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 Nine; Defeated

"Flamedramon!" Davis yelled, watching in horror as his digimon was knocked to the floor.

"Get up, buddy!" He pleaded. Flamedramon tried to get up for another attack, but couldn't quite make it – instead, he collapsed back down, De-Digivolving back into Veemon.

"No!" Davis ran to his partner's side, praying that his digimon was alright. To his relief, crimson eyes fluttered open to look up at him.

"I'm sorry, Davis. Axemon was too strong for me." The digimon whispered. Davis shook his head.

"Don't be sorry! You did your best – the others can take care of it."

"I wouldn't be so sure, Davis!" TK cried, shielding Kari as an attack narrowly missed them.

"Pegasusmon and Nefertimon are in serious trouble!"

"Scratch that, TK! They're out of the battle!" Kari shouted. Sure enough, the two flying digimon were blasted out of the sky by the trio of Snimon. Running forward, TK and Kari caught their De-Digivolved digimon, cradling them protectively in their arms.

"Halsemon!"

"Digmon!" The sound of Yolei and Cody's voices rose over the noise of battle as they screamed their digimon's names. A group of Ken's Tyrannamon had just attacked them all at once – overwhelmed, the two brave digimon had been beaten, De-Digivolving from sheer exhaustion.

Silence fell over the valley, and Davis glared up at the Digimon Emperor. Just as he'd known there would be, there was a small, satisfied smirk on the other's face.

"Well, Digidestined. It looks like I've finally crushed you like the insects you truly are." He laughed.

"Please, Master…don't take your bad mood out on them…ah!" Wormmon received a sharp kick in the side, and the Emperor curled his lip in distaste.

"Don't try to tell me what to do, Wormmon!"

Straightening up, he surveyed the damage caused by his controlled minions, and chuckled.

"So what should I do with you now? I don't think that my Dark Rings work on humans, and I know that if I put them on your digimon, it'll be more trouble than they're worth." He pondered.

"You lowlife!" Cody called out, holding onto Armadillomon tightly.

"Why, thankyou. Now, what to do, what to do, what to do…" The Digimon Emperor raked his gaze over the defeated Digidestined, trying to come up with the easiest way to dispose of them and get them out of his hair forever.

"What to do…" The Emperor froze as he suddenly realised why he couldn't come up with a method suitable for his taste.

He didn't want to dispose of them.

Unbidden, thousands of memories came bouncing into his head, whispering to him with their recognisable voices.

Sam.

"One day, Kenny Boy, you'll meet people your own age, who like you just as much as you like them. And you'll be friends."

Cody

"Even if you were a brat at the beginning, you turned out alright."

Yolei

"Even though you're exhausted, you still look good to me, Ken."

Kari

"We'll miss you, Ken."

TK

"Yeah, you were part of the gang."

And Davis.

"Ken? You feeling ok?"

"Do you want to be friends?"

"You shouldn't isolate yourself, Ken. There are plenty of people who'd want to be your friend."

"I was just wondering whether you'd like to sleep over at mine tonight."

"Damn it, Ken! I'm your friend! It is my business!"

"But you don't need a mask, Ken – you've got us now. Me, Kari, TK…"

"Don't forget us, will you Ken."

"Let's stay in touch, Ken. We can still see each other over the weekends, and we can phone each other every night…"

"Hey, Your Royal Lunaticness! Are you just going to stand there all day, or are you going to make up your mind?" Davis' voice suddenly cut into Ken's thoughts, and the young emperor stared at the Digidestined of Courage.

Smiling bitterly, Ken slipped his whip back into his cloak, never taking his eyes off the fallen Digidestined.

"Yet again, Digidestined, you've managed to come out on top." The others exchanged confused glances. What was going on here? Hadn't the Emperor just soundly beaten them?

"You win. I concede defeat…permanently." Pulling out a device from his cloak, Ken pressed a button. The Digidestined watched in disbelief as one by one the Dark Rings on the controlled digimon shattered into nothing.

"All over Digiworld, Rings are breaking up. Unfortunately for you, the Control Spires will still be standing, so you'll have a huge cleanup job ahead of you. Farewell, Digidestined. The battle is over."

With that, he took off running, heading blindly for the nearest Digiport. He could hear shouts from behind him, but the Digimon Emperor ignored them, just wanting to be out of this world.

Suddenly, he heard running footsteps coming up behind him. The next thing he knew, someone leapt and landed on his back, causing him to crash heavily to the ground. Kicking his assailant off him, Ken backed away, looking up as Davis got to his feet. The rest of the Digidestined were running up to them.

"If you think you can just get away with everything you've done, then you're wrong, Emperor." Davis said coldly, brushing his hands off on his trousers.

"Even though you've released the digimon." Kari added. Yolei stepped forward, arms crossed defiantly over her chest.

"And if you think I'm going to let you go without finding out exactly who's been causing us so much trouble, then you've got another thing coming." She announced. Ken paled.

"Stay away!" He gasped, getting to his feet and starting to retreat. To his horror, the others simply advanced, matching him step for step. With a small cry of triumph, Yolei leapt for him, trying to rip the mask off.

"Get off me!"

"Not until I know who you are!" Yolei grunted determinedly.

"Please! Do what you want with me, but let me keep my true identity hidden!" Ken pleaded, trying in vain to hold Yolei off. A few moments ago, he would have just knocked her aside. But now he was seeing her as an old friend instead of a Digidestined, he couldn't find it in himself to hurt her.

"Uh uh! No way!" Yolei reached forward again, hooking her fingers round the purple lenses. With a harsh cry of panic, Ken pushed her away from him, hollering out;

"Get off me, Yolei!"

Everyone froze.

"How…how did you know my name?" Yolei asked uncertainly. Ken just continued to back away, silently shaking his head.

"Let me go…please let me go. I won't bother you again." He begged. Bumping into a tree, he made to move round it, when Davis suddenly raised a trembling hand, pulling the visor away.

"Ken…" The Digidestined stared in disbelief at the unmasked Emperor, unable to understand it. In response to his name, Ken flinched away, before looking back, his purple eyes filled with tears.

"I told you, Davis. I told you that the next time we met, you wouldn't recognise me." He whispered. Taking advantage of their shocked state he slipped away, quickly lost to the shadows of the Digital Forest.

"It was him all along…does that mean he was faking friendship the whole time?" Kari murmured. TK shrugged, blue eyes full of pain.

"I don't know. Maybe. I…"

"No!" The others turned, startled by Davis' sudden shout of defiance.

"Davis?"

"No! He wouldn't do that! Ken wouldn't fake friendship like that! He was friends with us…he let us go, remember? Even though he'd beaten us."

"But think of all the cruel things he's done, Davis. It would be second nature to lie to us – it's just who he is." Yolei sobbed.

"He had no reason to do these things…why should he need a reason to deceive us as well?" Cody pointed out.

"You have no idea what he's been through! If you'd lived his life, then you'd have become the Digimon Emperor too!" Davis growled, surprising the rest of them.

"Davis? You're…defending him?"

"I'm his friend. And friends forgive each other, no matter what they've done. I don't care what Ken did in the past – the only thing that's important is that he stopped on his own."

"But Davis…"

"I know him, alright! He's my best friend – I know him…" Sinking slowly to the floor as shock finally caught up to him, Davis felt tears beginning to stream down his cheeks.

Why did he have the feeling that he'd just lost Ken again? Forever?

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