Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
A/N: Okay, if you'd like more information on the um...er...digimon (can't say who or it'll spoil the end of the chapter) that appears in this chapter just type the name into a search engine and you'll fine tons of info. I did not create him. He already exists. Hope you like this chapter. The next one has a new POV! Oh, and remember. Sam is in the middle of a big battle and has a lot of things to distract him, so don't be surprised when he doesn't exactly pick up on a few little hints...
Following the Footsteps of Destiny
Chapter 104: The Crest of Kindness
Ken Ichijouji
Cyber, Western Hemisphere, Digital World
Ken slowly opened his eyes and let out a soft groan. What happened?
"Ken, are you okay?"
Not really. I feel like I've been hit in the head with a hammer. Who's talking to me?
Ken turned his head slightly to the side and winced at the sudden explosion of pain behind his eyes. His left temple was throbbing, and he could almost feel a dark purple bruise beginning to swell up below his hairline. For a moment he thought he was going to be sick, but somehow he managed to swallow the foul taste in his mouth and glanced in the direction the voice had come from. He spotted a champion digimon who resembled a dragonfly kneeling beside him, and his dark blue eyes nearly popped out of his head in astonishment. "Who...who are you?"
The digimon hesitated and gently placed a hand against his shoulder. "Don't you recognize me? I am Glowmon. I digivolved into Dracomon to save you."
Ken frowned and carefully shook his head. Spritemon had knocked him unconscious. He was sure of it, but despite the fact that he had been unaware of his surroundings, he could still hear his son's desperate plea. Stop! You can't do this. He's my dad. I love him...
Sam. His son. His son loved him.
Sam!
Ken jerked himself into a sitting position, ignoring the pain in his head, and glanced frantically around the room for his son. He spotted the raven-haired Digidestined standing several feet away from him, and his breath caught in his throat. Sam's pale cheeks were stained with tears, and the look on his face nearly broke Ken's heart into pieces.
Sam. My son. He could have died because of me...
"Dad, you're okay. I thought...I thought you were going to...to..."
Ken held out his arms and Sam collapsed against his chest in a trembling heap. He rested his head against his son's silky raven hair in a useless attempt to hide the relief in his dark blue eyes and let out a soft sigh. "Sam, you shouldn't have followed me like that. You could have gotten hurt. I never would have forgiven myself if-"
"What about you?" Sam wailed, interrupting him in the middle of his sentence. "You could have been killed! I know how much Wormmon means to you, but there are better ways of helping your partner that don't involve throwing your life away for nothing! Dad, I...I still need you. What would I do without you in my life? Please don't leave me."
Ken kissed his son's forehead and held the boy close in a fierce hug. "I'm sorry, Sam. You're right. I just wasn't thinking straight. Wormmon, he..."
"What is it, Dad?"
"I...nothing. It doesn't matter. Sam, if you want to know the truth, I think I need you more than you need me."
"That's not true!" his son protested.
Ken closed his eyes and managed a weak smile. "Sam, I love you. I'm never going to leave you as long as I still have control over my own destiny. You lost your uncle, and I know how much you wanted a chance to meet him. He'll never have an opportunity to know you the way your uncle Mantarou and your aunts, Chizuru and Momoe, do. That's the one thing that hurts me the most. I wish my brother could have had a chance to love you and your siblings..."
"He's watching over us, Dad. Even now."
Ken felt his son's warm arms slip around his waist, and he turned to look at Dracomon. "You digivolved... for me..."
Dracomon bowed his head and placed a hand against his heart. "Who else? You are Sam's father. He would risk his life for you, and you would do the same for him. The power of love is more than adequate to bring about the process of digivolution. It is something that can never be taken away no matter how much energy you lose."
Ken reluctantly let go of his son and reached out to pull Wormmon and Dovemon into his arms. The two little rookies slowly opened their eyes and stared at him in confusion.
"What happened?" Dovemon asked.
"Dovemon!" Takara shrieked, racing over and swooping her partner into her arms. "Oh, Dovemon, speak to me! Are you alright?"
Dovemon buried her face against Takara's chest and managed a shaky smile. "I'm okay. Don't worry, Kara, I'll be fine as soon as I get my strength back."
"Wormmon, I...I thought I was going to end up losing you again," Ken whispered, pressing his face against his partner's small green body. "I'm glad you're safe."
Wormmon cuddled against his cheek and glanced at Dracomon. "I'm not going to leave you again, Ken. Sam will make sure of that."
"I digivolved for you as much as I did for Sam and Ken," Dracomon said quietly, his hand coming to rest against Wormmon's back.
"I know. Thank you for saving Ken. He wouldn't be here now if it weren't for you, and neither would I."
Ken stroked his partner's soft head and smiled at Dracomon. "You promised me you would protect my son, and you have, but I never thought you'd end up protecting me, too."
"I will always protect you, Ken."
Ken blushed at Dracomon's words and turned to look at his son. Sam crept shyly towards his partner and gently placed his hand on the digimon's arm. "Dracomon, you...you're everything I could have ever wanted in a partner. Thank you for...for everything."
Dracomon placed his hand against Sam's cheek and nodded towards BlackGatomon and the other guards who were staring at the new champion in stunned silence. "I have a question for you, Sam. Am I allowed to fight now?"
Sam's whole face turned bright red, and he lowered his dark blue eyes to the stone floor. "Of course you can. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so harsh earlier. You fight because you have to, not because you want to. I know how that feels, and I think I understand now why you want to help so much. We're going to save the Digital World, Dracomon, and I want you to be a part of it."
"Does that mean I can fight, too?" Palmon asked hopefully.
"Nice try, Palmon, but the answer is still no," Ryoko snorted.
"But-"
"Hey, I don't want to be the only one who doesn't get to fight!" Embermon interrupted, elbowing Palmon in the stomach and giving her a meaningful look.
Ken jumped at the unexpected voices and turned slightly to see Davis and the others standing behind Dracomon. Mickey beamed at Sam and lightly ran his fingers over one of Dracomon's fragile wings. "You're really lucky, Sam, and you, too, Dracomon. You guys are going to be great together. I know it."
"Mickey's right. Dracomon's every bit as cool as Angelicmon is," Matty grinned, reaching out and wrapping his arm around Sam's shoulders.
Sam blushed furiously and mumbled something under his breath that went unheard. "Angelicmon's more handsome than he is cool!" Takara giggled.
Ken ignored Matty's groans and glanced anxiously around the room for Spritemon. The female digimon was lying on her back next to the wall, and there were stone chips scattered all around her. At the sound of Takara's voice she slowly lifted her head and let out a scream of rage.
"I think now would be a good time to try for the weak point again," Dai whispered, motioning for all of them to follow him.
Too late. Before they could even think about moving, Spritemon leaped to her feet and ordered the guards to surround them. Once again they had wasted too much time talking instead of putting actions into words, and Ken had no doubt they were going to end up either dead or in the dungeons for their mistakes.
"You dare to digivolve in my presence?" Spritemon hissed, shoving several Bakemon aside in order to reach them.
Dracomon slowly got to his feet and lifted his chin. "I am Dracomon. You attacked my partner's father. What did you think was going to happen?"
"Would you like me to turn him into data for you?" BlackGatomon asked, her tail twitching eagerly against the floor.
Spritemon ignored the cat digimon and clenched her small hands into fists. "Tell me, Ken, why were you and the others running towards the wall?"
Ken felt his heart stop, and he wrapped his arms protectively around Sam and Takara. "What do you mean?"
"The wall. You were running towards the wall. Why? You wanted to escape, didn't you? Well, there's only one door in this room, and you and your human friends were running away from it! Explain yourself, and you'd better not lie to me because I can guarantee you won't be so lucky the next time I try to kill you!"
"What the heck are you talking about?" Davis snorted. "You're really stupid, you know that? We weren't running towards the wall, we were trying to run around the battle in order to get to the door!"
Ken held his breath and glanced at Spritemon from under his dark lashes. Will she fall for it? If she doesn't Izzy's plan will be useless to us before we've even had a chance to see if it will work or not!
"Luciamon!"
Luciamon jumped at the sound of her name and shrugged her shoulders. "What? It makes sense, doesn't it? They would have had to go all the way around the room in order to reach the door without getting themselves blown up. You really need to learn not to let your temper get the better of you, Spritemon."
Ken gazed at the female angel, who was still blocking the door, and sent her a grateful smile. This time there was no mistaking what he saw. Luciamon winked at him ever so slightly and quickly turned her attention back to Spritemon before the evil mega had a chance to notice anything out of the ordinary. How could we have ever doubted her? She was never tainted by evil. That's why we trusted her in the first place!
"You're useless, you know that?" Spritemon snapped, glaring at the female angel.
"If I'm useless then what does that make you, I wonder."
Spritemon chose to ignore that comment and turned to look at Sam instead. "Your father's going to pay for trying to ruin our plans and the best way to teach him a lesson is through you, Sam Ichijouji! Do you really think I'm going to let you get away with allowing Glowmon to digivolve? Wishful thinking, pathetic human! I wonder how your father will feel when he's forced to watch you suffer a great deal of pain!"
"Enough!"
Everyone froze at the sound of DarkAngelicmon's voice, and Ken turned to see the fallen angel striding quickly towards them. The expression on the virus digimon's face made him wince, but the look was not meant for him or any of the other Digidestined. It was directed at Spritemon.
"I don't care what you say!" Spritemon snapped, glaring at the fallen angel. "We might need Daichi and the others to get our hands on the Spirit Chips, but that doesn't mean we can't make them squeal a little bit. As for Ken Ichijouji and the rest of the original Digidestined-"
"Silence!" Spritemon looked about to protest, but DarkAngelicmon hit her in the stomach with his spear and sent her stumbling into Ivymon. "You idiot!" the fallen angel hissed, his bright green eyes narrowing into angry slits. "I told you the Digidestined weren't to be harmed! Now look what you've done!"
"Dracomon's no match for-"
"I'm not talking about Dracomon!"
Ken gasped as DarkAngelicmon suddenly knelt beside him and placed a hand against his cheek. He could feel the taint of evil soaking into his skin, and a shiver raced down his spine, but he barely noticed. DarkAngelicmon was supposed to be a creature of darkness, and yet his touch was surprisingly warm.
"Stay away from my dad!" Sam cried, hitting the fallen angel in the back with his fists.
"Are you hurt?" DarkAngelicmon asked bluntly, ignoring Sam's feeble blows. He did not seem at all upset or angry about Glowmon's digivolution. If anything, he looked as if he had expected the little rookie to reach a new level. The only thing he appeared to be fuming about was Spritemon.
Is he really concerned about me or is this just another one of his tricks?
Ken caught his son's hand in a tight grip and pulled the boy against his chest in order to stop the raven-haired Digidestined from trying to attack DarkAngelicmon. The fallen angel had not reacted to Sam's fists, yet, but that did not mean his patience would last forever. "My head hurts a little bit, but other than that I'm fine."
DarkAngelicmon studied his left temple and slowly nodded. "Yes, you are, no thanks to Spritemon."
"Vampiramon was right about you!" Spritemon shrieked, shaking her fist at the fallen angel. "She told me you care more about human pets than you do about taking over the Digital World, and from what I've seen today I'd have to agree with her!"
DarkAngelicmon turned around so fast his dark wings nearly hit poor Mickey in the face. "Do you realize how close you came to ruining our master's plans?"
"Me? What about you? You're the one who's managed to make a fine mess of everything, and now-"
"If you try to hurt another human, I will destroy you. Do you understand me?"
Spritemon crossed her arms and gave him a sulky look. "You keep trying to tell me there's a possibility the original Digidestined may be useful to us, but how can you know that for sure? All you've given me so far are hints instead of facts, and I'm tired of listening to riddles all the time! I want the truth! This is all your fault, you know. None of this would have happened if you hadn't kept trying to hide things from me earlier!"
DarkAngelicmon ignored her and turned to look at Dracomon. "You shouldn't have digivolved. Now I'm going to have to destroy you along with the others. You were not a threat before, and neither were Embermon and Palmon, but that is no longer true in your case. If you had remained Glowmon, I would have spared you, but unfortunately that isn't an option anymore. It's not your fault, of course. The blame rests entirely on Spritemon, but nevertheless your fate has been sealed. Are you ready to visit Primary Village again, this time as an egg?"
"What do you mean 'again?'" Dai asked suspiciously. "How did you know we were at-"
"You can't defeat Dracomon any more than you can destroy any of our other digimon!" Sam snapped, his hand coming to rest protectively on his partner's arm.
"Embermon and I are stronger than you think!" Palmon shouted, glaring at the fallen angel. "I was fighting evil digimon long before you ever decided to show your face, which means I have a lot more experience than you do! Mimi told me I'm a tough rookie and if that doesn't convince you then just wait until I become Lillymon-"
"Oh please. Lillymon wouldn't be a match for either one of us," Spritemon smirked. "What do you say, DarkAngelicmon? We wouldn't have to necessarily kill Sam, but that doesn't mean we can't make him suffer a little bit in order to teach Ken a lesson."
DarkAngelicmon's emerald green gaze came to rest on Sam's anxious face, and Ken felt a sharp stab of fear in his heart. He could still feel the fallen angel's warm fingers against his cheek, even though the evil champion had moved away from him, and the sensation brought sudden tears to his eyes. No, he wouldn't hurt Sam. He can't...
"Don't even think about it!" T.K. snapped, stepping in front of the twins and glaring at the fallen angel. "If you touch even one hair on Sam's head we'll blast you into data so fast you won't know what hit you!"
"T.K.'s right. I'll have ExVeemon turn you into pretty little sparkles first before I let you hurt my best friend or his son!" Davis added, clenching his hands into fists and sending both DarkAngelicmon and Spritemon a dark look.
Ken gently pushed his son towards Davis and T.K. and stepped cautiously towards the fallen angel. T.K. must have gotten the hint because he held out his arms and motioned for Sam to join him. Sam hesitated and meekly stepped into the golden-haired Digidestined's arms. "Dad, what...what are you doing?"
Ken moved forward until he was standing directly in front of the fallen angel, and a bitter smile slipped across his face. "Would you really attack my son?"
"Would you hate me if I did?"
No. I want to hate you, but how can I when you remind me so much of myself?
"Well, Ken? Do you hate me for all the pain I've caused you?"
Ken held his crest tightly against his heart and slowly shook his head. "No, DarkAngelicmon, I don't hate you. I pity you. I know what it's like to be in your place. I know what it's like to suffer. You hide behind a shield of darkness, but is that really who you are?"
"I don't know. Would you care to find out?"
"Dad, what did you mean when you said you didn't want Wormmon to die again?" Sam asked hesitantly.
Ken smiled sadly at his son and gently set Wormmon on the ground by his feet. "My partner was killed in battle once a long time ago. He came back to me, but the memory still hurts."
"It's one of those things that never really goes away no matter how old you get," T.K. said quietly.
Yes, T.K. knows exactly how I feel. Even after all this time it still hurts...
"Wormmon...died?" Sam gasped, glancing up at T.K. with wide, frightened eyes.
Ken could feel T.K.'s sympathetic gaze on him, but he did not look at the golden-haired Digidestined or his son. He knew T.K. understood and they would support each other no matter what kind of hurtful words DarkAngelicmon tried to use against them. One day they would have to tell Matty, Mickey, Sam, and the others what had really happened to their partners, but they would not be alone when they did, and that was the most comforting part of all.
"What are you going to do, Ken? Are you going to kill me?" DarkAngelicmon smirked.
Ken gazed directly into the fallen angel's green eyes and smiled softly at the evil champion. "No, DarkAngelicmon, I'm not going to kill you."
"Really, then what are you going to do? Please enlighten me. I'm dying to know."
"The same thing my friends did for me. You know what happened to the Emperor. If he can be saved then so can you. I'm sorry to disappoint you, DarkAngelicmon, but you've got it all wrong. I'm not going to destroy you, my fallen friend, I'm going to save you!"
A sudden flash of bright purple light lit up the room, and Ken gasped when he realized it was coming from his crest. Wormmon disappeared in a glowing ball of energy, and without warning the little rookie began to change into Stingmon again. Ken stared at his partner in astonishment, but the violet light surrounding the insect digimon did not disappear even after the little rookie had fully reached his champion level. In fact, the light was growing stronger instead of disappearing like it should have.
"What's happening?" Matty cried.
Ken turned to look at his digimon, and Stingmon's hand came to rest gently against his shoulder. "Ken, your kindness has given me the strength to digivolve again. I'm no longer lacking the energy I need to maintain a higher level of digivolution. Fight with me, Ken. We need to do this for you, for your son, but most of all we need to do this for DarkAngelicmon. What do you say, Ken? Are you ready to save the Digital World?"
Ken thought of his wife, his children, his friends, his brother, and the insect digimon who was standing before him, and his dark blue eyes came to rest on his son's pale face. All of the believed in him, including his sweet, kind, gentle son, and now it was time for him to believe in himself. "Yes, Stingmon, I'm ready. Let's give DarkAngelicmon the gift of kindness."
This is for you, Sam. I love you...
Ken held the Crest of Kindness out to his partner and a stream of violet light exploded into the insect digimon with enough force to cause a small earthquake. Stingmon fluttered into the air and pointed his finger at the fallen angel. "Feel the power of kindness, DarkAngelicmon! Stingmon digivove to, JewelBeemon!"
JewelBeemon?
Ken stared at his partner with his mouth hanging open and shook his head in disbelief at what he was seeing. Stingmon had never digivolved to a higher level before without ExVeemon, but somehow he had managed to do so with help from the Crest of Kindness. Just like Tai, Matt, T.K., and all of the others. My crest. It really does work after all...
He had not really known what to expect when Stingmon had asked for his help, but his digimon digivolving to ultimate without ExVeemon had not been his first guess, despite the fact that the Crest of Kindness had started to glow. It had done that before, but nothing had ever happened, until now. It had taken him twenty-five years to learn how to harness the power of his crest, but he had done it, and now he was going to use that same power to help an enemy so like himself...
"Stingmon, what happened to you?" Sam whispered, gazing at Stingmon's new form as if he had never seen a digimon evolve to the next level before.
JewelBeemon quickly fluttered over to Sam's side and placed his hand on the raven-haired Digidestined's head. "I am no longer Stingmon, Sam. My name is JewelBeemon now. This is my ultimate form. I'm a vaccine type digimon, and my special attacks are Shot Claw and Spike Buster. Do you think I could stand by and let DarkAngelicmon try to hurt you?"
"Of course not. I...um...thank you, JewelBeemon."
"Don't thank me, thank your father."
Ken quickly closed the distance between himself and his son and wrapped his arms around Sam in a tight hug. He buried his face in his son's raven hair and let out a soft sigh. "Sam, if you fight with anger and hatred in your heart then you will lose the fight before you've even begun. I want you to remember that. Kindness is the key to everything. Without it we'd all be lost."
Sam cuddled against him and slowly nodded. "I'll remember. Um...Dad? I'm glad you're here with me, and I want you to know that I...I wouldn't want to be anyone elses son but yours."
Ken's eyes filled with tears again and he turned towards his digimon. JewelBeemon looked a lot like Stingmon, but he was also very different. The ultimate level digimon had a long javelin in his hand, and his body was covered in green and gold armour. He looked like he was glowing from the inside out and the light from the torches shone through his fragile, transparent wings.
"Are you ready, JewelBeemon?"
"Only if Dracomon fights with me."
Dracomon bowed his head and placed his hand against his heart. "I would be honoured to fight by your side. Come, JewelBeemon, let's show DarkAngelicmon the true meaning of kindness!"