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He unsteadily got to his feet and inspected the room. The door was sealed tight, but there was an open ventilation duct (That's odd. All of the others in the base were sealed with grilles.). He walked over to it, taking off his cape.
Even then, the vent was too small for him to crawl through. He looked inside, anyway, and saw something moving. "I command you to come out, now!" he yelled.
Wormmon stepped out of the vent. "Master? Are you okay?"
"That traitor, Jedite!" Ken fumed. "I should have never trusted him. I don't believe this! Locked in my own cells!" Kind of ironic, an inner voice added. The one who you trusted betrayed you, and the one who you belittled is still loyal.
"Don't worry, Master. I can get you out," Wormmon said.
He's still calling you 'master', the inner voice added. Kind of pointless, isn't it? You're master of nothing, except this cell.
"Wormmon?"
"Yes, Master?"
"Call me Ken."
"Okay... Ken."
Ken reacted as if struck. His eyes widened behind his mask. Suddenly, he remembered. The Kimeramon project hadn't failed; it had succeeded horribly. His 'perfect' Digimon had been out of control. Wormmon had seen this and had protected Ken with his life, giving that up so the DigiDestined could defeat Kimeramon. Wormmon had died in his arms. He had begged Wormmon not too, finally realizing how true his friend was.
Yet, the Digital World had given him a second chance, first in returning Wormmon to him, then, in the form of the DigiDestined's forgiveness and eventual friendship.
He remembered how excited his mother had sounded the first time he had spent the night at Davis's house. He remembered how angry he was when the guards outside of the Mayan ruins in Mexico called him a punk, and how Wormmon reminded him, at one point, that would have been a compliment. He remembered, just yesterday, when he was led off to be put under mind control, how he and Wormmon promised they'd still be friends, no matter what.
Ken gasped. He felt his clothing and hair shift from his Digimon Emperor outfit to his normal clothing.
"Ken?" Wormmon asked. "Are you okay?"
"I let the powers of darkness get the better of me again," Ken sighed.
"It happens," Wormmon said, "but no real harm was done."
"I guess so... hey, I thought Jedite had you under his mind control too. What happened?"
"Well..." Wormmon looked a bit sheepish. "I was worried about you, so I snuck off to the DigiDestined's campsite to ask for their help. Sailor Moon cured me."
"The campsite..." A look of horror filled Ken's face. "I must have led Jedite right to them! Wormmon, do you know what happened?"
"Well, I did see Jedite bring you in, and I heard him order Pyrite and Cryolite to take the prisoners' possessions to the storage room."
"Great! My D-3 is probably there as well! You said something about getting out?"
"Just a second..." Wormmon ducked back into the vents. A few seconds later, the door opened.
"I guess Jedite didn't realized how vulnerable his base was to Rookie level Digimon," Ken smiled. "Come on!"
The storage room was very quiet. It also was very large and filled with assorted containers, all of which Jedite could have used to put stray possessions in. "We should split up," Ken said. "Try to find my D-3!"
"Right!" Wormmon added.
Ken started searching the left side of the room. About halfway though his search, he struck gold. He found a small box resting on a crate and opened it.
Not only was his D-3 and D-Terminal in it, but three others as well: Davis's, T.K.'s and Kari's. He also saw a silver dagger and wand, two brooches, the Digimon Emperor's whip (Why had that stayed when the rest of his costume had vanished?), and Kuiper. He picked up his D-3 and D-Terminal, and stuffed them in his pocket. The his picked up Kuiper.
"Charon, you moron! When I say 'duck, you don't stand there like an idiot! Oh..." Kuiper stopped his tirade. "Hello, Ken. We've got to stop meeting like this."
"Shh. I hear something." Footsteps sounded in the hall and Ken heard the door open. he dove for cover behind a crate, and prayed Wormmon was doing the same.
"Who's in here?" Cryolite's voice echoed through the room. "I can sense you're here. You should just come out." Ken heard her footsteps approach his hiding place. She stopped in front of the box where his D-3 had been. "Hmm... so the boy emperor is loose? And free of our control? Trying to play hero, Ken? Rescue your friends? Make up for acting badly? How... predictable. I'd expect better from you."
Cryolite started walking again, in a search pattern. "You should really stop hiding. The door's sealed. You can't get out. I'll find you, eventually. If you surrender, I'll be lenient with you. Well," she amended, "much more lenient than if I have to hunt you down. You remember what it was like being under mind control? Of course you do. You think I couldn't do anything worse to you? Well, imagine watching as I do the exact same thing to each and every one of your friends. You remember how you thought of them when we had you? Now imagine that reflected in their eyes."
Despite himself, Ken gasped. Cryolite turned with a predatory gleam in her eye and covered the distance between herself and Ken almost instantaneously. she grabbed his wrist. "Hmm. So easy to manipulate," she commented. "You keep a little piece of yourself in the hearts of others. It weakens you, makes you vulnerable."
"You're wrong," Ken said. "Friendship isn't a weakness, it's a strength."
"Oh, really? Your friendship helped me recapture you. Your friends' friendships meant we captured nine of them, instead of two."
"Sticky Net!' Wormmon's webbing pined Cryolite to the floor. "You don't know the first thing about friendship," Wormmon said. "Sure, it does make us vulnerable, sometimes, but it also gives us strength."
"There has to be someone you consider a friend," Ken said. "What about Jedite?"
"What about him?" Cryolite asked.
"You released him. You're helping him."
"We were bored. This makes things more interesting."
"We? You and Pyrite?" What about Pyrite?"
"That's different. Pyrite is family. Anyway, I don't have to talk to you."
"Ken?" Kuiper asked. "A moment?"
"What?"
"You have Cryolite all but incapacitated, and she isn't doing anything."
"She's talking to me. Or she was."
"I mean, she 'zapped' Charon with an energy beam. She and Pyrite brought you and your Digimon down. Why isn't she doing that now?"
"Hmm... she and Pyrite? every time, she did something magical, Pyrite was doing it, too. This is the first time I've seen her without him, and she can't seem to work her way though Wormmon's webbing." Ken turned to Cryolite. "I don't see how you can belittle my friendships when you have such a deep bond with Pyrite."
"That's different," Cryolite said. "A human like you would never understand."
"A human?" Wormmon asked. "You're not..."
"Many of the Negaverse don't consider themselves human," Kuiper said. "It's not like she's a Digimon or anything."
"I'm like nothing you've ever seen. This is merely a form of connivence," Cryolite said.
"if it's a form of connivence, why can't you turn into something that can break free?" Ken asked. Cryolite gave him a murderous glance, but said nothing.
"Come on, Ken," Kuiper said. "Have Wormmon Digivolve, knock her out, and then, let's blow this Popsicle stand." He paused, then added, "I need to stop spending so much time with Charon. I'm starting to talk like her."
"I've got a better idea," Ken said. "Can you lock the door?"
Kuiper flew over to the door, and landed on the panel. A few seconds later, he said, "Sure. It's computerized. But why?"
Ken removed the Digimon emperor's whip from the box. Cryolite eyes widened. "Children shouldn't play with things like that," she said with more than a little fear in her voice. "They might hurt someone."
Ken extended the lash, and then used it to tie Cryolite hands behind her back. "You always think the worst of people, don't you?" he asked her.
"Often the worst is what happens," she replied.
"Everyone isn't always looking to hurt others before they are hurt themselves," he told her. Ken took off his jacket and dumped the rest of the contents of the box in it. He bundled it up, then gestured to Wormmon.
"Come on," he said. "You too, Kuiper. I have a plan, but I'll need your help."
"Davis, that's starting to bug me," T.K. said as he watched Davis pace back and forth across their cell.
"At least I'm trying to think of a way out of here, T.E."
"Well, can you do it without pacing? You're driving me nuts!"
"Davis's right!" Tuxedo Mask said suddenly. "We need to focus on what we can do and not bicker among ourselves."
"Well, let me try something," Veemon suggested. "Vee Headbutt!" The door didn't even dent. "Well, that didn't work."
"There's a vent over here!" Patamon said.
T.K., Davis, Tuxedo Mask and veemon turned towards him. As they did, they heard something go echoing down the vent. "Something's in there!" Patamon said. "I'll get it! Boom Bubble!" The grille was knocked inward. T.K. reached in.
"It's a bundle." He undid the cloth wrappings. "Our D-3s and D-Terminals!"
"Alright!" Davis yelled.
"Hey, there's a note on the wrappings!"
In another room, the girls had much the same experience.
"'Here are your things,'" Charlotte read the note to Serena, Rini, Kari and Gatomon. "'I'll try to get word to the others outside Be ready to move at dawn -- I set your D-3 to give a countdown. I'll open the doors then and try to lure Jedite to the control room.' It's not signed."
"It doesn't have to be," Kari said. "That's Ken's jacket -- or at least it was before he cut it up."
"With my dagger, looks like," Charlotte commented.
"You know what this means?" Kari asked. "Ken's back to normal!"
"You're sure? Is this possible?" Charlotte turned to Serena.
"I don't know! Why are you looking at me?"
"He wouldn't have his jacket if he still was the Emperor," Kari stated.
"Okay," Charlotte took her dagger and Transformation Wand. "Hey, where's Kuiper?"
Once Jedite had left, Luna and Artemis had advised moving camp. As she helped carry supplies through the dark woods, Yolei talked to Sailor Mars.
"Do you think the others will be okay?" Yolei asked.
"I don't think Jedite will do anything to them until he has all of us," Sailor Mars answered guardedly.
"He certainly was willing to threaten Ken. Not that he needed to. Ken already looked..."
"He just had nearly all of his energy drained from him. You probably looked the same when Sailor Charon found you. Hey, are you and Ken...?"
"No! We're just friends. Hey, why'd we stop?"
Sailor Mercury's voice carried back to Yolei and Sailor Mars. "Everybody, over here!"
Yolei and Sailor mars sped up to join the rest of the group. They were circled around something. Yolei and Sailor Mars elbowed their way into the circle.
Sailor mercury was talking to a very tired looking Wormmon. Kuiper was tied to his back with a strip of gray cloth.
"What are you doing here?" Sailor Mercury asked.
"Ken... told me... find you... tell you..." Wormmon gasped, out of breath.
"Slow down. Can Kuiper explain?" Sailor Mercury asked. Wormmon nodded. Sailor mercury took Kuiper from Wormmon. "Kuiper?" she asked.
"Oh, hello," Kuiper said. "Wormmon found you? Good. We come bearing news. You must be ready to attack the hidden base at dawn."
"What!" Yolei said. "That's in, like, an hour! Why?"
"Coordinated attack. Those inside may need your support."
"Those inside? Like Sailor Moon?" Sailor Venus asked.
"Correct."
"We'd better hurry, then."
Ken slid into the seat of the control room, then checked his watch. Almost time... now. He hit the buttons unlocking the cells. Through the camera pickups, he saw his friends leave and head down the hallway. He also saw Yolei, Cody and the remaining Sailor Scouts approaching from outside.
"You think you're so clever?" Jedite and Pyrite were standing outside the door.
"The thought had crossed my mind," Ken said to himself. Outside, he saw that Armadillomon had Armor Digivolved to Digmon. "you might want to check outside," he told Jedite, though the intercom.
Jedite looked at Pyrite. "Whatever it is, deal with it."
Pyrite looked stricken. "I can't."
"What!?"
"Not without Cryolite."
"Fine. Find her, then go see what the kid's talking about." Pyrite left. Jedite turned towards the camera again. "As I was saying, you think you're so clever..." Jedite disappeared from the camera's pickup, "but you forget who I am."
Ken turned. Jedite was standing behind him. "Now what are you going to do?" Jedite asked him. "Your friends aren't here, now. You don't even have that pathetic little stuffed animal with you. I could kill you right here, and no one would stop me."
An explosion made Jedite turn around. Davis and flamedramon were standing in what was the doorway. Behind him, Ken could see T.K. and Pegasusmon, Kari and Nefertimon, Sailors Moon, Mini Moon, and Charon, and Tuxedo Mask. "I don't think so!" Davis said.
"Now, Jedite," Sailor Charon said. "We could two ways: You could surrender and I can send you back to where you came from, or you can fight us, and I can send you back to where you cam from."
"I don't surrender," Jedite said.
"Suit yourself," Sailor Charon stepped to one side and crouched down, letting the Sailor Scouts and Digimon forward.
"Oh, come now," Jedite said. "Only one of you can fit though the door... or what used to be the door... at a time. And whatever happened to that Champions of Justice sense of fair play? I mean, six at once?"
Sailor Mini Moon ran forward, waving her wand. "Pink Sugar Heart Attack!" she cried. Jedite neatly sidestepped the beam.
"Is that the best you could do? A little girl with a fancy flashlight? And she missed."
"No, she didn't,"Sailor charon slashed the circle she had been etching on the floor closed with her dagger. "I call upon the power of Charon. Ferry Jedite back to where he came!"
"What? No!" Jedite yelled as he disappeared. "I'll have my revenge! When you least expect it--"
"That's nice. Bye Jedite!" Sailor Charon waved. When he finally disappeared, she turned to Sailor Mini Moon. "Alright! High five! Man, I wish Kuiper could see that -- I can't hit the broad side of a barn with my attacks but I don't need to!"
"Yeah!" Sailor Mini Moon grinned.
"I wanted to be the hero," Davis said.
"Let them have their moment, Davis," Kari said.
"What next?" Sailor Moon asked.
"We must destroy Queen Beryl's mind control pod," Tuxedo Mask stated. "We must prevent others from being used by the forces of darkness."
"It's in Jedite's strategy room. I can show you," Ken said.
"Okay, let's go!" Sailor Moon said.
"It doesn't look that evil," Kari said. "You'd expect some kind of... aura or something... around it."
"Nevertheless, we must destroy it," Tuxedo Mask stated.
"You're sure I can't take some of the parts?" Sailor Charon asked. When everyone stated at her, she added, "What? I like to tinker with stuff. It's not like I want to build another one. Oh, fine. Charon Energy Spike!"
"Flame Fists!"
"Equis Beam!"
"Cat's Eye Beam!"
"Moon Spiral Heart Attack!"
"Pink Sugar Heart Attack!"
After the pod had been reduced to a sparking pile of junk, Ken said, "I can't help feeling we're forgetting something."
"Like us, perhaps?"
Cryolite and Pyrite were standing in the doorway. Davis stepped towards them. "Are you two looking for a fight? We''ll defeat you just like your leader, Jedite."
"Can we?" Pyrite asked.
"Don't be stupid," Cryolite told him. "They outnumber us."
"So, you're going to surrender?" Davis asked.
Cryolite laughed. "You really should pick your friends better, my young emperor. Surrender, indeed. Just because we won't fight, does not mean we're out of options. remember, the who fight and run away... Though you are far too interesting to leave forever, Emperor Ken."
"Are you done yet?" Pyrite asked. "Can we just go?"
"you'll have to forgive Pyrite. He's very straightforward. No love of theatrics. And now, we must bid you adieu." Cryolite and Pyrite disappeared.
Ken clenched his fists. "She makes me so angry..."
"Anger leads to the dark side, man," Davis said. "You should be cool, like me."
"You're more like lukewarm," T.K. grinned.
"Come on," Gatomon said. "I saw everybody waiting outside for us. they're probably worried."
"Let's go," Kari said.
"It's no good." Digmon de-Digivolved to Armadillomon. "The wall's too think, and it's lined with some sort o' metal. I can't break through."
Yolei glanced at the morning sun. "It's well past dawn. Where are they?"
Sailor Mercury, who was standing back from where the DigiDestined were talking, yelled, "The door's opening!"
"What now?" Yolei asked.
"It's Sailor Moon!"
"We're ba-ack! Did you miss us?" Sailor Moon said.
"Darn, just when I was getting used to leading the Sailor Scouts..." Sailor Mars smiled. "Welcome back, meatball head."
"Hey, don't forget about us," Davis said. Davis, Kari, T.K., Veemon, Gatomon, Patamon, Sailor Charon,Tuxedo Mask, and Sailor Mini Moon walked outside into the morning sunshine.
"Hey, where's Ken?" Yolei asked.
"He was right behind us... why don't you see for yourself?" Kari grinned. She looked back into the doorway. "Hey, Ken, where are you?"
"I'm coming," Ken stepped outside.
"Ken?" Yolei stared at him disbelievingly. She then ran up to him, and hugged him.
"Awwwwww," all the Sailor Scouts said in unison. Kari quickly snapped a picture.
Yolei released Ken, who practically collapsed from the shock. "Kari Kamiya," Yolei said slowly, "what did you just do?"
Kari brandished her digital camera, showing the image on the small screen. Sailor Charon craned her neck to look at it and laughed. "That's perfect!" she said. "The expression on Ken's face... Looks like he's about to faint from shock!"
"Kari, you're going to erase that picture. Right now!" Yolei said.
"No way!" Kari smiled. "It's so cute."
"Give me that camera!" Yolei started chasing after Kari, who was still waving the camera.
"Kari, over here!" Sailor Mars yelled. Kari threw her the camera. Yolei stopped chasing Kari and started running after Sailor Mars.
"Sailor Mars, I'm open!" Sailor Venus yelled. Sailor Mars tossed the camera to her.
Hawkmon watched this game for a while, then commented, "I'll never understand human girls."
Luna sighed. "It never fails. One time saving the world and they start acting like kindergartners again."
Wormmon walked over to Ken. "Ken, are you okay?"
"Yeah, just a little startled." Ken shook his head. "Who'd have thought Yolei..."
"Um, Ken?" Davis had joined them.
"Davis? What is it?" Ken asked.
"Um... well, I was gonna ask Kari out, and I was wondering if you could give me some pointers."
"I'll tell you what, Davis," Ken smiled weakly, "when I figure out what I did, I'll tell you."
Yolei was still chasing Kari and Sailors Venus and Mars. It looked like Yolei might actually get Kari's camera when...
"Hi guys!" Tai waved. "We thought we'd bring you some fresh supplies." Matt was with him. Behind them, Greymon and Garurumon waited. All of them had bags of food and other necessities.
Sailor Mars threw Kari's camera. Tai caught it in midair. "Kari?" Isn't this yours?" Yolei practically ran over Tai, trying to get the camera.
"Yes, it is. Thanks, Tai," Kari took it from him and started running again.
"Oh, sorry, Tai. Get back here, Kari!" Yolei ran after her.
Tai looked at Matt. "Any idea what that was about?"
Matt shrugged. "No, but I can probably force the story from T.K. later."
Sailor Jupiter whispered to Sailor Mercury, "That guy looks like my ex-boyfriend! I'm gonna go talk to him."
"Ken, may I talk to you?" Sailor Charon asked.
"Sure, what about?"
"You... you don't blame me for not taking down Jedite before he got to you?"
"No. You tried your best. If anything, I blame myself."
"What? Why? it's not like you had a choice in the matter!"
"I made the same choices that I would have the first time, on the same memories. Saying I wasn't responsible this time would mean I wasn't responsible the first time. It's the past, and I'll always have to live with these memories."
"Wow," Sailor Charon was at a loss for words for a moment. "That kinda sucks. On a more positive note, did you know about Yolei? I mean, that she like you as more than a friend?"
"No. I honestly had no idea. I don't really know what I'm going to do about it."
"Well, you could always ask..." Sailor Charon looked around. Sailors Mars and Venus were still playing keep away. Sailor Moon was practically hanging off of Tuxedo Mask and reminiscing about the beginning of their relationship. Sailor Jupiter was talking to Matt, who was trying to get away from her. Sailor Mercury was trying unsuccessfully to get Sailor Jupiter to back off, correctly interpreting the look in Matt's eyes as a cry for help. "...some one else," Sailor Charon finished. "I'd better take them home before they cause any more trouble. Oh, here." She gave Ken what looked like a cell phone.
"What's this?" he asked.
"You can use it to call Kuiper or me. I scavenged it from Kuiper's voice circuits from his disk." She tapped the disk, which was unusually silent. "He wasn't too happy 'bout that." She grinned, then grew serious. "Unfortunately, Cryolite isn't the type of person to let you lead a happy life. If she or Pyrite show up, or if anything weirder than normal happens, call me."
Ken nodded. "I will."
Well, after I had rounded up the the Sailor Scouts, and we said goodbye to the DigiDestined, and after I brought the Scouts home, I flopped on my couch, in my apartment outside the Gates of the universe. "I'm going to sleep for a week!" I declared to the world in general.
"Oh no, you're not!" Kuiper told me from his 'main body' sitting on my desk. "On your feet, Charon!"
"Kuiper, I'll fix your disk later. Now, I wanna sleep."
"And while you sleep, Cryolite and Pyrite will inflict their wrath on another universe."
"Fine, fine." I stood up. "You know, I wish my job was boring again."
Becca