higuchimonwips | [wip] Vile Radiance

He couldn’t touch it. He tried, reaching for it again and again, but every time he got just close enough to feel the warmth coming from it, it pulsed with brilliant gold fire, pushing him away again.

He wasn’t going to let a simple little tool like this defeat him. He had no idea of who would be destined to wield it, but he didn’t care. They would not use it against him. He would not allow it.

He’d already taken care of the other items that he knew had been crafted to aid the Chosen in their future battles against him. Even if they were found, it wouldn’t do them any real good. Not with what he’d done to them.

But this remained. Were there others like it? Where could they be hidden? What could their power and their purpose be?

No matter, he decided. He would take care of this one and if he found others, do the same to them.

Slowly he pulled off the glove on his left hand and materialized one of his daggers in the other. This would work. This had to work.

It had certainly done so with those Crests.

With great care he slit his finger, enough for drops of blood to fall from it onto the glimmering golden item. Digimental, he thought it was called, remembering the small remnants of information he’d gained when he’d invaded Gennai’s work area. A Golden Digimental.

He watched with thorough pleasure as the blood fell onto the item, searching through whatever protected it. He knew how to corrupt code easily enough. He’d done it many, many times, and would do so many more. This was nothing more than another application of his abilities.

The Digimental turned from gold to dark red, seething with his own energies now, and he rested his bare hand on it in triumph. This time he succeeded, this time the item welcomed – or accepted – his touch.

Perfect. Now he simply needed to put it somewhere where the corruption could grow deeper and deeper, until no one could get rid of it.

He smiled at the thought. What could happen if someone tried to use this? For someone would, he didn’t doubt.

I do so hope I’m there to see it, he mused, then threw his head back and laughed a wild, raucous laugh.

Of course he would be there to see it! Because no matter how much force stood against him, he was the most powerful being in the Digital World short of the gods themselves! And even they could not defeat him.

He was Piemon. He would rule forever. And those Chosen that Gennai thought would defeat him would rule by his side.

What a wonderful future lay before him.

Ken slipped into the room he shared with his brother, taking a quick moment to assure himself that Osamu wasn’t there. He didn’t know where Osamu was, but ‘not there’ was good enough for him.

He turned the computer on and while it got started, rummaged around in the drawer he’d seen Osamu put that strange device in. He knew they were connected somehow, given that the device came out of the computer. And as much as Osamu tried to say otherwise, he knew this was his.

And that meant one thing: he could decide if he wanted to use it or not.

At least if he knew what he would be using it for. Or what it could be used for.

Maybe he’d find out today.

There! He spied the device underneath a few other odds and ends and dug it out. It wasn’t much bigger than his hand and there was a clock quietly ticking away in the center of it. But it couldn’t just be a clock. Clocks didn’t come out of the computer, for one thing.

Something whispered. Nothing more than that, and Ken turned to the computer to see everything had booted up properly. In the center of the monitor he saw something that he’d never seen before. Had Osamu installed a new program and this was the icon for it?

“What is this?” he wondered, reaching out to touch it with his free hand. All he could feel was the screen under his fingertips.

Then he moved his other hand closer, in a strange mix of gut instinct and curiosity, and his eyes widened as some kind of a hole opened up in the icon, revealing a rich green meadow that rapidly grew larger and larger.

He could feel himself falling, and then he struck the ground with a small thud.

“W-what...” Ken brought his head up and looked, trying to figure out what was going on and not having a lot of luck. He saw a small television behind him, the size of one of those portable devices, and through it he could see his bedroom.

Oh. That would mean he could get back, he decided. He looked around again. Which meant he could explore this place.

He still held the device in one hand, gripping onto it as if letting it go would send him back where he’d come from. But he carefully moved forward, looking all around in wonder at this place he’d never been before.

What he saw first were just trees and grass and flowers. A few things moved in the far distance, but they weren’t close enough for him to figure out what they were.

He came to a small stream that tumbled across the way and realized how thirsty he was. He’d really thought he’d only be in his room for a few minutes, that he either wouldn’t find the device or that he’d not be able to do anything with it and would have to go off to do something else. But now he’d been in the warm sun for a while, and he wanted a drink.

Ken only took a couple of steps toward it before he spied something far too near him for comfort. It looked like a bug: a big green bug.

He pulled himself back, but too fast, his feet slipping out from underneath him. No sooner did he hit the ground than the bug looked toward him, revealing large blue eyes that widened when it saw him.

“Ken? Is that you?”

Ken stayed where he was, heart racing. “Y-you can talk?” Why was he talking to a bug? Why did the bug know his name?

The bug moved closer to him. “Of course I can talk. Most Digimon can.” It peered at him. “Are you all right? You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”

“I… no...” Ken slowly started to push himself to his feet. “I’m all right.” He stared down at the bug. “What’s a Digimon? And – who are you?”

“I’m a Digimon! We’re in the Digital World!” The bug – kinda looked like a giant caterpillar, Ken thought, now that he could see it more clearly – looked so proud of what it was. “And I’m Wormmon.”

“Wormmon.” Ken tasted the name and found that he liked it. It seemed to him as if the knowledge of the name had existed in him all this time, and he’d just not known that he knew it. “So, how do you know my name, Wormmon?”

Wormmon wriggled, scuffling his front pods. “Because we’re partners. I’ve been waiting for you. Partners always know each other’s names.”

Ken blinked, trying to wrap his mind around all of this. “Partners?” He’d never been here before. He knew next to nothing about this place. But that didn’t change the fact he believed Wormmon anyway.

“That’s right! I’m the Digimon and you’re the human and I’m going to protect you against anyone that could ever hurt you! That’s what partners do for each other!”

Ken still hadn’t fully grasped what he was hearing. Wormmon kept on, though.

“You’re a Chosen Child, so you have a Digimon partner. There aren’t any evil Digimon around right now, though.” Wormmon scuffled his pods again. “But I’d protect you if I had to.”

“Chosen Child?” Ken repeated the words, his shoulders sliding down as he did. “You’ve got it all wrong. You probably want my brother.”

Osamu was the one always chosen for everything, no matter what it was. People didn’t pay attention to Ken. His parents remembered to feed him and that he existed, but all of their attention washed over Osamu, praising him to the heavens, proud of every accomplishment that he scored, wanting nothing more than bask in his reflected glory.

If anyone had been Chosen for anything, it was Osamu, and not Ken.

Wormmon gave Ken the very sternest look that a blue-eyed caterpillar could manage.

“No, it isn’t. I don’t know your brother’s name and I know your name and you couldn’t get here anyway if you didn’t have the Digivice.” He nudged the thing in Ken’s hand. “That’s your Digivice. They don’t work for anyone but the person they’re supposed to work for.”

Ken stared down at it and at Wormmon. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was in a different world altogether, and whoever ‘Chose’ him – and he wondered what he’d been Chosen for - didn’t want his brother, they wanted him.

Tears trickled down his cheeks, hot and painful, and he gasped when Wormmon almost threw himself at him. It took a moment to realize that he was being hugged. Wormmon didn’t have arms or hands, but he did his best anyway. Ken slowly started to hug him back, trembling with every moment.

“What- what is it that I’m supposed to do?” Wormmon had mentioned something about ‘evil Digimon’ but that didn’t really mean anything to Ken. Not to mention that he couldn’t stay here forever. He needed to go home, sooner or later.

Though he wasn’t always sure if his parents would miss him if he did stay out too late…

“Well, right now, there’s not really anything.” Wormmon stared up at him after they both settled down on the ground. It was a lot easier talking when they were both that much closer to one another. “We had some really evil Digimon a while ago, but the other Chosen took care of them, eventually.”

Ken tilted his head. “Where are they now?” He wasn’t sure if he meant the other evil Digimon or the other Chosen Children.

Wormmon tilted his head a bit. “I think they went home. Their partners are still around, but I don’t know where they are right now. We don’t really know each other.”

Ken nodded. He didn’t really know that many people either. They probably wouldn’t want to hang around with a little kid anyway. If they’d defeated really evil Digimon, then they were heroes, and heroes never wanted to hang out with little kids. They were too busy being heroes.

“Can you show me around?” Ken finally asked. He knew he’d have to go home sooner or later, but that wasn’t now and he wanted to find out what he could. “And… can I have a drink of water?” He’d almost forgotten that in the excitement of meeting Wormmon.

“Of course! I was just taking a nap here, that’s all.” He considered as Ken moved forward to get his water. “Would you like to see where I live? It’s not all that far.”

Wiping away the water that dripped from his chin after his drink, Ken nodded. What would Wormmon’s place be like?

It didn’t take too long to get there, and it turned out to be a tree. Wormmon easily crawled up the trunk into a hole just a bit bigger than he was, then turned around to look at Ken. “This is it!”

Ken stared for a few seconds. “I don’t know if I can get there,” he said, drooping again. The tree was sturdy enough for Wormmon, but maybe not for him, and he didn’t think the hole was big enough for him to get through anyway. And would there be any room on the inside for both of them?

Wormmon at once wriggled back out. “What else would you like to see, then?”

Ken kept on staring at the tree. He did sort of want to climb up in there and see Wormmon’s place, but it was so small and while he wasn't big by any means…

He could sort of imagine Osamu telling him that it wouldn’t work under any circumstances and he should just give up and find something that he really could do.

He let his head slide down a little more. Yeah. I really should.

“Maybe we can just walk around?” He thought he could manage that. There had to be interesting things around here somewhere, and maybe he’d find a Digimon who wasn’t Wormmon. Hopefully a nice Digimon. The idea of Wormmon hurting someone else, even another monster, didn’t set very well with him.

Wormmon made his way back to the ground and stared up at him. “All right. We can go this way.” He set off the opposite way they’d arrived, and Ken came along with him. Neither of them moved all that fast, and there was enough to catch their interest so that they hadn’t really gone that far before there was a sudden roar and fire rose up all around them.

“Oh, no!” Wormmon backtracked fast. “That’s Flare Lizamon! We must’ve wandered into its territory!”

Ken tried to get back, but everywhere he looked, he could see nothing but fire. “Where do we go?” They needed to get out of here, and the sooner the better. He had no idea of what a Flare Lizamon was or what it could do other than set things on fire, and he didn’t think that he wanted to know.

“This way!” Wormmon wriggled over to where the flames looked the thinnest. “I think we can get out here!”

Ken followed, coughing as the grass and trees went up in smoke, and wished that he knew something more about what they could do. Did this count as an evil Digimon? Was this something that they should fight?

“Wormmon,” he gasped, coughing again. “Can we… stop him?” He didn’t even know why the Digimon was doing this. His head spun with all the smoke and he couldn’t put one foot in front of the other properly.

And he couldn’t see Wormmon anymore. He couldn’t see anything but the flames and the smoke.

“Ken!” Wormmon’s voice came from somewhere ahead and Ken tried to get there. If he could find Wormmon, he would be all right. He believed in that.

But nowhere he stepped seemed to bring him any closer, and he heard mocking laughter that sounded as if it came from a deep throat, edged in flames and evil.

“Who’re you?” Ken coughed, and regretted talking the moment that he did with how his throat burned. He quivered, his eyes stinging, and slammed them shut.

He regretted ever coming to this world. He wanted to be safe at home, not being burned alive!

“Ken!” Wormmon’s cry came from farther away now as Ken sunk closer to the ground, his legs refusing to take him any further. HE couldn’t seem to stop coughing.

He thought he saw a light from near him, piercing through his closed eyes. It didn’t look like firelight, and his eyes blurred and wept too much for him, even though he had them closed, to figure anything else about it.

He also thought he heard Wormmon saying something, but he couldn’t tell what.

For all that Ken could do, he might as well not have even been there. Never in his entire life had he felt this helpless.

“Hell Squeeze!”

That didn’t sound like Wormmon, but Ken found his head rising up anyway. He still couldn’t anything, even when he managed to drag his eyes open, more because of the flames and the smoke than anything else. He coughed again, eyes fogging up, and thought he saw a tall green figure dancing on the edge of his vision.

“Spiking Finish!”

There was a harsh cry, then that same strange voice that was and wasn’t Wormmon’s came closer to him.

“Ken? Where are you?”

Ken thought he made a noise. He didn’t know anymore. He let himself fall forward, but never touched the ground. Arms encircled him, and the last thing that he remembered was rising upward into the air, as if he were flying.

When he came to himself again, he was next to the stream not that far from Wormmon’s. He raised one hand to rub at his eyes. “What… happened?” Had it somehow been a dream? But wouldn’t he be home if it were a dream?

Wormmon came into view. He dragged a long leaf behind him, with a lot of different fruits settled on it. “Ken? Are you all right?” He stared at Ken with those worried eyes of his. “I wasn’t sure if - I didn’t know...”

Then he threw himself right into Ken’s lab, sobbing. “I’m sorry! I almost lost you! I couldn’t evolve fast enough! And you got hurt!”

Ken raised a hand to try to soothe him, only to see a long strange streak of red on his arm. It hadn’t been there before.

He’d never seen a burn mark before. Especially never on himself.

“You got hurt,” Wormmon repeated, staring into his eyes. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t good enough.”

“Of course you are,” Ken replied automatically, reaching to soothe him no matter what. “I’m alive, aren’t I? And… who got me out of there?” Wormmon couldn’t have done it. He didn’t have arms and he couldn’t fly.

But Wormmon stared up at him with glimmers of pride now. “I did! I evolved and I got you out of there after I beat Flare Lizamon!”

“You what?” Ken wanted to sleep. He’d never been so exhausted in all of his life.

“I evolved!” Wormmon repeated the phrase with equal parts awe and pride. “It’s when Digimon get stronger and turn into different forms. Digimon who don’t have partners have to take a long, long time to do it. But since we’re partners, I could do it with your help.”

Ken kept on rubbing Wormmon’s head. “I didn’t do anything. I could barely even stand up.” Wormmon had done everything, as far as he cared. I wouldn’t even be alive without him.

Another thought occurred. “What got that … that Digimon so angry, anyway?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t have time to ask.” Wormmon ducked his head down. “He didn’t want to talk, either.” He rubbed his fore-pods against the ground as if ashamed. “All I wanted to do was get you out of there. I- I didn’t really care what he wanted.”

Ken soothed him even more. “That’s all right.”

He glanced up and blinked. “It’s getting dark?” The sun slid closer to the horizon moment by moment, and Ken took a quick glance at the device with him, remembering it had a clock on it.

It is getting late!

The temptation to stay right where he was, to find a place to sleep for the night and not bother ever going home again, was far more than he’d thought it would be.

How would he explain what happened to his arm to his parents, anyway? They’d notice, wouldn’t they? They’d want to know where he’d been and what happened to him…

No. No, they wouldn’t. He bit his lip at the thought. They wouldn't notice because Osamu was going to do something amazing that would take away every thought they had about their other son.

He could stay here. They’d probably never even notice anything and if they did, they wouldn’t miss him anyway.

But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Slowly he pushed himself to his feet.

“I have to go home, Wormmon.” He wasn’t doing it for his parents or for Osamu. Until he’d found a place with someone who genuinely cared about him, he’d never realized how much he didn’t want to be back there. But he couldn’t leave. Not today.

Wormmon peered up at him, hope there but damped down. “I’ll take you back, then.”

Ken had a pretty good idea that Wormmon didn’t want him to go anymore than Ken really wanted to go in the first place. He offered a smile, holding back the wince that shot thorough him as he moved a little more. He wasn’t sure of how badly he’d been hurt, but staying still would probably be a good idea for a while. At least after he got back home.

“I’ll come back,” he promised, “if I can.”

“Of course you can.” Wormmon told him, waving a pod to the device Ken hadn’t put away yet. “That’s your Digivice. As long as there’s a Digital Gate open, then you can come to this world.”

“Mine?” Ken stared at it. He’d thought that it was his, he believed it was his, but to hear it for himself from someone else? To hear it from someone like Wormmon, whom he trusted so much already? Who’d saved his life?

Wormmon nodded, not a bit of hesitation there. “Digivices only go to who they’re supposed to go to, and they only work for who they’re supposed to. If it wasn’t yours, then it wouldn’t have worked at all. And I couldn’t have evolved. You, me, the Digivice, we all work together.”

Ken closed his hand harder about the Digivice. It’s all mine. He had something that Osamu couldn't take away from him. That was his and only his.

He would come back. Without a single doubt, he would come back.

Ken drew, the careful lines of his creation rising on the paper. It wasn’t the greatest artwork any world had ever seen, but it was still pretty. To him, anyway.

Given that it was of Wormmon, that probably had something to do with it. He’d used up almost all of his green crayons the last few weeks as he drew picture after picture of his partner.

He never hung them up where anyone else could see them. He didn’t want anyone else to see them. These pictures were all his, because Wormmon was his partner and his friend, the only person who cared about him.

He’d gone back to the Digital World twice now. He didn’t dare go very often, because he had to use Osamu's computer to do it, and if he didn’t time it right, then his brother would be there at just the wrong time, and Ken didn’t want to talk to him. At all. Ever again.

I want to stay with Wormmon. Every time he went there, the whole idea just got stronger. He mattered to the Digital World. Maybe not very much; there weren’t really any evil Digimon that he was – supposedly – meant to fight. But he mattered to Wormmon and that mattered more to him.

“What are you doing?”

Ken jumped, eyes going wide, and shoved the drawing under him where it couldn’t be seen. He flipped around in the same second – realizing only then that he’d done so a little faster than he would have a couple of weeks earlier. Spending time in the Digital World did him good, he thought.

But now Osamu stood over him, glasses glinting in the living room light, and stared down at him suspiciously.

“I was just drawing!” He wasn’t going to show it to Osamu, he wasn’t.

His brother didn’t move. “Have you been going in my room?”

Ken blinked at him. “It’s my room too!” Why did Osamu have to treat him like this? Why couldn’t there be more times when he wasn’t glaring at Ken as if Ken made him mad just by existing?

Why couldn’t he be more like Wormmon, who loved Ken unconditionally?

“I don’t care. You shouldn’t be messing with my things and if I find out that you have been, you’re going to regret it.”

He didn’t move, though, staring down at Ken for several minutes before he finally turned and stalked back into the bedroom.

Ken didn’t move an inch until he heard the door slam. Then he quickly gathered up his paper and crayons and hurried out to the apartment balcony, trembling all over.

I’m going to do it. I’m going to go to Wormmon and I’m not going to come back here, ever.

Osamu didn’t even want him to be in the room that was part his! And Ken knew he wasn't messing with anything that was his brother’s! Well, maybe the computer, a little, but that didn’t count! He only used it to get to the Digital World. He hadn’t touched anything that was Osamu’s!

And if Osamu wouldn’t believe him, then Ken wasn’t going to be there to touch even that.

Ken decided he wouldn’t take much. He didn’t have a lot to start with, and he didn’t know where he could keep anything that he did bring. So he carefully packed the drawings he’d done of Wormmon – Wormmon said he wanted to see them, anyway – along with his crayons and a couple of shirts and pants. He didn’t think he’d need anything else. He wouldn’t be going to school anymore. He wouldn’t be missed there, either.

He waited until Osamu and their parents were in the living room, talking about whatever amazing thing Osamu had done lately, and crept to the computer, wriggling his Digivice out of his pants.

The Gate stood there on the screen, ready for him. As far as he knew, Osamu hadn’t ever seen it. It remained Ken’s secret.

He hadn’t brought the Digivice up enough to go through when the lights suddenly came on and he whipped around to see Osamu standing there.

He didn’t have a chance to move away this time. Osamu grabbed hold of his wrist and wrenched the Digivice out of it.

“Give that back! It’s mine!” Ken shouted, pounding on his brother’s leg. Osamu didn’t even look at him, all of his attention on the Digivice itself.

“I’d wondered where this vanished off to,” he muttered. Then he turned back to Ken. “I knew you were getting into my things. But stealing my things?”

“I didn’t steal it! You can’t steal what’s yours and that’s mine!” Ken shouted, banging even harder. It was more than just something that was his, it was what proved he and Wormmon were partners.

“You’re joking.” Osamu just rolled his eyes, still ignoring Ken’s attempts to hurt him. “Something like this, for someone like you? You’re just a kid, Ken. This belongs to me.”

“Prove it.” A sudden spark glowed in Ken’s mind. “Prove that it’s yours. What’s it called? What can it do?”

Osamu looked down at him, confused. “It’s a watch. See, it’s got a clock on it? Didn’t you notice?”

Ken wasn’t letting go that easily. “If it’s just a watch, then why did it come out of the computer? Watches don’t just come out of computers.”

He didn’t care how upset Osamu looked. He wasn’t letting what was his get away from him. This was the only way he could see Wormmon and he’d had enough.

“What are you -”

Ken reached up to grab onto it one more time. “If it’s just a watch, then let me hold it. Just for one minute.”

Osamu started to pull his hand away, then stopped warily. “One minute. And once the minute’s over with, you’re never going to ask me to hold it again and you’re never going to touch anything that’s mine ever again.”

Ken gave out his brightest smile. “I won’t.” No, indeed he wouldn’t. He didn’t look at the computer. He didn’t want to give this away.

Osamu slowly lowered the Digivice down to Ken’s hand, reluctant to take his own hand away. Ken didn’t give him a chance to do otherwise. He also didn’t want to take any chances on Osamu changing his mind.

So he slammed one foot on Osamu’s, covered only by his house-slipper, and darted to the computer, holding the Digivice out. The Digital Gate pulled him in without hesitation and he tumbled out on the other side.

“Ken! Ken, what do you think you’re doing?” Osamu’s voice cracked from the small television Ken had fallen out of. Ken looked over to it, his heart pounding, a scratch on one arm where he’d fallen.

“I’m leaving!” He kicked the television over and hurried off without another word. He wanted Wormmon. He didn’t want to see his brother ever again.

Osamu stared at the computer, not entirely believing what had just happened. It had just been a watch. Sure, kind of a weird one, but just a watch. How could it… how could Ken…

How could Ken go into the computer?

He reached out carefully and set one finger on that strange little program that he didn’t remember putting on there. Nothing happened, not like when Ken … vanished.

Ken’s gone. My brother’s gone. That still didn’t make sense to him. He’d come in here just to see what Ken was doing, suspecting him of messing up all of his hard work and homework, and found Ken messing with that weird watch instead.

What was he going to tell his parents? What could he tell them? That Ken went into the computer and said he was leaving?

He ran away. That was kinda the truth. It wasn’t the best truth, but Osamu didn’t know what else he could say. They wouldn't believe anything else he tried to tell them.

Besides, he didn’t think they’d have to worry very long. From what little he could see there – and the weird thing closed up and vanished without him even touching anything – he doubted that Ken would stay there very long. Where could he get food or a place to sleep? He didn’t even know how to wash his clothes!

He’d be back, sooner or later. And probably beg forgiveness from having run away and worried everyone and apologize for having touched Osamu’s things in the first place.

He didn’t have the time to worry about it right now as it was. He had a lot of homework that he needed to do, and his annoying little brother could just wait.

Ken hadn’t dropped his bag the whole time. He hadn’t even thought about it, really, but he clung to it throughout that whole nasty mess with Osamu, and now he dragged it with him as he made his way to Wormmon’s place.

Every time he visited the Digital World he came out right here near Wormmon’s little place. He hadn’t yet been able to make his way to the inside, but maybe now he’d be able to. Where else was he going to go?

“Ken?” Wormmon wriggled toward him, the usual happy smile lighting up everything around him. “Did you bring those pictures?”

Ken dropped his bag, dropped himself, and trembled all over. Wormmon’s words brought back everything he’d not been thinking about ever since he’d made up his mind to do this. The sight of his brother staring down at him with those distant, cold eyes. The pain in his wrist when Osamu grabbed onto him.

“Ken?” Wormmon pressed closer. His voice was so kind. He was so kind.

Hot tears slid down Ken’s cheeks. “I’m not going back,” he whispered. “I’m not going back there ever again.”

“Ken?” Wormmon rested a pod on him gently. “What happened?”

Ken tried to speak past his tears, but all he could do was shake his head over and over again. He clung to Wormmon, tears falling onto his partner’s carapace, and sobbed until all of his strength faded out of him and he curled up into a tight ball.

Somewhere in the middle of all of that he managed a few words, enough so that Wormmon had an idea of what had happened. Ken didn’t even pay attention to when he fell asleep, too worn out from everything to keep himself awake any longer.

Wormmon did what he could for Ken while his partner slept. He brought food for him and searched until he found some big enough leaves to pull over him so he could stay warm.

He’ll probably go home eventually anyway. He knew that Ken didn’t want to leave now and he wasn't going to complain about that. But once Ken wasn’t so angry at his brother anymore, he’d go home. They would talk things out.

Humans needed humans, after all.

But until Ken decided to go back, Wormmon would take care of him. That was what partners were for.

So he guarded Ken and tried to think of places where he could stay that would be better for him than what he had now. His little tree satisfied him just fine, but he would need a bigger, better place for Ken.

There were caves not that far away, in a range of mountains. He and Ken hadn’t gone there yet on their explorations, though it had been a place he’d thought about going. It would be worth checking into.

He tucked himself in next to Ken and prepared for a small nap himself. Ken would feel better when he woke up. And he wasn't going to shy away from the thought of spending more time with his partner. Even if it couldn’t last.

Ichijouji Ken.

Ken whimpered softly and tried to wriggle away. But he couldn’t move, try as he might.

Ichijouji Ken. Awaken.

Ken didn’t want to. He wanted to stay in the soft, sweet arms of sleep and forget everything that happened in the world around him for as long as he could.

Awaken. Your time is coming.

“I don’t want to...” Ken murmured, clenching his eyes together even harder. “Go away.”

You are being called, Ichijouji Ken.

“No!”

Images rocked through him. Fire all around him, licking at him, burning him.

They never asked, did they? They never noticed your clothes were scorched. They never noticed your arm was burned.

More images: his parents, his brother, all talking to each other and not so much as looking up when he’d come into the room after his first trip to the Digital World.

He’d taken care of his injuries himself. Wormmon had done what he could before he’d left, and he’d finished it up with some burn ointment he’d found in the bathroom.

But his parents didn’t ask why it was used. Osamu never noticed.

No one did. Not his teachers or anyone at school.

They don’t care. They never cared. You mean nothing to them. You never did.

Tears sparked in Ken’s eyes again. He tried to ignore them. But they burned like the flames had burned him and he tightened into a ball, trembling all over.

“Stop it,” he whispered. “Stop saying those things.”

It’s only the truth. Do you want to hide from the truth?

Right now, Ken wanted to hide from anything and everything, as long as it meant he wouldn’t be hurt. He’d had enough of being hurt.

There is only one way to not be hurt.

Ken didn’t want to listen. But he didn’t know how to make whatever voice this was go away and leave him alone.

You need to be strong. You need to be the strongest person of them all. The one everyone is afraid to hurt. The one everyone knows is too strong to hurt, because if anyone tried, they would fail, and you would hurt them.

Ken shook his head more. Some of it sounded good, sounded right. He didn’t want to be hurt. But he also didn’t want to hurt anyone else.

Wait. Wait and see.

The voice – whoever it was -faded away. Ken held himself as tight as he could and tried to pretend it hadn’t happened. It was just a dream, a dream because of how upset he was.

He wasn’t even sure if he was still asleep or not anyway. He probably was, because Wormmon wasn’t there, and Wormmon wouldn't leave him for long while he was asleep. He’d napped here before, and Wormmon remained with him most of the time. Sometimes he woke up to find Wormmon had brought him food, so if his partner had gone off somewhere, that was the only reason why.

He jammed his eyes as closed together as he could get them. He wasn’t sure of how he knew, but he could feel a sort of grayness around him, and he heard the soft lapping of waves on a shore.

Which confused him to no end, because why would he be hearing the ocean when he wasn’t anywhere near it?

Why would he even dream about an ocean? It made no sense… but dreams never did, and this wasn’t an excpetion.

He could've guessed that just from that weird voice. He wasn’t going to hurt anyone. Not even Osamu.

He wanted to sleep some more. He had a whole world he wanted to explore when he woke up.

And the sound of the waves lulled him to deeper sleep.

Days slipped by as quickly as sand through one’s fingers. Ken didn’t go home. The few times it crossed his mind, he remembered with growing anger that if he tried, Osamu would just take his Digivice away and keep him from seeing Wormmon again.

Wormmon was the only being that cared if Ken lived or died or existed at all. Ken wasn’t going to lose him. Nothing would be allowed that would hurt Wormmon. Nothing.

“We need a better place to live,” Ken said one afternoon, trying to stay out of the rain as it splattered down and not doing a really good job of it. This wasn’t the first time it rained while he was in the Digital World, but it was the first since he’d moved here on a permanent basis.

“You should go back to your world, Ken,” Wormmon murmured, able to stay dry under a large leaf. There weren’t any big enough for Ken, unfortunately.

Ken dug his fingers into the dampening ground underneath and shook his head.

“I told you, Wormmon. I’m not going back there. Not now, and not ever. This is where I’m going to live from now on.”

It might’ve been more impressive if the leaf he was trying to shelter under hadn’t shifted in the tossing wind and drenched him in rainwater from head to foot. Ken groaned and crossed his arms over his head.

“How long is this going to last?” He wasn’t really asking Wormmon. He pushed himself up, staring down at how soaked he was. “Come on. We’re going to find a better place.”

It didn’t matter that it was raining. He wanted a place out of the rain and the sooner he found it the better.

Wormmon didn’t protest. Instead, he just followed along behind Ken as he started to wander through the rain, checking everywhere he could imagine. Most of what he found around Wormmon’s place were just trees or bushes, that wouldn’t really give him any kind of shelter.

“Do any humans live here at all?” Ken wanted to know.

“I don’t know any. There’s Gennai, but he’s not really human, I don’t think, and I don’t know where he lives anyway.”

Ken nodded; if this Gennai person wasn't human anyway it didn’t matter, and not knowing where he lived was a big minus in the whole thing. So he had to keep on looking.

Wormmon nudged up next to him and waved a pod off to one side. “We can try there. I was thinking about it the other day.”

Ken followed the way Wormmon pointed with his eyes and saw a range of mountains. Mountains meant caves, and caves would be a lot better than anything else around here. He bent down and squeezed Wormmon.

“That’s going to be perfect!” He knew he could find a place there.

Getting there wasn’t as easy as it looked. The mountains were farther away than Ken thought they were, and while the rain hadn’t stopped before they got there, the sun had set behind the mountains. Long streaks of shadows cast fingers over the land, and the first place Ken saw that looked even remotely like it could give shelter there was a long shelf of rock.

He curled himself up under it without even bothering to think about something to eat. Every part of him was soaked and ached from long hours of walking. He’d never once thought that going places on his own could take up so much time and require so much walking.

But whenever he thought about going back, he reminded himself of what Osamu would do and how his parents likely hadn’t even missed him yet. Maybe they never even would.

I’m not going back. Even if they all begged me to.

Which they wouldn’t.

Ken closed his eyes and in mere moments was sound asleep. And as had become the usual thing, he dreamed, dreamed of a voice encouraging him to find strength, to become feared throughout the world, and protect what was his, no matter what.

The more often he heard it, the more Ken began to think that maybe, just maybe, that voice had a point. If he were the strongest around, then no one could tell him to ‘go home’. No one could ever tell him to do anything that he didn’t want to do, ever again.

He just didn’t know how to be the strongest.

By morning’s light, the skies finally cleared, and Ken woke up hungrier than he remembered being in all of his life. He was also kind of chilly, and his clothes were still wet from all of the rain.

All in all, it wasn’t the most pleasant beginning to a day, but he got up and stretched anyway. Wormmon was already awake, just waiting for him, and they followed the nearest trail to what they both hoped would be food.

What they found wasn’t food.

Ken hadn’t seen it in the dark when they’d found their little shelter, but a grove of trees and a clear lake spread not all that far from there. Fruit hung from the trees and once he saw it, he decided that was breakfast.

“Hey! Those are ours!” The voice shot from above and Ken looked up in time to see a dozen Digimon shooting towards them. They looked like some kind of giant insect, striped yellow and black bodies, pinkish red wings, and a stinger that Ken didn’t want anywhere near him, since it was at least as big as Wormmon.

“Flymon!” Wormmon shouted, nudging himself in front of Ken. “We should get out of here! They’re not friendly!”

Ken started to back up, circling around so they could get closer to the mountains. At least he tried; his legs weren’t quite ready to walk far or fast this morning. Even with the rain having passed, the grass wasn’t dry yet, and his feet slipped on the slickness, sending him tumbling to his knees.

The lead Flymon let loose with a horrible cackle that froze Ken where he lay. Wormmon placed himself in front of Ken as if to defend him, and Ken believed that he could, knew that he could, this was his partner, and Wormmon could do anything!

A sudden rush of warmth came from the pocket where he kept his Digivice, and light began to shimmer all around Wormmon.

Ken didn’t have time to ask what was going on. The light folded itself all around Wormmon, and he heard Wormmon saying something that didn’t fully make sense as of yet.

“Wormmon evolve to… Stingmon!”

Wormmon had told Ken about how he evolved, but Ken hadn’t seen it yet. After that encounter on the day they’d met, they’d tried to stay out of trouble. Wormmon hadn’t needed to evolve.

But he did now.

A tall insect warrior now stood in front of Ken and he leaped up into the skies with a buzz of his wings, darting at the Flymon.

“You leave Ken alone!” It wasn’t Wormmon’s voice and yet it was; it was coming from a body that wasn’t a little bug at the moment. Ken stared in disbelief. He knew Wormmon was amazing. He’d always known that from the time they’d met.

And yet this was on an order that he’d never imagined before.

Stingmon darted and dodged and swung and attacked with the unbelievable grace of a warrior born to defend. One after another the Flymon fell, until only one of them remained.

“Are you going to surrender?” Stingmon asked, hovering right above Ken, ready to keep fighting if he needed to. By now Ken stood on his feet again though he wouldn’t have wanted to walk for very far or very long. His stomach kept on insisting that he wanted something to eat, and his throat remained dry and parched.

But they couldn’t take care of that until this fight was over. He’d never had to fight for his breakfast before.

Part of him kind of liked the idea. He would have earned this meal instead of just being given it like with his parents.

But first they had to win the fight.

Flymon glared at Stingmon, wings buzzing harder and harder, sending out a noise that made Ken want to crumple all over again, hands pressed to his ears.

“Make it stop!” He cried out, though he didn’t know if Stingmon could hear him. “Make it stop, Stingmon!

Stingmon must have, because he shot forward, sting-sword at the ready, and only Flymon’s incredible speed got him out of the way at the last second. The evil Digimon circled over, buzzing in a circle over Ken, something falling from it.

A heartbeat later, Ken heard what it was saying: “Poison Powder!”

“No! Ken! Get out from there! Get to the lake! Wash it off of you!”

Ken lurched forward even as the strange powder sank onto him. He coughed, breathing it in without wanting to, and his head started to spin almost at once. This wasn’t right.

If you were strong. If you were feared. If you were powerful. This wouldn’t be happening.

Ken didn’t know if he actually heard the words or if they were only in his imagination. But they were true. He knew that much. If the Digimon feared him, they wouldn't attack him. They wouldn’t try to hurt him or Stingmon.

Waves lapping on the shore. Everything drained of color.

Ken stumbled farther on, hearing something from Stingmon, but unable to understand the words. Where was the lake? He couldn’t see anything. He could only hear murmurs that made no sense.

Then he could feel Stingmon’s arms around him, lifting him up once again, and he relaxed against him. Here he was safe. Here no one could hurt him.

But he couldn’t stay in Stingmon's arms forever. He needed to find a way to make sure that no one ever tried to hurt him or Stingmon ever again.

He had to find strength. He had to find a way to inspire fear that would never, ever fade. This was his world and he would make everyone in it terrified of the sound of his name if he had to.

When his mind finally cleared, he found himself next to the lake. Wormmon remained against his side, and Ken lifted one dripping hand to touch the top of his partner’s head. Wormmon didn’t move and for a few seconds, Ken feared…

But then he saw Wormmon’s sides going up and down in regular breathing and the fear subsided.

But what if someone does hurt him too much? A lot of these Digimon are really strong. What if he can’t fight them all off next time?

Slowly Ken made it to his feet. The sun was up high in the sky now, and there wasn’t any sign of the Flymon anymore. He stumbled to the nearest of the fruit trees and grabbed a few before heading back to Wormmon.

Those same thoughts kept rolling around in his mind. He’d do it. He’d make this entire world fear him, because only with fear was there safety.

How are they going to be afraid of me? He knew that he wasn’t all that impressive right now. He didn’t want to wait until he grew up to start on this. He didn’t think that he could. He might not even live to grow up if he didn’t make them afraid of him very soon.

Leaving Wormmon to nap in peace, he made his way back to the lake and stared down at it before he began to strip off his worn and tattered clothes. He’d been in this world for almost a full week now, and most of what he had wasn’t in any kind of good shape. He didn’t know how to make clothes.

That was something else he would have to find a way to deal with. He would need clothes as he got bigger and where did clothes come from in the Digital World? He’d gone shopping with his mom once or twice, but this couldn't be the same thing. For one thing, was there even money in the Digital World?

All the things that he didn’t know and he didn’t have came crashing in on him and Ken slumped down, trembling, heart pounding, tears pricking in his eyes.

Why did Osamu have to be such a jerk? Why didn’t his parents care about him? If those things hadn’t happened, he would still be with them. He wouldn’t have to put up with all of this. He would know where his food came from and his clothes and he’d have a clean, warm, dry place to sleep every night.

Moment by moment, the color drained out of the world around him. The sound of waves grew stronger and Ken slowly looked around himself.

He didn’t know where he was. This couldn’t be the Digital World. There wasn’t any sign of Wormmon or anyone else.

Ichijouji Ken.

A voice that shook him down to the core. But he raised up his head anyway.

“Yes.”

You seek power. You seek strength. You seek control. You seek to make those inferior to you fear you.

Ken squared his shoulders. “So what if I do?”

You seek to protect that which is yours from those who would hurt it or destroy it. You seek to make yourself safe. To keep those who truly care about you from being harmed.

“Yes.” Why deny it when it was the truth?

Would you trade your kindness for that power?

Ken tilted his head, confused. “What do you mean?”

Something floated in front of him, as gray as the world itself: a design that he didn’t recognize with his mind but it sang freely in his heart.

Your strength, your gift, your trait is Kindness. You are the Chosen of Kindness. Would you give that Kindness up for the strength to accomplish your desires? For the power to make all those who see you fear you and respect you? So that they all know that you and yours are not to be harmed?

Ken didn’t even have to think about that. What did kindness give him when it came to getting food and shelter and protecting Wormmon? Nothing at all.

“Yes!”

From the center of his heart there came a glimmering sphere of rose-pink that touched on the strange symbol in front of him. The sphere turned just as gray as the world, and then spinning in front of the sphere was something else that he didn’t recognize. It looked as if it could fit in his hand, and it floated toward him.

This will give you the strength that you need. Tend it well. The stronger that it grows, the stronger you will grow.

“How do I get it stronger?”

You will see. We shall meet again, Digimon Kaiser.

Digimon Kaiser. Ken tasted the name and found it good. That was the name that this world would know him by, he decided. Ichijouji Ken didn’t exist anymore.

Ichijouji Ken would never exist again.

Wormmon wriggled up and down the lake-shore, calling for Ken. He had to be there somewhere! There wasn’t any sign of any Digimon other than the Flymon, and he’d taught them a good lesson. They wouldn’t come bother Ken again.

But Ken wasn’t there and Wormmon had no idea of where he might’ve gone or why he might’ve gone there.

Did he go up farther? He might have. But why would he do that without Wormmon? That made no more sense than Ken having vanished in the first place.

But then Wormmon turned around, and where there hadn’t been anything but the sandy shores of the lake less than a minute earlier, now Ken stood there, his clothes still tattered, but no longer damp, and he stared down at something in his hands as if it were the most fascinating time in two worlds.

It wasn’t a Digivice. It wasn’t like anything Wormmon had ever seen. It was sort of like a big rock cut into facets, and it was about the same shade as a rock, with streaks of dark red in it.

“Ken?”

“You’re the only one who can call me that now,” Ken said, his voice lower and richer than before. Wormmon had heard that sometimes human voices changed, but didn't that mean they’d gotten bigger? Ken hadn’t gotten any bigger.

Wormmon moved closer. “Ken? Are you all right? Where were you?”

“Are you all right? You were the one fighting.” Ken slowly brought his head up and looked at Wormmon.

Wormmon froze where he was. His first instinct was to back away and wonder where the real Ken was. Could this be Ken? He didn’t think so. He looked like Ken, but all of the kindness in his eyes faded away, replaced by a diamond hard surety that Wormmon didn’t like at all.

“Well? Are you all right?” Ken wanted to know. There wasn’t any sign of softness in his voice at all. Not at all like the Ken he’d played with so happily before.;

Wormmon swallowed and nodded, scuffling his front pods. “I’m fine. I just needed a little rest. Evolution is hard when you’re not used to it.”

“You don’t have to worry about that anymore. I’m going to find a way so that you’re not the only one protecting me.” Ken smiled. It wasn’t even close to the smile that he’d had just one day before. “This entire world will be our guardians, Wormmon. They’ll protect me and you because I am their master, and you are my partner.”

Wormmon scuffled his pods even harder. “Their master, Ken? I don’t understand.”

“You don’t have to. I’ll explain it all eventually. But from now on, I am the Digimon Kaiser.”

Wormmon made a small noise. He didn’t think it was a word, but just a low keen in his throat. This didn’t feel right. This wasn’t Ken.

“What is it you’ve got there?” Maybe this was all a bad dream, though. He’d worked himself hard defeating those Flymon. He would surely wake up and the real Ken, the smiling, hopeful, cheerful child who he’d do anything for would be there next to him.

Ken turned his gaze back to it. “I don’ know what it’s called. But it’s mine and I’m going to keep it. It’s power, Wormmon. The power to rule this entire world, now and forever.”

Wormmon really, really hoped that this was some kind of nightmare. Because what it could mean if it were reality terrified him. The Digital World still hadn’t fully recovered from what the Dark Masters had done to it. Ken was a Chosen Child. If he somehow started to do the same things… who could stop him?

Gennai didn’t like being interrupted when he was trying to take a nap. At his age he needed all the rest that he could get.

But the Digital World needed his help and when that happened, he could never catch a decent bit of sleep anyway.

It didn’t help that someone was banging on his door with an iron-hard hoof. He groaned and tried to pull a blanket over his head. It didn’t do a lot of good.

“All right, all right,” he grumbled, wriggling his way out of his blankets and heading for the door. “What is it?”

Kentarumon stood out there, which explained why someone’s hoof had been hitting the door. His arms remained folded over his chest as he stared down at his old friend.

“Trouble.”

“I gathered that much.” Gennai told him. “So could you tell me what the trouble actually is?”

“There’s a boy living up in the mountains. There’s something unusual about him.”

Gennai scratched the back of his head. “Did you say a boy in the mountains?”

He knew for a fact that only the Chosen Children could enter the Digital World through any of the gates, and while gates were few and far between, one needed a Digivice to properly cross over. So, it could only be a Chosen Child and that could definitely be trouble. Normally Koushirou would’ve let him know if any of them had crossed over, or if they’d even so much as seen a gate. He hadn’t had an e-mail from him that contained anything more interesting than Koushirou’s grades for over four months now.

“He has a Wormmon for a partner. Or has been seeing living with one, at any rate.” Kentarumon reported. “He isn’t any of the Chosen who fought the Dark Masters.”

That made matters even more difficult to deal with. New Chosen didn’t come up very often and ones that lived in the Digital World when there was a free and open route back and forth between the two worlds were even rarer.

Well, there was one thing that he had do, then.

“I’ll go talk to him.” He would have to find where he was other than just ‘in the mountains’. There were a lot of mountains in the Digital World and while not all of them could provide for a child and a Wormmon, there was still a lot of territory to cover.

He stepped inside, gesturing for Kentarumon to follow him, and went right to one of his rooms, where he kept an eye on all of the Chosen: or more specifically, their Digivices.

“Let’s see, let’s see,” he muttered, fingers going over the keyboard. There should only be one Digivice in the Digital World with this kid here. That would make it much easier to track him down.

“Does he have a Crest?” Gennai asked Kentarumon. That would help pin down who it was. There was only one more Crest that hadn’t been activated, and he didn’t expect its bearer to show up any time soon.

“I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to him. I thought it better to bring the information to you. He’s… different.”

Gennai frowned, checking farther. A small dot appeared on his map and he peered closely at it. This wasn't what he’d expected to find.

It is him. Ichijouji Ken. The Chosen of Kindness.

And yet there was something off about the readings he was getting as well. Normally each dot for one person with a Crest glowed the same color as their Crest, helping to tell them apart. Chosen who didn’t have Crests had white dots.

This dot was a dark gray.

He made up his mind in a few moments. “Would you like to come with me, old friend? This boy likely needs help.” No other answer made the slightest bit of sense to him. Why would a Chosen Child be in the Digital World and not their own world if there wasn’t trouble somewhere.

He would send an e-mail to Koushirou after he dealt with the boy. The Chosen of Knowledge would likely know more about this than Gennai himself did.

Soon enough the two of them were on their way to the small cave in the high mountains. The last reports Gennai had had were that a flock of Flymon made their home there, which would make living there difficult for most people. Even if his Wormmon could evolve, the Flymon outnumbered them, and Flymon tended to be more on the viscous side. It would not be an easy thing.

Wormmon watched as Ken – or the Digimon Kaiser but Wormmon didn’t like to call him that – carefully worked on some project. He’d acquired the materials from somewhere, some sort of metal, and he bent over the small fragments, fitting them together as if they were a puzzle of some kind.

He wanted to ask what it was, but Ken didn’t welcome questions very much anymore. He didn’t snap at Wormmon; Wormmon was probably the only being that Ken remained kind toward. But the look he would bend toward Wormmon when he asked too much sent spikes of pain all through the small caterpillar.

Hoofbeats echoed up the trail leading to their cave and Wormmon hurried over to interrupt whoever it was. No one was allowed up here, by Ken – the Kaiser’s – orders, and Wormmon took it on himself to make certain that no one interrupted.

Kentarumon, with an old human-ish man on his back, hove into sight. Wormmon stared before he inched forward and cleared his throat.

“No one is allowed to interrupt the Digimon Kaiser. Please go away.” If this really was Gennai, about whom Wormmon had heard only stories passed from mouth to beak to mouth, then he likely wouldn’t just leave at that.

Maybe he could help Ken. Maybe he could help Ken be Ken again and not this Kaiser, whom Wormmon disliked more and more with each moment. If it wasn’t that it was Ken under there, he would’ve left…

Kentarumon stared down at him. “Excuse me?”

“I said, no one is allowed to disturb the Digimon Kaiser. It’s best if you go away.” He didn’t want to push away help like this, but even if Ken didn’t look up, he heard everything. He’d know if Wormmon tried something he didn’t want, and Wormmon couldn't bring himself to do anything that would upset his partner.

The human leaned closer. “Is this Ichijouji Ken?”

“He’s the Digimon Kaiser.” Wormmon said, scuffling his pods. “He doesn’t need any help.”

Why couldn’t Gennai have found them before this? Ken would’ve accepted his help before he’d found that thing. Ken would’ve wanted it, needed it, welcomed having a safe place to live where Digimon didn’t attack them at a moment’s notice!

But Gennai only looked at them quietly. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

Without warning, Ken stood next to Wormmon. How he’d gotten there from where he’d been working, Wormmon didn’t know. He hadn’t heard so much as a footstep.

“This is my home. You're not invited.”

For all that Ken wasn’t yet nine years old, he stood with a calm certainty that made the blankness in his eyes all the more terrifying. He stared up at Kentarumon and Gennai as if they were little more than small useless bugs.

Gennai smiled at Ken and Wormmon could see kindness in his eyes. He hadn’t seen that in Ken’s for weeks now. Could this help? Would Ken want it to?

“This isn’t really a good place for you to live. You should be at home with your family, Ichijouji Ken.”

Ken’s eyes somehow hardened even more, turning into twin chips of cold violet ice.

“I don’t have a family. I don’t want one. This is where I live. Now, go away.”

He turned on his heel and stalked back to the bits of metal he’d been working on. Wormmon ducked his head before he peeked up at the visitors.

“I’m sorry. he’s like that now. He didn’t used to be.” Wormmon murmured. “I don’t know what happened to him.”

“What happened to his family?” Gennai wondered. Wormmon shook his head more.

“They don’t care about him. That’s why he came here. He can’t just go back. They’d ignore him even more.”

Gennai didn’t entirely look as if he believed that. Wormmon shifted closer. “Please, let me take care of him. He’s angry now but he’ll get over it, I know he will.” Wormmon didn’t fully know but he wanted to believe it anyway. They couldn’t just drag Ken off somewhere. It would make him even angrier than he already was.

“He’s going to need food and clothes,” Kentarumon said after a few very tense minutes. “He can’t make those himself, can he?”

“I don’t think so.” Wormmon would do his best to provide for his partner, of course. He’d thought about spinning out some silk for him. Silk would be good for someone who called himself Kaiser, wouldn’t it? And it was rare. There weren’t any other Wormmon that he knew about, so only his partner would have Wormmon-made silk.

He would talk to Ken about it once they left. And he really wanted them to leave soon, since he could see that Ken didn’t like them being there at all.

“We’ll keep an eye on you,” Gennai said, at least trying to sound as if he weren’t threatening. Wormmon could see the tension in Ken’s shoulders, but his partner said nothing at all as they backed out of sight.

Wormmon made his way over to Ken when the other gestured him closer, quivering as Ken rested a hand on him for a few seconds, his touch gentle and caring.

“We’re going to have to leave. I don’t want them knowing where I live.”

“Where did you want to go?” Wormmon asked, antenna quivering. He would go anywhere that made Ken happy and gave them both good shelter. He would bring up the concept of Wormmon-made silk afterward.

“Anywhere that isn’t here.” Ken’s gaze turned up to the sky and he stroked the small item that now rested in his lap. Wormmon had no idea still of what to call it or what it might be. It stayed with Ken at all times, even when he slept, sometimes with a dark rose glow surrounding it. “I think I want to fly, Wormmon.”

“Should I evolve?” He hadn’t tried since fighting the Flymon. He didn’t know if these changes in Ken would mean that he couldn’t do it again, and he dearly hoped not. Who would protect Ken if he couldn’t?

“Not yet. I was thinking about something else. We need a place that’s just ours, that no one can fight us for, because we made it ourselves. And it should be able to fly, because then no one else can find us if we don’t want them to.”

Wormmon nodded. The way Ken said it, it all made perfect sense. “How are we going to find that, though?”

“I think we’re going to have to make it ourselves.” Ken stared down at the thing in his lap. “And I think that I know what I need to do so I can.”

Wormmon said nothing, but just moved closer. Anything Ken needed, Wormmon would make sure that he had.

“I think I need to go back to Earth. At least for a couple of hours.”

His cold eyes sharpened even more. “I need a computer.”

Finding a television portal took three days. There weren’t any up here in the mountains, and Wormmon had to do a lot of traveling to find one. It helped a little with Ken these days, because along with being colder and harsher to everyone who wasn’t Wormmon, Ken also could walk long distances without being as exhausted or cramped as he had been the first week of his life in the Digital World.

But finally, in a small valley that was inhabited only by quiet little Tanemon, they found a portal. Ken dug his Digivice out of his pocket and stared at it thoughtfully before he looked at the small television. He held his other item in his other hand an turned his full attention to the portal.

Before he could say a word, the Digivice began to glow, and Wormmon squawked in confusion, stumbling back. When he could see what was going on again, Ken still held both items, but now the Digivice had changed shape entirely, no longer something round and familiar. It still fit into one hand, but now it was as black as night, and pulsed with the same kind of power that the strange dark rose item did.

“What is that?” Wormmon wondered. Ken just shook his head and looked at the portal once more.

“As long as I can get what I want, I don’t care.”

That seemed to be Ken’s new motto. Not to care about whatever anyone else thought about what he did, so long as he got what he needed or wanted.

From what could be seen through the portal’s screen was a place that Wormmon didn’t recognize. Which wasn’t such a surprise; the only place he’d ever seen of the human world was the little bit of Ken’s old room, the one he’d shared with his brother.

This looked like somewhere else entirely, a place where grown-ups moved around, some dressed alike, and some not, and most of then looking at what Wormmon recognized a heartbeat later as being computers of some kind.

Ken faced the portal. “I’ll be right back.” He said nothing else before he held his new Digivice out to the portal, and vanished through it a few seconds later.

Wormmon scuffled his pods and wondered how long this really would take. He wanted to help, but he knew so little of the human world that he’d be more of a problem than anything else. So he stayed here and kept an eye out for his partner.

He could see Ken moving around in the place now. He would’ve thought that Ken would stay out of sight, but instead he just followed behind one of the people in there, as if they knew each other.

Please be safe, Ken. He hated the thought of Ken being anywhere where he couldn’t protect him. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen with partners.

Wormmon watched steadily, but even he couldn’t be sure what sparked Ken’s decision to seize on of the portable computers and then dart back to the one that held the gate. He didn’t even know why that one had a gate.

“Thief! Stop him!” It rose up from one of the other customers, but Ken moved too fast to be stopped, his Digivice out, and in a breath, he was back at Wormmon’s side, the new computer in his grip, and breathing hard.

A few more words gloated after him. “Did you see that?”

“No, and I don’t think you did either. People don’t just vanish into computers.”

Before he could hear anything else, the gate closed. Ken pulled himself up and stared at his new acquisition. It didn’t look like much to Wormmon, but if it was what Ken wanted, then Ken would have it.

“Is that all we need?”

“Yes. Everything comes in one package.” Ken began to take the packaging off. “We can stay here tonight. Then tomorrow, we can start work on our new home.”

Wormmon nodded. Ken did have some very good ideas.

He’s vanished. Did he go back to Earth? Gennai tried to keep an eye on Ichijouji Ken, but it wasn’t easy. He knew how to hide himself better than anyone Gennai had ever met.

How he’d learned that, Gennai had no idea. But he couldn’t find a single trace of the so-called Digimon Kaiser after that, even though he spied Stingmon flying here and there. Stingmon never stayed still long enough to ask him any questions.

After five years of silence, however, when he’d almost forgotten that Ichijouji Ken had ever come to the Digital World, everything changed, and Gennai regretted that he hadn’t followed done a better search or paid more attention to it.

Because five years later, the Digimon Kaiser struck, and struck hard.