Ken awoke to the monotone beeps and humming of hospital equipment. Davis, BlackWormmon, and his parents were all there, looking like they were so full of emotion they might burst.
"Ken?" Davis almost fell out of his seat at the sight of Ken's eyelids fluttering open. "Can you hear me buddy?"
BlackWormmon crawled to the side of the hospital bed, "Ken?"
"So this..." Ken grunted, but he was interrupted by his parents' fervent exclamations of how they were so worried about him, loved him dearly, would never let him out of their sight again. After a long time of listening, he breathed and continued his sentence, "... is how it feels to lose a wrestling match with a steamroller."
Davis laughed in spite of himself. He leaned in to embrace Ken before remembering that his friend had fractured ribs and spinal trauma.
"As much... as I would love... to have that hug you want to give me..." Ken struggled for the words, "It can wait. Wormmon. Did you retrieve the disc like I asked?"
BlackWormmon looked surprised at the abrupt change of subject, "Yes, Ken, it's at Mr. Ishida's house right now."
Ken exhaled deeply, then inhaled, "Then... this wasn't all for nothing," He smiled. "We have the trump card. We have everything we need to beat him. I just need to hang on, and when I recover, we'll put a stop to the Emperor's actions... once and for all."
Mrs. Ichijouchi turned to her husband and whispered with a worried look on her face, "The doctors didn't mention any brain damage. Is it the pain medication that's making him say all of these strange things?"
"Just rest," Davis patted the blanket by Ken's side, afraid that if he touched Ken anywhere that it would be too painful. Davis didn't think he had the strength to explain the digital world to Ken's parents, and he knew BlackWormmon didn't either. Mr. Ishida might help them understand later. "I'm not sure I can-"
Ken guessed what he was thinking. "Never mind that... now. We'll have plenty of time to talk with them about it when we're ready. Thank you … for saving... my life, Davis." He stroked Wormmon's antenna, "And thank you, too, Wormmon. You were excellent."
Ken's father turned to Davis now, "Is this true? Are you really responsible for saving my son's life?"
"Yes, but..." Davis said, unsure how to explain that he was also the one that put Ken in danger in the first place.
Ken's parents bowed to Davis, "Thank you," Mrs Ichijouchi told him, "We will never be able to repay you for bringing him back to us."
"T.K. Ishida helped too," Davis hid his face, trying not to show his tears. "He probably did more than I could do for your son. He held himself together when I was helpless."
Mrs. Ichijouchi placed a hand on Davis's shoulder. "He is alive. That is all that matters."
Those words conveyed so much to Davis. Ken was alive. Perhaps in time, Davis could learn to forgive himself. Ken rested his head back to sleep. Davis finally pulled himself together and called his parents.
Weeks passed. Cody's recovery was going well, as expected. He was walking alright, with the assistance of a staff, and that was the extent of the good news. Cody's mother decided that she didn't want him seeing the other Digidestined outside of school and school activities. He respected her wishes, although he missed his friends very much. At least he had Upamon to keep him company. Although he knew his digimon partner was safe from the ravages of the Emperor, he was frustrated by the thought that other digimon were in danger, and there was nothing he could do.
Yolei's parents forbade her from seeing the other Digidestined too, but she didn't listen. She would frequently sneak out to meet with Kari and T.K. to discuss what they could do. Every time they got together, Yolei tried to convince them to go to the digital world and fight the Emperor. Every time, T.K. and Kari would refuse to go without Davis and Cody. She, too, felt quite frustrated and angry. She would have gone to the digital world by herself, but Kari said she'd tell Yolei's parents where she went. Visions of being grounded, locked in her room until college swam before Yolei's mind, and she would say, "Oh... fine! Then give up already, and just let the Emperor have the Digital world!" This would often start all three of them into an argument. Before too long, they stopped meeting up.
Mr. Ishida had changed his mind about letting T.K. go to the digital world more than once. He wanted to show that he was a responsible parent, protecting his child from danger, but he also wanted to respect his son's goal of freeing the digital world. T.K. had saved the real world in the past, after all, which was more than most adults could say. To Mr. Ishida's relief, T.K. seemed not to hold the decisions on this matter against his father. He just chose not to discuss it with him anymore.
Kari's mom was the only one that was supportive of the Digidestined. Tai and Kari had convinced her that what the group was doing was important enough to take great risks for. She bought Kari and Tai some pepper spray and some self-defense videos and made sure that their meals had plenty of protein.
Davis's parents still let him visit his friends, but going to the digital world was out of the question. Davis didn't mind this at the time. He knew that their best chance of beating the Emperor wasn't rushing back to the digital world and taking him on in a head to head fight. They had tried that too many times, and it had failed. Instead, he decided that helping Ken decode the control program and develop a countermeasure was the best plan.
Honestly, Davis was more of the moral support when it came to the programming. Ken still couldn't walk, and was using a wheelchair to get around. He was refusing to do any school work or compete in anything until the Digimon Emperor was dealt with. It wasn't as easy to make heads or tails of the control data as he had hoped, at first. This program was complicated and put together in a very unusual way, but it wouldn't be impossible to reverse engineer, it would just take time. Even though Davis didn't know what he was doing, Ken still liked having him around. Minomon and Demiveemon would wrestle and play together, Ken would read code, and Davis would make them all tea and cookies. His cookies were terrible, but to Ken, it was the thought behind it that counted, and the digimon would eat anything. Even after losing the ability to use his legs, Ken still thought the discovery of the digital world was a net gain. He had the chance to save an entire world full of undocumented creatures—it was a truly unique once-in-a-lifetime chance to put his skills to good use. Of course, he still hadn't told his parents that the Digimon Emperor they were fighting was Sam. He didn't think he could ever tell them.
Ken's current idea was a sort of "White ring" that would shield a digimon against a dark ring. Instead of routing a digimon's control to a spire, it would route a digimon's control back to itself. He still had a few issues with construction. The first tests of such a device would be risky, especially if Davis wouldn't be able to reassemble the whole team to help.
The Digimon Emperor was sitting at his control terminal. The past few weeks had been, frankly, much less satisfying than he had expected them to be. Conquering the digital world just wasn't as fun when unopposed. Rooting out the rebellious digimon factions hadn't been hard now that he was aware of their method of subterfuge. Digimon were strong-willed at times, but ultimately as predictable as any other set of data.
He hadn't even had the chance to finish off his human enemies. They had come so close to gaining ground against him, and then what? They just gave up after one little casualty? The digital world seemed... empty. The Emperor had never experienced truly sharing the world with an equal rival, but Ken was the closest anyone had come to filling that role. After mulling over the interactions with his brother countless times, Sam understood what Ken had done to betray him, but not why. If Ken wanted to take Sam's place as ruler of the digital world, his actions would make no sense. He seemed to be motivated by group loyalty to the Digidestined, but how had they earned Ken's devotion? Surely it would take something more than ordinary friendship to persuade Ken to betray his own brother. Oh well. Either way, he had been dealt with.
The monitors cut to gray fuzz for a moment before broadcasting the image of a white-haired woman. Sam was so surprised at her sudden appearance that he almost jumped out of his seat.
"What!?" He exclaimed, "Who are you? What are you doing in my system?"
The woman chuckled softly and pushed up her purple shades with one finger, "Relax, my Emperor. I am called Arukenimon... and I come bearing a message. A message from your partner digimon."
All questions of how this woman had hacked his terminal were put aside for the moment. Sam was on the edge of his seat, itching to know if this statement was true. He had no special reason to trust this bizarre woman, but if this were some plot concocted by the Digidestined, he would certainly enjoy himself.
"Go on," Sam smirked, one eyebrow raised.
"Your partner has been observing your progress and finds your conquest worthy. He proposes a meeting between the two of you, in the human world. You will bring your army, prepared to conquer the human world. He has left instructions for the use of a digital gate into Odaiba, where he awaits you and your forces with the powers he has possessed. I am to await your reply."
Well, this was certainly unexpected. It seemed very unlikely to be some trap of the Digidestined. They would ask him to come alone, not with an army. Still, the circumstances were highly unusual. How could his digimon already be in the human world? Had the digimon traveled of its own power into the human world just as Sam had used his knowledge and skills to travel to the digital one? A growing feeling of hope that Sam had not known for a very, very long time swelled in his breast. Perhaps this digimon—his partner digimon—was his one true equal. Kimeramon had been powerful, but still possessed only the mind of a slave. A digimon that had already made its way to the human world and yet kept tabs on his progress in the digital world was undeniably impressive. Arukenimon spoke of some power this digimon had acquired as well.
"All of your questions will be answered when the two of you meet," Arukenimon assured the Emperor. "And more will be explained that you would not have even known to ask."
Sam had not ever planned to return to the human world, let alone conquer it. He was happy to leave behind the sickening inhabitants of that place, but conquering Earth might provide the perfect chance to see if his digimon really was playing at his own skill level.
"I accept my digimon's offer to meet, and agree to the terms," Sam nodded, eyes gleaming behind his ornate tinted goggles. The building adrenaline erupted into a laugh. The Digidestined thought they could escape his wrath by fleeing back home to their parents. Now, in their last moments, they would feel that they had brought the Digimon Emperor's doom upon their families and their world with their cowardice. Ah, the small perks of conquering worlds.
"Excellent," Arukenimon replied, "I will inform him of your decision immediately. When you are ready to invade the human world, he will be waiting for you atop the Rainbow Bridge. The gate's instructions are being emailed to you as we speak."
"Anything else?" Sam folded his arms.
Arukenimon's face contorted into a curled and ferocious grin, "This is his only message. I believe we are finished here... Emperor."
Sam thought he detected a note of derision in her voice, but paid it little heed. The game was afoot.