Chapter Six - Wanna Be A Rock Star

The concept and characters of Digimon belongs to Toei Animation
and Akiyoshi Hongo. They are used without permission or the intent of profit.

Who's who:
Taichi is in Sora's body, Sora is in Taichi's, Koushiro is Miyako,
Miyako is Koushiro, Hikari is Jyou, Jyou is Hikari, Mimi is Ken,
Ken is Yamato, Yamato is Iori, Iori is Takeru, Takeru is Daisuke, and Daisuke is Mimi.

Reminder, I will be referring to the characters per the body they
are in. For example, if Mimi in Ken's body thinks about Daisuke
in Mimi's body, then Mimi thoughts will regard that body in the
masculine possessiveness, that Tachikawa's body is HIS real body
since Mimi is currently male and will be referred to as such. When
Hikari, in Jyou's body, is talking she will be referred to as Jyou.
The only exception is dialogue where the characters are the ones to refer to each other.

-----------------

Excerpt from Takaishi Takeru's The Shuffle:

Koushiro and Miyako's switch has left the pair in a rather romantic
bind. Both Hikari and Jyou agreed that their initial problems were
not as bad as Koushiro and Miyako finding themselves in a forced
engagement over some misunderstandings on the part of their parents.
While the newly engaged couple tried to either get used to it or
forget about it all together, Yamato, now Iori, began to face an
entirely different sort of trouble with his 'replacement,' Ken.
Not to mention Mimi's problem with what was stored in Ken's mind.

-----------------

The Monochromon stared down at the Penmon in front of him. This
was a mismatch of a battle with the nearly impossible to hurt adult,
armored dinosaur digimon against a child penguin.

The Monochromon scorched the ground with his fiery breath. However,
the Penmon kept dodging using his Slide Attack for the defensive
purpose of getting out of the way.

The area became filled with debris as the Monochromon continued
his relentless assault. The Penmon showed no emotion as he grabbed
one of the jagged metal bars that now littered the ground. He slid
straight toward the dinosaur and performed an acrobatic flip when
he got close enough. Then Penmon heaved the metal bar into Monochromon's left eyes.

The Monochromon did not cry out in pain, rather it tried to attack
Penmon as if nothing had happened. The penguin performed another
acrobatic feat and jumped onto the dinosaur's head. With the flat
statement of "Endless Slap," Penmon repeated slapped the metal bar
deeper into Monochromon's skull until the adult deleted out from under him.

Penmon crash to the ground and then slowly got back to his feet and stood there.

A young boy had watched the battle. He was not happy that the Penmon
had somehow defeated the larger and stronger digimon. In fact, he was down right pissed off.

"Airdramon, kill him," the Kaiser ordered.

Penmon's body was riddled with needles before he deleted.

"NO!" Ken screamed as he sat up from bed with a jolt.

"Mimi?" Taichi called out groggily. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Sora," Mimi replied.

Taichi's head popped out of the covers of Sora's bed to glare at
Ken. "It had better be something for waking me up."

Ken sat quietly for a moment. "I just had a nightmare, that's all."

"About what?" Taichi pressed.

"Can't say," Ken replied.

"Why not?" Taichi demanded.

"It's one of Ken's nightmares... about the Kaiser," Ken replied.
He then shakily got out of the futon he had been sleeping in and
staggered to his feet. "I'm going to get a drink of water."

"Whatever," Taichi grumbled. "Try to keep it down."

Ken shuffled his way to the bathroom. He lifted the toilet seat
cover, pulled down his pants and carefully held himself and began
to piss. When he finished, he pulled his pants up and went to leave.
He paused at the door realizing he had forgotten to lower the seat.
It unnerved him that he had gone the bathroom without thinking about what to do.

Ken tried to quietly move to the kitchen and get himself a glass
of water. He then sat down in the main room. He covered his face
with his free hand, unsure what to think. His mind filled with things
he had never wanted to ever consider.

While none of the other Chosen had never seen the Kaiser kill a
digimon directly, none of them would've been surprised if he had.
Yet there was a hope he hadn't. Unfortunately, now he knew very
well that the Kaiser had put digimon to death, and for no reason
at all. As Mimi, he had only one unassisted kill to his name. How
many did the Kaiser have? Hundreds? Thousands? If he was to be stuck
as Ken, would he remember all of those digimon this body had assisted
in killing? He had let friends die rather than become a murderer,
but the hands that killed untold number of digimon were now his.
He had no idea how Ken could live with what he had done.

Ken gulped down his water, setting the glass on the end table while
his free hand flopped into his lap, striking his manhood which caused
him to cringe. He should know better than to do that, but that thought
led to his other problem. It wasn't being in a guy's body that was
troubling to him. It was that he was getting used to it. Taking
a piss standing up had somehow become normal in the few days since
the switch had begun was more unnerving than having to do that in the first place.

Ken curled up into a ball, wanting to cry. He wished he knew why
life was so unfair to him and his friends.

-----------------

Iori checked his watch as he sat outside of an abandoned storage
building near Odaiba's docks, which Takashi had converted into a
makeshift soundstage for the band, 'Wolves of the Hunt,' to practice at.

"Hey, isn't that one of Yamato's 'special' friends?" questioned
Takashi as he approached the building with most of the band members.

"He doesn't look retarded," Akira commented.

Takashi smacked the back of Akira's head. "I'm talking about Yamato's
friends with digimon, you retard."

"Hey, you waiting for Yamato?" Yutaka called out to Iori.

Iori gave them a strange smirk. "You could say that."

"What are you doing with Yamato's axe?" Takashi asked.

"Let's just say he wouldn't have been able to bring it here," Iori replied.

"Something goin' on?" Yutaka questioned.

"That is an understatement," Iori returned.

"Know why Yamato's late?" Akira asked.

"Wish I did. He was supposed to meet me here before you guys showed up," Iori explained.

"Hey, here comes Yamato." Takashi pointed.

Yamato panted as he ran up to Iori. "Sorry, I'm late."

Iori crossed his arms. "You know why you had to be here early."

Yamato glanced nervously at the three boys with Iori. "Um, they're here already?"

"Why talk about us like we're not here?" Akira questioned.

Iori smirked. "Take a guess."

"That you're really Yamato?" Takashi joked.

"Bingo," Iori replied.

"What?!" Takashi cried out.

"Remember what I told you about Piemon? Well, he's back and he switched
around the bodies of us Chosen," Iori explained and then pointed
at Yamato. "He's Ichijouji Ken."

"Where did I hear the name before?" Yutaka wondered.

"He was the prodigy genius who disappeared for a while back in zero-two," Iori replied.

"Oh, right." Yutaka nodded.

"Wait. This has got to be a joke," Akira voiced.

"No joke, I'm afraid." Yamato laughed nervously. "We're stuck in
the wrong bodies for the next couple weeks."

"What about our big concert?" Takashi questioned.

"He'll have to fill in for me," Iori replied. "All my talent is
in him. We'll just have to bring it out of him."

-----------------

"...Walk on the, um, edge," Yamato sang hesitantly.

"You sure your talent is in him?" Takashi asked, wincing as Yamato continued to butcher the song.

Iori sweat-dropped. "Well, they did say it would take a while to
come out." Though he was surprised that Yamato was able to memorize
all the lyrics in the few days since the switch.

"But the concert is next week," Takashi reminded.

"He'll be better by then," Iori assured him, but then mumbled under his breath, "He better be."

Yamato finished the song and nervously asked, "How was I?"

"Great for an amateur," Iori replied. "However, you need to be a
professional. Even without the talent scout, there'll still be a
few thousand people you need to sing PERFECTLY for. You just can't
sing the words, you have to BE the words."

Yamato looked confused. "What do you mean by that?"

Iori leveled his gaze. "Singing in a concert isn't all that different
from a digimon battle. To win a battle, you had put your heart and
soul into your digimon. To please the fans, you'll have to put that
same passion into the music. Otherwise you'll suck."

Yamato scratched the back of his head. "I think I understand."

Iori nodded. "Now let's move onto playing bass."

"Bass?" Yamato questioned.

Iori scowled. "The guitar."

"Oh," Yamato replied sheepishly. "I was never really into music."

"I can tell," Iori grumbled.

Yamato carefully picked up the bass guitar and played a couple strings
and the beginning notes for 'Walk on the Edge' came out, surprising
the band. But then the sounds of a tone-deaf mule singing came out, making all of them cringe.

"The concert is in a week," Akira reminded.

"Are you SURE he'll be ready in time?" Yutaka added.

Iori palmed his face. This was going to be a loooooong week.

-----------------

Taichi began to get a bit irritated. He liked sleep and getting
woken up in the middle of the night wasn't something that sat well
with him. If his roommate would just tell him what the dreams were,
he might be able have some sympathy. This time, Taichi didn't even
get a chance to ask what was wrong as Ken bolted out of the room.
He grumbled as he followed, hoping to finally get some answers.
The sight he found in the wash room was not something he was prepared to see.

Ken was on fours, head bowed over the toilet. Images of the nightmare
that was the Kaiser came to him unbidden and his stomach turned
and tried to purge those memories along with his last meal.

Taichi's glared conveyed his annoyance. "What the hell was that
dream? Don't you dare tell me it was nothing!"

Ken flopped backwards, sitting on his romp. He looked at his friend
with lost soulless eyes. "I don't know how Ken could live with himself.
The Kaiser was a monster worse than Vamdemon."

"What was the dream?" Taichi pressed, his voice softened with concern.

"The Kaiser ordered a controlled Dark Tyrannomon to rape a Floramon
who wasn't controlled and she... died," Ken replied. He clutched
onto his friend, sobbing. "Every time I think I saw the worst the
Kaiser had done, I find he's done something even more terrible and worse!"

Taichi gave Ken a tender hug of comfort. "Are you sure those aren't
just nightmares? They might not have really happen."

Ken shook his head. "I'm sure they are."

Taichi let out a long sigh, unsure of what to do. "Mimi, maybe you
should talk to Ken. He might now how to help you."

Ken pulled away from his friend. "I doubt it. Miyako was told by
Daisuke that Ken still has nightmares about the Kaiser."

"Ken still might be able to help," Taichi insisted.

Ken didn't answer. He shakily got to his feet and went to the sink
to wash his face. He then turned and looked at Taichi and grimaced. "Sorry."

Taichi waved it off. "Missing a little sleep never killed anyone."

"No. I mean getting you clothes dirty." Ken pointed at his friend's shirt.

Taichi looked down and made a disgusted face and strands of Ken's
vomit clung to his shirt. "Aw, shit."

-----------------

Iori stood at center stage holding the bass guitar with 'Walk on
the Edge' playing in the background. When the song got to the chorus
he moved to the edge of the stage and walked along it. He looked
like he was trying to balance himself, but he was a good fifteen
centimeters from the edge of the stage.

Yamato merely watched the young boy intently as he moved throughout the song.

"Remember to exaggerate any movement you can," Iori told him, handing
over the guitar. "People ten rows deep will have a hard enough time
seeing you move, let alone a hundred. To draw the crowds attention, you really have to move."

Yamato nodded, and 'Walk on the Edge' began to play again. He mimed
playing the guitar and mouthed the lyrics as he began his pseudo-dance.
The chorus began to play and he moved to the edge of the stage, and fell off.

Iori and the band rushed over. They gave a collective sigh of relief
as Yamato held the guitar into air, ensuring that the instrument would not get damaged.

"Ouch," Yamato moaned.

"You okay?" Takashi asked.

"I'm fine," Yamato strained to reply.

"At least he knows to keep the axe safe," Akira commented.

"You SURE he's going to be ready?" Yutaka questioned skeptically.

-----------------

Yamato sat quietly on the subway trip home. He had thought that
being a rock star was an easy career. Now he knew differently. Even
with the songs starting to come naturally to him, there was a lot
more to performing a song than just singing it. The timing and dancing
were a crucial and grueling part of a concert. He wasn't sure he
would be able to do it. These practice sessions were killing him.

Yamato sighed. There was something else that he had been trying
to ignore. That there will be a couple thousand people to perform
in front of at the concert. The last time he had done anything in
front of a large crowd was when he was the Kaiser. He didn't know
if he could do it now. The Kaiser had confidence. He didn't.

Yamato briefly wondered why he hadn't refused. But he knew why.
The real Yamato needed this concert to be a success to get a recording
contract, and even canceling it would speak poorly for the band
and hurt any future attempts to make this a career. Not helping
could ruin the real Yamato's life, and he wasn't about to do that.
Still, he couldn't help but wonder what might happen if he made
a major mistake at the concert. But that's what these practice sessions
were for, to make it so he wouldn't make a mistake.

Yamato exited the subway, and failed to notice the group of girls
drooling as he walked past. He continued on as he walked home.

"I'm home," Yamato called out as he let himself in.

"Hello," Mrs. Ichijouji returned, failing to add 'son' as she usually
had before the switch. "There's... someone here to see you."

"Oh?" Yamato questioned and saw Ken nervously sitting on the couch.

"Hi," Ken greeted. "Can I talk to you in private."

Yamato nodded. "Sure. Let's got to my room."

They both entered the room, but Yamato motioned for Ken to follow him to the balcony.

"Nice view," Ken commented looking toward downtown Tokyo.

"Yes, and harder for my mother to eavesdrop," Yamato added.

"She hasn't taken the switch very well, has she?" Ken asked with a frown.

Yamato nodded. "Mother wishes life was always perfect, and gets upset whenever it's not."

"I wish life could be a Norman Rockwell painting too, but real life
tends to be cruel," Ken replied.

"Norman Rockwell?" Yamato asked.

Ken blinked. "I thought you'd know about him. He was a famous painter
in America who made many images of seemingly perfect homes, particularly
using holiday themes. Not to mention an odd fascination with Campbell Soup cans."

Yamato shrugged. "I wasn't much into art, even when I was the Kaiser.
It was psychology, statistics, languages and science. Now it's mostly
just psychology and languages."

Ken folded his arms. "Trying to find how to deal with your past?"

Yamato nodded sadly. "You're starting to get my memories of when I was the Kaiser?"

"I've had nightmares for the past four nights. Each one worse than
the previous ones. I can't believe anyone could ever do such things.
Even Vamdemon wasn't that cruel," Ken complained.

Yamato bowed his head. "I'm sorry."

"How can you live with yourself knowing what you did?" Ken questioned.

"I can't work to atone for all the Digimon I killed if I'm dead."
Yamato sighed. "Though there have been times I almost killed myself.
It was a lot to bear, especially when I was first freed of the seed's
influence. Strangely, it was thanks to Belial Vamdemon that I was
finally able to accept that I wasn't responsible for my actions.
It was the dark seed that made me evil. I still feel guilty for
what happened, and I will try to make up for what I had done."

Ken leaned against the balcony railing. "None of that helps me.
I don't know how to deal with your nightmares. Are there worse things
you've done than order a controlled digimon rape a non-controlled
one or to have a village of baby digimon blown off the map?"

Yamato frowned and looked away. "You haven't had any nightmares about Wormmon yet?"

Ken shook his head. "No."

"Those I consider the worst." Yamato closed his eyes. "I tortured
him endlessly and he kept coming back. There were times the Kaiser
tried to see if Wormmon could live through the pain of some inhuman
punishment. How he can stay with me after all I've done to him, I'll never know."

Ken felt sick at the thought. Now he wished he never brought that question up.

-----------------

Iori smiled to himself. Yamato was improving. Soon he'd be ready.
With the concert only a few days away now, he was sure they'd be
ready to pull it off. In two days they would have their dry run,
with a little surprise to make sure everything will go perfectly.
It had better go perfectly, his career was at stake.

Iori snapped out of his thoughts as he heard someone crying out
for help, but then abruptly stopped. He ran as fast as he could
to a dark alleyway between two warehouses. A streetlight illuminate
a pants-less muscular guy holding a bruised, battered, and mostly
naked woman save for what few pieces of clothes had failed to be
ripped off her body. Her eyes were of absolute terror as she stared
into the malicious eyes of her attacker.

"Leave her alone," Iori growled angrily.

The brutish man looked over and laughed. "Go home to your mommy,
brat. You're too young to understand this."

Iori smirked. "One, I'm not a virgin, jackass. And two, I certainly
know bruises have no place in love making unless you're into kinky things."

The brute stood up to nearly two meters in height and stared down
the young boy. "Fine, midget. I'll play with you before I finish
with this bitch." He then stomped down on the woman's leg. A sickening
crack echoed in the alleyway followed by a scream of tortured pain
as the woman grabbed leg and cut her finger on the sharp bone jutting out.

Iori glared with the promise of death. Without a word he shot forward.

The brute snickered as he raised his fist to strike down the boy.
He then froze as Iori grabbed his balls, twisted it and pulled down.
What was hard and round were now squashed meatballs. Blood rushed
from the brutes face as he screamed louder and higher than the woman
just had. The man's dilated rolled into the back of his head as he passed out from the pain.

Iori stared at his hand. "Since when is crushing someone's balls
a Kendo move?!" He looked at the brute and then the woman. "At least
he'll never have kids anymore." He proceeded to pull off his shirt
and tied it around the woman's broken leg, applying pressure to
reduce bleeding. The woman held no response as she had slipped into shock.

"What's going on here?" someone called out shining a flashlight into the alleyway.

"Call an ambulance and the police. This woman was almost raped by
him," Iori replied, with only a slight edge to his voice.

"Oh, gods," came the reply. "This is Officer Isao, this is an emergence
send an ambulance over to dock four. Over."

Iori breathed a sigh of relief. "Help is on its way," he assured
the woman, but couldn't tell if she could understand him at the moment.

Officer Isao approached them. "Damn, I wish I paid more attention to first aid."

Iori nodded. "So do I."

Officer Isao looked over at the brute. "What happened to him?"

"I crushed his balls," Iori replied.

"How did you do that?" Isao questioned.

"It was part of a self-defense class my grandfather taught me on
the side of our normal Kendo classes. I think the move is from Ninjitsu,"
Iori explained, a little disturbed that he could actually remember
that much detail from Iori's memories.

"Ah," Isao nodded. "Well, can't say he didn't deserve it."

-----------------

"Late last evening an attempted rape was stopped by a juvenile vigilante.
Hida Iori, age eleven, castrated the attacker using the martial
arts taught to him by his grandfather."

Taichi and Ken both spit out their tea and then squirmed in their
seats as they heard that on the news broadcast.

"I can't believe Yamato would do that," Taichi said, unsettled.

"The guy must've really deserved it," Ken ventured.

"I guess, but damn. That had to hurt." Taichi shivered.

"I think it's worse that we now have some idea how much that hurts," Ken noted.

"There are a few things to equate to getting hit in the balls, like
being kneed in the clit," Taichi replied.

"How did that happened?" Ken asked.

Taichi cupped his chin and tried to blow a stray strand of hair
out of his face. "Yamato wasn't being very careful after a tit fuck
when he went for the main course."

Ken sweat-dropped. "That was more than I needed to know."

-----------------

"Okay, everyone, this is our last rehearsal before the concert,"
Iori called out. "To help make this feel more real, I took the liberties
of inviting a few people over to watch."

Yamato swallowed hard as he became even more nervous about this
rehearsal, but was also thankful for it. It would be better to perform
in front of people to help him deal with potential stage fright now.

Iori walked up to him. "I have one trick that helped me deal with
singing at a concert. I'd signal someone out and sing to them and
ignore everyone else is here. Just be careful who you select. I
think that's how Jun got her crush on me."

Yamato smiled sheepishly. "I'll try."

The curtain raised and Yamato became even more nervous, if that
was possible. While he expected the Odaiba Chosen to be here, but
there were also many of Chosen's families here and Yamato's fan-girls here as well.

It took a moment and a bit of prompting as Yamato nervously began
'Walk on the Edge.' The reason for the emphasis on that song was
because it was Yamato's oldest song, written before they even formed
the band. Of all of their songs, that would be the easiest one to remember.

Iori frowned as he watched the performance. Yamato was obviously
nervous, and was being overly cautious. There were times he could
barely see Yamato move, and he was in the front row.

Yamato began to relax a little with the second song. For some reason
he locked onto Taichi as the one to sing too. He tried singing to
Mimi, despite and probably because of Daisuke being in that body,
but she was sitting too far on the left side of the stage.

Taichi was used to Yamato singing to him when he was Sora and didn't
initially notice that he was being was being sung to again. What
was odd was that one of Taichi's memories came to her and it was
of Yamato singing to the real Taichi. He shook his head, doubtful
that his Yamato would ever sing like that to a guy. After all, he
knew on a very intimate basis that Yamato was straight. Still, it
was a little unnerving to have Ken in Yamato's body singing to him while in Taichi's body.

The third song began and Yamato was really into it. He felt a thrill
of excitement he could only vaguely remember from when he was first
proclaimed a prodigy genius and began to show off his intellect
in front of large numbers of people. Now he was showing off a musical
talent that was not his own. But it was very intoxicating hearing
girls cheer for him. He wondered how much better it would be when
he performed in front of thousands.

Jun had long lost her crush on Yamato, and knew that it was really
Ken on the stage. She watched with detachment as studied the performance.
She hummed to herself in thought while her best friend, Chizuru,
still got into the concert even though she knew of the switch being Miyako's sister.

The fourth and final song they planned to play was 'Tobira Door.'
Yamato thought it was a funny title like Sahara Desert as both words
meant the same thing, just in different languages. As he sang the
song, more of why it was written came to him. The real Yamato was
uncertain that Sora's feelings were genuine, as he had wondered
if Sora had also liked Taichi. That was why 'Choose your own reality'
was an important part of the song. He had been asking if Sora was really choosing him.

The song ended with roar of approval and Yamato was tempted to do
an encore, but knew he shouldn't do one. Instead he stretched out
his arms and cried out, "Thank you! Everyone!" And then left the stage.

-----------------

Yamato was greeted by several long faces after changing into some casual clothes.

"We decided to cancel the concert," Iori told him sadly.

"What? Why? Didn't I do a good job?" Yamato questioned.

"You did a great job, KEN," Jun said with special emphasis. "However,
you're not Yamato and that's the problem."

Yamato scratched the back of his head. "What do you mean?"

"When you started getting into the songs, you didn't dance like
Yamato and you didn't stress the same words he did," Akira pointed out.

"You might be able to sell the band, but it won't be us that you're selling," Yutaka added.

"Really?" Yamato questioned.

Jun nodded. "I asked the girls who don't know about the switch.
Many of them didn't like your performance as much as they usually
do. They couldn't place what was wrong, but they knew something
was off." She then smirked. "There were a few who thought it was the best though."

"I still think you should go for it," Chizuru stated. "You pulled
off the contrast of kindness and darkness better than Yamato was able to portray."

"Darkness?" Yamato squeaked.

"Huh?" Chizuru blinked, unsure of Yamato's reaction.

Koushiro grabbed Chizuru's arm. "Come on, Sis. We should get home."

One by one they all left Yamato standing there. He could not believe
that his concert had been canceled.

"If it means anything, I think you did great," Ken said.

Yamato smiled weakly. "It felt great being on stage again. The concert
had me being nervous, but performing in front of all of you was rather intoxicating."

Ken nodded. "I know what you mean. I did a performance once, for
a beauty pageant when I was seven. I thought I did so well that
I was sure to win. I got fifth place and refused to go to another
one because of the 'cheating judges.'"

Yamato laughed. "To bad I can't blame judges. These were my friends
that voted against me." He sighed. "Well, at least I don't have
to worry about the concert tomorrow."

Ken put his arm around Yamato. "Come on, I'll take you out to dinner."

Yamato smiled weakly. "Sounds good to me."

Ken then added, "And you can explain to me what the hell was going
through your mind the night before Chimeramon was born."

Yamato paled. "Ah, can we really not go into that? I was an evil
overlord at the time. It wasn't really me."

A moment after the pair left, a poorly dressed man with greasy hair
came out of some bushes and followed them, carrying a camera.

-----------------

Iori passed by a newspaper stand and crashed to the ground in utter
shock. He grabbed the paper and read it again in absolute fury.
'Yamato Cancels Concert For Gay Lover!' It was complete with an
image of Ken with his arm around Yamato. He crumpled the paper in
his hand vowing to make someone pay for this.

"Excuse me," a voice called out.

Iori looked over and tossed a few coins to pay for the paper. He
then stomped off. He would make sure justice was served.

-----------------

"Hidy, hi!" Piemon greeted with a wide grin.

A Mega Dramon looked over the Ultimate evil clown and asked, "What do you want?"

"Having trouble, are we?" Piemon questioned with a pout.

"Nothing that concerns you," Mega Dramon returned.

"You know, we could help each other out. Just like old times," Piemon pointed out.

Mega Dramon let out a long hollow laugh. "Helping you got me killed
by a little girl and her brother's digimon."

"There's an interesting question for that, but I'll save it for
later. Anyway, 'Muge,' I'm setting up something special for the
Chosen. How'd you like a shot at getting revenge. Say yes, and I'll
help you deal with your little problems," Piemon offered.

"I doubt I really have an option," Mega Dramon replied.

Piemon nodded. "Metal Seadramon refused, so he's been reformatted.
Maybe next time he'll be willing to play again."

Mega Dramon shook his head. "Does this make me a Dark Master again?"

"Only if you win," Piemon 'promised.'

-----------------

Author's Notes:

After many long months, FINALLY, chapter 6. I found this chapter
problematic as I'm not into music at all. I've never been to a concert,
and my collection of music contains mostly anime soundtracks.

Now I can move on to the next part:
Chapter 7: Life Isn't Greener
Daisuke, Takeru and Iori learn that being someone else isn't any easier than being yourself.