Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first day of school in this neighborhood. Gone are the days of the evils of Devimon, Myotismon, or Apocalymon and the four Dark Masters. A crisis narrowly averted by a heavenly savior of fire and ice, slaying the tenacious demon of a virus from just a few years ago. Things had gone back to normal. Though, in all honesty, I believe everything has been a little too normal for my own good.

"Hiya!"

My loyal partner speaks from atop my head, as my groggy eyes slowly open to realize his presence. My loyal partner? A creature known as a Digital Monster. A type of virtual life-form whose own laws of the jungle, so to speak, do not obey the rules of what is our own world. We, however, refer to them mostly as Digimon for short.

"T.K.! It's time to wake up! You'll be late for school!" My partner speaks, as I begin to move from underneath my blanket, catching the flying guinea pig-esque Digimon before me; his body a bright yellow, striking blue eyes, and bat-like wings for ears. This is a Digimon of the Rookie Level Generation, known as Patamon.

"Patamon… School won't be starting for another hour, do I really have to be up this early?" I said, as Patamon looked me straight into my sleepy looking, equally blue eyes.

"You had that dream again, didn't you? The one about the man trying to enslave all Digimon?" Patamon asks, innocently, with the tone of a naive child in his voice. However, he was anything but naive. I nod my head in response, a bit lazily I might add, but truthful nevertheless.

For the past few weeks, I had been having strange dreams. Sometimes innocent in nature, before becoming… odd, but nothing more than that. Then there are the ones involving this mysterious man of sorts; a wicked, cruel dictator who enslaves Digimon left and right. Donning a navy blue cape and spiky, dark bluish hair, wearing goggles fashioned like a mask. Each and every dream would begin exactly the same; "You will all bow before the Digimon Emperor!"

However, that was merely the beginning of how several scenarios play out. One vision has me and my partner attempting to fight back, but as a Rookie Level Digimon, Patamon wouldn't stand a chance. Patamon undergoes a transformation known as "Digivolution", which ascends him to the Champion Level Generation, taking the form of a six winged, humanoid angel with an obscured face behind a metal mask. In this form, he is known as Angemon.

A fight then proceeds to break out, but the outcome is always interrupted. Other friends of mine would sometimes come to my aid, each with a partner Digimon of their own. I know a very close friend, a girl roughly my own age, who tries to defend me against an unseen Digimon with many mismatched limbs. Her partner Digimon is known as Gatomon, a white cat with large, glove covered paws and a divine ring attached to her tail perpetually.

Gatomon is also of the Champion Level Generation, much like Angemon. However, there is a distinct difference. Angemon could only maintain said form temporarily, whereas Gatomon almost always remains in Champion Level form. She had to learn the hard way that life was rough, and her harsher background had led to her being robbed of the child-like innocence presence in my own Digimon; one could say she is the only adult among the partner Digimon myself and my friends have with us.

That aside, in some situations, Gatomon would also undergo Digivolution herself, into the Ultimate Level Generation. In this form, she becomes an eight winged angel, likewise covered with a face obscuring helmet, and having a very pretty appearance. She is known as Angewomon, and I'm not trying to make a pun with that, she is literally called that.

Yeah, as you can imagine, this all seems like fun and games at first; until I remind myself that Digimon are very, very real individual entities who exist in a world parallel to our own. We learned the hard way that Digimon could enter the human world seemingly without warning, and one time that happened, a violent, demonic beast was unleashed across all of Japan, with a miracle being invoked to stop its wrath. My older brother, Matt, as we like to call him, and his friend Tai, had two partner Digimon who pulled off something everyone else's Digimon couldn't at the time.

They underwent a miraculous Digivolution known as "Warp Digivolving", causing them to skip the Champion Level altogether, and then leading them into a Generation higher than even Ultimate. The Mega Level Generation, as we had discovered the hard way. These two, known as WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, fought through thick and thin to save everyone's hides in Japan, but also proved essential to putting an end to the remaining villainy taking place in the Digital World; the world from which Digimon originate.

After having endured many hardships, the demons of a group called the Dark Masters and their leader, Apocalymon, were no more. However, that was only the end of a new era; the era in which Digimon left and right did whatever they could to become stronger than ever. The year 2000 caused many mechanical devices to malfunction in the real world, culminating in a fight between Tai and Matt's partners and a Digimon known simply as Diablomon, the first Digimon of a new era of Digimon; the era in which every Digimon's dream was now to strive to become Mega Level, no matter the stakes at hand.

It took a literal combination of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon to slay Diablomon. Combining into a form which a friend of mine told me was a Mega Level with tenfold the strength of WarGreymon or MetalGarurumon individually. A Digimon which took the appearance of a knight, with weaponry forged from WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon's beings. We called it "Omegamon".

"T.K., are you lost in thought again? I know you said you want to ace literature but perhaps you should think of what's before us first before thinking about the future. Besides, because of your daydreaming, we've got only 30 minutes left before school starts now!" Patamon tells me, interrupting my train of thought with a moment of panic. I am aware that I do ramble in my mind like this. A lot. Often times I have little control over it, however, and that said, I quickly grabbed Patamon, grabbed my white hat at the side of my bed, and moved to prep myself for school.

A quick shower, a small slice of toast to eat later, and now being fully dressed and presentable, today marks the first day in which I, Takaishi Takeru, conquer my first day of 5th grade with the elegant breeze of an angel's wings.

Little did I know, however, how exactly today would go wrong. Horribly, horribly, horribly wrong. I know, deep down, that my training with Patamon over the past three years has not been enough. I need for him to Digivolve to Mega Level, so that I can ensure I can protect my friends and myself from whatever this dream I keep having is warning me about. You think I sound superstitious about this, perhaps? Possibly a little too concerned.

Well, here's where the kid gloves come off; those dreams, despite what Patamon currently knows, are indeed real. I still need to know, though; how safe is my brother in his attempts to make sure I don't have to do the fighting myself? I only know that it's a matter of time before even he is overwhelmed by all of this. That's why I need to become stronger with Patamon at my side. I need to stop relying on my brother to save me from life or death situations.

Today will be the day I attempt to begin to fight my own battles.

A large dinosaurian reptile and a large wolf-like beast are down, wounded, in the heat of a battle which they don't know how long has lasted just yet. What they do know, however, is that they are not strong enough. They need to Digivolve, now!

"Greymon, Digivolve to…!"

"Garurumon, Digivolve to…!"

An explosive force of greenish energy ignites around both of them; engulfing them entirely in energy as they both change back into the forms of a small yellow dinosaur and a small, pelt adorned reptile respectively.

"I had told you to yield. I was investigating a serious matter, yet you two had the audacity to charge me blindly?" The unseen adversary among the mist ahead of them speaks, as the two Digimon move to stand.

"Agumon, I don't like the looks of this..."

"Oh come on, Gabumon, we can't let her through! If she gets through to the human world, she'll have no trouble hurting our friends!" Agumon speaks back to his friend, known as Gabumon. A haughty laugh, low in tone, and a very brief instance to the point these two didn't even notice it. Stepping forward from the mist, making heavy, giant footsteps with each step she takes, is the frame of a black and gold armored, humanoid Digimon with a triangular red symbol atop her forehead.

"I will not allow this crisis to grow stronger knowing you two will not yield. I, Lady Sigma, an Alphamon of the Royal Knights, command you to leave from here at once!"

Chapter Text

Odaiba Elementary School is a school I didn't expect to attend in quite a long time. Had this been many, many years ago, my mom wouldn't have even dared to have the two of us move back to Odaiba. Tai had first met his partner, Agumon, through a fateful encounter in Odaiba in which a wild Digimon known as Parrotmon infiltrated the real world. Those two fought quite brutally, but all of the incident had just become another memory in hindsight.

I recall it very clear as day, however, if merely because of one crucial thing. I had learned that those who see a Digimon ultimately wind up acquiring a partner of their own and becoming known as a "DigiDestined". It doesn't matter who you are, or what you've done in your life. So long as you've seen a Digimon in any capacity while in the real world, your connection to the Digital World becomes fixed in stone, and eventually, you will meet your partner Digimon at some point in time.

It took years for me to meet my own partner Patamon after the incident with Parrotmon, but then again, I was so young during said incident that I didn't even know what I was about to get myself into.

Anyways, perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself here. After all, I was told before that I keep getting different places in the world mixed up at times. I got called out on it back then, but now isn't the time for such details. Right now, as I take the elevator in this apartment down to the ground floor, Patamon is hiding underneath my hat to keep out of sight. Sure, Digimon have appeared in the real world more than once by this point, but I didn't want to draw too much unnecessary attention if anyone just casually saw Patamon clear as day. Even if I could hide him as a plush toy in plain sight, I have a feeling someone would recognize him at some point or another.

"Hiya~!"

I nearly jump out of my skin when I hear that spoken by a girl's voice, due to not recognizing the distinct sound of her accent. Her accent brings to mind someone from Osaka, and she sounds rather bubbly at that. As I turn myself around, to face the door of the elevator, two individuals come into the elevator. A younger boy, who kind of reminds me of myself when I was his age, and a rather tall, skinny girl who seems to be a tiny bit older than me.

"I apologize, Yolei can be a bit playful with new faces," the boy speaks to me and I look at the girl, whose name is Yolei, as she playfully moves behind me and hides herself from visible. I try and look to where she could be, but she moves too quick for me to keep her in sight. All the while, I can hear her giggling, at first slowly, before laughing uproariously.

"Oh my gods, you dork. I'm just jesting with you, cutie~!" Yolei speaks, as she giggles a bit. I can feel my face redden a bit from embarrassment. I'm reminded a little bit of my brother's experiences with girls, especially in the form of a redhead I know who is now his girlfriend.

"Um… Er… Hello? M-My name is Takaishi Takeru. My friends call me 'T.K.'." I introduce myself to these two neighbors, having never met them before. They had to be neighbors, right? I mean, why else would these two be here when school's soon to start?

"Again, my apologies for Yolei's behavior, she's been a tad energetic ever since our trip to America over the course of last summer. Speaking of which, my name is Hida Iori, but don't expect Yolei to stop calling me 'Cody' any time soon," Iori speaks, as he sounds oddly polite in tone to the point he seemed a little too good to be true. Yolei, giggling still, kneels down to Iori, with her much taller height being emphasized by kneeling down so low that Iori is simply standing to look her in the face.

"Cody, don't be so tense about the new kid on the block! I'm sure he's looking just as forward to us introducing him to Davis as we are!" Yolei speaks. 'Davis', that name sounds familiar, but I can't seem to recall why. I could've sworn I heard that name before, but these two claim to be his friends? Okay, I can see where this is going.

"Alright, I'll be looking forward to meeting Davis myself as well," I eagerly respond, hoping I would make at least a few new friends at Odaiba Elementary School, considering how distant I've kind of become from everyone else over three years. Iori looks over towards the side, turning his gaze away from me, as Yolei moves to stand as she pats Iori on the head.

"Forgive him, he's kind of a party pooper at times when it comes to meeting new people," Yolei tells me. I can hear the clock ticking in my head; if these two don't realize that—

"Er… Could we just get to school already first? We've got like 20 minutes left til the first bell rings," Iori speaks, I breathe a sigh of relief in my mind. I hear Yolei yelp and my hair stands up on the back of my head; bad move, considering my partner hiding under my hat. Something feels amiss all of a sudden, though...

"Ack! You're right! We need to hurry and—… Wha?" Yolei speaks in panic before her voice falters, her gaze fixating above my head and— Oh no… Oh dear gods no… Tell me Patamon didn't get startled and jump?!

"T.K.! That really startled me! What's going on?!" Patamon speaks and I look up to see him flying around blindly in the air, with my hat covering his face. I nearly freak when Yolei lets out a very, very loud scream at the sight of Patamon. I don't even see what Iori does behind my back as I try to get Yolei to calm down; a few waving hand gestures would probably help ease her, knowing how energetic she is so far and—

"Hey! You! The one with Takaishi's hat! Get down here!" Iori shouts with an uncharacteristically savage tone in his voice; this day can't possibly get any worse, can it? First, I wake up late, then these two run into me with Yolei yelping and spooking me, spooking Patamon, and then prompting Iori to suddenly become very ticked and— Why do I hear loud footsteps approaching?

Iori and Yolei turn around towards the roads and I turn around upon feeling the footsteps drawing nearer. Oh, dear… This is not good! How did a Digimon this big suddenly enter our world?

Digimon entering our world hasn't exactly been an uncommon occurrence, especially for big ones. This Digimon appears large in frame, humanoid, clad with black and gold armor, and now Yolei and Iori are—

Hold on, stop right there, Takeru: you can handle this; you're older now, Patamon is with you, and you always carry your Digivice with you in your shirt pocket. I check to see if it's still there, and when I pull it out, I begin to see the screen glow as Patamon manages to shake off my hat and it suddenly goes flying into the wind. I can't care at that moment, though, since I need to fend off an evil Digimon invading the human world right now!

"Patamon! Let's deal with this one the way we've practiced! You ready to Digivolve?"

"Roger that, T.K.!" Patamon answers back and I hold out my Digivice towards him as a shining light engulfs Patamon. His entire body begins to glow before suddenly shifting entirely in size and overall body type.

"Patamon, Warp Digivolve to…!" Patamon speaks before manifesting from the light as an armored, violet and silver armored angel with eight wings and a sword mounted on his arm.

"MagnaAngemon!" MagnaAngemon calls out; this is his Ultimate Level form. I had mentioned Warp Digivolution is how Tai and Matt had their Digimon achieve Mega Level, right? Well, I learned how to use it as well, only because Patamon can't become Mega Level yet, I instead practiced with him to try and have him skip Champion Level and go straight into Ultimate Level.

"Aha! There you are!" The black armored Digimon shouts towards my presence, as with a wave of its hand, a bright, green energy begins to form in a circular shape. MagnaAngemon takes a battle stance in front of me, then he looks back partially at me.

"T.K.! Escort Iori and Yolei to safety! I'll handle this on my own!" MagnaAngemon directs me. I nearly shake my head, as Yolei and Iori attempt to drag me away with them to escape.

"No! I need to stay here with you! I've never seen this type of Digimon before, we have no idea what we're dealing with! This could be a Mega Level for all we know!" My concerns fall on deaf ears, however, as that simply gets a chuckle from MagnaAngemon.

"Very well, I will take on this Digimon to prove that our training has not been failing us!" MagnaAngemon speaks boldly, a big difference to his usual timid self as Patamon. As I feel myself get dragged away from the fight, I look towards Yolei and Iori.

"Look, I'll explain later, but we need to get out of here!" I warn these two and Yolei and Iori nod. Iori's eyes are closed and I can hear him muttering something, but I carefully pick him up and escort him out of the area with Yolei assisting me.

Today has been a bad start, how is the rest of the day going to go? I can only wonder how much of a chance MagnaAngemon has against this foe; I hope our training was not in vain.

"Cease what you are doing right now, Archangel, before I am forced to disarm you myself. I will not tolerate interference of any kind, not even from an Angel like you," Lady Sigma speaks as she gazes upon MagnaAngemon, her hand preparing to fire green spheres of energy out of the magic circle being generated.

"Who are you to speak such blasphemy against my kind?!" MagnaAngemon speaks and Lady Sigma merely chuckles a bit, darkly. Something about Lady Sigma didn't feel right to him. From what MagnaAngemon can sense, she is a Mega Level, but her armor radiates with the holy nature of a Vaccine Digimon. In spite of all of that, she shows up with disregard for every human in the area, and suddenly begins making demands with an air of authority; an authority MagnaAngemon can't recognize due to having no clue what kind of Digimon she is or where she came from.

"Humorous that someone would say such a thing when they resemble that remark a little too well. I mean, after all, I am a Royal Knight; I have no need to answer to Angels like you, nor do I care what you say on it. As Alphamon of the Royal Knights, I am ordered to appear in times of extreme crisis," Lady Sigma introduces. MagnaAngemon still keeps his guard up, as Lady Sigma's eyes narrow a bit.

"… Fine. Perhaps I need to remind you of one thing and one thing alone; I do not fear inflicting casualties to fulfill my purpose!" Lady Sigma states, before making a sharp turn towards the left. "Soul Digitalization! Full Power!" Lady Sigma speaks in an oddly calm tone for what would follow: a massive energy beam of crystalline green energy fires out from her hand and within seconds, an entire city block is atomized to the ground. MagnaAngemon grits his teeth; he can sense the sudden silence from those who once occupied those buildings.

"Stop this! Immediately!" MagnaAngemon shouts, before aiming his sword high into the air. He draws and manifests a circular magic that summons forth a golden ring which opens up to reveal a strange wormhole. The wormhole begins to force Lady Sigma's movement towards MagnaAngemon. At the same time, the gate devours the remainder of Lady Sigma's energy beam attack in one fell swoop.

"Nice, but you are still an interference," Lady Sigma speaks as she draws forth a white sword of pure energy from her right hand. "You will yield before me, or perish like the rest; I don't care which at this rate!" she shouts towards MagnaAngemon, as both of them glare at each other intensely. MagnaAngemon unsheathes his sword and he charges at her.

MagnaAngemon's movements are swift and powerful, with each strike he tries to make against Lady Sigma's armored body focusing on her robust arms and legs. He is quick to notice that his slashes and cuts with his sword are only marginally scratching her tough armor. At the same time, Lady Sigma's bulky frame and the unwieldy nature of her armor prevent her from keeping up, so she begins to charge a magic circle in her left hand as she steadies her right arm with her sword.

Soon enough, MagnaAngemon's attempts to cut away at her armor reveals a nasty weakpoint that suddenly causes Lady Sigma to falter in her step, as her knee armor crumbles a bit. Suddenly disappearing faster than light, MagnaAngemon materializes out of nowhere as he strikes Lady Sigma's knee with a very powerful kick from both of his heavily reinforced, sharply pointed boots. However, he gets careless while trying to take out her other leg, as Lady Sigma catches him off guard and slices off two of MagnaAngemon's eight wings with her sword, effectively leaving him grounded, but far from out of the fight. Impressive as Lady Sigma's tall frame is compared to MagnaAngemon's shorter, gracile frame, the latter still has the advantage of sheer agility, since his main body is not harmed from her attack.

MagnaAngemon winces in pain and prepares to cut Lady Sigma's good knee with his sword, but she smirks, parrying it with her own blade. "It's not a good idea to try and go for the same weak point more than once." Then she knees his stomach. "Analogs were always bragging about their adaptability, but I don't see it in you, slave. Where are the virtues your Analog partner boasts about? Where are they?" Lady Sigma cuts off a few more wings, but MagnaAngemon still avoids an attack at his main body and keeps it safe.

MagnaAngemon jumps high into the air, a blinding light accompanying his movements. He dives forward, his sword manifesting a giant beam of energy, before slicing vertically across Lady Sigma's chest, actually managing to pierce her armor and cause her to fall backwards. Lady Sigma's eyes appear closed, as MagnaAngemon frowns a bit.

"I didn't want it to end like this..." He mutters, only to hear quiet, subdued chuckling coming from Lady Sigma's body, before said soft, quiet chuckling gives way to louder snickering, before turning into an uproarious laughter.

"You childish fool! You honestly thought I was what your sword would consider evil with that strike?! Did you really think that such an attack would destroy me? How naive you truly are, knowing what hell your Analog of a partner had unleashed upon my world," Lady Sigma speaks out, a massively boisterous tone compared to her usual subdued voice. She forces herself to stand up as her injuries begin to heal at an immense rate.

"I'll give you this much, traitor; you fight well, but it won't matter," Lady Sigma speaks. MagnaAngemon gapes a bit, but he does not audibly gasp. Instead, he frowns as his mouth closes and his gaze becomes serious. He sheathes his weaponry as he approaches Lady Sigma to stare her in the eyes, which are 15 feet up from where he stands before her.

"You invaded this world first, I think your danger to humankind has already become crystal clear; do you repent for what you have done mere moments ago?" MagnaAngemon asks, as Lady Sigma glares him down.

"Until these beings you call humans cease being what folks like me call Analogs, I will never repent; the only good Analog is a dead one. I hope you reconsider your actions in that foolish war you had engaged in three years ago, Archangel," Lady Sigma speaks bluntly and without emotion in her tone as MagnaAngemon grits his teeth.

"Why do you insist on referring to me as the one in the wrong here?! What lies were spoken to you to give you this impression?!" MagnaAngemon demands, and Lady Sigma materializes a small object in her palm before handing it down to MagnaAngemon. MagnaAngemon looks at what he has received, and stops himself from letting out a gasp.

"I-It cannot be…" MagnaAngemon speaks in a somber tone; the item he received is some kind of book, with a lock on it indicating it to be a diary of some sort.

"Listen well, Archangel, if you ever wish to redeem yourself. Read the contents of that book carefully, and learn; remove all bias from your Analog associates and make judgment on your own accord. I will leave, for now, but let this destroyed section of this town remain as a warning for what will happen if we cross paths again," Lady Sigma speaks as a gigantic portal manifests behind her; she leaps into the air, her giant pauldrons forming wings as she disappears into the portal. MagnaAngemon is left looking at this odd book with deep concern, a small label on it visible.

"Diary of an Analog"

Chapter Text

Gatomon had managed to lure a Digimon that was chasing her ever since it spotted her on a casual morning stroll in an alley, all the while at a clearing, the large, humanoid Digimon, known as Knightmon, was set to counterattack anything Gatomon had to throw at it. Gatomon, however, at least wanted to know why it was here, yet alone hostile to her all of a sudden.

"Knightmon, I know your kind is of nobility; why do you pursue me?" Gatomon asks, as Knightmon huffs a bit of steam from its helmet.

"Like I have the time to answer a two-faced Digimon like yourself, Holy Beast; my master, the Lord of Knightmon, have requested your immediate termination. I will not yield until either you or I am who is slain here." Knightmon speaks in a deep, subdued tone of voice, as Gatomon lunges forward to claw at Knightmon's armor with her reinforced, glove covered front paws, only for her to yelp when all it did was cause her own claws to shred themselves upon impact, and causing her paws to hurt when she landed. Knightmon appears to chuckle from what she can hear behind her.

"Such a futile effort from a lowly Beast Digimon like you; my armor is Chrome Digizoid, empowered by Holy Energy much like you yourself are. Besides, even if I wasn't covered head to toe in this, I am an Ultimate Level; you are but a Champion." Knightmon speaks, as Gatomon growls a bit.

"We'll see about that..." Gatomon speaks, as she begins to glow with an intense light, "Gatomon, Digivo-" Knightmon was quick to interrupt her mid-Digivolution by slamming the blunt edge of his sword against her into the ground, as Gatomon was quick enough to claw her way out from underneath. Appearing from thin air, two other Knightmon appeared out of nowhere, joined  by an additional four Knightmon, meaning she is now outnumbered by far. With no other choice, she flees, with the Knightmon in pursuit, in hopes of reuniting with the one person she knows who can help her now.

Takeshi's POV

We are late. We are sooo late right now. All that matters for the moment is we got away safely, but I honestly have no idea how to explain to the homeroom teacher as to why we're late and in such a panic. Even then I had no heads up on who Yolei or Iori even are, so that can't even be faulted on me. As I approach the elementary school with Yolei and Iori slowly trailing behind, however, there is a familiar face I do see.

"Hello, T.K.." A short, brown haired girl with chocolate eyes known only as Kari to me speaks as she makes an odd gesture with her arms behind her back with his front leaning down. I didn't know what to make of it, and from the look on Kari's face, she doesn't seem to realize anything about it either. Whatever it was, it had Yolei laughing up a storm while Iori was trying to ask what was so funny about this.

"Davis is so going to flip when he hears about this guy, isn't he?" Yolei asks Iori, as I look back and notice as Iori seems… indifferent.

"… Miyako, I don't really have the slightest clue as to what you're referring I'm afraid..." Iori speaks, as Yolei gasps a bit.

"Um, okay, seriously? Referring to me by my birth name all of a sudden?" Yolei asks, innocently before I can see her eyes narrow a bit. "… Something is wrong, isn't there…?" Yolei whispers to Iori, as the two of them chat with each other at an inaudible volume. Considering these two are safe now, perhaps I should see what Kari wants to greet me for. As I approach her, I can't help but feel a little bit… weird.

I've known Kari for the past 3 years now, possibly having met her earlier than that, but never before had I felt weird just being around her. She's a close friend of mine, after all, so why am I feeling odd about it?

"Sooo, T.K., you do know you're late, right? Not that I can't blame you considering the rapid word of mouth going around..." Kari tells me, as I nod to her. I approach her to whisper something, making sure nobody else is nearby to listen in.

"Kari, I believe something dangerous is either going to happen or already has, and I'm more than willing to bet that this giant armored Digimon MagnaAngemon began to fight to allow me to escape with these two is the something we were supposed to notice." I explain to her, as Kari nods.

"Our older brothers tried to get into contact with Agumon and Gabumon, and they haven't heard from either of them in 3 hours. Izzy managed to get a brief snippet from them describing a similar looking Digimon." Kari informs me, as I nod to her.

"Precisely, and what's worse? I have a feeling this is the third Mega Level we've had to go out of our way to deal with in the past week." I inform her in regards to what I assumed was the Digimon's Generation, based off of the massive explosion I heard from behind us while fleeing with Yolei and Iori.

"I think you're right, and if Izzy's predictions are accurate, we're supposed to expect another Mega Level at some point today. Izzy can't even identify just yet what kind of Mega Level attacked the last few times, but it seems to be specifically targeting everyone associated with us." Kari informs me, as I shake my head.

"We'd better hope that Agumon and Gabumon can recover; they're both the only two that can Digivolve to Mega Level thus far, and I'm still undergoing training with Patamon to try and achieve such a Digivolution for him myself." I tell her. I hate to sound repetitive about this, but Kari and I go on for quite a bit about our past history and what has been going on as of late. Perhaps I need to share this information to get the word out.

The two of us, as well as six others, form a group known as the DigiDestined, and we were a group that saved the Digital World countless of times from numerous evil Digimon that had existed at one point. We were not the first to have been referred to as such, and we're more than likely not the last. After all, to simply acquire a partner Digimon for yourself, all you need to do is simply see a Digimon. Which brings to the question… we kind of have to spill the beans to Yolei and Iori about this, knowing that they're both in danger because of said incident. That's even being really generous with assuming they didn't witness any other real world based Digimon sighting…

"Say, uh, Yolei, Iori?" I ask, as I turn to face them, as I can practically hear something approaching, "Look, listen, Kari and I need to-"

Not even being able to get a word out after having been smacked in the head with a stray soccer ball was able to make this day any better. I honestly wished my hat was what hit me instead.

"Oh, hey! Sorry about that!" A voice calls to me, as it sounds distinctly male in sound and distinctly energetic in how quickly he spoke. Approaching me is a bit of a shorter male, not too short, but one with bushy hair and goggles adorned on his head, and having somewhat reddish hair. Yolei and Iori both look our way, as Yolei seems to become shy all of a sudden.

"My name is Davis, I'm one of Kari's classmates and… Why exactly are you talking to Kari?" Davis introduces, as Davis couldn't seem to pay attention for a fraction of a moment before changing the subject, as he glances over towards Kari, then me, and then both of us with rather shifty eyes. I simply look back at him rather confused.

"I-I'm sorry… to what are you referring?" I ask, honestly, for Davis to elaborate. Davis looks over towards Kari, pushing me aside a bit as Hikari backs up into a nearby wall.

"Oh hey Kari! I've been looking everywhere for you today, I was told that-" Davis tries to speak, as Yolei approaches without warning as I see her tap his shoulder… and the expression on her face isn't exactly the bubbly one she's had prior.

"Davis?"

"Yes?"

"Do you have a moment?"

"Yolei..."

"Daisuke…!" Yolei speaks, apparently Davis' actual name at that, as she forcefully drags Davis aside by the ear and begins whispering up a storm into Davis' ear. Kari approaches me at my side. That felt odd.

"Is he… troubled?" I ask, as Kari shrugs.

"I don't know, I know he's a big fanatic for my brother though. He's definitely got a lot of positive energy going for him, though." Kari speaks, as we both hear a distinctly familiar panting approaching us, as loud, thunderous footsteps of several dozen individuals are approaching.

"Hikari! We've got trouble!" The familiar voice of Kari's partner, Gatomon, speaks up, as trailing behind her are at least a dozen, if not more, Digimon with the aesthetic of knights, and… Is that my Crest adorned on their armor?! I actually kind of feel a tad offended that such hostile Digimon are using my Crest of Hope as their motif.

"Takeru, we've got to hurry inside, they won't fit in the hallways with that armor!" Gatomon tries to warn me and Kari, as Davis, Yolei, and Iori all flee for indoors, with Davis trying to ask multiple things such as who or what Gatomon is, who or what these Knightmon are, and some other things before he gets too far away to hear.

Then of course as per frickin' usual I get dragged by the arm by Kari into the school building proper. As I look back at our pursuers, they seem to actively stop at the gates. However, just before I get dragged indoors, three pairs of them split off into different directions, more than likely going to jump us with at least two or more of them at once.

"… They've never attacked us in a group like that before… What Level were those?" I ask Gatomon, as Gatomon is catching her breath before answering.

"Knightmon, Ultimate Level, and their armor is too strong for my claws to scratch, I tried Digivolving to Ultimate to deal with them, they clipped my wings and reverted me back before I had a chance to move… These guys clearly had quite a nerve ganging up on an innocent girl like me!" Gatomon finishes, as Kari nods her heads towards the side, as I look, as does Gatomon, as we see Davis, Yolei, and Iori huddling in a corner, with Davis trying to calm and reassure his two friends.

"Guys, we'll be fine, I've seen these type of beings before. Tai will most certainly handle them for us." Davis reassures his friend, his voice calmer, and slower, than it was before. He seems rather sincere, showing legitimate concern for these two. Then again, I don't even know them still, and Davis has probably known them for far longer.

… Hold on, though. Davis said he knows about Tai and Agumon, or at least is somewhat aware of what Digimon even are. How come he hasn't been attacked yet? How the heck is this guy staying positive knowing how much danger he's in if he happens to even remotely know Tai enough to have past experience?!

"Davis… Daisuke… Whichever you prefer I call you… Mind explaining to me how you're not dead yet if you know what Digimon are?" I ask, as Davis looks over towards me, as he walks up towards a nearby PC screen on display embedded in the wall. Davis walks up to it, putting his hand on it.

"You're not fooling me, and neither are you, Kari. You're all in on a big secret that has everyone else in Japan eternally grateful for what you did when you had saved us from that Myotismon creep." Davis informs me, as Yolei perks up with a gasp.

"Yeah, and we most certainly owe you for having averted a crisis with that Peacemaker Missile two years back. If it hadn't been for that particular Knight with those odd arms, we'd have all been screwed by some El Diablo thingamajig that took over the entire internet that fateful day." Yolei informs me, as Iori moves to clear his throat.

"And Kari, you'll always have my sympathies for what tragedy you were involved in so many years ago; had it not been for your one friend, Sora, saving a plane from crashing with her Digimon, well... I... you know..." Iori tells her with an incredibly polite tone, eerily calm to the point it seems unreal for him to speak in such a way.

"… So you three already know what we're hiding from everyone?" I ask, as Kari nods to me.

"They know; everyone at school knows. We've just been slowly been caught up in so much that we'll have to stop downplaying the situation sooner or later." Kari speaks to me, as she looks around, noticing Gatomon right next to her, as she seems disturbed, as I look around, warily.

"Where's Patamon? Is he alright?!" I ask, frantically, as I soon see my hat falling down on the floor, as someone large is walking down the hallway. However, the presence is comforting. A staff accompanies it's footsteps, as appearing from behind the corner is Angemon, having a severely damaged right arm.

"Those Knightmon at the front door put up quite a nasty fight before I was even able to remotely get in to make sure you're safe. I have a feeling I've missed several of them, if not even more…" Angemon speaks, as he gives us a sort of all clear where we stand right now. He moves to push his staff into the floor, as a large, holy barrier surrounds us and protects us.

"My power is draining rapidly, but I can at least ward those Knightmon off by placing a seal around us. If we get jumped by a Mega Level, I can't guarantee any of our safety in that case..." Angemon speaks with honesty, as my eyes widen, and I can practically feel Kari having the same reaction.

"What species was it? Izzy couldn't get a read on one that kept showing up frequently over the past few days. Is this the same Digimon?" Kari asks, as I can't help but feel a glare coming my way.

"It apparently identified itself as 'Alphamon', but I've never heard of a Digimon like that before. It also apparently is from an odd group called the Royal Knights; the same faction that went after us over the past month with an individual appearance from a Crusadermon and Gallantmon respectively." Angemon speaks, as Davis suddenly whistles for everyone's attention as he leans back against the screen in the hallway.

"Hold it, hold it, hold it! Seriously if we're supposed to be filled in on some not-so-secret masquerade at least sit us down and have a more in-depth explanation as opposed to leaving us out, please? I feel like we have the right to know at this rate based off our past experiences." Davis brings up; none of us could see an entity emerging from the monitor screen in the hall, though, as a massive hand moves to quickly grab Davis out of sight.

"Indeed, he does have every right to know the havoc you two and your associates have caused all of us Digimon. In fact, I'll escort him to the dungeon and interrogate him myself before I decide how I want to execute him!" A female voice speaks, loud and clear, in a disturbingly monotone voice for someone whose every emotion feels like utter hatred and contempt for us. I look at the screen, as an image of the Digimon's face and upper body appears.

"I am Lady Sigma of the Royal Knights, I am an Alphamon. You may have noticed my presence over the past while now, considering I've finally had enough of you Analogs trespassing and invading our turf like we're some kind of joke to you." Lady Sigma introduces… oddly unusual for such a name for her to have, but still a psycho nevertheless.

"Why have you been chasing us down for so long?" I ask, aloud, as I can hear footsteps rushing down the stairs. I quickly give them a glance and can feel my face brighten. "Tai! You're here!"

"And just in time, too, it would seem. So what's the deal with this black knight appearing and causing us trouble?" Tai asks, as he isn't even allowed to introduce himself as Lady Sigma suddenly lets out an ungodly, non-humanoid sounding noise of some kind.

"Murderer! You're the rat who was sided with that WarGreymon, weren't you? I know what you did, you murderous Analog." Lady Sigma accuses Tai in an utter fit of rage and I'm scared speechless as Kari and I observe, all the while I can hear Yolei and Iori freaking out behind us. I step aside, for the moment, to calm them down; in doing so, I miss out on what exactly is being said.

"Yolei, Iori, please, remain calm, Tai, Kari and I will rescue Davis for you guys and bring him home safe and sound." I tell the two, as both of them look at me, sniffling a bit in fright all the while they cling to each other.

"Angemon! Where'd you get that?!" Gatomon suddenly shouts at an alarming volume, nearly blasting my hearing out briefly, as Gatomon's hairs stand up as she looks hostile towards Angemon. I look over towards him; he's holding some kind of weird looking book… a diary, perhaps?

"Well that is a very good question indeed. Perhaps I should read aloud a few pages I have in memory from that very plagued thing that doesn't deserve to be dignified in what it is meant to be..."

Davis is within a dungeon. No light, no hope, just darkness.

"Come on, Davis! You won't let these guys scare you! You're courageous! You have actual friends!" Davis talks to himself to keep positive about the situation, as he never laughs, before quieting down.

"… If only I knew a miracle to get out of this nonsense and fight my own battles..." Davis speaks, solemnly, as he hears the door to the cell open up, as Davis looks on in front into the dark. "… So much for a miracle… this is it, so it would seem..." Davis speaks, utterly horrified as something approaches… something… small? With a big head?

Davis blinks, trying to focus his gaze in the dark to see what is approaching. It appears to be a small, bluish reptile with dog-like ears and a small horn for a nose.

"Who… Who ish thish?" The Digimon asks, as Davis tilts his head.

"Ish? Thish? Don't you mean, 'Who is this'?" Davis asks, as the Digimon nods.

"That'sh what I shaid! I am Veemon, and I'm a little losht ash to why I have the keysh to thish place… Why am I here? Do you know me?" Veemon asks, as Davis looks unsure, before answering.

"… It's… a long, complicated story… my old friend…"

Chapter Text

"Izzy? It's me, T.K.. Do you have the time to spare with assisting with explaining our group secret with two people we've met today who got caught in the crossfire of things? Tai, Kari, and I need to rescue someone from a Digimon, and considering the situation is dire, all three of us will have to take off relatively quickly.

-Takaishi Takeru"

A simple message sent from my PDA to a friend of mine to inform him about Yolei and Iori's state of panic. I didn't want to give Izzy the wrong idea by saying I know these two; sure, they seem nice so far, but I'm uncertain a little. Yolei is perhaps a little too energetic and bubbly for own good, and Iori's anger is fierce once you figure out where the pressure points for it are. Even then, however, I've only known them for several minutes at most.

Are these two who I could possibly consider friends? Had this day not become hectic due to a Mega Level enemy Digimon, I wouldn't be surprised if that's how things would've turned out instead.

Right now, however, Davis, Daisuke, whichever he wants to be called by, is in danger, as I reach into my pocket and reach for my Digivice. With it in my hand, I firmly grab it in my hand as I close my eyes. Holding it to my chest, I can hear my own pulse within my mind as I concentrate. Without me even needing to open my eyes, I already can feel from the immense rumbling that my Digivice is suddenly being charged with an odd phenomenon.

The Light of Digivolution.

What my friends and I have learned as DigiDestined is that our Digimon undergo what is merely an artificial form of Digivolution, powered by our own Digivices. Our Digivices are considered borderline sacred objects which came from the Gods. Call it a stretch, I know, but then again when we were younger, none of us had a single clue of how we could willingly tap into it, as though to use the Light of Digivolution at our own call.

Opening my eyes, I notice Kari and Tai and both doing the same with their own Digivices, as Yolei and Iori are observing in shock towards where Angemon was standing. Or, rather, would've been standing, as now, without having said a word, Angemon had Digivolved back into MagnaAngemon, as I realize upon looking back at him with a small smile, as he glances down at me and nods a bit.

"You're doing good with practice on your end, T.K." MagnaAngemon tells me, quietly, in case any Knightmon were still around, although as I look around to notice something, I see that Gatomon hasn't Digivolved just yet, even with Kari's praying.

"Don't worry about me right now, T.K.. Kari's just making sure I'm in a good enough condition to fight." Gatomon tells me, but something about her tone sounds… rather dishonest. Tai raised an eye in response, but Kari didn't even budge. In fact, she looked practically radiant with how she glows when praying with her Digivice. Almost as if-

"Oh boy, Davis won't like his would be rescuer if he keeps up that gaze at his crush."

I hear someone whisper; it sounded like Yolei. Davis, having a crush on Kari? Hmm…

"So, are you two getting ready to go?" Kari asks me, as Tai nods as he approaches where I stand besides the computer monitor in the hall.

"I'm ready when you are, T.K.. Kari won't be joining us just yet, just in case our DigiGate winds up becoming a trap for us." Tai says to me, as I nod.

"I get it, leaving Kari behind with Gatomon so that she can scout from behind while we take the full blunt of whatever that Digimon has in store for the three of us." I say to Tai, asking if that's what he intended.

"I honestly thought you'd say five of us, but that is the idea, yes." Tai speaks to me, as he holds out his Digivice to the computer screen. I proceed to do the same, as both of our Digivices glow an intense light into the screen.

"DigiGate, open!"

A blinding array of lights shine in my view, as Tai is seen beside me and MagnaAngemon right behind me. MagnaAngemon floats ahead a little bit, as he manifests a magical barrier around myself and Tai. From my own point of view, the path to the Digital World never becomes a normal sight to me.

Imagine an array of colors from even the most strangest of natural events one could see in the entire sky of Earth at any particular part of the globe. Be it a rainbow, an aurora borealis, a sunset, anything. Now, imagine all of those colors produced by said occurrences in the sky, and imagine all of their individual colors shining in a path at once akin to a tunnel of nothing but a large void and a blinding white light at the very front of us. The colors transition from very circular, very real particles of light one could imagine, before taking the shape of oddly unnatural shapes such as squares or triangles of different varieties.

"You'll both need to be prepared for when and where we may drop; there's no guarantee of how far away from Sigma's location we might wind up. Tai, you still need to get Agumon and then come back and meet T.K. and I at a rendezvous point where we can hopefully get into Sigma's territory unnoticed." MagnaAngemon interrupts my train of thought, as I shake my head to regain my concentration on the matter at hand.

"So do you intend on trying to storm Sigma's castle at the front gates?" Tai asks me and MagnaAngemon, as I look over towards MagnaAngemon, who gives me a concerned look, as far as one could tell anyways considering his obscured eyes. However, I look towards Tai, nodding my head.

"I have an idea that'll possibly get them to lower their guard; listen carefully now, Tai..."

Unfortunately I don't even get a chance to begin to explain my plan. I had blinked for just a fraction of a second, and just like that…

Tai is suddenly nowhere to be found.

MagnaAngemon and I arrive in the Digital World, arriving in an unusual place that I would least expect to find myself at. It appears to be a small city, so to speak, lacking a vast majority of buildings, and having what appears to be a house made of a cardboard box at the main area. A few Digimon are gathered here, as MagnaAngemon and myself land and set foot on the ground. At first, everything seems innocent enough, especially with the small Digimon who casually floats up to us to greet us.

"Hello, strangers. I am a Yuramon, and you two have just stepped foot into the center of File City." Yuramon introduces, as I can hear MagnaAngemon gasp as I look in his direction and-

… Oh dear. File City. I should've known immediately that we are now on File Island, not just because of the fabled Infinity Mountain standing tall before us just up ahead. That would be normal, if anything else.

It appears there is a gigantic, floating landmass made of pure white crystal floating just next to Infinity Mountain. Atop this landmass appears to be a gigantic palace made of nothing but crystal.

"… Uh… Yuramon… my partner and I have been here before, but neither of us have ever seen that there before..." I bring up to Yuramon, practically speechless as both MagnaAngemon and I can't seem to agree on that before I can't help but feel the need to grovel like an idiot before the magnificent beauty of the castle.

"That, is the Castle of the Royal Knights. You'd better not stare at it for too long. Here, let me help you." A voice speaks, and as for what happens next, MagnaAngemon passes out on the ground with a loud crashing noise against the back of his head. Before I even knew what hit him, I myself would be knocked out, as I fall to the ground, barely conscious, wondering what had attacked us. I can briefly hear a name, but I can't think of anything else right now other than that name alone.

"Jijimon."

Chapter Text

By the time I wake up, I realize that my head feels as though it had been struck with a sturdy pole, and that there was an immense pain on the back of my head as I reach around to feel how bad it hurts. It hurts, a lot. I quickly look around, as I see MagnaAngemon surprisingly still in his current form.

"Your Digivice. It is a strange one, but then again, your partner Digimon makes it no less strange from anyone else's. Curious to see you would be partnered with a Digimon with such an immense amount of potential." A voice speaks out, sounding very old in tone and overall sound, and appearing to have an odd accent to it. I look towards the source of the voice in question, and appears there stands a very small, heavily deformed humanoid Digimon covered in a rag and being heavily covered in silver hair from head to toe. By his side is a large pole with a claw attached to it, resembling one of the gloves that Gatomon appears to wear perpetually.

"U-Um… I hate to ask, but mind I ask why you had knocked us out for no reason?" I ask, as MagnaAngemon slowly moves to stand slightly, mostly resting his right arm on his right knee. I look towards the strange, furry Digimon, to see why it could possibly be keeping us here.

"Relax, you weren't knocked out for any longer than a minute. I just had to drag you inside since my city is unknown to everyone else in the world, period. Not unless I allow anyone in, of course." The Digimon speaks, as he looks over towards me as I look rather confused.

"How old are you, anyways? You sound like you've been around for as long as-"

"I'm older than this version of the Digital World itself; I've existed long before the original DigiDestined who tried to defeat the Dark Masters, only to have to seal them away. I've existed long before Gennai, long before the Royal Knights, and long before any other possible faction you could think of. I'm even older than the late Apocalymon." The Digimon speaks, before letting out a hearty chuckle of sorts. I watch as the Digimon moves to look outside of the cardboard house we appear to be in, as MagnaAngemon looks over to me, raising his hand to gesture for me to remain still.

"I had watched as but an observer to the whole ordeal in this small city I call home. My own power is strong, stronger than any one of your own age could ever imagine. All I ever do with this power, however, is simply isolate my city from the rest of the world. I am never discovered by accident by anyone else; to them, I never exist, nor does this city. Only unless..." The Digimon speaks, before moving to question me and MagnaAngemon as he turns around.

"… Unless you specifically allow anyone or thing to enter this city and discover your existence. If you don't allow it, this entire location as well as you mean nothing to the rest of the Digital World." I ask the strange Digimon, as he lets out a hearty laugh.

"Precisely, my boy! For that matter, you're probably wondering who I am. Where are my manners, my dear boy? I am a reclusive Digimon known simply by Jijimon. My Level is irrelevant, but if you want a precise answer, I am what you and others your age refers to as a 'Mega Level'." Jijimon introduces, as I look at him rather shocked, as MagnaAngemon backs up a bit; I look at my partner's actions, only causing my eyes to widen. MagnaAngemon wouldn't so easily back away from any Digimon confronting him, not even our own friends!

"Now then," Jijimon asks the two of us, as he alters the entire surroundings with a wave of a hand, as the three of us wind up in an arena made entirely out of a wire-mesh frame. MagnaAngemon moves to stand, as now he doesn't need to crouch, as he looks towards Jijimon. Jijimon, stomping the pole in his hands into the ground, buries the Gatomon claw-covered end into the ground out of view.

"I want you to do me a favor. I want you to hit me as hard as you can." Jijimon asks us, as I look around, as I realize why I'm even here to begin with.

"Look, Jijimon, I don't know what you have in mind, but if you're associated with this Sigma entity then-"

"That is irrelevant to this situation. You need to learn to begin to forge your own path to glory, not rely on what the elders you know have taught you alone." Jijimon interrupts, as I shoot him a glare.

"But I'm needed to rescue a friend of mine from Sigma lest he-" Jijimon slams his pole into the ground multiple times to keep me quiet, preventing me from getting a word in.

"Curious… You don't even know him, and yet you call him a friend? I'm actually quite impressed… but is it possible for you to back this claim up…?" Jijimon asks me, as I try to respond; words are formed in my mind, but every time I try and speak, nothing escapes my mouth. I calm down once I realize that I can't get a word in, even without interruptions occurring. He's right; I don't even know Davis yet, and already I'm referring to him as a friend?

No, no, no! Stop letting this Digimon play you for a fool, Takeru! Clearly he's working for Sigma and trying to just distract you from your mission!

"So you don't know the answer? Hmmm… I guess I made my judgment about you too soon then, young Ishida."

'Young Ishida?' Did this Digimon seriously not know of… Oh… Oh no… Does he not know of the fact d-dad and m-m-mom had…

"Takeru! Calm down! You're beginning to lose control…!" MagnaAngemon begins to speak, as I suddenly experience an odd pain in my mind, an odd ringing occurring in my mind. I look over towards MagnaAngemon, as his white and violet coloration begins to shift in color, as MagnaAngemon lets loose a loud scream of pain and terror.

Takeru passes out right besides MagnaAngemon, as Jijimon merely gazes upon the situation as a whole. MagaAngemon looks as though half of his white wings have shed in favor of black wings, as MagnaAngemon's helmet begins to violently crack away and reveal a cyan eyed, blond haired face underneath as MagnaAngemon's armor breaks apart as raw, robust musculature takes over his torso, arms, and legs, leading him to stand even taller than Jijimon. "MagnaAngemon" gives out a rather psychotic laugh, as he moves to strike Jijimon with his bare hands, now in the form of claws, all the while letting loose a howling, maniacal laughter.

Whatever form MagnaAngemon had become, he now is violently trying to crush Jijimon underneath his claws, but something prevents him from being able to make physical contact. Jijimon, meanwhile, waves his hand as magic circles begin to form around MagnaAngemon's limbs and begin to hold him back to restrain him.

"Now then, if you don't mind me doing you a favor here… Let's see, what did that crazed woman call it? Soul Digitalization?" Jijimon asks, as he snaps his fingers as a powerful beam of energy manifests in the air in front of him, before firing directly into MagnaAngemon's chest; the enlarged form of him rapidly burns away, screaming out in a terrifying roar as it violently sheds out of MagnaAngemon's form. Underneath the form of a corrupted angel, Angemon appears, heavily exhausted, as he looks behind him and sees his own former form crying out with a powerful scream in fury and wrath towards Angemon, as Angemon backs away at the form.

The form taking the shape of a large, humanoid Digimon with leathery wings and devilish horns on it's head.

"Oi, Angemon, perhaps you could do the honors of finishing off your dark half for me?" Jijimon asks, as Angemon doesn't even need to nod or speak, as a powerful, fiery light forms in his hand. Angemon moves back, preparing himself for a full swing forward with his fist. Suddenly lunging with his hand curled into a mighty fist, he moves to suddenly charge forward and propel himself in a massive beam of light, crashing into his darker form as he destroys it down to the very last spec of darkness trying to take form. Angemon, heavily panting for a few seconds, moves over towards T.K. to see if he's alright.

"Takeru!" Angemon speaks, as he moves to approach him, all the while De-Digivolving back into a small form, now back as Patamon as he flies up to T.K.'s head, shooting a glare at Jijimon.

"What did you do to him? What did you make me do?!" Patamon asks Jijimon, as Jijimon moves to pull his pole out of the ground, before moving over towards T.K., as he lays a hand on T.K.'s head as a bright light surges from it and begins to heal T.K.'s head injury sustained from earlier.

W-What even happened…? What the heck happened?! I felt like the entire world around me just suddenly stopped and then… all of these bizarre entities, just gathering around me, and then… poof. Here I am, standing right now, back to where I was before, as though nothing had happened, except for MagnaAngemon having De-Digivolved back to Patamon.

"P-Patamon… What happened?!" I ask, in complete and utter confusion. However, what is even more confusing, on the other hand, is the fact we're no longer in the strange house at the base of Infinity Mountain.

Now, however, we were standing right outside the crystalline castle floating right beside Infinity Mountain. I look down towards the base of the mountain, where the strange city should've been at.

Nothing is there. What would that strange, old Digimon want with me as to drag me there to begin with? That's besides the point now, however; right now I need to work on figuring out how to infiltrate the castle, as Davis must be inside still being held captive.

"T.K., might be best for you to pray so we can get me back up to Ultimate Level. I can't Warp Digivolve right now, and if we go in right now..."

"… We're sitting ducks, got it." I reply, as I move to grab my Digivice. My eyes open wide, however, when I realize that the whole shape of it has completely changed. It used to be a near perfectly symmetrical, hexagonal shape, but now it was in the shape of an oval with a green armored padding to the sides of it.

"Patamon… I don't know what just happened… But do you remember anything about an old man at the base of Infinity Mountain…?" I ask, hoping he would at least recall what had happened.

"Um… T.K.? What old man? I don't recall ever having met anyone down there today." Patamon answers me, as I look down towards my Digivice, as I move to grasp it towards my chest; I take a deep breath, hoping to get it off of my mind.

A strange incident, that encounter was, but it feels like only seconds in which my praying gives Patamon enough energy to become MagnaAngemon again. However, something is… off. Something feels like it's overflowing with more energy than normal. I look towards Patamon, as I gaze up in awe at his now 25 foot tall form. A blue and silver armored angel with ten, golden wings, as my partner looks down at me as I look upon him in wonder.

"Who are you? Are you…?"

"Mega Level? That is correct, Takeru. I am Seraphimon, the final evolution of Patamon. I am sending you this message through your partner as a test of your newfound Digivice I had given you." Seraphimon answers to me, as I look down at my Digivice, then back up at him.

"Seraphimon… What is the meaning of this? What test are you putting me and my partner through?" I ask, as Seraphimon gazes down at me.

"I have bestowed your partner with the temporary ability to achieve Mega Level form, as I believe you will need it for you to safely make your way through this castle." Seraphimon answers.

"For what purpose other than to help me save someone I know?" I ask. A long, drawn out pause occurs between us both.

"I am testing to see if you are worthy of having your partner fulfill my soon to be former role as one of the Three Celestial Digimon."

Chapter Text

“T.K. should’ve been here, but yet he isn’t.” Kari speaks, as she doesn’t seem to realize something.

I’m standing right in front of her, with Seraphimon next to me, but neither she, Gatomon, nor Tai seem to realize I’m here. Am I… corporeal, at the moment?

“We mustn’t interfere; Madam Ophanimon wishes to observe her skills.” Seraphimon speaks to me, as I look up at him; his voice, it doesn’t sound like how Patamon would speak at all.

“Is it indeed the Celestial Digimon Seraphimon themselves talking right now?” I ask, as Seraphimon looks down at me, and nods.

“Correct, Takeru; I do not wish to tread lightly on holy ground such as this palace if Ophanimon does not get the chance to witness her own potential successor as well. However...” Seraphimon states, as loud footsteps appear to be heading our way; more like, Kari and Tai’s way, as the entity appears oblivious to myself and Seraphimon besides me.

“Hey! You two! Fight me!” A mechanical lion Digimon known as LoaderLiomon roars to Kari and Gatomon, as they and Tai all flinch in slight panic at the sight of him.

“Fight me!” LoaderLiomon speaks again, as Kari takes a step back as Gatomon’s eyes twitch a bit.

“Pardon me, but we’re here to rescue our friend. We don’t have the time right now for this.” Gatomon speaks to LoaderLiomon, as the mechanical Digimon’s turbine of a mane revs up.

“Excuse me?! You will not get ahead of me in my qualification for a guard here without facing me first! Why else would you dare trespass on the domain of the Royal Knights if you didn’t intend to sign up for guard duty here?!” LoaderLiomon elaborates, as Tai and Kari look at each other.

“I’ll need Angewomon to help teleport Agumon here, but if this guy keeps refusing to get out of our way, we’ll have to deal with him first.” Tai says to Kari, as the latter nods, before looking at Gatomon.

“Gatomon? Any input for how we should handle this?” Kari asks her partner Digimon, as Gatomon looks at her from the corner of her eye.

“Shhh, I have an idea.” Gatomon whispers, as Gatomon looks up at the towering lion Digimon that is LoaderLiomon. “Pardon the intrusion then, LoaderLiomon, is it? But I believe it would be better credibility for your status as a future guard if you have an opponent who is equal ground with someone like yourself.” Gatomon speaks, as LoaderLiomon growls.

“What?! And have you Digivolve to Mega Level and kick me off of the balcony?! Do you think I would fall for that?!” LoaderLiomon insists, as he glares down at Gatomon. “You will either fight me right now, Rookie, or I will see to it that my Ultimate Level power ensures you fall off instead!” LoaderLiomon demands, as Gatomon huffs.

“Really? Do all of you guys always think about brute force alone? How do you even know Lady Sigma will let you into her ranks knowing your only quality witnessed here is taking down a Rookie Level? She will see you as nothing but a bully! You’re an Ultimate Level, correct? I too can achieve Ultimate Level. Just allow me to Digivolve to Ultimate Level, and you will have much more credibility to join these knights.” Gatomon keeps bluffing, as LoaderLiomon growls as his mane revs up a bit again more fiercely.

“Why you little cu-”

Nobody could speak anything fast enough before Gatomon was soon airborne, having flipped up into the air, before fiercely slashing with her claws into LoaderLiomon’s face, shredding a good chunk of his armor off in the process, as Gatomon lands on the ground as she ignores the pain in her paws from the wound she inflicted upon LoaderLiomon’s armored face.

“Now, then, if you would be so kind as to shut it, kitten, then allow me to Digivolve so we can fight fair and square. If you won’t allow that after what I did just now, I’m going to look for a more worthy opponent elsewhere thank you very much.” Gatomon speaks, as LoaderLiomon growls a bit, as after about roughly thirty seconds pass, LoaderLiomon sits on the ground in front of the two humans and Gatomon, as Gatomon snickers a bit.

“Thank you, now then, where was I? Oh yes; Gatomon, Digivolve To…!” Gatomon speaks, as an immensely bright pillar of light engulfs her whole frame; her body glows an intense aura, as her feline-esque body transforms into that of a human-like female with eight wings shining from her back, as a helmet forms over her face as well as small, delicately placed pieces of armor covering her elsewhere. As the light fades, she stands tall enough to look LoaderLiomon in the eyes directly, as the Digivolution from Champion to Ultimate is complete.

“Angewomon!” Angewomon calls, as LoaderLiomon’s eyes widen as his pupils form into slits, his mane revving up to an intense speed, as Angewomon jumps into the air, leaping clear over LoaderLiomon and landing behind him entirely. Her left arm, positioned like aiming an unseen bow, aims forward as a spear of light forms next to it as she takes aim using her right arm.

“Celestial Arrow!” Angewomon speaks; LoaderLiomon’s attention turns to face her, as the Celestial Arrow is fired from Angewomon’s left arm as it just narrowly misses and grazes the left cheek of LoaderLiomon, before the arrow jams itself into the nearest wall, where it stays visible briefly before seemingly vanishing.

“Ha! Learn to aim better than that, Archangel!” LoaderLiomon taunts before an intense, electrical surge crosses his entire frame, as he lunges towards Angewomon, his mane spinning like no tomorrow.

“Drilling Storm!” LoaderLiomon calls as he dives directly towards Angewomon, only for her to disappear into feathers upon impact. The white feathering blinds LoaderLiomon’s vision briefly, but not before LoaderLiomon grabs one of the feathers in his mouth real quick.

“Big mistake, Archangel, do you have any idea of what I’m able to do with just a single feather of yours? Let’s see, how does the saying go…? Oh, right; LoaderLiomon, Mega Digivolve To…!” LoaderLiomon surges in a holy energy, a much of his machine parts covering his body shatter like glass as his entire frame reworks itself into a smaller form, but Angewomon’s gaze is fixated upon the wall just behind LoaderLiomon in the process of Digivolving to Mega Level. Holding her left arm outwards, she fires another Celestial Arrow into the wall, as she jumps up into the air, before holding her aim towards LoaderLiomon.

Emerging from the light he’s engulfed with, LoaderLiomon jumps up towards Angewomon with his newly acquired form, punching her in her exposed side with a fiery, shining fist as a black coat and hat adorn his body. “You may call me BanchoLeomon now, you idiot!” BanchoLeomon taunts, as he quickly grabs Angewomon by the neck with both hands faster than she can react, as Angewomon winces more at the injury in her side now, before BanchoLeomon causes both of them to crash down to the ground below with a tremendous force. However, while Angewomon is regaining her barrings, as BanchoLeomon raises his fists to land the finishing blow, chains of light manifest from the hidden Celestial Arrows from before, moving to form gigantic chains of light around each of BanchoLeomon’s hands, as his hands are soon forcefully spread apart as BanchoLeomon can’t appear to get out of them.

Angewomon, getting back up into the air, as she jumps backwards and aims both of her arms out as a gigantic spear forms in both hands. Six emblems appear and manifest into spears surrounding the larger spear in Angewomon’s hands, as she launches the spear towards BanchoLeomon’s chest, ignoring the pain in her side as much as she can to land the heavy throw she’s doing to ensure a storm of spears land  directly through BanchoLeomon’s chest, as BanchoLeomon’s chest is torn open almost entirely by the divine energies given physical form, as his body crashes into the nearest wall with the spear keeping him stuck there.

“Had enough?” Angewomon asks, as BanchoLeomon apparently had survived that onslaught, before Angewomon snaps her fingers as the six emblems manifest around BanchoLeomon at the wall he’s stuck on, before forging into chains of light to keep him restrained against the wall. BanchoLeomon, now pinned, calms down as he realizes he isn’t getting out of this so easily.

“For all of that effort, Angewomon, you need to know my DigiCore is indestructible. I hope you realize you will not be able to extinguish me like any other Digimon.” BanchoLeomon speaks, as Angewomon lets out a brief chuckle as she throws her hair back out of her face.

“That, was exactly what I was hoping for...” Angewomon states, as she falters a bit in her step, as her wound at her side is causing her incredible pain now, as Kari and Tai rush towards her to help her stay standing.

“Angewomon, are you alright?!” Kari asks, as Angewomon sighs a bit.

“I-I’ll be fine, I’m just lucky all of that was able to work as planned.” Angewomon speaks, as Tai looks around as he can’t help but feel like he’s being watched.

“Yeah, but, er, with that wound and all, we should probably get Agumon here as quickly as we can before anyone inside the castle decides to jump us.” Tai asks, as Angewomon looks at Tai and nods.

“Alright, sorry for taking so long...” Angewomon speaks, as manifest a pillar of light in front of her, a portal opens up as Agumon walks out of it looking all confused.

“I should’ve known that Sigma would’ve had a castle, but I’m even more surprised I couldn’t see it from down below.” Agumon speaks, as Tai looks around, as he realizes T.K. is still missing.

“Hey guys!” T.K. calls out, as he realizes now that he’s visible now in this whole scene, as Tai and Kari look over towards T.K…. and at Seraphimon right next to him, visibly gasping at Patamon’s Mega Level form.

“It’s him...” Agumon speaks, as Angewomon looks towards Seraphimon in awe.

“Here I figured this would’ve taken longer...” Angewomon speaks, before Seraphimon waves a hand towards her, and heals up the injury aching at Angewomon’s side, as she sighs in relief.

“This form won’t last very long while I am borrowing your friend’s physical form for the time being. I am Seraphimon of the Celestial Digimon.” Seraphimon introduces, as Tai and Kari’s eyes widen, as they both look at T.K..

“It’s… a long story, about how this happened...” T.K. states, as Kari and Tai nod and take his word for it.

“Good, now then, if all of that is settled, we should hurry on inside and find Davis!” Tai speaks, as T.K. and Kari nod. All three, with their respective Digimon, make their way inside the castle. Once they’re out of sight, BanchoLeomon stirs a bit after having briefly slipped unconscious in hopes they would leave him be for the benefit of his wounded pride.

“Oh, believe me, you’ll be grateful for their interference later on.” A voice speaks out towards BanchoLeomon, as BanchoLeomon looks around, as he’s stunned when a Digimon begins to make itself known before him; a serpentine dragon with swords all across it’s form taking shape.

“I am Ambassador Ouryumon, the very Sword of Lady Sigma itself.” Ouryumon introduces, as BanchoLeomon’s eyes widen.

“Forgive me for my delayed introduction, but I sincerely wanted to see how long you’d last against a superior opponent. Now that you’re here, though… I would like to speak with you in regards to these Analogs that we’ve begun to hire Digimon as guards for.”

Chapter Text

"It appears the specifications I had opted for had an unusual effect on him." The noblewoman's voice couldn't be any more clear with Lady Sigma in an isolated room, in a white, empty void, surrounded by floating computer screens surrounding her. A total of eleven of these holographic monitors, each encircling her in complete harmony with each other, displaying an unusual symbol with the accompanying word from which Lady Sigma understood precisely their meaning.

<<Courage>>
<<Friendship>>
<<Love>>
<<Knowledge>>
<<Sincerity>>
<<Reliability>>
<<Hope>>
<<Light>>
<<Miracles>>
<<Destiny>>
<<Kindness>>

"You had all left me with no choice all of those centuries ago. You disgraceful, ignorant Analogs..." Sigma speaks, in a subdued, quiet tone, pointing with a single hand as she motions, slowly, carefully, and alluringly, for two of the monitors to come before her, aglow on a bright orange and blue coloration. "To wield so, much, power... You sided with them for a reason; I need to know why..." Sigma whispers, to an audience of no one, in the whole quietness the small sanctuary of a room had offered her. Why couldn't she understand? Something was amiss; she needed to know what it was. Yet, at the same time, such knowledge was forbidden for even her, as she just stares longingly into the two screens floating within her grasp, as they move to overlap on their own in her hand.

"Lady Sigma; we have a situation on the lower floor at the brig." A voice, sounding shrill in tone, screeching, but distinctly masculine, in tone towards Lady Sigma through a communicator.

"... Humans?"

"Not that they're not presently entering, but they're not why I've called. Some of the Knightmon are fighting, all demanding an answer regarding the former."

"Then why not have them speak their grievances to me personally if they refuse to understand my orders to allow the humans to retrieve their friend, so that I may confront their leader unopposed by my own ranks?!" Sigma speaks, as a second voice makes itself known, clearing through throat as a misty breath emerges from their seldom seen mouth, now hidden from view.

"... You have something to say, Dynasmon?" Sigma prompts, turning her gaze to the source of the second voice.

"Apologies, madam, but what should I do regarding the prisoner's escape?"

"Do whatever you must to keep the stronger units from going at them, but I swear upon our corrupted 'King', do not make it look any more staged than it already is."

"Yes, madam."

Both voices, at the same time, disappear from the audio being communicated from other rooms in the castle. Lady Sigma, back to being on her own, as she dismisses the screens circling around her, as she uses them to highlight a terminal in the wall in front of her. Each step she takes, a powerful force is subdued with each step of grace she makes towards the terminal. Stepping up to it and activating it, the individual screens all take physical form across eleven other terminals that emerge from the ground around her, each taking the form of a DigiEgg type of appearance, adorned with the symbol from which they're imbued, as she snaps with her fingers for three of them, glowing orange, green, and purple, to manifest before her all at once.

"I now beg these persons as the ones to draw power from courage, sincerity, and knowledge within…" Lady Sigma chants, as she draws forth an incredible power from within herself as the entire room around her trembles, as her hands glow an immense, green aurora that begins to engulf her whole being. Even those outside of the room could feel the immense power being awoken here all at once with these individual objects before her.

"... Oh, the Light of Digivolution, may you provide eternal power to your loyal subjects!" Lady Sigma finishes, before suddenly casting out the three objects from the room with an immense force.

One of them heads straight towards the lower floors, completely bypassing Tai's group, the infighting guards, directly presenting itself out into the open towards a startled Davis and Veemon.

"Whoa... What is this?" Davis asks, as Veemon looks upon it with awe, as the object glows a bright, orange light onto Veemon, as it breaks apart and reveals a newly forged Digivice from within for Davis, as Davis grabs hold of it quickly, without even realizing what he now has. Veemon glows with a powerful surge of fiery light.

"Veemon, Armor Digivolve to...!" Veemon calls, as a glowing aura surrounding him forges itself an armored form based upon the flame patterned, spiked DigiEgg equipping itself to Veemon like literal armor, as Veemon's body grows to match the proportions the armor is best suited for underneath, as he lets out a growl, his lisp completely fading into a hardened, refined voice of an mature, masculine individual.

"Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage!" Flamedramon announces, as a bright light manifests from his chest, as he looks around as the keys he had held previously are now unlocking the numerous other jail cells in the vicinity of this massive lower chamber of the castle.

"Heed my advice, Flamedramon; your freedom, along with the life of your partner, will not be simply granted by my meeting with his senior alone. I must witness how capable you are under these restrictions, to see for myself as to whether or not you will be strong enough to fend off attackers from which you may not normally even face. After all, assuming negotiations go well, I may step out of your way in the end, but another force stands before you elsewhere in your native version of our overall world; another server, another universe, it does not matter to me anymore. What matters is this; are you capable of fighting to the bitter end to protect those in need of shelter from an opposing force, no matter the world?" Lady Sigma's voice could be heard across the whole room, from which Davis and Flamedramon look on, and see a figure approaching from the shadow.

"Vermilimon will serve as your adversary this time; make every hit count; fight for your freedom!"

"Not a sweat, darling~, I will make short work of this one along with the rest..." Flamedramon boasts to Lady Sigma, as Vermilimon chuckles a bit.

"Care to increase your wager, because I am very much in the mood for amusement myself. I will not only see to your negotiation out of here, but I will owe you one favor... shall we, perhaps, amplify the challenge to 100 or bust?" Lady Sigma asks, as the lights in the dungeon all kick on, as exactly 99 more Vermilimon suddenly are visible surrounding Davis and Flamedramon, but neither of the two back down.

"I won't back down from my chance to prove to everyone I'm just as worthy as Tai is of wielding the bond of courage! Let's hit em hard, Flamedramon!" Davis shouts, as Flamedramon yells out in laughter.

"I thought you'd never ask!" Flamedramon shouts as a battle cry, before charging head forward towards the 100 Vermilimon charging towards him with equally an intense desire to fight for their freedom.

Flamedramon, as the much more agile of the two main Digimon types in the room, is the first to get a hit in, producing a fiery shield before itself as a Vermilimon crashes head first into him, only for Flamedramon to flip, and then uppercut upwards with the sharp horn in his head in a fiery spike manifesting from his form. Grabbing a hold of the dinosaur Digimon's tail, Flamedramon hurls the Vermilimon into 7 others charging directly at him, causing the 8 of them to form a pile over each other. Flamedramon, charging both of his fists together, spirals downwards as he strikes the whole pile of Vermilimon with a fiery wave of energy blasting outwards, sending the Vermilimon flying out of range, collapsing into the nearest wall in defeat. 92 left, this would be a long fight. Most ordinary Digimon would've perished to those initial 8 alone.

Flamedramon was not an ordinary Digimon.

Flamedramon charges with his fists a powerful, fiery energy forming in his hands, as he fires a spiral of flames towards another 2 Vermilimon acting as a shield towards a bunch of others just behind them, charging an intense energy to block Flamedramon's attack. However, Flamedramon saw this, jumping high into the air, and practically flying towards them and then thrusting upwards to launch them into the air with his head's horn, and then punching both of them across the horizon to the wall, one of them crashing into the door of the dungeon to the higher floor.

"What the heck is going on down he- BY THE ETERNAL TREE WHAT AM I LOOKING AT?!?!" Crusadermon asks as she is holding back several Knightmon from getting into the room, witnessing Flamedramon demolishing through at least 14 Vermilimon by this point, with a 15th being launched into the air, incidentally towards a terminal which is crushed upon impact, as the Vermilimon collapses, as an electrical surge moves from the terminal towards the door of an even larger holding cell than any of the other Digimon currently in the room.

"You fool! You've unleashed the Beast!" One of the Knightmon hollers from behind Crusadermon, as the group falls over forward once Crusadermon charges forward, before Flamedramon throws a whole volley of Vermilimon her way, as she charges an intense energy in her massive armored lower arm, as she punches the volley head on, shattering them like glass from what were originally 8 Vermilimon in their place. Down to 70 Vermilimon, and judging by the defeated bodies stacking up just beside the large doors that were slowly opening, 20 of them had been defeated in the span for Crusadermon to begin to take action, making the current count to no more than 50 Vermilimon. Dynasmon teleports into the lower facility as he and Crusadermon stand towards the large cell doors opening up, as a mighty, pale colored Digimon with heavily reinforced, navy blue armor and an oddly headless torso exits the cell, with it's shoulders opening up like massive jaws.

"Well, Dynasmon, I believe without us even realizing it, you now have your chance to atomize your eternal foe. Will you take it?" Crusadermon asks, oddly surprised at the lack of any kind of head on the Digimon's body, as Dynasmon chuckles a bit.

"Thankfully his Digicore is stored within his head I have relocated elsewhere, but Lady Sigma wouldn't believe me when I said I could finish the job with his still living, separate body." Dynasmon speaks, as Crusadermon keeps an eye on the Vermilimon bodies being tossed across the room, as Crusadermon quickly keeps count; 25 and counting, and Flamedramon isn't even breaking a sweat, as she looks back towards Dynasmon, who is confused by what's going on with Davis and Flamedramon fighting the other prisoners.

"Uh... Should I do anything about those two?" Dynasmon asks, as Crusadermon shakes her head.

"Ignore them per our Lady's orders, focus your efforts on the Beast. I am hoping to finally disprove your audacious claims about your abilities here and now." Crusadermon orders to Dynasmon, as Dynasmon's mouth unveils itself from his horned, helmeted head, as a powerful mist erupts from his mouth with an explosive force towards the headless Beast.

"Disprove this! Wyvern's Breath!!!" Dynasmon shouts, as a powerful, incredibly massive dragon made of pure energy emerges from Dynasmon's mouth, as two of the Vermilimon have not paid attention to Flamedramon to comment.

"Well, I'd really hate to be that guy right now."

"I know, right? Can't believe Dynasmon is attempting to slay none other than BelialM-"

Flamedramon doesn't even allow both of them to finish, as he grabs both of them and holds them over his shoulders. "Hate to interrupt, but you're the only two left and I have something special in mind for you to." Flamedramon comments, as he takes aim and focuses on Crusadermon and Dynasmon from the back of their respective helmets.

The dragon of mists doesn't even entertain the idea of whatever strength this Beast has; it simply charges through it, completely disintegrating it at a slow pace due to the power inherent to both opposing forces, as the draconic energy incarnate doesn't even leave a trace of the Beast or itself in the end, as it disappears without warning, as Crusadermon chuckles.

"Well, that'll be a wonderful entry in our Lady's logbo-"

A strike directly to the back of Crusadermon's head with Vermilimon's sturdy as diamond hide at full force knocks her over and onto the ground, in a heap with the one Vermilimon launched at her, as Dynasmon looks towards Davis and Flamedramon, as he catches the Vermilimon thrown towards him faster than either could react.

"99." Dynasmon speaks, simply, as Flamedramon and Davis look to the side to see a lone Vermilimon standing idle in hopes it would be given a free pass by everyone else in the room who isn't currently in a literal heap right now.

"Make that 100, I want this one to leave in peace. Besides, I already knocked out an 100th anyways with Crusadermon over there, and the Vermilimon she took out by proxy are now part of my score." Flamedramon corrects Dynasmon, as Dynasmon simply looks over the whole situation.

"Alright, I'll take that any day of the week as an answer. Best you two follow me, the Knightmon upstairs are getting anxious over Sigma's plans thinking something is wrong due to being left out of the loop. It'll be easier if I escort you upstairs out of the way." Dynasmon speaks to Davis and Flamedramon.

"I kind of wish I knew what to say; all of this happened so fast and yet it felt like an eternity in here." Davis speaks, as Dynasmon raises an eyebrow, as he points towards the Digivice in Davis' hands now.

"That, for one, is a Digivice, and as you can tell with this immense pile of KOs you scored with your own spirit invoking power upon Flamedramon, you are now a DigiDestined, as they're called these days. Though, most importantly, I think we should take it slow on the way back up, it'll buy Lady Sigma some time for her to settle the so called 'negotiations' she claims..." Dynasmon speaks, with a bit of a groan at the end, as Dynasmon leads the duo upstairs, as Flamedramon looks down towards his side to look directly at Davis.

"So, how did you know how to initiate my Digivolution without saying a word?" Flamedramon asks, curious, as Davis shrugs a bit.

"I dunno... something about this... about all of this... seems to be coming like second nature to me... I feel like as though that this situation is new to me, that I must've lived through such an experience like this before even if I can't recall it... question is, though, how do I have this second nature-like memory of me becoming a DigiDestined?" Davis wonders.

"That is a question we will all eventually get an answer to, some day or another."

Chapter Text

Not even a few steps into the front door and already it feels like we're all being watched.

"T.K., something doesn't feel right." Angewomon asks, as she looks towards Tai and Agumon approaching the central chamber of the hall in the castle.

"Agumon, Warp Digivolve to...!" Agumon shouts in an array of light that shines upon, as he Warp Digivolves into the Mega Level we all know him nowadays as.

"WaaarGreymon!!!" WarGreymon announces, upon manifesting from the fiery inferno encircling him, as large, extended claws emerge from armored gauntlets attached to his arms.

I look towards Seraphimon, noticing that something does seem off, in regards to why Angewomon had called my attention.

"Takeru, I feel something... We're not alone in this room..." Seraphimon speaks, as one door opens towards the back of the hall, as Dynasmon, with Crusadermon carried over his shoulder, and Davis and some other Digimon walks out. The door closes behind them, then the one behind us closes with a tremendous noise, as an panel lowers itself to the ground at an immense speed as Lady Sigma appears directly on it. Without her even saying a word, we're already surrounded. Knightmon appear in dozens all across the castle floors surrounding us, as various Digimon, all strikingly having the appearance not entirely different from Angemon's own, while every one of us that I can see before us looks towards these Holy Digimon in nothing but shock.

This despot of a Digimon; having Holy Digimon like these working for her? What was this world coming to?!

"It is amusing that you have come all of this way out to face me so soon after you had failed to deliver unto me what I had hoped you and the Garurumon both share as a secret from everyone else. I had hoped that, perhaps out of some form of vague familiarity with myself, that I would strike a nerve; to get you to lash out at me unprovoked; hoping some semblance of them would awaken to the surface." Lady Sigma speaks, aloud to everyone in the room, while various unknown Digimon appear as individual, distinct forms surrounding us.

"T.K., don't have Seraphimon try anything; this stranger is only interested in me and Matt specifically, and I have a feeling I already know why... I just wish Matt had a chance to show up on time without worrying too much over Sora's wellbeing." Tai speaks up towards me and Kari, hiding his face from view, as I don't understand quite what he's implying. I heard my brother and Sora were dating for at least a year by now, and I was informed Tai was supportive of the two. Then it dawned upon me, as the memories begin to flash back into my mind.

A Diabolical Digimon had cornered everyone in one intense struggle two years ago; the Y2K Bug as those who were not DigiDestined referred to the incident as. This creature was the very instigator of what was called the "Children's War Game", but some have called it more appropriately as "Our War Game", since everyone, and I mean everyone, was at stake against this creep's insane bout for power. It was only due to the intervention of Omegamon that any hope of slaying this monstrosity was shown, and even then, Izzy had to improvise about another situation going on during then to allow Omegamon to slay it without Diablomon's sheer speed causing it to stall for time for the warhead to have gone off.

All of us, for those ten seconds, saw everything we all knew about this world slowly reaching death's door, but Omegamon had impaled the demon through the skull to strike it down and vanquish it from this world or any other.

How wrong we all were, though, in that this was it's end. For it's data had dispersed, and now I understand where all of it went. All of these unknown Mega Levels, making their stand against us; they originated from his data, and almost exclusively his alone.

I was told that way from a theory, Izzy had told me once I was old enough to understand to begin intense training with Patamon.

Before I even knew what I was thinking about again, the sound of an intense explosion hits the room, as Seraphimon and Angewomon were both seen charging energy towards someone, most likely WarGreymon, before them, only for everyone in the room to be knocked back by an intense shockwave into the nearest wall.

"Are you referring to that deserter? I do hope you realize that the D-Brigade are not under my own control; they are forged solely outside of our own command." Lady Sigma speaks, as WarGreymon charges forward, colliding his right arm's Dramon Destroyer to strike against Lady Sigma's armor, not even causing her to budge in the process.

"She nearly died that day, and we were lucky that some of her relatives survived because that idiot wasn't smart enough to figure out-"

"That her father's surname is not his own, and that her own surname was solely from her mother's side? Honestly, to be blunt, anybody too willing to put human family before being a DigiDestined... Well, I can't say anything other than they deserve whatever fate awaits them, especially if the D-Brigade were to go after them under such a reason." Lady Sigma spoke, without so much as even mincing her words with the victim blaming towards Sora, while WarGreymon looks towards Angewomon.

"Give me a boost!" WarGreymon calls, as Angewomon begins to channel an intense light into WarGreymon directly, and Seraphimon, as if on cue, decided to do the same if merely because T.K. was lost in thought at the moment.

"Angewomon I feel like something is not right with this ordeal..." Seraphimon speaks, as Angewomon looks at him.

"Perhaps you should amplify WarGreymon even further if you really feel that uneasy about making a move without T.K.'s input... not saying that to be rude, but we're already vastly outnumbered and you've literally only just now been able to become Mega Level and-" Angewomon's desperation in her voice was beginning to crack; she was uncharacteristically unsettled by the Digimon surrounding the DigiDestined here; something, or someone, was bothering her here, and Seraphimon couldn't understand why. Now, however, was not the time to ask, as WarGreymon was attempting to strike at Lady Sigma with his left hand reaching away to prepare a stronger punch. Seraphimon, realizing WarGreymon's determination, forces a massive influx of power within WarGreymon's hand to cause him to generate enough energy to use one of his attacks using that hand alone.

"Terra Force...!" WarGreymon speaks, as he charges a spherical, flaming energy in his hand, as he strikes Lady Sigma directly in her chest with the Dramon Destroyer on his arm piercing her armor directly, and his whole hand now caught in her armor.

"... Something is going on in your head, isn't it, now...?" Lady Sigma speaks, as her eyes widen because WarGreymon growls in an uncharacteristic tone, as an eerie manifestion appears around his left arm, giving it the impression of a force equal to tenfold his whole form overtaking his left arm. Lady Sigma keeps staring in surprise.

"Continue to speak... I must hear their voice for myself...!" Lady Sigma speaks to WarGreymon, as WarGreymon's eyes glow a shining gold.

"Gladly! Transcendent Force!!!"

Within seconds, an intense explosion overtakes the main room in the castle, as WarGreymon doesn't even so much as budge when the explosion hits, as Angewomon, Seraphimon, each DigiDestined currently present, as Dynasmon prevents himself, Davis, and Flamedramon from being blown away. An even larger Digimon positions it's gigantic shield forward, clearing the smoke of the explosion faster by forcing all of it to be absorbed into the shield. The skull helmeted Digimon looks forward, in disbelief, as all of the other Digimon in the room are shocked at what they see.

Lady Sigma, blasted to smithereens, with only a good chunk of her upper body and head intact, with her Digicore cracked but otherwise slowly pulsing, as WarGreymon's entire left arm having taken on a robotic look, as his own head appears to cover a massive hand from which a sword emerges from it's jaws. Davis and Flamedramon rush forward to Tai and the others, as WarGreymon De-Digivolves all the way down to Botamon from sheer exhaustion from the attack, as Angewomon De-Digivolves to Gatomon in turn. Seraphimon, however, realizes all of the Digimon currently in the room are now about to turn their attention towards them next, and does something only he knew would be necessary for them to survive.

"DigiGate, Open!" Seraphimon calls and a portal engulfs each of the DigiDestined and their respective Digimon and teleports them back out of the castle, taking them back to the real world, as Seraphimon's image is only seldom seen as he De-Digivolves back into Patamon before being back in the real world, with Ouryumon roaring intensely in the sky at the site of Lady Sigma's severely damaged condition, as he and the wounded BanchoLeomon move to investigate her intact parts.

"She's alive, but in need of repairs that'll keep her out of the field until she can fully recover. Dynasmon! Have Duftmon prepare a counter attack against these DigiDestined at once! I want them all extinct for what they did just now!" Ouryumon yells, intensely enraged, but BanchoLeomon grabs him by the neck to subdue him, as Dynasmon subsequently forces Ouryumon down.

"You may be Her Sword, but I will not issue an order spoken in a tongue no different from them... Especially not with their target now among us like this." Dynasmon speaks, as Ouryumon's eyes widen, as BanchoLeomon snarls at him.

"More accurately, you should really just order all of your men to begin the healing machines to begin to repair Sigma with at once, lest anyone else find out about what happened and realize that we are all now vulnerable..." BanchoLeomon speaks, as Ouryumon nervously nods, as BanchoLeomon and Dynasmon set him down, as Dynasmon sighs a bit, as upon feeling Crusadermon slam her armored fist against his backside, sets the now conscious Crusadermon down as she is able to look around.

"With all due respect, Dynasmon, I fear that if any of us leave the castle after what I heard from Omegamon, I think everyone's attention is already now fixated on us as it is." Crusadermon points out, as Dynasmon looks between her and BanchoLeomon.

"Fine, so it's settled; we'll increase the castle defenses while we prepare for a possible hit and run by the D-Brigade. Be lucky I'm not Lady Sigma when I give this order, please." Dynasmon speaks, as Crusadermon and BanchoLeomon salute him, as the Knightmon work on salvaging data from what they could find of Lady Sigma across the whole chamber.

"Meanwhile, as I'm in temporary command it would seem, I would like to arrange an urgent meeting in private once Lady Sigma's repairs begin; I want none of us to go after those kids under any pretense, not while the D-Brigade will soon be breathing down our necks imminently." Dynasmon speaks.

Back in the real world, we were now back where we started, with the odd-looking Digimon appearing to have De-Digivolved entirely, as Tai and Agumon had already made their exit when I must've came to. Izzy, meanwhile, was more than ready to answer any questions I must've had by the time I came to.

Since whatever had happened, I found myself in the infirmary with only Kari and Izzy by my side at the moment, and me attempting to get back up only for a massive pain to sting in my arms and back that force me back to the bed.

"Easy, easy! Don't move, just, calm down and maybe try and sleep for a while... An ambulance is on the way..." Izzy's voice speaks to me, as I look towards Kari, my gaze feeling foggy.

"Relax, everyone is safe; Davis, Yolei, Cody, all back in class, safe and sound; you need to rest after what had happened to you when we got back. I'll do my best to ensure Tai is alerted as to you being in the hospital in the aftermath of this... just... please... try and get some sleep..."

What exactly did happen to me when we got back, anyways? I don't recall anything unusual happening; I just recall... hmmm... that's odd...

I can't seem to recall anything at this time... then again... I... I feel weird... kind of... s-sleepy...

Chapter Text

Tai, Matt, and Izzy had all managed to negotiate with their teachers for today, as because of that, now all three are in the waiting room of the hospital. About an hour had passed since T.K. had passed out asleep after Izzy and Kari were the last to see him awake, as Tai is sweating a little in the heat of the room. Izzy, meanwhile, is deep in thought, as Matt is looking towards the other two with his fingers intertwined with his hands.

"This is my fault for not being there when that bitch-"

"Language!" Izzy scolds Matt, as Matt sighs.

"... Fine, when that wench had captured Daisuke and had lead to Tai and Agumon blasting apart this Royal Knight into nothing but pieces." Matt speaks, correcting himself upon Izzy's complaint, which Izzy raises an eye at.

"Look, Matt, I understand you're mad about this whole situation, but these Royal Knights aren't affiliated with Sealsdramon." Izzy points out, as Tai narrows his eyes a bit.

"How could you say that when Sigma actually knows about the situation? Also, it's Tankdramon last I checked, not that it matters now considering WarGreymon tore him to shreds... again..." Tai speaks, as he looks towards Izzy's laptop off to the side. " I swear you're implying something, Izzy, with just keeping your laptop to the side like this." Tai asks, as Izzy looks up at him.

"I'm not implying anything, but if we are to survive against this population boom of Mega Level Digimon, we have to act and decide on a secondary leader sooner than later after how long we've been delaying the inevitable." Izzy tells him, as Matt nods.

"Agreed; it was inevitable people like Daisuke and his friends would become DigiDestined, heck, Daisuke now even has a Digivice and a Digimon of his own to prove our observations, that anyone else who sees a Digimon is all that needs to happen for them to become DigiDestined in turn. This isn't about just getting a secondary leader ready for a new group of DigiDestined, this is making sure we have more than just Tai and myself to be able to handle drastic situations like this." The blond points out, as the two brunets look towards each other.

"So, shall we vote on who should be the leader in that case?" Tai asks, as Izzy nods.

"My vote is T.K., plain and simple. Sure, he's recovering now, but Joe's relatives say he'll make a full recovery after he gets some sleep. Besides, with him having been the first out of any of us to figure out how to skip Champion and go straight to Ultimate, he's our best bet considering he's more than likely to achieve Mega Level with Patamon sooner than any of us." Izzy makes his point clear, as Tai nods.

"I agree, T.K. sounds like the best bet. What about your input, Matt? This is your brother we're referring to here, after all." Tai asks, as the blonde shakes his head.

"My vote isn't going to him; it's going to Kari, plain and simple." Matt speaks, rather harsh in his tone, as Tai's eyes widen, as he shoots him a glare after a moment.

"Matt, you're bring this up again? I thought we had discussed about this over the course of the last few years, she isn't ready for this type of responsibility!" Tai responds, as Matt shakes his head.

"The only one who isn't ready for this is you, Tai; if Kari doesn't learn to fend for herself without having to rely on you like she's been the last 2 years since Diablomon showed up, I would've simply agreed that T.K. would lead." Matt points out, as Tai glares still. "Look, I get it, she's not right in her mind, but if you constantly have to fend off enemies for her, she'll never learn, and by the time you finally decide to stop sheltering her it'll be too late for her to become independent." Matt adds, as Tai's gaze softens a tad. The blonde, looking towards the door to the hall where T.K. was taken through, sighs a bit as he looks towards Tai and Izzy both eyeing him intently.

"Besides, do not think for a moment that she won't at the very least be slowly weaned into it; if you don't mind, I recommend we have Sora get in touch with Kari to talk to her about this to the side to help prepare her for such a role. However, if you're still unconvinced of my warning, then fine; T.K. will lead until she and Sora talk things out." Matt finishes, as Tai sighs in relief as Izzy closes his eyes, subtly shaking his head a little out of the other two's view.

'Nothing good will come of this decision, I swear; I understand Matt means well, but right now T.K.'s our best bet to lead Daisuke and his friends as DigiDestined. I just wish there was more I could do to speak to him about how his plan to have Kari lead would be even more disastrous than he thinks...' Izzy thought to himself, as he turns his attention towards the sound of flipper-like feet walking across the glossy floor of the waiting room, as a small, seal-like Digimon known as Gomamon made himself known.

"If you've come to check up on Joe as well, he's actually on a day off back at home. I'm only here to make sure his brother is safe in case Tankdramon ever decides to come back." Gomamon speaks, as Izzy nods.

"I'm glad to see you're doing your part to make sure your own training is going well." Izzy speaks, as Tai nods.

"Considering Joe's hectic schedule, I kind of have to solo train more so than the others, which as a result, allowed me to Warp Digivolve to Zudomon without Joe's input, and, who knows, perhaps when Joe has time to train with me again proper, I might even hit Mega Level soon." Gomamon speaks, as Matt looks towards him.

"Any progress with Gabumon's training? I am concerned that with the Royal Knights and this other group we've been informed of as of late, that Gabumon will need to be at the top of his game for us to make sure everyone will be safe." Matt asks, as Gomamon tilts his head a bit.

"He's been training again with Agumon ever since you got here to check on T.K.. I wish I knew what it is I could figure out regarding this Combination he and Agumon have been trying to figure out with you guys." Gomamon says, as Tai and Matt nod.

"It's a process we ourselves are trying to figure out as well, but please, in case neither of us get the chance, tell Agumon and Gabumon to get some rest after what's been going on today, we don't want them to overexert themselves without us." Tai asks, gently, as Gomamon nods.

"I'll be sure to let them know should you hit the sack before you message them, although speaking of which, the hospital is closing soon, so you should begin heading home now. I'll be sure to keep tabs on T.K.'s condition overnight." Gomamon brings up, as Tai, Matt, and Izzy nod, as Tai and Izzy move to leave, as Matt sticks around a bit before following the two out.

"Keep an eye on him; I've been feeling he hasn't been getting much sleep as of late from what I've been hearing from phone calls with mom." Matt asks of Gomamon, as Gomamon nods, before Matt walks out of the hospital along with Tai and Izzy.

Hopefully getting some sleep will prove good for T.K.'s health overall, considering what has been going on from what little Matt has been informed of his fatigue as of late...

Chapter Text

Matt was walking on his way home by himself, for the most part. He had parted ways with Tai and Izzy a while earlier as he's walking down the street at dusk, as he looks around at various signs across the district are turning off for the night, as well as there being very few other people outside right now. Matt snaps out of his train of thought, though, when a droplet of water touches the top of his black hoodie, as Matt looks up at the sky and notices the clouds forming, as rain is beginning to slowly fall.

"Shit... should've brought an umbrella had I known about it going to rain soon..." Matt remarks, as someone with an umbrella appears right beside him, as if a warm aura had crept up to him and caught him off guard with the pleasant, sweet aroma the person emanates with, as Matt looks to his side to a see a tad shorter, redheaded girl his own age smiling at him, holding an umbrella over the two of them.

"Your dad wanted me to come find you, ya know, just to make sure you weren't swearing behind his back." Sora speaks, as Matt looks at her and sighs.

"... I'll swear on this, that he's looking forward to collecting that payment once that jar fills up with enough cash any day now." Matt speaks, a tad flustered by Sora's presence, as Sora moves to lock arms with Matt as she walks down the street with him back home.

"You're lucky my dad approves of me living with you two for the time being, at least, until we can figure out a safe place that Tankdramon doesn't know about for me to stay." Sora brings up, as Sora lightly chuckles a bit, feigning a positive aura as soon her chuckling fades quickly, as she looks down a bit, hiding tears forming in her eyes.

"... It's still not fair what he did to me out of such petty spite, though..." Sora brings up, her tone quieter as she can soon feel Matt wrapping an arm around her back, his hand grasping her shoulder gently as he walks with her back home.

"Sora, there wasn't anything any of us could've done to know about this guy in advance. It's not your fault." Matt brings up, as Sora shakes her head.

"It is, though! I'm tired of feeling like you insist on that, especially when I wasn't doing anything other than being a prick to Tai when you guys and your Digimon were almost destroyed by Diablomon... If I had known you guys were in peril sooner than the day after it had went down, I... I could've easily rallied everyone else to help and then some." Sora informs Matt, as Matt closes his eyes a bit.

"Sora... this isn't your fault, you couldn't have known better especially since none of the others-"

"Kari knew, Matt; Kari had been at a birthday receiving phone calls from Tai about the situation; had I stepped in I could've gotten her to assist me with helping you guys out in that battle. Heck, I'm more than willing to bet all of the money in my savings that I could've even managed to reach out to Mimi while she was in Hawaii to help you guys!"

"Sora..."

"But all I did was just be a prick with my own hormones affecting my own judgment on things; I nearly lost Tai as a friend after what had happened back then, I would've felt horrible had he never forgiven me after that which he shouldn't have and-"

Sora's cries were silenced, though, when her teary eyes widen as to see Matt standing in front of her now, kissing her full on the lips. Sora could feel Matt's strong arms wrapping around her, holding her where they both stand right now, as Sora didn't know how to respond right away, before simply allowing herself to melt in Matt's arms as she softly cries into his shirt as Matt, carefully and gently, strokes her backside with his hand to calm her down. Hoping to have her let out all of this pent up frustration for now with this embrace, Matt doesn't say a word, allowing Sora to cry however long she needs to just to let all of this overwhelming emotion out of her system, all the while keeping her close, rubbing her backside to help calm her down, slowly. Matt had broke the kiss a moment after he had kissed her, allowing Sora to rest her head on his shoulder as he rests he continues to hold her gently like this. Sora could be heard crying, quite a bit, but Matt simply whispers something inaudible into Sora's ear, as Matt can slowly tell Sora is beginning to calm down after this long, drawn out intimate moment between the two.

"Its alright... I'm here..." Matt speaks, softly, into Sora's ear, hoping she hears him as he knows her cries are calming down quietly enough for her to be able to hear him. Sora, after a few minutes, had moved to look at Matt in the eyes, as she closes her eyes before closing the distance between their faces as she kisses him back, as Matt returns it, calmly, as the two stay still for a moment, before breaking the kiss and looking at each other.

"Is T.K. going to be alright?" Sora asks, her tears being wiped away by Matt as he places a hand on her cheek, as Matt nods.

"He'll be just fine, he just needs to get some sleep for once; he'll make a full recovery, and dad will be picking him up from the hospital in the morning as long as nothing else happens between then and now." Matt informs Sora, as Sora breathes in for a moment, before exhaling, softly, as she looks at him, nodding.

"Let's go home for the night, Matt..." Sora tells him, as Matt nods, as he moves to begin walking with her down the street towards Matt's apartment, where due to Tankdramon she had been staying there ever since his vile intent had rendered much of Sora's relatives out of commission.

In the shadows of a nearby alley, though, there appears to be a red, glowing eye piercing the darkness with a tracking laser.

{{Sealsdramon-004 to Sergeant Tankdramon; target has been spotted, but I fail to understand why we do not act again while she is defenseless.}}

{{She will not be easily vanquished after what injuries the Dramon Killer had put me through, trooper... You should be wise to learn from my mistakes, yesss... I had to deal with the Dramon Killer myself, and I will not have you or anyone else's arrogance endure what I had when I attempted several times to off her myself in vein... Rest assured, however, that with my repairs nearly finished, my body will be stronger than ever before... it is too soon to know when that'll be, but when that day arrives, we shall strike again, and this time, the Dramon Killer will be in for a surprise he will never expect...}}

Chapter Text

Night in the Digital World. In an unknown version of File Island. The same version of File Island that Jijimon had brought T.K. and Patamon to earlier.

Right now, Patamon is here all by himself, as Patamon had gotten lost returning to the Digital World after having helped evacuate everyone. Even then, didn't Jijimon say that nobody could find this version of File Island unless he allowed it?

Even if he did, Patamon is flying up towards Jijimon's cardboard box of a home, and looking directly inside, Patamon doesn't see anyone inside at all. Jijimon is gone, and the numerous Baby and In-Training Digimon across File City had all disappeared as well.

As though something is here which had scared them off.

"T.K.... If only you were here right about now... This place is giving me the creeps..." Patamon mumbles, noticing as to how everything is perhaps too quiet, too isolated in this area for his own good.

Patamon knows something is watching him, but yet the feeling of isolation sting lingers strongly, as Patamon is incapable of even realizing something is watching him, even though he's aware something is at the same time.

Whatever this entity is, though, it appears... oddly dissonant, in terms of what Patamon could've been expecting otherwise. Patamon looks around the area overall, and eventually sees some sign of life in the vast, emptiness of File City.

A boy, around the same height as T.K., dressed in an odd uniform, with wild hair akin to Tai's own, albeit a bluish shade. Eyes hidden by shades he is wearing, it's difficult to tell, especially at this time of night, where he's looking. Although, that said, the glowing red his shades are right now doesn't paint any pretty pictures at all.

"A long way from home you are. What are you doing in my land?" The boy asks Patamon, eerily quiet in tone despite the distance between the two, as Patamon shudders a bit.

"I... I can't digivolve...? Why?" Patamon inquires as to why he didn't just digivolve any time now in response to a perceived threat from this boy. The boy snickers a little, though, as if knowing exactly why Patamon can't digivolve.

"You're within my territory, rodent. My territory, adorned by legions of my Dark Towers chaining down my slaves wherever they may be." The boy introduces, as large, massive obelisks forge up from the ground and begin to emit a strong, ear piercing signal of sorts, as Patamon can tell a Digimon is nearby, waiting to strike. When Patamon sees the Digimon move out into view, it looks astonishingly a lot like him, except violet with glowing red eyes.

"You may not be able to digivolve, Patamon, but rest assured; with my Dark Digivice, my slaves have no issue digivolving on their own, as per my own commands. Observe, if you will." The boy bows, as he holds a black Digivice, modeled just like the reformatted Digivice T.K. now has, as it shines an intense darkness towards the Digimon before him.

"Tsukaimon, Dark Digivolve to...!" Tsukaimon calls out, as a massive, towering fog surrounds itself, as emerging from it are scarily long arms in comparison to it's overall body with a humanoid body and leathering wings coming into view.

"Devimon!" Patamon calls out in shock, as the Tsukaimon had Dark Digivolved into none other than his old foe. Reborn, or just among the same species? He couldn't tell right now, as Devimon was eerily silent.

"It has been a while, Patamon. I am surprised you didn't realize that because of File City, even the likes of me can be reborn anew. For you see, no Digimon is off limits from being reborn again in File City. You may even recognize a few faces here and there." Devimon speaks, as Patamon looks around, shocked, as behind him approaches something that actually causes Devimon and the mysterious boy to disappear from view. A massive, long limbed, skinny humanoid walking on all fours, with a row of spikes across it's spine, and a diabolical head with a frightening set of perpetually open jaws and a fish eyed expression. Even with this eyes, the Digimon suddenly has it's eyes look forward towards Patamon, in such a way that the eyes only look more disturbing with their unnatural way of facing forward.

"̵̨̃̌̔Ỹ̴̟̗̪͗ơ̶̧̒͘ȗ̸̢͕͌.̵͔̀̅.̵̞̏͝.̵̧̣̲͠ ̶͕̹̄̍̎I̸͓̙̓̏̚ ̷̡̕r̴̲̅̄e̵̖̗̋̈m̶̧͎̟͂e̴̮͊̏m̶̛̳ḇ̴̤͓̈́̏̍e̴̗͐̊ṛ̸͕̈́ͅ.̸̛̫͍̮.̵͓̼̏̅.̷̥͈̀̇͘ ̸͉͕̆͂͠I̷͎̦̫͑̆ ̵͙̓̉̃ǎ̵̧͈͇m̸̫̏.̷͉̫̆͊.̸̣̓͠.̴̫̭̇͌̌ ̶̰̈́̀D̶̘͙̲͑ḭ̴̟̺͑̓ą̴̺̦̈́͘b̷͚̺̂͊͜l̵̬̮̍͘͝ͅö̸͕̻m̷͈͈͐̾o̷̫̭̐̆̾͜n̴̫̿̕.̸̲̔͠ͅ.̶̼̚.̷̲̳͋͋̾"̴̨̡̪̒̐̋ Diablomon reintroduces, as Patamon flies backwards in place, before eventually flying off in the other direction in an attempt to flee. Diablomon's massive body combined with stretching limbs, however, cause Patamon to be pinned to the ground for his efforts by one of Diablomon's massive hands. Suddenly, out of the blue, the pores on Diablomon's shoulders suddenly open up at once, as an untold number of arms emerge from them, and each of them grab out towards one of the Dark Towers they are closest to, while Diablomon's thousands upon thousands of newly forged arms stretch out much, much farther than should physically be possible. Several of these hands even move to grab hold of Infinity Mountain directly behind Diablomon, as Diablomon's head turns an uncannily perfect 180 degrees in place to look towards Infinity Mountain.

"̶̳̠̽̋P̸̯̼͈̀o̶͚̝̓ẅ̷̩̬̙́̀͝e̷̬̖̔̌r̸̩̖̕.̴̤̠̙́.̷̲̫̌͠.̶̮͔̗̈̄ ̵̬̊̐͆s̶͚̖̩̈́͒̿o̶̟̖̽.̸̻͓̉̕.̵̨̞͇̎̉.̸̗̠̙̑ ̴̧͌̽͜m̴̳̞̊͌u̴̺͑c̴̼̠̈́̕ḣ̵̡̹͉.̵̞̜̎̈́͠.̴̛̗̪̩̽.̸̻̠͂̆ ̸̛̜͍͑p̵̜͈̻̂͋̃o̶̤̚w̷̳͈̲̓͛͠e̴̻̿͐r̶͉̗͊̉.̴̮̥̺̈́͆.̴̣͒.̷̦̻̯̀͝ ̶̹̽͊͘I̷̝̅̕ ̶͒̅͜f̶̨͎̃̄e̸̝͐͐͘e̵̤̥̎̅͝l̶̹̗̠͐̈̕.̷̺̜̻̉.̵̟̜̫̈͂.̵̧̖͕͋ ̷̪͉͎̚I̷̛̮͇͌͠.̷̰͇̈.̶̘̪̊̉.̴̣̑ ̷̢̩́͑f̴̙̿ͅe̵̡̟̋̒e̸̜̫͖͌l̵͙̓̈͒.̵̞͙̪̏̇.̷̻̫͊͜.̸̟̫͂̎ ̸̣̼͋͂ș̷̨̧͛͒̄o̵̤̊́.̵̢̮͊̓͜.̶̥̥̱͛̕͝.̶̤̟͈͛̆͠ ̶̨͍̚g̴̦͔̉͐͝ò̶̪͙ò̸̳̦͚d̷͇̳̺̊͗.̶̠̩͑͠.̷̢͐͋̄.̴̞͔̔"̶̪͉̰͒͂ Diablomon screeches, as Patamon can feel Diablomon's larger hand ensure he's pinned, as Diablomon's head turns back around, seamlessly, as it's entire neck stretches as Diablomon's head approaches Patamon's spot, as Diablomon's jaws unhinge like a serpent's as Diablomon's mouth opens to an impossibly wide angle, as Patamon cries out and screams as Diablomon is about to eat him whole.

"̴I̸.̸.̴.̷ n̷͈͌ë̷̯ȩ̸̚d̶͓̍.̵̺̂.̶̗̒.̸͖̏ m̵̹̉̎̆o̶̡͔̱̓r̴͙͋e̸͙̪̝͛.̶̫̮͍̇̒.̷̬̌̅.̵͎̇ M̷̧̡̡̞̹̔͗̍̋͑̿̊̃̚ǫ̴̣͓̼̳͐̋̍̉͜ͅr̵̡̦̞̫̄̿͂͋̌̃̿ë̸̫̘̟̺́.̸͕͂.̷̖͉̺̘͙̘̉̑̕͠.̷̰̣̜̍̊̀̋͋̓̚͜!̴̟͉͍͕͋͂̄̒̎ M̵̡̗͔̅͆̈́̀ͅǪ̸̪̱̃̃̓̐̌̈́̀͐̅̒̓̒̎̌̚͝R̵̡̡̨̪̝̺͉̼̤̰͚̪̺̱͍̜̫͍̬̗͐̍̈͌̓͜͠E̵̡̧̩̫̺̥͔̲̣̦̦̜͈̳̺̠̻͇̘̝̹͊̂̇̎͑̇͠.̷̛̛̩̪̲͎͖̫̲̥͑̅̂͜.̵̧̢̛͙̱̜̬̟̫̪̭̜̳̥͆̄͊͆͌̇̚.̶̛̗̪͍̩̣̣͖͈͙͔̦̮̩̦̮̓͛̈͂̊̍́̍̈́͐͊̋̎̋̿̾̔̌̓͝͠!̵̛̱̞͖̺̘͖̦̭̱̝͎̗̹̩̉̌͂̓̌̏̔̋̎́͑͜͝!̸̧͇̘͓̙̠̠̤͍̬̟̰̠̘̮̎̈́"̶̰̯͎̹͍͍̥͙̳̤̄̈͌̈́̈̚͝ͅ

Chapter Text

Patamon couldn't allow himself to be backed into a corner by this monstrosity. Diablomon was nothing short of a nightmarish foe even normally. For Patamon, he was currently even worse as his jaws inch ever so closer to Patamon. However, Diablomon's eyes suddenly shift towards the left, as a bright, shining arrow pierces through Diablomon's head and he stops dead in his movement.

"Patamon!" Angewomon calls, as Angewomon flies down towards him and moves to grab him, picking him up and flying up into the air in a spiral-like twirl, which manifests a bright, powerful aura of saintly air to surround and engulf both of them.

"Angewomon! This is just like..."

"I know; T.K.'s dreams had already been becoming more and more real every passing moment over the past year. Now isn't the time to remain idle, though." Angewomon calms him, as Patamon, without saying a word, Warp Digivolves to MagnaAngemon using the empowering aura of this holy air that Angewomon has the two of them protected by, as Angewomon lets out a silent gasp.

"Y-You... You Warp Digivolved without T.K.'s presence? It took Agumon and Gabumon 2 years just to be able to do anything like that." Angewomon speaks, as MagnaAngemon shakes his head.

"They evolved twice in those instances, simply skipping one form to go immediately into the next possible." MagnaAngemon speaks, as Diablomon's eyes suddenly shift in movement, as MagnaAngemon is quick to notice.

"Unfortunately for this diabolical monster" he points at Diablomon, "I've had to endure this nightmare myself just like T.K. for months on end; my own unyielding hope had made me more than prepared to finally take action into my own hands. It is my own Gate of Destiny I had seen many times before, waiting for my command from which to summon it." MagnaAngemon speaks, as he unsheathes his sword from his right arm, and forms a magic circle using it, and points it down towards Diablomon. The gate, however, does not immediately open, as Angewomon places herself behind the Gate of Destiny, as once the doors finally open, thousands upon thousands of Celestial Arrows rain down upon Diablomon at once, with each one of them transforming into chains forged of solid light and engraved by holy seals.

Diablomon responds by simply growing additional arms from it's shoulders to try and strike down MagnaAngemon and Angewomon with, but MagnaAngemon would not allow himself to be deterred, and neither did Diablomon it seemed. MagnaAngemon, moving forward, strikes with his sword to sever the newly forging arms from Diablomon at once, as Diablomon moves itself by force to position its chest cavity to open up and fire a destructive blast towards MagnaAngemon, only for the already deployed Gate of Destiny to absorb it entirely and draw it's fire away from MagnaAngemon almost entirely. Angewomon, still behind the Gate of Destiny, flies upward during Diablomon's recoil from each individual blast, to take arm with her arms as she manifests a gigantic Celestial Arrow in hand, before firing it down into Diablomon's chest, pinning him to the ground and disabling the cannon's function.

"Funny, isn't it, Diablomon? For it was once you that had once towered over me while I was defenseless and at your mercy." MagnaAngemon speaks, as Angewomon teleports down to step down towards Diablomon's head, as Diablomon's head moves to face her without his eyes having budged an inch, making it appear like from the angle that he had moved, Diablomon's eyes were facing the inside of his own head.

"I have a feeling that had this been 2 years ago, MagnaAngemon would've destroyed you without so much as batting an eye, just like how I was told Omegamon did." Angewomon speaks to Diablomon, as MagnaAngemon looks towards her, as Angewomon in turn looks towards him. "Though part of me feels like he intends for something else to happen this time." Angewomon speaks, as MagnaAngemon looks back at Diablomon, briefly, before looking at Angewomon with a nod.

"Indeed, I would have... but part of me feels something within Diablomon had grown since we had last encountered it. Before, Diablomon was a soulless monstrosity, but something much more... pure, now manifests from within it, asking to be freed of it's physical form it has now. It's tone confuses me, admittedly, but I can feel a genuine innocence with this tone it has." MagnaAngemon speaks, as Diablomon's eyes turn around and its mouth completely closes, an odd sight for a Digimon whose mouth was almost always hanging open by comparison. Angewomon looks in surprise, though, as the holy chains begin to disappear and absorb themselves into Diablomon's whole body, as Diablomon's body shrinks and decreases in size, as though undergoing De-Digivolution.

By the time the blinding light clears, MagnaAngemon and Angewomon witness as a chocolate colored rabbit appears in Diablomon's place, with three points on it's forehead and a few pink colored spots across it's small body contrasted by massive, lopped ears. MagnaAngemon and Angewomon, seeing that this is the newly converted Diablomon on it's own accord, both De-Digivolve to Angemon and Gatomon respectively. Angemon does not De-Digivolve to Patamon just yet, though, as he isn't certain of any continued dangerous presence in the area overall.

"So, you must be the Digimon that Willis tried to create when he was much younger, aren't you?" Gatomon asks, as the rabbit-like Digimon becomes rather skittish, and moves to fly with it's ears to hide behind Angemon. Gatomon, blinking a bit in confusion, realizes that something had startled it, but that it wasn't her. Instead, it was the rising sun and the presence of the mysterious boy and Devimon, the latter hiding in the shadows just behind the mysterious, chuckling boy witnessing this sight.

"So, the rumors are true, there do indeed appear to be stronger adversaries than I had anticipated. If that's the case, it appears my attempts to salvage his data was all for naught for the time being." The boy speaks, as he refers towards the rabbit-like Digimon hiding behind Angemon with Gatomon shooting the boy a glare.

"You don't stand a chance against us now, the sun's rising; your power is fading as ours is only intensifying." Gatomon boasts to the boy, as Devimon begins to hide further and further into the boy's shadow.

"That is true, but my mission was otherwise successful, as all I needed was to retrieve a single specimen from this place alive, and Devimon, even in a groggy, weakened state, is a very much alive and intact specimen for my research." The mysterious boy adds, as he fades from view, becoming semi-transparent as the morning sun rises.

"Let this be known, however, in that you will all eventually bow before the Digimon Emperor, one way, or another." The boy says with a sadistic glee, as he and Devimon both disappear into the shadows completely as the sun fully rises from over the horizon. Gatomon sighs, as Angemon De-Digivolves to Patamon now that it appears all is safe with where they are now. Patamon, though, can't help but be curious as to Diablomon's newly reformed appearance.

"Sooo... What is your name?" Patamon asks with a child-like innocence, knowing it would probably be easier for the new Digimon to process his wording this way for now.

"I... I am... Lopmon..." Lopmon introduces, as Lopmon looks around rather skittishly, before running over towards Gatomon and hiding behind her. Gatomon snickers a little, as Patamon flies over to look at her.

"He's a shy little boy now; to think all of this was hiding underneath all of the malicious coding that formed Diablomon this whole time." Gatomon finds curiously with looking upon just how adorable Lopmon is behaving, almost akin to a younger child than even T.K. and Kari were like by comparison.

"Diablomon? No, I am Lopmon. Lopmon!" Lopmon speaks, confused by what this Diablomon name is referring to, as Patamon lands on the ground to look at Patamon.

"I am Patamon, and this is my friend Gatomon. You must've chosen to side with us now that Diablomon's influence was weakening on your true self, Lopmon." Patamon asks, as Lopmon looks at him, partially understanding some of it, as he giggles a bit.

"I-I guess that is true... I was so lonely, in that form, trying to make friends, only to wind up nearly inflicting death everywhere I had went... I don't understand why I was given such a form... I wish I could apologize more for my actions in that form... Were they even my own, though?" Lopmon asks, as Gatomon moves to gently pat Lopmon's head to reassure him.

"You'll be fine, Lopmon; you're unique, a young one born in a new generation of Digitama. You'll understand some day once we manage to get you back to your partner Willis." Gatomon tells him, as Patamon looks around at the time of day it is in the Digital World.

"Ah! I'm late! T.K.'s going to flip if I'm not the first one he sees after waking up from those injuries!" Patamon speaks, before teleporting out of view into a miniature DigiGate, as Lopmon looks around, a bit confused, as Gatomon sighs as she looks on.

"Perhaps to reunite you with Willis, we must first get his attention to us, it would seem." Gatomon ponders, as two, loud footsteps of someone landing just out of view of the two shakes the ground beneath them, all the while Lopmon moves to hide behind Gatomon away from the aproaching entity, as Gatomon looks up as she's surprised with who she sees.

"You?! What are you doing here, Dynasmon?! Did Sigma survive after all?!" Gatomon asks, as Dynasmon looks down at her, due to his own immense height.

"It is too soon to know; we've only just begun to put her through the repair process. It'll take weeks for her mind to recover from the recoil of the explosive your friend used inside of her frame. That, however, is not why I am here. I am here to offer a ceasefire, Gatomon, in hopes that both the DigiDestined and Royal Knights can prepare to take on our newly discovered enemy after what I had observed several minutes before making myself known." Dynasmon speaks, as Gatomon's eyes widen a bit, as they narrow a bit as she growls a bit.

"So... the Digimon Emperor kid... There's more to him than what T.K.'s dreams were leading on, especially with us learning he's real after all." Gatomon speaks, as Dynasmon nods.

"Indeed, hence why I ask a ceasefire, and you will agree." Dynasmon points out, as Gatomon glares.

"What do you intend to do about Sealsdramon? I will not agree to any ceasefire with a suspicious faction while knowing he's still at large." Gatomon brings up, as Dynasmon chuckles a bit.

"He will be dealt with accordingly, but as of now two other elements are in play now that Lady Sigma is out of the picture for now... Did by any chance Miyako and Iori acquire a Digivice of their own yet? If not..."

"... Then we still have a problem..."

Chapter Text

Gatomon and Lopmon were strolling through the unknown File Island, as Gatomon at the very least was pondering how she even managed to get in here. If what Patamon had informed her was true, this server of File Island was not supposed to be accessible normally. Something was amiss, it was though this were too easy...

That's when the surprising charge of a sharp horn tackling into Gatomon's side occurs, in which Lopmon looks on in fright as a Unimon, with reddened eyes, and having a dark collar around it's neck rears it's head up and howls an ungodly shriek. Gatomon, getting back up from the attack, looks around as she notices her tail is now missing a certain detail; a Holy Ring adorned on it, under normal circumstances, now currently right next to Unimon's feet. Unimon steps forward, nearly looking from her angle that Unimon would step on it and break it.

However, from Lopmon's angle, Unimon's nearest hoof touched the ground further away from the Holy Ring, as if having avoided touching it due to the dark collar reacting with a negative energy spike against Unimon in response. Something didn't want Unimon to go near it, as though Unimon's own inherent good will was breaking free of this imprisoned mentality from this Control Ring. Gatomon quickly realized what was going on, as she moves low to the ground, prowling towards Unimon, before suddenly leaping forward and grabbing onto Unimon's back as Unimon attempts to buck to get her off.

With only a single hand, though, Gatomon is able to maintain a surprisingly strong grip on Unimon's back, as her claws glow a bright yellow as Gatomon lets out an oddly deep, leonine roar from her mouth.

"Howling Crusher!" Gatomon speaks, before swiping at the Control Ring with her free hand as the ring completely shatters like porcelain upon mere impact from her swiping claws. Gatomon keeps a hold of Unimon, as Unimon rears up as Unimon is regaining it's senses, as Unimon moves to stand normally on the ground as it calms down, with Gatomon patting Unimon's neck gently to soothe it.

"There there, sorry about that fella." Gatomon speaks, as she leaps off of Unimon's back, as she simply takes her Holy Ring from the ground as she places it on her tail, with her channeling light magic to have the Holy Ring form a tighter grip around her tail so it wouldn't fall off again so casually.

"That was very brave of you Gatomon..." Lopmon says, as he watches innocently as Unimon leaves the scene and the sound of powerful footsteps approaching gets increasingly louder.

Dynasmon had been hovering idly much further away, giving Gatomon and Lopmon some space for now under the pretense he thinks he had been too blunt with his negotiation with her. As Dynasmon looks to his side and realizes who is walking towards him an equally large, sabertoothed lion sits down next to him.

"I see she's gotten the situation under control, and here I assumed her kind was only rumored to be related to my own." SaberLeomon speaks, as Dynasmon raises an eye.

"Don't her claws have bits of your own data infused in them by default?" Dynasmon asks, as SaberLeomon nods.

"Correct, and hence why for the longest of time until recently, Gatomon's species was thought to be more closely related to Leomon-species like myself because of it. For while Gatomon may indeed be proficient in divinity with her Holy Ring..." SaberLeomon speaks, as he looks towards Gatomon leading Lopmon back on their way to find someplace to rest.

"Someone like her has no need to strictly rely on it to be able to use her inner lion's heart to evoke our own, shared strength."

Chapter Text

"Tell me, Devimon," The mysterious boy speaks, as he walks down a path at File Island, his left hand grazing the side of the imposing Infinity Mountain, as if searching for something out of place.

"I'm Tsukaimon for the moment, since I don't want anyone getting on our case... That is, of course, you are true to your word that you can do the one thing I never could regarding this nostalgic place." Tsukaimon corrects, as he hides his own power from the potential witnesses that are the DigiDestined. Even if they are not physically present, Devimon is no fool; he was already felled once by their strongest Champion in the past, and while he tormented that even said Champion wouldn't survive the process.

Clearly witnessing said Champion reborn, and having achieved Ultimate Level like it meant nothing to him, had Devimon's mind spinning from the realization of what all he must've missed while having been deceased. Even the Digimon known as "Diablomon" escaped his radar, not only for it's Mega Level power, but because he had never seen such a monstrosity before at all. All of this, and who knows how much more, Devimon is thinking to himself, his thoughts racing, all the while hiding in a form best described as Patamon's living shadow. Following the mysterious boy, who dubs himself the "Digimon Emperor"...

... Just as his feeling hand realizes something off with the side of Infinity Mountain, causing him to stop where he was walking to look at the side of the mountain.

"Here it is. Though, before we begin, is there anything that needs clarified on why exactly you're letting me access this place, just to be certain your memories haven't been completely scrambled in your rebirth?" The mysterious boy asks, as Tsukaimon looks at the wall in question; to anyone else, even to him, it looks no different from any other part of Infinity Mountain proper.

"I have read the forbidden texts on this mountain in the ancient past; I was but a fraction of what power the Digital World had to offer. I had conquered File Island not simply as a display of power, using my darkness to tangle with the minds of it's inhabitants, but because the generation of Digitama I was born to was only capable of so much; I would die young, never to see Ultimate Level, and for that, I had settled on File Island due to both it's small size, and the lack of competition who seemed to already avoid this place like the plague. I never quite understood why this was the case, until I realized that humans could ever possess such mastery over their own Digimon at their side; through their companionship, capable of awakening the true Light of Digivolution; the Light of Digivolution is not some concept of faith or anything of the sort, but is the personification of a bond between two entities; one a Digimon, the other a human." Tsukaimon speaks, as he looks up at the mysterious boy, who appears to be listening, but makes no indication of answering, meaning he wants Tsukaimon to continue on his explanation.

"There really isn't much to it than that, to be honest; there is the antithesis to it, though, that is Dark Digivolution. However, even Digimon, Virus Attribute, Dark Element, Nightmare Soldiers, or just in any way or form appearing to be anything sort of "evil" in a traditional sense, they too could all be achievable forms through the Light of Digivolution, even my own form, or the forms of those far beyond my league in my prior life." Tsukaimon elaborates, as the mysterious boy is feeling around the surface of the rock before him.

"So what makes 'Dark Digivolution' so special, knowing that whatever form you could ever achieve from it, ultimately being possible with even the Light of Digivolution as well?" The mysterious boy asks, as Tsukaimon opens his eyes.

"Pure, unadulterated, chaos. Dark Digivolution is the result of a miscommunication from at least one side of the attempt to evoke the Light of Digivolution; the Digimon and human have to be in a state of a harmonious synchronization to achieve Digivolution under any circumstances, but the reason for Dark Digivolution is normally a subject that does not apply to Champion Level Digimon, at least, not normally, anyways. You were able to evoke my Champion Form briefly through Dark Digivolution, but the miscommunication in synchronization was deliberate on at least your own account. Normally when Dark Digivolution occurs, it is through an accidental mistreatment of the Digimon undergoing Digivolution. Outright malice is something only seldom used in Dark Digivolution, as often the resulting form is nothing more than a mindless beast that holds nothing any higher prejudice than anything else. Dark Digivolution is not natural; it is chaos, and to invoke one naturally, well... that showcases you are indeed as every bit as worthy of my trust as you are to me in return." Tsukaimon elaborates more, before manifesting into a shadowy form, and taking upon his original Devimon form before him, except in a much smaller frame than when last seen.

"So you're saying the reason you are giving me this place is because we both have a shared feeling of malice towards others, is that correct?" The mysterious boy asks, as Devimon nods, as the boy chuckles a little bit to himself, before looking towards the portion of the wall he's been staring at for some time now, as he pulls out his Digivice and summons forth an unknown Digimon that not even Devimon recognized at first.

"I am here, Master." An insectoid, larval-esque Digimon speaks, as he looks towards Devimon with a bit of surprise. "I must admit I didn't expect to see someone like him this up close." The Digimon speaks, as Devimon raises an eye at the mysterious boy.

"This Digimon's species, I am unfamiliar with this one. What is he?" Devimon asks, as the mysterious boy adjusts the frame to his shades.

"Wormmon, Rookie Level, Free Attribute, Dark Element. Anything else?" The mysterious boy asks, as Devimon is about to point to the door in a confused manner, "I am aware that a Nightmare Soldiers Digimon are the only ones capable of hacking the source code for the interior of the fortress, even if a human is still the one who needs to access it. Even if I didn't assist in your rebirth, Wormmon alone would've sufficed simply to grant me entry, for even he is a Nightmare Soldiers Digimon, no matter how much he doesn't look it." The mysterious boy points out, as Devimon sighs in relief.

"Okay so no risks of the defense systems activating and annihilating us then... You had me going with that cutesy looking thing at first. Although... If you already have a Partner Digimon of your own, which is also a Nightmare Soldiers Digimon... why am I needed?" Devimon asks, as Wormmon looks towards his master, who gives him a nod, then back at Digimon.

"For even though I can protect my master all on my own, I lack the means of producing the darkest materials he needs from which to spread his newfound empire to an even larger reach than merely File Island." Wormmon speaks, as Devimon raises an eye.

"So you're needing my old supply of Dark Gears? I hate to inform you but as we walked around this whole mountain, I detected none of their energy signatures while we wandered. I doubt any of them so much as remain so much as the ability to mass produce them... besides they don't work on Ultimates; the only reason I had two Ultimates ensnared through them was by complete, dumb luck." Devimon speaks, as the mysterious boy shines a red light from the screen of his Digivice towards the wall, as an odd signal begins to transmit from the mountain and the mysterious boy's Digivice.

"New variable detected accessing A's chambers. Passcode?" Devimon could be seen ducking in cover as he hears the monotone, loud computer voice speaking, as if knowing what'll happen if access is denied.

"Passcode input: Infinitedramon." The mysterious boy speaks aloud, as Devimon winces as he can already practically feel the automated defenses...

... Not activating, as Wormmon taps him to get him to move back to his feet, as Devimon cannot believe what he is seeing; the red light scanning the base of Infinity Mountain is beginning to cause the sides of Infinity Mountain to light up like a circuit board, but unlike what Devimon anticipated, it only manifested on a small doorway that opened up for the mysterious boy, as he and Wormmon head inside, with Devimon following.

"... Mind I ask how you knew the password?"

"It's not necessarily how I knew it, but how it's spelled. It's not "Mugendramon" as in "Infinitydramon", it's "Mugendramon" as in "Infinitedramon". It's a literal translation from which the original owner of the interior of this mountain had written in the code representing Machinedramon's name. Of course, that wasn't the true variable; to speak the Japanese password would normally get you booted out, but to speak the password in it's beat for beat English translation is the true keys to the empire. The name was changed at the last second, after the password had been hardcoded into the mountain, to refer to the Digimon itself as "Machinedramon", to avoid anybody guessing the true purpose of Infinity Mountain proper." The mysterious boy speaks, as he can't help but slowly begin to laugh as his glasses shine red, highlighting something up ahead that amuses him a little bit.

Then Devimon couldn't help but notice the mysterious boy beginning to cackle maniacally, as Devimon's eyes widen for if he was already in disbelief at this nobody accessing the interior of Infinity Mountain, he was now staring in utter horror with what kind of diamond in the rough, that was oddly still alive even in spite of it's current condition.

"He... lives...?!" Devimon asks, horrified, staring into the dormant, but still very much beating, very much alive Digicore of none other than Machinedramon of the Dark Masters, with much of his overall body oddly intact off to the side aside from having been butchered to individual pieces. It wouldn't take very much resources to complete the repairs, but Devimon wasn't sure whether such raw, unequaled power should ever fall into human hands. He did not know whether or not he should kill the boy right now to avoid such abuse of power... but... no... that would be a coward's way out.

For as to not see what this boy's very intentions with Machinedramon's remains forever hold a mystery over Devimon's head, and to never see this plan see the light of day sooner would be to never see it happen at all.

After all, the mysterious boy is the reason he's now standing in this very room, as he can't help but imagine what kind of power could be extracted from Machinedramon proper...

... Only for the gears to begin to turn within Devimon's own mind, as he realizes he could afford to keep this boy around for a while. A long while. To see what kind of power he himself could achieve with this boy's access to what was otherwise the forbidden knowledge...

Invented by beings much like him; beings known as humans, in their world, but forever to Digimon as Analogs.

Chapter Text

Takeru's POV

The trip out of the hospital was nothing out of the ordinary. It was nice to see dad again, though, as he had taken me to his apartment to allow me to change into a fresh set of clothes, get some breakfast, and then be on my way back to school proper. 

I don't know what all I must've missed, but by the time I got back to the school grounds for the first time since having encountered Lady Sigma, it was somewhat refreshing to see Miyako and Iori waiting for me at the front gate. Though... why were they waiting for me in particular? They don't even know me and yet-

Oh wait.

"Hey, Takeru, is it? We've been expecting you." Iori says, looking up to me. Something is amiss, as Miyako looks a tad panicked trying to look at me.

"Okay, so let's cut to the chase with what you missed, T.K.... your mom is doing fine, in fact all of our home neighborhood is... oddly fine." Miyako tells me, as I look at her and raise an eye.

"Really? I could've sworn Patamon at some point told me that Lady Sigma had demolished a good several section of the area with a single attack." I point out, as even though I didn't outright see the attack proper, I did at the very least feel the shockwave coming back from that direction as I fled with Miyako and Iori to the school. Iori looked at me, pulling out a newspaper from his backpack and handing it to me, as I look and read what it has to say.

"Apartment Complex reappears after hostile force levels it to the ground.

In the past 24 hours, a gigantic humanoid creature known, a form of Digital Monster, had appeared and leveled an entire portion of an apartment complex and then some just before the first day of school for many of the residents here. However, when the next day arrived, the apartment complex had mysteriously reappeared, with all of the inhabitants found safe and sound, albeit for some reason half-dressed and in an amnesiac state. Local authorities are stumped as to how the apartments have reappeared, but after a state of emergency was declared prior, things have calmed down with the attacker having not reappeared and everything being somewhat back to normal. Some of the locals have been taken into custody to ask some questions in the event any of them happen to remember anything about what had happened, but so far results have been inconclusive as the investigation is still ongoing, and everything is beginning to return to normal, albeit with a lot of questions unanswered. We are reaching out to one of the locals known as Yagami Taichi in hopes of an interview, as his involvement in the attacks by VenomMyotismon 3 years ago would be our best bet with finding a lead in terms of what exactly had happened here."

... Well that cat's out of the bag, since even though the neighborhood is back to normal and the residents are amnesiac, it's clear that the news did not forget about VenomMyotismon from 3 years prior.

I don't even get the chance to think on that as Miyako is quick to grab me by the arm and drag me inside to the school premises.

"Okay okay, so perhaps we should give a tour of the Elementary School since you're still the new kid in Odaiba." Miyako states, hiding panic in her voice as she tries to maintain her composure. As much as she is being forceful, the disruption of the status quo with the Royal Knights have clearly traumatized her, so I avoid putting up a fuss about her intentions of giving me a tour. I don't see any harm in it anyways, as I actually had only been inside the school once, and even then it was only in the hallways since we were hiding from the Knightmon from yesterday.

"You wouldn't mind if we find somewhere to sit down and chat while we try and get to at least know each other first, would you?" I ask, trying to hopefully give Miyako an idea so that she could give a tour while hopefully calming down. I understand a tour would be good and all, but since dad had told me before arriving at his place that I wouldn't need to do any classes today because of my recovery being top priority, I figured I could possibly vouch for Miyako and Iori to sit down and talk with me to somewhat assist in a way that'll calm the two down as well. Speaking of which, Iori has been awfully quiet at this point; he only really spoke up today when he showed me the newspaper.

"Maybe in the computer room?" Iori speaks up, at least, as I look down towards him.

"Sure, just lead the way." I ask, as soon enough, Miyako leads me into an oddly nearby room, as though she had intended to take me here regardless of where I had specified. Once inside, the room seemed rather empty, a few students working quietly with headphones on, and one student in particular who looks like he's fallen asleep.

"We have to be quiet, though, but we're allowed in here at virtually any time other than that." Iori brings up, as he walks into the room first, and almost as though it were second nature to him, immediately gets onto a computer chair and logs in to one of the numerous PCs in the room and places headphones over his ears. Miyako, only slowly, moved to do the same, but instead of sitting next to Iori, she sat next to the sleeping kid and begins to log in. Deciding that Iori shouldn't be left alone, I move to sit right next to him as I log in, putting headphones on as well.

Upon logging in appears a few different applications. First of which is an instant messenger program set up to link every PC in the room with each other, with one server constantly turned on, and small private servers existing between specific students. Iori had set up a private server, but Miyako didn't appear to be within it upon clicking to log in to Iori's chat room. I type on the key board, due to not wanting to be rude by bringing aloud what's going on with Miyako.

{Why is Miyako elsewhere?}

{She's with that other kid. She always manages to log into his private server, even though there's a password on it. Nobody else but him has otherwise gotten into it.}

I noticed right away that Iori is significantly chattier when it comes to being on a PC typing. I don't think about it too much just yet, as I see him having sent another message by the time I pay attention again.

{Don't tell this to the other students, but Miyako has been caught several times trying to hack the software controlling the hardware elsewhere in the building. She's actually broken into accounts used by teachers and other staff, just to find out info about them.}

Miyako, a hacker? She doesn't appear to be that type on the surface.

{I wish I knew what she was doing with trying to prompt that sleepy kid, but she appears to be attracted to him. I don't know why, though; all I ever see him do is sleep whenever I'm in here while he's here."

{He has a name, doesn't he?}

{I wouldn't know of it; I don't attend any classes with him like how Miyako does. All I know is that he's apparently skipped a grade and that's why he's taking the same classes as Miyako.}

{I do have one other question... why does Miyako refer to you and Daisuke by more American sounding names?}

{She picked up the habit from a guy she met one time while we were on a trip in America during last summer, his name is Willis. He apparently also has a Digimon of his own, which brings me to why Miyako had brought us here to begin with.}

{I'm listening.}

{Miyako knew you would eventually come to the computer room, which is why she anticipated you asking for a tour of here sooner or later, and she wasn't exactly patient enough to be subtle about it. She wants to know something ever since Davis wound up with a Digimon of his own.}

{And what would that be?} I type, as I can feel Iori tug at my sleeve as he holds out his hand, as my eyes widen a bit with what I see.

In his hand is a Digivice, very much in the shape of my own after it's upgrade. The screen is glowing, flickering on and off, as if trying to track something.

That's when the power goes out and Iori's screen is the only one with power still. I look at it and notice a DigiGate is opening, and appears to drag myself and Iori inside without any other warning prior.

We wind up somewhere in the Digital World, somewhere freezing cold, yet somewhere with a foreboding atmosphere. I look around, hoping Patamon would be not far away, as with luck, Patamon had indeed teleported right next to me as I look at him.

"So took him long enough to show up here. I believe his partner is calling out to him, but here of all places? I didn't even know this URL existed until I realized his Digivice was being guided here." Patamon speaks, as I look around, and see that aside from some gigantic mountain range directly in front of us, that absolutely nothing else is in sight, all the while Iori is shivering right next to him.

"Iori, hold on, I'll get us to shelter!" I say, as I look towards Patamon, as he nods in understanding as a bright flash surrounds him, before he reemerges as Angemon. Grabbing us both in his arms, he flies up in the air, looking for anywhere nearby in search of shelter. Angemon flies us around, eventually seeing someplace further in the distance, as I look back at the mountain range behind us. However, something was off putting about it.

It looks awfully... artificial, even by the standards of what the Digital World is known for. It appears as though something weirder is going on with it, as I hold my Digivice to my chest and scan the surroundings for any signs of life.

I can hear the pulse of Angemon... and the slower, but very much alive, pulse of something utterly gargantuan originating from that mountain.

Chapter Text

The Digimon they were looking towards was an abomination far larger than even Apocalymon in size, and he was perhaps the largest of the Digimon T.K. would've known off of the top of his head.

Angemon turned around, to have a look at some kind of odd movement from all over the place. At first, one would be forgiven for assuming the whole mountain was trying to move all on it's own.

"Angemon! Ascend! Ascend!!!" T.K. shouts, panicked, upon seeing what appears to be billions of extending hands reaching out from the ground below, as Angemon flies up higher into the air to avoid them, and even then these billions turning trillions of hands give chase relentlessly, as Angemon glares as he moves to lift T.K. and Iori onto his shoulders.

"Stay on my back, and hold on!" Angemon yells, as the two in question do so, as they're both beyond frightened by wherever they may be. T.K. doesn't recognize this place as being from anywhere in the Digital World, at least, any version of it that he is familiar with.

"Oh holy powers that be, lend me your strength in this moment of need!" Angemon chants, as he holds his staff horizontally in both hands, as a bright, reinforced shield of light surrounds him and the two boys on his back. An overwhelming defensive power, but one Angemon wasn't sure would hold. The untold fathom of hands make impact with the shield either way, and begin to try and savagely bring it lower into the ground to the point their long, delicate fingers begin to tear away at the shield of light.

"We're doomed! It's hopeless!" Iori speaks, crying out in terror, as he clings to Angemon and T.K. for some form of security, as T.K. looks at his Digivice and the ring surrounding it's monitor begin to glow an intense light.

"Angemon! Hold on! Push! Them! Back!" T.K. calls out, as Angemon nods, as an explosive forcefield expands from Angemon outwards as he begins to shine like a star in brightness.

"Angemon, Digivolve to...!" Angemon speaks, as the brightening, intense flares of energy emerging from him completely shatter the endless swarm of hands near them in one foul swoop, only for the hands to still just as fiercely try and interfere and attack the trio. However, an even brighter flare of light pushes them significantly further back, as taking Angemon's place is MagnaAngemon. MagnaAngemon, drawing a circular wave with his sword in right hand, summons forth the Gate of Destiny, as the Gate opens up and immediately begins to tear away at the billions of hands reaching for the trio, only for their vile intents to be the result of their own demise as they are too powerless and frail to avoid the Gate of Destiny drawing them in like a vortex and destroying them upon contact.

"Enough!!!" An unfamiliar voice speaks out to the trillions of hands, as they completely cease movement altogether and disappear, with what little remaining being absorbed by the Gate of Destiny and destroyed, as the Gate of Destiny closes upon determining no further threat is nearby. Iori is still clinging to T.K. as well as MagnaAngemon, as the tall Archangel Digimon turns to face T.K. a bit.

"Keep low, lay still, and don't let them know you're here just yet, Takeru." MagnaAngemon speaks, quietly, to T.K., as T.K. nods and moves to comfort Iori, holding him close as he now begins to listen for anything nearby. The snow storm hasn't exactly let up, but the sound of it's harsh winds have all of a sudden disappeared.

Someone else was now here with them.

"What is the madness that is going on in this holy ground?" MagnaAngemon asks the source of the voice, as the source reveals itself as being in a form uncannily similar to Angemon's own. A horizontal bar on his mask as opposed to a cross, and having fiery wrappings around his body, and apparently only two wings instead of six, and appearing in a blazing form of fire behind the Digimon.

"I am Pidmon. I am not here to harm, I am afraid I am equally confused as you are regarding recent events. Our Lord's Powers..."

"Yes? What of Celestial Digimon Seraphimon and the others?"

"The others, having parted to deal with the other DigiDestined with their associated successors... I am afraid there is of little choice in inheriting their powers, for this or any other world to be saved." Pidmon speaks, solemnly, as he points with his staff akin to a torch towards the mountain range in the distance.

"The Unholy Ones have claimed that landmass as their territory; they are holding the Blinding One, Valdurmon, as their prisoner, draining her of her vitals bit by bit. We do not, however, possess the means to stop them, not yet, at least." Pidmon speaks, as MagnaAngemon is uncertain, as he floats directly towards Pidmon.

"Is something bothering you? You seem evasive to speaking of Seraphimon..." MagnaAngemon asks, as Pidmon looks startled by MagnaAngemon's tone.

"I believe it is wise you refrain from speaking His Name directly; Our Lord is... not doing well... He... He is dying..." Pidmon speaks, as MagnaAngemon gasps.

"D-Dying...? How? Why?" MagnaAngemon questions, as Pidmon points towards an entire wave of thousands among billions of unholy hands reaching out to them, hidden within the snow.

MagnaAngemon moves to bring forth his sword to once again summon the Gate of Destiny, but Pidmon holds his arm back using only his staff, shaking his head to MagnaAngemon.

"That will only delay them for so long, but even then you are at least wise to have moved forward to within range of our shields, but we won't last much longer unless we can exorcise the force causing them to emerge altogether." Pidmon speaks, all without seeming to even so much as notice T.K. and Iori, who are both hiding and remaining quiet, out of view due to MagnaAngemon's wings.

As they watch, the barrier does indeed repel the multitude of arms trying to grasp at the group, but when they do, the barrier is partly shoved back inward, all the way up to a spot where Pidmon is standing, as he subsequently is standing on a lot of lines drawn in the snow, some outside of the barrier, and Pidmon moving to draw a new one in place of the old one. Summoning forth a piece of paper, Pidmon writes a seal on it, before placing it into the ground where he drew said line.

"My seals can only prevent the barrier from being shoved back entirely; they cannot heal the barrier at all. Hence why Seraphimon has chosen to make the ultimate sacrifice once we are absolutely certain Valdurmon is freed." Pidmon speaks, as MagnaAngemon simply lowers his arms to his sides, as he walks towards the large temple from which the barrier is hiding within. A palace forged of ice and crystal, as Pidmon walks along with him to see him to inside.

"It has been a while since we've had an Archangel in these halls, but I don't know whether or not it is thankful for your safe arrival here, but to ensure your escape is a bigger priority." Pidmon speaks, as he walks through the halls of the crystalized palace, as MagnaAngemon walks with him; T.K. and Iori were getting worried; MagnaAngemon was so keen on keeping them hidden, but why? Pidmon stops in his tracks, watching as MagnaAngemon walks by, and is already long staring towards his backside where T.K. and Iori are now in view of Pidmon.

"HolyAngemon, correct?" Pidmon asks, as MagnaAngemon turns towards him.

"MagnaAngemon, and yes, these two accompany me; I did not wish for their presence to disturb you from when I was last seen here." MagnaAngemon speaks, as T.K. and Iori move to step off of MagnaAngemon's backside, upon him giving T.K. a nod to do so. Iori is shivering, rather saddened, as he doesn't even know why he's even here if this world is in such a desperate state.

"I was told many things about the Digital World by... by someone I knew..." Iori speaks, as Pidmon watches and listens, as T.K. looks around.

Iori spots something in the room, with the little focus his stress was allowing him to have. Slowly walking towards it, T.K. also begins to notice the décor in the room seem to be amiss compared to where they might be.

"Hold up, these photographs on the wall. These are of events in the real world, but..." T.K. tries to look at these photographs, but he can't seem to grasp what they mean; he can distinctly recognize the locations, but yet at the same time, he cannot tell which areas are which.

"Where are we, Pidmon?" MagnaAngemon asks, as Pidmon looks over towards Iori, who is eyeing a rather intriguing photograph of a long necked animal swimming in water.

Iori seems rather... tranquil, a far cry from how stressed he was earlier upon arriving here. The moment Iori began to look at this photograph of this marine animal, T.K. was paying attention to Pidmon's discussion with them, but throughout it, noticed Iori's attention was fixated almost solely on this creature in the photo.

"This place used to be known as Scotland; with humanity gone ever since the nuclear winter took hold, nothing has been recognizable to anyone anymore." Pidmon answers, as T.K. looks at him in stunned shock, before regaining his composure just enough to ask something else.

"What happened to the Digital World?" T.K. asks, as Pidmon shudders.

"The Beast, known as Diablomon, has rendered it nothing more than a hollowed out hive; the world we once knew was originally sacred ground, but then the Dark Masters showed up one day, only to be imprisoned, only to eventually be freed, and none defeated since. We know not their fate, but if from what has happened to our own kind is of any indication, Diablomon slaughtered them all without so much as batting an eye." Pidmon speaks, seemingly in a disappointed tone, as he moves to walk off, towards a painting of sorts etched into the wall.

"These over here, are known as Digivices. They were creations meant to channel the fuel and lifeforce of all of Digimon through human companions, the Light of Digivolution, and had once flowed through those who worshipped it's might, and in having done so, worship the Sacred One that is Valdurmon in turn." Pidmon speaks, as T.K. wants to say something, but feels as though he shouldn't; some kind of depressing atmosphere is in this place, as Pidmon appears to be the only Digimon they've managed to find aside from a weak pulse from Valdurmon, with Seraphimon's pulse not yet noticed.

"What had happened to the Eight DigiDestined who were sent to the Digital World in Earth Year 1999?" MagnaAngemon asked Pidmon, but Pidmon looks at him.

"... Eight? I thought there were only five... not that it meant anything, as only four actually showed up, only to be massacred by a Devimon and leaving us without any hope; no DigiDestined groups have appeared since then, either; Diablomon made certain of it." Pidmon answers, as Iori still eyes the photograph that caught his attention.

"A World without Hope..." T.K. mumbled, as T.K. could feel something nearby, as MagnaAngemon in turn noticed a peculiar hallway leading to someplace obscured in shadow.

"I know why you allowed me to bring you here; you seek the Power from which to prevent disaster in your own world, the Armor DigiEgg of Hope, correct?" Pidmon asks, as T.K. looks towards Pidmon, determination on his face.

"Look, Pidmon, I know it may not seem much, but I had been having these odd dreams of a stranger known as the Digimon Emperor; I can't help but feel that perhaps, in all of this, those dreams have lead me to seek this place out. Tell me, did such a disaster befall this world, or did Diablomon snuff out everyone like you had said?" T.K. asks, as Pidmon looks down a bit.

"... Perhaps it would be best if I took you to the jail cells..." Pidmon speaks, as T.K., Iori, and MagnaAngemon gasp, as Pidmon opens the doorway off to the side to a lone jail cell coming into view.

Inside was a much older male than who T.K. had visions of, one who wore the same attire, except now looking in a complete state of ruin, as the man is growling, snarling, yelling in an ungodly howl in some very, very angry tone from which neither T.K. nor Iori wanted to know what the meaning of the words he was saying were.

"You fools! You're all fools! This world is dead, finished! I got what I wanted; Daemon and Diablomon, free to run amuck. Was it worth it, of course it was not worth it! That abomination has been eating away at my being for ages now being locked up in this cell; you foolish creatures think you stand a chance against what I had unleashed?! Why?! I thought I had them under control, but if I couldn't even control them myself, what chances of you sick fucks thinking you could stand a chance against those parasitic bastards?! Huh?! I want to know what happened to Daemon; what happened to Yggdrasill; what happened to ME!!! You all will tell me! You will tell me EVERYTHING!!! You all thought I was a Mysterious Boy at one point, when in reality I am a Mysterious Man! I am the one who has the last laugh, no matter how much pain and suffering I endured because of my actions! I don't regret anything, so go ahead! Finish me off! It won't do you any good knowing every other world is cursed the exact same destiny! Don't lie to me and pretend you think you can change it!"

Chapter Text

MagnaAngemon was startled by the oddly familiar appearance of this man, as T.K. and Iori averted their gaze from the bright, flashing lights emanating from entire missing chunks from the man's composition. His entire figure looked like a living stream of data only vaguely taking humanoid shape, having severely been damaged, with what remains of his clothing being what's keeping most of the severity of the damage hidden from view.

"You think you've won, Angels? You think you can contain me for this long?! Just you wait! I will be free soon enough! Though I should be more concerned for your so called reinforcements having to leave so soon as opposed to anything else at the moment!" The Mysterious Man speaks, as MagnaAngemon is suddenly struck with an intense, electrical surge that causes him to fall down to his knees.

"What was that?!" MagnaAngemon asks, as Pidmon looks at him with concern.

"The X-Virus that pollutes the entire atmosphere of this world is affecting your systems. I advise you head back to your own world now, as you haven't built up an immunity to it like I or anyone else still here have done so just yet." Pidmon speaks, as MagnaAngemon shakes his head, as T.K. looks at him with a gasp.

"MagnaAngemon, I don't know what he's referring to but I feel it best we leave before whatever this thing is gets worse." T.K. tells him, as Iori nods.

"You saw what happened out there that nearly killed us with those endless amount of arms; what if this thing depowers you to the point you can't get back up to Champion or further? You wouldn't be able to protect any of us out there with this thing affecting you and possibly doing worse!" Iori speaks, as Pidmon looks at MagnaAngemon as MagnaAngemon is quiet.

"Please, listen to reason, Archangel; there is still hope for what needs to be done so long as you'll eventually be brought back here regardless. I insist you retreat for now, possibly bring reinforcements with you the next time you wind up being dragged here." Pidmon speaks to MagnaAngemon, as MagnaAngemon reluctantly nods.

"Alright, but how do we lea-"

MagnaAngemon didn't even get a chance to finish what he was saying as he immediately vanished into thin air, with T.K. and Iori both vanishing from Pidmon's view as well, as from what little can be seen from the Mysterious Man's face grins at the sight of this.

"Oh, don't worry, Pidmon; they'll be back indeed, just in time to see this world perish and all hope destroyed for good along with it... You can count on it!"

T.K. and Iori are now both back in the computer room with a few other students watching them reappear out of thin air, as T.K. and Iori look around in shock. However, the students are calmed down by an odd figure in the room, as if their presence was enough to calm them down and resume their studies.

"How do you think we'll get back to that world and help Pidmon?" Iori asks, as T.K. tries to think on it.

"Knowing how we both got in and got out, I doubt we'll have any actual choice on the matter for when exactly it'll happen again." T.K. speaks, as Iori nods.

"It's going to be inevitable no matter how we look at it, but whether or not we'll even bring reinforcements of something I'll be surprised if we can manage or not." Iori tells him, as both of them hear a message arrive on their PCs, with them both looking at their individual chat room to see Pidmon as having entered it.

{My apologies for the chaos with how sudden that was; I did what I felt was necessary to ensure future contact is maintained.}

{By bringing us back?} Iori types.

{Actually, by breaking into this specific PC and trying to establish a port with it as to allow you to use this exact PC you're on right now to come back to this specific reality whenever you get the chance.} Pidmon answers, as T.K. types next.

{So regarding this immunity to the X-Virus... How do we go about acquiring an immunity for it?}

{To my knowledge, there is a program called an X-Protector hidden within a place you've apparently been to according to Our Lord. The Palace of the Royal Knights, if I'm recalling correctly His Words.}

"..."

{That'll be quite an effort to get back in their knowing what happened last time I was there.} T.K. responds, as Iori watches T.K. message Pidmon regarding this. While he was there to see Lady Sigma introduce herself, Davis was only able to inform him and Miyako about his side of the events that happened there.

{Either way, this connection won't last for very long; it'll be at least a few days at most before you can find your way back into this realm. Use that time to look into the X-Protector program, as right now my connection isn't stable enough to tell you more on it myself. I am sorry, but there is only so much I can do to keep in touch.}

Pidmon's connection to the server ends just several seconds after that message, just as Iori was trying to type something up to ask only for Pidmon to abruptly disappear.

"Dang, now what?" Iori asks T.K., as T.K. shakes his head.

"As much as we should look into this, the only people I know who could help are more than likely in class still. Even then I think we should just head to class ourselves and process all of this while we're still able to have some breathing room on the matter." T.K. tells Iori, as Iori nods in confirmation.

"Sounds good, perhaps I'll meet up with you on the roof when it's time for lunch? That's where myself, Daisuke, and Miyako meet up when we eat lunch together here. I figured you and possibly Hikari would like to join us after what all you've done for us so far. You don't mind, do you?" Iori asks, as T.K. shakes his head.

"I don't mind, I guess we'll meet again at lunch when our morning classes are over." T.K. says, as he moves to log off of the computer and prepare to head out. Iori, though, looks at his Digivice as he pulls it out of his pocket.

Something about that other world was indeed strange to him, even though it didn't appear to be relevant to him. Ever since looking at that painting, however, he couldn't help but feel as though there was someone else who had summoned them there in the first place. Someone calling our for help, and at the same time, someone looking specifically for Iori himself.

Chapter Text

It was a bit quiet, to say the least. Studies for an upcoming test were underway, and I was doing my best to concentrate on a book before me, filled with numerous questions I would have to write down the answers to. Occasionally, just to ensure I was paying attention, the teacher would call me up to the board to solve a question he had, speaking to the class as well in the process.

Doing so didn't bother me, but it was a feeling I wasn't used to at least in Odaiba. Virtually all of the students in this class I'm in are new faces, I don't seem to recognize any of them. Kari is probably very familiar with this place, considering she had moved back here sooner than I did myself in the light of Parrotmon having attacked Odaiba at night while all of us were just little kids. To think, Tai didn't know when we had returned from the Digital World the first time that his own Agumon he's partnered with now, was indeed after all the exact same one who battled against Parrotmon as Greymon. With this in mind, it was no coincidence that these two have a very strong bond, even when they had just first met. He was, after all, the first of the seven of us originally there to Digivolve Agumon into Greymon, and then the first to transcended Champion Level by achieving Ultimate Level with Greymon into MetalGreymon. Although, however, there was a little misstep that took place before that success came to be.

A misstep I hope would've faded away into a distant memory, but my dreams I've mentioned as having at times didn't just feature this mysterious person in them. Often times it seemed like this man was on his own, sometimes accompanied by a Digimon with many limbs, but what I didn't comprehend was a dream of the same person invoking a dark blast of energy into Tai's Agumon, as though having enslaved him.

Agumon Digivolved into Greymon just as one would expect.

It was Digivolving to Ultimate Level that things got chaotic. A ferocious, borderline mindless Digimon we'd call "SkullGreymon" manifested from a fiery inferno from Greymon's spot, as Greymon had been overwhelmed by negative emotions and lost control of his power.

SkullGreymon is an Ultimate Level Digimon, easily with power just like MetalGreymon's own, but there was an odd, interesting fact I would later learn about it. Apparently, despite how chaotic SkullGreymon was? There would apparently have been a different occasion, perhaps someone else with their own Digimon, where SkullGreymon would've been beneficial to a crisis at hand, rather than a detriment. As though the idea of, if positive emotions were used to achieve SkullGreymon, that perhaps the mindless nature of the form wasn't so mindless after all, and that the more lighthearted upbringing would give the form a sense of clarity and control over itself.

As much as I wanted to ponder on this idea for a bit longer, there was an unexpected sound of someone shouting just outside of the school. I didn't pay any mind to it, except for the fact it was clear it was a female voice, very angry in tone, and calling out someone's name.

Someone who just so happens to be Daisuke.

Davis was waiting, outside of the school as he looked out towards the open streets. He could faintly hear the sound of an engine humming, coming closer to him each passing second.

"DAISUKE!!!" A shrill, female voice shouts at him as it is coming from the direction of the humming noise. Suddenly screeching to a halt, on a scooter designed to carry stuff inside of the back end of it, is a girl who is only a tad taller than Daisuke himself, as Daisuke looks at her and stutters a bit.

He had spoken with this girl before, and each time out of all of her looks that caught him off guard it was her weirdly colored blue right eye and orange left eye that surprised the most. The girl removes her helmet, looking at Davis with a bit of a grumpy, pouting face, as the makeup and more lazily dressed attire didn't make her blend in at all with anyone else from Odaiba proper.

"K-Kashou?! Don't you still have school further north?" Davis asks, uncertain of what to say since he wasn't expecting her here of all places.

"I was, but then I heard on the news how a bunch of civilians in Odaiba were found alive, half naked all across town just in the same place as a Digimon eviscerates an apartment complex! Mind telling me what happened to how said apartment complext just reappeared so soon?!" Kashou snaps, angrily, as she looks over behind Davis and sees Veemon standing there idle.

"Hiya, I figured you're the delivery girl I ordered from?" Veemon asks, as Davis nearly freaks when Veemon says that, as the girl's expression suddenly shifts from anger to adoration, as she moves to get something out of the back of her scooter, a small box of sorts, as she presents it to Veemon proper.

"Lucky for you I don't charge Digimon for meals from my business." Kashou states, handing Veemon the box as Veemon's eyes perk up as he opens it and reveals a wide variety of chicken, fish, and fried potatoes as well as various spices as condiments and begins hungrily eating away at the box's contents. Davis, meanwhile, looks at Kashou with confusion.

"As much as I would like to ask how Veemon got your number before I did, mind telling me why you're driving a scooter when you had last told me you're only 12 like Yolei?" Davis asks, as Kashou looks over towards Davis with a bit of an intrigue in her eye, as her lips form a sly, cat-like smile.

"Honestly you won't stand a chance competing for her with that other guy she's fawning over, ya know." Kashou brings up, as Davis tilts his head in confusion.

"I'm... what? Why do you think I have a crush on Yolei?" Davis asks, as Kashou giggles a bit, as she moves to place two fingers on Davis chest as they walk up towards his neck, as she looks him in the eyes as Davis face flushes a tad red.

"Because, if this reaction is anything to go by? I'm more than willing to bet it's not that Hikari girl I've got to compete with myself, isn't that right?" Kashou asks, as Davis shakes his head, as Kashou, gently, moves her hand to pat Davis on the cheek in an affectionate way, before moving back to her scooter.

"Ya know, if you really want my number that badly, why don't you just look up my website I'm still constructing? You did say that you knew somebody who could help make it look more professional after all..." Kashou speaks, as she opens the back of her scooter, as she takes out another box from within and hands it, gently, to Davis, with Davis noticing the box wrapped neatly in a very colorful looking napkin. Davis blushes a bit, as he doesn't quite get how Kashou goes back and forth seemingly without warning on various subjects as a whole.

"I hope you enjoy what I've prepared for you, Daisuke~! I'll see you at the end of my shift as usual, okay?" Kashou states, before getting back on her scooter, her helmet secured back on after readjusting it, and driving off in a hurry, as Veemon looks towards Davis in confusion.

"I think she likes you." Veemon states, avoiding his usual lisp just to point out the obvious, as Davis looks at him as he panics a bit.

"Oh trust me, that's what a lot of guys tend to think before her attitude issues get on their nerves... I don't even know whether I'm lucky or blessed as to the fact she tolerates me more than anyone else I know..." Davis brings up, as Veemon chuckles a bit.

"Maybe ask her out sometime, take her someplace you know she'll like?" Again, due to the seriousness of the situation this seemed to be for Davis, Veemon was avoiding his lisp in his speech when discussing this to his DigiDestined partner. Davis, looking down at Veemon, sighs a bit as he groans a little, before heading back into the school grounds to prepare to meet up with his friends at the roof top, noting morning classes would be over soon.

Davis, sighing a bit as he relents on Veemon's suggestions, looks over towards the school building proper as he heads inside.

'I wonder if Sora still has those tickets to that swimming pool she offered to let me the guys have... Guess I'll ask her and find out.'

Just as Davis and Veemon head back inside, the sound of a large, reptilian Digimon with a loud, audible breathing could be heard, having apparently been present, unable to be seen, for quite some time.

{{Yesss... Show me where that deserter is...}} A large, powerful voice speaks in a low, whispering tone, his cloak acting up a bit, revealing the silhouette of a winged dragon with a gigantic lance attached to it's right arm. Snarling, chuckling even, with absolutely tenacious glee, as he's surprised nobody had realized he has been here the whole day so far, while he can only think about the possible reactions people like Izzy would have about noticing him too late.

Reactivating his malfunctioning cloak to hide himself from view after realizing it was functioning oddly for a moment, he disappears from both sight and sound as though he were never there, awaiting the next move in his search for the "deserter" he's referring to Sora as. His stalking persists, but he could've easily squashed all of them flat out with the firepower he carries now as a Mega Level.

He didn't.

Darkdramon didn't because he found the idea boring.

Darkdramon wants to stalk, to harass, to infiltrate without notice, wanting to see the kids tick and squirm when they realize their own sacred ground has been infiltrated this entire time by the D-Brigade. Make them suffer, let their fears consume them, make them wish they were dead, as Darkdramon looks towards an odd noise in the distance, as such a kid didn't even ask, but is at a telephone pole nearby to try and report having spotted him.

Darkdramon, with a single lash of his tongue, grabs the poor fool with his serpentine tongue, before very slowly bringing him closer to his head, jaws opening as Darkdramon looks at the sheer horror of the kid, who as far as they could see now wasn't able to see Darkdramon; a brief flash of his draconic form showing itself on purpose, as Darkdramon quickly bites down on the kid, killing them instantly, and then eating them whole, before disappearing and lumbering off into the open daylight, where his cloak keeps him hidden.

This will be a very long day for those who dare attempt to scorn him ever again.

Iori was heading up the flight of stairs leading to the roof, but something heavy was felt grabbing onto this part of the building.

{{Cody?}} Yolei's voice could be heard, as Iori continues to head up the stairs once he regains his balance. However, upon opening the door, Darkdramon was there to greet him instead.

{{Just what I need; a hostage!}} Darkdramon speaks, before grabbing hold of Darkdramon as Iori yells out in terror, trying to flee back inside only for Darkdramon to snatch him in his claws before he could get further away. Iori looks in horror as to Darkdramon grasping him, his fangs barred as the acidic saliva drips from his teeth.

{{Do not fret, child; once that Archangel reveals himself I will deal with you next, but first, I want you to scream; scream out in terror, call for help from him, if you will, if you ever want to see the light of day again!}} Darkdramon speaks as he holds Iori dangerously close to his open jaws as to taunt him, before heading off into a courtyard, waiting for T.K. to make his move next, as Iori feels as though despite his efforts to fight against doing so, he ultimately does scream.

"TAKERU!!!"

Chapter Text

"Another Darkness based Digimon appeared and... disappeared...?" Izumi Koushirou speaks, as besides him in a small, beetle looking Digimon known as Tentomon.

"Should we investigate? These sightings have been creeping me out." Tentomon asks, as Koushirou shakes his head.

"No, it'll be better to have Tai and Agumon deal with this one, since the signal matches Tankdramon's own." Koushirou speaks, as Tentomon shudders.

"For once I'm glad that's all we're apparently dealing with, as I kind of thought it was..." Tentomon speaks, before interrupting himself and abruptly stopping all sounds he's making, as he looks towards a nearby window and stares with his compound eyes.

Koushirou looks towards his own Partner Digimon, rather alarmed with how awfully quiet he is being right now.

"I suppose you haven't forgiven me over our experiment, have you?" Koushirou asks, as Tentomon stares out the window, not even reacting. Koushirou sighs, placing a hand on his forehead as he steps away from the multitude of computers in the room with him to sit down next to Tentomon.

"Tentomon, we made a mistake, I made a mistake; this doesn't have to be your burden for something I'm to blame for here..." Koushirou speaks, as Tentomon, silently, points towards the window.

"... Koushirou?" Tentomon asks, sounding calm, but sound terrified all without so much as making a major fuss over it like he usually would. The quietness of the room overall didn't help, as aside from the computers in the room, no sound was being heard anywhere, other than from Koushirou or Tentomon proper.

"Tentomon... Is something wrong?" Koushirou asks, gentle in tone, as Tentomon's gaze can't easily be read due to his aforementioned compound eyes.

"I see... eyes... all over this humanoid frame... right out the window..." Tentomon speaks, as Koushirou is confused, not seeing anything out the window and yet-

"̴̪͙̼̔̒͠﮼̴̡̝̟̚͠͝.̴̡͖̪̾͝u̵̢̪͒̽͠ǝ̸͚̟͔̾̈́͘ⅎ̸͕͔̈́̿͜ⅎ̸̢͉̻͆̽̕o̵̝̙̦̾̓͛ɹ̸͉̫̼̓̚͝ʇ̸͉̦̽̈́͠ǝ̸̠̟͍͊̈́͘ƃ̵̦̘͊̐̔͜ ʇ̴͇̦̽n̴̞̞̝͋͝⅁̵͍͎͓̐͝"̵̘̠͛̈́͘͜

Koushirou didn't get a chance to see it; he had heard a PC begin to go haywire with an alert, detecting something was near, forcing Koushirou's attention away from the window as he goes to investigate it.

A Digimon was just out there, and apparently may still be there, but as far as he can tell, he can't see it. It's DigiScan appears on his PC as such:

"Duskmon
Demon Man Type
Level: Champion
Attribute: Free
Element: Darkness
Group: Dark Area"

"... Odd... I don't know any Digimon even remotely like-" Koushirou is forcefully turned around to look at something, standing very, very tall in the room, with eyes all over it's body all fixated on him with Tentomon nowhere to be found.

"̴̡̞͓̓͆͑.̸̙͇̾̓̚ǝ̵̝̙̒͌̕ᴉ̴̝̺͌̚͝S̸̞͉͎͑͘﮼̵͖̦̓͊͜"̵̺̞͉͋͒͠

"̸̪͕͕͋̽̓.̸̻̦̦̽͛͐ʇ̵̼͇͖͋̐͑ᴉ̸̼̫͙͑͆̈́ɯ̵͓̻̔̔͠ ǝ̸̠̦̠͐̒̓ᴉ̸͇̟͕͐͑͠S̴̻̦͍͌̽ u̸̦͚͚̿͝͠ǝ̵̝͖͍͒͛̚ɯ̸̦͚̽͐̚͜ɯ̸̡̺͍̔̒̚o̴͙̝͚͑͌͝ʞ̸̘̟̫̈́͐̾ ǝ̴̦̪̺͑͋̽ʇ̸̡͍̺͊͘͠ʇ̴̺͖̻͆͊̕ᴉ̴͕͍̓̐̓ꓭ̸̠͇̺̾̓͝﮼̵̫̘͕͐͛͘"̸͇͙͍͒͊

By the time anyone would come across this room, be it one of the staff, or any of the teachers in charge of Koushirou's work here on the various broken down hardware, all of them quickly realized one thing.

Koushirou and Tentomon had suddenly vanished without leaving behind so much as a trace.

Well, almost. As all across the monitors in the room were now nothing but eyes looking and staring at whomever was watching the room. They looked at the security cameras, they looked at the staff on site.

They're looking at me.

Chapter Text

Takeru's POV

It wasn't like me to stop my own thoughts before they went on for too long. I felt something, right outside of the building, stalking the premises. A familiar presence; Knowledge, Izzy, now vanished. Also, another presence; extinguished.

"Takeru... something is up, isn't it...?" Patamon asks me, rather terrified, as I shake it off, as I hear someone scream; the voice is easily familiar to me; Iori!

"Come along, Patamon, Iori's in trouble!" I tell Patamon, as Patamon shudders a bit.

"T.K., I can sense Darkdramon is out there, are you sure we can handle him on our own?"

"Positive; we've been training for so long that I finally want to see if everything's finally paid off." I speak, rather coldly, but I had to be blunt lest Patamon not understand my meaning. I do not have any malice towards anyone; I would personally prefer otherwise.

But Darkdramon has intruded upon this ground that I deem unwilling to cooperate and leave, for it is here to seek each of us, and snuff each of us out, one by one.

I won't let that happen again; I'm tired of seeing my friends tear apart themselves over this draconic demon any further.

It feels like an eternity between taking T.K. to getting outside and Patamon following. Patamon doesn't waste time, as he immediately Warp Digivolves to MagnaAngemon, as he can sense a foul presence is nearby.

"Reveal yourself, fiend!" MagnaAngemon calls out, as a long, pause of a silence is out in the courtyard, as nothing apparently shows itself.

"So you choose to accept your fate through a final bout..."

Darkdramon flickers into physical form, with Iori in hand, drool dripping from his sharp teeth.

"I'm going to make it... nice... and... slooow..." Darkdramon cackles, as he tosses Iori into the air, and opens his jaws wide to catch him, Iori screaming in terror all the while.

"Not today!" T.K. calls out, as MagnaAngemon is quick to rescue Iori before they could be eaten, as he is teleported right behind T.K., as MagnaAngemon positions himself in front of T.K. with him and Iori behind him, and Darkdramon in front of him.

"Takeru, his voice; he sounds an awful lot like-"

"Sealsdramon; the one who ruined Sora's whole life not long ago." T.K. speaks, as Darkdramon chuckles a bit in response.

{{Honestly I did the girl a favor; too bad you pests got in the way before I could be any more 'merciful' than I could've been. I must admit, Takeru, I was originally going to promise Sora's death for last and make it quick and painless, but now you and your brother have really pissed me off, so I'm going to make it, nice-}} Darkdramon speaks in a cackling tone. MagnaAngemon quickly makes a very short and quick strike against Darkdramon's left eye with his sword, only for the wound to almost immediately heal itself up in seconds flat.

"I would scold you for repeating yourself but you've already proven peace is not an option with you in particular, Darkdramon." MagnaAngemon informs the D-Brigade Digimon.

"... How cute... You're an amazing creature, you do realize that, right?" Darkdramon speaks, as he chuckles a bit as he licks his teeth with his long tongue. "So much alike we both are, you and I are not as different as your brother insists... After all, we are sort of the last resorts of our respective groups..." Darkdramon speaks, as he slowly moves to step closer as he lowers his torso and head low to look MagnaAngemon directly in the eyes.

"Come as close as you'd like, you vile scumbag, so I can strike you down all the more quickly." MagnaAngemon speaks, as Darkdramon laughs.

"Quickly?! But I won't get to say goodbye to these if I do...!" Darkdramon speaks, as his neck swells a bit, before he vomits up a good chunk of half digested corpses from his mouth. From what T.K. and MagnaAngemon could tell, he could tally at least 12-14 children consumed, but perhaps more among the more heavily digested bits, as Iori witnesses this and covers his mouth as he looks away. T.K., keeping eye contact with Darkdramon, closes his hands into a fist as he glares at him.

"These children, were they your friends? Were they the friends of anyone you know? Perhaps even relatives... or, perhaps, were they friends of her ?" Darkdramon asks, as MagnaAngemon keeps his stance on guard, ready to attack. "I'm referring to the natural redhead, you dense idiot." Darkdramon clarifies, but chuckles a little bit. MagnaAngemon has had it with his speaking, and immediately draws his sword and draws forth the Gate of Destiny. What shocks him, however, is that the Gate of Destiny doesn't immediately open, and instead appears to tremble in the air.

"Come as close as you'd like but leave your keys at the door, Archangel... I will finish you like I will finish her at this rate as well..." Darkdramon taunts, as MagnaAngemon is quiet, as he walks forward, slowly, as T.K. maintains his glare towards Darkdramon. He didn't even realize it, but his Digivice was surging with an uncontrollable amount of energy, as T.K. moves to grab it, and doesn't even realize it when he blasts MagnaAngemon with the energy being unleashed from it all at once, as a pitch black shadow manifests around MagnaAngemon.

MagnaAngemon is engulfed in the darkness, as he continues to walk forward towards Darkdramon; he steps through the darkness, and emerges as a fully armored, fully obscured green and silver armored archangel with ten bat-like wings.

The Gate of Destiny at this point finally opens, but instead of trying to draw in Darkdramon, it tries to draw in Seraphimon. Seraphimon ignores it, as Darkdramon moves to grapple him to try and push him towards his own ironic doom.

"I recall, vividly, that this is how you had banished the late Dark Master, Piedmon... To think, such delicious irony, that the Archangel would be swallowed whole by his own mechanism... I will relish this for as every bit of misery I can..." Darkdramon speaks, as Seraphimon is only partially pushed back, as it takes Darkdramon using a lot more force to push him back further.

T.K. watches, in all of this, as he hears Seraphimon speak.

"Takeru? Is this how you wish us to vanquish him?"

I know what I'm seeing, I don't need any reminders; I see Seraphimon is clearly different from his normal self; a "ShadowSeraphimon", if you will. However, while it may be clear that perhaps this could be the sign of a Dark Digivolution, I knew better than to let the horrifying sight of my friend in a dark form to twist my mind any further.

"Roll with it!" I speak, as ShadowSeraphimon nods, before lifting both of his hands up into the air, as powerful light emerges from the Gate of Destiny into his very hands.

"What is this?" Darkdramon asks, as ShadowSeraphimon doesn't heed any of his words.

"Shadow Starburst!!!" ShadowSeraphimon speaks, as he lowers his hands upon Darkdramon's spot, as a gigantic, pillar of light erupts from the ground, a surge of electricity coming from ShadowSeraphimon's hands into the ground to manifest it, as he is drawing in energy from the Gate of Destiny as it shatters as it's limitless light continues to be absorbed directly into ShadowSeraphimon. Just as ShadowSeraphimon grasps Darkdramon's frame with his light empowered hands, as ShadowSeraphimon appears to be crushing him within his hands, or, at the very least, shrinking him?

Regardless, he is being forcefully compressed into a smaller, compact form, somehow. Just then, when the pillar of light ceases to emit such a powerful force, the electrical surge gone as well, I see ShadowSeraphimon, with a figurine of Darkdramon in hand. I smirk a bit at the sight of this.

"Ironic, isn't it? That he'd bring up Piedmon in such a way only for this to be his own fate?" I ask, as ShadowSeraphimon doesn't need a word from me to promptly grip the figurine of Darkdramon firmly in his hand, and proceed to shatter it like porcelain in his hand, as not even small fractures of glass remain from Darkdramon's figurine. Darkdramon, for all intents and purposes, is destroyed, in just as anticlimactic enough of a fashion to ensure he at least didn't suffer at ShadowSeraphimon's hand.

As much as I admit, that was a pretty intense, dark moment from someone like me, I knew of Darkdramon's deeds against humankind, but especially Sora, but part of me is uncertain. I felt a desire to inflict pain on him, with is possibly why ShadowSeraphimon stands before me in such a darkness based form, but for all intents and purposes? He does not attack me or anyone else nearby, as ShadowSeraphimon allows himself to De-Digivolve back down to Patamon, as he flies onto my head and proceeds to doze off.

I can't help but feel, though, that for some unforsaken reason, that this is not the last we've heard of Darkdramon. At least, that is, from the organization he's from.

For as quickly as Darkdramon came into being, it is clear that the D-Brigade is a whole battalion of Digimon, not a singular individual. They shared a mind, and a common goal, that much was for certain, but until they had the resources to create Darkdramon again, his specific mindset wouldn't cease just yet.

There wasn't much any of us could do regarding this, however, so I looked towards Iori; the poor guy was nearly catatonic, hiding behind me, breathing heavily in through his nose as he resists the urge to puke after having seen what he had seen. I lower myself to kneel in front of him, as I calmly pat his head to reassure him.

"Iori? Let's head back inside; I think you've had too much to take in for one day." I tell him, as Iori looks at me, innocently, as he nods, before getting up on his feet slowly, me helping him as he does, as the two of us walk back inside.

BanchoLeomon appears from the air as he moves to analyze the still intact corpses of Darkdramon's victims he had showed off, as BanchoLeomon takes a portion of the weird data present from within it, in the form of a highly damaged, highly twisted energy form that appears to be beating like a heart.

"So... that wasn't just for show; that was to save your own Digicore because you fully anticipated that... But why...? I have to know, especially as you and I both share this little anomaly within ourselves... Why are we different? How come our respective Digicores are immortal and not finite like anyone else's?! I have to know..."

"... Why..."

Chapter Text

August 1st, 2000

[[Takenouchi Sora]]

[[Wanted: Dead]]

[[Payout: $600,000.00]]

{{$600,000 for one Japanese girl? Sounds awfully fishy...}}

{{Why American dollars for the payout? I'm a little confused here.}}

{{Someone wants this girl dead, but they don't say why aside from listing a bounty?}}

{{I'll have someone close this thread. This sounds like such a scam over a dumbass of a cu-

October 10th, 2000

[[Takenouchi Sora]]

[[Wanted: Dead]]

[[Payout: $700,000.00]]

[[Seeking Clients...]]

[[3 matches]]

{{Whoa, the Sora from the DigiDestined? Sounds like a steep deal.}}

{{Doesn't pay enough, if you ask me.}}

{{She'll be heavily guarded, perhaps.}}

{{Is she still dating that Yagami brat?}}

{{... Who?}}

{{I, Commandramon, am asking it simply; is she still dating that Yagami brat?!}}

January 2nd, 2001

[[Takenouchi Sora]]

[[Wanted: Dead or Alive]]

[[Payout: $955,000.98]]

[[Seeking Clients...]]

[[...]]

June 5th, 2001

[[Takenouchi Sora]]

[[Wanted: Dead or Alive]]

[[Payout: $955,000.98]]

[[Client Found}}

{{Requesting Payment}}

{{...}}

July 21st, 2001

{{Payment granted}}

{{Client: Sealsdramon has taken this offer}}

{{Sora will be dead by midnight}}

Chapter Text

August 1st, 2001

It has been exactly two years since the DigiDestined of 1999 arrived in the Digital World. They were in the dark, for the longest of times, regarding their predecessors, whom they've only been briefly able to know about.

The former powers of the Digital World, the now missing in action Gennai, and the currently malfunctioning supercomputer, Homeostasis, with the Digital World haven been experiencing an error in it's existence for over a year and a half. All because of a chaotic glitch from whom the likes of these inhabitants of either world could ever hope to understand.

Did they ever wonder, perhaps, who created the Digital World, or why? Or how these lifeforms native to it could traverse into our own world? They dared not ask, for they feared the answer. The answer from which they knew the person delivering it would send them into oblivion.

That person, is myself.

Fortunate, they were, all of them, for the fact I could not hold on to life in this coil of mine; the lack of the flame of life, the lack of a proper vessel, it all stopped my return. I needed a pawn, I needed one fast! Stick around for my story, it's going to be a blast!

The curse has been foretold, it's time for the feast! My perfect assassin, whom they could expect the least.

Go, my armada, my prized Sealsdramon, and take claim of our land! For this cursed girl's heart, from which to revitalize myself, shall soon be in my hand!

Sora was at home, quietly drinking tea, as she spends some time with her mother, as her mother softly smiles at her, as Sora smiles back, happily. Sora's arm has a bandaged up injury, as Sora had been partaking in soccer as per usual.

Once the defeat of Apocalymon had occurred and everything was back to normal relatively speaking, her mother had actually allowed Sora to participate in soccer, simply being happy to have her daughter back in a normal life again, after what horrors she and her faced together at the hands of Myotismon.

However, there was an awkward subject at the back of Sora's mind, from what she didn't tell her mother about. About how she had allowed her emotions to jeopardize her friendship with Tai, in an event that took place a year ago at this rate in which a nuclear holocaust was narrowly averted by the combined efforts of Tai, Matt, Izzy, and T.K., but Sora argued that had it not been for her emotional state at the time, that she would've easily been able to rally the others and ended the crisis significantly sooner than how it ultimately got resolved.

However, there was a whole different subject Sora had on her mind, and upon her doorbell being rung, Sora knew what to prepare for, at least, she hoped, as she goes to answer the door.

"Ah, you're here~!" Sora speaks, cheerfully, as walking into the house is none other than Ishida "Matt" Yamato, wearing a sharp dressed, black tux and white undershirt, and matching dress pants, as his hair was neatly combed as he walks into the living room with Sora upon being allowed in. Sora's mother is confused, having not expected to see Matt here.

"Sora? Is something going on?" Her mother asks, as Sora nods.

"Sooo, I told you I'm officially in a relationship, correct?" Sora reminds her mother, as she moves to cheerfully hug Matt from the side as he moves to calmly sit down, neatly, in front of Sora's mother on the opposite end of the table they were sitting at. Sora's mother raised an eye, before giggling a bit.

"Ya know, I was honestly expecting you to date Tai, but it appears you must've changed your mind. Not that I'm complaining, though, since you had informed me of your intentions with Matt prior, after all." Sora's mother speaks, as she warmly smiles and waves at Matt, as Matt smiles and waves back.

"Ya, I'm not going to lie, I wasn't expecting Sora to come to me since she admitted she liked Tai at first prior to seeing me, though it hadn't stopped me from feeling partly jealous a bit on the inside for a while." Matt spoke, as he didn't sound like it enough to notice it, but he was struggling not to swear in front of Sora's mother in-order to not sound rude.

"It is true, I had feelings for Tai for a while, but I realized that ever since our misunderstanding a year ago, that Tai only ever saw me as a friend, and I was just too... harsh, to realize that's all he'd ever see me as." Sora speaks, as Matt looks at her, a tad confused by her wording, but worried at the same time. Sora's mother, though, knew what Sora was implying, but didn't speak it aloud in front of Matt to avoid giving away private information.

Sora's emotional state a year ago, especially during the incident dubbed "Our War Game" in the wake of Diablomon's genesis, was something she had learned was the result of Sora experiencing her first period. However, Tai, at the time it was occurring, had only saw the irritability and angsty side of Sora during that day, and Sora had informed her of other experiences she was having at the time, from which she had helped Sora discuss with when she had personally asked Sora to try calling her friend Mimi to possibly help explain this better. Sora's mother didn't have many of the same experiences her own daughter did when she had her first period decades ago, but she had been emailed for advice from Mimi whose parents were clueless on how to help her daughter out from her own first period. As a result, she had encouraged Sora to call Mimi to discuss the matter further.

It was a miracle, to be perfectly honest, that Tai didn't wind up having to learn about what else Sora had to deal with, since Sora would've probably exploded at him in an embarrassed fit had she told him everything not even a day after what had occurred.

Sora, however, already felt super guilty about the Our War Game incident as a whole; she had told her mother that she could've easily helped rally the others for Tai to fight against Diablomon with together, but Sora's mother honestly thought that managing to pull it off would've been a miracle. Joe was in the middle of a test, Mimi was in a slightly different time zone in Hawaii, Kari was at a birthday party, and Sora, as she already knew as her daughter admitted to her, was experiencing her first period even though that isn't how she worded it at the time; instead, she called herself acting like a "selfish jerk", but from what she's heard rumors from the other parents regarding Matt, she would've expected to hear in Matt's voice that Sora would've probably called herself a "selfish bitch" had Sora been prone to swearing like Matt has been as of late, but she had heard enough to know that Matt would never say such things about Sora, especially if Sora was confident to have a meeting between her and Matt as she announces their relationship to her.

If only either of them knew of someone plotting behind their backs at a time such as this.

Server Continent

Digitamamon's restaurant soon found itself to be the local hub of a lot of Digimon who were reborn through means they didn't yet realize. All of the patrons inside, oddly enough, happened to be reborn individuals of the Dark Master's servants, or were servants of other previous overlords in the Digital World. Among the many Digimon here were the likes of LadyDevimon, Megadramon, Kiwimon, Divermon, Phantomon, Datamon, Gazimon, and even old oddballs like Ogremon and even Leomon was here among them, all happily dining away at a feast being held on the house by Digitamamon, in celebration of the first arrival of the DigiDestined who liberated the Digital World of Apocalymon in 1999.

"I can't believe all of us were so... brainwashed, with how we served those pricks back then..." LadyDevimon speaks, more or less bored out of her mind, as Cherrymon sits beside her.

"I'm sure they're in a better place, reborn as new Digimon free of Apocalymon's influence... but I can't bring myself to say the same for Machinedramon..." Cherrymon speaks, as Megadramon shudders.

"Machinedramon? Oh ya, not even going to remotely feel sorry for him, especially with his little 'side project' that was 'Protocol D-Brigade'." Megadramon chimes in, as Gazimon walks up to the trio and looks at Megadramon.

"Um, I hate to ask, but, what exactly was 'Protocol D-Brigade'?" Gazimon asks, to which Datamon jumps up onto the table as he clears his throat.

"I'll take that question. Simply put, the project was to create a Digimon who had genuine free will, freedom of choice, and freedom of action, which, unlike most of us when we used to serve someone stronger than us, would've made the Digimon in question more susceptible to being molded into a monstrosity no different from the likes of Myotismon, a Digimon who possessed all three of those traits as it was." Datamon speaks.

"Go on." LadyDevimon speaks, interested in where this is going, as Datamon continues.

"While many dismissed Machinedramon as being simple minded, his ambition was arguably far greater than even Piedmon's. Piedmon had his own apprentice in the form of Myotismon, but Machinedramon wanted to achieve an even greater apprentice of his own by synthesizing his own DDNA to create a Digimon that did not previously exist, as being the embodiment of the perfect soldier capable of whatever fighting prowess was needed to finish the battle. He intended to create a whole army of them, but only one specimen was fully cultivated before this could be done." Datamon explains further, as someone can be heard opening the door to the restaurant, as Digitamamon can be heard.

"Ah, you're new here I take it? How can I take your order?" Digitamamon asks.

"Yesss... I'll have fried DigiEggs, if you don't mind, and it'll be on the house!"

Before Digitamamon could even process all of that, a large knife is thrown directly stabbing into his face with perfect accuracy, as a large, humanoid draconian frame bursts into the room, as Digitamamon is dragged into the kitchen by the strange intruder, as the next thing that can be heard is Digitamamon screaming in fear then in agonizing pain once the mysterious Digimon shoved him into an oven and began to immediately set the temperature on it to a blazing inferno. All of the patrons suddenly look towards what is going on and gasp in horror as to what they're seeing, as Ogremon and Leomon look at each other as they keep themselves hidden among the crowd. By the time Digitamamon's screams stop altogether, the new Digimon exits the kitchen with a plate of a gigantic omelet with Digitamamon's face briefly seen among it, before the mysterious Digimon hungrily feasts on it as every vicious, snarling bite he takes let's out a haunting shrill wail of the dying Digitamamon.

"W-Who are you?!" LadyDevimon asks, utterly startled by this Digimon's complete lack of chill with it's attitude, as the Digimon, with it's large, monocular red eye targeting like a laser pointer towards her, as he pulls out a rather large military knife.

"I am Sealsdramon, I am loyal to nobody except myself. I serve my own agenda here in this newfound Digital World; this order of peace, it's disgusting, that all of you chose to live this type of life after the fall of the Dark Masters. Do none of you have any shame in your betrayal of the true kings to this world?" Sealsdramon speaks, as he finishes consuming what he had cooked up out of Digitamamon.

"And who made you the one to give such an order in the first place? You're a Champion Level, am I not mistaken?" Megadramon speaks, as Sealsdramon quickly jumps up into the air and drives his knife clean through Megadramon's chest, as Megadramon disintegrates into data as Sealsdramon absorbs all of the data into his being, his chest, arms, and legs swelling up with unnatural amounts of muscle upon doing so, before quickly burning up as Sealsdramon twitches in place as he's momentarily back to his normal size.

"Delicious, isn't it? That feeling of hunting those who think they overpower you just because they're a higher Digivolution Level than the likes of me." Sealsdramon boasts, as he looks towards the others, "So, does anyone else have any stupid questions they want to ask about me? No? Then that's good, yesss... Because if any of you so much as defy my intentions again, I will not hesitate to kill you like I did those two... whatever they were that thought they could boss me around." Sealsdramon speaks, as Leomon moves to stand.

"But neither of them were attacking you, and Digitamamon was only asking you nicely what you wanted to eat until you attacked him unprovoked!" Leomon brings up, as Sealsdramon laughs a bit.

"Yesss... Just what I want to see; victims~." Sealsdramon speaks, as he moves to stab Leomon with his knife, before Ogremon blasts his across the room with a throw of his fist as an energy blast his direction.

"Nobody else is dying in this building while Leomon and I are here!! Got it, ya two lensed punk?!" Ogremon speaks, as Sealsdramon chuckles a bit, as he uncannily moves from having fallen over, his joints breaking at the hinges as he moves to forcefully stand up as he gets back up akin to how a stop motion puppet were to suddenly come alive, as he snaps his neck a few times to stretch himself upon fully standing again.

"I won't forget this; as rightful heir to Machinedramon's throne, I will make sure all of you regret this decision to spare me. After all, you did say that nobody else is dying while you and your Leomon friend are still in the building, correct? So that means you must let me leave with no strings attached; not that it matters, anyways." Sealsdramon speaks, as he suddenly jabs his knife into his own chest as he carves something out of him as he shows it to them in the form of his own Digicore.

"See this? This is my Digicore; it is one of a kind; Immortal, Invincible, meaning nothing you can do to me as of this moment will be able to successfully put me down; that is why Machinedramon's ambition in him creating me was brilliant. I am my own master, free to make my own choices, as I personally see fit, and while I could've possibly used my powers and immortality for the benefit of the Digital World overall... I am, but I'm not choosing to play on the good guy's side like you all weaklings are doing right now. I see myself as my own master, my own being, with my own identity, and as a result, I believe it is only the most logical outcome that the strongest rules this world with an iron fist; me." Sealsdramon speaks, as Ogremon and Leomon look at each other.

"Shall we try and maim him anyways?" Leomon asks, as Ogremon doesn't need to answer to try and throw a punch at Sealsdramon again, only for Sealsdramon to throw a smoke grenade down onto the floor as the entire room fills with blinding smoke, as the next thing the inhabitants find themselves is having passed out on the floor in a heap, as Sealsdramon is hiding among them with his own guarded mouth blocking the smoke from affecting him. He moves, slowly, over towards Leomon in particular, as he grasps his forehead with his palm.

"Now then, where was I? Oh, yes, reading your mind, to determine what happened to that redhead I have a date with ahead of me to kill... yesss..." Sealsdramon speaks, as Sealsdramon sees in a vision of Sora in his attempt to read Leomon's mind, and learning what she looks like in the process. Sealsdramon lets go of Leomon, only sparing him because he found it personally amusing why his own archenemy Ogremon would save him from his attempted murder, as Sealsdramon now moves to grab hold of Datamon, as he forcefully drags him out of the restaurant and out into the open. Tossing him onto the ground as Datamon quickly comes to, Sealsdramon hacks off his limbs, one by one, as Datamon screams in terror before Sealsdramon covers his mouth.

"Shhh, shush shush shush... That's no way to treat a fellow Metal Empire Digimon, is it? If you value your life... You will tell me everything I want to know about this Takenouchi Sora individual..." Sealsdramon speaks, as Datamon shakes his head no.

"Like you'll ever get the chance to find out... You'll never get that knowledge, not even if you kill me... right...?!" Datamon speaks, as Sealsdramon glares.

"I feel your pain, you'd wish you were flat out dead, but your defiance in hopes of a quick and painless death irritates me... so I will, instead, make it nice, and slooow..." Sealsdramon speaks as he suddenly unsheathes his claws before Datamon as he pokes the tip of his claws at Datamon's right eye, as Sealsdramon's own right eye fires a red beam of light into Datamon's eye, as Datamon lets out an ungodly scream of terror and pain as to Sealsdramon forcefully downloading all of Datamon's immense knowledge into his own mind, learning everything he wants to know about Sora in the process, and then returning the favor by downloading so much data from Datamon's memory drives that he wipes every file he copies from Datamon's mind, effectively reducing him to a literal empty shell. Sealsdramon moves to stand, laughing, as he stomps on Datamon's small frame and crushes his body beneath his foot, as Sealsdramon walks away from the chaos filled area, as he notices the patrons of the restaurant all having fled while he was distracted with Datamon, and having unwittingly given them plenty of time to escape after first coming back to their senses.

"Yesss... Run, run as far away from here as you possibly can... It won't save you, it'll only bleed you dry, as I watch, observe, and grow stronger, so that one day I can crush you all under my own might, as you'll live just long enough to see my rampage in it's entirety, before crushing each and every one of you... like the bugs... you... are..." Sealsdramon speaks, dryly, sadistically, as the mere fact he has the freedom of darkly being however he chooses to be without issue is nothing short of more than an amusing factoid enough to burst out laughing, as he knows they can't touch him, as he proceeds to take aim with his red eye and fire a laser beam at the restaurant and have it go up in a fiery tower of an inferno, as Sealsdramon's laughter can still be heard even with the gargantuan explosion filling the sound in the air, as Sealsdramon just laughs... laughs.. and laughs... all without any sort of end in sight...

Chapter Text

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Takeru had visited us today, a little while after Yamato had settled down with mom and I for some tea. Takeru seemed oddly focused on talking about his training regime with Patamon to strengthen their bond, and their ability to Digivolve further.

Takeru was telling me all of this as he had put a VHS tape into the player under the TV, as myself, Yamato, my mom, and Takeru all watch what's being shown.

The thing to understand, and to take away from any negative, strong military force in the world, is that even when the heads are destroyed, the remains of the rest of the corpse do not immediately fade away. They attract parasites, in the form of followers dedicated to vengeance, and that they've now taken it upon themselves to continue their master's legacies. It was a dangerous act of battle that occurred with everyone, especially with myself and everyone else's parents being concerned for the safety of our own children.

I could only hope Sora didn't take offense to any implication to suggest I do not wish for her to train with Biyomon to defend herself. I think she's getting the wrong idea, in trying to stay a more neutral side in all of this. Yamato's MetalGarurumon, and Takeru's MagnaAngemon are powerful Digimon in their own right, sure, and could easily help protect my daughter. Taichi's WarGreymon could likewise do the same.

However, it would amaze so many people, with how I keep to myself, regarding a silent study I've been doing, following Izzy's journal postings online from which as far as I know, I am the only one to be reading them among the parents.

Ancient texts, telling of ancient Digimon from the past, and one in particular from which Izzy's studies have identified to be a part of the "Digital Deoxyribonucleic Acid", but as the others shorten it, "DDNA". Biyomon's DDNA scans have indicated her to be a sort of reincarnation of an ancient war goddess, a Digimon called "Hououmon", but the others have taken to calling "Phoenixmon", as its behavior and attributes, such as the ability to rise from the ashes anew, a more Western in nature than what the original name of this Digimon would indicate.

It's a small detail that foreigners wouldn't quite get; I know of Sora's friend Willis who had been apologizing needlessly every time I answer the phone when he calls, or apologizing to anyone in general. I can't help but wonder, as to what exactly is causing this chain of apologies from a boy like him.

He seems innocent, harmless, and yet, he feels as though he's committed a series of crimes.

I couldn't dare begin to imagine what crimes could befall my own family, though, if only because of how involved, or lack of involved, Sora was in the incident the other DigiDestined have dubbed "Our War Game".

"Tai?" Agumon asks, as Tai is looking with a telescope at the top of a very tall building, as from his telescope he can see Sora's household in plain view, significantly further away from where he and Agumon stood.

"Yes, Agumon?" Tai asks, as the goggle headed boy looks towards his partner.

"I get that we're here to respect Sora's privacy and also monitor for wandering Digimon at the same time, but perhaps do you think this is a tad too far away?" Agumon asks, understanding Tai's intent but not how extreme he's going about it.

Tai had been wanting to keep his distance from Sora in case he struck any further bad nerves with her, and with Sora currently introducing Matt to her mother, Tai had no reason to be there on scene and be mistaken for a jealous boy spying on a former crush. He knew he was already going to great lengths to keep an eye on her household from this far away, but he does so with reason.

"99,237 people, Agumon. Counting up, as well." Tai reminds Agumon, as Agumon shudders.

"That D-Brigade, whoever they are, just creep me out with how far they go to wipe out as many as they can so viciously..." Agumon speaks, as Agumon's stomach growls as Tai looks towards Agumon and sighs.

"Perhaps we should get something to eat before we tire ourselves out more on this?" Tai asks, as Agumon shakes his head.

"No, not now! Izzy had intel suggesting that the D-Brigade's strongest soldier was being deployed to Sora's residence! I can't even think about food at a time where she's in danger at any possible moment!" Agumon speaks, clearly, as Tai scratches the back of his head in worry.

"True... but don't you think we could at least count on Gabumon to keep the peace just long enough for us to eat and get our energy back?" Tai suggests, as Agumon looks around, seeing a small, reddish brown haired girl with a scooter driving through the town, looking close to Kari in age or a year older perhaps.

"Maybe we should try up that delivery service that your mom got coupons for?" Agumon asks, as Tai looks over at where Agumon is looking, seeing the girl as well as he nods.

"I guess? I mean, that girl's temper is fierce but she's a very good cook... At least she needs that type of tenacity to keep her kitchens alive and in good shape." Tai brings up, as Agumon nods in return.

"Don't remind me of that weird guy on TV that Matt wound up getting that language problem from. I still don't understand why he needs to speak so viciously to get his point across, but maybe it's a human concept I just don't understand." Agumon speaks, as Tai listens.

"Honestly I should probably try and look more into studies regarding human politics if anything, see if that could help you understand a thing or two about the whole world as we know it." Tai speaks, as Agumon hears a ringing sound from Tai's side, as Tai pulls out an odd, flip-foldable device which has a keypad and touchscreen to it. Agumon looks at him, already half-recalling what exactly Tai is holding.

"Still having tech issues with that thing?" Agumon asks, as Tai shakes his head no.

"Actually, it appears Gabumon has responded back to my email from earlier. He, Biyomon, and Tentomon will be arriving at Sora's house within a few minutes." Tai says, as Agumon sighs.

"Thank goodness Izzy's slowly figuring out how to make these D-Terminals work as he inte-" Agumon says, before suddenly feeling an odd chill in the air. "Tai! Get behind me!" Agumon says as his whole body and frame glows with a powerful energy of burning light.

"Agumon, Warp Digivolve to...!" Agumon speaks, as his whole frame surrounds itself with an increasingly growing eggshell-like shield protecting him from attack as Tai stands behind Agumon, as Agumon emerges from the egg-like oval as Mega Level form.

"WaaarGreymon!!!" WarGreymon calls out, as the "wings" from his backside quickly detach and move to float in front of him after reforming back into a giant, hexagonal shield, which effortless takes a hit from an unknown adversary having fired a missile at them from afar.

Sealsdramon was on the prowl, as Tai could see in the distance, as Sealsdramon was equipped with a heavily reinforced lance capable of firing a projectile powerful enough for Agumon's flight or fight senses to have him decide to Warp Digivolve to Mega Level. Something isn't right here, though; why the weapon against either of them specifically.

It dawned upon him a tad too late, however, when the projectile was revealed to have created an electrifying energy web around him and WarGreymon, tangling them both in wires as they are electrocuted and pass out on the ceiling of the building they're on, as Sealsdramon looks from afar, laughing all the while.

"Now then, you two shall suffer from that painful stinging as I proceed with my real agenda here..." Sealsdramon speaks, as he moves down to Sora's household, as Sealsdramon is immediately met with a blockade from entering the premises overall, with a large, humanoid avian and a metal coated wolf blocking his path.

"You shall not pass!" Garudamon spoke, as MetalGarurumon charges a powerful, freezing energy in his mouth. Sealsdramon chuckles, as he backflips back into a nearby block of the street as Garudamon gasps as she signals for MetalGarurumon to stop, with Sealsdramon eyeing a particular café next to him on this side of the street.

"Yesss... Civilian casualties is exactly what I need right now!" Sealsdramon speaks, as he pulls out a detonator from his utility belt as he pulls the pin on it. Not only does the cafe right next to him detonate in a gigantic explosion which knocks Sealsdramon back into the air as Sealsdramon activates a glider to escape with, but also several other buildies across the entire district suddenly begin exploding as well with Garudamon and MetalGarurumon shocked to see what is going on, though as they try and do something about it, even the ground below them begins to break apart and detonate into a plume of fire which engulfs both of them, with the exact same electrical nets being fired and catching both of them off guard, disabling both of them, as Sealsdramon glides back and lands on the ground, as Sealsdramon approaches both Garudamon and MetalGarurumon and opens his mouth, as an odd, whispy air draws in their data into his mouth as Sealsdramon only needs a fraction of it before suddenly being engulfed in a bright light, Digivolving into Ultimate Level as Tankdramon.

"Yesss!!! I feel the power!!!" Tankdramon speaks, feeling more powerful than ever as his fellow soldiers from his D-Brigade suddenly manifest in the real world and take his side, with Tankdramon using his newly stolen energy to suddenly cause the numerous, Rookie Level Commandramon to Digivolve into Champion Level Sealsdramon.

"Divide, my peons, and do not hesitate to annihilate everything that gets in your way!!!" Tankdramon speaks, as he moves to drive off towards the location of Sora's residence, as Biyomon is quick to manage to escape from her electrified stasis, just to barely manage to get the energy to break free and get MetalGarurumon freed as well.

"MetalGarurumon! De-Digivolve so you can break free like I did!" Biyomon speaks, as MetalGarurumon nods, as he De-Digivolves back into Garurumon.

"We still have a chance to counterattack before he reaches Sora's doorstep, we must stop him from reaching-"

An intense explosion is heard in the distance, as all of the sound in the air shatters as Biyomon suddenly has a cold chill crawl along her body as Garurumon, likewise, feels the same odd chill, as both of them look back towards the source of the explosion that just now occurred.

It was directly at ground zero of Sora's own residence, with Tankdramon's maniacal laughter echoing across the skyline.

Chapter Text

It went by too fast for Biyomon and Garurumon to get there. By the time they did, they had found MegaKabuterimon with Sora, Matt, and T.K. in hands, unconscious, as Tankdramon had Sora's mother firmly in his own hand.

"Let me go you monster! Why would you do this to us?!" Toshiko asks, as Tankdramon looks at her with a wicked grin with his teeth drooling a toxic material that oozes onto her. Biyomon and Garurumon both try and take action against Tankdramon, but Tankdramon's side guns aim at both of them and take them out without him having to even look at them, as Biyomon passes out, Garurumon's still somewhat standing, as he roars in defiance as he suddenly engulfs himself in a bright light.

"Garurumon, Warp Digivolve to...!" Garurumon speaks as he works through the pained stings of the gunshots firing at him between Tankdramon and other members of the D-Brigade firing at a shield which covers him from harm. Emerging from it, he is back again at Mega Level, as his eyes are glowing an intense red in rage.

"MetalGarurumon!!!" MetalGarurumon calls, as Tankdramon snickers a bit.

"Gotcha now!" Tankdramon mutters, as he suddenly is engulfed with a powerful energy of darkness, as Toshiko suddenly screams out in horror as all of the blood and fluids from her body vaporize in an instance, as Tankdramon absorbs her lifeforce into himself, as he suddenly Digivolves into Mega Level. Biyomon emerges from the wreckage of nearby buildings as Birdramon, as Birdramon fires off Meteor Wing against the newly Digivolved Darkdramon. Darkdramon, however, merely shields himself with his large wings, and fires back at her with a dark blast of energy from his lance.

"Fools! All of you are fools! Had you, Sora, not bothered to desert the Digital World, all of this could've been- No, not avoided, but rather delayed! Retirement is never an option for you DigiDestined! Not! One! Bit! I will continue what my master Machinedramon had started on his own! Even if I have to eradicate any DigiDestined who swears against their purpose for all time in the process!!" Darkdramon speaks, as MegaKabuterimon moves to get up, mustering up the energy to fly out with the badly wounded Sora, Matt, and T.K.. Matt, however, is able to force himself to get up and move to land on the ground beside MetalGarurumon.

"MegaKabuterimon, get both of them out of here! I'll handle this sick creep!" Matt orders, as he looks towards Darkdramon with a venomous glare.

"Don't think you'll survive the attempt on our lives knowing you had kidnapped Sora's mother just now..." Matt speaks to Darkdramon, dryly, as Darkdramon chuckles a bit.

"Oh, you poor little thing... You don't get it do you? My Digicore is immortal, but my body heals and gets stronger simply by feeding alone. Merely feasting on the flesh or data or my opponents is enough to satisfy my need for energy, and my ability to Digivolve as well. I have only that ungrateful woman to thank for in which she had given me her power." Darkdramon speaks, as MetalGarurumon, still wounded from before, is having difficulty standing as Darkdramon approaches, pointing to various scars across his body.

"Is Toshiko here?" Darkdramon asks, pointing to his biceps, then at his side, "Or here?" Darkdramon asks, sadistically, as the black joy of this taunting is more than enough for him to delay his attack against MetalGarurumon and Biyomon. Matt's eyes widen when he process the nature of Darkdramon's wording regarding Toshiko.

"You... You killed her...?" Matt asks in horror, as Darkdramon glares down at him with his jaws opening and the dark, venomous drool emerging from his mouth.

Big mistake.

"Great Tornado!!!" WarGreymon shouts, as he suddenly drills through Darkdramon's chest as he flies through, but Darkdramon quickly regains his bearings even though his arm is blown off, as WarGreymon lands besides MetalGarurumon as they both roar at him.

"Oh... It's you two... From the Our War Game incident, was it not? Tell me, are you going to do what you did before, Combining into the Royal Knight, using that newfound power to destroy me and level this entire city with us here?" Darkdramon asks, as Darkdramon chuckles as WarGreymon simply throws one of his own Dramon Destroyers clean into Darkdramon's other side and pins him to the ground. Before Darkdramon could properly be pinned, he quickly fills his own mouth with an intense, powerful foam, as he forcefully upchucks a large chunk of bile into the air and clear over the horizon, and after doing so, collapsing into a lifeless heap from his injuries against WarGreymon throwing his other Dramon Destroyer clean into his head, severing it and knocking Darkdramon's body into disintegrating molecles with disappear.

Tai makes himself known next to Matt, as he looks at what had happened to what remains of Sora's neighborhood.

"What's the damage, aside from the obvious?" Tai asks, as Matt looks away, hurt not just physically, but emotionally as well.

"This Digimon sucker punched us just when we thought Tentomon would try and save us when we were unawares... He forcefully snatched up Toshiko while the explosives that Digimon must've planted took out the house and knocked Sora, T.K., and even Tentomon out for a bit while I was only lucky to not have taken as much as a hit as they did. I don't know how, but I feel like ever since that day in 2000, we've all been cursed." Matt says, as Tai looks at Matt, warily.

"Cursed? What do you mean?" Tai asks, as Matt turns to face him, tilting his head off to the side in the direction of MetalGarurumon, as Tai looks over at him.

MetalGarurumon's eyes had gone black as if nobody was home, and as Tai looks at WarGreymon, he notices his eyes had darkened as well, as both Digimon had stopped all of their functions altogether. Almost as though both had attempted to Combine into Omegamon, but something had went wrong.

"We need to warn the others... There are still other Digimon walking the streets downtown and I want to know who they are and why they attacked us." Birdramon finally speaks, although her voice sounds weak, bordering on collapsing, as Tai looks at her and shakes his head no.

"Birdramon, you head back to the Digital World and get some rest; we'll have Patamon and Gatomon take care of the cleanup, maybe Gomamon if we need him as well." Matt speaks, as he looks at Tai, as Tai nods, as he looks at Birdramon.

"Alright, but I'll follow MegaKabuterimon first... I need to know how Sora is doing before I think about healing myself up..." Birdramon speaks, as she flies off and heads out to find where MegaKabuterimon had flown off to.

Just as she does, a strange, dark avian form is seen hiding among the buildings further above, as three, haunting eyes observe and watch the situation unfold, before paying attention back to the locked up WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon.

"So... he knows."

Chapter Text

Present day

Koushirou was now in the Digital World, with Tentomon buzzing a lot to try and wake him up. Upon opening his eyes, he's quick to realize he's in a laboratory, after having been abducted by a Digimon known as Duskmon. Koushirou looked around to see everyone who was here. He noticed Dynasmon and an odd, skeletal avian Digimon eyeing him as he wakes up.

"Good, he's awake, now may I leave." Velgrmon asks Dynasmon, as Dynasmon shakes his head horizontally, showing his opposition to the idea.

"And pass up on your favorite blend of oolong tea? I, think, not." Dynasmon speaks, before moving to turn on the lights in the room, from which Velgrmon looks around and notices an incubation tube attached to various machines used to pump various fluids into the core. The interior of the tube is filled with a mysterious healing liquid. Koushirou, upon moving to sit up as Tentomon looks around, notices the healing chamber before him as his eyes widen upon seeing who is within it.

Lady Sigma, the Alphamon from a few days prior, was in a badly damaged condition, much like how WarGreymon had left her in, but most of her lost limbs had long since healed, and only a few noteworthy holes in her armor were left not yet fully repaired.

"Your friend did quite a number to Sigma, Koushirou." Velgrmon speaks, his breath practically lit aflame with the taste of oolong tea leaves. Koushirou raises an eye, and isn't exactly subtle with a bit of a bluff he asks.

"... Kashou? Is that you?" Koushirou asks, as Velgrmon doesn't budge an inch. Dynasmon buries his face in his palm, knowing exactly that Velgrmon had been had all because of his- no, her, obsession with oolong tea in her free time.

"When and how?" Velgrmon asks, the more older, masculine voice quickly fading away for a more feminine, younger sounding voice.

"Well according to my D-Terminal this Digimon I'm seeing before my eyes matches the description of the avian Digimon my friends have always been spotting every time you're not around. Oh, and your breathe is oozing of the smell of highly refined oolong tea. Even then you're also subsequently one of the few people I know nowadays who ever refers to me by my actual name anymore." Koushirou points out, as Velgrmon sighs a bit, looking at Dynasmon.

"You're certain me working for you is going to lead to me having a cure to freely changing back to my normal form, correct?" Velgrmon asks, as Dynasmon shakes his head.

"Honestly, I doubt your "normal" form was ever normal to begin with, Kashou." Dynasmon points out, as Velgrmon snarls a bit.

"Don't call me that so bluntly while I'm here; I'd rather than wench Crusadermon not know of my involvement in all of this." Velgrmon points out, viciously, as Dynasmon cracks a small snicker at her furious tone.

"You're rather cute when you try and fail to intimidate me. You know that, right?" Dynasmon teases, as he looks over towards Koushirou as Velgrmon shakes her head.

"Anyways, you're probably wondering why you're here, correct?" Dynasmon asks, as Koushirou stands up and shoots him a glare.

"If it's about repairing Lady Sigma back into action, I'm not going to comply." Koushirou states, as Dynasmon groans.

"Why does every expert I've tried to abduct in this search think that's what I'm bringing them in for?! Look, the point is, your Digital World and subsequent Human World are going to be eviscerated if we can't crack the code behind Lady Sigma's Digicore; the aspect of her that makes her unique even to other Digimon like us for one reason and one reason alone, the X-Antibody she contains." Dynasmon points out, as Koushirou raises an eye.

"... Pardon?"

"The X-Antibody; the resistance program against the deadly apocalyptic X-Program. The X-Program, when it was unleashed in another Digital World, wiped out 98% of the indigenous Digimon there, and only those deemed worthy were allowed to be spared of its destructive power. However, Lady Sigma was not one of those Digimon; she was one of the few among the 98% which developed an immunity, and became stronger than ever before, by developing an antibody; the X-Antibody, if you will." Dynasmon begins to explain, as Dynasmon moves over towards Lady Sigma's healing tank to look at her form more closely.

"As of now the X-Program from the world in which Lady Sigma originated is spreading to other nearby Digital Worlds; if we can't synthesize an X-Protector to install into this Digital World's host computer, than all of the Digimon here, with the exception of her, will be eradicated by the X-Program that is slowly infesting other Digital Worlds." Dynasmon speaks, as Koushirou walks up to Lady Sigma's healing tank as he examines her, not having had the chance to see her or the other Royal Knights up close and realize just how puny he was compared to them.

"And how do you know this won't have side-effects on anything within our Digital World?" Koushirou asks, as Dynasmon sighs.

"Don't be mistaken, I already know it will have such effects, but if we act while Lady Sigma is still recovering, we can retrieve as much data from her own X-Antibody without her being able to resist our attempts and hog the powers of it to herself like she has every time before when I tried to talk some sense into her." Dynasmon finishes, as Koushirou notes something about Dynasmon's voice.

"You sound familiar, you know that, right, Wizardmon?" Koushirou points out, as Dynasmon's eyes widen, as he moves to step back and look down at Koushirou, as Velgrmon's three eyes widen a bit.

"Koushirou, don't pressure him on this." Velgrmon warns, as Koushirou looks over towards her and sighs, calming down as Tentomon looks over towards the timer on the healing tank.

"According to this, we have 3 human world days before the healing on Lady Sigma is completed. In Digital World time, that gives us more than enough of a period from which to study Lady Sigma, but I admit I'm nervous about the idea considering the last time Koushirou tried experimenting with anything." Tentomon speaks, as Dynasmon looks at him.

"Hence why I called for Kashou-" Velgrmon's growls could be heard as Dynasmon speaks, "... Sorry, Velgrmon, to bring both of you here, so that we could fill you in on what needs done before then." Dynasmon explains, as Koushirou looks around.

"Something tells me you have an ulterior motive as to why you want us here specifically. Why is that, Dynasmon?" Koushirou asks, as Dynasmon chuckles a bit.

"Because if we synthesize an X-Protector from Lady Sigma's data, I can assure you, I know the very coding necessary to eradicate that dreadful Darkdramon that the DigiDestined and our newest recruit won't shut up over as of late." Dynasmon answers, as Velgrmon nods.

"So what do you say, Koushirou, will you help us with this project?" Velgrmon asks, as Tentomon looks at Koushirou; a bit concerned, but Koushirou looks over towards him, patting him on his head to reassure him.

"I'll help, but I need help bringing my equipment from home here before I'm in any condition to begin probing around while her wounds are still open for us to do so." Koushirou notes, as Dynasmon looks over towards Velgrmon.

"I suggest you take him back then, Velgrmon; I suspect you don't want to keep your lone mother waiting much longer." Dynasmon speaks, as Velgrmon glares, but then silently nods.

"Alright..." Velgrmon speaks after a sigh, as their whole frame suddenly shifts in appearance to a glitched out frame, as Koushirou's eyes widen a bit, Velgrmon looking down at him.

"We'd better hurry, this form isn't going to last much longer for now."

Chapter Text

BanchoLeomon has been rather unfettered with where he is heading to right now, an old, rusty looking mansion on File Island, from which he encounters a group of Bakemon utterly terrified of the presence of a Mega Level Vaccine Digimon such as him, and stand in his path in a wall formation to block him. However, BanchoLeomon whips out his longsword, his fists ignite into flames, as BanchoLeomon obliterates the Bakemon into nothingness with just a single, well placed punch or slash from his fists or sword respectively, as one final Bakemon is left alive on purpose as BanchoLeomon growls before him, towering above the puny, powerful Virus Champion Level before him.

"You will tell me everything I wish to know regarding myself and my enemy's true natures. In doing so, I am forced to have you assist in reviving my mortal enemy to figure out the piece to the whole puzzle from which both of us are a part of." BanchoLeomon threatens, as Bakemon only cowers in fear, letting out an unintelligible gibberish, mostly consisting of Bakemon's name sans the -mon at the end. BanchoLeomon, in a fit of rage, suddenly roars as his whole body ignites into flames, before jumping back an incredible distance as he lunges forward with a savage roar coming from his gaping maul of sharp, saber fanged teeth extending from his jaws.

"Beast." A single word, uttered by a dry, emotionless voice with an otherwise shrill sound being heavily subdued into a twisted, bird-like crackling of a beak speaking its tone. BanchoLeomon, after stopping, ignores the wave of fiery energy obliterating Bakemon in its non-stopping trail, and leaving a sizeable crack in an unseen barrier protecting the mansion as a whole. BanchoLeomon looks behind him, seeing a tall, vampiric Digimon of sorts walking towards him. One with an oddly humanoid face, but with a face on its chest which is significantly more expressive albeit bird-like, as though demanding its attention to itself rather than the humanoid head above it.

"Murmuxmon, reborn from DemiDevimon, are you not?"

"I am, not that it matters anymore." Murmuxmon introduces, as Murmuxmon stands taller than even BanchoLeomon even when considering how far apart from each other they're standing. Murmuxmon's wings, large and powerful, and powerful built, avian-esque legs, did nothing to make him appear any less smaller, let alone the powerful, sturdy as iron tail which trails behind him.

"Why do you invade my territory, BanchoLeomon?" Murmuxmon asks, as BanchoLeomon snorts.

"As if I'd answer to the likes of a cowardly disgrace of former Demon Lord Myotismon's lackeys!" BanchoLeomon boasts, as Murmuxmon closes his eyes, as from his chest he opens his beak alarmingly wider than physically possible as his own spine folds back to allow him to forcefully open it further. All at once, a massive, gargantuan inferno of demonic flames engulf BanchoLeomon as he screams out in the intense pain, even though under normal circumstances he wouldn't feel such a thing because of his Immortal Digicore, and even the slight sound of Darkdramon's own shrill screaming can be heard from the garbled mess of bile in BanchoLeomon's hand. However, it decides to act on all on its own accord now, as Darkdramon's Digicore suddenly forges himself a brand new body, first with the wiremesh frame, then solid bone, muscle and tissue growing out of fire, as Darkdramon's skull advances through the intense fire towards Murmuxmon as his cybernetic augmentations reappear around him as they are quickly to regenerate.

Murmuxmon ceases the attack, however, just before Darkdramon could shove the Gigastick Lance of his into Murmuxmon's gaping maul, an easy weak point, admittedly, but one any normal Digimon would not survive to exploit.

"Not bad, but your potential shows better than this, I'm afraid." Murmuxmon states, as he floats above Darkdramon, as Darkdramon nearly lunges to attack, before BanchoLeomon suddenly lunges at Darkdramon first and tears off Darkdramon's helmet as he jabs his sword several times into Darkdramon's backside to tear off his wings, with a powerful, oozing force of fire manifesting in various skulls of humans and Digimon alike shrouding Darkdramon's now cackling form in an intense, powerful mist of the damned souls that now empowered Darkdramon over years of feasting on his prey.

"Impressive, I expect no better from my sworn enemy, BAN-TYO." Darkdramon states to BanchoLeomon, as BanchoLeomon roars, as he moves to charge towards him. Murmuxmon, however, blocks the path towards Darkdramon with an invisible force of a transparent glass cage imprisoning both Darkdramon and BanchoLeomon within as their respective weapons quickly fade away into nothing. Murmuxmon smirks a bit, thinking he had won.

The result would be even better than he could've hoped for.

Suddenly, roaring fiercely, both Darkdramon and BanchoLeomon ignite into powerful auras of themselves as their auras burn so intensely that it annihilates virtually both of their lower bodies, exposing a red and blue Digcore each from within both of them, as all that remains are both of their perpetually screaming, bleeding heads from the lack of their lower bodies now, as their Digicores suddenly pulsate like no tomorrow. BanchoLeomon's head is quickly grabbed by his own Digicore, fusing with it into a limb which forcefully has BanchoLeomon coughing up blood-like data as he manifests his own sword from his mouth, burning aflame as the interior of his mouth forges the sword anew into existence. Darkdramon's screaming head could be heard being mechanized even more as it attaches to his own Digicore, as his head loses all of the aspects of itself that made it organic prior by each individual piece of organic material leaking out of his orefaces as discarded material, as his head dries up into a dead version of itself; a similar, more frightening display occurs as BanchoLeomon's head tightens around the blade and liquifies all of its organic contents until it only looks organic in the sense of a taxidermized animal.

On their own, nothing happens at this point, but Murmuxmon already sees potential here.

"I hear your voice, mysterious destroyer, and you want to know the secret of your existence? Yet, at the same time... it appears you cannot grasp it on your own, can you, now?" Murmuxmon asks, as both the disembodied Digicores of BanchoLeomon and Darkdramon float in place, not a shred of sound other than the growling, agonizing pain of both of their original selves screaming out, with the souls of the damned from within Darkdramon screaming out in lower volume.

"Do you hear that, being of Chaos? Do you hear your own agonizing pain within this world, how this world rejects both of your attempts to defy the natural systems which govern your very bodies? You want to be born, like all of us, and survive, but this world does not want a being such as you; at any chance, it would eradicate like you the system error it claims you to be... but I will have none of it, for I too, wish to learn of your secrets, being of Chaos." Murmuxmon states, as he rambles to each of the heads as both of them move to look at him with their dead, soulless expressions locked in terrified pain.

"Feel the power of your Combination; reject your former alliances and allow yourselves to become one with each other! Ignore the pain, ignore the malice, and embrace it all, accept all of the negativity into yourself, and become stronger than you were before!" Murmuxmon speaks, as he opens his beak-like mouth on his chest and fires out an intense flame towards both individual heads, as between each of their Digicores, both of their Digicores were forcefully cracked open just slightly to allow their unique energies to mingle with each other's own, fusing into a singular, heart-like centerpiece, as soon, an entire torso, legs, and head begin to manifest on the newly born entity, as the pulsations from both Digicores forcefully breathe life into this chaotic being whose mere existence causes the visual surroundings of itself to glitch and distort every single frame of data that touches it. After all is done, the entity, eyes closed, moves to lower what are now its hands to its side, as a blank, single white eye opens up on the side of the entity's head.

.We areChaosmon,-}

{-.Emissaryof Oblivion

{-Resistance to our purpose shall not be tolerated under any circumstance-}

{- .A ll  targets within range that threaten us shall be neutralized.-}

Chapter Text

Ken had a habit of setting up private chat rooms in the PC room; chat rooms he fully anticipated and wanted Miyako to break into by figuring out the password to each room he made.

Every time he set up a chat room, he left a hint of what the password was, but he worded the clue vaguely as to not be too obvious. Miyako had managed to get access to the room multiple times over the past few weeks in which Ken has been within this study room. Miyako has had a feeling that every time Ken had opted to change the password, it was as though he was trying to spell something out to her; something he wanted to say but was perhaps too shy to say it aloud.

The passwords and their respective hints are as follows:

{{Hint: What is in the gardens of the school?}} {{Pass: Rabbits}}

{{Hint: What color are they?}} {{Pass: White and brown}}

{{Hint: The untouchable.}} {{Pass: The Black Rabbit}}

{{Hint: How many?}} {{Pass: 13 Rabbits + 1 Black Rabbit}}

{{Hint: Who is the most skittish of the group?}} {{Pass: Ichijouji Ken}}

{{Hint: What was the answer to Week 3's hint?}} {{Pass: The Black Rabbit}}

{{Hint: Do you want to go see the rabbits with me?}} {{Pass: Yes}}

It was kind of a game to figure all of this out; Ken was basically asking these questions to Miyako in particular, being awfully specific about each question. Miyako didn't quite understand why she was the focus of the questions, but it may have been because she was the only one to attempt to break into Ken's chat room in the study room, but even then, that was because of something she had been informed of when she had stumbled upon Ken at an earlier point feeding the rabbits in the gardens.

Ken was all by himself in the late afternoon at the school gardens, and slowly making his way into a small pen sealed off from the outside, from which a few wooden boxes and some small bowls of water and tiny crumbs of food lay at the side.

"I'm late I'm late I'm late!!!" Miyako could be heard as she was heading in the direction of Ken and the rabbit pen, as Miyako stops at the entrance of the pen and is surprised to see Ken here tending to the rabbits. "Ken?" She asks, surprised to see a computer genius like him at a place like this. Ken, turning towards Miyako, looks at her softly.

"Miyako? Perhaps you could give me a hand with these fluffles?" Ken asks, opening the door to the pen for her to get in, as Miyako walks in and looks at the small little rabbits with awe, as Miyako notices the white and brown rabbits all huddled together.

And then the literal black rabbit standing off to the furthest side of the pens away from the others.

"So... Ken? Why are you tending to the rabbits? The teachers usually assign me to tend to them." Miyako asks, a little confused, as Ken looks at her, and softly smiles.

"The teachers allowed me to come here in hopes I could talk to you, alone, and to also see if I could get the black rabbit to perk up." Ken speaks, as Miyako lightly blushes at the fact Ken, the famous student of Odaiba, would ever want to talk with her, especially alone like this.

"Um... Er... Of course..." Miyako spoke, timidly, as she moves to help Ken open a bag of various vegetables to begin filling the food bowls for each of the rabbits with a plentiful mixture of different sorts of vegetables for them to eat. Ken, likewise, helps in return, as it's clear his gaze is heavily fixated on the lonely black rabbit. However, at the same time, Miyako can't help but notice Ken is blushing a bit as well as he uses the black rabbit as an excuse to keep his face out of direct view.

"Ken?" Miyako asks, as Ken looks over towards her, directly into her eyes, as Miyako internally yelps at the eye contact being made.

"Yes?" Ken asks, as Miyako gulps a bit in nervousness, bracing herself for what she's about to say next.

"Do you... like me? As in, like like me?" Miyako asks, as Ken's blush becomes more noticeable, as he looks over towards the black rabbit again.

"Is there a reason you ask that, Miyako?" Ken asks, calmly, as Miyako moves to have Ken face her directly.

"Ken, I'm not naive, and you know that as well; those chat rooms you setup during study time. You set passwords on them all of the time, and at the same time, you give hints as though expecting someone to solve them. Personal questions, at that, such as your interests, which all point towards you having an interest in these rabbits, and the black rabbit, as well." Miyako points out. "It's like you want me in particular to answer these questions to gain entry into your chat rooms, and even then, when I had questioned you earlier while you were only half asleep, you greet me nicely with a little emoticon to show your kindness as well!" Miyako speaks, as Ken looks at her.

"Is it any wonder I see an attraction in you, Miyako?" Ken asks, as Miyako stumbles a bit before recomposing herself to ask him something.

"Why me, though? Of all of the girls in school, why me in particular? I know you like older girls, and there is a good year difference between you and I, but still... I'm afraid I don't get it no matter how many times I try and solve this question on my own..." Miyako answers, as Ken chuckles a bit.

"Miyako, you said it yourself just now, even if you didn't directly mention why. You're intelligent, Miyako, just like me; I am attracted to your intelligence, your curiosity with trying to socialize with me, and especially the fact you don't reject me like the other kids in school just because I show a caring side to these rabbits here." Ken speaks, as Miyako is flustered, as Ken moves over to the pen containing the black rabbit. Miyako is about to stop him, knowing that the black rabbit gets super defensive about itself when its personal space feels threatened, but then Ken does something she doesn't expect him to do.

He begins whistling, softly, as the black rabbit's ears perk up at the sound of Ken's whistling. It takes a few moments, and a few pauses for breath whilst whistling, but the black rabbit's head moves to face Ken, as its head tilts a bit in curiosity. Ken moves to open the pen and to try and carefully pick up the black rabbit, Miyako holding her breath to avoid freaking out in the event the black rabbit bites so that she doesn't startle it any further...

... Except that doesn't happen, as Ken continues whistling, as Miyako looks over towards Ken in surprise; Ken is holding the black rabbit in his arms and it's actually letting him do so!

Ken continues to whistle a bit for the black rabbit, as Ken makes a gesture to Miyako to have her come closer, as Miyako, hesitantly, approaches, as the black rabbit looks at Miyako a bit. Miyako, in a bit of curiosity, moves to carefully pet the black rabbit's ever wiggling nose with her finger. In response, the black rabbit simply sits there in Ken's arms, and as Miyako backs up a bit, the black rabbit lets out a very cute sound as it sneezes after about a few seconds of Miyako stepping away. Ken, whistling still, moves to place the black rabbit, carefully, back into its pen, as Miyako stares a bit in shock as to how Ken had successfully tamed the black rabbit. Once the black rabbit is back in its pen, Ken looks over towards Miyako.

"So... Will I see you tomorrow in the study room, ready to answer more of my questions as you get access to my chat room?" Ken asks her, as Miyako blushes.

"Sure thing, Ken; if you don't mind me doing so, I'm more than willing to spend time with you on such things!" Miyako speaks to him, as Ken smiles a bit, as Ken moves to leave the pen, as Miyako locks the pen up for the night, as Ken waves Miyako "bye for now" as he leaves the grounds of the school. Miyako internally squees at the fact Ken had basically all but flat out stated that he wants to date her, and Miyako is trying to process all of this as well as what happened in the pen! So romantic, so heartwarming, so comforting...

'So disgusting of myself, to believe my own words like that.' Ken thought to himself, as once away from Miyako, he had glared a bit towards the school in the distance, with his mind giving him mixed messages on what exactly he said; did he indeed say all of that as nothing but "lies", or was there some sadistic form of generosity in those words? Was playing the role of the kindhearted, misunderstood kid perhaps something even he didn't know was "supposed" to be a lie? He didn't want to think about it just yet, as for right now, he pulls out his Digivice as he looks towards the activating screen.

"DigiGate, Open!" Ken speaks, as Ken walking forward has him entering a DigiGate generating on the spot for him to use, as he is drawn into it, and disappears without a trace in the afternoon sunset.

Chapter Text

It wasn't easy being back in the Digital World, at least, not when you're focused on writing a complex computer code like the Digimon Emperor is doing currently.

"What are you writing?" Devimon asks, as he emerges from shadow to look at Ken's gigantic monitor from which he could read the binary code Ken was using to type in.

"Writing some base code for a utility I'm working on to make things more manageable for me in the future." Ken speaks, as Devimon raises an eye a bit.

"... Uh... Kid, could you pause and show me this in full?" Devimon asks, as Ken didn't realize the significance of it, but stopped, nonetheless, because something was up in his mind...

01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110011 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100110 01110010 01101111 01101101 00100000 01101101 01111001 01110011 01100101 01101100 01100110 00001010 01000111 01101001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100110 01110010 01100101 01100101 01100100 01101111 01101101 00100000 01001001 00100000 01101110 01100101 01100101 01100100 00001010 01010100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100101 01101101 01101111 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 01110011 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01101001 01110010 01100101 00001010 01010100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01100010 01100101 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01101001 01110010 01100101 01100100 00001010 01010100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01100010 01100101 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 01100101 01100100 00001010 01000001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 01110011 01110011 01100101 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110011 01101001 01100100 01100101 00001010 01010111 01101000 01100101 01101110 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110011 01110100 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100010 01100101 01110011 01101001 01100100 01100101 00001010 01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101101 01100101 00001010 01010111 01100101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100101 01100001 01101110 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100010 01100101 00001010 01001011 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01011001 01101111 01101100 01100101 01101001 00101110

"See? Standard binary, is it not?" Ken points out, as Wormmon wanders into the room to have a look, by first jumping on Ken's head and sitting there perched atop him. Ken could be heard groaning in annoyance, but doesn't seem to mind Wormmon at all, while Devimon's expression simply becomes confused, then disgusted, closing his eyes and mouth a bit, before suddenly gritting his teeth and growling as his eyes open up with a burning red.

"Is this some kind of joke, you little horny shithead?!" Devimon asks, as Ken points to a swear jar over in the corner, expecting Devimon to heed his advice. Unfortunately Devimon simply grabs him and lifts him up into the air and yells in an indeterminable mixture of words.

"Don't you be all smug thinking I'll fall for your little con you cheap little shit! I'm a grown man, I can swear, and if you're so 'evil' as you claim you wouldn't even have that damned jar yet alone have it here, where I can..."

Apparently it was unnoticed that someone much taller had just walked up to Devimon from behind, as Ken looks on in fear not in regards to Devimon, but at someone who looks like Devimon's going to get the same treatment he's getting right now from.

"see..." Devimon tries to continue before noticing something is up, but for some reason Devimon chooses other words to say.

"You mean to tell me that you're all lovesick over a girl in your class, who happens to be a DigiDestined from which she not only introduced you to her friends personally, but all of you there at that little rooftop picnic with those coffin packaged meals, and you even reveal to them outright that you even have a Digivice yet alone lie to them openly how you don't have a partner yet, all because you think you can fool them with how obvious you make it!" Devimon speaks, as he sets Ken down, tilting his head up by his chin with a single digit to have him continue to look at him directly.

Ken seemingly is intimidated by his partner, but in reality he is even more startled by the fact Darkdramon had yet to budge an inch for this entirety of Devimon's rant thus far, as whereas Ken was quick to notice him waltz up, Devimon apparently doesn't appear to be aware a Mega Level is just standing there, apparently just bored enough to let Devimon continue ranting for however long he wants until the moment Devimon lays eyes on Darkdramon.

"Devimon if you're not going to pay the swear jar, then by all means, maybe I'll just pay you instead if you can actually get me to swear somehow." Ken bets, as Devimon closes his eyes, presses his face a bit, before suddenly taking a giant inhale of air as Darkdramon still does not react...

... Until about four hours later where Ken wound up falling asleep just before he could lay eyes on the horror of Darkdramon just lounging on his side, an elbow lifting his head up, as his hand is on his side, tapping his claws against his own armor from how impatient he's getting simply because not once has Devimon acknowledged his presence for this whole time that has passed right now, all the while he continues to swear his head off with Wormmon having put earmuffs on Ken a while earlier.

"Love this show." Darkdramon speaks, drying, absolutely bored in tone, as Devimon looks over towards him.

"And as for you, you crazy fucking bastard! I-" Devimon tries to insult, only to finally realize who is there as Darkdramon is quick to get back on his feet, with the Gigastick Lance reappearing at right arm's side, and Devimon grabbing the tip of it to keep it from moving. Too bad for him Darkdramon already anticipated resistance in any form, so instead opened his mouth as he let out an absolutely ear piercing scream as powerful sonic energy waves blast Devimon directly as Devimon backs up into the nearest wall, as Darkdramon roars at him to continue to be pushed back into a corner as Devimon slowly succumbs to-

"No..." Devimon speaks, his eyes opening up as they glow a haunting red, as Devimon completely disables Darkdramon's roar with his eyes shining at him, before igniting into fire.

"NO!!!" Devimon screams, as he lets out an ungodly shriek of some unidentifiable entity screaming its lungs out at Darkdramon; Darkdramon's visor cracks away, as all sorts of fiery energy can be seen surrounding Devimon, soon erupting into a pillar of fire which pierces directly through the roof and becomes visible for miles away from the side of Mt. Infinity.

Devimon's body begins to melt wholesale, his skin and muscle liquefying only to reinforce the bones that remain intact underneath them, and his wings shedding much of their bones and growing a tad wider in wingspan, as the shatter splinters of bones combine into a gigantic staff that burns itself into being as Devimon's entire head melts off and reveals a glowing eyed skull underneath that's still roaring at Darkdramon. Darkdramon, unlike most Digimon opponents which witness such a sight, had the ability to attack. However, something had manifested right in front of Devimon, clearly visible to Darkdramon, that has Darkdramon decide not to interrupt this.

For he can only imagine the absolutely black, sadistic glee to come from someone capable of being considered a worthy opponent, as the Code Crest of Wrath has already decided to mark itself onto Devimon's new form, as the looming silhouette of a significantly larger, humanoid demon with an oversized left arm comes into view, with what appear to be three glowing spots glaring down at Darkdramon from where its head appears to be. Its large, teeth oozing jaws open up, and coat Devimon into a hellfire of absolute power for him to take shape.

"Devimon, Digivolve to...!" Devimon speaks, as his skeletal hands grip the staff he's present with before his eyes still, as he moves to repel Darkdramon by sending a scorching piece of slag into his eyes, as Darkdramon screams in pain and fury as Devimon makes his new name known; "SkullSatamon!"

Ken had apparently woken up by the time this took place, back to staring in horror as to everything unfolding, as Wormmon had mysteriously vanished from view. Darkdramon slowly begins laughing hysterically as to mock SkullSatamon's existence. He still continues laughing to no end, even when SkullSatamon pieces through his chest and tears out a piece of Darkdramon's Immortal Digicore.

"You'll belong to me after this is through; enjoy your so called freedom while it lasts; I guarantee you will not get a better chance to slay your hated enemy any longer than now." SkullSatamon taunts, as Darkdramon continues to bust up into an uproarious laughter, before suddenly experiencing a fever pitch of rage begin to take hold. Darkdramon screams loudly to the high heavens as he shreds his way through a distortion formed by his mere roaring to enter back into the real world with, disappearing into it as SkullSatamon approaches Ken.

"You shall begin a project to study this fragment for me, do you understand?" SkullSatamon all but whispers, as Ken huffs a bit as he take the Digicore fragment out of SkullSatamon's hand, and begins to load it into the computer terminal right next to them both, and immediately begins to work; at first, Ken is hesitant to wipe the file he's working on clean, noting what he had wrote on it and being a tad reminded of what he was trying to do with those hidden words prior.

Ken, closing his eyes, grits his teeth and growls a bit, angered, infuriated, but yet so stunned, by how quickly he sends the file away from the system of his PC by emailing it out to the one who he intended to get this.

01010111 01100001 01110100 01100011 01101000 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100010 01100001 01100011 01101011 00101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100100 01100001 01101110 01100111 01100101 01110010 00100000 01100001 01110000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100001 01100011 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00101110

Chapter Text

Today was rather unusual to the final moments of it, to say the least. I hadn't realized how much I had lost track of time, before I was getting an email to meet Izzy in the courtyard of the school.

When I had arrived, I hadn't realized entirely that Iori was by my side the entirety of the time. Darkdramon tried to eat him! I already knew from incidents prior the guy was bad news as it is, but this is just someone who has it coming to him for a long enough time as is and by all means-

"Halt, Takeru." Patamon spoke to me, as I stopped, with Iorii not budging a bit, as Patamon was standing in the midst of a shadowy aura of the ShadowSeraphimon form he had took upon, with Patamon in the center with eyes glowing white.

"Patamon...?" I ask, calmly, as I began to realize something; my train of thought, the hatred I felt towards Darkdramon; I allowed this Dark Digivolution to happen! I am going to fix my mistake, and ultimately give Darkdramon what was coming to him sooner or-

"Takeru, cease! You're losing focus!" Iori scolds from the side.

"Iori, you don't understand!" I yell, as the back of my head feels an off sensation.

ShadowSeraphimon's aura grew stronger, as Dynasmon and Velgrmon hid behind a section of the school buildings and observed from nearby.

"That's the one, right?" Velgrmon asks, as Dynasmon nods.

"Indeed, but he is not who we're after." Dynasmon speaks, as he motions towards Iori standing beside Takeru in a panicked state.

"The kid is who we want, isn't he?" Velgrmon says. Suddenly, she recoils in her mind as something makes her stumble a bit and pause her movement. Dynasmon, before Velgrmon could even realize what happened, suddenly had her pinned against a solid wall and in a chokehold.

"If you let him interfere again, I will kill you both if I have to." Dynasmon whispers to Velgrmon, tone as cold as ice in sound and feeling. That was one thing Dynasmon meant with his tone.

But what he didn't expect was for the surroundings of Odaiba as a whole to literally having plunged into a snow storm all of a sudden. Dynasmon, feeling this may be a sign of something, opens a DigiGate for Kashou.

"Go! I'll bring the others and we'll relocate in the palace!" Dynasmon warns Velgrmon, as Velgrmon snaps out of her thoughts to look ahead.

"Just who is causing this weather?!" Velgrmon asks, as the sounds of a chilling cry of sorts echoes across the horizon. Footsteps, sounding like what appear to be six legs or more, trot along the grounds ahead, as T.K. and Iori are trying to shelter themselves from the weather, all the while ShadowSeraphimon fully emerges again and pounces at the unidentified being. ShadowSeraphimon falters, however, upon noticing something; stepping back as though unnerved.

"It cannot be..." ShadowSeraphimon spoke, as the winds had calmed as the remaining chill was drawn into a single breath from the horse-like entity and consumed to nullify it. Everyone could see them plain in sight; Iori and Velgrmon wouldn't know who the man atop the horse's head is...

"It has been a while, Patamon. We appear to have much more to discuss than we had intended." The sound of the man's voice, it sounded like someone T.K. and Patamon knew as a figure of authority, but even with the uncannily lifeless tone from which he spoke, his identity was clear, regardless of whether it was actually him.

He was lost once before.

Now, however, Gennai is back, with much he wants to discuss.

Chapter Text

It was almost as though numerous events happened in the blink of an eye and as though nobody was any wiser on the matter.

Gennai stood in the center of a white void of a room, with Dynasmon and Kashou off to the side with the other Digimon that Gennai arrived with.

"Eight DigiDestined have been gathered back here to bare witness to what I have to speak. I had been informed of the emergence of four others, but it appears I cannot summon Ken to this very room." Gennai speaks, in a sort of emotionless, mechanical voice; yet another far cry from the more emotional old man that the DigiDestined knew of him as prior.

Tai and Matt both sat along with everyone else, and gave each other a concerned look, as they glanced around the room to analyze what they could figure out was real or not.

The room appeared to be a modified version of the room from which Dynasmon was keeping Lady Sigma in a healing tank, but something appeared different.

Among other things, the healing tank was now empty, but was no longer anywhere to be seen from. Dynasmon looked over at Tai and Matt, and then at Agumon and Gabumon.

"You two. I recall your roles in slaying Myotismon when he achieved Mega Level. I have also witnessed you training with augmented versions of your Ultimate Level forms." Dynasmon reports currently, as Agumon and Gabumon look a tad tense from hearing his speech.

"... That's definitely him alright, Agumon..." Gabumon realizes, as Agumon gulps a bit in nervousness.

"Wizardmon back from the grave, I figured that out ages ago; but he died in the real world, so how is he back and in a stronger form, too?"

Dynasmon looks towards Kashou upon hearing Agumon ask, and nods to her. In response, Kashou moves to flee the room as a DigiGate appears to open from where the healing tank was located. Izzy and Daisuke both notice something is off with Kashou, even though only the former realizes the whole deal regarding her identity; Daisuke has no idea this raven-like Digimon was in fact the girl he was speaking to in a flirty way just earlier in the day.

Kashou suddenly stops, before turning around and landing back in the middle of the crowd where each DigiDestined was sitting around her, as Yolei and Cody looked a tad unsettled, as they had this feeling of anticipation of this shrill sound coming from Velgrmon.

Velgrmon, holding her wings down to the ground, begins to blacken into shadows as the emergence of a small, humanoid frame manifests from the scattering ashes of Velgrmon's being.

Kashou, back in her human form, stands there, panting, heavily, albeit quietly. There was an odd look in her eyes, as Daisuke was trying to figure out what to say; Joe gestured now wasn't a good time to speak up, but nonetheless, someone else did speak up.

"So why is Kashou able to turn into a Digimon in the first place?" Mimi asks, oddly tense in tone, as Kashou's eyes looked like a drained appearance of reddish pupils within her gaze. During her moments taking back in her humanity, she looks at Daisuke with a tense gaze.

"D-Daisuke... I need..." Kashou speaks, so heavily drained as Daisuke looks on in horror as to how weak Kashou is beginning to look; before anyone could stop him Daisuke jumps up with Veemon following him in response upon seeing Kashou collapse to the ground.

"Kashou!!" Daisuke calls out, as Dynasmon is about to step in, but Gennai, with a single hand raised, causes Dynasmon to stop in place.

"The specimen you have come to known, ID: "Model#705-HFD TYPE",  was an experiment by ones from a faraway, dangerous place; it was one of many attempts to sire an heir to overthrow an overruling entity of darkness. Even in spite of its capabilities, it has proven to be no different from any other failure of this experiment." Gennai speaks, as Dynasmon seems to be incapable of moving right now. The DigiGate that was opened, however, has thus far remained that way. T.K. looks towards Gennai, as he looks over at Iori, then looks to Joe over his shoulder.

"Keep him in your line of sight, I'm going to try and get closer." T.K. tells Joe about Iori, as Joe looks at him, nodding in reassurance.

"Something is fishy about all of this; just be careful, Takeru." Joe warns, as Gomamon whimpers from behind him. At the same time, T.K. moves to stand up as Patamon appears behind him, the aura of ShadowSeraphimon still surrounding him at this point. Takeru tries to get closer to look at Gennai.

Something about looking at him from a distance made him seem even less recognizable than his robotic speech patterns ultimately already made him sound. Takeru glances over, quickly, at Daisuke having stopped at Kashou's side and is trying to figure out if she's still breathing and not seriously injured. Takeru, quickly focusing back on Gennai, watches with widening eyes as Gennai holds a hand up towards him.

"Takeru; do you still have the tome?" Gennai asks, as Takeru looks startled; he had recalled what was going when Lady Sigma had attacked, and handed MagnaAngemon an odd book of sorts. Thinking back on it, T.K. looks back towards Patamon.

"You are looking for this, Gennai?" Patamon asks, in a rather emotionless tone, as he hands Gennai the forsaken book that Lady Sigma had given to him a while back.

"Confirmation; this is what I require." Gennai mechanically says, as Takeru looks around; something didn't feel right, and it was even worse than before.

"Okay, Gennai? I don't know what's happened to you ever since you vanished back in 2000, but this behavior of yours and this interest in this book, which from what I've already known is bad news, I need to ask something because so far nobody else appears to be in a sane enough state to speak aloud." T.K. proposes, looking towards Dynasmon's frozen state.

"Even he can't appear to muster up any strength to speak up, because you're doing something to almost everyone here to prevent them from acting out." T.K. points out, as Daisuke gasps as he looks towards Kashou trying to get back up so soon.

"T... T.-K... Don't... He's not who you think...!" Kashou speaks, as the DigiGate is able to be heard from the sounds of footsteps approaching.

"Gennai, tell me, what does this book do? What are you going to do?" T.K. asks, as Gennai doesn't answer. It wasn't long for some deep growls to be heard coming from Kashou.

"You won't leave this room alive if you dare do what I think you're intending to! Do you understand that?!" Kashou threatens, as she suddenly gets back up on her feet and she rushes towards Gennai at a surprisingly fast speed. Gennai, however, does the same he did to Dynasmon, and instead freezes her in spot and prevents her from being able to move.

For all of the ten seconds that it actually managed to last on her by comparison to everyone else. Kashou slams both of her feet into the ground, shattering some of the floor in the process as her head suddenly hangs low from having broken out of the restrained spot she was. Nobody could even get a word in before Kashou suddenly looks up, eyes pitch black with only the miniscule of reflection, as Kashou lets out this inhuman roar of sorts towards Gennai that causes everyone to be able to move and act on their own all of a sudden, as Dynasmon shakes his head before coming to realize what was just about to happen now.

"Gennai! You fool! This wasn't the plan!"

"The plan has changed, Wizardmon. Observe."

"Kashou, Henshi-!"

Kashou's appearance glowed with an intense, black and violet aura, from which the flames of her being suddenly collapsed into seemingly nothingness.

The void suddenly exploded outwards with an intense, dark energy wave that turned the entire room from a glowing white to a faint black in appearance, as an armored frame vaguely resembling some leonine type of creature appears from Kashou's spot with a powerful mace, and a spectral head of some unknown Digimon beside her.

"Löwemon!" Lowemon calls out as this twisted form of Digivolution manifests.

Gennai looks as though he is smirking all of a sudden.

It quickly fades when something stomps through the DigiGate and out into open view.

Something massive, with a humanoid frame, seemingly, and having a face resembling a gas mask, with an exhaust vent in the front exhaling a powerful, rust-esque mist of sorts.

The colossus suddenly grabs Gennai, tears the book from Patamon's grasp, and proceeds to quickly flee back into the DigiGate from which it almost instantly closes before anyone could attempt to give chase.

The room was silent during the quick escape; Sora and Yolei were seemingly alright, as were Daisuke, Iori, and Izzy. Everyone else, however, appeared frozen solid in stone, but Agumon and Gabumon, alongside Tai and Matt, were nowhere to be seen at all.

"T.K." Kari speaks up, as she notices what is going on.

"Kari? What's happening right now?" T.K. asks.

"I am happening." A voice echoes throughout the room, before from the ceiling, a hole that was present there suddenly opening up, and falling to the center of the room was none other than a fully repaired Lady Sigma. She could be heard chuckling a little as she rises up to face everyone before her.

"Your friends have become paralyzed because of that strange abomination those Analogs think they can claim is a Digimon. To secure the means to restore them, we have to pursue immediately, but there are two issues I need sorted out first." Lady Sigma speaks, as she looks over towards Sora and Izzy.

"You two, you'll be transported to different coordinates from which you are to assist the newblood DigiDestined retrieve the Armor DigiEggs that hold their partners within them; I had reactivated them days ago and I'm worried about their continued absent. Bring them back alive as quickly as you can." Lady Sigma commands, as Sora and Izzy look at each other with concern, as Yolei and Iori look towards their respective seniors.

"We'd better listen; I don't know how, but she sounds more reasonable this time than she sounded before." Yolei speaks, as Iori nods.

"And it would seem we have no other choice for that matter." Izzy speaks, as he looks at Sora. "Will you be alright on your own?" Izzy asks, as Kari heads over to Sora.

"She won't be alone; my brother wouldn't dare leave her at the potential mercy of Darkdramon and neither would I." Kari insists, as Sora nods.

"If that creep even bothers to show up? We'll try our best to make sure we see his own plan blow up in his face if we can." Sora speaks, as Yolei in turn nods.

"Besides, I've been wanting to meet my partner ever since I saw someone with his before. I need to know if they're alright." Yolei confirms, as Lady Sigma opens a DigiGate for the three to leave through, as Izzy and Iori look at each other, then at T.K. and Patamon.

"Takeru? I hope you won't mind me going off on my own with Izzy; far greater things are at stake for you to join us and not assist Lady Sigma with retrieving that book. If that Digimon did this to our friends, there's no telling what it'll do to others if it gets the chance." Iori speaks, as Izzy sees the DigiGate open for him and Iori to enter.

Both parties leave on their own as their DigiGates close behind them. Lady Sigma opens a DigiGate of her own for her and T.K. to enter through.

"I don't know what gives with your two friends' Omegamon they have, but somehow they were able to arrive at our destination without anyone besides myself being able to make a visual of them moving at all." Lady Sigma tells T.K., as T.K. looks at Patamon as Patamon nods to reassure T.K..

"We won't fail them; we can't fail them; we have to persist and give chase to that Digimon with the tome." Patamon speaks, as his aura as ShadowSeraphimon shatters, as underneath of it emerges MagnaAngemon proper. T.K., being put onto MagnaAngemon's shoulder, looks towards Lady Sigma, as the three enter through the DigiGate she had opened up.

Once they were through to the other side, they were within a pitch black location of sorts, with an intense fog surrounding everyone.

"So, if Tai and Matt were able to get ahead of us, does that mean Kashou did something similar?" T.K. asks Lady Sigma, as Lady Sigma narrows her gaze a bit.

"Make no mistaken; she and the others of darkness from within these walls all know we're here as we speak." Lady Sigma speaks, as she moves to step forward.

"This appears to be the right location; a nest, hidden with a specific line of substring; the inner dwelling areas of a hive of Analogous human beings. We must proceed with utmost caution." Lady Sigma analyzes, all but whispering, as she moves to walk forward.

MagnaAngemon can't help but feel a tad tense; he feels as though something is behind him, as T.K. places a hand on him to calm him down.

"Easy, we can't lose hope at a time like this." T.K. speaks, as MagnaAngemon shakes his head.

"That's the least of my worries, Takeru. Look at this wall." MagnaAngemon points out, as the various electrical lines across the wall are all corrupted in appearance, but something appears to have damaged the integrity of it.

Something with a vast enough size with the right type of claws to be unmistakable for anyone other than Machinedramon.

This place was a Labyrinth, and it appears Machinedramon is the Minotaur on the prowl, somewhere within this dark, unholy place...

Chapter Text

April 31st, 2002: In the event you found this document? You officially know too much. The upper management of the Crack Team have already kickstarted your immediate termination sequence. The Superweapon Digimon you had in containment has been freed of its restraints and is rapidly approaching your location to kill you. Rest assured you will not die a hopeless, boring death; you will have front row seats the clash of a lifetime as we hope that our Superweapon in its new state will be able to awaken the Omega that we lured here, and also hoping your last moments will be spent ensuring the Alpha takes the bait we have strapped into your head. Thank you for choosing Meow.com's Free Trial of "LIFE", and we hope to see you again.

Ken looks at the email he had intercepted that was sent to someone currently within Infinity Mountain, and SkullSatamon observes as Ken is still tinkering with the fragment of Darkdramon's DigiCore in the process.

"So, I have a suspicion this place is going to become a massive battlefield at any moment, SkullSatamon." Ken concludes, as he inserts the DigiCore fragment into a scanner on the terminal he has access to. "Let's just hope this sleeper agent works as I have planned for this occasion..." Ken adds, as a small buzz sound emits from the terminal, as the scan to the DigiCore fragment is completed.

"And what exactly do you intend to do with that shard?" SkullSatamon asks, a bit on edge, but can't place his mind on exactly why he feels that way.

"I intend to inject this into the one that's causing the most disturbance to this place at the moment. I've identified a Kernel agent at the very center of this place, surrounding itself by three protective barriers at the moment. It seems my rivals from the Analogs have arrived to personally intervene with what's going on with who else showed up mere moments ago..." Ken answers, as he glances at SkullSatamon behind him.

"We should retreat now, while we can wait for the dust to settle until I can get a close enough shot to target the Kernel agent proper." Ken orders, as SkullSatamon growls.

"And to what right do you think you command me anymore?! You might've been the one to revive me from the dead with that loophole you figured out, but I am an Ultimate Level Digimon now! I need you no longer!" SkullSatamon angrily points out.

"You have me to thank for that by the way, considering I am more than aware of the significant boost in power you'll be getting soon, but I don't suppose the power is getting to your head right now, isn't it?" Ken comments calmly, as SkullSatamon's eyes glow an intense red.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you. A treacherous DigiDestined you are, but a DigiDestined nonetheless, why should I-"

Before SkullSatamon could finish, he could feel a strong arm grasp around his spinal cord keeping much of his torso in place, as another hand, armed with a very sharp blade ready to strike him through his DigiCore from behind, has SkullSatamon extremely uneasy as to what exactly is behind him.

"And what exactly made you think I would help you get stronger without having a backup in case you tried to betray me?" Ken asks, as he looks to his own Partner Digimon standing right behind SkullSatamon, ready to execute him if he is given the order. "Stingmon? Do you have anything you want to add?" Ken points out his Partner, Wormmon, in his Digivolved, Champion Level form, Stingmon.

"I suggest you do as Ken says for the moment, SkullSatamon; you will have an even greater potential for power if you heed this instruction." Stingmon speaks, as SkullSatamon gasps in shock.

"But the Dark Towers have situated here! How did you Digivolve at all, let alone so easily?!" SkullSatamon asks, before hearing Ken burst up laughing at his shocked response.

"My Digivice is different from those light worshippers the others have going on; I am aligned with darkness, first and foremost, and Stingmon Digivolves not through the Light, but through the Dark; I honestly figured you would've seen him prepping to assassinate you long before he had managed to trap you in a lethal spot right now. Such a disappointment, if anything else." Ken berates SkullSatamon, as SkullSatamon grumbles.

"... Clever prick. Fine, we'll make a tactical retreat as you say; but I notice my old nemesis is here in Infinity Mountain; when we inevitably return as most of the other trespassers are dealt with, I will deal with him personally, and I want no interference to my rematch with him. Understood?!" SkullSatamon points out, slightly raising his voice, as Ken smirks a little bit.

"Oh, don't worry; you'll more than get your chance." Ken tells him, before the ground suddenly begins to tremble before them, as an intense, metallic roar is heard thundering through the halls and passageways of Infinity Mountain. SkullSatamon looks startled as to what this means, but Ken and Stingmon are surprisingly calm about it.

"Looks like Machinedramon's resurrection is ahead of schedule, we need to scram while we still have the element of surprise!" Ken points out, as he pulls out his Digivice and opens a DigiGate with it to someplace else. Stingmon shoves SkullSatamon to walk into the DigiGate, as Ken follows the two of them inside.

Once they leave, the DigiGate closes, and the power in the room shuts off.

Heavy breathing, almost akin to the sound of an exhaust vent, fuming through the area, lumbers around slowly to examine its surroundings. A smog-like mist manifests from the uninvited entity's face, as its eyes suddenly light up red and shine a light into the darkness of the corridor.

"So, Ken is still up to his old tricks even after he gone rogue from us."

"As brilliant as he is? He causes too much trouble."

"Whatever he's up to, we have to analyze and intercept the situation first, before the others intruding in this facility can find out about this first."

"Activating all powers to offensive and defensive abilities; Siegedreimon will be ready to activate on our command."

"Then continue to prowl we must, for we have a few Royal Pains to deal with first and foremost."