Stories written in my primary continuity; listed in chronological order.

A few small changes, and the relationship between Angelo and Jessica begins during the events of the game, rather than after. Listed in chronological order.

Alternate universe stories involving the Angelo/Jessica/Eight threesome (Stormverse and others). Listed in chronological order.

Dark fiction, primarily Marcello/Angelo. NC-17. Warnings for abuse, incest, non-con, violence...I'm not calling it dark for nothing. Also contains Eight/Angelo post-trauma fic, and Eight/Angelo/Jessica threesome fic.

Stand-alones and stories outside of my main universes. Connected stories are grouped in chronological order.

Since I broke all the links from various LJ communities when I re-arranged my site, any stories written for communities will also be listed here, grouped by community.

Screen captures and links to cinema videos on YouTube.

My non-Dragon Quest fanfic.

Links to other sites with Dragon Quest fanfiction.

A creaking sound rolled across the digital plains, grew to a snapping, and finally a roar as yet another of the ominous black control spires fell in an explosion of dust, grass, and stone fragments.

Even standing what he had calculated as a safe distance away, Ken Ichijouji flinched as he was pelted by a few fragments of debris. He couldn't even feel any satisfaction over seeing another of the damned things fall. There were still too many left, blighting the landscape of the Digital World, reminding him of what he had done, what he had been.

"Ken!" Stingmon exclaimed, breaking into his thoughts. Ken looked up at the champion-level digimon, wondering how he could possibly have inspired such loyalty, when he had treated Wormmon worst of all...

"Ken!" Stingmon repeated, sounding even more worried. "Did something hit you? Are you hurt? You're..."

Self-consciously, Ken looked down, wiping at his eyes. "I'm fine."

He was aware of Stingmon digivolving back down to Wormmon, and a little annoyed that the digimon had done it just so he could look up into his face. "Are you all right, Ken?"

"I told you, I'm fine," Ken snapped.

Wormmon sighed. "Of course you are."

"Another one bites the dust, hey, Ken?"

Ken groaned inwardly as the shout reached his ears. Being around the Digidestined was difficult at the best of times; he certainly didn't feel up to dealing with them now, when his introspection had churned up dangerous emotions. Deliberately, he turned his back and started walking the other direction. "Come on, Wormmon."

"But..."

Ken gritted his teeth. "Come on."

He heard another sigh from the insect, but Wormmon scrambled obediently after him.

"They're trying to be friendly."

"I don't need friends."

"You know that's not true."

"Then I don't want them."

"That's not true, either."

Ken's temper snapped, and he whirled toward the small digimon. "Damn it, Wormmon, it's times like this I wish I was still the Digimon Emperor!"

He regretted the words as soon as he said them, regretted the way Wormmon drew back, regretted the chance of the others overhearing. He dropped to one knee, extending his hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"I know you didn't," Wormmon assured him, rubbing his head against Ken's hand, although Ken could hear the lingering doubt in his voice.

"Just don't..."

"Hey, Ken!" Davis' shout interrupted, closer this time, and a little breathless.

"Good lord, is he..."

"Running," Wormmon confirmed, twisting his head to look.

Slowly, Ken rose; even more slowly, he raised his head to look at the would-be leader of the Digidestined. Davis was, without a doubt, the most annoyingly persistent person he had ever met.

He was also the only one besides Wormmon who seemed inclined to give Ken a chance to redeem himself.

"Hey!" Davis said, as soon as he was close enough to talk instead of yell. "Didn't you hear me before?"

"I guess I must not have," Ken said non-committally, although he felt a faint stirring of gratitude that Davis apparently hadn't heard his outburst.

"Well, it's a good thing I caught up with you, then," Davis said, seemingly oblivious to Ken's deliberate coolness. He turned back toward the rest of the Digidestined, cupped his hands around his mouth, and bellowed, "Hey, guys, hurry up!"

"Were you looking for me for some reason, or is this just a coincidence?" Ken asked.

"Actually, we were heading for that control spire." Davis gestured toward the fallen spire. "But you beat us to it." He grinned down at Wormmon. "Nice job."

"Thanks," Wormmon said.

"'Course, Exveemon would have done it better," Davis added. He looked toward the blue digimon bounding toward them. "Right, Veemon?"

"Absotively," Veemon agreed with enthusiasm.

"Hey, if there are more of these things around, maybe you'll get to show off," Davis told his digimon cheerfully.

Ken frowned, unable to understand how Davis could take the control spires, and all they represented, so lightly. Of course, perhaps that was what allowed Davis to consider forgiving him. He might be better off not judging.

Not that he had any right to judge anyone else, anyway.

"So, what brings you out here?"

"Destroying that control spire," Ken replied. "I thought that was obvious."

Davis laughed. "Just making conversation, dude." He turned again, this time yelling, "Geez, could you guys get any slower?"

"What's the rush?" Yolei shouted back. She jabbed her thumb toward the fallen spire. "The reason we came here is gone."

"I'm sure there's more where that came from." Davis paused, then turned back toward Ken. "No offense or anything."

"Why should I take offense?" Ken asked, carefully not letting his feelings slip free; if he acknowledged them, it would be later, when he was alone again. "It's true."

"Yeah, but..." Davis floundered for a moment, then shrugged. "You two have been doing a great job of knocking them back down!"

Almost against his will, Ken's lips quirked into a half smile. "Stingmon's been doing all the work. I just watch."

"Oh, Ken, you know I couldn't do it without you," Wormmon protested.

Ken started to reply, when an odd whirring sound reached him. With a frown, he looked up, scanning the sky; Davis was doing the same, as were the Digidestined still grouped some twenty feet away.

"What is that?" Davis yelled, pressing his hands against his ears.

Ken didn't bother responding; he didn't have an answer, and doubted Davis would be able to hear him over the increasingly loud drone. Then Wormmon was yanking at his pants leg and pointing east, toward...

Ken gasped. He had no idea what it was; with all the digimon he had enslaved as the Digimon Emperor, he had never seen anything like it. It was insectoid, huge, almost certainly venomous, with a double set of lethal-looking mandibles. If he were still trying to conquer the Digital World, he undoubtedly would have been delighted by such a monster. As it was, his only thought was to get himself and Wormmon as far from it as possible.

Without thinking, he scooped Wormmon into his arms; he doubted the little bug could possibly keep up with a flat-out run, and there was no way he was going to risk having him try to digivolve and fight that thing. Then he bolted toward the treeline, Veemon bounding ahead, Davis a stride or so behind. He wondered if the others were following, or if they had split off in a different direction; maybe it wouldn't follow at all.

That hope was short lived. He knew, without looking, that it was not only following, but gaining, the drone of its wings louder, Wormmon's feet digging more painfully into his shoulder.

"Let me digivolve!" the rookie begged.

"And get yourself killed?" Ken snapped breathlessly.

"Ken..."

"Don't squirm!"

"Duck!"

Without questioning, Ken threw himself onto the ground, rolling slightly to keep from landing on his digimon, and the attacking digimon's stinger passed harmlessly over him. Wormmon scurried out of his arms, exclaiming, "Wormmon digivolve to Stingmon!"

"No!" Ken shouted, climbing to his knees. "Damn it, Wormmon..."

Davis grabbed his arm. "Come on!"

"But..."

"Come on!" Davis insisted, half dragging him toward the trees.

Ken shook off Davis' hold, pausing long enough to glance over his shoulder before resuming his run. At least Wormmon wasn't  the only one who had digivolved; he had glimpsed Aquilamon in the air, and Veemon's absence told him Exveemon must have joined the fray, as well. He had just been too worried about Wormmon to notice.

They finally reached the trees and stumbled to a halt, both panting. Ken turned immediately to check on the battle, ignoring the rest of the Digidestined as they straggled under cover. None of the six champions facing the unknown digimon seemed to be having much luck even getting close to it; the digimon, on the other hand, had some sort of venom spray. Stingmon narrowly avoided the leading edge of the sickly yellow mist, and Ken swore under his breath.

Don't do anything stupid, he thought darkly, or I'll... He faltered, realizing he had no real threat to offer, and closed his eyes. I don't know what I'll do.

---

Gatomon snarled as the battle surged upwards, out of her range. She hated being left out. If only she were able to digivolve to Angewomon, or there had been time to armor digivolve to Nefertimon. Then, things would have been different.

Her eyes narrowed, and she spotted an ugly yellow haze drifting toward her in time to dance out of the way. This was not any fun, and she took her attention off the fight long enough to glance in the direction Kari had gone. The others, caught up in the actual fight, hadn't realized it, but if she could armor digivolve, and get Angemon to do the same, they could Golden Noose that thing long enough for the rest of the team to finish it.

Of course, with her luck by the time she got Kari to activate the stupid armor, and got Angemon to digivolve back to Patamon so T.K. could armor digivolve him, the fight would probably be over anyway.

Maybe she could get Ankylomon to launch her into the air with that tail of his.

Another spray of toxic mist made the flyers scatter away from their foe; Exveemon, who had bounded up in an effort to tackle the mysterious digimon, barely avoided the fog and landed unceremoniously on his tail. "Scratch that idea," Gatomon muttered to herself, dropping to all fours and racing toward the forest where Kari was. No way did she want to be airborne and unable to control where she went.

The wind hit her so abruptly that she didn't realize what had happened at first, just found herself tumbling head over tail instead of running. She heard shouts from the humans, shouts from the other digimon, and stopped her tumbling in time to see Angemon slammed backwards into the nearby hills, Stingmon thrown into the trees, Exveemon and Ankylomon flattened against the ground by the force of the gust.

She shook her head, a little dazed by the tumble, then scampered up again, resuming her sprint to the forest. "Kari!" she shouted. "Kari, if Patamon and I can armor digivolve, we can use Golden Noose!"

Even at this distance, she could see Kari shaking her head, and ground her teeth in frustration. "Why not?" she shouted. "It's the only..."

"We'd have to get to Patamon," T.K. answered for Kari, "which means we'd have to get past that thing. And it's way too powerful."

Gatomon reached the treeline and turned; sure enough, Angemon was nowhere to be seen, although the damage he'd done to the hillside was obvious. Irritation turned to concern. If Patamon was hurt...

"I can go get him," she offered, as Veemon and Armadillomon retreated into the forest, as well.

"It's too dangerous," Kari said.

Gatomon bared her teeth. "I'd love to get my claws into that thing."

"No," Kari said firmly.

"We can't just leave Patamon," T.K. protested.

Gatomon nodded. "We sure can't."

---

Davis rolled his eyes, not sure if he was more annoyed with T.K., or that Exveemon had been dumped on his butt during the battle and made them both look stupid. Impatiently, he said, "Well, someone better go get him."

"We should stick together," T.K. said.

"And make one big target so it can almost get us all again?" Davis demanded; in his mind, this just confirmed that T.K. wasn't fit to make decisions, or even recommendations. "Are you crazy? That thing's gotta be at least an ultimate."

"I'm sure Nefertimon and Aquilamon can cover for us, if they're careful," Kari said, glancing toward the monster.

Davis looked, too; Aquilamon was trying to figure out a way past the mystery digimon and back to them. "Yeah, and if it doesn't blow them away like it did before."

"It only did that when it was being severely pressed," Ken pointed out quietly; Wormmon, looking somewhat the worse for wear, was in his arms, and Davis wondered if Ken had gone looking for him when Stingmon was blown into the trees, or if the caterpillar had made his way back on his own. "It's only going to be facing two digimon this time, and if they keep their distance and don't threaten to do any real damage, it will probably stick to using its claws and poison attack."

"You mean I'm not allowed to hurt it?" Gatomon asked, scowling a little.

"We need time, Gatomon," Kari reminded her.

"I'm sure they'll let you hurt it once everyone's safe," Veemon reassured her.

"Yeah, assuming you're more interesting than the big target T.J.'s dragging into the open," Davis sneered, more than a little annoyed that his digimon was scoring points when he couldn't.

"You can stay here if you want, Davis," T.K. retorted. "It's not like we'd mind losing you if we got separated."

Davis glared, stammering as he searched for a scathing come-back. The problem was, he wasn't entirely sure T.K. was wrong; not even Kari came to his defense.

"Are we gonna do this or not?" Gatomon demanded, obviously uninterested in the humans' rivalries.

"We're going to do it," Kari assured her, pulling out her D-3. Gatomon stood at the edge of the trees, almost bouncing with impatience as Kari said, "Digiarmor, energize!"

The flare of light from the D-3 made Davis reluctantly look away from Kari as the Digiegg of Light materialized, approaching Gatomon, merging with her. "Gatomon armor digivolve to...Nefertimon!"

---

Nefertimon took to the air, soaring toward the unknown digimon, although she risked gazing for a few moments at the area where Angemon had gone down. She couldn't see Patamon, and concern stirred inside her. If he was hurt...

"Cat's eye beam!" she snarled, forgetting they were just supposed to be keeping the monster busy, and away from the Digidestined.

---

 "Nefertimon!" Kari exclaimed, as the beam from her digimon's tiara struck the monster, and it whirled toward her.

"I thought they were just supposed to keep that thing busy," Davis observed.

"I'd say it's busy, all right," Yolei said, as Aquilamon had to dodge to avoid Nefertimon and the ultimate.

T.K. was already almost out of the trees, anxious to reach Patamon. "Let's move, then."

The group hurried toward the torn-up section of hillside, all of them keeping an eye on the digimon swooping and circling in the nearby sky. Most of T.K.'s attention was on the hillside Angemon had hit, though. There was no sign of Patamon, no sign of movement, and even though he knew digimon didn't really die, they just reformatted, he was starting to get scared.

"Look out!"

A hand grabbed him, yanking him back just as the ground exploded in front of him. Off balance, T.K. stumbled and would have fallen if Kari hadn't maintained her hold on him.

"I'd say Nefertimon's judgment isn't the greatest right now," she said, with a sideways glance toward the digimon.

"I guess." T.K. straightened, looking from the three digimon to the hole which had been blasted in the ground. "Let's hope she's a little more careful from now on."

"Come on, you guys," Davis said impatiently, skirting around the hole and continuing. "Before the good guys wipe us out."

The hurried on, slowing only when they reached the base of the hill. Broken rock had slid and tumbled from where Angemon had hit, littering the hillside; without speaking, they spread out, looking for Patamon. T.K. swallowed hard, wondering if they'd find him. He'd obviously triggered quite a rock slide when he hit, and he was the smallest rookie; even Wormmon was a little bigger. It would have been so easy...

He blinked, shaking off the fatalistic thoughts, as Veemon shouted from farther up the hill, "Davis! T.K.! I found him!"

Scrambling over the unstable rocks, T.K. slipped and slid as he ran up to where Veemon crouched. Halfway there, he caught sight of Patamon's familiar orange shape; he couldn't be hurt too badly, then, if he'd only digivolved back down to rookie. "Hey, Patamon," he said, gently picking the unconscious digimon up. Although scraped up, Patamon didn't show any signs of major damage, he decided with relief. "Thanks, Veemon."

"No problem," Veemon said, with a lopsided shrug T.K. thought he'd picked up from Davis. Looking toward his Digidestined, he asked, "Do you think we should go help Nefertimon and Aquilamon now?"

Davis very obviously wasn't listening. He had climbed higher up, his gaze on the shallow impact crater. "Do you guys see that?"

"See what?" Yolei asked, climbing partway up after him.

"That carving, or whatever," Davis said, excitement in his voice. "Doesn't it kinda look like a crest?"

"Could just be an optical illusion," Kari said, squinting.

"No, I think it's definitely something real," Cody replied.

"There's no indication of a digiegg around here."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean there can't be something," Davis insisted.

With a frown, T.K. slowly climbed up to join them, his eyes studying the spot. "You might be right," he said. "Since we're here, we should at least..."

A crash behind them made them all jump; they turned in time to see a spray of dirt and grass showering down around a short trench that ended near the base of the hill. Kari's lips quirked disapprovingly, and she crossed her arms.

"What was that?" Yolei asked.

"My guess would be Rosetta Stone," Kari replied, a touch of disgust in her tone. "I'm really going to have to have a talk with her about this."

"Well, don't be too hard on her," Yolei said. "I mean, she has to do something to keep that bug busy."

"Maybe, but..."

"Let's just hurry and check this thing out, before she keeps that thing busy right on top of us," Davis said impatiently, once again scrambling uphill ahead of them.

He was already brushing away dust and gravel by the time the others joined him, and had fully revealed the symbol they had seen. It was a perfect circle, with a cross inside...or maybe an X, depending on the angle you looked at it. It had been deeply etched into a dull, neutral surface, then the furrows filled: the circle was mottled, black, white, grey, flickers of other colors; one line of the cross shape white; the other line black; the intersection a swirled blend of grey that almost matched the background.

"What is it?" Cody wondered aloud.

"I don't know, but someone did a lot of work to put it here," Yolei said.

"Yeah," Davis said, continuing to brush away rubble.

"Could it be some sort of marker?" Kari wondered.

Typically, Ken's interpretation was darker. "Or a warning."

"Pretty cryptic for a warning," T.K. observed. "Or anything else, for that matter."

"So are most of the crest symbols, if you don't already know what they mean."

T.K. couldn't argue with that, and he turned his attention back to Davis, who was getting more and more excited as he uncovered more of the flat background surface.

 "There's something here," Davis announced, scrabbling at the dirt and cracked stone. "Like, a door, or something."

Handing Patamon to Kari, T.K. joined him, as did Cody and Ken. Yolei shifted impatiently from foot to foot. "Hurry, you guys!," she warned. "They're coming back!"

"You could help, you know," Davis snapped back.

Yolei glared, stuck her tongue out, then looked at the digimon being harassed by Nefertimon and Aquilamon and grabbed a chunk of rock, heaving it away.

Ken brushed his hand across the smooth surface they were uncovering, his fingers tracing a long, straight crack. "Definitely a door," he said.

"Armadillomon," Cody said, "you can help too."

"Sure thing, Cody." Armadillomon hooked his claws under a large rock and easily levered it out, then began digging like a dog. "This is kinda fun."

"You would think so," Cody sighed.

The humans backed away as Armadillomon's digging grew more enthusiastic, sending dirt and rock flying. Kari handed Patamon back to T.K.; he cradled his digimon in one arm, wrapping the other around her shoulders as her gaze returned to Nefertimon.

"She's upset," he pointed out quietly.

"I told her just to keep that thing busy," Kari replied, her voice dark.

"No harm done."

"Luckily." Kari's eyes narrowed. "She could have killed us, running wild like that."

"I think..."

He was interrupted by Davis, and there was no mistaking the anger in the other boy's voice as he shouted, "Hey, P.B., you gonna help us get this open or not?"

"Go on," Kari sighed, reaching for Patamon again. She hesitated, then asked, "You okay?"

T.K. shrugged. "I will be, once I'm sure Patamon's all right."

"No, I mean, earlier...Nefertimon didn't..."

"Oh, that. I'm fine."

"Hey, J.A., know what the initials stand for?" Davis shouted.

T.K. rolled his eyes. "I'm coming," he shouted back. To Kari, he said, "Cut her some slack, huh?"

"Maybe."

---

T.K. turned, trotting up to join the others, although he was worried about Kari. This wasn't like her...or rather, he knew she had a temper, she just usually didn't express it this way. Certainly not toward Gatomon. She felt about Gatomon the way he felt about Patamon.

Which probably meant she was as much worried as anything. That ultimate obviously packed a wallop.

He hoped Patamon was okay.

"It's about time you got over here," Davis sneered, as he joined them.

"Knock it off, Davis," T.K. retorted.

"Why?" Davis demanded. "'Cause Kari needs you?" He made a gagging noise.

"'Cause I'm not in the mood," T.K. snapped.

To his surprise, Davis subsided...mostly. "Yeah, well it took you long enough to come help us."

"For crying out loud, Davis, he was checking on his digimon," Yolei said.

"Yeah, any of us would do the same," Cody added.

Davis made another face. "You don't have to jump all over me. Geez. Let's just get this thing open."

Armadillomon's digging had uncovered an area roughly six feet by twelve feet. The crest, or whatever it was, which had first drawn Davis' attention was prominent in the center; a more fluid design, almost faded away now, bordered the door, and a graceful bar, fastened near one edge, gave them all handholds.

"Designed with someone pretty big in mind," T.K. commented.

"More likely designed to create a psychological impression," Ken replied absently. "If it were still properly upright, it would be quite impressive, and probably intimidating."

"You're probably right," T.K. agreed.

"Even if you can get it open," Kari said, and T.K. was grateful she'd rejoined them, "if the building, or whatever, is tipped sideways, how are we going to get inside?"

"The angle's not too extreme," Ken replied. "We should at least be able to take cover until that thing gets bored and goes away."

"If we ever get it open," Davis reminded them, loudly.

"We get the idea, Davis," Cody sighed.

They all wrapped their hands around the bar, bracing their feet and pulling outward with all their might. T.K. was vaguely aware of Armadillomon hooking his claws into the crack and trying to pry the door open, then, with an agonized groan, the long-immobile hinges gave, and the door opened a few inches. Veemon braced his back against the edge of the door, trying to help; Yolei caught the door just above the rookie's head, pulling. Even Kari, cradling Patamon in one arm, braced her free hand on the door and shoved.

Slowly and loudly, the door edged open until they could squeeze through. All of them hesitated, the darkness behind the door intimidating.

"Who goes first?" Davis wondered aloud.

T.K. took a deep breath. He didn't want to, but... "I guess I do."

Kari frowned. "Be careful, T.K."

"Be careful, T.K.," Davis mimicked; Yolei punched him. "Ow! What'd you do that for?"

"You're such a jerk," Yolei retorted.

"I am not a jerk!"

T.K. sighed and stepped carefully through the doorway. Surely, whatever was inside, it couldn't be as bad as listening to Davis and Yolei argue.

The floor had a definite slope, but as Ken had suspected, it wasn't so bad that he couldn't stand upright. T.K. took a few steps, then paused, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark. The air was musty, and opening the door had stirred up dust on top of it, but, overall, it wasn't too bad. He held his breath, listening. No sounds of breathing in the darkness; no rustle or scrape of something moving on the stone of the floor. No lights or reflections where there should be none.

Stepping back to the door, he stuck his head out. "Seems safe," he told the others. "Too dark to see, but nothing ate me."

"Well, in the Digital World what more can we ask for?" Yolei asked.

T.K. stepped back, and one by one the others filed in, each one pausing to let their eyes adjust to the blackness. Not that it helped much; too little light filtered in from outside, and the Digidestined wound up clustered near the door, pushing and shoving a bit for the best view of the battle still raging outside.

Except Ken, T.K. noticed, turning to look for him. He had wandered far enough in to the room that he was nearly swallowed by the darkness, and T.K. wondered what was going through the former Digimon Emperor's mind.

---

Absolute blackness. Ken stared into it, and took another step forward. Even Wormmon had remained near the comfort of the open door, rather than brave the shadows which seemed almost tangible, enough to swallow one alive. They swallowed sound. This place must be huge, too big to echo from the small sounds they were making. Or maybe they had just found a doorway into darkness, and there were no walls to send echoes back to them.

He wondered if the others would even notice if he vanished in here, rather than leaving with them. If he just let the darkness swallow him.

A foolish question. Of course they'd notice. They'd be glad he was gone.

Except Wormmon. And perhaps Davis, although sometimes Ken wondered if Davis' primary reason for welcoming him into the group was to annoy the other Digidestined. If that were his goal, it was a rousing success.

He took another step into the darkness. It called to him; not the way evil had called him when it made him the Digimon Emperor, but as a haven, a hiding place.

A place where he could be alone, and not just lonely.

"Ken?"

Wormmon's voice quavered a little, and surprised Ken by coming from his feet. He looked down, startled that he couldn't see his digimon. When had he gotten so far from the door? And when had Wormmon joined him?

"Ken, please come back with the others," Wormmon pleaded.

"I will in a minute."

He felt Wormmon press up against his calf. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know," he admitted.

"Come back, Ken. Please."

"I..."

"Hawkmon!" Yolei shrieked from behind them.

Ken turned reflexively; the others were mere silhouettes against the light coming from outside, but he could tell Yolei was struggling to get out the door, while the others were trying to keep her in.

"Let go of me!" she exclaimed.

"You can't go out there," T.K. said.

"It's too dangerous. One of the digimon can go after him," Kari said.

"I'll go," Veemon volunteered.

"Or me," Armadillomon chimed in. "I've got a shell."

"Both of you go," Cody said. "You can cover each other."

More movement at the door, as T.K. pulled Yolei away so the digimon could get outside. Ken sighed softly. "Let's go back," he said. "They might need Stingmon." That was, after all, the only reason they ever needed him around.

He took a few steps, stumbled as the texture of the floor changed. He hadn't noticed, before; now, he made note of it, wondering what the reason was, and whether they should study this place further.

---

Veemon and Armadillomon scrambled down the hill and across the field, toward where Hawkmon had fallen, both rookies keeping a careful watch on the battle overhead. It wasn't going well, Veemon thought; Nefertimon was starting to look tired, and the ultimate didn't even look warmed up.

"That thing sure is tough," Armadillomon observed.

"Yeah." Veemon paused. "I think it was a mistake to check out that door, instead of making a run for it."

"Probably. Then again, if they hadn't, we'd have that much farther to go to get to Hawkmon."

"Good point."

Veemon put on an extra burst of speed, bounding over the grass to Hawkmon's side. The other digimon was just beginning to regain consciousness; without waiting for him to wake up completely, Veemon grabbed his arm and dragged him to his feet.

"What hit me?" Hawkmon groaned.

"Same thing that's gonna hit you again, if we don't move," Veemon retorted.

"What?"

Armadillomon skidded to a stop beside them. "Just toss him over my back," he said, looking anxiously skyward. "Those two are comin' back."

Veemon did as he suggested, shoving Hawkmon so he fell over Armadillomon's rounded shell. There was a muffled sound of protest from the dazed rookie, which both his fellows ignored. Armadillomon broke into a gallop back toward the hill, and Veemon ran beside him, grabbing a handful of feathers on the back of Hawkmon's neck to keep him from sliding off. Periodically, he heard muffled "owws" from him; he ignored them, not sure if Hawkmon was really being hurt, or just protesting being jostled.

"Cat's eye beam!"

It was almost directly above them, and both Veemon and Armadillomon put on an extra burst of speed. There was a sound -- part shriek, part roar -- from the ultimate, then a rush of wind as Nefertimon glided close above them.

"We can't beat it," she shouted.

Well, duh, Veemon thought, rolling his eyes.

"The kids are in some sorta building inside the hill," Armadillomon thought to shout. "Meet us there."

There was another rush of wind as Nefertimon banked to the side, presumably to hold the ultimate off while they finished their run for cover. The bug made another indescribable sound, closer this time; Veemon would have cringed, expecting to get nailed by something right between the shoulder blades, but being around Davis had taught him better.

Then they were at the base of the hill, slipping and scrambling over the loose, broken rock...and Veemon suddenly realized that Hawkmon was going to slide right off Armadillomon's shell if they kept climbing. He got behind Armadillomon, both hands braced on Hawkmon, but he was definitely slipping...

"Hawkmon!" Yolei screamed, emerging from the door just as Veemon lost his grip, and Hawkmon flopped off Armadillomon.

"Ow," he mumbled. "Who keeps doing that?"

"Don't worry, buddy, we're almost under cover," Veemon assured him.

"Oh, good."

"Hawkmon!" Yolei exclaimed again, sliding to a stop beside them. She picked him up. "Veemon, how could you drop him?"

"Armadillomon helped," Veemon protested.

"Talk later!" Davis yelled from the shelter of the doorway. "Get in here!"

Veemon willingly obeyed, scrambling up past Yolei, right behind Armadillomon. They lunged eagerly through the door, neither one caring that their haste carried them past the comfortably lit area near the door, and into the darkness.

Veemon heard a thump just ahead of him, then tripped over Armadillomon in the dark. He tumbled across the floor, winding up sprawled on his back on the smooth floor. For a moment, he stared up into the darkness, catching his breath and getting his bearings.

"Hey, Veemon?" Armadillomon asked from a few feet away. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Veemon replied.

"Sorry about tripping right in front of you like that. There's some sorta groove in the floor here."

"It's okay." Veemon heard Gatomon's voice from the doorway, and sat up. As he did so, he felt a smooth, straight groove running beneath his hand. "There's a groove in the floor here, too. Someone must have done a lousy job putting this floor in."

Pushing himself to his feet, he started back toward the door. He could see Gatomon silhouetted near the opening, which meant she'd finally given up and taken cover herself.

Put another way, it meant they were trapped. Well, at least his eyes were finally adjusting to the dark...

---

 "Since we're stuck here until that thing gets bored and goes away, we should see what's in here," Davis said.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Cody asked logically. "It's pitch black in here."

"It's not that bad."

"That's because it's getting lighter," Ken said quietly. He had been aware of it since Veemon and Armadillomon came flying in through the door, perhaps because he had spent so much time observing the darkness.

"Ken's right," T.K. said uncertainly. "I wonder if it means anything."

"It means we'll be able to look around," Davis said impatiently.

"Maybe we should try to get out of here," Cody said.

"There's no way that big bug's going to let us leave," Gatomon said. "You shouldn't have come in here."

"We didn't have any choice," Kari said, anger in her tone. "You were being more dangerous than that bug was!"

Ken looked at her in surprise; he wasn't the only one. Even Yolei looked up from fussing over Hawkmon to stare. No one, apparently, had expected her outburst.

"I thought..." Gatomon began, her ears drooping. "I'm sorry."

"T.K.'s the one you should be apologizing to," Kari said. "He's the one you almost killed."

Gatomon flinched, the room now light enough for the gesture to be visible. "I was just trying to protect Patamon."

"We know, Gatomon," T.K. said.

The digimon wasn't really paying attention to him, though, her sorrowful gaze on her Digidestined. "Kari?"

For a moment, Kari looked like she wanted to stay angry, then she sighed softly. "I know."

"You were just a little over-enthusiastic," T.K. said.

"I'm sorry, T.K.," Gatomon said, and Ken found himself feeling sorry for her.

"Since we can't leave," he said, hoping to provide a distraction, "I suggest we take advantage of the light and look around like Davis suggested."

"Finally, someone agrees with me!" Davis cheered.

Cody surveyed the room. "It is starting to get bright enough now."

"Yeah! So let's explore."

Davis bolted into the room with the same kind of boundless enthusiasm Veemon often displayed, although the room, while light enough to be navigable, was far from fully lit. Ken waited, half expecting to hear a thud and some swearing, then he wandered quietly deeper into the room, back toward the place where he had studied the darkness.

He found the spot where he had noticed the texture change in the floor. A broad, slick, glossy band. Curved. Set into the floor, a deep groove on either side. Swirls of white and black and a thousand shades of grey.

Hypnotic.

His lips thinned, and he gazed across the floor, studying the pattern emerging from the shadows. It was the same design they had found engraved into the door, on a grander scale.

"What does it mean?" he murmured aloud. He knelt, brushing his fingers along the outer ring. Was it a crest symbol? If it was, why was there no sign of a digiegg? Who had created this place, this...temple? To what purpose?

A thousand questions. No answers. That was happening more and more, lately, and he didn't like it.

"Ken?"

"What is this place, Wormmon?" he asked, not expecting an answer. "Why is this place?"

"I don't know, but I don't trust it."

Ken rose. He didn't either, but he didn't really want to voice his concerns aloud. Instead, he paced along the outer edge of the circle, until he reached the spot where the white bar of the center cross intersected the outer band.

It was glowing, he decided, squinting at it. Too faintly to be the reason for the room growing lighter, but definitely glowing.

"This isn't good, is it?" Wormmon asked.

Ken shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

"Should we tell the others?"

Ken looked around. Yolei was still near the door with Hawkmon, who was at least back on his feet. Davis, Veemon, and Armadillomon were on the far side of the room, examining a statue with an hourglass in its hands. T.K., Kari, and their digimon were moving systematically around the room, studying the walls; after a moment, Ken realized there was some sort of writing there, also glowing faintly, also not enough to explain the steadily brightening room.

Cody, almost predictably, was watching him with a frown of suspicion, as if he thought Ken knew what was happening, and why.

For once, Ken wished Cody were right about him. It would be nice to know what was going on.

"Ken?" Wormmon pressed.

"What would we tell them?" Ken asked. "That we don't know what's going on, but it's making us nervous?" He snorted. "I don't think we'd be alone in that."

"Maybe not."

Slowly, Ken paced along the white path, aware that Wormmon followed, although the digimon remained on the plain stone, rather than touch the decoration more than necessary. He stopped at the intersection, which, like the outer edge, featured an almost hypnotic blending of black and white.

No answers. Ken sighed softly. Just more questions.

---

 "This is kinda cool," Davis said, running one hand across the glassy stone of the statue. He tapped the empty top section of the hourglass in its hands, making it chime softly.

"Too bad they didn't think about the sand all running out," Veemon said.

"Maybe when there were people around, there was a way to turn it over or something," Davis said, trying to twist the hourglass in the statue's grip.

"Don't break it," Veemon worried.

"I'm not gonna break it. I just want to see..." He broke off as he felt the hourglass shift, grinning. "Hey, it's loose!"

"Be careful," Armadillomon said nervously.

"I already told you guys, I'm not gonna...Hey!"

He snatched his hands away as the hourglass began to vibrate beneath them, his eyes going wide. He could see the glass vibrating, hear the rising whine. He stumbled backwards. The sand...

The sand was going up.

"Guys..." he shouted, or tried to shout. His voice wouldn't work.

"What's happening?" Veemon asked, as if he really expected Davis to have an answer.

"How is the sand doin' that?" Armadillomon wondered aloud, as he backed hastily away from the statue.

"What did you do, Davis?" Yolei demanded.

"Huh?" Davis asked, as the others converged on him. "Me?"

"Davis did this?" Kari asked.

"No, Kari, I didn't do..."

"Davis didn't do anything," Veemon said loyally.

"Then..."

"Except mess with the hourglass some."

"Thanks a lot, Veemon!" Davis exploded.

"This might not be Davis' fault," Cody said. "Ken was messing around with that symbol on the floor before all this started."

Davis looked toward the center of the room. Ken was still standing in the middle of the symbol, his eyes locked on the grey swirls beneath his feet, while Wormmon cowered against his legs. "Is he okay?"

"He looks okay," T.K. said. "And until we know what's going on, the real question's whether any of us are going to be okay."

"I hope this is over soon," Gatomon muttered. "This noise is hurting my ears."

"Maybe it'll stop when the sand's all back up in the top," Armadillomon offered.

Davis shifted uncomfortably as everyone looked at the hourglass. "I didn't hurt anything," he defended himself before they could say anything. "I barely even touched it."

"It wasn't your fault," T.K. surprised him by saying. "This was obviously a trap that we all walked right into."

Davis almost thanked him, then Kari moved closer, and T.K. put his arm around her shoulders. Sullenly, Davis said, "I'm gonna go see if Ken has any idea what's going on."

Cody nodded. "We should definitely try to find out what he knows about this."

"I didn't say he knew anything," Davis exploded, mostly because he needed to yell at someone, and whenever he yelled at T.K., Kari yelled at him. "He's just smarter than us, is all."

"I don't trust him," Cody said, for about the millionth time.

"We all know that," Davis retorted. "You mention it every time his name comes up."

"Can't you two knock it off?" Kari demanded.

"You're worse than that ringing," Gatomon agreed, shaking her head.

Davis sighed, turning away and slouching toward Ken. Why couldn't he do anything without someone yelling at him?

---

 "Ken?" Wormmon asked weakly.

"I don't know what's going on," Ken said, before Wormmon could ask. He felt the rookie shiver against his legs, and reached down to pick him up, offering him a smile. "But I'm sure we're going to be okay."

 "No you aren't," Wormmon sighed, "but thanks for trying."

Ken chuckled, affectionately rubbing the top of Wormmon's head. "We'll be okay," he repeated.

The digimon nestled against him. "That noise hurts."

"I'm sure it'll have to stop soon."

Wormmon nodded, and Ken sighed. Wormmon's trust and patience never ceased to amaze him, and he wished there was something he could do to fix things now.

"Maybe the sound won't be so bad farther from the statue," he offered.

"It's not too loud, it just feels like it's going through me," the digimon explained.

Ken frowned at the thought that this might be harming the digimon. He looked over at the others, noticing Gatomon pawing at her ears, Armadillomon with his head under his paws, and Veemon apparently trying to keep his head squeezed together. Patamon had awakened and covered his ears. Ken's gaze swept to where Yolei had left Hawkmon, by the door. Theoretically, the partially open door should have helped to diffuse the sound, allowing it to escape rather than echo back, but even Hawkmon was curled in a miserable ball, vainly trying to shield himself from the high-pitched whine.

Ken's eyes narrowed as he noticed something else. The light outside the door was flickering, like a candle in a breeze.

"Whatcha looking at?" Davis asked, although his tone made it obvious he didn't really care.

"The light outside," Ken replied, never taking his eyes off it.

"Maybe that big bug's outside, blocking it," Davis suggested.

"Unlikely. If it were that close to the door, it almost certainly would have tried to pursue us inside."

"Maybe it knows it wouldn't fit, and it's waiting for us to come back out."

Ken grunted noncommittally. Davis' theory was possible, but it still didn't seem likely. That bug had been aggressive.

But not too aggressive. His frown deepened. Just aggressive enough to get them in here.

"It's a trap," he said, thinking out loud. "And that bug was part of it."

"Huh?"

Ken blinked, pulling his eyes away from the flickering outside the door and looking at Davis. "That bug drove us in here," he said. "Whoever set this up knew we'd investigate the symbol on the door."

"You mean this was all meant for us?" Davis asked. "Who set it up?"

"I don't know," Ken said. The question made him uncomfortable. He could have set such a trap, grand and convoluted, balanced on the Digidestined's twin weaknesses of curiosity and compassion. He could have ordered the ultimate now outside to wait until the entire group was in this small valley, then drive them in here.

His arms tightened around Wormmon. He could have arranged all this, set it in motion one of the many times he had banished Wormmon in disgrace to some menial task, and then lost it in one of the many gaps in his memory. But what would the Digimon Emperor have deemed a suitable conclusion to such a trap? Surely, he wouldn't have just destroyed the Digidestined, not so impersonally. No, if there was one thing he had found pleasure in, it was causing pain; he would have wanted them brought to him, where he could finish them personally...

He became aware of fingers digging into his arms. Wormmon's worried voice. Someone shaking him. He shuddered, forcing his eyes to focus, forcing his legs not to buckle under him. They were all around him; he heard their voices, but nothing they said made sense.

"Take a deep breath, Ken," Wormmon ordered, cutting through his confusion.

He obeyed; it was harder than it should have been. He swallowed, and forced himself to take another deep breath.

"You okay?" T.K. asked, while Davis released his painful grip on Ken's arms.

Ken blinked, looking around uncertainly. "What...happened?"

"You hyperventilated."

"Don't do that, man," Davis said. He glared at the others. "They'll find a way to blame me for it."

"Not everything's about you, Davis," Yolei retorted.

"Then why do I always get blamed when something goes wrong?"

"Cool it, you two," Kari said, and Ken was mildly amazed that she actually looked concerned. "What happened, Ken?"

He swallowed, not sure how to explain.

"Maybe this sound is just getting to him, too," Gatomon said. She shook her head, rubbing at her ears again.

"It's gonna make my head explode," Veemon agreed.

"Or maybe it's the light," Davis said. "You know, like that TV show that made kids have seizures."

"What light?" T.K. asked.

Grateful to have their attention diverted, Ken said, "The light coming in from outside was flickering."

"We thought maybe that big bug was outside, you know, blocking it," Davis added.

Almost as one, the Digidestined looked toward the door; Ken might have found the synchronized gesture funny, if he hadn't still felt so horrible. He closed his eyes, trying not to think this might all be his fault, trying not to remember what he had done, trying to let himself be comforted by Wormmon's weight in his arms. Trying, and failing.

"Do you need to sit down?" the little digimon asked solicitously.

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"Wormmon..."

"If you pass out, you might land on me."

Ken's eyes flew open and he looked down at his digimon, startled by the uncharacteristic comment. Wormmon never thought about himself.

"Now you look better," Wormmon said in satisfaction.

Unable to fight a smile, Ken merely shook his head.

---

T.K. eyed the flickering light streaming through the door uncomfortably. He didn't like it; he didn't trust it. He didn't like or trust that Ken had been the one to notice it, either. Not that he really thought Ken was responsible for it, but...there was no way the ultimate which had been outside was responsible. The flickering was too steady, too regular, to be caused by a living being.

It was all another part of whatever the hell was going on in here.

He sighed. "So, what do you think? Do we try to go back outside?"

"Depends on which we think is worse," Gatomon said.

"What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "Well, if this is a trap, whoever set it won't want us getting out. So do you think it'd be worse to see what happens to us in here, or go up against whatever's going to keep us in?"

"So far, all we've had to put up with in here is noise," Davis said.

"All we've had to put up with?" Armadillomon demanded.

"Geez, Davis, this noise might not be bothering you humans, but it's driving us digimon crazy!" Veemon said.

"Maybe that's the point," Cody said.

T.K. looked at him. "Meaning?"

"If this sound doesn't stop, maybe the digimon will reach a point where they berserk," Cody said calmly.

"Oh, that's a nice thought," T.K. said, while most of the digimon protested they would never do such a thing.

Only Gatomon remained silent, her expression troubled.

"I don't think our digimon would attack us over a little noise," Kari said loyally, "but since this is hurting them, we need to either stop it or get them away from it."

"Absolutely!" Davis said.

T.K. rolled his eyes; it figured that Davis would go along with anything Kari said.

"How can we stop it?" Yolei asked. "We don't have any choice but to..."

"Yolei!" Hawkmon squawked.

T.K.'s stomach flip-flopped. That had to be a bad sign.

He looked toward the digimon, who was dashing across the room, wings spread. Then, he heard Ken gasp, and looked past Hawkmon.

The walls were dissolving.

"Shit," Davis exclaimed.

T.K. silently echoed the sentiment.

"Well, I guess trying to escape is out," Kari said.

"Do you think that's what's going to happen to us?" Patamon asked in a tiny voice.

"I imagine if that were the goal, there are faster and easier ways to reach it," Ken said.

"You think maybe this is just to scare us?" Yolei asked hopefully.

In a very low voice, Ken said, "That's what I would have done."

T.K. grimaced; this probably wasn't the best time for Ken to have reminded them of his stint as the Digimon Emperor. On the other hand, if Ken had any insights...

"What else would you have done?" he asked.

Ken stiffened, looking like he regretted the comment.

"Seriously, Ken," T.K. pressed. "You're the only one with any insight into this."

Ken swallowed, once again looking like he might pass out. Then he whispered, "If this is a trap that was set for us, as opposed to us tripping some kind of booby trap, it's very elaborate. Just killing us would be..." He hesitated, then shrugged. "Anticlimactic."

"Okay, I can see that," T.K. agreed carefully, hoping to encourage him.

"My guess would be that we're going to be imprisoned," Ken continued, "and that the sound, the flickering light, the dissolving walls, are all to demoralize us." He smiled weakly. "Of course, if it's a booby trap, all bets are off."

"Of course."

"So we should be hoping someone's trying to catch us?" Davis asked.

"And, that that someone thinks like Ken," Kari added.

"At least, if Ken's right, there's no reason to panic," T.K. said.

"What if it's a booby trap?" Yolei asked.

"It's a little too late to worry about that," T.K. replied.

"He means we're screwed," Davis said.

"Potentially, it could mean we're about to find out who's really been behind everything," Ken offered quietly.

"I hadn't thought of that," T.K. said.

"Are we ready?" Kari asked.

"Probably not." T.K. grinned. "Then again, we probably weren't ready to face the Dark Masters, either, and we got through that."

Kari made a face. "Barely."

"Well, we don't have much choice in the matter," Patamon pointed out, "so we might as well make the best of it."

"Yeah, and that noise is finally stopping," Veemon said, his relief obvious. "Things have to be looking up."

"Famous last words," Gatomon grumbled.

"Not to put a damper on things," Hawkmon said, "but whatever happened to the walls is starting on the floor."

T.K. grimaced. Oddly, although the walls were gone, they couldn't see what was outside, only a grey haze, which was rapidly devouring the floor. "Stick close everyone."

Kari moved a little closer to him, as did Yolei and Cody. Only Davis and Ken remained where they stood, Davis with a scowl on his face, Ken's gaze fixed on the approaching haze.

The sound died completely, leaving an eerie silence behind. The outer edge of the circle vanished, swirling away like fog in the wind.

"Get ready," Gatomon said softly, backing up against Kari's legs, her eyes narrowed.

T.K. took a deep breath, trying to fight nervousness. In his arms, Patamon shifted. Cold air wrapped around him; he wanted to shiver, but he couldn't move. In fact, for a few moments it seemed like everything was frozen: the Digidestined, the digimon, even the dissolving floor. Then, with a jolt, everything went black.

---

T.K. moaned as consciousness made his head pound. For a moment, he didn't know where he was, or why, and he didn't really care; he only wanted his head to stop aching.

A whimper reached him. Patamon. With another moan, T.K. forced his eyes open, blinking several times to try and focus his eyes in the dim light. His digimon was half sitting up a few inches away, rubbing his head with one front paw.

"Patamon?" T.K. asked in a raspy voice. He swallowed, grimacing as he realized the air around them reeked, and pushed himself up on one elbow. "You okay?"

"I guess," Patamon replied. "You?"

"Yeah." T.K. rubbed his eyes and sat all the way up, looking around. The others were scattered around him, and he realized with relief that they were beginning to stir, as well.

He reached out to Kari, who was the closest, and shook her shoulder lightly. "Hey, Kari, can you hear me?"

Kari groaned. "Go away."

"Are we dead?" Gatomon asked from Kari's feet.

"Nope. Apparently, Ken was at least half right. Whoever set that trap didn't do it to kill us."

"They didn't do it to capture us, either," Cody said. "At least, if they did, this is the strangest prison I've ever seen."

"You can say that again," Armadillomon agreed.

"Daaaannnng," Davis breathed, sitting up and pulling Veemon into a sitting position, as well.

One by one, the Digidestined and their digimon climbed to their feet, all wearing varying expressions of shock and horror as they took in the black, roiling sky overhead, the scorched earth around them, the sulfurous flames shooting up in the distance. Unconsciously, they all grouped closer together, even Ken and Wormmon moving in with the others.

"Where the heck are we?" Davis asked, turning in a full circle to look at the devastated landscape around them.

"No place I've ever seen," T.K. said.

"In our world or the Digital World," Kari agreed.

Yolei shivered. "It gives me the creeps."

"Me too," Armadillomon agreed.

"We're all still in our rookie forms," Hawkmon observed, "so it's safe to assume this is the Digital World."

"But what happened to it?" Ken asked. "There was no place in the Digital World that looked like this."

"If there were, I'm sure you'd be responsible," Cody muttered.

Ken stiffened, but said evenly, "You're right, I would be. But I'm not."

"I'm scared," Wormmon muttered, hurrying closer to Ken and leaning against his leg. "There's something..."

Davis smirked, opening his mouth to comment.

"Wormmon's right," Kari said, before he could say anything. "Can you feel it?"

"The only thing I feel is sand in my fur," Gatomon said, rubbing her arms. "It itches."

"I don't think that's sand, Gatomon."

"You don't? Then I hope it's not fleas."

T.K. shook his head. "I think she means you're feeling whatever it is she's feeling."

Gatomon paused, considering. "Well, I guess that's better than fleas."

"Depending on what it is we're sensing," Kari said.

"I think I sense it, too," T.K. said.

Veemon shuddered. "Do you think it's catching?" he asked. "'Cause I just got a bad case of the creeps."

Ken raised his head, staring fixedly toward the horizon. "I think whatever it is, is coming closer."

At his words, the others all followed his gaze. It was hard to tell, with the sky already so dark, the black clouds churning and roiling endlessly, but T.K. thought there was something darker in the clouds, coming closer at a frightening speed.

"What is it?" Davis asked; T.K. felt no relief that the others saw it, as well.

"Big," Cody replied succinctly.

"Might I suggest that we look for shelter?" Hawkmon asked.

"I don't think there's time," Ken said.

"Yeah. The middle of a flat, desolate wasteland doesn't offer a lot of hiding places," Davis agreed.

"Not to mention that thing could probably track us down wherever we went," Gatomon pointed out.

Kari glanced down at her with a frown. "What makes you say that?"

"Do you think it's just a coincidence that we got a welcoming committee five minutes after we landed?"

"Good point," T.K. said. "Be ready, everyone."

"Who put you in charge?" Davis protested.

"It's a good thing someone with brains is taking charge," Yolei quipped.

"Hey..."

"Knock it off," T.K. ordered, more than a little uncomfortable that Yolei had jumped to his defense, given her track record with guys; he didn't know that he wanted to be the next one she set her sights on. Actually, he did know that he definitely didn't want to be in that position, and he edged a little farther away from her, just in case.

"Does anyone else think we should digivolve?" Veemon asked.

Gatomon nodded. "Sounds good to me."

"Me, too," Armadillomon agreed.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Ken said.

"Why not?" Cody challenged.

T.K. sighed; the constant suspicion toward Ken was starting to get on his nerves, even if he wasn't entirely certain how much he trusted the former Digimon Emperor. "I'm with Ken on this one," he said. "If you guys digivolve now, it might start trouble we could have avoided."

"Not to mention alerting whatever's out there of your capabilities," Ken added. "We're probably better off if your digivolutions are a surprise."

"Assuming we can digivolve," Gatomon said. "We could be just as stuck as we were around the control spires."

"She's got a point," Kari observed.

"Heck of a thing to find out while we're in the middle of getting trounced," Veemon said. "Don't you think?"

"Now does anyone want to look for shelter?" Hawkmon asked dryly.

Feeling a little sick, T.K. admitted, "Maybe we should make sure..."

"Hah!" Davis interrupted. "See what happens when you put J.D. in charge?"

"Davis, shut up and digivolve," Yolei snapped, pulling her D-3 out. "Digiarmor, energize!"

Light immediately engulfed the device, and the Digiegg of Love emerged from the glow, fully materializing as it moved toward Hawkmon.

Sounding a little startled by the abrupt appearance of the Digiegg, Hawkmon squawked, "Hawkmon armor digivolve to..." His voice changed, deepening as the transformation took effect, and he finished, "Halsemon."

"Why armor digivolve?" Davis asked. "Let's do it, Veemon!"

"No," T.K. said. "We know armor digivolving works; we'll stick to that for now."

"Who put you in charge, T.P.?" Davis challenged.

"T.K.'s right," Cody said. "We should play it safe." He pulled out his own D-3. "Digiarmor energize!"

While Armadillomon armor digivolved to Digmon, T.K. kept his gaze locked on Davis. He had no doubt the other boy would try to get Veemon to digivolve to champion given half a chance, and although he couldn't explain it, the idea made him nervous.

Probably nothing, he thought, just an extension of the creepy feeling we're all getting. But why take chances?

Davis, of course, was the type to take chances just because the rest of them were opposed to it.

To T.K.'s surprise, Veemon tugged at Davis' jacket. "Come on, Davis, just digivolve me to Flamedramon already."

With obvious reluctance, Davis dropped his gaze from T.K.'s and pulled out his D-3. "Fine," he grumbled. "Digiarmor, energize."

T.K. sighed with relief, and pulled out his own D-3, then let go of Patamon. Before he triggered the digivolution, though, he noticed Ken and Wormmon, standing uncertainly off to the side.

"What's wrong?" he asked, while Veemon and Gatomon digivolved to Flamedramon and Nefertimon.

"What should we do?" Ken asked quietly.

T.K. blinked, belatedly realizing that Wormmon didn't have an armor digivolution. That didn't make him any more eager to have one of their number  digivolve without the support of the digiarmor, though. "I guess just sit this one out unless we get desperate," he said finally.

Ken nodded, his expression unreadable, and T.K. turned his attention to Patamon. "Digiarmor, energize!"

With a burst of light, Patamon digivolved to Pegasusmon. In unspoken accord, the five armor digivolved digimon arranged themselves on either side of the group.

T.K. looked up, searching the sky for the darkness they had seen approaching. It wasn't hard to spot, now; it was much closer, and the clouds were parting from the force of it's massive wings.

"Wow," Davis said, his voice subdued.

"It's definitely big," Kari whispered.

"Yeah. Bigger than Venommyotismon," T.K. agreed.

"We aren't ready for this," Kari said. "Not even close."

Privately, T.K. agreed, but he didn't say anything. He was too busy watching the creature approach.

It was...dark. Not just black; it seemed to absorb what little light there was. Massive batwings held it aloft; a thick, spiked tail lashed the air. The body was like a minotaur's, but with slick, glistening scales covering the legs instead of fur, and duller, but equally black, skin covering the rest of its body. The head was reptilian, with two glowing red eyes glaring out above a jutting, sharp-toothed muzzle.

He shuddered. There was no mistaking it for anything but evil.

---

Kari held her breath as the monster circled above them, like a vulture. It made her skin crawl; a few feet away, Nefertimon shifted restlessly, and she knew her digimon felt it as well. She had never felt anything like this before, not when they faced Venommyotismon, not when they faced the Dark Masters, not even when they were nearly killed by Apocolymon.

"Who intrudes?" it rumbled, its voice so deep that she seemed to feel the words rather than hear them.

No one answered; not even Davis was crazy enough to say anything.

It circled lower, then landed in front of them, its wings sending up clouds of sand and grit. It dwarfed them, and Kari wondered if it would swat them or step on them.

"Who intrudes?" it asked again.

"Forgive us."

Kari tore her eyes away from the monster, looking toward Ken in shock. He had moved to the front of the group, Wormmon still cradled in his arms. He bowed his head respectfully. "We did not mean to intrude. We were brought here against our will."

The creature grunted. "You will leave."

"We don't know how."

"You will leave!" it roared.

One massive hand swung down to strike the ground. The force of the impact threw Ken backward and staggered the rest of them; reflexively, their digimon moved to attack. The monster was struck simultaneously by multiple attacks; bellowing, it stretched to its full height, spreading its wings, seemingly unhurt.

"This is gonna be bad!" Davis yelled.

The words were barely out of his mouth when the creature's wings swept forward, creating a violent gust of wind that threw them all back. Kari was vaguely aware of cries from the others, cries from their digimon; blinded by sand, she couldn't be sure what was happening to them. She tried to shout for T.K., but sand choked her; she doubled over, coughing helplessly.

Another roar from the monster washed over them, this one accompanied by a cry of pain from Digmon. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she looked up in time to see him digivolve back to his rookie form. Nefertimon...was down, she realized, knocked from the sky by the wind along with Halsemon and Pegasusmon. Only Flamedramon was left, stubbornly climbing back to his feet to face the thing.

"Flamedramon, be careful!" Davis shouted.

Flamedramon didn't seem to hear him. "Fire rocket!"

The attack streaked toward the monster; oily smoke rose from where the fire impacted the dark scales. Staggering to her feet, Kari was about to congratulate Davis when the monster lashed out at Flamedramon, sending him flying, digivolving back to Veemon.

"Veemon!" Davis yelled, lunging to his feet.

Kari staggered up, catching his arm before he could do something stupid. "You can't do him any good if you get flattened!"

"But..."

"Kari's right," T.K. said, planting himself between Davis and Veemon. "Hopefully, it'll ignore him like it's ignoring Armadillomon."

"And if it doesn't?" Davis snapped angrily.

He was really worried, Kari realized; so upset that he was shaking. She tugged at his arm. "The fliers are going to be drawing its attention," she said, pointing to where Nefertimon and Halsemon were already on their feet, preparing to take to the air. Pegasusmon, although moving, wasn't up yet. "It's not going to have any time to worry about a couple of rookies."

"I guess," Davis said, sounding unconvinced. He ducked his head, scuffing the sand with the toe of his shoe, obviously displeased. "It just doesn't seem fair to leave them out there."

Behind Davis, Yolei climbed to her feet, her gaze locked on the digimon. "Davis!" she exclaimed. "It looks like you don't have to worry."

Davis, Kari, and T.K. all looked over. Nefertimon was flying ahead of Halsemon, holding the monster's attention. Then Halsemon banked away, diving toward Armadillomon and snatching him up in his front talons. Skimming just above the sand, Halsemon flew toward the Digidestined, pausing long enough to deposit Armadillomon near Cody before turning back to retrieve Veemon.

---

Ken picked himself off the sand, reflexively holding his left arm. He'd landed on it when he was first knocked down, then twisted it when the wind from the monsters wings had flipped him over. it hurt, but he didn't think it was badly injured.

The other Digidestined had already gathered together, anxiously watching the fight. A part of him wanted to join them...but, he was useless to them. He didn't even dare let his digimon digivolve.

Not that he wanted Wormmon near that thing.

Instead of joining the others, he made his way across the sand to where his digimon had landed; he had lost his grip on Wormmon when he had fallen, and the small, light-weight digimon had been blown several feet by the subsequent gust of wind. "Are you all right?" he asked, dropping to one knee by Wormmon's side, and gently brushing away dust with his good hand.

"I'm fine," Wormmon assured him.

"Are you sure?" Ken pressed; sometimes, he didn't think Wormmon would tell him the truth, just to keep him from worrying.

"Well, that's not to say I haven't been better," the little digimon conceded. "But I'm not hurt." He looked rather pointedly at Ken's injured arm.

Gingerly, Ken flexed his elbow; it hurt, but didn't feel like anything was broken. "I'll live."

"If you're hurt, you should tell the others."

"Why?" Ken asked bluntly. "There's nothing they can do." He didn't add what he was thinking: that they probably wouldn't care.

"At least let's go over by them," Wormmon urged.

"Come here, then."

"You're hurt; you don't need to carry me."

"If that thing uses its wings again, you're likely to go flying to the far ends of the Digital World," Ken said lightly. "Do you really think I want to have to track you down? Besides, I only need one arm to carry you."

Over Wormmon's protests, he scooped the small bug up, cradling him against his chest. It made him feel a little better, and he wished that Wormmon could also make him feel comfortable around the other Digidestined.

---

Halsemon deposited Veemon beside Davis, then once again turned back toward the giant monster. Pegasusmon had joined Nefertimon in fighting the thing, and a constant barrage of attacks was keeping it distracted, even if they weren't doing much damage.

"You okay, Veemon?" he asked, propping the digimon up against him.

"I'm sorry, Davis," Veemon said.

"No way, man. Nobody's making a dent in that thing."

"We need to contain it somehow," Cody suggested.

"Or distract it," Ken offered in a quiet voice.

Davis looked up; he hadn't even noticed that Ken and Cody had joined the rest of them. "I don't suppose either of you brainiacs has any ideas how to do that."

Kari cocked her head, and Davis immediately forgot who he'd been talking to. "What do you think, T.K.?" she asked, promptly breaking his mood. "Can Nefertimon and Pegasusmon hold it long enough for us to get away?"

"I doubt it," T.K. replied, "but I guess it's worth a try."

Davis mimicked the other boy under his breath, then asked, "What are we going to do if it works? Or, more importantly, if it doesn't?"

"Pick a direction and run?" Yolei suggested.

"How long do you think it'll take that thing to catch us?" Davis retorted. "Especially with two downed digimon."

"Nefertimon can carry two if she needs to," Kari said. "I guess Halsemon and Pegasusmon can, too."

"I'll ride with Kari," Davis said immediately.

"Grow up, Davis," Yolei said, then promptly added, "You can ride with me, Ken."

"That's probably for the best," T.K. said. "Cody's the lightest of us, and Armadillomon is the heaviest of the digimon, so it should balance out."

 Davis grinned. "Great!"

"Everyone be ready," T.K. said. He cupped his hands around his mouth, and yelled, "Pegasusmon! Try to contain that thing, then get over here!"

Davis saw Pegasusmon glance over at his Digidestined, then toss his head. "Nefertimon!" he shouted.

She veered toward him, in the kind of unspoken understanding which, Davis knew, made Veemon jealous whenever he saw it, even though Davis had explained it was only because they had known each other so long. Davis could sympathize; he felt that way whenever T.K. and Kari started reminiscing about their first trip to the Digital World. Leaning down, he whispered, "Look at the bright side; at least we're getting to ride with Kari."

"True," Veemon sighed.

"So cheer up," Davis advised, pulling Veemon to his feet as he rose. "You're not going to impress anyone just sitting on your butt."

---

Cody got his dazed digimon on his feet and urged him toward T.K., so they would be ready when the flying digimon came to pick them all up. Davis, predictably, had already practically glued himself to Kari, and Yolei was standing near enough to Ken to make the former Digimon Emperor look uncomfortable.

The youngest Digidestined shook his head in confusion. Yolei still wasn't entirely certain of Ken -- he knew that, because they sometimes discussed him when they were alone together -- and yet, she had immediately claimed him to join her on Halsemon. It was like...a reflex, he decided. Apparently, in spite of her efforts not to judge people by appearances, part of her brain still shut down at the prospect of being close to what she considered a "cute boy".

Which, from what he'd observed, included pretty much every male between twelve and twenty in Japan...possibly the world.

He just wished it didn't include Ken. At least, not until they were sure he could be trusted, and in Cody's opinion, that was a long-shot. Real change took time. No one took that much pleasure in the suffering of other beings, and then just stopped. It didn't make sense. It would be like...like Yolei not falling for every cute boy she saw, just because she said she was going to stop.

"You okay, Cody?" T.K. asked, breaking in to his thoughts.

"Just thinking."

"Don't get too lost in thought; Pegasusmon and Nefertimon are going to wrap that thing up any time now."

Cody nodded. The two digimon were almost in position, working their way behind the monster so that, when they struck with Golden Noose, they would partially wrap it in its own wings. It was a good strategy, assuming the wings alone weren't strong enough to break free of the energy band.

"Do you think you can get up on Pegasusmon's back?" Cody asked Armadillomon.

"If that thing's coming after me, I can."

"Get ready, then," Cody said, as the golden energy formed between the two digimon.

They veered apart, the band lengthening to keep them connected, and then, in a smoothly executed maneuver, they circled the monster, dragging its wings forward to pin its arms. Nefertimon dove; Pegasusmon angled up. They crossed in front of the monster, then circled it again, double wrapping it before releasing the attack and chasing Halsemon toward the small group of Digidestined.

Behind them, the monster howled. Smoke rose where the Golden Noose touched it. Cody gulped, realizing that, even at this distance, he could hear sizzling.

"Gross!" Davis exclaimed, although Cody thought he sounded more excited than disgusted.

The monster was bellowing and thrashing. "Who dares?" it roared. "Who brings Light into this realm? Who challenges the King of Hell?"

"King of Hell?" T.K. muttered worriedly.

"I think we made it mad!" Yolei yelped.

"I think Golden Noose isn't going to hold much longer!" Kari shouted. "Hurry up, Nefertimon!"

"Yeah, come on, Halsemon!"

Moments later, they arrived, Halsemon hitting the ground first. He skidded to a halt in a spray of sand; Yolei was scrambling onto his back even before he had completely stopped.

Then Pegasusmon made an equally inelegant landing in front of him, and Cody was thoroughly involved in getting himself and his digimon onto his back.

---

Yolei settled onto Halsemon's back and reached down to take Wormmon from Ken. She hadn't missed the way he was favoring his left arm, and she wasn't entirely sure he could mount even without the encumbrance of his digimon. Setting Wormmon on her lap, she reached down again, this time pulling Ken up behind her, then hastily handed Wormmon to his partner.

"Go, Halsemon!" she shouted. "Go!"

He obeyed, jumping skyward. Nefertimon had made it airborne a moment before him; she soared ahead, picking the direction of their panicked flight. Yolei glanced around, trying not to notice that Halsemon was flying faster than he ever had before, at least when she was on his back, and finally spotted Pegasusmon slightly behind and to her right.

Okay, this is good, we're all safe, she thought. We're going to go home, and we'll probably look back on this and laugh. She rolled her eyes at the hopeful thought. Yeah, right. In about twenty years after major therapy.

There was a sound behind them; Yolei didn't look, but the monster's howl of triumph told her it had broken free. She closed her eyes, muttering softly, "We are not gonna die, we are not gonna die, we are not gonna die..."

---

Over the rush of the wind, Ken heard the monster's roar of freedom. He held Wormmon a little tighter, bent a little lower over Halsemon's back in hopes of allowing the digimon to move faster. Faintly, he could hear Yolei chanting that they weren't going to die; he wondered if that could qualify as a prayer.

He hoped so. They were certainly going to need some sort of divine intervention to get out of this.

Behind them, another roar, closer this time. And then, wind, tossing the digimon about like leaves in a storm. Time slowed. Ken slipped, felt himself falling, tried desperately to grab Halsemon with his left hand while keeping hold of Wormmon with his right, screamed as it felt like his arm was being torn apart at the elbow. He released Wormmon, hoping that the small digimon would at least be able to hang on to Halsemon's back.

"Ken!" Wormmon cried, trying to catch Ken's hand with his stubby front legs.

Yolei glanced back, echoing Wormmon's cry. She started to reach for him, but the wind forced her to cling to Halsemon instead.

Ken realized he was completely off Halsemon. It all seemed surreal; he wondered how far off the ground they actually were. And then, with a rush of horror he didn't understand, he heard, "Wormmon digivolve to...

"Waspmon."

He caught a glimpse of what Wormmon had become: bigger than Stingmon, vastly more buglike, carapace red instead of the familiar green. Then he struck...not the ground...warm, furry...

"Pegasusmon?" he gasped, as Armadillomon firmly grasped his shirt and dragged him more fully onto Pegasusmon's broad back.

"You okay, Ken?" T.K. shouted over his shoulder.

Ken ignored him, twisting his head around to look at Waspmon. He didn't know what had happened. Stingmon was Wormmon's champion level, and there was no reason to believe he had digivolved higher than that, so what was Waspmon?

Part of the answer came in the form of Waspmon's ruthless assault on the monster. He'd seen that kind of intensity before, but he couldn't quite remember when, or where.

"Tornado Wing!" Waspmon bellowed. A series of whirlwinds shot from his wings, half a dozen of them, spreading out so the creature couldn't hope to dodge, sucking up sand and debris. They were moving toward the monster chasing them, but Pegasusmon slowed noticeably as the wind they created pulled at him.

The monster staggered under the onslaught, and Waspmon aimed his wicked-looking stinger at it. "Paralyzing Stinger! Acid Venom!"

A bolt of dark red energy shot from the barbed stinger; the monster groaned and sank to one knee, then struggled upright again just as Waspmon spat a thick red liquid into its eyes. It screamed, clawing at its face.

"Paralyzing Stinger!" Waspmon called again.

The monster lunged toward him clumsily, striking out with one clawed hand, and the Paralyzing Stinger struck it in the arm, which fell limp at its side.

"Acid Tornado!"

Again the whirlwinds, this time carrying the viscous red liquid. They wrapped around the monster; still blinded, it staggered back, falling under the onslaught.

From up ahead, on Nefertimon, Ken heard Davis cheer.

Then Waspmon turned toward them. The oversize mandibles clicked once, twice.

"Tornado Wing!"

"Dive!" Ken shouted, as the whirlwinds arrowed toward them.

Pegasusmon obeyed without question, and Ken had to turn forward and cling to Armadillomon, who was, in turn, clinging with all four legs to Pegasusmon. The whirlwinds got closer; Ken could feel the wind pulling at him, threatening to drag him off Pegasusmon, more of a danger that their steep dive. He hoped the others had noticed, and were heading for the dubious safety of the ground as well.

They hit the ground hard in spite of the softness of the sand, and Pegasusmon stumbled to his knees while the humans and Armadillomon scrambled off.

"Get down!" Pegasusmon commanded, folding his hind legs beneath him. "Use me for shelter until those whirlwinds die down."

"The others..." T.K. began as they knelt behind the equine digimon.

"I saw Halsemon land," Pegasusmon assured him. He raised his head, ears pricked. "Nefertimon is down, too."

"What happened?" Cody asked.

Ken gulped. "Wormmon. He...he digivolved."

"Into that?" T.K. gasped.

Silently, Ken nodded. His throat ached, and he leaned his forehead against Pegasusmon's side.

"Acid Venom!"

Ken's head snapped up; Waspmon was almost directly above them.

"Tempest Wing!"

Halsemon's attack came from their left, striking the thick venom and knocking it away. Waspmon turned toward him. "Paralyzing Stinger!"

Halsemon tried to jump out of the way, but was a heartbeat too slow; the beam struck his flank, and he fell, his hind legs collapsing. A moment later, he digivolved back to Hawkmon.

"Rosetta Stone!"

"Fire Rocket!"

"Tornado Wing!"

The three attacks slammed into each other almost overhead; humans and digimon scattered as rock and flaming debris were scattered by the collapsing whirlwinds. Pegasusmon leapt skyward.

"Star Shower!"

The energy stars struck Waspmon in several spots, flaring against his exoskeleton before dying. Waspmon lurched, then recovered.

"Acid Tornado!"

Pegasusmon managed to dodge the attack, while the humans were once again forced to scatter. Cody and Armadillomon got behind the battle, allowing Armadillomon time to armor digivolve to Digmon.

"Gold Rush!"

The attack caught Waspmon by surprise, striking him between his wings. Ken gasped. "Wormmon!"

A part of him hoped the digimon was unharmed; another part hoped he would be weakened enough to revert to his rookie form. Instead, Waspmon lurched back to his feet, then launched into the air again. Whirling toward Digmon, he bellowed, "Acid Venom!"

Digmon leapt one way, Cody the other. Without waiting, Waspmon flew higher, turning back toward the other digimon. "Tornado Wing!"

"Wormmon, no!" Ken yelled. "Please, I know you're still in there. You can't hurt them." He swallowed hard; Nefertimon was in the air, preparing to attack; Flamedramon and Digmon were repositioning to attack from opposite sides. "You'd never forgive yourself. Wormmon, please. Remember who you are!"

"Fire Rocket!"

"Gold Rush!"

"Cat's Eye Beam!"

"Equus Beam!"

Four attacks closed in on his digimon. Ken screamed; he wasn't even sure what he screamed.  Waspmon darted upward, out of the line of the energy attacks. "Tornado Wing!"

Six...ten...a dozen whirlwinds sped out from his body, this time in a complete circle. Three of them collapsed as they encountered Digmon and Flamedramon's attacks; the other nine continued outward, threatening the Digidestined and their digimon. They tried to dodge, but there were too many, sucking the airborne digimon toward them, kicking up sand and crosswinds that blinded and tugged at them all.

Ken didn't move. Through the dust, he saw Nefertimon dragged in by one of the whirlwinds and tossed to the ground. Flamedramon threw himself over Davis and Kari to protect them, only to be knocked aside by Pegasusmon as he was flung down as well. A near-miss by one of the whirlwinds still threw T.K. several feet. Digmon was sucked up into one of the things, lifted twenty or thirty feet into the air, then thrown aside.

Through it all, Ken stood motionless, his full attention on Waspmon. With most of the others down, the digimon turned to face Ken.

As calmly as he could, Ken said, "Wormmon, I know you won't hurt me. You're my friend." Slowly, he took a step forward, reaching out with his good hand. "You're my only friend. You stuck by me through everything. Even when I didn't deserve you." Tears blurred his eyes as he remembered the pain of thinking Wormmon was dead. In spite of himself, a quiet sob escaped. "You came back to me before. Please, come back to me now."

For an agonizing moment, there was silence; the ache in Ken's chest grew, tears blinding him. Then, he heard the sound of something small striking the sand.

"Ken?"

He tried to blink away the tears, but instead, more came, streaming down his face. He stumbled forward, dropping to his knees, gathering Wormmon into his arms heedless of the pain. Unbidden, the memory of cradling Wormmon's dying body in his arms rose in his mind, and he demanded, "Are you all right? Please tell me you're all right."

"What happened?" Wormmon asked, sounding dazed. "Did I do...something bad?"

"It wasn't you," Ken assured him.

"I felt you," Wormmon continued. "I felt your heart, calling me."

"Shhh. Just tell me you're all right."

"I...think...I am." Wormmon paused. "I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

"It wasn't you. It was...this place. This place is like a living nightmare. But you wouldn't hurt anyone, Wormmon."

"But, I did," the little Digimon said in a heavy voice. After a pained pause, he asked, "Didn't I?"

Ken looked away, clutching Wormmon closer to his chest. "It wasn't you," he whispered through tears.

"What did I do, Ken?" the insect digimon insisted fearfully. He twisted around in Ken's arms to peer at the others. "Did I hurt anyone? What did I do?"

"You were awesome!" replied Veemon, bounding over enthusiastically.

Wormmon looked over with heavy eyes, then back at Ken with question. "I...was?"

"Could you just shut up about it?" Ken found himself shouting at Veemon. This wasn't something Wormmon needed to hear. Not now...maybe not ever.

Veemon looked at him in genuine confusion. "But he..."

"I said shut up!"

"Hey, leave Veemon alone!" Davis protested.

Ken bowed his head. The others were converging on him, and he didn't think they were going to let him protect Wormmon from what had happened.

"What did I do?" Wormmon asked again.

"Nothing."

"Ken?" T.K. asked. "Are you okay?"

Ken ignored him. He wished they'd all just go away. He wished he hadn't run into them today at all. He wished he'd never heard of the Digital World!

No, that wasn't true. If he'd never heard of the Digital World, he wouldn't have Wormmon, and he'd be completely alone.

"Ken?" T.K. repeated.

"Leave us alone."

"We can't; we're all in this together. Now, come on," T.K. urged. "We have to get out of here before that King of Hell guy comes after us again."

 "The king of hell?" Davis laughed, as if he'd just heard the name. "Hey, maybe we should call him dee-mon." He nudged Veemon, who obediently joined his laughter. "Get it? Dee-mon?"

"This isn't funny, Davis," T.K. said sharply.

"Get a life, T.B. It's not like there's anything we can do but deal with this; we might as well have some fun."

"How can you think of fun at a time like this?" Kari demanded.

"You guys are always such downers," Davis complained, and Ken hugged Wormmon closer, praying their attention would be diverted from him. "Why can't you ever just go with the flow?"

"The flow?" Yolei demanded. "The flow is going to get us all killed, you little twerp!"

"Now Yolei, calm down," Hawkmon said. "Davis is just trying to lighten the mood a bit."

"I think Yolei's right," Cody said. "Davis is taking this a little too lightly."

"Well, I can't say I like the idea of being in hell all that much," Armadillomon said, "but on the other hand, I don't know that letting Big-and-Uglymon intimidate us is gonna get us any closer to home."

"This isn't hell," Gatomon said. She was pacing restlessly around the group, her expression troubled. "This is still the Digital World. It just looks like hell."

"And feels like hell," Wormmon whispered, almost too softly to be heard.

"It's going to be okay," Ken assured him.

"How can you say that?" Cody demanded harshly. "You saw what Wormmon became."

Ken felt Wormmon cringe.

"Back off, Cody," T.K. said quietly. "That wasn't their fault."

"Are you sure?" Cody asked. "How do we know it's not something about Ken that caused it? When he was controlling Greymon, he digivolved into Skullgreymon. Maybe..."

"I said, it's not their fault," T.K. interrupted. "That wasn't because of Ken; the same thing happened to Tai and Greymon, once. And this isn't because of Ken, either; it's because of this place."

"I think T.K.'s right," Kari said. "We all felt it when we got here. Now, we just know why we didn't think we should let our digimon digivolve on their own." She knelt beside him, and Ken felt her light touch on his back. "Come on, Ken. T.K. was right that we have to get out of here."

Yolei knelt on his other side. "I know you're hurt," she said with surprising gentleness. "Why don't you let me hold Wormmon?"

Ken frowned. He didn't understand it; Davis, he could see offering him some sort of comfort, but T.K.? Kari and Yolei? Why did any of them care? Especially when his digimon had turned into...into the sort of monster the Digimon Emperor would have been proud to control.

Maybe Cody was more right about what had happened than any of them wanted to admit.

"What do you say, Ken?" Yolei asked.

Ken glanced at her uncertainly. "Is Hawkmon..."

"Oh, he's fine."

Wormmon shuddered. "Please tell me what I did," he begged.

Yolei stroked the top of his head. "Well, for starters you got that monster to stop chasing us."

"I did?"

"You were awesome!" Veemon enthused. "Waspmon kicked all our butts!"

"Way to put your foot in it, Veemon," Davis said, as Wormmon huddled in on himself.

"Well, he did!"

"I think this is a subject we need to drop for a while," T.K. said. "Right now, we need to find shelter, and make sure Ken's okay." He reached down, gently unwrapping Ken's left arm from around Wormmon; reminded of his injury, Ken had to bite back a cry of pain.

The physical pain, though, was not as horrible as the ache of having Wormmon taken from him, and he finally looked up. "Please..."

"Don't worry," T.K. assured him. With Wormmon carefully held in one arm, T.K. reached down with his free hand and grasped Ken's right arm, pulling him to his feet. Glancing at Patamon, who was flying around overhead, he asked, "Think you're up to one more digivolve today, partner?"

"I think so."

"Nefertimon and I thought we saw some trees before that monster caught up with us," Kari offered. "With any luck, the digimon will have the energy to get there."

"I'll ride with Kari," Davis said immediately.

"You can come with me," T.K. said to Ken.

"Are you sure?" Ken asked.

"Sure I'm sure."

"But what if..." Ken began, then stopped, his gaze falling to Wormmon. He couldn't voice his fears that, perhaps, Cody was the most correct about what had happened. Not in front of Wormmon.

---

T.K. frowned. He didn't like the way Ken was acting. It could just be shock over what had happened, but it could mean Ken was hurt worse than he realized. And, either way, it wasn't good.

Wormmon didn't seem to be doing all that well, either; T.K. could feel the little guy trembling in his hold. As soon as he had Ken on his feet, and steady enough to release, he began rubbing the rookie's head reassuringly, just as he would have done with Patamon.

"Come on," he said, pausing in his reassurance of the digimon to pull Ken after him. Carefully, because he wasn't entirely sure Ken wouldn't topple over if he moved too abruptly. The former Digimon Emperor was trembling too, he realized, and he didn't think it had anything to do with the pain Ken was obviously in.

He glanced at Kari. Not surprisingly, she looked over at the same time, her expression mirroring the worry he felt.

"Watch him," he mouthed silently.

She nodded, once again lightly resting a hand on Ken's back. Satisfied, T.K. turned toward Patamon again, taking his digivice in his free hand. "Digiarmor, energize!"

Once again, Patamon digivolved, although Pegasusmon was visibly tired. Feeling guilty about asking the digimon to do more than he already had, T.K. patted his shoulder and asked, "You sure you're okay?"

Pegasusmon turned his head, nuzzling T.K.'s shoulder. "I'm fine, T.K."

"All right, then." T.K. turned, just as Kari gently propelled Ken to Pegasusmon's side. "Are you gonna be able to mount okay?"

Ken nodded mutely, managing to mount with a minimum of trouble, although T.K. noticed that his face, already pale, managed to pale further when he bumped his arm. He frowned, struck by the horrible idea that Ken might pass out while they were aloft...but, they couldn't very well stay here, in the middle of nowhere. Not when that monster, the King of Hell, whatever it was, was still out there.

With a troubled sigh, he handed Wormmon up to Ken, then pulled himself up onto Pegasusmon in front of the other boy. He waited while Gatomon digivolved to Nefertimon, and Hawkmon digivolved to Halsemon, then, with a lunge, Pegasusmon took to the sky.

---

 "So, what do you think?" Cody asked, leaning close against Yolei's back so she could hear him.

"About what?" she shouted over her shoulder.

"Waspmon."

"I think T.K. was right," she replied.

Cody frowned. "Why? We know Ken's taste in digimon from Chimeramon; Waspmon definitely fit the bill better than Stingmon ever has."

"When Wormmon digivolved, Ken wasn't plotting to take over the Digital World, Cody," Yolei said impatiently. "He was pretty much just waiting to go splat."

"But how can we be sure?" Cody persisted.

"Would you have time for some kind of evil plan when you'd just fallen off a speeding digimon?"

"Maybe it was something he planned for when he was still the Digimon Emperor."

"As I recall, he didn't seem any too impressed with Wormmon back then," Armadillomon observed from his perch behind Cody. "Don't even think he let him digivolve, or we probably would've seen Stingmon a lot earlier."

"Unless he was holding him back until he'd digivolve into Waspmon instead."

"Cody, get a grip!" Yolei exclaimed. "T.K. and Kari wanted everyone to armor digivolve from the beginning, remember? And you saw that...thing...that greeted us. I'd say it's way more likely that Waspmon was an accident, than some weird plan of Ken's."

"Maybe," Cody conceded.

"I know I don't feel like digivolving to Ankylomon after that. Or, whatever I'd wind up as," Armadillomon said. "And this place gave me the willies before that."

Cody sighed; he was obviously in the minority on this subject, so he let it drop. He just hoped the others were right, and they weren't all heading, eyes shut, into a colossal trap.

---

 "There you go, Ken," Kari said, tying off the ends of the makeshift sling supporting Ken's left arm.

"Thanks," he said reflexively, his slightly unfocused gaze on the ground beside her. His right hand stroked Wormmon, who was curled in his lap, the motion as automatic and mechanical as his thanks.

Kari started to retreat, then knelt instead, looking up into his face. "Ken?"

He didn't respond, didn't even look at her.

"Ken, we all know what happened wasn't your fault, or Wormmon's. And, Yolei was right, earlier. We never would have gotten away from that thing if Waspmon hadn't...happened."

He still didn't look at her; she didn't think he'd heard her. Dropping her gaze to Wormmon, she said, "Take care of him?"

"I've always tried to," Wormmon sighed.

Kari sighed, as well, and rose, turning to rejoin the others.

"Is he okay?" Davis asked.

"I don't think he's hurt too bad," Kari replied, "but I wouldn't say he's okay."

"Maybe Davis and me can cheer him up," Veemon offered.

Kari smiled at the small blue digimon. "Thanks, but I don't think it'll help."

"What can we do, then?" Yolei asked.

Kari shrugged, dropping onto a log beside T.K. "I don't know."

"At least Wormmon's with him," T.K. sighed.

"Yeah." Kari looked around for her own digimon, finally spotting her near the edge of the clearing where the exhausted digimon had finally landed. "You okay, Gatomon?"

Gatomon looked at her, started to nod, then shrugged as she walked over. "I guess. I just...I think I know where we are."

"You do?" Yolei asked eagerly. "So, do you know how we can get home?"

Gatomon looked down, the claws of one paw unconsciously shredding the bark of the log. "If I'm right, I'm afraid we can't get home."

"What do you mean?" Kari asked.

Gatomon's claws dug into the wood beside Kari's leg. "There's a legend," she began. "I'd almost forgotten it. About a time when the skies were dark, the mountains bled fire, and the Digital World was burned to ruin." She looked up, her expression troubled. "And presiding over it all, was the King of Hell."

"Are you saying..." Kari began.

"We've traveled into the Digital World's past?" T.K. finished for her.

Gatomon nodded; her arm jerked, tearing a chunk of wood from the log. "I'm afraid so," she replied. "And if that's the case...if we're hundreds of years in the past...I don't know how we'll ever get home."