~Reflection~ Disclaimer: Hello! If I owned Digimon, wouldn't my writing be used for the show and not posted as fanfiction? *** Chapter 7 While one Digidestined suffered physically at the hands of the Digital World, in addition to emotionally at the hands of her broken heart, another suffered mentally at the cruel hands of the darkest depths of his soul. Ken's pillow was as wet as a sponge from all the sweat he perspired, but the sleeping boy couldn't care less at the moment. He continued to toss and turn in his bed, visions of what had happened earlier in the desert flooding back to him. ~~~ begin dream/flashback ~~~ Ken marched onward through the desert, his arm up to shield his eyes from the sand-stirring wind. He didn't stop until a familiar pile of rubble came into view. If his partner weren't in risk of danger, he would have opted never to come back to this horrid place again. "Okay, I'm here! What is it that you wanted to show me?" he called out into the howling darkness. All of a sudden, his surroundings wavered and shifted. The sharp, deafening wind that had moments before muffled his aggravated cry disappeared and was replaced by stagnant, blazing heat. No longer did icy Night rule the sky, but rather burning Day took her place. Before him, the towering ruins were replaced by a freshly crashed black fortress that still haunted Ken in his nightmares. 'What the--?' Ken thought to himself. 'What kind of a sick joke is he trying to pull?' "Reset the Digital World? What are you talking about, Ken?" The dark-haired boy whirled around at the sound of a familiar voice far behind him. "T. K.?!" he gasped. Ken's eyes widened in shock at the sight that greeted them. In the distance he could make out the silhouettes of five children with their digimon standing over a hunched navy blue figure. "It can't be!" Without losing a second, Ken dashed as quickly as lightning over the sand towards the crowd of humans and digimon. "… I'll just go home and delete all the Digital World data off my computer and create a new program. That way I can start a new Digital World that doesn't cheat," Ken heard the crouching person explain as he ran over. "No…" He could now confirm his suspicions as to whom these people were. Cody and Armadillomon, Yolei and Hawkmon, Davis and Demiveemon, T. K. and Patamon, and Kari and Gatomon all looked down at a personage he hoped never to see again in his life. "This was my last defeat as the Digimon Emperor," breathed Ken, slowing down in front of his former self. 'Well give the genius a prize.' "You!" Ken whipped his head around, looking for the same menacing being that he had seen in his mirror, but found no one. 'Correction, a part of you.' Finding his search futile, Ken simply growled into the thin, dry air and walked over to his comrades as their all-too-familiar conversation played on. "The Digital World is a completely real place, Ken. It's not just something that's programmed into your computer." "We tried to tell you that before, but you thought that we were trying to play some kind of trick on you." Ken reached out and tried to put a restraining hand on Yolei, who had spoken first, but to his great surprise, Ken's outstretched limb merely passed through her as if she were a ghost. "What's the meaning of this?" He attempted to do the same with T. K., who had spoken next, but as before, his hand passed right through the shoulder of the tall, blond boy. An amused chuckle filled Ken's head. 'This is merely a shadow of your memories, boy. You can do nothing but watch.' Because he saw the truth in the voice's words, that was exactly what Ken did. He watched as Cody and Kari took their turns scolding him for what he had done. He watched as his former self scanned their digimon and realized the error of his ways. He watched as T. K. and Kari agreed that his mistakes were terrible but offered him a fresh start after all the sins he had confessed. 'Look at how pitiful your demise was. You, once the greatest power in the Digital World, wound up groveling at the feet of a bunch of children. I didn't know you were such a quitter, Ichijouji.' "Me? A quitter?" Now that was something he hadn't expected to hear. 'Yes, see for yourself!' Ken glued his eyes on the Emperor, who tossed aside his gloves, cape, and glasses and walked away, hands clutching his spiky, blue hair. 'After one lost battle, you give up everything and go stumbling along, bemoaning your plight like a big crybaby. Whatever happened to "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again"?' Just then, the Emperor's clothes disappeared from Ken's fallen counterpart, revealing his true gray-clad self 'If you hadn't reverted back to your weaker self, you may have been able to come back stronger than ever with the help of the Dark Spore. A thirst for revenge would have been all it needed to turn you into the most formidable power the Digital World has ever seen.' Eyes still fixated on the doppelganger, Ken tried to block out his dark side's poison, tried to remind himself of the meaning of the glowing crest that flew over to his old self, tried to put up a stalwart fight against the nagging temptation in the back of his mind. He continued to suffer silently until he could feel his legs buckling under him out of sheer emotion. Dropping to one knee, Ken saw his lookalike fall to his knees, as well, to pick up and cradle gently in his arms the reason why he had changed. "Wormmon…" Finally, he hissed to his inner demon, "But at what cost? More digimon would have been hurt, or even killed had I not been stopped." "…I'm sorry. Don't go. You're my best friend." "You're my best friend, too. Good-bye, Ken." With that, Wormmon gave one last sigh before breaking up into digital bits of data. Angrily, Ken clenched his fist tightly and pounded the ground with it. "I won't ever let that happen again!" Not deterred by his incensed state, but rather seeming to feed off of it, Ken's dark side continued to prod him, 'So what if you end up killing some of them? Digimon aren't like humans; digimon can be reborn. When they die, they're not gone forever like humans are. Your pet bug came back, didn't he? Think about it: you can have the pleasure of killing them all you want, and they'll always return for more. Even if you didn't know this, why should the deaths of these worthless bits of data matter to you?' "They matter to me because they're real creatures, not some pawns in a game!" 'Real? Hah! What difference does it make if they're real or not? Don't tell me you didn't enjoy torturing and putting those pitiful creatures out of their misery. Real or no, you relished every minute of it.' "No!" Ken tried to ignore the sinister voice in his head, but there was nothing else he could do at the moment besides helplessly observe the awful memory playing out in front of him… …and start to have some serious doubts. 'If I really were the kind and gentle person Wormmon says I am, then why did I continue to inflict pain after I had seen how much suffering it brought? Even though I thought it was a game, I could have at least had a little remorse or mercy. Is he right? Did I actually enjoy it? Am I really that heartless deep down?' As Ken watched himself dejectedly walk away, the scene shimmered once again before his eyes. Thinking it was finally over and that he would be taken back to the stormy night desert, the indigo-haired boy breathed a sigh of relief. However, his dark side wasn't about to let up with the psychological torture now that he had the Digidestined of Kindness right where he wanted him. The next thing Ken knew, the Digimon Emperor was once again hunched in front of his five friends and their digimon. "Wh-what's going on?" Ken asked in a panicky voice. "Reset the Digital World? What are you talking about, Ken?" "Not again!" His eyes widened at the familiar sight. "Stop this! Why are you replaying these horrible memories?" By now, the mentally exhausted boy was on the verge of tears. 'Now, now, Ken.' The sinister voice taunted. 'Didn’t your soccer coach ever make you watch videos of other teams' games over and over again so that you could study your enemy? Well, since you seem to be your own worst enemy at the moment, I suggest you shut up and pay attention.' For some reason unable to speak or take his eyes off, Ken remained where he was on the ground and simply watched in mute pain until much of the torturous incident had been replayed. All of a sudden, 'There!' the internal voice exclaimed. As if the pause button had been hit on a VCR, the scene before Ken stopped just as his double collapsed and his emperor clothes faded away. "I-I'm finally becoming my true self…What more is there to see?" Ken managed to ask, distraught. The voice chuckled ominously. This would be the straw that broke the donkey's back. 'Think about it, Ken. If you could go from a fear-inspiring evil to a sickeningly repentant goody-two-shoes this easily, what makes you think that you can't turn back to the darkness just as easily?' A loud, sinister cackling suddenly exploded in Ken's head. His dark side must have somehow pressed a rewind button in Ken's memory for the scene in front of him started to play backwards. As he watched the Emperor's clothes re-form on his past self, Ken 's own clothes started to feel heavier. Fearfully, he looked down at his hands––which were now gloved in black with streaks of crimson running across his palms. "No!" Frantically, Ken stood up and stared his clothes. A chill ran up his spine, and he could feel his pupils shrink as he recognized the tight blue suit that he was now wearing. 'You're already well on your way to becoming the Digimon Emperor again.' Another clap of laughter rang through Ken's head as his surroundings reverted back to the howling desert night. 'Haven't you noticed how distant you've grown from that insect of a digimon of yours? Haven't you noticed how your study habits have improved dramatically within the last few hours? The Dark Spore is reactivating inside you, Ken, and soon I'll be in control once more.' "NO!!!" Terrified, Ken grasped the top of his head with both hands, running his gloved fingers through his flat indigo hair as he did so. "The darkness is coming for me again," the regally dressed boy mumbled disconcertedly, eyes wide. "I can't escape it. He's right; I'll never be able to escape it. It can't be destroyed. My friends, my family, Wormmon…they're all in danger, and I'm powerless to stop it." As the wind heedlessly blew all around him, Ken could have sworn he heard his name being called out. He peered out of the corner of his eye and saw a tall, dark shadow looming in the distance. Hysterically, he screamed, "Oh, no! It's already here to get me." Immediately, Ken turned around, cape flapping out behind him, and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. "No, no, it can't be!" As he ran, faster and faster at an almost inhuman pace, he could feel a cold, oozing sensation creeping up from his legs to his arms, in no time engulfing his body from the neck down. "My dark side is taking over!" From somewhere in his mind, Ken could have sworn he heard another voice calling to him. "Ken…Ken…Ken!" Before he could ponder whether the source of the new voice was good or evil, Ken spotted the activated Digiport only a few dozen meters away from him. "I'm almost home!" ~~~ end dream/flashback ~~~ "Ken…Ken…Ken, wake up!" The boy in question bolted awake, panting and sweaty. "Ken, you're back! I knew Yolei would come through." The little green digimon cried as he gleefully jumped into his partner's lap and hugged him. Then, in a more worried tone, he said, "But this is the second nightmare you've had in twenty-four hours, although at least this one happened at night like it's supposed to." "Sorry, Wormmon, it's not like I can help it," Ken apologized, throwing off his drenched covers. "What time is it?" "Time for you to wake up and get to school." His caterpillar-like digimon grinned with his eyes as he said this. "Oh, right…" Still a bit disturbed by what had happened to him the night before, the indigo-eyed boy shakily climbed down the ladder to his bed and headed for the bathroom. After washing his face and brushing his teeth, all the while not daring to look into the mirror, Ken began to contemplate his dream--or should he say the events of the previous night. 'I can't remember much after when my dream ended. The next thing I recall is changing for bed and Yolei popping out of my computer. Even then, a lot after that is fuzzy in my memory.' As he walked back into his room and changed into his standard gray uniform, a sudden wave of indifference overcame him. 'Ah, who cares? I'll deal with this later. Right now I need to get to school.' Grabbing his bookbag, which Wormmon had already crawled into, and giving his mom a quick reassurance that he didn't need breakfast, Ken raced out the door at the speed that gave him the nickname, the "Rocket." 'Fear is a powerful weapon, Ken. You can already see how effective it's been in turning the tide of our little war. Mwhahahahaha!' *** G and Gwen: *pant heavily after working on this chapter* Gaia: See what you get for trying to trick me? G: No comment. Gwen: (whining) But I'm supposed to be the good muse. G: Na-ah. I was the good muse last chapter. Gwen: Well, I was the good muse the chapter before that. G: So? I'm the most recent good muse. Gwen: But I was the first good muse. G and Gwen: *turn to Gaia* GAIA! Decide! Gaia: *shrugs* With the way you two are acting, Ken appears to be the only good muse. G and Gwen: *face-fault*