Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Donkey Madness ❯ Adding Insult To Injury ( Chapter 2 )

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

Started: November 9, 2000
Finished: November 9, 2000 (Just before midnight! *_*)

Part 2:
Adding Insult To Injury

It took all of T.K.'s strength to stop Yolei's crying, holding her still as she sobbed into his shoulder. Kari looked at the older girl in concern, then allowed her gaze to fall back to the sprawled body of the Digimon Emperor. Clenching her hands into fists, she jerked her head up to the light. "What did you do to him?" she demanded.

Cold laughter again rang throughout the room. "Your nemesis is still alive, if that is what you are worried about. However . . . we have taken the liberty to play with him already."

The kids traded horrified looks, Yolei shuddering as she wrenched herself away from T.K. "We need to get out of here," she rasped, wiping tears away.

"Your only way out of here is through out test. . . Be warned, though: no one has passed our tests before."

"How comforting is that?" Davis grumbled, shaking his head darkly.

". . . It was not meant to be comforting."

The five stiffened, looking down at the boy on the ground as he slowly stirred. Kari moved to help him, dropping to her knees. "Are you all right?" she asked, taking hold of one of his arms.

The Digimon Emperor shook his head, allowing Kari to help him into a kneeling position. ". . . I feel strange," he murmured.

"There is a reason for that."

A shudder ran through Ken's body as he pulled his shades off, revealing his eyes to the others. Yolei would have screamed again if she had the strength. Ken's eyes, instead of being the dark blue that they usually were, were . . . white. All traces of color in the boy's eyes had been wiped out, leaving only black and white.

"Holy crap. . .," breathed Davis, eyes wide.

"What happened. . .?" whispered Cody.

"Without hatred and anger, you are harmless, Digimon Emperor," came that same voice from above. "We have robbed you of your emotions. We have also taken your eye color as proof of the feat."

"What?!" T.K. gasped. The others echoed his shock with their own exclamations.

Ken, however, stared blankly upwards. ". . . I want to be angry," he said clearly. "I want to scream and curse . . . but I can't." He lowered his gaze to his gloved hands, watching them as he clenched them into fists. "How? How is this possible?"

"That is our secret. If you pass our test, we might tell you." There was a thoughtful pause. "My cohorts have suggested I give you one of your digimon. Consider him an unnecessary gift."

Another shadow appeared, growing bigger by the second. Davis yelped in pain as something hit him in the head, bending over and holding his smarting scalp. The other Digidestined stared at the digimon that had been delivered to them, looking from it to its master. ". . . Wormmon?" managed Cody.

"What kind of joke is this?" queried Ken, putting his yellow sunglasses back on and looking at his digimon expressionlessly. "Wormmon is useless."

"No digimon is useless, Emperor," replied the hidden digimon. "You only say that he is useless because of your own ignorance. . . In your current state however, you cannot use Wormmon."

The irony wasn't lost to the other Digidestined. "You have a sick sense of humor!!" yelled Yolei.

"Actually, it was mostly Utagaumon's idea. . . Digimon Emperor . . . Ken Ichijouji . . . your only hope to regain your emotions is Wormmon. Heed my words and you may actually survive."

Davis rubbed his head one last time before speaking up. "How 'bout us, huh? How do we get tested??"

"You will all be given the same type of test, but you must keep one thing in mind."

"And what's that?"

"The Emperor is your only hope of getting out of here alive."

The five stared at their enemy, who couldn't help but stare back. They all knew he would have been shocked if he could have expressed it. ". . . I think I could live with that," Kari declared. "What's the test?"

"We have extracted from the Emperor's mind a complex and challenging test. It shall stretch your thinking and keep you on your toes."

Oh, boy, thought Davis, already worried. If this test has anything to do with Physics or Calculus, we are screwed!

". . . I believe you call it 'Donkey Madness.'"

Although the name of the game wasn't known to strike fear in the hearts of mortal men, all of the kids knew that that title meant trouble. Donkey Madness was a confusing game filled with mazes, twisting towers, and mystical items that had to be collected. The game also had a storyline: a group of twelve children were trapped in the clutches of a witch and their only way to appease the woman was to beat her mind-boggling tests. One of the children was chosen as the leader while the other eleven were changed into donkeys that had to follow the leader about; the witch explained that it was to test the children one at a time. As the story progressed, some of the child leaders went mad and were doomed to wander the mazes forever as donkeys. . . Thus Donkey Madness earned its name.

Yolei screeched as her mind computed the mysterious digimon's words. "I don't wanna be a donkey!!" she wailed.

"I have no intention of having any of you turned into donkeys . . . no matter how much my associates want to see you squirm." Yolei let out a sigh of relief at that.

"This should not be a problem," Ken said in that deadpan voice he was currently cursed with. "I am a master at the game."

"You may be a master, but we have modified the game in some ways. Being unable to doubt will be your downfall, Emperor." Again, a pause. "I have just created a door behind you. Open it and the test will begin."

The six turned their heads, staring at the bright red door that had been created. Cody let out a sigh, looking at his companions. "Should we go now?" he asked.

"I think we should plan," T.K. piped up.

Davis crossed his arms and frowned. "Plan what?" he queried. "There's nothing to plan, T.G.!"

Kari gave the brown-haired boy a hard look. "This is no time to have name-calling, Davis," she said firmly. "We do have some planning to do, actually. . . We need all of the information we can get on Donkey Madness. I haven't actually played the game, so I'm no help there."

"Why don't you ask Ken?" Davis thrust a thumb in the direction of the blue-haired boy. "He's our resident genius, remember?"

As suspected, Ken was unable to react to Davis calling him by his real name or the obvious sarcasm in the boy's voice. He stood away from the group, gazing off into space. "The 'Game Lords' have already said that the test was modified from the game. What's the use?"

"We still need to know what we could expect," answered Kari. "Any information at all will be helpful."

Ken nodded, his eyes shifting as he realized Yolei and Cody were walking away. He silently watched them as Cody picked up Wormmon, Yolei checking on the unconscious digimon carefully. . . . Why would they care about Wormmon. . .?

"Ken?"

The Emperor returned his attention to Kari. ". . . There are different levels to the Donkey Madness game. Each level has a maze, danger zone, and puzzle room. The beginning mazes aren't tough, but later mazes have pitfalls and crushing walls in some parts. Danger zones are always life-threatening; some of the beginning danger areas are broken bridges over ravines and lava zones. Puzzle rooms usually take awhile, unless you're a genius like me and can figure those things out easily."

Davis' eye twitched a little. ". . . You sure they took all your emotions?" he asked.

"I'm sure. . . Why?"

"I could've sworn they missed 'arrogance.'"

Kari touched Davis' shoulder, looking at him imploringly. "Please, Davis. . . This is neither the time nor place for that."

Davis sighed, managing a few heavy nods. "Okay, okay. . . This is just really different," he muttered. "I can't believe I have to follow the Digimon Emperor around."

The Emperor adjusted his sunglasses slightly. ". . . The belief is mutual, I assure you."



I bet my very small reading audience is dying of boredom, huh? *sighs* I had a feeling readers wouldn't take well to this story, but I decided to be stubborn. . . Man, I'm horrible. . .