A/N: And this ladies and gentlemen, is the chapter where you all start hating me.
––
"So you'll be okay over there by yourself, Wormmon? You remember how to get there?"
Wormmon and Davis were all by themselves in the school computer lab. Wormmon was perched on a table in front of one of the computers, and Davis had already changed into his bright red soccer uniform, duffel bag slung over his shoulder.
"Yes, Davis, I'll be fine. We went there just yesterday, remember?" Truth be told, Wormmon was still uneasy at the idea of traveling to the rebel camp all by himself – what if the Emperor somehow got wind that he was there alone and tried to attack him? – but he didn't want to bother Davis by speaking up.
"Yeah, good point," Davis chuckled. "So I dunno how long the game is gonna be, but I'll come back to the computer lab once it's over. And when you're done talking with Bearmon or whatever, just come back and wait in front of the TV and I'll let you back in here. Sound good?"
"Okay. Thank you for bringing me here, Davis. I hope you have fun at your soccer game."
"Aww, no need to worry about that. I'm gonna have a blast!" He threw his fists in the air and spun around gleefully. "I actually get to play against Ken Ichijouji today! Can you believe it?"
Wormmon tilted his head slightly. "You've been talking about him a lot… is he really special?"
"Well duh, of course he's special! He's like the best junior soccer player in the whole country is all! Too bad you can't come watch, or you could – oh, hang on." Somebody had left a discarded newspaper on one of the tables, and Davis reached around to pick it up. "We were all looking at a picture of him a few days ago…" He flipped through the pages before finding the picture he was looking for, holding it in front of Wormmon and pointing at it.
"See there? That's him."
Wormmon stared at the boy in the picture. His first thought was how gentle he looked, not a sharp angle on him. He had soft blue hair that came down to his chin and framed his face, and he had quite beautiful violet eyes that gazed straight back at Wormmon. He seemed to be giving the camera a coy little smile, doing his best to look humble.
Wormmon kept on staring. Even though it was just a picture, those eyes seemed to be piercing right through him. There was something mesmerizing about that boy's eyes… but at the same time, something seemed a little off about them… they just didn't look quite right…
"Hey, Wormmon?"
Wormmon jerked his head back up and looked at Davis, startled back into reality. "Oh, sorry Davis…"
"You okay, Wormmon? You were off in your own little world there for a minute." He pushed the paper away, firing off a short grin and trying to defuse the sudden tense awkwardness. "Uh, well, anyway, you'd better get going now. And I gotta go get ready for the game!"
He pulled out his digivice and pointed it at the computer screen, and the light of the digiport changed from red to green. "Okay, ready Wormmon? See you tonight!"
"Okay Davis!" Wormmon stepped into the light being radiated by the digivice, bracing himself as he felt the familiar sensation of being pulled into the computer screen, vanishing into the Digital World in a stream of data and leaving Davis alone in the room.
Much to his surprise, Wormmon was not bothered at all by anyone on the way over to the rebel camp, not the Digimon Emperor or any of his slaves. This would have been the ideal time to attack him, now when he had no one to protect him, but there was nothing. Was it possible the Emperor wasn't in the Digital World right now? That seemed like the only explanation…
At any rate, he quite enjoyed the peaceful walk through the grassy field, even if Davis and Veemon probably would have said it was too boring out. He arrived at the camp to see some of the decorations from the previous day were still lying strewn about the ground, looking like they'd been stepped on, and a lot of the food was still out too. Clearly, Digimon were better at partying than they were at cleaning.
All the rebel Digimon standing around outside gave Wormmon a wave as he passed by, but he was only concerned with finding one of them right now.
Bearmon was leaning against one of the small nearby houses and having a quiet conversation with Gazimon. As soon as he saw Wormmon, however, their conversation was apparently forgotten.
"Hey Wormmon! Glad you made it!" he shouted, waving him over. Wormmon shuffled over to him, still not sure exactly how he felt that he had to be here right now and miss Davis's game.
"Hello, Bearmon. I came here like you asked me to," he said.
"Yeah, I can see that. Nobody gave you trouble on the way over?"
Wormmon shook his head. "I don't think the Digimon Emperor is here right now."
"Heh. Maybe that jerk finally up and left for good. That'd be great, wouldn't it?" Bearmon chuckled, then suddenly turned to Gazimon. "Hey, Gazimon… sorry, but… this has kinda gotta be between me and Wormmon. Hope y'don't mind."
Gazimon looked surprised, and her ears drooped slightly. "Oh… uh… okay, Bearmon. Just let me know when you two are finished."
She turned away and began slowly walking off, glancing back at them and looking rather disappointed. Wormmon watched after her as she went, rather stunned at the rebel leader's lack of response.
He really doesn't know? Even I can see it…
"Right. Okay, Wormmon," Bearmon said once they were alone, glancing around once more to make sure no one else was in hearing range before he lowered his voice and went on. "I got a big favor to ask you."
––
"Whaddaya mean Ichijouji's not here?!"
The hotly anticipated soccer game between Odaiba and Tamachi was nearly under way. The bleachers were jam packed with spectators on both sides of the field, everyone eager to witness another standout performance from the famous Ken Ichijouji. So quite a few people were disappointed when the school bus carrying the Tamachi players pulled up and he was not among them.
"He couldn't make it," said one of Ken's teammates who were now standing out on the soccer field, answering Davis's question. "He wouldn't tell us why, just that there was stuff he had to do."
"Like what? What's he doing that's so important that he's missing the game?" Davis demanded. "Filming a commercial? Solving world hunger? C'mon guys, spill it!"
"Sorry… even we don't know where he goes half the time," said another Tamachi boy. "He said something like, he'll show up if he has time. Or something."
Davis looked incredulous. "Man… I can't believe this," he muttered, turning around and trudging off down the field.
"Hey Davis! Did they say where Ken is?" Tai called over from where he was seated near the front row of the bleachers. TK, Kari, Yolei and Cody were all seated with him, along with their Digimon partners.
"Naw, they don't even know," Davis sighed as he walked over. "Man, what's the point of playing Tamachi if we don't even get to play against him?"
"Yeah, and what's the point of watching?" Yolei demanded, tugging irritably on Poromon. "I came here to see Ken! I have to see Davis every day!"
"Davis, even if he's not here, Tamachi is still undefeated, you know," Tai reminded him. "No matter what, you shouldn't let your guard down."
Davis looked offended. "Hey, when have I ever let my guard down?" he said. "Come on, Tai. No matter who I'm playing against, I always play my hardest! Just you watch!"
And he was true to his word. The first half of the match was a heated affair, if only because Tamachi's star player wasn't there to make things completely one-sided. Davis was playing harder than he had in his life, knowing what an opportunity this was, and it paid off; he ended up scoring the only goal of the first half, putting Odaiba in the lead as halftime finally rolled around.
"Aww, yeah! Did you guys see me?" he cheered as he and the other players all jogged off the field and he approached the bleachers. "We're actually winning! We're beating Tamachi, and it's all thanks to me!"
"Only because the other team is incapacitated," Yolei muttered.
"Davis, that was an awesome play! You're really looking fantastic out there," Tai said with a big grin of approval.
"Yay Davis! Go Davis!" Demiveemon cheered from Tai's lap, waving his little arms around.
Davis rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "Heh, thanks guys… all we gotta do is keep this up for the second half, and we might actually have this one in the bag!"
"Uh… I think you might have spoken too soon," said TK, whose attention had suddenly been drawn toward the car that had just pulled up next to the soccer field.
Everyone followed his gaze as the back door of the car opened up, and out came a very familiar-looking blue-haired boy wearing a telltale green Tamachi soccer uniform.
A good portion of the girls in the bleachers immediately started squealing, Yolei among them.
"Omigosh omigosh omigosh! It's him!" she shrieked, jumping to her feet and nearly hurling Poromon into the air in excitement. "It's Ken! He's finally here! Davis, you have to get me his autograph or I'm never speaking to you again!"
"That's supposed to make me want to get you his autograph?"
"…Well, there goes our chance of winning," Tai sighed deeply as he and all the others watched after Ken. The famous boy genius marched down onto the soccer field, completely ignoring the cheers and calls he was getting from his fans, and exchanged a few quiet words with his coach as an apparent apology for showing up late.
"Heh, we'll just see about that," said Davis, not ready to admit defeat before they'd even started playing. "And hey, this means we get to play Ichijouji after all! This is great!"
Once halftime was over and the players all marched back onto the field, Davis took the center forward position, and unsurprisingly, Ken took the same position on his side of the field, thus leading the two of them to directly face each other.
"Uh… hi!" Davis said eagerly, trying to hide his excitement at finally getting to meet the boy celebrity. "You're Ken Ichijouji! Uh, I mean… duh, you already knew that. I just meant… let me start over. Hi, I'm Davis."
"Davis Motomiya?" said Ken, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Yes, I've heard a lot about you."
Davis's eyes widened. "Wait – seriously? You've heard about me?"
"Sure. I've been looking forward to playing against you today. Let's make this a good game."
"…Oh, you bet! This is gonna be the best game ever!" Davis cheered, grinning from ear to ear as the referee raised his arm into the air and blew the whistle.
Now the game could really begin.
––
Wormmon stared up at Bearmon. "A favor?"
"Yeah. It's kind of a big one… promise me you'll just hear me out before you say anything."
Wormmon hesitated briefly. "Oh… okay."
Bearmon glanced around once more before continuing. "Okay… you know everybody here likes you, right? They'd do anything for you."
"I guess…"
"You guess? Wormmon, these guys are crazy about you. Ever since you beat the Emperor, everybody says you're the whole reason the rebellion even got this far. I know you don't like havin' attention on you or whatever, but… you just give these guys a lotta hope."
Wormmon still didn't know where Bearmon was going with this. "Oh, well, that's good, I guess."
"Yeah, it is. And Wormmon, from here on out we're gonna need you more than ever."
"What do you mean?"
Bearmon paused for a moment. "Okay, Wormmon… I know we've all been goin' on about how we're totally gonna crush the Emperor, but… we don't really know that's true. If we wanna take him out for good, we gotta attack his fortress. And… well, number one, nobody knows where it is. And obviously nobody knows what's inside it. Obviously he doesn't got a lot of slaves left around here, but that fortress is probably swarmin' with 'em, and who knows what else…"
Wormmon didn't like the turn this conversation had taken. "I don't understand what this has to do with me…"
"I'm just sayin', we don't know when we'll even be ready to invade the fortress. Us or the human kids. This is gonna be the toughest fight any of us have ever had. And Wormmon…" He was fiddling with his paws. "I can't have the guys losin' morale, so… we'd all feel better… if you came and stayed here. Like, permanently."
That was the last thing Wormmon had expected.
"W-what?" His antennae shot up in surprise. "Stay here? With you?" he exclaimed. "But… but I can't do that! I live with Davis…"
"But you're not his partner," Bearmon stressed, as though that made all the difference. "Wormmon… you know you're one of us and not one of them, right? You don't got a human partner…"
Wormmon stared up at him. "One of you? One of them?" he said, not believing he was hearing this from Bearmon. "Why do I have to choose?"
"I… no, I didn't mean that…" Bearmon sighed and turned away, massaging his forehead. Clearly this was not how he had wanted this talk to go. "Y'see, this is why I didn't wanna talk about this at the party. 'Cause I knew Davis would talk you out of it." He turned back to face Wormmon. "Look, I know you guys like each other. I know all the Digidestined kids like you, it's just…"
It's just I don't belong with them, no matter how much I want to, Wormmon thought wearily, as he had so many times before. I'm an extra. I'm only with them by chance. I know, Bearmon… I know you're right.
"Look, we've all just been takin' it for granted that the Emperor's gonna go down nice and easy, but if he doesn't…" Bearmon trailed off, apparently not wanting to follow that train of thought. "Anyway, even if he does, we still gotta figure out how to bring the Harmonious Ones back to the Digital World… and we gotta undo all the other stuff the Emperor did. Destroy all the prisons, find new homes for everybody…"
He was suddenly looking rather morose. "No matter what happens after this, Wormmon, it ain't gonna be sunshine and lollipops. You know that, right? And I just… everybody would feel a lot better if you were here with 'em, that's all."
Wormmon had no idea how to respond. Even now he was having a hard time comprehending how important just his presence was to all these Digimon. He hadn't meant to become the figurehead of a rebellion, it had just happened… it depressed him to think how little control he apparently had over his own life.
"I don't know what Davis will think about this," he finally said. If he went through with this, it almost felt like he'd be betraying his human friend. He couldn't forget that Davis had saved him from the Emperor's wrath when he had nowhere else to go, back when Bearmon would have rather turned him in…
"Well, talk to him if you need to. Just tell him everything I said. The Digidestined kids are great, and we owe 'em a whole bunch, but… we need you more than they do."
Wormmon didn't even have the heart to look Bearmon in the eye anymore. He lowered his gaze, knowing he wouldn't come out on top in this argument. "Right… I'll tell him."
Davis had said his soccer game would last for a few hours, so Wormmon resigned himself to waiting at the camp for time to pass, not in the mood to talk to anyone. When he finally felt it was time to leave, he set off toward the entrance by himself, not planning to announce his departure. As it happened, Bearmon saw him leave anyway.
"Are you goin', Wormmon?"
Wormmon stopped and reluctantly turned to face him. "Yes… Davis told me to wait in front of the TV where I came into the Digital World. He might be waiting on the other side already."
He was about to turn back around, but he noticed the guilty look that crossed Bearmon's face. Their talk was clearly still on his mind as well. Before Wormmon could set off, he suddenly stepped forward.
"Hang on, Wormmon. You shouldn't have to go back there by yourself… I called you over here. The least I can do is walk you back."
––
It took Davis a matter of seconds to learn that stories about Ken's skill had not been exaggerated.
No sooner had the referee blown the whistle than he had dashed down the field in a bright green blur, kicking the ball around effortlessly and weaving his way around the midfielders and defenders like they weren't even there. It took less than a minute for him to score Tamachi's first goal.
"…Well, this isn't good," Davis muttered.
The rest of the game was only more of the same. Never had a game been turned around so quickly. Ken might as well have been the only one on the whole field for all the Odaiba team was able to do against him, and even his own teammates didn't have to do much except assist in some of his plays and run wherever he told them to as he shouted orders at them. He had taken control over the entire game.
"…I don't believe it. He scored ten goals by himself?" Tai cried out in lamentation as the game drew near its close. "This kid is insane! We never stood a chance!"
Davis scowled deeply from where he was standing on the field. Geez, talk about humiliating… guess there's no beating this guy after all, he thought. Well, I'm not finished yet. I can't end it like this.
The final seconds of the game were ticking down, and just like always, Ken had taken control of the ball and was blowing past any Odaiba players who tried to get in his way. He was seconds away from scoring his eleventh goal of the game, and was so fixated on that as he approached the goal that he completely failed to notice Davis coming up from behind and sliding directly in front of him.
A collective gasp went up as Ken tripped over Davis's outstretched leg and faceplanted into the ground, the ball flying off at a wild angle and bouncing harmlessly off the goalpost just as the referee signaled the end of the game.
The crowd went wild, and most of the spectators on Tamachi's side didn't sound too happy.
"Did you see that?" Kari gasped as everyone else was cheering and shouting. "Davis actually stopped Ken! I thought that was impossible!"
"Great. Ten to one instead of eleven to one," Cody muttered.
"Hey, Cody, lighten up," said TK, nudging him in the side. "There was no way were going to win against Ichijouji. It's a miracle Davis even pulled that off!"
Yolei was wearing a smirk as Davis eagerly raced over to them. "So, Davis, looks like you didn't 'grind him into the dust' like you were going on about."
Davis frowned. "Yeah, well… that guy's, like, inhuman or something. Nobody could beat him."
"Ah-ah-ah! Too late to save face now, my friend!" said Yolei, leaning over toward him with a malicious grin. "Now are you gonna get me his autograph or aren't you?"
"I think you did great, Davis," Kari said graciously, politely (or maybe not so politely) nudging Yolei out of the way. "Ichijouji is leagues beyond all the other kids here, but you managed to stop his play at the end. Nobody else was able to do that."
Davis immediately sprouted a radiant grin. "Ha! Hear that, Yolei? Kari thinks I did great!"
"And that's your proudest accomplishment today, huh? Congratulations."
"Okay, I'm gonna come up there and – "
"Okay, Davis, that's enough," Tai sighed deeply, pushing Yolei behind him and placing himself between the two younger children. "You had a great game today, so let's not ruin it."
"I just wish Wormmon was here to see it," Demiveemon pouted from his perch on Tai's shoulder.
"Yeah, where is the little guy?" asked Tai. "He lives with you and Veemon, right Davis?"
"Yeah. But he's in the Digital World right now. He and Bearmon had to talk about something important, and it couldn't wait, I guess."
As luck would have it, Ken Ichijouji was just then wandering off toward Odaiba's side of the soccer field, a rather frustrated look in his eyes as he scowled in humiliation from his ruined play. He was walking past Davis and the others, and in that one very fateful moment, he happened to pick up on the conversation they were having. What he heard made him draw to a stop.
"You mean Wormmon's in the Digital World all by himself right now? You think he'll be all right with the Digimon Emperor out there?"
"Ahh, I'm not worried," said Davis, swinging his arms above his head. "I mean Bearmon and the other guys are all over there… and y'know, Wormmon's gone this long and he's still okay, right? I think he's a pretty lucky little bug." When Tai still didn't look less concerned, he lowered his arms and frowned. "Look, I told him to just wait in front of the TV and I'd come over there as soon as we were done with the game. We just have to go there through the school computer lab and he'll be right there waiting for us, I promise."
As he stood several yards away and overheard all of this, unnoticed by anyone, Ken's eyes grew wide… and then momentarily narrowed again, his mouth spreading into a thin, vicious smile. In the amount of time it took most people to count to three, he had formulated the perfect plan.
"Excuse me," he said loudly, finally announcing his presence to the others as he strode up to them. Everyone turned to stare at him, Yolei gasped and squealed, and Davis suddenly grew a rather wide-eyed expression.
"Oh! Uh… hi, Ken, uh… what're you doing over here?"
Ken chuckled slightly. "I just came over here to congratulate you on that play of yours, Davis. No one's ever been able to trip me up like that."
Davis's eyes somehow managed to grow even wider. "Oh… oh, really? I… uh, thank you! That… that really means a lot… uhh…"
"Davis, I hope this doesn't sound too forward," Ken went on. "I couldn't help but overhear you just now. You said you're going over to your school after this?" He leaned forward slightly. "Would you mind if I came with you?"
"Huh?" Davis was startled back into reality at that. Ken had overheard them talking? About the Digital World? That wasn't something ordinary people were supposed to know about, even if they were celebrities…
"I, well… uh… hang on, how much did you hear just now?"
Ken put on his perfected look of innocence. "Just that you needed to go over there for something. Why? Was there something I shouldn't have heard?"
Just as expected, Davis relaxed visibly at that. "Oh, okay… no, it's nothing. Forget it."
"I don't have to come with if you don't want. I'm just interested in seeing where you go to school, and I don't have to be home for a few hours… I was hoping maybe you could show me around?"
"Uh, wait a minute…" Tai ventured. Apparently he was the only one present who thought there was something strange going on here. "Davis, I don't know if this is such a good idea…"
Davis didn't even hear him. "You… you want me to show you around?" he said, his jaw hanging open before he threw his fists into the air with an insane grin. "Duh! Of course I'll show you around!"
"…Well, I suppose that's the last word on it," Tai sighed.
––
And so it was that some time later, Davis found himself practically skipping down the deserted halls of Odaiba Elementary, Ken following after him slowly and patiently, watching with rather dry amusement.
"So d'you like it Ken? Is it anything like your school? We don't have any geniuses over here."
"It's similar, yes. We have to wear gakuran at my school, but I suppose you don't."
"Why did we all have to come here too?" Cody muttered from the other end of the hallway where he and Davis's other three teammates were hanging back and watching. All of them still had their Digimon with them, and TK was currently holding onto Demiveemon as Patamon rode on his head.
"Tai wanted us to keep an eye on Davis. I get the feeling he needs it right now," he told Cody.
"And if Davis gets to hang out with Ken, then so do I!" Yolei snapped.
"Man, I still don't believe it! The Ken Ichijouji wants to see my school!" Davis laughed, skidding to a stop and turning to face the blue-haired boy. "Hey Ken! Does this mean we're friends?"
"Well, sure. Of course it does, Davis."
Davis's expression was absolutely giddy. "Okayokay! So you already saw my classroom… d'you wanna see the gym next? Actually the bathrooms are right down the hall… uh, but you probably don't wanna see those, huh? Sorry, dumb question."
Davis kept on skipping ahead, babbling excitedly. He completely failed to notice Ken drawing to a stop behind him, a predatory grin drawing across his face as he turned around and slinked away. As he vanished, his fingers reached up and glanced over something small and plastic concealed in his pocket.
"Ken? Where d'you want to – " Davis stopped and turned around after a few moments, only just then realizing there was no one behind him. He frowned slightly. "Ken? Hey Ken, where are you?"
He turned around and walked back the way he had come, glancing around both corners at the end of the hall and looking for any sign of the blue-haired boy, but he had vanished.
Where is he? Did he just go off exploring by himself? Why didn't he just tell me?
Davis turned the corner and dashed up and down the halls of his school, looking around every which way for where Ken had gone, only drawing to a stop as he passed by the open door leading into the computer lab.
Oh, man… I forgot all about Wormmon. Maybe I should just check on him while I'm here…
He walked into the room, then fell still as something caught his eye. The computer that had led Wormmon into the Digital World was still on, the digital gate still displayed on the screen, but the light over it had changed from red to green.
The gate was already open.
Davis stared. How did that happen? He paused, remembering he still hadn't seen any sign of the boy who had come here with him. Did… did Ken do that? But how could he –
He froze.
No. No, it can't be. It's impossible.
"Guys?" he called nervously, sticking his head out the doorway. When no one answered, he ran out of the room and back the way he had come, growing increasingly frantic.
"Guys! Hey guys!" he shouted, jerking to a stop and nearly crashing into TK as he and the others rounded the corner.
"Davis? What's wrong?" TK frowned at the frightened look on Davis's face. "What happened? Where's Ken?"
"Guys… I… think…" Davis was staring at the others, and they were staring back. "I think he just went to the Digital World."
Kari's brow furrowed in confusion. "He… what?"
"He did. The gate's open, and he's gone."
The others kept staring at him. "But how?" said Cody. "And why? Unless he – "
Cody fell deathly silent as he and the others all seemed to have the same thought at the same time.
"Guys, we gotta go over there now," Davis pleaded.
"I think Davis is right," TK muttered, running off ahead of the others as they all took off after him. The children and their Digimon barged into the empty computer lab, and without even slowing down, TK pulled out his digivice and thrust it in front of them, lighting up the computer screen and sending them all flying through into the Digital World.
The sight they were immediately greeted with upon their arrival was Wormmon screaming, scrambling away from the Airdramon towering over him along with the familiar blue-clad figure riding on its head.
"HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!" Wormmon shrieked. Sprawled several yards away was Bearmon, lying in a bruised and battered heap from his futile attempt to fend off the enormous Champion.
"Wormmon!" Davis screamed, throwing up the Digiegg of Courage as Veemon evolved to Flamedramon and threw himself at the Airdramon before it could destroy Wormmon in one bite. It roared as Flamedramon sent it flying off to the side, causing the Digimon Emperor to lose his balance and plummet to the ground.
"How many times do we gotta go through this, Digimon Emperor?!" Davis shouted at him.
"Grrr…" the Emperor growled in frustration, balling his fist and glaring up at the other children from where he was lying on the ground. "You couldn't wait for just one more minute, could you? You're always in my way!"
As Davis knelt over Wormmon and the five partner Digimon kept fighting off the Airdramon, TK raced over to Bearmon and crouched down next to him, frantically shaking him. "Bearmon! Are you all right?"
"Urghh…" Bearmon groaned and shifted around in pain, struggling to lift his head and look up at the human children. "I'm sorry, guys… the Emperor just came outta nowhere." His eyes widened in fear. "How did he know where we were? We were waitin' right here and he just came right outta the TV screen! Like he planned it all out!"
Facing away from Bearmon, Davis's blood ran cold as he heard those words. All the color drained from his face as he looked down and stared at the Emperor. His worst fear had just been confirmed.
How had he not seen it before? The same height, the same build… the same hair color… and that voice… when you stripped away the layers of hate and scorn, it was the same voice…
"So I was right… you… you're…"
"You finally figured it out, did you? I suppose not even you could stay in the dark forever," the Emperor said with a cruel smirk. He rose to his feet with a theatrical flair, ripping off his tinted glasses and revealing to everyone present the violet eyes of Ken Ichijouji.
The other children all gasped and recoiled at the sight of him, staring in disbelief. Yolei suddenly grabbed at her chest, looking like her heart had just been ripped in half.
"No… no way…" TK stammered. "It's Ken? Ken is the Digimon Emperor?!"
"But you… you…" Davis could barely even form a sentence. He thought of how much he admired Ken, then remembered all the atrocities he'd watched the Emperor commit with his own eyes. It couldn't be true. It couldn't. "How could you?" he shouted. "You're Ken Ichijouji! You're the coolest kid I ever met and – and you're some kinda monster!"
His initial shock was finally giving way to rage. "And that fake friendship act! You were just trying to get at Wormmon! You tricked me!"
"And you fell for it so easily, didn't you? Your idiocy just never gets tiring!" Ken sneered at him.
Wormmon said nothing, thought nothing, his mind strangely numb and distant as he stared at the unmasked Emperor. He didn't even know Ken Ichijouji… this revelation meant nothing to him, not like it did to Davis… and yet somewhere deep inside, some detached part of him was coiling up in some raw, visceral horror… he felt it only as an undercurrent beneath his numbness, but suddenly it was threatening to overwhelm him…
"It – it doesn't matter who you are!" Yolei shouted desperately, her voice breaking. "One way or another, we beat you already! You can't win!"
"That's right! You've lost too many of your Digimon to be a threat to us anymore!" Cody snapped at him. "You'll never have Wormmon, and you'll never beat us! Just give up!"
Ken nearly snarled in outright frustration at them. It was true, of course, though he was loath to admit it… this had been his once last chance to finally get rid of Wormmon, and he just hadn't been fast enough before Davis finally figured it out and the others all came barging in, ruining everything…
And then he realized it.
All of the Digidestined, and even Bearmon… they were all doing the same thing. Each one was instinctively, wordlessly, placing themselves between Wormmon and the Emperor, glaring defiantly at their shared enemy, determined to protect their shared friend.
Of course…
The answer had been staring him in the face all along. Wormmon was never meant to be killed… death was too lenient a punishment. There were far better uses for such a creature… uses that could destroy each and every one of the worthless insects that stood before him.
He would still win this. His victory was assured.
With this realization, an almost demonic grin spread across his face, and there in front of his enemies, he suddenly burst out into insane laughter.
His laughing only made Davis's rage burn even hotter. "What the hell is so funny?!"
"You think you've won, Digidestined?" he cackled. "You think you've beaten me for good? Get ready to have your hopes destroyed. This game has only just begun!"
His Airdramon finally broke free of the attacks of the other Digimon, snaked along the ground past Ken without slowing down as he jumped on its back, then took to the air before anyone could do a thing to stop it. Ken flew up into the sky and out of sight, leaving the dumbstruck and mortified Digidestined behind, laughing and laughing all the while.
––
After their encounter, there had been literally nothing left for the other children to do except return to the human world with Wormmon in tow and go back home, trying to overcome their shock and figure out the full implications of what they had just learned. They could barely think of anything to say to each other as they reluctantly parted ways. They had rescued Wormmon and Bearmon, and yet somehow it still felt as though Ken had been the victor. If any of their friends or family thought they looked especially gloomy, they chalked it up to Odaiba losing the soccer game. No one could have imagined what was going through the heads of the five children that night.
Davis spent a good long time just sitting silently on the edge of his bed, face in his hands. Demiveemon was worriedly tugging at his shirt, fussing over him, trying to get him to open up and say something, but nothing worked. The gogglehead had never been so full of self-loathing. The boy genius he'd idolized so much had been his worst enemy all along, and he'd been too starstruck to even see it. And not even just that, he'd played right into that bastard's hand – Wormmon nearly got killed again today, and this time it would have been entirely his fault. He couldn't even take care of his closest friends… he really was a horrible leader.
Wormmon was still lost in his detached numbness. Neither Davis nor Demiveemon said anything to him, and he would have been unable to respond even if they had. He barely even remembered going back to Davis's apartment, and he likewise barely noticed when Davis finally slid off his bed, turned off the light, and crawled under the covers, curling up in defeat.
Before long he had fallen asleep… and before Wormmon had realized it, sleep had taken him as well.
His dream was full of shadows and whispers, twisting around him and clouding his mind in confusion. Wormmon barely realized where he was. Half-realized glimpses of his friends floated past him through the darkness, and as he tried to remember how he had gotten here and what was happening, then came the voices.
"Come to think of it… does the Emperor have a Digimon partner?"
"Why should he? It's not like he's one of us."
Wormmon looked around, but he couldn't tell where the voices were coming from. He kept on floating through the endless darkness, surrounded by fog and shadows and flashes of his friends' faces, all of them suddenly staring at him in horror before turning and vanishing.
"You're the one the Digimon Emperor wants, Wormmon."
"I want a human partner. I feel like I was meant to have one."
"So you've finally shown yourself to me… you filthy little maggot…"
Then the dream became the same nightmare he always had, and he found himself alone and helpless as the towering dark shadow, the Digimon Emperor, rose up over him, and he stared up and knew there was nowhere to run.
Wormmon had always scared himself awake before he could find out what the shadow was about to do to him. Not this time. The dream went on, and Wormmon gasped and braced himself, certain the shadow was about to destroy him, but no… it gathered him up and embraced him, smothering him in its wickedness, drowning him in darkness –
He was back in the meadow. But the dream was vivid now, and for the first time Wormmon could see the boy's face, there in all its horror.
It was a gentle face with soft blue hair, beautiful violet eyes, and a joyous, innocent laugh as he reached over and pulled Wormmon into his arms.
It's not a dream, it's a memory –
"I love you, Wormmon."
"I love you too, Ken."
He woke up from the sound of his own screaming. He writhed and flailed and finally fell off the bed, his chest contracting in pure panic as he thrashed around on the floor, only stopping himself and falling silent as he saw Davis lift his head up and stare down at him, still half-asleep but clearly frightened.
"Wormmon? What's the matter, buddy?"
"It… it's nothing," he whispered, trembling like a leaf, his head spinning. "I just… I just had a bad dream…"
"You wanna talk about it? You don't look so good…"
"It's fine. I'm fine. Don't worry," he said, more to himself than to Davis, in a desperate and futile attempt to convince himself. "I'm fine… I just need to step outside…"
Davis stared after him but said nothing as Wormmon staggered out of the room and down the hall, desperate to get away, desperate to run. He was so dizzy he felt like gravity had been turned off, like one wrong step would send him plummeting up into the sky.
Finally he reached the glass door that led out onto the outside balcony and pushed it open, tumbling outside and collapsing onto the ground, staring off at nothing. The sky was a blanket of pitch black with no stars to be found, the air chilled his body as he lay on his side in a stupor, and everything was cold, dark, and empty.
He curled up into the tiniest ball he could manage, and then threw back his head and bawled.