Disclaimer: anoebnaobnaoebnaobnoabneaponaswvwes (G: WTF? /Gwen: Gaia's brain turned to mush after all her finals. /G: She had a brain? Oh, well. She could have at least tried to make an understandable disclaimer. /Gwen: She did. This was her most intelligible one. /G: Hoo, boy.)

Muse's (Gwen's) Note: Gaia's resting up a bit right now, but if she were here, I'm sure she would thank all of you (goldenstar555, Sylvyr Elf, Settiai, and Yuki Chan) who were kind enough to take the time to review her last short chapter. (Believe me, this chapter should make up for it.) Also, a big thank you goes out to everyone who contributed names for Ken's kids. It seems Gaia's going to stick with Akane and Sammy for his two oldest kids, since she remembers hearing them, too, I think from an unofficial list of voice actors. As for the third one, Gaia's still going to think about it a little more, but Settiai, she seems to be really leaning towards using Koro for his name, if that's all right with you.

***

Chapter 5 – Daemon vs. the Digidestined, Round Two! Fight!

The ground shook as the controlled Blue Meramon locked arms with Daemon's Skull Greymon in a test of strength. No matter how hard one pushed against the other, neither of them could budge his opponent.

"Enough fooling around! Blue Meramon, just finish him off already!" a dark-haired boy impatiently called from nearby.

The icy digimon blinked his red eyes in affirmation and yelled, "Cold Flame!"

Instantly, an icy blast engulfed the Skull Greymon in his clutches, freezing every bone in his body. Then the Blue Meramon stepped back and with a powerful uppercut, pulverized the skeleton digimon into nothing but shards of data.

No one noticed the Emperor's cheap shot, nor would they have had time to care, for there were more urgent matters at hand.

~~~

The frigid waters of the Digital World's ocean hit Davis like a hailstorm. After sitting and shivering for a few seconds, the brunette spied the reason why he had suddenly decided to go skin diving at this time of night.

Eyes shut and staying deathly still, the Digidestined of Hope was sinking quickly. Davis didn't have much time.

The bearer of the Digieggs of Courage and Friendship dove down after the blond, all the while releasing his air bit by bit in the form of bubbles.

Down, down, down both boys went.

Not being used to this sort of thing, the goggle-wearing boy used up his air supply fast. Davis could feel the blood pounding in his head, and his lungs begged him to go up for a fresh breath of air, but he was determined not to go back without T. K.

However, no matter how hard he swam, he wasn't getting any closer. With T. K. slipping farther and farther away, and Davis' air supply slowly running out, the situation was looking hopeless.

'Man, Kari's never going to forgive me if I let this guy drown.' No sooner had the forlorn thought crossed his mind when Davis shook his head violently and gritted his teeth in determination. 'No, I can't think like that. Come on, Davis, you're not as dumb as everyone thinks you are. What would make me go faster if I were on dry land and not soaked cold to the bone in this place?'

It then occurred to him that his water-saturated clothes could have been holding him back all this time by catching onto the water as it rushed past him, kind of like how the wind slows him down when he runs headlong into it with his jacket open. So, quickly ripping off his blazer and shirt, he redoubled his efforts with a renewed resolve.

It worked!

'Oh yeah, who's da man?' he thought excitedly to himself. Despite the chill that was threatening to freeze up his joints, he managed to swim down fast enough to grab one of T. K.'s flailing wrists.

"Gotcha!" he exclaimed, releasing the last of the air he was holding in.

But this was no time for celebrating. With the last of his strength, Davis dragged his fellow Digidestined up with him to the choppy surface.

~~~

"Look, over there!" Kari pointed to a spot in the ocean about fifty meters away from them where Davis' gasping head had shot up from the water with T. K.'s unconscious one following not long after.

Immediately, ExVeemon shot over to them so fast that the girl and the insect digimon on his shoulders would have fallen off had they not held on to him so tightly. The turquoise digimon was never so relieved in his life.

"Davis, are you all right?" Kari and ExVeemon simultaneously asked once they had stopped and hovered down to the brown-haired teenager.

Davis coughed out some salt water and shivered a bit before answering, "Nothing that a warm fire and a hot cup of cocoa couldn't cure, but I can't say the same for T. K. over here."

All three new arrivals started at Davis calling T. K. by his correct name.

"Well, are you just going to sit around up there? T. K. needs help, pronto!" the goggle-wearing boy said, concern evident in his voice.

Grinning a toothy smile, ExVeemon quickly scooped up the boys and flew them to shore.

~~~

In the meantime, Shakkoumon was busy keeping Dragomon at bay.

"Thousand Waves!"

This time Shakkoumon managed to absorb the attack and soon after released a burst of water at the virus digimon. Dragomon staggered back a little from the impact of the counterattack.

"Don't let up Shakkoumon!" Cody coached from the beach. Inside, the boy sensed T. K.'s heart faintly beating, so he knew his DNA-digivolving partner was alive, but if he wanted him to stay that way, Cody had to make sure Dragomon didn't get anywhere near the Digidestined of Hope.

"Kachina Bomb!" The fiery blast hit the aquatic digimon dead on.

Slightly scorched but still alive, Dragomon let out an enraged growl and mysteriously called back his trident, which he launched not long after it had returned to his slimy grasp.

"Forbidden Trident!"

Shakkoumon tried to dodge the weapon, but it lodged itself into his arm and proceeded to electrocute him.

Cody's eyes and mouth went wide. "No! Shakkoumon!"

A derisive laugh came from behind him, causing the boy to spin around with an irate expression on his face. "What's so funny, Ken?"

The Emperor decided it was best to brush off that last part--for now. "Hmph, your digimon seems to be holding up awfully well," he sarcastically commented. The regally dressed boy let out another snicker before gloating, "Unlike my digimon, who's already defeated one of Daemon's goons."

Cody looked as if he were about to blow a gasket. "Well, if he's so strong, why doesn't he just come over and help out here?" he snapped.

"Sorry, but he's off helping that sorry excuse for a digimon over there," he said coolly, gesturing to Silphymon, who had just fired an Astral Laser at Mephismon.

Yolei, who was regaining her strength by resting on a nearby rock, heard that remark and decided that later wasn't going to come soon enough. Keeping as calm a demeanor about her as possible, she got to her feet, strolled over to the Emperor, balled her right hand into a fist, and--.

"Is that Takaishi I see?" the teenage tyrant queried without looking at the girl.

Yolei turned her head in the direction he was looking and saw that indeed T. K. was being brought back by ExVeemon not far from them. However, she didn't have too much time to look because the Emperor had suddenly caught her throat in a vice-like grip.

"You let her go right now!" Cody screamed and rushed at him.

The Emperor swatted away the incensed boy with his other arm and tightened his grip on Yolei as he brought his face in close to hers. "Try that again, and you'll get far worse than this," he seethed before throwing her into the arms of Cody, who had just gotten up, ready to pounce on the Emperor again. "Besides, don't you have more important things to attend to?"

Cody helped steady a coughing Yolei on her feet and whispered, "Let's just forget about this traitor, Yolei. The others might need our help."

"Fine," she mumbled back halfheartedly, but then more loudly she said, "Just remind me to take out that loser when we're through here." She jerked a thumb toward the Emperor.

"Oooo, I'm shaking in my black, polished boots," the indigo-haired boy sardonically shot back.

As the two dashed over to meet their friends, the Emperor turned his attention to the sky, where something more important was taking place. "Once you're out of the way, Daemon," he hissed, "The Digital World will be mine for the taking."

~~~

"Explosion Eye!"

Daemon narrowly avoided another dark burst of energy from the other mega digimon. He couldn't believe how much trouble he was having. Of course, Ghoulmon was just like him, a virus, demon lord digimon, but he still shouldn't have been much of a match. After all, Daemon hadn't had his ability to think and adapt according to the situation taken away from him like that controlled monstrosity.

The crimson-robed digimon aimed yet another Evil Inferno at his enemy's Dark Band, but once again, the pesky floating eyeball managed to dodge the attack.

It was clear that both digimon were in a stalemate.

"Ghoulmon, enough with the direct attacks! Initiate Battle Tactic Gamma!" called the young emperor on the beach.

An idea suddenly struck Daemon. Pointing a hand in Ichijouji's direction, he growled and shot out a magenta blast at the boy.

Ghoulmon was quick to protect his master and blocked the beam without being fazed in the least.

Not long after that, Daemon fired an Evil Inferno straight at the digimon on the defense. However, the Emperor knew better to let him and his controlled digimon stick around.

Mentally, he ordered Ghoulmon to pick him up and get him out of there fast. The digimon complied, and Daemon's attack only succeeded in scorching the ground where the teenage emperor once stood.

After putting the ticked off Digimon Emperor down somewhere safe, Ghoulmon flew back up to execute "Battle Tactic Gamma."

The black digimon managed to fly up behind Daemon and kicked him hard in the back, apparently not hard enough to do any damage but just enough to get the Demon Lord roused.

As expected, Daemon wasn't going to let that move go unpunished.

"Chaos Flare!" the horned digimon bellowed.

However, in the meantime, Ghoulmon had managed to hover just behind Dragomon, so that right before the deadly could attack hit him, he dropped out of the way and let the blaze of fire continue on its course--straight to Daemon's minion.

Backing off as soon as he had seen the blazing blast coming, Shakkoumon floated out of range and shielded his eyes as the weakened Undersea Master was incinerated into ashes of data.

Taking advantage of Daemon's momentary shock, the Emperor made Ghoulmon fire an Explosion Eye right into Daemon's back.

The blast connected, and the Demon Lord roared in pain. Nevertheless, other than a large burn mark on his back, he was still perfectly intact—and now more furious than ever.

On the sidelines, the Emperor snapped his fingers in annoyance. "Darnnit! I thought that would have done more damage. Oh well, let's go for Battle Tactic Epsilon next, Ghoulmon."

The banded digimon nodded in compliance.

This was going to be one long battle indeed, Daemon concluded. Even though Ghoulmon was a mindless puppet, he had the power of the Dark Spore on his side, and that was making all the difference.

~~~

T. K. slowly opened hazy eyes, which were greeted with the sight of a beautiful brunette girl with shining auburn eyes.

"An angel?" he murmured. "Am I in Heaven?"

The girl giggled. "Oh, T. K., that's so sweet of you to say."

"Wha?" He recognized that voice. The blonde's eyes flew fully open, and he sat bolt upright, coughing up salt water to his surprise. "K-kari?" he sputtered.

The relieved girl next to him wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "I'm so glad you're all right."

Now that he could see clearly, T. K. took the time to take in his surroundings. They were all still on the chilly beach: Cody was knelt down on one side of him with Wormmon, Yolei was behind Kari on his other side and looking as if she were about to hug him next—and a very red and wet Davis was standing in front of him half-naked and fuming.

"Um…did I miss something here?" T. K. asked, confused.

Yolei could barely contain her laughter. "Oh nothing much—ExVeemon rescued Kari, Davis saved you from a watery grave, and Kari just gave you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, that's all."

"She what?!" T. K.'s blue eyes nearly bugged out of his sockets.

The two girls burst out laughing at the look on his face. Even Cody couldn't help but crack a slight smile.

"Yeah, well, I still don't see why Kari had to be the one to wake him up like that!" Davis erupted, steam coming out of his ears.

In between fits of laughter, Yolei teased, "Is that jealousy I hear, Davis? Maybe you wanted to be the one who gave T. K. CPR?"

This caused the two fifteen-year-old boys to turn a bright shade of red—in Davis' case, an even brighter shade than he already wore, which made Yolei crack up even harder.

"Grrr…fine! Laugh all you want! I'll bet Ken will appreciate the heroic stunt I pulled," Davis growled as he ran towards his best friend, who he spotted in the distance. "Hey, Ken!"

While Davis sprinted off, everyone there stiffened and grew silent immediately.

Yolei turned to the small green digimon across from her and asked, "Wormmon, he doesn't know?"

Wormmon shook his head. "I tried to tell him on the way here, but he wouldn't listen."

"Oh, no, Davis, wait!" T. K. was on his feet and running after the goggle-head in no time. The rest followed with Wormmon riding in Yolei's arms.

~~~

"Static Force!"

"Ice Phantom!"

Agile as a deer, Mephismon ducked and jumped to avoid each attack.

Silphymon floated down next to Blue Meramon in order to regroup and plan their next attack. 'I can't believe we're siding with one of the Emperor's slaves,' the Gatomon half of Silphymon thought. 'What if he suddenly decides to turn on us?'

'We can't worry about that now. It's not as if we have a choice of allies at the moment,' Aquilamon thought back.

"Need a hand?" called a metallic voice from behind.

"Or how about a foot?" asked another gravelly one.

Silphymon turned to see Shakkoumon and ExVeemon coming to join them.

'You were saying?' Gatomon thought. 'We have more than enough fire power now.'

"Humph, more of you to play with, eh? So you think you have the advantage?" questioned Mephismon coolly. "In that case, allow me to make this game a little more interesting."

Before any of them could react, the Fallen Angel digimon had let loose a thin beam of dark energy in Blue Meramon's direction, aimed specifically the Dark Band on the fiery digimon's arm with pinpoint accuracy.

Out of instinct, all the other digimon jumped back far away from the incoming attack. However, Blue Meramon wasn't as lucky.

At first, Blue Meramon let out a yelp of pain as the attack hit its intended target, but once the beam had disintegrated the band, Mephismon stopped. The tall, blue digimon then calmed down, his red eyes returning to their normal emptiness.

"Wha-what happened?" the freed digimon stammered.

Mephismon leapt up and gently touched down beside the flame digimon. "My friend, you were being controlled by the Digimon Emperor."

"The Digimon Emperor?! But he's been gone for years!" Blue Meramon exclaimed incredulously, turning to look at the digimon who must have been the one that freed him.

"Yes, but he's returned, and those three over there," he declared, pointing in Silphymon, Shakkoumon, and ExVeemon's direction, "are working for him. Team up with me so that we can destroy them and rid the Digital World of the Emperor once and for all!"

"Hey, you got it! It's the least I can do after you set me free."

"Uh, oh. This doesn't sound good," Silphymon muttered loud enough for Shakkoumon and ExVeemon to hear.

"No kidding," said ExVeemon. "The Emperor's back? That definitely isn't good. Hey, who are the jerks that guy said were working for the Emperor? I'd like to go kick their butts!"

The two DNA-digivolved digimon sweatdropped.

"He was talking about us, doofus," Silphymon answered. By the annoyance in the humanoid digimon's voice, ExVeemon guessed that was the Gatomon half piping up.

"What?! We're working for the Emperor! No way!"

"We'll fill you in later," Shakkoumon quickly said, for Mephismon and Blue Meramon were starting to take the offensive. "Just help us out with these guys first."

"Shakkoumon," ordered Silphymon, "you're helping me with Mephismon. ExVeemon, keep Blue Meramon busy in the meantime."

"Who, me?" ExVeemon looked at the beast man digimon incredulously.

"What? You don't think you can hold off a Blue Meramon for a few minutes?" Silphymon snapped.

"Of course I can!...I think. But--"

"Then it's settled! Shakkoumon, let's go. He's getting away." With that, the two DNA-digivolved digimon took off after Mephismon.

After they had left, ExVeemon nervously turned to face the flame digimon on the ground below him. "Okay, ExVeemon, get a grip on yourself," he said quietly to himself. "Just because he's an ultimate doesn't mean you can't take him. You can do this by yourself..."

"Cold Flame!" An icy blast shot straight towards him.

"DAVIS!!!"

~~~

The Emperor knit his brow in concentration. Battle Tactic Epsilon had been ineffective as well, and now that Blue Meramon was no longer under his control, he realized that this fight would require his full attention if the battle were going to swing in his favor.

"Yo, Ken!" he heard an approaching voice yell. He didn't have to avert his gaze to know who the troublesome pest was.

The dark-haired boy didn't bother to turn his head as he hissed to the boy who stopped beside him, "You're late."

"Sorry, dude, the train station was packed, and how was I supposed to know you went on ahead of me? Whoa," Davis finally noticed the outfit his friend wore, "what's with the get-up?" He rested a hand on one of the other boy's shoulder pads.

Big mistake.

With cat-like reflexes, the regally dressed boy tossed Davis over his shoulder in a perfect judo throw, and while the goggle-head was down, he landed a solid punch into the boy's bare stomach.

"Don't you dare touch me," the Emperor muttered darkly. He was about to turn back to the battle up above when Davis jerked him down to one knee by his cape.

"What the heck is wrong with you, Ken?!" the brown-haired boy yelled at the Emperor after getting the wind back into him.

In response, the now furious Digimon Emperor yanked him up by his chocolate-brown hair so that the teenage boy's face was mere centimeters from his own. He wasn't in the mood to play games at the moment. "Look into my eyes, Goggle Brain," he mouthed each word slowly, as if lecturing a four-year-old. "Ken's! Not! Home!"

With that, the Emperor shoved Davis back down and stood up to resume monitoring the fight between Daemon and Ghoulmon.

"Davis, are you all right?" Kari asked, running up beside him.

Cody and T. K. helped him to his feet. Soon, though, their helping hands had to be turned into restraining arms.

"All right, buddy, who are you, and what the freak have you done to Ken?" Davis was livid and ready to beat the snot out of the motionless teenager before him.

"Davis, Ken's dark side has taken over."

"He's become the Digimon Emperor again," Yolei and then Wormmon explained, coming up beside him as well.

"What…?" Davis stopped struggling, the news hitting him like an anvil. Ken...the Digimon Emperor? For some reason, the thought didn't want to register in his head. Sure, Ken had been that no-good tyrant once, but that was all in the past. Ken had defeated his inner demons back when they'd opened the Dark Gate, hadn't he? "No…Ken wouldn't…he couldn't have…"

"I'm afraid so, Davis," T. K. said gravely, slowly letting him go.

The goggle-wearing teenager clenched his fists at his side and let out a low growl. 'No! This just isn't possible!' he stubbornly thought. 'Th-this is probably a trick he decided to pull on Daemon. Yeah…that's gotta be it…and it's fooled everyone but me. Ken, you sly dog, you're always thinking up these kind of crazy things…heh…heh…'

But as Davis looked once again upon his best human friend's face, he knew instantly that he was just kidding himself.

'Why, Ken? Why wouldn't you come to us first? We could have come up with some other way. Why'd you have to go and do such a stupid thing?!' Davis thought. His frustration built up inside of him, like water filling up a dam about to burst, until all he could finally think to yell aloud was, "Why didn't anybody tell me sooner?!" Davis turned his head and glared at all of them, Wormmon in particular.

The insect digimon sweatdropped. "You wouldn't listen?"

"Never mind. We can point fingers later," Yolei interrupted before Davis could say anything more. "The most important thing right now is beating Daemon. Ken can come later."

This last statement shocked everyone present. Even though it was obvious to everyone that defeating the Demon Lord had priority in this situation, they were surprised to hear Yolei declare that something was more important than Ken.

'You hear that Mr. Goody-goody?' Ken's dark side thought. 'I wouldn't be surprised if she hated you after this is through. After all, you were weak and foolish enough to give in to me.'

Any mental strength Ken had left to fight was quickly being sapped by the dark emotions he felt as he listened to the Emperor, who was only growing stronger.

"All right, Capeboy!" Davis grumbled, slowly coming up beside him. "I'll let you work with us for now, but the minute this is over--"

"—'I'm gonna to put you away once and for all,'" the Emperor finished with Davis, all the while mimicking his voice. "Take a number; death threats seem to be attracted to me like moths to a flame today."

Davis looked like he was going to pop a vein, but he took a minute to calm himself down. Ken wouldn't appreciate a beaten up body when they got him back to his senses. "That's not the only thing I came here to say."

"Then spill it. I'm busy here." The Emperor's eyes darted back and forth as he tried to follow the battle against Daemon.

"If you're gonna work with us, then let's hurry up and get Imperialdramon here."

The Emperor snorted. "Don't be a such a fool. That's impossible." His eyes never left the fight up above.

"And just why is that?!" The teenage tyrant's composed attitude was getting on his nerves. "Look, just because we haven't done it in years doesn't mean it's impossible."

"Don't you get it? As long as Kenny boy's not in control, my kindness is gone, and without that, the worm can't digivolve into anything higher than his current pitiful level--much less DNA-digivolve with your dim-witted partner."

"Then bring him back!" Davis' hands were ready to grab the indigo-haired boy's throat and throttle him, but soon enough, T.K. and Cody's restraining arms were once again upon him.

"I don't think so," the Emperor said snidely, a tiny smirk creeping across his face. "I don't think you'd want to find out what it's like to fight against two mega virus digimon. You see, if Ken comes back, Ghoulmon will no longer be under my control, and well, let's just say he wasn't all that easy to catch in the first place."

Davis hated when Ken was right, Emperor or no. He calmed down and waved T.K. and Cody off, showing the two teenagers that he'd be fine. "Okay, genius, then how do you expect to beat Daemon without Imperialdramon on our side?"

His coy smirk widened. "That's for me to know and you to wait and find out."

***

G: Cliffhanger!
Gwen: I'm surprised that you're so cheerful. This has to be the longest chapter yet.
G: Yeah, but Gaia did most of the work this time, and besides, I can't wait to see the readers squirm for more in the reviews. >:)
Gwen: You're evil.
G: Thank you.
Gaia: Glad to see you in such a good mood, G, 'cuz you're doing the next chapter, and with things heating up like this, you can bet it'll be a doozy.
G: *jaw drops* Bu-but you said you'd never trust me to write again after that blonde/brunette mix up with Mrs. Takaishi.
Gaia: I lied.
G: You're evil.
Gaia: Thank you.

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