Author's Note: I meant to have this chapter done a couple of days ago, but boy if I haven't been busy. Plus I've been watching some new anime, so that's eaten up a little time. Anyway, I apologize for the slight delay. I'm not really crazy about the title I came up with for this chapter, but it was the best I could come up with.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.
Chapter 4: Resolve
Yolei woke up to find herself on a hard slab in a small room with crystalline walls. Her head was still pounding from the hit she received from Justimon. Very slowly she sat up on the slab. It took her a few moments to remember just what had happened before finding herself in the room. Then she finally recalled the battle with Justimon, and the last thing she remembered was Hawkmon being grabbed by the neck.
"Yolei! Thank goodness you're alright!" a familiar voice suddenly spoke in a relieved tone. Yolei looked around the room and saw Hawkmon in what looked like an iron birdcage hanging by the far wall.
"Hawkmon! You're alive!" Yolei responded as a smile of relief came to her face. "Where are we?"
"We've been captured. Right now we're in a cell in Justimon's fortress."
"Sorry about roughing you up back there," a voice interrupted. "Unfortunately it was necessary to capture you in order to lure Ken here for our final battle."
Yolei looked to the far side of the room by the door to find Justimon leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
"Let me out of here you psycho!" Yolei demanded.
"You're not in any position to be making orders," Justimon pointed out.
"Why are you doing all of this? I thought that Ken was your friend!"
"So did I once upon a time. But in the end he was nothing but a liar who betrayed our friendship."
"Wait, is this about that D-1 Tournament thing?" Yolei asked as she remembered part of the story of Ryo's disappearance. "Ken didn't know what that tournament was really about! He doesn't even remember all of what happened!"
"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Justimon asked coldly. "Am I supposed to believe it was just a coincidence that the 'entry quiz' for the tournament was on Ken's computer? I know he was in on the Harmonious Ones' scheme from the beginning, just like all the other Digidestined!"
"That's not true!" Yolei insisted as tears came to the corners of her eyes. "None of the original Digidestined knew about the real reason for the tournament, especially not Ken! Ken was devastated when you disappeared! He thought of you as a friend, but after what you've done he deserves a better friend than a psychotic son of a bitch like you!"
Justimon suddenly leapt forward and changed his mechanical forearm to the large attachment that emitted the energy blade. The blade was inches away from Yolei's face.
"I'd watch what you say if I were you," Justimon warned. "I wouldn't want Ken to come all this way just to rescue a corpse."
With that, Justimon converted his arm back to its original form and walked back to his original position on the other side of the room. Yolei breathed a small sigh of relief.
"The truth is I was nothing more than a tool to both the Digidestined and the Harmonious Ones," Justimon continued. "I was just someone to do the dirty work that they could not or would not do. They have no idea how I have suffered, nor do you! And for that I will make all of you pay! Before I am done I will kill every last Digidestined! The only reason why you're still breathing right now my dear Yolei is because I want Ken to be the first to die! Then once I'm done with the Digidestined I shall kill the Harmonious Ones and become the ruler of all worlds!"
With that, Justimon turned and began to leave.
"You say that you're going to kill all the Digidestined, does that include your friend Rika?" Yolei asked causing Justimon to stop in his tracks at the doorway. "She came a long way to save you."
"Ah yes…my dear Rika," Justimon replied after a moment. "I was really surprised to see her in this world. But then she always managed to surprise me in some way. My plan for her actually was to make her my queen, but if she's going to fight me I guess I'll have no choice but to kill her too."
With those words, Justimon finally left the cell. A blue transparent force field appeared in the door to keep Yolei trapped.
"What do we do now Yolei?" Hawkmon asked from his cage.
"Now we figure out a way to escape," Yolei answered with a determined expression.
Back at Ken and Yolei's apartment, things looked pretty dismal for the Digidestined and their newfound Tamer friend. After the abduction of Yolei, Ken went back to his room to sulk, with Wormmon coming with him. Meanwhile, Rika had gone out to the balcony alone. This left Davis, Izzy, and Cody in the living room to figure out what to do next. Renamon was with them leaning against the wall and keeping to herself.
"It should be a simple matter to locate Justimon's, or rather Ryo's base," Izzy stated as he began typing into his laptop. "The problem is what we are to do when we find it."
"That's easy! We just go over there and beat that jerk Ryo into the next millennium!" Davis answered as he pounded his right fist into his left palm.
"I don't think it's that easy," Cody disagreed. "You saw how badly he beat us. I'm not sure if we could survive another battle."
"I agree with Cody. We should call Matt or Tai to come help before charging into the fortress," Izzy suggested.
"Are you nuts Izzy? Ryo said that he'd kill Yolei if we brought backup!" Davis reminded them.
"I don't see that we have much choice," Izzy pointed out. "It's clear we don't have the strength to beat Justimon on our own."
"Yeah we do," Davis insisted. "If Ken hadn't froze up during that battle, we could've clobbered that jerk Ryo with Imperialdramon. Plus we have Rika and Renamon, and those two are like super heroes."
"You're forgetting that Ms. Nonaka was also defeated in that battle," Izzy pointed out.
"That's because Rika and I were not fighting at our best in that battle," Renamon suddenly cut in. "There was something about Justimon which frightened me, something familiar I couldn't place. On top of that, Rika was terribly confused by Ryo's actions. She still is. This confusion also held me back."
"But you'll be able to give it your best next time we fight Ryo though, right?" Davis asked.
Renamon nodded. "We will. My question for you though is if your friend Ken will be able to fight."
"He will be. I'll make sure of it," Davis replied with a determined expression. "You just make sure that you and Rika are ready to fight."
"I'll leave it to you then," Renamon spoke before heading out to the balcony.
"Izzy, you and Cody work on finding out where Justimon is hiding," Davis commanded. "Veemon and I will go get Ken fired up. Let's go Veemon."
Veemon nodded and the two went off to talk to Ken, leaving Izzy and Cody alone with Tentomon and Armadillomon. With nothing else to do, Izzy set to work on finding Justimon's fortress.
Out on the balcony, Rika was looking up at the moon. She went over the battle with Justimon again and again. Rika was desperately trying to figure out why Ryo had done what he did. It made absolutely no sense to her. The Ryo she knew would never do such horrible things. Then of course there was the story she had heard not long before the battle began about Ryo's true origins. What troubled Rika the most about that story was that it seemed like it was true, and it made her wonder if she truly knew Ryo at all.
"Trying to figure out what to do?" a familiar voice suddenly asked. Rika turned to see Renamon standing in front of the door.
"How long have you been there?" Rika asked.
"Not long," Renamon answered. "I'm not sure if I've seen you this uncertain before."
"I just can't figure out why Ryo would do all this." Rika spoke after a short pause.
"Shouldn't that be obvious to you? That Digimon that captured Ryo, Barbamon, probably did something to him, or perhaps to Cyberdramon. When Justimon showed up, I sensed something about him that frightened me. I couldn't figure out what it was at the time, but now it's clear to me what I felt was that same savagery that Cyberdramon had when we first met him. Only it seemed like it was magnified somehow. Whatever darkness is in Cyberdramon, I think it must have affected Ryo."
Rika sighed with the saddest expression Renamon had ever seen from her. "I wish I could be as sure about that as you. But after what I've heard tonight I just don't know."
"Is this about the story of where Ryo really came from? Do you really believe it to be true?"
"Not at first…but the more I thought about it and about what I've seen today, I'm sure it's true. What I can't figure out now is why Ryo never told me about where he really came from. Why didn't he tell any of us?"
"It seems that Ryo has a past that's far more troubled than we could've imagined. It's not surprising that he would have a very hard time telling anyone about it."
"It makes me wonder if he's been hiding any other secrets from us. Maybe…maybe the Ryo we saw tonight is how he really is."
"You don't really believe that, do you?" Renamon asked with a quirked brow.
"I don't know what to believe…"
"You're in love with him, aren't you Rika?" Renamon asked, though the fox Digimon was sure that she already knew what the answer was.
Rika blushed and looked away. "How…how did you know?"
"I've known you for too long, Rika. I've noticed how you've acted around Ryo, especially recently. Not that I'm an expert on love of course."
"Well…you're right. I am in love with Ryo, but now I don't know who he is."
"So you're not going to try and find out?"
"I'm too afraid!" Rika answered with tears in her eyes. "I'm afraid that the Ryo we saw tonight is how he really is. I don't think I could stand it if I found out the Ryo I fell in love with was all an act."
"Even so, you need to find out. If you truly are in love with Ryo, then you owe it to yourself to find out the truth. And if he really is under Barbamon's spell, then you might be the only one who can save him."
"But…wouldn't that mean that I would have to fight Ryo? I don't know if I could do that."
Renamon stepped towards her. "If you truly want to save Ryo, than I know you can do whatever it takes to do it. And you know that whatever you decide to do, I'll follow you no matter what."
Rika was silent for a moment. She thought about everything that Renamon had said. Rika was no longer sure about who Ryo really was, but she was sure that she at least wanted to find out, and if Ryo really did need to be saved, than she would do whatever was necessary to do that.
At last a look of determination formed on Rika's face. "Okay Renamon. Let's do what we came here to do and save Ryo!"
Meanwhile in his room, Ken was sitting on the end of the bed looking down at the floor with a sad expression on his face. He could not believe he had allowed the woman he loved to be kidnapped right in front of his eyes. Wormmon was also in the room trying to cheer Ken up, but the little larva Digimon could think of nothing to snap Ken out of his depression. Davis and Veemon soon arrived at the doorway. Davis knocked on the open door, getting Ken's attention.
"Hey man. How're holding up?" Davis asked.
"How do you think?" Ken replied flatly.
"Yeah, sorry. Stupid question I guess," Davis responded as he stepped a little further into the room. "You probably feel as bad as I did when Kari disappeared."
"You didn't see Kari get taken away right in front of you. Yolei got captured while I just stood there!"
"Why did you freeze up back there?"
"…What Justimon, I mean Ryo, said to me in that battle… was exactly what Millenniummon said to me before Ryo and I fought him that last time. Those words brought back all the memories of that battle. That battle was one of the most frightening things I've ever experienced. And all that fear came back I was just so overwhelmed that I couldn't move."
Davis shook his head. "Wow dude! No offence, but you have one traumatic childhood. No one could blame you for freezing up because of something like that."
"Yeah…well in this case it put Yolei's life in danger. I shouldn't have allowed it to happen. I should've been strong enough to not let it happen! Ryo and Millenniummon were right, I am worthless."
"What? Dude, that's not true! Ken, you're one of the strongest people I know! You've proved that again and again in all the battles we fought in the past. Heck, if it wasn't for you I would've wound up as Lily's sex slave and done things I would've never forgiven myself for. It was with your help I was able to break free of her. And right now you're probably the only one who can save Yolei, so don't go selling yourself short right now."
"Davis is right!" Veemon agreed. "You're an awesome person Ken, and Davis and I will back you up all the way!"
"Ken, Davis and Veemon are right," Wormmon spoke. "You really are a strong person. Someone who was weak wouldn't have been able to overcome the darkness that you've been through. But you did, you overcame the darkness that consumed you and made you the Digimon Emperor, and since then you've become even stronger than ever. So don't give up on yourself now Ken, not when Yolei needs you."
A small smile formed on Ken's face. "…Thanks you guys. But there's still another problem. Ryo is still my friend. I know that tonight he's done some evil things, but I don't believe that he could just turn evil like that. Something's come over him."
"Okay. Then we'll save him too," Davis replied. "If we have to, we'll beat him until he becomes his old self again."
Ken got up from the bed with a look of newfound determination in his eyes. "Okay then. Let's go save both Yolei and Ryo!"
At that point, Cody suddenly entered the room. "You guys! Izzy just found Justimon's fortress!"
"We'll be right there," Davis told him.
A few moments later, Ken, Davis, Cody, and their Digimon reentered the living room. Izzy and Rika were waiting for them.
"I've located the area of the Digital World where Justimon's base is located," Izzy informed them. "The portal should set us down in a location very close to it."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Davis asked. "Let's go there and kick some butt!"
Author's Note: This chapter was a little break from the action to do a little character stuff. I had originally planned to have the scene with Yolei and Justimon(Ryo) at the beginning of the next chapter, but it seemed to make more sense to have it this chapter instead. I ended up having to rewrite the scene with Rika and Renamon a couple of times. Nothing major, but it didn't seem to sound quite right the first time I wrote it. I had thought long and hard about how Rika would react to finding out about where Ryo really came from. It would be pretty shocking to find out that your significant other was from another dimension.
The action is going to pick up quite a bit in the next chapter. In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.