Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Key-Seeker ❯ Fight ( Chapter 5 )

One of the things Yolei loved was to be awakened by sunshine. Appropriately, that Sunday she was teased awake by a spill of warm light, and she opened her eyes with a smile. She sat up and stretched luxuriously, and the movement was enough to cause her partner to stir vaguely in his nest of blankets.

"Rise and shine, Poromon!" Yolei urged. "It's the early bird that gets the worm, you know."

"I don't want a worm," Poromon muttered, trying to hide his eyes with his short wings.

"No? Then how about breakfast?"

"I'm up!"

Poromon came alive with a stir of pink feathers, fluttering eagerly around Yolei's head. The girl laughed; anyone who had casually tossed around the phrase, "eating like a bird," had obviously never met Poromon. She'd been informed by Cody that birds had higher metabolisms than humans, and when you took into consideration that the bird in question was a growing young Digimon, well... Yolei was lucky her parents ran that convenience store. The trick was making sure he was convinced that his partner really would suffer negative consequences if he raided the candy aisle without her permission.

"Fine, fine, keep your feathers on," Yolei laughed. "Just let me get dressed, and I'll go make you something. Doesn't sound like the rest of the crew is up yet, so you can eat with me."

"Just as long as it isn't scrambled eggs," said Poromon.

Yolei laughed again. "I was thinking more of waffles, actually. We've got some strawberries to put on them."

"Now you're talking!"

With Poromon urging her on, Yolei dressed quickly and went to work brushing out her long lavender hair, humming to herself as she did so. It seemed to her partner that she took a little longer at that task than she needed to, combing over the same spot over and over, smiling dreamily at her reflection.

"You seem happy this morning," he finally ventured.

"Hm?" Yolei stopped brushing in mid-stroke. "Oh! Well, why shouldn't I be? It's a beautiful day, I've had a night of nice dreams, and I have my best friend with me. What could be better?"

Poromon blushed a little, but he was not to be put off. "What did you dream about?"

"Well, um... It's a human thing. You probably wouldn't get it."

"I bet it had something to do with Ken."

It was Yolei's turn to blush. "Don't jump to any conclusions."

"Come on, Yolei. We're partners. You don't have to keep secrets from me."

"I guess so," she replied. She sighed a bit. "I guess I'm not used to having someone to confide in, but I know you won't laugh at me like some of the others would. Sometimes I'm a little silly around guys... okay, a lot of the time. They wouldn't understand that this is different."

Pormon managed to look skeptical. "Are you sure?"

"Hey, you told me I could trust you!" said Yolei, scowling at him. "Be good, or I won't tell you anything."

The pink bird instantly assumed his most angelic expression. "I'll be good! I promise!"

"That's better," said Miyako. "And it is different. He's different. I mean, sure he's cute and all, but that's not what I see in him. I knew it the minute I looked in his eyes, there's something special about him, more than what just shows on the surface. I want to get to know him better, to know what it is."

"Oh," said Poromon. "You know what I think?"

"You think I'm talking nonsense, don't you?"

"I think you'll learn a lot more if you go make breakfast so we can go to the Digital World instead of staring in the mirror all day."

"Oh! Right. Silly me!" Yolei set down the hairbrush and grabbed her favorite hat, the raspberry beret, and put it on. She took one last glance at her reflection.

*Well, it's the best I'm going to do,* she thought, *but I don't think Ken's going to have anything to complain about.*

"All right, Poromon," she said. "Let's go see about breakfast!"

There were unusual noises emanating from the Motomiya residence. That was nothing unusual; with Davis around, there was usually noise of some kind or another going on, and a lot of them were much louder than the ones heard now. However, most of those noises had sounded like Davis was having a good time. He didn't sound at all happy this morning. Jun, lingering over a morning bowl of cereal, decided it might be interesting to go investigate. She went and opened the door to his room.

Davis had never been much of a housekeeper, but this morning, his room was in a shambles. Papers, books, CDs, even his precious collection of soccer trophies were strewn around in utter chaos. A frantic Davis sat in the middle of the mess, desperately digging through the objects with the air of one who has already looked everywhere he can think of and is now left only with the hope that maybe he overlooked whatever he was searching for the first time around. His eyes looked haunted. Jun, surveying the room, was just barely able to catch a glimpse of movement before it dove under a heap of old magazines, but she recognized it as the blue monster from last night. She pretended not to see it.

"Davis, what are you doing?" she asked. "Mom will skin you alive if she sees your room like this!"

"Not if my friends don't skin me first," Davis muttered. "I've lost something important, and I've got to find it soon, or there's gonna be big trouble."

"You need to learn to be more responsible," said Jun. "What did you lose? Besides your mind."

"Um, well... It's this little gizmo with a screen and an antenna and some buttons on it. Looks kinda like one of those virtual pet thingies everyone was carrying around a while back. You haven't seen it, have you?"

"Where would you get one of those things?" Jun asked. "And don't say the toy store; I know Dad cut off your allowance months ago."

"It was a gift from a friend, okay? And he's going to be really ticked with me if I lose it, so I've got to find it fast."

"Not a very good friend to get mad at you for something so small," said Jun. "I'm beginning to think these friends of yours are a bad influence on you."

"Well, nobody asked you. I like my friends just fine, and I liked my thingumajig, so if you aren't going to help me find it, then go away and let me look for it in peace."

"I think it's more important for you to get this mess cleaned up before mom sees it. You probably dropped the whatever it is while you were running around doing whatever it is you do all day. It's probably long gone by now."

"I can't lose it. It's got a little clip on the back so it won't fall off," Davis muttered, still rummaging around in the mess. "Besides, I know I had it last night. I set it down right there on the desk before I went to bed last night, and when I woke up this morning, it was gone. I don't know how it managed to disappear, unless..."

Davis trailed off and looked thoughtfully at his sister. She stared at the wall. Davis frowned.

"You wouldn't have any idea what happened to it, would you?" he asked.

"Who, me?" asked Jun innocently. "Why would I know where you keep your stupid stuff?"

"Don't ask me questions. I'm the one asking. Where is it?"

"I can't say."

"You can't say," Davis repeated. "Does that mean you know, or that you won't tell me?"

"Oh, honestly, Davis!" Jun exploded. "What makes you think I have any idea where your stupid Digivice is, anyway? I don't know anything about it."

"If you don't know anything about it, why did you know what I lost?" asked Davis.

Jun's eyes widened. "I - I - I..."

"It was you! You stole it, didn't you?" Davis exclaimed. "Did Sam put you up to this? Where is it? Spill!"

"No! You shouldn't be messing with that thing! It's dangerous!"

"Don't you think I've figured that out by now? Jun, I don't know what Sam's been telling you, but you've got to give that Digivice back. This is the fate of the world we're talking about. If you have any brain at all, you'll stay out of our way! Just stay out of all of this!"

"I'm not going to stay out of this! I don't want to see you in danger."

"Well, you're going to have to get used to it," said Davis. "Listen to me, okay? Whatever Sam told you, he was probably lying about half of it. I can't really explain all of it now, but you're going to have to accept that it's important, and if you start trying to play with it without knowing what you're doing, you're just going to make it worse. If you want to do the right thing, just give back my Digivice and forget any of this happened."

"You want me to forget I'm living next door to a monster?"

"Monster?" A little blue head popped out of the heap of papers. "Who are you calling a monster?"

"You stay out of this, DemiVeemon," Davis snapped.

"But she called me a monster!"

Jun's eyes were getting wider and wider as she stared at the talking creature.

"You keep that thing away from me!" she half-shouted, backing slowly away.

"I will if you give my Digivice back," said Davis. "Otherwise, I might just let him do whatever he feels like doing, and I don't think he likes you right now."

"If - if you let that thing hurt me, I'll tell Mom and Dad about this whole thing! Do you know what they'll do when they find out?"

"I don't even care anymore," said Davis. "I've got bigger things on my mind than what any of you think of me. I'm a Digidestined, and that comes before anything else."

"You've changed," said Jun. "I don't know who you are, but you're not the brother I had a week ago. I'm not sure I like any of this."

"Deal with it."

"I'm warning you, Davis, you're just asking for trouble. You're the one who needs to back down."

"Are you threatening me?"

When Jun paused a moment too long, DemiVeemon hopped toward her in the most menacing fashion he could manage. It was enough to make her back off a few paces, though, so he pressed his advantage.

"You can't make threats to my buddy Davis!" he asserted. "If you don't leave him alone right now, I'll make you sorry!"

"Eek!" yelped Jun, which was about what DemiVeemon had expected her to do. He kept advancing, backing her into the hallway. When he snarled and showed off what teeth he had, she gave a squeak and hurried away. The little blue dragon grinned.

"I got rid of her," he said. "Did I do a good job?"

"Yeah, thanks, little guy," said Davis, sighing. "Unfortunately, she's still got my Digivice... or worse yet, she's given it to Sam already, or she's going to. Man, what am I going to do now? It's not like I can go down to the store and get a new one, and there's no way I'm getting Sam to give it back."

"You'll get it back somehow," said DemiVeemon. "You can do anything, Davis!"

The boy smiled a little at his companion's faith in him.

"Thanks, pal," he said, "but I don't think I'm going to be doing this alone. I think I'd better let the others know about this."

Sam scowled at his computer screen, for lack of a better audience. He had slept badly that night - that dratted nightmare again - and he was now being plagued by a headache and was generally not in the best of moods. Tiredness made him depressed, and his thoughts reflected the mood. After all, hadn't he been working on this project for nearly three years, and what did he have to show for it? A couple of computer programs, a collection of data, and a creepy spider woman breathing down his neck telling him to work faster. He was working as fast as he could! What more did she want out of him? He did have a life outside of this Digital World business - an annoying one at times, but still, not everything he did had to revolve around his search for the key. If only Ken would just give up!

"It's all his fault," Sam muttered. "If he didn't have to be so stubborn, none of this would be happening!"

As if on key, the screen he was looking at went blank, and was then replaced by a face. Sam's scowl deepened.

"No one invited you," he snapped.

"You're in a good mood this morning," said Ken. "You forgot to call, so I thought I'd look you up... Heard you had a little computer trouble, so I suppose I'll excuse you."

"I suppose you're proud of yourself for that?" Sam replied. "You knew you couldn't handle me yourself, so you sent one of your little pawns to do it for you."

Ken's eyes flashed. "For your information, it was his own idea. I had nothing to do with it. And they're not my pawns, Sam. They're my friends. You're the one who has to make pawns of everyone who crosses your path."

"And just what do you mean by that?"

"Oh, face up to it. You know very well how you behave. You can't stand to have anyone out from under your thumb. That's what this is all about, isn't it? I'm the one person you haven't been able to manipulate, and it's driving you crazy."

"I'm just trying to get what I deserve."

"You deserve to be given to one of your own monsters," Ken replied. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe there are some things that are a little out of your league? No, of course it didn't. You don't think there's one thing in the world - any world - that you can't have. Well, you're wrong. The Digital World is going to stay out of your hands if it takes every resource I have."

"Don't make me laugh," said Sam, but he didn't sound like he was laughing. "You certainly haven't done much to stop me from getting to you. I'm getting closer, despite of all you've done."

"Set one foot in this world, and I'll have every creature I know come to greet you," Ken replied.

"Fat lot of good they'll do against my creations," Sam replied. "Just give it up, Ken."

"Never, Sam."

"Next time, then."

"We'll see, won't we?"

The connection clicked shut, and Sam pressed his face into his hands and sighed. Ken was right about one thing: there was nothing that annoyed him more than the fact that his nothing little brother had the one thing he couldn't have! Sam had always been the talented one in the family. His parents did everything he asked of him; he was a school hero; the press was crazy about him; girls worshiped him. Ken had always just been this figure in the background. He'd been just like everyone else until this whole Digital World thing had started and messed up the order of life. Someday, somehow, it was going to be set right...

"Having a little trouble, Sam?"

Sam jumped. The door to his room hadn't opened - he was always sure to lock it - but now he realized he was not alone. Turning around to get a look at whoever was disturbing his peace, he saw that Arukenimon had made good her claim that she would come and see him. Not only that but she had brought a friend. She was perched gracefully on his spare chair like a queen on her throne, and seated at her feet was a stranger in a blue uniform. He didn't seem in the least bothered by his subservient position, and gazed up at Arukenimon with devotion shining in his single golden eye. One of Arukenimon's hands rested lightly on his shoulder, and Sam couldn't decide if it was an expression of affection or a mark of ownership. With a secretive woman like Arukenimon, one never knew!

"Um... hello. I wasn't expecting you," Sam managed.

"Naturally," Arukenimon replied. "I just had an impulse to drop by."

"Did your friend have an impulse to drop by, too?"

"He just came along for the ride," said Arukenimon. "I don't believe you've met... Sam, this my partner, Mummymon. Mummymon, this is the boy I've been telling you about."

"Charmed," said the man in blue. He nodded politely to Sam before turning his attention back to the lady in red. Sam nodded back with about as much interest.

*He looks about as smart as a bag of bricks,* he reflected. *What's he doing here? "Partner" doesn't tell me very much.*

"We've come to ask a little favor of you," said Arukenimon, as if reading the boy's thoughts.

"You don't ask for much," Sam muttered. "You've already been nagging me to work faster. What else have you got in mind?"

"Just a little business proposition," answered the spider woman smoothly. "Actually, I've been worried about putting too much pressure on you to finish this project. It's obvious that you have too much interfering with your work right now to work at optimum capacity. After all, you have all these things like soccer and schoolwork and family getting in your way, and you must admit that a home computer is no fit instrument for the magnitude of work you're trying to accomplish."

"Admitted," said Sam. "What's the proposition?"

"We've managed to find a suitable work space for you," Arukenimon replied. "Somewhere you'll be able to work in privacy, and with equipment far more advanced than what you have here. If you were willing to relocate, I'm sure you'd find the situation preferable to this one."

"Sounds tempting," said Sam, "but I'm not sure I feel like going along with it. For one thing, what would I tell my parents? They would never agree to me just dropping everything, whether it's what I want to do or not."

"Is it what you want to do?"

"Well, of course!"

"Then why let lesser humans get in your way?" asked Arukenimon. "Aren't they stopping you reaching your full potential? Why waste your efforts in playing silly games and winning plastic trophies when you could be winning a world?"

"True..." said Sam slowly. "But this doesn't sound like business to me. What are you getting out of it?"

"You," she answered, letting a small smile spread across her face. "It is rare for Digimon to have children. Chances are that we'll never have one of our own. Rest assured, we will have more appreciation for your talents than your parents ever did. You know they'll never understand what you're doing. We will. We'll make sure you have a proper scope for your talents."

Listening to this monologue, Mummymon sighed so wistfully that Sam was drawn to look at the creature; something in that line about never having children of their own seemed to have gotten to him.

*Is that what kind of partners they are, then?* Sam wondered. *Well, I guess there's no accounting for taste... Then again, he's obviously devoted to her. Maybe that's attractive. Then again, what do I know about romance? I've never had anyone in my life except Jun...*

The silence was broken by the distant sound of a doorbell buzzing. Someone ran to get the door.

"Sam!" his mother called. "Your girlfriend's here to see you!"

"Jun? She must have pulled it off after all!" Sam exclaimed.

"What?" For once, Arukenimon seemed to have no grasp of what was going on.

"You two are going to have to get out of here," said Sam. "I've got a visitor. I'll tell you what, let me think it over and get back to you, all right? Goodbye!"

"Nice meeting you," said Mummymon politely. He and Arukenimon vanished in a flicker of lights that made the computer screen dance in response. Sam stared a moment, as if to make sure they were really gone, and then hurried to answer the door.

Arukenimon and Mummymon reappeared in a forested section of the Digital World, and the spider woman paused there to review her latest endeavor.

"Not too bad," she decided, "but not good enough."

"I thought you played your part wonderfully, my dear," said Mummymon.

"I didn't ask for your opinion," Arukenimon replied. "All of this is going much too slow! We were expected to make some kind of headway in this case a long time ago. Even we don't have forever. Sometimes I wonder if I've been going about this all wrong? I wonder what would have happened if I'd been able to get that other boy on my side... He wouldn't be the Paladin right now, that's for sure."

"You'll make this work," he assured her. "I have complete faith in you."

"Well, isn't that encouraing," she answered sarcastically. "I won't feel comfortable with any of this until we get that boy out of the house and get him seriously devoted to his work. The sooner he makes up his mind, the better."

"Oh, I feel exactly the same way," Mummymon agreed.

Arukenimon shot a look at her sidekick and was not pleased with what she saw. He was wearing a particularly smug expression on his face, one that instantly put her on guard. There weren't too many things that would set him grinning like that, and she didn't think she liked any of them.

"What are you looking so happy about?" she demanded.

"Didn't you tell that boy that we were going to be his parents?" he asked. "You as good as told him we wanted children."

"Yes..."

"Well, aren't people with children usually - dare I say it? - married?"

Arukenimon slapped herself. "Drat!"

"You aren't happy?"

"That's one way to phrase it," she growled. "Why in the world would I ever want to be married to you?"

"Because I'm the only one who wants to marry you."

"Great. I'm flattered," muttered Arukenimon. "Did it ever occur to you that I might not feel the same way?"

"You did give him that impression, you know. If I can think of it, you know he's going to."

"I know that, blast it!" Arukenimon muttered. "And I can't very well go taking it back now, either, or he'll get suspicious. He's leery enough as it is, and if I start contradicting myself... Blast, blast, blast it. I knew I should have thought about this more beforehand."

"Well?" asked Mummymon. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I suppose I'll have to play along," Arukenimon sighed, "at least until everything is situated. All right, you can pretend that we're married, but only when the boy is around. And don't get too mushy."

"Wouldn't dream of it," said Mummymon, eye shining with elation. 'This is the happiest day of my life! Can we seal the deal with a kiss?"

The spider woman shot him a dangerous look.

"I am not in a good mood right now," she said, "and if you make one more remark like that, I'll have to tell the boy that I'm a widow. Got it?"

"Whatever you say, cupcake."

"What did I do to deserve this?" Arukenimon muttered. "I'm ready to get out of here. Let's get back to the jeep."

She stalked away, not bothering to see if her partner was following her. Mummymon simply stood watching her, sighing dreamily.

"She's so wonderful when she's playing hard to get... don't you think she's wonderful?"

This last remark was addressed to the only other living thing in the area, a Taprimon that was watching the proceedings with a bemused air. It looked up at Mummymon, looked at Arukenimon's retreating figure, then looked long and thoughtfully back at Mummymon. It nodded an affirmative, and Mummymon beamed as he walked off, pleased that someone agreed with him. The Tapirmon shrugged and walked off, shaking his head at the eccentricity of people in love.

"Are you sure you shouldn't call the others for this?" Poromon asked his partner.

"What for?" Yolei replied. "No more monsters for a while, remember? At least not until Sam gets his computer fixed."

"But what if he has?" asked Poromon. "You wouldn't know about it until it was too late."

"Ken would know about it," she said. "We'll ask him. He knows where the eggs are and I don't, so we're going to have to talk to him anyway. Now, be quiet, or someone will spot us."

Yolei and Poromon were in the process of sneaking into the closed school building. The girl had considered using her own computer to make the trip to the Digital World, but she worried it might cause suspicion in her family if she were to simply vanish with no one seeing her go out. It wouldn't have been a problem for TK or Kari - their families had at least some idea of what Digimon were all about, and Kari had a brother to cover for her. Cody might have been able to avoid his mother and grandfather for a while, and even Davis might have been capable of pulling off a disappearing act. However, Yolei had not only a pair of parents, but three older siblings as well. The odds that at least one of them wouldn't notice her were not good.

"No privacy at all," she muttered to herself. "Going to the Digiworld will be a relief."

At least the school building was empty. Not even the janitors were around, so once Yolei and Poromon made it through the front door, they were able to proceed to the computer lab with ease. Once there, the girl powered on a computer and opened up the port to the Digital World.

They were surprised to arrive in the middle of a wasteland. Yolei's first few trips to the Digital World had shown her nothing but plants and forests, and she was not prepared for this desolation. The ground she stood on was a mix of sand and pebbles, all of it wet and slimy, and the only evidence of any living things were a few black protrusions from the earth that might have once been trees. There were a few puddles of scummy water, tinted faintly green. A wind rolled by, and Yolei coughed as she caught a whiff of something foul.

"Looks like the Glitches are back," Hawkmon remarked. "Are you sure you don't want to go home?"

"Not really," Yolei replied. "I wonder if Ken knows all this is here?"

"You can ask him about it later," said Hawkmon. "E-mail him."

"Never mind, I see him," Yolei replied.

"Where?"

"There!"

Off in the distance, they could see the telltale glimmer that meant the Paladin was hard at work, undoing what had been done by the Glitches, and Yolei headed for the lights with Hawkmon fluttering along behind her. She was not surprised to find Ken sitting on a relatively clean rock with a laptop computer in front of him. His usual assortment of Digimon friends were sitting around watching the light show.

"Hi, Ken!" Yolei called. "Hi, Wormmon! Hi, Tapirmon! Hi... whatever all you critters are!"

"Hello again," said Ken, glancing up from his work. "What are you doing out here all by yourself?"

"I was hoping to go looking for one of those Digimentals," Yolei replied. "I hope I didn't come at a bad time. It looks like there was some excitement around here."

"Sam sent me a couple of Glitches to play with," Ken replied. "Just little ones. Stingmon got rid of them with not problems. Sam appears to have his computer working again, but not as well as it used to. I think you're safe for now."

"Oh. That's good," said Yolei. "So... how are you feeling today? You looked pretty bad yesterday. Are you all right?"

"I'm all right. Fortunately, there was no irreparable harm done," Ken answered.

"No irreparable harm? But what about the Snimon?"

"He's okay, too," said Ken. "See? There he is." Ken pointed to what appeared to be a blob of green jelly with a pair of shoe-button eyes and a pacifier. It stared curiously up at Yolei.

"That doesn't look like a Snimon to me," Yolei said.

"That's because it's not - not yet, anyway," said Ken. "That's Pabumon, the hatchling form of Snimon. When a Digimon is deleted, their data is sent back to the Primordial Databank for reprocessing. Unless the transference is interrupted somehow, the Digimon is born again from a Digiegg. I was afraid that Snimon's data got corrupted because of that strange woman's spell, but he seems all right. I intend to keep an eye on him until he grows back to his proper form again."

"That's pretty amazing," said Yolei. "And comforting, especially since we're going to be in a lot of danger now that the Glitches are working again. I'd hate to see anything happen to Hawkmon, but if he's going to come back..."

"That's not always guaranteed," said Ken. "Like I said, sometimes the data is corrupted, or the files get lost. For example, I've been doing some research, and it seems that if a Digimon dies outside of the Digital World, their data won't be reprocessed properly. And sometimes they just wear out like an old floppy disk. Everything has to die sometime, even in the Digital World. Otherwise, nothing would ever change."

"Oh," said Yolei thoughtfully. "So if something happened to Hawkmon in my world, he'd really be gone... and Sam's in the real world..."

"Your Digimon is more than a match for Sam," said Ken. "Don't worry about it. He can Digivolve in your world, too. Can you imagine any human picking a fight with Halsemon?"

Yolei smiled a little. "Good point. Well, I was going to try to find you to tell you about this mess, but it looks like you've already found it, so I guess I'll get going. Bye!"

"Hey, wait!" Ken called. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Looking," Yolei replied. "Why?"

"Do you know where you're going?"

"No, not really. TK has the map."

"Then how do you think you're going to find anything?" Ken asked. "Even more importantly, how do you know you're not going to be attacked by a Glitch, or by one of that strange woman's bugs?"

"Are you trying to tell me I ought to go home?"

"No, I'm trying to tell you that you ought to be careful," Ken replied. "Look, I'll tell you what. Let me finish what I'm doing here, and then I'll come along with you, just so you won't be out here alone."

"Um. I guess that's a good idea," said Yolei. She walked away a few paces into the area that Ken had already repaired and settled down under a tree. Hawkmon sat down next to her, and the Tapirmon got up and settled down on her other side.

"Hey, there, fella," she greeted, scratching his ears affectionately. "Nice to see you again."

"Glad to see you're making friends," said Ken. "A Tapirmon is a useful thing to have around. That one comes and goes, but I'm always grateful for his company."

"Yeah, you said something about Tapirmons being special," Yolei replied, "but you never said why."

"Tapirmons are Holy Beast Digimon," Ken explained. "They have special powers, particularly over dreams. They feed off of good dreams, and collect bad ones to use against their enemies. They're mostly peaceful creatures, but they'll do whatever they can to delete viruses when they find them. This particular one also has a bad habit of knowing what I'm thinking. He's smarter than your average 'mon."

"He sure doesn't look that powerful," Yolei commented.

"Don't tell him that," said Ken. "He'll do something to prove otherwise. Believe me, I know."

"She thinks about you, Ken."

Both kids stared at the Tapirmon; this was the first time Yolei had heard it speak, and that particular bit of information wasn't one she wanted to have made public. She and Ken both turned a few interesting shades of pink.

"I didn't need to know that," said Ken.

"Why not?" asked Tapirmon. "They're not bad dreams. They're nice dreams. She likes you."

"You didn't have to tell him that!" said Yolei.

"Why not?" asked Tapirmon again. "It's true. What's wrong with him knowing you like him?"

"Oh, never mind," Yolei muttered. "Ken, I'm sorry. I didn't mean... that is... what am I apologizing for?"

"Don't bother," said Ken.

"I didn't mean to embarrass you," said Yolei. "I have, haven't I?"

"Don't worry about it," said Ken. He stared pointedly at his computer screen.

"Great," Yolei muttered. "You made him mad. Thanks a lot."

"I didn't do anything wrong," said Taprimon. "I just told the truth."

"Yeah, well, sometimes people would prefer to keep secrets," Yolei replied.

"Not from me," Tapirmon answered. "Nobody keeps secrets from me."

"You read minds?"

"Not exactly. I guess you could say I read dreams. I don't really know what people are thinking, but I know what they want and feel and believe," the Digimon explained. "I like you. All your dreams are good."

"Oh. Well, thanks," said Yolei. She was quiet a minute. Then she asked, "Hey, Tapirmon... what do you dream about?"

"Me?" The Tapirmon looked surprised. "Nobody's ever asked me that before. I guess what I really want... is to be needed."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, because I know I have these powers. I'm supposed to be a Holy Beast, but I don't do anything. I don't have any purpose. I feel like there's something that I'm meant to do, but I've never been able to figure out what it is. That's why I follow Ken. Things are always happening around him, so I hope one day I'll be able to help."

"I'm sure things will turn out all right for you," said Yolei, stroking the Tapirmon's armored head. She sighed. "Not much is happening right now, is it? I wish Ken would hurry up with whatever is he's doing."

"I heard that," Ken snapped. "If you want me to finish faster, you could offer to help."

"Well, okay, then, can I help?"

"Maybe," said Ken. "I could use a break anyway. How are you with computers?"

"That happens to be my specialty," Yolei answered proudly. She got up and went to stand beside him, looking over his shoulder at the computer screen. "That doesn't look too hard. What are you doing?"

"Just replacing the damaged files. It's not hard once you get the hang of it, just tedious."

"Cool. Let me try!"

The Paladin obediently scooted out of the way and let Yolei take over. After watching critically a moment to make sure she was doing it right, he began wandering around, stretching his stiff joints. All around him, little glints of pearly light flashed as trees and shrubs formed around him and grass sprouted under his feet. Yolei watched him out of the corner of her eye as she worked. He was, she had to admit, eminently watchable. With his formal attire and the glittering light adding to his already striking good looks, he seemed like someone from another world.

*And that's exactly what he is,* Yolei reminded herself. *He's not just an ordinary human being. He's the Digimon Paladin. Not much chance of him ever wanting anything to do with me.*

She sighed and shook her head. There was really no point in worrying about it, not when she had a job to do, so she turned her mind back to her work. Her fingers flew over the keyboard in a steady clatter, and she was soon lost entirely in the task of manipulating data. It was several minutes before anything could draw her out of her trance, and that was only because it was so warm sitting there on the rock without any trees to protect her from the sun. She paused long enough to take off her helmet and glasses, setting them down beside her so she could shake out her long hair, running her fingers through it in an attempt to cool herself off a bit. It was while she was doing this that she realized that Ken was staring at her, and she returned the look as best she could without her glasses.

"What are you looking at?" she demanded.

"You look different like that."

"Like what?"

"Without your glasses and your helmet. Makes you look... I don't know. Just different."

"Different in a good way or a bad way?"

"I don't know. Better, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Well... yeah, sure. Not that I know much about what's beautiful in people, but... I guess you're kind of pretty like this."

"I can't see a thing without my glasses," said Yolei, blushing and looking away. After a pause, she said, "You know when you look different?"

"When?"

"When you start talking about the Digital World and the Digimon. Most of the time, when I see you, you're so cold and distant, but when you talk about defending the Digital World, you turn into a whole other person. Anybody can see how much you love this place - it just shines out of you."

"Well, this place is my home. More than that, it saved my life. It means everything to me, and I'll give everything I have to save it," Ken replied. "Hey, Yolei... was the Tapirmon right when it said you liked me?"

"Yeah..."

"Why?" asked Ken. "Nobody's ever liked me before... no human people, anyway. And I haven't really been all that nice to you all."

"That's the cold you. It's the other one I want to know about," said Yolei. "The first time I came to the Digital World and saw you, I looked into your eyes and I saw something there. I saw someone who'd been hurt a lot... but I also saw someone who's proud and brave and capable of love. That's what I like about you."

"Oh," said Ken. "You know, the first time I met Wormmon, he told me to let me look him in the eye, and that's when he knew that we were meant to be together - when he was looking into my eyes. I always wondered what it was he saw. I guess now I know."

"I haven't embarrassed you telling this stuff, have I?"

"No. Actually, I'm kind of glad you did," said Ken. "I just never really thought that any human people could like me."

"Well, that's their fault, then," said Yolei. "If they want to be stupid and not see what kind of person you are, then it's their loss."

"They've never bothered before."

"So? They've never bothered with me, either," Yolei replied. "They tell me I talk too much, and I don't dress stylishly or hang out with the in crowd or get asked out on dates, but do you think I let that get to me? No! Well, maybe a little, but..."

It was then that Ken did something that probably surprised both of them: he sat down next to Yolei and gently put a hand to her face, tilting her head back so that they were eye to eye.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I want to look into your eyes," he said, "so I can see what kind of person you are."

"What do you see?"

"I see someone who is brave and intelligent... and kind enough to like someone like me," Ken replied. "Yolei, how do you really feel about me? Be honest."

Yolei looked into his amethyst eyes and saw all his defenses down, and she felt a little shiver run through her despite the heat. She felt herself getting lost, and she looked away.

"For the longest time," she said, "I've been letting myself fall for people, just because they seem so much better than I am - because they're better looking or more talented or whatever. I guess I feel like if I can get someone like that to like me, it means I'm a good person. Since I met you, I've been wondering if that's what it is I'm feeling." She looked up again. "But when I look in your eyes like this, I know that's not true. I like you for who you are, and I want to get to know you better."

"I think I'd like to know you better, too," Ken replied.

They leaned closer to each other, eyes slowly closing... and then they jumped away again as a light suddenly exploded between them. It blazed green for a moment before coalescing into an egg shape, an ovoid made of something that looked like leaves, resting on a four-pointed metal star. A small green teardrop was marked on the front. It hovered in the air between them.

"What in the...?" asked Yolei.

"It's a Digimental," Ken said. "The Digimental of Sincerity."

"Wow." Yolei reached out to touch the floating egg, and it dropped lightly into her hands. "Too cool! This was easier to find than I thought it would be."

"It looks like that one is yours," said Ken. "I can't think of anyone it would be better suited to... Thanks for being honest with me."

"I'm glad I did," Yolei replied.

"Well, I guess you've done what you came here to do," he said. "I suppose you'll be leaving soon."

"Do you want me to stay?"

"Kind of. I mean, I was thinking maybe... when we're done fixing this area, we could maybe take a walk and look and see if there are any more Glitch tracks around here."

Yolei beamed. "I'd love to."

Wormmon and Hawkmon, who had been watching the show from the shade of the trees, looked at each other.

"I don't get it," said Wormmon. "There are no more Glitch tracks. Ken knows that."

Hawkmon just smiled knowingly. "Don't worry about it. It's a human thing."

Jun fidgeted at the front door of the Ichijouji residence, waiting. She didn't like waiting; it gave her time to think, and that was more difficult right now than anything else she could imagine. When she thought too long, she remembered just how frightened her brother had looked when he had realized that she had the Digivice. That played off of the light she had seen in Sam's eyes when he had spoken of her bringing the device to him. One thing was for sure: both boys were desperate to have that little machine in their hands. That was enough to convince her that she had gotten mixed up in something big, but who was right?

Just then, Sam arrived at the door, looking a bit harried. His expression brightened a bit as he saw Jun.

"I wasn't expecting you to show up here today," he said.

"I had to come," said Jun. "I have it."

"You what?"

"The Digivice," she said. "I have it. I did just like you said, and snuck into Davis's room and took it."

"Let me see it."

Jun reached in her pocket and took out the device. There it was, resting there in her palm, and Sam looked like he couldn't quite believe it. Then his expression shifted to the most elated smile she'd yet seen him wear.

"You are a miracle worker," he said softly, and much to her surprise and his own, he kissed her quickly on the cheek before taking the device away. He quickly made it vanish into his pocket, and then took Jun's hand.

"Come inside," he said. "There's something I want to show you."

Blushing a bit, Jun allowed herself to be led into the apartment. Sam's parents watched them as they slipped in and murmured parental things to each other about how nice it was that their boy had finally found someone he was interested in. Sam smiled for them as he passed by, but he seemed more interested in getting to his own room. As soon as they had made it safely inside, he shut the door in a move that was almost reflexive, as if he spent a lot of time worrying that someone would open it. On second thought, he opened it a sliver.

"Just so they don't get any ideas," said Sam. "If they find it shut, they'll wonder what we're doing in here."

"What are we doing in here?" asked Jun, glancing around. She was impressed, as her brother had been, at Sam's accomplishments.

*I hadn't realized just how talented he is,* she thought. *He's got to know more about this crazy stuff than my stupid little brother, right?*

"Mostly, I wanted to show you something," said Sam. "A reward for helping me out. You did say you wanted to see other worlds, didn't you?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, take a look at this!"

Sam turned to his computer and clicked his way through a maze of programs. There was a humming as the machine went to work, and suddenly, a window opened up on the screen. Through it was visible a landscape of rolling hills and beautiful, alien trees covered in blue and purple flowers. A creek trickled past, and a Unimon bowed his head over it to drink. Foramon dozed in the shade of the trees. Jun's eyes went wide.

"Never seen a unicorn before, have you?" Sam asked.

Jun shook her head. "It's incredible! Is this for real?"

"As real as we are. That's the Digital World you're seeing. Right now, all I can do is open this little window and look through, but someday, with your help, I'm going to open a real door. Then we can go through together. What do you think? Wouldn't you like to go to a world where you and I were the only people alive? It would be just like the beginning of time, and we can make the whole world just the way we want it..."

"That's so romantic," Jun sighed.

Sam grinned, looking suddenly boyish. "I know. I didn't even think I could think something like that. I guess you bring out something special in me. You and I make a good team."

"I'm glad," said Jun. "It's a good thing you're here to make me feel better about this. Davis was really angry at me. He sicced his dragon thing on me! I'm a little frightened."

"It'll be okay," Sam assured her. "The dragon is powerless as long as I've got the Digivice. I'll make sure you're safe. As long as you trust me, everything will be all right."

Jun smiled with relief, and Sam gently put his arm around her, letting her lean her head on his shoulder. She sighed contentedly as they gazed on the digital landscape together.

*You are so easy to manipulate,* thought Sam. *We do make an interesting team. Maybe - just maybe - I'll keep you around a little longer than I anticipated.*

It was evening in the Digital World. The sky had turned a soft violet shade, covering the world with a blanket of cool shadows. A few tiny stars twinkled like grains of sand, still too small to seem like true lights. Ken watched them as they came out one by one. Nearby, Wormmon watched his partner, thinking to himself how much Ken reminded him of the sky. In the thin starlight, his skin seemed as pale as the moon, his hair the color of the shadows, his violet eyes and violet clothes blending in with the evening. Now, too, there were stars in his eyes that had never been there before, not even when he was a carefree boy running wild in the Digital World before the monsters had come. Wormmon could still see the faint wisps of sadness that had always been in Ken's expression since the day he had abandoned Earth, but now there was a new look of peace there.

"What are you thinking, Ken?" he asked.

"Just about life," Ken replied. "Things have sure changed around here, haven't they? So fast... I have teammates now? Isn't that strange? I never thought I'd actually want other people around me."

"Is this about Yolei?"

Ken shook his head. "Not just her. All of them. She's the one who started me thinking, though. She's not what I thought people would be like. I don't think the others are going to be that bad, either. You were right all along; I should have been trying to get to know them from the start."

Wormmon refrained from saying he'd told him so. Ken could be stubborn at times; he knew that better than anyone. It was hard, at times, to get him to learn his lessons, and difficult to get him to change his mind once he'd made it up. It would only annoy him if his partner started pointing out what he'd already admitted.

"I'm glad you're making friends, Ken," said Wormmon.

"Me, too," Ken replied. He was quiet a while, and the pair stared at the stars together. Then Ken said, "You know what I wish?"

"What?"

"I wish it was safe to go back to the real world."

"Why do you wish that?"

"I don't know, exactly. I've just been thinking about it a lot lately. I guess it's because the gate's open again after so long, and I'm getting these looks into what's out there. Just having people around reminds me of when I was a little kid, when I used to go to the movies and play soccer on the playground, and when Sam and I were still friends." He sighed. "It seems like a long time ago."

"I thought you hated Sam."

"So did I," Ken replied, "but he's still my brother. If anything, he's shown me it's possible to love someone and hate them at the same time. I know I have to fight him, but I'd give anything to have things go back to the days when we used to blow bubbles on the balcony. There are times, every once in a while, where I wonder what I would do if he were to start acting like that again. If I thought there was really a chance for us to be brothers again, I might even... no. I can't think like that. The Sam that was my friend disappeared a long time ago."

"You miss him, though, don't you?"

"Yeah, Wormmon, I miss him."

"Would you go back to Earth, though, if everything went back to the way it was?"

"You know I'd never want to leave you," said Ken. "You'll always be my best friend... I would like the chance to visit it, though."

"Is that so?"

Ken and Wormmon both sat up straight as an image appeared before them. It was almost impossible not to look at, a glowing, flickering hologram of Sam himself, standing there smiling coolly at them.

Back in the real world, Sam had been doing some serious thinking. Once Jun had returned to her home, he had immediately gone to work on the Digivice. He had never had a chance to really study one before, only study them from a distance, from the images his Spies sent him. True, he'd once had one of his own, but it had been the older model, and he hadn't known enough about it to study it properly. Now he had a few more years of knowledge and experience behind him, and he already had his plans laid out. Several hours of work had rewarded him with a makeshift adapter, one that would let him hook the Digivice to his computer and let him probe its secrets as far as he wished. At this point, he had already extracted all of the information he could take from it, laid it all bare for his own uses. And after all that, he was left with... practically nothing.

If he had learned one thing from all of his experimentation, it was that Ken had been telling him the truth about the nature of the Digivices: they would only work for one person and be absolutely useless in the hands of anyone else. Whatever method had been used to make this so, it was so ingenious and subtle that Sam was forced to admit he didn't know how to pick it apart without making the entire device break down.

*But I can at least copy the design,* he'd told himself. *Now that I know the principle behind it, I can make my own version. I'll get in. All I need is time.*

For now, though, he was stuck. It was aggravating, really - all this time, he had been convinced that the Digivice was the key to everything, and her he was learning that it was only the first step he was going to have to take in what would possibly be a long journey. Something in him said that there had to be an easier way.

*If only I could get that brother of mine to cooperate with me! I'll bet he knows how these things work. He's got access to information that can only be found in the Digital World, or how else would he know about those egg things? If I could just get him to come out of hiding, out here where I can get to him, I could make him help me, but he's not going to leave the Digital World, unless...*

And it was then that a startlingly simple solution occurred to him. In the old days, he'd always been able to get Ken to do what he wanted, if not by persuasion then by brute strength. That had been a long time ago, but Sam had only grown taller and stronger and more skillful with time. Didn't he have multiple black belts in judo? Couldn't he beat any soccer player who stood against him? If he could get Ken in his reach, he could easily subjugate him. All he needed was to get the boy out in the open, and then he'd have him. And so he stood before his brother, grinning.

"What do you want?" Ken demanded, scowling at the hologram.

"I want to talk business," answered Sam. "I've got something I think you'll want."

"I don't want to make any deals with you," Ken snapped.

"Not even for this?" Sam held up the Digivice so that Ken could get a good look. The younger boy's eyes widened.

"That's Davis's Digivice! Where did you get that?" he asked.

"I have my ways," answered Sam smoothly. "You don't need to know that. What you need to do is find out how you can get it back."

"I'm not making any deals with you," repeated Ken. "I know what you're after. Whatever I trade you, you'll use to hurt my world, and I won't have won anything."

"You think so, huh? Wait until I explain myself, and then you can decide," Sam said. "You see, Ken, I'm a reasonable guy. I know I can't really fight you over there. You know you can't really fight me over here. We're at a stalemate. Furthermore, I know I can't really use this Digivice. It's useless to me, so I'm willing to give it back."

Ken narrowed his eyes. "And what's the catch?"

"If you want it, you have to earn it," Sam replied. "Come back home. Meet me on the roof of the apartment. There, we'll settle this manner man to man."

"You mean...?"

"We fight. You and me, one on one. No tricks. None of your little Digimon friends coming along to help you out. We fight until one or the other of us surrenders. If you win, you can have the Digivice back. If I win, you stay in our world and you help me find a way into yours."

"I'm familiar with your deals, Sam. If I hadn't made a deal with you, I wouldn't be in this mess."

"Suit yourself, then," said Sam. "All I can say is, you'd better be waiting for me on the roof at midnight, because I'm going up there, and if you don't show, I'll toss this bit of useless junk onto the road, and then we won't have anything more to worry about, will we?"

Before Ken could formulate an answer, the hologram disappeared, leaving Ken to fume.

"I can't believe it!" he growled. "He's doing it to me again!"

"Are you going to go?" asked Wormmon nervously.

"I don't see how I could not go," Ken replied. "We can't take the chance that he won't destroy the Digivice. I have to at least try."

"It doesn't sound safe," said Wormmon.

"It isn't. That's why I'm going to take you with me."

"What? But Sam said-"

"I don't really care what Sam said," answered Ken. "I don't trust him not to find some way to cheat. You'll be my accident insurance. Just lie low and bail me out if I get in any trouble."

"I don't like this," said Wormmon.

Ken sighed. "Neither do I... but I guess there's no helping it. Like it or not, I have to go home."

Somewhere in the distance, an almost inaudible bell tolled twelve chimes. Ken stood very still, counting them. He took in the hum of traffic, the never-ending swirl of city lights, the feel of the wind as it tossed his cloak and hair.

*It's been so long,* he thought, *but nothing has changed. Except me. It used to feel like home; now I've almost forgotten it.*

He stood on the roof of the apartment building. Getting there had been a job in itself; he'd had to get into the real world by sneaking in through a computer in a library and hiking to his old home, ducking through the shadows before someone could see him and realize that he was not quite like them, or that he carried a large caterpillar under the folds of his cape. Once they'd reached the apartment itself, he'd had his companion make a quick transformation to Stingmon to lift him to the roof. Now the Digimon was in hiding, and Ken was alone in the moonlight, listening to the night sounds all around him. A door opened, and the boy tensed as his rival stepped into view.

"There you are," said Sam. "I was afraid you weren't going to show up."

"I wouldn't miss this for anything," Ken replied. "Where's the Digivice?"

"Right here." Sam held it up, letting it gleam dully in the moonlight, before hiding it again. "Like I promised, a fair fight. Are you ready?"

"Completely." Ken unfastened his cloak and let it drop to to the roof, freeing his arms for battle. He dropped into a defensive stance. "Let's begin."

Sam needed no further encouragement. He lunged at Ken, but the younger boy sidestepped him, dancing lightly out of the way. He managed to give his brother a shove as he went by, and Sam overbalanced and fell. Ken tackled him, and they rolled over a few times, pummeling each other until they came too close to the edge for Sam's comfort, and he managed to give Ken a kick that drove him backwards until he stumbled and fell. Sam pulled himself to his feet and moved into attack, only to have Ken spring back up just in time to avoid the next kick. They backed away, circling each other, watching to see if the other one would move. The lights around them dimmed and faded as cars passed through the streets below, making eyes flash faintly.

"You're tougher than you look," said Sam.

"I've learned a lot since last time we met," answered Ken.

"So have I."

"Not enough."

"That's what you think."

Sam lunged again, but Ken was lighter and quicker. He avoided the rush easily and dealt Sam a rap on the back of the head that made him see stars for a moment. He staggered into the too-low parapet around the edge of the building, gasping with the dizzy pain. Clinging to the wall, he shook himself, trying to make his head stop spinning. Ken punched him in the stomach, and he gasped again, just once, as his lungs suddenly stopped working. Another blow landed on him, but it was dull compared to the need to breathe, and he tried desperately to pull his breath back inside where it belonged. He managed to stagger away a few paces, and Ken hesitated, watching suspiciously. Sam gulped in a few unsteady breaths.

"You're going to make me angry in a minute," he managed.

"Fine, then. Let's see what you can do."

"I've been trying to keep this a fair fight," said Sam. "You don't believe that, do you? You think I'd cheat you if I had the chance. Well, you're wrong. I've been trying to keep to your level, but I'll show you more if you insist."

"Try me."

Sam narrowed his eyes, beginning to move slowly again, and Ken matched him step for step. He'd learned already that it was foolish to rush headlong, but he had other tricks he could try. He edged slowly closer to his brother, as close as he thought he could get without being attacked. Swiftly, he made a dive and a roll, snatching up Ken's cloak from where he had dropped it. He flung it at the boy's face, blinding him. Then he attacked, and they went down in a tangle of kicks and punches and scratches. Taken by surprise, it was all Ken could do to defend himself, and he fought to escape. When he did get away, it was with a few bruises and a split lip for souvenirs.

"Where did you learn that trick?" he asked scornfully. "From a street gang?"

"I was taught to use any weapon that comes to hand," answered Sam. He had come out of the most recent scuffle relatively unscathed, with nothing more than a row of scratches across his face where Ken had managed to claw him. He grinned despite the blood that gleamed faintly in the moonlight. "I learned from the best martial artists Tokyo has to offer. Who taught you?"

Ken shrugged. "I spent the last three years living in a world where one wrong move could get my head bitten off by a Kuwagamon, and I spent six months training with an animated pink powder puff with wings."

"Is that supposed to impress me."

"You'd be surprised."

And suddenly, he wasn't there anymore. He had jumped - straight up, it seemed - and he was falling on Sam like an angry eagle. The older boy barely knew what hit him, and it was all he could do to block the next few punches. Then he saw his chance: he made a grab and managed to catch Ken's flying fist, twisting his arm around. His judo training kicked in, and he performed a quick turn and a pull, flipping Ken up and over his shoulder, to bring him down to the concrete with disabling force... only there was no concrete, only the edge of the roof and the empty air, and Ken was falling into blackness. Sam stood and stared into the night, frozen.

"Ken?" The name came out quiet and strangled, like a child trying not to cry. "Ken? Oh, no, tell me this isn't happening. Ken, where'd you go? I really wasn't trying to kill you, Ken! Come back! Ken!"

No answer. Sam stood there looking around dazedly, wondering just what he was supposed to do now. Suddenly, there was a rush of wind and wings as something whooshed out of the shadows. It was Stingmon, carrying Ken safely in his arms. As he neared the top of his arc of flight, he released the boy to fly on without him, a dark shadow that flashed briefly before the moon. Ken dropped onto the roof, landing on all fours like an animal, and pounced like one. He hit Sam with all the force of three years of pent-up pain and anger and drove the older boy down. Ken knelt on top of Sam, pinning his arms down, and Sam stared up at his brother with fear in his eyes. Ken gazed down coldly, enjoying his power.

"Well, Sammy-boy," he said. "Is this your idea of a fair fight?"

"It was an accident!" Sam blurted.

"Right. An accident." Ken grabbed Sam's shoulders and slammed him into the roof. "Don't lie to me. You've been out to get me from the beginning. You lured me here to get rid of me, just like you told me you were going to before I left you. I never should have trusted you."

"Ken-"

"Quiet! I'll do the talking here," said Ken. "And to think I wanted to forgive you. Well, no more. I see what you are now - you'll do anything to get what you want. No one matters but you. You could never understand what I'm doing, what I'm working for. You never will. I'm sorry we have to share the same blood." Ken sighed and shook his head. "Forget it. You won't listen to me anyway. I'll just take what I came for and leave you to think about how I've thwarted you again."

He reached into Sam's pocket and took out the Digivice. Then, giving the prone boy a final shove, he got up, retrieved his cloak, and jumped off the side of the building. A moment later, he rose up again on the back of a giant wasp, and they flew off into the night.

Sam got up and shook himself. Only one thing would come clear in his mind now: he'd been beaten, tricked again by his own brother. Again; how he hated that word. Once could have been a fluke, but Ken was beating him over and over, first by taking the Digivice, then by learning to counteract the Spies, then by undoing the work of his Glitches, and now this. This was the worst yet, because there were no excuses he could make. He should have been beaten - he should have been dead by now - and he wasn't. The thought was crossing Sam's mind that maybe he was wrong, and maybe he really couldn't beat Ken. Maybe Ken really did surpass him. He brushed at the nail marks on his face as they trickled blood into his eyes. It made the moon look red, like the one in his dream. He would not be able to explain the marks to his parents. He wouldn't be able to explain them to anyone. No one could ever know that Sam had fought and been beaten. He sighed, dragged himself to his feet, and limped back into the building, down the stairs to his own apartment. He went to his room and turned on the computer, and was not surprised to find Arukenimon already there.

"Were you waiting for me?" he asked.

"I did hear you were going to try something tonight," she replied. "You look like you've had a bad night."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh about it," Sam snapped. "Anyway, I wanted to talk to you. I've rethought your offer. I'm not staying here any longer, not until I've shown Ken who's boss here. From now on, I work with you."