Reviews:

Ackbarfan5556: I know. What are they going to do?

Music Chick: Speechless, eh? Glad you liked it.

Guest: You'll find out here :)

Greymon Leader Batx flashpoint: As we talked about over PM, we are not done just yet ;-) Thanks as always for your thoughts.

Super Saiyan 3 Odd: You know it. But you discount the period prior before I brought him back. He was going down the drain at a fast rate. The events of last chapter just sped it along.

Here we are, guys. The chapter you guys have been waiting for is finally here! I'm not going to say too much because I want the action to speak for itself. I also have a surprise for you guys at the end. Stay tuned for it.

Warning: There will be some graphic descriptions of injuries. Viewer discretion is advised.

Enjoy!

"RUN!" Tai screamed as the Jedi ran down the staircase. "RUN!"

Behind them, Ken's new creation called Kimeramon flapped its mighty wings as it followed them like a heat-seeking missile. Scorching green fire shot from its mouth every few seconds, but it missed every time. The Jedi's best chance was to escape the base while they could.

Above the scene, Ken watched as the monster went after the Jedi. What cowards, he thought. If only he had thought of creating Kimeramon sooner. This would have been way easier from the beginning.

"Go get them, Kimeramon!" he shouted, laughing in sadistic glee. "Do not stop until they are all nothing but smoldering ashes! Burn them all!"

The amalgamation obeyed and released another Heat Viper, which the Jedi quickly dodged. The fire burned through the mechanical walls, causing the ship to sway a little. Ken kept his balance, surprised by the motion.

"What's happening?" he wondered.

A wicked laugh echoed in his mind. His pupils shrank in fear. This was not Sam's laugh, but someone else's.

"Who are you?" he asked breathlessly. He tangled his hands in his hair. "Leave me alone!"

"You didn't heed my warning, and now you will suffer the consequences of that," the voice taunted. "The powers of darkness will consume you, and your creation will not listen to you anymore. You think you're so powerful, but your feeble mind could not handle it."

"Shut up!" Ken shouted. "Go away! Leave me alone!"

"What's the matter? Afraid to admit I'm right?" the voice cackled. "Your arrogance blinds you, little boy. It will be your downfall."

Ken growled. "You shut up! Kimeramon listens to me and me alone. I created him! He listens to me and only me! Once the Jedi are destroyed, I will be the sole ruler of this world."

An explosion rang out near the bottom. The base went dark as the electricity went out. Ken looked down in horror to see Kimeramon had destroyed the primary power source. He was frozen like a statue, shocked at what he was seeing.

Finally snapping out of his shocked state, Ken turned and ran.

Izzy went up the stairs to reunite with the other Jedi, feeling proud that he had completed his mission. Hopefully the others had captured the Emperor by now, and they could all go home.

He heard a mass of footsteps coming down towards him from above. His excitement peeked. A loud roar, one that sent shivers down his spine, could be overheard in addition to the footsteps.

Suddenly, the others came flying from behind the corner.

"Hey, guys," he greeted. Then he saw their faces. "What's going…on?"

"Izzy, run!" Tai cried, throwing his hand forward in a signal to run as the others ran past the Jedi of Knowledge. "Quit standing there! Run away!"

"From what?" Izzy asked as Tai grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

Kimeramon burst through a wall, locking its eyes on the Jedi. It flapped its wings to catch up with them. Izzy screamed, both awed and horrified at what he was seeing.

"That!" Tai answered, pumping his legs down the stairs. "We've got to get out of here! Lead it outside where we can have a chance!"

Matt looked behind him, and paused for a second without stopping. Something felt off. He looked around the herd of children, but found no trace of what he was looking for.

"Where's TK?" he shouted.

"TK can handle himself, Matt! Just keep running!" Tai shouted back.

"Airdramon! Take off now! I wish to see my final victory!" Ken ordered the large dragon Digimon.

The Digimon, like so many before it, had no choice but to answer the call thanks to the Dark Ring around its neck. It carried its master on its back for a sweep over the wide desert. Ken watched the battle across from him with glee. So his base may have been lost, but that mattered little to the Emperor. After all, Kimeramon would seal the end of the Destined Jedi once and for all. They hadn't stopped his masterpiece yet and they were at the end of their rope: Weak, tired, their reserves mostly used up. They were nothing more than a rotting structure that needed its front door to be kicked for it to all come down.

Unbeknownst to Ken, while almost all of the base's intruders had fled back outside to deal with Kimeramon, one decided to follow him. TK wasn't about to let Ken escape once more in the event that the Digimon amalgamation was destroyed. He secretly snuck up and grabbed the tail of the Airdramon Ken was on as it took off.

TK slowly crawled up the tail of the creature when he unfortunately lost his grip. He quickly recovered before falling off to a steep drop, but was unable to stay silent. His slight yelp alerted the Emperor's attention.

Ken turned around to see his unwelcomed guest hanging on for dear life. It brought a sick smile to his face.

"I see you've planned on making it easy for me to eliminate you insects." He slowly walked along the dragon's back until he was only a step or two away from TK. He pulled out his whip at the speed of a snail with the purpose of whipping the blonde haired boy off. Ken raised his arm and whip up above his head. "Prepare to become one with the Force, TK Takaishi."

TK smirked at him. "Not on your life," he said, throwing his hand out and unleashing a Force push that blew Ken on his back. His infamous whip fell from his hand to be lost in the desert below.

Ken was suddenly sliding down the tail of Airdramon until he regained his grip. He was instantly met with a devastating right hook to the face. The punch was so hard it knocked his glasses off. They fell to the ground to join the whip in the desert sands.

The two boys soon devolved into nothing more than punching and kicking each other as they clung on to the controlled dragon far above the heavy fighting that was below them.

"You can't stop me! My destiny will not be stopped!" Ken proclaimed.

TK smirked as he threw another punch. "Sorry. Fate's got other plans."

"You insects have meddled in my affairs for the last time. Now it's time for you to be the first of them to fall!" Ken shouted as he unleashed a torrent of lighting at almost point-blank range.

TK sensed this was coming, however, and quickly activated his lightsaber. He successfully deflected the lightning, redirecting it right into the Dark Ring around Airdramon's neck. The ring shattered, freeing the violent Digimon from Ken's control. It squawked with distress, bucking and thrashing violently to throw the two boys off.

Both of them kept a solid grip as neither one fought each other, trying to keep both hands on instead. When it couldn't shake them off, Airdramon dived violently close to the dunes before flipping itself upside down. This was too much for both boys. Ken let go and fell to the sand before TK himself did too.

TK hit the dune and rolled down it, kicking up sand and dust as he rolled. He soon came to a dead stop flat on his face. After spitting out sand from his mouth, he turned over onto his back. Ken dove onto him before he could even react. The Emperor put both his hands around his neck and strangled him.

"Be a good little Jedi and die," Ken said in the most menacing voice that anyone probably heard him speak. A sadistic sneer was etched on his face as he put all his strength into his hands.

The grip was proving too much for TK; things were slowly dimming as air was no longer getting into his system. Despite his eyes flickering, he looked over and found his lightsaber sticking out of the sand. He only had one chance.

TK raised his leg up and hit Ken right in the groin with his knee, forcing the self-proclaimed 'ruler of the Digital World' to let go of him. TK coughed to get air back into his lungs and waited for the world to stop spinning. Ken squeezed him so hard that if he hadn't done anything, he would have asphyxiated quickly.

He slowly rolled back to his feet and recalled his lightsaber back to his hand. Ken groaned in pain on the sand with his hands between his legs. The blonde stumbled a little as he struggled to regain his bearings.

"What's the matter, Ken?" TK sneered, rubbing his throat. "I thought you were a black belt."

"Shut up! I've had enough of all of you!" Ken roared as he slowly stumbled to his feet. He called up his lightsaber and the two of them activated their bright blue sabers. They stared each other down for a few seconds.

The Emperor struck first, delivering a wild swing that was completely out of control. TK blocked it, and they traded a few more strikes before their sabers locked together.

"Ken, look around. Your whole reign is falling apart," said TK through gritted teeth as he used all of his strength to push back against the Emperor. "Your prized monster has turned against you and is destroying everything."

"More of these lies?" Ken roared as his rage began to burn like an inferno. His eyes squinted in order to keep the sparks from their sabers out of them. "Kimeramon is loyal to me and will destroy all of you! Look, he's doing exactly as I say with your friends."

TK looked in the distance and saw that the others were greatly struggling with the hellish monster. He could've sworn that something looked different about Tai and Davis though. Cody was badly injured, and Joe was giving him care; Matt and a few others were taken out with one swipe of Kimeramon's tail.

"I'll even prove to you his loyalty is second to none," Ken said with a smirk before fiercely shouting, "KIMERAMON! I ORDER YOU TO DESTROY THIS INSECT BEFORE ME!"

Kimeramon briefly ignored the Jedi it was battling to look towards its creator and the lone Jedi with him. Ken's smile grew wider.

It opened its mouth and began charging its Heat Viper attack, aiming towards the two of them. TK could already tell what was going to happen.

"Ken! Run!"

The blonde-haired boy broke their lock and ran while Ken stood his ground. The attack was launched. It was only until it was a bit closer to him that he realized that TK's advice was actually sound.

He quickly used the Force to increase his speed and get him away from being vaporized by the attack, but not too far that he completely avoided it. Both boys were blown forward and crashed into another dune.

'What do we do?' Tai wondered as Kimeramon used its skeletal arm to swipe Cody away, sending him crashing into a dune. Matt and Izzy covered for Joe as he made his way over to the boy to check on him. Yolei was barely holding her own as another Heat Viper came careening towards her.

"Yolei!" Sora cried as the attack was mere inches from the younger girl.

Yolei jumped away just in the nick of time but the power from the attack making contact with the ground blew her, Mimi, and Kari a few feet away. Matt, Izzy, and Sora fell next as Kimeramon sent them flying away with one giant swipe of its tail.

"Tai!" Davis cried, parrying one of Kimeramon's arms as it reached for him. He managed to slice off the hand, but another one of its arms came forward. "Help!"

Tai ran over to the younger boy just in time to slice off the other arm that approached him. Davis seemed okay, just shaken up from the experience. The two of them were all that was left to take down the amalgamation.

"KIMERAMON! I ORDER YOU TO DESTROY THIS INSECT BEFORE ME!" they heard Ken yell at Kimeramon. The huge beast suddenly took its attention off of the two Jedi and looked over at TK and Ken. TK took off running, but Ken stayed completely still as a Heat Viper charged up. Once it was released, he ran, but the blast sent him flying.

With Kimeramon distracted, Tai and Davis knew what they had to do. It was now up to them to finish the job.

"Davis," Tai said slowly, tightening his grip on the saber in his hand. "Let's take this monster down."

"Heard that," Davis nodded, raising his own saber in preparation to attack.

In a flash of blue light, the two Jedi used their speed to circle Kimeramon. A cloud of dust flew up into the air as Davis moved at the speed of sound, while Tai ran as fast as he could. The abomination couldn't get a lock on either one of them to launch an attack. It just hovered over the sandy landscape, unsure of what to do next.

"Now!" Tai shouted as he and Davis broke formation and leapt towards the creature at the same exact moment.

Kimeramon was initially surprised by the attack, but recovered in time to ward it off. It swiped Tai across the chest with one of its remaining arms to send him away. In doing so, it neglected Davis as the boy plunged his lightsaber deep into the creature's chest.

Kimeramon screamed out in its death throes as Davis retracted the blade and jumped down to the soft sand below. He fell back once he hit the ground and watched in fascination. The creature flew around aimlessly for several seconds as it continued to cry out before falling to the ground, sending up a cloud of sand.

Kimeramon had been defeated.

Davis heard Tai groan as the desert grew silent. He rushed to where the former leader of the Destined Jedi lay on the ground. His lightsaber was a couple of inches away from him after it fell out of his hand. The front of his yukata had been slashed vertically above the obi, along with parts of his tunic.

"Tai, are you okay?"

The brown haired boy nodded as he sat up with a grunt. "I'm fine," he replied. "Are you okay?"

"I'm alright," Davis replied as he turned to gaze at the fallen Digimon. A smile played on the corners of his mouth. "I can't believe we actually did it."

Tai chuckled. "Yeah, we did."

As the large beast lay dead on the ground and started to disintegrate into data, Tai and Davis slowly walked up to the monster and spat on the corpse.

Some moments before the Destined Jedi's victory over Kimeramon, TK slowly pushed himself up off of the ground as the dust from the massive attack finally settled. He did a quick check of himself. Small cuts covered his body and parts of him felt sore, meaning he was probably bruised in those areas. Aside from that, he wasn't hurt badly.

He saw Ken stand up through the dust, looking even worse than him due to being closer to the explosion. The boy's messy hair was tossed in all directions with his bangs hanging over his eyes. His right leg had a slight limp to it after landing awkwardly to dodge the attack.

"See what I said, Ken?"

Ken said nothing. He only stared at TK with a blank look on his face. The attack was too much for him as he finally snapped. His face twisted into one of pure, uncontrollable rage as he roared at TK. He used the Force to charge at the blonde with his lightsaber pointed straight ahead like a bayonet. The Jedi of Hope coolly deflected the charge but Ken swung back again, and again, and again.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!" Ken screamed with each strike. It would've been much, but at this point, there was no form to his attack. It certainly wasn't his normal Juyo as he swung the blade like he was trying to break a piñata.

TK simply deflected and defended each strike. It was even easier than when he was still a novice with the blade and killed Devimon and Piedmon. The time had come for him to finish this fight. And he was more than ready to do it.

He dropped to the ground to avoid another swing before switching his saber to his other hand. Using his now-armed left hand, he held a strike that Ken sent, allowing his free right hand to deliver a punch that landed hard in the dark-haired boy's gut.

With the Emperor stunned, TK saw his chance and did a 360 spin that swung towards Ken's blade. He sliced through the metal object like a hot knife through butter, and his saber continued towards Ken's face.

"YAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" The sound echoed across the desert as Ken screamed in agony from the lightsaber blade burning his flesh. He covered his face and fell to the ground, writhing on the sand in unbearable pain. Breathing sharply, but heavily, he pulled his hand off and glared at TK with undeniable rage in his eyes.

TK was shocked at the damage he had done. A long, red slash went across Ken's face. It started on the right half of his jaw before sliding up in a perfect vertical line. The slash ran across his cheek and over his right eye until it ended above the eyebrow. The cut was so deep that TK swore he could see bone under all the blood and ragged flesh on the right side of Ken's face. He nearly threw up. For a brief moment, he was reminded of the time Tai scarred Matt all those years ago but this was by his own doing.

Despite the agonizing pain on the right side of his face, Ken swung once more, only to find he was swinging at air. His good eye widened. The lightsaber was now deactivated. In fact, it had been sliced in half, and completely useless.

There was a massive explosion off in the distance. Both of them turned and saw Kimeramon now lying on the ground and beginning to disintegrate into data. TK held his blade close to Ken's neck, indicating he had won their short duel.

"Checkmate, your highness," he sneered.

Ken was utterly shocked. His grand prize, his key to destroying his enemies, his hard work, Kimeramon, had been wiped out. Not only that, but his lightsaber was destroyed and he was now at the mercy of the Destined Jedi. All of his hate and rage suddenly vanished as his exhaustion and wounds finally caught up with him.

Ken stumbled backwards onto the sand. TK fell to his knees right beside him as his adrenaline left him too.

"How? How? How could I lose?" Ken muttered in disbelief.

"It's over, Ken. Your reign is through."

"How could I lose!? I'm superior to you insects in every way! How could I have been beaten?!" The anger flowed back into Ken once again, even if he was almost too tired to move his limbs. "You cheated! You must have cheated! It's the only way!"

"Cheated?" TK questioned as the rest of the Destined Jedi managed to find the two of them. He could see they looked worse for wear: Many cuts and bruises, and some of the others looked even worse than that.

Cody had a large gash on his forehead that Joe was trying to patch up. His face was dripping in blood. Cody closed his eyes so the red liquid wouldn't get into them as it continued oozing from the wound. Tai had a large scratch on his chest underneath his tattered yukata and tunic, and Davis looked like he was about to pass out due to having used so much energy to destroy Kimeramon. Everyone else was slowly recovering from being blasted by several Heat Vipers.

"What do you mean by 'cheated'?" TK looked back to Ken.

"Cheated!" Ken roared. Like a cornered animal, he was refusing to go down without a fight. "You all couldn't defeat me fairly, so you had to cheat to do it! Well, enjoy your little victory while you can because I'm going to right this wrong by resetting the Digital World! Resetting it and making sure that I win this time!"

Everyone gasped in shock at his words.

"Resetting the Digital World?" Kari said breathlessly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Matt demanded, his disdain for Ken coming out in his voice as he glared at him. His fingers grazed along the scar over his right eye while looking at the laceration on the boy's face. It was eerily similar.

"It's quite simple. I'll go back home and delete all the Digital World data off my computer and create a new program: A new Digital World. A new Digital World that doesn't cheat. A new Digital World that doesn't have you."

Matt had just about heard enough. He took one step towards the fallen emperor, his fingers itching to ignite his lightsaber and silence him for good. Tai grabbed his arm and shook his head with disapproval. The blonde glared at him for a second, then backed off reluctantly.

"Ken, what do you mean?" Mimi wondered, her light brown eyes barring deeply into him. She was covered in sand, bruises, and her green yukata was ruined. "Do you mean to say that this is all a game to you?"

"Of course! This is nothing but a game, right? Nothing that happens has any implications in the real world. Here, there are no rules or morals to slow me down in my quest to dominate. If it hadn't been for you stupid Destined Jedi, the entire Digital World would be under my control."

Everyone's blood ran cold, especially Tai's. He said almost the same thing when Myotismon nearly killed him during his and the older Jedi's first encounter with the evil Digimon. Suddenly, all of the hate that the Destined Jedi had for Ken vanished and was replaced with empathy. The poor fool really believed it all to be a game.

"You're wrong, Ken," said Tai. "I once thought the same thing, but thankfully I came to my senses before I did something really stupid. Look at yourself. Why is it that you feel weak all of a sudden? That's your own body telling you it's on fumes."

"Judging from the looks of you, Ken, it looks like you've had little sleep, almost nothing to eat, and haven't had anything to drink for quite some time," Joe said as he gave his diagnosis. "I'm surprised you're still functioning right now."

He was right. Ken was so gaunt that the group could almost see his ribs sticking out of his suit while dark bags under his eyes made them appear droopy. The tenacious fire that had burned in them was now gone, replaced by an empty look that showed how tired he was. Ken must have not slept in weeks.

"We've tried to tell you for some time, Ken, but you always ignored us." Sora said. The front of her dark red yukata and her auburn hair were covered in sand. A small scratch graced her cheek from where she got clipped by Kimeramon. "You thought we were trying to trick you."

"Think carefully, Ken," said Cody. His head was now wrapped in bandages to cover his wound and his face was cleaned of any blood. "Remember when you played Davis in the soccer game and he gave you the scratch on your leg that day?"

"That's right!" Yolei remembered. "That came with you into the Digital World. This whole place is real!"

"And that goes the same with all of the Digimon that you have been enslaving for almost a year now," Izzy added, his hair decorated with sand. "They're real living creatures just like us."

"What?" Ken said slowly as his eyes widened in realization. "That's right! The game, I carried the scratch with me here. All the times I've slept, drank, ate… It's all real."

After so long, he finally came to realize that everything had been real.

And it completely broke him.

"Oh gods! WHAT HAVE I DONE?!" he screamed once more, unleashing his pained cries to the heavens for several moments. His clothes disintegrated before the group's very eyes until he was left in a plain black yukata with a dark tunic underneath. His dark hair fell down to its natural length.

"I had no idea what I was doing was actually causing harm! I thought my Dark Rings were a stroke of genius, but all I was doing was causing pain and suffering on an unimaginable scale! I'm a monster!" Ken sobbed as he buried his face into the sandy ground.

"I came here to escape from the misery of the world, only to be the one bringing it," he whimpered almost unintelligibly. "My powers are nothing but destruction for all. First, I accidently kill my brother, and now this. I can't… I can't…"

Several quiet sobs filled the air around him. His next words shocked the group to the core as he took a shaky breath. "Please. Just kill me now," he whimpered. "It's what I deserve."

"WHAT?!" the others shouted. Their plan was merely to stop Ken and put an end to the war they had been fighting since April. It was certainly not to kill him. While it may have crossed their minds at one time or another, the state he was in now made it impossible to feel that way.

"I'd rather just die," Ken begged with tears dripping down his face. "The world would be a better place without me. Please, just kill me. You'd be ending my suffering."

For a moment, the Jedi all stared dumbfounded at him. None of them knew what to do.

"I say that we leave him here." Matt suggested coldly.

The others gasped at his cold-heartedness.

"What the-! Matt, how can you say that?" Sora argued, stunned he would ever suggest such a thing.

"Look, none of us will run a saber through him. Not like this. But let's respect his wish and leave him to die here. Let the desert kill him."

"Matt, if we do that, then we have proven that we're no better than him," Tai said. "As I said before, he's not the first one to think none of this was real."

"But you didn't try to take over the Digital World! You didn't try to enslave all that live here!" Matt shot back, his face merely inches from Tai's.

"Don't you dare get in my face again, Matt!" Tai roared, pushing back against the blonde. "I swear to God! Don't get in my face like that again!"

"Hey, guys. Come on! Break it up." Davis got in-between them to keep the situation from escalating. "Matt, what about his parents? You know, the ones that have been trying to find him this whole time? Are we just going to let them suffer when they have a chance to see their son again?"

He actually brought up a good point for once. At that moment, everyone remembered watching the Ichijoujis' televised plea for Ken to come home only three days ago. Mrs. Ichijouji was crying inconsolably while Ken's father was trying to hold back tears of his own. It tore them all apart at how broken hearted his parents were. If they went through with this, they would be permanently separating Ken from them.

But Matt still refused to give up his argument. "If we do that, how do we know he won't come back and start again?" he pressed.

"You heard him, Matt," Kari said, trying to reason with the older blonde. "He's clearly come to realize what he's done, and it has broken him."

"I doubt he'd do this all again," added Cody. "At least on his own free will."

"Y-Yeah, but–" Matt was cut off by TK wrapping an arm around his shoulder. The younger blonde looked at his brother with pleading eyes.

"Matt, let go of your anger," he said. "He doesn't deserve it now."

Matt sighed, apologizing as his anger towards Ken evaporated. "You're right, everyone. I'm sorry. I let my anger towards him influence my decisions. He doesn't deserve it."

Tai approached him with his hand outstretched.

"Are we cool, Matt?" he asked.

The blonde nodded, smiling at his friend. "Yeah, we're cool," he said before the two bro-hugged. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," Tai patted him on the shoulder.

"Mom… Dad…" The others heard a muttering below them. Ken was on his stomach, crawling forward with one hand pulling him while the rest of his body looked unresponsive. His head was up a few inches off the ground. He pulled himself a foot before his face met the sand. He stopped moving.

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Mimi screamed, afraid that the boy may have spared them the trouble and died in front of them.

Joe immediately sprang into action and rushed forward to check on the boy. He carefully turned Ken onto his back so he wasn't inhaling sand into his mouth before beginning his examination. Joe monitored Ken's vital signs and checked every single inch of his body for any clue to what happened.

"Is he–?" Mimi couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. She didn't have to wait long for an answer though as Joe completed his analysis.

"No, he's not," he announced to everyone's relief. "He's unconscious, but he's alive for now. Like I said before, all the neglect to his body finally caught up with him. We need to get him to a hospital as soon as possible, especially before that cut gets infected, or it might be too late!"

Everyone quickly looked to Tai for his final decision. He was in deep thought as his eyes refused to tear away from the sight of Ken lying down on the sand. He had to make a decision fast, or else Ken would surely die before they could get him medical treatment. The boy's fate was in his hands.

"Tai, what are we doing?" Izzy questioned with a nudge.

Tai finally nodded his head, saying, "Let's send him home to his family. It's the least we can do. They'll take good care of him."

A few of the kids nodded their heads. Others were conflicted. Ken had done so many horrible things to not just Digimon, but the Jedi as well. Those that were conflicted felt he was undeserving of this act of mercy from them. In the end, they decided to go along with the plan. Tai was right; if they let Ken die, then they were no better than he was.

"I guess that settles it then," Matt said as he drifted over to Ken's unconscious body. "Tai, Joe, help me lift him up."

After a count of three, the three of them lifted him over their shoulders like bearers in a funeral service. Ken seemed to weigh more as he hung limply over them, making it harder to carry him.

Joe caught a glimpse of Ken's wrist and saw a bit of black peeking out from his sleeve. His eyes widened. Could it be?

"Hey, guys," he said. "You should get a look at this."

The group halted in their tracks and gathered around to get a look at Ken's wrist. They gasped in disbelief when they saw it. The tattoo was mostly black, done in the shape of a rosebud. On the outer border, they saw pink start to settle in where black once was.

"Is that what I think it is?" Sora gasped, her eyes wide in amazement.

Izzy looked at it closely and nodded. There was no doubt about it.

"Yes," he said. "Ken is the Destined Jedi that was rejected by Homeostasis."

"Well, let's get a move on then!" Davis exclaimed. "He's one of us now. We have to save his life."

The Destined Jedi made a break towards the ruined base and took him to the control room, where a Digiport lay available for them to use.

TK stepped forward and concentrated on using the Force to open the gate. Once it opened, the older boys dropped to their knees and bent over to let Ken slip down their shoulders. The gate consumed him, sending him back to the real world, before closing.

"Think he'll be okay?" Cody asked as the group stared at the now-closed gate for several moments.

Tai nodded. "Yeah, he'll be fine. He's in good hands now. Let's go home, everyone."

Channeling a powerful amount of Force energy, the younger Destined Jedi managed to create a portal of their own. Without a second to lose, the group walked through it to go back to the campsite, their mission finally complete.

On August 7th, 2002 at 3:09 p.m., Japan Standard Time, on a warm afternoon, the Digimon Emperor's reign of terror, at long last, came to an end.

That's it. Ken's reign is over. What will the Jedi do next now that their greatest enemy has been defeated? Find out next time on Attack of the Emperor.

Hope that lived up to your guys' expectations. Ackbarfan5556 and I wrote this whole chapter a little under two years ago with just adding a few things here and there at the beginning.

Now with the special announcement: Because I wanted to focus on the action exclusively in this chapter, I decided to split the aftermath into its own chapter...which I will release tomorrow! That's right. You guys get a double hit this weekend, so stay tuned for the next chapter tomorrow.

Leave a review and make sure to subscribe if you have not already. Be on the lookout for the chapter tomorrow. I'll just go ahead and say now that I'll see you guys next weekend because I won't add any A/Ns for the chapter tomorrow.