Introduction
When Odaiba gets a new transfer student, the Digidestineds' lives are turned upside down. Ken is spending a term at their school…and he's far from happy about it.
Pushing everyone, including Davis, away from him, Ken treats everyone as insects, and does his best to aggravate people. But when a new friendship is forged after an unforgettable event, a young emperor finds himself choosing between his destiny…and his humanity.
Only when someone reaches out, will the damned be saved…
Chapter Four; The Choice
The next day, Davis was still so happy that he was bouncing. The others noticed, but just exchanged knowing glances. They weren't even going to try and see what was so great – any insight into the mind of Davis often left craziness and general confusion in its wake.
"Davis, can you come down from Cloud Nine, or wherever you are, for a moment?" Yolei asked, tapping her foot impatiently. Davis blinked, and turned to look at her, a silly grin still on his face.
"Sure. What's up?"
Yolei rolled her eyes, but resisted hitting the annoyingly hyper teen.
"Izzy just e-mailed me. About Digiworld. And since you're leader of the Digidestined, I thought that you might want to participate in a serious conversation for once!"
Immediately, Davis sobered up.
"Right. What's the problem, then?" Momentarily taken aback by the quick change of mood, Yolei twisted so that she could face everyone when she spoke.
"Izzy says that the Digimon Emperor hasn't been seen in Digiworld for quite a few days now. He's never gone this long without building another spire – it's almost like he's holding back for some reason."
"Or he's not from Digiworld at all…" Kari whispered. The others turned to look at her in surprise.
"Huh?"
"Think about it – he's a human, so he obviously wasn't born in the Digiworld. We've been assuming that he lives there, but if he hasn't been around…"
"It means that he comes from the Real World, and he's keeping up two separate identities!" TK exclaimed, grasping what Kari was hinting at.
"It makes sense. And it could give us the advantage." Cody mused.
"Yeah! All we have to do is find out who he is, then confront him and see how strong he really is without all his controlled digimon!" Davis cheered.
"But how do we go about finding him? And exactly how would we fight him? He's human…we've only fought digimon before." Yolei pointed out. Davis's smile was instantly wiped away.
"Oh yeah…" Kari smiled at the look of disappointment he had on his face.
"Never mind, Davis. I'll see you in a minute, alright? TK and I have to attend a meeting about next week's basketball match."
Sighing, Davis nodded. It was times like these he wished that he was on the basketball team, not the football team – TK was, and he got to spend so much time with Kari…she was a cheerleader in the basketball games.
"Oh, we didn't think that we'd be leaving you on your own, Davis…" Cody gasped. Davis raised an eyebrow in reply.
"Huh?"
"Yolei and I volunteered to help out in the art classroom for a couple of minutes during lunch. We could cancel…" Cody offered.
Grinning, Davis shook his head.
"Nah, I'll be fine. I'll go find some football game I can interrupt." He smiled. Looking uncertain, Cody and Yolei began to move away.
"If you're sure…"
"No sweat!"
Watching them go, Davis waited until they were out of earshot before sighing. Great – another lunch on his own. It wasn't that the others tried to exclude him…but their 'short' lunchtime activities tended to go on much longer than they'd thought they would.
"Hey, you're Davis, right?" Davis turned at the voice, to see a boy he didn't recognise.
"Yeah. Who are you?"
"I'm Charlie. I've been sent to bring you to Duncan." Davis blanched. Duncan was two years older than he was, and had a large group of cronies – he was the school's toughest bully.
"What does Duncan want with me?" He squeaked. >Steady Davis, you're meant to be the Digidestined of Courage! >
"I don't know…please come! He'll beat me up if you don't!" Charlie begged. Taking a deep breath, Davis nodded, allowing the other boy to lead him towards the back of the school.
He couldn't let Charlie get pummelled because of his own cowardice, after all.
"Good work, Charlie. You're off the hook." Duncan smirked as he saw that Davis. Nodding, Charlie ran off, eager to be away from the scary teens.
"So what do you want, Duncan?" Davis challenged. Duncan chuckled nastily, exchanging glances with his pals.
"Let me see, I was a bit bored, so I decided I wanted to do a bit of Davis baiting."
Davis' eyes widened, and he began to back away, before realising that he's been surrounded.
"I bet that you'll be no match for my boys…care to prove me wrong?" Duncan sniggered. At Davis' look of horror, he laughed, before clapping his hands.
"Alright, boys…show time!"
Ken sat in his usual place on the roof, trying to calm down the turbulent thoughts flying around in his mind. Davis had asked if he wanted to be friends…did he? >It would be nice to have someone to talk to…no!>
Shutting down the ideas before they'd even started to form, Ken leaned back against the wire fence, scowling at the sky. What was he thinking! He was the Digimon Emperor – and Davis was the leader of the Digidestined.
>Not that I've been doing much to gain control of Digiworld lately…> He sighed mentally. He'd meant to conquer at least three sectors last night – instead, he had volunteered to give Davis an extra tutoring session.
Growling under his breath, Ken didn't hear the cries of pain that were floating up from the ground below until there was a particularly loud shout. Wondering what it was, Ken got up and moved to the other side of the roof – the bit that looked down on the yard behind the school.
>Davis…> Ken watched as the other boy struggled against the group of bullies, valiantly trying to break free of their grasp. Unfortunately, the sheer number of attackers was wearing him down. Ken doubted whether it would be much longer before Davis became totally helpless down there.
Turning away, Ken headed back to the opposite side of the roof, blocking out the cries that were floating up. >Not my problem…it's not like we're friends or anything…> Ken started, suddenly realising exactly what he'd thought.
>Looks like I've made my choice.>
"Where is he? I don't see him anywhere!" Kari said, scanning the playground for Davis. The basketball meeting had been cancelled, and Yolei and Cody had finished helping the art teachers, so the group was together again.
Except for the fact that they couldn't find Davis.
"Um…are you friends with Davis Motomiya?" A small voice piped up. The group looked at the boy who was standing there, noticing how scared and ashamed he looked.
"Yeah. Do you know where he is?" TK asked. The boy nodded, fiddling with his hands.
"Duncan made me go and get him…he's behind the school…" Not saying any more, the kid ran off, leaving a very worried group of friends behind him.
"Oh no! He's got to be in serious trouble!" Cody exclaimed. The others nodded, and began running for the back of the school.
"Come on!"
Davis let out a grunt of pain as another fist slammed into his stomach, and he dropped to the floor as the strength left his legs. >I can't take much more of this…there's too many of them…>
"Had enough, Davis? Too bad, because I'm still bored!" Laughed Duncan. His cronies mimicked the laugh, until they sounded like a bunch of mindless hyenas.
"So, is this what you do when you're bored? Interesting." Everyone – both Davis and the bullies – looked up at the sound of the voice, to see a figure leaning against the wall, face hidden by shadow.
"What's it to you?" Duncan snarled. The figure shifted slightly, moving out into the light.
"Nothing. I just don't think 10 to 1 is very fair."
"You! What are you doing here, Ichijoji?" Duncan exclaimed. Ken shrugged, a small smile on his face.
"I was in the neighbourhood." Rapidly losing patience, Duncan jerked his head in Ken's direction, signalling for one of his pals to take action.
"Show him back to the playground, Greg." He ordered. Greg nodded, and went to grab Ken…before crying out in pain as Ken caught his wrist in an iron grip.
"I don't think so." Ken said, his voice still soft…and somehow all the more dangerous for it.
"What? You think you can take us on? A brainiac like you?" Duncan laughed. Ken shrugged again, a confident smirk hovering about his lips.
"Maybe."
"I thought you didn't think 10 to 1 was very fair." Duncan shot back.
"I don't…but I'm sure your boys will put up a very good fight all the same."
Duncan's mouth dropped open at Ken's insolent comment, and he growled in the back of his throat.
"That's it! Leave Motomiya alone, boys! Give Ichijoji a lesson in respect!"
"Ken…" Davis whispered, unable to do anything as the bullies left him alone, heading towards Ken instead. Unable to get his mouth to work properly, he mentally screamed for Ken to back off, to run…anything.
Instead, Ken just stood there, waiting for them. As the first lunged for him, he ducked, letting the older boy's fist collide painfully with the wall. Ignoring the resulting bellow of pain that sounded, he kicked out at his next attacker, easily knocking him back into another three.
Davis watched, eyes wide and shocked. Ken had already taken five of Duncan's cronies out of the game – and he hadn't even broken a sweat.
"Come, now! I thought that you'd at least be a bit of a challenge." Ken laughed, carelessly striking another bully to the floor.
"Why, you little…" Duncan growled as he watched Ken take care of another two. That left only two more cronies, and Duncan himself.
Correction, that only left Duncan. Ken had just allowed the two other attackers to leap for him…at which he'd ducked, letting them fly into each other.
"Stop right now, Ichijoji!" Duncan barked, bunching his meaty hands into fists. Ken simply sneered at him, slowly and deliberately making his way over to the gang's leader.
"Oh sorry, don't you like me beating up your little friends?" He asked, voice dripping with insincere tones. Gulping, Duncan tried to back up, but couldn't do anything as Ken's fist swung out to connect firmly with his face.
"Then you shouldn't have tried to beat up mine." Ken finished, gazing down at the unconscious form in satisfaction as he brushed his hands off. Davis blinked, and stared at the genius. Had he just heard what he thought he had?
"Ken…" Coughing slightly, Davis tried to push himself to his feet, only to fall back down to the floor again as his trembling legs gave out beneath him. Ken was instantly at his side.
"Don't try to move, ok Davis? They beat you up pretty bad." Ken murmured softly, placing a gentle restraining hand on the shorter boy's shoulder. Davis just gazed up at him, still thinking about what he'd heard Ken say earlier.
"Why did you help me?" He managed to ask. Ken moved back a bit and looked away, a bitter smile gracing his face.
"To be honest? I wasn't going to, at first. Then I remembered how you saved my life last night, and thought that this would be a good time to repay my debt."
Davis could almost feel his heart sinking. Was that all Ken had helped him for? To repay his debt?
"Besides…life's a battle, Davis. And you shouldn't have to do it alone." Ken's last words startled Davis, and he stared into Ken's violet eyes, wishing for the hundredth time that they showed more emotion – he had no clue what Ken meant by repeating last night's conversation.
"You mean…" He croaked. Ken nodded, looking Davis straight in the eye.
"Yes, Davis. I thought about it, and I've decided – I'll be your friend." At Ken's words, Davis let out a small cheer, smiling broadly.
"On one condition, though." Ken said, holding up a finger to silence. Davis.
"What's that?"
"Don't expect me to hang around with your little misfit friends. You may have somehow managed to pull me into your life, but I can only put up with one immature brat at a time."
Choosing to ignore the insult, Davis just beamed happily, ecstatic that Ken wanted to be his friend. In response, Ken allowed the corner of his mouth to curve upwards into a small, genuine smile – the first he'd given Davis in all the time they'd known each other.
"Davis!"
"Are you alright?"
"What…what happened here?" Davis glanced up, to see the rest of the Digidestined standing there, gawking at the scene. Not that he could blame them – it wasn't every day you saw ten unconscious bully boys.
"I'll be seeing you Motom…Davis." The gang started as they realised that Ken was there, and watched silently as he left the yard, shooting them a cold look as he passed. Ignoring him, they rushed over to their injured friend.
"Davis? Are you alright? Charlie told us about taking you to Duncan, so we came as fast as we could…" Kari explained, carefully helping the brunette to his feet.
"Ken was part of Duncan's gang wasn't he? What'd he do, hold your arms behind your back as they punched you?" Cody seethed. To his surprise, Davis simply smiled and shook his head.
"Ken wasn't part of Duncan's gang, Cody. He saved me from them."
"What?" Gasped Yolei incredulously. Davis shrugged, and gestured at the fallen forms around them.
"Who else do you think did this to them? It was amazing – he didn't even break a sweat."
As the others digested the news, TK glanced around once more.
"Pretty ruthless, if you ask me. Looks like he showed no mercy." Davis shrugged again.
"They weren't going to show me any mercy. But do you know what the best bit was? When he told them that they shouldn't have tried to beat up one of his friends!" Davis laughed.
Everyone stared at him, shocked.
"What did he say?" Yolei asked, unsure whether she'd heard right.
"He's finally agreed to be my friend!" Davis said, remarkably cheerful for someone who'd just been beaten up.
"My…so the cold-hearted computer really does have a soul." TK chuckled wryly, ignoring the heated glare that Davis sent his way as they helped Davis back to the playground.
"Shut up, TE! Don't you dare say anything like that about him!" Davis growled. Putting up his hands in defeat, TK walked on, leaving the other boy fuming behind him.