DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon!

Part Two: Reconnaissance

"Demo, doushite? Who could have the power to recreate the dark rings?"

All eyes turned toward Izzy for the answer to Taichi's question. Ken blinked as the red-haired boy looked at him, and a feeling akin to guilt rose up in his chest. Though he knew the others had forgiven him for his actions as the Digimon Kaizer, he couldn't help holding himself responsible. Dark Spore or not, the decision to ally himself with the darkness had come from somewhere in his own heart.

"No one should be able to," Izzy said slowly, dark eyes never leaving Ken's. "Ken was the only one who had access to the blueprints… And they've all been destroyed. Right?"

"H-hai," Ken stuttered uncertainly. Almost a dozen pairs of eyes bore into him, and he shuddered. "Of course."

Minomon pressed forward against his arm. "Ken didn't do it," he asserted adamantly.

"We know that," Hikari was quick to reassure him, her soft features smiling up at Ken. "No one thinks he did."

"We just need to know how someone else was able to retrieve those blueprints," Izzy said. "If Ken was the only one who possessed them, very few should have access to them. Has anyone been on your computer lately?"

Ken shook his head. "Iie. They're not on it anyway. All of that… information… I kept in the computer in my base. And that's been destroyed."

"So how could someone recreate the dark rings?" Cody asked.

Izzy spun his chair back around to face his computer. "Ano, if there were a few left over and someone found one, it wouldn't be difficult to create another simply by analyzing it. Although, without the control spires, it would be near impossible to power-" He stopped abruptly, his focus wholly on the monitor before him.

"Nani?" Daisuke asked, leaning over the older boy's shoulder.

Izzy replied without turning away from the screen. "Someone has erected more control spires." His eyes flicked over to Ken once more. "And there're already over two hundred."

Ken tightened his arms around Minomon.

^~^~^~^~^

I could almost taste the emotions roiling through Ken.

Daisuke and the others didn't blame him for anything; I knew this, and I believed that Ken knew it too. But now, staring up at one of the oh-so-familiar control spires, I knew it was difficult for him to remember that. They looked exactly the same on the outside, but I could feel a distinct power emanating from them, different from anything Ken had ever possessed as the Kaizer.

Shoulders hunched and eyes averted, Ken stood behind the rest of the group. I pressed against his leg, wanting to comfort him but unsure how. I was uneasy myself. Something was happening, some new evil growing, and I had a feeling that Ken and I would not be able to escape form this unscathed.

Is that his destiny? To be haunted by the darkness forever?

No one spoke for a long while; all eyes were on the matte black monolith in front of us. Some of the others had been able to meet us in the Digital World- all the Digimon were present, and all of the Digidestined save for Mimi, Jyou, and T.K. Hikari clung to her brother, for it seemed that she could sense the spire's evil as easily as I could. The others seemed to be harrowed, also.

Daisuke was the first to break the silence. "What's everyone standing around for? Let's knock it down!" he said, looking at each of us in turn.

"Iie," Izzy said. "I don't think that's a good idea. We don't know its purpose yet; knocking it down could cause more harm than good."

"Demo, it's a control spire!" Daisuke said, waving his hand at the dark tower. "It bad, ne? So wouldn't knocking it down be a good thing?"

Matt shook his head. "Not if it's part of a network."

"Huh?" several of the others said in unison.

Frowning, Matt shoved his hands in his pockets and looked up at the control spire. "Think of it as an amp. It's not part of the central system, but its still necessary for the music to be made because it carries the power. And if it crashes, so does the rest of the system. It's all about the repercussions."

"Arigato, oh King of Rock," Tai said derisively and rolled his eyes.

Matt chuckled. "Anytime."

Ken moved forward suddenly, startling me. He walked to the base of the spire and stopped, his expression hidden by his hair. Hesitantly, he raised his hand and laid his fingertips on the sleek surface of the control spire. I watched a shudder pass through him, but he didn't back away.

"Ken?" Hikari murmured.

"One of the other children," he said.

Daisuke moved to stand beside him. "What other children? What are you talking about, Ken?"

Turning suddenly, he dropped his hand, glanced at Daisuke, and gazed down at me. "The children that Oikawa kidnapped and implanted with the Dark Spore. I can feel it inside the spire." His hand came up to rub the back of his neck, and his eyes darted over to Izzy. "It's Noriko."

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. This was more of an informative type thing that sets the stage for the next chapter. Please review!