Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Voice of the Empress ❯ Episode 5: Iron Vegiemon ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon or it's character. But I do own the digimon that I do make up in this story.

Episode 5: Iron Veggiemon

In a dark space, the crests spin around and go into the light in the middle. The Crest of Courage and Friendship appears first. Followed by Love, Knowledge, Reliability, Sincerity, Light, and Hope. Three more crest follow the original eight. A dark pink rose like flower, the Crest of Kindness, twin yellow swords crossing each other, the Crest of Loyalty, and finally a green shield with wings, the Crest of Protection. 

As the crests enter the light the number 02 spins on the screen. A rainbow of color appears behind it, revealing Digimon Adventures 02. 

In a background filled with Digi-Code, Daisuke appears in his usual flame jacket, burgundy shorts, and goggles. A shadow spins around, as it gets closer to him. When it hits him a light appears around him as he goes flying off the screen. 

Shadows appear around the rest of his team and they too fly off the screen. Miyako is wearing an orange helmet, yellow vest, and red pants. Iori is wearing a beige long sleeve shirt with purple pants. Takeru is wearing a yellow and green shirt, grey shorts, and a white hat. Hikari is wearing a pink and white shirt; yellow shorts, and has a camera around her neck.

Ken appears in a purple shirt and blue jeans. Her navy blue hair is tied into a ponytail. Ryo is next her. He is wearing a blue shirt and green army pants. Ryo and Ken are holding hands as they jump in the air with their partners, Wormmon and Monodramon, and landed in Primary Village with the baby digimon, playing soccer with them.

Dark Towers appear on the screen. A Devidramon is seen flying with an unknown boy on top of his head. Followed by other evil digimon.

V-mon, Hawkmon, and Armadillomon heads appear.

A world globe spins around. This globe separates into two spinning globes and moves to be side by side of each other.

A younger Ken and Ryo are seen in a desert fighting Millenniummon. Paildramon and Wizarmon are attacking Millenniummon.

The camera rolls over the Chosen Children. Taichi and Daisuke are next to each other. Miyako is next to Daisuke. Yamato is behind Taichi and Sora is next to Yamato. Next to Sora are Mimi and Koushiro. Next to Miyako are Iori and Takeru. Joe is next to Koushiro and Hikari is next Takeru. 

Ken is seen in a cave with Ryo. On a pedestal there is a pink egg that looks like a rose with the Crest of Kindness on it. Stingmon and Cyberdramon are standing behind them.

A Digi-Port opens on a computer followed by a D-Terminal opening up to reveal an egg. Different color lights leave the D-Terminal and go into a blue D-3. Light comes out of the D-3. 

V-mon, Armadillomon, Hawkmon, Patamon, Tailmon, and Wormmon fly into the light. 

In a fire background, Flamedramon appears in a fighting stance. In a purple, blue, and green bubble background, Shurimon appears with his shrunkens out. In a stone background, Digmon appears in a fighting stands with his drill out. In a blue background, Pegasusmon appears galloping in the air. In a pink and yellow background, Nefertimon appears. In a background that looks like an ocean, Submarimon appears. In a sky background, Halsemon appears in a mid flight position. In a lightning background, Raidramon appears. In a sparkly dark pink background, Pucchiemon appears and his pink finger is glowing as he points to the side. 

Monodramon jumps up in the air in a dark blue background. Behind him is his Champion and Ultimate forms: Strikedramon and Cyberdramon. 

Impmon comes spinning around in a green background. His Champion form, Wizarmon, and a shadow of his Ultimate form appears behind him.

Flamedramon throws fireball before his body is engulfed in flames. He jumps into the airs and is suddenly surrounded my light. He reverts back to V-mon and then evolves into Raidramon.

Shurimon is in a forest spinning and flying among the trees. After passing a tree Hawkmon is seen flying out of the trees and into the sky. Halsemon is now seen flying in the sky and is spinning around.

Digmon comes out from the ground and jumps into the sky. He releases his drills before turning back into Armadillomon. Armadillomon dives into the water and becomes Submarimon.

Pegasusmon swoops from the air and releases a shower of stars. Nefertimon flies into release with stones from her neck.

A close up of Daisuke riding Raidramon is shown. Halsemon flies into the air with Miyako on his back. Pegasusmon and Nefertimon fly in with Takeru and Hikari on their backs. Submarimon surfaces from the ocean with Iori inside him.

A face of Osamu appears and floats away as the image of the Digimon Emperor appears with the Dark Towers behind him. In the background a white hair women and a man in a blue coat his watching him.

In a field filled with Dark Towers, Ken and Ryo have their digivices up. Ken's violet D-3 and crest glows, while Ryo swipes a blue card into his white, and blue D-Power. JewelBeemon and Cyberdramon jump into the air and attack four DarkTyrannomon.

Flamedramon jumps into the air as a beam of orange light appears. Shurimon and Digmon jumps into the air when beams of green and yellow appear. Angemon and Angewomon fly into the air as light green and pink beams appear. JewelBeemon and Cyberdramon fly into the air as dark pink and golden beams appear into the air.

A close up of Daisuke running appears. Ryo, Cody and Takeru are on his left, while Ken, Miyako, and Hikari on his right. All the Digimon in their Rookie forms, except Tailmon, are running in front of them.

A group picture of Angewomon, Stingmon, Shurimon, Flamedramon, Digmon, Cyberdramon, and Angemon appears in front of a blue and green background. The image changes to a red and green background with Nefertimon, Pucchiemon, Halsemon, Raidramon, Submarimon, and Pegasusmon. Finally, in a blue and grey sparkly background are Tailmon, Hawkmon, Wormmon, Monodramon, Armadillomon, and Patamon, who are in front of their partners. Behind the children are Angewomon, Stingmon, Shurimon, Flamedramon, Digmon, Cyberdramon, Angemon, Nefertimon, Pucchiemon, Halsemon, Raidramon, Submarimon, and Pegasusmon.

888

Digital World - Unknown

Impmon yawns as he pushes a cart to the control room. It was around lunchtime, he thinks, and Sam needs to eat something before he goes off to the town that he is building his Dark Tower. Impmon felt a bit guilty though. He hated that he had to fight his friends, but he had to make it believable. In truth, Impmon was secretly helping his friends to stop his partner.

Impmon could feel the dark presence that surround hos partner, holding him hostage, and making him think this is what he wants to do. Impmon never thought he could hate the evil god even more now that he is dead within Monodramon. Impmon loathed that digimon, but he knew Ken and Ryo would find a way. They always do. They are the Tamers after all. The Tamers never give up and never leave their own.

“The tower should be up right about now.” Impmon pushes the cart to his par-master. The Emperor looks at him briefly as Impmon gives him his food. The Emperor smiles cruelly as a dark square appears on the map of the Digital World.

Impmon silently wished Ken receive his message on the outline of the base and the coordinates of where Sam was going to be doing today. He knew Ken was extremely intelligent and knows how to read Digi-Code.

Digital World - Gazimon Village

The Emperor glares at the pathetic digimon. They were barbarians and knew nothing about peace and order. The Emperor quickly told the speech that he did to all digimon when he took over the village. The Emperor did notice the Gabumon though. He was one of those Chosen's digimon. His Chosen was the boy who betrayed Ryo. He smirked as he walked away to do other things. He gave the Vegiemon instruction what to do if there were trouble among that group of digimon.

Odaiba Elementary School: Computer Room

Miyako groans as the Gotsumon that they freed came with them. She was not happy of course. Iori had insisted that he could say they are sculptors and to prove his point they posed in ridiculous positions. She sighs and grumbles under her breath.

“Hello!” Everyone turns to the small child like voice that was in the direction of the door. Miyako jumps out of her seat as Ken waves at them with a very cute digimon in one arm and a bag in another.

“Ken-san!” Miyako squeals as she pulls the Tamer inside. Ken places her partner on the table, just in time to catch Chibimon as he hurls himself at her.

“Chibimon!” Daisuke yells at his digimon's antics.

“KEN! MINOMON!” The little digimon squeaks as he hugs her. Ken laughs as she returns the hug. She pulls him up and plants a kiss on his head before placing him on the table. This proved to be pointless because Minomon then tackled the digimon. They laugh as they play on the table. This brought a brought a smile to her face. She loved it when V-mon was with them. They would do this all the time. “Ken? Did you bring the chocolate?”

“Geesh, Chibimon. Is that all you think about?”

“No. I think about Minomon and you and Ken and Ryo.”

“Okay. Okay. I get it.”

“Can we have it now, Ken-chan?” Minomon asked sweetly. Ken nods and reaches into the bag to grab two candy bars, which the two In-Training Digimon began to munch on the minute she placed it on the table. Ken heard Hikari and Takeru giggle as she turns to the other digimon. She paused when she saw several Gotsumon in the computer room.

“Tamer!” They yelled. She frowns and looks at Miyako questionably.

“The others freed some of these Gotsumon today and didn't want to leave them in the Digital World. So they brought them with them.” Miyako told the Tamer with an annoyed sigh.

“Why didn't you take them to the Save Zone?” Minomon asked.

“Safe Zone?” Both older and younger Chosen asked. Ken narrowed her eyes at the two older who should have known this. She begins to sign to them only to realize that they had no idea what she said. With an annoyed grunt she spins around to the two digimon that knows sign language and repeats what she said.

“She wants to know why Taichi and Koushiro or any of the older Chosen didn't tell you about the Save Zones. The Tamers protect this place and the Chosen stayed here many times before without a problem.”

Ken glares at the two as they scratch their heads in embarrassment. The younger were giving them confused looks as they explained. “We may have forgotten about it. We really didn't notice it was a Safe Zone. We just assumed that the digimon didn't want to attack us.” Ken rolls her eyes as she types some coordinates on the computer. Koushiro and Miyako watch as the image of the grassy plane changes to a training ground somewhere in the Digital World Forest.

Ogremon appeared on the screen as he greeted her. “Hey Tamer! What can I help you with?” Ken places up a finger to tell him to wait. When he nods she quickly grabs Minomon and shows him to the screen.

“Hi!” Minomon waves his little arms to the digimon on the screen. Ogremon laughs good naturally at the little digimon.

“Hello General. What's the problem?”

“We have some Gotsumon here on Earth. Please inform the other Gotsumon.”

“Very well. But why are they on Earth?”

Ken and Minomon rolled their eyes. “The Chosen freed some Gotsumon and didn't want to leave them in the Digital World for the Emperor to get them. So they brought them there.”

“Are those Chosen stupid? That's what the Safe Zone is for!” The Chosen huffed at the insult. “Line them up!”

Ken turns to see that all the Gotsumon standing behind her. She moves aside and raises her D-3 to open the gate for them. One by one the Gotsumon went through and when the last one went the gate closed. When done Ken places her D-3 back into her pocket, she places Minomon back on the table, and then spins around on her heel to glare at Taichi and Koushiro, they flinched.

Taichi laughs nervously. “Sorry. Where's Akiyama-san?” Ken raised an eyebrow as Minomon replied.

“Ryo is in the library. He didn't want to come because he knew you would be here.” Taichi flinched.

“He still mad?” Ken nods.

“Ken has been trying to get him not to strangle you when he sees you or to at least talk to you.” The two older Chosen flinched at that.

“So do we get ours?” Upamon asks. Ken removes her gaze from the Chosen and looks at the digimon at her feet. She smiles as she gives them their bars. All the digimon, except Tailmon, ate at a rapid pace. Tailmon savored her chocolate at a slower, enjoyable pace.

“This is good.” Tailmon complements. Ken's cheeks tint a little pink as she smiles at the cat digimon.

“What this made of?” Upamon asked with the bar in his mouth.

“Upamon that rude!” Iori tells him in disapproval.

“Ken-chan makes this out of fresh ingredients from the Digital World.” Minomon answers from his spot on the table.

“What kind?” Poromon asked.

“That's a secret.” Minomon tells him as he finished his bar. When he did he was tackled by Chibimon and the two fell to the floor, laughing all the way down.

Digital World - Gazimon Village

Gabumon watches from his prison as a group of controlled Vegiemon carried the Emperor around who was sitting on a throne. On his lap was an Impmon. Gabumon frowned. He could sense a dark energy surrounding the Emperor. It was similar to the one that used to surround Matt. It puzzled him that the digimon is going along with his partner's madness though. Gabumon made sure that the darkness didn't take Matt's heart, but Impmon did. He didn't stop it.

Gabumon silently watched and hoped that the Tamers and Chosen come soon. He knew that wherever the Emperor was the Tamers were not far behind. The Tamers had this ability to help other digimon fight by forming a temporary bond. This allows the Tamer to use different booster chips or cards.

Gabumon remembered when he and Agumon assisted Ryo in his adventure when Millenniummon reappeared and attacked with an army. Ryo, Ken, and another boy who he can't place a name to had an army of their own and fought back. He, Agumon, and some of the other Chosen digimon helped them.

Gabumon narrows his eyes as the Emperor laughs. “Soon this village will be peaceful and in order just like the others. Very soon my Empress with join me and my dream of a safe world will be realized.” Gabumon rolled his eyes. He heard about this before. However, the female Tamer had no interest in joining the Emperor and had almost got captured at one point. But that was back when there were only the two Tamers and their digimon. Now that the Chosen are able to come to the Digital World he knew things would change.

As Gabumon watches outside the window the Gazimon talk to each other silently. “Is the message ready?” One of them asked.

“Yeah. Tamer of Kindness or Loyalty?” The one with the watched asked.

“Send it to Kindness. I heard from Orgemon that she's with the Chosen.” A third one answered. The Gazimon with the watch sends the message and waited for their leader to arrive.

“Everyone listen!” The Gazimon turned around to look at the Chosen digimon. “Stay to the back of the cell! I'm going to break us out!” The Gazimon looked at each other as they backed up. They could get in a lot of trouble or possibly hurt if they try to escape themselves without the Tamers to give them a power boost. However, the Gabumon was determined to break them out even if he couldn't digivolve with his Chosen. “Blue Blaster!”

Gabumon shoots a stream of blue flames from his mouth, breaking the wall upon impact. The Gazimon followed Gabumon as ran out of the cell. However, he was hit by a Vegiemon's vine. “Apparently you don't listen to instructions.” The different color Vegiemon said in an angry voice.

“Who are you?” Gabumon asked as he noticed that he was red and not yellow like the others.

“I am the Digital World's biggest cell in bar RedVegiemon. I am the biggest and ripest digimon. My Stink Jet attack destroys my enemies with nauseous fumes.”

Gabumon gets up and glares at the Vegiemon. “Just try and stop us stinky.” The Gazimon glances at each other in fear. Gabumon does not know what he is getting himself into.

“For trying to escape you get to smell my roots. Root Rod!” The Gazimon close their eyes as Gabumon gets hit with the smelly vines. Gabumon asked him to stop, but RedVeggiemon kept going. When Gabumon was down RedVeggiemon smirks at him as he pushes him off the cliff.

Odaiba Elementary School: Computer Room

The sound of a digivice beeping caught everyone's attention. The Chosen children look at her as she reaches for her D-3. Ken had decided to stay with the Chosen Children since Ryo was being stubborn and decided to go to the Digital World on his own.

“What's going on with your digivice?” Daisuke asked. Ken glances at him and points to her D-3. She presses a button and a hologram of a Gazimon appears.

“Wow! That amazing! How you do that?” Miyako asked but was interrupted by the hologram speaking.

“Tamer of Kindness. Please help!” The Chosen gasped at the hologram of the digimon. “The Digimon Emperor is at Gazimon Village and has all of us captured. We are with a Gabumon. We fear he might try to brake us out, but there are Vegiemon all over the place. Please hurry!”

Ken looked up from her D-3 to the Chosen looking angry. Ken glances at Chibimon and Minomon who were looking at her with fear and nervousness. The two of them knew that Sam is under the influence of the Dark Spore, but the Chosen don't.

“Damn that Emperor!” Daisuke yells, making Ken's heart fall. She loves her brother, but he's doing things that her brother would never do. She wondered if her brother was still in there.

Hikari watches as Miyako opens a gate on the computer. Miyako was furiously typing on the keyboard as Daisuke told her to hurry up. Hikari shifts her gaze to the Tamer. Both Minomon and Chibimon were sitting on her lap, giving her looks that she couldn't make out. When Ken got the message Hikari noticed the anger flaming in her eyes, but there were other deeper emotions too. Hikari saw pain and loneliness. Hikari wondered what type of life the girl lived to enact those types of emotions.

“Alright it's up!” Miyako tells them when the gate opens. Ken gets up with the two digimon in her arms. Ken easily held the two In-Training digimon with one arm as she held her digivice in the other. Daisuke gave the girl a smile, which Ken returned. Once Daisuke went through the gate Ken's smile disappeared and turned into a worried frown. As Ken went through the gate followed by the others Hikari wondered what the girl was thinking to make her so worried.

Digital World - Ocean

As the Chosen and Ken enter the Digital World they find themselves near an ocean. On the ground was Yamato's partner, Gabumon. “Gabumon! Are you okay?” Yamato yells as he rushes to Gabumon's side. Gabumon wakes up to see Yamato.

“Matt! I'm so happy you're here?” Gabumon says as he tries to sit up. Ken frowns at that.

“Can you tell us be what happen?” Yamato asked. Gabumon told them what happened after the Emperor built the Dark Tower. Gabumon told them that the Emperor lock them up and was saying that his future Empress would finally join him when his dream of a peaceful world is realized. Ken paled slightly. She didn't like the idea of the whole Empress thing. Not her taste, especially when digimon are being mistreated.

Wormmon pokes Ken with his claw to get her attention. He noticed her body tensing slightly, in addition to the emotions he was getting from her. He smiles when she looks at him. “Don't worry Ken-chan. I'll protect you.” He whispers so only she could hear. She smiles at him and nods. “Do think you can heal him?” He asked. Gabumon worked with them years ago, but he wasn't sure if the D-3 would heal all of his injuries since he is a Chosen and not one that is wild.

Yamato was startled to hear a familiar voice that he hadn't heard in years. He turns from his partner to she a preteen girl with a Wormmon in her arms. The girl had navy blue hair tied into a ponytail and had bangs that framed her face. She was wearing a purple shirt and jeans. Her eyes were amethyst, but they looked older then her about eleven years of life. They reflected someone who had to grow up fast at such a young age. They were old, wiser, independent even. He also saw this blazing flame in her eyes. It was a gentle flame, but the intensity of this flame reminded him so much of his best friend. The only thing that was missing was the pair of goggles that Daisuke now wears.

“Ichijouji-san?” Ken gives him a warm smile as she takes a seat next to him. She puts Wormmon down on the ground and he moves to the other side of Gabumon, so he can see her hands. Yamato watches as she smiles at Gabumon.

“Hello Ken. It's nice to see you again. It's been a while.” She nods at him and then begins to move her hands.

“Ken-chan says it has. It's been a few years now right?” Wormmon translates.

“Yeah,” Gabumon says before wincing when he tries to move. Yamato frowns in worry. “Sorry. That Vegiemon packs quite a punch.” Yamato forces himself not to worry himself sick when he sees the frown on her face. He watches as Ken takes out her digivice and places it on her lap.

Ken looks at him as she signs. It's amazing how she's able to do that without looking at what she is saying. “Ken-chan is asking for your permission to heal him.”

Yamato frowned. “Why you need my permission?”

“She needs to form a temporary bond with him so she can use the healing chips.” Wormmon tells him.

“Temporary bond?”

“I've done it before Matt.” Gabumon tells him. “It's like the bond I have with you. The only difference is that Ken can use different booster chips on me in battle.”

“It's like what she did with the Gotsumon yesterday.” Iori said as he remembered what Ken did yesterday. “She was able to increase their attack and defense so they could stand up against those controlled Tyrannomon.” Yamato blinked. He knew the Tamers did things differently, but he didn't know they were that strong. And to be able to help digimon fight that is not their own was just amazing.

He watched silently as Ken presses a few buttons on her digivice after he gave her permission. He noticed the intense look in her gaze as she looked for what she was looking for. Yamato noticed that tag and crest around her neck. Tk had told him that they met the Tamers and that Ken had a crest of her own. Actually Akiyama had one too.

Ken smiled as she found what she was looking for. A pink beam appears from the screen. Ken turns it around and the beam hits Gabumon. The beam moves back and forth, as if it was scanning him. After the beam scanned Gabumon two times it stopped. Yamato was surprised when a hologram appears with an image of his partner. The image was moving around slowly and a list was next to the image.

“Analysis complete.” A female mechanical voice came from Ken's digivice. “Digimon number 13456B processing.” After a few seconds the image of Gabumon had red flashing marks on it. “Digimon: Gabumon; Partner to Chosen Child of Friendship, Yamato Ishida; Damage: Digimon number 13456B has low energy, low stamina, low food level, low strength. No internal damage is detected.” Yamato sighs in relief with the others. The analysis disappears as a list of different chips appears in its place. “Digimon number 13456B will need the recommend chips for fast recovery. Recommended: Strength Chip, Stamina Chip, Energy Chip. Sleep and food is necessary for Digimon 13456B full recovery. Time: 30 seconds.”

“Wow!” The Chosen say together as the hologram disappears. Ken reaches into her pocket and takes out a small bag. In the bag was a bunch of different SD Chips. Ken picks the chips that she need and places the bag back into her pocket. Yamato watches as she inserts the small chips into her digivice. When her digivice begins to glow and faces the screen towards Gabumon. To the Chosen Children surprise a beam of light shoots out of her digivice and hits Gabumon. Gabumon is engulfed in the light. After thirty seconds Yamato is thrilled to see hid partner looking like he had never been attacked.

“Gabumon, how are you feeling?” Gabumon smiles at him and stands up with no problem.

“Pretty good. Thanks Ken.” Ken nods as she gets up and dusts herself off.

Daisuke smiles at the female Tamer. It was amazing to witness what the Tamers do. The way she healed Gabumon was amazing. Daisuke was glad to have her as an ally. The Tamers seem like pretty awesome people. There was still the issue with Akiyama, but he can always deal with him later after he befriends the female Tamer. Who knows? Maybe he can get V-mon to teach him how to understand sign language so he can talk to her without Akiyama since it didn't turn out so will last time.

Digital World - Forest

Gabumon takes the group through the forest to get to the village. Matt and Ken were walking behind him. Daisuke and Iori were behind them and Takeru and Hikari were walking behind them. Gabumon moves some leaves as he sees some houses on a hill in the distance

“The village is called Santa Korea.” Gabumon informs them.

“Cool.” Daisuke says as he looks at the houses. “It sounds like it's from California.”

“It was always a quiet place. Everyone minded there own business and then the Digimon Emperor came along.” The Chosen saw that a Dark Tower was on top of the hill. “The Emperor calls them Dark Towers. They are the things that prevent us from digivolving.”

Daisuke looks at V-mon and then runs out of the forest with him. “Let go!”

“Hold it.” Daisuke turns around to see Yamato and Ken giving him looks. Yamato seemed disappointed, while Ken was filled with concern. “You can't just go running in there. For all you know he could be waiting for us and this whole thing could be a trap or an ambush.” Ken nods and then signs to V-mon.

“She agrees with what Yamato is saying. She said you could come up with a plan that guarantees the safety of your team. You don't want to go rushing in and end up getting hurt or captured. Then how will you stop the Emperor if you can't guarantee the safety of everyone else?” Daisuke frowned. They were right. Ken had a lot of experience and what she said made him think a bit. He looks at his digivice and an idea came to him.

“Well we could always use our Armor Digi-Eggs and blast our way in there.”

“It's not that simple.” Daisuke turns to Takeru. “He may be using some of the digimon as hostages as a shield to protect himself.”

“Tk is right. We have to find a way to rescue the hostages and make sure none of them get hurt.”

Daisuke gritted his teeth. Everyone was basically against him. Well, everyone except Ken. Ken basically was just giving him some wise words on how to approach the situation. However, the others were basically just doing their own thing and decided to sneak into the prison. Daisuke didn't like that idea. Wouldn't that be the first thing that the enemy expects you to do?

“They're being guarded by the Vegiemon.” Patamon said as he flies towards the group that was walking in the direction of the prison. “Watch out for the Digi- Sludge!”

“Wait!” The group looked at him. “It's too dangerous. We can't take the chance or any of us, especially Hikari-chan and Ken-sama. The Emperor is after Ken-sama and what about the Digi-Sludge?”

“That's no big deal.” Hikari tells him, which put a frown to Ken's face.

“We've been attacked by a lot worst than Digi-Sludge. Right Kari?”

“Yeah!”

Daisuke glared at them. Was no one considering the wellbeing of their female members? “AHH! I can't believe you're not worried about Hikari-chan or Ken-sama's wellbeing, Taky-san?”

“Taky-san?”

“He forgot that his name is Takeru-san!” Iori says making them laugh. Daisuke blushed as the others laughed at him. Daisuke glared at them wanting to defend himself and maybe curse them out, but Wormmon beat him to it.

“That's enough!” The three stopped laughing and looked at the angry digimon. They were taken aback by the furious glares coming from the duo of Kindness. “How dare you laugh at your leader? Daisuke is your leader and should not be treated like he is stupid or some clown!” Daisuke remained silent as Wormmon yelled at them and Ken glared at them with angry, disapproving eyes. No one has ever stood up for him before. It felt nice. “The Digimon Emperor is a child compared to the horrors we faced with Millenniummon! If you were with us when we had to fight him and you did what you all are doing right now you would all be dead!”

Daisuke's eyes widen slightly as Iori, Takeru, and Hikari paled at Wormmon's outburst. Daisuke could hear the raw truth of his words. Daisuke glanced at Ken and saw her eyes blazing. He couldn't imagine what the Ken went through with her group. But by the way the two are acting he got the feeling it was ten times worse then the Emperor himself.

Ken glared at the Chosen as she tried not to hit them with her wrath. They may not be her team, but laughing and disregarding their leaders concerns was not acceptable. Daisuke is the leader and he has good instincts. All leaders have good instincts, including Daisuke. She was proud of him to point out the dangers of going straight to the prison. In truth, prisons are one of the top places that are guarded. Ken knew her brother knew the Chosen were coming and freeing the digimon was something he knew the Chosen would do.

Daisuke was right to address his concerns. She was touched that Daisuke was considering her safety even though she's not really part of his team. Ken had learned how to defend herself through the battles she had in the Digital World. If the Chosen thought they had it rough then they had it easy. The Chosen was never in war were they faced the possibility of dying any minute or being captured and then tortured for information. They had never faced the full length of Millenniummon.

“You think this is a good plan?” Ken looks at V-mon as he looks at her.

“I don't know V-mon. Yamato has a good plan. He has the safety of the others in mind. However, he forgot something very critical in his thinking.” V-mon looks at her in confusion after he told Daisuke what she said.

“What he forget?” Daisuke trusted the Tamer's advice. She may have became a Chosen after Taichi's group, but she was clearly more experienced. She had fought a war with a digimon that not even Takeru or Hikari could beat. In addition, she has been coming to the Digital World with Ryo for three years compared to the older Chosen Children's adventures.

“The most basic strategy in war is to go to the prisons. I'm afraid your team is doing the exact same thing they told you not to do.”

Daisuke crossed his arms in annoyance as he looks in the direction that the others went. Their forms were getting smaller and he wondered if they should go on their own or join them. “They're going towards a trap.” Ken smiles at him. The others might see him as immature and rash, but underneath was a true leader.

Daisuke turns back to Ken and notices that she was smiling at him. He smiles too. For some reason he just felt that Ken understood him and didn't see him as the stupid, goofy, immature brat that everyone sees him as. Could it be possible that she sees more then that and truly believes in him? “What do we do now?”

Ken's eyes sparkled in the sunlight. It could have been the trick of the light but Daisuke could see in her eyes that she had full confidence in his abilities, even if he acted childish at times. “We create a plan.”

Digital World - Gazimon Village

Hikari remains silent as they approach the gates of the village. There were a lot of Vegiemon and a good five of them were blocking their path. They stopped when one demand to identify themselves. Just like Yamato-kun said they would.

“It's okay.” Tailmon said as she raised her right paw that had the fake ring. “We're one of you. We just capture the Chosen and their friends.” Hikari tried not to gag as sludge fell.

As they crossed Hikari could not stop thinking about the Tamer and her digimon. She wasn't sure what they did wrong to have them glare at them. The glare in Ken-san's eyes was blazing in anger and disappointment. What did they do to make her so angry? What did they do to make her digimon angry as well? Wormmon was such a sweet and timid digimon, much like his Tamer. But the way he yelled at them was disturbing. What type of adventures did they go through that made the problems they had with the tyrant seem like her mother last nights meatloaf? Was the Emperor really not that much of a threat in her eyes? Did the Tamers not fear the Emperor or the things that he is doing?

“That was easy. They didn't even notice they were fake.” Patamon said as he landed on the step.

“Don't get so confident. Those were just lackeys. We still have to get pass them and find a way to destroy the Dark Tower.”

Hikari remained quiet as they moved on up the stairs to the jail. She glanced back to see Daisuke walking in front of Ken. They had caught up to them after Yamato told them to wait when he noticed they weren't there. She was worried. Daisuke had not said one word to her or the others when he caught up. Actually he has been talking quietly to Ken the whole time. Hikari noticed that they were talking strategy, but she could not quite catch what they were talking about.

Ken would not look at her either. She was still mad at her and the others. She sighed as they reached the jail. The Vegimon laughed at them as they threw them into the cell. However, they panicked when the Vegiemon separated Ken and Wormmon. Wormmon was the only one that refused to wear the Dark Rings since the original doesn't affect him in the first place. Wormmon had remained in Ken's arms, which they had to tie in front of her.

Daisuke had tried to stop them, but he was over powered by three Vegiemon and was thrown on top of Yamato. Daisuke only watched at the Vegiemon. “Well, look who we have here.” Daisuke glares at the Vegiemon that was inspecting Ken. “The Emperor would be please to know that we have his Empress.” Daisuke watches as Ken struggled against three Vegiemon. Ken had told him that they would do this, but that didn't stop him from trying to stop it. Leaving the one person at the mercy to be taken to the Emperor was not something he was going to do.

The other Vegiemon turn to their digimon. “Thanks for bringing the prisoners in. The Emperor would be pleased. We were going to do it ourselves but you beat us to the punch. WHAAAA!”

The digimon glared at the Vegiemon. Tailmon smirked at the Vegiemon thanking them. “By the way speaking of punch…Lightning Paw!” Tailmon hits the digimon with her paw and he collides with the bars. The other digimon attack the other Vegiemon. V-mon was punching a Vegiemon in anger for taking the person and digimon that he saw as family away.

The others were laughing and smiling that the plan worked, but Daisuke was not. Ken was right about their plan having to many holes. As soon as the digimon opened the cage Daisuke ran towards the door and V-mon followed after him. “Daisuke-kun! Where you going? You need to stick to the plan!” Daisuke turns on Hikari with a glare.

“Damn the plan!” The others were taken aback by this anger for a second before they look at him angrily.

“Daisuke-kun! You can't rush into things! It's dangerous!”

“You mean like the way you all failed to account the fact that the Vegiemon would take Ken-sama away. Knowing full well that the tyrant wants her as his Empress!”

Takeru and Hikari look at each other and Iori looks down. Yamato gives him a critical look. “Ken-san is a Tamer and is fully capable of taking care of herself.” Daisuke gritted his teeth in frustration.

“I DON'T CARE! I am the leader of the Chosen Children and I am not going to stand by while one of us is taken!”

“But she is a Tamer,” Iori said softly, trying to get Daisuke to see reason. “She's different from us remember. She's able to do things that we can't. Her digimon can even digivolve or Armor Digivolve if needed.”

“Wormmon can digivolve even with the Dark Towers?” Daisuke ignored Yamato and Gabumon's question. He continued to glare at his team. Were they really suggesting that they should not try and help Ken?

“It doesn't matter what she calls herself! Tamer or Chosen she is one of us! She has a digimon and a digivice! As long as she is with us, I will not let that creep have her! Who knows what that creep might do to the person I see as a friend! He could brainwash her for all we know and make her rule by his side!”

“And I will not let the Emperor take my family away from me!” V-mon added just as angry.

“That will never happen. Ken-chan is too resourceful to give in to him that easily. But we do appreciate the attempt.” Daisuke and V-mon spun around to see Ken, a pink fairy digimon, and three freed Vegiemon.

“Ken-sama! You're okay!” Ken smiles and nods at him. Daisuke glances at the pink fairy floating next to Ken. “Who's this?”

“I'm Pucchiemon! As Wormmon I use the Digi-Egg of Kindness to Armor Digivolve. My Heartner Beam attack will cause my opponents to loss their fighting spirit and sooth their hearts.”

Daisuke smiles. “You know Miyako-san might squeal you're cute and might try to hug you if she sees you.” The digimon pouts at him.

“How you guys escape?” V-mon asked

“Well…”

“Unhand my Ken-chan!” Wormmon yells as the three control digimon forces his partner to walk down the steps.

“Sorry no can do. She is going to the Emperor!” Wormmon yells as he notices he feels her tightening her grip on him.

Wormmon looks at her and sees her mouth, `Digi-Armor Energize.'

A beam of light hits Wormmon and a light engulfs him. He spins around as images of Stingmon and JewelBeemon appears in the background. Wormmon merges with the Crest of Kindness. “Wormmon Armor Digivolve too… Pucchiemon, the Fairy of Kindness!”

“No way! He digivolved!” One of the Vegiemon yelled.

“How? I thought she doesn't have a Digi-Egg!”

“Think again! Love and Fire!” Pucchiemon yells as he fires an arrow at the Dark Rings.

“And then we came back here when they returned to normal.” Pucchiemon ended his explanation of what happened.

“Well I guess you didn't need us to help you after all.” Daisuke said with a shrug, but he didn't let it get to him. Better her safe than at the Emperor's mercy.

Ken smiles at Daisuke. She was happy that he saw her as a friend and wanted to go and help her. She places a hand on his shoulder and gave it a small pat before walking passed him and towards the Gazimon. Ken gave the Chosen an emotionless sideways glance as she passes them. She smiles as her lieutenant hugs her as soon as she bends down on her knees.

“Tamer! I'm so glad your safe!” Her lieutenant says to her.

“Thanks for coming Tamer.” Another Gazimon told her. “We really appreciate the help.”

Ken nods as she takes out her D-3. Ken inserts three chips in, one for increasing their power, one for increasing their attack, and one for increasing their defense. The Gazimon step back and wait for the bright light that will engulf them, giving them their power boost.

Daisuke follows Patamon as they travel down the hall. Patamon stops them when he sees more guards. The Vegiemon were down the steps joking around and laughing. Daisuke took out his D-3, but Yamato stopped him.

“You have to learn that fighting isn't always the answer. It should only be your last resort.” Daisuke huffed. He glanced to Ken who had a thoughtful look on her face. He remembered that she told him that rushing into things isn't always the answer. They ended up in a bind with one of Millenniummon's forces when Ryo rushed in and attacked with XV-mon. He frowned she didn't seem to agree with Yamato, but she wasn't disagreeing either. He saw her turn to the Gazimon and signed to the one with the watch. He nodded and talked quietly to the others. Did she have a plan?

Daisuke followed the others as they made their way up the stairs. He remained silent as they walked up the path that took them to the Dark Tower. Well that was until Takeru told him he saw his sister. He frowned. What did his sister badmouth about him this time? Takeru argued that his sister didn't say anything bad, but he didn't believe him. He was already mad that no one was listening to him, except maybe Ken. Daisuke was surprised when Yamato came to defend his sister. Yamato told him off saying that his sister said nothing bad and he was the one saying all the bad things. Yamato probably would have continued if Ken hadn't intervened.

Ken stepped in between the three boys and glared at each and every one of them. The boys were taken aback by her glare. Ken looked at Yamato first and grabbed his wrist. She pulled him to stand to the right of Daisuke. Ken did the same to Takeru and put him to Daisuke's left. Ken moved her hands angrily which Pucchiemon, V-mon, and Gazimon all took turns translating.

“I am only going to say this once and once only. You will not repeat this to anyone. Got it?” The three nodded as her eyes narrowed. “Yamato-san, I understand where your coming from. Motomiya-san might not have said anything bad about her brother, but you don't know her. You don't know what happens behind closed doors. She could act differently at home than she does in public for all we know.” Yamato was silent the whole time Ken was signing and the digimon translating. He didn't dare interrupt her or argue.

Ken turned to Daisuke next. He didn't seem to thrill that he was going to face the same wrath that Ryo must have received. “Daisuke-san, I can understand what's it's like to be badmouthed by a family member. It hurts and always gives you the impression that you are alone and that everyone is against you.” The three boys frowned slightly. “However, you should be grateful to have a sister, no a family, that cares about you and actually notices.”

“But you have a loving family too.” Takeru said with a frown, which was probably a bad move since the Gazimon snapped at him to be quiet.

“A loving family? Don't make me laugh. My parents don't even notice me. They have since I was eight. I could never make friends due to the fact that my brother was a genius. I was constantly hurt, constantly ignored. The only friends I had were Wormmon, Ryo, V-mon and my brother.” Daisuke glanced at Hikari and Iori who had looks of horror on their faces.

“But he changed too. After my adventures in the Digital World the rift had grown bigger. He spent all his time in his room either studying or doing some type of invention. I always got reprimanded even if it was just to go to his room to ask him if he wanted to go to the ice cream shop with me.” The three digimon inched closer as Ken began to tremble in anger with tears leaking from her eyes. All the Chosen were shocked by what they were hear. Takeru felt bad for the girl. You would think that her parents would be taking care of her because she couldn't speak. “It had gotten so bad that Ryo's parents offered to have me live with them so I wouldn't have to deal with the neglect.”

“And your parents.” Daisuke asked quietly, not liking the sadness and loneness he sees in the Tamer's eyes.

“They agreed to it without a single thought. They didn't question it or reject the offer. All they saw was a way for me to make friends without me being around my brother.” Yamato's eyes widen and he thought he had it rough with living with one parent.

Ken closed her eyes as she tried to regain her composure. V-mon and Gazimon were rubbing her leg in a comforting gesture. Pucchiemon was rubbing her back and was sending waves of positive emotions to her through their bond. “Now Chosen Children,” The three boys paled and flinched under her gaze. “I am not pleased with this team, if it should be called that? All I've seen today is a group of kids and zero teamwork. There is fighting, there is laughing at the other, there is lack of planning that guarantees the safety of off members.” Yamato bit his lip as Ken glanced at him. “You had a good plan, but at what risk. It you even considered that this could have been a trap to get us where he wants us.” He widen at that. “Yamato-san you have good instinct, but being a leader belongs to Taichi-san and Daisuke-san. Next time have everyone work on a plan together instead of making one without thinking of the consequences.”

And with that Ken turns her back to them as she glares at Hikari and Iori. “If you Chosen Children can't work as a team then go home. You will only get yourself killed.”

“We can't do that! We can't abandon the digimon to the Emperor!” Takeru snaps.

Ken spins around and gives him a heated glare and her three translators yell, “THEN WORK AS A TEAM!”

The Chosen remained quiet after Ken stopped signing and crossed her arms across her chest. Yamato sighs, realizing that she was right. “You're right. We need to act like a team if we are going to defeat the Emperor. Let's go everyone.” Ken watches as Yamato and Takeru walk pass her and towards the other.

Daisuke looks at Ken with a sad look. He had not meant to make her cry, to make her remember her family. He thought that she had a normal life since her parents seemed so happy on the TV. He was wrong. His problems were nothing compared to Ken's. Daisuke looks at her with a sad smile when he noticed that she was looking at him with a questioning gaze. “I'm sorry.” She blinks at him. “You're right. We were not acting like a team just now and I shouldn't have said that stuff about my sister. She's a pain at times, but it's nothing compared to the things you are going through.” She smiles at him. “Can you forgive me?” Ken nods and Daisuke smiles in relief.

“You know the first step in being a great leader is to admitting you're wrong.” Pucchiemon told him.

“Really?” Daisuke asked. Ken nods.

“Ryo is a perfect example.” Pucchiemon said but didn't elaborate.

Yamato looked down the cliff and frowned. It was to steep for them. Gabumon suggested that he will look for some rope, but the Gazimon offered to be them instead since Ken increased their strength. They were just about to do just that when they were ambushed by the Vegiemon. Yamato groaned. Ken was right.

The Red Vegiemon laughed as V-mon tried to attack him. V-mon was slightly dazed. Pucchiemon was trying to fend off some Vegiemon that was inching closer to his partner with Daisuke standing in front of her protectively.

“Chili Pepper Pummel!” V-mon fell to the ground as he was hit with chili peppers.

“Heartner Beam!” Pucchiemon shoots a beam from his finger and hits the Vegiemon.

“V-mon! Armor Digivolve!” Daisuke yelled not seeing the Vegiemon that was sneaking behind him and Ken until it was too late.

“Let her go! Love and Fire!” As Pucchiemon attacked with his arrows the RedVegimon attacked with his chili peppers. Both Pucchiemon and Patamon got hit and fell to the ground.

“Stink Jet!” RedVegiemon sent out a stinky breath fog that covers everyone, resulting with the others getting caught by the Vegiemon.

Daisuke watches as RedVegiemon picks up V-mon and as two Vegiemon drag Ken towards RedVegiemon. “Well my dear you are very hard to find.” Ken glares at him. “It must be luck that you just happen to be here.”

“Get away from her! Heartner Beam!” RedVegiemon avoids his attack and counters with his chili peppers. Pucchiemon hits the ground hard and reverts back to Wormmon. The Vegiemon laugh as three of them try to capture him. Wormmon gets up and attacks again. “Sticky Net!” The three Vegiemon were surprised when Wormmon trapped them in a webbing of silk. Once they were trapped Wormmon started to glow.

Yamato and Gabumon gasped as they saw Ken's digivice glowing. “He digivolve! But how?”

As Wormmon was engulfed in the light an image of Stingmon appears. The image disappears as the information goes into the light that sprinkles on Wormmon as he spins around. Wormmon Digivolve too…Stingmon!”

When the light fades Wormmon is replaced by a humanoid insect warrior. Yamato watches as Stingmon goes to rescue his partner. But there was still the question of how he was able to digivolve with the Dark Tower nearby?

While Stingmon was rushing to rescue his partner, V-mon was getting beat up by RedVegiemon. Daisuke watched in horror as his partner got hit with one attack after another. Daisuke smiles as V-mon was leaning against the Dark Tower, just like Ken said he should be. With a smile Daisuke yelled at his partner, “Now!” With a smile of his own V-mon moved out of the way and watched as RedVegiemon made a crack in the Dark Tower. Daisuke smiles as the plan worked. Yamato was able to digivolve Gabumon.

Yamato's digivice glows when the Dark Tower was cracked. Gabumon was engulfed in a white light. As Gabumon was engulfed in the light an image of Garurumon appears. The image disappears as the information goes into the light that sprinkles on Gabumon as he spins around. Gabumon Digivolve too… Garurumon!”

The blue wolf digimon growls at the RedVegiemon. The other Vegiemon release the others at the same time Stingmon saves his partner and destroyed a Dark Ring from one of Ken's captors.

“Digi-Armor Energize!” Daisuke yells when he gets freed.

A beam of light hits V-mon and a light engulfs him. He spins around as images of Agumon, Greymon, MetalGreymon, WarGreymon appears in the background. V-mon merges with the Crest of Courage. “V-mon Armor Digivolve too… Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage!”

Flamedramon blocks RedVeggiemon's attack and sighs in relief when Stingmon swoops in and takes out a few more Vegiemon.

“Get him Flamedramon!” Daisuke yells as he sees that Ken is in the safety of her partner's shoulders.

RedVegiemon attacks again, only to be swung around and collides to the ground by Flamedramon. “Fire Rocket!” Flamedramon fires fire at the digimon and he is engulfed in the flames.

“I heard of grilled vegetables before but this is ridiculous!” Redvegiemon comments as he struggles with the flames.

“Spiking Strike!” Stingmon yells as he breaks another Vegiemon's Dark Ring.

Daisuke runs to his partner when the digimon collapses to the ground. “You did it!” Flamedramon smiles at his partner and was just as happy when Stingmon lands next to him.

“Everyone okay?” Stingmon asks as he put Ken on the ground.

“Yeah we're fine.” Daisuke tells him. “Remind me again how you able to digivolve?”

Stingmon shrugged. “The Dark Towers doesn't stop me from digivolving; the same with Monodramon, but he digivolves with cards and the D-Power.”

Daisuke and Ken walk to the TV together while the others talk about the Dark Towers. Taichi, Miyako, and Koushiro had arrived at the end of the battle. They had asked how Gabumon digivolved, but Daisuke already knew. He and Ken knew that the towers were the reason and breaking them was what made Gabumon digivolve. He rolled his eyes when Armadillomon said that they should break it, but wasn't that what they came to do in the first place.

Now the others were destroying Dark Towers nearby. Ken said she had to get going since she got an email from Ryo, so he decided to take her to the TV. Daisuke actually learned a lot from Ken and knew that she was someone who didn't think least of him. He smiles as the digimon started talking about food. Was that all they thought about?

Daisuke stops in front of the TV. Ken turns and smiles at him. He raised an eyebrow when she took out her D-Terminal and started typing. He was startled when he had gotten a message. He takes out his D-Terminal and looks at the message. Daisuke's eyes widen as he looks up to see Ken smiling at him before she goes through the gate.

A smile crosses his lips as he rereads Ken message: I'LL SEE YOU TOMORROW DAISUKE-KUN.

Daisuke looks at his partner with the smile still on his face. V-mon smiled at him too. I will see you tomorrow, Ken-chan.

Odaiba Elementary School: Computer Room

Ryo smiles when Ken comes through the gate. Wormmon had reverted back to Minomon and was complaining about food. Hopemon was hoping on the table while Ryo was sitting in a chair. “How it go?”

Ken moves her hands in front of her. “Impmon was right about the Dark Tower and about Sam getting worse. The controlled digimon were getting more aggressive.” Ryo frowned slightly.

“We're running out of time. At least now we have the blueprints. We just need to know where his base is now this time.”

“I think we need to consider telling the Chosen.”

“Why?”

“They're planning to figure out what his identity is in order to stop him in the real world.”

To Be Continued…