Disclaimer: Digimon, its characters, themes and ideas don't belong to us. All original characters and the plot are belonged to us… or better yet, the main two original characters =are= us. *winks*

Rating: PG-13 - R NOT for sexual content.

Couples: Kensuke *Insert confetti, OJ and Herbal Essence here*

Nemesi's Note: *chants* Torture-torture…

Raptor's Note: Looks like things are really going to start moving now! Hang on, this looks like it's going to be a bumpy ride…

Opening Pandora's Box - Chapter 2

by Nemesi and Raptor Darkshadow

It was a gray, rainy day outside and the sound of water drumming on the roof echoed in the silent, desert rooms. It fell in flashing silver sheets beyond the fogged glass, laying a layer of coldness over the city. But he felt something more then the coldness of his surrounding, an internal coldness gripping him tightly.

Parked in front of the window, Daisuke stared out at the light, silvery rain that had kept him trapped home. He took in a deep breath, smelling snow on the air, feeling the cold run

all the way down into his lungs. Tipping his favorite old cup, one he'd had ever since he was a kid, up to his lips, he sipped on his hot cocoa, eyes hooked on the frosting panorama outside.

Suddenly, his eyes clouded, and with a closer look it was easy to guess why. They were placed, unseeing, on the blurred shape of the Zoo's cages, ethereal ghosts hidden behind the veil of falling droplets. With a sigh Daisuke placed his cup down thoughtlessly, not even paying heed on where he actually had set it.

Inwardly, he was sighing, screaming, and rage boiled inside him, activating a chain reaction with his guilt that left him frowning.

"Damn." He muttered, rubbing his palms along his arms in order to get rid of a coldness buried too deep inside him to disappear at the touch.

Hikari, Takeru, Miyako, Iori, Yamato, Taichi… each and every digidestined… gone. Captured and brought away by the army. And not even one of the digimon had made it out the Zoo either, beside Veemon and Wormmon. And for how egoistic that could sound, Daisuke felt a bit relieved they were the ones to make it.

Staring out in the livid sky with a sigh, the boy wondered if the two mysterious figures, the girl and the digimon that had found he and Ken in their hiding place in the thick, dark vegetation of the park, were right about them being safe. Or better =still= safe, like the blue dragon had stated quietly, glazing at the sky with distant gingery eyes. But they were there up to try and save them, the strawberry blonde girl had said with a small smile.

Shivering, and cursing himself for not being able to do anything, Daisuke shot up to his feet, his blanket sliding noiselessly out his shoulders to pool on the ground. Slow, calibrate steps brought him to his bedroom, and once there he actually had to take a deep breath before pushing the door open. Couldn't that was only a dream? Yeah, that was it, a bad dream. Now he'd enter his room, go to bed despite being it early in the morning, and when he'd wake up, it would be because Takeru was phoning him, reminding him he had promised to go and see his basket game.

And after he'd slammed the phone on his face, Miyako would call him, overexcited, warning him not to be late or he'd pay the consequences. And finally, grumbling, he'd get up, only to see Ken smile up at him from the little futon they used whenever he slept over. Right. That was reality.

//This is only a bad dream…// he thought, pushing the door open.

…but dreams don't leave a girl in a clown outfit sneaking on chocolate poky on your bed, do them?

"Agh! No, please leave that alone, it's Chibimon's personal box of chocolate!" Daisuke shrieked, palms held up defensively.

"So?" The girl replied, plopping a chocolate in her mouth. "He'll yell at me once he wakes up, what's the matter?" she smiled, and Daisuke realized with a little frown that her face never -never- seemed to hold a different expression. Then it stuck him. The faint innuendo in her words. =When= he wakes up, she had said. That meant... he WAS about to wake up.

Unable to help himself, Daisuke grinned, feeling cheerful all of a sudden. And the more she smiled at him, the more his lost confidence would pour inside him.

"Yup." He said with a nod, still grinning madly. "And be ready 'cuz he's gonna put up a show you won't forget easily." Letting loose a crystalline chuckle, the girl rolled onto her back and swung her legs off Daisuke's bed, reaching down to a sleeping Veemon to run a finger across his stomach.

"Oh, I'm ready to face every danger." She smiled, tickling the small digimon. Drooling, the bluish lizard tossed in his sleep, reaching down to scratch his belly, just were the girl was touching him. And when she moved away with a chuckle, he turned around, laying on his back with a snore, his tail waving for a moment before collapsing across his back.

Happy that Veemon seemed alright, despite being asleep since the day before, Daisuke grabbed his computer chair and spun it around to straddle it, resting his chin on his folded arms. The girl absently plopped another chocolate in her mouth, making a delighted little smile.

"You'd better enjoy them till you can." Daisuke grinned, and the girl cast a quizzical look a him, making his grin develop in a mischievous smirk. "I think they were stored for some important occasion."

Silently, the girl placed her hands on the edge of the bed, just between her legs, and hold onto it tightly. Supporting her weight on her hands, she lowered her feet from the floor and then her legs from the mattress, always unhurriedly. Daisuke blinked as she swiftly turned completely upside down, and stood like that for few seconds, before spreading her legs. She slid off his bed, landing lightly on one tiptoe. Her other leg moved down, her knee bent, her back arched, and the girl let go of the bed, raising up without further delay, her foot tapping on the floor with a faint noise.

"You're so sweet, Dai-chan." She smiled, rubbing her pointy shoe against the floor, and leaned slightly forward, clasping her hands behind her back. "Despite your digimon was trapped in the other world you still kept storing chocolate so that he'd find it if he came back!"

Daisuke blushed, blinked, stuttered, stared and gasped at once, and the girl giggled. Spreading out her arms, she did a swift backflip and landed on one feet on the chair at the bedside, and carefully balanced herself on the small edge of its back. She began walking back and forth, a concentrated and yet cheerful expression on her face.

"Dude!" Daisuke stuttered, finally past the initial surprise. "How do you do that?" Jumping back down on the floor, the girl twirled a finger in the light brown curls that escaped from under her hat, tipping her head to a side. The golden balls that adorned her outfit tinkled as they bumped against each other or against her body, creating a strangely musical noise.

Holding out her arms, she posed for him, swinging left and right, as if to show him her deep crimson and white costume.

"I'm an acrobat, Dai-chan, couldn't you tell?" Daisuke wondered briefly who exactly gave her the right to call him Dai-chan when they had meet only few hours before and hadn't even introduced themselves yet. The auburn haired boy opened his mouth, about to ask her more about herself, when she swirled around again, clasped her hands behind her back and paced toward his bed.

One there she uncaringly flopped down on it, and smiled up at Daisuke sweetly, answering and yet not answering the questions still in the process of forming inside his mind. "I'm a clown, right? And a clown must me agile to play her tricks."

"Tricks?" She nodded, winking at him. Daisuke leaned closer, and with a smirk she cocked her head to a side, faking a surprised expression.

"Ohh! What is it behind your ear?" The amber skinned boy touched his ear uncertainly and found nothing, but when she put her own hand to his ear and then took it away, there was a chocolate for him to take.

Daisuke stared at her for a second, an eyebrow raised uncertainly, and then took it slowly, uncertain. "Uh… thanks." She smiled at him, encouraging him.

"Nothing!" She bouncing once when she jumped on the bed, stretching like a tired cat.

Daisuke took his time to his time to study her. She was an unusual one, somewhat of an eye's delight to gawk at, but more of an odd and funny character. She seemed just a little older than him and as it was easy to tell from her agility and her incredibly bizarre outfit, she was a clown. Golden balls and bells adorned her costume and the weird thing was that they didn't tinkle whenever she moved… it seemed they did only when she thought they should. You know, as if to add effect to whatever she was doing.

An oversized three-pointed had stood on her head, golden brown curls escaping it to tickle her cheeks and just as golden spikes falling over he forehead. Her heart shaped face was round and clean if not for the tattoos grazing her forehead and her left cheek. And sapphire eyes twinkled with mirth in the young face.

//A little like Ken's…// Daisuke thought. //Okay, less deep, less bright, less sparkling, less hypnotizing, less stunningly filled with emotion, but still…//

But what really caught his attention were her lips, stretched in an endless smile.

"Are you always so cheerful?" He asked, the words leaving his mouth in a rush, without crossing his mind first. The girl cracked one eye open, gawking at him curiously.

"Uh?"

"I mean…" Daisuke moved up to his feet, turned the chair around and sat on it as it should be, slamming his hands on his knees. He gestured vaguely at her, then at himself and finally shrugged at loss of words. The girl rolled around, resting her chin in her palms.

"What's the fun in bein' worried? If I worry and you worry and we all worry, we'd be all worried abut whatever worried us and 'bout each other too!"

"Uhn?" Dazed, Daisuke regarded her with a confused look, refusing to admit there was a strange, twisted logic in that absurd statement.

"Besides," She smiled, again, even if, thinking about it, had she ever stopped? "A clown that isn't cheerful, isn't a clown. Is my duty to cheer up people."

"It is?"

"Yup." The girl nodded fervently, the bells attached to her hat singing happily. "And you haven't been really bothered as before since you've entered this room, now have you?"

"Kinda." He admitted with a nod, and she beamed at him, proud and happy. "But…" Daisuke shook his head, not understanding what she was hinting to. "How can you be not worried? The digimon are back in the real world after years, the army has both the chose digimon and the chose children and…" The boy frowned, deep in thought. "And you let your digimon go away like that?"

"Hm?" The clown girl rose to a seated position, blinking. "You mean Aro-kun? Oh, why should I be worried 'bout him? He's one of the moooooooost powerful vaccine 'dramon 'round!" She said confidently, illustrating her point with her hands. "And he's a Mega too!" She added, enthusiast, her palms meeting with a clapping sound in front of her face. "So there's no need to worry, your Ken-chan's safe and sound with Arodramon!"

"Arodramon you say?" Daisuke muttered, his brain accepting the new information. Mega. 'Dramon. Vaccine. Very powerful. Hopefully, on their side, or so it seemed.

In front of him, the girl waited, watching a multitude of expression play over his honey brown features, until they settled in one of confusion. "My Ken-chan?" the only reply he got was a giggle, and a girl rolling on his bed, clutching her sides.

"Whatcha mean?" Waving her hands dismissively, she laid down on her stomach, flipping through the pages of one of Daisuke's manga and plopping chocolate on her mouth with her other hand, occasionally reaching down to tickle Veemon's belly or to offer him a chocolate, a gesture he would accept gratefully even in his deep slumber.

"Oi! Dun' ignore me!"

"A'm not ignoring you, chere." She replied, still not looking up from her comic. "A'm only giving you privacy."

"Pri--?" Daisuke reeled backward, confused.

"To make your phone call, silly! You need peace and silence, don't you?"

"Phone call?"

"To hear how Ken's doin'." She replied, rolling her eyes good naturedly.

"But I wasn't…"

"Well, now you are." She waved him away, a fake pout on her face. "Go, go! Call him and then report the situation, it's clear you're dying to hear him!" And with a smirk she went back to her previous activities, giggling at the comic, the chocolate and Veemon's snoring sounds.

Daisuke glared at her unbelievingly for a moment. Then he glared mock-angrily, and then surrendered to his worry, bolting for the phone. Unknown to him, sapphire eyes squinted at his dashing form, and for once, the smile on that face was mirthless.

* * * * *

Ken ran his fingertips down his digimon's side, feeling him shiver in response. The purple haired boy saw the caterpillar's face contort in a weak grimace, and wondering if it was out of pain, or perhaps he could sensing his closeness even when unconscious, Ken hold him close, guiding Wormmon's face to the hollow of his neck.

For a moment, when he had first been able to hold Wormmon in the silent shadows of the night before, Ken had thought for an endless, terrible moment the digimon might be dead, before he detected a very faint rise and fall of his chest. And in that moment he felt like something had came over him, cold and burning at once. Like his whole body was being scratched by hundreds claws and he had fallen on his knees, emotionally worn out.

"Something's troubling you I think, right?" Arodramon murmured in that quiet, low voice of his, and when Ken's tear-streaked face snapped up it was to align amethyst eyes to gingery ones. Ken found himself shivering, for those eyes were too deep to even began to describe them. They were serious and yet kind, and possessed a flame that left the former Emperor speechless. The digimon had pulled his sword free of its sheath, and was polishing it intently, a thoughtful look crossing his countenance. Ken studied him a little, following his azure fingers as they dealt and moved over the razor-edge of the opalescent blade without so much as a paper cut to show for it.

Eyeing Ken curiously from where he sat in bed, actually watching his reflection on the rainbow-tinted metal of the blade, that shimmered like it was a soap bubble forged into steel, Arodramon drew back his lips in a smirk, waking Ken to the present.

"…It's nothing, I'll handle it…" the boy murmured with a sniffle, wiping at his puffy red eyes.

"Perhaps you may let your roommate know what is that would will handle." The dragon said, keen eyes scanning his surroundings. Again Ken shrugged, holding Wormmon even closer to his chest. "It's human you know?" Arodramon shrugged, slipping the sword into the scabbard that was strapped onto the back of his waist. "Those feelings you have for him, I mean." The blue dragon prompted, smiling a little.

For a long moment, Ken just stared. Then, his cheeks colored and the boy ducked his head, letting his hair sliding forward to provide him shelter from the ginger gaze.

"Oh… uh… ah… err… w-what feelings? I don't have feelings for Daisuke…"

"Who said I was talking about him?" Ken's cheeks flamed, and he felt like he was about to turn on fire. Surprised he stuttered, and then dared to look up, watching as the digimon's bluish lips drew back in a smile that made him seem both kind and mischievous at the same time.

"I… er… uh… you know no other digidestined, so… I thought…"

"I do." He shrugged, folding his arms against his chest with nonchalance.

"But… but I didn't know! And… and I've no feelings for Daisuke, thought!!" Arodramon chuckled briefly, raising an inquirer eyebrow at the flushed boy.

"Oh? He's not your fried, then? Friendship *is* a feeling, you know?" A whimper was all the boy offered and he remained quiet, his hands paused over Wormmon's body, before slowly and deliberately getting up, sighing as he laid the sleeping digimon carefully on the chair he'd been hoisting and walked over the window.

"I… I'm really grateful… for what Dai…" Ken licked his lips, debating over using or not Daisuke's full name or the nickname he alone was permitted to use. "Daisuke… did for me. He saved me from my darkness, and I… appreciate him a lot for that… I… uhm… I… care… for him, yes… he… uhm… is my… best…" Ken lowered his eyes to his hand, placed on the window pan. "Only… friend." A sound bounced out Arodramon's throat as he reclined back, deep in thought.

The rain had stopped, decreasing to a gentle shower at first, and then disappearing, leaving the saturated ground a pause to rest. Ken looked out at the water pooled at water gathered around the edges of the panes of the window, and finally closed his eyes, trying to shut out the thought of his… friend? Was Daisuke really just that to him? …alone in that rain and cold.

"I wonder… how he's." The boy stated quietly, and at this Arodramon smirked, crossing his arms behind his head and leaning against them.

"Oh, Tsuki's surely pestering him to madness." He stated, confidently. "But I bet he's too worried about you to notice what she's really doing."

"What--" Ken turned around, few questions on his lips, when the phone ringed, insistently.

Amethyst eyes flickered to it and then back to the blue dragon, and found him smirking knowingly. He stretched and gestured to the source of the ringing, and the eyes followed the motion to the black phone before pulling it up and answer.

"Moshi, moshi. Ichijouji residence." The purple eyes widened then, and searched the blue digimon again, filled with stupor. "D-D-Dai-chan…?" The digimon smiled, an amused expression on his face. "O-Of course… n-no he's still sleeping… no, I'm alright… you… you were worried about me…?!" Satisfied, Arodramon looked away, a bright I_told_you_so_didn't_I_ look on his face. Ken paid him almost no heed at all, his attention diverged on the smooth voice flowing out the mouthpiece that managed to even make him smile weakly.

That until a squeaked "Ni-hao, Ken-chan!!!" and the following raw about whose was the telephone, who had it first, what was the right way to treat a Lady, where that above-mentioned Lady should be since Daisuke could see none, and who of the two duelists had the right to call Ken "Ken-chan" made him burst into helpless laughter. After an endless series of muttered curses, threats, squeaks and giggles later, a female voice greeted Ken cheerfully. Laughter still erupting from the purple haired boy's mouth, he covered it politely, holding the phone out for the Arodramon.

"For you, I think." With a grin the digimon took the telephone from Ken's hand and looked at the boy giggling quietly as he returned to his chair, taking the still sleeping caterpillar in his arms.

#Aro-kun!!#

"Tsuki?"

#The one and only!! News?#

Arodramon shook his head. "No, I…" In that exact moment, Koushiro's laptop woke up to life, "bip"ing and thrilling madly. "…I think we just received the news we were expecting."

#Cool!! What happened?# Arodramon reached down for the laptop, scanning intently the information flooding the screen.

"It seems the child of Knowledge e-mailed our situation to a probable ally. And…" The dragon like digimon pressed few keys in a succession, quickly absorbing whatever information he was reading. "And he's up to meet the chosen children. Suppose he doesn't know about us or about the digidestined being captured, though. He offered Koushiro to meet him in a place called Okutama."

"Okutama is a little town a hour from Tokio by train." Ken offered timidly, still caressing Wormmon's belly with tender care. Arodramon nodded and proceeded to update his partner on the other side of the line. She grinned, even thought he couldn't see her, and waved at Daisuke, winking at him.

"Reunion time!" she cheered, and few minutes later both trios, Daisuke, the clown girl and a drooling/sleeping Veemon and Ken, Arodramon and a still drowsy Wormmon, had packed few goods and were heading to an abandoned building yard halfway through Odaiba and Tamachi.

In Daisuke's house, the TV the boy had carelessly left on, was buzzing insistently, showing scenes of exaggerated agitation.

::…We're sorry to update the civilization with the list of casualties from the Monster attacks. Our prayers goes to the families of,

Hida Iori,

Ishida Yamato,

Inoue Miyako,

Izumi Koushiro,

Kamiya Taichi,

Kamiya Hikari,

Kido Jyou,

Tachikawa Mimi,

Takaishi Takeru,

Takenouchi Sora.

Also, we're asking the population to remain at home and don't wander in the streets, for the army is inspecting the city in search of two dangerous rebels, that from now on must be regarded as enemy of the whole Japan if not the World itself. We're sorry to inform you that the boy-genius Ichijouji Ken, and the promise of the junior soccer Motomiya Daisuke are currently wanted by the law forces. Whoever finds them is warmly asked to thinks about their safety first and evade them, and then inform the police immediately…::

* * * * *

He didn't know how long that they had been sitting there. It could have been only a few hours, it might have been several. Not that it really mattered. He looked to his left, then to his right. He and the rest of the Digidestined were in a line, seated side by side in a row of twelve comfortably padded chairs. He had noticed however, that the two on the end were conspicuously empty.

Taichi looked at the room they were seated in. It was large room, easily twenty-five meters on a side. The chairs they were sitting on were in the center of the room, so needless to say there was lots of empty space. On the wall to his right was the door they had come in through, the wall to the left and the wall behind them were featureless, and in front of them, the wall looked like it was divided into several metal doors. Even though he had done it several times since they had been brought in here, he forced himself to count them again. Twelve. Twelve chairs, twelve doors, twelve Digidestined. It didn't take a genious like Ken or Koushiro to figure out that those were probably the doors that led to the cells that they would be kept in as soon as whoever had captured them was finished questioning them.

He looked down at his hands. The cuffs were gone-they had been removed shortly after they had been brought into the room, one by one, and they had been replaced by strange looking metal gloves. They went to the middle of their forearms, and were made of shiny metal that looked like stainless steel. When they had first put the gloves on his hands, he had thought that they were there to keep him from moving his hands, but he had been surprised to discover that they had so many joints that they were fully articulated, not hindering his movements at all. The soldiers that had shoved the gloves on his hands had then pushed his wrists together and pressed two buttons on each glove in succession. The first had activated something that Koushiro had tentatively identified as what he thought was an electro-magnet of some kind. The second had caused a small green light on each glove to turn on, but other than that, not even Koushiro was willing to hazard a guess as to what it meant.

He tried for about the tenth time to pull his wrists apart-if he could get free, he was sure that he could find Agumon and get everyone out safely. But for the tenth time, he just strained and strained, grunting with exertion as he grit his teeth and nothing happened.

He was sure that they didn't have much time before whoever it was that had captured them was finished questioning them and threw them into their cells. But so far they had only been asked one question.

The tall man with the hungry shark smile sat in front of them, looking quite comfortable on a folding chair that he had carried in himself. He was smiling now, as he had been since they had come in, and it didn't look like he would be stopping any time soon.

"I know that you know where the other two are," the tall man stated, "And it's only a matter of time before we figure out who and where they are, but it would be so much easier for all of us if you just told me now."

He was answered with silence as they just stared at him. He looked back, "Anyone?"

More silence, "Well," he chuckled, we can come back to that later then."

Taichi broke the silence, "Will you shut up already?"

The man just smiled, "I'm sorry?"

"We've been here for hours, and all you've said is, 'Where are your friends? Where are your friends? Where are your friends?' I'm getting sick of this!"

"Is there something else that you'd like to talk about?" he asked.

"I have an idea," Yamato stated, scowling at the man, "How about we talk about you letting us go, because we have families and friends that will miss us and cause a major incident when we don't come home?"

"Oh," the man crossed his legs, "You mean how they're going to call the police, and the media, and have everyone looking for you because you're missing?"

"Exactly," Yamato said, still scowling even though his voice was conversational, almost casual.

"And how I should just let you go now so that I can avoid a lot of trouble when everyone finds out where you are and that I kidnapped you?"

"Now you're getting it," Yamato stated.

The man gave a dramatic sigh as he uncrossed his legs, setting his hands on his knees, "Well, you see, that's not something that we have to worry about."

Miyako blinked, "What do you mean? I know that at least my parents are going to look for me!"

In response, the man just motioned for a few of the roughly three or four dozen soldiers that were in the room-standing behind the chairs so that if any of the Digidestined try to stand they could grab their shoulders and shove them back down (which they had a few times). Two soldiers came into view, pushing a large screen TV on a rolling stand before them. One plugged the monstrous screen into the wall as the other handed an unmarked video cassette to the man. He took it and shoved it into the slot below the screen, nodding to the soldiers after he had turned it on. Without a word, the soldiers retreated back out of sight.

The man sighed dramatically, "I'm sorry to say that no one is going to come looking for you," he stated, "There will be no calls to the police, the media won't be showing any reports about missing children."

He pressed play, and the Digidestined watched the screen in silence, none of them believing a word he had said.

It looked like a news report, showing average news, nothing spectacular, until the anchorman accepted a sheet of paper from someone off camera. He scanned the page for a second, then looked back up at the camera with a haggard look, "This just in," he began.

The Digidestined watched with a growing sense of unreality as the anchorman reported that they had all been killed in the monster attack, saying that their prayers went out to their families, and he seemed to say that the families of the deceased would need all their prayers and support in the days to come without saying it out loud. Each sat up straighter when their name was called, as if an electric surge had just ran up their spine.

After the short report, the anchorman shuffled the papers in front of him around for a second, then quietly handed the show over to another anchorman for the latest in sports. The man pressed a button on the front of the TV, and the picture disappeared, reduced to a shining dot in the center of the screen that slowly faded out.

He sighed again, "I'm afraid that you're dead."

They stared at him in silence for a few minutes.

Sora was the one that finally broke the silence, "Who are you?"

The man smiled at her, taking his seat again as two soldiers came up and removed the TV-they didn't know and didn't care if it was the same two, this whole thing had suddenly taken on the quality of a dream. He sat in silence for a minute, then straightened his jacket, "My name is Katsuhiro, and I have something of a business proposition for you."

"What do you want from us?" Hikari asked.

Katsuhiro smiled, "Now that's more like it," he stood and turned so they were looking at his back.

"How much do you know about our history?" he asked, "How much do you know about our military?" he looked over his shoulder at them, "How much?"

The Digidestined blinked at him, and exchanged looks, wondering where this was headed now that he was no longer asking where their friends were.

He turned and looked away with a sigh, "I didn't think that you would know much," he whispered, "So let me fill you in on the details. We have always been a proud people, strong, independent, honorable. This was also true of our military. Strong proud men, every one of them," he sighed, "Until World War II."

He turned to look at them, "After we surrendered, the Americans came and helped us write a constitution. A constitution that they dictated, that they wanted, that they controlled. A constitution that limited the military to a mere fraction of its former size," he frowned, "Compared to most of the armies in the world, ours is nothing, not enough to stand up to anyone. That was how the Americans wanted it. They wanted their former enemy weak so that it could never threaten them again. They did learn from the mistakes they had made with Germany after World War I though, so the stipulations that they placed in the constitution weren't enough to incite us to arms a second time.

"Let's talk arms. We have no nuclear missiles, because our constitution stipulates that we can never build, buy, sell, or possess nuclear arms. Submarines; sure, we have some deisels out there, but we don't have any nuclear submarines because of the constitution, and we certainly don't have any Boomers-otherwise known as Ballistic Missile Submarines, you know, the kind that can launch missiles-nuclear missiles, because of the constitution.

"Even now, even when they have limited our army, our airforce, our navy, they still come to us for their electronics. When they need a new video game, or a new TV, or a new CD player, or a new DVD player, who do they turn to? Japan. They get electronics from us because we can build it faster, cheaper, and better than they can.

"And because of the constitution, they have always had what we have not."

The Digidestined stared at him and looked at each other, wondering what the constitution and this view of history had to do with them.

Katsuiro paused after his impassioned speech and smiled, "Well, now we have something that the Americans don't! Now we have the ability to rebuild our military to its former glory, rebuild so that its something to be proud of once again! We are now the only nation with the ability to build the strongest army on the face of the planet, because we are the only nation that has Digimon!"

There it was. That was why he wanted them. That was why he had gone to such trouble to find them and capture them, and why he wanted to find Ken, Daisuke, Wormmon, and Veemon so badly. He wanted all of them. And they had all played right into his hands.

"All right," Taichi said, "Now that we know the history, and we know that we're the only country with Digimon, what do you want with us?"

Katsuhiro smiled his hungry shark smile at the boy, "That's the business proposition that I was talking about earlier. You see, just having these Digimon and the children that are bonded with them isn't enough."

"What more do you need?" Yamato glared.

Katsuhiro met the icy stare with his warm smile, "I need your help. You see, with your help we can bring more Digimon into this world-don't tell me it's impossible, we have extensive documents on the two times it has happened already. With your help, you, your Digimon, and the Digimon that you can bring into this world, we have the potential to build an army of Digimon equal to any army the world has ever known. With you leading them, the Digimon could do anything," he extended his hands, "With you as my generals, leading legions of Digimon, we could rebuild our army to the glory of days that have been forgotten by most!"

"I thought you said that the constitution limited the military," Jyou said.

Katsuhiro raised an eyebrow at the blue haired teen, "It does, but the constitution doesn't say anything about Digimon and Digidestined!"

Realization swept through the collected Digidestined. He wanted them to lead his new army. That was why they had been captured, brought here, and questioned. That was why he wanted them and their Digimon.

Katsuhiro clasped his hands behind his back, "So, what do you say? Do we have a deal?"

"So, you want us to bring Digimon into this world from the Digital World, and make them into an army?" Taichi asked.

Katsuhiro nodded, "That's right."

Yamato shook his head, "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

"No," Taichi stated, "We won't do it."

Katsuhiro looked at then, meeting their defiance, looking them each in the eye, "None of you? Not one? And why not?"

"Because we refuse to do that to our Digimon or any Digimon!" Miyako spat, trying to make him see what was so clear to her, "It's not right!"

"And there's nothing that you can do to make us do it, you can't convince us to go along with this" Yamato growled.

Katsuhiro looked at them again, "So you're sure about this," no one responded. He looked at Yamato, "You said that there was no way for me to convince you to go along with this plan, I'm sorry to say that again, you are wrong. Very wrong."

Katsuhiro nodded to a soldier near the wall, next to a wall console. The soldier nodded back and turned to the console, entering a command and pressing the enter key.

The metal doors before the Digidestined started to slide upward with the sound of muffled machinery.

This is it, Taichi thought, Now we're thrown into the cells to think this over. But we're not going to give in just because we're in cells. We're stronger than that!

Katsuhiro watched the doors start to rise, then turned to regard the Digidestined, watching their reactions.

The doors retracted into the ceiling, revealing the rooms beyond, rooms that held the Digimon. Each of the chosen children was faced with the sight on their Digimon, lying on the floor, still muzzled or otherwise restrained. They were obviously awake, as their eyes were open, but they barely seemed to have the strength to move their heads to regard the wall that had disappeared, and their friends on the other side of the thick bullet-proof glass.

Takeru looked away from the sight of Patamon, lying in the center of the small room, ears spread on the floor around him, the thick metal band still encircling his body, "Oh, God..."

"A pathetic sight, isn't it?" Katsuhiro asked, "The rooms you see are saturated with an electrical field that we have found robs Digimon of their strength. They're so weak they can barely move," he regarded the children with a pitying glance, "You know you can end this. They'll be as happy and energetic as before. But it's up to you. All you have to do is agree to my terms."

Yamato growled as he looked at Gabumon, a thick leather muzzle holding his mouth shut, his hands cuffed together in front of him. He tried to stand, to attack Katsuhiro, but his shoulders were grabbed from behind and he was shoved roughly into his seat. He looked at Gabumon as the shoulders held him in his chair. All it would take was a word and they would release him. All it would take was one word and he would be free again-free in the military, but at least he wouldn't be like this anymore...

His eyes widened as he saw Gabumon shake his head. As if he could read his thoughts, the Digimon was telling him not to do this. He closed his eyes and forced down a sob, then glared at Katsuhiro with all the venom, and more, of his previous looks, "Never!"

"Not one of you is willing to help your Digimon?"

"They wouldn't want us to do this, not even for them," Iori stated, not looking at Armadillomon, "The answer is still no."

Katsuhiro sighed as he turned his back on the Digidestined, "Looks like you need further persuasion," he looked at the soldiers in the room and nodded to them, "Take them away, Throw them into their cells."

The soldiers that they could see nodded, and they were roughly grabbed from behind and lifted to their feet, and led out of the room. Led is the wrong word, as they almost all had to be carried out, fighting as they were to stay within sight of their Digimon for as long as possible.

------End of chapter 02