Chapter 21 – Love and Kindness

"Help! I'm dissected!" Wormmon screamed in panic as Izzy run a few programs to analyse him.

"Analyse, Wormmon," the redhead corrected him.

"Isn't it the same?"

"Sorry, Wormmon," Ken said, "But we need to figure out why you can't fuse with Veemon anymore."

"Do you have to dissect me for this?" his partner asked.

"Analyse," Izzy moaned: "Yes... I have already analysed Kens Digivice... but I haven't found anything conspicuous. That's why it's your turn now... and later also Veemon and Davis' Digivice."

"With me you won't find anything, Izzy! So please forget the analysis!" the green insect asked him.

"Hm...", the redhead kept looking at a certain sequence of numbers: "That's weird..."

"What's weird?" asked Wormmon's partner.

"This sequence of figures... I only saw this sequence of numbers with our Digivices... Weird."

"Our Digivices?" he repeated, "And what does this sequence of numbers say?"

"That Wormmon is compatible with a crest... No... He himself carries a coat of arms in him."

"The crest of kindness," Ken quipped: "I've already wondered where it's gone."

"I'm going to extract it."

"How?!" the green insect screamed in panic: "You can't be serious!"

"I am serious. So please stop moving, Wormmon," Izzy asked him.

"Help!"

Wormmon began to run wildly through the digital space.

"Keep quiet, otherwise it will hurt more," the redhead raved.

"But I don't want that!" the green insect exclaimed: "Ken, stop him, please."

"Uh... I'm sorry, Wormmon..." his partner apologized: "If the crest can be extracted, you can digivolve to the perfect-level at some point without Veemon..."

"But I don't want to be dissected!"

Wormmon was terrified when something came out of his body. He fell to the side and did not move. Even after the something had removed from his body, he remained motionless.

"Wormmon," Ken said, "It's over."

"Ken... I'm going to die now... Live well, Ken..." his partner muttered.

"Well, don't overdo it, Wormmon," Izzy replied, "You don't die. I have successfully extracted Ken's crest from your body. Now you just have to take it and come back into our world."

"Am I really not dead?" the green insect asked.

"No!" the redhead shouted, "If you were dead, you wouldn't be able to talk to us anymore."

"Ah! Right! Well, then I just take the crest and come back to you.", so he took the crest and jumped into the real world.

"Okay... All that's missing is a container," Izzy said after Wormmon gave the crest to Ken.

"And how do we get that?" asked Wormmon's partner.

"Good question... I could actually make one."

"Really?"

"Sure... I'm happy when I have something else to do than translate this legend."

" How far have you come, Izzy?"

"Three and a half lines are now translated:

Thirteen knights, once blessed, protected the world.

Thirteen knights, once proud, fell into an argument.

Alphamon, the leader, and Omnimon, the second-hand, started it all," he paused for a short break and took a deep breath: "Then I was able to translate this here:

Dynasmon, the Righteous.

Nothing more. But I already thought Omnimon was a part of the knights."

"Where did that come from?" asked Ken.

"Omnimon's strength, skills and the fact that he had hardly lost so far surprised me a lot..." he scratched his head briefly before sighing.

"How strong is Omnimon? I have only seen his strength once or twice."

"He can take it up with Alphamon," Izzy replied.

Wormmon's partner swallowed hard at Alphamon. He had not forgotten that he and his friends were kidnapped by him.

"But it's a success that we now know that these knights were led by Alphamon and Omnimon. But I wonder why they were arguing..." said the redhead.

"Hm... Good question..." Ken shrugged.

"However. Give me a day so I can create the container. After that you just have to wait until the crest shines. Then Wormmon, like Hawkmon, can digivolve to his perfect-level."

"Thank you, Izzy," he thanked and left the room with his partner on his arm.

He went home and began to learn. Wormmon actually enjoyed this time, because he could then hold a nap. Ken himself was pretty good at school, only some nasty tongues claimed that he was resting because of his success and therefore slipping so much. But he preferred it to be this way. Because at that time he loathed almost everything, was power-hungry and brutal. In no way in the world would he return to his old self. He was a genius... but the price was too high. In the end, his madness had also cost the life of his partner, as he gave his energy to Magnamon.

Wait a minute... Magnamon? Now he realized that Davis and Veemon weren't using Magnamon in combat... Why? Ken was sure that this Digimon was very strong and could certainly be even stronger than many ultimate-digimon. Perhaps he should address the two of them. Distracted by his thoughts, he did not hear Ms. Ichijouji come into the room and call for him. It was only when she touched him that he was startled by his thoughts.

"Huh?" he said, astonished, and blinked a few times, then turned to his mother: "Is anything, mother?"

"Your father and I want to talk to you briefly," she said.

"Okay. Wormmon, are you coming?"

"Hm?" he made and turned to the other side: "Only half an hour, Ken..."

"Okay..." he smiled softly and followed his mother into the living room.

Once there, his father sat at the table and looked quite serious. His mother sat next to his father in the chair. Ken looked briefly between his parents before sitting down.

"So... what's going on?" he asked, somewhat insecurely.

"Your performance at school is pretty bad," his father said.

"It's like there are a lot of things in my school that I don't understand... I also don't have any friends at this school," he said.

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" was Ms. Ichijouji's question.

Ken sighed and rubbed his eyes with one hand.

"Because I didn't want to disappoint you," he replied.

"You never disappoint us," Mr. Ichijouji replied: "We are glad that you are so open now and eat with us... We will never be disappointed."

"Would it make you wonder if I wanted to go to Davis' school? He, Cody, T.K. and Kari are my friends after all and I would love to learn together with them."

"Why didn't you say this earlier?" his mother said, before she realized that her son was already citing the reason: "I understand... Well. Then we will talk to your teachers on the phone... But wasn't it always your dream to become an archaeologist?"

"No more," Ken shook his head briefly: "I want to be a policeman or a detective. I don't need too much of a degree for that."

"If you're sure," the father smiled.

"Thank you very much... It means a lot to me that I can learn with my friends."

"What are your friends' dreams?" asked Ms. Ichijouji.

"Davis wants to open a noodle soup restaurant chain, Cody wants to be a lawyer, Kari wants to be a kindergarten teacher, and T.K. wants to be an author," Wormmon's partner said.

"Your friends really don't have hard-to-reach dreams, well... Apart from Davis and T.K. and Cody. Ok... Just forget what I said," Mr Ichijouji said.

Ken then had to laugh.

"Don't worry, dad. I will follow my dream."

Rhythmically, the sewing machine sounded, while Sora concentrated the fabric with the said machine. She herself just sewed a cape for Biyomon. The small pink bird sat tensely on another chair and was busy with the care of her feathers. When she finished, she closed her eyes and fell asleep a little later.

Biyomon dreamed that she would fly through the air. Not as the small, pink bird, not as the firebird named Birdramon, not as the birdman called Garudamon. Biyomon flew through the air at her ultimate-level Phoenixmon

Her sharp, blue eyes didn't escape anything and she often saw a pebble from several meters high. Their four wings swung alternately, holding the phoenix in the air. The wings shimmered in the sunlight and gave them a golden hue. The two legs were angled to the body, so that one could not see the Holy Rings, which was each on one leg. The tail also shimmered in a gold and red. The upper half of the helmet and beak was golden and black, the lower one did not look very majestic, as it had a simple grey. A feather crown was emblazoned behind the helmet, which shone yellow, red and purple. This digimon also had a kind of comb in the same colours on her back. Phoenixmon was revered by most digimon as godlike. In addition, it was the only bird digimon, besides Parrotmon, that had Sacred Rings. The phoenix was known as the leader of the bird digimon, because of their holiness. It is said that she even rule over all the divine digimon.

However, these two statements were only legends. Phoenixmon herself did not believe the legends, as she was, like the others, just a normal digimon.

What exactly did the phoenix do in the air? She just liked to fly through the air. Did she really need a reason for this? No, as she thought it would. She didn't need a reason why she did what she did. Nevertheless, Phoenixmon was a very proud digimon. In general, she didn't like any stranger digimon, and she used a harsh tone to them. She didn't think she would ever change, and basically she didn't want to. The phoenix was a loner and hated to cooperate with others.

Suddenly, another Digimon came into her field of vision. She knew this digimon from hearsay. It was pretty well known. Actually, this digimon was a role model for many and it flew directly towards her.

"What gives me the honour of meeting you?" she asked unkindly.

"I just wanted to talk to you," the digimon replied.

"Talk to me?" she repeated, before laughing loudly and shrilly: "I have no interest in helping you."

"Apparently you are already informed about me."

"You are looking for allies. That's what I heard."

"Exactly. And I want you to ally with me."

"Why? Give me a reason for this," she hissed, banging angrily with her front pair of wings.

"If you care about the safety of the digital world, you should help me," he explained, looking into her ice-blue eyes.

"I refuse," she replied quickly, too quickly.

"I have heard from you. The mistress of the skies, the loner of heaven, the goddess of bird digimon. You have many names. And your reputation is just as cold," he said cold-heartedly.

"Don't pretend you know me," she flew up in the air, furiously, and then shouted at him, "If you can beat me, I'll help you."

"And what kind of competition?" his curiosity was aroused.

"A flying competition. Whoever reaches the mountain of infinity first has won. To make it more interesting..." she smiled stealthily: "I will constantly attack you while you are not allowed to do so. If you defeat me, I will join you."

"Not under these conditions."

"Then not.", she flapped vigorously with her two pairs of wings and flew away.

"Wait, Phoenixmon!" he shouted, hurrying after her.

"Leave me alone! If you don't want to compete against me under my conditions..."

"Well... I'm going to compete against you," he said.

She smiled and immediately began to put her four wings tightly on her chest.

"Starlight Explosion.", she immediately stretched her wings backwards and several yellow fireballs raced towards him.

He quickly turned to the side and to her. Meanwhile, Phoenixmon caught fire in her beak before a swell of flames shot at him. Again, he dodged. He would have liked to have used an attack to counter them, but according to their rule he was not allowed to do so, so he could only dodge.

After just over a minute, much to her anger, he had overtaken her and flew in a straight line to the Mountain of Infinity. The phoenix shot behind him and overtook him again before flying deeper. Under her, the sea roared and the typical smell of salt rose into her nostrils.

He immediately followed her and surprised her. Phoenixmon doubled her flight speed, allowing her to fly faster again and fired a blaze at him. With a skilful turn in the air, he dodged her and also doubled his flight speed until he was at the same altitude with her. Now both could see the shore of File Island. Phoenixmon, who clearly enjoyed the challenge, said:

"So, so. You are really good... No one had asked me that much for a long time... However, you are too slow..."

In doing so, she increased her flight speed and flew over the beach of File Island to a forest. She flew up and raced on to the Mountain of Infinity. With powerful wing strokes she sped up the cliff face and landed at the top. The phoenix folded her four wings before watching he land in front of her. Breathing heavily, he took a short look over the landscape and was amazed by the view.

"Stunning," he said, taking a step to the cliff before continuing his gaze over the landscape.

"This is my favourite place. From here you have a very good view... Sometimes I think about building my nest here. I like the island and the landscape... However, the mountain already belongs to someone..."

"Who?" he asked, turning to her.

"Ornithmon. He's very aggressive when it comes to defending his territory," she once sighed.

"Ah... I've heard of him. But let's leave that at that. I lost to you. That's why I'm not going to force you to go with me," he walked past her and wanted to fly off.

"Wait," she said, and went to him, "Wait, please."

He looked at her in amazement.

"I want to accompany you. Even if you lost to me, I will accompany you because you have given me a challenge," she smiled.

He nodded to her.

"Then we go, Phoenixmon... Phoenixmon... Biyomon... Biyomon!" she heard over and over again.

Biyomon opened her eyes and found herself in Sora's room. In front of her stood her partner, who looked anxiously at the pink bird.

"Something wrong, Biyomon? You talked about a competition," Sora said.

"I think I dreamed of my past."

"So the time when we travelled together through the digital world?" she tilted her head to the side.

"No... I can't really decipher the meaning of this dream."

"Hm... It's really weird now."

"Yes... But. It felt so real... I mean, the dream. It felt as real as if I had experienced it before."

"What did you dream?"

"I was at my ultimate-level and was flying through the air when I suddenly saw another digimon who wanted me to team up with him... I couldn't see this digimon so well... But I knew it. Then I asked it to take part in a flight competion, the conditions of which I decided. I was allowed to attack him while he wasn't allowed to attack me."

"And? How did it end?" she asked.

"I won... But I still joined him. After that we flew away."

"What came next?" was her curious question.

"You woke me up... Wait a minute. Why did you wake me up?" Biyomon sounded a little reproachful.

"I'm done with the cape. Try it," she said, handing her the garment.

She threw the pink cape over Biyomon's back and knotted the ends loosely in front of her neck.

"And? Do you like it?" was Sora's question.

Her partner looked over her shoulder and spotted several white birds on the edge of the garment. Between the birds was a point that was only about two centimetres in size.

"I like it, Sora," Biyomon shouted, flying to the ground and turning around his own axis: "It is also very light. Have you ever considered working in the fashion industry?"

"No, not really... It's just a kind of hobby that I developed six months ago," she said, somewhat shyly.

"I think Matt likes it."

"I sewed a shirt for him. He always wears it when we go on a date."

Suddenly the phone rang.

"I'll be back," Sora said, rushing to the hearing: "Yes? Takenouchi? Ah, Ken! What do you want? Hm? Are you looking for advice from me? Now? Well. You can come. See you later, Ken."

She put the listener back on and went back to her room.

"Who was that?" asked Biyomon.

"Ken. He's coming right away."

"Why?"

"He's looking for advice."

"But you're not really a good advisor," she said.

"But he said I was the only one he could talk to."

"Okay. Then give him your advice," she smiled.

They both chatted a little before the bell rang and Sora opened the door. Ken bowed briefly and thanked her before stepping on his arm with Wormmon. Shortly, it came to the mind of Biyomon's partner that Gennai had once disguised himself as the Digimon Emperor. She swallowed the memory and led the visitors to her room. Ken sat on the floor and waited until Sora had also made himself comfortable on the floor.

"So... Why do you need my advice?" she asked.

"It's like..." he looked to the side briefly, his cheeks slightly reddish: "I... I fell in love. And since you had the coat of arms of love, I thought you could help me. So... I want to give the person a gift... But I don't know what."

"Hm... How about poison and a dagger," she joked.

"Poison and dagger?" he repeated, his eyes widened.

"Sure. In Romeo and Juliet the first infuse poison because he thought his Juliet was dead... However, she only played that she was dead and when she awoke she saw that Romeo was dead. So she stabbed herself with Romeo's dagger and then died."

"So... that..." he stammered a little bit back and forth: "That..."

"It's a joke," she smiled.

Ken looked at her tacitly.

"You shouldn't make such jokes," he said.

"Sorry... Was just so tempting. So a gift... What does she like?"

"She likes to eat."

"Then invite her to a restaurant, which she likes."

"Hm... That's the next step..."

"Then you do Onigiri."

In Ken's mind, the image of an onigiris was formed. A delicious, triangular rice ball, equipped on one side with a narrow leaf of seaweed.

"I don't think she likes Onigiri," he waved.

"What else does she like?"

"Donuts."

"And you can't cook them, can't you?"

"Exactly. They're too complicated."

"Then just invite her to a restaurant."

"As I said. This is the second step."

"Or ask her what she likes and then give her a gift. By the way, who is she?" she looked at him curiously.

"Um..." he looked to the side.

"If I know the one, I may be able to help you with the gift."

"It's-" he stammered again.

"It's Yolei!" Wormmon interjected.

"Wormmon!" Ken rebuked him.

"What?" he innocently looked at him: "You need help, don't you?"

"But not like that," he sighed.

"Yolei is... Hm...", Sora thought a bit: "Can you noodles? She likes fried noodles."

"That shouldn't be a problem. Mother can make fried noodles, so she can teach me. Thank you, Sora for your help," he straightened up and stretched out a little.

"It happened," she smiled at him, and also stood up: "You could also invite her to you and then cook. Yes. She would like it more if you invite her to you."

"It was definitely a good idea to ask you for advice."

"She was, after all, the bearer of the crest of love," Biyomon said, smiling.

"Crests, huh...", Ken repeated and brought out his crest.

"You have a crest, Ken?" said Sora, astonished.

"Yes," he nodded: "It means kindness... But Wormmon can't digivolve to his perfect-level. I don't know why."

"Don't worry, Ken," Wormmon replied, jumping on his partner's arm: "Even if I can't digivolve, I'm and remain your partner and friend."

"I know Wormmon... And I am grateful to you for that. You are an irreplaceable friend of mine."

"At some point your crest will shine. It worked out with Yolei," Sora encouraged him.

"I wonder what your perfect-level will look like, Wormmon," Ken gently quibbled over the head of the green insect.

"I don't think I'm going to have such big changes," he said, "I think I'll look like my champion level Stingmon."

"But there can always be a drastic change," Biyomon said, "I didn't think I'd become a birdman then I digivolved to my perfect-level."

"Now, that you mentioned it. Has your perfect-level shrunk?" her partner asked.

"What do you mean by that, Sora?" was her counter-question.

"I mean in the fight against Meicoomon you digivolved to your perfect-level. You were no bigger than WereGarurumon, even though in the past you could carry us all with your hands."

"I have no idea why this happened..." the pink bird replied.

"It doesn't matter. I was just surprised..."

"We really missed something," Ken said, sighing heavily.

"Don't worry," Sora smiled: "Maybe it's been better... But how exactly did you find out that King Drasil wants to destroy our world?"

"We had help from a digimon called Kudamon," Wormmon's partner explained: "She has told us that there is a God of the digital world who is in an argument with another God. King Drasil wanted to destroy our world with the help of a digimon, while the other wanted to prevent it. We also learned that Gennai had disappeared, and that a certain Alphamon was working with King Drasil. We wanted to tell you, but we were surprised by Alphamon. He had attacked us and easily defeated Imperialdramon, Ankylomon and Aquilamon. Then he attacked us and we lost consciousness. When we woke up again, we were in a hospital."

"Who exactly is Kudamon?"

"A digimon who works with a god. However, it once served King Drasil along with twelve other Digimon."

"Similar to Guilmon. He also serves the Homeostasis."

"Are you sure Kudamon is working with the Homeostasis?"

"Yes... If she opposes King Drasil and works for another God, then this God must be the Homeostasis."

"Maybe we'll see her at some point," Biyomon said, "I'd love to meet her."

"She's a very nice digimon," Wormmon said.

"Wait a minute... Thirteen digimon serving King Drasil?" asked Sora, "If we have them as opponents, then-"

"Don't worry," Ken reassured her: "Some of them don't live. Another part we have as allies, so at least Kudamon had claimed it."

"And these allies are?"

"Kudamon, Guilmon and a year ago Hackmon."

"Kudamon had once said that she was a member of the Royal Knights," said the green insect.

"Royal knights?" the pink bird repeated.

"We don't know more," Ken sighed, shrugging, "The only thing we know is that they once served Yggdrasil and consisted of thirteen members."

"Maybe Izzy knows more," Biyomon's partner tilted her head slightly to the side.

"We should visit him. Perhaps he has already found out something about the Royal Knights. Wait a minute! The old legend that Izzy is translating... Thirteen Knights... They are the Royal Knights! This also means that Akira's partner Wanyamon was part of them. And Omnimon too!"

"Omnimon is part of the legend?!"

"Yes... I only found out about Izzy today."

"But why didn't you say something with the Royal Knights earlier?"

"Because I also have school problems and I am in love..."

"Ah... Ok. I can understand that. But we should call Izzy and tell him that the knights from the legend were called Royal Knights."

"Good idea," Ken agreed, pulling out his phone.

Then he informed Izzy of what they were talking about and stood up loudly. The redhead himself wrote down a lot and told with pleasure that he could translate another passage of text.

"Okay... The translated parts are..." Izzy began:

" Thirteen knights, once blessed, protected the world.

Thirteen knights, once proud, fell into an argument.

Alphamon, the leader, and Omnimon, the second-hand, started it all

Then we have the passage with Dynasmon:

Dynasmon, the Righteous."

"Wow... Who would have thought that the legend was so...", Sora was looking for the right word.

"Amazing?" asked Biyomon.

"Exactly!"

/Why do I feel like I don't want to know more about the legend?/, the pink bird himself wondered.