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Going Home

Though exotic music and dancing and foods Ken didn't want to know the original forms of were not his idea of a victory party, he did have fun. He and Gatomon met several interesting monsters and made a few new friends. While Gatomon spent most of her time flirting with a jaguarmon, Ken found himself discussing the digital underworld with Pyromon, Cryomon, and a couple of strange little demons named Chomakmon and Yaxmon.

"We're not evil," the vulpine digimon Chomakmon informed him. "Not all of us. Not really."

"We're just demons," said Cryomon. "It's what we are, our nature."

Yaxmon, a blue-green digimon who somewhat resembled a peacock crossed with a crab, elaborated. "We are pranksters, tricksters, mischievous imps, but not evil. We defend ourselves when threatened perhaps too readily, but we also are fiercely loyal to our friends, and we make friends easily."

"The thing is: it's hard to tell evil demons from the rest of us. Balaammon could be considered evil, as could Xtoyilmon. Then there's Gruesomon..."

"Don't forget the Fourteen Fallen Lords," said Chomakmon. "They were every bit as evil as anything the digital world or the human world ever dished out. They would make Balaammon look like a philanthropist."

"Who are the Fourteen Fallen Lords?" Ken asked.

"They were powerful demons who worked together to take over the underworld," Cryomon answered. "They ruled with blood and torture. Finally, they were defeated by two brothers whose father they killed and whose mother they tried to kill. Their power was dispersed, but that created an imbalance that shifted the underworld in relation to the other worlds, much as Myotismon's defeat shifted the digital world closer to your world."

"The underworld used to be closer to the human world than the digital world is," said Yaxmon. "Only after the defeat of the Lords did we become more closely tied to the digital world."

"Is that why underworld digimon are so different from digital world digimon?"

"We're not really that different," Cryomon claimed.

"Except we can't digivolve," said Pyromon. "And we're not hatched from eggs; we're born from...kind of explosions of energy. It's very beautiful and interesting to watch."

"I'd like to see one," Ken said. He had always been fascinated by digimon biology.

"You may get a chance, if you come back to visit often," Cryomon said flirtatiously.

Before Ken knew it, midnight came. "My parents must be worried sick about me," Ken said apologetically as he excused himself from the group to find Gatomon.

"I wonder if Kari is still looking for me," Gatomon commented as she went with Ken and the owlmon, accompanied by a delegation of well-wishers. "It's getting so dark."

"Not as well will it be night. Merely light. Merely noon it is now," said ArrowOwlmon. "Merely the our dusk is your dawn."

"When the sun sets on the digital world, it rises in our world," Pyromon clarified. "We're like two sides of one coin."

Ken frowned. "Still, we've been gone a long time. Everyone must be worried."

They said goodbye, and the owlmon opened a portal. Ken and Gatomon stepped into a sunny meadow in the digital world, and the dark underworld disappeared behind them like a dream upon awaking.

Ken blinked as his eyes adjusted, then looked at his digivice. The other digidestined were nearby.

"Ken? Gatomon? Hey guys! I found them!" The voice of Cody shouted. He ran to them. "Where have you guys been? We've been looking everywhere for you!"

"It's a long story," Ken said. The other digidestined were running or flying towards them.

"Gatomon!" Kari shouted with glee. The digimon leaped into her partner's welcoming arms.

Davis ran up to Ken. "We've been looking for you for two days! What happened?"

"How did you get here? I just looked here." Yolei dropped from Aquilamon's back. Before Ken could answer, she threw her arms around him and squeezed hard.

"Kari said you fell down a hole created by four mysterious digimon," T.K. said.

"We went to the digital underworld," Gatomon explained.

"The what?" Armadillomon asked.

"I thought that was just a myth," said Patomon.

"No, it's real," Ken confirmed.

"You must be starving," Kari said with concern.

Ken shook his head. "We had plenty to eat at the party. I'm so tired, though. I haven't slept since..." He had trouble remembering the last time he'd slept. The world was starting to look fuzzy. Gatomon had already fallen asleep in Kari's arms.

"Sounds like you had an interesting time. You have to tell us all about it," Yolei said with her characteristic exuberance.

"Yes," Ken agreed. "Later. Now I have to get home. My parents must be worried sick." But instead of leaving, Ken sat down on the grass, fell over, and started snoring softly.

The end.