Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ A New Emperor ❯ The Calm Before The Storm ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter Seven: A Calm Before The Storm

A couple people commented on the Deus Ex Machina in the past chapter. And yes, it's entirely obvious, blatant, and pretty poorly done, I realized that as I was writing it. I wasn't really happy with it, but I didn't know how else to do it. I concede that the events of last chapter are very DEM-ish, but for those turned off by it, I ask you to bear with me. Nobody hates DEM more than me, and I intend to resolve the issue of it popping up last chapter sometime in the future. Trust me.

Also, I made a small mistake with Adeel. His last name is Ahmed, not Achmed, and he is actually from Canada opposed to America. Yes, in case anyone in wondering why it's relevant, Adeel is actually a user and one of my friends on fanfiction.net who requested I insert him in this story. I know it might be an unusual request, and perhaps even more of an unusual thing to do, but I felt I could pull it off. Again, bear with me, I apologize to anyone who was disappointed with the last chapter. I'll clean up, trust me.

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"So what do you think?" TK asked Davis as they strolled down the hallway of the apartment building. "I mean, I'd hate to offend or bother him, y'know?"

"Well, Tai and Kari have that cat...that doesn't seem to be a problem." Davis responded.

"Yeah, but Patamon is a different digimon from Agumon and Gatomon. I'd hate to cause a problem." TK looked behind him.

"Why you asking me? Ask him. Where is he anyway?" Davis responded, looking around.

"I don't wanna ask him, I'm afraid even bringing it up could...you know, set him off. I told him to fly over here, y'know, go up high so nobody can see."

Davis raised an eyebrow. "That's sorta dangerous. I mean, someone could see...I thought we agreed that shoving them in a backpack was the best way to go."

"I wanted to talk to you. And it's fine, from a distance he looks just like a bird. A really fat bird. Anyway, I've always wanted a dog." TK continued.

"I think Patamon would understand. It's not like he's always there." Davis said thoughtfully. "But you should talk to him about it. I don't think he'll mind you bringing it up. I think he'll be flattered that you talked to him first."

"I was thinking about just not saying anything. Y'know, get the dog, just hide it when he comes around. He doesn't actually hang around my house that often. Usually, I mean. I'll wait for the Emperor thing to blow over, so Patamon can go back to the digital world, then I get the do. When Patamon comes over or whatever, I hide the dog. I don't think it'd be that hard."

"Yeah. Leave him with a friend, or Matt, could work. But, if you can't tell Patamon, you shouldn't do it." Davis countered.

"Why not?" TK asked, as they slowly neared Ken's apartment door.

"Because if you're not comfortable with telling him, then it's wrong. At least, you think it's wrong. And if it's wrong, you shouldn't be doing it. At least, not unless you're willing to wrong a good friend like Patamon." Davis explained.

"He doesn't need to know. What he doesn't know won't hurt him." TK reasoned.

"No, no, no, no, no." Davis said slowly. "For some of us, yes, that system of reasoning works. But you, TK, are a good boy. Yes, from your blond hair to your...your swedish boy-like, good looks, you are an angel. And as an angel, the guilt of doing something you know is wrong is going to eat you up inside. You will tear yourself apart over this."

"I can be bad!" TK insisted. "You ever see me with a gun in my hand? I turn into a vicious, lean, killing machine."

"Yeah, well, if you go to the pet store and rob it with a glock to get your dog, maybe we've got something. But otherwise, you are just too good to do something like that." Davis walked up to the correct apartment door and turned the bronze knob right.

The door swung open to reveal the Ichijouji residence. TK smacked the back of Davis's head again. "Who do you think you are? Ever heard of knocking?" For effect, he sharply rapped the back of Davis's skull with his knuckles a few times.

"Okay, okay! Geez, sorry." Davis said, rubbing the back of his head. "What do you care?"

"It's common courtesy." TK said. "And stop...hitting on me. Or whatever it is you're doing."

Ken's mom stuck her head out from around the corner of the hallway from the kitchen. "Oh, hi boys. Ken's in his room.

"Thanks." Davis said as the two strolled in. "Anyway, what're you gonna do?" He resumed the conversation with TK.

"I guess I gotta ask Patamon." He said resignedly. "I'll bet he says no."

"Hold it." Davis said. "Don't ask Patamon if you can get a dog. Instead, tell him that you are getting a dog."

TK rubbed his chin. "What's the difference?" They turned into the hallway that led to Ken's room.
"Well, if you ask him, he's going to say whatever's on his mind and assume you're making your choice based on what he says. So if he has, like, a little problem with the idea of getting a dog, he's gonna say don't get it. But if you tell him, he's going to assume that it's already a done deal and there's nothing he can say about it. But, if he has some huge problem, like he thinks it could sever your relationship, he'll bring it up. So that way, you can tell Patamon the truth, and probably get your dog." He concluded, reaching for the doorknob of Ken's room.

"I like it. Thank-wait!" He grabbed Davis's hand on the knob. "Knock!" He hissed.

Unfortunately, he had already twisted the knob enough for the door to slip open. It slowly turned on it's hinges as Davis let it go in surprise of TK grabbing his hand. As Murphy's law would have it, through the small opening in the door, the pair could see Ken lying back on the bed, his right hand down his pants, his left holding a magazine in front of his face.

"Oh, christ-" Ken started, whipping his hand out and throwing the magazine on the other side of the bed from the door. "What the-"

TK quickly grabbed the doorknob and slammed the door shut, then turned on Davis. "Thanks a frickin lot! You're lucky he does it with his pants up!" He glanced at the door. "Which is...gross." He squinted his eyes. "Ugh."

"W-what's he doing taking care of business in the morning? You don't do that in the morning, not right before company arrives!" Davis babbled.

TK glanced up at the clock on the wall behind him. "Well, we're like eight minutes early."

"Augh!" Davis said, rubbing his eyes. "Not cool!"

The door opened a crack and Ken stuck his head out. "Are you guys insane?!"

"Well, if you locked your door, there wouldn't be a problem. Hell, do you guys lock any doors around here, I came right in through the front door too-"

"Oh, hell, just get in!" He hissed, throwing the door open. "Jesus Christ!" TK and Davis slipped into the room.

To their surprise, Matt was seated on the computer chair in the opposite right corner of the room, his face frozen, looking at TK and Davis.

"Wh-what-" TK looked at the bed. Then at Ken. Then at Matt. His eyes suddenly enlarged and his clapped his hands over his face. "AUUUGH!"

"Calm down." Ken said under his breath. "I invited him over early to..." he trailed off.

"To WHAT?" TK asked, uncovering his face and grabbing Ken by the collar.

A short pause followed, featuring Ken looking reproachfully towards the door of the room. "...show me how." He mumbled.

TK slowly let Ken go. Everyone stared at each other in turn for a moment. "...show you how?" TK repeated.

"Yeah...I was having...problems. I wanted someone to help me out." TK continued to stare at him. "Hey, I don't have an older brother, okay?!"

"That doesn't mean you can borrow mine!" TK shouted indignantly. "Ask your dad!"

"He has issues!" Ken yelled back.

TK looked behind him, back at Matt. "Are you for real?" He asked, his voice an octave higher than usual.

Matt slowly rolled his eyes. "He's a good kid, needed some help, so I thought-"

"AUUUGH!" TK put his hands back over his face and sat down on the bed.

Davis shook his head. "Did it have to be now?"

"You showed up early! Besides...when Kari was clawing at me yesterday, I...you know. But last night I got back late, and...well, yeah." Ken went red and looked down at the floor.

"Okay, okay! Can we get serious, today is a big day!" Matt said.

"Fine, fine." TK said, standing up and removing his hands from his face. "Ken, what're you thinking?" He turned to Ken.

Ken looked back up. "Honestly? I'm wondering what Kari's doing wearing a bra." He said unabashfully.

A short pause was interrupted by TK. "Because that's what girls wear? You...know that, right?"

Ken looked up at the ceiling. "Well, they wear it for support, right? What the hell is she supporting?"

TK glowered at Ken. "You trying to say something?"

"Hey, she's flat as an ironing board." Ken said defensively, holding his hands up towards TK, palms out. "Facts is facts. Y'know, girls usually don't start wearing bras until there's something to hold up."

"That's true." Davis said slowly, looking down at the ground. "Maybe they just...pop out when women reach a certain age?" He put his hands on his chest, held as if he was gripping two small cups. Then, he clicked his tongue as he pulled his hands out about six inches from his chest. "So they gotta be wearing it at all times during puberty, because it could just...inflate suddenly."

Matt started snickering wildly from the computer chair. Everyone looked over at him. He had a hankerchief over his face, spazming slightly, laughing quietly behind the napkin.

"What?" Ken asked.

"I-I'm sorry." He put the napkin back in his pocket, tears running down his face. "You guys...talking about girls...just stop, seriously. Stop."

A knock came at the door. Ken pointed at it, hand open, palm pointed towards the sky. "There. See! This is how we behave in a civilized society!" He walked up to it and grabbed the knob, rotating it to open. Izzy stood in the threshhold. "Hey."

"Hey guys." Izzy walked in. "What's happening?"

"Waiting for the rest of the crew. Until then we're talking about...manhood and puberty I guess." Matt responded.

"Ooh, I'm up for that!" Izzy enthused, walking over to and plopping down on the bed.

"No, no, you're not." Ken said. "That conversation is dead. Nobody try to revive it."

"Alright then. Ken, I believe we left off yesterday with us deciding to up the ante. You whipped out the hardware and all that."

Ken reached under his bed, feeling around on the floor. "Hold on a sec...here we go." He pulled out a notebook. "I've been writing down my thoughts since this whole debacle started." He opened it up and started going through pages. "Alright, so we've got a source of energy, unreliable and shady it may be. Unfortunately, the Emperor's sources are infinitely larger than ours. In fact, he could probably make a scale model of the Sears Tower and Empire State Building and still have enough left over to kick our asses twenty times over."

"And it's not going to get any better." Izzy added. "I don't know anything about his whole mining operation he's got going, but I'm willing to bet he's barely even begun to tap into what the digital world holds."

"Yup." Ken nodded slowly. "And he can still conduct mass digimon genocide, find already existing forms of power, and who knows what else."

"Like the valley." Davis added.

"You don't suppose we could try our hand at mining?" TK wondered allowed.

"We don't know where to look, what to look for, or how to do it. I thought about it, but I don't think it's feasible. However, I wonder if we could sabatoge or hijack one of the Emperor's...drills, or whatever it is."

"I'll bet he's got crazy security." Matt threw in. "I like the idea though. Piggyback off what he's doing since he's got a head start."

"I'll have it looked into. I think we need to go back to the market and try and find more leads. At the moment, I don't think there's anything else we can do. Still have no idea how to find the Emperor."

"I had a thought." Izzy spoke up suddenly. "Something Gennai said...we need to help the new generation of digidestined to get to ultimate. And if we could take it to mega, that'd be great as well."

"Again, no idea where to begin. Since we've still got a hell of alot of black market to explore, I think we need to stick it out there. Hey, maybe one of the shops has a crest for sale or something."

"Possible." Davis mulled. Something tapped lightly on the bedroom window. Ken jumped up and went over to it.

"It's Patamon." TK said casually. "Open it up."

Ken slid the latch to the right and pulled up hard, pulling it open a foot. Patamon, perched on the windowsill, fell in.

"Did I have to fly? My wings are frozen." He immediately complained.

"Sorry, my bookbag is broken." TK shrugged. "By the way, I'm getting a dog." He said quickly. "Okay! Ken, you were saying."

Patamon threw an indignant look at TK. A knock at the door interrupted any potential brewing argument, however. Davis reached open and pulled the door open, admitting Yolei, Kari, and Tai.

"Hey guys. The rest are coming in a bit." Tai announced.

Ken looked around. "I don't got anything else to say. When everyone gets here, we go to the Market and see what we can see."

"We do have one unresolved issue. Our double lives aren't flowing so well." Davis spoke up. "We can't play sick if we're going to be out of bed, we've got a very limited number of excused absences, and I do sorta need to pick my grades up."

"Ever see that movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off?" Tai suddenly said. "Great movie, check it out. Maybe you could fake sick and then pull something like that."

Ken scratched the back of his head. "Well, you don't suppose we could explain the situation to the school and our parents...maybe get an official excuses leave of absence?"

"The digital world isn't mainstream enough to pull something like that off." Yolei countered. "I mean, maybe our parents, but not the schools."

"Alright then. We get our parents to write up reasons for extended leaves of absences and get them sent into the school." TK suggested.

"Great, so long as none of us appears out in public." Matt objected.

"No. I think TK might have something." Ken looked around at everyone. Another knock came at the door. Davis let Sora in. "Hey, we're discussing our real world conflicts."

"Good. If I have to call in one more bomb threat-" Sora began.

Ken cut her off by glaring daggers at Tai and Matt and hissing. "Idiots! I told you to stop with the terrorist bullcrap!"

"It's just temporary until your genius came up with something better." Tai said dismissively. "C'mon, where's the genius?"

Ken sighed. "Very well." He pointed at Tai. "Tai, you've taken a soccer ball to the head and wound up with a severe case of Amnesia. The doctors decided to ship you to China for a stay at one of the world's top amnesia therapy facilities. You are so out of it and so out of touch, nobody except the doctors are allowed to see or talk to you."

"Okay, but what if someone checks the patient list and doesn't see Tai Kamiya?" Tai asked.

"Hold it." Ken ran over to his computer, pushed Matt off his chair, and did a quick bit of high-speed typing and clicking. "Got it."

"Got what?" Matt asked from down on the ground, pushing himself back up. "If you just asked, I woulda given you the chair by the way, jeez."

"I just hacked into the facilities computers. I've put Tai in one of the 'critical condition' wards. The guy who's actually in there is too out of it to even remember his actual name, is completely off the edge, and doesn't have any friends or family to visit him. It's perfect."

"Too perfect. Check on that listing constantly, they could easily change it back." Izzy warned.

"On it." Ken nodded.

"And about me going out in public?" Tai asked slowly.

Ken thought for a moment, right hand on his chin, then snapped the fingers of his left. "Cut your hair, dye it blonde, adopt a southern accent, and if anyone asks your name is Chunk."

"What? No! I'm not touching my hair, I like my voice, and I am most certainly not naming myself...chunk." Tai spat back.

"Fine. But do something." Ken shrugged. "Everyone else, make up excuses, run them by me, then get your parents to sign off on them."

"Sounds good." Matt responded.

"Okay, waiting on...Joe, Mimi, and Cody." Ken counted off.

"Mimi couldn't delay it any longer, she had to fly back to America." Tai corrected. "She said she can meet us in the digital world."

"Well, that complicates things." Ken scratched his head. "We'll be alright though."

A knock came at the door. Davis leaned over and admitted Joe and Cody. "Hey." The two chorused.

"Oh look. It's the chain gang." Ken said sardonically, looking at Joe's wallet chain, then at Cody's new one of the same type. "What is wrong with you people?"

"Well, we figured we both have the crest of reliability, so we'd get matching wallets. Besides, there's nothing more reliable than a strand of steel in terms of wallet security." Cody said.

Ken hung his head downwards, glaring at his knees. "You don't have any money! If somebody stole your wallet, they'd quickly realize they had made a horrible mistake, return it, and then be on their way!" He looked over at the computer. "Alright, we should go. Someone give Mimi a ring."

"Why can't you do it?" Matt asked.

Ken threw a look Matt's way. "Not on my phone plan."

"It's not the weekend, it's not after seven...nope, can't do it." Tai concurred.

"We're gonna need phone cards if we expect to keep this up." Joe mused.

"No time. Can someone just make the call?" Ken hissed, activating the digiport. "I'll pick up phone cards later."

"Fine, fine." Sora responded, pulling out her phone from inside her jacket. "I've got a pretty solid long distance plan. Dunno how I ever got by without Sprint."

"Uh-huh." Ken said mindlessly as the digiport opened. "Alright. You know what, I've changed my mind. We need to keep the recruiting up. So..." he looked around at everyone. "Cody, Davis, Joe, Matt, and Mimi are to come with me to the market. And if time and situation permits, we can work on our firearm skills. TK, Yolei, Sora, Kari, Tai, and Izzy, you try your hand at recruiting. We'll switch things up tomorrow."

"Hey hey hey!" Davis interjected. "What system did you use to construct the groups?" He demanded.

Ken sighed deeply, his eyes up at the ceiling. "I took the third letter of everyone's last name, converted the letter to it's corresponding number when A is one, B is two, and so on, took the cube root of every third number, then cubed the rest, and multipled everything by pi. Everyone with a number that was a factor of six was put into group one, and everyone who's number had a cosine inbetween point thirty seven and point seventy three was put into group two."

"For serious?" Davis asked slowly, scratching his head. "I'm trying to run all that through my head, and I don't think it adds up."

"Fine. I lied. The truth is more complicated, care to hear?" Ken asked threateningly, bugging his eyes out.

"Okay okay. Fine. Nevermind." Davis glanced away from Ken.

"One final note. Yes, I know you all want to know. I do not know what to make of this...Adeel character. I'd prefer we have as little to do with him as possible." Ken spoke, his natural talent in public speaking showing clearly in his words.

"Hey, you know, I'd be dead if it wasn't for him." Tai said quietly to himself.

"Yes, and we're grateful for that. But now that you're back, unless Adeel can provide us further help in our fight, I'd rather we stay away." He looked out the window slowly. "He's not telling us everything. He's one of perhaps a few living beings in either world capable of bringing someone back from the dead, it's more than coincidence that he just happens to show up right when we need him."

"He's a digidestined." Kari objected, though her voice was shaky and unsure.

"So is Cory, might I add." Ken countered sharply. "Further on the subject of coincidences, Adeel so happens to carry a colorless digivice and no digimon partner, like Cory. I don't want to pass any judgement now, but I'd rather us avoid him as much as possible." He turned to the computer, holding out his D-3. "Alright, let's get this show on the road."

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"Ken, what you got there?" Davis asked, looking over Ken's shoulder at the diagram he was drawing in his notepad. They, along with the four other digidestined of the group, had been exploring the cave of the black market for the last half-hour or so.

"Map." He grunted. "Lemme see here...down the left side so far we've got...DeeH!" He spazmed his arms about wildly, flinging the notebook and pencil straight up into the air. Davis walked under the falling objects and caught them.

"Digi-smut hut?" Davis finished.

"Yes. Yes, the digi-smut hUT!" He again spazmed his arms out to the side. He grunted, turning around to grab the two objects back. "The Apemon weapon shop, the Stingmon jewelry stand, Rhinomon's Raging Roids, and..." he put the pencil eraser in his mouth. "...what was it again?"
"The digimon tattoo parlor!" Davis enthused, pulling up his jacket sleeve to expose a newly acquired Gatomon tattoo. It was small, though clearly visible on his forearm, in a simple standing, waving position. "Kari's gonna love this." He said dreamily.

Ken rubbed his eyes hard with his left hand. "You're retarded." He mumbled. "Really, really, really-"

"You won't be throwing around insults when my little badge gets me to second base after the school dance!" Davis spat back.

"Oh yeah. Second base." Ken said flatly."Then you can feel up her nice, cushy, voluptious brea-oh, wait a minute!" He looked down at Davis's chest. "Hell, your curves are just as good as hers! For all the good it does, you're better off feeling up yourself! Give up on the Kari, by the way, TK's got her well within his grasp for the rest of elementary school. You gotta wait until at least Junior High before that falls apart, trust me, I know this sort of thing."

"I've got it all planned out...next month, I plant erectile dysfunction medication in TK's bathroom. As soon as Kari even suspects he's shooting blanks, she'll be out of there. Then, I pounce in!" He mimicked the pouncing motion of a tiger in the air.

"Yes, because manhood size and sex are so very important in their relationship right now." Ken said sarcastically. "Listen, you're white noise right now! You're probably actually alienating her! When Junior High hits, the relationship is gonna hit a snag one way or another, I promise. He's gonna screw up in the sack, look at another girl the wrong way...something. But right now, you've got nothing!"

"What the hell do you know?!" Davis retorted.

"More than you!" Ken said disdainfully.

"Are you guys done?" Matt finally asked. The other four had been trailing behind Davis and Ken, watching the rather amusing bickering between them, but finally decided it had to come to an end. "Ken, what's the rest of your map got?"

Ken looked down at it slowly. "Umm...starting closest to the entrance, I have the smoke room, chop shop, vital organ mini-mart, another weapon dealer, and an armor dealer."

"Okay, that's ten. Do we keep going, buy something, or what?" Cody asked.

"There's nothing to buy. I mean, in terms of equipment I've only seen champion-level stuff, which I can create with a snap of my fingers. If we can find, like, a giga cannon or river-of-power, I'd jump all over that just for the sake of power conservation, but it's not worth it for this champion stuff. I might even consider ultimate-level stuff." Ken digressed.

"One of these shops has to carry something worth our time." Joe said to himself.

"I don't wanna leave at the end of the day empty handed." Ken shrugged. "I want to keep looking until we find something. At the very least we should get in contact with a mercenary shop or something and do a little recruiting of our own."

"If it's all the same to you guys, I wouldn't mind giving the roid shop a go." Veemon said from closer to the ground.

Ken rolled his eyes dramatically, then grabbed the handle of his rod and shook it. Veemon's muscles suddenly tripled in size, increasing the thickness of his arms, legs, and chest considerably.

"Hey, check me out!" He exclaimed. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" Unbeknownst to him, his eyes had turned a sickly yellow. Suddenly, he started to frown and look downwards. "One second." He walked up to the wall, turned towards it so nobody could see his frontside, and seemed to examine himself for a moment. He turned back again, waddling over to Ken. "Umm...Ken, most of me got bigger, but...something shrunk." He said quietly.

"That is what steroids do to your body." Ken said sternly, waving the rod again, causing Veemon to go back to normal. "Go home and drink milk or something. Don't worry, I'll beef you up when the time comes."

"Alright then." Matt announced as they came up to the next door in the wall. "Door number eleven, what can you offer?" He muttered, pushing the light green door with the bronze lever-handle open.

Like the other shops, this one was dark and gloomy, a few twitchy, dirty lights just barely keeping the room visible. Cobwebs clung to the corners of the room, and the walls seemed to be alive with movement, courtesy of tiny insect digimon.

However, there was a wooden desk in the middle of the room, a Roachmon standing behind it, and a steel door across the room, so surely this place had something to offer.

"Welcome to Roachmon's Digimon Factory. Unsatisfied with the current selection of millions of digimon out there in the world today? Need a special creation to take care of that one particular job? You name it, we can do it. Just tell our skilled staffmember what you're looking for, or what you want to construct, and within weeks, you'll have a completely original digimon composed from parts of currently existing digimon and whatever else we happen to have. Using our revolutionary, brand-new fusion capsules, anything's possible!" The roachmon droned as the half-dozen approached the desk. He reached down to the desk with his left hand, grabbed a small glass of some murky liquid, and drained it into his mouth. "I hate myself." He moaned.

"Create-a-digimon?" Ken repeated. "So...how does it work?" He dared to ask.

"Hold on." The roachmon leaned over to his side and puked a grey grime all over the shop floor. "I'm so fat." He whined. "Anyway, first you place your order. You can either request a particular sort of digimon you want. For instance, if you wanted a digimon who was capable of very stealthy activities, such as sneaking into a high-security location without being detected, you'd ask for that and we'd assemble it for you. Or you can be more specific, like request a digimon to be made with...I dunno, the legs of a Greymon, wand of a Pixiemon, and head of a Lilymon, and we could do that too."

Ken rubbed his chin. "Interesting. It's much like what the Emperor has been doing." He mused.

"Sounds like some pretty bad stuff." Cody added. "I mean, playing god...it takes what the Emperor's doing and goes a step further."

"True enough. However, it offers some...unique opportunities for us." Ken looked behind the roachmon at the steel door. "Might I have a glance at how it works?" He inquired.

"Sure." He moaned, jumping off the short stool behind the desk and limping towards the door. "Just be careful. It's very complicated technology."

The six digidestined followed the depressed digimon as he went up to the door, pulled a key out from under his wing, and unlocked the door. It swung open slowly, as thick as a bank vault, revealing a medium-sized room composed entirely of steel, housing eleven identical capsules in rows against either wall. Perhaps twelve-feet long, the capsules had no glass windows to look either inside or outside through, and were bolted shut securely. A plethora of wires connected each into the walls.

"Very nice. But what if we wanted to create a massive digimon?" Ken asked.

"Like I said. Very complicated technology. Anyway, after a customer places an order, we call our distributors and acquire the needed parts, then we constructed them together roughly inside one of these capsules. Over a week or so, the parts fuse together, and then spring alive into a real live digimon. It's quite something."

Ken looked around the room suspiciously. "Eleven? That's an odd number. What happened to number twelve?" He asked quickly to the roachmon, who had stopped near the back of the room.

"Smart kid, ain't ya? Too smart, I can't be tellin you that. I might get myself killed." Then, he looked up at the ceiling. "Actually, you know what, I will tell you. Death wouldn't be so bad."

"Pathetic figure, isn't he?" Mimi whispered to Davis.

"Does the digital world have a stock market? I'll bet he was a digi-stockbroker and screwed up." Davis replied.

"Looks the part." Mimi concured.

"Anywho, we used to have twelve, but that Emperor guy showed up not too long ago and bought one. Now, don't ask me why, he wasn't saying." He said quickly, catching the look on Ken's face. "But he wanted it bad. I wasn't gonna sell it, but he kept throwing money down until I couldn't refuse. I wound up with fifteen million for it."

"Then what the hell are you doing here, drinking sludge and hating yourself?" Davis asked.

"Don't you know? Insects have giant families, I had to put in all in a college trust fund for my kids." He responded, slumping his head over. "Don't get the point, ninety-five percent of them are gonna die before they even get near that age anyway."

"Uh-huh." Ken said, not particularly caring. "So, after an order, how long does it usually take?"

"Ohhh...two weeks to gather parts, a week to fuse and bring to life. And then, it's your choice. I mean, the sooner you take it out, the sooner you have it, but letting it ferment in the capsule enhances the digimon's power. Let it sit in there a few extra weeks, you can double it's power. One time we had a mon build a half agumon-half palmon, left it in for three years because he forgot, and when he showed up it was more powerful than an ultimate."

"Okay." Ken said, turning to the group. "So these things are very rare and expensive, powerful enough to pique the Emperor's interest, and seem to be capable of increasing the power of a digimon infinitely." He turned back to Roachmon. "Where does it draw it's power from?"

"That's the beauty." He pointed down into the ground. "A few dozen meters below, there's a small river that runs faster than the speed of sound. We've got waterwheels built down there, these capsules run off hydroelectric power. As long as that river runs, our power supply is limitless."

"Oh, jesus." Ken said under his breath. "I...I didn't even think about that." He turned away from the roachmon, walking towards the front of the room, running his fingers through his hair wildly. "It doesn't stop there, either. Hydroelectric power, solar power, manpower...if he can convert those into sources for his crystals, his supplies won't just be vast. They'll be limitless!"

"Okay okay, calm down." Joe said, though his voice squeaked slightly. "We'll deal with that when we get to it."

"Right. Right." Ken said, breathing heavily. "Sorry, I just...I dunno." He turned to the roachmon. "Well, that's a neat trick. Sounds like a hell of a river too. Anyway...I'd like to place an order." He said quickly. To his surprise and relief, Cody raised no objection.

"Alright, let's hear it." The roachmon said, waddling out towards the other room. "Hold on, lemme get my notepad."

The group followed him out into the first room, which seemed to have collected more cobwebs in the last few minutes. The roachmon fumbled around inside one of the desk drawers and pulled out a pen and notepad. "Go for it."

"Alright. You do have access to mega-level equipment, correct?" Ken asked.
"I've got connections, I can get anything you want." The roachmon replied.

"Alright. If Cory wants to harness the power of nature, I guess I better respond in kind." Ken said under his breath.

"Great. Am I being replaced?" Wormmon said dejectedly, sitting at Ken's feet.

"We'll see, won't we?" Ken said jovially. "Nah, nobody could replace you. We just need some hard firepower. Now, I want a fighter." Ken began to the attentive Roachmon. "I want more giga cannons than I can shake a stick at. Shoulder mounts, chest mounts, arm enplacements, whatever you got. I want no less than ten. In the event you can't find ten giga cannons, I am also willing to accept the cannons off MetalSeaDramon's nose. The River of Power shooter, I believe it is. I'll also settle for guns that are capable of shooting the energy blasts that WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon are capable of firing. And the cannon off Imperiladramon's back could work too. Basically, any energy projectile a Mega Digimon has. In fact, mix it up a bit. Some variety would be nice, just make sure we're dealing with megas."

"This is gonna be steep." Roachmon warned.

"Don't worry about it." Ken replied. "But I don't want projectile cannons. Too much weight and such." He looked up at the ceiling. "Then....lemme see...I want an extended sword, the type that Piedmon uses, to be capable of protruding six feet from the hand of this digimon. Wait, hold that, two swords, both hands." He nodded slowly. "Then, for good measure, I want the hammerhead from Puppetmon's Hammer to basically make up his entire chestplate, so his entire chest area is filled with small holes capable of firing Puppet...Pummel I think it is. I want him covered head-to-toe in MetalEtemon's armor. He should be humanoid, have his weapons as well hidden as humanly possible, and be as small as possible given my requests."

"Will that be all?" The roachmon asked, almost rhetorically.

"Yup." Ken nodded.

The roachmon looked his list over. "I'll give you the big spender discount. Throw four million down, in cash, up front, and it's done."

Ken shook his rod quickly, and four million in hundred-dollar bills appeared on the desk.

"Alright." He said, faking excitement. "This should get me through my alimony payments for the rest of the month."

"Damn. Your ex-wife is riding you hard." Joe commented.

"Yup. All Five Hundred and Seventy Three of em." He said sadly. "See you in three weeks."

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"The Emperor has sold himself to the powers of darkness." Sora spoke loudly to the crowd of assorted digimon who made up the population of Toy Town. "Yes, he may be powerful, but as you all know too well, we've beat back the forces of evil regardless of power several times in the past. So, I ask, when heroism makes the phone call to this humble village, will you accept the charges?"

"I like that ending bit." Izzy whispered in Tai's ear. "Very dramatic."

"I like her ending bit." Tai whispered back.

"That's...wonderful." Izzy said flatly.

"What? You don't get it? See, I mean-"

"No!" Izzy hissed back. "I get it, I just don't want it! Keep it!"

"Yeah, yeah." Tai rasped as Sora walked towards the group.

"I think I got through to them." She said briskly as she stopped before the other five.

"It's weird." TK mused. "We've recruited a total of...what, eight locations now, and haven't found so much as a hint of the Emperor making an effort to beat us to the punch."

"I thought of that too." Izzy replied. "I mean, either some of our recruits are faking loyalty and waiting to turn on us in the heat of battle, or the Emperor isn't lifting a finger to recruit anyone. I mean, beyond the Agumon and Tankmon we fought, plus that assassin Renamon, the Emperor hasn't shown any interest in actually convincing digimon to join his fight. And those were all probably mercenaries."

"It'd be so easy too...he's sitting on a veritable mountain of power." Yolei pondered.

"That might be it. He's so powerful, he figures digimon will come to him and he doesn't need to seek them out at all." Kari said slowly.

"Or he just doesn't care at all, and would rather just absorb every digimon in the digital world and transform his power into digimon of his own creation." Sora added.

"Something's up." Izzy said definitely. "Cory's got something up his sleeve. And given that he's mining a load of power as of late, I'd anticipate it to spring into action at any moment." He threw his head around quickly.

"Alright, next up...how about the Cherrymon Forest? I think it's called that." Yolei said suddenly. "I think we're done here."

"Yeah. Let's roll." Izzy pulled out his laptop and began typing. "Hold on."

-------------------------------------------------------------

"It just...pisses me off, you know?" Davis muttered, pulling a .50 Magnum out from the large metal-wicker basket full of guns. "TK's known her for so many years...I just sorta showed up recently...it's like trying a single character challenge in Final Fantasy Tactics. I'm at a huge disadvantage, always an uphill fight." He looked the Magnum over, shrugged, and tossed it back in the basket.

"Why do you care so much anyway?" Ken asked, reaching in and pulling out an M-16. "We're thirteen years old, for god's sake. We're too young to even start thinking about third base, much less sex, serious relationships, or marriage. Cool down and wait a few years." He grabbed a clip from inside the bucket and rammed it into the bottom of the barrel.

"Yeah but, TK will always be holding that advantage over my head." Davis responded, reaching back in and digging through the pile of metal death-bringers. "I'll always be fighting with one hand tied behind my back."

"No, you won't." Ken said shortly, caulking the machine gun by pulling the lever on the side back. "People don't marry their elementary school sweethearts. It's practically unheard of. Hell, the odds of marrying a high school or college girlfriend are pretty damn long too." He put the weapon at his side, pointed off into the distance, his left hand gripping the barrel and his right around the grip, index finger inside the trigger guard. "Hold on."

Davis pulled out a pair of Uzis, flipping them around in his hands, as Ken unleashed a barrage of bullets at a large, multicolored target about fifty yards away. They all found their mark in various locations, some even blowing through the red dot in the middle. Each bullet exploded out of the M-16's barrel, causing a woodpecker-esque ch-ch-ch-ch-ch to echo through the wide open desert area they occupied.

"Anyway," Ken continued, "If you squeeze yourself in now, you'll screw things up in the long run. Ninety percent of the time, people don't meet their eventual life partner until their past their teens, I'm willing to bet. I can just about promise TK will never hit a home run with Kari, if you get my meaning." He pulled the clip out of the rifle, peered into it, then placed it and the gun on the ground next to the basket.

"This is interesting." Davis said genuinely, reaching down into the basket for two uzi clips. "So the longer I wait to try and make my move on a relationship with Kari, the better chances I have to...keep things going for a long time."

"Yup." Ken replied. "If you just wanna feel her up and get out, I'd wait about two to three years. Wham, Bam, Thank You Ma'am...I'd shoot for five years. Marriage is tricky, I mean your odds are already hurt since she knows you so well. I'd wait at least eight years."

"Thanks for the advice." Davis said. "I never thought of it that way." He slapped the clips into his Uzis, then took aim at a target fifty yards in the distance.

"Those are close range weapons." Ken interrupted. "Won't hit anything from that distance, hold on." He picked his rod out of his belt and pointed it at the target, causing it to fly closer to the pair, until it was about fifteen yards from Davis. "There you go. Anyway, at this age, relationships are based on physical infatuation. They mean next-to-nothing later in life. Trust me." He pocketed the rod in his belt.

"Got it." Davis said, pointing the pair of miniature automatics at the target. The two guns erupted, spitting fire at the target, creating a ch-ch-ch-ch-ch twice as fast as Ken's. As advertised, the end result wasn't nearly as accurate. Most of the bullets did penetrate the target in various locations, others flying off into the distance or into the ground, but the holes were considerably more scattered along the cloth.

"If you're gonna wanna use that, you'll need an accurate small sidearm to offset it." Ken forewarned. He reached down into the basket. "Lemme see..." he pulled out a silver, gleaming revolver, again oversized, though not as much as his previous sidearms had been. "This is gonna be my secondary."

"That's nice. Looks familiar." Davis mused, looking the revolver over.

"It's a variation on the Dirty Harry revolver. More technologically advanced, but looks the same." He grabbed the bullet chamber, pulling it out of the gun, showing Davis the eighteen empty bullet housings. To make room for the twelve extra rooms, each chamber was shrunk considerably. "Three times the ammo. I have to get bullets specially made, but thanks to some wonderful explosive technology, they're still .45 calibur. Plus, the chamber can be switched in a matter of seconds, so if you carry extra ones, reloading is easier than ever." He slapped the chamber back home, then spun it around inside the trigger guard on his index finger playfully.

"I like it...what do you recommend?" He asked, looking down into the basket. "I don't really know guns."

Ken quickly reached down and snatched a boxy pistol off the top of the pile. A lighter black than the other guns, Davis also recognized this one.

"Isn't that the gun from Tomorrow Never Dies?" He asked, sure he had seen it somewhere recently.

"Yep." Ken replied, handing it to him, grip-first. "Walther P99. The gun Bond himself used after losing his Walther PPK. Great power, is still exceedingly accurate, and just looks so damn cool."

Davis took it. "Not bad." He reached into the basket for a clip. "I'll give it a workout."

Ken pulled a box out of his jacket pocket and pulled it open, pulling out revolver rounds one by one and inserting them into his weapon. "As much as I love revolvers, reloading is a real pain." He muttered.

"Before today I'd only touched a real gun once before in my life." Davis said, bringing the pistol up to bear with a target in the distance. "Now, I already feel like a pro." He began firing off, accurately hitting the target over a dozen times, every shot within at least eight inches of the center, before stopping.

"Just remember the safety tips at all time. This is dangerous, under normal conditions I wouldn't condone letting the digidestined tote serious hardware like this days after learning how to use them." He clicked the chamber back into place, pulled the hammer back, and casually took aim. "You're right though, it's not that hard. I learned most of this gun stuff at Seven-Eleven." He pulled the trigger back, launching a salvo at the target in the distance. Almost as quickly as it left, he cocked the hammer back and fired again, causing a nearly continuous flow of bullets to emit from the barrel.

The first bullet blew a massive hole through the center of the cloth target, and all the following bullets went through the giant gap and dug into the dirt on the other side. When all eighteen shots had been fired off, he spun the revolver on his finger again and threw it down on the ground next to his M-16.

"Whoa!" Davis exclaimed, looking off at the target. "I could fit a basketball through that exit wound!"

"Wait until I use it on a digimon." Ken said cockily. "Everything's gonna be everywhere. Real nasty mess, you just wait."

Matt and Mimi came up from behind Davis and Ken, uncomfortably holding a couple of weapons.

"Oh, how's it going?" Ken asked, spinning around to meet them. "Good, I hope?" He looked behind them, where they had been practicing some five hundred yards away.

"It's...just a little awkward. I don't know how you guys are so comfortable with it, I can't seem to get it down." Matt admitted. "And I've used guns before." He carefully put a Beretta on the ground, seemingly afraid of it.

Mimi shrugged. "It's not natural for me either. And I don't exactly care much for this whole business." She said resignedly, tossing a Glock to the side.

"Don't worry, you'll get it. Or, I should say, you have to." Ken said sternly. He looked down to check his wristwatch, hanging loosely on his wrist. "It's getting late." He looked off into the distance at Joe and Cody, still firing away at some makeshift targets. "They're looking alright." Ken said. "We'll be fine." He turned back to the basket of guns, pulling out his rod. "Happiinesss...is a warm gun..." he began melodizing quietly, zapping the basket away. "When I hold you...in my arms...and feel my finger on your trigger..."

"Scary." Mimi whispered to Matt.

"A little." Davis concured, having heard it from a few yards away. "Grateful to have him around though."

"Sure." Matt said. "At least, I think."

"Happineessss...is a warm....yes it isss....guuuuuunnnnnn...." he continued to sing, even as he put the handle 2-way radio up to his lips. "Izzy, we're packing up. Meeting at my place, we're onto something."

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"So I did manage to find out everything the capsules are capable of. And it didn't sound like anything the Emperor wasn't capable of doing by himself. And yet, the Emperor was willing to shell out an awful lot of money to buy one. What's more, I can't help but wonder why he didn't steal one, or steal them all, or steal one and then destroy the rest." Ken spoke, sitting on the computer chair, looking around at the other digidestined seated on the bed, floor, or standing up somewhere. Mimi was on speakerphone courtesy of Sora's cellphone. "But, the relevant point is these capsules are capable of doing something the Emperor isn't."

"Maybe he's not able to create his own digimon? I mean, we've seen him combine digimon together and put parts of certain digimon on others...but never create a brand new one." Izzy suggested, sitting on the bed.

"Or it's just more economical this way? I mean, if it runs off hydroelectric power, it's definitely cheaper than him spending his own crystals. Hell, it's basically free." Tai wondered, leaning against the closet door.

"I'm thinking it's the hydroelectric power source as well. I mean, that's free power, can't top that." Davis spoke, lying on the floor.

"Perhaps. We should keep an eye out for this capsule or whatever machinations the Emperor may have created through it in the near future." Ken announced. "Anything else?"

"The Emperor has no apperant interest in recruiting digimon to fight for him." Kari said dramatically, sitting cross-legged on the floor by the door. "For whatever reason, he doesn't seem to care."

"You don't say?" Ken said, looking up at the ceiling. "Any theories?"
"He either has no interest in recruiting, only in absorbing, believes the digimon will come to him without effort on his part after he's amassed enough power, or has something much more sinister planned." Yolei listed.

Ken rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Curious...now everyone, get home. I want credible, feasible excuses when we meet tomorrow. I want the meeting at nine in the morning, in..." he looked around at everyone, "TK's house." He pointed at TK. "You good for it?"

"Sure." TK said assuredly.

"Good." Ken pointed at the bedroom door. "Adjourned."