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Standin' By Your Side (Chapter 7)

Chapter 7: Guardian Angel

When Kari and Gatomon get stuck in the Digital World, Ken, Wormmon, TK, and Patamon return to help her get out.

AO3: archiveofourown.org/works/66149626/chapters/174076249

This was hardly the first time that Ken found himself sprinting away from Digimon. Nor way it the first time they Shadramon had picked him up to aid in that escape. He doesn’t think it would ever stop being nerve wracking, though.

They’d been trying to destroy the Dark Spire in this area, but the whole area was a closed off city filled with Guardromon. In the end, they drew too much attention and there was no way they were going to be able to destroy the tower now, free all of the Gaurdromon. So their only choice for the time being was a retreat.

“Hurry!” Yolei called, before FlyBeemon devolves into Hawkmon and the two of them leap into the TV. With the area being shut off the way it was, the only easy way they had out was through the TV, leaving the Digital World entirely.

TK and Pegasusmon are the next closest, and Pegasusmon’s reversion to Patamon sends the pair hurling through the TV. That would be a rough landing. Cody and Pternomon are behind them, with Ken and Shadramon behind from there. Kari and Nefertimon were leading the back, presumably to make sure everyone got in.

A blast from one of the Guardromon narrowly misses the TV, mostly because it hits Pternomon instead. It sends Cody and Armadillomon to the ground. Shadramon shifts his hold on Ken, and Ken does his best to accommodate, as Shadramon scoops up Cody and Armadillomon, flying through the TV.

Ken and Minomon come tumbling out of his computer, making a painfully loud thud when they land. Ken himself wasn’t too bothered by the pain, it reminded him of getting tackled during soccer, but he worried that the noise would have drawn attention. His parents weren’t home, but Sam was, studying, and knowing Sam, he’d be nosey enough to investigate.

Glancing at the computer screen, Ken can see that the portal showed that the TV in the area they’d just left was inaccessible. With all the Guardromon shooting at them, he worried it had been damaged. That would make it harder to get there and destroy the Dark Spire.

There’s a knocking at his door, causing Ken to quickly stand and turn the computer monitor off. Looking down at Minomon, he scooped him up and shoved him under the blankets of his bed. Minomon yelped, but Ken shushed him, then hurried to the door.

“Ken?” Sam called as Ken opened the door. “Is everything alright, I heard a thud…?”

“It’s fine,” Ken said, mind racing for an excuse. “Maybe the neighbors?”

Sam considers that for a moment, but then frowned, “It sounded like it came from here.”

“I… caught my foot on my backpack and stumbled.” He lied, “I sat it down in a different spot than normal. Maybe you heard that?”

“Just now?” Sam peered past Ken, eyes landing on where Ken’s backpack sat, the same as always.

Not intending to admit that it wasn’t true, Ken nodded, “Yes, now I was just about to start on some homework…”

Though he was still frowning, Sam relents, “Right…” He turned to leave, right as Ken’s D-Terminal beeped – an email, surely. That caused Sam’s attention to return, “What was that?”

“An email,” Ken answered quickly, gesturing to the computer, “From a friend, I’m sure.”

“A friend?” Sam raised an eyebrow, skepticism in his voice.

“A friend,” Ken repeated, and then shut the door. Leave it to Sam to make him feel like a freak for daring to say he had even one friend, regardless of how true it was. He sits down on the edge of the bed, pulling the blankets back to let Minomon out, and then pulled out his D-Terminal.

To: Ken Ichijouji

From: TK Takaishi

Subject: Kari

Ken,

Kari and Gatomon didn’t come out with us. Unless they came out with you, somehow, they must still be in the Digital World. Yolei, Cody, Poromon, and Upamon have gone home for the day. Going to go into the Digital World to rescue Kari and Gatomon, the TV there doesn’t work, but nearby ones do.

Don’t worry, will make sure they’re okay,

TK

Ken reread the email a couple times. Kari and Nefertimon had been behind him and Shadramon… whatever happened to the TV must have happened after he, Shadramon, Cody, and Armadillomon got through. That Kari and Gatomon were still there, though, was worrying. There was no way out, then, and Gatomon probably wouldn’t be able to bust through the walls right now, let alone get them to a wall, with all of the Gaurdomon.

So TK was probably right to go to help. But all on his own? Or well, his and Patamon’s own? Ken was worried about that, too. That was still a lot of Digimon, and Patamon was only one Digimon. Looking down at Minomon, Ken wondered…

“Are you up for going to the Digital World again?”

Minomon looked up at him, curious, “I could… but I’m hungry, Ken!”

“Right,” Ken nodded, remembering that Minomon ate… a lot. He was told this is normal for Digimon in the real world. “After you eat”

“Then I’d be glad to!” Minomon bounced excitedly. “Is it something about the email?”

Standing again, Ken replied, “Kari and Gatomon got stuck in the Digital World. TK and Patamon are going to help them get out… I thought we could help.” He sets his D-Terminal down by his computer.

“We can!” Minomon agreed, “It would be bad if something happened to them.”

“Exactly. Now wait here and I’ll grab you some food.”

---

Once Minomon was fed, Ken made sure he had his D3 and his D-Terminal, before picking up Minomon, finding the nearest exit point to where they had been, and then returning to the Digital World. Hopefully TK and Patamon weren’t too far ahead of them, otherwise they’d be playing catch up. Thankfully, this section of the Digital World had pretty decent visibility, mostly just rocky.

It's easy to find where they had been, the walls and dome that separated Kari and Gatomon from the rest of the Digital World. And not too far away, Ken sees the familiar hat of TK, and the orange loaf shape of Patamon, perched on his head. Adjusting his grip on Wormmon, Ken hurries over.

“TK! Patamon!” He called out. The two looked over, a smile coming to TK’s face.

“Hey, you came!” TK called back, waiting where he was until Ken had reached him. “I was wondering if you would.”

Ken frowned, pondering TK’s words. “You… the others went home, why would you care if I came?” It wasn’t like TK had asked Ken to, he’d just been letting him know about his plans… then again, Ken supposed he couldn’t know if TK had let anyone else know what he was planning.

“I was hoping you’d come so I could get a chance to talk to you some,” TK answered, “You seem like the type that might prefer it with less people around.”

“So that’s why you bothered telling me about Kari and Gatomon not coming through,” Hoping to bait Ken to come here. It was a bit annoying that Ken was apparently so predictable that TK, someone he didn’t feel he knew that well, could figure out how to get him here so easily.

TK turned his attention back to the walled off city, “I mean, it felt like something that’s important for you to know. You can’t be apart of the team if we don’t make some attempt to keep you in the loop.”

Patamon hopped off his head, gliding towards Ken and Wormmon, “Plus, if Wormmon really can Digivolve without a Digi Egg… well, that means you two probably have more experience in the Digital World than you’re letting on.” He lands on Ken’s shoulder, peering down at Wormmon, before hopping off again and flying back to TK.

Some part of Ken felt… touched, he supposed, that the other Digi Destined felt it important to keep him informed about going ons, even if those things don’t necessarily directly affect or involve him. Another part of Ken panicked at the idea that any of the Digi Destined might think he was keeping things from them. Which he was. But it wasn’t like he meant to or that it was all that important.

“I… well…”

“We’ll have to find a way in, with the TV broken,” TK said, gesturing to the walled city where Kari and Gatomon were. “It’s sealed all around, so we can’t fly over.”

Patamon looked around, searching the landscape, “There’s no Dark Spires in this area,” he said. “Why don’t we Digivolve!”

It was clear that Patamon was itching to Digivolve regularly.

TK nodded, “You could probably bust through the walls pretty easy as Angemon…” He agreed, “And Wormmon can show off his Champion form too. Stingmon, right?”

“Oh, that would be nice,” Wormmon said, looking up at Ken.

Ken can’t say no to Wormmon. So he sets Wormmon down on the ground, “Alright, then let’s do this. Once we’re inside, they won’t be able to stay Digivolved, but stealth will probably be better if earlier is any indication.”

“Patamon Digivolve to… Angemon!” Angemon was a somewhat familiar Digimon, though Ken thinks he was more familiar with a different Digivolution of his, or perhaps a similar line of Digimon.

“Wormmon Digivolve to… Stingmon!” Whenever Ken saw Stingmon he always felt very… safe, he supposed. The sort of feeling he only got nowadays when he was alone in his room. Stingmon would never let anything or anyone hurt him, more than anyone else in his life ever would do. And Stingmon would never hurt Ken, no matter what.

“Alright!” TK cheered, “Now let’s get in there and save Kari and Gatomon!”

---

To: Tai Kamiya, Matt Ishida, Izzy Izumi, Sora Takenouchi, TK Takaishi, Joe Kido, Kari Kamiya

From: Mimi Tachikawa

Subject: Look at this!

Heeeello all!

While I was in Japan the other day (you all remember, I went on that picnic with Kari, TK, and their new Digi Destined friends) I saw this interview on TV with this boy genius. When I met Ken, I thought there was something familiar about him… it turns out, the boy in that interview looks just like him and has the same last name! Sam Ichijouji… Maybe they’re related? I just thought it was interesting! I found an online magazine article about it, you should look. He sounds like he’s pretty interesting!

Love,

Mimi <3 <3 <3

At the end of the email, Mimi had sent a link to a website containing a magazine article about a recent TV interview done with a teen named Sam Ichijouji.

Tamachi’s Boy Genius, Sam Ichijouji

While many in Tamachi have heard of the young genius Sam Ichijouji, it’s only in the past few years that his intellect has made news outside of his home. In a recent interview, Ichijouji talks about his life growing up and what an average day has come to be like.

Ichijouji’s brains made itself apparent at a young age, his mother reports, easily getting top grades in his classes and out doing all of his peers at Tamachi Elementary. By that point, he already had a six-year-old brother to help with, too. His parents, recognizing how impressive he was, began to do all they could to make sure his skills were recognized by others and that he could have the education he deserved. Things were tough, sometimes, but Ichijouji says they all made it through alright.

Most recently, Ichijouji won a computer science competition for young programmers, having created a computer program that aids students in managing their daily schedules. He says he himself plans to make great use of the program to keep track of his busy schedule.

According to Ichijouji, his usual schedule often looks quite similar to that of the average student, although he also does many interviews with various newspapers, magazines, and television stations. Despite this, he still enjoys many experiences typical to your regular teenager. He studies, has homework, and when he’s not doing all those other things, he even plays sports, although he says his focus on his academics leads him to not participate in most of his teams’ games.

Those of Tamachi eagerly await what their bright star might accomplish next.

At the bottom of the article is a picture of a teenage boy with dark, messy hair and glasses. He has a polite smile, the kind that’s trained into existence, and a solemn look to his eyes. His school uniform looked perfect on him, like a second skin that lacked a single wrinkle.

---

“The Guardromon destroyed the TV in that area,” Sea Angel notes, pointing at the corresponding square on the map of the Digital World. The Emperor squints beneath his sunglasses, brow furrowed. “That’s the walled city. Andromon’s city.” He adds.

“Oh,” The Emperor intoned, “So the Digi Destined don’t have a way in. That’s pretty good, I told you taking over the walled city was a good idea.”

Sea Angel rolled his eyes, “Sure you did,” The Emperor was the one who had thought it was a waste of effort. But that didn’t matter, now. “It won’t be easy for them to get it, but they could still pull it off. It also looks like one of them is still in there…”

The Emperor leans back in his chair, “Which one?”

“Kamiya, it looks like.” Sea Angel knew that the Emperor had a soft spot for Kamiya, of all the Digi Destined.

“Kari?” He sits up straight, “They better not hurt her.”

“She’s our enemy,” Sea Angel points out dryly.

In the opposite of an intimidating expression, the Emperor pouts, “But Angel, she’s… you don’t know Kari. She’s just so… wonderful, y’know? A bright, shining light…”

Taking a deep breath, Sea Angel steeled himself for another Kari Kamiya conversation. “She does have the Digi Egg of Light, so I would expect as much.” He said, crossing his arms, “But you can’t ignore that she’s a threat to your own plans.”

“I don’t’ want her to get hurt, though,” The Emperor argues, “She doesn’t deserve that.”

And Sea Angel sighs, now. “She’s the one opposing us.”

“It’s not like she’ll be able to destroy the Spire with just her Digimon.” The Emperor pauses for a moment, then leaps out of his seat, “We should go see her!”

“What.”

Ignoring Sea Angel’s confusion, the Emperor marches out of the room, “We’re taking Airdramon and we’re going to the walled city!”

“Why?” Sea Angel yelped, hurrying to catch up with him. “What is going through your head?”

Glancing back at him, the Emperor grinned cheekily, “A great idea!”

---

Ken, TK, Wormmon, and Patamon walked through the walled city, doing their best to avoid detection from the many Guardromon. It was a miracle their entrance hadn’t drawn more attention, given they’d blown a hole in the wall. Now, they just had to find Kari and Gatomon and figure out how they were going to get out of here. If they were lucky, they’d be able to back track to the way they came, or maybe just blow another hole in the wall.

“Hey, your family won’t start worrying, will they?” TK asked, voice quiet, but not to the point of a whisper.

Confused, Ken asked, “Why would they?”

Shooting him a curious look, TK answered, “Well, we’ll probably be here longer than we’re normally in the Digital World, and I assume they don’t know about… all of this.” He gestured around them. “So if they realize you’re gone and don’t know where you are, they’d probably worry, right?”

“My family doesn’t pay me much mind,” Ken pursed him lips. Their parents worked later than normal that evening and Sam would hopefully keep himself too busy with his studies to notice that Ken wasn’t in his room.

“You… don’t seem to like to talk about them,” TK observed, hesitantly. He was trying to tread carefully. “I… get what it’s like. To have a complicated family.”

Unable to help himself, Ken scoffs, “There’s hardly anything complicated about it.” His parents loved Sam and he was here because they couldn’t have known that Sam would be a genius until after Ken was born. By then, they were stuck with him.

After a moment to consider that, TK replied, “Sometimes family is hard even when it’s straight forward. Most of the time, families are that way.”

Ken didn’t know what TK was trying to get at. What he was trying to pry out from Ken. He just didn’t see how his family was important, not when he’d been so careful to not say much about them. So why did he even care? Was he looking for something to hold over his head?

TK looks like he wants to say something more, but is interrupted, the form of Nefertimon flying overhead. “Kari!” He called out.

Looking the direction that Kari and Nefertimon came from, Ken suggests, “We should probably follow them.” They had the attention of more than a few Guardromon’s on them, and that attention would probably be on Ken, TK, Wormmon, and Patamon, soon enough.

Following his gaze, TK replied, “Yeah, we should.” He pulled out his D-Terminal, Ken doing the same. “Digi Armor energize!”

“Patamon Armor Digivolve to… Pegasusmon! Flying Hope!”

“Wormmon Armor Digivolve to… Shadramon! The Flames of Courage!”

TK wasted little time hopping onto Pegasusmon, settling on his back. Shadramon, in kind, picked Ken up in his arms, and the two Digimon began to fly, chasing after Nefertimon. Hopefully Kari had some plan as to where she was going, otherwise they might just run around in circles.

Shadramon and Pegasusmon manage to catch up with Nefertimon and Kari easily, “Kari!” TK called out once more.

“TK! Ken! Where are the others?” Kari called back, glancing back at them.

“Home!” TK replied, “It’s just us. We made a hole in the wall to get in, if you can make it there, we can get out!”

Kari made a face, “It’s just you four?”

“This is different from usual,”

Shadramon then asks, “What about the Dark Spire? If we leave it, this area will stay under the Emperor’s control.”

“I don’t think we’ll be able to break it with just the six of us. Not with this many Guardromon around.” Kari shook her head. “We can try again another day.”

As much as Ken hated it, she was probably right. With this many Digimon around, it would be hard to destroy the Dark Spire. Strategy, they could get out of here and come up with a better plan to try again when they were all together. With the TV here destroyed, they’d still have to get in from the outside, but that was a problem for another day.

TK calls out directions to Nefertimon, trying to guide her back the way they came. And just when Ken thinks he can see the hole they put in the wall, he realizes just as quickly that there’s something in the way of it. “Digimon!” He called, though by that point, Nefertimon, Pegasusmon, and Shadramon had already seen and were responding accordingly.

They diverted to the sides, coming to a stop. The Digimon that blocked their way was different from the Guardromon, taller and humanoid in appearance. Just barely, Ken can see a flash of recognition in Kari’s expression.

“Andromon!” She said, a fond familiarity in her voice.

Andromon tilted his head, eyeing Kari, who slid off of Nefertimon’s back. “Careful, Kari,” Nefertimon warned, wariness in her voice.

“Something seems off with Andromon,” TK noted, leaning forward on Pegasusmon’s back.

Ken glanced up at Shadramon, “Let me down,” he said quietly. Shadramon shot him a concerned look, but complied, gently setting him on the ground.

Kari approached Andromon, “It’s good to see you,” She smiled. Still, Andromon only stared.

Finally, Andromon spoke, “Target found,” his arm reached out.

“Hey!” Ken yelled, rushing forward, but not fast enough to stop Andromon from grabbing Kari and lifting her up, his hand wrapped around her arms, her feet dangling off the ground. The Guardromon around them stilled. Then Ken sees – there’s a Dark Ring around Andromon’s neck, how had they missed it?

“Kari!” TK leaped off of Pegasusmon, hurrying closer.

What could they even do, though? With Andromon holding Kari, there was no way to attack him without risking hurting her. Ken doubted they could pry her out of his grasp without risk of her or them getting hurt, either.

“Andromon!” Kari cried out, “It’s me! It’s Kari! We’re friends, remember?”

There’s a twitch in Andromon’s arm, so small Ken almost wouldn’t have noticed it, if he hadn’t been watching Andromon so intently. Just what was that?

“I know you’re in there, Andromon,” Kari pleaded, though Ken supposed it wasn’t so much a plea as a breathless insistence.

Andromon’s arm lowered, though Kari’s feet still hovered above the ground. Something was flickering in his eyes, almost like he was fighting himself. Was he… somehow fighting the Emperor’s control?

Another pause, and then finally, “…Kari?”

Kari’s smile returned, “Yes! Andromon!”

Finally, he set her back on the ground. The Dark Ring around his neck snapped in two, falling to the ground. It seems there were some further flaws in the Dark Rings, if an intense emotional reaction could shatter it. Or maybe it was just something about Kari, Digi Destined of Light.

That was something Ken could explore at a later date.

“Now,” TK began, “Let’s do something about that Dark Spire.”

Andromon looked at him, then towards the Dark Spire, looming in the center of the city. “Allow me to terminate the Dark Spire,” He turned towards the Spire, his chest opening to reveal many missiles. “Gattling Missiles!” They flew at the Dark Spire, destroying it into many pieces.

“That’s that taken care of,” Pegasusmon comments.

Turning his attention to the Guardromon, Andromon said, “I’ll reset the Guardromon’s programming. You kids head home.”

Their Digimon return to their Rookie forms, and Ken smiles. Mission accomplished, better than they’d planned, even. Kari and Gatomon were safe, and the Dark Spire was destroyed. This area was free of the Emperor’s control.

“Great work, everyone,” Kari smiled, “And… TK, Ken, thank you for coming for me.”

Smiling in return, TK replies, “You know I’d never leave you behind.”

It was obvious to Ken that TK and Kari were close. It was easy to tell even from early on, but now… it was smacking Ken straight in the face. He supposed that was what happened when you went on big adventures with people, especially as the only ones around the same.

Maybe he and Ryo could have been good friends like this, if Ryo hadn’t disappeared. The thought leaves a bitter taste in Ken’s mouth and an ache in the back of his neck.

Then he remembers he should probably say something, at least out of politeness. “I… wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“You’re shaping up to be more reliable than I’d at first thought,” Kari replied, “And I’m glad.”

Unable to help himself, Ken smiled, small but true, “That… I’m grateful.”

---

“He broke the Dark Ring,” The Emperor observed, annoyance obvious in his voice. “How the hell did he break it?”

“Well,” Sea Angel began, dryly, “the Dark Rings do seem to struggle with Digimon above Champion level. And Andromon is an Ultimate level Digimon.” He’d lean back, if there were anything to lean back on. But on Airdramon’s back, the only way to exist was either straddling its back or standing on it.

Airdramon hovered well above the city, watching events unfold beneath them. Somehow, Takaishi and Ichijouji had broke into the city to retrieve Kamiya. And it ended with them losing the city. What an annoyance.

“Stupid Takaishi,” The Emperor grumbles, “Trying to steal Kari away… and Ichijouji…” His face lit up, “Say, Angel… have I told you about the Ichijouji plan?” His smile was sly, nearly devious.

Sea Angel narrowed his eyes, “No,” He said slowly, “You haven’t.”

---

Ken gets back home and the smell of dinner leaks into his room from the kitchen. Immediately, this raised questions. Ken’s parents shouldn’t be home yet, so who was cooking dinner? He confirms that it should just be him and Sam by double checking the time.

That left… Sam, he supposed. Yes, that makes sense. Sam is cooking dinner for himself, something he is perfectly capable of doing. This shouldn’t feel so strange. No, instead, Ken would bask in the success of the day for a little bit, get some studying in, and then grab food for Minomon and himself once Sam was done. Nothing truly unusual.

“You’re really starting to get along with the others,” Minomon comments as Ken sets him on his bed.

“I’m glad they feel they can put some trust in me,” Ken replied. Teamwork worked best when the members could at least somewhat trust each other. Even Ken knew that.

Cheerfully, Minomon said, “One day, I think you’ll all be able to call each other friends!”

His limbs stiffened, unbidden, and Ken’s voice stuck in his through, for a moment. Once he can get any sound out, he responded, “I… we’ll see.” He doesn’t have the heart to strike down the idea entirely. Minomon would be sad. But Ken just couldn’t imagine the other Digi Desitned wanting to be his friend.

He sits down at his desk, turning off the computer for the time being. He’d get some studying in, until Sam was done cooking. He could use it, all the time in the Digital World had him falling behind where he wanted to be. Which wasn’t all that behind in class, but he tried to keep up a buffer for this exact reason.

After a while, there’s a knock at his door again. Ken doesn’t know why Sam is bothering him for a second time in one day, but he begrudgingly stands and makes his way to the door. “I’m studying,” He said as he opened the door.

Sam gave him a small, polite smile. “I made dinner.” He said, then added, “For both of us.”

“Why?” What, was he attempting to bribe Ken now, or something? Maybe their parents wanted to force Ken to sit around while Sam had one of his interviews again. They’d stopped doing that a couple years ago, but he wouldn’t put it past them to try to start doing that again, to rub Sam’s greatness in his face.

“I wanted to do something nice,” Sam answered, “Since mom and dad are out.”

He was just cooking anyway, Ken tells himself. That’s all. “Fine, alright.” As much as he didn’t want to, the idea of not having to cook for himself was tantalizing. He’d sneak leftovers for Minomon later.

The two of them sit at the table and eat in awkward silence. Occasionally, Sam tries to break up the silence by asking Ken questions, about his day, about school, about soccer, but Ken only gave short answers. He doesn’t know why Sam bothers with politeness, anymore. It’s better than anger, he supposed, but that was about it. Dinner can’t go fast enough.

Ken does his due diligence to help with dishes, and just before he’s able to retreat back to his room, there’s a knock at the apartment door. Sam sighed, probably figuring just as Ken was that it was some reporter or weirdo who had tracked down their address. That’s usually what it was. Being a famous genius, at least in Tamachi, had those kinds of disadvantages. Ken just hurries in putting away the dishes.

“Hello?” He hears Sam open the door, and Ken is just about ready to tune out the ensuing conversation for the next minute or so it took for him to finish and hide into his room.

But then he hears a familiar voice, one he seems to keep encountering, recently, “Hi, is Ken home?”

Ohwada.

Why does he know where Ken lives?

“Yeah…” Sam trailed off, confusion obvious in his voice. He looks back at Ken, face scrunched. Ken sets the plate he was about to put away down and walks towards the door. Unsurprisingly, Ohwada stood there, hands nonchalantly in the pockets of his jacket, a bag slung over his shoulder.

“Ohwada,” Ken greeted, though he hoped the other part, the question of “why are you here?” got across in the single word.

Ohwada just smiled, “We go to the same school,” He explained to Sam, then looked at Ken, “I was hoping you could help me with some homework.”

Sam’s face looked skeptical, but he stepped away from the door and went back to the dishes in the kitchen. At least he was minding his own business.

“Homework?” Ken raised an eyebrow.

Smile falling, Ohwada leaned in, saying in a hushed voice, “There’s something I want to talk to you about. In private.”

The logical part of Ken told him this was an awful idea. Another logical part told him that if Ohwada was going to try to hurt him, he wouldn’t do it in his own apartment, while his older brother was present. That would be plain stupid. But he’d admit, as strange and unsettling as Ohwada could be… Ken was curious.

“Okay,” He said, “I’ll help you with your ‘homework’.”

He stepped aside, letting Ohwada into the apartment. Ohwada gave a casual look around, but Ken paid it little mind.

Sam glanced towards them, “I’ll finish putting the dishes away,”

“We’ll be in my room.” With that, Ken led Ohwada to his room, shutting the door behind him. Minomon should be smart enough to either hide or pretend to be a stuffed animal or something.

Again, Ohwada took stock of the room, eyes roving across every little detail. It was almost unnerving, but Ken brushed it off. Then his eyes landed on Minomon, holding still on Ken’s bed. They held there, before moving away and back to Ken.

Ken turns to face him, “So what is this about?”

Pulling his hand out of his pocket, Ohwada holds his palm out, “I think we have something in common.”

In his open palm was a Digivice, like the older Digi Destined had, like Ken, Kari, and TK once had. Except, a chunk of it was missing from the top right corner, a crack webbing out from it across the screen.

“You’re… a Digi Destined?” Ken managed to say, somehow a struggle to get those words alone out.

Ohwada nodded, “Or I was, I guess. My partner’s dead.”

“Oh,” Ken’s throat felt tight. Even the thought of losing Minomon felt too awful to even consider.

Minomon hops up on his spot on the bed, “They weren’t reborn as a Digi Egg in Primary Village?”

Ohwada made a face, something like confusion, “…What?”

“When a Digimon dies, they’re often reborn as a Digi Egg in Primary Village, a special village in the Digital World,” Minomon explained. “Haven’t you looked?”

Shaking his head, Ohwada replied, “I… I’ve never been to the Digital World, actually. I know a friend who’s gone once, but… that’s it.”

“Another Digi Destined?” Ken asked.

“...Yeah, but he doesn’t live in Tamachi”

Something about all of this didn’t sit right with Ken. “How did you know I was one?”

There’s a pause, Ohwada seemed to be searching for an answer. Finally, he said, “I saw your Digimon there in your bag at the convivence store the other day.”

“And you’ve never been to the Digital World?”

“Never,” Ohwada insisted, “Do you think I’m lying to you?” There’s a sharpness in his voice. It felt… familiar. Too much about Ohwada felt familiar. Ice prickled at Ken’s neck.

Coldly, Ken replied, “Maybe I do. I definitely think you’re suspicious.”

In response, Ohwada raised his hands placatingly, cracked Digivice still in hand. “I’m sorry if I come off that way… I’m not exactly the greatest with people, either.”

“Who are you?” Ken asked, hoping in vain for some other, new, answer.

With a polite smile, Ohwada answered, “Lui Ohwada, the first Digi Destined.”

Ken finds himself speechless again.

“The first?” Minomon echoed, eyes wide.

“February 29th, 1996, an egg appeared on my family’s porch.” Ohwada added.

Quickly doing the math, Ken comments, “You’re younger than me,” Not as much as Cody was, but still. If he was a Digi Destined that long… “you would have been… three?”

“Four,” Ohwada quickly corrected.

“What happened to your partner, then?” Minomon asked, his head tilted in curiosity.

Quickly, Ohwada replied, “He’d dead. It doesn’t matter how.” It was sharp, something jagged underneath his attempts to remain polite.

“Why tell us all this?” Ken asked. What reason could there be? Especially out of the blue like this? And when he had no partner and had never been to the Digital World.

“I don’t know,” Ohwada shrugged, “it just felt… right.”

Narrowing his eyes at Ohwada, Ken tried to figure it out the truth in that. Somehow, he doubted it was so straightforward. Though he already knew the answer, on surface, he asked “Who are you.”

With a smile, Ohwada answered, “Lui Ohwada, the first Digi Destined.”

[writingpaperghost]

Standin' By Your Side (Chapter 6)

Chapter 6: Dangerous Picnic

The Digi Destined have a picnic, though like most things, it doesn't go according to plan.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66149626/chapters/173916934

Kari, basket full of plates, utensils, and a couple blankets on her arm, stepped out of the Kamiya apartment, holding Gatomon in her arms. It was a nice day, hopefully the weather in the Digital World was just as nice, or else the picnic she and the others had planned wouldn’t be such a nice time. As she walked towards the elevator, a door opens, revealing Davis.

“Kari, hey!” He greeted, a not quite full smile on his face. Kari can’t recall the last time she saw a smile on him that didn’t seem fake. His eyes fall on Gatomon, first, “Oh, that’s a cute stuffed animal. I guess you’ve always been the kind to like cute things, looks familiar though…”

Could Davis had seen Gatomon around the school? Or somewhere else? But it did sound like he thought she was a stuffed animal, so he must not suspect her to be anything else. Just familiar. That didn’t mean much.

Returning the smile, certainly more genuine than Davis’, Kari said, “She was a gift from… a friend.”

Then Davis’ gaze fell to the basket, “You got plans today?” He asked.

“Some friends and I are going on a picnic,” She said, though as she spoke she felt bad. She wished she could have invited him, he really did deserve to have friendship, to do things with others. Even if he’d probably find an excuse. It used to be she could get him to do anything, it was no secret he used to have a crush on her, but then the accident happened and everything changed. Still, she wished she could do more.

“Today’s a good day for it,” Davis agreed, “Actually, I’m meeting up with a friend, too, but he doesn’t live here. He lives in Tamachi, so I don’t get to see him as much.”

Kari blinked, “Oh, Tamachi is a ways away from here,”

Davis nodded, “He used to live in Hikarigaoka, actually, but a year or so ago his parents passed so he moved in with his relatives over there.”

Maybe Davis still had someone, other than Tai and herself. She’d never heard of this other friend before, and while she wished he’d tell her more about himself… she was glad. He had a friend, someone he clearly seemed to be somewhat excited to spend time with. “I know someone over there, too. Not very well, because of the distance but…” She shook her head, this had nothing to do with Ken. “Well, I hope you have fun. If your friend ever comes over here to visit, you should introduce him to me.”

For a moment, Davis’ eyes widened, his smile falling, until it returned again, “Maybe I will. Usually I go to see him, though. Well, see ya!” Davis ducked back into the apartment, shutting the door gently.

Kari stared at the door for a moment, then began to walk again. Didn’t want to keep the others waiting, after all. They’d meet up outside the school, sneak into the computer lab together, and then enter the Digital World and find somewhere nice to have their picnic.

---

Ken listens to the clunk of the front door closing. Sam had an interview today, so he and their parents had just left. The whole thing would take hours, Ken was just glad he was old enough they left him behind instead of dragging him. Especially today.

The Digi Destined had invited him to a picnic with them in the Digital World. Ken had never really gone on a picnic before, certainly not with other kids his own age. He’d admit, some part of him was a bit excited by the prospect, but he squished it down so as to not get his hopes up. They could always change their mind, after all.

His family would ask questions if they noticed he was gone without leaving the front door, so he had to wait for them to leave, then they’d just think he left sometime after them. And as long as he got back before them… or at least they don’t notice he’d ever left at all, he’d be okay. It wasn’t the perfect plan, but he really doubted they’d realize he was gone, if they beat him home.

“Do people bring things when they’re invited to a picnic?” Minomon asked, sat on Ken’s desk. He tilted his head, about as sure about what to do as Ken was.

Ken considered that, “I… don’t know. But we probably should, just to be safe.” He picks up Minomon, setting him into a bag. “Let’s run to the convenience store and get something, food’s always good.”

Minomon nodded, “Alright! I’m sure you’ll pick something great.”

So Ken and Minomon set out for the convenience store. A few minutes later, they’re wandering the store, Ken feeling uncertainty sitting in his chest. What did you even bring to the picnic? Fruit? Candy? Junk food snacks? Water? He had absolutely no idea.

Something easy to split between people, definitely. So maybe some kind of snack, since he’d probably be especially late if he took the time to slice up fruit. Ken makes his way to where all the snacks were located, looking through the options. Candy seemed too sweet, and chips seemed a bit too unhealthy, not to mention it got your fingers all dirty.

His thoughts are cut off by a somewhat familiar voice, “Ichijouji, looking for something?”

Turning, Ken is faced with the boy he’d ran into a few days ago after school, Ohwada, he thinks his name was. “Um…” He began, unsure of how to respond.

Silently, Ohwada reached beside Ken, grabbing a couple bags of fruit snacks, “These are pretty good. My friend likes them too.”

“Right…” He responded, still not sure what all to say. He hadn’t been expecting anyone to recognize him, let alone bother talking to him.

Ohwada smiled, then looked him straight in the eye, “Have a nice picnic,” before he swiftly turned and left.

It took Ken a moment to realize what he’d said. How had Ohwada known that Ken was going to a picnic? There was nothing to give that indication. Was it dumb luck? Or something else? What else could it be?

“Ken?” Minomon called out quietly from the bag. “Is something wrong?”

That snapped Ken’s out of his thoughts, “It’s nothing,” It had to be. There wasn’t any way it could be something. He swipes a few packets of fruit snacks and then turns towards the counter, “Let’s get going.”

---

Mimi Tachikawa was so very cool. Effortlessly beautiful and amazing, so genuine in every moment. And to think, Yolei almost didn’t get to know her, if it weren’t for the Digital World.

She’d slipped into the school after them, intending to have a little walk of nostalgia on her sudden and surprise visit back to Japan. When she’d found them in the computer lab and Kari and TK confirmed she was one of their friends, they invited her to the Digital World. And now she had joined them on their picnic and was the shining light of the whole thing.

They’d found a nice spot, pretty and in a not too dense part of the forest. Most importantly, there wasn’t a Dark Spire in sight, so the area must not be under the Emperor’s control. That meant it was pretty darn safe, the perfect place for a picnic.

Yolei was a bit disappointed that Ken wasn’t there. They’d invited him, and he’d said he would be, but they’d been in the Digital World for a while, and sat down and having their picnic for several minutes, and there wasn’t a sign of him, or even an email. She’d been hoping to get to talk to him more, and she thinks that he’d like Mimi. Not that she was exactly sure how he felt about anyone…

For all that he was mysterious, brave, and cute, the mystery made it hard to figure out what he was thinking or feeling. She’d seen his worry for Wormmon, after Wormmon tried to fight RedVeggiemon, and he’d seemed to get angry at Sea Angel when they first encountered him, but beyond that, Yolei wasn’t sure what he thought of people. Did he even like any of them? She hoped so, and he did promise to try to keep in better contact with them, so obviously he didn’t hate them.

Maybe he was just running late. They hadn’t known where exactly in the Digital World they wanted to set up for their picnic, either, so he could just be trying to find them. Even with Shadramon being able to fly, it still took time to traverse the Digital World. Yes, he’s probably just running late.

“Your head is in the clouds, Yolei,” Hawkmon’s voice broke her out of her thoughts. He always seemed to know when she was getting lost in her own head. Yolei had come to a sort of understanding about Digimon partners, that they seemed to compliment their human partner wonderfully. Hawkmon kept her from getting all stuck in her head, Gatomon helped Kari with leading them.

Yolei smiled, “Don’t mind me, just thinking. Say, do you think Ken’s running late?”

TK considered that, “Could be. Maybe we should have planned to meet up with him before we started our picnic.”

“That’s your other friend, right?” Mimi asked, “The one with the Digi Egg of Courage.”

“He got the Digi Egg before any of us realized the Digital World was open again.” Kari answered Mimi, then turned her attention to Yolei, “He could have changed his mind and not be coming.”

That seemed unlikely, though, “He said he was going to,” Yolei frowned, “I hope he wouldn’t change his mind without saying anything.”

Mimi gave Yolei a reassuring smile, “I’m sure he’ll get here soon.”

With that kind of confidence, how could Yolei argue? Even if Ken didn’t make it, as disappointing as it would be, she could still enjoy the fun of this picnic. She didn’t bring all that food for nothing!

Armadillomon munched on some gourd rolls, clearly enjoying himself. Cody quietly reminds him not too eat too fast, which he seemed to heed, at least for the moment. Hawkmon gestured towards him, “Pass one to me, please,”

“You got it!” Somehow, Armadillomon manages to pick up a roll on his foot, then tossed it towards Hawkmon.

The roll flies past Hawkmon, landing on the ground behind him and rolling. Hopping to his feet, Hawkmon turned around to chase it. “Oh, come back here!”

Scrambling up, Yolei turned around and followed him, “Hey, Hawkmon!”

Behind her, she can hear Mimi call out, “Yolei, Hawkmon! Wait, don’t run off!”

After a few seconds of chasing, Hawkmon manages to scoop up the roll. Yolei catches up easily, “Great, now let’s head ba-“ the ground beneath their feet shifted.

“Yolei! Hawkmon!” Mimi’s voice came right up beside them.

“Wait, wait-!” Yolei tried to turn and tell Mimi not to get close, but before she could get the words out, the ground underneath them disappeared entirely. A trio of yells is their signal and down they fall.

---

“They should be nearby, according to the Digivice,” Ken commented, Wormmon cradled in one arm, his Digivice held in his other hand. “But why have a picnic here? Where there must be a Dark Spire…”

“Well, it’s not like we’ve seen one around here…” Wormmon replied, looking around.

That was true. Usually Dark Spire were hard to miss, big and black, often in great contrast to the rest of the world. “But we know there is one here, why else would you be forced out of being Stingmon?” Wormmon had wanted to be in his Champion form, and they’d both agreed it would be a pretty good way to get around and get to the rest of the Digi Destined. But he’d been forced out of it, and now they were on foot again.

Wormmon considered that, then answered, “Maybe none of the Digimon have tried Digivolving. Hawkmon and Armadillomon might not even be able to.”

Gatomon and Patamon should be able to, from what Ken had heard about the other Digi Destined it would make sense. But he’d never seen or heard of Hawkmon and Armadillomon being able to Digivolve any other way than Armor Digivolution, so maybe  they couldn’t. It wasn’t impossible that the other Digi Destined had been lured into a false sense of security, since they couldn’t see the Dark Spire.

“Yolei!” He heard Kari’s voice call out.

“Mimi!” Came TK’s.

“Hawkmon!” Came Cody’s.

That wasn’t a good sign. Ken sprints towards the voices, finding the three Digi Destined and their partners, searching around. “What’s going on?” He asked.

Kari paused a moment, turning to look at him. “Yolei, Hawkmon, and Mimi ran off, and now we can’t find them.”

Gatomon frowned, “They shouldn’t have gotten that far…”

“It’s possible that Digimon under the Emperor’s control found them,” Ken suggested, setting Wormmon down.

Armadillomon shook his head, “There’s no Dark Spire here.”

“If there wasn’t,” Wormmon bowed his head, antenna drooping as he thought about it, “I would still be in my Champion form.” He sounded a bit like he was pouting.

Patamon glides over, giving Wormmon a surprised look, “Wormmon, you can Digivolve?”

Head peeking up, Wormmon replied, “Of course, when I’m when Ken, I can become quite strong as Stingmon. More than I am like this, at least…”

“Let’s focus on finding the others,” Ken suggested, moving to join the other Digi Destined, “I think if we find them, we’ll find the Dark Spire.”

---

“Ugh,” Yolei rubbed her side, still recovering from the fall, “Great, where are we?” Above them was a single source of light, a seeming hole in the ceiling. Around them there was dense, dark forest.

“I don’t know,” Hawkmon said as he stood up, “But we’ve found a Dark Spire.” He points, bringing her attention to the offending object.

Mimi, standing up herself, glares at the Dark Spire, “So that’s what the Digimon Emperor has been putting all over.”

Finally, Yolei stands up, feeling a certain energy, “We’ll just have to destroy it, right Hawkmon?”

“Of course,” Hawkmon agreed.

They begin to walk through the forest, towards the tower. It was always getting to the Dark Spires that always felt like it took so long. Maybe it was because they were usually closing the distance on foot. Yolei figured that Hawkmon could Armor Digivolve into FlyBeemon and get there faster, but she wanted him to save his energy, in case something happened. The odds were, the Emperor would have someone protecting the Dark Spire, as that’s how it often seemed to be.

“Princess Mimi!” A chorus of voices cried out, immediately preceding a stampede of Digimon. A large group, all chanting out “Princess Mimi!”

“It’s the Otamamon and Gekomon!” Mimi observed, “They’re friends of mine.”

She takes a step towards the group of Digimon, before Hawkmon steps forward, holding an arm out to stop her. “They’re also under the control of the Digimon Emperor! Look, Dark Rings!” He gestured with his other arm at the Digimon.

“Oh,” Mimi said, surprised.

Yolei gives a quick tug on her wrist and then turns, “I think we should run.”

The Otamamon and Gekomon gain a sinister aura, and Mimi looked over to Yolei and nodded. “I think you’re right.”

The three turn around and run, the thumping of the Otamamon and Gekomon behind them keeping their motivation high. Hawkmon could probably deal with them if he Digivolve, but it would be better to play it safe. And one would think they could out run the Digimon. Although that was proving to be a bit difficult.

When vines suddenly wrapped around them, Yolei immediately began to struggle, recalling the incident with the Veggiemon. The last thing she needed was to be unable to reach her D-Terminal again, meaning that Hawkmon wouldn’t be able to Digivolve. Not when the Emperor’s Digimon were around. The vines pull them back behind some bushes, the thuds of the hoard of Digimon continuing on like they hadn’t seen it.

“Palmon!” Mimi cheered, the vines setting the three of them down gently. They belonged to a green Digimon with a flower on her head.

“Mimi!” Palmon cheered in response, “I knew you’d come and save me!”

Mimi blinked for a moment, sheepish, “Oh, well, we were here on a picnic… but I’m glad we were able to find you.”

Watching as Digi Destined and Digimon partner reunited, Yolei pulled out her D-Terminal. As cool as it would be for them to handle this on their own, she’d admit that it was probably going to be far more effective if they had the help of the others. She types out an email, planning to send it to Kari, only to realize part way through that the D-Terminal seemed to lack any connection. And if it was anything like a computer, it wouldn’t be able to send an email without connection.

So they were on their own here. Palmon wouldn’t be able to Digivolve until they got rid of the Dark Spire, which meant that would have to be her and Hawkmon’s responsibility. Hawkmon was the only one who would be able to Digivolve, so long as the Dark Spire stood.

---

“One of the Digi Destined has found the Dark Spire,” Sea Angel notes, looking over at the Emperor. He clicked and typed away at some computer, making faces all the while. That’s how it always was, when he “worked”. The Emperor wasn’t very good with computers, so how he managed to create things like the Dark Spires or Dark Rings was beyond Sea Angel’s understanding. It probably had to do with those emails, though, from that mysterious sender. The Emperor didn’t like when he asked about them, and Sea Angel didn’t think it mattered much.

The Emperor pauses for a moment, then leans back, “Ugh, they’re so nosy. The challenge was kind of fun at first, but now it’s kinda annoying.”

Sea Angel rolled his eyes, “We’ve got plenty of powerful Digimon, throw enough at them and they won’t stand a chance.”

“Sooner or later. The fun of this game is really wearing off…” The Emperor grumbled, “I mean, what’s the fun when you’re always losing?”

“Some game this is,” Sea Angel muttered. The way that the Emperor viewed this all as a game baffled him, it almost made him worry, in some ways. Worry that the Emperor maybe wasn’t keeping himself as grounded in reality as he should be. Sometimes it seemed fine, but here, in the Digital World… it was different. The Emperor was different. So maybe Sea Angel worried, a little.

Sometimes, he wondered if it would be kinder to just start threatening those Digi Destined physically, but Sea Angel didn’t think he could deal with five Digimon, either. Or four, if he struck when Ichijouji was separated from the others. Maybe that would be the plan, strike Ichijouji first, when it was just him and his stupid worm. It was obvious he didn’t quite have a place with the others, yet.

“Who is it who found the Spire?” The Emperor asked, his prior annoyance lessened a little.

“Inoue,” Sea Angel answered, filing his other thoughts away for later. “And one of the older Digi Destined, I think, but obviously her Digimon can’t Digivolve with the Spire there.”

The Emperor hummed, “Not Kari then, that’s good.” He drums his fingers on the keyboard, before beginning to type again. “How about those Roachmon? There’s two of them, and they’re pretty good at causing trouble.”

Trouble was a light way of putting it, Sea Angel thought the Roachmon brothers were more annoying than anything else. “I guess,” He answered, “As long as they can agree long enough to take out the Digimon.”

“Siblings never agree,” It sounds like it should be a joke, but the Emperor’s tone makes it anything but. Sour, maybe even morose. Sea Angel understands why, a near year old wound still jagged and bleeding. And while Sea Angel could take out his anger on those who had something to do with his pain, the Emperor could not. “but I think they should be able to pull it off.

“Speaking of brothers, that reminds me, what about Ichijouji?” Sea Angel would happily try to steer the subject somewhere more useful and well away from lingering memories.

The Emperor grinned, “I’m still working on that, so just keep up what you’ve been doing. I think we’ll be able to show him what the winning side is.”

---

Now joined by Palmon, Yolei, Mimi, and Hawkmon continue their trek towards the Dark Spire. Hopefully they could make it there before any other Digimon intercept them, but Yolei wouldn’t get too hopeful. Not enough to let her guard down, at least. Not until the Dark Spire was destroyed.

“We’ve got to be careful, there’s more than just those Otamamon and Gekomon around here,” Palmon said, looking around warily.

“Well, Hawkmon can always Armor Digivolve and deal with them, if it’s needed,” Yolei replied. It was also possible that they could use any enemy Digimon to damage the Dark Spire, too, as that had worked before with RedVeggiemon.

The trees above them rustle, Yolei’s reminded of a bird in a tree, or maybe a bug. Down falls two Digimon, then, resembling roaches. “There they are!” One said.

Hawkmon frowned, “Those are Roachmon, they’re brothers.” He said, “They have Dark Rings.”

“You know the orders,” The younger Roachmon said.

“We stop those Digi Destiend!” The older Roachmon finished.

Mimi takes a step towards the pair, “Or,” She began, “You could let us by?”

“No!” The two said.

The older Roachmon grumbled, “We have orders, y’know.”

“From the Emperor and Sea Angel,” The younger one adds. “You can go first.”

“No,” The older one countered, “You go first, you’re the youngest.”

“No you, you’re the oldest.”

Apparently, like all siblings seem to, these two like to bicker. Yolei hoped this would somehow be to their advantage. Maybe catch them while they’re off guard. Or maybe it would just keep them a bit more distracted than other Digimon might be.

“My, you’re such close brothers,” Mimi observed curiously.

“Of course we are!” The older Roachmon said.

“Is there a problem with that?”

“No, no,” Mimi insists, waving her hands, “I just think it’s nice.”

“I know!” The younger Roachmon said, “Let’s attack together!”

Nodding, the older one agrees, “That’s a great idea.”

“I think that’s our cue,” Hawkmon said.

Palmon nodded, “Let’s get out of here!”

The four turn and run, Mimi grabbing onto Yolei’s hand to keep them together. It was such a nice gesture – Yolei didn’t think any of her sisters would actually do that. It would be so cool if Mimi was her sister instead, she thinks Mimi would be a way better big sister than Momoe and Chizuru were.

Yolei stumbles for a moment, breaking her out of her thoughts. Right, running from the Roachmon.

“Yolei!” Hawkmon called, “Let’s Digivolve and fight them!”

Reaching into her pocket and pulling out her D-Terminal again, Yolei nodded, “Right! Digi Armor energize!”

“Hawkmon Armor Digivolve to…FlyBeemon! The Needles of Knowledge!”

Spinning on her heel, Yolei turns and leaps onto FlyBeemon’s back. Not quite as comfortable of a way of riding on a Digimon’s back as Nefertimon or Pegasusmon, but it was good enough. FlyBeemon would need his arms free to fight, after all.

“Electro-sting!” FlyBeemon pointed his tail towards the brothers, lightning arcing out from his stinger towards the Roachmon.

The two yelp, stopping their attack and splitting for a moment, before regrouping once the lightning was gone. The older Roachmon looked the younger one over, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, what about you?”

“Fine, now let’s show them!” The two nod at each other, then turns their attention back towards Yolei and FlyBeemon.

Together, they first speed towards FlyBeemon, chopping with their arms. FlyBeemon drops below them, avoiding their attack. Then they both kicked, which FlyBeemon dodged by moving to the side. With all these attacks, it was hard to get one of their own in.

“Yolei! FlyBeemon!” Mimi called out from the ground, “If you can get them to attack the Dark Spire…!”

Of course! FlyBeemon seemed to understand, too, swiftly flying over so that they were located between the Dark Spire and the Roachmon. A smarter Digimon might be careful about attacking in that direction, but it was clear that, for all this sibling niceties, the Roachmon were not the brightest.

The Roachmon push themselves together and throw themselves at FlyBeemon and Yolei. At the last moment, FlyBeemon drops, letting the two soar past them and go crashing into the Dark Spire. A familiar crack echoes through the dense forest, hopefully that would be enough.

Palmon cheered from the ground, “Yay! Now let’s Digivolve, Mimi!”

Mimi nodded, raising her Digivice, “Let’s show them what we can do!”

“Palmon Digivolve to… Togemon!” Togemon was a large cactus Digimon, with bright red boxing gloves on her hands.

Even with the Dark Spire damage, it was still plenty for the Roachmon brothers to still be under the Emperor’s control. They’d have to break the Dark Rings to put a stop to that. Not that Yolei thought that would be difficult, now.

“Electro-sting!” This time, FlyBeemon beats his wings rapidly, sending out a net of electricity towards the Roachmon.

“Needle Spray!” Togemon spun, launching needles from her body.

The two attacks strike the Roachmon, shattering their Dark Rings. The two looked around, seeming confused for a moment. Togemon’s attack had the bonus effect of also toppling the Dark Spire, sending it crashing to the ground.

“Hey, why are we wasting our time here?” The younger one asked.

“Let’s get out of here.” The older one suggested. The younger seemed to agree and the two flew off.

FlyBeemon landed on the ground, beside Togemon and Mimi. Yolei grinned as she slid off, cheering, “We did it!”

Mimi nodded, “Now let’s find a way back to the others.”

“I can fly us back up,” FlyBeemon said, “Nothing to keep us down here still, after all.”

“I’m going to stay here,” Togemon said, “To protect this area from the Digimon Emperor.”

Smiling, Mimi replied, “I’m sure you’ll do wonderful.”

She and Yolei get on FlyBeemon and he takes them up, back to the hole made by the initial fall.

---

“I wouldn’t call the Roachmon brothers the most reliable,” Sea Angel said, trying to figure out the best way to broach the subject of their obvious failure.

The Emperor groaned, “Ugh! Of course they couldn’t stop one Digimon. What do I even pay these guys for?”

Sea Angel rolled his eyes, “You don’t pay them. Technically, the Dark Rings are enslavement.” A fate he generally thought was excessive, but with the Digimon, that was a different story.

“Yeah, yeah,” The Emperor groused, “I’ll come up with something better next time.” He stands, stretching.

For not the first time, Sea Angel is struck by the reminder that the efficiency of the Emperor’s empire truly only came along when Sea Angel himself had gotten involved. Before, it was slow, and Emperor wasn’t quite willing to commit to everything. It was Sea Angel who had sped up the takeover of the Digital World, going out instead of the Emperor to take over areas. He had no qualms putting himself in the crossfire of disgruntled and rebellious Digimon, either.

The Emperor approached it all with such a casual manner. It was all a game, to him, a game where he was supposed to win. But it wasn’t like one of his soccer games, either, as he wasn’t so competitive. Now that there were opponents that could actually challenge him though… Sea Angel wouldn’t be surprised if some things changed.

“Let’s head home for the day,” The Emperor said, shooting Sea Angel a grin, “I’m over at your place anyway, you can show me that ice cream place you like.”

Sea Angel blinked, then nodded, “Of course, just remember you have to get home before your parents begin to worry.”

The easy-going grin faltered, for a moment, before coming back again. “It’ll be fine.” He said.

Also not for the first time, Sea Angel is struck with this strange feeling, some acknowledgement of their youth. They were only kids, they should be enjoying their lives, their days off from school, all the things kids had and enjoyed. Not this. Not protecting other kids from monsters. Not ensuring those monsters can’t hurt others.

“What’s ice cream?” Asked that annoying rabbit Digimon, Lunamon.

“It’s this cold sweet food,” Veemon replied, sounding like he was imagining ice cream. “It’s soooo good!”

The Emperor paused, shooting a glare their way, “Well you’re not getting any.” Then he continued walking away.

Served them right, Sea Angel held no particular care for either Digimon. Or any Digimon, for that matter.

---

“Hey guys!” Yolei called, catching everyone’s attention. She and another girl, who Ken assumed was Mimi, were held in FlyBeemon’s arms. She waved at them.

“Yolei! Mimi!” TK called, “You two are okay!”

FlyBeemon lands, setting Yolei and Mimi down before he returns to being Hawkmon. Grinning, Yolei replies, “We had a bit of a run in with the Emperor’s Digimon, but nothing we couldn’t handle.”

“So there was a Dark Spire,” Cody observed.

Wormmon huffed, his antenna perking up in annoyance in a manner Ken couldn’t help but find somewhat cute, “As if I’d make up not being able to Digivolve!”

Yolei blinked, “Huh?” She then scooped Wormmon up, looking at him closely, “Wait, Wormmon, can you Digivolve without a Digi Egg?”

Startled by being picked up by Yolei, Wormmon called out, “Ken! Ken!” as she rotated him around and inspected him.

“Um, Yolei!” Ken called, approaching her, “I’m, um, glad you’re okay. And I’m sorry about being late to the picnic…” Which he at this point pretty much missed entirely. He couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed at that.

“Oh, thanks. You’ll just have to show up on time, next time,” She grinned, providing little push back when Ken gently takes Wormmon from her.

With Wormmon perched in one arm, he reached into his bag and pulled out the bags of fruit snacks he’d gotten earlier. “I, uh, got these for the picnic, for you guys.” Despite telling himself this was normal and there was nothing to be embarrassed about, Ken’s face felt a bit hot. He hoped he wasn’t too red.

Smiling, Yolei takes the bags from him, “Wow, thanks Ken!” She takes the initiative to divvy out the fruit snacks between the Digi Destined and their partners. Ken couldn’t help but smile, Yolei, for all her boisterous personality, was nice.

Mimi approaches him, all smiles, “So you’re Ken? It’s great to finally meet you!”

Ken blinked, unsure, once more, what to say. But manners were something he knew well, at least, “It’s nice to meet you too. Kari and TK were telling me about you while we searched.”

“It’s a shame the picnic got cancelled early because of all of this,” She sighed.

“I think it’ll be… hard to be in the Digital World and be entirely safe, as long as the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel are around.” Goodness knows he and Wormmon ran into enough trouble when they were here on their own. Some places were protected enough, unlikely to easily fall to the Emperor and his forces again, but you couldn’t rule out stumbling into an area under their control. Or a Digimon that simply isn’t that fond of others.

Her gaze fell to Wormmon, “So this cutey can Digivolve, huh?” She reached out and pinched Wormmon’s cheeks.

“No!” Wormmon cried, “My face!”

[writingpaperghost]

Standin' By Your Side (Chapter 5)

Chapter 5: Old Reliable

While Ken tries to uncover secrets of the Dark Spire, the other Digi Destined, join by Joe, go to help Gomamon.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66149626/chapters/173761339

Tamachi elementary felt as drab as ever, or maybe Ken just saw no excitement at school, anymore. He’s not sure he has in a long time, not since he had just started and realized that his grades would never have been as good as Sam’s and so their parents wouldn’t have cared. At this point, he was well past caring about it.

Instead, he did his best to hurry out, so he could get home sooner and go to the Digital World sooner too.

Turning a corner, he skids to an abrupt stop, keeping himself from running into another boy. He gives a quick apology, but the boy’s expression remained neutral, which gave Ken pause. Usually, people were surprised, or sometimes even annoyed or angry, when someone nearly runs into them.

The boy studies him. He has messy lavender hair, and though his bangs partially obscured his right eye, it was pulled back enough that Ken could see he wore an eyepatch over that eye. The eye he could see, a dark blue or greyish color, raked over Ken, like he was trying to pry some hidden secret out of him.

Finally, the other boy said, “You play soccer, don’t you?”

Ken blinked, surprised. It was an odd observation, he doesn’t think he’s really seen this boy before, judging by his height, a fair bit shorter than Ken, so probably younger and definitely in a different class. Nor does he think he’s seen him watching at practice, either. Maybe he’d caught a passing glance, though, and simply managed to remember Ken, perhaps for his resemblance to his own brother.

“I do,” Ken finally answered, trying his best to hide his confusion with politeness.

Tilting his head and shoving his hands into his hoodie pockets, the boy replied, “Thought I saw you, the other day. I’ve got a friend at another school who plays and asked me to ‘scope out the competition’.” He then shrugged, “Whatever that means.”

“Maybe look elsewhere,” Ken said, “There are players I’m sure he’d rather know more about.”

“Maybe,” The boy agreed, “Ichijouji, right?”

Again, surprised, Ken blinked before nodding, “Yes,” he probably heard someone say it, or knew it because of Sam. There wasn’t anything that unusual about it.

“Lui Ohwada,” The boy gives a terribly fake smile, before flipping his hood up and turning around. “I think I’ll keep an eye on you.” He adds, then keeps walking down the hall, towards the exit.

He leaves Ken there, confused. Why would he care about Ken? Or was he just trying to get to him? Shaking the confusion away, he remembers his previous hurry and restarts his journey home.

---

The Dark Spires were a piece of work, Ken decides, and whoever the Digimon Emperor was, he must have been some kind of genius. Of course, his attempts to figure out how they work weren’t exactly in the most efficient manner. He didn’t have any kind of portable computer, so the best he could do was try to use his D-Terminal as a makeshift handheld computer and take notes. What data he could gather he could look into more at home, on his computer.

He and Wormmon had come back to the Gotsumon village several times since they’d broken the Dark Spire, trying to figure out any of the Spire’s secrets. His progress was slow, but with the others mostly focused on freeing Digimon from Dark Rings and breaking Dark Spires elsewhere, he didn’t feel too guilty using his time to study it. It could help them better get rid of the towers in the future, and they hadn’t seemed in need of his help recently, anyway. There was still four of them, all able to Digivolve.

Truthfully, working on his own was just easier for him, anyway. He didn’t have to worry about saying the wrong thing or not being good enough. If he did, there was no one around to care. He knew Wormmon wouldn’t judge him like that. Wormmon wasn’t like that.

“You always work so hard, Ken,” Wormmon said from his place beside Ken. “Maybe some of the others could help you?”

Ken didn’t work nearly as hard as Sam. Sam spent pretty much every waking moment in school, studying, or playing soccer. Ken didn’t do that, even before he had the Digital World dividing his attention. He got good enough grades in school and he studied when he needed to, but he spent plenty of time on his computer, when he wasn’t at his soccer practice.

The computer had always been a gateway for him, to things far more interesting and amazing than himself. At first, it was through the things Sam showed him, games he was allowed to play when Sam was gone or too busy to play with him but not using the computer. Then it was the Digital World, though that was a short-lived sensation. Still, just knowing what laid on the other side of the screen was enough to pique his interest. And now the Digital World was back in his life again, and what things he knew how to do with his computer seemed more and more relevant.

It's not even that he didn’t think the other Digi Destined had any of those skills, he’s sure they had plenty. Because of that, he doubts they need his help, specifically. He probably wasn’t doing anything they hadn’t already done, which he supposed made the whole effort pointless.

“I’m sure they have other things they could be doing,” He answered. “And anyway, you know me, I… prefer it to just be me and you.”

Wormmon frowned, “Oh…” His antennas drooped, just a little, “But don’t you miss…?”

For a moment, Wormmon’s unfinished question calls to mind his first adventure into the Digital World. The Digimon who’d joined Ken to try to fix the Digital World and defeat Milleniumon. He’d enjoyed those times, being relied upon for something important. Being special, being the one who could help Ryo save the day. He missed Ryo too, but tried to think less of that, the uncertainty constantly nagging at him. If only he hadn’t gotten sick…

He shook his head, before remembering how that might look to Wormmon, who still stared up at him, “I do, but… things have changed,” He chose to say, looking down at Wormmon and stroking his back, “And I’m happy just to have you at my side again.”

A blush spread across Wormmon’s face as his eyes closed happily, “Ken! I’m so happy to be your partner again!”

---

To: Kari Kamiya

From: Joe Kido

Subject: Gomamon’s in Trouble!

Dear Kari,

I’ll meet you guys at the computer lab after school, because I got a message from Gomamon and he’s in trouble! We’ve got to go save him, before something terrible happens to him.

See you soon,

Joe Kido

The email had come in while Kari was in the middle of class, so she was only able to sneak out her D-Terminal to read it afterwards. Despite Joe’s clear attempt to remain somewhat proper in the email, his urgency and concern was evident. Looking over at TK, she says, “We’re meeting Joe in the computer lab.”

“That’s not good news,” TK replied, knowing just as well as her that something this sudden from Joe, who was always very busy and scheduled his free time, had to mean something had happened, even without the email.

From the other side of TK, Davis looks over at them and pouts, “You two are always spending so much time in that computer lab,” he said, “I didn’t take either of you for computer nerds.”

“We’re… helping Yolei,” TK told him, though Kari isn’t entirely sure that would dissuade Davis. He could be very stubborn, when he wanted to be, it always caused him to fight with his sister, before.

“Yolei?” Davis tilted his head, before smacking his fist into his open palm in recognition. “Oh, Inoue! I used to see her sister around, before…” Immediately, his expression soured, “Well, whatever. Guess she’s into computers, but you guys know there are other cool things to do.”

Kari laughed a little, “Tai and I still go to your soccer games all the time, Davis,” It was always a relief to just know that he was still playing. She couldn’t help but worry about him, the past couple of years.

Davis blinked, then looked away, “I know, I know. Guess I just miss hanging out as much.”

That wasn’t exactly a surprise to hear, but it certainly felt strange for Davis to say it out loud. She and Tai had always tried to stick with him, make sure he at least had someone willing to stay by his side, even when things were bad. Because they were friends and Davis has gone through a time where he really needed support. Except, during that time, he’d pushed them away, refused their attempts to help in anyway.

Mimi said she thought it was just a part of his grieving process, but Kari wished it wasn’t.

Still, some part of her was excited that he felt this way. That he’d missed spending time with them, when he was the one who had started turning them down. Unable to help herself, Kari smiled, “I’ll make sure to tell Tai.”

With a big grin, Davis gathers up his stuff and leaves, though Kari would admit something about his smile felt a bit… off. “See ya!” She decides she’s probably over thinking it, because Davis was always too earnest to ever lie or hide things.

Joe is already waiting for them at the computer lab. Kari and TK arrive first, but it didn’t take Yolei and Cody long to catch up, a bag from I-Mart on Yolei’s arm. Unsurprisingly, Upamon, Poromon, Patamon, and even Gatomon run up and are ready to get into the food. In Training Digimon are always so hungry, but even Gatomon and Patamon get hungry when they’ve been in the human world long enough.

Cody’s gaze makes its way to Joe, “You’re one of the other Digi Destined?” He asked.

Joe nods, “My partner, Gomamon, is in trouble.”

“We’ll show the Emperor’s lackies – Sea Angel too, if he’s there – what happens when you mess with the Digi Destined!” Yolei proclaims, then adds, “And maybe Ken will be there to help, too.”

“He’s usually pretty good about showing up when we need the extra hand,” TK said, “kind of wish he was better at communicating with us, though.”

Kari understood that, Ken’s tendency towards radio silence did make it more difficult. And still, Kari wasn’t entirely sure what to make of him. TK was right that he was good about showing up when they needed his help, but they still didn’t know a whole lot about him and it didn’t really feel like he had much interest in getting to know him. There was still a lot they didn’t know, no matter how much she really just wanted to trust him.

Still, it wasn’t like having a loner in the group was that unusual… “He’ll come around, after all, Matt did.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” TK agreed, not sounding particularly like he felt one way or another on the matter.

Kari turns her attention to the computer, “Now that we’re all here, we should head in. Remember, this is still the Emperor’s territory, so keep an eye out.”

Grinning, Yolei gave a thumbs up, “You got it.”

They’re deposited in the cold and Kari starts to regret not bringing a coat. The whole place is cold, ice and snow on the ground and even more snow falling from the sky. It does make sense that Gomamon would be here, though, as this was certainly his preferred habitat.

As they all detangle themselves from each other, Joe began to call out, “Gomamon! Gomamon!” He looks around, before getting to his knees and digging through the snow, pulling out an injured Gomamon. “Gomamon!”

Blearily, Gomamon opened his eyes, “Joe?”

“Thank goodness, how are you feeling? What hurts?” As he asked that, Gomamon laid on his lap, Joe began to dig through his bag. It seems he was as prepared as always.

“Uh… well there’s two of you…” Gomamon squints at Joe, “And… I think most of me hurts.”

Joe examines Gomamon, muttering to himself, “Hopefully you’re not concussed. Wait, can Digimon get concussed?” Then he asks more loudly, “What happened to you? Was it a Digimon?”

Gomamon paused, then answered, “It was that Sea Angel! He had a baseball bat and he convinced all the Digimon to beat me up when I tried to stop him!”

That was about the sort of thing Kari had expected to hear. Most of the problems they’d encountered in the Digital World were because of the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel. They were still the main threat to the Digital World, even if they were strangely human in comparison to the threats presented in their previous adventure.

“Well, we knew there was a Dark Tower around here,” TK said, “So it seems we just have more reason to break it down.”

Yolei nodded, “Then Gomamon could Digivolve and help us show Sea Angel what he’s messing with! Again!”

They’d been able to defeat Sea Angel before, but he’d clearly been expecting them to put up less of a fight, and given the Dark Rings, it seemed likely any fight they had with him this time would be against different Digimon. He had the upper hand, in that regard, as he could try to plan around their Digimon. Having help from other Digimon that Sea Angel hadn’t faced, even if it was just one, could be an advantage. Of course, to get that far they’d still have to get to the Dark Tower and destroy it.

It was easy to see, as this segment of the Digital World opened up onto frozen ocean, allowing a wide area of view. The Dark Spire, even in the low lighting of this area, stood out like a sore thumb, rising into the sky. But such a wide open area also meant they were sitting ducks for any Digimon that might see them, and given those Digimon were almost certainly under the Emperor’s control… No cover would make things more difficult, but not impossible, especially if they’re careful.

“Yeah!” Gomamon cheered, “We’ll show ‘em, right Joe?”

“Once we get there, at least.” Joe agreed, though with notably less enthusiasm.

Cody rubbed his hands against his arms, quietly shivering. While none of them were really dressed for the cold, Cody was the smallest of them. Truthfully, Kari’s own arms felt the cold of the snow and ice, she regretted not bringing a coat, but the weather in the real world had been much warmer.

Joe, taking notice, pulls the bag off his shoulder, “Here, I’ve got some hand warmers here,” he rummages around, before passing the hand warmers out. “And some spare gloves and some hats…”

“Geeze, you sure do come prepared,” Yolei said, taking the offered hand warmers, but ignoring the gloves and hats, likely due to the fact she already wore some.

Kari smiled, slipping on a pair of proper gloves and pulling a hat on. That alone was better than what she was already wearing. “That’s Joe for you,”

“Always reliable,” TK adds, pulling his own hat down further, as if to make it cover his ears more.

With a little more cold weather preparation, the Digi Destined set out, walking across the snow and ice. There was a certain tenseness – Yolei and Cody had spent enough time in the Digital World to know it can be dangerous, know to be wary. Especially with the Emperor and Sea Angel in control of this area, they had to be careful. Kari wished, one day, they wouldn’t have to be so cautious in the Digital World.

---

Ken stared at his D-Terminal, like it could somehow get it to give him answers. To explain anything. About the Dark Spires, about the Digimon Emperor, about Sea Angel… The screen remained the same. He knew it couldn’t really do much about the data he got off the tower, no matter how much he wished it to be different, not with the D-Terminal at least. Maybe he should just head home and look through the data there. Not that it had gotten him anywhere so far.

If only he was smart, like Sam. Or at least good with computers, like Ryo.

“Ken,” Wormmon’s voice called out, prompting Ken to look away from his D-Terminal and down at him. He’d been curled up on Ken’s discarded jacket, the picture of caterpillar comfort, now looking up at Ken with those big, sincere eyes. “You should take a break, you’ve been working so hard for so long.”

Setting his D-Terminal in his lap, Ken considered that. It had been… at least a couple hours, and despite his best efforts, he felt like he made no progress. Maybe Wormmon was right, he usually was about these sort of things. Nodding to himself, Ken stands, which causes Wormmon to also get up, moving off of his jacket.

Pulling the jacket back on and slipping his D-Terminal in his pocket, “How about a walk? This part of the Digital World is free from the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel, so… we can enjoy it, for a little while.”

Wormmon smiled, “That sounds wonderful!”

---

The Digi Destined walked in relative silence, only broken up by the crunching of their steps on the snow and ice. The tension hadn’t faded as they walked, if anything, they were probably more on edge.

In front of them, ice creaked, groaning like it strained against something. They stop, watching the space in front of them carefully. The last thing they wanted was for someone to fall into the ice, and they had no way of knowing if the creaking was natural or not.

Bursting from the ice, a shattering, cracking sound announcing its arrival, came Shellmon, sending shards of ice and near freezing cold water all around it. They all scrambled, in a bid to avoid the water, save for Cody who quickly slid and fell, the fall at least softened by the snow.

Kari winced for him, but knew there wasn’t time to waste, especially with Shellmon so close, “Gatomon!”

Gatomon nodded, already in stance for a fight, “Ready when you are!”

Pulling out her D-Terminal, Kari holds it up, “Digi Armor energize!”

“Gatomon Armor Digivolve to… Nefertimon! The Angel of Light!” Nefertimon wasted no time in attacking Shellmon, in an attempt to drive it away from Cody, who was still pulling himself up.

Hurrying over to Cody, Joe pulled him up, Gomamon and Armadillomon at their feet. From there, TK and Yolei move in front of the two, raising their own D-Terminals. “Digi Armor energize!”

“Patamon Armor Digivolve to… Pegasusmon! Flying Hope!”

“Hawkmon Armor Digivolve to…Flybeemon! The Needles of Knowledge!”

Nefertimon launched her Rosetta Stone at Shellmon, giving Flybeemon an opportunity to swoop in, jabbing at Shellmon with his stingers. Pegasusmon stays back, at first, letting the two move away from Shellmon before attacking with his Equis Beam.

Shellmon shirks back, lowering somewhat back into the water. Nefertimon and Pegasusmon fly by, attacking once more and causing it to fully retreat back into the water. The three Digimon land as Kari rejoins the other Digi Destined.

After watching the hole in the ice for a moment, Nefertimon said, “I think we drove it off, but the Sea Angel definitely knows we’re here, now.”

“We’ll just have to work fast, then,” TK said, fixing his gaze on the Dark Tower in the distance, “Get to the tower and destroy it.”

Cody, wet from the spray from Shellmon’s entrance, shivered. Joe frowned, “We need to find somewhere to start a fire and dry Cody out, or else he could get hypothermia.” He rests one hand on Cody’s shoulder, while the other digs around his bag, “I have some matches in here, but we’ll still need fuel and preferably someplace a bit more sheltered from the weather.”

“There’s that cave over there,” Yolei pointed, directing their sights towards an opening in the icy walls that surrounded the water. It appeared to be a regular cave, the rock around it simply covered in ice. That would hopefully be enough shelter.

---

“Have you been keeping an eye out for any emails from the other Digi Destined?” Wormmon asked, slowly scuttling down a path in the woods outside of the Gotsumon village. Normally, Ken would walk faster, but he wanted to match Wormmon’s pace, so he moved at a slower pace. He didn’t mind, not for Wormmon, at least.

“Oh,” Ken frowned, realizing he really hadn’t been paying it much mind, like usual. “Not really.” He admitted.

Wormmon paused, looking up at him once more, “You should check, then. That way you can know if they need your help.”

Ken really doubted that the other Digi Destined would ever really need his help, but he’d check his D-Terminal, to appease Wormmon, if nothing else. The other Digi Destined were more than competent enough to handle themselves, and he and Wormmon only added another fighter to the situation. But Wormmon was… well, he’d hate to say it, but it was no secret Wormmon was weak. With Ken, at least, he could Digivolve, become stronger than he was on his own.

The Digi Egg of Courage helped, yes, though some part of Ken wished it had been Kindness, like his old Crest, instead of a virtue which belonged to someone as amazing as Tai Kamiya and his partner Agumon. Though Ken had limited interaction with the two, Ryo spoke well of them, and he’d seen what WarGreymon was able to become with MetalGarurumon, through the power of their partners. Ken would never forget the wonder of Omegamon, even if how two Digimon could fuse together like that was some power beyond both Ken and Ryo’s understanding.

Maybe that was something to add to the list of things to ask Gennai, whenever Ken could bring himself to go to the old man to ask anything. The list seemed to only get longer and longer, but Ken supposed that was how lists of questions tended to go, when you don’t end up asking those questions in the meantime.

The D-Terminal’s email program showed he had a few emails, making something in him twinge with a bit of guilt. He didn’t mean to ignore them or miss when they sent him an email… he just… it was new. That’s why he’d noticed Veemon’s email so easily, because he didn’t really email people. Most of the emails were a couple days old, at the most. Here and there – Tai inviting him to play soccer with him and some friends (Ken couldn’t take that long of a trip out, surely someone would notice he was gone and realize that he didn’t have an excuse, and Ken had no friends), Yolei reminding him to stop by I-Mart if he was in Odaiba, Izzy asking about the portal to the Digital World he used and if he could come by and look at it (the idea of having someone over gave Ken a funny feeling, he considers it some kind of unease). Then lastly, the most recent email, from Kari, today.

To: Ken Ichijouji

From: Kari Kamiya

Subject: Going to the Digital World

Hello,

I know it’s a little harder to coordinate with you, and I suspect you don’t check your emails much, but I wanted to let you know we’re heading into the Digital World after school today. Joe got a message from Gomamon asking for help, so we’re going to head to where he is.

Sincerely,

Kari Kamiya

Attached to the email were coordinates – one of the colder places in the Digital World, Ken recalled. In a place like that, probably with Digimon of a more ice and water inclination, having Shadramon’s flames would probably be useful. No wonder Kari had emailed him, it made sense that having him, or Shadramon, rather, would be useful. They could probably handle it without him, but at times like these, with threats to the Digital World… it was better not to take that chance.

Looking away from his D-Terminal, he looks back down at Wormmon, who had been watching him. Wormmon tilted his head, “Any emails, Ken?”

“Yeah,” Ken nodded, picking Wormmon up, “Hope you don’t mind the cold too much.”

“Oh,” Wormmon frown, “The cold’s so… cold.”

---

They’d managed to get a pretty good fire going, Cody near it as Joe did his best to help him dry off, wrapping a small blanket he’d brought around Cody to help keep him warm. Between the fire and the supplies Joe brought, Kari wasn’t too worried about Cody, but she was worried about time.

“It’ll take a while for Cody to dry,” She said, glancing outside the cave. They couldn’t stay in the Digital World all day, and the longer they took, the longer the Digimon Emperor had control over these Digimon.

Joe looked between them and Cody, “You guys should head out to try to destroy the Dark Tower. I can stay here with Cody, Gomamon and I won’t be much help, anyway.” At his words, Cody seemed to shrink on himself a little.

“Are you sure?” TK asked. With Cody there, they’d at least be protected, as Armadillomon can Armor Digivolve.

“We’ll be fine, and we can catch up with you once Cody’s dried off more. By then, hopefully you’ll have destroyed the Dark Tower.” Joe assured.

Kari smiled, “You should be safe here, we’ll try to be quick.” Splitting up wasn’t the worst idea, but it always made her uneasy. Still, this cave was out of the way and there was only one way in and out. Even if a Digimon burrowed through the walls, they’d know before it got to them.

So the three of them and their partners make a quick sled out of some extra wood. With some makeshift rope, their partners Armor Digivolve and begin to pull the sled. That would be the quickest way to the Dark Spire.

---

Cody watched the fire intently, as the flames danced, casting light in the otherwise dark cave. He was less cold now, at least, his clothes much dryer than they were when they’d first gotten into the cave. Joe sat beside him, rummaging through his bag of supplies, while Armadillomon sat on his other side, curled up. Some part of Cody always admired Armadillomon’s ability to curl up like that, it looked rather comfortable.

He couldn’t help but feel a bit useless, though. If he hadn’t slipped, he and Joe could be with the others, and he could be helping them. Or Pteranomon could, at least. Not that he didn’t think that they couldn’t handle it without him, but… he knew he could contribute, and if there was a chance of Sea Angel showing up, who knew what he had in store.

Silence was filled with the crackle of the fire, Cody wonders if maybe he should say something. But he doesn’t know what he should say, and he doesn’t think filling the air with nothing is good, either. It wouldn’t change anything about the situation.

Looking around the cave, Cody’s eyes land on Joe’s bag and he finally knows what to say. “You’re very prepared,”

Joe turned to look at him with an awkward smile, “Well, since Gomamon can’t Digivolve until the Dark Spire is destroyed, I figured it would be good to help in other ways.”

It was a sensible enough reason, so Cody nods, and before he even realized it said, “I wish I could be more helpful right now.”

“You’re doing plenty, it’s important to take care of ourselves,” Joe told him, doing his best to make his smile reassuring. “And you are doing something, the others are trusting you and Armadillomon to keep us safe if something happens. Gomamon and I have to rely on you guys a lot right now.”

Cody considered that, turning Joe’s words around in his head. Being the youngest in the group, it was hard to feel like he was doing as much as the others. It was harder still to feel like he was anywhere near their equal, due to his younger age and smaller stature. He did his best to prove himself, but it sometimes it felt like it wasn’t enough.

But Joe was right, they were trusting him and Armadillomon to protect Joe and Gomamon if something happened and they were attacked. And he did feel that they weren’t trying to look down on him or anything, he supposed it was hard to view younger children the same way you did ones closer to your own age. He didn’t think they thought much less of him, because of his age, he just sometimes felt they forgot he could contribute as much as them.

He liked being trusted like this, and he liked that Joe seemed to trust him and Armadillomon to protect them, if that was needed. He didn’t know Joe very well, this was their first time meeting and either of them would have known about the other was from other Digi Destined. Despite that, Joe was willing to trust him, and maybe that was because the others did, and he trusted them. Or Kari and TK, at least.

Cody shrugged the blanket off his shoulders, feeling warm enough. His clothes were much drier than they’d been before, barely even damp in a few spots. Trying to catch up with the others wouldn’t be worth the trouble, but they could go keep an eye out for the Dark Spire falling. Once Gomamon could Digivolve, they could probably catch up fairly quickly.

“Have you dried off?” Joe asked, watching Cody.

Nodding, Cody replied, “I’m much warmer, too.”

There’s a cracking sound from outside, like the ice from before. Cody and Armadillomon jump to their feet, Joe soon to follow. Silently, they creep towards the entrance of the cave, only for the ice of the frozen lake not far from it to burst open again, revealing the return of Shellmon. This time, they were at least far enough away they didn’t run the risk of getting wet.

“It’s Shellmon again!” Joe said, Gomamon moving to stand in front of him.

Armadillomon narrowed his eyes, “I reckon we’ll have to chase off or free Shellmon if we want to get out of here.”

Nodding, Cody pulled out his D-Terminal, “Then let’s Digivolve and try to break the Dark Ring on him. Digi Armor energize!”

“Armadillomon Armor Digivolve to… Pteranomon! The Wings of Love!”

Surging forward, out of the cave, Pteranomon flew towards Shellmon, then circled around, searching for the Dark Ring. There was one wrapped around Shellmon’s tentacle, which Pteranomon quickly honed in on. From his wings, he launched missiles, aimed at the ring. The ring shattered, prompting Shellmon to look around confused, for a moment, before ducking back into the water.

Pteranomon flies back toward them, landing on the ground. “Climb on, you three, we’ll catch up with the others in no time.”

Joe scoops up Gomamon, “Don’t worry, Gomamon, I’ll make sure you stay on.” He waits for Cody to get onto Pteranomon’s back, then follows suit, Gomamon still in his arms.

---

“Rosetta Stone!” Nefertimon’s attack flies past Ebidramon and towards the Dark Spire. The Spire cracked further, spreading from the ones they’d already made before Ebidramon appeared. Then, with an even loud crack, the Dark Spire falls, crashing into the snow and ice, then falling into the water beneath.

Yolei cheered, “Yeah! With the tower destroyed, Gomamon will be able to Digivolve now.”

“Once they get here,” TK added.

“Hey guys!” Cody’s voice called out, prompting everyone to look up at the source. In the sky, there was Pteranomon, with Cody, Joe, and Gomamon on his back.

Gomamon jumps a little, “The Dark Spire’s gone!”

Joe nods, “That means you can Digivolve,”

Gleefully, Gomamon jumps off of Pteranomon’s back, “Gomamon, Digivolve too… Ikkakumon!”

Falling towards Ebidramon, Ikkakumon aims his horn at the Dark Ring, “Harpoon Torpedo!” A missile launches from Ikkakumon’s horn, crashing into the Dark Ring and shattering it.

Ebidramon looks around for a moment, seeming confused, before disappearing back into the water. Ikkakumon lands on the ground, not far from Kari, TK, and Yolei, their own partners soon following, and Pteranomon arriving moments after. Joe and Cody hop off of Pteranomon.

“That’s the Dark Spire taken care of,” Cody said, looking at where the tower once stood.

TK frowned, his gaze also on the stump of the Dark Spire, “That seemed almost… too easy.”

“We did have to get past a bunch of Digimon to get to it,” Yolei reminded, “I think we’re just stronger than the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel give us credit for.” She seemed pleased with herself.

Boots crunched in the snow and a cold voice cut through them, “Don’t pat yourself on the back just yet. You haven’t taken this place from us entirely.” Kari turned, seeing Sea Angel not too far away from them, leaning against a baseball bat, both glaring and seeming somewhat smug.

Ikkakumon stepped forward, “We won’t let you control or hurt the Digimon here anymore.”

Sea Angel scoffed, pushing up from his baseball bat, “We’ll see about that,” his eye then roamed over the Digi Destined, taking note of each other them and their partners. “One of you is missing. Ichijouji and his cowardly worm.”

“Hey! Wormmon can actually Digivolve into a pretty strong Digimon! You’re just upset that Ken wasn’t afraid of you, last time!” Yolei yelled, seeming upset about Sea Angel’s words.

“I don’t really care,” Sea Angel rolled his eye, “it just means you’re going to have a harder time. I’ve come even more prepared than last time.” The hand that wasn’t resting on the baseball raised up, then with a snap of his fingers, he called out, “Paledramon! Drimogemon!”

The two Digimon jumped out behind him, rushing towards the Digi Destined. Their partners quickly intercepted, FlyBeemon jabs at Paledramon, with Nefertimon launching another Rosetta Stone towards the Digimon. Ikkakumon locks horns with Drimogemon, Pegasusmon and Pternomon taking a further back approach, attacking from afar.

Kari felt good about the fight, two Champion level Digimon should be easy to defeat with five Digimon with power either equivalent to or at Champion level. Despite this seeming to be an obvious fact, Sea Angel seemed unbothered. In fact, he appeared to be preoccupied with another Digimon, a Rookie sized light pink and blue bunny Digimon.

“Let me at them! I told you I’m real strong!” The bunny Digimon cried, hopping up and down with great irritation.

Sea Angel glared at her, “I don’t care what you do, just leave me alone!”

“Well I’m not going to do that,” The bunny Digimon shoots back, “But I’m gonna keep you safe, even if that means fighting Digi Destined because you’re too dumb to bring any stronger Digimon.”

His grip on his baseball bat changed, and he picked it up, taking it in his other hand and raising it up. He gritted his teeth, “I don’t need a Digimon”- he says the word with venom-“to protect me! Now go away or I’ll make you!”

Their argument was cut short by flames soaring over their head and hitting Paledramon. “Flare Buster!” Shadramon buzzes overhead, then swoops low enough for Ken to hop off, before Shadramon joined FlyBeemon and Nefertimon in fighting Paledramon.

Turning to look at the others, Ken’s gaze landed on Kari, then said, “I’m sorry I didn’t notice you’re email sooner, but Shadramon and I came as fast as we could.”

“You’re here now,” TK said, “And we’re happy for the help.”

With a groan of annoyance cutting across the snow and ice, Sea Angel pointed his bat towards them, “Just get rid of them!”

“You got it! Finally, I get to fight!” The bunny Digimon cackled, leaping in the direction of Paledramon. “Lop-ear Ripple!” Her ears twirled, sending a stream of spinning bubbles, clearly aimed at Shadramon.

While Shadramon and Nefertimon fought Paledramon, FlyBeemon flies up, “Electro-sting!” At great speed, his wings vibrated, sending out a wave of electricity towards the bunny Digimon. Bubbles doing little to stop the attack, the bunny Digimon flops to the ground with a groan.

“Ow,” She grumbles, pulling herself up. “Ugh, fine. Be that way! I still have plenty more!” Again, she launched herself, this time towards FlyBeemon, “Luna Claw!” Bearing her small, but sharp looking claws, she scratched at FlyBeemon.

---

On the nearby cliffs, two Digimon were sat. One a white dragon like Digimon with a bright red, though tattered, cloak, the other a small In Training Digimon, shaped like a flame, nestled in the hood of the other Digimon’s cloak. They watched the fight intently, focused on the bunny Digimon.

“Wow…” Said the flame Digimon, “Lunamon’s so cool!”

The cloaked Digimon tilted his head, “She’s doing… okay.” He said. “I still think she needs more training, though Digimon are like Champion level and she’s only a Rookie.”

The flame Digimon pouted, “But we have to protect him. And she’s finally strong enough, she’ll only get stronger. And one day I’m gonna be as strong as her!” He bounced a bit, before settling back on the hood of the cloak.

“Not this dream friend again,” The cloaked Digimon groaned, “I know you’re still young, but you’re too old for imaginary friends. Especially, if you’re going to become strong enough to Digivolve.”

“Don’t act like you’re so much older, big bro!” The flame Digimon huffed, “You’re only a Rookie too! And you’ve been a Rookie since before Lunamon and I hatched!”

That seemed to especially annoy the cloaked Digimon, “I have to get really strong, so I’m just spending more time training!” he grumbled, “Plus, I’m stronger than Lunamon. And I’ll be stronger than you when you Digivolve too, Sunmon.”

“We’ll just have to see,” Sunmon said, sounding unconvinced. “I think Lunamon and I are gonna be stronger than you, one day.”

The cloaked Digimon scoffed, “Yeah right,”

A third Digimon appeared, humanoid in a black dress and a black hat. “Now, now, you two still have plenty of training left.” She said.

“And then I’ll be real strong,” Sunmon insisted again.

“If you can make it through the Sistermons’ training…” The cloaked Digimon grumbled under his breath.

---

“Flare Buster!” Shadramon sent another burst of fire towards Paledramon, this time aimed at the Dark Ring on his arm. The ring shattered, freeing Paledramon. Meanwhile, with Ikkakumon, Pegasusmon, and Pternomon fighting against Drimogemon, Ikkakumon jabbed at the Dark Ring on Drimogemon’s own arm, shattering it.

Lunamon jumped back from her skirmish, now with Nefertimon. “Uh oh…” She said, looking at the sight before her. Six Digimon and no more back up. “Hey, uh, what should I do?” She called back to Sea Angel.

Sea Angel gritted his teeth, “Wonderful. Just. Wonderful.” His hand held his baseball bat tightly. “Well. It seems I underestimated you Digi Destined once again. Well, you know what they say, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me three times…”

“And I’ll start throwing hands!” Lunamon declared, jumping up. “Nobody hurts him on my watch!”

“Will you quit it with that, you annoying little-!” Sea Angel sucked in a breath, stopping himself. “I’m not wasting anymore of my time.” He turned away.

Yolei called out, “You know, you should really just give up, we’re just going to keep beating you.”

That caused Sea Angel to pause, glancing back at them. “Ha, as if. The Emperor’s got a great plan, just wait.” Then he took off in a sprint, before an Airdramon appeared and he hopped on.

Lunamon turned back towards him, “Hey! Don’t you dare ditch me!”

As Lunamon chased after Sea Angel, the Digi Destined just watched, their partners returning to their Rookie form. Wormmon watched Lunamon intently, before turning to Ken and saying, “That Lunamon… she doesn’t have a Dark Ring.”

Ken blinked, looking down towards him, “She… didn’t?”

“No,” Wormmon replied, shaking his head, “But they’re unusual Digimon, or so I’ve heard.”

Slowly, Ken picked Wormmon up. Then he turned to look at the others again, unsure of what to say. There were things he wanted to say, sure, but he didn’t know how to say it at all without it sounding too awkward or odd. So he opened his mouth, then closed it again, before finally saying, “I’ll do my best to check my emails more often.”

With a small laugh, TK replied, “That would be good, your help’s always appreciated.”

He wasn’t sure about always, but he appreciated they were at least pretending to be nice to him, even if they had no real reason to be.

“Maybe you guys will get to know each other a bit better,” Joe said, “Digi Destined do make good teams.”

“Well I wouldn’t mind getting to know Ken a bit more,” Yolei said, “he seems pretty interesting.”

The statement made Ken’s heart race and he quickly blurted out, “I’m not. And I’m not used to working with other Digi Destined.” His time with Ryo was spent primarily separate from Ryo. That time they spent together on that adventure was short, in comparison. He didn’t know how to be a good team member. He didn’t know if he could be.

“I think you’ll learn,” Kari said, though there was something studious in her gaze, like she was searching his soul. “You already are.”

“Oh,”

---

“Alright, Izzy, so what have you been finding while looking at our Digivices?” Yolei asked, the Digi Destined, minus Ken, having just left the school. When they weren’t in the Digital World, she’d been loaning Izzy her Digivice so he could try to learn more about it. He’d told her earlier that he’d found something, but they hadn’t had a chance to talk about it before heading to the Digital World.

Izzy nodded, “An American friend and I were able to find out that there are three primary functions to your Digivices. Digital, detect, and discover. Thus, I propose we call this model of Digivice ‘D-3’.”

“Oookay,” TK began, “So… I assume ‘detect’ has to do with the Digivices- er, D-3s ability to locate other D-3s and Digi Eggs.”

With a nod, Izzy replied, “It seems so. The ‘digital’ likely refers both to the ability to enter the Digital World and to Digivolve Digimon.” He began to type on the computer that the portal program was one, “And the last one, ‘discover’ I believe has to do with this.” A map of the Digital World appeared on the screen, divided into squares. Some of the squares were black, covering a good portion of the Digital World.

“A map of the Digital World?”

“Not just that,” Izzy continued, “See those black spots?”

Yolei smacked her fist into her open palm, “Those are areas controlled by the Digimon Emperor, right?”

“Correct, this gives us an easy way of seeing how much progress we’ve made, and where to look next.”

---

Ken sat at his computer, pulling data off of his D-Terminal, like he had the past few times he’d been studying the Dark Spires. Maybe this time he’d be able to figure things out. Maybe he’d finally just sneak into Sam’s room and borrow one of his old computer science books. If Sam found out he’d be furious, but Ken didn’t think he’d notice, as he had books that he hadn’t looked at in forever. For the Digital World, Ken thinks it’s a risk he’s willing to take, it’s not like San had noticed the Digivice was gone, after all.

Dinner had gone the same as ever, his parents asking Sam all about his day and no one paying any mind to Ken. Ken quickly excused himself to his room and he knows his presence wasn’t missed. Sam was all that mattered. It was probably better that way.

Minomon had settled in Ken’s bed, curled up on a pillow underneath the blankets, one Ken had put there specially for him. At least someone could live in this place and feel peaceful, and Ken was glad that it was Minomon. Rubbing his eyes, Ken leaned back from the computer, having stared at the screen a little too long and too intently. The code on the screen hadn’t begun to make any more sense than before.

And then there came a foreign sound, knocking at his door. Ken couldn’t even guess who it would be, his parents never bothered him, even if he had skipped dinner. Which he hadn’t, so he hadn’t done anything to draw any attention to himself. Then, a voice called out, almost softly, “Ken?” That was Sam’s voice.

Why was Sam knocking on the door?

Quickly, Ken put the computer into sleep mode, so that Sam couldn’t question what he was doing, and flipped open his textbook and notebook. He’d say he was studying, but his parents would only yell at him if they found out he ignored Sam. Then he hurried over to the door, hoping that Sam wouldn’t notice Minomon, who at least was mostly obscured by blankets.

Opening the door, he was greeted with Sam, hair as spiked and messy as always. He studied Ken for a moment, then spoke again, tone seeming uncertain. “Hey,”

Ken blinked, “Do you need something?” He answered, his neck feeling suddenly cold and his tone equally so.

“Just… checking in on you.” Sam replied, “You’ve seemed… different, recently.”

“I’m the same as I always have been,” Ken lied, because the Digital World was what made Sam hate him in the first place, he wouldn’t reveal it again and risk being outright despised.

Carefully, Sam said, “Oh, okay. That’s good.” He nodded, almost more to himself that to Ken. “What were you up to?”

“Studying,” Ken answered, gesturing towards his desk and the textbook and notebook open on it. “Like you probably should be.”

Frowning, Sam said, “I was. I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay.”

There were a lot of things Ken wanted to say to that. He wanted to say that he had faced multiple terrifying Digimon. He wanted to say that he had the Digi Egg of Courage, so obviously that meant something. He wanted to say that he didn’t need Sam’s concern. He wanted to say he wasn’t a little kid anymore. He wanted to say that he wished Sam would just go away.

Ken bites his tongue, instead, and said, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

With a frown, Sam sighed, then turned away, “Good night,” He said.

In response, Ken simply closed the door, his mood soured horribly.

[writingpaperghost]

Standin' By Your Side (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4: The Power of the Towers

The Digi Destined go to the Digital World to help Gabumon rescue a town of Digimon. Ken meets Matt, and Wormmon gets put through the wringer.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66149626/chapters/172124920

A whole town under the control of the Digimon Emperor and those who wouldn’t submit were imprisoned until they could have a Dark Ring put on them.

It sickened Kari.

“I was able to break out the hard way,” Gabumon said, “But I couldn’t do much for the Digimon that already had rings on them.”

Looking just as annoyed as Kari felt, Matt replied, “We’ll free those Digimon, Gabumon.”

Once again, it was just the Odaiba Digi Destined, they hadn’t run into Ken yet, and while they could email him, he wasn’t always the best at responding. Usually, they were short and sometimes it took him a bit to respond, even during the time that he almost certainly wasn’t at school. While Kari would have felt better to have them all together for this, she’d accepted that Ken’s presence was going to generally be a wildcard, at least for the time being. At least Matt was here, today, mostly because Gabumon had asked him to be.

Matt stood out, in a way, among the five of them. Much like TK and Kari had been previously, he remained in the clothes he was wearing when he entered the Digital World. Though now he was the only one, as TK and Kari’s outfits would now change, though not as much as the other three’s. Kari now gained white feathers across her shoulders and her shoes had changed to more of boots. TK now had a green long sleeve shirts with the sleeves rolled up and a green and white vest. The rest of his outfit seemed mostly the same, including his hat.

“The question is,” Gatomon wondered, “How? There’s too many under the Emperor’s control for us to fight.”

“If we could find a way in,” Cody mused, “We could maybe free the captured Digimon from the inside. They could at least help us in trying to break the Rings.”

While that would be a better plan than an all-out attack, Kari did worry what would happen if someone caught on to their ruse. Then again, it didn’t sound like the RedVeggiemon in charge was necessarily all that bright. Even if they couldn’t free all of the Digimon that had them from the Dark Rings, from what Gabumon said, they were taking plenty of Digimon captive and not immediately putting Rings on them. Maybe they didn’t have enough? Whatever the reason, those would prove far easier to rescue.

Yolei tapped a finger on her cheek, “But how would we get in without drawing attention?”

“Maybe it’s less so avoiding attention,” Hawkmon suggested, “but convincing them we should be there anyway.”

“Hey,” TK said, “That could be something.”

---

Ken had soccer practice today. He didn’t mind, he liked soccer, even if he was far from good at it. But it got him out, gave him something to do other than studying, and most of his teammates tolerated him. No one was singing his praises, but at least they didn’t hate him. Sometimes he wondered why he bothered, though, as he felt like he never really improved, just like with everything else. He never got better at soccer, just as he never got better at school, no matter how hard he tried.

With his ability to return to the Digital World now, too, he found himself antsy to finish his practice even more than before. When he didn’t have practice, he’d rush home from school, ready to head to his room and go to the Digital World with Minomon. Even when he did have practice, all it did was delay the time he could get home and get to the Digital World. It wasn’t like anyone would notice he wasn’t home, after all. Sam was always busy with something, usually studying, and their parents barely paid him any mind anyway.

He wasn’t as smart as Sam, he wasn’t even that good at sports, so what did he matter? When they had a genius for a son, Ken might as well have been an afterthought.

The moment he gets back to his room, he lets Minomon out of his bag. Minomon springs out, hopping from the bag to the bed where he’d sat his bag. “Your soccer practice is always so long, Ken.”

Ken grimaced, “Sorry, I’m sure it’s not fun being in there for hours.”

“At least there’s snacks,” Minomon said. Ken was always sure to leave a bunch of snacks in his bag with Minomon, since he had such a big appetite. “I ate all the snacks, by the way.’

“I’ll make sure to add more tomorrow,” Unable to help himself, Ken smiled. He never spent time with Minomon outside of the Digital World until recently, but somehow the quirks of an In Training Digimon didn’t bother him much. Instead, he found it pretty endearing, not that Minomon wasn’t already his best friend.

Grabbing his Digivice, he scoops up Minomon with his other arm and heads towards his computer. Most likely, the other Digi Destined had already been in the Digital World for a while, they usually beat him there even when he didn’t have practice and the days he did it was even more so. Hopefully they were doing alright, Ken really wished he could run into them when there wasn’t trouble, but truthfully things rarely ever seemed to be all that “safe” in the Digital World right now.

He just hoped they didn’t think he was too much of a nuisance. He didn’t expect them to trust him all that much, since they still didn’t know each other well, but he hoped that at least they didn’t want to avoid him.

Ken had made sure that they’d come out in the part of the Digital World that he’d been able to locate the signals of other Digivices in (the portal program itself didn’t have that functionality, but Ken was only slightly afraid to hook his Digivice up to his computer and see what he could do from there, with the aid of some books and the internet). His Digivice gave him an idea of the direction to go to catch up with them, so he begins to make his way towards them, Wormmon in his arms.

Wormmon tilts his head up to look at Ken, “What do you think the others have gotten up to?” He glanced at Ken’s Digivice, still in his hand.

“Hopefully trying to free more Digimon from the Emperor,” That’s what they’d all been trying to do, since finding their Digi Eggs. It was the only real way they had of fighting back, since they still hadn’t quite figured out what it was that kept Digimon from Digivolving.

“It feels a lot better, now that you’re all here,” Wormmon replied, “things were so awful and miserable… I always like when humans come to the Digital World, because they always make things better.”

That caused Ken to look away from his Digivice and at Wormmon instead, “Except for when the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel showed up.” He frowned.

Antennas drooping, Wormmon agreed, “It didn’t seem bad, at first. No one really noticed, until he started conquering Digimon. And then Sea Angel came along, and he’s always been more… ruthless, than the Emperor.”

The mention of Sea Angel and his actions made Ken’s blood boil, just a little, contrasted by a chilly ache flaring up in the back of his neck. He tries to ignore it, grit his teeth and pretend that he wasn’t bothered – now wasn’t the time to let it get the better of him. It never was, but especially now.

When the back of his neck ached, Ken always became… well, more like Sam. Angier and with a shorter temper, at times rude and cruel, even. He never liked it, always felt awful. It came out the most, these years, with his parents and Sam. The few times his parents acknowledged him, the few times he and Sam even talked, anymore. Sam didn’t have the time to talk to him and much like Ken, generally didn’t want to talk to him anyway. Because Sam has hated Ken since Ken came back from the Digital World. It had hurt him, at the time, but now Ken understood that it would always have happened.

Maybe that was what worried him the most about the other Digi Destined. That they’d realize he was the sort of person you could never really care about for very long, only hate.

“Ken?” Wormmon’s voice knocked Ken out of his thoughts, “Are you alright?”

The ache faded, with Ken pulled out of his thoughts, and he quickly looked back at his Digivice. “Sorry, I was just… thinking. About what the others are up to.” He didn’t want to worry Wormmon.

The signals brought Ken to a town, only for him to duck into the bushes when he realized that it was filled with Digimon wearing Dark Rings. The whole town was probably under the Emperor’s control. Most of them didn’t seem too strong, but even with that, they had sheer numbers over Wormmon, regardless of if he Digivolved into Shadramon.

Looking at the Digivice again, it appeared as though the other Digi Destined were in the town, though. So either they were trying to sneak in or they were captured. Either way, catching up with them would be for the best – if a fought broke out, that would give them better numbers.

“It looks like the others are in there,” Ken said to Wormmon, setting him down. “We’re going to need to sneak in to find them.”

“That sounds dangerous…” Wormmon frowned, beginning to shake.

Ken nodded, “I know, but we need to find the others.” He reached down, giving Wormmon a few reassuring pats.

That seemed to give Wormmon the bravery he needed to stop quivering so much, at least. “O-okay. Yes, we can… we’re pretty small. Or, well, I am. I guess you’ve gotten tall.”

Smiling, Ken reached his arm down to let Wormmon climb up and onto his shoulders. He’d feel better trying to sneak around with his hands free, at least, his Digivice going into his jacket pocket. They circle around the town until Ken spots an opening where he thinks they can slip in without being seen. There were Digimon all over the town, not a single one without a Dark Ring, but they at least seemed to… going about their business, so to speak. Not all looking too closely for intruders, at least.

Wedged between some barrels and a building, Ken peeks over the barrels, looking for any signs of the other Digi Destined. Instead of the Digi Destined, his eyes landed on a clear captive of the Emperor’s Digimon, a Gotsumon without a Dark Ring, being led through the town by two other Gotsumon, these ones with Rings on their arms.

It nagged at Ken, seeing this sight. But to try to do anything about it, they’d be seen and recognized for what they were. Saving that Gotsumon would get the rest of the town’s attention and Ken knows that they can’t fight that. No matter how much he hated seeing this, seeing a Digimon taken captive.

“Ken?” Wormmon whispered, “Do you… do you want to save the Gotsumon?”

“Of course,” He replied, but shook his head, gently, “but it’s too dangerous.”

Wormmon nudged Ken’s head with his own, “If we move fast, we could probably get to safety with Gotsumon. I could carry the both of you.”

Ken reached up, placing a hand on Wormmon, “I’m not sure you’re going to be able to be fast enough…” As appealing as the idea was, “and they’ll be on the lookout if they know we’re here, and we still have to find the others.”

“Whatever you choose, Ken, I’ll be with you,” As it so often was, Wormmon’s voice was warm. Reassuring.

In a way, Ken wished that Wormmon hadn’t said that, though, as it filled him with a reckless courage he knew he was going to regret in a few minutes.

---

“It’s a good thing they didn’t notice that our ‘Dark Rings’ are really just plastic,” Gatomon comments as the Digi Destined and their partners slip into where the captured Digimon were kept.

“Let’s just be glad they’re not that bright,” TK replied, “it saves us a lot of trouble.”

Grinning, Yolei pumped her fist, “Now let’s get these Digimon out of here!”

“Yolei, don’t be so loud,” Cody quickly replied, “the Emperor’s Digimon could hear us.”

TK approached the bars, finding the door and giving it a tug. Unsurprisingly, it only rattled, locked shut. “The hard part will be getting past these bars.”

Gabumon frowned, “I guess blowing a hole in the wall won’t work this time.” He scratched the back of his head, “Plus, running with all these Gotsumon would be hard.”

“All we’ve got to do is get the door open,” Matt said, “even without Digivolving, I think we can pull that off.”

Right, Digivolving itself wouldn’t be a problem, with the Digi Eggs, but anything they could do to break open the door would probably cause too much attention. Then again, metal bars were noisy to begin with, there was no way they weren’t making noise. It was just making sure that it wasn’t so much that it drew attention from the Emperor’s Digimon.

Nodding, Kari looked down to Gatomon, “Let’s break open this cage. Then we can get the Gotsumon out of here.” Though she’d admit they still lacked a plan for where to take the Gotsumon once they were freed. They were still surrounded by the Emperor’s Digimon.

As their Digimon began to attack the metal bars, Kari could hear another commotion, outside of the room, far away it sounded like, but still barely audible over the attacks. She wasn’t the only one, given how Cody and Matt turned their heads towards the door to the room too. Carefully, Kari opened the door, slowly as to make sure that it didn’t make too much noise or could otherwise be easily noticeable.

Footsteps come, two sets it sounded like. One was pretty heavy and sounded a bit like dropping rocks on the floor, the other far lighter. Ken comes rushing by the door, Wormmon in his arms and a Gotsumon beside him.

“Ken!” She called out, trying to be both not too loud but also audible over the Gotsumon’s footsteps. Quickly, Ken stopped running, coming to a halt and then turning on his foot to face towards the door.

“Kari,” He said, his voice not quite ragged but still audibly breathing harder than if he were just walking. Opening the door further, Kari beckoned him inside. The three entered, eyes quickly falling on the Gotsumon in the cage. “So this is where the Emperor’s Digimon are keeping their captives.”

Nodding, Kari turned her attention back to the cage, where the Digimon had finally bent the bars enough for the Gotsumon to squeeze out, although it was a tight fit. “Now we just need to figure out where to take them.”

Looking towards Ken, TK asked, “Say, do you know what that commotion was about? We couldn’t hear much, but…” Right, there was a lot of noise the preceded Ken’s arrival, not to mention how he and the Gotsumon were running.

Seeming sheepish, Ken glanced to the side and replied, “Well… we were… rescuing Gotsumon here.” He gestures to the Gotsumon beside him. “It got a bit… noisy.”

“So the Emperor’s Digimon know you’re here,” Matt said.

Whipping his head over to look at Matt, Ken was quiet for a moment before nodding, “We were able to ditch them, though.”

“Great,” Matt didn’t sound too thrilled about that. Kari couldn’t entirely blame him, having the Emperor’s Digimon know that there was at least one Digi Destined there wasn’t ideal.

Yolei looked at all of the Gotsumon, “Maybe with all these Digimon to help us it won’t matter? We could break all the rings.”

Matt shook his head and Gabumon replied, “Without being able to Digivolve, it would be dangerous.”

“Then we figure out how to let the other Digimon Digivolve,” Ken said, holding Wormmon just a little tighter. “When I first arrived in the Digital World, a friend told me that it was possible the Dark Spires are what were stopping Digimon from Digivolving. If he’s right, then if we could destroy the Spire…”

“Then Gabumon would be able to Digivolve,” Cody finished.

Ken nodded, “He could be wrong, but we don’t have a lot of options. We can’t sneak back through the town with all these Gotsumon, but I think we could make it up to the Spire without being noticed.”

“But,” TK began, “If your friend is wrong, then we’d be at a dead end. If it was just us, our Digimon could fly us away, but with the Gotsumon…” He thought on it.

For a moment, Ken seemed unsure, a frown dancing on his lips. He looked down, looking at Wormmon instead of them. After another moment, he looked back up, “Then we’d have to fight, if any of the Emperor’s Digimon caught up with us.” He looked less unsure, then, more determined. “My friend would never knowingly lie to me, but you’re right that he could be wrong.”

“Sometimes he doesn’t think what he says through,” Wormmon sighed.

Again, Ken nodded in agreement, “And even if he’s wrong, it’s probably better not to let the Spires stay standing.”

Matt shoved his hands into his pockets, “Well, that’s something I think we can all agree on.”

The others nodded in agreement, even Kari herself. It seemed like they were decided, then, though Kari didn’t entirely feel like she could put that kind of faith in Ken’s plan, quite yet. They really didn’t know him well, only ever meeting him while in the Digital World, and that was only when they managed to meet up. More often than not, they met up more at times like this, when they were already in the thick of things. That all limited her ability to really get to know him, to be able to place the kind of trust in him she wished she could.

There were things she knew about Ken. He was quiet and soft spoken, almost seeming a bit afraid to risk rocking the boat. He adored Wormmon just as they all did their partners, maybe even more, in his own quiet and subtle ways. He lived in Tamachi and he had some kind of practice after school, probably some kind of sport given he sometimes seemed a bit tired when he’d arrive late to the Digital World. Though he was quiet and polite, he also was capable of being brave, sometimes to the point of recklessness.

And sometimes, on very rare occasions, he became very, very, different. Like when they encountered Sea Angel, and he became someone else, someone much more confident and daring. But there were other times, when it was less obvious. Where he seemed just a bit harsher, less nice and kind. But just as quickly, he went back to how he was, if perhaps more quiet and sheepish than before.

But everyone else seemed to think it was an okay enough idea, and goodness knows that’s better than they had sometimes. Better than they’d had sometimes in the past too. Maybe being leader, at least in some capacity, was going to mean putting some faith into Ken, even if she couldn’t do it full heartedly. Trust that he wouldn’t purposely do something stupid.

She takes a deep breath and then said, “Alright, then that’s our plan. Let’s go to the Spire.”

---

They manage to make it out of the town without too much trouble, save a single broken Dark Ring and one Veggiemon Sticky Webbed to a wall with its mouth covered up. From there, it was just an uphill walk, which Ken would take over any kind of battle. He just hoped Veemon’s idea was correct and that the tower was responsible for preventing Digimon from Digivolving.

Kari led, with Yolei and Cody at her side. TK hung back, behind the Gotsumon, with the other blond, Matt, while Ken himself lagged at the very back of the group, watching them. They were all joined by their partners, mostly walking with them, though Patamon was once again perched on TK’s head, and Wormmon had climbed from Ken’s arms and onto Ken’s shoulders.

He can see rather than hear Kari, Yolei, and Cody all talking to each other, but all the footsteps from the Gotsumon drown out any of the words, from this far away. As he was much closer to TK and Matt, he could actually hear them talking, pleasant and joyful.

“Say, Ken,” TK looked back at him, grinning, “you getting used to the Digital World? I know it can be a lot, sometimes.”

Ken blinked for a moment, unsure what to say. “I… I suppose, it’s really not… that different.” Definitely not the same as when he’d first ended up there, but still recognizable as the same world.

“It can be pretty strange, and you were all on your own when you first came here,” TK continued, “but I’m glad you weren’t too freaked out.”

“I wasn’t alone, when I first came to the Digital World,” Ken replied, a bit of awkwardness seeping into his voice. He wasn’t entirely sure how much he should say about his first trip into the Digital World. It’s not that he didn’t trust them or thought it would be trouble, he just… didn’t want them getting any wrong ideas about him. After all, Ryo was the hero of that adventure, not him. He just played a supporting role.

Grinning, TK replied, “Oh yeah, that friend you mentioned… is he a Digi Destined too?”

Oh no, and now TK was getting Veemon and Ryo confused. Not that Ken could blame him, he’s been really vague about a lot of things… “Well, I mean, no, it’s really more like, um…”

Thankfully throwing him a bone, Matt changed the topic, “TK mentioned you’re from Tamachi, I take it that’s why you were late?”

“Not exactly,” Ken replied, relief filling him. “I had practice and then I had to get home to the portal…”

Raising an eyebrow, TK asked, “Yours isn’t in your school?”

“No?” His brow furrowed, “Is that where the portal in Odaiba is?”

In response, TK nodded. How… strange. Then again, Veemon had asked him specifically to come, which probably wasn’t the case for the other Digi Destined. It was probably… well probably Gennai, if Ken had to guess. That had been the case when he’d first come to the Digital World with Ryo. Though Veemon was the one who’d done most of the work, it was at Gennai’s request.

“You play a sport or something?” Matt asked, again steering the conversation away from the Digital World and back into the real one. In some ways, Ken was grateful. In others, he wished he’d stop. The last thing Ken really wanted to talk about was himself, especially the him in the real world. The real him.

“Soccer,” Ken answered.

Grinning, TK added, “Tai plays soccer too, I bet he’d love to talk with you.”

Tai was too much better at everything than Ken, so Ken doubted he’d be worth Tai talking to. “I’m… not very good at it.” While he loved to play and he loved trying to figure out what to do to make a goal in the heat of the moment, there were plenty of people on the team who were better than him. “Anyway, do you two do any extra curriculars?” He hoped to change the subject away from him.

“None for me,” TK told him, “but Matt here has a band. Pretty cool, huh? Not a lot of kids can say their big brother’s apart of a band that people even slightly like.” Oh, that explained it. TK and Matt looked a lot alike, so it wasn’t entirely surprising to hear that they were brothers.

Thinking about how happy TK seemed when he was talking with Matt earlier, Ken wondered why the back of his neck began to ache again. Dull, chilly pulsing.

“It… must be nice to be so close with your brother,” Ken couldn’t help but say. He couldn’t remember the last time that he and Sam had interacted and seemed so… happy.

Grinning again, TK said, “We’ve had our ups and downs, but Matt’s always been here for me.”

Matt studied Ken, for a moment, before asking, “You got a brother or something?”

It was Ken’s own fault for bringing up the subject at all. Of course with a comment like that, someone might get curious. Ken hated talking about Sam. Because the moment he told anyone that his brother was Sam Ichijouji, they always became more concerned with him than Ken. He doubted the Digi Destined would be any different, it’s just how people were. Sam was a genius, one that their parents made sure everyone knew about and saw. And Ken… Ken was nothing in comparison. He got middling grades and was only okay at soccer, he wasn’t even good with people, really. There was nothing he had that Sam didn’t.

He bit his lip, knowing he’d have to answer, though. It would be too suspicious if he didn’t. Wormmon crawled towards his from, sliding down into his arms. Finally, Ken answered, “I have an older brother, but we’re not very close.” That was enough. They wouldn’t come to the conclusion that he was the same Ichijouji as Sam Ichijouji, not with that miniscule amount of information.

“That sucks,” TK said, “but hey, things can change.”

Ken wished that he was right, but the pragmatic part of him knew it wouldn’t be the case. Sam hated him, that wasn’t going to just change. Still, Ken wouldn’t say that, because hope was TK’s thing, right? And even if he could be convinced to give up on that hope, Ken doesn’t see much point in trying.

Again, that chill in the back of his neck – he almost wished that Wormmon was still perched back there, so maybe it at least felt less exposed. He just tried not to think about it, it and the fact that TK and Matt were happy, loving brothers, the one thing that Ken knew he’d never have with Sam. He didn’t hold it against him, but thinking too much of it made his neck ache and he hated that.

“We’re almost there,” Ken tried his best to change the subject, looking up at how little cliff was left above them. At the top, it flattened out into a plateau, where the Dark Spire had been erected. Whatever it really was, whatever it was made out of, he felt confident they could destroy it with five Digimon that could Digivolve. Although having to keep all the Gotsumon safe would be difficult if any of the Emperor’s Digimon caught up with them. Hopefully it wouldn’t end up that way.

When they reach the top of the hill, Ken makes his way past the others and the Gotsumon to examine the tower. It appeared to be made in a similar fashion to the Dark Rings, though far larger. Ken had a couple theories about what the purpose could be – something this size was for something that needed a lot of power, there were only so many things that could fit that description. It could be what Veemon suggested, that they were what was keeping Digimon from Digivolving. Since this was something that the Dark Rings obviously weren’t doing, but they knew the Emperor was accomplishing somehow, this didn’t seem like an unreasonable assumption. The other theory that he had was that they were acting like radio towers, transmitting the orders from the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel to the Dark Rings. It was possible, even, that both were true, or that there was something else at play entirely.

Truthfully, Ken doubted it would be easy to learn much about the Dark Spires without having a lot of time to examine it and try to break down its code, which Ken was sure was possible but there certainly wasn’t the time for right now. But whatever the purpose of the Spires were, they couldn’t be good.

He glanced down to Wormmon, “Do you think you can destroy it as Shadramon?” He’d prefer if it could stay mostly intact so he could come back to examine it further later, but who knew how much destruction was needed to keep it from operating.

Wormmon’s antennas drooped, “Well… I’ll be honest Ken, I’m kind of hungry.”

“Oh,” Ken knew it was hard for Wormmon to Digivolve if he got too hungry. Digivolving into Shadramon earlier must have taken most of his energy, even with all the snacking he’d been doing throughout Ken’s soccer practice. Maybe they’d have to start having a snack before leaving for the Digital World.

He glanced back at the others, to see Yolei bounding up towards him, Hawkmon not far behind. “So you think destroying this Dark Spire will let Gabumon Digivolve?” She asked, grinning.

“That’s my theory, right now.” He answered, “Though that’s easier said than done…”

She pulled out her Digivice, “Then let’s get rid of this Dark Spire!”

Ken takes a step back, intending to give Hawkmon and Yolei room, only for something to wrap around his legs, causing him to drop Wormmon. Likewise, something yellow and vine like wrapped around Yolei’s wrist, resulting in her dropping her Digivice. More vines wrapped around her legs and Hawkmon, as well as around Ken’s arms.

Eyes searching the plateau, it became obvious that the others were in about as good of a predicament as he and Yolei were. The source were many a Veggiemon, restraining them and their Digimon so they couldn’t fight back. It seems the Emperor’s Digimon had caught up with them, just a little too soon for them to be able to stop it.

Up the hill appeared RedVeggiemon, clearly the leader in this operation. “Well look what we’ve got here, a whole bunch of Digi Destined.” As RedVeggimon spoke, Ken tried to pull free of the vines. Even if he could get ahold of his Digivice, Wormmon would still be too tired to Digivolve, but if Ken could do something to buy the others some time to get ahold of their own Digivices… it was worth a shot, at least.

Prying his eyes off of RedVeggiemon, he searched for Wormmon among all the Veggiemon arms. Despite Wormmon’s bright green color, which would stand out among the rocky area they were in, as well as the Veggiemon, Ken couldn’t see any sight of him. Hopefully he was hiding, since it seemed the Veggiemon hadn’t captured him.

Yolei shouts something at RedVeggiemon, Ken doesn’t catch what though, over his own concerns for Wormmon. Wormmon was smart, he’d knew he couldn’t Digivolve, so there was no reason for him to do anything other than take cover and wait it out. They weren’t in too much danger, yet. Someone just had to get ahold of their Digivice and then their partner could Armor Digivolve…

“Sticky Net!” A web flings itself at RedVeggiemon, wrapping around him and sticking to him, causing one of his arms to get stuck to the rest of his body. Wormmon stood on top of a rock, the source of the web.

“W-Wormmon?!” Ken was shocked to see that Wormmon had come out of hiding. Why would he do that? It was dangerous and Wormmon wasn’t all that strong without being able to Digivolve, not like any of the other Rookie Digimon that they’d seen partnered with the Digi Destined.

Determination in his eyes, Wormmon hopped down from the rock and ran towards RedVeggiemon. He leaped into the air, throwing his whole body at RedVeggiemon, only for RedVeggiemon to use his free arm to swing at Wormmon, knocking him to the ground hard. Prying the other arm free of Wormmon’s Sticky Net, RedVeggiemon began to wail on poor Wormmon. With one particularly hard whip, Wormmon is sent past Ken and Yolei, crashing into the side of the Dark Spire.

Again, struggling against his restraints, Ken cried, “Wormmon!” He wished he could pull free and pick up Wormmon, protect him from the RedVeggiemon.

Instead, he could only watch as Wormmon got back up, seemed to steady himself, and set his attention back on RedVeggiemon. “It’s okay, Ken. I’m going to protect you.”

“I’d prefer if you didn’t get hurt!” His heart beats too fast and Ken thinks he might be getting a little lightheaded. Panic, he thinks, he’s panicking. Nothing filled Ken with more dread than the possibility of losing Wormmon, of losing his best friend.

Wormmon charged at RedVeggiemon again, this time managing to make contact before getting thrown into the Spire again. Pieces of the Dark Spire crumbled off, the entire structure creaking. Almost as if it were in slow motion, the Dark Spire cracked further, falling the growing hole in its side caving in and causing the Spire to fall forward.

“Gabumon!” Matt called out, having managed to reach into his pocket and retrieve his Digivice.

Beginning to glow, Gabumon managed to break free of the Veggiemon. “Gabumon Digivolve to… Garurumon!”

It seemed that theory was right, then, that the Dark Spires were what prevented Digimon from Digivolving. Good information, though Ken was really more preoccupied with Wormmon, even now. He was so close to Ken, now laying on the ground beside the spire, but the Veggiemon kept him from reaching him.

Garurumon made quick work of the Dark Ring on RedVeggiemon and then the other Veggiemon. The moment Ken felt the Veggiemon’s grip loosen, he pulled free, stumbling a little as his feet landed on the ground. He slid to his knees and picked up Wormmon, cradling him in his arms.

“You scared me,” Ken whispered, gently stroking Wormmon’s head but worried he might brush over an injury.

Nuzzling against Ken, Wormmon replied, “I wanted to keep you safe, like I always have.”

“You’re my best friend, Wormmon. I can’t lose you.” The thought alone terrified him. It was bad enough that his brother hated him, that Ryo disappeared, that he was alone in the real world. At least when he had Wormmon, he had a friend. If something happened to Wormmon… he’d be truly alone.

Slowly, Ken stands, seeing the Veggiemon slowly filing out with the Gotsumon behind them. It seemed things would be alright in the village, at least, and that Ken was glad for. Looking around, everyone seemed to be doing well, at least. Wormmon was really the only one who had been free to fight, so the rest of the Digimon were fine.

Matt and Garurumon stood beside each other, it sounded like Matt was congratulating Garurumon. In response, Garurumon said, “I’ll stay here and make sure the Emperor can’t take control again.”

Nodding, Matt replied, “Just make sure to let us know if something happens.”

All’s well that ends well, Ken supposed. He looked back down to Wormmon, “I’ll make sure to sneak you some leftovers from dinner, okay? I think we have some cookies, too.” His hand stalled, midway through caressing Wormmon’s back. He moves back up to his head and patted gently again, “You deserve it for being so brave today.”

His words did nothing to quell the fear in his own heart, but he wanted Wormmon to feel good about himself. He had been brave today, Ken knew he must have been frightened, but he’d still done all he could to protect Ken. The last thing Ken wanted to do was scold Wormmon for it, as much as he wanted to make sure that Wormmon understood the fear he’d been in.

“If something happened to you, mom and dad would blame me!”

No, Ken would rather die than get angry at Wormmon for worrying him. Especially when Wormmon clearly meant so well. They could talk more about it later, but they both needed time – Wormmon needed rest and Ken needed a bit more time to calm down and let his fear go away.

“If you don’t mind,” Ken called out to the others, “I think I’m going to head home. Wormmon needs to rest.”

“He did take a beating from RedVeggiemon,” Cody agreed, thoughtfully.

Kari nodded, “We’ll be heading home soon ourselves. Can’t miss dinner after all.”

[writingpaperghost]

i cant believe none of you bastards told me about the ex aid burger episode, The best episode of television ever aired

[writingpaperghost]

Standin' By Your Side (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3: Armored Upgrade

The Digi Destined find Digi Eggs bearing the Crests of Light and Hope, along with Agumon, Ken, and Wormmon. And then Sea Angel makes his appearance.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66149626/chapters/171512854

“It’s been a while since we were here, huh?” Nonchalantly, Tai stretched his arms as he walked with the group. He’d joined Kari, TK, Yolei, and Cody on their visit into the Digital World today, hoping to see Agumon.

“Don’t forget, we still have to worry about the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel,” Gatomon said.

Tai hummed in assent, aware if not all that bothered.

Three dots had appeared on Cody and Yolei’s Digivices, so they were following them. At least now, they knew that the dots were either Digi Eggs, or Digivices like Cody, Yolei, and Ken’s. Given they didn’t arrive with Ken, they can’t rule out that one of the dots was him, either. Likely the moving one, assuming there weren’t any other Digi Destined that might have Digivices like theirs.

“Looks like Ken reached the other signals,” Yolei declared, “hopefully.”

“Hopefully?” Cody asked, looking up at her. She held her Digivice in one hand and had her other arm wrapped around Hawkmon.

“Well, it’s not like we know for sure that it’s Ken,”

Dryly, TK comments, “It would be useful if those Digivices could label the signals a bit better.”

“At least we have somewhere to look,” Kari sighs, “Maybe one of these days we’ll get some idea of what to do about the Emperor.”

Tai gave Kari a pat on her shoulder, “Don’t get too worried, Kari. The adventure’s just starting, I’m sure things will make more sense soon enough.”

Kari frowned, “This is different from before, though. Myotismon, the Dark Masters, and Apocalymon were Digimon. The Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel are humans, like us.” They couldn’t just… destroy them, like they could with Digimon. But how much could they reason with someone already willing to go this far…?

Once more, Yolei declares, “We’re almost there!” She leads them to a cave. Kari can just faintly make out voices, one more so than the others.

“Agumon!” Tai lit up, hurrying into the cave, quickly followed by the others.

Standing beside Agumon in the cave was Ken, in the same purple jacket he wore the last time they saw him – much like Yolei and Cody, the Digital World must give him a change of clothes when he was there. Wormmon was perched on the back of his shoulders, and the three stand beside two Digi Eggs.

Turning to see Tai, Agumon lit up, waving excitedly, “Tai! You’re here!”

Ken took a step back as Tai ran up to Agumon. He watched the two for a moment, a small smile on his face, before looking at the rest of them and gesturing towards the Digi Eggs. “There’s two more Digi Eggs here,”

Following his gesture, Kari takes a better look at the two Digi Eggs. “They have the Crests of Hope and Light.” She noticed.

“Our Crests,” TK observed. Except unlike last time, they didn’t have any new Digi Destined with them. While they’d been searching for Digi Eggs with the hope that it could give them more of an edge against the Emperor, there was no telling if any of them could even lift the Digi Eggs. After all… they clearly only let themselves be moved by certain people, and having had the Crest associated with the Digi Egg before clearly wasn’t enough.

As Kari approached the Digi Eggs, joined by TK, she could feel Ken’s gaze on them. He remained silent, even as Yolei and Cody discussed who might be able to pick up the Digi Eggs and Tai and Agumon chatted excitedly about what Tai had been up to and what had been happening in the Digital World. If Kari were being honest, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be able to pick up the Digi Egg of Light or not. On one hand, it had her Crest, and it would let Gatomon Digivolve, which meant she could help the others fight. On the other hand… some part of Kari wasn’t sure if she was ready to have the fate of the Digital World on her shoulders again.

Yet she knew as surely as she knew herself that she would try anyway.

TK looks over to her, a confident smile on his face, “You ready to give it a try?”

It helped to have him with her, someone she knew and trusted, who might even have similar thoughts going through his head. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

Together, they reached out, grabbed the Digi Eggs and pulled. They budged easily, a light flying out of each and making a beeline to their Digivices. Digi Eggs in one hand, they both pulled out their Digivices, which had changed to match Yolei, Cody, and Ken’s.

“You’re Digivices changed too,” Ken observed, eyes widened just a little in surprise and… maybe recognition, but Kari couldn’t be sure.

“Wow!” Tai cheered, “Guess that was easy. Hey, that means Gatomon and Patamon will be able to Digivolve too, right?”

Patamon glided a small circle around TK, before landing on his head, “We should be able to.”

Ken gave a nod, “There’s no reason for that not to be the case.”

“Alright!” Yolei grinned, “With five Digimon, we can probably beat whatever the Emperor or that Sea Angel throws out way.”

Cody, instead, frowned, “Don’t forget, we haven’t even seen either of them.”

“You really don’t want to…” Wormmon said, “They’re so very cruel…” He seemed to quiver, prompting Ken to reach up and rest a hand on his head, giving a few gentle pats.

Tilting his head, Agumon asked, “So what now? There could be more of those Digi Eggs, but we still have the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel to worry about.”

Kari thought about that. What even were their courses of action? Given every Digi Egg they’d found so far had a Crest associated it, that meant there were eight Digi Eggs, so that left three unaccounted for, now. But could any one of them use more than one Digi Egg? Or would a different Digi Destined have to be the one to pick it up? Knowing, now, that previous Digi Destined could pick up the Digi Eggs at least broadened their options without having to search for new Digi Destined.

Then there was the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel. Though they’d yet to meet either of them, the effect they’d left on the Digital World had been obvious everywhere they’d gone. Digimon controlled by those Dark Rings, the Dark Spires that seemed to be everywhere, and the fear that the still free Digimon had of them. Even their own partners were wary of the pair, though that could be attributed in part to their inability to Digivolve. Somehow the Digi Eggs at least got around that.

“I say,” Yolei began, interrupting Kari’s thoughts, “That we go find this Digimon Emperor or that Sea Angel, and we go and give them a piece of our minds!”

“What?” Ken startled, “That sounds…”

“Somehow, Yolei, I don’t think that will be so easy,” Cody replied.

Grinning, Tai suggests, “What about freeing some of the Digimon around here from the Dark Rings? I bet if we free enough of them, even without being able to Digivolve, there’s enough strong Digimon around here that they could fend off the Emperor or his forces if they show up here again.”

That was a better idea than trying to find and fight the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel, at least. As much as Kari would love to just put a stop to all of this at its source, she highly doubted that would be so easy. Starting smaller seemed like a good idea.

“I agree with Tai,” She said, “It’ll be easier if we have more allies on our side. Not to mention, if we cause enough of a commotion…”

“The Digimon Emperor or Sea Angel might show themselves,” TK finished with a snap of his fingers, “That sounds like a great idea.”

Yolei hummed, “I guess that probably would work better…”

“I agree,” Cody nodded.

That only left… Ken. He seemed to stiffen as their gazes all turned to him, eyes widening for just a moment. “Well… um, yes. I think that would be for the best,” He quickly answered, turning his gaze away.

He must be shy, Kari thinks. He had seemed a bit uneasy around them last time, too, though at least seemed to be good at keeping himself mostly together in the heat of the moment. Hopefully he’d warm up to them a bit, at least.

A silence falls, for just a moment, in the air after Ken’s reply. Enough that Gatomon’s ears twitch, prompting her to turn her attention to the entrance of the cave. And then she gasped, “Sea Angel!”

That caused everyone to turn their heads and look in that direction. Standing, casually, at the mouth of the cave was a boy. Lavender hair that fell over his right eye, a long, grey jacket covering most of his body, with a dark blue and white cape draped over his shoulders. He tossed something in his hand, for a moment, before swiftly returning it to his pocket – at this distance, Kari couldn’t make out what it was, just that it was no bigger than his hand.

“Oh, don’t stop your conversation on my account,” He said, “it’s entertaining to listen to you think of ways to try to stop us. Not that any of them will work.”

“You’re one of the ones that have been controlling the Digimon!” Yolei shouted, her anger at him already obvious.

Tilting his head, Sea Angel replied, “And you… you’re the kids that have been ruining the game for the Emperor. That’s very rude.” He takes a step back, aside from the entrance of the cave, “But I tell you what. If you leave and never come back, we can forget all about this.”

Kari takes a step forward, joined by Gatomon, “We’re not going to let you hurt innocent Digimon.”

At that, he scowled, “Innocent? I’d hardly call them innocent. But if that’s the fight you want to have, then so be it. Why don’t you all come out here and we’ll see if your friends-“ there was something about how he said it, something awful and snarling. Angry? Accusatory? Bitter? Kari couldn’t quite tell. “-are as strong as you seem to think.”

Quiet, for a moment, as they all thought it over. Who knew what Digimon Sea Angel had waiting. But this didn’t feel much like a challenge they could turn down, and they had five who could Digivolve now, plus Agumon. That was far better odds than if they couldn’t Digivolve at all.

It’s Ken who breaks the silence, voice even, “If you think the Digimon you’re forcing to fight for you are so strong, then why not a wager?”

“What?” Yolei yelped, “What are you doing?”

Sea Angel’s expression turned amused, “Oh, confident are we? I’m sure you have something in mind.”

“If we win, you tell us how the Digimon Emperor keeps Digimon from Digivolving.” Ken replied, not a trace of the shy boy from earlier there.

“And when I win?”

“I’ll tell you and the Digimon Emperor a way you can have the entire Digital World under your control with ease,” Though there wasn’t the least bit of uncertainty in Ken’s voice and he’d replied with such speed and ease that made it seem like he was telling all the truth, Kari had to wonder if that was the case. The idea of him having any information that the Emperor and Sea Angel might find useful wasn’t unbelievable, but it did seem unlikely. That he knew something like what he claimed seemed even more unlikely. But would he really make such a big bluff?

Sea Angel seemed to consider his words, turning them over in his head. After a few moments of thought, he answered, “Sure, I’ll take you up on that. Not that you’re going to win, so it isn’t as if I have anything to lose…” He then levels Ken with a threatening gaze, “But the Emperor doesn’t like liars.”

Ken doesn’t seem bothered by Sea Angel’s gaze, instead somehow almost amused himself. A smile curls onto his lips, “That won’t be a problem.”

Disappearing out of their view, Sea Angel steps away from the mouth of the cave. He probably won’t go far, but it’s clear he wants them to come out, and if they’re going to fight whatever Digimon he might have, they’d have to. Ken begins to walk first, hand reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out his Digivice as he approaches the entrance.

Making her decision, Kari and Gatomon follow, with TK and Patamon soon after. Yolei, Hawkmon, Cody, and Armidillomon follow quickly, while Tai and Agumon lag back. That was fine, they probably wouldn’t do much fighting unless they were really needed, anyway. Reaching the outside shows them Sea Angel’s chosen fighter, Tyrannomon, with Sea Angel standing by his legs.

Grinning, he said, “Are you sure you want to fight Tyrannomon? You could save yourself the trouble and just give up now.”

Kari shook her head, “We’re going to set Tyrannomon free and then you’ll have lost.”

“If that’s what you think will happen, then let’s stop wasting time.” Sea Angel jumps back with the sort of agility you only really got used to if you spent a lot of time in the Digital World. An understanding of how physics sometimes bent in odd ways. He snapped, gesturing towards them, “Teach them a lesson, Tyrannomon.”

She spares a glance at the other four, getting a nod in agreement. Together, they all call out, “Digi Armor Energize!”

Wormmon leaps off of Ken’s shoulders, Digivolving into Shadramon. Hawkmon and Armidillomon, who had been on the ground anyway, simply put some distance between themselves and their partners, to accommodate for the change in size as FlyBeemon and Pteranomon. Gatomon leaps forward as she begins to glow, while Patamon flew towards the rest of them when his Digivolution began.

“Gatomon Armor Digivolve to… Nefertimon! The Angel of Light!” True to her name, Nerfertimon was a winged cat, her head resembling Egyptian art.

“Patamon Armor Digivolve to… Pegasusmon! Flying Hope!” Pegasusmon looked every bit like his name implied, now very horse like in appearance, but with wings and armor as well.

Since all of their Digimon could fly, they could attack Tyrannomon from all levels, not just the ground. Sea Angel kept his distance, watching the fight intently. When it seemed like they were going to be able to break the Dark Ring, Sea Angel gestures again and thudding footsteps foretell the arrival of a second Tyrannomon.

That would make things more difficult, of course that was probably the point. Sea Angel looked pretty pleased with himself.

“What’s your deal, anyway?” Yolei yelled at Sea Angel, “I mean, what, is this some kind of power trip?”

Sea Angel looked her way, appearing more annoyed than anything else. “I don’t need to explain myself to you.” He replied, just loud enough to be heard over the commotion.

Pegasusmon and Nefertimon are able to hold one of the Tyrannomon still, while Shadramon and Pteranomon kept the other’s attention on them. This gave FlyBeemon the opening to break both of their Dark Rings, one at a time, freeing the Tyrannomon from Sea Angel’s control.

Though he looked surprised, Sea Angel tried to laugh it off, “I suppose you’re better than I gave you credit for,” He said, “Too bad, I suppose we’ll have to pick this up some other time.”

“I seem to recall we made a little deal,” Ken said, though now his tone sounded a bit less certain, at least compared to earlier.

“Whoever said I was really going to keep up my end?”

Ken seemed to weigh that, for a moment, before he replied, “That’s fine, I think I already know. I’ll just have to get around to testing my theory.”

Sea Angel scowled, then gestured once more. Swooping down from the skies, Airdramon appeared and he hops onto its back, flying off. The Tyrannomon didn’t stick around much longer either, now that they were freed of the Dark Rings. Just said some thanks and left, not that it was a big deal.

As they all calmed from the fight, Kari couldn’t help but steal a glance of Ken, who scooped Wormmon up, quietly muttering praise as he inspected Wormmon for any injuries. Wormmon, not quite as quietly, assured him he was alright. It was sweet, certainly, but felt a far cry from the demeanor he’d had in the cave after Sea Angel showed up. And then there was that wager…

“I have to ask, but what do you know that might be able to help the Emperor?” TK asked, voicing Kari’s own thoughts.

Ken looked up from Wormmon, “Oh, well… nothing,” He answered, “It was a bluff, I knew we wouldn’t lose. So I just had to entice him to see if I could get any information out of him… not that that worked.” He looked back down, frowning.

“It was a convincing bluff,” Cody added, “You seemed like another person entirely, during that time.”

Again, Ken looked up, a surprised expression on his face. One arm moved from holding Wormmon to rest on the back of his neck, gently rubbing there, “I… I guess I was.”

Kari shook her head, she just hoped Ken wouldn’t try too many things like that. It could have backfired badly if they hadn’t been able to free the Tyrannomon. She didn’t think it would stop being all hands on deck anytime soon, so they needed every Digimon that could somehow Digivolve that they could find.

Tai wanders up to her, Agumon beside him. “Some day it’s been, huh?”

“You could say that,” She looked down at her new Digivice, “At least Gatomon and Patamon can fight now.”

“Yeah, and you’ve got a new team, now.” Tai looked over all of them. TK was still near Ken, appearing to be attempting to strike up some conversation, which Ken at least was responding to. Yolei and Cody were a couple feet away, talking about something else. “But they’re going to need someone to lead.”

She tilted her head, thinking, “Well, TK and I have the most experience in the Digital World, so we’ll probably be taking the lead more often than not.”

Her brother nodded in agreement, reaching up for his goggles, “So you should take these.”

At first, she stares at the goggles, before looking up to stare at Tai instead, “What? Why?”

“Think of it like a… passing of the torch, yeah? Every good team leader needs a pair of goggles.” Tai grinned, like he didn’t say something that wouldn’t make any real sense in pretty much any context.

Staring for a moment longer, Kari replied, “That doesn’t make sense.”

“It’s like, symbolic. Just take ‘em, okay? I’m sure they’ll be in good hands.” He holds them out again.

“This is weird,” She said, but awkwardly takes the goggles anyway. “I’m not putting these on my head or my face, though.”

Tai shrugged, “Stick them around your neck or something. I think they’ll suit you well enough.”

---

“My injury hurt a bit, today,” Ken said as he stood in his room, Minomon sat on his bed.

“The one from…?” Minomon nervously asked.

Ken nodded, knowing they were both on the same page. “From when we fought Millieniumon.”

Minomon seemed troubled by that, “I wonder why…”

“I don’t know, it just… did. Not a lot, but… well, it does this, sometimes. Usually just makes my mood worse.” It had a tendency to start aching when he was upset. And Ken didn’t like being upset, but he’d be the first to say his life wasn’t exactly idyllic and there was plenty to be upset about. When Sea Angel acted so awful, it had just made him very… annoyed.

“Oh,” Minomon frowned, “That’s… not good.”

Setting down next to Minomon, Ken sighed, “It doesn’t happen too often and it doesn’t hurt much, but… well, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.” Which might not have been entirely true, but it would hopefully keep Minomon from worrying too much.

---

“There’s five of them, now?” The Digimon Emperor asked, lounging in his chair. He leaned his back against one arm of the chair and had his legs hanging over the other. Sea Angel was used to seeing him in these sorts of ways, he didn’t like sitting in chairs normally, especially not while they were in his empire.

Sea Angel nodded, “Two of them just got the power today. They were able to break the Dark Rings off of two Tyrannomon.”

The Emperor grinned, “So they’ll be a challenge, then.”

“Opposition.”

“We’ll show ‘em how strong we are,” The Emperor declared, “I mean, I’m sure you can handle them, Angel, ‘cause you’re real good at commanding Digimon.”

While the Emperor seemed unbothered by them, Angel didn’t think it’d be so simple. “They could easily mess with our plans if not dealt with quickly.”

From underneath his glasses – Angel had always thought it was ridiculous that the Emperor wore those sunglasses over his eyes and then also wore goggles on his head – the Emperor looks between Angel and his monitors. “We still control most of the Digital World, five kids can’t undo all that work that quickly. So we’ll take care of them, but there’s no point in ruining the fun too soon.”

Angel sighed, “If that’s what you want, Emperor.” Sometimes he really wondered how the Emperor conquered anything before he came along. He was so unserious about even his own goals. It all really was a game to him, though Angel supposed this was the first time they’d ever really faced opposition that could possibly stand a chance against them.

“Heeeeey!” That nuisance of the Emperor’s partner, Veemon, called out. “I’m hungry.”

The Emperor sighed, “Then get some food. There’s plenty here.”

“You should eat with me,”

“I’m busy.”

“But Da-“ Before Veemon could get the Emperor’s name out, the Emperor cut him off.

“I’m busy! Go eat on your own!”

[writingpaperghost]

Standin' By Your Side (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2: Enter, Knowledge and Love

TK starts at his new school, at least he gets to be in a class with Kari. Of course, normal can't stay normal and a portal to the Digital World opens and it turns out that there are two new Digi Destined. Or is it three?

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66149626/chapters/170656915

Nowadays, that summer sometimes felt more like a distant memory, maybe a figment of his imagination. It had only been a few years, but for TK Takaishi it had felt like an eternity since he’d gone to the Digital World. Still, TK knew that it was as real as he was.

Today was special, though. TK and his mom had just moved to a new place, back in Odaiba, which meant a new school for TK. Thankfully, this was the same school Kari went to, so they were both looking forward to getting to see each other a lot more. He’d be pretty close to all the other Digi Destined too, though Kari was the only one young enough to be at the same school as him.

“Sorry I can’t take you to school,” His mom called out as he got ready to leave.

“It’s alright, it’s not very far, anyway.” TK didn’t mind walking on his own, and it gave him an opportunity to meet other kids before classes started. “Bye mom, I’ll see you later!”

He walks out the door and to the elevator. It stops before the ground floor, letting on a tall girl and a younger boy. He smiled, “Hi, I just moved here, I’m TK Takaishi.”

“Hey, TK,” The girl smiled, “I’m Yolei Inoue, and this is Cody Hida.”

Cody regarded him, for a moment, “We can walk to school together.”

“That sounds great,” TK smiled in return. He was glad to get to know some of the other kids in the building so quickly.

As they left the building and began walking outside, Yolei pointed to a convince store on the corner, “That’s my family’s store,” She said, “Stop by if you ever need to, sometimes I’ll be working there when I’m not in school.”

TK nodded, filling that away for later. He wouldn’t mind stopping at a friend’s store, and it was pretty close to the apartment. They crossed the road and the two begin to outpace him, but he can overhear them talking about Yolei coming over to check Cody’s computer. Must be pretty good with computers.

He passed by the soccer field and paused, seeing spikey hair and goggles playing with other kids. It reminded him of Tai, what were the odds that there were two weirdo’s in Odaiba who both liked soccer and wore goggles. The soccer balls bounces TK’s way and he catches it, more reflexively than much else. The goggled boy, definitely not Tai, ran up.

“Here you go,” TK said as he held the soccer ball out, “Pretty good moves there. I’m TK, I just moved here.”

Goggle boy takes the soccer ball and regards him for a moment, “Thanks, I’m Davis. You can always join us, but I’ll have you know, I’m pretty good.” He has a bit of a smug expression, before waving and running back towards the others.

TK watched him for a few seconds before continuing on. He wondered if Davis and Tai knew each other, he felt like they would get along.

He sees Davis again when class starts, sat on the other side of an empty desk from Kari. That empty desk ended up being TK’s, and he smiled as he sat down. “Together again, huh?”

Kari smiled in kind and nodded, “It’s kind of nice, though.”

From the desk beside him, he can hear Davis muttering something, but TK decides not to pay it much mind.

Between classes, Davis studies TK, before leaning over and asking, “You and Kari know each other?”

Before TK can answer, Kari does, “He’s a friend from summer camp, remember I told you about them. His older brother is Matt, Tai’s best friend.”

TK would admit there was a part of him that was very curious about Kari and Davis’ relationship. Knowing they knew each other, TK could think of a Davis that he recalled Kari talking about, but truthfully he hadn’t heard much about him in a while. Just Kari’s concern.

“Oh,” Davis intoned, his expression turning into something that almost looked annoyed, before immediately blasting into cheerful. “It’s pretty cool that you two get to be classmates.”

If any of that had bothered Davis, he didn’t let it show. Though TK was pretty sure he caught Davis glancing towards them more than once, during the rest of the day. But as soon as school was over, Davis practically jumped up, and ran off, saying something about having soccer practice. Kari looked confused, before explaining that there wasn’t soccer practice that day.

TK brushes the strange explanation off. He didn’t know Davis well and he was sure whatever the real reason was, it wasn’t that important. Probably just something that Davis felt a bit embarrassed talking about.

After school, TK and Kari find themselves in the computer lab, at Izzy’s behest. He doesn’t even attend the elementary anymore, he’s in middle school now, like most of the others, which makes him asking them to meet him in the elementary school computer lab even stranger. He’s sat at one of the computers, when they arrive. But they both knew why he was there, and why he wanted them there.

“Did a portal to the Digital World really open?” Kari asked, already making her way to Izzy to look at the computer screen.

Izzy nodded, “It has, Sora got a message from Biyomon earlier and was able to get through, but now…”

Following after Kari, TK glanced at the screen. It displayed some kind of strange program, that must be the portal. But as Izzy said, it seemed to be closed.

“How do we open it?” He couldn’t help but wonder. He wanted to see Patamon, obviously, but he was also worried about Sora and the message she’d gotten from Biyomon. Was something going on? Were Digimon in danger?

“That,” Izzy replied, “I don’t know.”

And if Izzy didn’t know, then that was trouble.

The door to the computer lab opens. TK honestly expected to see one of the other Digi Destined, maybe Matt or Tai, given how close they were with Sora. Instead, he sees Yolei and Cody. Yolei stared, for a minute, before her gaze landed on Izzy, “Hey, that computer’s got a- wait, you’re Izzy Izumi!” She pointed, a clear rise in energy triggering when she realized who Izzy was, “You used to be the president of the computer club!”

“Oh, Yolei, Cody…” TK’s mind was already swirling, trying to come up with some excuse. It sounded like Yolei might have already noticed something was up with the computer, which might make it a bit more difficult.

Cody looked up at Yolei, “That’s the computer you were talking about, isn’t it? The one that somehow got a strange program, yesterday.”

His question seemed to put Yolei back on task, “Oh, right. Yeah, it’s that one. I couldn’t figure out how to fix it yesterday… maybe Izzy can figure it out!”

Izzy, seeing the way to get the two to leave that he’d been given, replied, “Yes! I happened upon this computer and its strange program and I’ve been trying to figure out how to disable it.” He nodded seriously, though TK would admit that his delivery was maybe a bit forced.

“Great!” Yolei cheered, then turned to Cody, “It is a bit strange that the computer got a strange program the same day that those devices shot out of the computer…”

“What?” Kari asked, “Devices shot out of the computer?” She clearly intuited the same sort of thing that TK had. That those devices were probably connected to the Digital World – Digivices, even.

Reaching into his pocket, Cody pulled out a device. It didn’t quite look like their Digivices, shaped a bit taller than it was square, all rounded edges with no corners. “This came shooting at me, yesterday. Yolei said her’s came from the computer, and another shot past her.”

Peering over, Izzy shot up from his seat, “Digivices!”

“Digi-whats?” Yolei asked, “Hey, do you know what these are?!”

The three of them explain to Yolei and Cody about the Digivices and the Digital World. None of them quite say it, but TK’s sure that Izzy and Kari felt just as uneasy about the appearance of two new Digivices as he is. It was clear, more than ever, that something was going on, something bad. And whatever it was, the Digital World clear felt that it needed new Digi Destined to stop it.

Sora was still somewhere in there, on her own, though hopefully with Biyomon.

Yolei peered over Izzy’s shoulder at the computer screen, “So that weird program is a portal to the Digital World?”

“Well, yes, though it appears to be closed right now…” Izzy replied, glancing up at Yolei. Then he looked back at the screen and said in surprise, “Wait, it’s open now.”

Looking over Izzy’s other shoulder, Kari said, “Could it have something to do with Yolei and Cody’s Digivices? Since they’re different?”

“It’s certainly possible…” Izzy hummed, beginning to type something on the computer before Yolei held up her Digivice.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s see this Digital World!” Yolei pointed her Digivice at the computer screen.

Startled, Izzy reaches up to lower her arm as Kari does the same, but before they can actually try to move Yolei’s arm, they seemed to be swallowed into the computer. Cody gawked at the sight, shocked and concerned. The portal to the Digital World is definitely open, that’s for sure. Hopefully wherever they’d come out would be safe.

TK rushes over to the computer, grabbing his own Digivice from his pocket and holding it up to the computer. Nothing happened, though, despite the fact the portal still seemed to be open.

He looks at his Digivice, frowning, then looked to Cody, “I think you’ll have to use your Digivice to open the portal.”

Cody looked down at his own Digivice, studying it. He looked a bit unsure, TK couldn’t blame him. Cody wasn’t much older than TK was when he’d first gone to the Digital World, and that certainly frightened him. Being asked to willingly go somewhere so mysterious and unknown was no easy thing. But TK didn’t want to be left out, especially if there was something going on in the Digital World, and it was possible Cody was his only hope of catching up with Yolei, Izzy, and Kari.

After a few moments, Cody looked back up at him, nodding. He walked over to the computer and held his Digivice up to the screen as Yolei had, while TK set his hand on Cody’s shoulder. The two are pulled into the Digital World, just as the other three had been, landing in a heap outside of a TV. Not too far from them were Izzy, Kari, and Yolei, having been joined by Tentomon, Gatomon, and Patamon.

TK pulls himself up quickly, “Patamon!”

“TK!” Excitedly, Patamon glides over, into TK’s arms.

Cody gets up and examines himself, Yolei having been in the process of doing the same. “Our clothes are different,” She observed. Strangely, it was only Yolei and Cody who had a wardrobe change, as TK and Kari were still in their usual clothes and Izzy was still in his school uniform.

“Must have something else to do with your Digivices,” TK wondered aloud, as that was really the only explanation.

“Whatever it is,” Gatomon began, crossing her arms, “we have a lot bigger things to worry about.”

More frantically, Tentomon added, “Like the Digimon Emperor! Or worse, Sea Angel! Who knows if any of them are around here…”

Izzy, Kari, and TK looked towards Tentomon, “The Digimon Emperor? Sea Angel?” TK asked, “Is that why Biyomon needed Sora?”

“It’s part that and part that we can’t Digivolve.” Patamon answers.

Gatomon nodded, “The Emperor’s found a way to stop it, not to mention I’ve lost my tail ring…”

Kari frowned, “You can’t Digivolve… well, we need to find Sora and Biyomon and make sure they’re okay. Then we can worry about this Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel.”

“The Digimon Emperor has Digimon under his control all over here,” Tentomon informs them, “we’ll have to be careful.”

Yolei had gone from studying her clothes to studying her Digivice, fiddling around with it, before speaking up, “Hey, the Digivice seems to show some kind of signal… maybe it could help us find your friend?”

Izzy looked over at the Digivice, curious, “It only shows two signals over there, and then two where we are…”

“Digivices?” Cody suggested, “Yolei and I have the same one…”

“So maybe it’s showing Digivices like our’s, but not like your guys’?” Yolei finished.

Nodding, Gatomon said, “There could be more Digi Destined we don’t know about yet.”

Determined, Yolei placed her hands on her hips, “Well, there’s only one way to find out!” She turned a direction, presumably the way that the signals on the Digivice were. She begins walking that way, to the surprise of the others.

Kari jogged to catch up, “Don’t go on your own, it’s dangerous and you and Cody don’t have Digimon.” The rest of them hurried to catch up in kind. Since their Digimon couldn’t Digivolve, it was probably better they all stay in a group, anyway.

A roar resonates behind them, thudding footsteps telling them that a large Digimon was near. Emerging from the trees was Monochromon, a dark ring wrapped around its leg and its eyes an unnatural red. Somehow, that probably wasn’t good news.

From TK’s head, Patamon exclaims, “One of the Emperor’s Digimon!”

“Run!” Tentomon called, as the kids and their Digimon began to do such. If their Digimon couldn’t Digivolve, there was no way they could fight a Digimon. It was better to just run and try to figure something else out.

Maybe in their running, they’d find those signals that Yolei was talking about.

---

“What will we do if we run into Sea Angel or the Digimon Emperor?” Wormmon asked worriedly from his place on Ken’s shoulders.

It was a good question, one Ken had thought plenty about since he’d left the Digital World the evening before. “You can Digivolve now,” he said, “so we can fight them.” He’s not really sure what they’d do if the Digimon were too strong for Shadramon or really what they could do about the Digimon Emperor or Sea Angel themselves. Digimon were one thing, but humans… Ken wasn’t sure what to do against a human threat.

“Do you think we’ll be able to beat them?”

Ken nodded, “You’re pretty strong, Wormmon.” He leaves out the part where they have to win. Because from what he’d heard, he wouldn’t want to see a future where they don’t.

And beating the bad guy and saving the day is what heroes did, and without anyone else here to be the hero, it was left to Ken. Whether he wanted it or not, he felt too strong of an obligation not to try. He knew Wormmon would be at his side the whole time, and that did make him feel a bit better about it.

At his praise, Wormmon rubbed the side of his head against the back of Ken’s, “That’s very kind of you to say, Ken.”

Unable to help himself, Ken smiled, reaching his arm back to give Wormmon a pat. “It’s true, I know I’m safe with you here.” He’d been scared, before, but now he felt confident that they could face whatever problems the Digital World, the Digimon Emperor, or Sea Angel sent their way.

He was a bit worried about Veemon, wherever he’d gone off to. But Veemon was a pretty strong Digimon himself, so he hoped that wherever he was, he was okay. Maybe he had some other plan. Regardless, Ken felt confident that he’d see him again, sooner or later.

Today they were back in the Digital World. When he’d arrived, he’d been startled to find his clothes had suddenly changed, though didn’t appear to dissimilar to what he usually wore. The biggest change was the purple jacket with a familiar symbol on his shoulders – the Crest of Kindness, in vivid pink. His shoes had changed into boots and he’d found himself with gloves, but those weren’t as noticeable of changes for him.

What caused the change in clothes he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t spend too much time dwelling on it. He’d been fiddling around with his Digivice the night before, trying to see what all had changed about it, and had found something that kind of reminding him of a radar or something similar. Nothing had come up when he’d been in his room, but he was hoping to find something in the Digital World.

To his luck, when he’d arrived, the radar showed two dots, other than himself. He didn’t know what they were, but they were a place to start. Hopefully they’d give him some kind of lead on the Emperor, or otherwise be useful. As he and Wormmon had been walking, two more dots appeared on the screen. At first, they’d been stationary, but now they were moving and towards the first two dots.

Well whatever the dots represented, Ken was determined to find out.

---

Yolei’s Digivice and their race to keep away from Monochromon led them to an old temple. But at least they’d lost Monochromon, for now at least.

Kari would admit, she was a bit worried about all of this. The new Digi Destined, the Digimon Emperor… but they had to stay focused. Their goals for now were finding Sora and Biyomon, and then figuring out how to fight back against the Digimon Emperor. One step at a time.

“Hey!” Yolei gasped, looking at her Digivice, “There’s another dot! And it’s moving this way!”

“Could it be another Digi Destined?” Izzy wondered aloud.

Cody frowned, “If it’s coming towards us then we’ll learn sooner or later…”

Before they can ponder the newest dot more, from further within the temple emerged Sora and Biyomon. Sora smiled when she saw them, “Izzy, Tentomon, TK, Patamon, Kari, Gatomon!” She waved.

“Sora!” TK hurried over to her, “Are you two okay?”

Sora nodded, “We’ve been hiding out here ever since that Monochromon showed up.”

Looking around, Kari asked, “Is there anyone else here with you?”

Puzzled, Sora shook her head, “No, it’s just Biyomon and I…” Then she seemed to remember something, “Oh, but you have to come and see! There’s these weird Digi Eggs!”

Curious, they all follow Sora further into the temple, back the direction that she and Biyomon had come from. The room opens up, revealing two pedestals, with strange Digi Eggs on them. Most notably, one had the Crest of Knowledge on it, while the other had the Crest of Love.

Examining them, Izzy notes as much, “They have our Crests on them.”

“That’s why it’s so weird. I tried to move them, but neither of them would budge.” Sora gestured at the Digi Eggs.

Not looking particularly worried, despite the less than ideal situation they were in, TK suggests, “Well let’s all give it a try. Maybe they just need the right person.”

TK tries first, no luck. Then Izzy, same results. Kari reluctantly tries, but just as she expected, neither egg budges. They all look to the back of the group, where Yolei and Cody had been hanging back.

“Looks like you two will have to try,” TK says as they all move aside to make room for them.

“Us?” Cody responded, looking a bit surprised.

Yolei appear less surprised, more excited, “Alright! Let’s do it, Cody!”

As she rushed over to the Digi Eggs, Cody followed, albeit somewhat reluctantly. Kari felt a bit bad for him, this clearly wasn’t his idea of a good time, compared to Yolei who was clearly enjoying herself. She almost hopes that the Digivice wasn’t meant to go for him and he could just put it all behind him, but she knows that isn’t the case.

Yolei takes hold of the Digi Egg of Knowledge while Cody gently grasps the Digi Egg of Love. “On three, okay Cody? One, two, three!”

On cue, the two pull on the eggs. Unlike the rest of them, the Digi Eggs come up from their pedestals, releasing a column of light from each. Out of those columns comes a Digimon. From the Digi Egg of Knowledge comes a bird like Digimon, not unlike Biyomon, but bright red. From the Digi Egg of Love comes an armadillo, bright yellow in color.

“…Woah…” Yolei and Cody both breath together, in awe of their new partners.

The bird speaks first, “A pleasure to meet you, I am Hawkmon.”

Then the armadillo, “And I’m Armidillomon. Ya’ll sure kept us waiting, didn’tcha?”

“Kept you waiting?” Cody echoed, tilting his head. “But we’ve just met.”

“Well-“ Hawkmon began, before he was cut off by the whole temple shaking.

Looking around, trying to see if the building was at risk of collapse, Izzy wonders, “Was this triggered by moving the Digi Eggs?”

Then Monochromon’s roar cuts through the room, telling them an answer. Probably not, but they had worse things to worry about. Namely, Monochromon. They run towards the entrance of the temple, peering out to find Monochromon at the bottom of the steps. He was a bit too big to really go up them, but instead seemed content to ram at the temple and its steps. Presumably he was still after them.

“What should we do?” Sora wondered, “None of our Digimon can Digivolve.”

Patamon’s wings flapped a little, not quite enough to raise him off of TK’s head. “Maybe we can hold him back long enough for you all to run away.”

TK visibly stiffened and Kari frowned, quickly replying, “That’s too dangerous. Even together you don’t stand a chance against Monochromon. Not when he’s like this…”

Like an answer to the question of what to do, in a blaze of flames something crashes into Monochromon, even succeeding in moving him away from the steps. It was an insect Digimon that seemed to wear fiery armor. Unlike Monochromon, he didn’t have a Dark Ring, so as far as Kari was concerned in the moment, he was on their side.

“Quick,” She called, “While that Digimon’s keeping Monochromon busy!” She began to sprint down the step, Gatomon at her heels. This was their best chance to get away, they just had to hope that Monochromon was kept busy long enough.

As they reached the bottom of the steps, Monochromon roared and threw the other Digimon away, past them and into a tree. It seemed even it was out matched. Beside the Digimon, a boy appeared from the trees, wearing a bright purple jacket.

He looked at the Digimon in shock, “Shadramon! Are you alright?” The concern in his voice wasn’t unfamiliar, Kari had heard it a lot. Had used it a lot. That’s how they all were when their Digimon might be hurt.

The Digimon, Shadramon shakes it off, glancing to the boy, “Don’t worry Ken, I’m alright. Make sure the other kids are okay.” With that, his wings came out again and he raced back to Monochromon – pushing him away from them, again.

The boy, Ken, looked over to them surprised. “There are others here…?”

“No time for that,” TK replied, “We have to get out of here, I’m sure Shadramon will be alright.” The group made their way towards Ken.

It looked like Ken was about to agree with TK, before his eyes landed on Yolei and Cody. Or more specifically, the Digi Eggs they held. His eyes widened and he said, “Those Digi Eggs… if you use them to Digivolve your Digimon, we might be able to break the Dark Ring!”

Both Yolei and Cody looked down at their Digi Eggs, “But… I thought Digimon couldn’t Digivolve?” Cody wondered.

“The Digi Eggs are special,” Ken told them, “That’s how Shadramon’s able to fight, he’s using the power of one of the Digi Eggs.”

“Then what do we do?” Yolei asked.

Ken blinked, like he was surprised by that question, but only for a moment. “Oh, well… I guess I just kind of knew…” He shook his head, “Well it’s like…”

With a resounding crash, Shadramon is slammed on the ground, a light enveloping him as he returned to his Rookie form, a green caterpillar Digimon. Ken froze, for just a moment, paling. Kari knew that expression, she’d seen it plenty before…

“Wormmon!” Ken was already dashing towards Wormmon as he called out for his partner.

It takes a moment for the other Digi Destined to process it before Sora calls out, “Wait! It’s dangerous!”

Yolei looks over at Hawkmon, “We’ve gotta do something!”

Hawkmon flapped his wings and brings himself to eye level with Yolei, “Just say the words.”

And somehow, both Yolei and Cody seemed to understand. They looked at each other, determination in their eyes, and nod. Then they hold up their Digi Eggs and call out, “Digi Armor Energize!”

Light bursts from the Digi Eggs and wrap around Hawkmon and Armidillomon.

“Hawkmon Armor Digivolve to…Flybeemon! The Needles of Knowledge!”

“Armidillomon Armor Digivolve to… Pteranomon! The Wings of Love!”

The two Digimon fly to Monochromon, taking his attention. Kari and TK, with Gatomon and Patamon, hurry over to Ken. Ken picks up Wormmon, cradling him in his arms. He’s mumbling something to Wormmon they can’t make out, when they finally reach him.

“Let’s leave it to them,” TK said, gesturing towards the fighting Digimon.

Looking up from Wormmon, Ken watched the fight, for a moment, squeezing Wormmon just a little tighter. Seemingly trying to comfort him, Wormmon nuzzled his head against Ken, “I’m okay, Ken.”

Ken nodded, silent.

Flybeemon breaks the Dark Ring on Monochromon, he and Pteranomon keeping a distance, until it became clear that Monochromon no longer had an interest in fighting. Then the two return to being Hawkmon and Armidillomon and land.

Rejoining with the others, they all introduce themselves to Ken. In return, quite politely, Ken introduces himself, “My name is Ken Ichijouji.”

“So that makes three,” Cody observed, “Three of us who have Digimon who can Digivolve.”

Silently, Ken nodded.

Yolei tapped a finger against her cheek, “But only two lights came out of the computer yesterday…”

“Oh,” Ken’s eyes widened, “Lights? I think… I was already here. When I got the Digi Egg of Courage, three lights came out. One changed my Digivice, and the other two went past… maybe those went to you?” He pulled out his own Digivice, to show it. To confirm, Yolei and Cody pulled out their own. They all appeared to be of the same design, albeit in different colors.

“The Digi Egg of Courage, huh?” Sora wondered aloud, “Well, you were pretty brave today. I bet Tai would like you!”

Seeming surprised, Ken blinked, “T-Tai?”

“My brother,” Kari explained, “He used to have the Crest of Courage. Ah, I guess you wouldn’t really know what that is…”

“Well I…” Ken seemed unsure, but whatever he might have said was cut off.

TK looked him over, “I take it you don’t go to Odaiba Elementary?”

Again, seeming surprised, Ken responded, “No… I live in Tamachi.”

In response, Izzy asked, “Then there’s a portal over there?”

“Yes,”

“We can at least meet up here.” Yolei said, “And we can email when we’re in the real world.”

Perplexed, Ken asked, “Meet up?”

Wormmon looked up at him, “It would make more sense to work together. Three Digimon are better than one, after all.”

“I… guess that’s true.”

---

Ken isn’t sure what to make of the other Digi Destined. He hadn’t interacted with them much, and even when he had been, he’d admit he hadn’t really known what to do or say. They’re strangers to him, really, and as right as Wormmon was about working with Yolei and Cody being better than not…

He was apprehensive, he supposed. Glad, certainly, to not have to bear the weight of being the hero, now. He could go back to being a helper but not the primary force, like before. He was far more comfortable in that sort of position. But still, he had never been the greatest with people. Ryo had been different – he’d already known Ryo. He didn’t know these new Digi Destined.

But three were better than one, so Ken supposed he’d have to get to used to them.

[writingpaperghost]

Standin' By Your Side (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1: The One Who Inherits Courage

A fateful email brings Ken Ichijouji back to a wondrous world, except this time, it's a lot more frightening and a lot more dangerous. Joining a group of other Digi Destined, they work to save the Digital World from the Digimon Emperor, but his problems don't end there. Between his relationships with the other Digi Destined, his relationships with his parents and his brother, and something from his past nipping at his heels, Ken worries he might drown in it all. Who is the Digimon Emperor and why is he doing this? Why was Ken chosen to return to the Digital World? Why, when the darkness reaches into his heart, does his neck hurt? Meanwhile, Kari Kamiya and TK Takaishi return to the Digital World, now joined by Yolei Inoue and Cody Hida, faced with the terrible threat of the Digimon Emperor, a human like them and not a Digimon. They're joined by Ken, a quiet boy who keeps to himself but seems at home in the Digital World. And lastly, of course, on the edge of it all, a red cloaked Digimon and a little burning sun stone watch. At least, they're on the edge of it for now, and goodness knows that Sunmon won't let his sister help their dream friend all on her own. Now if only big brother wasn't so over protective…

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66149626/chapters/170485993

Ken Ichijouji’s life had been painfully normal for the last three years, give or take. If one were the ask the eleven-year-old, and he were to answer truthfully, he’d probably say that his life had peaked during his very first trip into the Digital World. Sure, there were a lot of things trying to kill him and that whole Milleniumon thing, but he’d made a great friend in Wormmon, and he’d gotten to go on an adventure with both him and his friend Ryo. Of course, he’d gotten sick right at the end, once Milleniumon was defeated, and when he’d gotten better Ryo had disappeared. Not just from the Digital World but from the real one too.

He'd wondered where he’d gone, but Ken couldn’t find a clue and as much as he still kept an eye out, he couldn’t spend all of his attention on it. Ken’s life went on. His boring, painfully unexceptional life. It wasn’t even really that Ken cared that he wasn’t noteworthy, it was more that he wasn’t and his older brother, Sam, was. Sam was a genius, so of course their parents loved him more. In comparison, Ken was nothing. Sometimes, he couldn’t help but stare at the computer, now a hand-me-down from Sam, who had recently gotten a new one, and try to will it to let him back in, but it never mattered.

Today was one such day, sat at his desk, his studies abandoned in favor of thinking about the Digital World and Wormmon. Everyday, he hoped that Wormmon was okay. He was a capable Digimon, sure, but without Ken, his abilities were somewhat limited, as he wouldn’t be able to Digivolve. And he knew Wormmon well, even in the best of times he could be quite anxious and unsure. Still, hopefully Wormmon had friends of his own in the Digital World, then he at least wouldn’t be alone without Ken.

Alone like Ken was, nowadays.

Just as he turns his attention back to his textbook, he hears the notification sound of an email coming in. He expects it to be garbage or something, but he looks up anyway, eyes landing on the supposed sender and subject line. “Veemon” and “Help”. With a new vigor, his accidentally flings his pencil off the desk in an effort to reach his mouse to open the email.

TO: Ken Ichijouji

FROM: V mon

SUBJECT: help

hi ken!

I no it’s been a wile an all, but we could realy use your help here! I found wormmon and he’s safe, so dont worry about that. lots of stuff has happened sins you were last here, and now we digimon cant digivolve! this mail should have a portal to the digital world in it, so just hold your digivice out and youll be able to come.

please hurry!

V mon

Ken has to reread the email a few times, trying to process it all. The Digital World was in trouble again, and Veemon was asking for him to help, again. He just hoped this time it wasn’t any kind of ruse, though with Ryo gone, he doubted it. Regardless, he wouldn’t take the chance. There was just one problem…

He needed his Digivice. And his Digivice had been in Sam’s drawer since his first adventure into the Digital World. Of course, Sam was at the library studying late tonight, so that would make it easier…

Before he even knows it, Ken’s stood up from his desk, quietly making his way over to his door. He’d just have to hope his parents were too distracted to notice that he was trying to sneak into Sam’s room. When they were younger it wouldn’t be that strange for him to play in Sam’s room for a bit, but that hadn’t been the case in years. Sam left the door unlatched, making it quiet enough for him to slip in, and he knew exactly what drawer the Digivice was in.

The time that had passed since Sam had put the Digivice in there had resulted in it being buried, but Ken got the impression that Sam didn’t use this drawer much anymore, as the top piece of paper was a study sheet dated a year and a half prior. It doesn’t take much searching to find the familiar light blue device, though it felt smaller, now that his hands were bigger.

Still holding it, he slipped back out of Sam’s room and into his own. Immediately, his gaze lands on his computer, the email still displayed. There was a file attached to it, he walks over and clicks on the file to download it.

Once he’s greeted with the portal, he recalls what Veemon said in his email. Just hold his Digivice up…

The sensation of becoming data and being brought into the Digital World wasn’t new, but it wasn’t exactly something Ken was used to. It was like his whole body fell asleep, for just a moment, before waking up in something just shy of a shock of tingles. And then he stumbles to the ground, surrounded in a lush forest, hued a bluish green.

“You’re here!” Rang an excited and familiar voice. Ken sits up, looking to his side where a blue and white dinosaur creature stood. Veemon, he knew, was a very old Digimon, despite his small appearance and youthful energy.

“Veemon,” Ken couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Veemon. “You said there was trouble?”

The second that Ken stood up, Veemon grabbed his hand and began to lead him through the forest. “Things have gotten crazy!”

“And where’s Wormmon? You said he was with you…”

“We’re going, he’s hiding. It’s not really safe for Digimon, right now.” Veemon led him through the forest, either knowing perfectly where he was going or knowing not at all and just confidently walking forward. With Veemon it was hard to tell.

The idea that it wasn’t safe for Digimon was concerning, certainly. Even when there were troublesome Digimon around, there were usually a few other Digimon trying to stop them. Then again, if that were the case, Veemon wouldn’t have asked Ken to come here. Whatever was going on, he obviously felt that it needed the aid of the Digi Destined.

Veemon leads Ken to a tree surrounded by a particularly dense patch of brush. Clearly having seen them coming, Wormmon crawls out, a certain excitement obvious in his eyes when he sees Ken, “Ken!”

“Worrmon!” Unable to help himself, Ken scooped Wormmon up. It had been a couple years, Ken had grown bigger, making Wormmon seem smaller than he had when they’d last met. Still, he fit well in Ken’s arms and there was something comforting about holding him again. There was something comforting about being back in the Digital World, too.

“Oh Ken,” Wormmon began, “It’s been terrible! This horrible boy, the Digimon Emperor, showed up one day with this black Digivice, and ever since he’s been enslaving Digimon with these black rings and forcing them to do his bidding.”

A boy? “The… Digimon Emperor?” A human? Ken had come to the Digital World expecting another digital threat, another Digimon like Milleniumon or Diaboromon. Not a human threat. “He’s a… Digi Destined?” Why would someone who would enslave Digimon ever get a Digivice to begin with?

“He’s got help to boot, another boy, Sea Angel,” Veemon added, “together, they’ve been taking over the Digital World!”

“And… Digimon can’t Digivolve?” Ken recalled Veemon said something about that in his letter, but truthfully, he was still trying to wrap his head around the earlier information. The threat to the Digital World was another Digi Destined. He’d never even considered that possible.

Both Wormmon and Veemon shook their heads, as Wormmon answered, “Something that Emperor’s doing keeps any Digimon from Digivolving.”

“Does it affect you, too?” Wormmon couldn’t usually Digivolve on his own, anyway. He needed Ken and his Digivice to Digivolve into Stingmon, since they were partners. Of course, Ken supposed Wormmon wouldn’t know, either.

“Even partnered Digimon can’t Digivolve,” Veemon answered, though Ken wasn’t sure how he knew for sure. Unless some of the other Digi Destined had been here with their partners and tried. Ken wouldn’t exactly blame the Digimon for turning to other Digi Destined first, but then why resort to him at all? He wasn’t so good at this as Ryo was, Ryo had more practice when Veemon had first asked for his help and worked with him. “But! I know a way that you and Wormmon can specially Digivolve!”

Both Ken and Wormmon looked at him and blinked. Together, they asked, “You do?”

Veemon nodded excitedly, “That’s why I called you two. C’mon, I’ll show you!” He hurries off, Ken only able to keep up due to having longer legs than him.

Despite Veemon’s eccentricities, Ken would admit he was curious just what he was going to show them. He didn’t think Veemon was making it up, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was right, either. He might believe he knows a way that Wormmon could somehow Digivolve and turn out to be wrong. Or he could be right, and then Ken… then Ken and Wormmon could stop the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel.

Provided, of course, that Veemon was right about this. And Ken wasn’t sure what scared him more, the idea that Veemon was wrong and there wasn’t anything Ken could really do, or the idea that he was right and Ken would be thrust into another quest to save the Digital World.

They walked in silence, for a while, the hues of the forest passing by, occasionally breaking way into clearings. It wasn’t long before Ken could the brown of a cliffside nearby, through the trunks of the trees. The area was unfamiliar to him, nor did he know how frequently locations in the Digital World might shift. He recalls hearing, once or twice, that time in the Digital World, once upon a time, had moved faster than in the real world, though now they seemed to be about equal.

Peeking out above the treetops, Ken spies a black obelisk, its dark form piercing into the sky. “What’s… that?” He asked, pulling one arm from Wormmon to point at the strange structure.

“The Digimon Emperor built those, too,” Wormmon answered, “all over the Digital World.”

“Might have something to do with keeping Digimon from Digivolving,” Veemon suggests, “But I dunno for sure…”

If Veemon was right, which Ken doubted given it seemed mostly conjecture, then finding a way to destroy that would allow Digimon, at least within a certain area, to Digivolve. It would be worth figuring out just what the dark obelisk’s purpose was, regardless. Knowing might provide an idea as to what the Digimon Emperor’s goal was.

They enter a cave, walking into the darkness that he light from outside couldn’t pierce. Something about it made Ken uneasy, maybe it was just trusting Veemon, who was well meaning but not always the most competent, to lead them through without trouble. But Veemon had never knowingly led anyone astray, and even the possibility of having a way to fight back against this Emperor filled Ken with the motivation to brave the darkness. The light from outside faded further and further away, but in return, a new light began to emerge. A soft, warm glow, emanating from what Ken thought at first was a strange rock.

Veemon hopped over to the rock, gesturing grandly, “Ta da!”

Ken set Wormmon down and approached Veemon and the rock. Upon closer inspection, it was more egg-like in shape, colored red, with a pattern appearing like orange flames, with a yellow emblem on it. From the top of the egg-shaped rock, a silvery horn poked up. It was at least four times the size of a regular chicken egg, though, the closer Ken got to it, the more he could feel a gentle heat radiating out.

Wormmon is the first to voice confusion. “A Digi Egg?”

“Not just any Digi Egg,” Veemon says proudly, “The Digi Egg of Courage!”

“The Digi Egg of Courage?” Ken echoed.

Frowning, Wormmon sent a small glare Veemon’s way, “And this will help us how?”

Seemingly remembering that he hadn’t actually explained that much, Veemon elaborates, “It’s kinda like the Crest you used to have, Ken. Except this Digi Egg unlocks a very old form of Digivolution. Since it’s so old, the Digimon Emperor probably doesn’t have a way to stop it.”

Still regarding the Digi Egg, Ken said, “But my Crest was the Crest of Kindness, not Courage.”

“C’mon, everyone’s got more than one trait to them, I bet you could use Courage.” Then, more awkwardly, he added, “It’s also the only one that I know where it is.”

The symbol of the Digi Egg looked familiar, now that he thought about it. A sun. Then Ken placed it, he’d first seen it when WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon fought Diaboromon. This symbol had been on the back of WarGreymon, it was the Crest of Courage. While he’d never ended up meeting the boy who would have had that Crest, he had met his partner.

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to ask the pair who had this Crest to use this Digi Egg?” He doesn’t doubt that Agumon and his partner wouldn’t be willing to, given how ready Agumon seemed to help before.

Veemon considered that for a moment, looking like he was thinking hard, though his expression seemed a bit exaggerated. When finally he was finished, he said, “I think it would be better if it was you. I know you and Wormmon can do it.”

Maybe to some it would be reassuring to have Veemon’s faith, and broadly it was, for Ken. But some part of him felt heavy at Veemon’s words, for reasons he couldn’t explain in the slightest. Still, Ken reached out to the Digi Egg, before hesitating and looking at Veemon again.

“So what do we do?”

Cheerfully, Veemon answered, “Just take the Digi Egg and use it to Digivolve!”

Right, just take the egg… Again, Ken reached out, then grabbed the Digi Egg. There was resistance, for a moment, when he pulled, but it quickly gave way. Once the Digi Egg was removed from its place, a bright light emerged from where it had sat, then the beam of light split into three. Two flew out of the cave, well past Ken, Wormmon, and Veemon, and the other flew towards the waistband of Ken’s pants, where his Digivice was clipped.

The light engulfed the Digivice and it transformed, changing shape. Surprised, Ken picked it up, examining it. Before, it had been entirely a pale blue color, but now it was white, dark grey, and a light blue. Wormmon peered up at it, “It looks… like the one that the Digimon Emperor has.”

Ken turned his attention to him, “Like the Digimon Emperor’s?”

Wormmon nodded, “Not black, but the design’s the same.”

That was… odd. He looks at Veemon, “That light changed my Digivice, but what were the other two?”

Veemon thought for a moment, before shrugging, “I dunno.”

As usual, Veemon was incredibly helpful.

Returning his attention to the Digi Egg, Ken wondered allowed, “So Wormmon can use this to Digivolve?”

Giving a thumbs up, Veemon nodded, “Yeah! It’ll be super cool!”

Somehow, Ken wasn’t entirely sure about that. And until he and Wormmon figured out how to use the Digi Egg, he couldn’t really know for sure if Veemon was even right about what it could do. He was certainly more convinced than he’d been earlier, there was clearly something special about this Digi Egg. He just wasn’t entirely sure if it would really allow Digivolution.

Before he could ponder the Digi Egg further, a roar resonates through the cave, causing Ken’s heart to drop.

Looking over to Veemon, Wormmon asked, “Please tell me there’s a friendly Digimon in this cave.”

Almost sheepishly, Veemon answered, “Uh… well not that I know of.”

No more questioning could be done as a Raptordramon appeared, roaring once more. Its eyes were red and around its arm was a strange black ring. That must be the Dark Ring that Wormmon and Veemon had spoken of, putting this Digimon under the Emperor’s control.

“Uh oh,” Veemon shouted, “Guess you better figure out how to use that Digi Egg!”

As if that was easy to figure out, given how little Veemon had given him to work off of. All he had was ‘use the Digi Egg to Digivolve’. Which wasn’t exactly a lot, since it came back to just. Not knowing how to use it at all. Sure, maybe it could Digivolve Wormmon, but how?

Raptordramon charged at him, causing Ken to dive to the side. Wormmon dived to the other, thankfully unharmed. Veemon, though out of the way of the attack, was still quite close to Raptordramon, having stayed still when it charged.

Looking as determined as Ken had ever seen him, Veemon braced and threw himself at Raptordramon, “V-Headbutt!”

While the attack seemed to cause Raptordramon to pause for just a moment, before it turned its attention to Veemon.

When Ken had first been to the Digital World, it was amazing and wonderous. Even when it was dangerous, he had never really felt terribly scared. Even when he and Ryo were facing Milleniumon. Ken must have gotten more easily frightened, since then, more cowardly, because in this moment, his heart beat so quickly. Terror, he thinks, of Raptordramon and what it might do.

Desperately, he looked to Wormmon, pleading. “Wormmon!” He called to his partner, hoping there was something he could do, but in the moment Ken was too panicked to really think of what.

Webbing spewed from Wormmon’s mouth as he called out “Sticky Net!”. It wrapped around Raptordramon and stuck against the cave floor, but Raptordramon’s size and distance from any other surfaces meant that Raptordramon was able to pull free rather quickly. Still, it was enough time for Veemon to duck away and put some distance between himself and Raptordramon.

Another roar from Raptordramon and Ken’s mind kept racing. “We need to get out of this cave,” He called to the other two. There was no way this tight space was benefitting them, and they stood a chance to run away if they made it out of the cave.

Raptordramon swiped at Wormmon, who quickly jumped away. “That might be difficult, Ken,” Wormmon yelped.

“If you use the Digi Egg-“ Veemon began, before dodging a swipe from Raptordramon himself.

“I don’t know how!” Despite his efforts to stay calm, Ken just couldn’t. They were in danger, Wormmon couldn’t Digivolve, and he was scared. Scared like he’d never been before.

Raptordramon kept its attention on Veemon, unfortunately. Still, he tried to give him some kind of idea of what to do. “Just be brave, Ken!”

Brave. Right now, Ken felt anything but. And yet, watching as Veemon tried to avoid Raptordramon’s attacks, he could help but want to help. Do something to get Veemon away. Finally, Raptordramon bit Veemon and flung him, out towards the entrance of the cave.

“Veemon!” Ken called, hoping that he was okay enough. If Veemon replied, Ken hadn’t been able to hear it. And right now he had bigger things to worry about, as with Veemon out of sight, Raptordramon turned its attention towards Wormmon.

Some part of Ken was grateful not to be targeted himself, another part was horrified that it was Wormmon who was. Wormmon put on a brave face, but Ken knew him, knew that he was surely just as frightened as Ken was. That lights something in Ken’s chest, something that burns and aches all the same, as suddenly his feet are pushing him towards Wormmon, as Raptordramon bares its fangs.

Grabbing Wormmon, Ken tried to just as quickly move away, a bit like stealing the ball in soccer and then trying to put distance between yourself in your opponent. Instead, Raptordramon snaps at him, causing Ken to fall so it bites the air where Ken had once been instead of Ken. Still in his hand, the Digi Egg of Courage burns.

“Ken…” Wormmon begins, “I think we can do something.”

Ken sees it too. Or rather, some part of him knows, intuitively. Maybe it was the Digi Egg that told him, he didn’t know. But he drops Wormmon, just as he holds up the Digi Egg of Courage that burned and burned and called out, “Digi Armor Energize!”

Light exploded from the Digi Egg of Courage as it disappeared from Ken’s hand, the light wrapping around Wormmon. And though Ken was still frightened, he somehow knew that this was good. This was what Veemon was talking about.

“Wormmon Armor Digivolve to… Shadramon! The Flames of Courage!”

Shadramon, much like Wormmon’s usual Digivolution of Stingmon, was an insect, but he wore flame patterned armor, which greatly resembled the Digi Egg of Courage.

“Flare Buster!” Fire burst from Shadramon’s hands, blasting towards Raptordramon.

From behind Ken, he can hear Veemon cheer, “You did it! You used the Digi Egg!”

Compared to Veemon and Wormmon, Shadramon fairs a great deal better against Raptordramon. The best Veemon and Wormmon could do was slow Raptordramon, but certainly not fight back. Shadramon could fight and it seemed reasonable to think he could win.

Standing up, Ken watches as Shadramon destroyed the Dark Ring on Raptordramon’s arm. The moment it breaks, the red disappeared from its eyes. Warily, both Ken and Shadramon watch, trying to see if something might happen.

“You should let it through,” Veemon calls out, “With the Dark Ring broken, the Digimon Emperor has no hold over it.”

Still a bit unsure, Ken steps aside, Raptordramon passing by him without issue. It seemed Veemon was right, as it didn’t seem to be interested in attacking them, now. That was good to know, at least.

Shadramon returned to being Wormmon, and a device that Ken hadn’t thought was in his pocket beeped. It was a small, handheld device, but bigger than his Digivice. Instead, it had a screen and a full keyboard, and on the screen Ken could see the Crest of Courage. Was this where the Digi Egg of Courage had gone.

“So with this Digi Egg… we’ll be able to fight against the Emperor?” Ken asked, partly meaning to and partly wondering aloud without entirely realizing it.

Veemon nodded, “Yeah, it’s not effected by the Emperor, he can’t stop you from Digivolving with it. It’s the only way to fight back.”

In return, Ken nodded, looking towards Wormmon, “We’ll stop the Digimon Emperor, then. Wormmon nodded in kind.

“Great!” Veemon cheered, “I’ll have to leave you guys for now, I can’t really help you…”

“We can worry about that tomorrow,” Wormmon said, “It’s getting late and Ken should get home.”

The three walked towards the entrance of the cave, finding that the sun was beginning to set. Still, Ken didn’t like the idea of leaving the Digital World with things unfinished. “What about the Emperor?”

Wormmon shook his head, “For some reason… the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel only seem to operate during the day.”

That was curious, “I suppose if they’re both human, they must still have things they need to sleep and get up for, in the morning.” It was possible it would be easier to deal with the two, if that were the case, in the real world. Where they, like Ken, were nothing more than humans, maybe even kids too. Maybe wrestling the Digivice from them, which would keep them from being able to return to the Digital World. It would be a good idea to keep in mind, though Ken doubted it would be very effective, as he’d still have to figure out who the two were.

“Probably,” Veemon agreed. “Head back to the TV you came out of and you’ll be able to go home. And you should be able to keep using that portal from your computer, so you can come back whenever you want.”

Ken nodded. Some part of him was excited to be able to be in the Digital World again, to come and go as he pleased. Another remembered the fear he felt when Raptordramon appeared. And another part balked at the expectations now set upon him. He had to stop the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel. He and Wormmon, no Ryo to help them this time. They were on their own.

It was up to Ken to be a hero, even though in the real world, he was nothing.

Going through the TV, he and Wormmon – Minomon, rather, tumble out of his computer screen. He hopes the thuds didn’t draw attention from any of his family, though he really doubts it. It’s not like they pay him much mind – why would they, when Sam was right there? Genius, talented, wonderful Sam. In comparison, Ken may as well be a ghost that lived with them.

At least he had Minomon, now.

---

“Yolei?” Cody Hida called out when he saw his friend leaving the computer lab, he clutched the strange device that had come flying out of nowhere in his hand. They lived in the same building, so it wasn’t uncommon for the two to see each other and spend time together.

Yolei Inoue turned to him, surprised for a moment, something too clutched in her hand. “Oh, Cody, do you need something?”

“I’m just surprised to see you here so late,” He replied.

“I could say the same about you,”

He smiled a little, “I was reading in the library and lost track of time. Did something happen in the computer lab to keep you busy?”

She contemplated for a moment, before answering, “This weird program appeared on one of the computers and I was trying to figure out where it came from. Then these lights blasted out of the screen and I got this…” She held up a device, just like the one that Cody had.

He held up his own, “You too?”

Looking between the two devices, Yolei wondered, “But what are they?”

[writingpaperghost]

Between Father and Daughter

Akiko wants to prove herself. Wants her father to stop trying to make her leave. That turns out to be pretty hazardous, though.

This was originally written for the Rider System zine. I procrastinated on posting this, but if you haven't already, you should check out the zine! I decided to get around to posting this properly instead of posting an entirely new fic/au. Which I've written so like the problem is already here but who cares. I can have all the WIP I want.

Zine: https://rider-system-zine.itch.io/rider-system-a-kamen-rider-zine

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66120625

If Akiko were being honest, she hadn’t planned this far ahead, but now sure would be a good time to figure it out. In front of her, the man who she had been quite certain was the culprit in her father’s current investigation. And she’s still quite confident in that, but there was a wrench thrown in that had moved to the back of her mind prior to this moment. The man had pulled out an unusual USB stick, on that was styled to have rib like bones around it, and in the center a letter “L” in the shape like lightning.

It hadn’t occurred to her that there could be a Dopant involved in this case at all. Truthfully, the concept of the monsters had fallen to the back of her mind, for the most part, despite her rather frightening first encounter with one a couple weeks ago. That time, the Kamen Rider, the same one that Shoutaro had spoken of both before and since, had arrived to intervene, protecting her and Shoutaro from the Dopant. Somehow, she wasn’t sure she’d be so lucky, this time.

…Maybe she ought to learn to keep Dopants in mind next time.

As it were, now was as good of time as any to try to come up with a plan for what to do in this situation – she didn’t have Shoutaro for help, he was busy studying, that just hadn’t been enough to dissuade her from trying to help her dad. So she was on her own, which definitely limited her options but didn’t remove them entirely. The best option would be to find a way to keep this guy from using the USB stick at all – that was what would transform him into a Dopant, after all. Though that was easier said than done, but Akiko at least had the upside of looking very non-threatening, which would surely be helpful in this situation.

“Hey, uh, that’s a bit much, don’t you think?” Akiko called out, holding her hands up. Despite her efforts to sound confident, even she could tell her voice sounded nothing like it. “I know I probably came on a bit strong, what with accusing you of stalking Ms. Hayashi and all… but you know, a firm no or any other denial would get the point across perfectly fine.”

“No,” the man said, “You know too much, obviously.” He seemed to press something on the USB stick, causing a sound to ring out in the otherwise empty air.

Lightning!

Pulling his sleeve up, he revealed on his arm what appeared to be a USB port, embedded in his skin with lines like a circuit board branching out from it. He brought the USB stick over, and it seemed to be absorbed into his body. From there, his body morphed, becoming a monster – a Dopant.

She’d never seen someone become a Dopant before, some part of her hoped never to have to see it again, if only because of the impending danger. If she wasn’t in danger before, she certainly was now.

Akiko takes several steps back, as the Dopant crosses that distance even more easily. She needed a plan, now. Quick. Getting away from the Dopant was the biggest thing, though she suspected she wasn’t going to have much luck outrunning it. Still, she wasn’t sure she had much better ideas, either. She couldn’t fight it off, so really the most she could do was run away.

Whelp, either this would be a story she could tell to Shoutaro to stress him out and get funny reactions, or she would die. She really hoped it wouldn’t be the second one, but that was going to depend entirely on her ability to hightail it out of here and her luck. Spinning on her heel, unfortunately now with her back to the Dopant, Akiko breaks into a sprint.

With a loud cracking sound, something strikes the ground just behind her, she feels heat on her heels. It feels like her hair is beginning to stand on end. She doesn’t know what exactly a “lightning” Dopant can do, but she could make some guesses. Those guesses were not pleasant. Another crack and she falls, thudding on the ground before she can realize it, her foot felt painfully hot. Though she tries to scramble forward, she can tell her foot isn’t going to like having too much weight put on it and there was no way she’d be able to outrun the Dopant while she was on the ground.

The wind blows harder – they’re out in the open, really, very visible and with nothing to hide behind. Still, the wind grows stronger, until it’s to a strength that Akiko has only felt elsewhere when it’s funneled between buildings. She’d think, if there were any light plastic chairs or garbage, they’d be blown away. If only it could blow the Dopant away.

Instead of the wind blowing the Dopant or anything else away, it brings that hat wearing masked hero, the Kamen Rider. He arrives swiftly, punching the Dopant and dragging it away from Akiko. Using this opportunity, she scrambled away, relieved that the Dopant was now far more focused on him instead of her.

She makes her hiding spot quite aways away, behind a fence covered in bushes. Peeking around the corner, even from this distance, she finally gets a chance to get a good look at the Kamen Rider. Black, with armor that was patterned like white bones, even his helmet resembled a skull. He had a tattered white scarf, and a white fedora, not unlike her father’s. It seemed Sokichi Narumi was not the only person in this city with that peculiar penchant for fedoras. She hoped that the Kamen Rider had better tastes in books, at least.

Bringing her head back around, so that her back was now to the fight and she was still hidden, Akiko sighs. Her attempts to prove to her father that she could help him were… not going that great. Both times had led her to encounter Dopants! What were the odds of that? Either Dopants were way more common than she thought, or she had awful luck. Either way, it was a real hindrance. She hadn’t even told her dad about her first misadventure, and she hoped to avoid telling him about this one, too.

Though, looking down at her foot and her quite singed shoe, she suspected that it would be easier said than done. It seemed like the Dopant had burnt through her shoe and had probably burned the back of her foot at least a bit. Hiding that from her dad would be tricky, but not impossible, if she gets Shoutaro’s help. She could probably play it off as something far more mundane, as long as he didn’t see it until after she tried to do something about it and replaced her shoes.

While she had been in her thoughts, the sounds of the fight had died down, and the wind had calmed, though it was still stronger than in most cities. Prompted by the sudden silence, she peeks her head around the fence again. The Dopant and the Kamen Rider were gone, scorched marks on the ground the only sign that anything had happened there at all. Well, at least the monster was gone…

“Akiko,” Her father’s voice causes her head to snap back around. There he was, standing in front of and looking at her, his gaze as serious and unreadable as ever. For a moment, the wind kicks up again, causing him to place a hand on his hat.

So much for hiding her foot.

Still hoping that he might not notice, though, she quickly stands up, unable to hide her wince. Her foot wasn’t as bad as she thought, she could stand and she thinks she could walk, but it’s definitely unpleasant. That was good, technically, but she’s not sure it’ll help her much in it evading her dad’s notice. “Hey dad,” She said awkwardly, “Funny seeing you here…”

It's hard to tell, with his expression, but she doesn’t think she was convincing enough that he bought it. “You’re hurt,” He said, gaze moving down to her foot.

“Oh,” she had really hoped he wouldn’t notice, “It’s not too bad…”

He pulled his hat down as he turned away, “I hope you’re beginning to understand why I tell you my cases are dangerous. The Kamen Rider won’t always be there to save you.”

That caused her to frown, narrowing her eyes a little, “Not all your cases have- have monsters involved. That’d be ridiculous.”

“Many do, and you can never know for sure which do until it’s over.” He replied, beginning to walk away. He probably knew Akiko would follow him, just to continue the conversation. Which she did.

“But I can help, anyway,” She argued, hurrying to catch up with him and get to his side, just so she could be arguing with something other than his back. The wind blows at her back, almost as though it was trying to push her towards him. “You can go do all the bits you’re convinced are dangerous, but I can help you. Let me help you.”

If Akiko were being honest, she doubted that she’d have any better luck than Shoutaro. Realistically, her dad knew Shoutaro far better than he knew her, and thus would have plenty more reason to be willing to let him help. Akiko didn’t have any of that, just a couple months of having been in Fuuto and eight years of never hearing from him. But she still had to try – and maybe then she could figure out just why her dad stopped talking to them. Why he disappeared.

If nothing else, she wanted to prove to him that, whatever his reasons were, he was wrong. That she could prove herself, and with little influence from him.

“It’s too dangerous,” He responded, like he always did.

“That’s what you always say.”

“Because that is the truth. Fuuto is a dangerous city, and even more so when you do what I do.” He paused for just a moment, casting a glance her way. Then he begins to walk again, the whole moment so brief Akiko barely caught it.

Frustrated, Akiko’s steps were a bit heavier and harder than she meant them to be, her injured foot protesting the action. “Then why are you doing it!?” She asked, her frustration evident in her tone, “If it’s so dangerous, why would you put yourself in it? What’s so important about this city that you’d be willing to risk yourself for it? That you’ve left-“ the rest of her last question catches in her throat. In that moment, the wind seemed to stop entirely.

In the end, isn’t that question what it’s always been about? What’s so special about Fuuto that he’d leave his wife and daughter, cut off contact until she forced it on him? It was something that had plagued her for years, ever since she realized he was never answering her calls again, let alone coming home to visit. The thing that had drove her to Fuuto in the first place.

When she’d told her mom, her mom had studied her for a moment, before telling her that she truly was her father’s daughter.

She hadn’t really understood that, at the time. She still didn’t. The man she was begging for answers from, trying desperately to pry them from, was nothing like her. They were nothing alike, that was more apparent to her now, having seen him again, than it was when she left Osaka two months ago.

This outburst caused her father to stop, his feet planted firmly on the pavement beneath him. He doesn’t look at her, instead staring starkly ahead. For a moment, she can see his eyes, until he pulls the brim of his fedora down again, the shadow hiding them from her sight. How frustrating that was, how he hid himself from her. From everyone.

A silence falls between them, tense, heavy, and stressful. Infinitely more frustrating than if he just said something. Her father was awful at saying things.

Though her father stopped walking, Akiko did not, placing herself so that she now stood in front of him. In the early evening sunlight, not quite hidden behind the buildings of Fuuto, she can’t see much of his face at all, even if he wasn’t wearing the fedora. But that didn’t matter to her.

He had to see her standing in front of him.

After another moment, he looks up, actually looking towards her. For a moment, she wonders just what he sees, when he looks at her. A little girl? A teenager? A woman? Or maybe just something to regret, something he wanted to put behind him. Something he wished would go back to Osaka – had stayed there and never came to Fuuto in the first place?

Finally, Sokichi Narumi – the stoic and serious Sokichi Narumi – simply said, “You’ll listen to me, when I tell you something’s not safe and you need to leave.” He began to walk again, walking around her with such a breadth that you’d think Akiko was diseased. The wind picks up again, blowing against Akiko, once again trying to shove her towards her father. “And Shoutaro can teach you some things to help keep you out of trouble.”

Akiko blinked, turning so her gaze could follow her father as he walked, not waiting up. “…What?” Was he… agreeing to let her help?

Despite her shock, he paused again, turning to look back at her. “You may have gotten yourself into danger, Akiko, but you did good today.”

“I… did?” She wanted to be confident and proud, but she felt more confused and unsure.

“The only reason I knew where you were was because you told Shoutaro, and he told me. He was worried about you,” Her dad continued, and for once she can see his face properly. It’s still so serious, but Akiko thinks she can see something… fond in it. Maybe even something a bit like pride, though the rational part of her brain told her that was incredibly unlikely. “I hadn’t been able to pin down who was stalking Ms. Hayashi.”

She swallowed the strange lump that had formed in her throat. She’d… been able to figure out something before he had? Had found the culprit? Sure, that had been the goal of going through all this in the first place, but she hadn’t thought that she’d be able to do that good. Her expectation was to mostly just come to the same conclusion as her dad and best-case scenario beat him to the culprit.

But she’d done better than that. She’d figured it out before him. So much so that he only figured it out when he did because she’d told Shoutaro who she was confronting about the stalking, and Shoutaro had blabbed to her dad! That was better than she ever could have hoped for. Maybe she really could pull off this detective thing, at least enough to help her dad.

Akiko stared at her dad, the setting sun shining on his back, the wind having calmed to a gentle, comforting breeze. Before he turned away again, she thought he might have been smiling, just a little.

It feels like one of Akiko’s childhood birthdays again, the ones that her dad had been able to come up and visit for.

[writingpaperghost]

RIDER SYSTEM ZINE IS OUT NOW!

"Let's Go!! Rider Kick!" Rider System is a collaborative community zine, bringing together 25 illustrators and 9 writers to express a shared love of Kamen Rider... and it's free! Check it out on itch.io! https://rider-system-zine.itch.io/rider-system-a-kamen-rider-zine

[writingpaperghost]

That Boy

In some of Ken's hazy memories, there's another boy, with a Digimon of his own. If only Ken could remember him.

Offhand mention of The Beginning, but it's pretty vague.

This is pretty much just me trying to sort of... reconcile the kind of weird integration of the video game tie in stuff in 02. And mostly the fact that neither Ken nor Wormmon comment about the fact that there was someone else there in some of those memories. I tried to keep in roughly compliant with what we're shown in the anime and what happens in the games, but I'm not super familiar with the games, so it might be a bit off. Mostly I keep it vague, though.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65784211

Even after the defeat of MaloMyotismon, Ken's memories of his time as the Digimon Emperor, and even of the Digital World before that, remained hazy, if there at all. He thinks he met Wormmon in a forest, that would make sense, given Wormmon's insect appearance. Wormmon wasn't Wormmon at the time, of course, instead being Minomon. He remembered a vast and amazing world, even though he couldn't remember any specifics, that sense remained with him even now. It was all new, all so wonderful.

He wasn't there alone, there was someone else, another boy. He can't see his face or recall his name, but Ken thinks he might have known him before coming to the Digital World. He was a Digi Destined too, had been before Ken had become one. And things happened, he doesn't remember any of that, either. But he knew for sure... somehow, it was all connected to the day he was embedded with the Dark Spore, that the other boy was the one he was trying to protect that day.

That was... before Sam died, though. Was that all his one trip into the Digital World, when the Digivice had first appeared to Sam and him? It had to be before Sam died, because the next time that Ken had entered the Digital World, he'd found himself in the Dark Ocean and his Digivice had become a D3. Though Ken can't remember for sure, he knows somewhere deep inside of him that the Digivice he had at the time wasn't a D3. Had that whole adventure, with the boy he can't really recall, been that fateful day?

Then again, the older Digi Destined said that time in the Digital World was once much faster than in the real one. So maybe that whole adventure had happened in the short amount of time that had passed over here. Enough that no one would have known... if Ken hadn't so earnestly told Sam. He didn't regret telling Sam, the older he was, and as he talked with some who had younger siblings themselves, the more he at least understood where Sam had been coming from.

At the end of the day, they'd both been only children, and Ken was far past blaming himself for the accident. His wish had nothing to do with Sam's death, it couldn't have. Because it was nothing more than a wish.

The gaps in his memory had been troubling, at first. Especially when those circumstances and his past had been so important to trying to understand the plan of Oikawa - or rather Myotismon. As time passed, though, it bothered him less. The boy was still a haze, no name or face to him, just a presence, but the rest of that trip into the Digital World, and then his later sins as the Digimon Emperor, had come back to him. He tried not to let the latter get to him, even if there were moments when his remorse felt almost too strong to bare.

Sometimes, he'd ask Wormmon about his missing memories, and Wormmon would do his best to answer. Though Ken had yet to ask him directly, he seemed to dance around the other boy, trying to avoid even bringing him up. Ken should probably just ask him straight up, specify that he wanted to know more about his friend. Maybe it was guilt that stopped him. Another person who he might have hurt or disappointed, someone who he hadn't seen in years and could be upset by that.

It was only after meeting Lui Ohwada that Ken began to find the courage. As much as it had been necessary, Lui had reached out to an old friend, one who'd hurt him and he'd hurt, and they... talked it out. A happy ending, really. Maybe Ken wouldn't so lucky with that boy, if he could ever even see him again, but waiting around wouldn't help him. If anything, it would just make it more likely they'd never be able to reunite.

Leaning back, stretching as he took a break from his studies, he glanced over to Wormmon, curled happily on Ken's bed. The only person who knew what happened during that adventure, who knew anything about that boy... was Wormmon. Pushing his chair away from his desk, he stood up, walking over the bed.

"Wormmon?" he called, hoping that it was early enough in the evening Wormmon had yet to fall asleep.

He sees Wormmon lift his head up, "Yes, Ken?"

Ken brings himself to sit beside Wormmon, "There's... something I've been meaning to ask you. About the first time I went to the Digital World."

"Oh, we've talked about that a lot already... is there still something we haven't? I guess you wouldn't exactly know if I was forgetting something..." For a moment, Wormmon sounds troubled, before adding, "Or did you remember something?"

"It's more... there's something you never bring up, when you're telling me about that time, or helping me remember. Someone, who's never brought up." Ken tries to think of him. Anything hint of an identifiable trait... but still, he's met with nothing.

Wormmon tilted his head, "Someone?"

Looking down at Wormmon, Ken replied, "Yes, there was another boy with me, I remember him. Not much, but... who was he?"

He's met with silence, Wormmon staring at him curiously. He seemed in thought, too, like he was also trying to remember something. Finally, after several moments had passed, Wormmon said, "I thought I'd gotten confused."

"Confused?"

"About him being there. I... also don't remember who he was, or why he was there. I don't even know if I'd recognize him... but he had a Digimon, too." That matched what Ken recalled, not that he could quite remember what Digimon. But Wormmon couldn't remember the boy well either? He'd always assumed that there was something to do with the Dark Spore that was keeping him from remembering, but Wormmon wasn't effected by the Dark Spore.

"So... you don't remember him either?" When Wormmon nodded in agreement, Ken frowned. "So it's not because of the Dark Spore... I remember I'd been trying to protect him from the Dark Spore, but then... that day was the last time I'd saw him. Or at least, I never saw him after I left the Digital World, that I can recall."

Wormmon let out a nervous, troubled hum, "Oh... I wouldn't know if you saw him after you left, since I hadn't gone with you... but he'd helped me, I think, when you were recovering from being infected with the spore. For a while at least." Again, that troubled hum.

"Maybe he lives far away," Ken pondered, though it was really just an effort to distract himself from the more worrying details. If this boy was his friend, then why couldn't Ken remember seeing him in the real world? Or maybe... he had and Ken had driven him away, after Sam's death? If only he could remember a name, then he could ask his parents...

"Maybe," Wormmon agreed, still sounding nervous. "I wish I could remember more, but I guess my memories are messed up to, at least about him. I'm sorry, Ken."

A small smile came to Ken's face as he gently patted Wormmon's head, "It's alright, it's not your fault."

That seemed to alleviate some of Wormmon's tension, as he lets out a pleased sigh, "I hope that you remember the boy, one day. I think you could be friends again."

"I hope so too, Wormmon, I hope so too."

---

I wanted to put here some thoughts I have about why Ryo's presence in the flashbacks is never mentioned. While I don't really state it directly in the story, my thought is that the whole dimension traveling ends up... not necessarily erasing Ryo, but it makes it so no one, at least involved in the Digital World stuff, can really remember him. So Ken and Wormmon know he was there, knows he did things and that they knew him and Ken was his friend, but they can't remember what he looked like, really acted like, or what his name was.

[writingpaperghost]

Anyway my very very coherent thoughts about Digimon Adventures 02 is:

Man I Love Wormmon

[writingpaperghost]

Finally got around to watching all of Digimon Adventure Tri (I watched the first movie several years ago when I got it on DVD, but it's been years and it was just that one), and. Man. I mean, I had fun, there were some parts I really liked. The OST was great, and it feels very much like it was meant to be one last big thing for Adventure (at least the original cast). I should say, I haven't actually watched the first season of Adventure, just 02.

Anyway, thoughts:

I really feel like this should have been a 25is episode tv season and not six movies. That would be about the same run time but segment it up a bit better, I think it would also let you have a cliffhanger episode end. One of my complaints is that they never cliffhang in a way that actually like. Made me want to know more. They continue an extra 10-20 minutes before ending and I'm like. what. Plus there's very much enough content for that style of show.

Then there's. The plot, lol. It's mostly okay, I liked them having to face problems in their life before they can reach Mega level. There were definitely a few moments with Meiko and Meicoomon where it felt. A bit forced. And also like. I dunno, some parts I can't quite believe. Obviously Tri takes place over several months, but like... You'd think Kari and TK, at least, would notice their friends are missing. And given how Ken's parents reacted to not knowing where he was in 02... obviously it's been a couple years, but I find it hard to believe that the parents of these four kids wouldn't be like. Calling their kids' friends to see if they knew where they were. And presumably TK and Kari still go to at least the same school as Davis, if not Yolei and Cody (kinda unclear on everyone's ages so maybe they might not be, but Davis was their classmate, so he would be unless Davis' family moved). (can you tell I really like the 02 cast?). And then there's the whole thing with Meicoomon having data from all the Digimon in her, which I would love to know why. Does it have something to do with her be the Libra? What even is the Libra? What was her intended purpose, before Apocalymon's data got into her?

Also, like, King Drasil. I don't mind him existing as an intangible force pulling the strings. It's just. They introduce him as an antagonistic force, but by the end of the last movie, we're just told he's just. Gone. Removed by Homeostasis (an equally intangible force and one that is only sometimes antagonistic). I don't know, it feels really anti-climatic. Not to mention he's such an intangible force that we don't even know he exists until over halfway through. Like sure, Alphamon attacked Meicoomon for a reason, but we don't have any clue what that is or that someone's ordering it around until the fourth movie. and that's not a big deal, but it makes King Drasil just feel... unimportant. because he doesn't actively cause anything again until the fifth movie. Sure, he's the catalyst for a lot of the plot, he corrupted Gennai (or rather, one of the Gennai's, as the real Gennai appeared to be in cryostasis with the 02 cast), used Himekawa's desire to see Tapirmon again to get her to cause a Reboot, all that. But it just feels... like there needed to be a bit more. Also, it's just... if Homeostasis could remove him this whole time... why didn't he do it sooner? Even if it was too late to avoid Meicoomon causing trouble, I feel like it would have made Hackmon/Jesmon's life easier. Although I'd love to know why he couldn't just. Delete Meicoomon, even if his power was limited to the Digital World... well, she was back there for a bit.

Speaking of Himekawa... her ending with the Dark Ocean makes sense, but it just kinda brings back my thoughts from my 02 watch last week. Which is man, I really wish they got to do or would do something with that proper in the coming future. Tell me more about this place.

In regard to Dark Gennai, I don't mind him as a villain, but I do have to question why he took the appearance of the Digimon Emperor. I assume the reasoning was because he was the only living human villain from either Adventure or 02, as well as being a bit of a way for the DigiDestined to notice that the 02 cast was missing, but I feel like it would work better in something more 02 related. And then... I assume Dark Gennai was destroyed with King Drasil, but I feel like... they both could have been interesting to have as antagonists again.

I feel like most of my complaints with Tri could really be resolved if Tri was a proper season, maybe even a full 50 episode season. Like, the first half could be what we got in the movies, and then the second half could be about doing something about King Drasil. Maybe this is also helping Homeostasis with getting rid of him, but they'd definitely wouldn't be doing it because of him. Maybe even they get occasional help from Hackmon/Jesmon along the way. And in their attempt to defeat/change the mind of/otherwise put a stop to King Drasil, they're stuck having to deal with the Royal Knights, but at the same time, not all of them would probably agree with what King Drasil is doing. (I know some of the Royal Knights are antagonists in at least one other season of Digimon but I've only actually seen 02 right now). Although I guess that does start sounding a bit like the latter half of Digimon Story: Cybersleuth. I still wish they did a bit more to resolve King Drasil and Dark Gennai than just having Homeostasis make them go away off screen.

I think that's all my thoughts, at least for now, coming off of the watch. Over all, it feels like a good bookend to Adventure, even if it's lacking in some ways. I have no intention of watching Last Evolution Kizuna any time soon. Because ever since I saw the trailer back when it was coming out I have despised the premise (I hate coming of age stories where people are forced to abandoned parts of their childhood forever for completely arbitrary reasons) and thus it is noncanon in my heart.

[writingpaperghost]

The Wind Will Take You Along (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4: Don't Touch the M/Play With a Joker

Akiko and Phillip head to the Million Colosseo to try to stop the Money Dopant. This is not what one would call smooth sailing.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57870910/chapters/164850646

There’s a flash of people. A couple and two girls and he knows them very well. But he can’t see their faces or hear their voices or remember anything of note. Nothing to tell him who they were.

When Phillip wakes up, on the floor of the upper section of the garage, he’s overcome with a very specific feeling. He knows those people he saw. They were his family. He needed to know who they were. Taking a deep breath, closed his eyes and let himself fall into that familiar, comforting place.

The Gaia Library was a vast, infinite expanse of white, broken up by infinite shelves, filled with book after book. All the knowledge in the world was here, at his fingertips. He only ever just had to find it. He’d spent much of the past twelve years here, reading and researching, finding something or other that would catch his interest for days or weeks on end. Sometimes even months, if the topic was broad enough.

Now his research was often shorter, broken up by Akiko trying to make sure he slept and ate and such, or her needing his help with a case. It was different, far different from everything he had known before. But not bad, he didn’t hate it in the slightest. For all of Akiko’s flaws, she had done her best with him, though she’d clearly hadn’t a clue what she was supposed to do. Protect him, sure, but that had seemed quite the daunting task, at first.

Phillip was in the unique position of being privy to Akiko’s thoughts, at least when they were transformed into Double. Whether she knew it or not, her thoughts would bleed over, even if they often lacked distinction. It was enough to tell Phillip things. Though they had not always gotten along, still didn’t sometimes, they had learned to work together. He simply came into her life at a bad time, even if he didn’t see why she had seemed so cold to him at first. He had little control over her father’s death. But people were strange like that, and Akiko was no exception.

But back to his task at hand. He searched through the shelves of the Gaia Library, picking words to narrow down what shelves and books were even showed to him. Really what he wanted was quite simple though, something so specific. “my family”. The book appears soon enough, and breathlessly, Phillip opens it.

All the pages are blank, except, most likely, the ones that were torn out.

He’d never seen this before. Never seen information in the Gaia Library that he couldn’t access. So then why was this different? Why was his family the knowledge that eluded him?

---

Akiko accepts that by the time she woke up, there was no way she was going to be able to catch up with the bus and find the Million Colosseo. She’d just have to wait until tomorrow… or maybe Shoutaro might actually tell her, though she wasn’t going to get her hopes up.

She’d deal with it tomorrow, she had enough stuff to worry about. Like Phillip, who just… froze up, at the mention of family. It wasn’t entirely a mystery – Phillip couldn’t remember anything prior to the organization he’d once been held by. Not even a name, as he told her not long after their meeting that it had been her father to name him Phillip.

So if he had any family, he knew nothing about them.

She’s brought out of her musings by the jingling of bells and the calling of her name, “Oh, Aki!”

Turning towards the source, she’s greeted with the ever-joyous Santa-chan, dressed as ever in his Santa Claus costume, carrying his red bag. What was in it she never knew, it seemed to change every time they met. He, like Watcherman, often helped her on her cases with finding information. Much like Watcherman, she was introduced to Santa-chan by Shoutaro.

“Santa-chan,” She smiled, “Hard at work, huh?”

He nodded, “Passing out presents to all the good people of Fuuto,” he rummaged around his bag, before producing a little gift bag and holding it out. The bag itself was pretty nondescript and gave no clue as to what its contents were. “Here, ,erry Christmas!”

Never mind that it was September, Akiko accepts the gift, “Thanks, I guess.” This was pretty normal for Santa-chan, but Akiko was never really sure what to do when he did things like this. “Any occasion?”

“You just looked like you could use it,” He laughed, before walking off, still calling out “merry Christmas!”

Looking inside the bag, Akiko finds a deck of playing cards. She was pretty sure they had some at the office, but truthfully, she’d never found much use for them. And she probably wouldn’t for these, either. Still, she sticks them in her pocket and heads back towards the agency.

Once she’s back there, she decides her first order of business was to check up on Phillip. Opening the door to the garage, she finds Phillip scrawling furiously on the whiteboards. Phrases like “why are they gone?” and “missing pages?” are discernable, but Phillip had a terrible habit of writing in many languages, not just Japanese.

“Phillip?” she called out, concern lacing her voice. “You okay?”

He spun to face her, this sort of frantic expression on his face, “I can’t read the pages, Akiko. They’re gone.”

She approaches, confused, “What pages?”

“The pages on my family,”

He must have meant in the Gaia Library, that’s usually what he meant when he mentioned books or things related to them. But she’s never heard of pages from the books being gone. “What do you mean gone?”

“Torn out. But I don’t understand how.”

She wasn’t really sure what to tell him. Still, she could see that it was bothering him greatly. “I’m… sure there’s some reason. And I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

“Perhaps…”

Akiko wasn’t sure what more to try to say. This wasn’t exactly something that had happened before – and maybe if it wasn’t the book about Phillip’s family, it wouldn’t be so bad. But it was and there wasn’t much she could do.

And then her phone rings. Shoutaro, it looked like. She hoped he was alright, but odds were, he’d made it to the Million Colosseo. She takes a few steps away from Phillip to give him space.

The moment she opens her phone, she hears Shoutaro speaking, “I found Yuko Izumi.” He said. There was quite a bit of noise in the background.

“So she is at the Million Colosseo,” it was good to confirm it, but it brought a new worry as well. Primarily, how long before Yuko became one of those coins that the Dopant had. “Listen, Shoutaro, I think there’s a Dopant there, and if she loses too badly…”

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t get that far,” He assured.

She frowned, “You should get her out of there. Or as many people as you can. Otherwise, it’s only a matter of time…” She shook her head, though he couldn’t see it. “Where is the Million Colosseo, anyway?”

“Don’t worry about that, I’ve got it handled.”

“Shoutaro,” If they were in the same place, she’d hit him with her slipper again.

“Just leave I to me, okay? Neither of us may be Kamen Riders, but I can at least arrest the Dopant.” Though Akiko can’t hear it well, she hears some kind of commotion begin on the other side of the call. Shoutaro cursed then said, “Guess I’m gonna have to figure out how to intervene with the Money Dopant, now…” She doesn’t think he meant for her to hear that, though, given how it sounded a bit like he was hurriedly shoving his phone in his pocket, though he hadn’t closed it or manually ended the call. That he had to be doing on purpose.

Most of what she hears for the next few moments is just the rustles of fabric. By now, Phillip has wandered over, listening just as intently to the phone call as she was. Vaguely, she can hear Shoutaro’s voice and what sounded like the Dopants, but she couldn’t make out any of what they were saying, either.

Finally, there was something they could make out, Shoutaro angrily calling out, “I’m not going to let you just… turn her into some coin! This is ridiculous!” It sounds like he fishes his phone out of his pocket, “Akiko, I’m going to-“

It sounds like the phone is snatched out of his hand, prompting Phillip to gesture to Akiko for her own phone. She figured he must have a plan, so she hands it over.

“You are the one who runs the Million Colosseo, yes?” He asked, sounding not all concerned about the fact that Shoutaro could be in a lot of danger.

It’s the voice of the Dopant that speaks, “That I am.”

“I have a challenge then. I believe I can beat you.”

Shocked at his declaration, Akiko hissed, “Phillip, what are you doing?”

Phillip ignored her, continuing, “I’ll even bet the Gaia Memories we possess.”

“I didn’t hear about this!” She barely kept her voice quiet enough not to be picked up on the phone, pulling out a slipper. Oh, Phillip was going to get it when that phone call was over!

“Well isn’t that an interesting bet,” The Dopant said, “I’ll take you up on that challenge. You just come here to the Million Colosseo, and we’ll begin.”

With that, the call ended and Phillip handed Akiko back her phone. As she took it back, she whacked him with her slipper. “What the heck? You bet our Gaia Memories?”

Phillip rubbed the side of his head, where her slipper had come in contact with him, “I won’t lose. There are games in gambling which are entirely matters of statistics.”

She sighed, “I hope you’re right… I guess we better get going to the Million Colosseo, then.”

---

By the time that Akiko and Phillip get off the bus and arrive at the Million Colosseo, the casino is empty, save for the Money Dopant and Shoutaro. Akiko plans to change that and figure out how to get Shoutaro out of there. After all, they couldn’t have him there if they were going to fight the Dopant, and the odds were that they were going to have to do that, even if Phillip could out play the Money Dopant.

Phillip spent the whole trip researching, making sure he was ready for the task he’d set up for himself. She supposed he wasn’t entirely wrong that a lot of gambling was statistics, and she knew he was good at that sort of things, but she also doubted that the Dopant would play fair. Though knowing Phillip, he’d at least taken that partly into account.

“Alright, we’re here,” She said, gaze moving between Shoutaro and the Dopant. “Phillip will keep good on his challenge.”

Shoutaro looked between her and Phillip, “Just what exactly did he do?”

“Challenge the guy who runs a casino to see who’s better at gambling, pretty much,” She replied, before grabbing Shoutaro’s arm and pulling him towards the door, “Now you get out of here and let us handle it.”

“What? Shoutaro dug his feet in, “No way!”

She gave another hard shove, “We’ve got it handled! Phillip is good at these things!” Through some miracle, she managed to get him to the door.

Shoutaro still protested, “Akiko!”

With one last shove, she gets him through the door and shuts it. Now she and Phillip could just focus on the Dopant, and she wouldn’t have to worry about Shoutaro figuring out they were the Kamen Rider. The Dopant and Phillip had already begun their competition, a game of roulette.

True to Phillip’s assurances, he was doing well. She supposed roulette was pretty much just statistics, although Phillip’s proficiency was still pretty impressive. Already, he was winning the Money Dopant’s coins, the ones that held his victims inside. As long as he could keep it up, they wouldn’t have anything to worry about.

Which is why it shouldn’t have surprised Akiko when the Money Dopant found a way to change that. Though really it was more surprise that there was anything to find at all.

Though given his previous reaction to the topic, it shouldn’t have been either.

“You are pretty good at this,” The Money Dopant said, and then continued in a cheeky tone, “Bet your family’s pretty proud of you.”

And at the mention of family, Phillip froze. It all started going downhill from there. Though she was sure that Phillip was doing his best to focus, he clearly couldn’t. Too shaken from the mention of his family, even though he had to know that the Dopant had only said anything at all to try to get under his skin.

Soon enough, all that work, the coins and then one by one Gaia Memories, were in the hands of the Money Dopant. There was no way Phillip was going to be able to turn this around as it was. He just couldn’t focus. With just the Joker Memory still in their possession, Akiko puts a hand on Phillip’s shoulder.

“Hey, why don’t you let me take a go?” She said. He stared at her, confused and surprised. But silently stood up, letting her take his seat. “Alright, you let Phillip choose roulette… well I’m going to choose something even simpler.” She pulled out the deck of cards that Santa-chan had given her.

Truthfully, Akiko was shit at cards, but she liked to think she had gotten good enough at bluffing and dodging the truth – she did it enough when it came to her father and her role as Kamen Rider. And that was half of what you needed for card games, being able to convince your opponent that you were better off than you really were. And the game she had in mind really only needed her to keep her expression from telling too much.

“A card game,” The Dopant observed, “I’m sure you have something in mind.”

“Old Maid,” Akiko answered, “but this should be even higher stakes than before, since I’m not the one who challenged you to begin with. If you win, you’ll get the Joker Memory, but if I win… well, winner takes all, I say.” It was easier to act like she was confident about this than it was to actually be confident. Her heart was racing but at this point they were too deep in to come up with another plan.

The Money Dopant laughed, “Then let’s begin.”

Old Maid is not a game of skill, not really. You could perhaps judge by someone’s expression what card you might be reaching for, once you’re out of pairs, but even that was easy to hide. And the Money Dopant didn’t exactly have an expressive face, so Akiko was at a disadvantage in that regard. It was mostly luck, really.

The table they sat at was high enough, though. High enough to hide the W Driver when she placed it around her waist. Even if Phillip wasn’t the most focused, she hoped that maybe he could focus enough to help her out. She could tell, though, that he was distracted. It took a bit of effort to keep her mind off of that.

It turned out that Akiko was not… having the greatest luck today, though she was already thinking that when she’d started this game. Still, the important part of the game was the end. It didn’t matter, in a two-person game, how many pairs you’d made. What mattered was that you made the last one. And now there were only three cards in their hands, two in the Dopant’s, and one in Akiko’s.

One of those cards was the queen, and if Akiko grabbed that one, then the Dopant would know which of the cards she held was the joker. The other card that the Dopant held was the joker to match Akiko’s. She needed to choose the right one.

And Akiko was at a loss.

“Choose carefully,” The Dopant said.

Reaching out, Akiko studies the Dopant and the cards he held, doing her best to keep her breathing steady. As her hand approached the cards, she felt an unnatural feeling going down her arm. They’d never tested it like this, but Akiko was willing to bet it was Phillip. She had no reason to resist his effort, she trusted his judgement.

Grabbing the card, Akiko turned it to look at it. With relief, she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, seeing that it was the joker.

Grinning, she said, “We win.”

That, of course, made the Money Dopant quite upset – he swipes up the coins, but Akiko beats him to the Gaia Memories. She tosses Phillip his and they take their places beside each other.

Cyclone!

Joker!

Now it was time to deal with this Dopant properly. Fighting monsters was something that Akiko felt far more confident in her abilities in. Of course, the Dopant seemed a little less interested in fighting, fleeing out the door. Akiko and Phillip follow suit, Phillip switching the Cyclone Memory out for the Luna Memory, extending their arm out to grab at the Dopant.

Changing the Joker Memory out for the Metal Memory, Akiko swings their staff as they bring the Dopant within range. Seemingly understanding that he wasn’t going to get out of the fight, the Money Dopant turns his attention to them. He fights back, now, which really just makes Akiko feel less bad. It’s one thing to fight someone who won’t fight back, it’s another when they will.

“Come on now,” The Dopant sounds more desperate this time, “Does your family know you do this?”

There’s a moment where Akiko can feel the knee jerk reaction in Phillip. Like when he froze before, but this time it doesn’t last. It’s a spike of emotion, but then it simmers down, more like normal.

Phillip changes the Luna Memory for the Heat Memory, “She does.” Flames lick around the end of their staff, “That won’t work on me again.” Akiko feels an… unusual warmth, not from the Heat Memory, but from Phillip.

“So then…” Akiko begins, knowing for certain that there was nothing this Dopant could do now to distract them.

They point at the Dopant, “Count up your sins!” Swinging their staff, they strike the Dopant, not all that bothered by the retaliatory punch that they received from the Dopant.

From there, they defeat the Dopant with practiced ease. They’d done this enough, and the Money Dopant couldn’t use its trick on them, and Phillip seems to have worked past the trouble from his family, at least enough to keep it from being a problem. And once the Money Memory broke, the Dopant’s victims were freed from the coins.

Slipping away from it all, they separated, and Akiko’s thankful that Phillip was able to slip out of the Million Colosseo before the police showed up. Shoutaro probably called them. She was just glad that he’d actually somewhat listened to her, this time.

As she and Phillip head back to the agency, Akiko notes, “I guess you’ve made some peace with your whole… family situation.”

Phillip looked over to her and gave her a small smile. “It’s simple. While I would still like to know about them and why that information is inaccessible to me… I cannot truly miss what I do not remember.”

She laughed a little, “I don’t know about that…” Sometimes, she missed all the things that she never got to do with her dad. The things that she’d hoped she one day could but now they would never come to be.

“Besides, I have you.”

“Me?”

“You, Akiko, are my family.” Phillip tells her, plainly.

Her walking pauses for a moment, though Phillip’s does not. Once her brain catches up to what he had said, she hurries to catch up to him. “I- hold up. I’m glad you feel that way and all but…” She stops herself from finishing the thought. He didn’t exactly have a lot of options, after all, so few knew he even existed, and even fewer truly cared about his wellbeing.

He tilted his head, “But what?”

She turned her attention forward, not quite able to meet his eyes, “Well, I’m just surprised. But… I do think of you as family, too.”

Out of the corner of her eyes, she sees Phillip smile, just a little.

---

The next day, Phillip wanders up from the garage to turn on the radio – he’d seemed to have acquired an interest in Princess Wakana too, now. Not that it was that unusual, she was quite popular, for reasons that Akiko didn’t really understand. At least she was already used to listening to Healing Princess, thanks to Shoutaro.

“And now it’s time for Fuuto Mystery Tour!” Came Princess Wakana’s voice. “What’s our newest rumor? Hmm… let’s see… wow, there’s a lot of letters about the Kamen Rider!”

That caught Akiko’s attention, at least more than normal. People had seen her and Phillip as the Kamen Rider a fair amount, sure, but this is the first time she’s really heard anyone talking about them.

Princess Wakana continues, “I hear that he’s protecting the city from monsters, now let’s see what our listeners have to say…” There’s a pause, and then she begins to read, “Princess Wakana, I got to see the Kamen Rider with my own two eyes yesterday! He was fighting some rotund, gold colored monster. It was pretty cool, though I didn’t get to see much.”

Akiko’s eye twitched, as she had to remind herself that when transformed as Kamen Rider, there wasn’t much to really identify the body there as a woman’s. They were just assuming. And it annoyed her they were assuming she was a man, but it was. Whatever.

She could deal with that.

---

Wakana watched as her sister’s fiancé walked through the gardens of the Sonozaki family home. She didn’t know what about him had caught Saeko’s interest, but knowing her, it was just that he was good at his job. All the things she could gather about him, though, just made her question why he was here at all. But if Saeko was going to act like she was so much better than Wakana, then so be it. She could retaliate in kind.

“Kirihiko Sudo,” She called out, leaning on the railing above the garden.

He paused, turning around and looking up at her. “Wakana, good afternoon.”

“You’re awfully calm for someone about to marry into the Sonozaki family, in just a few hours.” She notes, studying him.

“I have no reason to be worried.” He replied.

In response, she frowned, “Tch. Well, perhaps you should be. Father gave me permission to give you a little… test. See if you’re in anyway worthy of the Sonozaki family name.” She produced her belt and the Claydoll Gaia Memory. “So let’s find out.”

Claydoll!

She placed the belt around the back of her waist, the buckle coming around at the front. Moving the Gaia Memory, she brought it to the belt, back where she had placed what would otherwise be the front. The Memory enters and clay wraps around her, forming a more monstrous form, though not without its own elegance.

“If that’s what you’d like,” He still seemed calm, to her annoyance. He produced the Gaia Memory and belt that he’d only recently been given.

Nasca!

He transformed, just in time to dodge Wakana’s attack. How annoying.

[writingpaperghost]

The Wind Will Take You Along (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3: Don’t Touch the M/How to Get to Heaven

Akiko investigates a woman who's been acting oddly, joined by Shoutaro.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57870910/chapters/164150074

It was a rarity for Phillip to ever actually leave the garage. He had a tendency to get so into his research he rarely had much reason to. But today was one of those days, where he was up in the office proper, making a beeline to the radio to turn it on and change it to a specific station. A familiar jingle comes on, one that Akiko has heard often from when Shoutaro visits.

Healing Princess, and Phillip’s tuned in just in time to catch the start of a new segment.

Shoutaro perks up, turning his attention to the radio.

“Now, everyone,” The voice of Princess Wakana comes through, cheerful as ever, “it’s time for our Fuuto Mystery Tour! Here we read submissions from our listeners and learn about all the rumors in Fuuto. It’s always so exciting.”

For most of the Healing Princess segments, Akiko usually tuned it out, but the Fuuto Mystery Tour could actually come in handy, sometimes. They were easily accessible rumors, even if there was no verification on the radio stations’ end. But it something sounded Dopant related, or relevant to a case, it could be useful. Not that she had any cases, right now.

“Dear Princess Wakana, have you heard about the Million Colosseo? I’ve heard that it’s some special casino, and that the people who go there either get really rich or lose it all. Some even disappear entirely! From D. Morimura.” Princess Wakana read, still cheerful. Then she comments, “Wow, something like that in Fuuto… well, you’d never catch me somewhere like that, but I wonder how it could hide so easily? You’d think something like that would be more talked about.”

“A casino, huh?” Shoutaro said, “It’s a surprise that something like that is only a rumor.”

Akiko rolled her eyes, “You can hide plenty of things if you know what you’re doing,” After all, somehow the organization creating and selling Gaia Memories has managed to keep themselves quite hidden. The only real sight of them she’s ever had was on that night…

The door to the agency opens and in walks what appeared to be a couple. The agency was no stranger to cases brought to them by couples, usually parents concerned in some way about their children – those were usually easy cases, worst case scenario the child had some delinquent tendencies, but very rarely were they ever getting in any real trouble. Sometimes the case would be for a missing child, instead. Those were harder, always made Akiko want to help even more – how awful it must be, to have your child missing and not be able to do much to find them? She made sure to try even harder, on those cases. Still, delinquent children were far more common of a case, so Akiko suspects this will be an easy one.

Thus, she’s a little surprised when it wasn’t quite either, “Our daughter, Yuko, has been acting strange.” The woman said.

“Dressing odd and she doesn’t seem to have any interest in our business anymore, either.” The man added.

Well, that was a bit different, but not too unusual. Sometimes kids lose interest in their family’s business as they get older. Still, it was obvious to Akiko that the two were concerned, so she figured it couldn’t hurt to look into it for the two. “I can try to see if I can find what it’s all about, then.”

---

As Akiko makes her way to the Izumi family’s business, she glances to her side and can’t help but wonder, “Shoutaro why are you coming with me?”

Shoutaro blinked for a moment, like he was surprised about the question, “It’s not that weird.”

“Maybe,” They investigated together frequently enough, sure, but… “Don’t you have work?” It was midday after all and she knows his break time isn’t this long.

“Oh, well…” He makes a bit of a face before answering, “It’s my day off.”

“You get those?” She asks, mostly jokingly. Everyone knew Shoutaro was practically married to his job – all he wanted was to keep Fuuto and its people safe, and in his mind that obviously meant getting Dopants and Gaia Memories off the streets.

This time his face is more of annoyance, “Of course I do.”

She laughed, “I know, I know.”

It’s only a few minutes later that they arrive at the Izumi family’s business, just in time to overhear what sounds like an argument. It seems to be between Yuko and her parents, though Akiko can’t make out too many of the details. Soon enough, they see a young woman, matching the picture that she’d been given of Yuko, hurry out.

“That’s her,” Akiko says to Shoutaro, “Let’s follow her and see what she gets up to.”

Keeping their distance but making sure that Yuko won’t notice them, they follow after her. They make it all the way to some distance, when a bus begins to pull up and Shoutaro grabs her wrist, stopping in his place.

He looks a bit like he’d just remembered something, “Hey… I don’t think you should keep this case up.”

“What? Why not?” Akiko pulled free of his grasp easily, he hadn’t been holding on very tightly.

“It’s, well…” He continued, “It’s just… I’ve heard some things… I think that this could be dangerous.”

She rolled her eyes, “There’s nothing wrong with a dangerous case, I’ve taken them before. Even if there’s a Dopant, there’s good odds that the Kamen Rider will show up and take care of it.”

His frown only deepened, “You could get hurt, and Boss asked me to keep an eye on you-“

At the mention of her father, she pulled out a slipper and gave Shoutaro a good hard whack, “Dad isn’t here right now! I don’t need you acting like I always need your protection.”

She turned to head towards where Yuko had been going, only to find that she wasn’t there anymore, the only thing she could see was a bus pulling away. For a moment, she can only stare in disbelief, before turning back to Shoutaro. “Now look what you’ve done! We’ve lost her!”

Shoutaro looked away, “It’s probably for the best.”

Shaking her head, Akiko began to walk away, “I’ve got other ways of finding her.”

---

“You see, this guy, Murasame, he’s lost an awful lot to the Million Colosseo.” Watcherman told her as they arrive at a house. “Not a penny left to his name. Or anyone he cares about, either.”

“Damn,” Akiko says. She knew people could get into gambling a bit too much, but she didn’t think it could get this bad. Then again, there was no proof that the Million Colosseo was a normal casino, either. “Well, thanks for the tip,”

Akiko knocks on the door, though there’s no response, so she just… lets herself in. It was empty, the only thing she ends up finding is a despaired man – Murasame, she assumes. He really had lost it all, if he was sitting here in a completely empty house.

“Mr. Murasame?” She called out, keeping some distance, “I was wondering if you could tell me about the Million Colosseo? I’m a detective, and I think it has something to do with my current case-“ She cut off by his wailing.

She can only make out some words, but it seemed to mostly support what Watcherman had told her, so she slips back out of the house, giving Phillip a call. As per usual, he picks up and is already ready to tell her all about his research.

“I’ve been reading about card and dice games, apparently they’re games that are commonly used when gambling,” Phillip began, and she can faintly hear him cap a whiteboard marker.

Unable to help herself, she smiles a little, “You’ll have to tell me more about it later, I’ve found some more info on the Million Colosseo.” She suspects that his current interest might have been born from overhearing about it on the Fuuto Mystery Tour, so he’d probably like to hear even if it wasn’t case or Dopant related.

“Oh?” Though she can’t see his face, she’s sure that there’s that glimmer of interest in his eyes.

“Found a guy, Goro Murasame, lost everything from his gambling at the Million Colosseo. Currently curled up in his empty house, though I doubt that’ll last much longer.” She felt a bit bad for him, really. “Guess his family must have left him or something.”

There’s a pause, before she hears Phillip mutter, “Family…”

“Phillip?” It was odd he was so quiet, unless he was looking something up.

She wanders back towards the front door of the house, waiting to see if Phillip would respond. Instead, she hears a commotion from inside, prompting her to flip her phone shut and hurry in. “Mr. Murasame?” She called out.

Instead of Murasame, she finds a rotund golden monster – surely a Dopant. It must have something to do with Murasame’s sudden disappearance. Pulling out the W Driver and placing it on her waist again, she calls out for Phillip but gets no response.

She’ll just have to handle this on her own then.

The Dopant swings at her and she ducks to the side, doing her best to keep up her mental nagging of Phillip. What had caused this, anyway? She retaliates with her own punch, though this Dopant was clearly strong enough that a bare punch wasn’t all that effective. Realistically, she probably just caused more pain for herself, but it would be fine, she could deal with that.

Finally, she hears Phillip’s voice breaking the silence, “Ah, a Dopant.”

“Yes!” She hissed, “Now hurry up!” Quickly, she puts a bit more space between herself and the Dopant, so she could actually have time to transform.

Cyclone!

Joker!

With just a moment more to spare, Akiko feels the wind wrap around her, despite their location in an enclosed space. They dodge out of the way of the Dopant’s attack, then point at it, calling out, “Now count up your sins!”

As Kamen Rider, it’s a lot easier to fight the Dopant and they’re able to move the fight outside. There was more room here, and Akiko would frankly feel a bit bad if more of the house got destroyed than needed. They trade a few blows with the Dopant before Phillip brings them back a bit, pulling out the Cyclone Memory.

Heat!

“I believe this shall work a little better,” He said, inserting the Heat Memory. Whatever had been bothering him before seemed to have worn off, it seems.

Just as they were preparing to finish off the Dopant, though, Akiko feels something hit them hard in the back, sending them down and out of their transformation. Though she tries to turn around to see it, she wasn’t fast enough as it seemed to be long gone. Gritting her teeth, she looked towards where the Dopant was, only to find it gone as well.

---

Akiko had been to the Wind Wave radio station before for other cases, though it wasn’t often. This was… a little more unusual, given she’d arrived to try to get more details on the Million Colosseo. Hopefully someone would be willing to give her access to some of the write ins for Fuuto Mystery Tour, though she somehow suspects it won’t be quite so easy.

“It’s not even all of the letters, I just want to know if there’s anything more about the Million Colosseo,” She said, trying very desperately to convince the person she was speaking with either let her see the letters or bring her to someone who she might be able to convince. Or at least tell her whether any of them even had anything to do with the Million Colosseo.

The person she was speaking with just shook their had, “We can’t do that, miss.”

Unable to help herself, Akiko frowned and let out a heavy sigh, walking away. Okay. Plan B. She didn’t have one but she’d have to come up with one, now. Whatever, she could make it work.

And then she sees a woman, one who she knows she’s seen before. It takes her a minute to recognize her, despite the fact that Shoutaro owns every magazine she’s ever appeared in in the last few years. Well, no one had ever said Akiko couldn’t be bold, so she approached the woman.

“Wakana Sonozaki, right? Host of Healing Princess?” She can already tell Princess Wakana wasn’t very interested in her presence, though she quickly hides it with a polite smile. “I’m Akiko Narumi, I work as a detective and I believe one of my cases has to do with the Million Colosseo, which you covered on your most recent Fuuto Mystery Tour segment.” When Akiko introduced herself, she noticed that Princess Wakana’s demeanor seemed to change, though it was so subtle she’s more convinced she was imagining it.

“Someone did send in a rumor they’d heard about it,” Princess Wakana confirms, “If you’re here, then you think you could learn more?”

Well, this was going better than Akiko expected. She nods, “Yeah, I was wondering if anyone else had sent in any rumors about it.”

Princess Wakana considers that for a minute, then gives a small nod, “We still have the submissions, why don’t we go take a look? They’re sorted through before I ever see them, but I have access to them and would be happy to let you take a look, Ms. Narumi.”

“That would be great.”

Princess Wakana leads her through the building to a room where they seemed to store things, pulling out a box of letters. She gives them a quick look over before telling Akiko, “These should be it.”

“Thank you,” Akiko quickly began to search through them all. Most of them were unrelated, but she did find a few about the Million Colosseo. Those letters all had one new detail in common between them. The way to get into the Million Colosseo was by getting on a bus, one that wasn’t apart of Fuuto’s actual public transit.

Well, Akiko can work with that.

---

Wakana watched as Akiko Narumi left the radio station. Though she’d heard plenty about her before, this was her first time meeting her. It was a bit of a surprise – she’d been annoyed when some detective had approached her, but learning just who she was had changed thing.

Before she heads home for the day, though, Shoutaro shows up. His hair’s a bit messier than usual, despite it being his day off. “I… just saw Akiko leave the radio station.”

“She wanted to know more about the Million Colosseo, and we had some more letters talking about it.” Wakana replied, “Something about a fake bus.”

He sighed, “Figures. Wait, shit, she’s going to try to find it.”

“Is that so bad?”

“Given the sort of person who’s running the Million Colosseo, yes.” Without another word, Shoutaro hurried out. Wakana watched him leave, curious, but figuring that Shoutaro would be fine. She had more important things to worry about, anyway.

Like convincing her father to let her test her soon to be brother-in-law.

---

Using the reports of where this fake bus was spotted in the letters to Fuuto Mystery Tour, Akiko was fairly confident that she’d be able to track down where the bus would stop. Then it was just a matter of getting on. Odds were, solving the Million Colosseo case would solve both her case for the Izumi family and have that Dopant dealt with. She’d just have to get herself to the Million Colosseo.

She sits on the Hardboiler, waiting. Her plan was simple, wait for that bus to come by – likely the one that had been by when Yuko disappeared – and then follow after. That would lead her to the Million Colosseo. She doesn’t have to wait too long, as the bus pulls up, stopping at a place that she knows isn’t a bus stop and letting a couple people on.

As it drives off, she follows suit. Soon enough, she realizes she can make out an awfully familiar looking person in one of the windows, prompting her to move even closer to take a better look.

“Shoutaro?” Not that he can hear her, but still somehow he knew how to look through the window out at her.

He had a smug look on his face, flashing her a thumbs up.

What was he doing there? He told her not to pursue this case and then he goes and does it himself? How hypocritical. She’d have words with him, after this.

Of course, her stewing and annoyance is interrupted by that gold Dopant again, causing her to have to focus less on the bus and more on it. Just their luck. She pulls to the side, the Dopant blocking her way.

She placed the W Driver on her waist, calling out, “Okay Phillip, the Dopant’s here again, let’s get rid of it, this time.”

“Naturally,” Phillip responded, “This time, we’ll just have to keep aware for anyone possibly intervening.”

Cyclone!

Joker!

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

They get off the Hardboiler as the wind wraps around them, facing the Dopant. Akiko runs at it, swinging a punch, though the Dopant seemed prepared for it. She frowned.

“I’ve been thinking about the best way to defeat this Dopant,” Phillip tells her, “Without knowing which it is, it is somewhat difficult, but not impossible.”

They dodge an attack from the Dopant, then block another. “Care to share?” Akiko asks, kicking the Dopant and giving them some space.

“The Metal Memory,” Phillip answers.

Already pulling out the Joker Memory, Akiko replies, “I can do that,” she replaces it with the Metal Memory. If Akiko was being honest, she had the same problem with the Metal Memory that she did the Trigger Memory – it was a bit difficult to use with her left hand, but at least the staff often required the use of both her hands. That seems like it would be worse, since Phillip had quite the control over her right hand, but when it came to the Metal Memory, she and Phillip could often keep on the same page. Not always, but it was generally easier.

“What did you do to Mr. Murasame?” Akiko called out as they swung their staff at the Dopant.

Just when she thought they were gaining the upper hand, the Dopant pulled away, pulling out a coin, “He’s right here. And so is his family.”

At the mention of the word family, she felt something strange. A distance and quiet from Phillip, and the right side of her body tensing in a way that felt almost unnatural. It was Phillip’s doing, not her own, not even unconsciously. Mentally, she nudged him, but go no response, nor a change in the part of her body he controlled.

She tries to take a step forward, and while her left leg will move, her right will not.

The Dopant laughed, “Oh, did I strike a nerve? Well, you look awfully stuck… See ya!” The Dopant launches one last attack at Akiko before he goes, knocking the two out.

---

Shoutaro gets off the bus in a tunnel and, mask in hand, enters the Million Colosseo.

Soon enough, there would be a Dopant here, and if something happened to the Money Dopant or the Money Memory… well, Museum probably wouldn’t be able to trace it back to him. Especially if he makes sure that Mr. Kaga doesn’t talk.

[writingpaperghost]

The Wind Will Take You Along (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2: The W Search/Those Who Make the City Cry

Akiko searches for the identity of the T-Rex Dopant.

As of now, I have finally plotted out this entire AU, yay! I've also made some edits to the first chapter to fix some errors, but by and large nothing major has changed.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57870910/chapters/164026927

“I don’t get what you’re still worrying about,” Akiko said, watching as her father reviewed his notes on the case. The case he’d solved – someone’s boyfriend was causing trouble, out to get revenge on some perceived wrong. She hadn’t really been paying that close of attention, more preoccupied with keeping the office some semblance of organized. It wasn’t like he let her go with him on cases, anyway, and this one didn’t seem interesting enough to be worth the trouble of sneaking along on this time.

He glanced up from his notes, “Sometimes, Akiko, a case isn’t over as quickly as it seems.”

“What else is there? You found out who was responsible, right?” She walked over to him, picking up the empty cup on his desk that had once been filled with coffee.

“Sometimes, the seeming victim isn’t as innocent as they seem,” Was his response, standing up from his chair and walking from the desk. He reached for one of his hats from the rack.

Glancing at the notes on the desk, the pictures and evidence that made up his case, Akiko thought she was beginning to see what he meant. Not only were some of the crimes things that should only really have been possible with two people committing them, but they all happened close to where their client had been. At first, it seemed like their client was the target, but now…

Their client was responsible for it too.

She looked back up at her father. “What are you going to do?”

Her father was at the door, now, “Our client and I will have a chat. Don’t stay up for me, Akiko.”

Even though he told her not to, Akiko didn’t go home to her apartment until her father got home that night.

---

While Akiko had technically found Togawa, she’d also found another Dopant. And that brought the mystery as to who that Dopant was and why they bothered taking out Togawa. Obviously they wanted to keep him from spilling something, likely their identity, but who?

“Morning, Akiko,” Looking up from her desk, she smiled to greet Shoutaro as he entered. “You’re up working bright and early, I see.”

“Something’s been bugging me.” She replied, taking a drink out of her cup of coffee. She’d never been much for it and couldn’t tell if the awful taste was because she made it badly or if that was just how coffee tasted. Regardless, she did her best to hide how badly she wanted to make a face.

Shoutaro watched her, “You found Togawa though? By the way, have you told Marina yet?”

“I did, but he was taken away by another Dopant,” She reminded. “And no, I haven’t told her yet, I don’t think this case is over.”

He watched her, for a moment, before saying, “You’re going to try to find out who this other Dopant is, aren’t you?”

She stood up, sighing, “Someone has to.”

“Just be careful, alright? Leave the Dopants to the Kamen Rider.”

Shoutaro wandered over to the radio. Akiko kept it because it was her father’s, and because they didn’t have the room nor the real funds to have a proper TV in the agency. She kept up on the news well enough, anyway, so it didn’t matter much. But usually, when Shoutaro was here, at this time, he used it to listen to…

He turned the radio on, and a cheerful woman’s voice came through, “Welcome to Healing Princess!”

Sighing again, Akiko said, “I know half the population of Fuuto is obsessed with her, but I still can’t believe you’re a part of that half.”

Glancing over at her, Shoutaro responded, “Princess Wakana is… amazing. There’s a reason everyone loves her so much.”

Just for good measure, Akiko sighed once more.

---

“One last letter for the show! Let’s see… Tsuki T. wrote in saying, ‘I love your show so much, Princess Wakana! It always makes me feel better, even when I’m having a bad time. I always have something to look forward to.’ Aw, thanks Tsuki! I’m glad I can help cheer you up!” At this point, the broadcast booth at Windwave Radio had become a second home to Wakana. More so than even her real home, she felt comfortable there. Even if she put on the appearance of a cheerful and lovable girl when she was in there. “Well, everyone, that’s all for today’s Healing Princess! Thank you all for tuning in and for all your love and support, I hope you’ll all listen in tomorrow!”

Another moment and they’re off the air. Princess Wakana fell, and Wakana Sonozaki takes her place, standing up from her seat in the booth. She loved being the host of Healing Princess, and at least it got her out of the mansion – away from her father, Saeko, and Saeko’s new fiance.

God, Saeko’s new fiance. Kirihiko got on her nerves something fierce. He was too goody two shoes, even though he was involved with their family. Marrying her sister. But still, it was all about how much he loved Fuuto and how much he was willing to do for the city.

Wakana thinks he’s in denial or something.

Speaking of Kirihiko… she thinks she’ll have to give him a little test when she got home. She’d love if she could prove him less worthy of the Sonozaki name than her own boyfriend. Just because her family hadn’t felt he’d proven himself… well, she’ll see how Saeko likes having her newest toy on the receiving end of that.

---

If anyone in the city might know just what the deal with the Magma Dopant and the other Dopant was, it was Watcherman. When she was working with her father, he had varying groups of people who owed him favors or such that he would get information from. Akiko had no such things, instead, she stumbled into various unusual members of Fuuto’s populace, ones who were often quite aware what was going on in the city. Especially things that weren’t exactly common knowledge.

And the first step to figuring out who the other Dopant was would be to figure out what their relationship with the Magma Dopant was. Hopefully, that was information that had reached Watcherman.

“Hmm… well, word is that Togawa and whoever’s becoming that T-Rex are partners,” Watcherman tells her as Akiko pays him in exchange.

“Partners, huh,” She hummed. So then, who would be partners with him? “Thanks Watcherman,”

Soon enough, she arrives at the scene of the Magma Dopant’s last crime, where she and Phillip had stopped the Dopant. Though she doubted there would be much, certainly not much that wasn’t related to Togawa, she still hoped that she could find some kind of clue. Anything to lead her to who the T-Rex Dopant could be, and with Phillip’s abilities, it took a whole lot less than what she’d need otherwise.

She scans the area, wandering over to where the T-Rex Dopant had emerged to eat Togawa. If there was going to be anything of note, it would be here. The pavement was still broken up, it would probably take a few days, at least, for it to be fixed. It’s there that something catches her eye, what appears to be a scrap of clothing. It didn’t look like what Togawa had been wearing, so then there was a good chance that it belonged to the T-Rex Dopant instead. She grabs it, turning it around in her hands.

Right, this was something. She spies the Windscale logo on it, which would help narrow down who had gotten it. If she were on her own or apart of the police, she could attempt to search through records to see if it was possible to find who had bought it, if it was recent enough, at least. But Akiko had something better, she had Phillip, and there were few things Phillip couldn’t find with the right amount of information.

Pleased with her discovery, Akiko makes her way back to the agency.

She finds Shoutaro there, firstly. He watches her for a moment, before asking, “Found any clues?”

“Yep,” Akiko grinned, “It should be enough to figure out who the Dopant is.”

He frowned, “You be careful,” he wanders towards the door, “I’m going to meet with Marina for a bit, but if something happens… call me, okay? I’ll come running to help.”

Rolling her eyes, she responds, “I can take care of myself, Shoutaro.” Whether he knew it or not, she was more equipped to stop a Dopant than he was.

“I just don’t want you getting hurt,” With that, he left. Akiko makes her way back into the garage, where Phillip mumbled away about something – Takoyaki, it looked like.

Akiko watches for a moment, Phillip’s marker whipping across the whiteboard as he rapidly wrote notes, both in Japanese and in other languages she didn’t know. Finally, she called out, “Phillip,”

His writing paused for a moment, before he whipped around, “Akiko, I was just researching ‘takoyaki’ – I recalled you mentioned it once from your home and-“

“That’s great, really,” She said, feeling a bit bad about cutting him off, “Hey, I found a clue about who the T-Rex Dopant is.”

He watched as she pulled out the scrap of cloth, “I see… then you think it will be enough for a look up?”

“I’m hoping,” She replies with a small smile. “So let’s see… T-Rex, Windscale…”

“Well,” Phillip began, “I certainly do have a match.”

“Who is it?”

“Marina Tsumura,” With that, Akiko felt her heart drop. Oh boy, not just her client, but Shoutaro’s friend…

Wait, Shoutaro said he was going to meet with Marina.

Turning around, Akiko hurried towards the door, “I’ve gotta go find Shoutaro!”

 Phillip watched her leave, “How come?”

“He’s going to see Marina!” She’s out the door before she can hear his response.

---

By the time Akiko finds Shoutaro and Marina, things seem so normal that she almost wonders if maybe she was wrong. Maybe Phillip had found the wrong book. But she knows better than to assume that – Marina just wouldn’t have any reason to feel threatened by Shoutaro.

“Shoutaro!” Akiko calls, catching his attention.

He looks over at her, surprised, “Akiko, what are you doing here?”

Standing by them, she looks between him and Marina, then answers, “There’s something we need to talk about.”

Frowning, he asked, “Can’t it wait?”

“No,” She shook her head, “Because Ms. Tsumura here… is the T-Rex Dopant!”

“What?” Shoutaro whipped his head to look towards Marina.

Marina frowned, “They fired me, I just… wasn’t sure what else to do.” Her remorse seemed off, not quite real. Akiko doubts she was really that regretful of seeking revenge.

Shoutaro takes a step towards her, “Then turn yourself in, Marina. Stop using that Memory.”

As he spoke, Akiko catches sight of the arrival of the Fuuto PD. “I already called to let them know. So just make it easy on them.”

Marina’s remorseful expression morphed into a scowl as she produced the T-Rex Memory. Activating it, she pulled down the collar of her blouse and inserted the Memory. Akiko and Shoutaro jump to the side, away from the T-Rex Dopant. Her focus first lands on the police, attacking.

Shoutaro calls out to Akiko, “Akiko! Get out of here!”

Akiko would, sure, but it would be so she can avoid being seen transforming. She slips away, cringing at seeing the destruction that the T-Rex Dopant had brought. They’d just have to try to keep her from causing more.

She places the W Driver on her waist, already pulling out the Joker Memory. “Let’s stop this dinosaur, Phillip.”

Phillip puts his book away, into his pocket and pulls out the Cyclone Memory, “Of course. I’ll have to remember to research dinosaurs after this…”

Cyclone!

Joker!

With the two Memories slotted into the Driver, they transform. They’re quick to intervene, attacking T-Rex so that it would stop attacking the police. They were far from equipped to deal with a Dopant attack. Hurrying over, easily making up the lost distance, Akiko grabs onto T-Rex, pulling her away with a heave.

Now aware of the presence of the Kamen Rider, T-Rex changing once more, now growing into quite the large T-Rex, more like what a real one might look like, rather than the monstrous form Dopants generally took. That was going to make things more complicated, they didn’t have a whole lot of practice fighting a Dopant this size. “Got any ideas?” Akiko asked Phillip, hoping he could have something to work with. Brute force would probably work, but that was sometimes a bit more difficult than coming up with a plan, Akiko had found.

Without another word, Akiko’s right hand takes out the Cyclone Memory, replacing it with the Heat Memory instead. That side of her body changes from green and yellow to red and orange. “Perhaps turning up the heat will make her change her mind.” Phillip finally said.

“I didn’t think you made jokes,” Akiko observed, dodging past the jaws of the T-Rex Dopant.

Punching T-Rex, flames arcing across Akiko’s right fist, Phillip comments, “It’s merely a coincidental turn of phrase.”

“If you say so!” Finding that this alone wasn’t quite working, Akiko pulls the Joker Memory out of her side of the Driver, replacing it with the Metal Memory. “I think I’ve got a way to make this work even better!” The black and purple of Joker gives way to the grey of Metal, providing Akiko with a handy staff to better hit this lizard with. More range would make it easier to avoid the T-Rex Dopant’s jaws.

They spin the staff as flames surround it, then land a strong hit on T-Rex. Akiko had never thought of herself as one who was much for a fight, but becoming Kamen Rider had… accustomed her to it, she supposed. Shoutaro had taught her how to fight, while her dad was still alive, but she’d only really started needing it since meeting Phillip. Since she became Kamen Rider.

Focusing now, she feels a brief moment where she and Phillip are on the exact same page – the T-Rex Dopant has been weakened, now. Just one more strong attack and they could destroy the Gaia Memory. With flames licking the end of their staff, they throw all their might into hitting T-Rex with it.

Marina falls to the ground, the T-Rex Memory shattering beside her.

Akiko huffed, but seeing the police making their way over, she knows she doesn’t need to worry about Marina trying anything else. Not that she was likely all that dangerous without a Gaia Memory. Then, it’s time to slip away and head back to the agency.

“Revenge is such an odd thing,” Phillip noted, “Perhaps I will have to research it.”

She scoffed a little, slipping into an alley way and becoming herself once more. Since she still had the W Driver on, she could still hear Phillip, and he her, though Phillip himself was once again in his own body. “Good luck with that,” She said, “I don’t think I’ll ever understand it.”

---

Akiko wasn’t all that surprised when Shoutaro showed up at the agency again, that evening. She glanced up from her case report, watching him for a moment. He didn’t seem to bothered, and Shoutaro was never that good at hiding his feelings. “How are you holding up?”

He sighed, sitting down, “It’s… a bit hard to believe Marina was also a Dopant.” He said, “I know I haven’t seen her much since we were kids, but…”

“People change, I guess.” Akiko knows she is hardly the sort of person she was when she was a kid. She’d changed even just since coming to Fuuto.

“I guess,” He watched her, almost mindlessly.

Tilting her head, she asks, “Is something else bothering you?”

Snapping out of it, he shook his head, “What? No, not me.”

Unable to help herself, Akiko laughs, “Are you sure? Maybe you had a crush on Marina.”

“Marina? No!” Shoutaro seemed flustered by that comment, and Akiko laughed again. It was fun to get him worked up, in part because it could, at times, be rather easy to do. “Hey! Don’t laugh!”

“Sorry, sorry,” She attempts to reign it in, though she isn’t all that successful. “You just make such funny faces! And anyway, it’s not like it would be a big deal if you did. It’s not like you’re dating anyone.”

Again, he shook his head, “Marina and I were never anything other than friends, and I’ve never felt any other way about her. I wasn’t even thinking about that when we were kids.”

Still smiling, though her laughter had calmed, Akiko props her chin in her palm, “So, have you ever had a crush on someone? You definitely have. Other than Princess Wakana, that is.”

“I don’t see why that’s important,” Shoutaro answered almost too quickly.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” She continues, “I had all sorts of crushes growing up.”

He regards her for a moment, before asking, “Yeah? Well what about now?”

She shrugged, “No one in Fuuto has caught my eye.” And truthfully, since becoming the Kamen Rider, the idea of trying to date anyone hadn’t felt right. It would be putting them in danger, getting them involved in something they didn’t have to be. It just wasn’t on the table, not until this organization creating the Gaia Memories was dealt with.

Now, she understood why her father had done what he had even more. It was just that instead of being too careful to form those sort of relationships, he had no choice but to cut off the ones he already had. Akiko was ten when it happened, how different things might have been if it hadn’t. But that was far in the past and there was no changing it.

“Maybe you’ll find someone on one of your cases.” Shoutaro comments, absentmindedly.

Akiko snorts, “Maybe, but I’m not too worried about it.”

[writingpaperghost]

As I still slowly watch through Faiz (nearly a year after I started), at 34 episodes in I've been thinking about why I sometimes am not excited to watch another episode, especially compared to W and Fourze where I could easily watch two episodes a day. I've been more excited for Gavv than going through Faiz, and usually I don't like interrupting watching one show for the currently airing one.

I think it's just... Faiz is so unfun. Like, I don't think I've actually laughed at all while watching. I don't know if it just genuinely fails at any of it's attempts at humor, it used to or would be funny if I remembered the year 2003, or if it's just not funny to me specifically, but like. I've gotten more second hand embarrassment than anything.

And so the end result is it feels like there's never a real chance for a breather. I think that's why Kaido and Keitaro get misadventures here and there, sometimes, but. It just doesn't work for me. So I'm sitting here as something really dramatic or big happens and I'm just like. The tension has been up for several episodes and it isn't really build up at this point. I think the only things that get a reaction out of me at this point are really out of pocket shit (Kusaka declaring that Mari was the only one who could take the place of his mother and fix him) or the end of episode 34 (which was less because I was surprised about what was revealed and more because of the way it was revealed).

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Faiz. I'd say it is Good*, overall. I just can't watch more than maybe one episode a day, and honestly sometimes that feels like too much.

*excluding the women, but that's pretty normal for Kamen Rider and I pretty much always have a complaint of some kind