Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon nor X-men.

**X-mon Part 4: The Silver Rings and The Encounter With Apaclyamon** by Artemi§blink

Ken Ichijouji wasn't a mutant like most of his Digidestined friends, but he did help them a lot. His call from Izzy knew he had to act fast. He got on his computer and looked up Apaclyamon and his weaknesses. It was strange. The digimon had none. The old program that he had used to make the dark rings almost 4 years back all of a sudden popped up. Then it hit him.

He got to work.

*******************************************************************

"Shoot the ball, Davis!"

"Come on, Davis! Score!"

Davis kicked the ball as hard as he could into the net. They won the championship game: 2-1.

"Yeah! Go Davis! Yeah!" his teammates cheered.

This time, the ball never turned to ice. He didn't have his power.

"So, Ice Man, loose your power?" his friend and teammate, Stephen, asked as he patted Davis on the back.

"Long story," Davis grumbled.

His teammates never treated him like he was different. Yeah, he had changed the ball to ice a few times, but they never yelled at him or call him a "freak" or anything. His team nickname was "Ice Man".

Tai, Izzy, Kari, TK, and Yolei all met up with him after the game.

"That was a great game," Tai said, shielding his eyes from the sun. He never had to do that when he had his goggles.

"Thanks, Tai, but not as good as you," Davis said, kissing up to his idol.

Just then, Kari's D3 received an e-mail. She took it out of her backpack. "It's from Ken. He says he's found something that may help us. He says we can come over now."

"Reply to him," Tai said.

Kari wrote back to him. Got your e-mail. We're on our way.

*****************************************************************

"What's up, Ken?" Davis asked when they came over.

"I found something that may help restore your powers," Ken said with a smile.

"What?" Tai asked.

Ken led them to his room. He turned on his computer and loaded the program.

"Using the same program I used for the dark rings, I altered the rings and they can recover your powers," Ken explained. "See these silver rings? They can digitally readapt your powers from deep down. I made them small enough to fit your fingers."

"I'm not following you," Davis said.

"The rings let you make ice again," TK said.

"Ok, TA, I think I get it now," Davis snapped.

"Let me test it," Tai said. "I want to try them."

"We'll have to go to the Digital World," Ken said. He grabbed his D3. "Digi-port open!"

The kids went through the gate. Ken powered up a ring and gave it to Tai. Tai put it on his middle finger. His lasers once again shot out from his eyes.

"M-my eyes! They're powered again!" Tai said putting on his goggles.

Ken gave each of them rings. Kari felt the strength come back to her. Davis turned a tree to ice, and TK powered up a card and threw it to melt the ice. Yolei flew up into the air and made wind. Izzy changed his shape.

"I never thought I'd like to have my powers back," Kari said putting her gloves back on.

"Does it give us back our power to let our digimon digivolve?" Tai asked.

Ken hung his head. "No. I tried to take all the dark power out of the rings, but the set back is, your digimon still can't digivolve."

****************************************************************

Mimi, Sora, and Matt got their rings from Ken later that day. They all knew they were going to have to face Apaclyamon soon. Joe, Ken, and Cody were going to stay behind and monitor them on the computer when they went to the Digital World. Tai put on his visor that Gennai had made for him on their first adventure in the Digital World. The visor enabled him to shoot his lasers accurately.

They all met at Izzy's apartment. Mimi had come through the gate and met the others there.

"Good luck, you guys," Cody said as everyone but him, Joe, and Ken went thorugh the gate.

The Digi World was now cosumed in darkness. It was worse than it was seven years ago.

"Me and Kari will take flight and scan around and call you guys back through the D3 if we find anything," Yolei said.

"Ok," Tai said.

Yolei and Kari left. The others went by foot.

"Sora, can you scan the area with your mind?" Tai asked her.

"Will do."

She closed her eyes and put her hands on her temples. She scanned and found nothing.

"Nothing," she said. "There was nothing."

"This is strange," Izzy said. "He's probably going to use a form of surprise attack." The boy scratched his red hair. "We have to be alert."

"No problem with my nose," Matt said with a sly smile.

They walked in the black forest. The trees looked like fire had consumed them. TK lit up a card so they could see where they were going. Shadows draped them as they walked foward. Tai's D3 beeped.

"Tai, it's Yolei," Yolei's voice said over the D3.

"What'd you find?" he asked.

"Look straight ahead."

Seven heads turned and saw a never ending abyss. They could feel a dark force in it. Sora got a huge headache.

"It's him," she said. "He's coming."

"He's close," Matt said, sniffing the air. "Very close."

"Virus grenade!"

Apaclyamon attacked. Tai shot a lot of the grenades out from the air. Sora blasted some away with her mind. TK used his cards and Davis used his ice. It hardly helped.

"I call on the winds to blow the grenades away!" Yolei commanded holding her arms in the air.

A huge gust of wind sent the grenades flying the other way. Apaclyamon grew angry.

"Death Claw!"

The claws grabbed the kids and threw them down the abyss. It seemed as if they'd fall forever. The pressuse increased and the oxygen decreased. Tai felt his eyes bulge and his lungs run out of air. Yolei and Kari tried to fly back up, but something was pulling them down. No. Something was forcing them down. Matt tried to catch on the sides of the rock wall, but his claws didn't catch anything.

They came to a halt. They heard a low, sinister laughter everywhere. Matt sniffed the air.

"He's here."