"If that's the case… then there's only one option: start over from the beginning. Reset the Digital World and start over from the beginning." The Digimon Emperor suddenly said, in a tone like he'd grabbed hold of a lifesaving rope. "Then I can play it again."
"The Digital World can't be reset." T.K.'s voice came from behind him. The calmness in it was a nightmare beyond imagining to the Digimon Emperor.
"So… so we just have to go home first," the Digimon Emperor said, as if he hadn't heard T.K. at all, speaking only to dodge reality. "Delete all the data on the computer, and then… then we can start over." His voice grew frantic as he clung to that "rope" like it was the only thing keeping him alive.
"Is that really what you think?" Kari stepped forward. Her voice was calm, and inside that calm was endless rage. "You really think deleting everything on a computer means you can redo it all? What do you think the Digital World is—some computer game? You think you can reset whenever you feel like it?"
The barrage of questions shattered the Digimon Emperor's entire worldview. "W-What… what are you saying?"
Ken Ichijoji turned back and looked at the Digimon the kids were holding in their arms, and he remembered that soccer match—the way they'd held their Digimon back then, too. If Digimon were nothing but computer data, then why could they appear in the real world? Ken felt like his head was going to explode. Too many questions slammed into him at once, and his brain nearly stopped working. He could only stare at the kids with desperate, pleading eyes, begging them—without words—to explain why.
"Calling Digimon 'computer data' isn't wrong. Calling the Digital World a 'game' isn't wrong either." Tai's voice came from behind the group. "But it's a real game. And that computer data can think. It's living data."
"Tai!"
"Tai!"
"They aren't just data in our heads," Tai continued. "They're living beings—just like us. They have lives."
"Digimon… have lives?" Ken whispered, shock and remorse written all over his face. He remembered the Digimon he'd forced into battles for his own entertainment with Dark Spirals—and the Digimon he'd abused.
"How could I do so many unforgivable things…?" Ken stared at his hands, hands stained with Digimon blood and tears, and screamed as he clutched his head.
"The Digital World isn't a dream. It isn't some fantasy realm." T.K.'s words crushed Ken's final escape. "It's a real world—just like the one we live in."
"Ahhh!" Ken screamed to the sky. He ripped off his gloves, tore free the cape that had bound him so tightly he could barely breathe, and threw away his goggles.
When they hit the ground, those items shattered into black fragments and vanished. Ken forced himself upright, fighting through the stabbing pain in his head, took a few unsteady steps—and dropped to his knees. The clothes on his body dissolved into black smoke and disappeared. The Digimon Emperor was gone, replaced by Ken Ichijoji—his face, his clothes, the way he looked in the human world.
"Wormmon…" Ken, sprawled on the ground and gasping for breath, heard someone say it, and he lifted his head in a daze. "Wormmon!" Reality snapped into place—Wormmon had been slapped away by Kimeramon. Ken lurched to his feet and stumbled toward where Wormmon had fallen.
Gatomon examined Wormmon carefully, then let out a breath of relief. "He's still barely hanging on."
Ken staggered to Wormmon's side. Seeing Wormmon's eyes squeezed shut, its body trembling and twitching from pain, Ken dropped to his knees. With a shaking hand, he touched Wormmon's battered body. "Wormmon…"
Hearing Ken's voice, Wormmon—who had been struggling in agony—opened its eyes. Joy flooded its gaze, and happiness spilled into its voice. "You finally turned back into the Ken you used to be."
"The Ken… I used to be?" Ken asked blankly, his eyes full of confusion and disbelief.
"The Ken you used to be?" Davis echoed, puzzled as he looked at Wormmon.
At that moment, Davis felt the Crest in his hand begin to glow. The Crest of Kindness slowly rose into the air, drifting down into Ken's open palms.
"I remember now," Davis said, suddenly understanding. "Back in the engine room, I heard a voice coming from this Crest. It said it wanted to return to its true owner."
"Return… to its owner?" Ken stared at the Crest of Kindness in his hands, murmuring in confusion.
"That's Ken's Crest of Kindness," Wormmon managed to say—then its body spasmed again as pain tore through it.
"This is… my Crest of Kindness…" Ken stared at the Crest in his hands, his eyes still lost.
"Kindness can bloom into golden light… Wisemon was talking about this." Gatomon suddenly remembered Wisemon's words, realization hitting her all at once.
"Because you're kind, Ken…" Wormmon looked at him with a gaze full of attachment—full of reluctance to let go.
"Wormmon…" Ken pulled the partner who had never left him, never given up on him, into his arms. "How did you get so light…?"
"Because he's about to die," Tai cut in.
"What?!" The kids recoiled in shock. "How could that happen?!"
"He just gave all of his power to Magnamon," Tai said, shaking his head with a sigh. "He's burned himself out completely."
"No wonder…" Chibomon said, suddenly understanding. "No wonder I felt that huge surge of power."
"Can't you save him?" Kari asked, unable to bear it.
The kids all turned hopeful eyes toward Tai.
"The only one who can save Wormmon is him." Tai raised a hand and pointed at Ken, kneeling there.
"Me?" Ken looked up, confused.
"Yeah." Tai nodded. "Wormmon is your partner Digimon. Even if your Digivice turned into a Dark D-3 Digivice, it's still yours. Try—really try—to remember the bond you have with Wormmon. The Crest of Kindness will save him."
"Wormmon…" Ken looked back down at the partner in his arms, who was still trembling and writhing in pain. Tears fell before he even noticed them. "Why can't I remember? Why…? I'm sorry, Wormmon."
"It's okay, Ken." Wormmon's voice grew softer, weaker. "Seeing you go back to who you really are… I'm already happy. I'm really happy… that I got to adventure with you in the Digital World. I'm really happy…"
Its voice sank lower and lower, until—
Suddenly Ken felt his arms go light.
"Wormmon!" Ken's cry broke apart as Wormmon's body dissolved into data, scattering and dancing in the air.
"Wormmon…" Tears splashed onto the Crest of Kindness where it had fallen to the ground. The Crest floated up, blooming with pink light. The light gathered and formed a pink flower bud—four petals, each one marked with the symbol of the Crest of Kindness. Slowly, the bud opened, petal by petal, unfolding outward.
Within the data field, Wormmon's data could be seen clearly as it gathered together, drawn into the pink petals and absorbed. The flower closed again, becoming a bud once more—then turned into a beam of light that slipped into Ken's pocket.
"Wormmon!" Ken fumbled frantically, pulling whatever was in his pocket out to look—
It was a D-Terminal. There was no sign of the flower bud from before.
"Was that the Digi-Egg of Kindness?!" T.K. said, staring at the D-Terminal in Ken's hands.
"I can't believe there are other Crests!" Kari was stunned. Back then, they'd only had eight Crests—she'd never even heard of any others. And now, a Crest of Kindness had appeared.
"Wormmon…" Ken swayed as he stood, then began to walk toward the distance. He looked like he'd taken a crushing blow, and he kept muttering to himself through tears. "Why is it like this again…? Back then, I came here to forget all of this. Why is it like this again…?"
Tears fell one by one onto the path behind him, only to be swallowed by the desert almost immediately.
"Hey!" Davis shouted at Ken's back. "If you're going home—your family is still there! They've been worried about you! They've been waiting for you to come home!"
But Ken didn't turn around. He just kept stumbling forward, crying as he walked farther and farther away.
The kids watched him go—the Digimon Emperor who once strutted around in triumph, arrogant and smug, was gone. Now there was only Ken Ichijoji, someone who had lost everything, walking into the distance while he cried.
"Hey! Matt!"
From far away, Matt heard that bright, crisp voice—and to him it sounded like a death sentence.
"Oh, come on…" Matt pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed, his head aching. "How did she chase me all the way out here?"
"You're so mean, Matt! You just ditched me and drove off all by yourself!" Jun Motomiya complained nonstop, but her tone was bursting with happiness.
Matt forced a smile and waved. "That's because… well… how do I explain this…"
He was desperately trying to come up with an excuse when Jun immediately hit him with another question—one he had absolutely no way to explain.
She looked around, curious. "By the way, where did Davis and the others go?"
Izzy quietly clutched his laptop and tried to sneak away—
—and Matt's voice, sharp as a demon, came from behind him. "Izzy, where did Davis and the others go?"
Izzy stiffened, turned around with a strained grin, and laughed awkwardly. "D-Davis and the others? Uh… I think they went over there. I-I'll go look!" He bolted immediately, shamelessly abandoning Matt on the spot.
Izzy had barely made it into the jungle—he hadn't even had time to catch his breath—when his laptop screen started glowing.
His eyes widened. He tried to dodge—
—but a whole group of people came tumbling out in a messy heap. Only Tai, holding Kari, stood off to the side completely calm, leisurely watching Davis and the others pile into a human stack.
And… Izzy was crushed at the very bottom.
Jun stared at Matt, confused. "So where did Davis and the others go? Aren't you all together?"
"Hahaha…" Matt laughed dryly. "Of course we're together. They're just—" Matt glanced around, then randomly pointed into the forest. "They went over there a second ago."
Right then, Tai's group walked out from exactly the direction Matt had pointed.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.