"Doppelgangland"
6. 'Hello'
"I know you think that
I shouldn't still love you
Or tell you that,
But if I didn't say it,
Well I'd still have felt it
Where's the sense in that?
I promise I'm not trying to make
Your life harder or return to
Where we were.
But I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door,
I'm in love and always will be."
~ 'White flag' Dido
"Where were you last night Yamato?" Hikari suddenly asked savagely.
The Blond dropped his toast and stared at her across the table, "I fell asleep okay." He said quietly but still looking her in the eyes, as if challenging her to argue.
She cocked her head to the side, "How could you-?"
"Because I'm tired Hikari!" Yamato burst, he had been looking for this window for a while now. There were a few things he needed to get off his chest, "I'm out there every night, dressed in that sick Sniper uniform, pretending I'm one of them just so I can find more lost or run-away kids to bring back to this hell hole! I'm sorry I wasn't more aware of what was going on in here or that no one else offered to stay up watching him!"
Everyone hung their heads, ashamed of not staying up to watch their friend.
Hikari sighed, "I'm sorry Yamato, I shouldn't have – it's not your fault."
He shrugged and brought his attention back to his toast.
Yolei looked across at Ken, whose head was conveniently
bowed, so he didn't have to meet her gaze. He felt extremely mortified of his
actions last night and wanted nothing more than to be anywhere but at this
table eating breakfast with everyone. Yolei stretched her hand across the table
and rested it on his. His eyes flickered up to look at her and to his amazement
she smiled reassuringly.
"It's okay Ken." She said softly and his heart seemed less heavy.
Kouen suddenly got up from the table and tossed her loose curly hair over her shoulder. She tied it back in a low pony tail and stated, "I'm going to my apartment," she tugged at the baggy jeans and sweatshirt that she had dressed in the night before, "to get some of my things."
Yamato and Ken looked up with expressions of concern and suspicion, "Why?" they chorused.
"Sora's clothes are okay for now, but I need my own clothes and personal things." She looked down at their faces and rolled her eyes, "I'll be fine."
"Osamu will have sent Snipers after you." Ken stated, rising to challenge her.
His double nodded and took his hand away from Yolei, "He saw everything through me remember. He saw that you are here and from what Yolei and the others have told me, that's not a good thing."
"Does that mean," Cody asked swiftly, "that Osamu knows where we are?"
Doppel-Ken shook his head, "No, this place looks like our last base, there are so many abandoned warehouses and factories around here that he wouldn't bother searching all of them. Not when he can concentrate his efforts on more important things." He added bitterly, "We are not a threat to him anymore."
"Some how I don't think that's so true." TK muttered and looked up when Kouen folded her arms and huffed.
"Look," she said coolly, "I'm not asking for your permission, I'm telling you I'm doing this. Besides, Osamu would not send Snipers after me remember? And I doubt he's in any condition to come after me on his own."
Without another word, she turned and left the warehouse.
All the new members at the table turned to Ken and Yamato.
"Surely if Osamu did attack her at her apartment-?" Ken shaking his head interrupted Kari.
"For one thing my brother would never attack her and for another, even if he did, she could kill him with hear bare hands."
Their eyes widened, and Yamato filled in the blank, "She's highly trained in many different types of martial arts. Her father trained her when she was just a child and over the years she just got better and better. She even trained Osamu to fight and when this war started Iori, Ken and her started training us." His eyes fell to his feet, "That is, before all of the – well, before Osamu kidnapped her."
"Osamu kidnapped her and killed Iori?" Yolei asked tactlessly, she didn't seem to care too much because she, like the others, was interested in hearing what had happened and where all the other Chosen Children were.
Ken and Yamato looked at her sharply and Ken ran his hands through his hair and stalked away to the office, which was only a small distance away from the odd table in the middle of the cafeteria.
"I think we should start trying to figure out how to get you guys back home." Yamato stated after a pause and Daisuke looked up at him.
"I thought they were going to help us in the battle."
"I don't know if that's a good idea Daisuke. I mean, they've already been through this sort of thing before and it's up to them if they-"
"All the more reason for them to stay and help us!" Daisuke protested.
"He has a point." Davis nodded and stood up and looked at the rest of the Digidestined.
Ken looked at his best friend and nodded, "I know I can be a big help in this. What about the rest of you?" he asked looking round at them.
They nodded and looked over at their Digimon, who nodded too.
"Well, then you better go talk to Shinsei." Hikari said signaling for them to follow her to the end room of the warehouse.
~~~~****~~~~
Kouen turned the keys in the door of her apartment and opened the door very slowly. Her head peered in and she took the keys out again and set them on the dresser next to the door, where a cracked mirror split her image in two. She took a deep breath and shut the door behind her.
She slipped off her sandals and left them by the door. She stepped over a knocked over pot plant that had died a while ago. She made her way towards the lounge area and picked up a pale green sweater with a hood. She clutched it in her hands and brought it to her face, absorbing the scent of it.
Her mind suddenly wandered to a few years back, when her hair was shorter and bounced around her shoulders. It blew in the cool breeze and she remembered the setting sun on her face. Osamu was next to her, holding her close to him. She leaned her head on his shoulder and dangled her feet over the bridge. Her thin white skirt blew about her ankles and she shivered. Osamu pulled her even closer and rubbed her arms. Then suddenly, he pulled away from her and pulled off his pale green sweater. "Here." He offered it to her; "It'll keep you warm."
She grinned, "But you'll get cold." She pulled on the sweater and wrapped herself in his arms again.
"I have my fire right here to keep me warm." He smiled and kissed the top of her head, "I love you Kouen, I hope you know that."
She turned and looked up at him. She stared into his violet eyes and felt his warmth, "I do Osamu, and I hope you know that I will always love you."
Kouen pulled herself out of her revere and tried to put the sweater back on the couch, but decided to take it to her room instead. There she pulled out a large gym bag and carefully folded the sweater and placed it in the bottom of the bag, before filling it with her clothes. Then she crossed her room, not bothering to pick up the turned over chair and the comforter spilling onto the floor. She picked up a few photo frames, one of which contained a picture of a middle-aged man with light red hair, almost brown and beginning to gray. She placed it carefully into the bag and then picked up another silver frame, this one containing three people in it. A young Ken, Osamu and Kouen. Her eyes became teary as she stared at the three happy, carefree faces looking up at her.
"That was one of your favorite pictures of us."
She wheeled around and saw the Kaiser standing in the doorframe. "Hikari took it remember?"
Her face was blank and so was her mind. She didn't know what to do or say. Finally her mouth began to work again, "I didn't hear you come in."
"I was hoping you wouldn't." he stated, "You would have run away again." He glanced at the messy room around him and then back at her face.
"You didn't give me much choice." She whispered bitterly.
"I gave you the choice to live with me-"
"You mean side with you!" she snapped, "Admit it Osamu, you wanted to own me. In the end it wasn't love anymore, it was obsession!"
"That's not true!" he yelled and anyone else would have flinched, but they had been here before.
"Yes it is Osamu! Back before the Digital world and you became this monster! You wanted me to stay how I was, you didn't want me to change, but I was growing up Osamu! But growing up didn't mean that I would change my feelings for you!"
"Really?" he snarled, "So that is why you and Yamato became so close?"
"Oh for God's sake! How many times must I tell you, we were just good friends?"
"I know that he feels more than just friendship for you Kouen!" Osamu retorted.
"Well, you forget that I didn't! I loved you Osamu! And I still do! But we can never be together. Not anymore. Not after…not after what you did to me."
Osamu's demeanor suddenly became soft and ashamed. He hung his head and did not look at her; "I did what I had to do."
"No, you did what you wanted to do. You care more about taking over the worlds than you will ever care about me." She hissed.
His head snapped up and his eyes were wide "No Kouen! Never-!"
"Really? Then give this up! Take off that Kaiser uniform and leave your brother alone! He's done nothing to you-!"
"Nothing? You call trying to kill me nothing?"
"I hate to sound immature, but you tried to kill him first, just because you were passed over. There was something other than blowing bubbles that he was good at and you wanted to take it away, because you were jealous." She shook her head and gave an empty laugh, "It's ironic you know? All the while he was jealous of you because everyone loved you and you could do everything he couldn't and the one thing you can't do and he can, makes you seethe with anger and hate. I will never understand that."
She shifted her bag on her shoulder and made to walk past him.
He pulled her arm and made her spin around to face him; "I'm not letting you go. I need you."
"Why? Because you love me, or because you want to use me again?" she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Both." He said quietly and she ripped her arm from his grip.
"You're sick." She spat and when he made to grab her again she pulled out a Sai from the back of her jeans. She pointed the tip of the small weapon under his chin, "Touch me ever again, and I'll succeed where Ken failed."
He looked from the weapon to her eyes and grinned wickedly, looking much more like the Kaiser now, "You wouldn't. You couldn't, you said it yourself, you love me."
She sighed and placed the weapon back in her jeans, the handle hooking on the outside, "That is my only weakness Osamu, but one day, you will be sorry when it becomes my strength."
He frowned at her, not understanding the threat in her words and watched her leave, taking her keys with her and not bothering to lock behind her.
He stood in the semi-dark room, where the curtains were only half-open silent and still. Then suddenly he began screaming and cursing and clutching his head in his hands, doubling up and crying. He began thrashing around the room and picking up various things and throwing them around the room.
He pulled at his hair and fell to his knees, breathing heavily and shaking. He looked up with fear in his eyes and asked himself over and over again, "What have I done? Am I losing my mind? What have I done?"
~~~~****~~~~
Kouen drove her black van down the ramp to the underground parking of the warehouse. She turned off the ignition and her head lights and grabbed her bag from the passenger seat. She slid out the van, slammed the door closed and locked it. She moved towards the elevator and after pressing the button, she shuddered and looked up instinctively.
The elevator doors opened and she tore her eyes away from the entrance of the parking lot and stepped in.
When she stepped out Ken greeted her as well as Yolei.
Her eyes flickered to the door they were standing outside and she shook her head. "Hikari is making you talk to Shinsei? Why?"
"She says we have to, to find out if we really should help in this battle." Cody answered.
"Are you alright?" Ken asked her kindly and she turned to him to smile, but it caused her an enormous effort.
"I'll be fine." She began walking to her room when Ken joined her.
"I have this odd feeling I should know you Kouen." He confessed quietly to her.
She turned to him and raised her eyebrows, "Is there a double of me in your world?"
"I don't know. If there is, I've never met her." He looked up suddenly, "When did you meet Osamu and Ken?" the sentence sounded odd in his head when he had practiced it, but even more odd saying it.
"When he was about twelve and Ken was about eight, nine." She signaled for him to sit with her on a crate.
"How did you meet?" Ken asked hesitantly, already aware of what the answer might be.
"It was the day they almost died."
Ken looked sharply at her and she continued, "I was sitting on a bench waiting for a bus when I noticed two people arguing in the street as they were crossing it. Osamu was muttering something and Ken had yelled that he would not move another step until Osamu gave something back to him. Then suddenly, a car came speeding around the corner and looked as though it was going to hit Ken. Osamu dived forwards to knock Ken out of the way and they both rolled to the pavement on the other side."
"Neither of them was hit?" Ken asked heartily.
She shook her head, "It was close though and I ran across the street to see if they were okay. I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but we just started talking and I offered to take them to get coffee or something sugary for the shock. We had been friends ever since."
Ken sat stationary for a few moments and sighed heavily.
She put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry that you didn't grow up with him."
"Me too." Ken said softly, "And I'm sorry for the price I paid for it too."
"You can make up for it you know. By helping us here. I mean, you've been there, you can help us defeat him."
He looked up at her green eyes and nodded with hesitation, "I just hope I can, I mean, this Kaiser is – well, he's just so much more powerful than I ever was. If it wasn't for-" he broke off when Kouen suddenly went stiff. He frowned at her and she made a low growling noise in her throat.
In a flash, she had jumped off the crate and was sniffing the air.
Ken looked around nervously and then back at her, "Uh, Kouen?"
But she either did not hear him or ignored him. Her eyes darted from one area of the warehouse to the next and Ken saw in a split second that her eyes were not green anymore, but a deep red/brown. Then suddenly she began to scream an awful sound, a mix between a wounded animal and a banshee.
"HELP!" Ken screamed desperately, "SOMEBODY HELP ME! KOUEN'S SICK!"
Everyone turned to the scene and clearly did not need Ken's yells to attract their attention, for Kouen had done that fine on her own.
Yamato looked up onto the second floor and began yelling, "Akino Ame!" and a young teenage girl with a long brown pony tail emerged from her room. She adjusted her glasses on her nose and looked down at him, then at Kouen and comprehension dawned on her face.
She nodded and slid down a fireman's pole to her left. As she reached the ground she adjusted her emerald green blouse and tugged at her blue jeans, which had twisted on her way down the pole.
Everyone watched her run past them and out the door, while Yamato and Ken ran to the aid of Kouen, who was now a bundled on the ground, shaking.
Outside, Akino was looking left and right and finally found Mike and Davis who were standing at the remains of a Dark Tower which suddenly burst into data and vanished. She looked stricken at the site of Flamedramon, "Kouen is back!" she yelled at Mike.
His eyes widened and he quickly yelled to Flamedramon to devolve. Without question the digimon did so and then made his way to Davis.
"Did I do something wrong Davis?" Demiveemon asked.
Before answering Davis glanced at Akino and Mike, "Did we do something wrong?"
"No," Mike admitted, "I did, I wasn't looking out for her. I didn't think she would pick up her van, I thought she would walk back. But she loves that van, so I should have known."
Davis picked up his digimon and they all ran back into the warehouse to find Kouen sitting up against a crate and gasping for air, while Ken offered her some water and Yamato rubbed her shoulders. Davis noticed his best friend standing a small distance away looking chalk white. He moved over to Ken, "What happened?"
"Kouen just went nuts, I'm really not to sure."
Viciously, Ken turned to the group of doubles and yelled, "No one digivolves their partner here! If there is need for it, give us a warning first, otherwise it is forbidden!"
They glanced at each other and then back to Ken, who had turned back to Kouen and gotten up off the floor. "I thought you had that under control." He spat at her.
She looked up with narrow eyes and hissed, "I never had it under my control, it was always under his!"
She picked herself up off the ground and pushed Yamato away, "I'm going to go change." She muttered and left them all in stunned silence.
Hikari cleared her throat to get the attention of the doubles standing outside Shinsei's door, "Davis, it's your turn." And she guided him into the room quickly, before he could ask questions and then shut it behind her.
Yolei leaned over to Hikari, "What just happened here?"
"I'm not the one to tell you." She stated firmly, "If Kouen wants to tell you, then she will, but otherwise, I suggest you don't mention it to either her or Ken."
The group glanced at Ken in the far end of the warehouse and then back to each other, to mutter about what had just happened, but Ken, who was a slight distance away from the group continued to stare at his doppelganger.
He walked into the office and began to pace the room, running his hands through his messy hair and finally sat down at the desk.
Ken frowned deeply at the rest of the people in the warehouse, there were some things he would like answered. Things he felt were very important before he decided to help them. For starters, he would like to know where exactly all the older Chosen Children were and what had happened to the other Chosen, as well as how Iori had died. He wanted desperately to know what was wrong with Kouen and most of all, he wanted to know how this Ken in this world, ticked. He noticed that his double was rather dark and had an easy temper. This disturbed him a little, for it reminded him of him self when he was slowly changing into the Emperor. He reasoned with himself that this Ken had obviously had a tough life and that all his feelings and pressures were bound to effect him, but to what degree? He remembered that this Ken too had a Dark Seed much like his own Dark Spore and so did Osamu. Did this mean that if Ken were to snap and loose himself in his own negativity, that the Digital world, and even possibly the real world would have two Kaisers to contend with?
He sighed deeply and felt Hikari touch him on the shoulder, "It's your turn." She stated and showed him the door to Shinsei's room.
Ken slowly walked to the middle of the room, where the young girl sat upon a chair. The room was dimly lit with candles and Ken smelt the distinct smell of sweet incense. He sat in the chair opposite the girl feeling extremely uncomfortable. She looked up very slowly at him and he shivered as her powerful gaze met his eyes.
"You." She stated as if telling Ken who he was. He glanced around himself with his eyes and then looked at her again.
"Yes?" he asked.
"You are the answer." Ken felt himself shiver again, he could not help it, her voice seemed to vibrate with an intense power that he didn't understand, or didn't want to understand, and it seemed to penetrate his very soul.
"The answer?"
"You have seen it before."
Ken felt his eyes lock with hers and although he could have easily looked else where, he felt he needed to look into her eyes. "I've seen what before?"
"The Darkness." She whispered and leaned closer to him; "You have been where the Kaiser is. You were him once."
"Yes." Ken whispered back.
"You have seen it all." She sat back and surveyed him.
Ken frowned, "No, I was never this bad. I never went this far."
"You were stopped."
"Yes, by my partner-"
"By fate. Destiny is Fate's twin sister, though they seem similar, they are different. What it all comes down to is the question, 'What if?' Am I right?"
Ken paused and shifted in his seat, she had seemed to read his mind. "How did-?"
"You think it everyday. 'What if Sam had not died?' 'What if I had never become the Emperor?' 'What if Wormmon had never made his sacrifice?'"
Ken nodded and hung his head, but suddenly felt empty and looked up again into her pale blue eyes.
"This is your 'What if' world Ken. Though, it cannot be said for definite whether or not all that has happened here, would have taken place in your world, it is a close comparison." She suddenly looked away from him and nodded, "You can go now. Like the others, you will be able to stay and help us, but you will be the answer."
Ken furrowed his brow further, "I don't understand. What do you mean? I'm the answer? Do you mean that because I've been where the Kaiser is now that I can help?"
She slowly turned back to him, "You must ask yourself if you are willing to admit that you are able to help, Ken. Your memories are clearer now are they not?"
Ken lifted his head and nodded. He got up and left the room.
Davis and Yolei came up to him immediately, "What did she say to you?" Davis asked.
"You were in there a lot longer than we were." Yolei stated, "All she did with us is nod her head and send us out again."
Ken opened his mouth to speak to them, to tell them what she had said, but decided not to instead. He felt slightly ashamed and selfish with the information. He shrugged, "She sort of just nodded at me too," he lied.
He turned and spotted Kouen sitting at the computer which Ken had recently been glaring at. He decided to go talk to her and broke away from his group of friends who were now chatting amongst themselves about the up coming battle.
As he walked closer, he noticed that she had changed her clothes and was now wearing a sandy coloured gypsy top with a long white skirt. Her feet had no shoes on and he noticed they were crossed at the ankles. Her hair had been tied back again in the long braid.
He sat down quietly next to her and asked, "Are you okay?"
She turned to him and attempted a smile. "I think so." She turned back to the computer and Ken saw that she was looking at what appeared to be the Digital Gate.
"What are you doing?"
She took a deep breath, "I'm trying to figure out how Osamu changed the gate, but he's a genius and my computer skills are no where near Koushirou's." she sighed again and put her head in her hand, "I wish he was here right now."
"What happened to him?" Ken asked tentatively.
"Well," she pinched her nose between her eyes to chase away the headache coming on, "It was about a year ago. Maybe more, maybe less, I don't really remember, but I guess I should go back to the beginning before I go on.
"You see about a year ago, after Osamu began taking over Japan successfully, he showed up at my apartment in the middle of the night. I knew that he was coming for me one day and so had packed a bag ready to leave on a plane for New York the next morning. I'm assuming he found out about this plan and decided to stop me. I heard knocking at my door and so went to investigate and I saw him standing there outside dressed in, not his Kaiser uniform, but his own clothes. Like a fool, I thought he had changed back and he was my Osamu again, so I let him in and told him to sit down on the couch.
"He looked cold and confused and when I went to get him some tea, he took off his sweater and hung it on the couch, saying that I must keep it, to remember."
"To remember what?" Ken asked.
"Him." She looked down at her hands, "But when he had done that, I saw his uniform under his shirt and knew that he was trying to fool me into thinking he was Osamu again. I told him to get out and well, we began to fight. The problem was, I taught him everything he knew about fighting and we were an equal match for each other. Where he struck, I blocked, where I kicked, he defended. Eventually it was a case of whom would give up first and then he tried to play the Osamu bit again, but I knew it was a game to him now. But the site of him, was just enough to distract my defenses long enough for him to get a Black Ring on my ankle.
"He instructed me not to show anyone the ring and that I must not leave Japan, but go re-join his brother in the Resistance. It was a command that I could not disobey. After he had left, it was as if I had not seen him, as if we had not fought and I grabbed my bag and joined Ken at the old factory. He welcomed my help but I had no idea that I was acting as a spy for Osamu. I would go to the Base in the nights and inform him of every plan they had and where exactly they were located. All the while, I was acting normally, and helping the resistance fighters by training them and organizing plans with them. I had no idea what Osamu was doing. The ring was designed especially for me, you see, and it would block out all my missions for Osamu.
"Anyway, one day Osamu stormed the factory. There were hundreds of Snipers, it was a slaughter. People were killed and taken prisoner and most of the Chosen were taken. Jyou was taken as his personal doctor. Koushirou was taken for his expertise in the Digital world, most of the other older Chosen where used as more Snipers. Takeru and Miyako are in a prison in the dungeon."
Ken looked into her face debating with himself whether he should ask or not, then decided to plunge on, "What happened to Iori?"
She turned away from him; "There is a reason his army are called 'Snipers'. They are trained to kill, they carry guns and they use them well. Osamu, himself, stormed the factory with them, with two intentions; to kill Yamato and to kidnap me. He ordered a Sniper to give him his gun and he took aim at Yamato upon Shadowstingmon's back-"
"Stingmon?" Ken blurted out, "Why – what -?"
"Osamu had taken most of the Chosen Children's Digimon and used them for his own mission. He purposefully used Ken's Digimon to do the most damage as a slap in the face.
"So Osamu took aim at Yamato's back. He had been fighting a Sniper with his bare hands and did not see what was going on. I was too far to warn him, though I screamed to him, but he didn't hear. Iori did though and he ran to Yamato's aid. He dived in front of the bullet intended for Yamato. It went straight though his heart. He died almost instantly." She paused to catch her breath, "I tried to get to him, but Osamu grabbed me and retreated, not before breaking the ring on my ankle, letting me have every image and memory of everything I had done for him. He told Ken that I had betrayed him, that I had used Ken and that I never cared about him, but that I was going to join Osamu at his Base and be his queen." She closed her eyes; "I'll never forget the betrayed look on Ken's face."
"It's not your fault, you know." Ken said quietly.
She looked up at him; "Iori's death was noble but unnecessary. Not matter what anyone says, I know his death was my fault."
"How can you think-?"
"Because either way that bullet was going to kill someone. Originally it was for Yamato, who is a marked man just for loving me."
Ken stared at her for a long while and then felt a sick sensation form in his gut. He did not want to think of his brother in this light, but he reminded himself that this was not his brother. A sharp pang struck his heart again as a small voice told him that it could easily be. Just like Shinsei had told him, this was his 'What if' world, which could be a window into what would have happened if Sam had not died.
He exhaled deeply, "He's obsessed with you."
She nodded dully and look up at the ceiling; "This is all my fault. But I couldn't – not after he – how could I?"
"Kouen?" Ken asked gently, "What are you-?"
He broke off when he saw his double walk into the room.
Ken walked past them and looked down at Kouen with a mixture of longing and disgust. He made to leave, but Ken stood up and said, "I'll leave you two alone, you clearly need to talk." And with that he left, closing the door behind him.
Ken joined his friends and their Digimon and informed them of what Kouen had just told him.
However in the office nothing was being said. A steely silence pulsed through the room until it left their ears ringing. Finally Kouen looked up into his face and said, "Look, Ken, I never-"
"I don't want to talk about this now." He hissed and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him.
They all watched as Ken stormed into the dojo and closed the door behind him.
From the group, Ken turned to the office and saw through the window that Kouen had dissolved into tears. She had her head in her hands and was leaning on the desk, her shoulders shaking with sobs.
Yamato had seen too and went to go comfort her. Ken had the strangest feeling that Yamato was making a mistake in doing this and he was right. He watched as Yamato made to wrap his arms around her, but she stood up forcefully from her seat and pushed him bodily away from her. Then she turned and ran out the room, straight to her own room.
Yamato growled and picked up a file from the desk and threw it across the room.
The group felt very uncomfortable in the middle of the warehouse. Hikari and Mike walked up to them and told them to get some lunch, that they would begin training in the evening. They nodded wordlessly and it was clear the subject of the feuds Kouen was causing was not to be touched upon, though Ken had the distinct impression that something had been left out of Kouen's story, something that had to do with what had happened to her earlier.
~~~~****~~~~
Osamu stormed down the corridor with such a profound fury that no Sniper dared to get in his way. He stepped into the monitor room and winced at the pain in his chest again.
He sat down in his throne and was still for a long while before he suddenly looked up with a resolved face. "I need my weapon, I haven't perfected it yet." He muttered and began typing furiously on his keyboard. "Ken," he mumbled, "I need to use Ken. Which works fine for me, I wouldn't mind torturing him until he didn't know who he was anymore. The problem is finding him."
He continued to mutter to himself, "She will be sorry she took sides with him and he will be sorry he was ever…" A look of sheer madness glazed over the Kaisers eyes as the room became darker with the setting sun.
----~~~~----
Kaiser: What a crap way to end the chapter.
Nic: I couldn't think of a cliffhanger for this one, so this will have to do. Besides if I had used the cliffhanger that I wanted to use, the rest of the story would have been ruined. I even wanted to put off the speech about how Iori died till later, but the time was right and I couldn't avoid it anymore.
Ken: There are still a lot of unanswered things, like for one, what happened to Kouen?
Osamu: Well; now, she can't tell you that, but it's hectic.
Kouen: Tell me about it.
Wormmon: I'm evil in this?
Osamu: Don't feel alone.
Wormmon: I also thought I was dead.
Nic: Well, not evil Wormmon, just under Kaiser's control and Ken thinks of Wormmon as dead because he is under the Kaiser's control and is as good as dead anyway.
Ken: I'm guessing, 'on to the next chapter'?
Nic: Yup, but first, big thank you to Akino Ame for all her help with this story so far. She's such an inspiration!
Nic: (Updated AN) Sorry this is a day late but I have been having trouble with my comp and I was really busy yesterday too. I promise next Saturday the next chapter will be up.