Disclaimer: Digimon is a franchise owned jointly by Toei Animation and Bandai, and conceptualized by Akiyoshi Hongo. Doctor Who is a property owned by the British Broadcasting Company created by SydneyQ Newman. The concept of The Tamer v1.2: Another Digimon Adventure is a fanfiction idea. Please support the official properties.
The Tamer v1.2: Another Digimon Adventure
Chapter 28: The Fall of The Network
The guards only lowered their spears because Davis made a point they couldn't protest, "Seriously. These guys just helped save the village and this is how you say thanks?"
Although the tension was far from gone, Davis turned to Ken with a smile, "Since they won't say it, I will. Thanks for helping us out! We would've been goners if you hadn't shown up!"
"But why did you help us?" Cody's eyes narrowed, "And how did you know that Golemon was a fake?"
Ken looked around quietly, staring at each of them and meeting their gaze stoically. Stingmon nudged his partner and Ken nodded, "I'll tell you. But not here. It's not safe. Take me to ShogunGekomon's palace. It'll be safer there."
"Okay, I'm sick of this ominous bull shit," Matt marched up to Ken and lifted him up off the ground by his collar, "I was sick of taking it from Tamer. I'm not taking it from you. What the hell is going on?"
"For the holder of the Crest of Friendship, you're not really friendly," Ken commented, slapping Matt's hands away, "I already said I'd tell you everything. Besides, I'm not the biggest fan of The Digimon Tamer either so anything I can do to spite him is a good idea in my book."
Matt stepped back to his partner's side. The digimon were now stirring from their unconscious state, looking around in the confusion and certain that the fight was still going. They all jumped to their feet on seeing Ken, "The Emperor's here!"
They rushed him, and Stingmon moved to protect his partner. The guards once again raised their spears in preparation of a fight. Thankfully, Davis was able to stop any more fighting by stepping between the two groups to shout, "It's all right! He's with us!"
Everyone calmed down but there was still an uneasy air about them, and they agreed to return to ShogunGekomon's palace to actually talk about Ken's information since he refused to say another word until they were somewhere safer. This didn't stop the guards from whispering about keeping an eye on him in case he tried to do anything to their lord.
To say Ken's return to the village was unwelcome was an understatement. The digimon both inside and outside the village walls booed Ken and some took the time to throw stones at him. Stingmon shielded his partner from the blows while Davis and Veemon both snapped at the digimon trying to harm him. The guards were disinterested in protecting Ken, and some smiled as the passing digimon grew angrier at seeing him. And the anger shifted to the digidestined when Davis and Veemon actually started walking beside him - daring the passing digimon to challenge them instead. It was easy to understand their anger. The Digimon Emperor, the cause of all their problems was right here in front of them and the digidestined were protecting him. Who were they to deny the digimon their justice?
The mood followed them all the way into ShogunGekomon's throne room where he became enraged on seeing the Emperor standing in his hall. Wizardmon, Ogremon, and Andromon were also just as surprised to see the former Emperor and Stingmon standing in this room without some kind of restraint. The normally orange toad turned a shade of red so deep that it looked almost black, "WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, BRINGING THE DIGIMON EMPEROR INTO MY THRONE ROOM!?"
Davis once again came to Ken's defense by explaining, "He just helped us save the dam and protect the village from Golemon. I think we should hear whatever he has to say!"
"Oh, he saved our village, hm? Was that before or after he unleashed that monstrosity that burnt half of it to the ground?" ShogunGekomon roared, "No wait, I know! It was when he brought an army to my gate! I should throw you in a cell with Starmon and be done with it!"
Davis cowed under ShogunGekomon's booming voice but Sora was less intimidated, "He could know where Agumon is. That's all the reason we need to listen to him!"
ShogunGekomon's mood calmed upon hearing that point and he looked at the Emperor disdainfully. That point was true. He could know where Agumon was, but that didn't mean he wanted him in this room in the first place, "Why are you here, anyway?"
"This was the safest place I could think of," Ken stated, "No one who ever spied for me when I was Emperor was able to breach this room and no one who guarded this chamber was ever sympathetic towards me."
"I would disagree with that sentiment," Wizardmon folded his arms, "Starmon was very sympathetic towards what he called the order you were bringing. Although he likely would never have allied himself with you."
Ken clicked his tongue, closed his eyes, pocketed his hands, and took a deep breath. He anticipated this hostility from them and was prepared for it. He just needed a moment to calm his thoughts before he replied. After a moment, he stated, "You have no reason to trust or listen to me. I get it. To be honest, I don't expect to be forgiven for anything I've done. I'm just trying to make it right. For the record, that doesn't mean I'm joining you guys. We just happen to have a common goal right now."
"Can we hurry up and get to the point?" Matt started tapping his foot impatiently. Ken ignored the interruption and continued, "There's a woman with silver hair. Her name is Arukenimon which makes me think she's a digimon of some kind, but her appearance is more human than most. I overheard her talking to someone but never saw who. I do know she's the one who turned the control spire into that Golemon. And she turned another one into the Minotarumon that attacked you Davis. If I had to guess, her goal is to try and turn digimon against you by making it seem like you're attacking innocent digimon. As well as to cause some kind of internal conflict within you. As an aside, it'd be brilliant if I hadn't walked by and overheard it."
"Okay, let's assume any of this is true," Sora started disbelievingly, "Why? What do they gain by making the digimon here dislike us?"
"Do I look like the Digimon Tamer?" Ken asked back, "I am not the person to be asking that question. The person you should be asking that question to is The Digimon Tamer. And if I remember what you guys said, he's hanging out at your school pretending to be a student. Go ask him."
"Oh yeah, we figured that part out," Davis stated matter of factly, "It turns out he's just doing a...thing...what was it called again?"
"Davis, don't tell him that," Izzy stated while Tentomon covered the goggle head's mouth, "We still don't know if we can trust him."
Ken sighed in frustration while Yolei went to look the boy in the eye. Ken grew nervous, recalling the beating TK had given him and wondering if Yolei was contemplating the same. He would deserve it after what he did to her - taking her hostage and leaving her for dead. Her eyes narrowed and Ken retrieved his Emperor's goggles from his pocket. It only took a second but he quickly fashioned them over his own eyes so that he wouldn't have to look into Yolei's eyes. Of course she had to ask, "Why are you wearing those goggles?"
"It was to mock Tamer," Ken answered spitefully, "Everything about my attire as the Emperor was meant to mock The Digimon Tamer."
"I meant right now," Yolei responded, "Also, that doesn't explain why you wore a wig that looked like your brother's hair."
"That was," Ken paused and mumbled his next choice of words, "Personal issues. I don't want to talk about it."
"Is that why you tried to bring your brother back?" Yolei asked curiously. Ken looked away, no intention of hiding from his shameful actions, "I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I'd be tempted to try again if the opportunity presented itself. But I don't think I can go through losing him again, either."
"Yolei, what's he talking about?" Gomamon asked. Yolei waved it off but Ken answered for him, "I'm not going to deny it. Any of it."
He faced the digidestined and ShogunGekomon everything. Everything about his brother's death, meeting the Digimon Tamer, being stuck in the Digital World, meeting Ryo, stopping Apocalymon, learning the truth about Tamer while Ryo was lost to who knows where, and everything Ken did to make right what Tamer allowed to go wrong. Even when it meant taking a darker road. He finished by stating, "The Tamer...he always went on about destiny but it always seemed like it was just an excuse to let the bad things happen. But anything I did to reverse it...made it worse. I tried to bring order to chaotic world and brought more ruin than there was before. I killed my brother twice. I created an unholy abomination. Not to mention what I did to Agumon. What did it get me? Nothing. So I'm not going to fight destiny any more. What's the point? That doesn't mean I want to be part of your…team. Right now, I just want to make up for the mistakes I've made. Like I keep telling you."
ShogunGekomon heaved a sigh, obviously still furious that the Digimon Emperor was in his throne room. However, the Emperor admitted that he'd been wrong which was a brave admission on his part. Most wouldn't ever accept that possibility. He raised an eyebrow, "There's one thing you can do to earn my trust in this scenario. That spy of yours. Where is he?"
"You mean in the village? I thought he was kind of obvious," Ken stated quietly, "I mean, it's not like he was sneaky or anything. In fact, he was so obvious that even I didn't trust him or her half the time. It felt like they were only ever in anything for the profit if I'm being totally honest."
"What do you mean him or her?" Gatomon asked this time. Ken shrugged sheepishly, "I know people say I'm smart, but I have no clue what Digitamamon's gender is. So...my mistake."
"DIGITAMAMON!?"
The shock and silence that fell over the entire room was deafening in its own way.
The boos and jeers returned in full force as the younger digidestined marched to Digitamamon's restaurant with an escort of guards consisting of Agumon and Gekomon. The older digidestined stayed behind to talk amongst themselves about what the next move should be. The chaos that erupted when they marched into Digitamamon's restaurant was unprecedented. Digimon gasped and moved out of the way as the guards made their way to the register, while others fled before anything happened. Vegiemon leaned away from them as several other guards their way into the kitchen in the back. Vegiemon sweated more furiously when he saw Ken standing with the digidestined, "Where's Digitamamon?"
"He's not in today," Vegiemon stated flatly, "He's…not feeling well."
"I doubt it," Ken said, "Digitamamon's not the kind to pass up a profit. He'll do anything for money. Where is he?"
"I don't…talk to the Emperor," Vegiemon looked away nervously, just as the kitchen doors slammed open. The guards piled out with Digitamamon chasing them, "Who the hell are you to come barging into my shop!?"
"Stop it Digitamamon," Ken shouted at the egg digimon as it came out of the shop, "It's over. Sorry but I'm selling you. Admit what you've done."
"Selling me out? Trading me in for yourself? Is that it? Let me guess: you're trying to earn some favor with the digidestined now that you're all washed up?" Digitamamon stated bitterly, "Maybe get off free by selling me out? Well, sorry to burst your bubble but that isn't how it works."
"So you were spying for him!" Gatomon pointed a claw angrily. Digitamamon laughed at the declaration, almost amused by her statement, "Me? Spying for him? You've gotta be kidding me! I don't take sides, kids. I play the field."
"What, like that soccer game Davis is always goin' on about?" Armadillomon asked. Digitamamon laughed, "Let me tell you how supply and demand works. I supply food and the hungry digimon demand to be fed. As it turns out guards and soldiers demand more food. As do hungry villagers. So if the Digimon Emperor were to create more problems like he's prone to, well that drives up demand from the guards who have to fight him and creates more displaced digimon who need food. Profit margins go up!"
"That's awful. You spied just to make a quick buck?" Cody hissed angrily. Digitamamon laughed, "Spied? I'd hardly call listening to some drunk digimon spying! Hell. if anything I was doing what was necessary to preserve my business. Not that you kids would understand, it's not like anyone understands the prospect of business. Hell, Tamer just came and left a damn egg with me for months! Like I have time to look after an egg."
"You realize you just admitted to treason!" one of the Gekomon said, taking hold of Digitamamon's leg, "We'll be taking you in!"
"Go ahead if you think you really can. Last I checked, I was the only one in town with a readily available supply of food and the only restaurant that didn't get destroyed when Kimeramon rampaged! Just who will run the only restaurant in town once I'm gone?"
"We'll be closing the restaurant and seizing the food!" one of the Agumon declared, using a rope to tie up Digitamamon, not that he had arms that needed restraining. One of the patrons in the restaurant shouted, "What about us!? We all know the guards are the ones stealing food, leaving the rest of us to fight over the scraps!"
A few more digimon looked to the digidestined, "What about you guys! Are you just going to let them do this? We need that food too!"
"That's...um...not for us to decide," Cody answered sheepishly. That answer did nothing to placate the angry digimon and Ken looked to Davis, "Would you care to play the peace maker here?"
"Yeah, I've been knocked around enough today," Davis shook his head, "This is all yours, Ken."
"You've had the best luck making peace so far," Ken countered, putting Davis on the stop. He swallowed a lump in his throat and stepped into the middle of the group, "Hey, guys, let's not fight over this. What good is going to come over fighting now? We have other problems to worry about."
"Easy for you to say! You guys leave and probably go to your world where there's a lot of food! You probably haven't gone hungry for a day since any of this happened!" another digimon complained furiously. Davis remained firm, "We're not just going to look the other way while you guys tear each other apart for food!"
"What? Are you going to kill us too!?" another digimon growled, finally cowing Davis, "That's right! We all heard about the Minotarumon!"
"I have a proposition," Ken started until some of the digimon snapped, "No one cares what you think Emperor! Do us all a favor and shut the hell up!"
"Okay, I can tell this is going to be fun," Ken sighed, massaging his temple, "Look, how about instead of fighting over the food and just claiming it, how about you guys distribute it? That way, everyone get's a fair share and no one goes hungry."
"We're not listening to anything you have to say Emperor!" another digimon shouted angrily, "GET OUT OF OUR VILLAGE!"
"How about we divide it then?" Yolei volunteered, to Hawkmon's dismay, "Us? Yolei, I don't think I can protect you from an angry mob."
"No, I meant all of us," Yolei said, looking to the rest of the digidestined. Cody glanced at Davis's direction and added, "As long as Davis doesn't have to do the math."
"We're not in school," Davis's response indicated that he'd completely missed the point of Cody's jab. Hawkmon beamed at his partner's idea, "Yolei! You're a genius, you know that? Huh, why didn't you get the DigiEgg of Knowledge? That seems more your thing."
The digidestined spent the rest of the afternoon distributing the supply in the restaurant to the digimon who came to visit, and even took the time to deliver the food to the digimon in the surrounding area. Once their work was done, they regrouped with the others in ShogunGekomon's palace. ShogunGekomon grumbled at the traitor being so obvious and hiding in plain sight at such a public place when none of the guards could catch him. Wizardmon cared little for this development and instead impatiently asked, "So...when do we venture to the Hollow Bastion? Where is it?"
"The Bastion? What do you want to do with that?" Ken asked incredulously. Armadillomon stated, "I s'pose there's no reason why we can't just tell 'em now. He handed ov'r the spy. And he helped us out with Golemon. I say we trust 'im."
"I don't know," Palmon folded her arms, "This could still be another trick. I mean, how do we know he didn't create the spire digimon?"
"Hell, can we just tell him already?" Davis asked, "It's not like he's going to turn on us after what happened last time!"
Against his better judgment, Andromon explained everything for the third time that day and Ken mulled it over, "Well...that would explain why Tamer is traipsing around like he's a normal human being. Hm...let me guess, you think if we go to the Hollow Bastion and examine the Network, we can use it find wherever Agumon went?"
"So can we?" Sora asked, going straight for the point, "The sooner we find Tai, the sooner we figure out this whole mess."
"It'd be another good step in the right direction, Ken," Stingmon stated plainly to his partner. Ken nodded, "Yeah. We can go tomorrow."
"Why don't we go now?" Kari asked impatiently, "We have to find Tai!"
"Who the hell is Tai?" Ken asked with a raised eyebrow. Gatomon answered for her partner, "It's a long story and I really don't want to be reminded of it."
"Well, to answer your question, it's getting late and we have to get back home to our respective families," Ken stated matter of factly, "We may be the ones chosen to save this world but we still have our own lives to live outside of the Digital World."
"Is it really that late?" Izzy checked his computer and frowned, "It's almost seven. Wow, it is late."
"Yeah, and it'sh shummer sho who caresh?" Veemon complained. Kari was going to agree but changed her mind, "It would be good to get some rest. Besides, TK will want to know about all this."
"Oh yeah," Matt ran a hand through his hair, embarrassed that he'd forgotten about his brother's punishment, "He's not going to like knowing what he missed. Then again, mom might not care about his opinion."
"But we'll go, right? First thing in the morning?" Kari asked excitedly, anxious for the chance to help out her brother. Unfortunately, Cody had to remind her of the obvious, "We still need to repair the damage we did to Primary Village."
"I think you mean the damage Cherubimon caushed," Veemon corrected.
"How about in the afternoon, then?" Kari asked excitedly. Ken sighed, "You really want to go, don't you? Tomorrow afternoon, after you're done with helping fix the Primary Village. Does that sound good?"
Kari's shoulders slumped and her eyes looked down. Veemon was quick to call him out, "Bow come you don't have to help?"
"Because I'm not allowed anywhere near there," Ken answered.
Oikawa tapped a finger on his desk impatiently, staring at the screen where Arukenimon leered back just as angrily. Oikawa grumbled, "You had one job and instead of distracting the digidestined or stopping Ichijouji, you decided to try and drown the village?"
"She must be punished!" his friend whispered into his ear, the noxious smell of his breath making Oikawa sick. Hiroki went on, "She is jeopardizing the plan! How else will you get to the Digital World!?"
Oikawa stopped tapping his finger there and eyed Arukenimon. He normally heeded Hiroki's advice but he ignored him this time, "What were you thinking?"
"You wanted me to distract them. I distracted them. I made my presence known and emphasized how dangerous I am," Arukenimon stated, "Who's more dangerous than the enemy you never meet?"
"So your plan is to make yourself mysterious? It sounds to me like they're facing a coward," Hiroki hissed angrily. Oikawa's expression remained unchanged, "So what's your plan going forward?"
"Oh, I'll harass them with increasing escalation. Since I'm not allowed to kill them, I'll just make their lives miserable and sow discord wherever I can," Arukenimon stated excitedly, "Since most still don't know what I can do, they'll think the digidestined have gone crazy. And no one will believe Ken Ichijouji after what he did as the Digimon Emperor. Spread discord, increased the terror and fear that grips the Digital World. As long as they don't know about you and all that fear is situated on me, no one will stop your plan and I get to do what I think we always should have done! If we play our cards right, we can also disrupt their team cohesion."
Oikawa nodded his head in solemn agreement, "You've given this considerable thought Arukenimon. I like this idea. You've outdone yourself."
"Thank you," Arukenimon bowed. Oikawa asked, "So, what's next?"
"My next plan is to keep them from finding The Digimon Tamer. I'll be heading to the Hollow Bastion. They'll likely go there to find clues," Arukenimon stated excitedly, "If they can't fix him, he can never be a threat to us."
"Carry on," Yukio smiled.
"You're a fool, Yukio," Hiroki hissed, before stepping back and fading away into obscurity. Oikawa closed his eyes and turned off the monitor of his computer. He felt exhaustion, yet he didn't dare sleep. Not out of inability but rather because of the horrible nightmares had started plaguing him of a terrible monster that gnawed at him each night, slowly eating a piece of him more and more until nothing was left. It always woke him up in a cold sweat. He wasn't sure when he'd last slept or dreamed but he'd slowly learned to go without more than a few hours of sleep at a time. He looked around the dark and empty room, wondering where Hiroki went when he wasn't here.
The digidestined spent the better part of the next day helping to clean Primary Village and repair the damage that reared itself after what happened. Ken and Stingmon came to join them but minded their distance, instead using the time to traverse File Island and knock down as many of the control spires as they could find. Smuggling TK was the hardest part of the entire adventure, since it required Matt playing interference while TK snuck out to school. Both Patamon and TK were glad to finally leave his room, even if it meant they were just working. Once they finished their work for the day, the digidestined met each other at one of the television monitors used as gates to travel between the Digital World. This time, Ken activated it by pointing his digivice at it and shouting, "DIGIPORT OPEN!"
The feeling was different from traveling between worlds, instead feeling more like stepping through a door. On the other side of that gate, they found themselves standing in a darkened field surrounded by fog. In the distance, atop an old crag sat a decrepit stone castle that belonged to Myotismon long ago. Time and the defeat of the Dark Masters had done little to make this place appear more welcoming. In fact, it seemed more intimidating now that Myotismon and the Dark Masters had vacated. As if to make it more imposing, control spires dotted landscape around them in all directions in a grim reminder of how much wrong Ken had done.
Davis felt a cold chill upon seeing such a sight and asked, "Does anyone else think this place is creepy?"
"Oh yeah, definitely," Armadillomon agreed earnestly, recalling how it looked when they first came to the Network, "I don't remember this place lookin' as creepy last time."
"That's because we didn't arrive outside last time," Wormmon explained to them. Cody grew suspicious upon learning this, "Why didn't we land inside?"
Ken closed his eyes, sighing and trying to maintain his calm, "Because last time, we weren't being attacked by a woman-digimon thing that could turn control spires into crazed digimon with only murder in their minds. The castle is old and I don't think it could take another fight inside of it. Before we go in, I want to destroy as many of these control spires as we can. And since your digimon are the only ones who can armor digivolve, that means you guys can destroy them. Since...y'know, Wormmon and I can't."
No sooner did he finish his sentence than they saw a lone female figure in the distance, a beautiful silver haired woman wearing a flowing red dress and a striped sunhat atop her head. She peered down at them through black spectacles, as if gauging them. Yolei pointed her out on seeing her, "Hey! Who's that old lady?"
"That would be Arukenimon," Ken replied coldly, not caring that she made an audible click with her tongue. In protest, she plucked a hair from her head and held it up above. It snapped straight, then zipped away towards the nearest control spire, "Spirit Needle!"
The hair rippled into the surface of the control spire, vanishing within and forcing the metal spire to contort and writhe. TK looked around at all the others and noted they were all staring in disbelief at the sight before, "Should we...do something about that?"
"We would, but Wormmon can't digivolve with all the control spires around," Ken replied. TK held out his digivice, "Alright, then let's get started! Ready Patamon!"
"I've been itching to get some exercise!" Patamon shouted, soaring into the air, "Patamon! Armor Digivolve to! Pegasusmon, Flying Hope!"
Not wanting to be outshone by TK, Davis pointed his digivice at his partner, "I'm not standing around either! Let's go Veemon!"
"Veemon! Armor Digivolve to! Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship!"
The two digimon charged towards the black pillar, just as it took its final shape and morphed into a tiny ball with large round eyes and tiny arms. Adorned on its forehead was a crooked golden lightning bolt that arced with electricity. The digimon rose upwards and zoomed towards Pegasusmon first. Its fist sparked and cracked with electrical currents, focusing into a ball that it drove into Pegasusmon's chest, "Thunder Ball!"
Pegasusmon groaned in pain as he was thrown back behind the digidestined. Kari gasped, "What kind of digimon is that?"
"Thundermon! He's a mutant digimon who's punch can channel over 10 million volts. That same electrical power can be used to accelerate his speed significantly!" Ken stated knowledgeably, "Raidramon is probably only digimon who can't be hurt by a charge of that magnitude since he uses electricity as well. But a punch at the speed of light is still a punch at the speed of light, even without the electrical current."
The silver haired woman continued towards the next control spire, preparing to do the same which the digidestined couldn't allow to happen. Together, the digidestined held out their digivices to help their partners digivolve.
"Hawkmon! Armor Digivolve to! Halsemon, the Wings of Love!"
"Armadillomon! Armor Digivolve to! Digmon, the Drill of Knowledge!"
"Gatomon! Armor Digivolve to! Nefertimon, the Angel of Light!"
Raidramon tried to fighting the smaller Thundermon but was simply outclassed because of that digimon's greater speed. Thankfully, this left the others free to destroy the remaining control spires before the lone woman had a chance to reach any of them. Arukenimon stopped once the last control spire crumbled to dust, clicking her tongue in disgust and turning away to leave. Upon seeing this, Nefertimon zipped towards her and shouted, "NO YOU DON'T!"
She tried to tackle the woman but was struck from the side by Thundermon zooming in at close speed, "THUNDER BALL!"
Nefertimon screeched in pain before regressing back to Gatomon, rolling along the ground to a stop. She steadied herself and looked at the both the flying ball and the woman angrily before collapsing from the pain. Arukenimon chuckled at her and continued onwards towards the castle. Ken and Wormmon gave chase, "She's getting away! We can't let her into the castle!"
"Why not?" Davis asked, just to hear him shout back, "Between the Ancient technology and The Network? Who knows what she'll do if she gets her hands on any of it! We have to stop her!"
"But why did she wait until now?" TK asked, thinking something was wrong, "We were gone for almost a whole day! Why not just go there now?"
"She probably had to walk," Halsemon thought aloud, receiving nods from the others in agreement, "I mean, we have the gates and the digivices to go back and forth between worlds. If she could do that, wouldn't she have done it already?"
"But that doesn't make sense! She showed up in my bedroom...not that long...ago," Ken slowed his talking as if a horrible realization dawned upon him. He looked over at the other digidestined with wide eyes, "We're either walking into a trap or she's creating a distraction."
"Distraction from what?" Raidramon grunted, now turning to join them since Thundermon was distracted by the other digimon - Halsemon, and Digmon. Ken slid to a stop in front of the others and produced his digivice, "We're going to have to take a shortcut and-"
"KEN! LOOK OUT!" Cody shouted from behind them. They all turned around too slowly to see it happen. Thundermon zoomed in from behind and slammed into Ken's back so hard that he flew forward, knocking his digivice out of his hand and throwing him to the ground with enough force to knock him out cold. Wormmon gasped and leapt to protect him, "Leave Ken alone!"
Thundermon changed his target to Wormmon, charging the little bug digimon until Raidramon jumped between the two to protect the small rookie. Thundermon changed direction and darted around Raidramon faster than he could correct, resulting in Wormmon being separated from Ken by a sharp blow to the back. Thundermon made something resembling a cackling noise and buzzed back to fighting the others, which left Davis and Raidramon free to check on the injured partners. Wormmon was already recovering, while Ken lay on the ground. He wasn't a medic, or a doctor, or anything like Joe, though so he had no idea if he was even alive or not.
"We need to finish this so we can get Ken to a doctor!" Davis shouted at Raidramon. He nodded in agreement and charged to help the other digimon. In the mix of fighting, the other digidestined regrouped with Davis and Ken. Yolei was the one to kneel beside him, "Is he okay? What's wrong?"
"I don't know, he's out cold!" Davis said in a panic. Cody put a hand to his head and stated, "We have to take him back to Joe's! The rest of us should try to stop her from getting into the castle before she does whatever she's about to do!"
"That's not going to happen as long as Thundermon is zipping around out here!" TK pointed out nervously, "It took out Pegasusmon and Nefertimon in one go!"
Davis brushed his thumb against his nose and grinned excitedly, "Don't worry. I got this Raidramon can-"
Before he even finished his sentence, his partner flew over their heads and crashed into the ground hard enough to regress back to Veemon. Davis gasped and returned to his partner's side, "Veemon! NO!"
"Anyone else have a good idea?" TK looked around for suggestions, "Thundermon's just too fast! None of our digimon can keep up!"
"What should we do?" Wormmon asked them nervously, "Usually, Ken was the one to come up with a plan. I don't know what to do without him!"
"I have an idea!" Digmon said, using his drills to dig a hole into the ground. In a matter of moments, he cleared a cavern for the digidestined and stated, "Here! Use this to keep clear while we-"
"THUNDER BOMB!" Thundermon appeared again from the side and knocked Digmon aside. Digmon rolled away, regressing to Armadillomon but still able to stand unlike the other digimon that Thundermon had hurt. Halsemon went to aid him but Yolei held him back, insisting that someone would have to transport Ken once they were sure Thundermon was destroyde and he was the only flying digimon still standing. This left Armadillomon on his own, struggling to stand while his body crackled with electricity.
Armadillomon's head spun and every muscle in his body twitched and spasmed in pain. Still, he stood upright and looked his opponent in the eye. He was the only one still standing which meant it was up to him to take down Thundermon. It wasn't all bad since the tingling pain only lasted a few moments at the time. Somewhere, Cody was shouting something at him but he couldn't make it out. He could only make out Thundermon rounding on the digidestined, no longer seeing him as a threat. He growled and ran so that he was positioned between Thundermon and the rest, "Don't think I'm outta the fight just yet! I'm still rarin' to go!"
Thundermon scoffed, yet charged him anyway like lightning. Armadillomon heard Cody shout his name, and there was a flash of light behind him. Deep within, an energy welled up in his gut and pumped through his body. It felt like he was on fire and he could feel his body changing with it. He opened his mouth to shout, "Armadillomon! Digivolve to! Ankylomon!"
He felt heavier, slower, but stronger. Thundermon slammed into him at full force, but he didn't even register the hit. Thundermon rolled back, dumbstruck to see the electrical currents around his body barely left an impact. Ankylomon used this opportunity to swing his tail around so hard that Thundermon flew away with a crack. The little ball flew some distance before correcting itself in the air to reveal that part of its face was chipped away to reveal the black remains of the control spire underneath. Thundermon growled and zipped towards Ankylomon, determined to repay the damage that it had been dealt. Ankylomon braced himself into the ground and timed his tail swing for the moment after Thundermon slammed into him, "Tail Hammer!"
Thundermon rolled into the ground. Ankylomon then raised himself up on his hind legs and fell onto the ball digimon with the full weight of his body, "Megaton Press!"
Thundermon barely had time to gasp before he disappeared under Ankylomon's weight. Ankylomon stood up, and checked to make sure Thundermon was defeated before turning to face the digidestined.
Yolei was already helping to load Ken onto Halsemon's back, asking thee rest of them to take care before they took off back for the Village. Once they were gone, TK suggested, "We oughta stay out here. Do you think you and Ankylomon will be fine on your own?"
"Yes, I think so. We should hurry to finish her off!" Cody nodded at his partner. The two of them hurried into the castle, desperate to stop Arukenimon. Unfortunately for the two of them, it didn't take long to get lost and confused in the winding mess of hallways and stairs. Eventually, they found a familiar hallway and followed it down the familiar path to the Network only to be find the room in a messy state.
Every single monitor was smashed and the computer that powered the whole thing was caved in from every side. Everything smoked and sparked with love electricity, the work of Arukenimon. It seemed she'd achieved what she was trying to do. Their one chance at finding the digivice to restore Kari's brother was gone, burned into smoke in a moment. Arukenimon was nowhere in sight, and there was no telling what else she was up to. The two searched the castle but found nothing. It seemed that Arukenimon had escaped in the confusion, leaving them lost and with no clue what to do next.
Author's Notes: Ken is injured and unconscious. The Network is destroyed and with it, any hope of fixing Tamer. What will the digidestined do now? What is Arukenimon's next move? Find out all this and more on the next update of The Tamer v1.2: Another Digimon Adventure due on Friday, January 12th 8 PM CST. If you liked it let me know in the reviews section. Don't forget to follow or favorite the story to keep up with all the latest updates. And hey, Happy New Year! I hope you're all having a great one so far. Now let's see some previews for the next chapter!
Matt looked over it from the side, "Is this going to work?"
Gatomon replied dryly, "Speaking of which, how's your sister?"
"She never shtopsh talking about him," Veemon frowned.
Arukenimon played with her hair, twirling a long strand with her finger, "You kids are no fun to play with. You're literally too slow to realize what's going on."
Ken said sheepishly, "It's like I thought: destiny is not on my side."
