For They Shall Be Filled
By: Vain (Vainglorious696)
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Vain: Yay!! This is it! This is THE chapter. This is my Baby!! My brainchild!
Hisoka: You do realize that you never fixed some of the timeline stuff with the information Ajora sent you, don't you? Some of it is wrong.
Vain: Shut-up and roll with it, Soka-chan! I'm gonna fix it in the sequels.
Hisoka: *twitches* Don't. Call. Me. That.
Remy: Sequels? Il y avait more dan one?!?!?!?! I'm dead in WSIWTG and you're planning a Digimon Arch?!
Vain: You're not REALLY dead . . . and I'll update it tonight . . . I hope . . .
Tsuzuki: *walks in with a piece of apple pie* Hisoka and I have a date tonight? I didn't know that. Do we have a date tonight, Soka-chan?
Hisoka: *blushes bright red* DON'T CALL ME THAT, BAKA!!!
Kaiser: There's MORE of them?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Who the hell are YOU?!
Tsuzuki: Tsuzuki Asota.
Osamu: Should we tell Kai about Watari? He's still not here.
Ken: No. I think Vain prefers all her body parts attached . . .
Wormmon: Oh, dear . . . This is getting very, very complicated.
Remy: What 'bout my two fics!! Finish "What Someone is Willing To Give" and "Poker—No Bluffs!"
Kaiser: The hell she will! She has to finish this story, then the rest of the Arch, then "These Fine Things of Heaven and Earth," then she has to do a sequel for somebody else's Daiken!!
Watari: *enters grinning and flips his long blond hair over his shoulder* She also has to do Shattered Emeralds, isn't that right, Vain-chan?
Osamu: But what about all your classes? You're a college student first.
Hisoka: When will you be updating Ouldove? You know, your website. Forget about that?
Vain: *sweatdrops and facefaults*
Tsuzuki: Is she dead?
Watari: Not yet. I hope. She hasn't finished our fic yet.
Sinister: *walks in and anesthetizes Vain* Vain doesn't own anything. Read and Review.
Ken: Please.
Vain: *whimpers* Help me . . .
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
~ "The lamp of the body is the eye.
If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eye is full of darkness, your whole body will be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"
-Matthew 6: 22 & 23
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Part Twenty-Nine
The Ninth Digidestined Child
"Alright, will someone PLEASE tell me what's going on?!"
Takeru frowned as he looked through the enormous window. It was night now. Amazing how quickly time passed when you couldn't see the windows. It was hard to believe that it had only been eight or nine hours since they got out of school. That meant about seven hours since they had gotten sucked through the Digiport. How long had they slept? Twenty minutes? An hour? It seemed like years. Time always felt slightly skewed in the Digital World.
The ship was moving now, slowly to be sure, but it was gradually picking up speed. Next to him, Yolei looked like she was about to pop a vein.
"Stop ignoring me! What was that all about?!"
Takeru continued to stare out the window. He shrugged. "Something's changed," he responded. His blue eyes flickered over to Gennai. Amazing, the things that can happen in the space of a half an hour. "Maybe everything's changed."
"He knows something we don't," Cody murmured.
Takeru's brows contracted. Was he talking about Gennai, too? Or was he still harping on the whole Ken issue? The blond turned around to face the others and looked at Cody curiously.
The emerald-eyed Child of Reliability was frowning at the floor. "That dream was more than a dream . . . Something happened to him—he's found something, I think."
"We can't trust him!" Yolei declared firmly.
Takeru closed his eyes and felt his boundless temper surge briefly. Hadn't they already hashed this out? He didn't have to open his eyes to see the dark look on Davis's face: he could feel it. Maybe it was on his own face, too.
"That isn't what I meant, Yolei!"
The Child of Hope's eyes opened and his head whipped down so fast he thought that he had given himself whiplash. He wasn't the only one to be surprised by Cody's sudden and vehement defense of Ken either. Everyone was staring—including Armadillomon.
Takeru walked over and placed a gentle hand on the little boy's shoulder. "Are you okay, Cody?"
The youth shrugged away TK's hand. "That isn't what I meant," he repeated softly. "I'm just saying that something was different with Ken when he woke, that's all. I didn't mean anything but that."
Gennai shifted from his position next to the door. "I think you may be right, Cody, but if Ken Ichijouji doesn't want you to know something, then you may as well give it up. Believe me, he's never taken well to prying."
Yolei instantly latched onto that statement. "And just what makes you an expert on Ken?"
For a moment the traveler regarded her in cool silence then his lips twisted in a dry, almost Emperor-like, smirk. "Experience." He shrugged. "You'll find out soon enough."
The door slid open and Ken strode in so confidently it looked as though he owned the place—which he actually did. He walked straight across the room to the night-blackened window and sat down Indian-style on the floor. He looked up at them all, eyes violet ice. The Digidestined took the hint and all sat down, forming a loose circle. Whatever was up with Child of Kindness, nobody has any intention of annoying him. Wormmon slid down from his boy's shoulder to curl up in his lap.
Gennai looked away from them for a moment, eyes vague and looking within himself. Time to pay the piper . . . He let loose a heavy sigh and turned to Ken. "Well, then . . . I suppose you want those answers now."
The boy only watched him expectantly.
The traveler looked down and walked towards the center of the circle as he began his tale. "I guess I should start at the beginning. There are four Mega digimon who guard the Digital World. They each have two spheres: Qinglongmon (or Azulongmon) the air dragon and guardian of the East, protects the spheres of Light and Hope; Xuanwumon the earth tortoise and guardian of the North, protects the spheres of Love and Purity; Zhuqiaomon the firebird and guardian of the South, protects the spheres of Faith and Knowledge; Baihumon the water tiger and guardian of the West, protects the spheres of Courage and Friendship. There were also four guardians of the Digidestined."
Cody frowned thoughtfully. "Were?"
Gennai nodded. "Yes. There was my predecessor who was named Kazunori Saito, Elaine Barre, Denisov Romanovich, and Sanghee Kiangtzu. One of them died, one was relieved, and two . . . defected."
Cody opened his mouth again, but Gennai overrode him. "But this doesn't really have anything to do with what we're hear to discuss."
"Then what does?" TK asked without venom.
Gennai frowned a moment, but continued. "As I was saying, there were originally Eight Spheres: Hope and Light, Courage and Friendship, Love and Purity (now called Sincerity), and Knowledge and Reliability, also called Faith. Spirit, Loyalty, Joy, Truth, Wisdom: these are all considered to be lesser Crests and all fall under one or more of the Eight original Spheres. They're not lesser because they are less powerful, but merely because they are not direct representatives of a Sphere."
"What do you mean?" Gatomon frowned up at Gennai from her position in Kari's lap. "I've never heard of that."
"Yeah," Patamon chimed from TK's lap.
"Well . . . take the Crest of Peace for example. The Crest of Peace derives its energy from the same source as the Crest of Hope: the Sphere of Hope. The Crest of Hope is the pure form of that energy. It doesn't lend any energy to the sub-Crests, but it acts as a gauge for the energy. Therefore, if by some odd occurrence the Crest of Peace is extinguished, the Crest of Hope will remain intact. But if the light of the Crest of Hope is extinguished it means that the Sphere of Hope itself has failed and therefore all of its sub-Crests will also be extinguished. Do you understand?"
There were scattered nods and the young man continued. "The Guardians all have the same goal, but their methods differ a great deal. At times the discord between them could reach frightening heights. It was feared that one of the Guardians might seize power over the others, so it was decided to concentrate a portion of all of the Spheres into one. This became the Ninth Sphere: the Sphere of Miracles.
"The Sphere of Miracles is unique in that it is unaligned with any of the powers of the Digital World. For all intents and purposes, it is a neutral Power. This brought balance to the Guardian Beasts, but there were also some unintended side effects. The Ninth Crest has no sub-Crests and draws its power from the actual Powers of the Digital World itself. There are only two other Crests that do that: Light and Hope. All of the other Crests derive their power from the dominant Traits of the bearer. The Children of Light and Miracles are special in that they have the ability to sense, perceive, and to a point, navigate a dimension referred to as 'limbo.' This allows them to tap into other dimensions and manipulate their own realities in ways that the average person cannot. In your world, this ability has been know to manifest itself as savants, pyrokinesis, telepathy, telekinesis, empathy, and in extreme cases, certain forms of autism. Actually, autism occurs when the larger part of a person's mind remains in limbo while their soul migrates to the their body.
"Kari," here he nodded to the Child of Light, "has been blessed with the ability to see and channel spirits. Undoubtedly she also has other latent gifts of which I am unaware."
The girl blushed and ducked her head as the others looked at her in surprise. Gennai continued, still gesticulating vividly as he paced. "Hope, however, despite its nature, does not have any particular ability of this sort. The Child of Hope has always acted as a type of grounder for the Children of Light and Miracles. Due to their ability to sense the shifting currents of other dimensions, Light and Miracles are more prone to the lure of Darkness and more likely to either be pulled or subconsciously will themselves to some of the more local dimensions."
As he walked, the speaker would occasionally cast a wary glance at Ken. When his eyes slid to the child now, he found him scowling at the ground. In his arms, Wormmon had twisted around to regard his partner with worried eyes. Gennai looked away. "Together these three Crests created what is called the Scared Triangle. The Triangle is capable of generating massive amounts of energy—the presence of the neutral Ninth Crest and the Anti-Crests make it possible for that power to be used by anyone for whom the three Children will unite to fight for. I'll explain Anti-Crests in a minute.
"The Digidestined were called into the world originally to fight a great evil that arose between the Earth and the Digital World. Nine original Crests were created to channel the energy of the Nine Spheres: the Crests of Light, Hope, Miracles, Love, Faith, Sincerity, Courage, Friendship, and Knowledge."
TK looked up in surprise. "Those are our Crests!"
Gennai shot him a look but nodded reluctantly. "I know. I'm getting to that. You see, the original Digidestined were chosen from all over the world. The Child of Love was African, the Child of Hope was Vietnamese, the Child of Courage was English, the Child of Friendship was American, the Child of Light was Japanese, the Child of Faith was French, the Child of Miracles was Russian, the Child of Sincerity was Australian, and I believe that the Child of Knowledge was Chinese. There were no lesser Crests in those days. Never before have all of the main Crests been issued to Children from one single country, let alone from children who all live in the same general neighborhood. Your predecessors, Tai and the others, were the first—I thought it a fluke until you came along."
Davis and Veemon made a small noise, but Yolei quickly hushed them before turning back to Gennai. Oblivious to the movement, he continued. "The first nine were brought to the Digital World to fight the Dark One and to do this they were given partners and, according to their dominant personality traits, Crests. Remember," he wagged a finger at them as he turned in a circle, "this was the first time Crests were released and nobody really knew what was going to happen. The Guardians cannot control or foresee Destiny, they only can try to direct present actions and manipulate them to affect future actions."
Ken snorted.
"We discovered during the fight that the Crests also carried within them an Anti-Crest property. Thus, Love also carried Hate; Knowledge, Ignorance; Hope, Despair; Light, Darkness, and so forth. We really should have foreseen this, though. It was all an issue of balance: the day cannot exist without the night. The Crest of Miracles, however, was different. Because it was neutral, the power of Darkness was inherent within it already, not a separate and equal half like the other Crests." He shrugged and closed his eyes. "One man's Miracle is another's Calamity.
"It was this perhaps, that lead to what was romantically called the Seduction of the Digidestined. It seems that the Children of Light and Miracles were more vulnerable to the powers of Darkness because of their enhanced awareness. It was also because the Crest of Light required an equal amount of Darkness to function and the Crest of Miracles carried the Darkness so closely within itself that it was impossible to separate the good from the evil. When the time came, Light failed and Miracles slid into Darkness before she knew she was gone.
"The battle that transpired . . . was long and hard, and not worth rehashing. Suffice it to say that Hope—whom the Dark One did not seduce—was the one to recall Light, but only at a great price to all the Children. Anya, the Child of Miracles, could not be redeemed. Digi Tomamon, her digimon, was forced to kill her. The abrupt cut of the bonds of the Sacred Triangle shocked Light into turning away from the Darkness and enraged all the Children to the point where they could fight once more."
He paused and closed his eyes in remembered pain. He could still remember that battle—he had spent lifetimes trying to forget. When he opened his eyes he looked directly at Ken, hazel boring into blue-violet. "That battle proved to be a deciding factor for the Guardians. They ruled that the Ninth Crest was too dangerous to be released ever again and it was locked away. In accordance with this, whenever the Digidestined were summoned in later years, the Ninth Child was never called."
"So his destiny was denied?"
Gennai looked levelly at Ken, never wavering. "It was deemed best for everyone. A child died, Ken. You of all people should know what a terrible thing that is."
He turned away so that he didn't have to watch the pain and betrayal he knew was bleeding out of those now purple eyes. "While this did not destroy the bond between Light and Hope, it did severely cripple it.
"For a while, this worked out just fine, but then something absolutely disastrous occurred: Myotismon decided to leave the Digital World in search of the Eighth Child, Kari. She had been left out of the Call—when the others were summoned—as a safeguard against such a thing. Myotismon knew of the previous Seduction and he hoped to accomplish the same thing with Kari. Thankfully, Gatomon pulled through." He turned to the feline Champion. "You have no idea what a risk I took on you. If you hadn't come to your senses, who knows where we'd all be right now.
"I couldn't attend to you in the Real World because I had to guard the Digital World. Even then, the Guardians could feel the Dark Masters rising to power, but Myotismon presented too big a threat to be ignored. So, it was decided that to help stem the tide, one Child would be called into the Digital World." He turned and found those blue-violet eyes again. "So the Ninth Crest was released again and Ken Ichijouji was once again called into the Digital World."
Every head snapped towards Ken and the other Children all stared. Yolei let out a small squeak. "Are you saying that Ken is the Child of Miracles?"
Gennai nodded and Ken only smirked. He had long ago divined where this line of conversation was going.
Davis frowned at Ken, then looked to Takeru and Kari, and then frowned at Gennai. "But I thought that Ken has the Crest of Kindness, not Miracles."
Gennai nodded again. "He does. The problem was, you see, that the Ninth Crest could not be released. Fortunately for us, Miracles, Light, and Hope are not Traits per say, they are merely channeled by the Bearers of their Crests. The reason why they are assigned to certain people is because only those Chosen Children have the . . . stamina to channel the Sacred Powers. Kari," he turned to her, "your Trait is Grace. TK," the blond looked up curiously, "you are Truth, and you, Ken," he looked at the quiet boy, "are Kindness. So, in order to give Ken the power necessary to fulfill his assigned destiny, the Ninth Crest was split into two equal halves: the Crest of Kindness and it's Compliment, the Crest of Cruelty."
Davis's brow drew down sharply and he leaned back. "The power source," he murmured in realization.
"The what?" Armadillomon asked, looking from Gennai to Davis.
"I'm getting there, Davis," the traveler snapped, annoyed. "As I told you earlier, all Crests carry their Anti-Crest property within them, but as Kindness is not a genuine sub-Crest, but a halved main Crest, it is unnatural and carries no Anti-Crest property, as a result—another thing that we did not foresee—Ken was always drawn towards the Anti-Crest property and it in turn was drawn to him.
"The Anti-Crest, however, was the least of our worries." Gennai turned his back slightly to Ken. "Even getting Ken into the Digital World was quite a trial. The problem was that Ken's brother, Osamu, was in no way, shape, or form thrilled that his precious ototochan was out battling twenty-foot demons while he sat helpless a world away. Plus, he was more than just a little bit jealous that Ken was chosen instead him." Ken's eye narrowed dangerously and Gennai shifted as the intensity of that gaze bore through him. "Because of this, Osamu . . . confiscated Ken's digivice. Ken had snuck away and used the digivice to return to the Digital World behind his brother's back and against his wishes. When Osamu discovered this, he was not at all happy and took the device away. Nobody was particularly pleased with this turn of events, but eventually a compromise was reached.
"While all this was happening, there was a Tag Tamer in the Digital World named Ryou Akiyama. He had been Ken's partner in the D-1 and had stayed on in the Digital World throughout the both Devimon and Edimon incidents seeing to other matters. We needed Ken in the Digital World, but Osamu refused to let him return. Fortunately, Ryou and Osamu were fairly close, so I went to the Tamer and he assured me that he would handle it. Ryou and Osamu knew one another from the computer RPG circuit and Quake. Ryou pulled a few strings with Oniisan and Ken was permitted to enter the Digital World to help counter the rising darkness. Ryou and Ken became partners and I was assigned to train the two of them and help them in their fight."
Yolei frowned behind her glasses. "All this happened while the others were in the Real World?"
Gennai nodded. "You have to remember that time did not move at the same speed in both worlds then. During the three weeks Tai and the others were seeking Kari and fighting Myotismon, nearly five years passed in the Digital World."
Gennai stopped and pinched the bridge his nose, looking suddenly tired. He closed his eyes.
"But there was still the issue of Ken. Ken was, at the time, about the same age as TK and he was, for all intents and purposes, alone. Ryou was a Tamer, not a Digidestined, and he wasn't prepared to train one either. So we told Ken that it was all just a video game. Even as a child, Ken was very level-headed and not particularly fantasy prone, although not from lack of imagination, and it seemed to him to be the most logical conclusion and he readily accepted it."
Ken continued to watch the proceedings expressionlessly, but Takeru let out a hissing breath and movement fluttered around the circle. Wormmon watched his boy's eyes worriedly. "Ken," he whispered just loud enough to be heard.
Ken shook his head, mental eye turned inward as he attempted to match his memories up to Gennai's words. There was so much lost—so many holes . . .
Gennai waited for the movement to stop before continuing, "Things went well from there. Ken was a natural strategist and Wormmon catches on to just about anything fairly quickly, so the training went by fast. Their main objective was the destruction of one digimon in particular: Millenniumon. Millenniumon was an ancient digimon, older than the Dark One or Apocalamon. Millenniumon was actually nearly as old as the Four Guardians themselves, I believe.
"Ken and Ryou's duty was to make Tai and the other's work easier by ridding the worlds of Millenniumon before he had the opportunity to team up with the Dark Masters. Under the cover of Devimon and Myotismon's presences, he was free to work unchecked while we dealt with the more pressing threats of the other evil digimon. Once they and the Chosen Children were out of the Digital World, he was free to run amuck. As I understand it, the thing that made Millenniumon so dangerous, and one of the reasons why Ken was the best person to destroy him, was that he was created the same way that the Guardians were and as such was a vessel for all the programming of the Digital World."
Kari frowned and her eyes were troubled. "What do you mean, a 'vessel?' And why does that make Ken special?"
The traveler tilted his head back, cracking his neck, and took a deep breath. "Not just any Mega digimon can be a Guardian, you know. There are only four, and there can only be four. The . . . essence . . . spirit, if you will, of the Digital World is a part of them—it's in their code. Each of them has a little bit of something different, but they're all equal. It's rumored that Millenniumon was the Fifth Guardian, but he didn't want to share the world, but rather rule alone. He wanted a Digital World in his image instead of the combined and balanced image of all of the Guardians. The other Four banded together, stole most of his power, and cast him from the Outer Regions where they reside and made a Holy Pact to balance the Spheres between them and maintain the world together. That's why it the Sphere of Miracles was so very important. Miracles is the living embodiment of that Pact and is actually rumored to be the reservoir of Millenniumon 's power and function in his stead to balance the fifth realm of the Digital world. That is just rumor and hypothesizing, of course.
"The reason why I say that Ken was necessary for him to be defeated is because one of Ken's gifts is that he can see and manipulate the Code."
Ten pairs of curious eyes turned to Ken and the youngest Ichijouji merely shrugged indifferently. Cody eyed him oddly for a moment, something close to respect in his emerald orbs. "You can actually change code?"
"Not 'code,' " the genius corrected, speaking for only the second time since Gennai's tale had begun. " 'Code,' with a capital 'c.' And yeah, I can do it, but it takes quite a bit of energy and if I do it for prolonged periods of time I tend to get terrible migraines for weeks. Watching the Code isn't really any easier. I actually gave myself quite a start once and ended up going totally blind for four hours by straining myself."
Patamon watched the pale boy with a look of wonder. "Show us!" the batpig piped up eagerly.
The slender human blinked for a moment, startled. No one had ever asked him to show them before . . . He nodded. "Alright."
Gennai moved so that everyone could see Ken and the boy gently lifted his partner out of his lap and set him on the floor. He sat still for a moment, considering what he should do, then extended his arm straight out, hand clenched tight in a fist with the palm downward. Indigo eyes fluttered briefly as he slowly turned his hand until it was palm upwards, gingerly opening his fist as he did so.
The other Children watched in wonder. Dancing on the former despot's open palm was a large tongue of fire roughly six inches tall. As they watched, it gradually grew higher and higher until it was a small pillar of flames roughly two feet high. Then Ken sighed and it vanished.
"Cool!" declared Veemon enthusiastically. "Do s'more!"
"Do ice!" commanded Davis.
A mock glare was launched the goggle boy's way and Ken made a very odd face that would have been a pout on anyone else. "You would pick one of the hardest elements, wouldn't you?"
Without waiting for a response, Ken closed his eyes and laid both of his hands flat on the ground roughly a foot apart in front of him. He lifted his hands until they were both about two feet off the ground with the fingers splayed wide. A slight grimace twisted his delicate features unpleasantly and his eyelids bunched and wrinkled.
The air between Ken's hands and the ground began to tremble, like heat waves on a summer day. Then it began to sparkle as though glitter had been tossed on the floor and was being caught up in two miniature cyclones. The glitter began to clump together until two clear blue pillars stood between Ken's trembling hands and the floor. Gradually the pillars filled out, each growing separate shapes and angles as the ice took on forms and texture. Ken was sweating. Definite pictures were visible now—a flipper here, a mandible there—until two distinct, flawless life-sized ice sculptures were evident, one of Demiveemon, and the other of Minomon.
Ken's hands lifted slightly and then dropped to his sides and he slumped backwards, looking drained but extremely pleased with himself. The two rookie digimon approached their frosty in-training counterparts with expressions of dubious amazement. Wormmon pulled himself up on his back pods and rested his two front pods on the sculpture. He yelped when he made contact.
"That's cold!" he declared to no one in particular.
A tired chuckle left Ken's lips. "It's ice. You've seen me do this before, Wormmon."
The virus's eyes remained latched onto the Minomon replica. "But you never did me before."
Ken's eyes softened instantly and for a moment the Child of Kindness, the quiet gentle boy who had made his appearance at the Primary Village a few days past to greet his digimon, shone through. Lithe arms reached out and snagged the dumbfounded caterpillar in a gentle hug. "Well, now I have."
Gennai smiled. Through everything that had happened in that boy's life, there was one thing that nothing could change: when it came to his digimon, Ken simply had no defenses.
The soft look vanished, however, as soon as Ken's eyes latched onto the traveler's. The man sighed silently. No rest for the wicked . . .
Meanwhile, Veemon had pushed the Demiveemon replica to Davis who was loudly admiring it and passing it around. Cody held it up for inspection. "How did you do that?"
"It's magic," Armadillo said, leaning up for a closer look.
"It's not magic," his partner countered. Then he looked suddenly unsure of himself. He turned to Ken, a child's wonder on his face. "Is it?"
Another chuckle. "No, just control. And years of practice. All I did was summon some of the moisture in the air and drop the temperature a bit. The rest . . ." he shrugged, a tired motion, "I just made it do what I wanted."
"You just made it do what you wanted?" repeated Yolei as she took the sculpture from the youngest of the Digidestined.
"Yeah." Ken turned his eyes back to the traveler. "But we're off the subject."
Gennai bowed his head in admission and stepped back into the circle, easily reclaiming the spotlight. "As I was saying," he continued as Kari returned the statue to Davis, "Ken has an intuitive knowledge about most digimon because of his ability to tap into the Code of the Digital World."
"Is that the same code that's in the Guardians?" TK asked.
The traveler nodded reluctantly. "To an extent, yes." He didn't want to get into that discussion—that would be just plain dangerous. TK opened his mouth again, but Gennai overrode him. What is it about Takaishi that he knows how to ask all the right questions?
"Obviously, things worked out and Millenniumon was defeated. In fact, the final battle with Millenniumon occurred at the same time Angewoman first digivolved. After that, Ken was returned to the real world and a short time later—in Earth time, at least—Tai and Kari and the others were recalled to the Digital World to face Piedmon and later Apocalamon."
Ken watched Gennai for a moment, eyes glittering slits. The traveler had skipped a lot of things—things that he wanted to know. After nearly a full minute he spoke, a soft menacing purr in the silence. "What happened before that, traveler? Tell them what happened first."
Gennai looked at the slender boy and stiffened. This was it. This was the moment and they both knew it. It was time to confess his sins. Unconsciously the man straightened and stood up tall. He looked the Child of Kindness and Miracles dead in the eye. "Don't hate them. I did it on my own recognizance, Ken. I was the one who stole your memories."
"Wait a minute," Davis protested, cocking his head to the side. "You did what to the who now?"
Ken glared malevolently at the traveler. "How very anti-climactic of you, old man. I must admit, I was expecting something a bit better from you."
"You said that you wanted the truth."
"And you said that there's no such thing as the truth."
"Hey," Yolei barked in frustration, "mind cluing in the rest of us?"
Ken looked at her for a brief instant before his eyes flickered back to Gennai. "Yes, traveler. Would you mind?"
Gennai looked away. " . . . Things were hard, Ken."
The boy hugged Wormmon tight to his chest. "Things have always been hard. What happened next, Gennai?"
The man sighed. "The fight with Millenniumon was hard and both you and Ryou were badly injured." He closed his eyes. "In fact it was pretty touch and go for a while. Obviously you recovered and were sent home and Ryou was . . . sent away."
Ken glared at him, but knew that he would never be able to make his former mentor elaborate on that point.
"After the fight with Apocalamon, the Guardians decreed that the Crests would all have to be returned to their Spheres so that the Digital World could rejuvenate and recover. To this end, Kari and Gatomon, TK and Patamon, Tai and Agumon, and all of the others returned their Crests to their separate Spheres until they would be needed again."
Gatomon was studying the ground and Yolei looked from TK to Kari as something dawned upon her. "Oh!" the girl suddenly exclaimed, "that's why you two can only reach the Champion level."
TK blushed slightly and nodded.
"But then how did you two digivolve all the way when we were in America with Wallace?"* Davis demanded.
Ken surprised them all by answering, "The power responds to a need, not a desire. With the Crest, once a digimon has reached the next level in response to a need, the Crest helps to channel the mutual desire between partners. That's how they all could digivolve at will. The Armor digivolve process is different in that, while the need does not have to be present, the Armor's Trait has to strong within the Bearer. Thus Raindramon didn't digivolve until Davis understood Friendship and similarly Shurimon and Submarimon also remained dormant until their partner called upon their latent Traits."
Gennai looked down at his former protégé curiously. "That's right. How did you know that?"
A shrug. "I am a genius."
Gennai mentally added shrugging to his growing list of Detestable Body Language.
"But I don't recall drawing on Love or anything like that when Halsemon digivolved," Yolei informed him with a frown.
"I also have no such recollections for Digmon," Cody countered.
Ken grimaced a bit, but explained anyway. "That's because Love and Knowledge are your dominant Traits. You don't have to work at them. Look at Davis for example: he doesn't need to work at being courageous, he just is. That's an intrinsic and irrevocable part of who he is. He doesn't need to try, he simply exists. He makes no effort use Courage and his Armor responds to that."
Yolei shifted, still not satisfied. "But Kindness is your dominant Trait and you have to make an effort."
Wormmon stiffened defensively and Ken's eyes flashed in a dangerous manner. "I also don't have Armor, now do I?" he hissed.
Gennai quickly returned to the original thread of conversation before things could get ugly. "Actually, Kindness is not his dominant power—it's Miracles. It was decided," he said, resuming his gestures and pacing, "that the Halved Crest would remain with Ken while the Anti-Crest, Cruelty, stayed in the Digital World. In this fashion the Crest would act like a bind between the two Worlds. This however, meant that Ken would still have the ability to come and go as he pleased between worlds. To prevent this from happening, I . . . tricked Ken and tried to delete some of his memories. I then sent him along his merry little way. He had been in the Digital World for quite a while, although it only seemed like a few hours on Earth, but because he was from a different world, his body remained in tune with earth's time, so he didn't age.
"That—" the traveler stopped himself suddenly and shook his head, apparently not satisfied with what he had been going to say. "No," he contradicted himself to no one in particular. "Perhaps things might have worked out all right, perhaps not. Either way, we'll never know now. In any case, the mind wipe was incomplete and Ken retained bits and pieces of his time in the Digital World. The battle between Diaboromon and Omnimon over the Internet only served to further reawaken some of those memories. But they were corrupted—warped. Ken tried to return to the Digital World again for answers, but instead ended up being pulled into another dimension: the Dark World." Gennai looked at TK. "Thus was born the Digimon Emperor."
Gennai inhaled deeply, trying to gather his strength before continuing. "The Dark World . . . was destroyed—twisted—by the negative energies of the Dark One and his followers. It's like a virus, an ancient evil that permeates everything around it and seeps into the very stonework of the earth itself. When Ken appeared there he was already battling a darkness of his own—his own grief and guilt—and he was not strong enough to fight off the dark influence. Normally, his Crest would have helped him as it did Kari, but Ken's Crest was incomplete, remember, so it was actually fairly useless there.
"As I said before, Ken was kept as a link between the two worlds and could pass readily between dimensions, but now there were extenuating circumstances to be dealt with. There was the effects of the mind wipe, your own grief, guilt, and rage, the Dark Ocean's pull, the lack of balance in your Crest, the troubles in the Digital World, outside interference from the Real World, and a whole host of other things that I am unaware of. At the time, however, the Guardians needed a balancing force—something to prevent the Digital World from stagnating, plus they also wanted to see what the effects of the Dark Ocean were," here he turned to TK, "so, yes, to answer your question, Takeru, we were aware of the Emperor. We allowed him to come to power because we thought that we would be able to control him, contain him. Obviously, we were wrong. To make matters worse, the dark energy of the Control Spires actually ended binding the Guardians and preventing them from intervening in the events of the Digital World. Something had to be done."
Yolei's eyes held silent accusations. "So you called us to clean up your mess."
The traveler nodded wearily. "So we called you. I believe that you all know the rest."
"The power source?" prompted Armadillomon.
Gennai stretched a bit cracking his back. He suddenly looked old and haggard. "That was actually the Crest of Cruelty—Ken's Anti-Crest. When the Crest of Kindness was brought closer to it, they couldn't merge again properly, so they fused together and made that thing. The corruption is the same as with the Black Digivice: they reflect the turmoil in Ken's soul." Gennai then frowned and blinked as something suddenly occurred to him. He turned to Ken, mentally noting how exhausted the boy looked. "Just how did you get hold of that, anyway?"
"Hmm?" Ken looked up, eyes slightly vague as he tried to pull himself out of his memories. "The Power Source? Oh," he shrugged indifferently, "I found that in the Server Dessert one day—about three miles to the Northwest of here, I believe. Why do you ask?"
The adult eyed him closely. "Was it like that at first? Black, I mean?"
"No. It was . . . glowing, I think. It pulled me to it." He shook his head as though trying to clear his thoughts. "I'm sorry. I don't quite remember very much from that time."
Gennai nodded. "It was looking for the Crest of Kindness to complete itself. The Crest of Kindness must have been slightly warped by its exposure to the Dark Ocean. That must be what prevented the merger from happening properly."
"But his Crest turned into a golden Digi-egg!" Davis protested. "How did that happen?"
Veemon thumped his tail on the ground. "And how come I could digivolve, too?"
Gennai sighed heavily. "That was a reaction to Davis."
The brown-eyed boy started. "I didn't do anything!"
"That's not what I meant, Davis." He leveled a piercing gaze at the Child of Friendship and Courage. "Haven't you ever wondered why Veemon and Agumon were so powerful? The only digimon who stand close are Gabumon, Patamon, and eventually Wormmon, if he ever reaches his full potential."
Ken looked startled and Davis frowned. "No. Not really."
The traveler resisted the urge to groan. He could feel a migraine coming on—he knew he could. Or maybe he was lucky and it was just a tumor. "The thing that was the Power Source was a perverted Crest—it was impure. You exemplify your Traits, Davis, just like Tai, Matt, and Ken did before you, and you and TK continue to do. The closer you are to your Trait, the stronger your digimon are because you can tap into more power than others can. Just as Wormmon's weakening was a direct result of Ken's relationship to Kindness and Miracles, Veemon's strength is a direct result of your relationship to Courage and Friendship.
"The Crest of Miracles—what you call the Golden Digi-Egg—responded to that and was able to cast of the Darkness that had enshrouded it for so long."
Davis blinked. "Oh."
Veemon thumped his tail again. "But why did I digivolved?"
I will not lose my patience; I will not lose my patience . . . "Miracles is a neutral Crest. It can be used in conjunction with any Digital Armor because all of the Traits of the main Crest help to compose it. This makes Miracles extremely strong, but also extremely weak."
Kari bit her lip. "What do you mean?"
"The components of all the Crests are present in Miracles. But so are the components of all the Anti-Crests, as well. So not only does Ken have to deal with fighting his own innate Cruelty, but also Darkness, Cowardice, Isolation, Hate, Impurity, Ignorance, and Skepticism. Everyday, all of you have to face your own demons. For Kari, it's more difficult because it's not only her personal darkness that she's fighting; it's Darkness as a whole. Ken's task is equally difficult, because he has to deal with all those things. Thankfully, Light's influence on Miracles is not so strong that he has to deal with external Darkness, but if either of them slips for even an instant . . . Well you saw it for yourselves. That's why Hope is so very important, not just to them, but to all of you. Hope helps you all fight that Darkness within yourselves. But your Friendship, Love, Faith, Purity, Grace, Courage, Knowledge, and Kindness all help stop Hope from sliding into Despair.
"Miracles normally channels another Armor onto its bearer's digimon. It was necessary, however, to use Davis because he was the strongest in his Traits and his bond with Veemon is incredibly powerful. Actually, it could not have happened at all without Wormmon's betrayal or Ken's subconscious desire for it to occur."
"I do remember that little fiasco," Ken broke in crisply, "and I don't recall losing to be on the agenda."
Gennai looked at him levelly. "No offense, Ken, but you weren't exactly of sound mind during that 'little fiasco,' so it's possible. You'll just have to take my word for it." He turned back to Veemon who appeared to be mulling that over. "Understand?"
"So that means that Ken can armor digivolve with our digimentals?" Yolei asked.
The traveler nodded. "If he awakens those Traits within him, yes."
Ken blinked and turned to regard each of the Digidestined in turn. Friendship, Hope, Love, Faith, Purity, and Light . . .? He smirked bitterly. "I don't see that happening."
Maroon eyes hardened to ruby quartz and Kari cast Ken a hard glare from across the circle. "What's the matter, Ken? Don't you believe in Miracles?"
He glared at her. She was not impressed.
Gennai frowned. One way or another, this was going to degenerate into a fight rather quickly if they didn't all get some sleep soon. And tomorrow was going to be a very long day. He looked down at Ken, wincing to see how the cold boy's shoulders drooped and his eyelids fluttered. "Time to go to bed," the man said firmly.
Ken tore his gaze from Kari's and for a minute it looked like he'd protest. Then he merely shrugged. "Very well."
Gatomon's tail twitched. "But where do we sleep?"
"I took care of that this afternoon," Wormmon replied as he wiggled his way free of Ken's lap. "I converted a storage area into a bedroom for you all." He waved a pod. "I can show you the way if you follow me."
Ken looked up at Gennai. "Do you have anymore to say?" The man shook his head. "Then I say we all get what rest we can. We'll be there in a few hours."
"Where's there?" TK asked as he stood and adjusted his hat.
"The Dark Whirlpool."
Everyone froze. Veemon fidgeted. "Your kidding . . . right?"
The Ninth Child stood up and cracked his neck. "No. How else to you think we can get to the Dark Ocean?"
Gennai sighed as the other Children avoided Ken's piercing gaze. "We'll discuss this tomorrow. I think that we'll all agree that it's been a very long day."
"I'll show you the way," Wormmon said as he puttered out. "Follow me."
The others picked up their respective digimon and belongings and followed the little green virus out the sliding doors. "It's right near Ken-chan's room," he informed them as he puttered out. "So if you need anything then you can—"
The door slid shut, cutting off his words and leaving Ken and Gennai alone.
"Happy now?" the older human asked his former protégé.
Ken looked at him expressionlessly for a time. "No. You're still hiding things. It's alright, though. I think I have to do this myself. It was foolish of me to believe that I could just have everything—anything—handed to me on a silver platter."
"Just because you're doing it yourself doesn't mean that you're alone, Kenny-boy."
The Child turned away. Gennai looked at Ken sadly for a long, long time and the boy crossed his arms around his waist and looked blankly at the black window.
"You looked like hell," Ken said, his words cold and awkward after the deep silence. "When I woke up, I mean. What happened?"
"I . . ." Gennai shifted uncomfortably. "I just remembered a few things that I had forgotten, that's all. And you, Ken? What did you dream about?"
The dark-haired youth didn't move. "Myself," he responded without missing a beat. "The past, the future. My destiny."
"And what did you see?"
"I saw nothing, Gennai." For once he said the name without rancor or scorn. He sounded old then—tired and used up. "I didn't see anything at all."
Gennai looked at his back for a minute and then turned around and began to walk towards the door. He stopped in the doorway and looked back. Ken still remained in the same spot. The traveler hit the light switch, plunging the room into darkness.
"Get some sleep, Ken." He turned away then, the door whispering shut behind him and leaving Ken alone in the dark.
The Child of Kindness and Miracles stared out of the window for a very long time without seeing anything. "But there's no need for turning back / 'cuz all roads lead to where I stand / and I believe I'll walk them all / No matter what I may have planned . . ."
**************
Gennai stood alone in the engine room. It was gone. Somehow, somebody had gotten here first. He felt weak in the knees.
What's the matter, traveler? You look like you've seen a ghost.
The man closed his eyes. "Where is it, Osamu?"
Where's what?
He spun around to glare at the ghost. "Damnit, where is the Crest of Cruelty?"
Osamu glared back, unperturbed. How should I know?
Gennai felt a surge of anger go through him. "Ichijouji, we need that! Without it—"
I am well aware of what will happen, traveler.
They stared at one another for a moment and the tension was palpable. Gennai was the first to break the silence. "What exactly is your agenda, anyway?"
Redemption. What's yours?"The salvation of both worlds," he answered without hesitation.
Bullshit, Osamu drawled calmly. Whose salvation are you after, guardian?
"I could ask you the same thing, Osamu. What exactly did you do that was so bad? You said that you hurt Ken: how? What are you hiding?"
The boy looked away. It seems that we both have our secrets then. After a moment of silence, he looked back up. But I do want the Children to succeed. The Crest of Cruelty is in safe hands. Your . . . lady friend was after it. A friend of mine interfered and removed it from this plane. As to what he did with it afterwards, I couldn't tell you.
"But Ken needs it."
I know. My friend will see to it that he gets it. The Dark One must be stopped for everyone sake, not just Ken and the Spirit World's. His violet eyes regarded the traveler calmly and he tilted his head to the side. If you interfere with that, I will find a way to kill you.
Gennai gritted his teeth. There was no doubt in his mind that Sam was dead serious and that he both could and would do it. The man turned around to go. He stepped out into the dim hallway and looked back. "I think I'm beginning to understand why he hated you so much, Osamu," he said calmly. "You can be a real asshole."
Osamu glared at him. I have always done what I must to protect my little brother, traveler. Whether he liked it or not.
The door slid shut and Gennai walked away. He had a bad feeling about this, a very bad feeling indeed.
Outside the world raced past on its way to the inevitable.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
