"After defeating Wrathmon's army of evil robot monsters, the whole group decided to split up. That's when Daru, Gennai's evil counterpart, decided to single us out with an all-out attack with Shadowmon. This forced the Digi-Keepers to unlock the secret power of the battle crests, which gave nine of us- not including me- special suits of armor based on our digimon partners. As for Daru, he's now out fighting Gennai personally. I wonder what poor Kellen's gonna do?"

-Kari

DIGIMON: THE DIGITAL KEEPERS SAGA

Book Sixteen: "Kindness vs. Kaiser"

Deep within the forbidden desert of the digital world, where even the sand looked as dark as night, a towering fortress made in midnight-black stone stood. It didn't seem to have windows, nor even a doorway; it was like great spire, in fact; build in the similar way as a pyramid, only much thinner, and tall enough to scrape the cloudy sky.

Close up, the tower did in fact have balconies on each of its endless towers, and pacing back and forth on these balconies was a troop of Phantomon. Armed only with scythes, these creatures kept their vigilance in a quiet, robotic way. But then, their silence was soon broken by a barrage of black fireballs that seemed to come out of nowhere, like cannonballs.

BOOM!

One Phantomon didn't see it coming, and was deleted along with a huge chunk of the balcony. The rest of the ghosts became overcome with shock, and rose up their scythes in panic. Frantically they looked around for answers, but then one of them finally saw it piercing through the cloudy sky.

It was a bird- a huge bird with feathers as dark as the air around it. This made the creature almost invisible, and therefore it had an advantage. Like a lightning-fast vulture, it whirled around the tower's highest peak, awaiting any retaliation from the ghosts. It was then and there when one Phantomon finally recognized the attacker:

------------ Digimon Card: Saberdramon ------------

Level: Champion

Attribute: Vaccine

Type: Bird

"Oh no, it's Saberdramon! As if the original Birdramon was bad enough, this one's her icy counterpart. And in some ways, he's twice as dangerous!"

-Phantomon

------------------------

"BLACK SABER!" screeched the giant bird, unleashing a dark fireball from its beak. Over and over again, its blue fireballs were launched at the frantic ghost digimon. Normally, attacks like that would go right through an intangible spirit; however, these were no ordinary ghosts. They did in fact had data, just like any normal digimon; and like any other digimon, their data could be deleted.

Many of them retaliated the giant bird's attack, but he had one advantage over them; he was in the wide-open air, and they were trapped between walls. It only took Saberdramon a matter of minutes to clear the entire level of Phantomon.

Meanwhile, a young lady was running like crazy toward the dark tower; it was Jun, Davis's estranged sister. She screeched to a halt just a mile away from the tower, and looked up in awe at the great bird in the sky.

Once she caught her breath, it swooped down like a gust of wind, picked her up into his talon, and carried her to the highest tower level. There, he gracefully dropped her off, and perched into a ledge. And there, he di-digivolved back into his Rookie form…

"YES!" cheered the now pudgy, pushover-looking Penguinmon; "I DID IT! I FINALLY DIGI- Woah! WoooaaAAAH!" In the midst of his cheers, he realized that his once massive talons had turned back into slippery padded feet, and he nearly slipped off of the ledge. Luckily for him, Jun caught him just in time; "Woah! Gotcha," she sighed.

Once he was in her arms, the little penguin cooed; "Awww, this is so exciting! I feel like a true hero now…" Jun then asked, "But how did you become a Champion without my crest? Greedmon stole it, remember?" Penguinmon took a breath, "Course I remember; that's why we're here! But to answer your question, any digimon can become a Champion one he gets the right amount of experience."

"…Uh-huh…" Jun raised an eyebrow; "…And what experience have you had?" The little purple penguin answered with a small chuckle, "Let's just say I spend a lotta time fishing. Eh-heh-heh…"

A cold breeze coursed through Jun and her partner at that moment, when she turned to face the nearest doorway to the fortress' interior; she gulped, "So, this is Greedmon's palace?" Her Rookie partner looked ahead and replied matter-of-factly, "I think so… It's rumored that there are seven palaces like this, and each of 'em is home to one of the Sin Digimon. If this isn't Greedmon's place, then maybe we can find a map or something in there that'll tell us where it is."

"This place fits the bill alright… Sure is creepy," shook the newest Digi-Destined. But then her little friend took her hand into his flipper; he smiled, "Don't worry, Jun; you're workin' with a real fighter now. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."

Hearing these courageous words coming from someone so small and unfit for battle was something Jun felt that she had to warm up to, so she said, "Alright, let's do it. And since you're so brave, you lead the way." Perhaps he was being over-confidant, but Penguinmon took the lead instantly and smiled, "As you wish, m'lady!" and with that, they entered the pitch-black tower.

The dark side of the forest was only less than a hundred miles away from yet another team of heroes. This foursome, led by a young man that looked more like a surfer dude than a hero, followed by a small blue dragon, a dark-toned teen, and a slow green caterpillar. The land was barren with golden sand, but aside from the occasional dust clouds that danced by in the wind, all seemed peaceful.

…Maybe too peaceful.

"I shpy with my little eye… Shomething that sh-tartsh with Shh."

"…Hmm… That's a tough one… Sand?"

"Right! Your turn, Davish."

"Okay… I spy with my little eye something that starts with… S."

"Shand!"

"You got it, Veemon!"

"Okay… I shpy with my little eye, something that sh-tartsh with… Shh."

"Sand?"

"Correct again!"

"Okay, let's try something tougher now… Hmm.. I spy with my little eye-"

That's when Ken stomped his foot; "Something that starts with S! And lemmie guess what it is: it's SAND! And look, over there! MORE sand! Uh-oh! But wait- over there, in the corner. What is that? Oh, it's SAND! THERE IS SAND EVERYWHERE! ALL WE'VE BEEN SPOTTING FOR TWO HOURS IS SAND! Now will you PLEASE… Stop… playing…"

Davis and Veemon paused to see an exhausted Ken showing them at last how irritated he was at listening to their little game for the past two hours. After his little spat, Ken dropped to his knees and started to pant like a dehydrated dog.

And as if he couldn't get any more stressed, Davis just had to reply with, "Actually, I was gonna say D." He knew this was a trap, but Ken just had to ask, "…What does D mean?" With his signature grin, Davis joked, "Desert sand!" Then he and Veemon burst out laughing, while Ken hung his head and released his weak rage in a deep, sigh.

Wormmon, being the humble little creature as he was, crawled over to his partner and looked at him with soothing, sympathetic eyes; "Are you alright, Ken?" "I'm fine," replied his partner- the tone of his voice ratted out his lie; he wasn't fine he was tired. But then he added, "I just wish we could find some water around here." Veemon then jumped up and declared, "I can dig up wata! Armadillomon and I once had a digging contest, and I swear my ditch was bigger than hisch!"

Ken didn't believe him, so he was poised to say, "The Keepers wanted this place to be a world of wishful thinking, right? …Wormmon, join me here." His loyal little friend then curled up beside him, and the two of them closed their eyes in meditation and began to chant, "I wish there was an oasis. I wish there was an oasis wish there was an oasis…"

"Hey, guys? Look over there!" Davis pointed towards the road ahead; he was at a high-enough level of sand to see something in the far distance. His friends looked up and saw it as well; from where they stood, they could clearly see the horizon melt from a cheery blue and gold to a dismal gray and black. "…What is that?" whispered Ken; Davis frowned, "I dunno, but it doesn't look right. Hey, maybe something's doing down over there. We should check it out!"

As quickly as he could- sand and short bug legs didn't mix- Wormmon crawled ahead of them and said, "I know what that is; it's the desert's forbidden territory. They say the forbidden lands are home to the Sin Digimon." Davis asked, "Who told you that?" Wormmon answered, "Anyone that's brave enough to fly overhead those lands say that there are huge dark towers- much like the spires that Ken made while he was the Digimon Kaiser-" This made Ken gasp, but Wormmon went on by adding, "only they're much bigger, like fortresses."

Veemon scratched his blue head and commented, "I've never sheen 'em; how do they know those towersh are sho dangeroush?" Wormmon only bowed his head and frowned, "I don't know the whole story; I try to avoid rumors."

The two boys looked to each other with a light of newfound strength glowing in their eyes at that moment; "We have to check it out," commanded Davis; "If he's right, this could be our one chance to delete a Sin Digimon." But Ken narrowed his eyes, "But there's only four of us, and only Wormmon can become a Mega." The over-confident Davis then pointed out, "But you've got that hot new battle gear, my friend. Just whip out that scythe of yours-"

Ken interrupted him by turning his head away and replied, "Didn't you hear Polarimon last night? My battle gear's too dangerous to use." Davis then argued, "Would you rather wait 'till the others come here? That could take another five hours at least, while we sweat our brains out and spot sand all day."

Then Ken paused to imagine another five hours of the game "I Spy" with this male bimbo and his equally-brained digimon; he sighed, "Alright, let's just check it out for a little bit. But as soon as things get hairy over there, we run." "Agreed," nodded Davis. And that was the end of that argument.

As the quartet of heroes got back on their feet and dragged themselves on, a nearby pile of sand appeared to have spying red eyes, and then disappeared back into the earth.

Ever since Gennai went off on his own to battle Daru, Kellen has been left to take care of their hidden fortress, somewhere in the digital world. The young boy could no longer focus his attention on Gennai's situation; the digital world was beginning to show strange changes. He could see it through his own special monitor in his personal chamber.

Beside him was a curled up Culumon, who was quickly showing signs of independence and maturity. "Kellen?" mewed the little digimon; "What're you watching?" His young friend answered him while still looking intently on what he was seeing on his screen, "I'm watching these dark towers show up on the digital world's globe."

He then began to explain exactly what he was seeing: "It looks like they're all connected to each other through the core of the planet."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, the digital world is made primarily of computer data, all pulled together by electro-magnetic pulses and other sources of electricity. All of that power is what makes up the planet's core. …And these dark towers seem to have sprung up right from that center."

Little Culumon approached the map that Kellen was focused on; he blinked, "What's that blue stuff inside of them?" He was referring to the strange alight that appeared on the icons of these dark towers. Kellen replied, "It looks like… data streams."

"Data streams?"

"Yeah… You know how every digimon is made up by a data stream? Well actually, everything in the digital world has one of them. And these towers…" The boy then gasped, "Oh! The data streams that're coming from the towers are coming straight from the planet's core. It's as if they're purposely trying to drain the core's power by releasing it like pipes."

"…What happens if they release it all?"

"…Then we're in a whole world of trouble- Oh no!"

Kellen had then spotted activity from inside one of the dark towers, as he'd seen it through his virtual map. He touched the map to get a closer look, and indeed, two glowing spheres that represented intruders were making their way through the tower's great hall.

"This is bad," gulped Kellen; then he took to his feet and announced, "Come on, Culumon! We've got to get to that tower before something bad happens!" Since he knew every corner of the planet, Kellen dashed to the nearest shortcut, with Culumon bouncing behind.

There was something seriously wrong in the calm cool air, as Penguinmon and Jun continued their way through the deep, dark halls of the spire.

While the little purple bird waddled bravely on, his human partner gazed in curiosity at the strange blue carvings on the walls. They seemed to show an ancient form of language, formed in a symmetric pattern. These markings were actually glowing blue, bright enough to light the way down the long hall.

Then Jun started to worry and said, "Penguinmon? …I have a feeling we're going in circles." The little bird smiled, "Can't be, Jun; we've been going straight the whole time!" Jun moaned in reply, "But it just feels like we're always making turns…"

Then they paused to take a breather, and so Jun took the opportunity to reach out to the walls to feel the texture of the wall markings; "What do you suppose these all mean?" she wondered aloud. Penguinmon shrugged, "I've never seen those writings before; I can't read 'em."

As Jun continued to feel the markings through her fingers, the glow given off by them was now starting to vibrate, as if it was made of pure energy. After getting a small static shock, Jun finally withdrew her hand from the wall.

"Come on," squawked the little penguin; "I got a strange feeling we're getting somewhere!" As she followed, Jun rolled her eyes and replied, "I just hope it's not another endless hall…"

After all this time of walking, the dark hallway was finally giving way to a light at the end of the tunnel. Once the clearing was crossed, Jun and Penguinmon entered a true, wide room now.

They both gasped in amazement at the beautiful glow that was coming from the center of this room. It looked like light from a chandelier, only there was none, but a light blue orb near the ceiling. And surrounding it was a stream of digital data, much like the data that would surround a digivolving (or di-digivolving) digimon.

"What is that?" Jun asked. Penguinmon gapped his beak and blinked, "I… dunno… It looks like a digi-egg, or something." "It's so high up," preserved Jun, "I can't reach it." "I can!" bragged the little Rookie, and then he digivolved into his Champion form right before Jun's eyes:

------------ Digivolution- Champion ------------

"PENGUINMON, DIGIVOLVE TO… SABERDRAMON!"

------ End Vision ------

Saberdramon was a little too big to fit inside this narrow room, and so it didn't take him much effort to reach out his beak toward the orb of light. Once he and the orb made contact, it seemed to have combusted. The force of this combustion unleashed the data stream that once guarded the digi-egg, and by default it reversed Saberdramon's evolution, back into Penguinmon.

Taken back by the force of his digi-volution, Penguinmon made a hard landing on his backside. "Penguinmon!" gasped Jun, and she ran to his side.

As she ran to him, she missed a glorious sight; the light that surrounded the room started to die down, as the digi-egg had now hatched into a great whirlpool of pure energy.

In reaction to the unraveling of a great data stream, all of the markings that appeared inside and outside of the tower began to glow as brightly as stars.

From outside, one could see this great pattern of light, and then suddenly the tower began to move in circles. Each level went its own direction; level one turned clockwise, level two turned counter-clockwise, level three went clockwise, level four counter-clockwise, and so on. It was almost as if it became a power drill.

Kellen and Culumon entered the center of the tower, where Jun and Penguinmon stood huddled together. The boy only needed to take one look at the data stream whirlpool, and he gasped in shock; "…We're too late…"

Jun heard this, and became overwhelmed with fear and regret; she muttered, "…What have we done?…"

Ken, Davis and their digimon were far enough to see the dark tower glow for themselves. They paused to watch it in awe, but their sight was soon hazed by a harsh wave of sand being blown in the wind. The wind current was blowing against them, causing almost the whole group to cover their faces so that the sand wouldn't get in their eyes.

Ken winced, "Ack! …Can't …see …anything! The sand's too-"

Then he saw that Davis was smiling with comfort, as his inherited goggles were now covering his eyes.

Slightly jealous, Ken scowled, "Okay, now you're just showing off!"

Then suddenly-

FOOM!

Behind then, a great geyser of sand erupted. The boys were all tripped and fell either head first or back first into the sand; once they recovered, they saw that the beast that came jumping out from beneath the earth was Gluttonymon.

They looked in disgust at his oversized stomach, which had its own ugly face and huge mouth on it; his real face was like that of a mutated warthog's, and the rest of his body was pretty much a big tan blob. Oh, and one could never forget about those limbs that resembled an oversized set of a fork and a knife.

"Hello, booooysss," he hissed. In reaction, the digimon heroes evolved:

------------ Digivolution: Ultimate ------------

"VEEMON, DIGIVOLVE TO……………. EX-VEEMON!

EX-VEEMON, DIGIVOLVE TO………. PAILDRAMON!"

"WORMMON, DIGIVOLVE TO……… STINGMON!

STINGMON, DIGIVOLVE TO……….. DINOBEEMON!"

------------ End Vision ------------

None of this seemed to flinch Gluttonymon, as he already had his deadly silverware limbs in the air; he hammered them down hard enough to case a tidal wave of sand that nearly buried the human boys. Shielding them, of course, were their friends, who thanks to their Ultimate forms looked almost like twins.

But before anyone else could make a move, Gluttonymon pulled a very unfair card: "Caterpillmon," he growled with an insane smile. "Who??" asked the two Ultimates in perfect unison. Gluttonymon made himself more clearly by pointing his devilishly long cutting knife at DinoBeemon. "You," he sneered; "You're the one with the nerve to fight on the wrong side."

"Not this again," growled DinoBeemon; "Don't listen to him!" shouted Ken; "He's just trying to throw you off!"

The great blob of a beast looked to the boy and grinned, "You've got some nerve too, you know. Have you forgotten the dark spore that still lingers inside your neck?" Ken shook a fist at him and growled, "I'm not listening to a word you say!" "Then why don't you bear your battle gear, and prove me wrong?" challenged the Sin.

At first, Ken paused; then Davis, who was the only truly defenseless person there, told his friend, "You don't have a choice, Ken. It's two on one; the guys need you." "I could digivolve to GranKwagamon," said the Ultimate closest to Ken, but then the young man shook his head; "No, save your strength… Besides, Davis is right. I gotta do this."

The Sin narrowed his eyes and grinned joyfully, "Perfect."

------------ Vision: Digivolution- Battle Gear ------------

(As before, Ken's crest lights up and opens a portal of hot-pink data. Ken jumps into it, and passes through an image of GranKwagamon. The image then digitizes, and reshapes itself into different pieces of his armor. When complete, he "lands" and strikes a pose.)

"Ken Ichijouji, Battle Gear Digivolve based on……..GRANKWAGAMON!"

------------ End Vision ------------

It was now one against three; for anyone else, this wouldn't seem like a fair fight, but Gluttonymon was beyond the power of all three heroes.

They took their turns swarming and striking at him, but for someone so plump and seemingly slow, Gluttonymon blocked every attack with ease, thanks to his silverware-like arms.

The trio of heroes then tried a series of attacks to slow down the huge Sin; first Paildramon pile-drove himself into the creature's stomach, while DinoBeemon went straight for his head with "HELL MASQUERADE!" Gluttonymon anticipated this, but his attention was drawn away from Ken, who took up the great black scythe on his arm and launched, "DIMENSION SLASH!" Like the "Dimension Scissors" slash of GranKwagamon's pincers, Ken ripped open a riff in the air that cut straight through Gluttonymon's back.

The Sin seemed to take this attack hard, as he wailed in pain and stopped moving for a moment. All three heroic warriors jumped back to see just how much of an impact Ken's attack made. To their amazement, Gluttonymon's back was at one moment cut into, but now it was quickly reformatting itself. "How is he doing that!?" gasped Paildramon; DinoBeemon guessed, "I think he's just too powerful for one of us to take on."

"Fine then," replied Paildramon as he took to the sky; "Let's all hit him at one time!"

"DESPERADO BLASTER!"

"HELL MASQUERADE!"

"DIMENSION SLASH!"

WHOOSH!!

These attacks came from all sides, and for a minute or two, it seemed as though they had gone through. But once the heroes found time to catch their breath, the smoked cleared and Gluttonymon was well in tact, and laughing maniacally. Even Davis, at this point, was beginning to sweat; "I… don't believe it!" he gasped; "None of those attacks worked!"

As if things couldn't look much darker for the heroes, the sky was melting into a dismal shade of gray, and even the sand below everyone's feet was graying. The heroes observed this in confusion, but Gluttonymon kept a wicked smile. He looked to the North, where the dark tower in the far distance continued to circulate and glow. "Ah," he hummed; "It's starting already."

"What's starting?" asked Paildramon. Gluttonymon replied calmly, "You see that tower in the distance? That is my Power Spine; each of the Sin Digimon has marked a territory in this world, and it is here where I plan to make my base of operations."

"In a barren desert?" questioned Davis.

"Oh, this wasn't a desert when I got here!" laughed the bloated beast. "The Power Spines are meant to turn everything in our territory into a realm of darkness, and as you can see, it's already working!"

It was true; there were no clouds in the sky and yet all color was lost in the atmosphere. The air grew cold and the sand felt frozen. Davis turned to Ken and gasped, "We have to get to that tower and destroy it!" "Right," nodded Ken, and the two of them led the charge towards the Power Spine.

Gluttonymon, meanwhile, watched them leave and laughed, "Go on! Just TRY to undo the darkness! HA-hahahahahaha!"

When they got to the Power Spine, the quartet of heroes began to see that it was actually churning like a power drill. Paildramon commented, "Wow! Looks like this is more than just a tower…" He then looked to his Ultimate friend and asked, "Are you ready?" "Yep," nodded DinoBeemon.

The two of them went into the battle stances, when suddenly a familiar voice shouted, "DON'T DO IT!" This caused all of the heroes to lose their balance and concentration; "Huh?" they all gasped. They looked up- all the way up- towards the sky, and to their amazement, there was a huge black bird circling them like an oversized vulture. But it wasn't a vulture at all; it was Saberdramon. And riding him was someone even Davis didn't expect.

He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating this; when he looked up again, his mouth gapped, "…Jun…" he muttered. As Saberdramon descended from the sky, Jun called to them again, "Don't destroy the Power Spine! It's connected to the digital world's core; you could destroy this entire area!!"

The boys were taken completely by surprise, so they waited until Saberdramon made a graceful landing. Once he did, Jun jumped off his back. At first sight of her brother, Jun's heart leapt for joy.

"DAVIS!"

"JUN!"

The two of them were all too happy to see each other, so being able to run to each other and hug was something they've both been looking forward to for some time now. "I was so worried about you!" Davis gasped; "Are you alright?" Jun nodded, "I'm okay… But Sabderamon and I made the same mistake you guys almost did."

"Whaddya mean?" he blinked; his sister turned to the tower and explained, "Kellen figured it out by himself; these Power Spines are digging all the way to the digital world's core. If anybody destroys these things, they might just delete a huge chink of the planet."

Then her Champion partner added, "When we first got here, we saw an army of Phantomon guarding it. We fought them off, but they didn't put up much of a fight. And now we know why…" DinoBeemon concluded, "So, the Sins are using the digital world's own data streams to turn this place evil, and if we interfere, we could destroy it." "That's right," Saberdramon nodded; "It's a lose-lose situation."

"Then how do we stop it?" Davis gulped. "You can't," hissed the voice of Gluttonymon; all of the heroes whirled around, and right behind them stood the blubbery beast. "Ew!" gasped Jun; "What is that!?" The half-hog, half-blob grinned at her; "I am Gluttonymon, and you must be The Humble One. I'd say it's a pleasure to finally meet you, sweetie, but I'm afraid I have to cut this meeting short!"

With that, he raised his giant knife-like arm and screamed, "FEEDING FRENZY!" Everyone jumped out of the way, and the knife's impact on the earth deleted as much as ten feet across and ten feet below the surface.

The battle commenced all around the Power Spine; the heroes tried to avoid all of Gluttonymon's "Feeding Frenzies", while he kept sweeping clean all of the sand and dust from the Power Spine.

Eventually, a huge crater surrounded the Power Spine, as it continued to churn and glow like a slow-moving power drill. And no matter what attack the heroes threw at Gluttonymon, he would just reconfigure himself as if his body was made out of the toughest mud.

"Give it up, children," hissed the Sin; "You can't beat me, not even in your Mega forms." "We'll see," challenged DinoBeemon.

------------ Vision: Digivolution- Mega ------------

"DINOBEEMON, DIGIVOLVE TO……….. GRAN KWAGAMON!"

------------ End Vision ------------

The great black insect pile-drove himself into Gluttonymon, pushing him into the Power Spine's wall. Everyone else watched in surprise, as the Spine's thick layering was tough enough to withstand this attack.

They pushed and shoved each other like pro wrestlers; they also gave each other a series of punches, kicks and slashes. They seemed to have been evenly matched, until Gran Kwagamon felt compelled to unleash his ultimate attack. He opened up his mouth and started to call forth, "DIMENSION SCI-"

"NO, STOP!"

This was Ken screaming; he was trying to warn Gran Kwagamon that his attack was aiming directly at the Power Spine. Luckily, the Mega digimon heard him just in time, and instantly held back his attack.

"Coward," hissed the Sin; he then opened up the great mouth on his abnormally bloated stomach, and roared, "FEED MY FACE!"

The stomach's mouth then started to inhale everything in its path; even the heroes felt magnetized by this force. "Jun, quick!" roared Saberdramon, as he tried to reach for his human partner. Both Jun and Davis grabbed into his talon, and from there he tried to take off to the sky.

Paildramon had a similar plan, but even he wasn't strong enough to hold off against the full force of Gluttonymon's suction. Even Gran Kwagamon, the largest and most powerful of them all, was taken in by Gluttonymon's suction; it was like a black hole effect. Nothing was safe.

The Sin laughed like a mad hyena as his magnifying attack caused all of his enemies to be drawn closer and closer to his stomach.

But not all of them were accounted for; Ken, still in his battle gear, used his scythe as an anchor while he tried to crawl away from Gluttonymon's path of destruction.

Perhaps Gluttonymon spared him on purpose, because he eyed the young boy without argument. Once he felt he was in a safe area, Ken acted fast. He pulled out his bullwhip and attacked; "KAISER WHIP!"

CRACK!

The whip latched into Gluttonymon's fork-arm; so far, every other enemy that so much as touched this whip was deleted, but Gluttonymon was still in tact. In fact, he anticipated Ken's attack, and took advantage of the fact that he now had the former Kaiser right where he wanted him.

Fortunately for Ken's friends, Gluttonymon was forced to stop his attack, and they were free to move. But now Ken and the Sin were playing a rough game of tug-o-war over the whip. Proving his super strength once again, Gluttonymon took the whip and with it he whipped Ken all the way to the Power Spine.

The others watched helplessly as Ken landed straight on his back, up against the Power Spine.

All at once, the Spine's electro-magnetic pulses went out of control, and surged themselves through Ken's battle gear. Needless to say, this was a bad thing…

ZAAAAAAAP!

Now Ken was being electrocuted- more than that, he was being charged with this evil energy that messed with the digital world itself. As painful as this experience was, Ken could only howl and scream, and was otherwise motionless. "KEN!" howled Gran Kwagamon; he tried to make a dash to the Power Spine, but with one grab of Gluttonymon's forth-hand, he was held back.

The others tried to rush in as well, but they were all forced away by the static shocks of the Power Spine. All the while, Gran Kwagamon struggled against Gluttonymon's hold on him; "Let me go!" he growled; but Gluttonymon sneered, "You'll stand by and you'll watch this… This, my friend, is almost exactly what happened to your LAST human partner. Don't you remember?" "No," hissed the Mega hero; the Sin grinned, "Well then, maybe this will jog your memory."

When he said "this," he didn't really mean Ken's situation; for at that moment, Gluttonymon unleashed part of his own data stream into Gran Kwagamon's head. The Mega tried to fight it, but all of a sudden he had these flash images:

A young girl.

A jungle paradise.

An onslaught of evil digimon.

An explosion of some kind.

The young girl's seemingly lifeless body.

And then, nothing.

"YAAH!" howled the Mega insect; Gluttonymon finally released him, and Gran Kwagamon pulled back, shaking his head in both confusion and disbelief. "Yesss," hissed the Sin; "You remember now, don't you… Caterpillmon?"

The Mega insect was in shock, and paused before he made any sudden movements.

But then he realized that his human partner was still in danger; "Ken," he muttered. His wings suddenly vibrated, and he took to the air; "I've got to save Ken!" he roared. Gluttonymon just watched him fly by, satisfied that he had done his job.

Finally, by the time Gran Kwagamon reached him, Ken's electric shock was over. He was found sitting up against the Power Spine, looking limp. His head was bowed to the ground, so his partner couldn't tell f he was awake or not.

Gently, Gran Kwagamon nudged him and whispered, "…Ken?… Ken, are you alright?" Then at last, Ken raised his head and opened his eyes. "uuhhh," he moaned. He seemed to be alright, and so his friends breathed a fresh sigh of relief.

But then…

"…Who… dares… call me… by my real name?"

At that moment, Gran Kwagamon di-digivolved back to the small and innocent Wormmon. "Ken!" he gasped; "Don't you recognize me? It's me… Wormmon." The young man struggled to his feet, still weakened by the electric shocks, but then he stared carefully at the little green creature that stood before him.

In the distance, the other heroes watched and waited for any sudden dangers. They held their breath, as Ken's eyes suddenly widened. They haven't looked like that since…

"YOU!" he hollered at Wormmon. Wormmon jumped back, recognizing that harsh tone; "Ken?" he shivered. The young man seemed furious with the little creature, and all of a sudden he reached for his whip.

Then Davis saw it; Ken's battle gear started to change color, from black to blue, and back to black again. Davis also saw that his friend was about to try and attack Wormmon; "NO! DON'T DO IT!" he screamed, but it was too late.

The Kaiser swiped at Wormmon with his whip, but the little caterpillar ducked just in time. Right before his clear-blue eyes, Wormmon watched in horror as Ken started to transform back into the Digimon Kaiser.

But then he stopped in mid-action, as if frozen in time. As Ken started having an identity crisis, a surge of black electricity haloed his body. It almost looked as if both the Ken they knew and the old Ken they once feared were appearing at the same time, and the appearance of each of them was triggered by an involuntary electric shock.

Somewhere in her lush forest, Gaiamon gasped in terror. She clutched into her chest, as if feeling a great pain inside; "It's happening already," she frowned, "just as I've feared…"

Saberdramon approached Ken from above, and on top of him was Davis and Jun; Davis hollered, "Ken! Take off your battle gear, NOW!" But he couldn't hear Davis; Ken seemed to be flashing back and forth from himself to the Kaiser, and it seemed as though no one could reach him.

Wormmon tried, at least; he launched himself at his partner, but the black electricity forced him back. The little caterpillar fell on his back, and he started to cry; "…I can't do it… I can't save him!"

"No one can," bragged the nearby Gluttonymon; "My task here is complete; I have unleashed the dark side of the so-called Kind One. And now you get to watch as you lose yet another human to the darkness, Caterpillmon!" With that, the evil Sin laughed again, and like a slug he dipped himself back into the dark sand, and was gone.

Saberdramon and Paildramon made a quick landing where Ken stood frozen. They all could see him struggling with himself, holding his head and gritting his teeth in pain. "What do we do?" gulped Jun; her brother quivered in fear, "…I…don't know!"

"Well, we can't just leave him like this!" said Paildramon; "What do you suggest?" asked Saberdramon in reply. Wormmon quickly struggled to get back on his right side, and he paused to shake the sand out of his ears. Then he called to them, "Do whatever you can; just don't hurt him!" "What could we do?" they all wondered.

For a minute, they paused to watch and only try to imagine what was going on inside of him…

------------ Vision: Ken vs. Kaiser ------------

Deep inside Ken's mind, another battle was taking place. This battle took place in a very similar desolate land, where the sky and earth were colorless and gray. But there was no Power Spine in sight, nor were there any digimon.

There were, in fact, only two people dueling. They each had the same name, the same face, and almost the same suit of armor. One was Battle Gear Ken, the hero and the true Ken Ichijouji; the other was a shadow from his dark past, the Digimon Kaiser.

They were both masters of the bullwhip and of a scythe; they chased each other through the wasteland, one dodging the other's attack. The more they scraped the land, the more of it had disappeared, as if deleted data. This was, of course, the point; one had to destroy the other, so that only one could take full control of the body.

Neither Ken nor the Kaiser showed any signs to tiredness or fear; faster and faster they swiped and whipped at each other, and each was getting more and more riled up with fury. And as soon as the Kaiser got the best of Ken, and vice versa, the signs started to show on the outside…

------------ End Vision ------------

Ken, in the digital world, kept switching back and forth from black to blue armor; from red lenses to gold glasses; from black hair to blue hair. Then he even started to speak at times; "…I …must… destroy…. I… can't… let…." Jibberish like this was becoming the norm, much to the fear and frustration of Ken's true friends.

"I can't take much more of this," Davis growled as he felt all the more useless in Ken's endangerment. Jun was frozen in fear and worry, but she couldn't help but stare at the necklace that was worn around Ken's neck; she blinked, "Is that… his crest?" Davis nodded, "Yeah, that's the Crest of Kindness. It's what made him go into the battle—

"THAT'S IT!" he cheered with eyes lit up with wisdom; "It's his battle gear! We've gotta take it off!"

"I'm on it," announced Paildramon, and he launched himself at Ken, who was still struggling from the inside out. Paildramon was charged with dark electricity once he laid a claw on the Crest of Kindness, but it was a shock he was willing to take.

But one Ultimate wasn't enough to shake the Crest of Kindness off of the distraught body of poor Ken. But then Saberdramon took his talon and teamed up with Paildramon to yank it off the boy's neck.

Again, it wasn't enough; but then suddenly Stingmon appeared- Wormmon had digivolved while no one was looking- and he took his own hold of the Crest of Kindness. Two Champions and one Ultimate were now a reckonable force for the dark energy that kept Ken's battle gear activated.

On the inside, the battle between the good Ken and the evil Kaiser waged on…

But it wouldn't last much longer. Soon enough, the digimon team was strong enough to yank the battle crest clean off of Ken's battle gear. At last, the electric surge was gone, and a stunned Ken di-digivolved back into his true self.

He plopped face first into the sand; "Ken!" gasped Stingmon. When he gently picked him up, he could see that his young friend was completely out cold.

The heroes gave him a brief examination to see if there were any injuries that he sustained; amazingly enough, there were none…

"Well done, Gluttonymon," praised Pridemon, as her fellow Sin made his way back into Daru's hidden lair; "We could have waited much longer for the dark spore to corrupt the battle gear's system, but using your own Power Spine…" "It was nothing," replied Gluttonymon, who at this point has resumed his shadowy form.

He added, "I just hope that this will lead up to the next phase of my plan: capturing Gaiamon."

Nearby, a shadowed Lustmon stood leaning against a corner with her arms crossed; she said solemnly, "But we've already tried to gang up on those Keepers; they're too powerful for us." Pridemon corrected her, "Wrong. Now that one of her chosen guardians is incapacitated, her strength will be weakened.

"Gluttonymon, you alone must take this risk; go to Gaiamon's jungle immediately and draw out those pesky little children." "With pleasure," he said as his bloated tummy rumbled with hunger.

Lustmon stood her ground, and narrowed her eyes at Gluttonymon, as if she lost all trust for him.

That evening, it rained in Gaiamon's jungle.

Those heroes that traveled back from the barren desert were overcome with exhaust and despair, so a good shower did them some good, to an extent.

Ken was laid to rest on her mossy tree base of Gaiamon herself, as she looked on with concern. She looked to the children and their digimon and sighed, "I am sorry… This is partially my fault; if I knew years ago that the Digi-Destined of Kindness would be poisoned by a dark spore…"

Davis sighed back, "It's not your fault at all, Gaiamon. I just wish we could've done something sooner." "It all happened so fast," frowned Jun. Gaiamon understood completely, and just as she was worried about her child of Kindness' condition, so too was she for all of them… especially the little caterpillar who curled up next to Ken on her uproots.

"Wormmon?" she murmured; "are you alright?" Wormmon looked up to her silently, then gave her a small nod. "It was a hard day for all of you," said the tree; "All we could do now is rest for the night and gather our strength. I fear that tomorrow will be an even more trying day."

She received arguments from no one; and so the heroes gathered together to rest near the tree-like Keeper of the digital land. Sleep wasn't easy to find for most of them, least of all Wormmon, who was now completely aware of his dark past- thanks to Gluttonymon.

But eventually, the nighttime brought with it a soothing atmosphere, filled with charming lightning bugs (not fireflies), a star-filled sky and a gentle breeze of fresh air. All of this was enough to allow the young adventurers and their digimon to forget all of the day's troubles and finally catch some sleep. All seemed well once again.

Even Ken looked peaceful.

TO BE CONTINUED