A/N: I made some minor changes to this series, mainly the age of the Digidestined. You can read the prologue for it. Basically, I decided to make this series happen a year later cos this way feels like it makes more sense for the plot I'm going for. For character designs, I guess, they would look like they did in the Diablomon strikes back movie, but as for clothes I will still go for the same 02 look I've been using.

Now that I think about it, it's kinda messed up that the Digidestined had to go through so much in the original series.
Like, Hikari almost died when she was like 4 and was very sickly for most of her childhood. She had the fate of the world in her hands when she was 8, where she also experienced Wizarmon sacrifice themselves for her and Tailmon. Then when she was 11, she almost got raped by unknown sea creatures from the dark ocean. In tri, she almost caused the destruction of the whole world and thought her brother was dead.

And Takeru went through his parents seperating when he was like 5 or something. Then he had to go to the Digital world where the only person he was close to was his brother and he wasn't even that close. Then he had to experience the death of Angemon, and also was the last one standing against Piemon. Then the darkness that claimed Angemon comes back three years later. And in tri he has to deal with the pain of losing Patamon again.

And yet, through all this pain and suffering, its not like they were even legal age to drink away pain or anything. It's actually kinda impressive that none of them went crazy or anything and apparently managed to get their happy ending in the 02 epilogue, which till this day I'm still wondering if they are gonna retcon.

Chapter 8: The undead monster

Ken was sitting on his throne in the Digital World. Multiple monitors were displaying different parts of the Digital World, however the one in the middle was displaying a video in the Real World. The video was an interview he had done earlier.

"Those insects… they care so much about trivial things that have no importance. Why should I even bother with them. I'm king in this world, maybe I should just stay here. That would be most beneficial for taking care of those annoying kids. Those two with the Holy Digimon especially… they can take down my dark towers much quicker than the rest. They are even starting to bring my dark towers down to zero. If I stay here, it will be much easier to put up dark towers."

Ken stood up from his throne and went to another room to continue working on his projects, Wormmon was watching him closely the whole time.
"Ken… I wish you would just be back to normal…"

Koushiro's office

The newer Digidestined were sitting on the couches in Koushiro's office. Miyako had come in a few seconds ago with food for the Digimon, along with a magazine talking about Ken's latest interviews. Takeru and Hikari were next to Koushiro trying to help him pinpoint where Ken lived. Patamon was, as usual on Takeru's head, while Tailmon was in Hikari's arms.

Hikari: "I still can't believe he is willing to hurt the Digimon… He looks so gentle in all these pictures of him…"

Takeru: "Appearances can be deceiving… we just have to make sure we do our best to stop him."

The newer Digidestined were silent at the couches, but they all had similar thoughts. Eventually Daisuke couldn't keep silent and went straight for the question on their minds.

Daisuke: "How can you two say that?"

Takeru: "Hmm? What do you mean?"

Daisuke: "How can you the two of you talk about him hurting the Digimon when you two have done the same as him?"

Hikari: "What do you mean?"

Iori: "Daisuke does have a point…"

Takeru: "What? Hikari and I haven't hurt the Digimon."

Miyako: "What about the Soulmon you killed a few days ago."

Patamon: "Is that what you were wondering about? Soulmon are dangerous Digimon, even when they are not under control by the Kaiser. We couldn't risk anything, especially since Tailmon and I can't evolve to our Mega forms when the Kaiser is around."

Iori: "Still, you have killed Digimon…"

Takeru: "Enough. The only Digimon we have killed so far are the Soulmon and we had valid reason to kill them."

Daisuke: "What reason could you possibly have to kill them?"

Tailmon: "They tried to kill innocent Digimon that haven't even been reborn yet…"

Hikari: "Tailmon and I just barely made it out of that…"

Miyako: "Wait, what?"

Koushiro: "Ok, we had a lot of close calls and times where we almost died in our last adventure, but that is a story for another day. Right now, I have managed to pinpoint Ken's location and I think we should try and confront him directly."

Miyako: "Wait wait wait. You can't just tell us you almost died and expect us to brush it off."

Takeru: "Look, some of our experiences are ones we don't want to go through again. Let's just drop it for now and focus on the current threat facing the Digital World. When we are ready, we can tell you about everything."

Iori: "I agree. While I am concerned for you guys… we have our responsibility to the Digital World, and I trust that you guys will talk to us when you're ready."

Koushiro: "Moving on, Ken seems to live around here."

Koushiro was pointing to a housing block on his screen. It was at Tamachi.

Mr Ichijouji: "So?"

Mrs Ichijouji: "It seems like he won't be coming out today either…"

Mr Ichijouji: "He's been in there since that soccer game… he hasn't even left his room for school…"

Mrs Ichijouji: "What can we do for him? His teachers said to just let him go through this by himself. They said they can't even begin to figure out what is going through his head."

Mr Ichijouji: "What? How can they be so irresponsible? That's it, I'm breaking down the door."

Mrs Ichijouji: "What? Isn't that going too far?"

Mr Ichijouji: "What choice do we have? I'm not letting us lose another son…"

Mr Ichijouji charged at the door, only to find it open without resistance.
"It wasn't locked? Where's Ken?"

Mr Ichijouji searched for his son, until his wife called out to him about a message on the computer.

Mr Ichijouji: "A message? 'I have nothing to do in this world anymore, farewell insects.' What?! Call the police now!"

The younger Digidestined arrived at Ken's apartment building only to find multiple police cars and several people on the streets talking about the apparent disappearance of Ken Ichijouji.

Miyako: "He's…"

Iori: "Missing?"

Daisuke: "Where could he have gone to?"

Hikari looked to Takeru.

Hikari: "It is possible to live there but…"

Takeru: "No, he is definitely there… Ken went to the Digital World."

Iori: "Let's get back to Koushiro, he would be able to get us more information."

Koushiro: "So he has been missing for two days already… but if he is really in the Digital World… Tentomon, can you help me check the map system for bugs? You know how to transfer yourself in."

Tentomon: "No problem Koushiro."

Miyako: "What's wrong?"

Koushiro: "The only place he could have gone for so long would be the Digital World. He is a genius so it is possible that he could have hacked my map system. It would have been incredibly hard to do but… I wouldn't put it past him."

Takeru: "And you sent Tentomon in because you're confident that Ken wouldn't be able to fool a Digimon even if he could fool us."

Koushiro: "Correct."

Just then Tentomon came up on screen.

Tentomon: "Koushiro, I don't see any rogue Digimon or anything here, so you may want to manually check the program. If he hacked it, he didn't do it via a Digimon."

Koushiro: "Got it, thanks Tentomon."

Tailmon: "Alright, guess we better get comfortable. This could take some time."

Koushiro: "No way…"

Takeru: "Unbelievable… he managed to expand his area of control this much?"

On Koushiro's computer showed the digital grid that the Digidestined had been using to find out which areas Ken had control over. In the past days, he had managed to take control of almost half the Digital World.

Hikari: "So, he really did go to the Digital World."

Koushiro: "And he managed to hack my program so I wouldn't be able to track his progress."

Daisuke: "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go stop him."

Koushiro: "Be careful, it's quite late. Takeru, Hikari, I know your parents wouldn't mind but I'd rather not keep any of you guys here if we can avoid it.

Hikari: "Don't worry, we will make sure to get back on time."

The younger Digidestined travelled into the Digital World with their partners and ended up in an area filled with fire.

At the Kaiser

Ken was sitting on his throne while observing his monitors as one of them beeped to signal that the Digidestined had arrived in the Digital World. Wormmon was happily snuggling on his leg. After all, Wormmon was just happy to spend time with Ken, even if he wasn't the same as before…

Ken: "Finally. They have arrived."

Ken stood up and, in the process, kicked Wormmon away.

"When will Ken be back to normal… I enjoy spending time with him no matter how he acts but… it felt so much nicer when he was kind…"

Wormmon: "Ken… what are you planning?"

Ken: "Hmph, I couldn't control Wisemon to attack them. But surely, if I get a Digimon to evolve under my command I will be able to control them. And I have the perfect target. I hope they will enjoy seeing another one of their friends turning on them. Let's go meet up with them at the magma area."

Daisuke: "Where is he?"

Iori: "He will show up soon, he seems to have a way to track our Digivice signals."

Miyako: "Right, he always ends up finding us no matter where we end up in."

Takeru: "The only place he never came to us was on the Cloud Continent."

Just then, a group of Meramon jumped out of the magma in front of the Digidestined. Hikari and Takeru used their Digivice's scanning ability to analyse them.

Hikari: "Meramon. Champion level. We can still fight them with our Armor Digimon."

Daisuke: "Let's do this then. Digimental Up!"

"Veemon, Armor-Evolution! Fladramon! Burning Courage!"

Fladramon: "Knuckle Fire!"

The attack hit the Meramon but it didn't seem to affect them.

Miyako: "They are made out of fire, we can't use fire attacks on them. Let's do this Hawkmon!"

"Hawkmon, Armor-Evolution! Holsmon! Wings of Love!"

Holsmon: "Tempest Wing!"

Holsmon's attack caused the Meramon to stagger backwards slightly but ultimately only helped their flame to spread.

Iori: "We can't use Fladramon or Holsmon, it only helps their flames. Armadimon, I'm counting on you!"

"Armadimon, Armor-Evolution! Digmon! Steel Knowledge!"

Digmon: "Big crack!"

Digmon slammed his drills into the earth and caused a fissure to open beneath the Meramon, causing them to fall back into the magma. However, the Meramon jumped out of the magma a few seconds later completely unaffected.

Takeru: "We don't have a choice… Patamon, let's do this."

Hikari: "Tailmon, you too."

"Patamon, Armor-Evolution! Pegasmon! Soaring Hope!"

"Tailmon, Armor-Evolution! Nefertimon! Light of Smiles!"

Pegasmon: "Shooting Star!"

Nefertimon: "Curse of the Queen!"

Both attacks landed on a pair of Meramon's dark rings, causing them to shatter.

Just then, the Digidestined saw multiple Airdramon with ropes tied to them. Takeru and Hikari were surprised to see a Greymon attached to the Airdramon.

Ken: "Greymon! Absorb the power of darkness and undergo Dark-Evolution!"

Greymon roared out in pain as a dark red aura surrounded him. In place of Greymon, now stood SkullGreymon.

Takeru: "We can't win… Our Armor Digimon won't be able to fight an ultimate…"

Hikari: "SkullGreymon… Ultimate level… we need to run we can't win this…"

Daisuke: "What?"

SkullGreymon tore the ropes tied to him and allowed himself to land on the ground.

Ken: "What are you doing?! You are to listen to my commands!"

Wormmon: "Ken… that's SkullGreymon… I'm scared…"

SkullGreymon effortlessly swiped his hand and sent the remaining Meramon into the magma. The Armor Digimon tried to attack him, but they were beaten in a similar fashion. Only Pegasmon and Nefertimon didn't get hit as they stayed back to protect the humans. Just then, SkullGreymon unleashed the missile on his back. It spiralled towards the dark tower and destroyed it instantly.

Ken: "Shoot, this has been a failure."

Ken whistled and several DarkTyrannomon appeared to face off against SkullGreymon. Pegasmon and Nefertimon landed next to their partners and reverted to Patamon and Tailmon.

Patamon: "Takeru, we can't fight him as Armors we need to evolve to ultimate."

Takeru: "But, Ken's Digivice…"

Tailmon: "It's not like we have a better plan."

Hikari put her hand on Takeru's shoulder in a reassuring manner.

Hikari: "Don't worry, we can do this. Light and Hope together always, right?"

Takeru grinned.

Takeru: "Always. Let's do this."

SkullGreymon had just managed to kill the last Darktyrannomon and Ken was looking desperate. Just then, a yellow and pink light shined brightly, and Ken had to cover his eyes.

"Patamon Evolution! Angemon!"

"Angemon Super-Evolution! HolyAngemon!"

"Tailmon Super-Evolution! Angewomon!"

Ken: "What?!"

"How did they evolve? My dark Digivice should prevent their evolution. Hmph. No matter, I'll just use them to handle SkullGreymon first."

SkullGreymon roared at the two angels and started to charge towards the Digidestined. Takeru and Hikari stood unfazed, glowing in yellow and pink light.

Takeru: "Holyangemon! Block him!"

Hikari: "Angewomon! You got this!"

Both their Digivices glowed yellow and pink, empowering their Digimon.

Holyangemon: "Excalibur!"

Holyangemon charged towards SkullGreymon and clashed with him. The two were pushing each other in a battle of strength.

Angewomon: "Holy Arrow!"

Just then, Angewomon shot an arrow of light towards SkullGreymon, causing it to recoil back in pain.

Angewomon: "Heaven's Charm!"

Angewomon's attack struck the dark ring on SkullGreymon. SkullGreymon, having lost the influence of the dark ring began to revert into a familiar looking yellow dinosaur.

Holyangemon was about to fly down to pick him up when suddenly Angewomon and him started to revert to their previous forms. Takeru and Hikari collapsed on the floor, both panting hard.

Takeru: "Why… do I feel… so exhausted…"

Hikari: "I don't know… we have never… been so tired… even back then… when Millenniumon happened…"

Ken acted quickly, swooping up and grabbing Agumon in his small window of opportunity.

Hikari: "AGUMON! NOO!"

Hikari tried to stand up but ended up collapsing back down.

Voice: "Take it easy Hikari, Takeru and you don't look too good."

Hikari looked up to see a small dog like creature talking to her.

Hikari: "Tailmon?"

Plotmon: "Nope, it's Plotmon now. I'm not sure what happened. I just reverted one more level."

Patamon: "That's odd. Maybe we can ask Koushiro about it."

Koushiro: "I see. So, you two managed to evolve even when Ken's dark Digivice should have prevented it… hmm can I see your Digivices?"

Takeru moved to grab his Digivice and gasped when he saw it. Hikari was still on one of Koushiro's couchs. Plotmon moved to grab Hikari's Digivice instead.

Takeru: "What happened to them?"

The two Digivices had a few small cracks on their sides.

Koushiro: "That's odd. Patamon, Plotmon. Did you two feel different when you were evolved?

Patamon: "Now that I think about it."

Plotmon: "I did feel like my attacks were stronger."

Koushiro: "Hmm, and you two said you felt very tired after the fight?"

Takeru: "Yeah, it felt even worse than when we had Goddramon and Holydramon."

Koushiro: "I see. Was there anything else?"

Miyako: "If I remember correctly, I believe I saw them glowing."

Koushiro: "Glowing?"

Iori: "Yeah, Takeru had a yellow aura, while Hikari had a pink one. Also, I recall a little bit of a white aura in between them."

Koushiro: "Hmm, I'll need to consult Wisemon on this. The last time I remember this aura was during the crest mystery."

Takeru: "Umm, Koushiro? Do you still need Hikari and me here? If not, I think I'll bring her home first."

Koushiro: "You two can go home first, make sure you two rest up well."

Takeru: "I'll see you guys tomorrow."
Takeru's tone changed to be gentler.
Takeru: "C'mon, Hika, let's go."

Hikari merely nodded and stood up to follow Takeru, her head down avoiding eye contact with anyone. Patamon went to Takeru's head, while Plotmon went into Takeru's arms, to not burden Hikari.

Their walk home was silent, and Hikari hadn't even realised they reached her home until they were at the front door. Hikari fumbled for her keys to let herself in. Once the door was unlocked, Plotmon leaped out of Takeru's arms and walked over to Hikari's room.

Takeru: "Well, I guess I'll get going first. I'll see you tomorrow, Hika."

Takeru turned to walk off but stopped when he felt his arm being grabbed.

Hikari: "Stay. Please."

Takeru turned around and gave a small smile.

Takeru: "Alright."

Takeru and Hikari entered her home and walked into her room, where Hikari sat on her bed. Takeru sat next to her, and they were silent for a few moments.

Takeru: "It's fine, Hikari. It's just me. You can let it out."

As if on cue, Hikari's eyes were wet with tears, and she leaned onto Takeru's shoulder. Her arms in front of her body, curled up and grabbing Takeru's shirt.

Hikari: "Agumon… sniff Onii-chan sniff all sniff my fault sniff too weak."

Takeru wrapped his arms around Hikari and gently stroked her back.

Takeru: "It's fine, Hika. We will get them back. And it wasn't your fault. We couldn't do anything there."

The two stayed like that until Hikari had stopped crying. Takeru noticed that her breathing had become much more even. He released his hold on her to see that she had cried herself to sleep. He quickly tucked her into bed. He went over to her head and kissed her forehead gently.

Takeru: "Goodnight Hika."

Takeru then went over to the room door. careful to not wake their partners, who were sleeping on his head and on the floor wrapped in a blanket. He slowly opened the door, not taking his gaze off Hikari for even a second.

Takeru: "I Hope you have sweet dreams, angel of Light."

Takeru turned to leave Hikari's room, missing the small smile on Hikari's face, but stopped at the sight of a figure in front of him. His eyes widened at the realisation of who was now standing in front of him.

Takeru: "I- err- you- err-"

Mrs Yagami was standing just outside of the door with a small smirk on her face.

Mrs Yagami: "Such sweet words for my darling little daughter."

Takeru immediately blushed and looked down to try and hide it.

Mrs Yagami brought Takeru to the sofa and closed Hikari's door.

Mrs Yagami: "I'm so glad you're Hikari's friend, Takeru. You're really like another son to me. You're the only one who has been able to break through the walls Hikari has put up ever since Taichi…"

Takeru: "Ah… err… it's not a problem at all Mrs Yagami. I'm happy as long as Hikari is happy. I just want her to know she isn't alone."

Mrs Yagami: "You're such a nice young gentleman, Takeru. Thank you for being there for Hikari. I mean it."

Takeru: "Thanks… erm, it's quite late, I should get going soon."

Mrs Yagami: "Why not stay over? Just make sure to call your mother."

Takeru: "Ah, but I don't want to intrude…"

Mrs Yagami: "Nonsense, you have had sleepovers here before, and plus, you're practically part of the family. You can take Taichi's bed, I'm sure he wouldn't mind since it is you after all."

Takeru: "Thank you so much for your hospitality, Mrs Yagami."

Mrs Yagami: "The pleasure is all mine. You've helped Hikari so much in the past month."

Ken: "Hmm, the dark ring is insufficient to control ultimate level Digimon. I need to figure out a way past that. Those two with the Holy Digimon… it must have been a fluke. There's no way they have actually found a way to bypass my dark Digivice."

That's the end for this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. :D