A/N: Nope, not dead yet… I have however been working on an original story for quite a while now. Did my first ever NaNoWriMo and everything. So that's been taking up a lot of writing time.

––

After Wormmon's frightening incident, things continued as usual for a few days. He reported to Ken, and Ken ruined every attempt the Digidestined made to score even the smallest victory against him. And still no one suspected Wormmon. He wondered how much longer this could possibly go on.

He had a lot more to think about now that he knew whatever had wiped Ken's memories was still affecting him. It was a frightening thought, and a sobering one. He still didn't know what was doing this to his beloved partner. It was his job to help Ken, and after all this time, he still couldn't do that. He didn't know where to start.

Worst of all, he didn't even know whether sharing memories with Ken was safe anymore. What if it set him off again? He'd reacted so violently… he'd looked like he wanted to kill Wormmon in the worst way possible… and then the entire incident had been wiped from his mind.

It was almost as though there was something that didn't want him to remember. But what if he did? What if his memories started to return? What would happen to him then?

Until Wormmon figured that out, his only option was to stay close to Ken.

One afternoon, he found himself sitting alone with Kari near the outskirts of the forest. The rest of the team was off scouting, looking for any nearby Control Spires that were actually safe to knock down – the Emperor had increased his forces by so much lately that most of the Spires were too heavily guarded to even try. Gatomon was curled up asleep next to the two of them as they sat together in silence, waiting for the others to return.

"Wormmon… have you been doing all right lately?"

Wormmon jerked his head off the ground and looked up at Kari.

"Er… what do you mean?"

"I'm sorry, Wormmon. I don't mean to intrude. It's just… since Ken moved here permanently, you've been looking worse and worse. I'm just afraid all the stress has been getting to you." Kari smiled gently at him. "You know you can talk to us about anything, right?"

No. No, he couldn't. But she was right. Keeping everything bottled up was just making it worse. Once again, he'd have to give her a half-truth.

"Well, it's just, I'm… I'm so worried, Kari," he said miserably. "I'm scared of what Ke – what the Digimon Emperor is going to do. I… I wish I knew how to stop him."

Kari's smile grew a somber overtone. "I know the feeling, Wormmon," she said. "Things have been scary lately. But you can't give up hope. We'll figure a way out of this." She settled onto the rock she'd been sitting on. "The older Digidestined are counting on us, after all. We can't let them down."

Wormmon didn't have much of a response to that. Aside from Tai and Matt, he had barely even met the older children. He knew next to nothing about them, only that Kari and TK had been part of their group as well. But of course, he'd heard all the stories about how they'd saved the Digital World in years past.

"They must all be great heroes," he said.

"Hmm… yes, they've all done some incredible things…" Suddenly, Kari's face lit up as she seemed to get an idea.

"Did I ever tell you about how my brother and Matt defeated Diaboromon?"

Surprised, Wormmon shook his head. "I've never heard of that Digimon. Was he dangerous?"

Kari giggled. "You could say that, yes. He was probably one of the most dangerous Digimon we've ever faced."

And so Wormmon sat back and listened as Kari related the amazing story. How two years ago, a malevolent amalgamation of viruses had come to life within the Internet, starting out as only a Digiegg but quickly growing into the monstrous Digimon, Diaboromon. How it was able to hijack a nuclear missile from the United States and launch it at Japan, hoping to destroy the Digidestined in their own world. How Tai and Matt's Digimon had battled it at their highest levels of evolution, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, but even then hadn't been powerful enough to stop it.

"Things were looking really bad," she said. "But something happened that nobody ever saw coming. Tai and Matt's bond with their partners was so strong that somehow… they were able to enter their computers. They were there inside the Internet along with their Digimon, and they gave them strength and told them to never give up."

"I see," said Wormmon. He supposed that was a little strange, but then he and the Digidestined had traveled into computers many times now, so maybe not that strange.

"And then something even more amazing happened," Kari went on, leaning forward with an excited look on her face. Clearly she was getting into the role of storyteller. "WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon combined together."

Now that got Wormmon's attention.

"They… combined?" he repeated. "I've never heard of a thing like that…"

"Neither had we. But it's true. They turned into a brand new Digimon called Omnimon. It was the most incredible thing we'd ever seen." Kari leaned back, a nostalgic smile playing across her lips. "Omnimon was powerful enough to destroy Diaboromon once and for all, and that disabled the missile."

"Wow…" Wormmon stared up at her, eager to hear more about Omnimon, but that seemed to be the end of the story.

"And that's how it happened. We were really lucky that nobody got hurt. But what an amazing day that was."

Wormmon wasn't really listening anymore. Two Digimon combining together… there were so many things about Digimon that he still didn't know about. And he was one!

"I wish I could have seen them," he murmured.

Kari nodded. "After the fact, Izzy – you remember him, he's our computer nerd. Anyway, he called it 'Jogress digivolution'. Though he seemed to think it can only happen in very special circumstances." After gazing off for a moment, seemingly lost in memories, she finally remembered Wormmon was there and leaned forward to pat him on the head. "So you see, Wormmon. Things might look really bad now, but they'll get better. We've dealt with worse things than the Digimon Emperor."

Wormmon considered that. "Yes… I guess you have." He wasn't sure if he should feel good about that or not.

––

That night, Wormmon was escorted into the Digimon Emperor's control room as he was every night. As soon as the Emperor sensed someone else was in the room with him, he turned his chair around and glared expectantly down at his spy.

"So? What did those kids get up to today?"

Wormmon was especially nervous tonight. The Digidestined hadn't accomplished much of anything today, meaning he had nothing to report. He wondered if Ken would even accept that answer. He was all too aware that he was only safe as long as he was useful. But all the same, he couldn't lie to his partner.

He was about to tell Ken the truth… and then he remembered what he and Kari had talked about. He remembered her incredible story.

"Well?" the Emperor snapped. "I'm waiting."

Wormmon hesitated. He had promised to tell Ken anything useful, but… was the story of Omnimon and Diaboromon really useful? It happened years ago. Surely it had nothing to do with them now. Should he say anything about it…?

Something deep down told him that was a very bad idea.

"N…nothing," he finally said. "They didn't do anything today, really."

Wormmon knew Ken wouldn't buy it before he'd even finished speaking.

"You're lying," said the Emperor. It was a fact, not a guess. "You're keeping something from me."

Wormmon wilted beneath the Emperor's glare. He'd always been a bad liar, and this wasn't helping. "No… no, I'm not. Nothing happened today, I promise…"

"Out with it," Ken snarled, stomping his foot down directly in front of Wormmon and pulling out his whip. "Unless you feel like dying."

Wormmon swallowed hard and whimpered as he stared up into the Emperor's eyes that were barely visible behind his glasses, eyes that had once looked on him with such unconditional love. He was powerless against those eyes.

"All right," he whispered. "One of them… told me a story."

And so he relayed everything he had learned from Kari that day. Just as he'd feared, by the time he was finished, Ken had drawn back in astonishment, clearly hearing this story for the first time himself. Then after a moment he turned away, thumbing his chin in deep thought as the cogs in his head began to turn like mad, and Wormmon had no doubt that he'd just doomed each and every one of his friends.

"Jogress digivolution…" the Emperor said to himself, another evil smile splitting his face. "Incredible."

––

"I don't understand, TK! What did Izzy say in his message?"

It was the next day, and the five Digidestined and their partners were being led by a frantic TK as they all raced through the Digital World. Kari was looking worriedly at her friend as they ran and waiting for his response.

"He just said Greymon and Garurumon have gone missing. And the Digimon Emperor has taken over the territory they were guarding," said TK, panting with the effort to run for so far and so long. "He's been trying to track them, and he thinks they ended up here…"

As he clung to Davis's shoulder, Wormmon could barely believe what he was hearing. Ken hadn't even waited a day to capitalize on his newfound knowledge. There was truly nothing he would sink to if it meant destroying Wormmon's friends.

Finally TK came to a stop and motioned for the others to do the same. They had arrived in the middle of a smoldering wasteland. The ground was covered in volcanic rock, the air shimmered with heat from a nearby caldera, and worst of all, a Control Spire was towering over them off in the distance.

"So glad you could join me today, Digidestined!" came a laugh from high above their heads, and they looked up to see the Digimon Emperor standing on the head of an Airdramon with at least a half dozen other ones circling around him. "Sorry to say, but I've toyed with you for long enough. Today is the day I win this game once and for all!"

Davis balled his fists and glared up at the Emperor. "Stop fooling around, Ken! What have you done this time?"

Ken spread his arms theatrically. "Why, see for yourself!"

A pair of lumbering footsteps came from either side of the children, and they all whipped their heads around and realized they'd been fenced in by two very familiar Champion level Digimon… at least they would have been familiar, were it not for the Dark Rings clamped around their necks and the deathly red glow in their eyes.

"Greymon… Garurumon!" Davis gasped. Agumon and Gabumon's Champion forms, two of their most powerful allies, were now glaring unfamiliarly at the Digidestined, looking ready to eviscerate them at the Emperor's command.

"Those are Tai and Matt's Digimon! How could you do this?" Cody shouted up at Ken, voicing what had gone unspoken by the others. Enslaving the wild Digimon was one thing… but Ken had never gone after the partners of the Digidestined before. He'd just done the unthinkable.

"You think that's impressive? Just watch and see what I have in store for you brats!" Ken sneered. "First, step one! Greymon! Garurumon!" He held his dark digivice aloft. "Digivolve to your most powerful forms! WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon!"

As the wicked purple light poured out of his digivice and his two captives began to glow, the other children's eyes widened and they all drew back in fear… but TK and Kari most of all. They were the only ones who understood what Ken had just said.

"WarGreymon… and MetalGarurumon?" Yolei repeated. "Who are they?"

"He's trying to control two Mega level Digimon?!" TK exclaimed. "He's out of his mind!"

"But why? What is he trying to accomplish?" Cody asked nervously.

Wormmon was the only one who knew the answer to that. He was lucky no one was paying attention to him, or they would have noticed the look of unbridled guilt and horror that washed over him.

He's trying to create Omnimon. His eyes darted over to Kari. Did she realize what was going on? Would she make the connection?

He only got to dwell on that for a moment before he was distracted by the sight in front of him. Greymon and Garurumon were consumed by the light of evolution, and both of them started to grow… and change.

Something was going wrong. Even Wormmon could tell. The children could obviously tell as well, as they all wordlessly huddled together and stared helplessly as their two friends transformed into something unrecognizable before their very eyes.

Greymon had turned into a monster. That was the only way to describe it – a towering, skeletal behemoth with glowing empty eye sockets, a massive gaping maw, and what looked like a missile strapped to its back. There was no recollection, no sign of the friendly little dinosaur left in its monstrous face.

Garurumon's new form was at least somewhat closer to his normal Ultimate level, but that wasn't comforting in the slightest. It was a bipedal wolf covered in thick black fur and cargo pants, standing in a slouch and slavering like a feral beast. Its eyes were glowing red, and it appraised the children before it with a mindless growl.

"…Guys? Wha… what are those things?" Davis stammered, starting to think this wasn't the result Ken had been going for.

"They've both dark digivolved…" Kari whispered, clutching her hands to her chest in fear. "SkullGreymon… and ShadowWereGarurumon…"

Ken obviously hadn't prepared for this.

"What in the – " His eyes flew to his digivice, then back to the scene below. "This isn't right! Those aren't even Mega levels… what's wrong with you two?! Obey my commands!"

The other children quickly realized what was wrong. The two corrupted Digimon weren't even listening to him.

ShadowWereGarurumon threw its head back and howled, causing everyone present to wince against the noise, and then turned on its heel and ran off in a random direction. One of Ken's Airdramon flew down to intercept it, only for the berserk Ultimate to grab it by the horns and start effortlessly spinning it around above its head. Wormmon watched in disbelief as it tossed the enormous flying Digimon around like a ragdoll, then slammed it into the ground with an earthshaking crash of finality.

SkullGreymon, who was a lot bigger, quickly proved to be a much more immediate threat. It went lumbering off across the sweltering landscape, causing tremors with every step, completely ignoring (or perhaps not understanding) the Emperor screaming down at it in impotent rage. Davis and the others quickly realized they were a matter of moments from being stepped on.

"They're totally outta control!" the gogglehead shouted. All five children panicked and scrambled to get out of the way.

"Davis!" Wormmon screamed, tackling him in the legs and sending both of them collapsing to the ground just as SkullGreymon's tail went flying right over their heads.

Davis glanced up at the enormous Ultimate, sweating at the close call, and then turned to Wormmon with a nervous smile. "Heh… thanks, Wormmon. Dunno what we'd do without you, buddy."

Wormmon visibly winced and turned away. Davis could hardly have picked a worse thing to say… if only he knew whose fault this really was…

Meanwhile, the five Armor Digimon quickly leapt into action, desperate to protect their partners from this sudden onslaught. Flamedramon, Digmon and Halsemon all went charging at SkullGreymon, but none of them even got an attack off before it swatted them all away, one after another, with its enormous skeletal hands. All three of them went skidding backwards across the rocky terrain and shrank back to their Rookie levels, dazed and barely conscious.

Pegasusmon and Nefertimon were circling over the head of ShadowWereGarurumon, firing off their ranged attacks, but they glanced harmlessly off its body and seemed to do nothing more than enrage it even further. Then as a last resort, they produced a Golden Noose together and bound its arms to its sides, but this held for a good two seconds before it flexed its enormous muscles and snapped its bonds, leaving its two opponents completely defenseless. It swiped at them both and bashed their heads into the ground, and within moments a dazed Patamon and Gatomon were all that was left.

"This is bad… our partners are all down for the count!" said TK.

"This was a failure," Ken swore to himself, holding aloft his digivice once more. "DarkTyrannomon! Intercept them!"

The ground began to shake once more as a herd of enslaved DarkTyrannomon appeared from seemingly out of nowhere and stampeded toward the two Ultimates, but they fared no better. SkullGreymon lifted one in its claws and hoisted it into the air, squeezing the life out of it before hurling it into the lava. Three of the dinosaurs piled on top of ShadowWereGarurumon at once, only for it to rear up to its full height and throw its arms wide open with a snarl, sending all three of them flying.

And then SkullGreymon launched its missile.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and froze. Kari screamed. The Emperor shouted in alarm, pulling at the reins of his Airdramon and barely escaping the missile's path.

It crashed into the nearby Control Spire with a blinding flash and a horrific boom that rattled the Digidestined to their very bones. Wormmon thought for sure the world was ending as the blast sent him flying backwards through the air, consumed by the light and the blazing fire.

What seemed like an eternity later, he'd regained his senses enough to realize he hadn't been killed, and he lifted his head off the ground to see the Control Spire had fallen. With nothing to power the Dark Rings, SkullGreymon and ShadowWereGarurumon had shrunk back to their most familiar forms, Agumon and Gabumon, and fallen unconscious.

Davis and the others had all been thrown to the ground by the explosion, but as they looked up and saw Tai and Matt's partners lying helplessly before them, they realized they had to act before it was too late, and they struggled to their feet.

"It's them…" TK said weakly. "Kari… we have to help them…"

"Grr… mark my words, Digidestined, this isn't over!" the Emperor shouted down at them, desperately trying to save face after this disaster. If he couldn't win, he could at least stop them from winning as well. "I won't let go of my prized possessions that easily!"

TK and Kari had been running toward the injured Agumon and Gabumon, but were cut off as two Airdramon suddenly came swooping down, each one snatching up one prisoner in its jaws before taking to the air again. The two of them could only watch as their older brothers' Digimon were carried away before their eyes.

"Gabumon!" TK screamed.

"Agumon!" Kari cried out. Both of them took off running after the Emperor, but it was no use. His Airdramon were far too high and too fast to catch, and before long they had vanished into the dark clouds, leaving the five children alone.

Alone, and defeated.

Gradually, everyone came to a stop. TK collapsed to his knees in exhausted disbelief, and Kari covered her mouth and began to sob. The other three children and their Digimon stood back fearfully, unsure of how to console them or what they could even do against this turn of events…

And Wormmon stood furthest back of all, forgotten by all of them, staring in silence after the Emperor and the madness he'd helped to create.