There's No Rest for the Wicked

Disclaimer: I really should make this disclaimer in the form of someone's catchy song. (G: But then you'd have to make another disclaimer for that.) True that. *Sigh* Digimon's not mine.

Chapter 12 - Trial by Hope

Click-clack went the black keyboard—only, the speed of the sound was so fast it was barely recognizable anymore. The sole light in the lonely, metallic room came from the series of monitors mounted against one wall. Ken Ichijouji, no, the Digimon Emperor, had to keep working. He couldn't stop to rest for any second. His enemies were growing stronger, in both numbers and the levels of their digimon.

He worked on a program on one screen and watched areas of the Digital World on the other. There was a team of Digidestined from the Americas working to take down his Control Towers in a certain sector. He had sent a small army of his own digimon to defend it, but he knew their persistence would lead to that area being lost by morning.

The shadow of an enormous digimon appeared quickly on another of his screens. "Found him," the teenager mumbled to himself. He sent another portion of his forces to detain and put a Dark Band on the wild mega-level digimon. It was so rare nowadays to find them that easily, but if he wanted to beat his enemies, he needed stronger forces of his own.

Unfortunately his Dark Bands weren't powerful enough to evolve an ultimate to mega level, at least not yet, without the band breaking. So he had to resort to hunting mega-level digimon to add to his arsenal. They were just barely strong enough to contain these digimon of the highest evolution.

He should have beat that Vegiemon on his way in more, especially after today's unexpected loss. But it wasn't the same as doing it to his meddlesome, worthless digimon partner. The insect's whimpering gave him a sort of satisfaction that his mindless controlled digimon couldn't give him.

It was a mistake to let that little worm escape, especially with that harlot. 'Yolei…' The mere thought of her made him pause his work. She would be his again one day. He wasn't so heartless that he wouldn't forgive her for cheating on him with his best friend, so long as she groveled before him and begged for his forgiveness.

Once he had conquered all of the Digital World and enslaved its inhabitants, she would see him for the powerful ruler he was. She could have anything she wanted ruling by his side. That was something that aggravating Motomiya couldn't give her.

But it could wait. For now, he wanted revenge on those Digidestined whom he had once called friends. Revenge for thwarting him every chance they got. Revenge for stopping him before he could realize his true potential. Revenge for…

"You're a pretender; you're like that story, 'The Emperor's New Clothes.'"

A faint memory began to replay in his head. Takaishi…

"You're nobody, not like me! You will bow down before me!" the Emperor had commanded angrily.

"Sorry, the floor's kinda dirty."

"You will listen to me!" He had lashed out his whip at the boy, but he stood there, taking the attack.

T. K. had simply touched the red spot on his cheek and looked into his hand. "Hmmm. When you can't think of anything to say, do you always resort to fighting?"

"I guess…"

The blonde boy had turned to his past self, who had backed up a little. "That's your problem. You don't know when to talk or when to fight. Now's a good time to talk… On the other hand, it's also a good time to fight!"

The Digidestined had punched him squarely on the left cheek, sending him flying backwards. He then continued to assail him, ultimately pinning him to the ground and beating him up. The Digimon Emperor couldn't remember why he had been so weak at the time. Maybe it had been the shock that a being in his game wasn't crumpling under one of his attacks, much less taking him down for a pounding.

He had only been saved by the appearance of Chimeramon.

"Hey, Ken," he'd called from the back of Pegasusmon, "remind me where I left off the next time I'm pummeling you into oblivion."

"Oh, I'll show you where we left off," the Digimon Emperor scowled to himself, furiously typing again on his keyboard. He shot a quick glance at his dark D-3 embedded in the far wall next to his Crest of Kindness. This time, he wasn't taking any chances. Taking the D-3 with him may drain the base and towers' power temporarily but it would ensure his victory. After all, this was something he'd been waiting a long time to do.


T. K. pulled out his lunch sack and slammed the door of his grey locker shut. Once he was outside the building, he instinctively took out his sandwich, pulled it apart, and put one half of it into his open book bag. It landed with a thud at the bottom of the bag. The teenage boy snapped to attention, as if waking up from a dream. He had forgotten that a hungry Patamon wasn't there anymore. 'That's right, he's been captured,' he thought forlornly.

At least Kari had Gatomon back. He was sure he'd find a way to get Patamon back soon too. It just infuriated him to think that he lost his partner digimon to the powers of darkness yet again.

"T. K.…I'll come back again, if you want me to."

The memory of Angemon's death was still as clear as yesterday in his mind. It was one thing he'd never forget and vowed never to let happen again.

As he made his way toward the outdoor benches to meet up with his friends, he heard a beep come from his D-terminal. He rummaged through his book bag. Probably Davis saying he'd rather practice soccer for the entire break than to actually eat.

He started to munch on his half sandwich as he flipped open the rectangular device.

T. K. Takaishi,

Meet me at the location below. Come alone or I'll make your precious Angemon destroy a few digimon villages in the name of darkness. We have some unfinished business.

The Digimon Emperor

T. K. froze dead in his tracks, causing a pair of gabbing girls to run into him from behind. He made a half-hearted attempt to apologize and ignored their snooty remarks. Turning on his heel, he sprinted toward the computer room. Dumping his partly eaten sandwich in the nearest trashcan, he typed a quick message to his friends.

Something came up. Don't wait for me.

T. K.

The blond made a beeline for the nearest empty computer with a Digiport program. Before anyone could say "hi" to him or ask how he was doing, he was gone in a familiar flash to the Digital World.


As she fed Salamon yet another roll from her lunch tray, Kari pondered the message her childhood friend had left them. It's not like he had any extracurriculars other than book club, and their next meeting was in three days. Could something have happened at home? Mrs. Takaishi wasn't the type to worry T. K. in the middle of school, even over a family crisis.

"Hey, hey, so T. J. bailed on us today?" Davis broke Kari's train of thought. After handing DemiVeemon his bag of chips, he set his lunch tray of a sandwich and an apple next to hers. "Guess that means I get to be the one who sits next to you." He gave her a goofy grin.

Kari sweatdropped. "Yeah, sure looks that way…" Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a lavender-haired girl with a Poromon heading their way. "Oh hey, Yolei, did you notice if T. K. was all right in class today?"

"He seemed fine to me," her friend replied, taking a spot across from her at the bench. She let her pink puffball of a digimon dig into her fruit cup and began to mix her salad. "I took his message as he wanted to be alone today. I don't blame him since Patamon's still under the Emperor's control."

"Maybe, but I just have this sinking feeling…"

"More, Kari?" Her digimon looked up at the teenage girl with puppy-dog eyes.

This made Kari giggle and hand the little digimon her last piece of bread. "Going mega sure increases your appetite, doesn't it?"

"Mmm, hmm," Salamon mumbled between bites.

"Well, he'd better meet up with us after class, or I'm testing out that newfangled program without him," huffed Davis.

"Davis, that's so insensitive of you!" Kari chided him. "He might be seriously upset right now."

"I'm sorry, Kari. I'm sorry, Kari. I'm sorry, Kari. I'm sorry, Kari. I'm sorry, Kari." Davis repeated over and over with his head bowed and his hands clasped together over his head. All the humans and digimon around him sweatdropped.


The directions the Digimon Emperor had given him led to a dank, dark cave. T. K. had to make a rudimentary torch outside before he dared go in. As he made his way underneath the dripping stalactites, he prayed that he hadn't made a mistake in coming here. His anger had once again blinded him, and now he was here without a plan and without a backup—two things that had become necessary when taking on the Digimon Emperor.

At the first fork, he took a right, then followed the middle path at the next set of branches. He soon found himself in a tall cavern the size of a temple. He looked around as best he could, trying to assess the place and look for any hidden dangers. However, his torch could only show him so much…

"Welcome, Takaishi."

…least of all a human dressed in dark blue who had just stepped out of the shadows. T. K. did his best to keep his surprise in check and remain calm. If he showed any weakness, the Emperor would pounce on it and use it to his advantage. But from his experience, if he stood up to a bully, the other was liable to back down.

"Well, well, it's been quite some time since we faced off, just the two of us." The Digidestined of Hope could feel the Emperor sizing him up behind his tinted glasses as he slowly circled him.

"So that's what this is about?" T. K. asked smugly. "You want to get your face beat in again?"

The navy blue boy didn't even flinch. "On the contrary, my dear Digidestined…"

Suddenly, T. K. found himself wrapped in a tight bear hug from behind. His fallen torch clattered on the rock floor. He couldn't help but let out a shout of surprise and pain.

"…it's you who's going to let me beat you up."

The blonde boy was about to make a witty retort when he noticed the arms that held him down. One was white with black and gold bands, the other dark and metallic. His blood ran cold as he looked up at his captor. "MagnaAngemon!" he gasped.


***Commercial Break!***

Gaia: Anyone want anything from the kitchen? I got sodas and chips.

G: Nah, I'm not in the mood.

Gwen: I'll take a soda. But I need to go to the bathroom first.

Gaia: Dark or light?

Gwen: Dark.

Gaia: Diet or regular?

Gwen: Diet.

Gaia: Caffeine or no?

Gwen: None.

Gaia: Coke or Pepsi?

Gwen: *frowning* Really, Gaia, I know you don't have that many sodas. You're just going to get me an orange Fanta no matter what I say.

Gaia: Bingo!

Gwen: *face-vault*

***End Commercial Break***


The Digimon Emperor wasted no time landing blow after blow on the other boy's face and stomach. He chuckled at the irony of the situation—his enemy being restrained by his own digimon partner while he got beat up.

Throughout all this, however, T. K. barely made a grimace. After his last round of punches, the blond teenager merely spat out a bit of blood in the Emperor's direction. "That all you got, Ichijouji?"

The Digimon Emperor calmly reached for the whip at his belt and unfurled it. With a few cracks at the ground, he finally replied, "That was just a warm up." A flick of the wrist later, the whip made contact with the Digidestined's cheek.

T. K.'s head turned with the force of the blow. The Emperor certainly had grown stronger since they last did this. He barely had time to wince at the stinging from his face when another stroke made contact with him. T. K. grit his teeth, refusing to give the tyrant the pleasure of him screaming in pain.

After a few more minutes of this torture, the Emperor returned the whip to his side. "I had a feeling you'd make this no fun." With a snap of his fingers, the ultimate-level digimon threw the teenager to the rock ground.

T. K. welcomed the coolness against his stinging body.

"MagnaAngemon, finish him off."

The Digidestined didn't have time to look up before a large metal boot kicked him in the stomach and sent him flying a few meters away. Now seemed like as good as any time to talk, because he definitely wouldn't and couldn't fight his own digimon. "MagnaAngemon, please, don't you recognize me?" the teenager coughed. "It's me, T. K. We're partners."

The digimon continued to walk toward him, the blade on his right arm poised. "I know this might be useless trying to get through to you. Those Dark Bands are strong." Too weak to stand, T. K. tried to drag himself away across the hard ground. "Someday, though, the Digimon Emperor will be brought to justice. I know that my hatred of the dark powers blinded me, and it's my fault if I die here today. But I hope that one day, you will be able to overcome the darkness and be free. No matter what, you'll always be the same Patamon I love."

By this time, the ultimate-level digimon stopped, looming over the beaten human. He raised his right arm higher, ready for a finishing blow.

Too tired to move any farther, T. K. bowed his head and closed his eyes. "Good-bye, MagnaAngemon. One day, we'll surely meet again."

A bright light shot out from the green and white D-3 in T. K.'s pocket and surrounded both him and his digimon.

"What the—?" From across the room, the Digimon Emperor exclaimed in surprise, his usual smirk gone.

"MagnaAngemon digivolve to… Seraphimon!"

The Dark Band shattered, and in place of the archangel digimon stood a humanoid dressed in blue and steel armor with ten golden wings on his back.

The Emperor let out a loud growl and clenched a fist around his dark D-3. "No, that's impossible!"

"Oh, it's very possible!" T. K. called back, struggling to his feet. The power of the digivolution seemed to revitalize him. He would have to thank Izzy later for the upgrade to his D-terminal.

The indigo-haired teenager scowled. "I was hoping to have saved this in case your goody-goody friends showed up…" From out of the shadows behind him appeared a digimon that resembled a metal dragon with two cannons on its back. "Machinedramon, destroy them!" The Digimon Emperor leapt high into the air, landing gracefully on the back of a low-flying Airdramon that had just appeared as well.

"Machinedramon?!" T. K. gasped. He had temporarily forgotten about the retreating Emperor and stared at the digimon he hadn't seen since he was a little kid. "Is that the same…?"

Seraphimon hovered down next to his human partner. "Most likely—one of the former Dark Masters." They didn't have much time to discuss this as the mega-level digimon began to power up his weapons.

"Giga Cannon!"

Seraphimon quickly scooped up the teenage boy and flew out of harm's way. The wall behind where they had stood exploded into a pile of rubble. The holy digimon set him down in another part of the cavern and took off to battle their controlled enemy. As he flew toward his opponent, he gathered tendrils of golden energy into one fist.

"Hallowed Knuckle!" Seraphimon shot his hand forward and launched a ball of crackling lighting.

"Giga Cannon!" Machinedramon just barely managed to neutralize the oncoming attack in time.

While the giant, metal digimon was temporarily blinded by the resultant explosion, Seraphimon continued on his flight, ultimately grabbing him around the waist and ramming the metal digimon into the wall behind him.

Machinedramon was quick to recover, however. Raising his right arm, he turned all three prongs into a drill and then slammed it down in Seraphimon's direction. "Dragon Fire!"

The armored digimon let go of his opponent and jumped out of the way, just in time for the claw to drill a small hole into the rock ground. Before he could get too far, Machinedramon made a quick swipe with his other clawed hand. It was enough for him to catch Seraphimon's leg and send him tumbling down.

T. K.'s partner digimon skidded a few meters along the cave floor before steadying himself and jumping back into action.

"Hallowed Knuckle!"

This time, Machinedramon covered his head and body with both claws and was driven back against the crumbling wall by the force of the blast.

While his opponent recovered, Seraphimon spread his arms wide and summoned seven golden orbs. Glowing radiantly, they spread out into a circle in front of him. "Strike of the Seven Stars!" Beams of holy energy shot from each of the orbs and converged on Machinedramon.

The cyborg digimon let out a metallic shout of pain and collapsed into a smoking heap.

Seraphimon touched down on the ground and slowly walked over to Machinedramon. "Time to finish you off, servant of darkness. Hallowed—!"

"Wait, Seraphimon!"

T. K.'s voice made the digimon stop his arm in midair and look over his shoulder at his partner. "Something wrong?"

The blond teenager shook his head. "Dark Master or not, he doesn't deserve to die like this. Just set him free."

"But T. K., what if…?"

"Even if he's still evil without the Dark Band, he deserves a second chance. My blind hatred for the powers of darkness got me into this. I don't want to have the blood of an innocent digimon on my hands because of it as well."

Seraphimon nodded in understanding. "Hallowed Knuckle!" This time the attack was more precisely aimed at the Dark Band around the cyborg digimon's leg.

No sooner had the band disintegrated when Machinedramon stood up, shook his head and brought a metal claw up to it. "Where in the Digital World am I?"

"You were under the control of the Digimon Emperor, but not anymore." T. K. hobbled up to the mega.

Machinedramon turned to the small creature that stood across from him. "A human," he snarled. Then, he looked the teenager over, as if analyzing him. "Human identified as Takeru 'T. K.' Takaishi, Digidestined with the Crest of Hope." Machinedramon let out an angry growl. "You! You and your meddlesome friends killed me! Ever since I achieved digivolution back to my former level, I've been wandering the Digital World in search of revenge."

The enraged digimon attempted to raise his right arm but found it too weak as it dropped back down to his side.

"Wha-What did you do to me?" he cried in surprise.

"The Digimon Emperor used you against us, but Seraphimon defeated you," T. K. explained. The aforementioned digimon moved in front of his partner defensively.

"No matter, I still have enough energy for this!" The twin cannons on his back began to light up. "Giga… Cannon!" Using the last of his strength, he fired his attack at his sworn enemies and then fell back down to the ground.

Seraphimon quickly picked T. K. up and flew out of the way. The blast connected with yet another wall, but this time the room continued to shake well after the blast had taken a good chunk out of it.

"I think that was the last straw for this place. It's going to cave in," T. K. observed, as cracks began to form from bottom to top and stalactites fell from the ceiling.

"Let's get out of here then!" Seraphimon headed towards the entrance T. K. had come in from.

"Wait, what about Machinedramon?" T. K. tried to look back at the mega-level digimon in the dim, collapsing cave. He could make out a large piece of the ceiling falling and crushing the lower half of the former Dark Master. Machinedramon let out a shriek of pain.

"Hang on!" Seraphimon wove his way back to his defeated opponent, but it was too late. His bottom half was already breaking up into bits of data.

"I'd rather die…than be saved…by the likes of you… brat," Machinedramon gasped.

T. K. couldn't tear his eyes away from the dying digimon.

"I'm sorry, T. K., but there's nothing we can do now." Not waiting around for the same fate to happen to them, Seraphimon sped out through the tunnel that had led to the Digimon Emperor's trap. He had to give his human partner a shake to snap him out of it. T. K. could sense his friend's urgency and pointed them in the right direction out.

Seraphimon landed the two of them on a grassy patch just outside the cave. The teenager silently watched as the entrance to the cavern itself filled with chunks of rock, sealing Machinedramon's tomb. He barely noticed his digimon de-digivolving back to Patamon.

"You can't win them all, T. K.," the orange, flying digimon comforted.

"Yeah, I guess not…" the Digidestined of Hope shook his head to clear it and turned to his old friend. "I'm just glad to have you back, Patamon." He gave the digimon a smile and squeezed him tight.

"I'm glad to be back with you too, T. K., but I can't breathe!"

T. K. burst out laughing and eased his grip. "Come on, pal, let's go home."


A black-gloved fist slammed on the dark keyboard. The screen above showed the Digidestined of Hope making it out of the caves alive. "Just my luck to have come across the weakest mega in existence," the Digimon Emperor scowled. "And how was he able to digivolve in the presence of my D-3?" He made a mental note to keep an eye on his former friends and figure out how they were cheating.

The evil genius changed the screen to show another part of the Digital World, just like the screens around it. He then typed away at his keyboard, writing a program to detect digimon of high power levels. He was going to need more strong digimon and fast. At the same time, he sent orders to his armies to redouble their efforts in finding ultimate-level or higher digimon to put Dark Bands on.

While he performed these mundane tasks, he started concocting another plan to put an end to those blasted Digidestined. Obviously separating the humans from each other wasn't going to work. More importantly, he needed to separate them from their digimon.

He pulled up a schematic of his base on yet another screen. If he could rearrange certain parts of it…

Meanwhile, the Digimon Emperor let his new program scan the collapsed caverns as a test and started redesigning the bottom half of his headquarters. If he whipped those Gazimon hard enough, they'd be done with the renovations by morning. This was only going to be the first step in his next plan…

A beep from the program drew his attention back to the area where the Digidestined of Hope once stood.

"What? It can't be…" According to the readings he was pulling up, there were still faint signs of a powerful digimon inside the caves. That could only mean one thing.

With a few more keystrokes, he ordered a team of Drimogemon and Frigimon to retrieve Machinedramon, or what was left of him. The mega-level digimon was probably useless to him in his current state, but if he could harness his data…

A wicked smile crept along the Emperor's face. If he couldn't find more powerful digimon, then maybe he could make them.


In another part of the Digital World, a lone Digidestined flew home on his partner digimon. They had taken longer than expected in their skirmish with the Emperor's minions during an attempt to take down the Control Towers in their section. Now he was rushing to get back to his Digiport before he was late to school, or more importantly before his worn-out digimon lost too much energy.

He was so concerned about either unpleasant possibility that he didn't notice the beautiful full moon and sparkling stars in the night sky. Or the foamy waves as they crashed on the beach adjacent to a destroyed forest. Or a shadow in the distance that caught the attention of his flying orange digimon.

"Eh?"

"Qué pasa, Birdramon?" What's up, Birdramon?

"Pablo, hay un mano en el cielo." Pablo, there's a hand in the sky.

"Dónde?" Where?

"Allá" Over there. The Birdramon motioned with its head toward the middle of the sky over the ocean.

The young Digidestined from Mexico looked towards where his partner had indicated. "No veo nada." I don't see anything.

"Cómo?" What? The digimon took another look and saw only a sea of stars. "Pero hace un segundo que había algo allá." But there was something there a second ago.

"Es probablemente tu imaginación. Estas cansado despues de la batalla." It's probably your imagination. You're tired after the battle.

"Tal vez..." Perhaps...

"Vámonos, antes que Control Towers te mate por falta de energia." Let's go, before the Control Towers make you die from a lack of energy.

"Esta bien." Fine. The Birdramon resumed his hasty flying.

If either digimon or human had looked back, they would have seen a tear in the sky reopen and a purple hand with red fingernails emerge. It seemed to be fighting to push through, to pull the rest of its body back into the Digital World. But the hand lost and slipped back through the tear. It waited, gathering its strength, to try again another day.


Gwen: You sure this is going to work?

Gaia: *puts on helmet with wires attached* Of course it will. I've seen Inception at least twice. All I have to do is plant the idea of calling off the lawsuit in his dreams and we'll be home free.

G: *straps on a helmet that looks like a colander* Wish you'd have watched it enough times to get the machine built like in the movie.

Gaia: I had to improvise on such short notice! Anyway, let's get this started. Gwen, flip the switch! And make sure he doesn't wake up…somehow.

Gwen: *pulls down a lever as they both pass out* Hm, I wonder if they figured out what kind of dream they were going to make up. Oh well!