Chapter 4: Poison/At the Arcade
Immediately upon entering the arcade, Jyou found himself being half- strangled by Miyako. "You're back! You're back!" she squealed.
"Ack! Yes, I'm back, now /get off/!" he gasped, struggling to pull away from the exuberant "spy."
Koushiro grinned weakly. "Sorry I couldn't help, Jyou...computer has a virus..."
Jyou forced himself to remain calm, although it didn't really work very well. "That's okay, Kou." He glanced around. "Where's your girlfriend?"
"She's late."
Miyako finally let go of Jyou and disappeared behind a large plant. Jyou could see Hikari and Iori hiding back there as well. Takeru and his brother were playing some kind of shooting game, while the other Digidestined were watching Sora beat Taichi at air hockey. Jyou frowned.
"Is someone missing?"
"Daisuke and Ken," Koushiro replied. "They went back to the Digiworld to look for you - or that's what Miyako said. And she's not the most reliable source."
"Hey!" the purple-haired girl screeched.
"Some spy /you/ are," Hikari muttered. Jyou grinned at the antics of the younger generation of Digidestined.
At that moment, Shizu walked in, her violet eyes slightly wild. Jyou's smile disappeared at the sight of the large, dark bruise on her cheek. "What happened to you?"
"I fell down," she answered. "That's why I was late. I had to go back for a Band-Aid for the scrape on my elbow. Hi, Koushiro!" She threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his, much to the surprise of the genius. Jyou gagged. The giggling from behind the plant really didn't help.
"He has to breathe, Shizu," Yamato commented dryly.
The blonde girl pulled away from her boyfriend, her eyes shining. "What should we do now?"
At that moment, the plant fell over, exposing the three spies. "Takeru," Iori hissed, getting to his feet. "Daisuke and Ken are in trouble."
Takeru looked down at the flashing light on his digivice: you've got mail. He grinned nervously, his blue eyes going pointedly to Shizu. "How do you know that, Iori?"
"Pager," the green-eyed boy replied instantly. "We have to go."
Shizu's eyes were completely innocent. "Perhaps we should /all/ go."
Miyako laughed. "That's not the best idea...come /on/." She dragged the dazed Hikari to her feet and pulled the others out the door.
~~
Ken coughed, sliding down the wall and burying his head in his hands. He trembled slightly; his stomach appeared to be trying to do cartwheels. He had /never/ felt this sick before - not ever. He frowned. Did this have anything to do with that weird little butterfly? What had it said? Something about Dark Spirits...
Before he could come to a rational conclusion, Daisuke returned and crouched down beside him. "Are you okay?"
Ken coughed, trying to nod. "Yeah, I'm just fine."
"I contacted the others."
"That's nice," Ken said, starting to cough again. He felt a hand press against his forehead.
"You're burning up! I think we should just go home..."
"I'll be /fine/," Ken said. However, his words were punctuated by rasping coughs, and he could tell from Daisuke's brown eyes that the other boy didn't believe a word of it.
Something poked Ken's leg, and he glanced down, half-expecting to see the little purple butterfly. "Hi, Wormmon."
Wormmon's soulful blue eyes glittered with concern. "You shouldn't have come back!"
"What do you mean?" Daisuke asked.
"You can't go home /now/. It's incredibly dangerous to go between worlds when you're sick - or tired, as Ken already knows."
Daisuke sighed. "Hopefully, someone else will know what to do - if they ever /get/ here."
Ken sighed and closed his violet eyes. His breath rattled in his throat. "Wormmon...Dark Spirits...what are they?"
"You."
The voice was not Wormmon's, but it was hauntingly familiar to all three. Ken struggled to get up, but Daisuke pushed him back down at they stared into the shadows.
The voice laughed mockingly. "Did you really think I was gone, my hikari?"
"No," Ken gasped. "Not you..."
Wormmon jumped forward, his blue eyes dark with anger. "Get out of here, Kaiser! I'll fight you if I have to but you can't have Ken!"
"I don't want him, fool," the voice said. Daisuke shuddered at the cold tone.
"Then what do you want?" the redhead snapped. "Please...Ken's sick. Just leave us alone...leave us alone!" Daisuke was astonished to find tears gathering in his eyes.
"I just wanted to answer the question." The voice sounded highly offended. Ken coughed again, harder. "Like it or not, my hikari, you're a part of me - like the Empress. That makes you a Dark Spirit - like me."
Ken gasped for breath. Daisuke turned back to him and gently brushed a strand of indigo hair back from his friend's face. Ken shoved Daisuke away with a strength born of fear and stared into the shadows, trembling. "You - you did this to me!"
"No, I didn't," the Kaiser responded, emerging from the darkness. Now that he was no longer in possession of Ken's body, he looked quite different - and yet eerily the same. He wore a plain black uniform and a black cloak. His skin was pale, and his dark hair fell in silken waves to his shoulders. His eyes were a deep indigo-violet, a few shades darker than Ken's amethyst eyes.
"Then what was the butterfly talking about?"
"What butterfly?" Daisuke asked.
The Kaiser laughed sardonically. "Ah, the beautiful creatures of the Dark Ocean. Who would suspect them of carrying my brothers' fury?"
"Wait a minute," Daisuke said, standing slowly. "You have brothers? Like, a family?"
The Kaiser shrugged. "We aren't a very close family. I hold the spirit of Power. The other three are Death, Darkness, and Hatred. We don't really get along." He sighed. "Which is why they spontaneously decided to join forces against the /former/ Emperor."
Ken shuddered. "Damn butterfly," he murmured, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. "What do you want, Kaiser?"
The Dark Spirit shrugged again. "I don't need you anymore, but that doesn't mean I want to see you dead. Unfortunately, there's very little I can do. There is a cure for the poison of the butterfly, but it will be difficult for you to obtain - and you are in far more danger than it may seem." A sudden frown crossed his face. "Especially since Jyou won't be able to help you...I'll have to speak with the Empress about that. Would you excuse me? Have fun...happy day." With that, he vanished, leaving behind nothing to show that he had ever been there.
"That was...the strangest thing I've ever seen," Daisuke said. "The Kaiser telling us to have fun and have a happy day..."
Ken coughed again. "Where /are/ the others?"
~~
At that moment, the 'others' were trying very hard to get away from Shizu, who had insisted on following them to the school and into the computer lab. She watched in fascination as the Digidestined pretended to write reports.
"And you know all this about whales from memory?" she asked Takeru.
"Uh...well...I read a lot," he said lamely. The truth was, he really didn't know if sperm whales ate giant jellyfish.
Koushiro glanced nervously at his watch. "Maybe we should leave them alone," he suggested.
"This is interesting," the blonde girl objected, smirking despite herself.
//Having fun?//
/Yes, as a matter of fact, I was. What do you want?/
//Ken is dying, hikari. You need to stop that program. He won't survive if Jyou can't help him.//
/That might have been my only chance to capture him. I won't give it up just for Ken. If they would just think about it, I'm sure they can find a cure without Jyou...what's the cure, by the way?/
The Kaiser snorted derisively. //It's a rare plant that grows only in the shade of the Southern Escarpment, my dear hikari. And your army stands on the Southern Escarpment. If you want to help, you have a lot of work to do...//
/But I don't! I just want Jyou!/
//You want to help. You're too soft, Shizuko. Come on. Leave these petty amusements and let's go find something for the army to do - burn down a forest, maybe.//
Shizuko sighed. "I'd better be getting home," she told the Digidestined. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kou-chan..."
//That's another thing. Why are you wasting time on him?//
/Dissention in the ranks. Even if they find out who I am, Koushiro will never, ever believe them./
//That's ridiculous...//
She walked out of the computer lab, then paused. /I thought we burned down a forest yesterday.../
//We did.//
/Then today, how about we knock down Infinity Mountain?/
//Whatever floats your boat. Have fun playing General, Shizuko. Try not to mess up too badly...//
Shizu accidentally spoke out loud. "What? Won't you be there to help?"
He sounded absolutely disgusted. //Family reunion...//
~~
Miyako, Hikari, Takeru, Iori, and Koushiro walked into the cave ten minutes after the Kaiser's departure. Ken grinned slightly.
"You're late..."
"What happened?" Hikari asked, her brown eyes worried.
"I got myself poisoned," Ken told her. "Have a nice day...I'm sure I won't."
Daisuke sighed. "I think the Kaiser really messed up his head. He hasn't been coughing since that creepy shadow left, but he's been talking like that..."
"The Kaiser?"
"What's he doing here?"
"Oh, God, he's /back/?"
Daisuke held up a hand to stop their babbling. "Wormmon says we can't take him to the real world, so I came up with jobs for all of you. Miyako and Iori will go back to the real world and get instant soup and firewood and blankets...you know, survival stuff. Takeru and Hikari, go to the school library and look up stuff about poison and sickness and all that fun medical crap. Koushiro...can you find Jyou for us? I don't want to leave Ken."
Somewhat confused - Daisuke was actually /acting/ like a leader - Koushiro said, "Well, he was following us..."
Iori's green eyes narrowed. "Remember what he said? That some crazy girl has him captured? He won't be able to come here directly if he's a prisoner."
"Then I'll go play hero," Koushiro sighed. "I'd better find Tentomon..."
"I'm coming too," Wormmon said suddenly.
"What?"
"I can't help Ken-chan by staying here. I'll come with you. Maybe I'll see something you miss - since I live here and all."
"I wanna go!" Veemon squealed. Daisuke jumped, having almost forgotten that his partner was there.
"That's right," Gatomon said, jumping out of Hikari's backpack. "We can't do any good by sticking around, but we can try to help rescue Jyou from wherever he's being kept."
"That's always assuming he came with us through the Digital Gate," Takeru murmured, frowning.
Hawkmon clapped his wings together. "Very well, we all know what our jobs are...let's get going!"
The Digidestined and their digimon went separate ways from there, but Daisuke remained with Ken. "How do you feel?" he asked softly.
"Peachy keen," Ken said cheerfully. "Although, my chest hurts and my head is hot...hunky dory."
"Uh-huh..."
"Wasn't that weird? I mean, seeing the Kaiser again? I missed him a little...he was fun."
"No, he wasn't!" Daisuke cried, horrified. "He wasn't fun at all!"
"I dunno," Ken said, yawning. "Maybe that's because he didn't like you...I like you."
"What?"
"I like you." Ken quite suddenly sat up and stared at Daisuke as if seeing him for the first time. "I like you a lot."
Not sure what exactly was going on, Daisuke nodded slowly. "I...like you too. You're my best friend."
Ken threw his arms around Daisuke and hugged him. "I wuv you..."
Daisuke sweatdropped. "I...uh...wuv you too..." ~Jeez...I would almost think that he was drunk, the way he's acting...~
Ken grinned at his friend. "I do! I wuv you!" And to prove it, Ken pressed his lips against Daisuke's. At that point, Daisuke decided to just give up. He really didn't know what was going on anymore.
~~~~
A/N: More Kensuke goodness. Jeez, the Jyoushiro is a long time in coming...but I have plans.../evil/ plans. Bwahaha. Next chapter...a family reunion. How sweet. And General Shizuko commands her armies, and...um...more Kensuke? I dunno...I'm too tired to think...happy day/night...
Immediately upon entering the arcade, Jyou found himself being half- strangled by Miyako. "You're back! You're back!" she squealed.
"Ack! Yes, I'm back, now /get off/!" he gasped, struggling to pull away from the exuberant "spy."
Koushiro grinned weakly. "Sorry I couldn't help, Jyou...computer has a virus..."
Jyou forced himself to remain calm, although it didn't really work very well. "That's okay, Kou." He glanced around. "Where's your girlfriend?"
"She's late."
Miyako finally let go of Jyou and disappeared behind a large plant. Jyou could see Hikari and Iori hiding back there as well. Takeru and his brother were playing some kind of shooting game, while the other Digidestined were watching Sora beat Taichi at air hockey. Jyou frowned.
"Is someone missing?"
"Daisuke and Ken," Koushiro replied. "They went back to the Digiworld to look for you - or that's what Miyako said. And she's not the most reliable source."
"Hey!" the purple-haired girl screeched.
"Some spy /you/ are," Hikari muttered. Jyou grinned at the antics of the younger generation of Digidestined.
At that moment, Shizu walked in, her violet eyes slightly wild. Jyou's smile disappeared at the sight of the large, dark bruise on her cheek. "What happened to you?"
"I fell down," she answered. "That's why I was late. I had to go back for a Band-Aid for the scrape on my elbow. Hi, Koushiro!" She threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his, much to the surprise of the genius. Jyou gagged. The giggling from behind the plant really didn't help.
"He has to breathe, Shizu," Yamato commented dryly.
The blonde girl pulled away from her boyfriend, her eyes shining. "What should we do now?"
At that moment, the plant fell over, exposing the three spies. "Takeru," Iori hissed, getting to his feet. "Daisuke and Ken are in trouble."
Takeru looked down at the flashing light on his digivice: you've got mail. He grinned nervously, his blue eyes going pointedly to Shizu. "How do you know that, Iori?"
"Pager," the green-eyed boy replied instantly. "We have to go."
Shizu's eyes were completely innocent. "Perhaps we should /all/ go."
Miyako laughed. "That's not the best idea...come /on/." She dragged the dazed Hikari to her feet and pulled the others out the door.
~~
Ken coughed, sliding down the wall and burying his head in his hands. He trembled slightly; his stomach appeared to be trying to do cartwheels. He had /never/ felt this sick before - not ever. He frowned. Did this have anything to do with that weird little butterfly? What had it said? Something about Dark Spirits...
Before he could come to a rational conclusion, Daisuke returned and crouched down beside him. "Are you okay?"
Ken coughed, trying to nod. "Yeah, I'm just fine."
"I contacted the others."
"That's nice," Ken said, starting to cough again. He felt a hand press against his forehead.
"You're burning up! I think we should just go home..."
"I'll be /fine/," Ken said. However, his words were punctuated by rasping coughs, and he could tell from Daisuke's brown eyes that the other boy didn't believe a word of it.
Something poked Ken's leg, and he glanced down, half-expecting to see the little purple butterfly. "Hi, Wormmon."
Wormmon's soulful blue eyes glittered with concern. "You shouldn't have come back!"
"What do you mean?" Daisuke asked.
"You can't go home /now/. It's incredibly dangerous to go between worlds when you're sick - or tired, as Ken already knows."
Daisuke sighed. "Hopefully, someone else will know what to do - if they ever /get/ here."
Ken sighed and closed his violet eyes. His breath rattled in his throat. "Wormmon...Dark Spirits...what are they?"
"You."
The voice was not Wormmon's, but it was hauntingly familiar to all three. Ken struggled to get up, but Daisuke pushed him back down at they stared into the shadows.
The voice laughed mockingly. "Did you really think I was gone, my hikari?"
"No," Ken gasped. "Not you..."
Wormmon jumped forward, his blue eyes dark with anger. "Get out of here, Kaiser! I'll fight you if I have to but you can't have Ken!"
"I don't want him, fool," the voice said. Daisuke shuddered at the cold tone.
"Then what do you want?" the redhead snapped. "Please...Ken's sick. Just leave us alone...leave us alone!" Daisuke was astonished to find tears gathering in his eyes.
"I just wanted to answer the question." The voice sounded highly offended. Ken coughed again, harder. "Like it or not, my hikari, you're a part of me - like the Empress. That makes you a Dark Spirit - like me."
Ken gasped for breath. Daisuke turned back to him and gently brushed a strand of indigo hair back from his friend's face. Ken shoved Daisuke away with a strength born of fear and stared into the shadows, trembling. "You - you did this to me!"
"No, I didn't," the Kaiser responded, emerging from the darkness. Now that he was no longer in possession of Ken's body, he looked quite different - and yet eerily the same. He wore a plain black uniform and a black cloak. His skin was pale, and his dark hair fell in silken waves to his shoulders. His eyes were a deep indigo-violet, a few shades darker than Ken's amethyst eyes.
"Then what was the butterfly talking about?"
"What butterfly?" Daisuke asked.
The Kaiser laughed sardonically. "Ah, the beautiful creatures of the Dark Ocean. Who would suspect them of carrying my brothers' fury?"
"Wait a minute," Daisuke said, standing slowly. "You have brothers? Like, a family?"
The Kaiser shrugged. "We aren't a very close family. I hold the spirit of Power. The other three are Death, Darkness, and Hatred. We don't really get along." He sighed. "Which is why they spontaneously decided to join forces against the /former/ Emperor."
Ken shuddered. "Damn butterfly," he murmured, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. "What do you want, Kaiser?"
The Dark Spirit shrugged again. "I don't need you anymore, but that doesn't mean I want to see you dead. Unfortunately, there's very little I can do. There is a cure for the poison of the butterfly, but it will be difficult for you to obtain - and you are in far more danger than it may seem." A sudden frown crossed his face. "Especially since Jyou won't be able to help you...I'll have to speak with the Empress about that. Would you excuse me? Have fun...happy day." With that, he vanished, leaving behind nothing to show that he had ever been there.
"That was...the strangest thing I've ever seen," Daisuke said. "The Kaiser telling us to have fun and have a happy day..."
Ken coughed again. "Where /are/ the others?"
~~
At that moment, the 'others' were trying very hard to get away from Shizu, who had insisted on following them to the school and into the computer lab. She watched in fascination as the Digidestined pretended to write reports.
"And you know all this about whales from memory?" she asked Takeru.
"Uh...well...I read a lot," he said lamely. The truth was, he really didn't know if sperm whales ate giant jellyfish.
Koushiro glanced nervously at his watch. "Maybe we should leave them alone," he suggested.
"This is interesting," the blonde girl objected, smirking despite herself.
//Having fun?//
/Yes, as a matter of fact, I was. What do you want?/
//Ken is dying, hikari. You need to stop that program. He won't survive if Jyou can't help him.//
/That might have been my only chance to capture him. I won't give it up just for Ken. If they would just think about it, I'm sure they can find a cure without Jyou...what's the cure, by the way?/
The Kaiser snorted derisively. //It's a rare plant that grows only in the shade of the Southern Escarpment, my dear hikari. And your army stands on the Southern Escarpment. If you want to help, you have a lot of work to do...//
/But I don't! I just want Jyou!/
//You want to help. You're too soft, Shizuko. Come on. Leave these petty amusements and let's go find something for the army to do - burn down a forest, maybe.//
Shizuko sighed. "I'd better be getting home," she told the Digidestined. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kou-chan..."
//That's another thing. Why are you wasting time on him?//
/Dissention in the ranks. Even if they find out who I am, Koushiro will never, ever believe them./
//That's ridiculous...//
She walked out of the computer lab, then paused. /I thought we burned down a forest yesterday.../
//We did.//
/Then today, how about we knock down Infinity Mountain?/
//Whatever floats your boat. Have fun playing General, Shizuko. Try not to mess up too badly...//
Shizu accidentally spoke out loud. "What? Won't you be there to help?"
He sounded absolutely disgusted. //Family reunion...//
~~
Miyako, Hikari, Takeru, Iori, and Koushiro walked into the cave ten minutes after the Kaiser's departure. Ken grinned slightly.
"You're late..."
"What happened?" Hikari asked, her brown eyes worried.
"I got myself poisoned," Ken told her. "Have a nice day...I'm sure I won't."
Daisuke sighed. "I think the Kaiser really messed up his head. He hasn't been coughing since that creepy shadow left, but he's been talking like that..."
"The Kaiser?"
"What's he doing here?"
"Oh, God, he's /back/?"
Daisuke held up a hand to stop their babbling. "Wormmon says we can't take him to the real world, so I came up with jobs for all of you. Miyako and Iori will go back to the real world and get instant soup and firewood and blankets...you know, survival stuff. Takeru and Hikari, go to the school library and look up stuff about poison and sickness and all that fun medical crap. Koushiro...can you find Jyou for us? I don't want to leave Ken."
Somewhat confused - Daisuke was actually /acting/ like a leader - Koushiro said, "Well, he was following us..."
Iori's green eyes narrowed. "Remember what he said? That some crazy girl has him captured? He won't be able to come here directly if he's a prisoner."
"Then I'll go play hero," Koushiro sighed. "I'd better find Tentomon..."
"I'm coming too," Wormmon said suddenly.
"What?"
"I can't help Ken-chan by staying here. I'll come with you. Maybe I'll see something you miss - since I live here and all."
"I wanna go!" Veemon squealed. Daisuke jumped, having almost forgotten that his partner was there.
"That's right," Gatomon said, jumping out of Hikari's backpack. "We can't do any good by sticking around, but we can try to help rescue Jyou from wherever he's being kept."
"That's always assuming he came with us through the Digital Gate," Takeru murmured, frowning.
Hawkmon clapped his wings together. "Very well, we all know what our jobs are...let's get going!"
The Digidestined and their digimon went separate ways from there, but Daisuke remained with Ken. "How do you feel?" he asked softly.
"Peachy keen," Ken said cheerfully. "Although, my chest hurts and my head is hot...hunky dory."
"Uh-huh..."
"Wasn't that weird? I mean, seeing the Kaiser again? I missed him a little...he was fun."
"No, he wasn't!" Daisuke cried, horrified. "He wasn't fun at all!"
"I dunno," Ken said, yawning. "Maybe that's because he didn't like you...I like you."
"What?"
"I like you." Ken quite suddenly sat up and stared at Daisuke as if seeing him for the first time. "I like you a lot."
Not sure what exactly was going on, Daisuke nodded slowly. "I...like you too. You're my best friend."
Ken threw his arms around Daisuke and hugged him. "I wuv you..."
Daisuke sweatdropped. "I...uh...wuv you too..." ~Jeez...I would almost think that he was drunk, the way he's acting...~
Ken grinned at his friend. "I do! I wuv you!" And to prove it, Ken pressed his lips against Daisuke's. At that point, Daisuke decided to just give up. He really didn't know what was going on anymore.
~~~~
A/N: More Kensuke goodness. Jeez, the Jyoushiro is a long time in coming...but I have plans.../evil/ plans. Bwahaha. Next chapter...a family reunion. How sweet. And General Shizuko commands her armies, and...um...more Kensuke? I dunno...I'm too tired to think...happy day/night...