The world was green, a thick, smothering green with the occasional crystalline bubble trickling upwards. It was as if the whole world was submerged, engulfed by a thick sea of liquid.

Consciousness slowly returned to Ken, who grimaced before cracking his eyes open. Everything was blurry at first, save the alarming amount of green. However, his eyes eventually adjusted. Blinking slowly, Ken suddenly gave a start and let out a choked cry, creating more bubbles to trickle upwards.

He was encased in a massive capsule filled with green fluid, completely naked with various tubes and wires attached to his body through bracelets. He had a mask over his mouth, with tubes running down his throat to provide air and sustenance. The entire feeling was uncomfortable and violating, particularly the tubes that were penetrating him between his legs - no doubt for waste disposal.

Ken's heart began to beat faster as panic started to set in. Where the hell was he?

It looked like he was in a lab of sorts, with a massive computer hooked up to the capsule and monitoring him. Lights flashed, screens flickered, and a small screen showed his vital signs, including his pulse beat and how rapidly it was changing.

He jerked around, staring, and then spotted what appeared to be a virtual reality visor. It was sparking slightly, floating in the liquid uselessly. It had apparently short-circuited, coming free from his face.

Noting the sparking, Ken absently mused that the liquid must have been nonconductive, or he surely would have been fried. That suggested the liquid wasn't simply colored water, but rather some other kind of chemical compound.

However, that thought was quickly smothered by a more pressing concern: escape. Ken leaned forward slightly, trying not to gag on the tubes as he grew more aware of them, and pressed the palms of his hands against the glass. He pushed weakly, noting with disapproval at how his arms trembled. It was as if he hadn't moved his body in ages...

Suddenly, a spark ran along the edge of the capsule, causing Ken to jerk back in surprise. He stared as the capsule shuddered, then let out a strangled noise as it suddenly burst open. The liquid gushed out as the bracelets and tubing down his throat immediately retracted, freeing the boy so that he fell forward and landed on the ground in a heap. Ken choked out a cry, before he began to gag. His body heaved as he proceeded to throw up massive amounts of green gunk mingled with blood. His throat screamed in agony, his stomach making nauseous gurgling noises, as his muscles echoed their own disapproval at his condition.

The young boy didn't know how long he was there, vomiting up the disgusting contents of his stomach. He was only vaguely aware that he was a child again, probably no older than when he had become the Digimon Kaiser so many years ago. At least, it seemed so many years ago. He had no idea what day it was, let alone what year it was. How long had he been in that capsule? How did he get in that capsule to start with?

Eventually, Ken's body calmed as he felt the last of the contents of his stomach hit the floor. He still had an awful taste in his mouth, as well as the overall feeling of being horribly violated. He wasn't sure if it was such a good idea to wake up, given what had been there to greet him. The young boy wiped at his mouth as he sat up shakily.

Ken was clearly alone in the lab, though it looked as if someone had to have been around recently given how immaculately clean the place was. There was not a speck of dust, not even a cobweb - the floor was so clean he could have eaten off of it. At least, it was until the capsule had dumped all the green fluid on it.

"...Got to... get out of here..." he thought, slowly standing up. His legs wobbled, threatening to give way underneath him. His mind was clouded, disoriented; he knew he had to escape, but it was barely more than an instinctual fight or flight mentality - he wasn’t even certain what he was fleeing from, just that he wanted to get away.

That kind of thinking would do him no good at all.

Ken closed his eyes and gave his head a mighty shake, hair flicking about and splattering the remaining green droplets of fluid about the floor like raindrops. He needed to get in control of the situation, or at the very least in control of his own mind!

It took Ken a few moments until his head was clear, his body no longer shaking uncontrollably. Slowly, he opened his eyes and gave the room a closer inspection. The room was decidedly empty, save for the large computer lining the wall, the black swivel chair placed in front of it, and the capsule he had escaped from. Two doors rested on opposite walls of the room, a large door with a glowing red light over top of it and a smaller door shoved in the corner.

"Two doors...?" Ken thought, glancing between the two. The large one looked more intimidating, which made him suspect it was the actual exit from the lab. If the larger door was the entrance and exit, it meant the smaller door wasn't - and thus was more likely to be a storage closet of some sort. Of course, he could be totally wrong, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

His legs wobbling weakly underneath him, Ken ventured over to the smaller door and grasped the handle. Pulling it, the door swung open easily enough to reveal its contents. Almost immediately, the Chosen of Kindness was greeted by the sight of white fluttering fabric - lab coats attached to hooks on the door.

Ken blinked and looked up at the lab coats before looking down at himself, registering that he was in fact quite naked. It took all of a moment for something to click inside Ken's head and he eagerly reached up to grasp one of the lab coats. Weakly tugging it off the hook, he put the lab coat on and buttoned up the front. While it was certainly still drafty around his legs, he was at least moderately covered. With that taken care of, the Chosen of Kindness peered in to the room he had just opened.

As he had guessed, it was a storage room.

There was no other door in the storage room besides the one he had opened, and numerous shelves and a glass containment case lined the walls. It felt particularly cluttered, as items were practically tossed on top of each other, without much care for organization.

Almost immediately, Ken spotted an item of value - a flashlight. He hurried over to the shelf and grasped the cylinder handle, flicking it on to check and make certain it worked. The Chosen of Kindness felt a wave of relief as light burst forth from the bulb. He clicked it off and shoved it in one of the lab coat's pockets.

On another shelf, further down, was a small black electric taser. Ken stared at it a moment before reaching for it as well. He glanced it over and flicked it on, noting the light blue electricity that danced between the two prongs. It made a loud snapping noise, which hurt his ears but certainly emphasized how dangerous it was.

"This ought to be helpful," Ken thought as he looked over the device after turning it back off, then set it in a pocket as well. "Better than nothing, anyway."

The Chosen of Kindness' eyes then settled on the glass containment case, which stood at a distance from the rest of the shelves. It seemed to have a whole wall dedicated entirely to it, suggesting that its contents were somehow more important than the clutter thrown on to the shelves. The fact that it was actually locked with a large black padlock helped such an impression. Ken walked over to the containment case, rather curious to see what needed to be protected so jealously.

He was more than a little taken back to see his black Digivice sitting right at the center of the case, staring at him silently.

"Huh?" Ken blinked, gawking at the sight before him.

The Demonic Digivice was not alone. Sitting next to it, looking equally docile, was a very familiar golden ring with strange runes along the surface. It was Tailmon's Holy Ring, the one that she had lost while fleeing some of the former Kaiser's Digimon minions and thus was subsequently confiscated.

Ken remembered it well, as he had studied it when attempting to improve his Evil Rings, thus creating the Evil Spirals. The ring had a rather odd ability of deactivating the Evil Rings, and thus proved valuable in combating such a weakness.

Speaking of Evil Rings and Evil Spirals, an assortment of Evil Rings and Evil Spirals covered the lower shelf of the containment case. He recognized them as his prototypes, the numerous experiments he had created in trying to make the finished product. Among them, however, Ken spotted a ring he didn't recognize. It seemed to be made out of two Evil Rings that looped together, twisting around each other to create one band. The former Kaiser stared at for a moment, almost uncomprehendingly, before he quickly shook his head and stepped back.

"I've got to get this thing open," Ken muttered. He stared at the padlock with a scowl before glancing around. He wasn't expecting to find a key or anything as practical as that, but surely there had to be something to help him. It took a few moments of looking, but eventually Ken found just what he needed - a large wrench.

The former Kaiser lugged the wrench over to the encasement before hefting it up, raising it over his shoulder as he aimed it at the padlock. Before he swung down, however, a thought came to him. Ken's eyes shifted from the padlock to the glass.

"... Well, I guess I could do it the easy way too."

SMASH.

Ken swung the wrench down on the glass, causing it to crack and splinter. It took a few good hits before it finally caved in, but that wasn't much of a problem. The former Kaiser had never been one for acts of mindless vandalism, but he had to admit it felt rather good to smash the containment case with the wrench. It almost felt as if he was venting on it, not that he was entirely sure what there was to vent about. Then again, the very fact that he was in a capsule with tubes crammed in embarrassing places was enough of a reason to want to smash things.

Soon enough, the entire encasement was destroyed, the padlock rendered useless as the contents were free for the taking.

Ken threw the wrench to the side, grimacing slightly as it clattered noisily. He gingerly stepped around the shards of glass on the floor and reached inside the containment case. He gently took his Demonic Digivice, removing it from its previous prison and stared down at it almost blankly. He really didn't know what was going on, but it was never a good idea to be without one's Digivice.

The Chosen of Kindness hesitated before peering back inside the containment case, staring at the Holy Ring. He paused only a moment before reaching back inside again, taking it as well. He shoved both in his lab coat's pockets before looking around, checking to see if there was anything else of value to take.

Satisfied that there was nothing else, the former Kaiser carefully removed himself from the glass-covered floor before hurrying towards the door. However, he stopped immediately when he heard the sound of voices and barely managed to duck back inside the storage room as the large door slid open with a whoosh.

"Cleaning time again. What fun," a voice sighed dully.

Ken froze as he stood just inside the door, his heart pounding. It looked like he would get his first glimpse of his captors, but hopefully it wouldn't be his last.

He didn't have to wait long before he saw three large Bakemon floating into the room. One carried a feather duster and cloth, another a broom and dustpan, and the third carried a mop and bucket.

"...Digimon?" Ken thought as he peered through the crack in the door.

"Haaahhh... this is so boring," the Bakemon with the broom and dustpan whined.

"Stop complaining," the Bakemon with the mop and bucket huffed as it set the bucket down onto the floor. "Do you want to get deleted?"

"Go get me some cleaner from the supply closet if you're bored," the Bakemon with the duster and rag snapped.

"Riiiight...," the Bakemon with the broom said dully as it dropped the dustpan and floated towards the closet and, unknowingly, Ken.

"They don't even notice I'm not in the capsule?" Ken thought as he frowned. However, he wasn't able to address that thought too much as the Bakemon drew closer. He quickly pulled out the taser from his lab coat pocket and waited. As the Bakemon entered the closet, he immediately jabbed his hand forward to poke the Digimon with the taser.

The Bakemon didn't even have time to react beyond widening its eyes before electricity coursed through it. Apparently the taser was built to take care of Digimon, even Adult level, because the Bakemon almost instantly went unconscious and fell to the floor in a twitching heap.

"What was that?" the Bakemon with the mop asked.

"Dunno," the Bakemon with the duster and rag replied with a shrug.

"Go check it out," the Bakemon with the mop ordered.

The Bakemon with the dusting tools sighed. "Fine," he said before he went to do so.

Ken waited by the door, his heart pounding. "That couldn't possibly work a second time," he thought, trying to overcome the fear that blossomed in his chest. "What do I do now?"

It seemed as though the Bakemon with the dusting tools didn't even notice its fallen brethren as it floated into the closet until it was practically on top of the other. "Hm?"

When the Bakemon entered the storage room, Ken found that he had no alternative but to try the same tactic again. He quickly lashed the taser out, jabbing the back of the second Bakemon's head. The Bakemon went into spasms much like the other one had before collapsing, right on top of its fallen comrade.

Ken paused and stared at the two Bakemon, then made a face. "...Huh."

"Well?" the remaining Bakemon demanded. "Did you find out what that noise is?"

Ken paused and carefully pressed his back up against the wall by the door. Surely the other Digimon wouldn't try the same exact thing? Once was luck, twice was very good luck, but three times? That's just out and out stupidity.

The Bakemon snorted and glared at the closet. "If you want anything done right you have to do it yourself," he declared as he hovered into the closet.

Ken waited silently before he turned to stare as the Bakemon drifted in, hovering right over its fallen comrades. He paused, then shook his head slowly before jabbing the taser forward a third time. The Bakemon screamed and collapsed, right on top of the other two before it even had a chance to react to the sight of the young boy or the fallen Bakemon. The former Digimon Kaiser turned to stare at the trio of unconscious Bakemon with a rather disbelieving expression on his face.

"...Bakemon? More like Bakamon." Ken muttered, then sighed and put the taser back in his pocket. Peering out of the storage closet, he saw he was alone again - but the large door was wide open.

Ken hesitated a moment before he rushed over to the door. Cautiously, he peered through to see if any other Digimon were around. The door led in to a massive and brightly lit hallway, which seemed to go on forever in either direction.

"Which way do I go?" Ken murmured, glancing down both ways. He had a fifty-fifty chance of picking the right hallway - assuming either lead to safety. Of course, he couldn't just not pick one and stay in the lab, he'd only end up caught - and more horribly, placed back in the tube.

"...Let's do this the old fashioned way," The Chosen of Kindness glanced between the two directions before stepping out in to the hallway. He clasped his hand over his eyes and stuck his hand out before spinning about on his heels. He finally came to a stop and wobbled a bit before opening his eyes, finding himself staring down to the right of the door. "...Good enough."

Ken took a deep breath, steeling himself, before he rushed down the hallway in to dangers and destinations unknown.

Well, Ken's choice in directions had certainly lead him somewhere - he was just at a loss as to where that somewhere was.

The hallway abruptly led inside of a massive room, transforming it into an observation walkway. The walkway was suspended by massive pillars at periodical intervals, the only cover available to Ken.

Ken took a quick look around to make sure no one was currently looking up before he hurried on to the walkway and behind one of the pillars. Once satisfied that he was secure, Ken peered around the pillar and down in to the massive room.

It was some sort of a laboratory, which he imagined he should have expected. What he didn't expect to see were rows and rows of capsules that looked exactly like his own, filled with green liquid that bubbled and glowed a faint emerald color. Even more, he did not expect to see blobs of black floating inside the capsules.

"What on earth...?" Ken murmured as he squinted his eyes. It was hard to make out any distinctive details from such a distance, but it certainly looked like a mass of black goo was suspended in each capsule. The entire room was filled the capsules, rows upon rows that lined the walls but also separated the room in to sections like aisles in a supermarket.

Wandering among the aisles, carrying clipboards and wearing lab coats, were Digimon. There were all types of Digimon, though mostly Adult with only a few Child types, and all wandered around in little white lab coats that obviously wasn't a part of their natural evolution. A Dracomon sat on a platform at the front of the room, to which the walkways were all connected to by a stairway. He was the only Digimon present not wearing a lab coat and seemed to be overseeing the others, rather stoically watching the others as they toiled over the capsules.

Ken would have found the Digimon amusing in their lab coats, if not for the fact that he felt uneasy about the contents of the capsules. What were they? Most were just shapeless masses of various sizes, but others looked like they were taking definite shapes. Some were egg-like, but others...

He needed to get a closer look. Ken shifted slightly, leaning over the edge to peer down. As he did, the flashlight in his lab coat pocket clanged lightly against the railing.

The Dracomon paused and turned to peer at the walkway in Ken's direction, its eyes narrowed dangerously. Ken immediately noticed and ducked behind the pillar, his heart racing violently. He waited anxiously but the Dracomon did not look away, the Digimon's piercing eyes locked intently on the walkway. It felt like forever had passed before the Dracomon finally returned its gaze to the Digimon walking about the lab - but it certainly didn't look quite so inattentive as before.

"That was... stupid," Ken thought with a grimace. "Very stupid."

The Chosen of Kindness needed to get away quickly, no matter how curious he was about the capsules. While he obviously wanted to know what was in them, he didn't want to know enough to jeopardize his safety and end up back in a capsule himself.

Ken slowly began to inch along the pillar, stopping only to quickly dash to the next one lest he be seen. He stopped and quickly glanced over to see if the Dracomon was looking again. Unfortunately, the Dracomon was completely gone. Ken's breathing hitched before he quickly looked around. His eyes widened drastically as they settled on the walkway.

The Dracomon stood at the top of the stairs, its head bowed slightly as its eyes focused intently on Ken. The dragon Digimon leaned forward as it slowly stepped up on to the platform, its tail twitching as every muscle in its body was tense. It looked like a cat about to pounce on its prey - in this instance, Ken.

Ken's heart beat wildly in his chest as all the color drained from his face. The Chosen of Kindness slowly backed away, even as the Dracomon slowly stepped towards him. It was abundantly obvious that this Digimon was not on the same level as the Bakemon, as he had been tipped off by a single sound.

This was bad. This was really bad.

Ken grimaced before he quickly turned on his heels, bolting across the walkway for the door on the other side. It didn't matter if the other Digimon saw him - he had already been spotted. He rushed as fast as he could away, even though he imagined the Dracomon was much faster than him. He didn't even hear the Digimon's footsteps, but he was sure the Digimon was on his heels.

The Chosen of Kindness burst in to an office area, with desks and cubicles abound. The Digimon there gawked at Ken, then screamed and scampered out of the way as he darted past. They stared at him with wide eyes, unable to even comprehend what they were seeing.

Hurrying, Ken jumped over one of the desks as he hurried towards the far door. He could hear the Dracomon leap on to the desk as it followed the Chosen Child - the Digimon was close. Ken needed to do something quickly - the Digimon was faster than him, so a simple race on foot meant he would be the inevitable loser.

Ken grabbed a chair and tossed it behind him as he darted past, hoping it would delay the Digimon enough. He heard the chair hit something and get thrown, and he could only hope it gave him a few more seconds to get through the office and into-

...A subway.

Ken stumbled slightly as his eyes widened. The office area opened up in to a massive subway, complete with subway cars and tunnels leading either way. It looked like a subway right out of the Tokyo underground, though obviously much cleaner. A subway car sat comfortably with its doors wide open, waiting for entry as its lights flashed. It was almost as if the subway car was inviting Ken inside, though he knew it was obviously meant for the Digimon that worked in the laboratory.

Just the same, Ken was more than a little baffled to see it.

"A... a subway?" Ken gasped. How big was this place that it needed a freaking subway!?

A moment's hesitation was a moment too many. In that instant, Dracomon was on him, tackling him to the ground. Ken cried out as he hit the ground and rolled, coming to a stop with the dragon Digimon looming over him.

"I hoped you enjoyed your walk, because it's over now." the Dracomon growled in a low baritone that suggested to Ken that he was a male Digimon, as he leaned forward, nose to nose with the captive human child.

Ken's breathing hitched again as fear raced up his spine. The capsule - he was going back in the capsule! He was going to have the wires attached to him again, the visor shoved over his head again. He was going to have those horrible tubes shoved in horrible places all over again-! "No!"

In that instant, Ken jabbed the taser in to the Dracomon's face. The Dracomon screamed as he jerked back, blue electricity dancing along his body before disappearing once he was no longer touching the prongs of the taser.

The Chosen of Kindness stared blankly at Dracomon as the Digimon went into spasms before he collapsed to the floor. Ken hadn't even been aware that he had grabbed the taser from his pocket. Even more, he hadn't expected to jab the Digimon with it. Obviously, it resolved the issue, but he really hadn't been thinking when he did it.

...So there wasn't much reason to think about it now.

Ken didn't waste another moment, scrambling to his feet and racing in to the awaiting empty subway car. The doors closed with a snap before the subway car began to move, taking him away from the crowd of gawking Digimon. Ken breathed heavily as he slumped against the door, shaking.

He had escaped.

The Digimon moved to surround the collapsed Dracomon, rather baffled by what had happened. They murmured amongst themselves a moment, uncertain of what to do. No one thought to follow after Ken, instead focused exclusively on the fallen Digimon.

"Hey," a Penguinmon peered over the inert Digimon, blinking slowly. "Hey! You okay?"

The Dracomon's eyes cleared in an instant and he suddenly snapped his jaws around the Penguinmon's face. The Penguinmon shrieked and flailed about before it disappeared with a burst of data. The other Digimon backed away from the Dracomon, squeaking with fear as the dragon Digimon got to his feet and gave a mighty shake.

Dracomon gave a small sniff, then glanced around at the cowering Digimon with an angry glare.

"...Alert the Kaiser."

Well, now what was he supposed to do?

Ken sighed softly as he leaned against a large crate, hiding in the space between it and the wall. He really wasn't sure how he had managed to get so far, as the entire building was flooded with Digimon. It seemed that he spent more time trying to avoid the Digimon than he did trying to escape.

Admittedly they were both inseparably connected, but that didn't make Ken feel like he was getting anywhere fast.

The former Digimon Kaiser glanced around the crate with a frown. He had managed to get to an area that looked like some sort of a train station, where the Digimon were all placing cargo. He wasn't sure what they were waiting for, as he wasn't even sure Digimon had trains, but the area was filling up quickly with boxes, crates, and barrels. It made it easy enough for him to hide and try to think about what to do, as no one could see him among the ever-building clutter.

"I don't get this," Ken thought. "I mean, I'm obviously in the Digital World... but as a child. What happened after I was knocked out at the warehouse?"

"Hurry it up!" a Pico Devimon snapped as it cracked a miniature whip into the air. "Hurry up with the cargo! Trailmon's going to be here any second!"

As if summoned by those words the loud blaring sound of a train whistle pierced through the din of all the commotion.

"Trailmon?" Ken peeked over the crate cautiously. "...So the Digimon don't have a train so much as a Digimon train?"

A loud rumbling sound echoed from deep within the dark tunnel, before a massive train with eyes surged through. It pulled up and let out a sharp hiss of steam as it applied the breaks, the wheels plaintively grinding to a halt as it pulled in to the station.

Ken stared at Trailmon, more specifically at the strange black band wrapped around the Digimon's chimney stack. He gaped for a few moments before his mind finally registered what he was seeing - an Evil Spiral. It was true that he had seen the items in the storage room, but to actually see them in use? It was like a bad joke!

"Get the lead out!"

Ken looked up sharply as the sharp order pierced his thoughts. Standing by the doorway, hands on his hips, was a Grappleomon. The Grappleomon sniffed slightly before he bared his teeth and pointed at the Trailmon.

"I want that damn thing loaded and out of here, now!" the Grappleomon growled, then clenched his fist. The drill-like wrist braces spun about violently, with a low 'whrrrrr'. "Don't you dare slack off or I'll delete you myself!"

"Okay, you heard him! Load it in!" Pico Devimon shouted as he cracked the whip in the air. "Get a move on, hup to! Chop, chop!"

It was then that Ken finally began to notice the other Evil accessories that he had overlooked before. There were Evil Rings on the low level Digimon, and Evil Spirals on the higher level ones. Almost every single Digimon had one, save for the few that seemed to be commanding the masses such as Pico Devimon and Grappleomon.

"What... what is this?" Ken whispered. "Why are there...?"

"Grappleomon!" a second Pico Devimon hovered over to the large Digimon, wings fluttering to keep him aloft.

"Hm?" Grappleomon arched an eyebrow. "What's this now? I'm busy."

"There's been an emergency!" the second Pico Devimon squeaked. "This order came from the Master himself!"

Grappleomon paused, then snorted again. He walked past the Pico Devimon, who quickly made to follow him. "Whatever. Emergency, huh? Even with that loudmouth pedophile hanging around? He's not really as hot as he thinks he is. No way this woulda happened if I had been in charge.”

"Sir?" the Pico Devimon with the whip turned to face the retreating Grappleomon. "What should I do?"

"Keep them loading the Trailmon!" Grappleomon snapped. "I've gotta go clean up a mess for our 'Master'! I'll show him how a real Digimon gets things done."

"Sir, yes, sir!" the first Pico Devimon saluted sharply with his wing, then yelped as he nearly dropped to the floor and had to beat his wings frantically in order to regain his balance.

Ken frowned as he watched Grappleomon leave, then sighed softly. At least the Complete was gone - now all he had to worry about were Child Digimon. Of course, they were quite dangerous by themselves, but at least he could outrun them.

"Alright, I'm in charge now! Get those crates in or I'll have your hides and give them back to our master on a platter to make into a coat!" Pico Devimon snapped as he cracked the whip at a Gazimon that was apparently going too slow for his taste. The Gazimon with the dark ring yelped as its ear was grazed by the whip and scrambled to push the massive crate it was in charge of faster.

Ken flinched, as if the whip had nearly struck him. It brought back far too many memories, memories he had been trying to escape for years. However, he was quickly interrupted from his angst when he noticed a ringed Gotsumon approaching him. He quickly looked around, for anywhere he could hide, before flinching back as the Gotsumon took the barrel beside him. Thankfully the Digimon did not notice him and carried the barrel towards the Trailmon.

Ken's heart thundered in his chest, his skin growing slick and clammy. He was trapped - at any moment, a Digimon could take away his cover and he'd be exposed in front of countless Digimon. What was he going to do?

It was at that moment that the Chosen of Kindness noticed a crate further down from where he was, slightly open. Apparently the Digimon hadn't done a good job of closing it up. Ken hesitated before nodding sharply. He slowly slunk along the wall, crawling on his knees over to the badly closed crate.

Ken carefully grasped the board, avoiding the nails, and pulled it open just enough that he could slip inside. He flinched when one of the nails cut his skin and bit down on his lower lip to keep from crying out. He squeezed inside the crate before grasping the board and pulling it closed, sealing the crate mostly shut once again.

It was at this point that Ken noticed the crate was full of Evil Rings. Ken grimaced as he stared at the massive amounts of his mistake, which he would have to share the crate with. At least their weight would cover his own - no one would notice the extra pounds when it already weighed so much.

All Ken had to do now was wait and hope no one would check the slightly open crate.

Ken didn't have long to wait as the crate was suddenly tilted on to its side. The Evil Rings clattered about, landing on top of him. He reached out to steady himself, trying not to move or make a single sound. After the crate came to a stop on its side so that the badly sealed side was on the top, the crate was hefted upwards.

Ken's stomach lurched as he felt the crate leave the ground, a sort of surreal feeling as if he were floating with no real grasp on gravity. He kept a firm bite on his lower lip, lest he make any noise.

"Man this thing is heavy," a low rough voice said from outside the crate, somewhat muffled.

The Chosen of Kindness flinched slightly, his heartbeat thundering in his ears. This was going to end badly, he just knew it. What was he thinking?

"No back talk!" the Pico Devimon shouted before another crack of the whip was heard. "Not unless you want an Evil Ring around your neck."

"Just let me get to the train... just let me get to the train..." Ken repeated mentally over and over. He wasn't sure what he'd do once he got there, but he was taking everything one step at a time.

"Y-yes, Pico Devimon-sama!" the rough voice yelped and the box jostled a bit. Most likely whoever, or whatever was carrying the crate was moving faster for fear of being controlled.

Ken tried his best to control his breathing, even if he felt like his lungs would burst trying to keep up with his quick heartbeat. He was more than a little relieved when the Digimon carrying the crate set it down gently and left without any incident. Even more, he felt the crate tremble as more crates were set on top of it and around it. While that would make things difficult to get out of the crate later, it meant he hadn't been seen yet and no one would investigate the damaged crate.

"So far, so good." Ken thought, letting out a soft sigh.

The loud shriek of a train whistle caused Ken to jump, as did the sound of a door slamming. The young boy hesitated as he frowned, listening for any further sounds. When he felt the rumble of the Trailmon underneath him, Ken realized that the train Digimon was on the move.

Ken peered through the crate opening and glanced around, noting a Digimon in the far corner - a Goblimon, no doubt guarding the cargo. The Chosen of Kindness grimaced before sitting back, attempting to get comfortable in the crate without making much noise. He knew there wasn't much point in trying to escape out of the crate - not until the Trailmon had arrived at its destination.

For the time being, all he could do was wait.