Chapter 15: Three Evils, One Man
"So, we're stuck here." Ken said finally admitting defeat. He angrily kicked the TV shattering the screen, "Piece of crap!"
"So now that we're not going home, what should we do?" TK asked.
Kari was sitting against a tree. "I don't know," she admitted, "but I guess we meet up with the others at Primary Village."
"You should but you won't." a voice said from behind them. They turned to see who it was and Kari gasped; it was a red haired man in a black cape.
"Who are you?" Ken demanded.
The man's eyes flicked over Ken, gauging him. "The great Ken Ichijouji," he said sarcastically, "I must admit I did not expect to meet my fallen predecessor. In fact I installed the barrier just so I wouldn't have to deal with the likes of you."
"You can't be serious." Ken said. "You can't take over the Digital World. The world itself cannot be tamed."
"Maybe you should have tried that before I finished the job!" the man snarled. "This world bows before me, I already rule it all."
TK glanced over at Kari, something was wrong with her; she was quivering with repressed rage and fear. "Not for long!" she suddenly yelled, "We'll take you down Richard!"
TK looked back at the man, sure as sure, it was Richard. "You will do nothing of the sort." Richard said confidently. "You however, my pet, are coming with me."
"Like hell." TK said stepping protectively in front of Kari. "If you leave here now and never come back I promise we'll let you live."
"So Blondie's back." Richard commented. "I still owe you for that punch a week ago, so let's make a deal: if the three of you can beat me up I'll leave like you want."
Ken and TK traded glances and stepped forward. The former judo champion and the kid that beat the champion up, the fight should have been short and one sided. And it was, just against the odds.
TK reached Richard first and threw a punch at his face. Richard grabbed TK's wrist then simultaneously punched TK in the head and kicked him in the groin. TK was as good as out. Ken grabbed Richard's arm and made to throw him but Richard moved with it. Richard's leg lashed out and knocked ken's legs out from under him; the former Kaiser yanked Richard down with him and hit the new despot right on the nerve deadening half of his body. It didn't matter though; Ken's head was caught between the ground and Richard's elbow and all went dark.
Richard stood, having regained feeling in his leg. "I suppose you'll be coming along now my pet?" The Digimon leapt at him only to be swatted back by an enormous tail. No one would ever understand how they missed the giant semi-mechanical sea serpent, but they had.
Kari stared in shock at the digimon. It looked like a cross between a cyborg and
Metalseadramon. And right now the cannon in its snout was charging to fire. "Forget it Mechaseadramon," Richard said, "they're no threat. Now come along Kari."
TK had regained his feet and turned to face Richard. Richard's foot lashed out and connected but TK refused to go down. TK tackled Richard and slammed his fist into the Kaiser's face; he drew back his arm for second blow, and then collapsed to the side in pain.
Richard was using the same nerve Ken had, but he didn't let up on the pressure. "That's better." he commented as he stood up. Then he kicked TK in the head, Kari screamed out TK's name, and Richard looked from her to TK and back to her. "So this is the Takeru you called out to." he commented, "This time I'll make sure you use my name. Don't even bother getting up." Richard said to TK without looking at him.
"Kari come along." Kari took a step back. "Keep that up and I won't call off Mechaseadramon." Richard threatened.
Kari bit her lip, closed her eyes, and stepped forward. Richard took her hand and led her towards Mechaseadramon. As she passed by TK Kari glanced down at him apologetically, "I'm sorry Takeru," she whispered, "just remember that I love you."
"No!" TK yelled extending his arm, "Kari!" He was too late; they had already climbed onto Mechaseadramon and left knocking trees to the ground as they went. TK slammed his fist into the round. He had sworn to protect her and he had failed, again.
As he replayed the scene in his head he stumbled upon something that Richard had said. Something about making her scream his name this time. What had he meant by this time? Then it hit him Richard had red hair and said he knew Kari sexually; Richard was the rapist. This was now shaping up to be the worst position he had ever been in.
"What the hell just happened?" Ken asked as he pushed himself shakily to his feet.
"We got our asses kicked that's what." TK said bitterly. "We got our asses kicked, our partners got their asses kicked, and he took Kari."
"So what are we going to do now?" Ken asked. "We're stuck here and it sounds like we can't do this on our own."
"We'll go to Primary Village and get Izzy, Melissa, and Jack. Then we can look to see if anyone else is in the Digital World." TK told him.
"This has to be the oddest place I've been to yet." Jack said. He, Melissa, Izzy, Bonemon, and Tentomon were on their hands and knees looking for an off-white egg with bluish-black and yellow spots.
"Why do you say that?" Bonemon asked.
"It's like I'm looking for sentient life in a babies crib and I've been shrunken to do it." Jack told the skeleton.
"And even worse it seems the search is a success." Bonemon added eliciting a smile and a chuckle from his partner.
"Hey Elecmon, could you give us a hand?" Izzy called out to the red rat/dog protector of the village that was stoically watching their search.
"That I cannot," Elecmon said, "if you are truly ready for the egg then you will find it."
"Found it!" Melissa shouted holding up the egg. "I found the egg!"
Izzy looked back at her in shock, he had just finished searching the area Melissa was in a second ago. "How did you do that?" he asked in disbelief.
"Easter egg hunting champion eight years in a row." Melissa said proudly.
"Congratulations, you found the egg." Elecmon said Melissa smiled. "However there is a danger." Melissa's face fell. "It is quite likely that your partner will remember the dark events of his past."
"So what can I do?" Melissa asked. "Is this a choice between losing Demi forever and endangering the world?"
Elecmon shook his head, "No, it's not like that. Now while he is in the egg he will be more responsive to your emotions, keep your heart pure and you may well defeat the darkness in his heart."
Melissa nodded, "I'll do it. I'll get the real Demi back." She promptly turned around and walked off into the woods. "I'm taking the egg for a walk in the forest so it will feel all the good in the forest and become nice." she declared.
Izzy and Jack exchanged glances the same word running through their heads: 'nut.' "I'll go watch her." Jack sighed as he and Bonemon walked off into the woods following Melissa.
"Got a secret crush on a girl that hates you?" Izzy laughed.
Jack gave Izzy the finger over the shoulder. "More like an odd sense of comradeship, probably because we're the only real Americans in the group."
Izzy rolled his eyes, "Comradeship my posterior." he said to himself.
"I heard that!" Jack yelled angrily back at Izzy. "And I'd prefer if you kept your ass out of anything involving me."