Jade, Ice, and Talon

LP: I might figure something out with Davis, but it won\'t be Jaaaade...^.~



AN: Each ellipse is a 5 second pause, and he is thinking slowly. Speed is hard to portray in letters.

Chapter Sixteen - "Dark Spore"





Evil...What is the true definition of evil? Is it simply the reverse of everything on the Light Side...or is it more closely a lack of holiness?...Is it everything not written in the bible...or is it everything negative? Is it the seven deadly sins...or is it a character flaw? Me, Wormmon...am I evil? Or...am I simply dedicated...like Jade is to her Journallism career? Am I...evil...because I have committed what the digidestined define as..."evil"?...Or, are they evil...because they fight everything...I stand for? Is it truly possible...to be "evil...in a mere Video Game?...I wouldn\'t dream of committing these acts on genuine...viable animals in the real world - but here...does that classify me as...a Digital Evil Being?...Can one be evil in one realm...and not in the other?...I myself do not change...from world to world; just...my classification of acceptable practices per world...Jade\'s own statement had gotten me thinking about...myself... .... ... ...Am I evil, Wormmon?



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For the longest stretch of time, he was standing there, staring out the window over the cast expanse of the digital world. It was like he\'d completely lost consciousness; only with eyes open. Jade sat and watched him for the better part of ten minutes, waiting for him to snap out of it and take her to Requimon like he\'d promised. About three minutes previous until this very moment, she\'d been debating talking to him. But, what if he lashed out? Like waking a sleepwalker, was it dangerous? Jade\'d had enough. Cautiously, she slipped around infront of him, and peered into his eyes, which seemed to bore straight through her and past the window that he could no longer see.

"Ken?..." she spoke quietly, as if any louder would anger him. Nothing. "Ken?..." she tried once more, and once again found nothing in response. Jade frowned; he was really out of it - like he was in a trance. Now she was growing concerned. Softly, she reached out a hand, and placed it on his cheek. Nowhere else could she think of would be less intrusive. "Ken?" she spoke, in a stronger voice, His eyes slid to hers, but they contained the same trance-like look. His hand slowly moved to cup hers.

"...Am I evil, Wormmon?" he spoke, his voice cloudy with thought. As soon as the words fell from him however, he blinked a few times, and snapped from his trance, wearing a slightly confused expression. "...Jade?"

"Who\'s Wormmon?" she asked as tenderly as she could, tilting her head softly.

"...My digimon...my slave." he replied, the confusion beginning to fade. "I\'m sorry; I was in deep thought. I tend to get like that now and again."

"It\'s okay. You looked pretty worried, so I thought I\'d better snap you out of it."

"Thank you for your concern..." Ken\'s tone was almost probing; he wasn\'t totally sure he\'d actually said anything aside \'Wormmon\'. The last several minutes outside his mind was a complete haze; as it usually was after a thought attack. He withdrew his hand after a moment, as soon as he realized her hand was still trapped on his face. She didn\'t move it, however, which drew his attention once again to her.

"I don\'t think you\'re evil, not from what I see. I think you\'re just misunderstood. I\'d call you over-exuberantly excited about completing your goals, at any cost. No Ken; you\'re not Evil." Ken\'s eyes thickened with confusion. How could anyone see him like that? Sure he was being extra-perfect around her, but that was for a different reason. She honestly didn\'t think he was evil? Perhaps he should show her some of the more dark thinks he\'s done; but that would risk having her fear him. Perhaps he should, and gauge her reaction.

"Come with me..." he spoke, plucking her hand off his face. He then led the curious Jade off, weaving expertly through the labarynthian hallways of the castle. Soon, when Jade was completely lost, he guided her into a very dark room in front of him. He grasped the torch by the doorway, and stepped inside behind her, lighting a few of the pillars therein. As the light rose, to her shock, was a large Morgue, built of stone.

"What is this place?..." she asked, inching ironically closer to him as a look of fear came across her face. He noted this reaction to ponder later, but turned his immediate attention towards door number 36.

"Open it...thirty six." he spoke darkly, turning his head to the floor. He looked ashamed, she thought, as she obeyed her pseudo-master. Her hand, trembling, reached for the metal handle of the stone door, and yanked open the drawer. She knew it would be something dead; but what she saw when the drawer wasn\'t even open a foot, scared her to her core. She didn\'t know the name of the creature, but it was obviously a digimon item; a large egg made of stone. "No...All the way..." he commanded, Jade casting him a worried glance. Hesitatingly, she obeyed, and drew the drawer out its full 10 feet. There wasn\'t just one; there was about 300 on the one sheet of metal.

"What are these?"

"They\'re dead Digimon, Jade...Slain by products of my dark towers, dark spirals, and dark circles...They\'re dead because of me. They stood in my way; all of them. These ones used to be Biyomon. Thirty seven are Moondramon, thirty eight are BlackPawnChessmon, and thirty nine are BlackAgumon. They\'re all full from one to two hundred of digimon I have killed in the last few years."

"...Killed? Data can\'t be killed, can it?"

"No, but it can be erased, deleted, corrupted, and destroyed. These eggs are nothing but data-less stones, now. Nothing but mere petrified DNA." Jade\'s face looked horrified as she stepped away from the eggs. These were once digimon? They were once alive? No, wait - they were just data, right? The look faded softly. It wasn\'t like these were real animals; they were just another piece of plastic on the chip, right? Like little pixels on the Pokemon Games, they weren\'t REAL. Jade shut the door slowly, as Ken waited for any sign of reaction - it was too dark for him to see her face clearly. She kept her hand on the door, staring at the metal. They weren\'t real eggs. They weren\'t really dead, so it was okay. She turned, and stepped up to Ken, who had his head hung once again. Jade placed her hand once again on his cheek, and made him look at her.

"It\'s just a game." she reminded him. Ken stared incredulously at her. She was serious? That was it? No crying, no screaming, no calling him a monster? "They aren\'t real. They\'re just data. You\'re NOT evil. Don\'t let that Wormmon tell you you\'re evil. Its not a conventional way to get your goals met, but they\'re just data. Its no different than taking out a level two pidgey with a level one hundred mewtwo...They\'re just plastic on card. If that makes you evil, I guarantee I\'m worse than you. I\'ve killed enough Pokemon on that little game to fill this room twice." Ken\'s face lit up with a smirk.

"Well, it\'s not like they\'re cats."

"Cats are too cute to kill. You can kill all the rats you want though; then you\'d be a hero." Ken laughed; he actually laughed. It was more of a surprise to himself than Jade.

"I suppose I would. First the digital world; then King of the Dead Rats."

"Sounds like a plan." Jade grinned, and quickly found herself staring at Ken\'s oceanic blue eyes. She cleared her breath once she noticed Ken doing the same, and pulled away her hand, turning her head away.

"Do you want to meet Wormmon?"

"Sure!" Jade smiled, and was quickly whisked off, away from the Morgue.



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"Oh my gosh, you\'re adorable!" Jade exclaimed, grinning as she ruffled Wormmon\'s antennae. Ken had summoned him, then left to get Requimon.

"Thank you...." he spoke, his wobbly voice wrought with caution. The little guy seemed almost scared.

"I don\'t see how such a cute little digimon could be with such a complex guy like Ken."

"He never used to be like this..." he replied, his voice low as his eyes darted about to look incase Ken was hiding somewhere, listening.

"What do you mean?"

"...Ken wasn\'t always this evil. He\'s digi-" Wormmon cut off as Ken entered the room with a large cage in hand. He had caught the last word.

"Digi-what?" he spoke, thinning his eyes.

"He was telling me he\'s an Insect Digimon." Jade filled in, catching the worried look in Wormmon\'s eye.

"Isn\'t that obvious? Go away, Wormmon. I have to talk to Jade." He spoke setting down the cage. Wormmon quickly skittered out of the room, casting Jade a grateful look.

"He seems terrified of you..." she muttered, looking after the little caterpillar.

"Just data, remember? Wormmon is usually over-emotional. I have to be rough with him."

"Is he YOUR digimon? Or, is he just one that you captured?"

"He\'s mine. Of sorts. I took the black Digivice for my own use. Now, would you like to explain the situation to Requimon?"



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Finally free from that stupid damn cage, Requimon thought. Sure it came at a cost of tameness; but he could get used to this place. It was like a cave; he liked it.

"Now, you can fly about wherever, dragon-boy. Just don\'t leave. I\'m sure Jade won\'t like that."

"As if I\'d leave her behind...." he spoke back in a lippy tone, stretching his wings as Jade tugged off the wing clamps.

"Requimon, why don\'t you get a layout for this place? I get lost too easily. It\'d work better if one of us knew our way around. And you can stretch your wings a while too, hmm?"

"Should I trust you with this....Ken?" he replied, eying the male suspiciously.

"He\'s not as dangerous as he looks, Requimon. Go on; have fun."

"Hmph, I\'d be more worried with YOU near her..." Ken commented, as Requimon silently flew off. It wasn\'t that Jade wasn\'t happy to see him; she was. But Requimon probably needed more solitude than most Digimon, and needed to know this place as well as she knew Japan\'s streets.

"You sent him off quickly...." Ken commented, once the creature had vanished.

"Well, I don\'t want to get lost." He\'s built with a brain for that stuff. I\'m not, really."

"It\'s not as complex as you think; it\'s simply got quite a few loop-backs.

"Maybe I\'ll learn it eventually."

"It\'s getting late - are you tired?" Jade hadn\'t even thought about being tired. But now that her mind was on it, she was growing sleepy.

"I could sleep a while, I suppose.."

"Well, tomorrow I\'ll bring a second bed over for you - but tonight, you\'re stuck in my bed with me."

"Won\'t your parents notice you\'re missing?" Ken shook his head almost right away.

"I\'m always in my room studying or out with other business when I\'m in the real world - they\'re used to not seeing me around, so they assume I\'m off with other things when I\'m here. They also know better than to probe int my room."

"That must be nice. My mother phones me at least once a week."

"That doesn\'t sound like much." he spoke, leading her towards his room. Absentmindedly, he\'d grabbed her hand, and she hadn\'t noticed.

"No, but she talks for about 6 hours." Ken laughed.

"Stock-piles all her week and gives it all at once?"

"Exactly."

"That\'s annoying."

"Well, I\'m not going to have her long; dad died years ago, and she\'s not well either..." Ken stopped, and turned to her, just short of the door to his room, his back to the wall. He hadn\'t intended on bringing up bad feelings by entertaining the smalltalk.

"I\'m sorry...I didn\'t intend to upset you."

"You didn\'t. It\'s just hard to talk about it - She\'s all the family I have left - accept you now I guess, since I\'m here for a while." Ken wanted to both frown and smile at once. She considered him family, yet he was not happy she was upset.

"I\'ll tell you what; we\'ll go see her tomorrow, okay?" Jade\'s eyes brightened.

"Seriously?"

"Absolutely - I\'ll take you myself." Jade was floored - he was serious. He was going to take her to see the woman she couldn\'t afford to fly out to see. Overcome from the joy, she tossed her arms around his neck, and collided her lips with his. Shocked, he fell back, and landed against the wall. Jade just fell with him, and after a stunned second, Ken placed his hands awkwardly but tenderly on her waist, and kissed her back. The odd thing was, as soon as her lips locked with his, it was like everything around him dribbled away. He knew she would fall for him eventually; but was he falling too? Everything was a blur as Jade realized what she\'d done, but only for a split second, because everything faded. She didn\'t care who everyone else thought he was; he was wonderful. She relaxed against him, her form lightly leaning on him. Ken curled his arms around her moreso, tugging her closer. That was the gravestone for him; her hips were on his. He was hopeless now; he knew it. He loved it...



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AN: I\'m not shelving the others, I gotta make 3 weeks pass for Cody-plot, and there\'s no story to talk about in the others atm. :D I\'ll get there, trust me. I hope this thing\'ll be about 30 chapters.