Chapter 12

Running in a desert isn't the most intelligent thing to do. The digidestined quickly realized that as they crossed the barren land toward the building that lay in front of them. By the time they stopped at the structure, the group was sweating and extremely hot.

"So?" Davis said, gasping for air, even though he had only gone a few feet. "What is that thing?"

"It's a well. But what's it doing in the middle of a desert?" TK exclaimed.

"I don't care, just as long as it has the liquid form of two hydrogen's and an oxygen." Izzy said, wiping the sweat off his face.

Tai and Davis were the first ones there. They leaned over the edge of the well and frowned when they saw nothing. They then backed up as Ken came over. His eye's narrowed as he looked over the edge.

"Nothing! All I see is darkness and there's no bucket." Tai complained.

"Great! Now what?" Sora said.

Tai was about to answer but Ken signaled them over to the well, then plunged his hand in. When his hand went in, the air rippled, as if it was water.

"This is no ordinary well. It must be a portal." Ken said.

"So Vexilmon is hiding in another dimension?" Kari asked nervously.

"Seems that way to me. I theorize that this portal was made by Vexilmon himself." Izzy said. Ken tried pulling his hand out, but it didn't budge. "And I bet it's a one way entrance too."

"Could you give me a hand, someone?" Ken ask, angry and annoyed at the fact his hand was stuck and that he had to ask for help. Davis walked over, grabbed Ken's arm and pulled, but it took the strength of Davis, Tai and Matt to finally get Ken's hand out. They all fell backwards as his hand came out with what sounded like a popping noise.

"Look's like the only way to get to Vexilmon is to go into the portal." Tai addressed the group. "Are you all willing to go through with this?"

Before anyone could answer, Ken jumped up on the rim of the well, paced on it and looked down into the hole. He then turned toward the confused faces of his former adversaries.

"I don't ask for many favors." Ken said bluntly. "But I think all of you will agree with me when I say this. I'm going down there, and its more than likely that I'll be killed. I would like for one of you to stay behind."

"But why?" Kari asked.

"Because," Ken said slowly "if I do die, I'd like my parent's to know I didn't die with my face in the dirt. And I think all your parent's would like closure if we don't come home. It's up to you who you to stay back."

The digidestined all nodded in unison, they agreed with him for once.

"I nominate Cody to stay." TK said.

"What?" Cody exclaimed in surprise.

"I second that." Joe said and everyone else nodded.

"Then it's settled, Cody will stay." Kari said.

"No way! I'm not staying! It's wrong for me just to stand around while you guys go into a death trap!" Cody argued. "If you guy's go, I go."

"Cody, please don't make this like the time in the oilrig. We all agree that you should stay. Armadillomon doesn't have as strong of attacks against Vexilmon as the rest us do, and..." Yolei said, pausing to think of a good excuse, "you're too young to die."

"If you're done, then there's something Hida should know." Ken said more harshly than intended. "If we don't get back in forty-eight hours, find a way back to my base. You can open a digi-port from there, plus upload programs. There are about twenty incomplete programs, so one may bypass the firewalls if completed right. If we don't get back, find a way to the real world. Tell my parents..." Ken's face twitched as he tried to find right word's "tell them everything."

Cody still had a disbelieving look on his face as Ken jumped backwards and disappeared with a quiet shlooping sound into the well, Wormmon right behind him.

"If Ken thinks he can hog all the fun, he's wrong." Davis said. He ran up and jumped over the side of the well with Veemon in his arms. "Geranimo!"

"See ya in a few hours, Cody. Banzai!" Tai said as he to vaulted into the well.

"Tai, wait for me!" Agumon said as he bounded after his partner. Next were Matt and Gabumon. They both stepped up onto the edge.

"Make sure my dad doesn't stay too long at that camp, Cody. You know, if..." Matt said evenly. Then he calmly stepped off and dropped.

"This was a bad idea. We are walking into a trap." Joe said nervously, looking into the well as he stood on the edge with Gomamon in his arms.

"Don't tell me you're going to become the complainer you were four years ago again." Izzy said indignantly. He was right behind Joe.

"Tell my parents and brothers I'll miss them." Joe said to Cody, who was standing in disbelief, eyes becoming wider and sadder with each person. Joe looked over the edge once again, prepared to jump, but couldn't. So Izzy lightly pushed him and both Joe and his digimon gave a startled cry before disappearing.

"Tell my parents I love them." Izzy said quickly before vaulting over the side with one hand and dropping into the dark hole. Kari, who was next, was shaking visibly with fear on her face.

"What if that leads to the dark ocean?" She said nervously. Everyone except TK gave her a confused look.

"Then we'll fight it." TK said confidently. He led her to the well. Kari stepped up and looked back at Cody.

"Make sure my parents know what happened." Kari said feebly, then she took a small jump and dropped. TK gave a small nod in acknowledgment to Cody that said good-bye and was a salute, then went after her. Now the only people left were Mimi, Sora, Yolei and Cody. All three of the girls weren't as enthusiastic about this as their male teammates.

"You know, I moved to New York to get away from all the fighting." Mimi said, laughing nervously. "Guess going halfway around the world doesn't help."

"Guys, don't make me do this." Cody said. Somehow, he found the courage to snap out of his gloom and argue.

"Be happy. Who knows what Vexilmon will throw at us. If we die, at least we'll know someone made it out." Sora said.

Cody looked like he was about to cry. Mimi walked over and gave him a quick hug, then did a running jump into the well.

"We'll see you soon." Sora said as she went into the well. All that was left were the two friends who had known each other since they moved into the same building.

"Yolei, I'm coming with you." Cody said defiantly.

"No, you're not. Armadillomon will take car of you. As soon as I go, I want you to get out of here. Get to the forest and start heading to the Kaisers base. I don't want anything to happen to you. OK?" Yolei said. Cody looked sad and frustrated at the same time. Yolei embraced Cody, then she stepped on the edge and leaped. As Cody stood, alone with Armadillomon, his face twitched as he harnessed emotions of the possibility of never seeing his friends again. Cody sat down in the tiny amount of shade created by the well and prayed to his fathers' soul that his friends would be protected.

*Back to the rest of the group*

The first sensation was falling. Ken looked up and saw Davis above him, probably yelling at the top of his lungs but his voice was lost to the wind. Feeling the vacuum that is created if air isn't blowing in your face when you fall, Ken looked back down at the pure darkness below him. He could feel the rush of cold air whip through his hair and heard his cape flapping above him. His cape? Ken looked up again and saw his Kaiser cape whipping like a flag as he fell. The Kaiser then looked at himself an saw that he was once again decked out in his outfit, glasses included. None of it was damaged or ripped. As he was looking at his newly gloved hands, Ken saw a blurry, gray light and his falling slowed. Soon, Ken saw some king of ground below him. Even though he had slowed considerably, it wasn't enough to stop him from slamming in the rushing ground with a loud smack. Nor did it help the fact that Wormmon landed right on top of him. Ken stood up and looked about as the others fell around him. The sky was a dark gray with a small reddish tint, and the ground was nothing more than solid darkness. There was no other way to describe it, just a solid black field of with a few hills in all directions. The landscape was drowned in blackness as it got farther out.

"Whoa, where are we, dude?" Davis said as he observed his surroundings.

"This place is creepy." Yolei observed and everyone nodded in agreement.

"This place..." Kari said, "it feels wrong."

"You're right. This wasn't the most strategic or intelligent thing we've done." Ken agreed. Suddenly both he and Yolei collapsed onto the floor.

"Yolei!" All the digidestined cried.

"Oh no, Ken!" Wormmon said.

"That's right, everyone run over to her." Ken said sarcastically. "I feel appreciated."

"Sorry." Kari said with a shrug. "What's going on?

"I don't know, but I can't move." Ken said, concerned.

"Yolei's unconscious." Joe said, bending over her. "Why is this happening to only Ken and Yolei?"

Right then, Yolei opened her eyes and pushed herself up. Ken mirrored those moves with a combination of apprehension and confusion on his sunglasses wearing face while Yolei had a dead look in her eyes.

"Get away from me now." Ken commanded

"What? Why?" Sora asked

"Just do it. Before..." Ken started to say, but his arm shot out and slammed his palm into Matt's chest, sending him falling back several feet.

"HEY!" Tai yelled and was about to attack Ken, but Yolei, who came up next to Ken, kicked Tai and sent him sprawling.

"Ken! What did you do to Yolei?! How dare you go traitorous on us!" TK yelled.

Ken was speechless as the digimon started to intervene.

"I've been waiting to do this for a long time! Lightning Paw!" Gatomon said. She jumped up with her claws out, but Ken instantly took out his whip and whapped Gatomon away.

"Pepper Breath." Agumon said and shot a ball of fire at the Kaiser. Ken smothered the fire with one swish of his cape.

"Yolei! Please stop this!" Hawkmon cried and tried to restrain his partner.

"Get away from me, bird." Yolei said, kicking Hawkmon, then going on to elbow Sora and knocking her into Mimi.

"What are you two doing!" Davis exclaimed.

"It's not me, I swear. So stop attacking or you'll hurt both of us." Ken yelled in fear as he swiped a punch at Davis.

"That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard!" Tai shouted.

Actually, it very close to the truth. Vexilmon's voice said and both Ken and Yolei became inanimate. Vexilmon materialized in front of everyone.

"Vexilmon!" Everyone said in unison.

I knew you were foolish, but I didn't realize you were stupid enough to actually follow me to my home. But since you're here, I might as well tell you where you are. Vexilmon laughed. This place is called the Night realm. It's a dimension that exists between two of the dark worlds, the dark ocean and the world Apocalymon was defeated in. Not only do I control the aspects of this world, but also my powers are increased. With you here, it was child's play to put you under my command.

"But how? When?" Ken wondered, then it hit him. "That night... when you tried to take over my mind!"

My slaves were right, you are slow, especially for one human's consider intellectually advanced. But yes, I was able to implant a small amount of my acid onto your brain. In this world, the acid is activated and controlling a mind is easy.

"And Yolei?" Kari asked, eyeballing the lifeless girl.

The implant was put in the bearer of love and sincerity when that Snimon captured her. I didn't expect you to follow me, so the acid was only meant to subconsciously persuade her into killing you, Kaiser. Unfortunately, this doesn't always work on humans, which is probably why your head hasn't been ripped off your shoulders yet.

"So that's what she was doing when I woke up this morning." Ken thought.

"You jerk! Let her go!" Tai said and started running toward Vexilmon with Agumon, digivice in hand. Vexilmon gave a small shot at Tai. The shot purposely hit the ground in front of him, but even though the acid didn't touch him, Tai's shoes started to melt.

Ah, ah, ah. I wouldn't do that if I were you. Not only can I easily kill you, but with a simple thought, I can make your purple haired friend break her own neck. Vexilmon said teasingly. Tai growled in anger, but backed up.

"How pathetic." Ken stated. "Not only do you use my technology to do your dirty work, but you have to resort to actually capturing and enslaving one of your oppressors to fight your war. Even I am not that weak."

"Shut up." Yolei said, suddenly coming to life. She quickly stepped up and backhanded Ken in the face with a sickening crack. Ken's head snapped back with such force that he probably would have fallen down if his controlled body had let him.

You really should restrain that tongue of yours, Kaiser. Vexilmon said, sounding mad. It will get you in trouble someday. Vexilmon paused as Yolei stared Ken down with narrowed eyes. It's unfortunate that I couldn't take over all of you, but that gizmo on your brain stem keeps me from doing so from your neck up.

I don't have any gizmo on my brain stem." Ken said indignantly.

You don't know? Well that's interesting. I was positive you'd realize that something was controlling you long before I came about.

"Nothing controls me! I've made sure of that!" Ken exclaimed angrily.

Really? I beg to differ. Vexilmon said. He snapped his fingers and Ken's arms moved to the back of his head and lifted the hair that was hiding the back of his neck. Then he turned around so his back was facing the digidestined.

"What's the point of this, you fiend?" Ken exclaimed.

Just to annoy you and show your friends what I already know.

The digidestined looked at what Vexilmon was talking about. There, small but distinct, was a circular scar on Ken's neck.

"That's just the scar Ken got years ago in the digital world. What does that have to do with anything?" Wormmon explained.

Everything! Vexilmon said, suddenly angry. Something was injected into your precious Kaiser when he got that scar. Though I don't know of any device that can repel my mind control. Vexilmon shrugged. Oh well, maybe I'll take it out in study it once I kill you.

Vexilmon went to raise his hand for an attack. Everyone tensed up, but then Vexilmon seemed to have an afterthought.

Then again, what's an execution without a little entertainment. Vexilmon said with a short chuckle. He made a small jerking gesture with his hand and Yolei gave a small, sadistic smile. Every digidestined, including Ken, gasped as Yolei leaned over and kissed the Kaiser. Ken obviously did not kiss back, but was forced to stay in the same place as she performed the action. When Yolei was done, she walked over to Vexilmon while Ken spat on the ground.

"That's disgusting. Why the hell did you force her to do that." Ken asked, enraged and revolted.

I did not force her to do anything. I simply granted her wish. Vexilmon said, laughing loudly in their heads.

"What's that suppose to mean!" Davis bellowed, obviously just as angry as Ken.

Her fixation with one Ken Ichijouji is very interesting. I believe you humans call it a crush. Vexilmon said casually. She was devastated when she found out he was her enemy.

"Liar!" Ken yelled. "Why would she bother with me? I surly don't care about those stupid fan girls that follow me around. Now tell me the truth!"

"Actually, Ken," Kari said slowly. "There may be some truth into what he just said."

"Yeah, like all of it." Mimi blurted out before Sora elbowed her in the side.

"What are you saying?" Ken asked in disbelief, back still turned to the digidestined.

Poor, poor Kaiser. Did you just realized that your enemies are actually your fans.

"SHUT UP."

Oh, but why should I? When I can make your life miserable. You see, this dimension is very special, for it can make a person go into another's subconscious, or better yet, their nightmares. And that means I can do this. Vexilmon said. He pointed one of his long, liquid fingers at Ken.

"Ah... AHHHHHH!" Ken screamed in pain. Wormmon got ready to digivolve, but Ken once again fell to the ground, this time unconscious.

"KEN!" Wormmon cried.

"Very good master." Yolei complimented, sneering. "What shall you do with the others."

Yolei pointed to the digidestined, who were getting ready to have their digimon digivolve.

Those fools are more trouble than they're worth. Vexilmon sighed and waved his hand toward them. The digidestined clutched their head simultaneously before collapsing into the same condition as their former enemy. The digimon stood in protective positions in front of their partners before the same thing happened to them.

"Shall we kill them now." Yolei asked eagerly.

Not just yet. Once the show gets boring, then you have permission my to kill them. Vexilmon said. Yolei for some reason looked very disappointed. Be patient Love. Just you wait and see. Just wait and see.

Author's notes: I know that Ken probably knew that Yolei had a crush on him, but for dramatic purposes, lets just say he didn't. OK? Good.