Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. The chapter titles come from "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" by Po Chu-i.

A/N: Long chapter coming up. I'm starting to get into that Kenlei I've been promising. Please review.

Chapter 11: Searching, Never Finding

Ken and Davis arrived at the castle well after midnight. They were both exhausted, and found a sheltered grove where they stopped to rest. In a few minutes, without meaning to, both fell asleep.

They awoke around dawn to the sound of laughter.

"Does that sound like Kari and Yolei to you?" Davis asked sleepily.

"Yes." Ken pushed himself up, and realized he was sore from the day of hiking.

They followed the sound of laughter and gasped breaths to where the girls were lying on the grass by the trail.

Yolei saw them and smiled. "Am I ever glad to see you!" She reached her hand toward Ken expectantly until he took it and pulled her to her feet.

"Why do you think they have four paths leading to the same place?" Davis wondered aloud as he looked at the four paths that converged on the castle gate.

"Because sometimes the journey is more important than the destination," Ken said. He looked back at the castle's tall, dark towers. "This has to be Gruesomon's castle. Phytomon might be in there somewhere."

Kari looked around. "I guess the others aren't here yet."

"Or they arrived before us and went inside the castle," Yolei suggested.

"So should we wait out here or go in and look for them?" Davis asked.

"I have an idea." Yolei pulled up a handful of grass, crushed it up, and smeared it on the castle wall. She wrote "Yolei, Kari, Ken, and Davis are searching inside the castle. Wait for us at the gate."

"Great idea, Yolei," said Kari.

They entered the gate. The path was choked with weeds, and thorn bushes overran what was once a garden. The castle looked empty, but didn't feel empty. They slowed as they approached the tall double doors.

Davis pushed one door open. The old hinges creaked, echoing into the dark halls. When their eyes adjusted to the dim light, they saw a large staircase leading to an upper floor.

"Ken, Yolei, how about you guys take the upper floor, and Davis and I will search the ground floor," Kari suggested.

"No, we should all stick together," Davis disagreed. "It's safer."

Kari glanced at Davis. He was trying to be a leader, and it was true that splitting up had at times proven to be a bad idea, but the castle looked deserted, and she wanted to give Ken and Yolei some time alone to talk. "But it will be faster if we split up, and I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible."

Davis shrugged. "Okay."

Ken and Yolei climbed the creaking wooden staircase. Daylight shining through windows at the end of the hallway revealed tattered tapestries hanging from the walls, dozens of doors at regular intervals, and assorted dusty wall hangings.

Yolei was still peering down the hall when Ken went to the first door, which opened into an expansive bedroom. He moved on to the next door, and Yolei sprinted to catch up to him.

"How did you hurt your arm?" Ken asked without looking at her.

"Oh," she glanced down at the rag still tied around her wound. She'd forgotten about it, even though it still hurt. "I got that when Kari and I were escaping from the monsters." Her tone implied she didn't think any more explanation was necessary.

"I see."

They looked in a few more rooms without talking, then Yolei said, "Why are you being so quiet?"

"Some things happened on the way here that...that I'm thinking about."

"What was it, if you don't mind me asking?" When Ken didn't answer, Yolei nodded and rolled her eyes. He was in one of his moods again.

They opened a room that looked like a windowless torture chamber. It was lit by a single torch. They heard movement.

"Who's there?" a small voice asked from the shadows. "Please, don't hurt me anymore!"

Ken and Yolei followed the voice to a cage, where a large, furry creature crouched.

"We're not going to hurt you," Ken said.

The creature looked up. "Please get me out of here," it begged. "You don't know what Gruesomon is going to do to me."

Ken reached for the latch on the cage door, but Yolei put her hand on his arm to stop him. "Ken," she whispered, "it's a wolf."

"My name is Langmon," it said, "and I promise if you help me escape I won't hurt you."

"We're looking for someone named Phytomon," Yolei said. "Do you know where she is?"

"Phytomon? Yes. She's here. If you let me out, I can help you find her."

Ken released the latch, and Langmon burst out of the cage and ran around the room with the euphoria of freedom.

Yolei gave Ken a look. "I'm not sure about this," she said quietly.

"Don't worry," he replied. "We'll keep our eyes on him."

Langmon came back to them. "Okay," he said. "Let's go find Phytomon." He led the way down the hall, opening each door, taking one sniff, and moving on to the next.

Behind one door halfway down the hallway, another room was lit with firelight. Seven squirming mice hung by their tails over hot coals. "Save us!" they called. "Gruesomon is going to cook us and eat us!"

Ken entered the room.

"Come on," Langmon implored. "Phytomon isn't in there, and Gruesomon is going to be back any time."

"I have to help them," Ken stated as he began untangling the first mouse's tail.

"He's the digidestined of kindness," Yolei explained. She bit her lip with indecision; she wanted to help Ken, but didn't particularly want to touch a mouse.

Langmon sighed. He went to the next door and opened it, then went inside the dim room. "Hey, girl, come here. I found something."

Yolei went to the door and peered in, but she couldn't see much inside. "What?"

"I don't know. What do you think it is?"

She stepped cautiously into the room, but instantly she was pushed to the floor from behind. Langmon had been hiding behind the door. He pushed the door closed with his back to it.

Yolei looked up angrily. "You promised you wouldn't hurt us."

"I didn't want to, but I haven't eaten in days, and you just smell so delicious..." He took a step closer. "Can't I just have a little taste? One bite?"

"No!" She scooted back.

"One little nibble?"

Yolei's hand drifted to her pocket, where she'd put the knife she'd used to escape from the monsters, thinking it would be prudent to be armed in case they caught up with them.

Langmon leaped toward her. She stabbed at him with the knife, which lodged in his chest. A wisp of smoke curled out of the wound. But Yolei hadn't injured Langmon enough to stop him; the wound only made him angrier. He snapped at her, and she only barely dodged the flashing white teeth by rolling out of the way.

"Ken!" she yelled.

Langmon leaped again and tackled her. "You're lunch," he growled.

"Get away from her, or I'll shoot you."

Yolei and Langmon looked over to where Ken stood in the door, holding a crossbow he'd found hanging on the wall outside the room.

Yolei grabbed the knife and pushed it further into Langmon's chest. He howled, leaped up, and jumped through the window.

Ken ran to Yolei.

She decided to try an experiment. She closed her eyes and didn't move, and didn't answer when he asked if she was okay.

Ken kneeled and pulled her into his arms, cradling her gently. "Yolei?" he whispered.

She remained limp and unresponsive for a moment, enjoying the feeling of his arms around her. But then she decided she didn't want to make him worry too much. "Ken..." She blinked and looked up at him. "You saved my life."

He sighed with relief. "Can you move?"

She smiled. "Yeah." She started to get up, but pretended to stumble. Ken put his arm around her and helped her to her feet. She leaned against him. "I'll be okay," she assured him. "Nothing's broken, I just..."

"Do you want to sit down for a minute?"

"No," she answered quickly. "Just help me walk."

An unexpected voice shattered the moment. "What a clever little seductress."

Ken and Yolei spun around. Standing in the door was a woman wearing an elaborate dress with gloved hands, a spiny frill at the back of the collar, and a membranous red skirt crisscrossed with blue lines evocative of veins. Blond hair cascaded from a golden crown. Her large eyes, set in a small, pretty face, held a glint of cruelty.

"Gruesomon," Ken guessed. He unconsciously pulled Yolei closer.

"Funny: if you know who I am, you must know my reputation; but if you knew my reputation, how is it that you still dare trespass in my castle?"

"We're looking for Phytomon," Ken answered.

Gruesomon laughed. "You would take my favorite prisoner away from me? No, I don't think so." She reached toward them. Her fingers stretched, flew out and wrapped around the two digidestined before they had time to react. She pulled them to her and breathed a spell. "Sleep."

This, Tora thought, was a dungeon. Dank, wet, dark. He couldn't imagine a better dungeon than this one.

"Fire Opal." A ball of red light appeared in Opalmon's hands, revealing a network of stone and wood bridges over black water and islands of mud.

"Great," Tora groaned. "I'm beginning to wish we never set foot in the underworld."

Opalmon turned to him angrily. "I know you haven't seen much of the digital world, but it's a beautiful place, and it's my home. I'd hate to see what Daemon would do to it. I don't like these underworld demons much more than I like Ken, but I'm willing to put aside my personal feelings, trudge through the forest all day, and even deal with being thrown in a dungeon to find Phytomon and Xylomon if that's what I have to do to save my world from Daemon. It's my responsibility. And as a digidestined, it's your responsibility, too."

"Okay, I get it."

"Good." She led the way across the first rotting bridge toward the light of a distant window.

"By the way," Tora said carefully, hoping he wouldn't anger her again, "why do you hate Ken so much?"

"Has no one told you?" she asked.

"Told me what?"

"About Ken."

"No one ever says anything but good things about Ken."

"Let's just say," Opalmon grudgingly answered, "that Ken's done some things in his past that a lot of digimon have trouble forgiving, and none of us will soon forget."

"What kinds of things?"

Opalmon didn't get a chance to reply before the attack came.

The creature that dropped in front of them resembled a green dinosaur with two heads attached to two long necks. Opalmon scooped Tora out of the way as one head swooped at him, jaw gaping open to reveal rows of sharp teeth.

"Fire Opal!"

The attack knocked the creature off the bridge, but another one had snuck up behind them. Opalmon barely turned around in time. She whipped the closest head with the jeweled sleeve of her kimono. Then she pointed her fingers at the other. "Nacre Beam!"

The creature's other head thrashed as the beam burned across its snout.

Tora saw the first head go in for a second attack. "Look out!"

Opalmon spun around, but didn't have time to counter the blow. Tora grabbed her arm as she fell over the bridge's railing. She flipped back up without wasting a second. "Fire Opal!" The attack hit the bulk of the creature's body. It broke through the railing as it fell backward into the dark water.

"Are you hurt?" Tora asked breathlessly.

"No. Are you?"

He shook his head.

Opalmon smiled radiantly. "We do make a good team," she admitted. "Now let's get out of here before any more of those creatures find us."

Kari and Davis wandered through the empty rooms of the ground floor. Each room seemed dustier than the last.

"Do you think anyone still lives here?" Davis wondered.

"I don't know. Didn't Ken say this is where we'd find Phytomon?"

"That's what the statue told us, but..."

They opened a door to a dining room. The cloth on the long table was yellow with age, and spider webs made canopies over the tarnished silver candlesticks. Ornately carved wooden panels covered the walls.

"It's sad; this place used to be so nice. What could have happened?"

They were about to turn away when Davis noticed something. "Hey, does that look like a path to you?"

Kari scanned the floor. It did look like someone had brushed away some of the dust to make a path. "I wonder where it goes."

They followed it to a panel in the far corner of the room. "Hmm..." Davis slid his fingers around the edges of the woodwork, then he pulled on the panel. It swung open on hidden hinges that, surprisingly, didn't squeak. They entered the dark passage, which contained a stairway.

A few minutes later, they reached the door at the top of the stairs. Candle light glowed through the keyhole. Davis knocked.

"Coming. Just a minute." The door handle jiggled, but didn't turn. "You didn't unlock the door, Mistress."

"Um, we're not your mistress," Davis said.

The keyhole dimmed as whoever was on the other side put her eye to it. "Gruesomon isn't with you? Did she send you?"

"No."

"Then she's going to be furious!" she said fearfully.

"You're a prisoner here? Who are you?" Kari asked.

"My name is Phytomon."

"Phytomon!" Davis declared. "You're the one we're looking for."

"Really?" she asked skeptically.

Kari explained. "Your sisters, Cryomon and Pyromon, sent us to find you."

Phytomon was quiet for a moment, then she whispered, "I haven't seen them in years. I miss them so much."

"Can't you break out?" Kari asked.

"If I tried to escape and Gruesomon found me, she'd kill me."

"We'll help you escape," Davis promised. "We haven't even seen Gruesomon. She must be away or something."

Phytomon considered the offer. "Okay," she said. "But only because if she finds you, you'll die if I'm not there to fight beside you. Besides, I've been here so long, it almost feels like death. Stand back."

Kari and Davis retreated down several steps. Thin green vines grew around the door and through the keyhole, then they heard something snap and the door opened. Phytomon was green-skinned, with a green dress, and leafy vines for hair. The only things about her that weren't green were her white eyes and the aquamarine gem she wore at her waste. "We'd better hope we can sneak out without Gruesomon finding us," she stated.