"Ken's Secret"

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Guilmon was dressed in his usual disguise as he stood with Tai, Jun, Kari, TK, Yolei and Cody watching as Daisuke ran across the soccer field.

The soccer team was having one last practise before their big game against Tamachi that would be held on Sunday.

Kai kicked the ball over towards Rei who stopped the ball with his chest and the ball fell tot he ground.

As he prepared to kick the ball, Daisuke came sliding across the ground and tripped the brunette making him cry out in surprise as he fell to the ground.

A whistle was then sounded, signaling that the game was over while the ball rolled over to the sidelines where the Digidestineds were cheering along with some other students.

Tai placed his foot on top of the ballw hen it rolled in front of him and he looked over at the mahogany haired girl, smiling at her while Jun cheered loudly.

"Walk much, Daisuke?" Tai teased.

Pouting, the girl stuck her tongue out at him while Rei stood up as Kai, Satoshi and Takeshi ran over to their two friends.

"All right, awesome! We're gonna win this game tomorrow!" Takeshi raised a fist.

"Don't get too carried away." Kai told him.

Satoshi held a hand out for Daisuke and the girl accepted it as he pulled her up onto her two feet.

"Yeah, we got creamed last year." the orange haired boy whimpered.

"Quit being such a baby." Takeshi said to Satoshi and flicked his forehead.

"Boys, knock it off. We don't need you fighting." Daisuke said with her hands on her hips.

"She's right. Besides, I think coach needs to talk to us." Rei said as he pointed over at the black haired man dressed in a track suit.

Nodding or sighing, the group of five friends then walked over to their coach while the rest of the team started to gather.

"All right team, hustle in, let's go." Coach Yamaki called.

"Now quiet down, I've got an announcement to make. All right. Our first scrimmage is this Sunday against last year's number one team in the league." Yamaki said.

"That team with that Ichijouji guy." Kai frowned.

"Man, he's such a fake. No one is that perfect." Rin Tanaka growled.

Rin was a tall boy with black hair, fair skin and blue eyes who also had a bit of an attitude problem.

He had wanted to be the team captain and was angered when the position went to a girl and had tried to pick a fight with her.

What he hadn't expected was for her to fight back and wound up busting his lip.

After that, he still had an atiitude around her, but respected her for being someone who didn't go down without a fight.

"Hey, hey! Watch the name calling. He's Ken Ichijouji." Yamaki said.

Afterwards, the team had all went to the locker rooms to shower off and change into their normal clothes.

The Digidestineds and Jun had gathered in the computer room and Yolei was sitting in front of one of the computers, reading an article on Ken.

"Captain of his soccer team, Ken Ichijouji led his team to victory last season by scoring a record setting, 45 goals!" Yolei said making everyone gasp in amazement.

"Whoa, this kid may even be better than I am." Tai said.

"I bet he could be in the Olympics if he wanted to." Cody spoke up.

"Oh, please. He's not that great." Daisuke scoffed making her friends look at her.

Jun shook her head in amusement at her sister knowing that this game was going to be an interesting one.

"You think you can beat him?" Kari asked me.

"Well, it's not about beating him; it's about going up against one of the best teams around. Plus, it looks like this guy could use a little kick to his ego." the mahogany haired girl said.

Her eyes were narrowed as she stared at the picture of the plum haired boy and didn't like the smug grin he wore or the dark look in his eyes.

"Oh, Daisuke!" Yolei sang as she stood up and grasped the shorter girl's hands making her look at the lavender haired girl in shock and confusion.

"When you see Ken on the soccer field, will you his autograph for me?" she asked smiling.

"Yolei and Ken sitting in a tree.

K-I-S-S-I-N-G." Cody sang.

"Hey, Cody, watch it! Besides, I didn't say I wanted to kiss him. Duh! I just wanna marry him." Yolei said with attitude.

"Oh." Cody said.

"If you wanna meet him, ask for his autograph yourself." Daisuke said making Yolei's angered expression turn into a thoughtful one.

"Oh, I guess I could do that." She said.

"Let's all go to the game and you can ask him then." Kari said.

"Well, I'm going. I wanna see my baby sister kick some butt." Jun smiled.

Guilmon then jumped onto his partner's back making her cry out as she stumbled, but grabbed onto the table to steady herself.

"Daisukemon, I wanna come too!" Guilmon whined.

"Fine, you can come too. Now get off!" the girl cried while everyone laughed.

(The next day...)

It was a nice warm, sunny day as the parents and students started showing up to watch the game between Odaiba and Tamachi.

Tamaki and Narumi were sitting in the bleachers as well, eager to watch their daughter's game.

The Odaiba playeres were dressed in the standared red jerseies, white shorts and black cleats while their stretched out.

As Daisuke worked on her legs stretches, she glanced over to the bleachers where she found her family sitting with her friends, and saw that even Sora had arrived.

"Good luck, Daisuke." Kari called.

"Don't forget to hug Ken." Yolei called pulling Poromon's wings.

"Give him a kiss, too." Tai joked pumping a fist making Jun and Sora shake their heads at him.

"Ha, ha." Daisuke stated dryly as she continued her stretches.

"I think we know who she would really want a kiss from." Jun whispered into Sora's ear.

This made the orangette giggle since she too had heard the rumour about Ryo flirting with Daisuke which Sora herself found cute.

A group of girls were shrieking as the Tamachi bus pulled up to the field and everyone turned, watching as the coach led his players off the bus.

To everyone's surprise, their star player and captain wasn't with them!

"Hey, where's Ken?" Daisuke gasped.

"Where is he?" Kari asked.

"Izzy? No, we're waiting for Ken." TK said.

"Uh, we know that. Ken's not coming, is he, Cody?' Yolei asked angered at the boy.

"Will you stop asking me if I say 'yes'?" he asked.

"No I won't." she growled squishing poor Poromon.

"Lucky for me I have no spine." The bird said.

Feeling curious, Daisuke ran over to speak with two of the Tamachi boys who were dressed in green and black.

"Hey, excuse me? But do you know when Ken is getting here?" she asked making the two boys look at her.

Rei, Kai, Takeshi, Satoshi and even Rin had chased after their captain because they too were curious.

"Well, he's got s soft drink commercial shoot and a meeting about having a soccer ball named after him." Boy1 said.

"Ken hardly had time to play soccer anymore." Boy2 said.

"What?" Rei asked with a frown.

"That no good little punk." Rin snarled as he held up a fist.

The two Tamachi boys flinched back at the angered black haired boy and walked off to join their team.

"What now? We were expecting Ken." Satoshi sighed as the group walked back over to their team.

Sighing, Daisuke brought her fingers to her lips and gave a sharp whistle making the boys all jump and turn towards her.

"Gather 'round!" she called.

Walking over to the only girl on their team, the boys formed a huddle, waiting to see what their captain had to say.

"Look, these guys may be champions, but they don't have their best player. You know what I have to say to that? Their loss, our gain. We take them out and we keep them away from the ball. If their star player doesn't think we're good enough for him, then let's hit him where it hurts by owning this game!" Daisuke smirked.

The boys all cheered at that, some even smirking or laughing as they stood up from the huddle and got into position on the field.

(After the first half...)

Odaiba had struck hard against Tamachi and had managed to get five goals in while the oppossing team was lagging behind with only one goal.

They had lost their spirits without Ken around to tell them what to do or which play they should use.

At the moment everyone was taking a break to get some water or review their plays with the coaches.

Kari had waved Daisuke over tot he side so that she could show everyone the pictures she had taken with her camera.

"It's rewinding. There. You look good on camera." Kari said as she showed everyone the pictures on her digital camera.

"Thanks, Kari. I really kicked some butt out there." Daisuke smiled.

"That's my baby sister!" Jun smiled proudly.

"You kicked the ball pretty hard too." Guilmon purred as he rubbed his head into her stomach making her laugh as she hugged him around the neck.

"You nailed that shot, Daisuke." TK said.

"You've gotten really good. Better than last year." Sora said.

"Hey, you guys only lead by 4 goals. The game's still wide open and Ken could still show up." Tai reminded.

"Oh, come on! You really think that's gonna bother me or my team?" the child of Harmony commented.

"Probably not." Cody said as he held Upamon in his hands as he looked up at the girl.

"It's him!" a group of girls screamed making the Digidestineds turn to look over at the street.

A boy with plum colored hair dressed in a green and black soccer uniform was walking down the stairs, ignoring everyone around him.

"It's Ken! I don't believe it. I must be dreaming. Somebody pinch me." Yolei gushed.

The young child of Knowledge sighed as he then reached up and pinched the lavender haired girl's upper arm making her cry out.

Ken then looked over in their direction and glared at the sigth of them, displeased to see the group.

"He's looking right at us! Oh, I think I'm going to faint!" Yolei said as she stared at the boy in admiration.

His glare then turned into a smug grin as his eyes settled on Daisuke which made her frown at him as he then continued walking down the steps.

"For all the attention he's getting, that guy sure knows how to keep his cool." Tai said.

"Hey, I'm cool." Daisuke cut in.

"More like lukewarm." the original child of Courage commented.

"That's so funny I forgot to laugh." Daisuke said as she jabbed her elbow into his side making Jun, Yolei, Sora and Kari laugh at him.

"Now substituting, number 7; Ken, the Rocket, Ichijouji." The announcer said as the fan girls started going on about how cute and amazing he was.

Ken then stood in front of Daisuke to face off against her on the field since they were both the captains of their teams.

"You must be Ken. It's nice to meet you. I'm Daisuke." the girl nodded at the boy.

He nodded at that as he then tilted his head over to where the Digidestineds were sitting to watch the game.

"Oh my gosh, he looked right at me, Poromon. Can you believe he's even cuter in person than he is on TV? I could just hug him all day." Yolei said as she hugged her partner closely in a death grip of love.

"He's not an accordion, Yolei." Cody said.

"He's just a kid like you, Daisuke." Kari called with her hands cupping her mouth.

"You gotta out run him." TK called.

"You can do it and even if you can't we won't think any less of ya." Tai said.

"Some nice friends you've got there, Daisuke." Ken commented.

The girl blinked her chocolate eyes at the sound of his voice when suddenly the refferee blew the whistle.

Just then, Ken ran past the girl with incredible speed as he kicked the ball down the field making everyone gasp in shock at him.

He evaded all the members of Odaiba and managed to kick the ball in the goal for Tamachi making the crowd cheer.

"Wow, no wonder they call him the rocket." TK said.

"Did you catch that move?" Tai asked.

"He's fantastic." Kari said.

"Back off, I saw him first!" Yolei pouted.

Ken then scored a goal after he evaded the Odaibas with ease, a smug look on his face as he did so.

"Houston, we have a problem." Daisuke sighed as she brushed her hair back.

"He's so amazing and did I mention dreamy?" Yolei gushed.

"Would you like me to pinch you again?" Cody asked.

"Yolei Ichijouji. Ken and Yolei Ichijou." The girl hugged Poromon tightly to herself as she fantasized.

"Now that Ken's tied up the game, I wonder how it's gonna affect Daisuke's confidence." Tai mused.

Guilmon whined as he covered his eyes with his paws, unable to watch as the boy evaded his partner.

"Daisuke isn't looking too good out there. Ouch." Tai said as the game went on.

"Ken's running circles around her. It's like Daisuke isn't even there." Kari said.

"Easier shooting goals into an empty net. Ken has more than just skill; he leads his team like a general leads an army." TK said as Ken barked orders at his teammates.

"Come on, Dais! You can beat this punk!" Jun yelled as she stood up making Sora look at the girl.

"Jun, calm down." Sora said to her friend.

As Ken was about to make the final shot, Daisuke came in with her sliding block and tripped him making the ball roll away as the game came to an end.

Tamachi was leading by three goals and won the game, but Odaiba was still cheering since they hadn't been murdered like last year.

"Nice tackle. Have a good trip, Ken. See ya next fall!" Tai joked.

Kai, Rei, Rin, Satoshi and Takashi ran over to their captain and tackled her into a hug while an angered Ken stalked off.

Looking over at the plum haired boy, Daisuke escaped from her teammates and ran after Ken to talk to him.

"Hey, Ken, wait up!" she called.

He forced a neutral look on his face as he turned to look at the girl.

"Hey, sorry about that last tackle. I guess I took ya by surprise." she said as she looked down at the cut on his leg.

His green sock had been cut by her cleats and a bit of blood was seeping trhough the fabric.

"I barely felt it. Too busy thinking about scoring goals." He said with a grin.

"Yeah, I was kind of focused on that too. No offence, but your team aren't that good. They would've been destroyed without you." the girl chuckled as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Well, I must admit, I'm impressed. Maybe some day you'll be good enough to face me one on one. Until we meet again my worthy adversary." Ken held his hand out to the girl.

Blinking curiously at that, she smiled as she took his accepted hand and was surprised to hear the crowd cheering once more.

Ken then walked off when Tamaki ran over and smothered his daughter into a hug while Narumi, Jun and Guilmon walked over.

"My prescious baby! You did wonderful out there!" Tamaki cooed.

"Dad, my spine!" Daisuke groaned as she tried to wriggle out of his grip.

"Tamaki, dear, you're suffocating her." Narumi called as the rest of the Digidestineds ran over.

The blonde woman then smiled at them.

"How about we all go get some pizza to celebrate?" she suggested.

"Can it be one of your home made pizzas?" Kari requested.

"If you'd like." Narumi nodded.

"Yes! Normal food." Tai cheered making Sora roll her eyes at him.

"Can we come too, Mrs. Motomiya?" Cody asked polietly.

"Of course. Just call your parents first so they don't worry." Narumi winked at the group of children and digimon.

(The next day...)

The group had gathered in the computer lab once again after school to prepare to go to the Digital World.

"Gimme your hand." Yolei said as she held her hand out towards Daisuke.

"Huh? Why?" the shorter girl blinked at her.

"I'll tell you why. Because I said so. Since you shook hands with Ken, if I shake hands with you, it'll almost be like I was shaking hands with him." Yolei stated.

This made everyone look at her weirdly due to her logic.

"Uh, does that even make sense?" Daisuke asked.

"Yolei, I don't think it counts since she washed her hands." Kari grinned in amusement.

"Fine, I'll wait to shake hands with my beloved in person." the child of Love sighed as she curled her hands under her chin.

"Just what're you doing, Cody?" TK asked the boy as he looked at the computer.

"I can't believe it." he gasped.

"You're dreaming. Let me pinch you." Upamon said.

"It's a control spire." The child of Knowledge said making everyone turn to see that a block square had appeared in the center of a white area.

"What's it doing there?" Kari asked.

"Controlling, spirring. The usual." Gatomon shrugged.

"It must have been built over night. Amazing." Cody said.

"So just where is it located?" the child of Hope asked as Cody got to work typing.

"I'm not sure. This map doesn't list the points of interest." Cody said.

"It's the Forbidden Valley of No Return." Upamon informed.

"Why do bad guys always names things like that?" the child of Light asked.

"It's in the job description, right after really stinky breath." TK said.

"Even if this place was called 'Valley of Duckies and Bunnies' with a control spire there, there's trouble." Cody frowned at the screen.

"We've got to destroy it before it's used to control all the digimon, yeah?" TK asked making Kari gasp.

"Right." She said.

"What're we waiting for? Let's go, Daisuke." The blonde called to the girl.

"Right. Digi port; open!" she pulled out her digivice along with everyone else.

The computer then sucked everyone inside of the portal and they arrived in a dessert looking area that appeared to be barren with no life forms.

"Wow, this valley sure looks forbidden all right." Kari said.

"A few duckies and bunnies would spruce this place up." Guilmon commented.

"Come on, quite kidding around. The Digimon Emperor could be anywhere so stay sharp." TK said.

"Let's stay together." Cody said as we started walking.

"I think this valley is kinda quaint and homey." Yolei said.

"Quiet you guys, we don't want the Emperor to hear us coming." Kari said just as the duo of Love were sucked into the ground.

"I bet he heard that." Kari said.

"They're gone." Gatomon gasped just as she, Kari, TK and Patamon were pulled down into the ground.

"What is this? Quick sand?" Daisuke gasped as she and Guilmon stood close together as they looked around.

"The ground just ate them. Maybe it'll swallow us next." Guilmon said.

"We better figure out what to do before we find more trouble." Daisuke told him.

"More trouble has found you." The Emperor's voice echoed making the duo turn to look for him.

"Digimon Emperor, what have you done?" Daisuke called.

"Your friends are with me. Come and help if you dare." the Emperor called smugly.

"Let's go!" Daisuke called as she and Guilmon started running to where the voice was heard.

"I wanted to get more exercise, but running for my life wasn't what I had in mind." Guilmon panted.

As they ran across the sand dunes, they came to a cliff that had the Emperor standing on top of it.

"There he is." Guilmon said.

"All right, you better let my friends go right now." Daisuke demanded making him laugh.

"Oh, I am so scared." He taunted.

"What have you done with them?" the girl yelled.

"Take a look. Your friends are at my mercy and so, would it appear, are you." He said.

Looking tot he side, the duo found that that there was a tall beam that had the Digidestineds tied to their digimon and were hanging from the beam by a rope.

"Daisuke, save yourself!" Kari yelled.

"Run, you can still escape." TK said.

"Don't take your eyes off the Emperor." Cody advised.

"What are you waiting for? Save me!" Yolei yelled.

"Don't worry, we'll get you all down." Daisuke called up to them feeling a great amount of worry.

"Think fast. Your time is running short. Oops, time's up." The Emperor laughed making her look at him, wondering what he was talking about.

"Awaken, Deltamon!" he called as the ground shook.

"Maybe it's a ducky or a bunny." Guilmon said as the mountain behind their friends was destroyed by a large, ugly three headed dinosaur, his hands being his second and third head.

"Deltamon is a dragon type digimon with a metal hand and a skull for the other." Guilmon explained.

"What luck that you all dropped by. See, it's Deltamon's dinner time and I think eating all of you would make a well balanced meal, don't you?" the Emperor teased as the evil dragon roared at the Digidestineds making Daisuke gasp in dread and fear for them.

"You're not gonna get away with this." she yelled at him.

"Looks like you have no choice. If you want me to show mercy, you must beg for it." he said making me gap at him offended.

"What?" Daisuke asked slowly.

"You heard me pathetic loser. On your knees and beg. 'Please Master, spare my friends'." He said.

Glaring up at the Emperor, Daisuke then looked over at her friends and realized that she had no other choice if she wanted to save them.

Sighing dejectedly, she was about to fall to her knees, but was stopped when she felt a hand fall on her shoulder.

Gasping, she turned to find Ryo had arrived and was glaring up at the Emperor while Flamedramon stood beside him.

"You know, you're pathetic. Can't you do something a little more original?" Ryo asked.

"What are you doing here, Ryo?" the Emperor demanded.

"What do ya think? I'm here to stop you from whatever you're planning...Ken." Ryo glared.

Hearing the familiar name, Daisuke gasped as she stared at Ryo in shock and then looked up at the Digimon Emeperor.

"Flamedramon, get them!" Ryo yelled as he pointed at the Digidestineds.

"You got it, Ryo." Flamedramon nodded as he jumped up.

Guilmon and Daisuke gasped as they watched this and saw that their friends then transformed into Bakemon and they quickly flew away from the dragon.

"You fools! I almost had her!" the Emepror shouted in anger.

"Those aren't our friends!" Guilmon snarled as his eyes then turned wild.

"Ken? You're Ken Ichijouji?" Daisuke asked as her eyes narrowed in anger.

Turning to look down at the girl, the Emperor simply smirked as he pulled his glasses off his nose and revealed the same periwinkle blue eyes and face as the boy genius.

"Yes, it's true. I am Ken Ichijouji." he announced.

"You creep! Where are my friends?" Daisuke demanded.

"Locked away where you can't find them. Now, Deltamon, attack!" Ken commanded.

Gripping her Crest, Daisuke looked down at Guilmon who returned the look as he nodded.

"Get him, Guilmon!" she called.

Growling, the dinosaur ran forward as he was covered in brigth red light making Deltamon look at him in puzzlement.

"Guilmon digivolve too...GROWLMON!"

Growlmon then turned towards Deltamon and tackled him tot he ground making the earth shake while Flamedramon faught off the Bakmeon.

"What?! He digivolved? That's impossible!" Ken yelled in anger.

Wormmon stood at his side as he watched Growlmon pick Deltamon up and growled as he threw the dragon off to the side.

Standing up, Deltamon released a blast from his mouth and Growlmon breathed out fire to counter it.

Just then, the ground under Deltamon collapsed making everyone gasp.

"What is that?" Ryo asked.

"Maybe a surprise attack?" Flamedramon suggested as he jumped over beside Growlmon who was confused.

"Is this the part where we shout 'Surprise!'?" Growlmon asked as he stared at the smoke.

"Surprise? It isn't even my birthday." the smoke cleared to show Digmon was there.

"Wait, if Digmon is here, then that means...?" Daiuske trailed off.

Up in the sky everyone looked up to see three winged armour digimon flying towards them.

"We're coming!" Yolei called from her digimon's back.

"Pegasusmon, Nefertimon, Halsemon." Flamedramon said as the three digimon landed on the ground.

"Are you guys all right?" TK asked as he ran over to Ryo and Daisuke.

"We're fine, but you guys are never gonna believe this. Ken is the Digimon Emperor!" Daisuke announed.

"What?" Cody gasped as the others all stared up at the plum haired human.

"Bakemon, you gapped tooth fools, get them!" the Emperor commanded as the ghost came down to fight the armour digimon.

"The Emperor's controlling them. The dark rings the Bakemon are wearing are the key. He's ordering them around like a general leading his army." TK said.

"We'll handle the Bakemon. You get Deltamon." Halsemon said to Growlmon, Nefertimon and Pegasusmon.

"Right." the three digimon nodded as they turned towards the dragon.

Halsemon then used his Eagle Eye to destroy the rings around two Bakemon.

Digmon blasted his Gold Rush and hit four Bakemons' rings while Flamedramon then used Flame Shield and took out multiple dark rings.

Nefertimon and Pegasusmon took to the air and used their Golden Noose to tie up Deltamon and started to lift him into the air.

The dragon struggled to get free, but Growlmon then ran forward and used his Dragon Slash, destroying the dark ring and freed Deltamon.

"NOOO! They're winning!" Ken growled as he clenched his fists in anger.

Wormmon whined in fear as his master then turned and stalked off.

"We did it!" Yolei cheered when the last Bakemon was freed.

"But where did the Emperor go?" Cody asked.

Looking up into the sky, the group saw Ken and Wormmon were escaping on the head of an Airdramon.

"Farewell my worthy adversary. Until we meet again!" Ken smirked as he waved down at Daisuke as she glared up at him.

"I just can't believe that Ken is really the Digimon Emperor." TK said.

Ryo stared off after Ken with a sad expression and he gave a sigh as part of his hair fell down over his eye.

Sharing a look with Flamedramon, the duo of Courage then quickly fled before anyone could see them.

Daisuke noticed that Ryo had left and she looked around, confused about how he knew who the Digimon Emperor truly was.

To be continued...