In the deep, deep blackness, the blackness of the void, 'neath the parched,
thirsting lands where no thing remains free. the dark presence flowed
through the pitch-black corridors. The Dark Lord was impressed - through
torturing this frustratingly slow of Evil Emperors, he had inspired him to
create a new kind of Dark Ring, one that showed much promise. a hiss of
rage! Where were they, those which he had been about to try it on? His
screech of anger echoed through the chill halls, putting dread into every
being's quailing heart. Well, at least he had sent the human into the other
world to deal with the more tiresome of the Digidestined. Ahh, to think
that both worlds were each covered with his future slaves. and he ultimate
ruler over them all.
Chapter 5 - Enslavery worldwide
"I so do not like this," Yolei moaned for the umpteenth time. Hawkmon sighed with exaggerated patience. "None of us do, Yolei," he said, "but the fate of the Digital World is at stake here." "Yolei speaks the truth, though." Cody spoke up unexpectedly. "That doesn't make what we're doing right, not by a long way." They all walked on in uncomfortable silence. It was night, and a pale moon shone down on their city, illuminating it faintly with a colourless shadow effect. Shivering, Cody and Armadillomon drew closer together, almost bumping into one another as they sought comfort. Patamon cowered fearfully into TK's neck from his perch on his shoulder. There was a growing, unspoken sense of unease among them. For this reason they were incredibly relieved to finally turn a corner and find the block of flats where Ken lived. Not wanting to be left outside alone, they all somehow managed to squeeze into one elevator, barely able to breathe as it slowly ascended. Floor after floor passed by. Gatomon screeched as someone trod on her tail; they all winced, hoping that not too many people had been woken up. After what seemed like an eternity, the metal doors slid smoothly open, and they practically fell out onto the landing. "This is it," said Davis quietly. He was standing outside a door with a beaten-up number hanging lopsidedly from it. The others picked up their digimon, resuming the stuffed animal act for a short while, and stood behind him. He took one last deep breath, slowly raised his finger.
Brrrring! "Oh, that's the doorbell! I wonder, who could be calling at this time of night? Perhaps it's Ken back at last, maybe he's forgotten his key again." Ken's mother, a pleasant but absent-minded woman, trotted to the door and opened it cautiously. "Ah yes, you're Ken's friends, aren't you? Is Ken with you?" "No, I'm afraid not. Is he not there? He asked us to come meet him at his house tonight." Davis lied. "Well then, you'd better come in, hadn't you?" She said brightly, just as they'd known she would. "Here, I baked some cookies today." and she proffered a tin of freshly baked home-made chocolate chip cookies. Feeling dreadful, the gang stepped inside and took a cookie to nibble. "If he's in here at all, he'll be in his room; but I haven't heard a sound from there for simply ages, d'you think he's asleep? I do hope he hasn't gone out without telling me - and at this hour, too!" They left her twittering on absent-mindedly and trudged down the hall to Ken's bedroom. "Hey, these are nice cookies!" Yolei said in delight. The others all turned to glare at her. "What, so just because we're saving the world, we're not allowed to enjoy good food?" She said in accusation. Kari could not help but smile slightly. Still, the message was clear, and so Yolei munched on without further comment. In gloomy silence, none knowing quite what to say, they shut the door. Kari, Yolei and TK sat on the perfectly-made bed, feeling awkward even to make such dents and creases in it; Cody sat in his accustomed position in the computer chair, even though they all knew not to touch the computer. Through that screen, Ken would be coming, the Evil Emperor - and when he did, their digimon would digevolve and break his Dark Ring. At least, that's how the plan went.
"OK guys, I have to go to my evening classes now - have fun!" Ken's mum's voice rang out from the kitchen. They shouted back as cheery an agreement as possible, then waited quietly until they heard the door slam. For about a minute, they all sat expectantly, waiting. then sure enough, footsteps approached down the hall. Yolei sighed, rose, and went to the front door. Just as she arrived the doorbell rang. "Oops, forgot my keys!" They heard the scatty but happy woman say to Yolei, who muttered a friendly comment before shutting the door delicately behind her. Everyone let out a deep breath that they never knew they had been holding. "Oooo.kaayyy." Said TK. "Now she's gone, Ken could arrive any second. We need to be prepared." "Um.guys?" Veemon spoke up. "I think I've just spotted a flaw in our plan." They all turned to him, very slowly, making their meaning quite clear. The irrepressible digimon grinned broadly. "Hey-hey! I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is, it isn't my fault none of you spotted this!" He laughed. "Veemon, just tell us, now!" Davis almost shouted. "It's really simple, actually. The thing is, we all have to squash up a bit to sit comfortably in this room, don't we?" The others nodded in mute agreement. Veemon raised his eyebrows. "Oooohhh." Davis said, realisation hitting him at last. "Uh-oh," said Patamon and Gatomon in unison. "How on this darned earth 'm I gonna fit in here once I digivolve?" Armadillomon was the last to figure it out.
But just then, before any of them could think up an answer, they heard the most terrifying sound that they could have heard. From through the bedroom door and down the hallway, there was the click of a latch and the slight squeak of a door. Everyone held their breath, not daring to move. Booted feet walked slowly, casually towards the room. They were followed by a strange, scuttling sound. Then there was silence. Suddenly, the door flew open. Ken stood framed in the doorway in all his evil splendour, Wormmon peering around his legs. Kari cried out - she was nearest the door - Gatomon leaping to her side in a defensive stance. The Evil Emperor's eyes widened in surprise and anger. "You!" He shouted at them. The gang sprang to their feet, Davis virtually nose-to-nose with Ken. Yolei anxiously shouldered her way through to the front, Hawkmon hanging grimly on to her shoulder. "I. I wasn't expecting." The evil boy seemed confused, almost disorientated. The Digidestined stared at him in puzzlement. He had never, ever shown confusion. "No!" He suddenly turned his face up to scream at the ceiling. "No, I won't fight them!" His eyes scrunched up with the effort of denial, and they noticed thin rivulets of blood running over his ankles from where Wormmon's claws dug in, whether to help Ken or himself or possibly both. "Veemon, go for the throat!" Davis suddenly shouted in the turmoil. His digimon looked at him in bafflement, before shrugging and trusting his partner. With one great leap, claws outstretched, he bounded onto Ken's head and dug in fiery claws beneath his jaw. Davis heard Veemon's yelp of surprise before the digimon was tossed off the Evil Emperor, landing in a heap on the soft bed. "What's with the ring around his neck?" Veemon called as he righted himself. "It's got some kind of jewels or studs stuck in it all around - they hurt me even through my flames!" Fearfully, Davis looked back at Ken, who had been reduced to scrabbling on the floor, oblivious to all else except his determination to overcome whatever dark power was inside him. And then, all was calm. For a second.
Pain seized Ken, seized him with an iron grip so firm he could not resist it. Beside him, Wormmon was in a similar state. Dark Rings were affixed to both of their necks; now the black stones in each started to deepen, to do the opposite of glowing (as Davis thought afterwards). The boy and his digimon were each caught up a whirling tornado of darkness, bringing them closer and closer together.
The others watched incredulously as Wormmon entered the state of Digivolution, and Ken somehow entered with him. Yolei and Kari winced as Ken screamed in agony, as finally both of them were brought together, and the bodies seemed to just flow straight on into one another. "It's a new form of Digivolution", Cody whispered to himself, though the others all heard him. Ken was growing, his clothes replaced by Stingmon's black armour. His flesh turned green, his body buglike, until all that was left was a large, black bug. His head was framed by a mass of purple hair; lightening patterns around his eyes showed where the dark glasses had been previously. His legs bent forwards, and his head almost seemed like a helmet, covering a black yet human-shaped face beneath, of which only parts around the eyes and jawline showed. His eyes were red and unnervingly human. "What is that thing?" TK cried. For once, no-one had an answer. Then the creature provided one. "Sectryomon!" It screamed. The monster towered over them, screeching its fury and glaring at them with glowing red eyes. For a moment, they all just stood there, overawed and terrified by the might of it; but then Yolei was the first to snap out of the trance. "Ken!" She cried, and Cody was suspicious to note a tone of desperation and pity in her voice. Davis shook himself, angry at letting down his attention, and immediately began thinking hard on how to beat this thing without digivolving. "OK, we have to break that dark ring somehow!" He called to the others. "How?" Kari shouted at him. "Veemon couldn't even scratch it!" "Perhaps if we all attack at once!" Davis said the milisecond the idea came to him. "On my count!" Yolei wailed as Sectryomon shot a ball of green, liquid flame at her; Hawkmon leaped in front of her and created a bubble around both of them, of swirling flames and pinks. The acidic-looking fire rushed all around them, but passed them over unharmed. "One!" Shouted Davis. Patamon led TK, Gatomon and Kari into position on one side of the insectile creature. "Two!" Armadillomon rolled straight into another of Sectryomon's attacks, an armoured ball protected securely by his shell, to deflect it from Cody, Yolei and Hawkmon as they ran around to the other side and tensed up. "Three!" Yelled Davis at the top of his lungs. And with that, chaos erupted.
As one, everyone, humans and digimon alike, leapt for the dark ring. The children used fists, kicks or the sheer force of their body weight; the digimon used claws, teeth, armour or an individual attack aimed precisely. And at the exact same time, they learned that Sectryomon had just as much intelligence as he had before he digevolved. For even as they dived for him, surrounding him with nowhere left to run to, he pushed upwards with all the force he could gather in his legs, crashing head first through the ceiling. For the occupants of the floor above, it was like a miniature explosion. Plaster and wood erupted from the floor, along with a sleek black head followed by a vaguely humanoid body. At the moment, though, both its legs and arms were pinned firmly to its sides for ease, making it appear as a black and green torpedo. Sectryomon was angry, and he did not know why. This only served to fuel his fury, and he screeched at the world as he blew through the flying debris caused by the ruined ceiling/ floor. His manic red eyes searched the room, overlooking shredded furniture and terrified humans cowering in every available corner. Finally, they sighted on his target - a huge picture window, designed for its view of the city, especially of the park. With another deafening scream, he launched himself forward, not feeling the glass shatter everywhere, splintering into the gaps in his armour, scratching the smooth blackness, tinkling on the street far below. Free at last! The creature spread vast wings, like those of a dragonfly blown way out of proportion and encased in black metal, and roared out a challenge to the world.
Back in the bedroom, Davis shook his head groggily. "Urgh." He said. There was a pounding in his skull, which was not helped by the amount of noise going on around him. By the sound of it, the gang were having a blazing row. "Davis, please get them to quieten down!" Veemon shouted urgently in his ear. He had to shout to make himself heard, even right next to his partner. Davis glared around the room - it was dark, and a chill breeze was flowing through the gaping hole in the ceiling. Carefully he stood up, brushing off pieces of hardboard, flakes of paint and splinters. As he did so, a cloud of powdered plaster rose about him, making everyone stop shouting and cough, himself included. Once the dust had settled, he shook himself angrily - he looked like a ghost for a moment - and said quietly, "What is going on here?" "It's a little disagreement over what happens now." Veemon had evidently decided to be self-elected spokesman. "Kari and Yolei want to chase Sectryomon and try to defeat - or if possible, rescue him somehow. TK wants to try and get into the Digital World and go straight for the Dark Lord, since we'll get nowhere with Ken. Cody wants us to stay here, call as many Digidestined as possible for help, and spend our time trying to get Tai and Matt outta there - they're on their own, facing whatever other creations the Dark Lord has come up with, and besides we could use the reinforcements." The others stood and stared at Davis, who was wearing an expression of intense concentration. There was a long silence. Then finally, Davis spoke. "It'll do us no good chasing Sectryomon, or the Dark Lord. We don't know the range of their power, and besides I don't like putting our own digimon under that risk - not to mention ourselves. We're no use to anyone except the Dark Lord himself as slaves to him. I reckon our best bet is probably to call for help - we did it once, we can do it again. We know that every digimon has a human counterpart, even if they don't know it themselves. Therefore, think of all the Digidestined there must be in the world!" "No." Yolei was shaking her head grimly. "I won't leave him. I know where he's gone - to that Dark Ocean thing, he's crossed over it. If we can get him back from it, he'll be alright again. Better yet, let's destroy it - then no-one will ever be driven into it again!" "You can't destroy it, it would ruin the balance of things." Kari muttered sullenly. Yolei glanced at her. "Then there's a chance we can get Ken back from it?" She guessed. "Only I can." Kari said at length. Yolei spun around suddenly. "Then what are we waiting for?" She cried, holding out her digivice. "Yolei, no!" Yelled Davis, but too late - Hawkmon had already armour- digevolved to the gigantic four-legged eagle, Halsemon. Yolei leaped on the creature's feathery back, grabbing Gatomon by the tail and yanking her up behind her. Gatomon hissed in anger, but Yolei seemed not to notice. As the girl had known she would, Kari scrambled up behind them, not to be separated from her digimon at any cost. At that moment, Yolei dug her heels into Halsemon's flanks, and they took off, huge wings carrying them swiftly through the ceiling. Davis and TK ran at the same time to jump for the ascending digimon and its riders, but unfortunately ran into each other, bashing heads painfully. Despairingly they listened as the girls were greeted with more screams from upstairs. and then the beating of wings faded into the chilly night. "So what do we do now?" TK asked despondently. Cody glanced upwards at the hole before returning to the construction he was idly creating from the rubble. TK sighed and balled a fist in frustration. "There's only one thing we can do," said Davis. "We can hardly desert those two, though I'd feel no loss if Yolei left right now. We have to follow them." There was another reason for leaving which was quite clear in everyone's mind, but which was left unspoken - it would not do to have Ken's mother return to find the apartment in ruins, her son nowhere in sight and them sitting in the middle of it. And so it was that about thirty seconds later, eight figures could be seen running down the street. All had used their armour-digevolved forms in case the Evil Emperor remembered how to use his black digivice to stop them digevolving normally. This meant that Davis ended up - complaining heavily - running alongside Flamedramon, Cody sitting on Digmon's broad shoulders as he pounded along, TK riding his winged horse digimon, Pegasusmon. High above them, a vast black shape hovered in mid-air, its gauzy wings thrumming around it. Two glowing red eyes watched the gang with amusement. But the creature shook his head - he could rest elsewhere. Sectryomon felt triumphant enough to perform a couple of loop-the-loops backwards and forwards, before setting off back home, to where his PC had miraculously survived. He knew his Lord's instructions - to concentrate on these Digidestined alone, since they had been known to cause trouble in the past. It was an easy task. He reflected smugly that the other digimon whom his master had used were probably wearily traipsing all over the world, and all he had to do was take his time on this little gang. Yes, he had definitely got the better end of the deal.
Chapter 5 - Enslavery worldwide
"I so do not like this," Yolei moaned for the umpteenth time. Hawkmon sighed with exaggerated patience. "None of us do, Yolei," he said, "but the fate of the Digital World is at stake here." "Yolei speaks the truth, though." Cody spoke up unexpectedly. "That doesn't make what we're doing right, not by a long way." They all walked on in uncomfortable silence. It was night, and a pale moon shone down on their city, illuminating it faintly with a colourless shadow effect. Shivering, Cody and Armadillomon drew closer together, almost bumping into one another as they sought comfort. Patamon cowered fearfully into TK's neck from his perch on his shoulder. There was a growing, unspoken sense of unease among them. For this reason they were incredibly relieved to finally turn a corner and find the block of flats where Ken lived. Not wanting to be left outside alone, they all somehow managed to squeeze into one elevator, barely able to breathe as it slowly ascended. Floor after floor passed by. Gatomon screeched as someone trod on her tail; they all winced, hoping that not too many people had been woken up. After what seemed like an eternity, the metal doors slid smoothly open, and they practically fell out onto the landing. "This is it," said Davis quietly. He was standing outside a door with a beaten-up number hanging lopsidedly from it. The others picked up their digimon, resuming the stuffed animal act for a short while, and stood behind him. He took one last deep breath, slowly raised his finger.
Brrrring! "Oh, that's the doorbell! I wonder, who could be calling at this time of night? Perhaps it's Ken back at last, maybe he's forgotten his key again." Ken's mother, a pleasant but absent-minded woman, trotted to the door and opened it cautiously. "Ah yes, you're Ken's friends, aren't you? Is Ken with you?" "No, I'm afraid not. Is he not there? He asked us to come meet him at his house tonight." Davis lied. "Well then, you'd better come in, hadn't you?" She said brightly, just as they'd known she would. "Here, I baked some cookies today." and she proffered a tin of freshly baked home-made chocolate chip cookies. Feeling dreadful, the gang stepped inside and took a cookie to nibble. "If he's in here at all, he'll be in his room; but I haven't heard a sound from there for simply ages, d'you think he's asleep? I do hope he hasn't gone out without telling me - and at this hour, too!" They left her twittering on absent-mindedly and trudged down the hall to Ken's bedroom. "Hey, these are nice cookies!" Yolei said in delight. The others all turned to glare at her. "What, so just because we're saving the world, we're not allowed to enjoy good food?" She said in accusation. Kari could not help but smile slightly. Still, the message was clear, and so Yolei munched on without further comment. In gloomy silence, none knowing quite what to say, they shut the door. Kari, Yolei and TK sat on the perfectly-made bed, feeling awkward even to make such dents and creases in it; Cody sat in his accustomed position in the computer chair, even though they all knew not to touch the computer. Through that screen, Ken would be coming, the Evil Emperor - and when he did, their digimon would digevolve and break his Dark Ring. At least, that's how the plan went.
"OK guys, I have to go to my evening classes now - have fun!" Ken's mum's voice rang out from the kitchen. They shouted back as cheery an agreement as possible, then waited quietly until they heard the door slam. For about a minute, they all sat expectantly, waiting. then sure enough, footsteps approached down the hall. Yolei sighed, rose, and went to the front door. Just as she arrived the doorbell rang. "Oops, forgot my keys!" They heard the scatty but happy woman say to Yolei, who muttered a friendly comment before shutting the door delicately behind her. Everyone let out a deep breath that they never knew they had been holding. "Oooo.kaayyy." Said TK. "Now she's gone, Ken could arrive any second. We need to be prepared." "Um.guys?" Veemon spoke up. "I think I've just spotted a flaw in our plan." They all turned to him, very slowly, making their meaning quite clear. The irrepressible digimon grinned broadly. "Hey-hey! I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is, it isn't my fault none of you spotted this!" He laughed. "Veemon, just tell us, now!" Davis almost shouted. "It's really simple, actually. The thing is, we all have to squash up a bit to sit comfortably in this room, don't we?" The others nodded in mute agreement. Veemon raised his eyebrows. "Oooohhh." Davis said, realisation hitting him at last. "Uh-oh," said Patamon and Gatomon in unison. "How on this darned earth 'm I gonna fit in here once I digivolve?" Armadillomon was the last to figure it out.
But just then, before any of them could think up an answer, they heard the most terrifying sound that they could have heard. From through the bedroom door and down the hallway, there was the click of a latch and the slight squeak of a door. Everyone held their breath, not daring to move. Booted feet walked slowly, casually towards the room. They were followed by a strange, scuttling sound. Then there was silence. Suddenly, the door flew open. Ken stood framed in the doorway in all his evil splendour, Wormmon peering around his legs. Kari cried out - she was nearest the door - Gatomon leaping to her side in a defensive stance. The Evil Emperor's eyes widened in surprise and anger. "You!" He shouted at them. The gang sprang to their feet, Davis virtually nose-to-nose with Ken. Yolei anxiously shouldered her way through to the front, Hawkmon hanging grimly on to her shoulder. "I. I wasn't expecting." The evil boy seemed confused, almost disorientated. The Digidestined stared at him in puzzlement. He had never, ever shown confusion. "No!" He suddenly turned his face up to scream at the ceiling. "No, I won't fight them!" His eyes scrunched up with the effort of denial, and they noticed thin rivulets of blood running over his ankles from where Wormmon's claws dug in, whether to help Ken or himself or possibly both. "Veemon, go for the throat!" Davis suddenly shouted in the turmoil. His digimon looked at him in bafflement, before shrugging and trusting his partner. With one great leap, claws outstretched, he bounded onto Ken's head and dug in fiery claws beneath his jaw. Davis heard Veemon's yelp of surprise before the digimon was tossed off the Evil Emperor, landing in a heap on the soft bed. "What's with the ring around his neck?" Veemon called as he righted himself. "It's got some kind of jewels or studs stuck in it all around - they hurt me even through my flames!" Fearfully, Davis looked back at Ken, who had been reduced to scrabbling on the floor, oblivious to all else except his determination to overcome whatever dark power was inside him. And then, all was calm. For a second.
Pain seized Ken, seized him with an iron grip so firm he could not resist it. Beside him, Wormmon was in a similar state. Dark Rings were affixed to both of their necks; now the black stones in each started to deepen, to do the opposite of glowing (as Davis thought afterwards). The boy and his digimon were each caught up a whirling tornado of darkness, bringing them closer and closer together.
The others watched incredulously as Wormmon entered the state of Digivolution, and Ken somehow entered with him. Yolei and Kari winced as Ken screamed in agony, as finally both of them were brought together, and the bodies seemed to just flow straight on into one another. "It's a new form of Digivolution", Cody whispered to himself, though the others all heard him. Ken was growing, his clothes replaced by Stingmon's black armour. His flesh turned green, his body buglike, until all that was left was a large, black bug. His head was framed by a mass of purple hair; lightening patterns around his eyes showed where the dark glasses had been previously. His legs bent forwards, and his head almost seemed like a helmet, covering a black yet human-shaped face beneath, of which only parts around the eyes and jawline showed. His eyes were red and unnervingly human. "What is that thing?" TK cried. For once, no-one had an answer. Then the creature provided one. "Sectryomon!" It screamed. The monster towered over them, screeching its fury and glaring at them with glowing red eyes. For a moment, they all just stood there, overawed and terrified by the might of it; but then Yolei was the first to snap out of the trance. "Ken!" She cried, and Cody was suspicious to note a tone of desperation and pity in her voice. Davis shook himself, angry at letting down his attention, and immediately began thinking hard on how to beat this thing without digivolving. "OK, we have to break that dark ring somehow!" He called to the others. "How?" Kari shouted at him. "Veemon couldn't even scratch it!" "Perhaps if we all attack at once!" Davis said the milisecond the idea came to him. "On my count!" Yolei wailed as Sectryomon shot a ball of green, liquid flame at her; Hawkmon leaped in front of her and created a bubble around both of them, of swirling flames and pinks. The acidic-looking fire rushed all around them, but passed them over unharmed. "One!" Shouted Davis. Patamon led TK, Gatomon and Kari into position on one side of the insectile creature. "Two!" Armadillomon rolled straight into another of Sectryomon's attacks, an armoured ball protected securely by his shell, to deflect it from Cody, Yolei and Hawkmon as they ran around to the other side and tensed up. "Three!" Yelled Davis at the top of his lungs. And with that, chaos erupted.
As one, everyone, humans and digimon alike, leapt for the dark ring. The children used fists, kicks or the sheer force of their body weight; the digimon used claws, teeth, armour or an individual attack aimed precisely. And at the exact same time, they learned that Sectryomon had just as much intelligence as he had before he digevolved. For even as they dived for him, surrounding him with nowhere left to run to, he pushed upwards with all the force he could gather in his legs, crashing head first through the ceiling. For the occupants of the floor above, it was like a miniature explosion. Plaster and wood erupted from the floor, along with a sleek black head followed by a vaguely humanoid body. At the moment, though, both its legs and arms were pinned firmly to its sides for ease, making it appear as a black and green torpedo. Sectryomon was angry, and he did not know why. This only served to fuel his fury, and he screeched at the world as he blew through the flying debris caused by the ruined ceiling/ floor. His manic red eyes searched the room, overlooking shredded furniture and terrified humans cowering in every available corner. Finally, they sighted on his target - a huge picture window, designed for its view of the city, especially of the park. With another deafening scream, he launched himself forward, not feeling the glass shatter everywhere, splintering into the gaps in his armour, scratching the smooth blackness, tinkling on the street far below. Free at last! The creature spread vast wings, like those of a dragonfly blown way out of proportion and encased in black metal, and roared out a challenge to the world.
Back in the bedroom, Davis shook his head groggily. "Urgh." He said. There was a pounding in his skull, which was not helped by the amount of noise going on around him. By the sound of it, the gang were having a blazing row. "Davis, please get them to quieten down!" Veemon shouted urgently in his ear. He had to shout to make himself heard, even right next to his partner. Davis glared around the room - it was dark, and a chill breeze was flowing through the gaping hole in the ceiling. Carefully he stood up, brushing off pieces of hardboard, flakes of paint and splinters. As he did so, a cloud of powdered plaster rose about him, making everyone stop shouting and cough, himself included. Once the dust had settled, he shook himself angrily - he looked like a ghost for a moment - and said quietly, "What is going on here?" "It's a little disagreement over what happens now." Veemon had evidently decided to be self-elected spokesman. "Kari and Yolei want to chase Sectryomon and try to defeat - or if possible, rescue him somehow. TK wants to try and get into the Digital World and go straight for the Dark Lord, since we'll get nowhere with Ken. Cody wants us to stay here, call as many Digidestined as possible for help, and spend our time trying to get Tai and Matt outta there - they're on their own, facing whatever other creations the Dark Lord has come up with, and besides we could use the reinforcements." The others stood and stared at Davis, who was wearing an expression of intense concentration. There was a long silence. Then finally, Davis spoke. "It'll do us no good chasing Sectryomon, or the Dark Lord. We don't know the range of their power, and besides I don't like putting our own digimon under that risk - not to mention ourselves. We're no use to anyone except the Dark Lord himself as slaves to him. I reckon our best bet is probably to call for help - we did it once, we can do it again. We know that every digimon has a human counterpart, even if they don't know it themselves. Therefore, think of all the Digidestined there must be in the world!" "No." Yolei was shaking her head grimly. "I won't leave him. I know where he's gone - to that Dark Ocean thing, he's crossed over it. If we can get him back from it, he'll be alright again. Better yet, let's destroy it - then no-one will ever be driven into it again!" "You can't destroy it, it would ruin the balance of things." Kari muttered sullenly. Yolei glanced at her. "Then there's a chance we can get Ken back from it?" She guessed. "Only I can." Kari said at length. Yolei spun around suddenly. "Then what are we waiting for?" She cried, holding out her digivice. "Yolei, no!" Yelled Davis, but too late - Hawkmon had already armour- digevolved to the gigantic four-legged eagle, Halsemon. Yolei leaped on the creature's feathery back, grabbing Gatomon by the tail and yanking her up behind her. Gatomon hissed in anger, but Yolei seemed not to notice. As the girl had known she would, Kari scrambled up behind them, not to be separated from her digimon at any cost. At that moment, Yolei dug her heels into Halsemon's flanks, and they took off, huge wings carrying them swiftly through the ceiling. Davis and TK ran at the same time to jump for the ascending digimon and its riders, but unfortunately ran into each other, bashing heads painfully. Despairingly they listened as the girls were greeted with more screams from upstairs. and then the beating of wings faded into the chilly night. "So what do we do now?" TK asked despondently. Cody glanced upwards at the hole before returning to the construction he was idly creating from the rubble. TK sighed and balled a fist in frustration. "There's only one thing we can do," said Davis. "We can hardly desert those two, though I'd feel no loss if Yolei left right now. We have to follow them." There was another reason for leaving which was quite clear in everyone's mind, but which was left unspoken - it would not do to have Ken's mother return to find the apartment in ruins, her son nowhere in sight and them sitting in the middle of it. And so it was that about thirty seconds later, eight figures could be seen running down the street. All had used their armour-digevolved forms in case the Evil Emperor remembered how to use his black digivice to stop them digevolving normally. This meant that Davis ended up - complaining heavily - running alongside Flamedramon, Cody sitting on Digmon's broad shoulders as he pounded along, TK riding his winged horse digimon, Pegasusmon. High above them, a vast black shape hovered in mid-air, its gauzy wings thrumming around it. Two glowing red eyes watched the gang with amusement. But the creature shook his head - he could rest elsewhere. Sectryomon felt triumphant enough to perform a couple of loop-the-loops backwards and forwards, before setting off back home, to where his PC had miraculously survived. He knew his Lord's instructions - to concentrate on these Digidestined alone, since they had been known to cause trouble in the past. It was an easy task. He reflected smugly that the other digimon whom his master had used were probably wearily traipsing all over the world, and all he had to do was take his time on this little gang. Yes, he had definitely got the better end of the deal.
