Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Return of the Kaiser ❯ Friends Forever ( Chapter 6 )

Nathaniel: Kagome does not own Digimon or any of the characters thus associated with it. She does own me, Raven, and the storyline.

Kagome: That's right!

Kagome: ………………………

Kagome: Wait a sec! Why are you doing the Disclaimer?!

Nathaniel: *blushes* Well, Raven told me I could do the Disclaimer and she'd do the rest.

Kagome: Oh, she did, huh?

Raven: Ummm………I just remembered I have an appointment with a prospective client. *sidling out of room* Gotta run. Bye!

Kagome: *rolls eyes* It's okay, Nathaniel. You can talk whenever you want to………provided it's before or after the actual story, mind you.

Nathaniel: Really?!

Kagome: *nods*

Nathaniel: Cool!

Kagome: ………………………

Kagome: Umm………aren't you going to say anything?

Nathaniel: *nervous* I don't know what to say.

Kagome: Oh, okay. Well, you'll learn. Anyhow, on to Chapter Six.

Chapter Six: Friends Forever

Ken and Taichi just stood in the control room of the Kaiser's base, stunned. Daisuke was the new enemy? When did this happen? And more importantly, why'd he choose now to tell them, and what made him their enemy in the first place?

Taichi was the first to recover. Seeing his boyfriend still in a daze, he reached into the Kaiser's cloak and withdrew his D3. He sent an e-mail to the other Chosen telling them what they had found out and calling a meeting.

Almost immediately, a reply came back from Iori, telling them that they'd all meet at the school, since it might be too dangerous to meet in the Digital World until they found out what was wrong. Taichi agreed to meet them there, hoping that nothing too bad happened while they were gone.

Grabbing a still-paralyzed Ken, Taichi had Agumon digivolve to Greymon and take them all to the nearest portal into the real world. Five minutes later, they had entered the portal and were waiting in the school for the other Digidestined to show up.

As the others wandered in, they bombarded the two boys with questions. Only Yamato remained silent, which Ken took note of. Taichi convinced them to wait until everyone had assembled before demanding an explanation.

Once everyone was there, Taichi took charge and told the other Digidestined what had just happened. When he had finished describing the brief encounter, a stunned silence enveloped the room.

Not surprisingly, Miyako was the first to speak. The violet-haired keeper of love voiced the question that everyone wished to know. "If Daisuke is the new enemy, why would he tell us?"

Ken answered her quietly. "It may be that he broke through whatever had been holding him prisoner and making him into the enemy. Or it may be that he, or someone more powerful than he is, knew that his admission would hurt us all a great deal." There were tears in his eyes at the latter suggestion.

Everyone jumped when Yamato stated, "A dark spore." Suddenly, all eyes were focused on him, and he blinked, startled. Takeru leaned over and poked his older in the side, inquiring, "What did you mean by that, Yama? Do you know something about this that we don't?"

Yamato flushed, then sighed. "Yeah, I know, but I wasn't allowed to tell anyone. Not that I didn't want to, but it was impossible for me to do so." Everyone just gave him a puzzled look, waiting for him to elaborate. Sighing again, he pulled down the collar of his shirt, letting everyone see the dark ring that pressed against his pale throat.

A collective gasp echoed in the room. Even the Digimon Kaiser had never done put a dark ring around a human. Yamato just shook his head and continued, "The only reason I can talk now is because Dai-chan's permitting it."

"You're his slave now, aren't you," hissed Ken, unable to tear his eyes away from the ring now visible on the blonde's throat. Yamato laughed and then stated, "Yes, and no. Yes, because he could force me to keep silent about what was going on. No, because he can't control my actions or my thoughts, only my words. And even then, it's very general. I was forbidden to speak of anything relating to Daisuke and the new evil, but other than that, I really didn't have too many restrictions."

The others just continued to stare in disbelief, except for Ken, who pressed, "So you can talk to us now because Dai's permitting it, right?" At Yamato's confirmation, he continued. "Then tell us what you know about what's going on in the Digital World and with Daisuke and how much damage it's likely to cause."

Yamato just nodded and stated, "I will tell you as much as I am able with the time I am given. And Dai-chan may still choose to block some of my words, so you might have to piece them together yourselves, okay?" Once the entire group had agreed, he began.

"From what Daisuke told me, after he ringed me, this all started about two years ago, when you were in the battle against Malomyotismon. He tried to trap you all in his illusion curse, but Daisuke refused to be swayed by it, so he was forced to try a different tactic. He used a dark spore on Daisuke, using you all as a distraction."

"His digimon partner was unable to protect him from the attack, but Dai could still hold the influence of the dark spore back as a result of his sheer stubbornness."

"He held it back successfully until about a month ago, when an evil being-he won't give me the being's name-confronted him and demanded that he let the dark spore take root and grow."

"When Daisuke refused to do so, the being went after his family. He sent both his parents to the hospital with broken bones, and his sister ended up in critical condition. You all remember when he took a month off of school while his parents were in the hospital. Well, that was all it took. Poor Dai didn't dare fight the dark spore anymore, for fear that the next time his family would wind up dead. He let it grow, until finally, it overtook him, and he became the enemy."

Yamato sighed. "I think that's why he was the one to bring us all to Ken and Taichi. I think he knew what was going to happen then, and wanted to make sure that we didn't waste our time fighting the wrong enemy."

Silence ensued. None of them knew what to say. All this time and nobody knew what was happening to Daisuke, because nobody cared enough to look.

Kari was the first to speak this time. "We could've stopped it," she whispered brokenly. The others gazed at her as she continued. "All this time, and we didn't notice. Two years that dark spore has been inside of him………two years. We saw his smiles and his clumsiness and didn't look beyond that. We took him for granted, assumed that he'd always be there. We didn't care to see what was happening to him."

Takeru agreed. "I should've realized something was wrong, especially in the past few months. He was more moody, and he got into a lot more fights. We had more arguments in a week than we had the entire time we were rescuing the Digital World."

The others all agreed that the signs were there and they just hadn't bothered looking. Ken was the one who stopped them. "Listen," he hissed, capturing everyone's attention. "Dai-kun may be the enemy now, but he's still Daisuke. I think a part of him is still fighting the influence of the dark spore. He's just hidden away in his own mind. Like I was," he finished.

The other Chosen looked at him. Then Yamato spoke, "I am not allowed to attack him directly, but I think that I may be able to help you anyhow. He often tells his plans to me, but doesn't forbid me from telling others. Perhaps I can help by warning you all ahead of time."

" I don't care how we do this, but we have to help Dai-chan. He's still in there, I know he is. I mean, if Ken was still inside the Digimon Kaiser, then surely Daisuke is still present inside this………this………this monster!" he exclaimed.

Taichi quickly agreed, "Yeah, all we have to do is find a way to reach him." Ken added, "And we have to find whoever's behind this, because as long as that person threatens his family, he'll have a hold over him." The others nodded at this.

Koushiro added a suggestion. "Perhaps we might wish to free Yamato of the dark ring?" Yamato shook his head at that, causing the others to stare at him in surprise.

"Don't remove it," he said. "If you remove it, it will hurt both of us. Daisuke put this on here so that he'd have a connection to this world. He asked that, should he gain too much power or do something truly unforgivable, that you destroy the ring around my throat and kill him that way."

The others stared in horror. What kind of power could they expect from Daisuke if even he was prepared for his own death. Ken shook his head almost frantically. "No!" he cried. "I won't let him do this! I won't let him become evil enough to do something horrible. I'll die first! He's my best friend, and he always will be, no matter what."

Kari smiled at him gently. "Yes, he's our friend, and we'll remain friends, no matter what………forever."

Kagome: All right. Chapter six is out of the way.

Nathaniel: Umm……… *peering out window*………Kagome?

Kagome: What is it, Nathaniel?

Nathaniel: Not much. I just didn't realize that Raven owned such a big and sharp knife. *sounds nervous* In fact, it kinda looks like a sword from here.

Kagome: A what?!

Kagome: Aaaahhh!

Nathaniel: Aaaahhh!

Raven: Mwahaha! See the blade of my vengeance.

Nathaniel: *running out of room* Read and review………onegai!