Chapter 15 - Ken's Secret (Pt.1)

"I got it!" A group of kids were playing soccor. One team was in red, the other in orange. The only girl on the field was Emi, who was on the red team with Davis. The ball soared into the air and Emi caught it with her knee. As it came down, she prepared to kick it.
"Shoot it!" One of the kids shouted to Emi. She lifted her foot to kick it, but at that precise moment, Davis slid in in his own attempt to get in. Emi tripped, falling face first onto the grass. The ball rolled over to where the others were watching. Tai caught it with his foot.
"Walk much, Davis?" Davis laughed nervously as Emi rose behind him, an evil glint in her eyes.

"All right, team," The coach said. It was sunset they had just finished practice, "Hustle in. Now. I've got an announcement to make. Alright, our first scrimage is this Sunday. It's against last year's number one team the league." The team gasped.
"That's the team with that braniac kid!" Davis said, "He's good at soccor, sports, he's good at everything!"
"Everything your not?" Emi asked, still sore about being tripped up.
"Hey, hey, watch the name calling," The coach said, "He's Ken Ichijouji."

"As captain of his soccor team," Yolei was reading off a screen with Ken's picture on it, "Ken Ichijouji led his team to victory last season by scoring a record setting 45 goals."
"Wow," Tai said, blinking, "This kid might even be better than I am!"
"I bet he could be in the Olympics if he wanted to," said Cody.
"He's not so tough!" Davis said, "I never even got a chance to beat him. We never got to play his team last season."
"You guys got knocked out early; you never even made the play-offs." TK said.
"They didn't have me on the team last year!" Emi said with a wink.
"Very funny, TE..." Davis growled at TK.
"You think you can beat him?" Kari asked him.
"Well, I don't have to flat out beat him. If I can just make it a close game against a guy like that, then I'd be a living legend. And everyone knows chicks dig living legends."
"We'll see if you can stay on your own feet this game and I'll see what I can do." Emi smirked.
"How many times must I apologize for that?" Davis wailed.
"Oh Davis," Yolei cried in a sing-song voice and grabbing his hand.
"Uh-Oh, it's happening already."
"When you see Ken on the soccor field, will you get his autograph for me?"
"Yolei and Ken, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Cody sang. Emi growled. Ashi and Tara laughed.
"Between you and me," Tara laughed, "I'm pretty sure he'd go for you instead." Emi blushed.
"What? Why would I want him?" She stammered. Tara laughed and walked off.
"Hey Cody, watch it." Yolei glared at him, "Besides, I didn't say I wanted to kiss him, duh! I just said I wanted to marry him!"
"..." Ashi, Emi, and Azukia simple stared at her.
"Oh." Cody said, as if that explained it.
"If you want to meet him, why don't you ask for his autograph yourself?" Davis asked.
"I guess I could do that." Yolei pondered for a moment.
"Let's all go to them game together and you can ask him then." Kari piped up.
"Excellent idea!" Tara said.
"Yeah, we can watch Emi beat the snot out of Davis for tripping her again." Azukia laughed.
"I've always wanted to watch a soccor game!" Ashley said. Davis looked at her and she blushed, "I mean...I've seen them on TV a few times. But it must be different seeing them live..."
"Don't you guys want my autograph?" Davis asked the group.

Demiveemon leapt onto the bed in Davis' room. For once it was clean and sunny and he was pretty sure that wouldn't last long.
"Can I go to the soccor game, too, Davis?"
"Sure, you can watch me wipe the floor with Mr. Perfect!" Davis said, clenching his hands into fists, "I'll show them who's the man!"

Sunday dawned bright and sunny. Emi and Davis were on the field, stretching, and the rest of the group was already in the stands watching.
"Good luck, Davis!" Kari shouted, Demiveemon in her lap, "You, too, Emi!"
"Give him a kiss, too!" Tai shouted. Only the In-Training digimon had come. Patamon and Gatomon had opted out for sleeping in. Emi turned red, Davis gave a sarcastic laugh. Just then, a group of girls standing on the street above started screaming. A white bus with a green stripe rumbled up and stopped.
"Enjoy the attention while it lasts, pal," Davis muttered. Emi was still too intent with her stretching to bother with him. Meanwhile, Yolei was squeezing Poromon so tightly his face was scruched together.
"Oh, I can't believe it's really him!"
"Yolei, watch out for Poromon!" Ashi said, trying without any luck to get the struggling digimon out of Yolei's hands. Ken's team started filing out of the bus.
"When I woke up this morning," Davis told Emi, "I was just a regular kid. When I go to bed tonight, I'm gonna be king of the world."
"Not if you don't do your stretches..." Emi warned, bending over to touch her toes again.
"I really hope Davis hasn't gotten in over his head." Tai told Azukia.
"Know Davis, I'm sure he has." She laughed.
"I bet Tai and Azukia think I'm in over my head." Davis murmured, "I'll show them."
"M-hm." Emi said, not paying attention. Davis gasped.
"Where's Ken?"
"Where is he?" Kari asked. Everyone was watching the other team unload.
"Izzy?" TK asked, "No, we're waiting for Ken." Tara and Azukia sweat-dropped.
"Ken's not coming, is he Cody?!" Yolei shouted at Cody.
"Will you stop asking me if I say yes?" Cody asked.
"No I won't!" Yolei snapped, squeezing Poromon even harder.
"Yolei!" Ashi begged.
"Come on, we're going to find out what's happening here." Davis told Emi getting up.
"Do I have to?" Emi sighed.
"As your team captain, my answer is yes." Emi heaved another sigh and got to her feet. The pair jogged over to where the green team was congregating.
"'Scuse me," Davis told the group, "Any of you know when that Ken kid is going to be here?" Two of the green-clad boys turned to look at them.
"Well, he's got a soft drink commercial to shoot and meeting about having a soccor ball named after him." One boy said.
"He hardly has time to play soccor anymore." said the other.
"I'll never get to play." Davis sighed. Even Emi looked a bit downcast at the news.
"Hey, guys! Can we talk?" Tai called. Both turned around and ran to where he was standing near the field, "Even if Ken doesn't show, his teammates are still champions. If you aren't careful, they'll use you as the soccor ball."
"You don't have to tell me twice, Tai." Emi said.
"No way." Davis said at the same time.
"You gotta know if you play well against last years champions!" TK called down.
"Win or lose, you'll still be a hero!" Kari added.
"I'm rooting for you, Davis!" Ashley shouted.
"Yeah, I'll still be a living legend!" Davis said, looking perked up, "Cool!"
"Not if I score that goal first!" Emi said with a smirk she turned around to walk off and Davis growled. Suddenly she turned back and stuck her hand out, "Truce?"
"Wha?"
"Truce." Emi repeated, "We aren't going to help our team at all if we're at each other's throats. Let's play as a team." Davis looked suspicously at her and then shook her hand.
"We aren't staying her if Ken isn't here!" Yolei snapped, still smashing Poromon to bits in front of a very freaked out Ashi, "It's not as if I don't have other important things I could be doing, you know!"
"What about Davis?" Cody asked.
Back on the field, the teams were lined up. The referee lifted his whistle to his lips and blew. The game began. Davis got a hold of the ball first and started running forward. Meanwhile, Emi was trying to get in an open position in case he needed to pass the ball. The game went on without much excitement with Emi and Davis working together the best they could and trying their hardest to play the best game they ever had. The group up in the bleachers cheered whenever they could. Suddenly, Davis hit the ball with his head, Emi caught it and passed it back, and they had scored. The referee blew his whistle again. The score was 1 to 0 with the red team in the lead.
"It's rewinding." Kari said, "There. You look good on camera." She showed Emi and Davis a picture of Davis hitting the ball with his head.
"Wow, I kicked butt out there, did I?" Davis asked.
"Yeah!" Ashley cheered.
"We both did!" Emi said with a smile.
"You kicked the ball really good, too." Demiveemon told Davis.
"Yeah, that, too." Davis laughed.
"You nailed that shot, Davis," TK complimented.
"I couldn't have done it without Emi's help." Davis admitted. Emi chuckled and turned a light shade of pink at the praise.
"You guys only lead by one goal," Tai reminded them, "The game's still wide open. Ken could still show up."
"Tai!" Azukia said, elbowing him, "Let them have their moment in the spotlight."
"Yeah, but what's Ken gonna do?" Davis asked confidently, "If he was here right now, I'd show-"
"IT'S KEN!" The group of girls who had been waiting for him ealier screamed at the top of their voices, cutting Davis off. He and Emi turned around to look at where the sound had come from. Standing in the middle of the group of girls on the street, Ken Ichijouji was staring down at the soccor pit.
"You and your big mouth." Emi sighed.
"It's Ken!" Yolei swooned, going into hyperdrive while squeezing the snot out of her digimon, "I can't believe it! I must be dreaming! Somebody pinch me! Ow!"
"Sorry," Emi said, "Thought I was helping." At Yolei's exclimation, Ken had turned to look. As his blue eyes fell on the group below, a look of anger crossed his face.
"He's looking right at us!" Yolei cried, "Oh, I'm going to faint!" Ken smoothed his features over and walked to where his team was milling about.
"For all of that attention he's getting, the guy sure knows how to keep his cool." Tai commented.
"It's almost creepy..." Azukia said, shivering a bit.
"Hey, I'm cool!" Davis said.
"More like luke-warm." Tara joked.
"That's so funny I forgot to laugh."
"Hey Ken, glad you could make it." Ken's coach said as Ken approached the group.
"Sorry I'm a little late coach," Ken began, "But there was something important that I had to do first."
"Don't worry about it; we're just happy you found the time for us at all. Can I put you in the game now?"
"If that's what you want." Soon, half-time was over and the two teams headed back to the field.
"Now substituting, Number Seven: Ken 'The Rocket' Ichijouji!" The announcer said as Ken and Davis walked up to each other.
"You must be Ken," said Davis, "I'm Davis, nice to meet ya." Ken didn't say anything, but merely cocked his head and gave a small, "Hm."
"Omigosh, he looked right at me, Poromon!" Yolei cried, giving Poromon yet another squeeze, "Can you believe he's even cuter in real life than he is on TV? I could just hug him all day!"
"If you hugged him like you're hugging Poromon, he wouldn't last very long." Ashley mused.
"He's just a kid like you, Davis!" Kari cheered.
"You gotta out run him!" TK suggested.
"You can beat him!" Tai shouted, "And even if you can't, we won't think any less of you, man!"
"I will!" Tara called with wave.
"You can do it!" Ashley and Azukia cried together. Ken's eyes narrowed and he chuckled to himself.
"Some nice friends you got there, Davis." The whistle blew and they were off. Ken snatched the ball away and shuttled pass Davis before he could even bat an eye. The game quickly went into motion and Emi and Davis were once again all over the field, wildly attempting to get the ball back into their teams control.
"Did you catch that move?" TK asked.
"He's amazing!" Kari cried.
"Back off, I saw him first!" Yolei snapped. Ken finally lined up a shot and sent the ball into the goal.
"GOOOOOAAAL scored by the Rocket!" The announcer cried.
"Houston...We have a problem." Davis said, staring dumbstruck.
"I guess that's why they call him "The Rocket"." Emi said, blue eyes wide with disbelief.
"He's so amazing!" Yolei gushed, rubbing her face in Poromon's feathers, "And did I mention dreamy?"
"Would you like for me to pinch you AGAIN?" Cody asked. Ashi giggled.
"Yolei Ichijouji!" Yolei cried, "Ken and Yolei Ichijouji."
"Now that Ken's tied up the game, I wonder how it's going to effect Davis' confidence." Tai said with concern. The game went on. Ken was playing circles around Davis and Emi. He was quickly able to score another goal, bringing his team's score up to two. Then three. Then four. He got to five.
"It's like they aren't even there!" Kari said. Another score, bringing it up to six, seven, eight.
"Ken doesn't just have skill!" TK said, "He leads his team like a general leads an army!"
"Come on Davis!" Tara shouted, "Get your head in the game!" Ken scored his nineth goal.
"I can't beat this guy!" Davis shouted, "He's great!"
"I know, right?!" Emi shouted as she ran past.
"Standard to the play book I wrote everybody," Ken comanded, pointing forward as his team rushed pass, "We've got them on the run! All mid-fielders move up!"
"GO KEN GO!" Shouted Ken's fan-girls. The ball soared into the air and Emi caught it with he knee. As it came down, he prepared to kick it. But just then, Davis slid in with the same move he had used on Emi a few days before. Ken went flying.
"Nice, Davis!" Tai shouted, "Have a nice trip, Ken! See ya next Fall!"
"Or not!" Azukia shouted with a wink. The ball rolled harmlessly to the sidelines.
"Time has run out!" The announcer announced, "And the Green Tomatchi team led by Ken "The Rocket" Ichijouji wins nine to one!" The green team massed on their captain and gave him a huge cheer. Emi and Davis ran over, calling to Ken, who turned around.
"Sorry about that tackle." Davis said abashedly, "I guess I caught you off guard."
"He does that a lot," Emi said, "He did it to me the other day." All three looked at the gash on Ken's leg.
"That's okay. I barely felt it." He assured them both, "Too busy thinking about scoring goals."
"So I guess you heard," Davis began, "Your teammates probably told you about how I was dominating the field, how unstoppable I was before you got here."
"Way to share the credit, Davis." Emi muttered.
"I don't know," Ken said diplomatically, "Someone may have metioned something about a couple of kids on the other team doing really well. If you guys keep it up, you might win a championship."
"Once you came along and you got so far ahead, I just figured it was all or nothing, so I just went for it on that last play." Davis said.
"You were amazing." Emi complimented, looking at her shoes instead of him.
"I was obviously focused on scoring another goal and didn't see you coming. That play never fails." Ken said with a smile.
"Well, it did against me!" Davis said.
"Indeed." Ken said, "Well my worthy advisaries, farewell. Until we meet again in battle." He extended his arm to Davis, who looked startled. He took it.
"Worthy Advisary?" He repeated.
"M-Hm." He offered his hand to Emi, who blushed and took her turn to shake it.

"And then we shook hands and he said he admired me!" Davis finished his story on the walk home. It was sunset and the water was stained purple by its relection.
"Funny, I don't remember that last part." Emi said.
"I've never seen you this happy before about losing a game." Kari said.
"Wasn't so bad." Davis said, hands behind his head, "He called me his worthy advisary."
"I can't belive you didn't get me his autograph!" Yolei sobbed.
"Need a pinch?" Cody asked.
"That body slide you did was ultra-cool, Davis." said TK.
"Yeah, so cool!" Ashley said.
"It made my toes tingle!" Demiveemon said.
"You know what I predict?" asked Davis, "Ken and I are gonna be on the same championship team some day."
"Good luck with that." said Tara.
"I think you're getting ahead of yourself," Tai warned, "Maybe you oughta try something first. Maybe you oughta try scoring at least one goal against him."
"Very funny Tai." Davis groaned, "But I guess you got a point. I'll have to try that." The group laughed, all except Yolei who was still downcast.
Ken had been watching the entire time from atop a bridged. As the group walked away, he laughed, "Go ahead, laugh while you can. For the time draws closer to when you shall bow before me. No one is my equal as you shall soon find out.

me your hand." Yolei demanded of Davis. It was the next day and once again everyone was gathered in the computer room.
"Huh? Why?" Davis asked.
"I'll tell you why," she answered tartly, "Because I said so!" Davis blinked and then held out his hand.
"Here you go."
"Since you shook hands with Ken, if I shake hands with you it'll almost be like I'm shaking hands with him." She reached for Davis' hand and then hesitatied. Her hand hovered over his for a few moments before she drew it back to herself, "Oh, I can't do it! It's not the same. I'll have to wait to see my beloved in person."
"Oh brother..." Azukia, Tara, Ashley, and Emi moaned. Cody was at the computer, Ashi sitting next to him.
"What are you doing, Cody?" TK asked.
"I can't believe it," Cody replied.
"You're dreaming," Oompamon said, "Let me pinch you."
"A control spire!" Ashi said, pointing to the compeltely white screen that now was spoiled by the black square in the center of it.
"What's it doing there?" asked Kari.
"Controlling, Spire-ing, the usual." Tara said.
"It must have been built overnight." Cody mused.
"So just where is it located?" TK wanted know.
"I'm not sure..." Cody said, "This map doesn't locate any points of intrest."
"It's the Hidden Valley of No Return!" Rishumon cried.
"Why do bad guys always pick names like that?" Kari asked.
"It's right in the job description, right after really stinky breath!" TK told her.
"I guess that means Azukia is evil!" Ashley said.
"Watch it, Ashley." Azukia warned her, "Bad guys don't let their little sisters live with them without paying rent."
"Too bad this place wasn't called the Hidden Valley of Bunnies and Duckies." Cody said.
"We've got to destroy it before he uses it to control all the digimon!" TK rallied them, "Let's go Davis!" Davis was still in place, hand stuck out, and looking very freaked out. Yolei was still in front of him, trying to decide whether or not to shake his hand. Neither said anything for a couple of minutes.
"Oh for Heaven's sake-!" Tara said, face-palming.
"Are you sure about this?" Davis asked her, "Digiport open!"

"Wow, this valley sure looks forbidden all right." Kari said. They had been taken to a grey, rock encrusted valley.
"A few duckies and bunnies would spruce it up." Davis said, looking around. A Control Spire could be seen in the distance.
"Or any sort of color." Azukia said, "It's like this place is emo or something."
"Quit kidding around," TK told the group, "The Digimon Emperor could be around anywhere, so stay alert."
"Either way, we could be spotted for miles," Tara observed, "There's no cover here."
"Let's stick together!" Cody said, shuffling closer to Ashi.
"I think this valley is kind of quaint and homey," Yolei said as they started walking.
"More like homely." Davis said.
"Keep quiet you guys," Kari warned, "We don't want the Emperor to hear us coming!" Just then, Emi and Yolei shouted as the plumted downward into the sand.
"I bet he heard that." Kari said, turning around.
"My gosh!" Gatomon said, "They're gone!" Everyone but Davis, Ashi, and thier digimon were sucked under as well.
"Guys!" Davis shouted at the same time Ashi cried:
"Cody!"
"Did you see that?" Davis asked Veemon, "The ground just ate our friends!"
"Maybe it will swallow us next!"

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