going to lose. There was no way he could weaken Fladramon enough to turn this battle around now. If they'd been at their full strength to begin with then Greymon surely could have won, especially if he'd been able to fight as WarGreymon from the start, but he'd already lost too much energy after saving Hikari. So if he was going down anyway, then that meant...
"Fladramon!" Daisuke hollered, appearing to realize what was going on as well. "Get away from him!"
Fladramon wiggled, scratched and bit, but Greymon held on tight. There was nothing he could do, and a few moments later Greymon rammed himself as hard as he could up against the cliffside. Fladramon screamed as his body was smashed between the wall and Greymon's heavy body, and both of them were sent back down to their Child forms. Rubble from the side of the cliff fell down on top of them, and suddenly there was silence.
"Agumon!" Taichi ran over to where they had fallen and began throwing rocks off the pile. His heart raced in his chest and his arms were shaking. Thankfully it didn't take long for him to find his partner's body amongst the mess. He pulled him out as gently as he could. After he'd set Agumon's unconscious form down on the ground against a rock, he began digging again.
"V-Mon!" Taichi shouted, almost certain he'd seen his dark ring shatter. "V-Mon, can you hear me?!"
"Why do you care about V-Mon?" Daisuke walked over to him and watched, sounding genuinely confused. "He's your enemy and he was weak, just let him die."
"Shut up!" Taichi shouted and threw some of the rocks at the other boy, his arms shaking with rage. There were more than enough things wrong with this situation already, but hearing Daisuke not care about V-Mon's life with his own ears was more than he could handle. That weird ring… It had completely severed the connection between a Chosen and their partner, and it made Taichi sick. Daisuke genuinely didn't care what happened to V-Mon anymore!
"Taichi…" Agumon's voice was weak, but he heard it. When he turned back around he saw his partner digging in the rocks. "I'll find… V-Mon… You handle Daisuke..."
"Well by all means, waste your time on that worthless digimon," Daisuke turned to walk away, and Taichi felt something inside him snap. He stood up sharply, and Daisuke quickly spun back around to face him after appearing to hear the sudden movement. Taichi was panting furiously with his fists clenched at his sides and tears stinging his eyes.
This wasn't Daisuke's fault… This wasn't his fault...
"That anger..." Daisuke frowned at him. "I don't understand it. Why all that over a single V-Mon?"
"Oh, Daisuke understands it very well," Taichi's voice was low as he stalked toward him, though Daisuke did not back down. "Deep down inside somewhere, I know he's furious right now! Even if he's not aware of what's going on, when he finds out what Ken made him do..." Taichi stopped right in front of him. "He'll understand exactly why I did this!"
Daisuke didn't move fast enough to dodge Taichi's fist, and there was a loud crack as it collided with his face. He stumbled back but didn't fall down, managing to grab onto a large rock nearby. Taichi growled and rushed at him.
If there was one thing he knew about Daisuke, it was that he was all about emotions. He really didn't seem to know anything about fighting, he just got so upset sometimes that he could pull off amazing things that shouldn't have been possible. With the ring suppressing those emotions though, Daisuke would never be able to tap into that power. Taichi could surely get the upper hand, and maybe he could still rip that ring off!
Taichi grabbed Daisuke by his hair and yanked, throwing him down onto the ground. He straddled over him, and this time he went for the throat. That damned ring! If he could just get enough strength behind him, he could yank it off and-!
Taichi gasped and clenched his eyes shut as electricity seared up through his chest, sending his body into a spasm. White lights danced in front of his eyes, and his head hit the ground before he even realized he'd toppled over. His arms and legs twitched uncontrollably and it became incredibly hard to breathe.
That must have been a self defense ability of the ring. Takeru had said something about being shocked by Daisuke, but the message hadn't been detailed enough to explain exactly how it had happened. It wasn't easy to communicate with one another right now...
Taichi opened his eyes slowly and looked over at the pile of rocks. There was movement, and a few seconds later V-Mon appeared to be climbing out weakly with Agumon's help. Unfortunately Daisuke had gotten back up on his feet now and was walking over to them.
"D-Daisuke, no!" Taichi reached out and shouted. "Don't…! Don't hurt him!"
Daisuke ignored him and grabbed a struggling V-Mon up off the ground. Taichi tried to get up to help him, but an Airdramon suddenly swooped down and picked them both up. They flew off and out of sight a few moments later, and V-Mon's shout for help was the last thing he heard.
Agumon weakly hobbled over to Taichi and slumped down beside him. "Taichi... I'm sorry..." Taichi shook his head and smiled at his partner, lying back down on the ground and hugging him gently. His body hurt so much...
He had failed. No matter how much fault he could place on Ken for this, in the end he had not only failed to save Daisuke, but he'd also failed to protect V-Mon and the other Chosen. He'd failed Agumon too. The tears were back in his eyes and he choked them back as best he could. Agumon did the only thing he could do at that point, and hugged Taichi with a sigh of sadness.
What would happen now? He couldn't help the others fight anymore. Would they lose because he wasn't strong enough? Could the others still pull through somehow? Taichi shook his head and sat up. That was enough moping. He needed to snap out of it! He could still help, he'd find a way!
"Taichi!" a voice called out, and he found Kabuterimon flying toward them. Koushiro jumped off his back as soon as they landed nearby and ran over to them. "Taichi, get on Kabuterimon! We have to retreat!"
"What...?" Taichi coughed as he was helped back up to his feet. "Did we lose?"
"No, but we're about to," Koushiro shook his head as they made their way over to Kabuterimon's outstretched hand, who set the three of them down on his shoulders. As soon as they were all secure, Kabuterimon took off into the sky again.
"I didn't notice fast enough!" Koushiro had to practically yell over his partner's loud wings to be heard.
"What?!" Taichi exclaimed, seeing Birdramon, Garurumon and Ikkakumon still fighting in the distance. "But we haven't lost yet! And we have Kabuterimon now too!"
"Not for long!" Koushiro shouted back and pointed in the opposite direction of the fight. "Daisuke was just stalling for time while Ken built a dark tower over there! We can't reach him in time anymore! Any second now all of our older digimon are going to degenerate! We'll be totally surrounded if we don't get back to the Terminal!"
"But-!" Taichi felt his blood run cold. "But what about Digmon?! And Holsmon?!"
"They're knocked out in the pit with Miyako and Iori!" Koushiro looked over at him sadly. "We only have our digimon left fighting, and they're the ones who will be affected by the towers!"
Taichi clenched his fists and stared out at the battlefield. Sure enough, he couldn't see Digmon or Holsmon anywhere. Worse yet, when he looked back he could see the outline of a dark tower already standing upright. All Ken had to do was get it turned on…
"Koushiro!" Taichi called to him. "Are you sure we can't hit the tower from here? Maybe if we-!"
Suddenly there was nothing below them as Kabuterimon reverted back down to Tentomon and all of them started falling. They hit the ground quickly at least, thanks to Kabuterimon staying so close to the ground in anticipation of this. They slid a few feet through the dirt, another dust cloud picking up behind them.
Everyone groaned painfully as Tentomon flew down beside them, appearing to have some trouble navigating over to them through all the dust in the air. They seemed to have ended up near where the main battle was now taking place. They were just a few feet behind some rocks, and they were at least well out of sight.
"Can you walk?" Koushiro asked as he quickly hoisted a very weak Agumon up onto his shoulders.
"Y-Yeah," Taichi cringed and forced himself back onto his feet. They limped painfully through the rocks together, and at a much slower pace than Taichi would have liked. Eventually they made it out of the rocks though, and back over to the large open space between the two mountain peaks where their trap had originally been placed. Once the battle came into view though, they all froze.
Everyone else appeared to have been rounded up and huddled together, including Jyou and Hikari. All of the Chosen and their now child-form digimon were surrounded by the remaining ten enemies, with Daisuke hovering on his Devidramon above them. Taichi growled and started to panic a bit. Daisuke would probably hurt them for real in his current mental state. If he was willing to let his own partner die, then why not everyone else too?
Worse yet, what if Daisuke had more of those strange dark rings to put on everyone? Even if he didn't, Ken surely did back in his base... If Taichi didn't do something very fast, then the Digital World was about to have no one left to fight for it! Damn it, there had to be something he could do! He couldn't just surrender like this! What would happen to them once they were all prisoners?!
"Koushiro…" Taichi whispered urgently as he tried to emphasize the gravity of their situation. "If he captures them, they're all going to get rings put on them too. All of them. We'll be the only ones left."
"I know…" Koushiro swallowed and looked just as scared as Taichi felt, clenching his eyes shut. "I don't know what to do… If I had just noticed what Ken was doing sooner, we could have-!"
"Don't start that!" Taichi hissed at him. "We need to focus and come up with a plan right now or-!"
Something caught Taichi's eye off in the distance, and he squinted without finishing what he had been saying. There was movement from various places nearby as the digimon they'd defeated started getting back up. None of the Chosen had killed the enslaved digimon during their battle, they'd only removed their dark rings. This… This meant that... If he could just…!
"Hey!" Taichi ran out from his hiding spot and yelled at the top of his lungs, his heart racing from the adrenalin suddenly pumping through his system. This was it! If this didn't work then they were all done for! "We helped you! We freed you from the rings, so please help us!"
The defeated digimon turned around and looked over at Taichi. Even more had gotten up now, and soon enough all ten of the defeated forces were visible. They were all frozen and staring intently at him.
Daisuke shouted down at Taichi and ushered toward his slaves, "Shut up! Kill him! Kill him now!"
"You're free because we saved you!" Taichi hollered again and started backing up as the remaining slaves darted forward. "Help us! Help us please!"
"Don't even think about it!" Daisuke shouted at the defeated slaves. "You will not listen to this fool or-!"
Daisuke didn't get to finish before all of the freed digimon converged on them. Now in their right minds, they leapt up and raced over to quickly get between Taichi and the attacking slaves. His words had been heard, and suddenly another battle erupted around them.
Everything was a blur for Taichi as he ran toward the others, sparks and explosions going off all around him. The Chosen were still in a tight group and trying to stay out of the line of fire.
"Over here!" Taichi called out and waved frantically at them. Jyou saw him first, and he quickly urged everyone to start moving. Sparks of light and energy whizzed past Taichi's face, and his ears started ringing as he tried to meet up with them.
Once they were together, Taichi lead them over to where Koushiro, Agumon and Tentomon were hiding. Everyone crouched down behind the rocks and huddled together, closing their eyes and whimpering as attacks blew off right beside their heads. Taichi could feel Hikari shaking as he held her and Agumon tightly against him.
For first time in his life, Taichi prayed. He didn't know who he was even praying to, but it was all he could do. In truth he hadn't been this afraid since the very first time he'd been trapped in the Digital World with the others. He was pretty sure they hadn't all come this close to death since back then, either.
Suddenly everything stopped and went quiet. Taichi opened his eyes and peeked around the rocks as carefully as he could, just in case something was about to collide right beside him. Off in the distance was Devidramon retreating with Daisuke on its back, who had clearly decided to leave as soon as the battle started. It was over now... All of the dark rings were shattered.
As the freed digimon all jumped and cheered, Taichi felt his heart sink. They made it… Somehow he'd done it - he'd found a way out when all had seemed lost, and yet he felt no happiness at all. The only thing he really felt now was the tugging of sobs that he couldn't hold back anymore. His entire body went limp, forcing him to lean up against the rock he'd been hiding behind. He had no more strength left, not even after they were finally safe.
With the freed digimon celebrating nearby, the Chosen and their partners all slumped against each other and let out their painful emotions, the hollow victory sitting heavy in their hearts.
**********Flashback**********
Ken stared down at the motionless boy on the floor, a large blood stain lying next to his unconscious head. The horrific scene that had just played out left him speechless. The control room was full of noise from the panic going on around the base, and yet somehow everything felt completely still to him.
Ken walked slowly toward Daisuke's body. He'd put more dark rings on digimon than he could count, and not once had anything like this ever happened. Their eyes simply gone red and that was it. This ring though... Had it killed him? Daisuke had clearly tried to fight against its influence as Ken had expected he would. He'd given it a lot more power to overtake his mind for that very reason. Had he overdone it?
Ken's arms were shaking as he knelt down beside the motionless body. He reached for Daisuke's wrist to check for a pulse, removing one of his gloves and placing his bare fingers against his skin. He had to try very hard to steady his shivering hands in order to do it correctly, but a few seconds later he released a large breath of relief that he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
Daisuke was alive.
It was at that moment that he remembered when Daisuke had given him CPR back when he'd been dying on this same floor. Guilt… He hated the feeling. He had never felt so much of it at once before. CPR wouldn't save Daisuke from what Ken had just done though...
"H-Hey..." Ken said weakly, forcing Daisuke to sit up and lean against the nearby wall. He grabbed his shoulders and shook him, hoping that it would stir him back to consciousness. It did absolutely nothing though, and Daisuke's head went limp against his own shoulder as soon as Ken let go.
What if… What if the ring had caused permanent brain damage? Ken had never even considered that possibility. Honestly, up until that moment he'd never cared about it. His eyes felt wetter all of a sudden, and he was forced to wipe them with his bare hand in order to see anything.
"Daisuke, come on!" Ken raised his voice, his heart rate increasing. "Get up! Please, I-!"
Ken was startled when Daisuke's eyes suddenly shot open and he stood up, arms lying straight down at his sides. Ken rose to his feet slowly and took a few steps back. He looked up and down Daisuke's body, trying to figure out what was going on.
The room felt dead silent even with all the chaos in the background. It should have been loud and distracting, but Ken could hardly hear any of it. Daisuke neither did nor said anything, appearing to be waiting for something. Ken suddenly realized what it was though, and he cleared his throat to speak.
"What is…" Ken trailed off, unable to find the willpower he wanted right away. "What is your name?"
"Bio Ring Prototype 5877324," Daisuke's voice was cold and emotionless, his empty eyes moving to meet Ken's. "I am ready for instruction, Master."
Daisuke had finally answered the question correctly.
Ken had chosen a name and number sequence that no one would ever randomly guess. It didn't even mean anything. He'd simply picked random numbers when he first started the project, and he'd made a point of never letting anyone else know what they were. He'd memorized it on his own, and he never logged the information anywhere into his computer system.
Ken didn't know how to react. He should have been happy... He should have been celebrating the fact that his exhausting and material draining experiment had finally succeeded. He should have been taking advantage of the fact that Daisuke was his to command now. He could send him at the other Chosen for daring to trap him like this. How hilarious it would be to see the look on their faces when the very person they were trying so hard to rescue suddenly attacked them with the Kaiser's slaves at his side.
And yet... for some reason Ken just couldn't find the strength to do it. He couldn't even think of anything to say now that he was staring success straight in the face.
"I am ready for instruction, Master," Daisuke repeated.
"This is wrong…" Ken's voice quivered as he spoke out loud, backing away from his prisoner. His hand moved up to cover his mouth. What'd he'd just done… It was horrible. Daisuke was a real person, he had a soul and Ken had just-!
The room jerked and spun, Ken's head slamming against the floor almost immediately. The base hadn't shook or anything, though… He curled up and whimpered as a hot, searing pain shot up the back of his neck. He clutched at it with his fingertips, and almost immediately he got dizzy and felt like throwing up.
"Master!" Daisuke's voice held a bit more emotion that time as he knelt down beside him.
'There's nothing wrong with this,' Ken heard his own voice echo in his mind. 'It's not terrible at all.'
"That's not true," Ken shook his head and spoke out loud as he rolled over onto his back. "He doesn't deserve this!"
'Of course he deserves it,' the thought continued, sounding as though it was scoffing at his own ignorance. 'He's a lower being - a mindless fool like all the others. Someone like him doesn't deserve to have their own will.'
"But…!" Ken tensed up. "He has a good heart, he's a good person! I can't just-!"
'On top of that he's an enemy,' the voice in Ken's head cut himself off. 'And enemies must be destroyed.'
"I do want to destroy my enemies, but..." Ken frowned, looking up at the ceiling instead of at Daisuke's face. "But it's not right to destroy something that's real."
'Who cares if he's real or not?' he thought to himself, the room finally feeling stable as it stopped spinning. 'Real or data, he's still going to ruin your plans. He's in the way, so just use him!'
"No..." Ken sat up finally and shook his head, clenching his eyes shut. "I don't want to do that!"
'Look how soft he's made you!' Ken thought and he was suddenly disgusted with himself. He outwardly shivered. 'This is unacceptable! He needs to be punished for it!'
"I..." Ken stopped moving and looked down at his hands, thinking about everything he'd just listened to.
'You used to be so strong...' Ken's thoughts stroked his own ego. 'You were going to show everyone, weren't you? Show them that they couldn't just walk all over you anymore. You were going to prove that Osamu wasn't better than you, that he was just a pampered little shit and that your parents are worthless maggots. You were going to be better than everyone - everyone who ever looked down on you.'
"That..." Ken clenched his fists and glared, anger rushing through him suddenly. "That's right!"
'You were going to get revenge on all of them,' his inner voice purred quietly. 'All of those worthless fools who tried to make you weak. Are you as weak as they thought you were?'
"I'm not weak!" Ken felt his arms start to shake and his voice crack. "I'm not!"
'Then prove it...' the voice finally faded away, and the noises in the base came rushes into his ears.
"Right," Ken finally said with a confident voice, standing up to face Motomiya. "I think I know how to get out of their stupid trap." Ken couldn't help but smirk as he quickly worked out a plan.
The slithering children were clearly underestimating him again. All he had to do was redirect the electricity in the net that was preventing his base from moving, and then he could back it up and tear it off the peaks. He would send some of the robotic digimon out into the net. All they had to do was use their jets to fly over to the devices that were sending out the electrical currents, and then place their bodies directly in front of the energy flow. The electricity wouldn't be able to reach the base anymore with the digimon in the way, and Ken could escape. Of course the robots would be electrocuted and destroyed, but that was fine.
It was a pretty good trap he supposed, in theory. Nevertheless it still was nothing compared to his level of intelligence. The Chosen were infants and they clearly needed to learn who was superior.
Ken looked over at Motomiya with a sadistic excitement as he gave him his first order. "Crush them."