A/N: The last chapter was short. I apologize. And this chapter is up late,
which isn't my fault - work and stuff.
Chapter 3: The Golden Danger/Kidnapped
Shizu was busy using the last five minutes of Chemistry class to measure out a dangerous acid when the Kaiser slipped back into her mind. //You might want to skip out of school now,// he suggested. //The Gate didn't work quite the way we wanted it to.//
Shizu almost dropped the beaker, profoundly glad that she didn't. /It didn't work?/
//Oh, it worked, Shizuko. It worked perfectly. However, neither of us counted on Tissukamon deciding to take advantage of the situation. An unarmed, unaccompanied, unconscious child is perfect bait for him.//
This time, Shizu /did/ drop the acid, neatly managing to char the floor and make the popular girls scream in horror. The blonde jumped into Jyou's arms, not by accident. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she cried. /We have to help him. This wasn't supposed to happen, Kai./
Jyou pulled her away from the spreading acid. "At least you didn't spill it on me," he noted.
//That's why I said to skip your last two classes, Shizuko.//
The bell rang, and before Ms. Kasahara could berate her, Shizu reluctantly pulled away from Jyou, leapt over a chair, and dashed out the door.
~~
Ken woke slowly, not opening his eyes. He groaned at the pain that seemed to be trying its best to kill him. "You were right, Wormmon," the boy murmured. "I should /not/ have done that."
Instead of Wormmon's voice, he heard instead a high-pitched, horrified female. "This was /not/ supposed to happen. Let him go at once, Tissukamon."
The answering roar said quite plainly that Tissukamon didn't intend to do so. Ken tried desperately to open his eyes, grimacing at the pain that simple action brought.
The girl sounded stern. "Do /not/ threaten me. We won't allow it, will we, Kaiser?"
Kaiser? That definitely rang a bell in Ken's mind - several, in fact. Alarm bells.
"No, we won't," the familiar shadow's voice responded. "Although, if he's dead set on killing Ken, there really isn't much we can do."
"We have two minutes, Kai. Do something."
"Why do /I/ have to do something? /You're/ the Empress. You do something."
"I am not an empress, Kaiser, and there isn't - oh, crap. They're here. We have to go. Tissukamon, if you hurt him, I might just decide the Digiworld could use a real skeleton or two." Then she and the Kaiser were gone, and all Ken could hear were the sounds of Tissukamon moving. He forced his eyes open.
A golden web seemed to surround him, and beyond it he could make out a huge, golden form and incredibly long, pointy teeth. "Well," he said conversationally, "I can see my death won't be pleasant." ~All I have to do is delay him until Koushiro and the others get here.~
There was a loud thwack and Tissukamon staggered back. Ken smiled as he heard Nefertimon call out, "Rosetta Stone!"
"Ken!" Miyako yelled. The boy rolled over and saw her gazing worriedly into his prison. "Don't touch the web! It's dangerous!"
He dragged himself to his feet, trying to ignore the pain that simple action sent through him. "How dangerous?"
"Like, fatal, Hawkmon said."
"Oh. I guess I'm trapped, then." He moved over to the side of the prison. "Miyako, the Kaiser is back. He's got a new flunky - a girl. He calls her the Empress, but she insists that she isn't."
Miyako gasped melodramatically. "He /is/ back! Oh, my word!" She pretended to faint. "We already knew the Kaiser was back, Ken. We just didn't know he had a girl on his side. Where's Wormmon?"
"I don't know. He's not here, I take it?"
Iori slipped up beside Miyako, grinning. "What an interesting conversation you're having - I mean, considering that there's a battle going on right behind you. Miyako, can I speak with Ken /alone/?"
The purple-haired girl stormed off to direct the battle. Iori glanced around furtively. "Ken, Koushiro isn't here. No one knows where he is. He went home after school to fix his computer, but he hasn't tried to contact any of us."
Ken bit his lip, trying to control the feelings inside. "Maybe it's best he won't be playing the hero, then."
Iori smiled slyly. "Hero worship again? I thought you were over him."
"Yeah, so did I." He stepped back and looked over the golden web. "Just how fatal /is/ this cage?"
Iori shrugged. "Not sure. Do you have a way to get out?"
"You bet. At a dead run."
~~
Shizu stood on a cliff, watching the battle with tears streaming down her face. "This wasn't supposed to happen."
The Kaiser, who had slipped back into his solid form, rested a cold hand on her shoulder. "I know that. Tissukamon shouldn't be in this area."
"What if Ken dies?" she whispered. "What if Jyou dies?"
The Kaiser removed his hand, worried that she might feel his shivering. "They'd be dead, obviously."
She sniffled and sat down, wrapping her thin arms around her knees. "I never meant for anything bad to happen!"
The Kaiser knelt beside her and wiped her tears away, a peculiar ache filling him with sorrow. "No one will die, and this is a golden opportunity to capture your beloved Jyou."
Shizu raised her violet eyes to his shadowy face. "It is, isn't it? How shall we go about it?"
He smiled maliciously. "Leave it to me, my darling. Just leave it to me."
~~
Ken blinked in confusion. "I don't think I'm dead," he murmured to Iori, who grinned. The indigo-haired boy had dashed from his prison, quite unharmed.
Suddenly, Sora screamed. The two boys turned just in time to see Jyou vanish into a dark shadow. "What the heck?" Iori cried.
Ken barely noticed the tingling feeling spreading slowly through his body. "I bet that's the Kaiser and his precious little Empress! Even /I/ never went so far as to kidnap someone!" Remembering Greymon, he amended, "Someone /human/."
Tissukamon roared and shot another of his golden webs at Aquilamon, who managed to fly out of the way before it could hit her. All of the digimon were being excessively careful not to let the webs touch them, although Ken couldn't understand why. He /definitely/ didn't feel dead.
Something tugged on his pants, and he glanced down to see a small purple butterfly. "A present for the last of the Digidestined from the Dark Spirits!" it squeaked. Ken blinked.
"What Dark - ow, that hurt, you stupid little bug!"
The butterfly cackled in its squeaky voice and flew away. Ken bent down to rub at the red welt on his ankle. "I hate bugs," he muttered. "Except my Wormmon, of course."
Iori shrugged. "So it poked you. Get up and try to get hold of Wormmon. We could really use his help."
~~
Jyou adjusted his glasses. "Okay, where am I?"
"You're here, my dear," a familiar voice said. Jyou couldn't quite place it, and the speaker didn't move out of the shadows.
"Um, why?"
"I've loved you forever," she purred. "Finally you are /mine/. I'm not fooling around, Jyou, and I'm not letting you go now that I've got you."
"...really." Jyou glanced around at the large hall he seemed to be in. "So, is this your place?"
Now she sounded offended. "Of course. Don't you like it?"
"It's nice enough," he said slowly, "but I expected torture tools, or at the very least a cage. You disappoint me."
"I just want you to be comfortable, love," she said, her voice going up an octave in agitation.
Jyou shrugged. "I wish you wouldn't call me that, because I certainly don't love you. I don't even like girls."
"You will," she said, her voice threatening. "I'll /make/ you love me."
~~
It took fifteen minutes for the digimon to drive Tissukamon away, suffering only minor scrapes from their frantic dodging. Ken and Iori remained in the background, Ken absently rubbing at the painful cut on his leg. "Stupid butterfly," he muttered.
"All right," Miyako said the minute Tissukamon was out of sight. "Let's go home."
"Miyako, we have to discuss what Ken told us about the Empress," Iori objected.
"Spies wait for no one!" she said cheerfully. "Besides, I've been looking forward to the arcade."
"Spying /again/?" Hikari groaned.
"Sure!"
Takeru sighed. "Well, see you tomorrow, then. I'm going to the arcade too."
"Did everyone get invited except /me/?" Daisuke asked.
"I wasn't invited," Ken volunteered. "You can come over to my house if you want, Dai-chan."
"Yeah, and we'll have lots more fun than they will!"
Ken coughed delicately. "I wasn't implying /fun/, Daisuke. While /they/ have fun, we have to find Jyou, remember?"
"...oh yeah."
~~
Shizu leaned against the wall, her arms folded over her chest. "I suppose you want to go back to your world," she drawled.
Jyou shrugged, staring into the shadows in an attempt to see her. "I don't see any reason to stay here. I've still got homework to finish."
"From now on, you do your Chemistry with /me/."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
The Kaiser materialized beside the blonde girl and leaned toward her, his lips brushing against her ear. "You're not being subtle enough. He's going to think you're insane."
"Well, I am crazy about him," she whispered back, moving away from him.
"You're /obsessing/ over him, Shizuko."
Jyou pulled his glasses down and stared over the top of the frames. "Hello? Are you still there?"
"Of course," she purred. "I'll always be here, watching you..."
The Kaiser sighed, rolling his eyes. "Please, hikari, come back to the /real/ world..."
"Jyou is my world."
Without thinking, the dark spirit slapped her - hard. "Shut up. Just shut up about that. You're getting ridiculous. Send him home, Shizuko!"
Her hand pressed against the bruise forming on her cheek, the girl glared at the Kaiser, then turned her violet eyes back to the confused teenager. "Jyou, dear, you can leave now. But whenever you go near a computer, it will bring you back to me...you'll never escape..."
"Really." He shrugged. "If you say so, psycho chick. Can I have the honor of knowing your name?"
She shook her head, then said out loud for his benefit, "No." She slid down against the wall and beckoned the dark spirit to her. "Ice, please."
"Sure, hikari."
~~
Jyou collapsed on his bed as soon as he got home, having taken a Digital Gate from wherever he had been. "Psycho chick," he muttered. He had heard someone slap her, so they hadn't really been alone. And that comment about Chemistry was just bizarre.
He happened to glance at the clock. "Shoot," he muttered, jumping up. "I'll be late to the arcade if I don't hurry..and I suppose I really should tell my friends that I'm alive...oh, wait, they'll be at the arcade, too. Along with...her." He sighed. /Her/. Koushiro's girlfriend.
Grabbing some money off of the top of his dresser, Jyou dashed out of his room.
~~
Ken sat down on his bed, brushing a strand of indigo hair out of his eyes. "Take a seat," he told Daisuke, waving a hand at the computer chair.
"I still think we should've gone to the arcade," Daisuke muttered.
"Oh, come on," Ken said. "Jyou's in trouble and you want to play video games that will hurt your eyes?"
"It's better than that love movie," Daisuke retorted.
Ken rolled his eyes. "That was a very emotional movie."
"I don't think it was fair that Satine died. She made Christian so sad."
"Yeah, well, that's how love is sometimes."
They sat for a few moments in uncomfortable silence. Ken coughed. "Maybe we should get to work."
"Yeah..."
They activated the Digital Gate, which worked properly this time, and found themselves standing outside a cave. Veemon immediately wandered off to look for food, while Daisuke poked his head into the cave. "It's empty."
"Maybe Jyou's inside where we can't see," Ken suggested. "It /is/ dark in there..." He coughed again. "I must be getting a cold."
Daisuke glanced at his friend, concern evident in his brown eyes. "You're really pale, Ken."
Ken coughed, resting one of his slender hands on a rock. "I just need to sit down for a minute. We /have/ to find Jyou soon."
Daisuke helped Ken into the cave, where the indigo-haired Digidestined collapsed against the wall, shaking with suppressed coughs. "I'm fine," he insisted. "Check your digivice - maybe Jyou's near here."
Daisuke sighed. "Look, this self-sacrificing is all really sweet, but -"
Ken stared at his friend. "Did you just call me /sweet/?"
"Well, you are!" the redhead said defensively.
"Really." Ken sighed and closed his violet eyes. "I'll be fine in a minute, Dai-chan."
Daisuke looked around, pretending that he wasn't as worried as he really was. "You're /really/ pale, Ken. I mean, seriously."
The other boy's eyes snapped open in irritation. "I'm /always/ pale. I don't spend much time in the sun. You know that."
Daisuke shrugged. "It's just that you don't look so good."
"I don't /feel/ so good."
Daisuke wandered farther into the cave, squinting into the darkness. Nothing. They would be safe here for awhile, at least until Ken felt better. Despite his protests, Daisuke /knew/ that something was wrong with his Jogress partner.
And he /definitely/ knew that he didn't want Ken to get hurt.
~~
A/N: Kensuke, anyone? It's so cute! Jyoushiro soon enough... *coughs* Uh, sorry about the lack of digimon and battle scenes...I seem to have forgotten how to write battles. Can anyone tell that I adore the movie Moulin Rouge?
Chapter 3: The Golden Danger/Kidnapped
Shizu was busy using the last five minutes of Chemistry class to measure out a dangerous acid when the Kaiser slipped back into her mind. //You might want to skip out of school now,// he suggested. //The Gate didn't work quite the way we wanted it to.//
Shizu almost dropped the beaker, profoundly glad that she didn't. /It didn't work?/
//Oh, it worked, Shizuko. It worked perfectly. However, neither of us counted on Tissukamon deciding to take advantage of the situation. An unarmed, unaccompanied, unconscious child is perfect bait for him.//
This time, Shizu /did/ drop the acid, neatly managing to char the floor and make the popular girls scream in horror. The blonde jumped into Jyou's arms, not by accident. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she cried. /We have to help him. This wasn't supposed to happen, Kai./
Jyou pulled her away from the spreading acid. "At least you didn't spill it on me," he noted.
//That's why I said to skip your last two classes, Shizuko.//
The bell rang, and before Ms. Kasahara could berate her, Shizu reluctantly pulled away from Jyou, leapt over a chair, and dashed out the door.
~~
Ken woke slowly, not opening his eyes. He groaned at the pain that seemed to be trying its best to kill him. "You were right, Wormmon," the boy murmured. "I should /not/ have done that."
Instead of Wormmon's voice, he heard instead a high-pitched, horrified female. "This was /not/ supposed to happen. Let him go at once, Tissukamon."
The answering roar said quite plainly that Tissukamon didn't intend to do so. Ken tried desperately to open his eyes, grimacing at the pain that simple action brought.
The girl sounded stern. "Do /not/ threaten me. We won't allow it, will we, Kaiser?"
Kaiser? That definitely rang a bell in Ken's mind - several, in fact. Alarm bells.
"No, we won't," the familiar shadow's voice responded. "Although, if he's dead set on killing Ken, there really isn't much we can do."
"We have two minutes, Kai. Do something."
"Why do /I/ have to do something? /You're/ the Empress. You do something."
"I am not an empress, Kaiser, and there isn't - oh, crap. They're here. We have to go. Tissukamon, if you hurt him, I might just decide the Digiworld could use a real skeleton or two." Then she and the Kaiser were gone, and all Ken could hear were the sounds of Tissukamon moving. He forced his eyes open.
A golden web seemed to surround him, and beyond it he could make out a huge, golden form and incredibly long, pointy teeth. "Well," he said conversationally, "I can see my death won't be pleasant." ~All I have to do is delay him until Koushiro and the others get here.~
There was a loud thwack and Tissukamon staggered back. Ken smiled as he heard Nefertimon call out, "Rosetta Stone!"
"Ken!" Miyako yelled. The boy rolled over and saw her gazing worriedly into his prison. "Don't touch the web! It's dangerous!"
He dragged himself to his feet, trying to ignore the pain that simple action sent through him. "How dangerous?"
"Like, fatal, Hawkmon said."
"Oh. I guess I'm trapped, then." He moved over to the side of the prison. "Miyako, the Kaiser is back. He's got a new flunky - a girl. He calls her the Empress, but she insists that she isn't."
Miyako gasped melodramatically. "He /is/ back! Oh, my word!" She pretended to faint. "We already knew the Kaiser was back, Ken. We just didn't know he had a girl on his side. Where's Wormmon?"
"I don't know. He's not here, I take it?"
Iori slipped up beside Miyako, grinning. "What an interesting conversation you're having - I mean, considering that there's a battle going on right behind you. Miyako, can I speak with Ken /alone/?"
The purple-haired girl stormed off to direct the battle. Iori glanced around furtively. "Ken, Koushiro isn't here. No one knows where he is. He went home after school to fix his computer, but he hasn't tried to contact any of us."
Ken bit his lip, trying to control the feelings inside. "Maybe it's best he won't be playing the hero, then."
Iori smiled slyly. "Hero worship again? I thought you were over him."
"Yeah, so did I." He stepped back and looked over the golden web. "Just how fatal /is/ this cage?"
Iori shrugged. "Not sure. Do you have a way to get out?"
"You bet. At a dead run."
~~
Shizu stood on a cliff, watching the battle with tears streaming down her face. "This wasn't supposed to happen."
The Kaiser, who had slipped back into his solid form, rested a cold hand on her shoulder. "I know that. Tissukamon shouldn't be in this area."
"What if Ken dies?" she whispered. "What if Jyou dies?"
The Kaiser removed his hand, worried that she might feel his shivering. "They'd be dead, obviously."
She sniffled and sat down, wrapping her thin arms around her knees. "I never meant for anything bad to happen!"
The Kaiser knelt beside her and wiped her tears away, a peculiar ache filling him with sorrow. "No one will die, and this is a golden opportunity to capture your beloved Jyou."
Shizu raised her violet eyes to his shadowy face. "It is, isn't it? How shall we go about it?"
He smiled maliciously. "Leave it to me, my darling. Just leave it to me."
~~
Ken blinked in confusion. "I don't think I'm dead," he murmured to Iori, who grinned. The indigo-haired boy had dashed from his prison, quite unharmed.
Suddenly, Sora screamed. The two boys turned just in time to see Jyou vanish into a dark shadow. "What the heck?" Iori cried.
Ken barely noticed the tingling feeling spreading slowly through his body. "I bet that's the Kaiser and his precious little Empress! Even /I/ never went so far as to kidnap someone!" Remembering Greymon, he amended, "Someone /human/."
Tissukamon roared and shot another of his golden webs at Aquilamon, who managed to fly out of the way before it could hit her. All of the digimon were being excessively careful not to let the webs touch them, although Ken couldn't understand why. He /definitely/ didn't feel dead.
Something tugged on his pants, and he glanced down to see a small purple butterfly. "A present for the last of the Digidestined from the Dark Spirits!" it squeaked. Ken blinked.
"What Dark - ow, that hurt, you stupid little bug!"
The butterfly cackled in its squeaky voice and flew away. Ken bent down to rub at the red welt on his ankle. "I hate bugs," he muttered. "Except my Wormmon, of course."
Iori shrugged. "So it poked you. Get up and try to get hold of Wormmon. We could really use his help."
~~
Jyou adjusted his glasses. "Okay, where am I?"
"You're here, my dear," a familiar voice said. Jyou couldn't quite place it, and the speaker didn't move out of the shadows.
"Um, why?"
"I've loved you forever," she purred. "Finally you are /mine/. I'm not fooling around, Jyou, and I'm not letting you go now that I've got you."
"...really." Jyou glanced around at the large hall he seemed to be in. "So, is this your place?"
Now she sounded offended. "Of course. Don't you like it?"
"It's nice enough," he said slowly, "but I expected torture tools, or at the very least a cage. You disappoint me."
"I just want you to be comfortable, love," she said, her voice going up an octave in agitation.
Jyou shrugged. "I wish you wouldn't call me that, because I certainly don't love you. I don't even like girls."
"You will," she said, her voice threatening. "I'll /make/ you love me."
~~
It took fifteen minutes for the digimon to drive Tissukamon away, suffering only minor scrapes from their frantic dodging. Ken and Iori remained in the background, Ken absently rubbing at the painful cut on his leg. "Stupid butterfly," he muttered.
"All right," Miyako said the minute Tissukamon was out of sight. "Let's go home."
"Miyako, we have to discuss what Ken told us about the Empress," Iori objected.
"Spies wait for no one!" she said cheerfully. "Besides, I've been looking forward to the arcade."
"Spying /again/?" Hikari groaned.
"Sure!"
Takeru sighed. "Well, see you tomorrow, then. I'm going to the arcade too."
"Did everyone get invited except /me/?" Daisuke asked.
"I wasn't invited," Ken volunteered. "You can come over to my house if you want, Dai-chan."
"Yeah, and we'll have lots more fun than they will!"
Ken coughed delicately. "I wasn't implying /fun/, Daisuke. While /they/ have fun, we have to find Jyou, remember?"
"...oh yeah."
~~
Shizu leaned against the wall, her arms folded over her chest. "I suppose you want to go back to your world," she drawled.
Jyou shrugged, staring into the shadows in an attempt to see her. "I don't see any reason to stay here. I've still got homework to finish."
"From now on, you do your Chemistry with /me/."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
The Kaiser materialized beside the blonde girl and leaned toward her, his lips brushing against her ear. "You're not being subtle enough. He's going to think you're insane."
"Well, I am crazy about him," she whispered back, moving away from him.
"You're /obsessing/ over him, Shizuko."
Jyou pulled his glasses down and stared over the top of the frames. "Hello? Are you still there?"
"Of course," she purred. "I'll always be here, watching you..."
The Kaiser sighed, rolling his eyes. "Please, hikari, come back to the /real/ world..."
"Jyou is my world."
Without thinking, the dark spirit slapped her - hard. "Shut up. Just shut up about that. You're getting ridiculous. Send him home, Shizuko!"
Her hand pressed against the bruise forming on her cheek, the girl glared at the Kaiser, then turned her violet eyes back to the confused teenager. "Jyou, dear, you can leave now. But whenever you go near a computer, it will bring you back to me...you'll never escape..."
"Really." He shrugged. "If you say so, psycho chick. Can I have the honor of knowing your name?"
She shook her head, then said out loud for his benefit, "No." She slid down against the wall and beckoned the dark spirit to her. "Ice, please."
"Sure, hikari."
~~
Jyou collapsed on his bed as soon as he got home, having taken a Digital Gate from wherever he had been. "Psycho chick," he muttered. He had heard someone slap her, so they hadn't really been alone. And that comment about Chemistry was just bizarre.
He happened to glance at the clock. "Shoot," he muttered, jumping up. "I'll be late to the arcade if I don't hurry..and I suppose I really should tell my friends that I'm alive...oh, wait, they'll be at the arcade, too. Along with...her." He sighed. /Her/. Koushiro's girlfriend.
Grabbing some money off of the top of his dresser, Jyou dashed out of his room.
~~
Ken sat down on his bed, brushing a strand of indigo hair out of his eyes. "Take a seat," he told Daisuke, waving a hand at the computer chair.
"I still think we should've gone to the arcade," Daisuke muttered.
"Oh, come on," Ken said. "Jyou's in trouble and you want to play video games that will hurt your eyes?"
"It's better than that love movie," Daisuke retorted.
Ken rolled his eyes. "That was a very emotional movie."
"I don't think it was fair that Satine died. She made Christian so sad."
"Yeah, well, that's how love is sometimes."
They sat for a few moments in uncomfortable silence. Ken coughed. "Maybe we should get to work."
"Yeah..."
They activated the Digital Gate, which worked properly this time, and found themselves standing outside a cave. Veemon immediately wandered off to look for food, while Daisuke poked his head into the cave. "It's empty."
"Maybe Jyou's inside where we can't see," Ken suggested. "It /is/ dark in there..." He coughed again. "I must be getting a cold."
Daisuke glanced at his friend, concern evident in his brown eyes. "You're really pale, Ken."
Ken coughed, resting one of his slender hands on a rock. "I just need to sit down for a minute. We /have/ to find Jyou soon."
Daisuke helped Ken into the cave, where the indigo-haired Digidestined collapsed against the wall, shaking with suppressed coughs. "I'm fine," he insisted. "Check your digivice - maybe Jyou's near here."
Daisuke sighed. "Look, this self-sacrificing is all really sweet, but -"
Ken stared at his friend. "Did you just call me /sweet/?"
"Well, you are!" the redhead said defensively.
"Really." Ken sighed and closed his violet eyes. "I'll be fine in a minute, Dai-chan."
Daisuke looked around, pretending that he wasn't as worried as he really was. "You're /really/ pale, Ken. I mean, seriously."
The other boy's eyes snapped open in irritation. "I'm /always/ pale. I don't spend much time in the sun. You know that."
Daisuke shrugged. "It's just that you don't look so good."
"I don't /feel/ so good."
Daisuke wandered farther into the cave, squinting into the darkness. Nothing. They would be safe here for awhile, at least until Ken felt better. Despite his protests, Daisuke /knew/ that something was wrong with his Jogress partner.
And he /definitely/ knew that he didn't want Ken to get hurt.
~~
A/N: Kensuke, anyone? It's so cute! Jyoushiro soon enough... *coughs* Uh, sorry about the lack of digimon and battle scenes...I seem to have forgotten how to write battles. Can anyone tell that I adore the movie Moulin Rouge?