Digimon Adventure Zero Two: The Alternate Adventure

Chapter 5: The Lost Partner

Mrs. Ichijouji was crying. First, Osamu, now Ken. Mr. Ichijouji was trying to talk to her as the teenage boy who came to them earlier poured some water from the kitchen for them. He used to make himself at home when Osamu invited him over.

"I'm sure Ken-kun must have some reasons." He spoke up trying to console them while glancing at the direction of Ken's room.

"I'm sorry for what Ken had done to you. We should have heed your advice to watch out for him." Mr. Ichijouji said with an worried look.

"It's okay. I understand what Ken was going through. While he lost his brother, I lost my very first friend. He threw me out and I promised him I'll not play soccer anymore after losing the match with him. I don't intend to break my promise as long as he promised me to stay safe. He's prideful, I'm sure he'll be ok." The boy said clasping his hand deep in thought.

The boy opened the door to Ken's room reminiscing with one of the first memories he had. Osamu made friend with him and he made friend with Ken when he invited him over. The three of them often played soccer together and had a lot of fun. Things changed when Osamu met with an accident. As he saw Ken as his younger brother, he decided that he would protect him on his behalf. He had even given him a so-called protective charm. It was a necklace with a symbol of the sun.

He reached for a device in his pocket. Like the necklace, it was one of the few items he had with him from his lost past. He was hopeful. He would wait for his return. It was what Osamu would have wanted.

Never did he know that, Ken knew about the power of the "charm" which was unknown to him and would put it into good use.

Ken came to the area where a former Partner Digimon, Greymon was guarding.

"You want to fight?" Greymon asked.

"I got an experiment I'd to try and I will appreciate your help." Ken as Digimon Kaiser said. He flicked his fingers and an Evil Ring advanced towards Greymon.

"What are you doing?" Greymon growled.

Koushirou was having a discussion with Daisuke and his group. They heard that Ichijouji Ken had been missing for two days but his parents did not know he was gone until the day before.

Koushirou headed to the computer to check out the situation. Chances were Ken was in the Digital World and he was right as the black area had expanded.

"Seems like he wanted to stay behind to increase the number of black areas." Koushirou concluded.

"What do you mean?" Hikari asked.

"Could it be he's not planning to come back to the Real World?" Takeru guessed.

"Eh? He is going to stay in the Digital World forever? That's weird." Miyako exclaimed.

"In any case, things will get tougher from now on." Koushirou warned them. The pace of the Dark Tower being built will be faster than what Miyako and the rest could destroy.

"We have to go!" Daisuke said. But it was already 5 pm. "We will work something out!"

"We have to go no matter what." Hikari agreed with Daisuke.

"We'll be right back!" Miyako assured Koushirou.

"Take a look and come back immediately." Koushirou did not want to answer to their parents if they could not come home like the other day. More importantly, he really did not want to contact Yamato.

"Digital Gate open! Chosen Children, let's roll!" Miyako chanted the usual as they headed to the Digital World.

The group arrived at the volcanic area which caught Ken's attention. He had been waiting for them.