Digimon: The Digital Keepers Saga

by Snodin

Book TwentySeven: Crossovers A new era has begun in the Digital World, and with this new era come new friends, new enemies, and... new DigiKeepers?

25. My Own Worst Enemy

"It was cool to have the whole gang back together, but some of our friends started acting weird- especially TK and Kari. To prove to them, and to myself, that I was worthy of earning the Crest of Nobility, Veemon and I went off on a journey to find Wrathmon's Power Spine. When we did find it, we found Wrathmon, too. Just when things got really ugly, I forgot all about my worries just to save Veemon, when lo and behold, my crest came alive! Together, Imperial Dramon and I took out the Sin AND his Power Spine at the same time! I guess good things really do come to those who wait!"

-Davis

DIGIMON: THE DIGITAL KEEPERS SAGA

Book Twenty-Five: "My Own Worst Enemy"

"Wow..."

"Gee..."

"Awesome!"

"Looks like a crown."

"Cool."

"Had to get it the hard way, didn't ya?"

These were just some of the reactions that Davis had received from his worried friends upon his arrival back in Gaiamon's realm. They were given a brief review of his adventure on the Valley of The Forgotten, and then they were presented with the red Crest lined in gold that shaped out a crown-like symbol that made up the Crest of Nobility. Davis tried to be modest about it, but the longer his friends gazed at his brilliant crest, the prouder he became.

"Well," he smiled as he scratched his head, "I'd like to say that I did it all by myself, but I couldn't o' done it without my pals. Especially Veemon! He had my back the whole time."

The equally proud Rookie by his side rubbed his nose in reply, "Yeah well, schomebody had to keep an eye on ya, ya big lug, or elsech you woulda gotten lost!" "Hey," Davis responded, followed by a noogie to Veemon's rock-hard head.

Davis and Veemon didn't seem to realize at first that not everybody was so excited for their victory; for that matter, not everyone was so happy to see them return from their journey.

But the facts were sinking in as the group that gathered to see them numbered only fourteen- that was seven humans and seven digimon.

Davis then noticed the lack of numbers and as he looked around he wondered, "Hey, where's TK and Kari? They gotta see this!" Veemon then added with a frown, "And where'sh Jun an' Penguinmon?"

The truth of the matter was, TK, Kari, Jun and their digimon were not the only ones that were absent from this reunion; Sora, Biyomon, Joe and Gommamon were also absent as well.

But that didn't seem to matter, as Matt replied, "I'll go find Jun; she'll be real proud o' ya, Davis." Gabumon followed his partner like a lost puppy, as Yolei grabbed Davis by the arm and said, "I think I saw Kari over by the lake." She then led him onward.

Sure enough, Yolei was right. Kari and Gatomon were sitting on a tree log by a newly formed lake, fishing, when Yolei dragged Davis over to them. Yolei then presented him to her friends by cheering, "Hey, guys! Check it out, Davis got his Crest of Nobility!"

Only Gatomon turned around to face them; when she did, she smiled, "Hey! Congratulations, Davis; we all knew you had it in you."

Davis was thankful for Gatomon's reaction, but he really needed to hear Kari's. He then moved over to the log, sat himself beside an oblivious-looking Kari, and smiled, "Hey, hey! They said I couldn't do it, and by 'they' I mean you, but I did it! Look!" He then proved it by holding out his crest to her; it glimmered in the sunlight.

Kari barely moved; instead she glanced at him briefly with darkened eyes and muttered, "Good for you, Davis." Her tone of voice seemed normal, except that it would have been brighter and more cheerful if Kari were her normal self.

Davis ignored her bland tone; he was just happy to be near her, not because part of him still liked her, but so that he could gloat to her and TK.

He then slid down off the log so that he could lean his back into it and lounge by the poolside. He crossed his legs and folded his arms behind his head to make a pillow for his head. Then Davis sighed deeply, "...So? You proud of me or what, Kari?" He just had to get something out of her.

Kari replied monotonously, "It's very impressive, Davis. You should feel proud of yourself, 'cause guys like you don't usually get this lucky." Davis just acted like his old self by brushing off Kari's cold tone as he smiled, "Yep, that's me! I'm a real lucky guy!"

Meanwhile, Yolei, Hawkmon and Gatomon listened carefully to the conversation. They were already picking up an unusual vibe from the Child of Light.

"That's not what I meant," replied a dark-toned Kari, in response to Davis's small joke. This time, Davis dropped the male bimbo act and became slightly more serious about the way Kari was talking to him; "Come on," he pleaded, "I've literally been to Hell and back for this thing. You mean to tell me you're not the slightest bit happy for me? You, Kari? The girl who gets ecstatic when she sees butterflies crawl out of their cocoons?"

"I'm not in the mood, Davis," she replied coldly.

Davis went on, "The girl who practically does flips whenever she sees her favorite flavor on sale at the ice cream parlor?"

"Stop it, Davis." Her eyes were starting to narrow.

"The girl who greets every single person on the street with a big smile and a nice 'Hello?' You know, some people think you need help, but they're just not used to meeting somebody so cheerful and friendly! ......I said-"

"I heard what you said!" she snapped all of a sudden.

Davis nearly fell on his back in reaction to Kari's outburst, but luckily he caught himself at the last second. His heart, however, didn't quite catch itself soon enough, and practically leapt out of his chest. Likewise, the young lady and digimon nearby were also taken back by Kari's outburst.

But as quickly as she snapped, she quickly recovered by clearing her throat and said in a softer tone, "...I'm just... not in the mood right now. I'm sorry."

"Not in the mood?" blinked a recovering Davis; "For what?"

Kari flicked her fishing pole back into the water and replied, "Davis, there's just too much stuff to worry about right now. We don't have time to celebrate anybody's victories."

Then Gatomon jumped into the conversation by smiling to her partner, "That's not true, Kari. We've already gotten two Sin Digimon, and I'll bet the rest of them are just scrambling for new ideas. Either that, or they're hiding under their beds."

"That's right," added Davis; "we got two Sin digimon in just four days! Now that's gotta count for something, right?"

"You have a point," replied an unemotional Kari; "But still, we've got a long way to go before we can stop and relax."

The one thing that was bugging Davis more than Kari's tone of voice was the fact that she barely even looked him in the face during this time. Kari was one of the most social people around, and when she had something to say, she usually made eye contact when saying it. Gatomon noticed it too, and became all the more concerned about her partner.

Then Yolei stepped in to break the tension by saying, "Come on Davis, let's go find TK. I'll bet he'll wanna see the crest." Davis took her advice and followed in her departure from the lake.

Gatomon then inched herself close to Kari and purred, "Kari?" "What?" was her response; Gatomon then smiled, "I know things have been crazy lately, but the least we could do is be happy for our friends."

Then Kari replied with, "...I am happy for Davis... It's just that-"

"-things are changing around here," said TK a few minutes later, after Davis and Yolei discovered him under a tree a few feet away from the lake.

Davis narrowed his eyes at the young blonde, "The only thing changing around here is your attitude!" Then Patamon, the orange guinea pig with bat wings for ears, fluttered to TK's side and agreed, "He's right, TK. Ever since we've been to the Dark Ocean realm, you haven't been yourself. You didn't catch a bug or anything over there, did you?"

TK just sighed with a dark tone in his eyes, "I'm just not in a good mood right now, guys. I think I need some time alone for a while."

Patamon frowned with droopy eyes, "...Even from me?"

"Yes. Even from you."

That made the little digimon drop to his feet; he was used to being TK's shadow, and hearing from him that he wasn't wanted made his heart sink. Davis then picked up the little guy in his arms and said, "It's cool. We'll leave ya alone, TK."

TK then blinked, "You mean to tell me after all these years, you finally got my name right?"

It was true; Davis had his moments in the past when he deliberately misspelled TK's name, even if it did consist of just two initials. But he only did it out of spite and jealousy for Kari's affections; he stopped doing it when he realized how stupid it made him sound. Davis giggled, "Heh-heh! I guess I'm not in the mood to be myself, either. ...See ya."

And with that, Davis and his friends left TK to himself. The young man wasn't the type that wanted to be alone, but it was apparent that he, like Kari, wasn't quite himself.

Elsewhere, Joe and Gommamon had been spotted gathering chopped logs further off in the woods. Mimi, Tai and their digimon caught up with them in a matter of minutes after Davis and company faced off against TK.

"This is the last of Gluttonymon's destruction," stated Joe as he passed by his friends with his arms full with chopped logs; "We could use these for a campfire later." "That's a good idea, Joe," complimeted Tai. They watched as Gommamon followed Joe as quickly as he could while balancing a rather heavy load of logs on his back. He was quiet the whole time.

Then the young man with the extra-spiky hair asked, "You... want some help with that?" "I'm just fine," stated a dark-eyed Joe. As he passed by her, he gave Mimi the cold shoulder.

But Mimi was in a cheerful mood; she and Palmon skipped over to the pile of chopped wood and smiled, "These don't look that heavy; we can help!" She and Palmon (with her extended vines for fingers) gathered up their own share of the logs and started to pick them up, when they heard Joe comment, "Just don't trip and mess things up, girls."

Palmon frowned, "Since when do we mess things up?"

Joe replied from a distance, "I'd just like to get things done around here, so don't hold me back."

"...Hold him back?" blinked a concerned Mimi. "Since when do we do that?"

Tai calmly replied as he reached for his own share of the chopped logs, "Just let him be; he's probably just stressed out or something."

Hurriedly, they caught up with Joe and Gommamon to their designated spot where the logs would be set up as firewood. Joe paid no attention to his friends as they helped him set up camp. But then, just as he dusted off his hands, he nonchalantly commented to Mimi, "It's a pretty dirty job for you, isn't it? I thought you were used to being clean and pampered."

Mimi was the type to enjoy a life of leisure, so she took Joe's comment lightly and smiled, "Oh! I don't mind getting dirty once in a while; I'm just trying to make myself useful." Joe glanced at her and replied, "Well, keep trying... I'm sure Michael would be proud of you if he were here." He then walked away.

Tai looked over to Mimi, who had suddenly come down with a case of spechlessness. "Mimi? You okay?" he peeped. Mimi replied softly, "...I almost forgot about Michael. He's still in America, and I've been here for months now. I wonder if he's worried about me?" She paused in thought, while Palmon and Tai looked at each other, exchanging looks of curiosity.

"You're kidding."

"No, I'm not."

"You're saying you don't wanna see your brother, after he just got his crest from Wrathmon?"

Matt stood there in disbelief as Jun, sitting on a hill top with her back facing her old crush and her head bowed to the ground, said that she wanted nothing to do with Davis. She wanted nothing to do with anyone, in fact.

"Just leave me alone, Matt," she softly replied.

Matt and Gabumon glanced at each other with looks of concern; then Gabumon turned to the nearby Penguinmon and asked, "Penguinmon, what's wrong? Are you two sick or something?" The little purple penguin was sitting on a rock that was almost as tall as he was, and he too seemed to be very mellow. He replied to Gabumon with a frown, "I dunno about Jun, but I'm feeling a little under the weather myself. Maybe we just need a nap or something."

Matt was still worried about Jun; this young lady was usually very active and, dare he admit, full of life. But he felt that it was useless to try to coax her out of her mysterious state of misery and sighed, "Alright. You guys stay here if you want, but Davis'll wanna see you sooner or later. The least you could do is say hi."

"And the least you could do," came the intruding voice of Sora, "is know when to back off."

Matt and Gabumon turned around to see this other young lady, one slightly older than Jun and one that seemed to be just as unpleasant as she was. "Sora," Matt gulped nervously. Gabumon dared to step forward and smiled to her, "Where've you been, Sora? We've got great news to tell you! Davis-" "Yeah, I know. Davis got his crest," she interrupted rudely. "You guys have been dancing around that news all morning, like it's supposed to make things better."

"Sora," frowned the friendly Gabumon, "what's wrong?"

Sora sighed as she crossed her arms and turned away, "Ugh... I'd tell you, but you wouldn't understand. You're just like Matt."

"Hey," Matt blurted out as he stepped forward, "what did I do?"

Sora replied harshly, "Oh, don't act like you're the innocent one here, Matt! You've done more than enough to show you want nothing to do with me."

"Oh, come on," the young man growled with frustration; "We're not fighting over this again, are we? We've done it a million times!" He believed that she was still upset about the times he had been distracted by other pretty faces, even after he had apologized for those incidents over and over again.

But she scowled, "Right, that's once too many. Why don't we just stop kidding ourselves here, Matt? We're just two different people that want different things."

"...But I still like you-"

"Save it! I don't wanna hear it anymore."

Then she started to walk away. Gabumon blinked and glanced at Matt for an answer to, "What just happened?" Matt blinked back, "I'm not sure... But I didn't like it."

Meanwhile, Jun and Penguinmon just sighed, taking in more of their newfound misery.

Nobody knew what was going on, and nobody seemed to have the courage to discuss it, but something was definitely wrong with certain members of the group. Time passed by slowly that day, and soon day became night.

That's when another incident happened.

It wasn't that late at night when it happened, but it seemed dark enough. What happened was that Ken had dozed off under a tree, with Wormmon curled up by his side.

The others were sleeping too, or so it seemed. At least one of them was unable to sleep a wink, but everyone else had their own personal space between the budding trees and the growing bushes.

Each human was curled up with his or her own digimon partner, and most of the digimon would copy the sleeping habits of their partner. For example, both Davis and Veemon were lying on their backs with their legs stretched out, twitching in reaction to whatever dream they were having. And both Cody and Armadillomon were rolled up in balls with their faced buried in leaves, because nearby were Tai and Agumon, snoring like crazy.

It was a peaceful moment, until Ken's dream took on a familiar pattern…

------------ Vision: Ken's Nightmare ------------

He was lost in that desert again; that same one that he was forced to face in a flashback sequence just days ago. And like last time, the young man was treading through mounds of sand against the wind, hoping to find what he spotted before.

And he did.

Ken took a moment to shield his eyes from the sand that was blasting his way, when all of a sudden, there they were, laid out in front of him: footprints. Not just any footprints; the footprints of his long-lost friends of the past, Ryo and his Veemon.

They seemed to symbolize the fact that after Ken and Wormmon left their first adventure, these two went off on their own to parts unknown. Now that he was aware of their importance, Ken grew all the more determined to find out whatever became of them.

He took a few steps to follow the footprints, when the wind started to pick up again. He saw that the sand was trying to bury those footprints that he was following, and he quickened his pace in reaction. He was thrown back by the gathering wind for a moment, but onward he pushed himself.

Further and further he pushed himself, for as long as the mysterious footprints were visible to him. He could see that part of himself was desperate to know the truth about his old friends, which explained the footprints in the first place. But something else inside him was also holding him back from the truth. And all the while he was fighting the sand and wind, he wanted to know why.

He got his answer soon enough.

FOOM!!

Ken was thrown back yet again, but it was far more than a force of wind this time. The effect of this explosion threw him on his back, and when he sat up, he could see that something emerged from underneath the earth. Something huge.

Millenniumon.

The dark, wretched creature reared its ugly head at the young man, snarling like a crocodile as it did in the nightmare days ago. Ken let out a gasp in horror, looking the monster straight in the red and orange eye. It stared back silently.

The young man tried not to show his fear; he was obviously reminded of how terrified he was of this creature when he was a child. But he knew he had to face this creature, because Millenniumon was the real reason why his past had become such a blur to him in the first place.

"...What do you want, Millenniumon?" he bravely asked as he got to his feet. "Why're you still here!?"

The eyes of Millenniumon silently stared back, as the creature purred.

Then Ken's eyes dropped to the floor, as he realized that the dark creature had completely erased the footprints that he was following. He gulped, "What... what've you done? ...Why did you do that? I need to know what happened to them!"

The creature just gave him an eerie smile.

"Say something!" he shouted at the creature. "Tell me where they are!"

The creature's smile gave way to green, oozing drool; a sign of hunger. Finally, the beast spoke in a very soft, almost friendly tone of voice, "...There's nobody else here, kid. It's just you n' me. …And I'm hungry."

Ken knew that he had to keep calm, but hearing Milleniumon's haunting voice again made his skin breakout into goose bumps. Plus, he could see that the creature really was hungry. He tried to take a step back, but almost as soon as he did, Millenniumon stepped forward.

In one more step, the creature leaned in, opened its mouth wide, and-

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

"YAAAH!"

That moment was enough to jolt the young man out of sub consciousness, and back into the waking world. Like anyone would after having a nightmare, he was met with a cold sweat, and he started to softly pant as if he was short of breath.

He took a minute to check where he was, and realized that he was in Gaiamon's realm, and not too far from his sleeping friends. But this was an unsettling moment for Ken, because he's been in this position before; last time, it ended with him being drawn helplessly to the Dark Ocean, where Daemon was waiting to snatch up his dark spore.

That's when he felt the need to take his trembling hand and feel the area of his neck where the spore was hidden underneath, as if he had to check to see if it was still there.

Sure enough, it was, but it was starting to itch. It usually itched when something was wrong, like a reflex or something. He gulped, coming to his senses, and stayed there underneath that tree to take time to calm his nerves.

That would soon prove to take a while.

Someone was watching from afar. It was Daemon, the Keeper of Darkness, assisted by the Preserver Daru. In a dark hall, inside the Keeper's forbidding fortress, he, the human and the Sins (save one) have gathered together to spy on the Digi-Destined, and it was made possible thanks to Daru's orb-like monitor.

The most intriguing vision they had was that of Ken waking up from his nightmare. Daemon let out a soft chuckle, "...The time is nearing. Soon our young friend will have to accept his defeat."

Farthest apart from the group, in a shadowed corner, stood Pridemon. She huffed, "One more victim of our dark influence isn't going to make much of a difference, will it Master?"

Daemon replied, "I disagree, Pridemon. So far, we have three of Polarimon's Chosen and two of Oceanamon's Chosen. All we need is at least one of Gaiamon's Chosen, and the circle will be complete."

"...Wouldn't it be easier to just kill him?" she said spontaneously. "Besides, all that matters is his dark spore."

Daemon was tickled by her comment; he replied, "You have a point, my dear. But those humans could still be of use to me. Especially this one..."

The dark Keeper then stood up from his thrown and descended from it to approach Daru. He then said, "I know just who to call for in this situation." That was Daru's cue to change the channel, so to speak, to another scene in his monitor.

The scene was changed to a dark garden, where there was a crystal-clear lake. By this lake sat the one Sin digimon that wasn't present at this meeting; "Lustmon," called the voice of the Keeper of Darkness.

Lustmon gasped, alarmed by this omniscient presence; "...Y-yes, Master?" she muttered meekly. She could hear his command, "I know you have special feelings for the Child of Kindness. I promise you, after his usefulness to me is expired, he'll be all yours."

The lavender beauty smiled with excitement, "Really? You mean that, Master?"

"Yes," replied her master's voice. "I have a new mission for you; succeed, and your reward will be great."

Lustmon laughed with delight with the same enthusiasm as any fan-girl would, and then she replied respectfully, "I will not fail you, Master! I'll do anything you say."

"Of course you will," replied Damon's voice.

Daemon then stepped away from Daru's orb-like monitor, satisfied in Lustmon's loyalty. But then Pridemon stepped forward and scowled, "Her?? I'm sorry, Master, but I must protest! That airhead of a Sin cares for nothing except getting her filthy little hands on that boy-"

"Exactly," Daemon smiled beneath his shielded mouth; "that is why I trust her with this mission. I know she will not fail me."

Pridemon felt the need to argue still, but it would be useless to argue with someone that outranked her, and who obviously knew what he was doing.

Pridemon was right, of course; it would have made their job so much easier if they were to just kill the Digi-Destined and their digimon... But there would be no fun in that, not when there was another way of getting to these humans in the most devastating way possible. And that plot was just starting to thicken. By early the next morning, it would begin to take its toll.

Nobody noticed any changes at first; Gaiamon's forest was still in the process of recovering from Gluttonymon's careless destruction. There was now a new bed of grass on the earth, and in the morning, it was dripping in fresh mildew. Even the trees were starting to bud with new flowers and leaves, as if the season of spring was reset.

The first to awaken were Davis and Veemon; Davis had been clutching proudly onto his Crest of Nobility all night, but his sleep was interrupted by the fact that he and Veemon were sleeping on a soft mound of earth, and had accidentally slipped off it.

Next it was Matt and Gabumon; the two of them made their own individual hammocks of leaves in a tree, and were tickled awake by the leaves they had inadvertently shaken off from the branch above them.

Soon enough, Tai, Agumon, Mimi, Palmon, Izzy, Tentomon, Yolei, Hawkmon, and Cody and Armadillomon- all of which were comfortably napping in their self-made beds of grass and leaves by the sides of trees- were awakened by the rude yet warm lights of the sun's rays.

The last to wake up were Ken and Wormmon; Ken had been up all night trying to shake off the fear of his nightmares, and Wormmon... well, he was just a big fan of sleeping. They had taken refuge by a small pond in the middle of the night, and the morning sunlight caught up with the rippling water in no time. The light that bounced off the water met with their eyes, forcing them to wake up.

Everybody yawned and stretched, and righted their backs if they had to, and before long some stomachs started to growl. The digimon in particular were the hungriest, and started to forage for food before the humans did. The humans had other important matters to attend to, meanwhile.

The problem, as Izzy found out by counting heads, that only eight pairs of Digi-Destined and partners were present. Izzy and Tentomon checked and double-checked, and it was clear: Sora, Biyomon, Joe, Gommamon, TK, Patamon, Kari, Gatomon, and Jun and Penguinmon were all missing.

"...Okay, this is bad," frowned Izzy in a low tone. He then quickly gathered everyone else for the news, and immediately they began to worry.

"Why would they just disappear like that?" Davis asked. "They didn't even leave a note or anything," frowned Mimi.

"You think they all sleepwalk?" blinked Cody; Armadillomon blinked back, "Is there such a thing as a sleep-walkout?"

Tai clutched a fist, "This is weird! We gotta find them; they could be in trouble." Agumon frowned in reply, "But where do we start to look?"

"There's eight of us," Matt observed and planned; "We'll split up in groups of two and that way we'll cover more ground." "Sounds like a good plan," thought Gabumon, "but who's going with who?"

Mimi raised her hand and volunteered, "I'll go east; who wants to come with me?" Matt then responded, "I will."

Davis then suggested, "I'll head north. Tai, wanna come with me?" "Sure thing, buddy," smiled his mentor.

Yolei then asked, "Who wants to go south with me and head for Oceanamon's beaches?" "I will," came the sudden voice of Ken.

"Then," Izzy stated, "that leaves me and Cody to head out West." Cody nodded, "That's fine by me." "Me, too!" added Armadillomon.

"Then it's settled," Tai said in his typical leader-like voice; "We'll use our digivices to try and track them, while keeping an eye on each other." "Alright," was the unanimous response.

Before the teams split up in groups, Izzy was packing the Sin hearts, along with his laptop computer, in the backpack that he was wise enough to bring along for the trip. That's when Izzy, Armadillomon and Tentomon approached him; "We're all set, Izzy," Cody stated.

Izzy responded, "Just one sec, guys." He then zipped up the backpack, which was now wider in volume thanks to the extra items inside. "I need to take these with me; we might be able to use them," he advised. Then the red-head picked up the backpack to test and see how heavy it was, and to prove its weight, it took him more than a little extra energy to lift it off the ground. Despite the extra weight, Izzy wrapped the backpack around his arms, ready to move on.

Tentomon buzzed over to his partner and sweat-dropped, "Izzy, do you need help with that bag?" "No, I'm fine," Izzy replied with a small strain in his voice. Cody blinked, "Maybe I can carry the hearts for you, Izzy." But the older human insisted, "It's okay, really. I could use the exercise; and besides, it's something I can get used to."

"Are you sure we're gonna need those Sin hearts?" Cody frowned with a tone of dislike in his voice; "They don't seem like they can do any good, knowing where they come from." "True," replied Izzy, "but it's better that we keep them instead of letting the other Sins get their hands on them. It just goes to show, Cody, you never know just how powerful something is until you give it a try."

Cody contemplated Izzy's words, which seemed to have a deeper meaning to them.

Armadillomon then huffed, "Wish we could pack a lunch before we go. You don't have anymore room in that backpack, do ya Izzy?" Izzy giggled, "Relax, Armadillomon; I'm sure we'll run into a restaurant on the way." "Great!" smiled the little armadillo. Then the little armadillo's smile dropped, "...Where're we going?" "Wherever the digi-vices will take us," replied Cody matter-of-factly.

As much as it was both a benefit and a weakness, the team had no choice but to separate yet again, this time to find their missing friends. And so, after gathering as many tools and food as they could, they were off.

It would take the team nearly a whole day to find anything or anyone special… which was plenty of time for them to spend some quality time together. At least, that's what they were about to find out.

There was a time in his life when Ken was more than just a pre-teen; he was something of a child prodigy. Nobody his age could run faster, jump higher or play a harder game of soccer. Likewise, no one his age could have higher grades- grades that could have easily gotten him into college without having to go through four years in high school.

But there was a reason for these special gifts: they were all part of an effect caused by the young man's dark spore. This same spore was the instrument of his corruption four years prior to the present. ...But you couldn't tell that to his countless fans.

In those days, he was as cold and heartless as he was adored. So, when he had received hundreds of fan letters from young girls and boys (love struck or not) over time, he had ignored every single one of them...

Until he finally put the Digimon Kaiser behind him.

After all those years, he had kept a few of his personal favorite fan letters to read over whenever he needed a good laugh. Because there was no doubt about it, some of those letters from his peers- who at the time were just coming into maturity- were absolutely hilarious.

They came back to lift his spirits again, on the day that the team split up to search for their missing friends in the digital world.

Yolei could hear the laughter of Ken, Wormmon and Hawkmon from several feet away. She had been fishing in the nearby lake, desperate for food, when she heard them. Startled, she took off from her original goal to go check on them.

When she met with them at last, she was stunned to see the three of them huddled at a tree, laughing their heads off while Ken was holding up a long piece of paper.

They finally stopped laughing when her voice boomed, "What're you guys laughing at?" Ken paused to catch his breath and smiled, "Oh... heh... We were just, uh, reading a letter." "Yeah," nodded his digimon partner, "I kept all of Ken's old fan letters, just in case we wanted to read 'em again."

"Fan letters?" blinked the young lady; Hawkmon nodded, "Oh Yolei, you've got to hear some of these proposals! They're all written by girls from ages eight to twenty!"

It was at that time when it finally dawned on Yolei what they were talking about: the fan letters Ken had received while he was taken over by the dark spore in his neck.

So her curiosity got the best of her, and Yolei then sat on a nearby tree uproot and smiled, "Well go on, lemmie hear one." "Okay," chuckled Ken, and he read on:

"Dearest Ken,

"I'm sure you get this all the time, but I think you're the coolest and hottest-"

"Coolest AND hottest?" chuckled Hawkmon.

"-guy on the planet. Your gorgeous face... (giggling) and sexy eyes alone are enough to make my heart run a marathon. (Let's not forget that at the time I was TWELVE!)

"I can say with all honesty that I can give you anything and everything you could ever ask for, because my father is the owner of a huge sport clothing company. Not only would you be our best endorsement ever, but we can guarantee you a lifetime of fame, fortune and luxury. (Aw, geez...)

Signed With Affection, (HA!)

Amanda Nike"

"Nike?? Yeah right!!" laughed Yolei as she joined the chorus of laughter. Ken looked at the letter again and smiled, "Well, at least she left her number..."

"Here Ken," said Wormmon as he nuzzled his partner with another letter in his mouth, "read this one next."

As Ken prepared to take the next fan letter, Yolei grinned, "It is kinda funny that you'd keep these after all these years." "Well," replied the young man, "they're at least good for something... I was never gonna reply to them anyway. And I'm still not going to." With that tone of voice, it was clear that most of those letters were just plain creepy.

Then he proceeded with the next one:

"To: Ichijouji Ken (Well, at least it's formal)

Dear Ken,

"I'm sure you're not going to respond to this letter, and I'm also certain that it's going to get lost in a pile of hopelessy-lovestruck fan letters. But the reason I'm writing to you in this way is not just to tell you how much I admire you. The truth of the matter is, I do admire you. You wouldn't even receive this letter if I didn't, but that's not the point.

"The point is, I want to thank you... Thank you for inspiring me and just about every other young person in Japan for being such a smart and talented guy. (...Heh. You forgot 'gorgeous and sexy.')

"It seems that all the young girls want you (-not just the young ones!) and all the young boys wanna be you. And it makes me wonder: How does that make you feel?"

Ken finally dropped his humored smile; he was shocked to see that this letter was beginning to look serious. But he read on:

"Don't take this the wrong way, Ken, but I've always wondered how celebrities- especially young ones like yourself- feel about their fans. I know you don't have time to reply to all their letters or sign all their autographs, but I really would like to know how you feel about being so famous.

"Does it make you happy? Or do you find yourself wondering what life would be like if you were a normal kid, getting normal grades and hanging out with normal people.

"I sometimes wonder about you; I can't help but wonder if you're lonely.

"You don't have to respond. I just want you to know that if you are lonely, then you shouldn't have to feel that way, because I and a ton of other people are all rooting for you.

"Even if you lose a game or fail a test once in a while, we'll still admire you. And it's not because you're so cute or so smart or so athletic, but because you seem to like what you do.

"I do hope you enjoy life, Ken. And I do hope I've relieved you of any doubts or loneliness you may have, even if just a little bit.

"Of course, if you have any more doubts about yourself, you could always pick up another one of your countless love letters."

Everyone fell silent, stunned by the writer of that letter's sincerity. Then Ken broke the silence with, "...Wow. I dare say, that was the sweetest... Wait a minute."

He finally noticed the signed name on the bottom.

Yolei had her arms crossed as she smirked, "Oh, I bet that was just somebody trying to change it up to get your attention. If you read between the lines, it's basically saying the same thing: Marry me."

"Yolei…"

"It is a girl's letter, isn't it?"

"Yolei... This is your letter."

"...What!?"

Ken then handed it over to her and nodded, "The name on the bottom. The address... It's yours."

She didn't want to believe it, but he was right. All at once, as she held the piece of paper in her hands and skimmed the writing with her own eyes, she knew. It had all come back to her; "...Oh, I remember now... Yeah. I did write this! My gosh... I sound so mature!" She was tickled by her penmanship, because at the time she wrote it, she was only eleven.

Hawkmon smiled, "Yolei, you never told me you wrote Ken a fan letter! ...Or that you were such a formal writer!" Yolei gulped shyly, "I... I forgot all about this..." She seemed ashamed of herself, but the boys all smiled at her. And Ken couldn't help but blush.

"I knew there was something special about it!" smiled Wormmon, the guilty party that kept it along with the "funny" letters all those years.

But Yolei was still being modest; she rose on her feet and stated dully, "Well, if you guys are still hungry, I've got fish on the menu tonight! Hawkmon, I'm gonna need your help." With that, she marched off with her digimon partner trailing behind.

As she passed him by, Ken smiled to her, "Hey thanks for the letter, Yolei!" Yolei just made a small, "Hmph!" She might have thought that he was kidding, but Ken couldn't be more sincere.

That fan letter really did make his day.

As planned, Matt and Mimi tried to follow the signals on their digivices to find their missing friends, but during their journey through a thick fog in the middle of a temperate forest, the signals were very faint. Almost absent. But still, they treaded on with their digimon partners in tow.

Mimi was being her usual optimistic self by humming a tune (in fact, it was the tune of "The Reluctant March" -see Chapter 5), while Matt struggled with his inner emotions while at the same time trying to avoid tripping on rocks on the foggy ground. After a while, their mixed emotions finally clashed.

"Mimi?" grumbled a grouchy Matt, "could you please stop humming for a while?" Mimi frowned, "What? You're in a grumpy mood now?" Matt let his guard down for just one moment to look back on her and reply, "No, it's just that I'm trying to concentr-AAH!"

Too late; he tripped on a rock and crashed.

"Matt!" gasped Mimi, as she and the digimon rushed over to him. The fog was so thick on the ground that when Matt fell, he seemed to have disappeared. But in moments, his head popped up and groaned, "I'm fine..."

As Palmon and Gabumon helped him t his feet, he sighed, "This place is so dense, it's like walking through mud or something." Mimi nodded, "Yeah, and it's cold too. Maybe I should've packed a sweater or something." Palmon then laughed, "You guys can never prepare for the weather here."

Matt then brushed off the dirt he received from the dirt off his black and blue shirt and sighed, "...That's not the only thing that bothers me." He paused in thought, but was then confronted by Mimi who asked, "Is it about the others?" He nodded somberly.

Mimi then dropped her optimistic attitude and frowned, "I know; I'm worried about them too. Jun was so depressed, and Joe wanted to do things on his own. ...And Sora-"

"Let's not talk about Sora," muttered Matt. He then pushed himself forward on the path ahead, making the others catch up with him.

Then Mimi boldly stepped forward to Matt and asked, "Why not talk about Sora? I know it's what's bugging you, Matt." The young man was both frustrated with and concerned about his girlfriend, but wasn't sure just how to approach the topic of her. So he glanced at Mimi and said sternly, "We'll worry about it when we get her back."

Mimi then lost her pace and moved back to the trailing digimon. Gabumon then looked up at her and wondered, "Are you alright, Mimi?" Mimi was all too willing to share her thoughts with Gabumon and Palmon; "I'm alright... It's just that I know Matt's worried about Sora because he likes her so much. She's lucky to have such a great guy."

Matt heard this, and felt silly for pushing Mimi away. He knew her intentions were good when she tried to make him admit his feelings to her.

Then Mimi went on to tell her digimon friends, "I know I don't talk about it much, but I've been seeing a lot of Michael back home in New York. You remember him, right?"

"Yeah," nodded Palmon, "the boy with Seadramon."

"Right," Mimi nodded back. "I guess I like him, but... sometimes when I'm with him, I think about you guys. I guess I just miss you, that's all."

"You mean us," asked Palmon, "or Matt and the others?"

"All of you," Mimi meant with a pleasant smile. Then she added, "I especially miss my friends in Japan; that's where I grew up, after all. And I miss everybody for special reasons.

"Davis always makes me laugh, Joe's always willing to help, Izzy and Ken are really smart, Yolei and Kari love to mingle with others, and Matt and Tai are both really responsible. I guess it's because they're both big brothers, and they have good leadership skills.

"Sometimes I wish I were more like them, but I guess I'm doing okay for myself. Sure I like to shop and get pedicures and manicures, but I'm not totally ditzy, am I?"

"Not at all," Palmon shook her head.

Mimi then looked up at the gray, cloudy sky and smiled, "Boy, I just love these conversations! It makes me forget all about our problems, and I feel like I can do anyth-AAH!"

Whoops! she didn't see where she was going, and just as Matt had done earlier, she slipped on the ground and fell. "...ow," she muttered as she was buried in fog.

Luckily, her hand was caught by another- Matt's. She glanced up at him, surprised to see how quickly he came to her aid. He just smiled back with, "...Heh. You still got a lot to learn, Mimi." She just giggled in reply, and let the gentleman help her to her feet.

Some time passed by since Yolei and Ken had their little moment with the fan letters that he and Wormmon had kept over the years, and since then the two humans had barely said a word to each other. Perhaps they were too busy moving forward on their journey, or perhaps they were both feeling awkward about the incident.

Perhaps it was both.

But eventually, they came to a stop near a river that they were following; it was leading them straight to a bog, and they could sense the humidity and the fog from there. It was now sundown; the towering trees around them made the scene all the darker. It felt unpleasant to be treading on such soft soil and with very little sunlight. But the mood was about to change.

The young lady paused to rest on a very high tree uproot when she paused to look around and said, "Okay, we're definitely lost now." Her small, feathered traveling companion crossed his arms and stated, "Well, it was your idea to follow the river!" She retorted with, "Well, I figured we'd run into a lake or something; and plants usually grow fruit around water. Don't they?" "Maybe," replied a nearby Ken, "but we're definitely heading for a swamp here."

"Okay, Magellan," Yolei scowled slightly, "where do we go from here?"

Ken reacted to something, but not Yolei's question. His attention was drawn to something that could be heard bouncing in the bushes nearby. Hawkmon and Wormmon heard the rustling too, and turned their attention to their far left. "Did you hear that?" peeped the little hawk; "Sure did," responded the little caterpillar. Startled, Yolei gasped, "What? What was that??" "I'll check," suggested the braver human.

Ken wasn't going to let a little rustling get to him, so he moved at a medium pace to the tall grass and brush where he had heard the rustling to investigate. Yolei and the digimon Rookies all waited anxiously to see what their friend was going to discover. They were even more surprised to see what it was, when he gathered it into his arms and presented it to them.

YukumiBotamon. Five of them.

This was one of several Baby-level digimon; like most Babies, they were nothing more than small bubble-shaped creatures with beady black eyes. To make them more distinct than any other Baby, these Babies were white in color (or pale blue), and had mouse-like ears on top of their bubbly bodies. They also had cat-like mouths, and when they talked, they sounded like toddler children. These Babies in Ken's arms, however, could only laugh with joy; they were playing Hide-And-Seek with the heroes all along.

"Whew," sighed the traveling team with relief.

The YukumiBotamon jumped out of Ken's arms and started bouncing around the rest of the heroes like excited rabbits; "You found us! You found us!" they all cheered in unison. "Aww," cooed Hawkmon, "they're just Baby digimon." "Yeah," nodded Wormmon, as the YukumiBotamon started chasing each other around the two Rookies.

Yolei's fear was a thing of the past at this point; she laughed as the tiny white creatures leapt on and off her lap one by one. But the other human, Ken, looked at them with worry; when the commotion died down, he asked them, "What're you guys doing out here?" The Babies then gathered together in a bunch, looked up at the male human, and cheered, "Hi, Ken!"

That wasn't quite the answer he was looking for; "Huh?" Ken blinked. "You... know me?"

"Sure we do!" cheered the YukumiBotamon.

Yolei smiled, "I remember seeing these Babies before; they're YukumiBotamon."

Again, Ken grew with concern and wondered, "But what're they doing out here? This place may be dangerous, and it's getting dark. Shouldn't they be in some kind of shelter?"

"We live near here," replied one Baby. "There's a small town not too far; it's just across the big river, and passed the dam," replied a second.

Yolei's memories suddenly came back to her; she could remember there being a small town in the digi-world that was placed securely behind a dam that blocked ff a large river. She could also remember this small town's dam being threatened by a Golemon, which was the creation of yet another instrument of evil, the control spires. "You mean," she blinked, "that's the same town we saved from the dam flooding a couple years ago?" "Yeah! That's it! That's it!" cheered the bouncy Babies.

While Yolei was getting acquainted with these adorable little bubbles with faces, Ken stood there speechless. That was like him, of course, but the YukumiBotamon took him completely by surprise when they said that they knew him so well. He was part of the Golemon incident, but their extra friendly voice tones rattled him still. And they were about to rattle him even more.

"Ken?" they chirped as they huddled back together; "Where's your friend?"

"You mean Wormmon?" he blinked; "He's right here."

"Noooo," they purred, "Ryo!" A single member of the Baby huddle then added, "We haven't seen him in a very, very long time!"

"....uhhh," was all Ken could get out of his mouth; hearing the name of his old teammate from long ago really knocked him for a loop.

It stunned Yolei, too; "Ryo?" she blinked. "Who's that?"

One of the YukumiBotamon bounced over to her and smiled, "You don't know Ryo? He's the coolest!"

"The coolest!" echoed the one bubble's friends.

Yolei then looked down at the one YukumiBotamon and asked it, "You mean there's another Digi-Destined?" "Oh, yes!" bounced the little bubble; "There's lots!"

"Lots! Lots! Lots!" echoed its friends again.

One of the other YukumiBotamon then added, "We remember when Ryo was here; Ken was much, much smaller." Then another added, "And he was really cute, too."

"Cute! Cute!" cheered the other babies.

Then another member of the five white bubbles hopped over to Ken and asked him, "So, when's Ryo gonna come back? We all miss him." The young man replied with a frown, "I dunno... But I miss him too."

Yolei listened in, and when she heard this her eyes narrowed with suspicion. She was starting to wonder why the subject of "Ryo" never came up before, until now.

"Will you tell us if he ever comes back, Ken?" asked another one of the five baby bubbles; "Sure," Ken replied as he forced a smile of confidence. The YukumiBotamon tribe then cheered and jumped for joy.

Then a far off voice called out, "YukumiBotamon?? Where are you??"

"Uh-oh," they all frowned; "Nana's calling!" Then one of them looked back at the heroes and smiled, "We gotta run. It was nice seeing you again!"

"Come back any time!" cheered the rest of them. And with that, they bounced off.

Hawkmon stretched out his feathers and cooed, "Well, it's nice to run into friendly faces, for once." "Yeah," agreed Wormmon; "even if they are just faces."

While those two were talking, Yolei got to her feet and approached the young man who was completely at a loss for words. He started staring upward at a tree, as if trying to find something in its leaves and branches. "...Ken?" muttered a curious Yolei. She slightly startled him, and it showed as he let out a small, "Huh! ...Oh. Hey," as he turned to face her.

Yolei then tried to act like the subject didn't matter that much to her, as she asked, "I'm just curious... Who were those baby digimon talking about?" She didn't know it, but Ken was trying to find the answer to that question deep in his mind for quite some time.

Finally, he answered, "His name was Ryo... Ryo Akiyama... He was a kid I teamed up with in my first trip here, in the digital world..."

Yolei could remember the times when Ken did mention his adventures as an eight-year-old in the digital world, but they were all vague descriptions. Now Yolei had a more clear look at it, and her curiosity grew all the more. "Well then tell me," she insisted, "why didn't you talk about this before?"

"...Because I don't remember," was her somber answer.

That's when Yolei finally understood his problem, and backed off almost instantly after she got her answer. She then watched as Ken started to wander off on his own, looking lost and helpless. She was then joined by her digimon friends, Hawkmon and Wormmon.

"...Did I say something wrong?" she muttered with a tone of concern. The little green caterpillar then replied, "No. I think he's just trying to remember ol' Ryo." Hawkmon then turned to Wormmon and asked, "Neither of you knows what happened to him?" Wormmon shook his head, "No... I don't bring it up, because I vaguely remember him too. But I think it's even worse with Ken." "Why?" asked Yolei.

Then Wormmon, with a voice that sounded old that now sounded just as wise, replied, "You have to understand something; when Ken received the dark spore, all his memories faded away. And because of that, he forgot that the digimon and the digital world were real; that made it easy for him to become the Digimon Kaiser." Hawkmon understood and nodded, "That's exactly what the real enemies wanted; with Ken not being himself, he was sent to do all their dirty work."

"It gets worse," Wormmon frowned; "Not only did Ken forget who he was, he also forgot his own family. Even when he came back to the real world after being defeated, he still couldn't remember them. He's okay now, of course, but you weren't there when he had to forgive himself and start all over again. It probably haunts him, even today."

Yolei felt ashamed of herself for approaching her friend with the subject of Ryo Akiyama; she sighed and hung her head. But Wormmon noticed and looked up to her and said, "Don't feel bad, Yolei. I'm sure all his memories will come back; they're already getting there. I was really impressed with him when he remembered Ryo's name."

Hawkmon then smiled, "Should we keep trying to jog his memory then? Maybe there's more to this story." "There is," nodded the humble caterpillar, "but even I have a hard time remembering it all. ...Let's just give him time." Silently, Yolei and Hawkmon agreed.

It was clear that Ken needed some time alone with his thoughts. But as he wandered away from his small group of friends, his instincts were confirmed that he was headed straight for a swampy area. Not that it mattered; he really didn't care where he was going, as long as it was a place where he could clear his thoughts.

He finally stopped when he felt the slush sound of his shoe sinking in mud; "...Perfect," he softly moaned. He then tried to shake off the mud, and became all the more cautious about where he stepped.

Seeing that many trees had uproots that extended three feet above the earth, Ken decided to hop skip and jump across the soaked earth by using them as his stepping stools. And it worked; many of these uproots were close together, so jumping from one to the other wasn't so tricky. And being an athlete himself, Ken took to this a little too easily.

All the while, his head was clouded with one thought after another: the desire to remember his old friend Ryo and their first adventure in the digital world was the most vibrant of thoughts. But he was also worried about his friends; he felt sorry for leaving them, because he knew they were just trying to help. And he was also thinking about the rest of the team; how were they holding up? Were the Sin victims getting better, or worse?

Then he stopped as he crossed halfway through this bog, realizing how far off he had gone from his friends. He looked back in the opposite direction and started to think to himself, "I think I went too far... I hope those guys don't think I abandoned them."

That's when the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of something he never would have expected: a soft, purple glow coming from the horizon ahead of him. He took a better look at it, seeing that it resembled sunlight in a way. That spooked him, because not only was it unnatural for the sun's rays to be violet, but also the sun had already set at that time.

"...What is that?" he whispered to himself. The soft purple glow looked friendly and strange enough to deserve to be investigated. In seconds, he couldn't take the curiosity anymore; he was off to get a better look at it.

That light that Ken saw led him straight to a long, narrow hilltop, which he found himself standing on top of. The slope was at the very edge of the small bog he was traveling through, and on the other side of that edge was a small, secluded garden.

It was a very beautiful garden, indeed; the purple light that Ken saw seemed to have illuminated everything from the crystal-clear lake in the center to the pink, white and purple flowerbeds that snaked around it. Adding onto the scene were willow trees that blocked off all other plant life, and a small waterfall that trickled down from another hillside.

The water coming from this fall was obviously inherited from the bog that was just a few feet from this garden, but when it touched ground at this place, it turned from a murky black to a clear silver, as if something in the garden purified it. It seemed that everything in this strange garden was pure and innocent, but it needed just one more element to top it all off.

That last element brought this strange but beautiful garden to life; in the air there was a sweet sense of perfume. Perhaps it was coming from all of the various flowers that blanketed the garden's base. Wherever it was coming from, it polluted the atmosphere in an almost hypnotizing manner. Ken dared himself to take in a sample of this fragrance, and when he did, all his worries were suddenly erased. ...But only for a moment.

One moment later, he realized that he wasn't alone.

He heard a humming sound coming from the small waterfall nearby, and when he followed the sound, he first noticed her lavender arm move its way toward the pond, where it gently scraped the water with its slender fingers.

Just as Ken feared, it was Lustmon's arm; she was lying on her side on a soft, grassy mound that acted as part of a staircase that would lead someone up the hill on which the waterfall was cast. Just as there was a strange omniscient light in the atmosphere, there was also a halo of purple light coming from Lustmon herself.

The Sin seemed to be in a state of relaxation; Zen-like, in fact. She didn't even seem to notice that the object of her affection had made his way into her garden until at last she stopped humming her strangely romantic tune. After she fell silent, she looked up at last and spotted him. "...Oh!" she smiled in surprise upon seeing him.

Naturally, Ken wanted to turn tail and run. But instead, he just stood there in awe, almost looking spellbound. But then, seeing the Sin gracefully rise to her feet, he showed his fear at last with a gulp.

The attractive Sin in black lingerie was amused at the young man's insecurity and giggled as she slowly began to approach him, "...Aww, what's the matter, sweetie? Were you expecting an angel?" As she moved forward, she deliberately set foot in the clear pond water, and to Ken's surprise, she appeared to be weightless as her feet touched only the skin of the water.

Nervously, Ken stepped back and replied, "Uh-wha-where am I?? What's going on here?" "Relax," Lustmon softly replied; "You're in my territory now, boy. Welcome to my secret garden... Course, it's no secret anymore, but eh. What're you gonna do?"

She stopped in the middle of the lake, much to Ken's comfort, but he still felt uneasy with being anywhere near this obsessive Sin. He glanced around and muttered, "Your garden? ...You mean you made this, in the middle of a swamp?" Lustmon responded with, "I thought it could use a woman's touch. Besides, every other landscape was taken... But that's not what's important."

With that she boldly levitated herself forward, until she was right in Ken's face. She then smiled, "What matters is that you're here, and I didn't even have to lead you on." Ken stepped back again; at this point, even the hair on his head stood up in a goose bump manner for a second.

"Now that you are here," added Lustmon, "why don't you make yourself more comfortable?" She then softly booted him with her hip onto a newly made flowerbed that was fashioned into a chair. She then waved her hands, and like magic, a few new objects appeared; "Would you like something? Wine? Caviar? ...Forbidden fruit?" she asked with a sly wink.

"I didn't mean to come here!" he protested, as he swatted away the illusion-like objects. Lustmon gave him space and purred, "Oh, I know. You just happened to be in the neighborhood, right? Do you normally tread through swamps to clear your mind of your troubles?"

"That's none of your business," he hissed.

The Sin replied calmly, "Maybe not, but I know how you got here."

She then made herself comfortable by sitting down in the flowery chair, making the young man inch himself away. Lustmon explained gently, "Now you're not going to want to hear this, but I've actually been watching you and your friends lately. I know you've been looking for clues to your past, but instead you've wound up here. How is that, you wonder? Well, honey, I believe it has something to do with your dark spore."

Ken shielded his neck with the palm of his left hand as he retorted, "That again? Come on, Lustmon, this is getting old!"

The Sin shook her head with a grin, "Now, now, that's not what I meant. It's true that my Master still wants that spore of yours, but I don't think you understand why. You see, cutey, the dark spore is like its own computer program; but not only does it come with its own software, as it were, but it also downloads things from its host as well."

"...What're you saying?" asked the curious human.

"I'm saying," replied Lustmon, "that the spore serves two purposes: to erase your memories and to download your every thought and action. For nearly eight years now, that spore of yours has been gathering more information about you than you would like for anyone to know. Heh.

"But that's really not what my Master wants; what my Master wants is a copy of the spore's programming, so that he could learn how to fully control human beings."

"...He wants to... control humans?"

"Exactly."

"But why?"

"Think about it. The digital world was designed for humans to own and control their own individual digimon. You and your friends are solid proof of that. But it's humans like yourself and your partner that make things so hard on us evil digimon. Every time we try to take over the world, you have to step in and stop us, and believe me, honey, that gets annoying fast.

"...So, we've come up with an alternate plan: recreate the program that Millenniumon gave you, the same one that MaloMyotismon tried to capitalize on, and then spread it to as many humans as we can. The result: an army of-"

"Digimon Kaisers," gasped Ken.

"Oo, you are a genius," grinned Lustmon.

Ken took a moment to contemplate this; the very idea of seeing a whole group of young adults- or worse, young children- ruthlessly storming the plains of the digital world with their digimon partners in a conquest for power and complete control... was just sickening.

"But," he peeped, "what does that have to do with me being here?" In the garden, he meant; Lustmon understood and replied, "Well, the spore is drawn to any and all forces of evil. That's why you're here; it led you to me."

"No," he doubted strongly; "I don't believe that! I hate you." "That doesn't matter," the Sin smiled on; "It's like when you hang around with the Digi-Destined that have fallen victim to our dark influence. You can sense their evil growing, can't you?" "Ah-ha!" the young man exclaimed; "So I was right; you are responsible for them!" "Guilty," pleaded Lustmon.

Then she went on to say, "You see, Ken, we can't really copy the effects of that dark spore of yours. But we are using our own dark powers to try and split your team up, for the sheer purpose of letting your guard down, while we capture the Digi-Keepers at last.

"See, we've tried to capture them before, but they were too strong for us. And now we know why: the power of your crests is what keeps them strong. Since it's your virtuous nature that keeps them going, then by corrupting you kids would reverse the effect of your crests. And therefore, the Keepers of Land, Sea and Sky will be sitting ducks."

"What's gonna happen to the digital world if you do capture them?"

"Well, it's not going to look as pretty, that's for sure. But with the three of them gone, my Master could lay claim to every continent and ocean he wants. Then it'll only be a matter of time until his reign goes beyond the borders of this world. That's where you and the spore come in."

"Now I get it," nodded Ken; "This is exactly what all the other evil digimon wanted to do... It's what they were programmed to do."

All of a sudden he wanted to feel sorry for Lustmon and her kin; they didn't seem to have a will of their own. ...Or perhaps they did, and really enjoyed being evil. "I don't get it," he frowned; "Why are you and all the others like you... so evil? Do you actually enjoy it?"

Lustmon was, for once, taken by surprise. And for once, she didn't have an answer.

Then she changed the subject fast; "Let's just focus on the big picture here, Ken; five of your friends are already under my Master's influence. All we need now is one more, and then your group is as good as split. All of the other Digi-Destined have gone through the test, and they have either passed or failed... All that's left now is you."

Ken inched himself away from her even further then; he blinked, "You wanna challenge me? ...How?"

She leaned in and replied, "This is going to be a fun game. All you'll have to do is pass through a special hedge maze that I've set up here. In the maze, you'll come across visions of different digimon; they'll either be your friends or your foes. If you can tell the difference and destroy your foes, you'll pass the test and you'll be free of any more corruption...

"But, there's a catch. You may find yourself destroying the vision of a friend instead of a foe; when that happens, you'll lose part of your memory."

"What??" gasped Ken; he had worked so hard on regaining the memories that he already had, and wasn't prepared to lose any more.

Lustmon went on to say, "If you fail this test, then you'll forget everything- your family, your friends, even who you are. And it'll be as if you've been reprogrammed as the Digimon Kaiser. ...I know this is a hard test, but it has to be."

Ken paused to think it over; "...What if I refuse to take it?"

The Sin narrowed her eyes at him and replied sternly, "If you don't want to take my challenge, then you'll have to wait until one of my siblings challenges you. Sooner or later you'll have to take a test, and I assure you, my siblings will not be so easy on you."

The sternness in her voice was very much out of the ordinary; Ken could tell that she was dead serious. He could also see that she generally cared about him, whether it was due to physical attraction or not. But still he had to think it over...

Meanwhile, Yolei and her digimon friends had finally discovered the bog that was not too far from the great river they were following. As quickly as they could, they crossed through it with the help of the same giant tree uproots that Ken had used as stepping stones earlier.

...But would they arrive at Lustmon's secret garden too late?

"…Alright," Ken finally agreed, "we have a deal." Knowing that he had very little chances of getting through any other Sin's challenge in the near future, he realized that he had very little choice in accepting Lustmon's challenge. "Excellent," smiled Lustmon with a soft giggle.

She then rubbed her hands together before raising them in the air; this conjured up her magic powers to form the hedge maze she promised. Just like that the earth and plants in the garden moved to her whim. The grass and flowers banded together to form a maze that would fill up the entire area- and it was a big area, indeed; slightly over a mile in radius. To make it even creepier, the hedge was almost completely covered in plant life, making it mostly a tunnel so that Ken could barely see inside it.

When it was ready, Lustmon guided Ken to the hedge maze entrance and presented it, "Well, this is it. Once you step in, there's only one way out." She then left him while saying, "Good luck, sweetheart... You're gonna need it."

Then the slender Sin floated upward to the top of a cliff where she could see the entire maze from a bird's eye view. That was Ken's cue to brace himself and move forward, which he did.

When the young man entered the maze, the entrance "door" sealed itself shut with plant life; Lustmon was right, there was only one way out after that. Ken gulped nervously, seeing that there was very little light in this strange and exotic maze. So he changed into his battle gear, knowing that with his red visors he could see even in the darkest of places.

And he did; he could see every detail in the walls of the maze, down to the last petal of every flower. After that, the only tricky part was to know which corner to turn; it was, after all, a maze.

Meanwhile, Lustmon was watching the scene play out peacefully, when she heard, "Hey, you!" Stunned, she whipped her head around to see Yolei, the one human she hated most (for obvious reasons). The Sin hissed at her and the digimon that followed her, "What're you doing here?" "I was just about to ask you the same thing," Yolei hissed back.

Lustmon crossed her arms as she looked back at her brilliant hedge maze; "Oh, I'm just watching a little drama unfold," she confessed calmly. "Your friend Ken is in there, looking for the way out." "Ken's in there?" panicked Wormmon, who noticed the hedge maze before the others did. He started to crawl down the cliff to try and race to his partner's rescue, when a misty leg of Lustmon's blocked his path. "Sorry," she purred, "no pets allowed."

Yolei then approached the lavender Sin and growled, "You better get him out of there, or I'll-" "You'll what?" interrupted Lustmon; "Face it, girl; you're out of your league here." "What do you want with Ken?" growled Wormmon at her feet; Lustmon replied, "Relax, kids. Ken's just going through his own trial here; if he passes, he goes free."

"And if he fails?" frowned Yolei.

"Then he still goes free... But he won't be quite the same," grinned Lustmon.

"What do you mean?" gulped Wormmon fearfully.

Lustmon then sat herself down on a blanket of grass and smiled, "Just watch and see..." Her uninvited guests had no choice but to do as she said.

Time slipped by, and Ken was now deep in the center of the dark maze. Every now and then he heard a chirping or croaking sound that startled him, but it would just be the sound of the animal life that passed through the wet garden.

Then the challenge took itself to the next level by unleashing something that came straight for Ken in the darkness. Through his visors, he could see that it was a Shadowmon- or was it? When it lunged itself at him in an attempt to strike, Ken pulled out the black scythe that was lodged onto the arm pad of his armor and slashed it clean through. The illusion then disappeared into the atmosphere.

The young man sighed with relief; it really was an illusion, but it also meant that he was, so far, passing the test. He then moved onward.

Minutes later, he came across another illusion. This time it was an approaching Gizamon, a fuzzy amphibian with a horn on its head. Normally, these creatures were Virus types, but chose their own paths willingly, so there was no telling if this illusion was that of a friend or a foe. He found out soon enough... when it passed him by as if he weren't there.

Ken relaxed again; so far, so good...

And then it started to get tricky.

Minutes later, the next illusion came at him; it was that of a Gotsumon, a gargoyle-like creature. The Gotsumon were usually friendly, but this one launched at him with its own special attack. Rocks sprouted from the illusion's head and were fired like missiles.

Ken defended himself with his scythe, and then felt the need to retaliate with a slash to the illusion itself.

SHING!

It was vaporized, but just as it disappeared, Ken felt an uneasy feeling in his head.

For one moment, he could recall a moment in school when he and Davis participated in a class soccer game, and in the next moment, it was gone. He drew a blank. He had forgotten it.

And soon, all of his memories of high school in general would disappear with it.

Lustmon caught onto the young man's plight and grinned, "Oh, this is gonna be good."

"How are you doing this?" frowned a worried Yolei, as she and her digimon friends were forced to watch Ken's test from afar; "How could you just delete memories like that?" The lavender Sin turned to her with a confident smile and replied, "Are you kidding? We digimon have messed with you humans for a long time! As long as you're in our world, you're just as eligible to being deleted as we are.

"As for Ken's test," she further explained, "each shadow he attacks is packed with a virus that only activates when it's surface is scratched. Then it goes right to the source and wipes out one little piece of the poor boy's mind. The more it happens, the more memories he loses."

Wormmon gulped, "But... if he loses all his memories... won't that-"

"Activate the dark spore?" Lustmon grinned sadistically. "That's what I'd like to find out."

Ken mentally cursed himself, knowing that it was wrong to destroy the Gotsumon illusion. But he was only defending himself; how was he to know he shouldn't have attacked? There was very little time for him to argue about his actions, because he could hear the approach of more shadows coming for him, and so he moved on.

Time slipped by; Ken was running in circles in the maze now, and he didn't know it. What was making him so distracted was the fact that he kept hearing voices in the darkness, some of which that were very familiar. Then he heard it again:

"It's time to face your destiny!"

Ken whipped his head around, and right behind him, coming at great velocity, was the illusion of a cackling Devimon. A demon type? Surely this was an illusion that was meant to be destroyed! Ken grabbed his Kaiser Whip and launched it at the illusion, and one flick of the silver whip was all it took to bring this shadow down.

But just when he thought that this was the end of Devimon, more started to appear from the darkness. They came at him like a pack of wolves this time, from all sides. Frantically, Ken swatted at them all either by means of his whip or the scythe-like blade on his arm. When one shadow was sliced, another launched at him. This kept happening on, and on, and it went faster and faster, until-

SHING!

....He hit an image of Agumon.

"NO!"

In one brief moment, Ken searched his mind for any more memories involving Agumon. But just as he started to lose his memories of high school, Agumon and his human partner Tai started to melt away from Ken's mind like snowmen in the middle of summer.

Suddenly, Ken stood motionless. He was all alone again, but for some reason his heart was racing. He knew something terrible had just happened...

"...What was that? ...What just happened to me? ...Why ...Why can't I remember?"

Then he recalled his conversation with Lustmon, and realized that he was in the middle of his test. The young man started to sweat, knowing that he had failed to remember a very important part of his life. But he had to move on; surely if he could keep himself focused, he could get out of this nightmare and have all of his lost memories returned to him.

That was his hope, anyway.

"This is taking too long," mumbled a deathly worried Wormmon, as he, Yolei, Hawkmon and Lustmon waited patiently for the resturn of Ken from the dark maze of exotic plants. The little caterpillar was right; time sped by like the wind, and it had now been almost half an hour since Ken had entered the maze. Yolei agreed with Wormmon silently by fidgeting in her seat while her hands were rolled up together in prayer. Even Hawkmon was getting tense, and the glisten in his eyes gave it away.

The Sin digimon, however, was as calm as a cucumber and only showed the slightest bit of impatience by tapping her finger on a rock. She darkly replied to Wormmon's panic with, "Relax, Caterpillmon. Your little friend's taking his time in there."

Furious with her comment, Wormmon retorted with, "My name is Wormmon!" "Yeah," snapped Yolei, "you've got no right to mess with him like that! And for that matter, you've got no right to mess with Ken." "I beg to differ," Lustmon softly replied.

Then, just like that, Lustmon formed a confident smile as she went on to say, "Haven't you kids figured out digimon by now, after all these years? We're all programmed to do something; that's why your partners are so loyal to you, while we evil types are programmed to be... well, evil. Heh-heh-heh."

Yolei blinked, "P-programmed? What do you mean??"

The Sin looked back at the human girl and grinned, "Earlier, your little friend Ken asked me if I enjoy being evil, or if it was just because I was created by Daemon. The truth is, I do enjoy being evil, but I think Ken's question rung a bit of truth. You see, your digimon partners were created to be just that, your partners. That's why they're so loyal to you, and that's why you have the power to make them digivolve.

"But there's a flaw in their 'program;' as long as they act under your control, then they won't have a will of their own. Therefore, if you humans become corrupted by evil, so will they."

Yolei protested, "You're wrong! Our digimon do have wills of their own. Right, Hawkmon?" Her eaglet partner nodded, "I believe so, Yolei."

But Lustmon disagreed; "It may be possible that you little Rookies are free to do as you wish, but when it comes to deciding whether to stand by your human friends or to run away when there's trouble, then you'll always choose the former. You can't help yourselves."

Wormmon shook his head, "We don't always listen to them; when Ken was the Digimon Kaiser, I defied him a few times because I knew it was for his own good."

"And yet," the Sin replied, "you did follow him for the majority of his reign as Kaiser... didn't you?"

Wormmon gulped; he knew she was right. He did follow Ken during most of his days as the Kaiser, but only because he was afraid of leaving the boy alone. If he did that, Ken might have never seen the light and would have been doomed to live the rest of his days as a slave to evil. ...But did that prove Lustmon right?

"Face it," Lustmon said solemnly, "none of us could help who or what we are, but we follow our programs anyway. Like it or not, we are what we are: digital monsters."

And now Lustmon fully understood what her Master's plan was all along. He wasn't just after the humans, he was after their partners too. If she was right, and the partners of the Digi-Destined really were bound by their destiny, then they would fall victim of the same fates that were being brought down on their human counterparts, and they too would become corrupted by evil.

She started to giggle softly and deeply, and it was freaking Yolei out.

Ken continued on through the hedge maze, knowing in his heart that there was a potentially big gap in his known past; something significant was missing. As these thoughts were eating him up inside, he came across a fork in the road. He paused to decide which path to take, when the paths made the decision for him. In one dark corner, a familiar scream was heard.

"...Yolei?" he blinked.

It did sound like Yolei, and it sounded like she was being attacked by something. And, it was coming from the dark path on his left. This had to be a test, but he had to take it. So he did.

When at last Ken made it into the next level of the maze, he was met with the illusion of Yolei and Cody and their digimon being bombarded by a gang of dragonfly-like digimon called Yammamon.

Ken had to think fast as to what to do; he knew he had seen Yammamon before, and it was not too long ago. He had to remember whether they were friends or allies. But as he thought about it, he was also startled by the fact that two of his best friends were being dive-bombed by these oversized insects.

"I can't stand by and do nothing," he decided, and took action.

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash- SHING!

How unfortunate; one of the Yammamon in this illusion represented a part of Ken's past. All at once he felt the unsettling feeling that something was being erased from his mind: it was the incident at Metal-Tropolis, the city that at first did not accept the presence of Wormmon, and later was attacked by the Ultimate digimon band of "Devas." It was a very climatic battle that resulted in the evolution of Gran Kwagamon... Now, it was gone.

Ken clutched onto his head and wailed in pain, as if having this one piece of his past erased from his mind actually felt like it hurt. As he remained motionless in his despair, the rest of the illusion surrounding him vanished into thin air. He was alone again.

The nightmare would go on for another twenty minutes. The further he moved through this endless maze, the more illusions he was faced with. Some were the faces of familiar foes, which were easier to kill than others. The rest were trickier; either friends that he had already forgotten, or digimon whose loyalties were questionable.

Eventually, Ken found himself running in circles yet again, but this time it was in an area nearing the end of the maze. After being in this nightmare for over an hour, it seemed as though it was going to draw to a close soon. Ken knew it too, because as he ran closer and closer to the maze's exit gate, the walls surrounding him grew brighter and brighter.

He no longer had to rely on the visors on his eyes, and so he made them disappear. Perhaps seeing the world through his true eyes would make it easier for him to determine which shadows to attack and which to leave alone. But unbeknownst to the young man, the color of his eyes were darkening.

While Ken was struggling within Lustmon's mind game, Yolei was struggling with another game the Sin seemed to be playing with her.

The lavender digimon smiled to her uninvited guests as they sat or stood in disbelief, "I have a feeling the Kind One won't be so kind once he ends his test. I can tell he's lost, because if it were up to him, he'd be out of there by now."

If Wormmon had fur, it would stand on end by this point; he stated, "Even if you're right, we're not gonna let him be used by you Sins." "Yeah," agreed Yolei, "we'll do whatever it takes to get our friends back!" "Of course you will," smiled Lustmon; "That's your destiny." "No," argued the young lady, "that's our choice."

Her eaglet partner nodded, "That's right! Even if we were created to do good, we do so because we choose to. Even digimon can have free will." "Well then," blinked the Sin, "prove it."

"I will!" came the sudden voice of Wormmon. He had just about enough with Lustmon's opinions, and waiting for Ken to pass his test all by himself had finally gotten to the little caterpillar. Without giving it a second thought, he charged at his fastest pace- which wasn't much- toward the hedge maze.

"Wormmon, wait!" pleaded Yolei; she and Hawkmon tried to catch up with him, but they were immediately blocked off by Lustmon and her smoky, shape-shifting body. "Hold it!" she demanded, stopping them in their tracks. As she stood before them, the Sin turned around to face the one that used to be known as Caterpillmon and hummed with delight, "...This should be interesting."

Wormmon had much trouble navigating himself around the maze, but he was so determined to catch up with his human partner that he charged on at full velocity. Before too long, he could hear Ken's screams in the distance and followed them instinctively.

Ken was screaming because he had come to a level of the maze in which he was bombarded with illusionary shadows. Some of them took the likeness of digimon shadows he had destroyed earlier, further testing his mind. There were two or three Agumon ready to charge and attack, and Ken responded to each of them aggressively. Since his memories of Tai's Agumon had been completely erased from his mind, it was now all too easy for him to destroy these shadows.

SHING!

With the first dissolving of an Agumon, the memories of Tai went with it.

SHING!

Then with the second shadow, memories of an old foe, Black WarGreymon went with it.

SHING!

And with the third shadow gone, so too were memories of Tai's sister Kari.

Then more potential adversaries came at Ken; one was a Gatomon that came from behind and caught him off guard.

SHING!

The shadow was destroyed, as were some of the memories of Kari's Gatomon.

The punishment would continue with each passing shadow that dared to approached a now irate Ken.

Meanwhile…

Faster and faster, the little green caterpillar moved. Despite his small size and lack of legs, Wormmon could sprint very well. In fact, he was getting better at it each time. Meanwhile...

SHING!

With the destruction of yet another Devimon illusion, Ken had lost the memories of Chimeramon, whom he had created years ago with the help of a Devimon and several other Champion digimon.

Then the Champion forms of some of Chimeramon's body parts came launching out at Ken; included were a Metal Greymon, a Garurumon, an Airdramon, an Angemon, and a Monochromon. "There's so many..." the young man muttered to himself. Already, his eyes were darkening with hate and anger. He was losing control, and fast.

SHING! SHING! SHING! SHING! SHING!

On and on he slashed at them with his scythe, screaming, "How are you doing this?? Leave me alone!!" He was forgetting where he was and why he was there; he was so wrapped up in defending himself against these monsters that seemed to have come out of nowhere, that he was beginning to feel... like he didn't care about destroying them.

Meanwhile, Wormmon was getting closer to the source of Ken's anguish; his rabbit ear-like antennae picked up the sounds of yelling, roaring, slashing and whipping. It was so loud and clear that the caterpillar didn't even need to pause and see which path on the road to take.

By that point, Ken was met with the one group of illusions he had feared to face: the shadows of all of the digimon partners that his friends had. On one side stood a Veemon; on another, a Hawkmon; to his far left stood an Armadillomon; to his far right, a Patamon. They seemed to be the only illusions left, and unlike the others that he had faced up until then, they just stood there motionless.

Already, Ken's focus was slipping. His heart raced (he could almost swear he heard it beating), his blood boiled and his eyes winced with frustration. "...Why?" he wondered; "Why are they just standing there? ...Are they just waiting for me to destroy them?"

It seemed like they were.

"Well??" he roared at them, in a tone of voice that would have sounded frighteningly familiar, but at that time he had all but forgotten his dark past. Still he yelled at the shadows, "What are you waiting for? Attack me! Show me what you've got!"

Again, no answer from the shadows.

"...You're just toying with me, aren't you?" me asked them softly as his nerves started to tremble.

He should have known that they were the images of his friends, and that the only reason why they weren't attacking was because they were his friends. But something didn't feel right about it; something was making the young man freak out. Was it the fact that he had very little memories left, and that he now felt like a stranger in a strange world filled with strange creatures? The whole thing felt... strange.

Ken took a deep breath and sighed, "...Well, maybe you're just trying to catch me off guard. ...Well, it won't happen! I've knocked out every other monster that tried to kill me and I should do the same to you! You think I'm scared of you?? ...I'm not afraid of ANYTHING!" He then raised his scythe in the air and challenged them, "Come on! If you got what it takes, then prove yourselves! ATTACK ME!"

Again, there was no response from these stilled shadows. It was as if they were taunting Ken, purposely acting innocent so that he could be distracted. He was seriously beginning to think that they were working against him; after all, every other shadow he had come across was hostile. So why would these shadows be any different? His mind was made up.

"Fine then... If you won't destroy me, then I'll destroy YOU!"

SHING! -Such was the end of Armadillomon.

SHING! -Then Veemon.

SHING! –Then Hawkmon.

SHING! -Then Patamon...

"Ken... Stop! STOP!"

SHING!

Then there was silence.

The stillness of the maze echoed throughout Lustmon's garden. It caught Yolei, Hawkmon and Lustmon herself by surprise. There was then an icy chill in the air that breezed through them, signaling an eerie feeling.

"...What was that?" Yolei asked out loud; she could tell that something had happened. Something bad.

Lustmon looked ahead and softly replied, "It's over..."

"...what.... What have I done?"

In his state of confusion and rage, Ken had mistaken Wormmon to be just another illusion brought on by Lustmon, but in the aftermath of his rampage, he could clearly see that this digimon was real. It took his slashing attack to its underbelly, and crash-landed beside him on the ground. It looked lifeless.

But Wommon wasn't dead, only wounded. He tried as quickly as he could to recover, but the little caterpillar could only open his eyes weakly and mutter, "...Mmm... Ken?"

But Ken couldn't see that his attack wasn't fatal; all he saw was darkness and despair. He knew in his gut that he had felt such despair in the past, a past that he had now completely forgotten about. But that unsettling feeling seemed familiar, nonetheless. Deep inside, his dark spore was coming back to life.

"What have I done?" he muttered again. He paid no attention to the Wormmon at his feet; instead he focus on his own hands, which were shaking at this time.

"Ken?" peeped the little Wormmon, as he found the strength to move his head and look up at his armored partner. "Ken... It's alright. I'm okay."

"Where am I? ...What'm I doing here?" The confused young man started to glance at his surroundings like a lost child.

"Don't worry, Ken, we'll get out of here." Wormmon was now struggling to his feet, which finally caught Ken's attention. But when his dark eyes caught sight of the digimon, he felt lost again. "Wh-who are you?" blinked Ken.

Wormmon's spirit was blasted by that comment; Ken's reaction to seeing him could only mean that Lustmon's tricks had done their job in erasing the boy's memories. But the Rookie still had hope; "It's me, Ken. I'm Wormmon... You gotta remember me, just try."

But the young man shook his head, looking at the caterpillar as if he were a giant spider or scorpion instead. "No..." he blurted out, as he began to panic.

Wormmon persisted, as he then found the strength to move, "It's okay, let me help you!" Once the little digimon inched himself toward Ken's feet, the young man jumped back in fear. "Get away from me!" he snapped fearfully.

Ken grasped onto his head as if a severe migraine was taking over, and went into a state of terror; "Just stay away from me! I don't know you... I don't even know myself anymore!!"

Then it finally happened; once the boy fell to his knees and let out a loud scream, the darkness that had been harbored inside him for so long was now free to take over, and it did. And as Ken and his armor were transformed, the hedge maze crumbled to ash, and just like that, it disappeared.

From half a mile away, Yolei and Hawkmon as well as Lustmon could see Ken and Wormmon. "There they are!" cheered Yolei; she led the charge which only she and Hawkmon participated in. Lustmon, on the other hand, stood her ground with her arms crossed; she knew what to expect next.

As Yolei and Hawkmon approached their friends, their feelings of joy were replaced with concern. They could see much clearer then that their friends were both doubled over in pain. Stranger still, Ken's battle gear's coloring had changed; where it was red, it was now blue. Yolei took a breath and dared to reach out to him; "...Ken?"

He reacted by whipping his head around to face her; his eyes shot invisible darts at Yolei's. She jumped back with a gasp, seeing the look on his face; it was a look she hoped to never see again.

"...No... Don't tell me."

Wormmon then winced in pain, catching Hawkmon's attention. The little bird fluttered over to his side and peeped, "Wormmon! What happened?" Wormmon replied sadly and weakly, "...Lustmon's trick worked... Ken doesn't remember us, and now... Now he's..."

"Now he's mine," came the confident voice of Lustmon from overhead.

The heroes looked up to see the Sin hovering over them like a ghost, and she started to giggle evilly. "Did you kids really think he could withstand the power of a dark spore?"

"Change him back!" demanded Yolei.

"Sorry," shrugged Lustmon; "The only way he could change back is by his own will... And by the looks of it, I don't think he wants to."

As if on cue, Ken got to his feet and looked around at the characters around him. The stone-cold glare in his face resembled the Kaiser's, only this time it was a legitament look. As the Kaiser he had an almost complete disguise, but now his face and hair were in their true form. That made his appearance all the more chilling.

"Ken, please," pleaded Yolei, "you've got to remember us... We're your friends."

The young man just stared coldly at her. "...I have no friends..." Then his eyes narrowed angrily at hers.

Lustmon grinned, "Hmm... Better stand back. This is gonna get ugly..." As she said so, she moved away to give her enemies room... to battle each other.

That night was dark already, but it was about to get darker. Wherever they were, the Digi-Destined were met with black clouds that covered a sky that was secretly changing color from midnight blue to blood red. A storm was brewing.

But neither Tai nor Davis noticed, as they led their digimon through a nearly endless plain that was miles away from a massive plateau. As they were trekking through, they conversed about their primary problems:

"It's just like her to run off like that," muttered Davis; his mutter was meant to be a mutter, but it was loud and clear enough to be heard from Tai and the others.

"Who, your sister?" Tai blinked in curiosity.

Daivs replied sternly, "Jun can never take too much stress, and when the going gets tough, she gets going. Literally. Sometimes when she's stressing from school, she takes long walks outside and we don't see her again for a few hours."

"You think that's what she and the others are doing?" Agumon asked.

"I dunno what's going on in their heads!" Davis moaned. "I'm starting to feel like we're going in circles or something; just when one thing goes right, another thing has to go wrong."

"My sister is like that, too."

"There's nothing wrong with Kari!"

Tai rolled his eyes, "No, Davis, I mean when she gets stressed, Kari sometimes takes off too."

"Oh... I thought you meant that something's wrong with her!"

"No, nothing's wrong with her... Unless you count the way she's been acting lately... You still like her, don't you?"

"Well you gotta admit, it's hard to dislike somebody who's that cute, that smart and that nice! ...Well... unless you count the way she's been acting--"

That's when they both stopped in their tracks. Their digimon stopped behind them, realizing what the boys realized just seconds beforehand. There they were, standing just several feet away with their backs facing them. Tai, Davis, and their digimon had finally caught up with Jun and Penguinmon.

They cheered for their newfound friends, but to their shock, Jun and Penguinmon just turned around and faced them with the scariest looks on their faces. Both the young lady and the Penguinmon had empty, dark eyes, and they narrowed those eyes at the boys' direction with malice.

The same thing happened to each separated group; Mimi, Matt and their digimon found a cold and angry-looking team: Sora, Biyomon, TK and Patamon in the forest. Cody, Izzy and friends met with a nasty-looking Kari and Gatomon, plus an equally nasty team of Joe and Gommamon in the valley. And then, of course, there was Yolei and company that caught up with the dark and unfriendly Ken in the swamplands.

"It is time, my children. Go, spread your evil now!"

This was the omniscient voice of Daemon, which followed the appearance of a dark, unfriendly cloud that began to blanket the sky all over the main continent. And it was very clear as to whom he was talking to.

All of the tainted humans and digimon prepared themselves for a long and uneasy battle, as the storm in the sky gave way to thunderbolts. Meanwhile, the rest of the digital world felt the uneasiness in the atmosphere, and even trembled in reaction to it.

Even the Digi-Keepers, wherever they were, felt the unnatural essence of evil in the air, and were filled with despair.

Lustmon was right. This was going to get ugly.

TO BE CONTINUED