Title: What The Digital World Is For||Chapter: Danger
Pairing: Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken
Chapters: 2-5||Words: 6,203||Total: 12,387
Genre: Romance, Drama||Rated: PG-13
Summary: The Digital World is made up of data from Earth. Humans have a lot of data about...
Daisuke didn't pay much attention to pretty scenery, though something in the back of his mind whispered that it might not be such a bad idea to see if Hikari would want to come here one of these days. But first he wanted to find the Kaiser and pound his face in for a while. Ken seldom got to where he could do that, probably because of how badly it had happened the last time they'd gotten close to each other.
Daisuke would always be proud of that day, no matter how often he'd woken up from nightmares about it. It wasn't every day of the week that one found out there really were people that you would lay down your life for.
He tucked the thought away for the moment, focusing more on finding the Kaiser once again. His enemy had vanished from the cliff he'd mocked them from. He kind of wished that one of V-mon's evolutions included the ability to fly - he'd wished that for a long time, really - since that would make it so much easier to find the Kaiser.
"Looking for something? Or someone?" The voice came from behind him, and Daisuke didn't have time enough to react before a powerful blow struck across his shoulders, sending him tumbling off of Lighdramon. His partner skidded to a halt, energy starting to build up for an attack, when Ken's voice cracked outward. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"Yeah, well, you're not me, or didn't you notice?" Lighdramon growled, even as Daisuke started to get to his feet. It hadn't been a bad fall, but he still didn't like being this close to Ken while the other had the upper hand. And have it he did; he stood on a Tuskmon's shoulder, whip in hand, staring down at both of them as if they were the scum beneath his feet.
"I wouldn't do it because of this!" Ken's whip snapped out and Daisuke had only a single moment to realize what he had in mind. He ducked, throwing up one arm, and the whip failed to wrap around his neck, instead circling around his wrist. "You could cause all kinds of damage to your so-called partner if you're not careful." A smile lashed across Ken's lips as he began to pull Daisuke closer to him. "And I'm the only one who gets to cause damage to him."
"Nope, sorry, you don't get to do that either!" Daisuke grabbed hold of the whip and yanked as hard as he could. Ken planted his feet and refused to move, but Daisuke wasn't that interested in getting him over there. What he wanted was something else altogether. "Now!"
Lighdramon leaped forward, energy crackling harder around his jaws. "Electric Bite!" He snapped down on the whip and Daisuke stumbled backwards. He'd known it was going to happen, but he still hadn't been entirely prepared for it.
Ken looked even less prepared, but showed it more by being slightly surprised than actually falling back. Daisuke wasn't surprised by that; the Kaiser would probably rather die than lose ground if he had a choice in the matter.
"Do you really think that you can just get away from me?" His lips twisted into a mocking sneer. "You never have been able to before. Why should that start now?"
Daisuke blinked once or twice and shook his head. "Are you kidding? I've always gotten away from you!"
"No, Daisuke." Ken leaped down from Tuskmon's shoulder and landed right in front of the Chosen Child. "I've always let you leave. Every single time."
Daisuke knew he wasn't afraid of the Kaiser. He balled up his fists and glared at the boy who thought he could rule an entire world with nothing more than attitude and a whip. "Yeah, you're losing it. Both times you've had me, my friends came and I got out of there."
"Exactly." Ken's smile wasn't pleasant. Daisuke couldn't remember a time when it really was, not even before he'd known Ichijouji Ken and the Digimon Kaiser were the same person. "Your friends came. But they won't come this time."
"What makes you think that?" Daisuke tensed, ready to fight at a moment's notice. He didn't like the way this conversation was going, and thought it might be a lot better to get out of there and check on his friends before something did happen to them. That really had been a lot of Digimon in the battle, and the more they had fighting against them, the better.
"Because I'm not going to let them." Ken's hand flew out and seized Daisuke's wrist in a grip that shot pain all the way up his arm. "I brought you all here for a reason and that reason is to end them."
Daisuke yowled, pulling his arm back, or trying to. Ken didn't give him much room to work with. "What are you going on about now?" He really, really wanted to get back on Lighdramon's back and go see how that fight was going. Maybe he shouldn't have left in the first place. Oh, well, too late to change that now. He just needed to find his friends.
"You have no idea of where it is you are, do you?" Ken pulled Daisuke closer, staring down at him with an odd gleam just barely visible through his glasses.
"Yeah, we're in the Digital World." One of the prettier parts of it, but what did that have to do with anything? Daisuke kind of wished Ken would just tell him what was going on instead of everything else he was doing. He did have to admit the Kaiser had upgraded his creepy levels pretty well since the last time they'd been this close to one another.
"You're in a very special part of it. I've studied all of the plants in the environment here extensively. You, of course, have no idea about what's going on."
Daisuke really didn't like Ken's smile. It just rang wrong on levels he couldn't think about. Didn't want to think about.
"I didn't know you were into plants, Ichijouji." Daisuke yanked on his arm again, but Ken only pulled him closer. He dug his heels in harder and managed to get a step away. It didn't do much good, but he did it anyway. Whatever Ken had in mind wasn't something he wanted to take part in. He sincerely doubted that it would be a trip to smell the roses anyway.
"I'm into anything that will help me defeat you and rule this world the way I am meant to," Ken said.
Daisuke rolled his eyes. He really shouldn't have expected anything else. Still, he managed to take another step backward. Ken moved with him, so it didn't accomplish much, but he did it nevertheless. "So what's so special about this place?"
"Come with me and I'll show you." Ken's eyes glittered even more, and Daisuke wondered if it were possible for him to look more deranged. Probably, and he didn't want to see it.
"Sorry, I'm not that interested," Daisuke said, reaching up to shove at Ken with his other hand. That was his intention; Ken anticipated the move and wrapped his free hand around this wrist as well. "Hey! Let go!"
"I don't think so. I've invited you to come see something with me, and it's rude to refuse an invitation." Ken didn't look up, but raised his voice. "And if your foolish Digimon thinks that he can attack me and get you back, he should back down right now. I'm not going to hurt you. He's even welcome to come along."
Daisuke glanced for a moment toward Lighdramon, whose muscles bunched and tensed, ready to strike once again. He couldn't say he was actually interested in whatever it was Ken had in mind, but maybe...maybe this would buy time for the others to get here. Ken was right about that much; he'd escaped the other two times because his friends showed up. So he needed to stall until they could do it this time as well.
"How can I know you're going to keep your word?" This was the Kaiser, after all. Ken couldn't be trusted for anything, except that you couldn't trust him.
That smile spoke eloquently of that very fact. "You can't. You're just going to have to take me at my word."
Great. As if he didn't have enough problems. "Fine. Let's go, then. I've got homework tonight and it's a lot more interesting than you are." That wasn't true. Homework wasn't that interesting.
Ken didn't let him go, but started to tug him along farther into the valley. Daisuke rolled his eyes as Lighdramon fell into place next to him, his attention never leaving the Kaiser.
"What is this you want to show me, anyway?" He thought he could at least find that out before they arrived at their destination. Ken liked to brag. It might give him an idea on what he needed to do to get out of this. He knew the others would show up, but if he could wiggle out of this situation before they did, that would be so much better.
Ken shrugged briefly. "You wouldn't understand it if I tried to tell you anyway. The only way you could is if you saw it for yourself."
Daisuke really, really wanted to tell him how wrong he was. That he could understand almost anything if he just tried. He didn't know if that were true, but he wanted to say it anyway. But Ken paid no attention to anything that came out of his mouth, only tugging him onward.
"You don't have to keep hold of me like this," Daisuke protested, taking quicker steps in order to keep up with him. "Just tell me where we're going." He wouldn't rule out a chance of running out of there the second Ken wasn't actually holding onto him either. His parents always told him to keep his promises, and he did want to delay the Kaiser as long as he could, but he was very fluid on just how to delay him. Running around this place would be just as useful as following Ken tamely.
"I don't want to." Ken's answer was quick and to the point. Daisuke rolled his eyes and hurried along. No matter how much he tried, he knew how useless it could be to argue with Ken. The guy only seemed to know how to respond to anything with either threats or violence.
He's going to find out he's not the biggest bully on the block one of these days. Daisuke really looked forward to seeing that when it happened.
The farther they traveled into the valley, the more confused Daisuke became. This just didn't seem like the kind of place that Ken would want to spend any time around. There weren't any Digimon here. He did see a couple of Dark Towers, but as far as he could tell, no one guarded them. He itched to have Lighdramon zip over there and blow them up, but a stern look from Ken told him it would probably not be the best idea, not yet, anyway.
Besides, it was much more fun to do that kind of thing with everyone around. He noted where they stood; this could be counted as a scouting trip. He wouldn't have wanted to take it with the Kaiser, of all people, but it would work so they knew where to come later.
What made this even more unnerving, aside from being with Ken in the first place, was the way Ken kept looking at him. They were little looks, cast over his shoulder every now and then, and slightly appraising in a way. Expectant. As if he were looking for something in Daisuke, and hadn't found it yet.
Did he stick something on me and I didn't notice it? Daisuke was pretty sure that he hadn't. Lighdramon would've noticed if nothing else. But Ken still kept looking and it still kept creeping him out.
"Okay, that's it. Why do you keep looking at me?" Daisuke wanted to get this cleared up as soon as he could. Besides, he still didn't know where they were going or how long it would take to get there and he really wanted to get that cleared up too.
Ken paused. His grip hadn't loosened on Daisuke a bit, and Daisuke tried not to think of how strange it felt to have those gloved fingers closed around his wrist. Strange, and kind of...
He wanted to know what Ken had in mind, and the sooner the better. Because not knowing was clearly giving him the absolute wrong impression.
"Have you felt it yet, Daisuke?"
Uh-oh.
"Felt what?" Other than a burning need to get away from Ken, he hadn't noticed anything all that different. He scratched the back of his head with his free hand. "I could kinda use a nap, I guess?" He doubted this was what Ken had in mind. Besides, what was all that unusual about wanting a nap? He'd put in a hard day of school and practice before he'd come to the Digital World anyway.
Ken's lips twitched upward. Daisuke wondered suddenly if a nap was exactly what Ken wanted him to want. It didn't make any sense but there was that look of satisfaction, and it didn't look right.
"We're almost there." Ken turned and started on again, still pulling Daisuke along. Daisuke managed to throw a glance toward Lighdramon, who looked every bit as confused as he was, and stumbled after, wondering if he'd ever figure out what was going on in Ichijouji Ken's warped mind.
"Nowhere." The report was the same every time. No matter where they looked, there wasn't a single sign of Daisuke or the Digimon Kaiser, nor of V-mon or any of his evolutions.
Takeru stared down at his D-3, hoping for any kind of a signal, and not getting anything. That wasn't right; there should've been something. There hadn't been time enough for the Kaiser to get out of there, had there? Though he seemed able to hide his own signal. Could he do that to Daisuke's? Would he? He'd never bothered to do so before.
There was definitely something going on here that he didn't understand and it worried him. This part of the Digital World glowed in a way that he'd never seen any of it do before. He knew he hadn't visited all of it, but this just looked different.
"Patamon," he said, looking at his partner. "Is there anything you guys know about this place?"
Patamon looked all around, blue eyes large and curious as he took it all in. "I don't know. It looks really pretty?"
That was what caught the eye the most, and it was why Takeru didn't trust it. Very few places or people in the Digital World that looked harmless actually were. Which meant that this place probably had some kind of secret that would terrify them all if they found it out.
When they found it out. When. Because 'if' could imply that they'd never find Daisuke, and Takeru refused to let that thought cross his mind.
He flipped his D-Terminal open and tapped out a quick message to Koushirou. Maybe he could find out something that they couldn't. They could never be completely certain what Ken's Rings or Spirals or whatever new toy he might have would be able to do. The way he manipulated the data of the Digital World almost looked like magic at times.
A digital wizard. I bet he'd like being called that. Takeru held back a smile, more because it wasn't really the time than anything else.
He glanced over to see what the others were doing, and blinked. Hikari and Tailmon had curled up on a large, smooth rock together, and Hikari looked ready to doze off where she lay. Miyako and Hawkmon weren't that far off and as far as he could tell, they'd already fallen asleep.
Iori and Armadimon were the only other ones awake, and Takeru caught sight of his younger friend splashing his face with water from the stream trickling through the valley.
"Are they all right?" Takeru moved over to check on the girls, Iori joining him a few seconds later. "I don't get what's going on here."
"I feel a little sleepy myself," Iori admitted as he tried to wake Miyako up. She grumbled, turned over, and didn't so much as crack an eyelid. "But it's really not the right time for a nap, is it?"
Takeru couldn't have agreed more. He took a long breath, shaking his head, and then frowned as a strange scent brushed at his nostrils. "What's that smell?" It was...good, for lack of a better term. Delicious. Enticing. Restful.
"I don't know." Iori looked around, as curious as Takeru himself was. "Armadimon, do you?"
The armored Digimon's nostrils flared as he drank it in. "I've never smelled it before, but it's coming from that way." He jerked his head to one side, and Takeru frowned.
"Isn't that kind of where Daisuke went?" He'd lost sight of the goggle-wearing boy in the heat of battle, but he was pretty sure that was the way he'd started off.
Iori nodded slowly, eyes darkening with worry. "You don't think whatever's causing that scent has something to do with it, do you?"
"Maybe." He nudged at Hikari, who didn't even make the kind of noise that Miyako had. "I don't know if we should check it out or wait for them to wake up."
He put the question aside for that moment as his D-Terminal beeped at him. Koushirou's response didn't tell him what he wanted to know, though.
"Koushirou can't locate Daisuke's D-3 signal. So something, or someone, is blocking it." He would put his money on 'someone', and that was most likely Ken. It looked like the Kaiser wanted to torment Daisuke one more time. As if it hadn't been enough the last time.
That so-called distress call was a fake. Just something to get us here. So why here? Ken always had a plan. Even if it was just "get them into a secluded area and unleash large amounts of Digimon on them". Luring Daisuke away wasn't that difficult; sparks flew between him and Ken whenever their paths crossed. The real question would always be why.
"I think...I think I know what this place is." Patamon hovered in the air, sudden worry flavoring his voice. "And if I'm right, then we need to wake the girls up now and find Daisuke as soon as we can!"
"Of course we do!" Iori stared at him as if that had never been a question. "Why wouldn't we?"
Patamon shook his head, flapping his way towards Takeru. "This is a place most Digimon only hear about in legends. It makes Digimon act really, really strange if we're here too long."
"What do you mean strange?" Iori asked, glancing at Armadimon. "You mean they act mean?"
Again the small Digimon shook his head. "No. I don't even know how to describe it. They just get weird and no one knows why. But everyone stays out of this place. It's said that sometimes the evil Digimon would come here, but no one knows why."
Takeru glanced toward Tailmon. She'd worked for Vamdemon before. Maybe she'd know something that they didn't about it. No one really brought that up these days, but it was something he knew she'd never forgotten.
The hard part might well be waking her up enough to talk about it in the first place.
Daisuke had to feel something in ths place. He couldn't possibly be such a lump that the effects of the flower's aroma passed him by completely. Ken considered more than once simply knocking him out and taking him back to the fortress to test out some of the variations of the fragrance he'd had in mind to experiment with. It would make him useful, which was not to be sneezed at, and it would annoy him on every level Ken could imagine, which would provide the Kaiser with all manner of amusement.
But he wasn't ready to give up yet. He'd always favored computers and data over biology, so he wasn't completely certain of all the ways that the aroma could affect someone. He knew what he wanted it to do to Daisuke, even though the full effects couldn't be felt by him for some years to come. Puberty had some sort of involvement in it. He just hadn't discovered the full details yet.
Nor did he wish to. He didn't care about the full details, not yet. He cared about finding a way to completely and utterly humiliate Motomiya Daisuke and that was it. Only then would he truly feel as if he'd accomplished something. Conquering the rest of the Digital World would be a delicious follow-up; keeping Daisuke as a sign of his triumph would be the icing on that cake.
But without that humiliation, none of it would be quite as satisfying. He still hadn't forgiven or forgotten the events when his identity as the Kaiser had been revealed. Daisuke had dared to attack him. That would never be forgiven.
And if he couldn't get him to suffer at the thought of killing his friends, then there were other ways to extract his revenge.
He'd set up a barrier to prevent the other Chosen from following them once they figured out what was going on. He anticipated they would figure a way to break through it, but until then, he had a free hand with Daisuke. Keeping Lighdramon around was useful only in the sense that it kept Daisuke off his guard. His prisoner – and that was what Daisuke was, whether he chose to admit it or not – would think that he had a way out at any point. Ken knew better. Ken always knew better.
The barrier would also keep Daisuke in, if he managed to attempt to run away. Ken quite looked forward to seeing how that played out. Perhaps he'd even let Daisuke try it, just to see.
But that would come afterward. He kept pulling Daisuke along, even though there wasn't a real need to. Daisuke followed along, not quite tamely, but with less grumbling and annoying comments than he might otherwise have made, if Ken hadn't teased him already with what they were going to see.
Finally they arrived at their destination: the great and tall bush, covered with the infinite number of blossoms that exuded the fragrance that could either put one to sleep or arouse one's desires, depending on who or what one was.
Daisuke stared at the bush, scratching the back of his head, then looked at Ken. "You wanted me to see this?"
If Ken had been anyone other than the Digimon Kaiser, he would've buried his face in one hand at the tone of Daisuke's voice. Never before had he seen someone being so completely baffled.
Perhaps if he explained a little.
"This is a very rare plant. Nothing like it exists anywhere else in the Digital World." Or so he'd heard from those few of his servants he'd questioned on the matter, digging further into what Wormmon managed to tell him about it. Everyone had agreed that no Digimon wanted to stay in the valley for very long, not comfortable with the urges it created in them.
"Yeah, this is the Digital World. There are a lot of things that exist here and nowhere else." Daisuke still didn't sound impressed. Ken ground his teeth; he'd always known that Daisuke wasn't mature in the mind but he'd expected some other kind of reaction to this. At least a yawn!
He managed to control himself. For now. "It has a rare effect on people or Digimon." The more he considered this, the more he decided that Daisuke's non-reaction wasn't going to be a problem. He wouldn't let it be a problem. Daisuke didn't need to react to the scent for Ken to do what he wanted. It would help but it wasn't the only way to achieve his goals.
Part of him decided that he didn't want the aroma's help. It would be so much more delicious if Daisuke reacted all on his own.
"What are you talking about?" Daisuke fidgeted, leaning a little closer and drawing in a long breath from one of the blossoms. "Do you know what he's talking about, Lighdramon?"
The blue Digimon tilted his head, considering the question. "I heard rumors, a long time ago. No one really knows, but a lot of people have heard about...a place." He took a step closer, sniffing quite cautiously as well. "A place that can make Digimon do the strangest things."
"Not all that strange, where humans are concerned," Ken added, his lips curving upward. "Digimon simply aren't used to reacting in that kind of manner."
LighDramon gave him a look before turning his attention back to Daisuke. "We should get out of here. No one stays in this place long."
"If it bothers you that much," Ken purred, swirling one of his Rings on one finger, "I can fix that for you. My Rings and Spirals keep the effects of this place from bothering my servants. I couldn't have them distracted, could I?"
Daisuke stumbled back, going for LighDramon as if to defend him with his own body. "Look, I don't know what you've got in mind, but we're not playing your games anymore!"
"You've played my game since the moment you first entered the Digital World and decided to fight me," Ken snapped, eyes flashing in rage for a few brief seconds. How dare Daisuke try not to play when he was the one who'd set himself up as the opposition in the first place? You couldn't just back out of a game like this! It was unheard of!
The other shook his head and started to reach for LighDramon's back. Ken snapped his whip out; it wasn't as long as it had been, thanks to the bite earlier, but it was long enough to do the job now. He knew that Daisuke couldn't get out of here, but Daisuke didn't know that, and he wanted to play this part of the entertainment out to the fullest.
"Do you really think I'm just going to let you run off? You still owe me a complete and utter humiliation, and I think it's time that I collected," Ken declared, taking a swift stalking step forward.
"Sorry, I'm going to have to put that one on the back burner for now," Daisuke said. He scrambled on top of Lighdramon, ducking the whip's lash as it flew far too close to his face. Ken made a note; he wanted to at least bruise the boy. It would give him something to remember. And it would be a good payback for the injury he'd had that day weeks earlier.
Ken was 'slow to forgive' in much the same way that glaciers meandered their way across the ground.
The Digimon leaped away from Ken, circling around and heading back the way they'd come. Ken strolled along quietly, a rich and amused smile wreathing his face. They would run into the barrier eventually, and that was when his real fun was going to begin.
Takeru shook Hikari's shoulder, while Patamon nudged at Tailmon, both of them trying over and over to wake their friends up. Iori and Armadimon tried the same thing with Miyako, and there wasn't much luck for any of them.
"What in the world is this? Extra strength poppy or something?" He'd seen a movie like that once, with a whole field of poppy flowers putting the heroine to sleep. But while some of the flowers were red, there weren't enough of those to cause something like this.
Of course, maybe Digital World poppies weren't red? Maybe he needed to get Koushirou on this as well.
He kind of missed the times when all they had to do to complete a successful Digital World mission was blow up a Dark Tower or two, shatter some Spirals and Rings, and then call it a day. He hated it when Ken got creative.
"Hikari!" He shook her shoulder harder and still nothing happened. He jerked his head up a heartbeat later when a sudden shout came from where Iori still kept trying to wake up Miyako and saw the violet-haired girl glaring at Iori. "You're awake!"
"How could I not be?" Miyako snapped, brushing at her clothes. "He poured cold water all over me!"
Takeru glanced at Takeru, one eyebrow cocked upward, and the youngest of them shook his head. "My mother always has threatened to pour cold water on me if I didn't wake up."
Well, it worked, clearly. He spied one of the curved leaves Iori had used in place of a bucket and picked one for himself, going over to the stream. Hikari was going to hate him for this. Even worse, Tailmon would be furious, and as they all knew very well, she came equipped with very sharp claws.
It was for the good of the Digital World, and to save Daisuke. Whatever scars he ended up with he would just have to deal with.
Hikari confined her anger at being dumped with ice-cold water to a startled shout and trying to wring her clothes out while her back was turned to him. Tailmon, on the other hand...
He'd never once imagined that she knew language of that sort, and could only guess that it came from spending her formative years with Vamdemon and all of his minions. He had no idea of how some of those words were even spelled, much less what they were supposed to mean.
Granted, he was trying to hear them while laying flat on his back with sharp claws having scraped all over his face. He wasn't entirely at his mental best for figuring out small details like that.
"You better have had a good reason for that," Tailmon finally said, glaring at him with the kind of glare that reminded him of the day she'd taken down every single one of their partners and not even twitched a whisker about it.
Takeru slowly sat up, rubbing his face. "Patamon says that we're in a place that Digimon don't like to come to because it makes them act weird. Do you know anything about it?"
Tailmon frowned, looking all around them as if with new eyes. "I haven't thought about this place in years. I wasn't even sure if it still existed after the Digital World was reformatted."
"Then you do know something?" Takeru hoped that whatever she knew was something they could use. Everything hung in the balance of her information right now.
The young Adult moved forward to one of the flowers and took a quick breath before she backed away, pawing at her nose. "This is it, all right. We need to get out of here. The sooner, the better."
"What is it?" Takeru wanted answers, and more than that, he needed answers. This could offer some kind of clue as to what the Kaiser was up to with Daisuke.
Though the more that he heard, the more convinced he was that he didn't actually want to know. At least not in the kind of detail he might end up getting.
"Vamdemon used to come here," Tailmon said, staring up at him with fear in her eyes. "He met Piemon here on many occasions." She looked around, eyes narrowed. "It's changed a great deal, but they used to have a small shelter, a retreat of some kind, built into the mountains. I think it was over that way. They would stay there for hours at a time. On occasion, they would even spend the night."
Hikari, listening to all of this just as Takeru was, swallowed nervously. "What were they doing?" From the tone of her voice, she didn't want to know any more than Takeru did.
"I don't know." Tailmon shook her head, rubbing one of her paws with the other. "I was never allowed in there with them. But I could hear shouts and screams virtually all night long."
Takeru bit his lip, trying to work this out. An answer slipped around in the depths of his mind, but he made a point to ignore it. "You mean they tortured Digimon here?" That had to be it. What else would a couple of insane evil Digimon do all night long?
"No. They were the only ones who ever went in there," Tailmon told him, dashing that hope before it could fully form.
Takeru clenched one fist, staring at the mountains. "It doesn't really matter what they did there." At least, he hoped it didn't. He hoped that wasn't some kind of a preview for what the Kaiser might have in mind. "But Daisuke's out there somewhere, and I'm pretty sure that the Kaiser has him or is trying to get him." He really, really wanted Daisuke to still be running, to have V-mon with him, and to avoid every trick and trap the Kaiser tried to use. Daisuke was good at that kind of thing, running and avoiding traps. He'd done it plenty of times on the soccer field.
Yet he still couldn't shake the feeling this was a little more difficult than just getting around someone else's attempts to steal the ball.
"We need to leave, but we have to get Daisuke first," he decided. "So, let's see if we can find him. Spread out and try to pick up any hint of him. D-3, a footprint, I don't care."
Tailmon looked as if she'd rather do anything else but this, but nodded, jumping on top of Hikari's shoulder as she did. "The flowers are what make everyone act strange here. Some Digimon they make want to go to sleep. Others they do...whatever it is that Piemon and Vamdemon were doing."
Takeru had to wonder if she knew more than she was actually saying about that. It was a question he knew for a fact he didn't want any answers to.
"So, the farther away our Digimon stay from them, the better?"
"That's right." Tailmon looked at Hikari, then hopped off her. "You'd better armor-evolve me. That might help a little more too."
Takeru glanced at Patamon, who nodded back at him. It would definitely give them an edge in looking if they could go by air as well. "All right!"
"What about me?" Armadimon wanted to know, staring warily at a clump of radiant blue-green flowers only a pace or two away from him. "I can't fly."
That was going to be a problem.
"Maybe you can dig underground and avoid them like that?" Iori suggested. His partner perked up at once.
"Good idea! Let's do it!"
Takeru nodded, taking out his D-Terminal at the same time. "Everyone keep in touch. You find any sign of Daisuke or the Kaiser, let everyone eles know right away. Try not to let the Kaiser see you, though. Who knows what's going through his head."
D-Terminals and D-3s were all determinedly waved in the air, and for a few moments, all that could be seen was the light of evolution as the Chosen Children prepared to search.
Takeru still didn't like any of this, no matter how much he learned about it. The Kaiser had to know about this place's reputation. Why else would he have lured them here in the first place? Did he just want to put them to sleep? Or were there other evil plans lurking around in his brain?
That's what's different about fighting him or fighting a Digimon. Most of their Digimon enemies had had fairly simple goals in mind, once you got down to the meat of it: take over the Digital World, or the human world, or both. Their methods were equally simple: send whatever Digimon they had in order to stop the Chosen Children. Very seldom did any of them get targeted on a personal level.
And yet that was exactly what Ken did, and his target, when he chose to fixate on one, usually ended up being Daisuke. And that worried Takeru far, far more than he ever wanted to admit to anyone. It had never entirely felt as if this targeting came about because Daisuke was their leader. That had to be some of it; that was basic strategy in any kind of conflict. But that wasn't all of it.
Once we beat him, I'll ask him what his problem with Daisuke is. He didn't doubt that they would. He couldn't doubt it; he wasn't set up like that. The only problem in his mind with the whole situation was that he didn't know how they would or how long it would take.
Unfortunately, with Ken kidnapping Daisuke any chance that he got, it would probably take a lot longer than any of them wanted it to.
To Be Continued