Chapter 7
"They're landing," Halsemon spoke up, nearly half-an-hour later.
"We're over the Kilo Dessert," Gatomon observed.
"Isn't this where that wreak is?" Yolei pointed out.
"The one that Ken's reluctant to go near," Halsemon agreed as they came nearer. "They're landing just outside the wreak."
"Let's set down now," Kari suggested. "The sand dunes go right up to that ruin, so maybe they can hide us enough." Yolei nodded and Halsemon landed and digivolved down to Hawkmon. The four quickly and quietly made their way across the sand and finally stopped at the top of a dune right next to where TK and Ken had landed. Kari crawled forward and stopped at the edge of the dune. Below them, six figures stood, facing two stone blocks buried in the sand. She motioned for the others to join her, but to remain quiet.
"Who's that?" Yolei whispered into Kari's ear, pointing at the third human. He was about as tall as TK, but not as thin. His brown hair was very light and he seemed well muscled. He wore tan pants that seemed to be leather a black t-shirt and black hiking boots. A black duster lay on the ground next to him. His right arm was covered in some kind of metal sheath from his elbow to his wrist. He had black half-gloves on and sunglasses. His back was to them, looking at the stones, which Kari suddenly realized with a sickening feeling, were tombstones.
"I'm not sure," she whispered back.
"I'm more worried about that," Gatomon whispered, pointing at the new digimon. It was enormous, nearly ten feet tall. Its skin was metallic and black with clawed fingers and spikes coming out of its elbows. The top part of its head was hidden beneath a metal covering, but its mouth was clear and lined with a lot of teeth. Four red, tattered wings came out of its back, two shorter ones on the top and two larger ones below. It simply crouched near the unknown human, occasionally growling or flecking its hands.
"It is rather hideous, isn't it?" Hawkmon whispered.
"And very powerful," Kari added, staring hard at it. There was something familiar about it, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. "It looks like it's an Ultimate."
"How did you know I'd be here?" the unknown human finally spoke.
"We stopped by Digitamamon's for breakfast, and he mentioned seeing you," TK replied, never taking his eyes off the stones.
"He mentioned you were heading to File Island after visiting some old friends," Ken added. "That made it fairly simple."
"And what gives you the right to even be back in the digital world?" he demanded.
"I don't expect you to forgive me," Ken replied, hanging his head in shame.
"Good, because I don't plan on it," the stranger replied, venom dripping from his tone.
"Ryo," TK broke in. "Give it a rest. You know as well as I do what happened couldn't have been prevented."
"The hell it couldn't!" Ryo roared, turning to face TK. "If any of you morons had been doing your jobs as Chosen, then he would never have gone off the deep end like that and this wouldn't have happened!" he spat, gesturing at the pair of headstones. "I blame you and the rest of the damned Chosen as much as I blame him, TK!"
"You blame me?" TK asked, his voice cold and hard as steel.
"Not you," Ryo muttered, dropping his head. "Never you." The three remained silent for several minutes before Ryo finally spoke again.
"So how have you been, Kenny boy?" A smile twitched on Ken's lips.
"I asked you to stop calling me that," he protested.
"Don't sass your elders, boy," Ryo countered. "Seriously, as much as I may blame you for this, you're still that scared little boy I ran across all those years ago in the forest."
"I'm better," Ken replied. "The doctors stopped my medication a year ago. They said that there's nothing more that medicine can do for me. I kept in touch with Willis for a while, but we haven't spoken in a couple months."
"He's been busy building new toys," Ryo grinned. "We should get him back in here at some point. Gather the old gang back."
"Not everyone would come," TK replied quietly.
"Kat and you broke up, huh?"
"A few years ago. After I found out that she was cheating on me."
"Ouch."
"Yeah, well, I'm back in Odaiba again."
"You, Kenny?"
"My parents and I moved to Odaiba two years ago, shortly after the three new kids got called. I'm dating one of them. Her name's Yolei and she's got a temper to match her beauty."
"Biased," Ryo grinned.
"TK? Anyone special?"
"My Angel," he grinned.
"You and Kari finally got together? Congratulations, bro. When?"
"Last night," Angemon grinned from where he was leaning against part of the ruin.
"Bro, you work fast," Ryo laughed.
"How about you, bro?" TK grinned. "How's the exploration coming?"
"Not too bad. The first computer's kind of hard to figure out at first, but with time you get the hang of it."
"No thanks," TK grinned. "I've got enough trouble in this world, I don't need to start dimension hopping. Thanks, though. You found anyone?"
"There's this girl in one of the dimensions I ran across," Ryo admitted with a grin. "It's a hoot, you guys are a TV show there. The adventures are fairly close, for a kids cartoon." TK and Ken laughed at that.
"So, is this Davis as much of a jerk as their show makes him out to be?"
"I don't like him," TK admitted. "He's too immature to be leading the new kids. I'm just grateful that Ken's keeping an eye on them. Otherwise I'd be worried."
"Davis just managed to land the easy job," Ken sighed. "We all had to kill and fight to stay alive at a young age and almost the second we were dropped into the digital world. Davis, Cody and Yolei were chosen to help guard as the originals grew older and had more responsibilities, but there hasn't been too much trouble since, well…"
"You," Ryo finished. "Yeah, I know. But I've been hearing things that I don't like."
"The new Emperor," TK nodded. "I grilled Kari about it as much as I could without her getting suspicious, but they don't seem to know too much."
"Whoever it is has some new digimon," Ken picked up.
"Mummymon and Arukenimon," Ryo agreed. "I've seen them in action. Powerful, but fairly incompetent. Cyberdramon could make them into data particles in a few seconds. So could Grand Kuwagamon, for that matter," he turned to Ken.
"I can't digivolve past Stingmon," Wormmon spoke up, sadness trickling into his voice. "I haven't had the battle experience since I was reborn to be able to digivolve even to Ultimate. It's really frustrating, knowing what's right there waiting for me, if only something kind of dangerous would come along."
"Also if you could kill it without the others coming after us," Ken replied.
"Well, yeah, there is that," he admitted.
"Reluctant to kill?" Ryo asked, slightly startled.
"Kari's ready to if need be, but I don't think the others are there yet. They've had it too easy," TK sighed. "Oh well, at least Matt and the other six can come give us a hand if we need it."
"I just might come back with you," Ryo grinned. "I haven't seen Tai or Sora for a while. I wonder if that offer for dinner is still open?"
"Dude, that was years ago," TK laughed. "Besides, she's dating Matt, fairly seriously I might add."
"And you'd have to take your brother's side I guess," Ryo sighed. "Ah, the pleasures of being a single orphan. The girls fall all over that in sympathy."
"And how many girls have you run into in the digital world?" TK laughed.
"It's the principle of the thing," Ryo huffed. "But seriously, we need to find this new guy. I don't want that to ever happen again." He gestured at the stones and the three were silent for a moment.
"Let's start gathering the troops," Ken finally spoke up. "TK and I can work with the original Chosen and maybe bring the new guys in."
"I'll contact Willis and 'Tasha," Ryo agreed. "Willis has stayed in touch with everyone, so we can gather and make plans. Um, we do have a plan, right?"
"We find him, we break hi in half, we leave," TK shrugged, crouching over the first grave. "She was the first Chosen to die in battle, I want to make damn sure that she's the last." TK leaned forward and gently kissed the name carved into the stone.
"Amen," Ken and Ryo echoed. TK rose, Ryo grabbed his duster and the three started for the ruins, their digimon following.
"So how's the arm?" Ken asked as they went.
"It's healing," Ryo replied. "I don't really need the cast anymore, but Babamon was quite firm in how long I should have it on. And I am NOT disappointing that woman."
"She'd kick the crap out of you, literally" TK laughed as their voices began to dwindle.
Kari and the others remained where they were for several more minutes until they finally stood.
"That was interesting," Hawkmon muttered.
"So that's the Legendary Tamer, huh?" Gatomon commented.
"Who?" Yolei asked, confused.
"Ryo Akiyama, the Legendary Tamer," Gatomon replied. "He's a wandering human. He just wanders around the digital world with that massive behemoth of his and fights evil digimon. Agumon mentioned him once or twice, but never went into much detail about it. Apparently he was the one who finally defeated Millenniummon."
"Millenniummon?" Yolei asked, slightly lost.
"It was a massive, destructive digimon that was prophesized to live for one thousand years and then bring about the destruction of the digital world through its rage," Kari replied absently, staring at the doorway in the ruin where the six had entered. "TK seemed to know him pretty well, and he mentioned Tai, but I know that I've never seen him before."
"Maybe they worked together before you joined the group," Hawkmon suggested.
"But why haven't any of the others mentioned him before?" Kari wondered. "And why didn't he help us fight the dark masters when we returned and I was with them?"
"All valid questions, but might I suggest that we ponder them whilst on patrol?" Hawkmon replied. "It is getting close to the time we said we would meet, and I for one would like to get a bit of patrolling done before we are to meet TK and Ken." Kari nodded and the four set out to get a bit of a distance between themselves and the ruin before Gatomon and Hawkmon digivolved.
"I wonder what they were talking about at the beginning,." Yolei spoke up after a few minutes. "Something about Ken needing to be forgiven?"
"I know, it seems weird," Kari replied. "Gatomon? What is it, you've been awfully quiet."
"I was just wondering about those graves," Gatomon admitted. "I've never heard of a Chosen or a digidestined dying in the digital world. It just got me to thinking and worrying."
"Ken was involved in her death, somehow," Yolei admitted what none of them really wanted to think. "That's what that Ryo guy was yelling at him about at first."
"But TK doesn't' seem to blame him," Kari ventured.
"TK's very forgiving," Gatomon pointed out. "Besides, from what little I know of him, Ryo lives alone here in the digital world, traveling around. Maybe TK just had more time to see Ken change or work to atone for whatever happened?"
"Maybe," Yolei replied, but she seemed dubious.
"Ryo seemed angrier at himself," Hawkmon spoke up. "He seemed to blame himself for whatever it was that Ken did." The group remained silent for a while longer.