Evil's New Claim

Part Three: Someone's Missing Now

***

Remember- Only the plot is mine. Not the characters.

***

It was dark, but somehow familiar. That was the first thing Ken Ichijouji was aware of. He opened his eyes and squinted through the darkness, but he couldn't see a thing. Not even his digimon.

"Ken? You okay?" Wormmon questioned from somewhere not too far away.

"I think so," he replied. "I can't see."

'Wormmon?' he thought. 'We must be in the digital world if he's Wormmon again. But how did I get here?"

"It's pretty dark in here," Wormmon agreed. "I can't see much either."

"What can you see?"

There was a pause during which he assumed his partner was looking around him. "We appear to be in some sort of dungeon," the digimon replied after a moment. "I can see iron bars, stone floors."

"Dungeon?" Ken repeated blankly. "How did we get here?" He sat up and tried to look around, but apparently Wormmon's eyes were better than his because he couldn't see a thing.

"I don't know," Wormmon admitted.

Ken heard a clicking noise along the ground and felt something at his arm. He was able to peer through the darkness and make out the dark outline that was most likely his digimon. "I'll bet I know," he decided. "Those red eyes that were watching us. They probably had something to do with this."
Before Wormmon could reply, a laugh filtered through the dark dungeon. A bright light suddenly illuminated his tiny cell. "Who's there?" he demanded.

***

"Hey Miyako," Daisuke began as he entered the computer lab. "I was wondering what you would think about letting Ken join our team."

"Haven't we had this conversation already, Daisuke?" Miyako wondered, turning away from the computer. "I've told you before, I'm not sure." She sighed again and peered at the floor. "I just don't know. I don't think we should give him a chance just yet."

Daisuke sighed as he left the computer lab, Chibimon nestled in his arms. "I think Ken could really help us out if we could just give him a chance," he confided to his partner. "How come no one seems to agree with me?"

Chibimon shrugged. "Maybe they don't think you've given it enough thought?"

He sighed again. "Maybe. I know!" His face lit up again. "Let's go talk to him." Before Chibimon could agree or disagree, he was off and running.

***

"Look, I don't know what you want from me, but I'm certainly not going to help you," Ken snapped at the dark figure on the opposite side of the room. He struggled with the chains that bound him to the wall.

"I don't need your help, you worthless insect. You're here because I don't need you helping those brats." The figure waved its arms in an all-encompassing gesture. Ken didn't need ask who she was referring to.

"So you think I would be able to defeat you, then?"

"Not on your own, of course," she replied, turning away then. "But if you were to join with them…"

He didn't reply. He didn't really have anything to say to that. "You are afraid," he stated. "You're afraid of me, and that's why you keep me here, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid of no one," the voice snapped back. "But I am smart enough to know my limits."

"Just who are you, anyway?"

She laughed then, and the laughter echoed through the room. "Oh, little boy, if you can't figure that much out then maybe you're not as smart as you thought you were, are you?"

Then she was gone, leaving him alone in the dark dungeon once more.

***

Daisuke peered up and down the beach. "I could have sworn he would be here!"

"What now?" Chibimon questioned.

Daisuke stared out at the ocean. "I guess we head home. It's late, I'll probably get in trouble if I stay out any later." He turned back towards home, but had only walked a few feet when he ran into someone he knew.

"Takeru? What are you doing here?"

The tall, blond boy shrugged aimlessly, not even meeting the other's eyes. "We were following you, Daisuke," Patamon spoke up from his perch on Takeru's hat.

"Following me? Why?"

"We wanted to see if Ken would listen to you," Patamon admitted. "But he's not here."

Daisuke sighed. "No, he's not," he admitted. "I guess I'll have to come back and try again." He peered curiously into the orange digimon's blue eyes. "What do you think? Am I wasting my time?"

"I don't know," Patamon replied. Takeru turned, walking beside Daisuke as they headed back to Odaiba. "Maybe if you work on it hard enough you'll make progress," he suggested.

"Yeah, if I could ever find him to talk to him I might be able to convince him," Daisuke agreed. "But I can't do any sort of convincing if I can't find him!" He sighed in frustration.

Chibimon was quick to pick up on this. "It's okay, Daisuke," he assured his partner. "When you do see him, you'll be able to convince him, I'm sure."

"You have to convince the other members of the team, too," Patamon reminded him, and Daisuke sighed.

"Yeah, good luck doing that," he agreed, grumbling slightly. "Miyako just keeps saying she's not sure about it, and Iori is dead set against it. He won't even talk about it." He sighed. "I wonder if Hikari would be on my side," he wondered, looking up at the stars while they walked.

Takeru made a grunting noise, but didn't speak. Patamon shrugged aimlessly, but didn't reply either. Daisuke understood. Hikari was a sensitive subject with the Chosen now. Some of them were more determined to accomplish their mission, but for most of them, they were still wandering around in grief and confusion. Daisuke didn't blame them. It had only been a few short months since her disappearance.

Even though Ken was no longer the Digimon Kaiser, he had been responsible – not only for millions of digimon being tortured, but also for Hikari's disappearance. Daisuke couldn't blame them for still being angry, but he truly believed there was a greater evil out there and that Ken had changed. Unfortunately, he hadn't yet been able to persuade the others to his way of thinking. Needless to say, he hadn't even approached Taichi with the idea.

***

Elsewhere…

Ken peered nervously at his D-terminal for the fourth time in the last half-hour as he tried to make his way through his homework. Wormmon, sensing the tension, spoke up.

"Still no word from him, Ken-chan?"

He sighed. "No. Nothing. I'm worried."

"Maybe we should say something to the others," the little digimon suggested.

"Maybe," he admitted. "I don't know."

"We can't just sit here. Maybe something has happened to him," Wormmon reminded him.

Ken nodded. "You're right," he agreed. "We should go."

"Now?"

He sighed in agreement. "Maybe not now – maybe it should wait until the weekend."

"Do you think it can wait that long?" Wormmon's voice was a bit worried.

"I don't know," Ken admitted. "I don't think it can. Maybe he's in serious trouble."

"Maybe you should get the others involved."

"Maybe. I'll talk with them tomorrow."

***

Miyako blinked. "Let me get this straight. You exchanged email addresses with - yourself?"

Ken nodded. "A few days ago I received an email from – myself. It seems he was being followed by these strange red eyes."

Takeru frowned. "That doesn't sound good," he stated.

"No. I didn't think it was very important at the time, but I haven't heard from – him – in a few days. It makes me think the worst has happened."

"Well then we should go see what's happening!" Daisuke declared.

"Daisuke, it's not that easy!" Hikari reminded him. "There's another you in that world, too, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Daisuke frowned.

"And besides that," Miyako spoke up. "The situation in that world is – delicate, from what we've seen, right?" She looked to Hikari for confirmation. "The Chosen haven't learned to work with Ken yet, and they're still coping with loss. Hikari was lost in that world, remember? We can't just barge in and say 'Hi, we're here to fix everything.'"

Takeru agreed. "But we can't just sit here if someone's in danger, either," he noted.

"Maybe we could go in undercover?" Daisuke suggested.

"How?" Miyako questioned. "Who are you going to hide as? Yourself?"

"He might have a point," Takeru pointed out, an idea dawning on his face. "If we could switch places with our doubles, then we wouldn't have to worry about being missed here or being seen there."

"Do you think they would agree to that?" Hikari wondered.

"There's only one way to find out," Iori spoke up for the first time. "We'll have to e-mail them and ask. Of course, some of them might not agree to help Ken." He looked hesitantly at the dark-haired boy.

"We'll just have to ask which ones will, then," Daisuke decided, determinedly.

"Okay," Miyako agreed. "We'll send e-mails. Just give me a few seconds to fix the program and we'll start."

***

Elsewhere…

Daisuke stared at the gigantic digimon in front of him. It looked like a giant red beetle. "What the heck is that?" he shouted.

"Search me," his partner responded. "He looks kind of dangerous, though."

"And why is he coming this way so quickly?" Miyako wondered.

"Duck!" Daisuke shouted, dropping to the ground as the huge creature flew over him. Miyako and Iori dived to the ground at the last minute. Fladramon, Digmon, and Holsmon dodged out of the way.

"What was that for?" Miyako shouted at the digimon, who made no reply.

"I don't understand," Iori stated. "You'd think he'd be happy that we're trying to knock down the towers."

"Well then, why is he attacking us?"

The huge bug was flying around for another pass. Daisuke flung himself at the ground again, cringing as the gigantic bug flew close.

"Shooting Star," a deep voice called from above. Daisuke watched as the giant bug was flung to the ground.

"Takeru! Pegasmon!" Miyako shouted, spotting the flying horse and the blond boy atop it.

"I thought Takeru was staying behind today?" Iori questioned.

"That's Kuwagamon!" Pegasmon shouted as he flew around for another attack. "He's a virus insect digimon. Adult level. It would be a good idea to get out of his way!"

"We've determined that, thanks," Daisuke replied.

"Now's a good time to run!" Miyako yelled before anyone could say anything else. Daisuke and Iori turned and saw the bug rising from its spot in the sand. All three children ran quickly, and were just barely able to escape. Miyako dived and caught a glimpse of something on the Kuwagamon.

'A dark ring?" she wondered. 'But I thought those were all destroyed?'

"Miyako, get out of there!" Iori called. Miyako snapped out of her daydreaming state and moved out of the way just as Pegasmon fired another Shooting Star attack and knocked the bug to the ground again.

Angered, Kuwagamon growled and rose to the air again as Pegasmon flew around.

"Oh, no you don't," Holsmon declared. "Red Sun!" A red-colored laser shot from his eyes, hitting the giant insect in his vulnerable, unarmored stomach. He then took to the air, flying quickly away from the digimon as it lunged in response.

"Fire Rocket!" Fladramon shouted, firing his own attack into the air and giving Holsmon time to retreat. The more vulnerable Digmon stuck to the ground and tried to get Iori, Miyako, and Daisuke to safety.

"Holsmon, shoot for the dark ring!" Miyako shouted.

"Dark ring?" Daisuke repeated. "Those were all destroyed."
"I thought so too," she agreed. "But he's got one! See it, Holsmon?"

"I see it!" Pegasmon declared. "Shooting Star!" The attack bounced off the hard shell of the insect. "I – can't get it!" he shouted.

"I've got it! Red Sun!" Holsmon shouted. The laser-like attack cracked the dark ring, which dissolved into data.

The Kuwagamon grumbled dazedly before flying off into the distance.

"Boy, that was weird," Miyako noted as Holsmon reverted to Hawkmon, who looked tired and dazed but uninjured.

"I don't understand," Daisuke agreed. "I thought all the dark rings were destroyed when the Kaiser was defeated."

"Maybe he wasn't really defeated," Iori spoke up.

"No, that doesn't make any sense," Daisuke disagreed. "Why would they tell us he was defeated and lie about it? What would our counterparts lie to us?"

"It does make sense that they would tell the truth," Hawkmon agreed.

"Maybe someone else is using the dark rings now," V-mon suggested.

"Someone else?" Patamon questioned. He rode again on Takeru's hat, having de-evolved as well after the last battle.

"It's possible," Daisuke agreed thoughtfully.

"But who?" Armadimon wondered.

"Someone else who wanted to take over the Digiworld," Iori answered his partner's question. "But I don't have any idea who that could be."

"I don't either," Miyako sighed. Suddenly, there was a beeping sound. "Email?"

***

Standard notes: This is the sequel to my story "A Stranger Digiworld." If you haven't read that yet, it's advisable to do so. This one might stand on its own, but it probably won't. Read that one first. It's at:

 http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=326235

Yea! I'm actually getting some plot development for once! Yippee! Well, I hope I haven't lost you all due to extreme boredom. In the next installment, our heroes meet our heroes, and it's a weird scene (to say the least). Even more complicated to write.

The one thing I actually like about this story is that I actually focus on Takeru for once! It's not that I don't like him, it's just I can't write him at all (You'll notice this if you read any of my other stories – he's like, non-existent). But I think I might be grasping his character in this. Expect a bit more exploration of the changes I've made to him since Hikari's disappearance.

Thanks for reading, reviewing, and not suing! ^_^