Digimon 1. Courage to Face Adventure

**Digimon Adventure D2: Maximum**

* * *

_Three Years Ago..._

"Promise me, Takeru."

The small boy, barely past the age of nine, couldn't bring himself to answer the elder boy. He couldn't believe what was happening. His right eye stared wide in disbelief, beneath the mass of bandages wrapped around his forehead and over his left eye.

"Promise me," said the voice of the older boy, this time with more emphasis and urgency.

"I..." A half-chocked whisper emerged from the boy's lips. His throat felt painfully dry, but he forced himself to continue. "I promise."

Calm and serenity slowly appeared on the face of the elder boy as he heard those words. "Good," he whispered. "Then go. Go now, Takeru!"

The small boy forced back his tears, knowing that he couldn't afford the luxury of crying anymore, and not just because of the bandages over his eye. He nodded, and obeyed the older boy, running as fast as he could.

When he had first discovered this other world, this 'Digital World,' it had been a little scary at first, but he had gotten used to it over time. The inhabitants of the world, the 'Digital Monsters' or 'Digimon,' were strange and alien at first glance, but after all the time he had spent among them he had almost become completely accustomed to them, becoming less and less afraid of even the most terrifying and evil ones. In this world he had been forced to grow up, and consequently he had begun to think of the world as a second home. Or perhaps even a first home, given the state of his living situation in his own world.

But then everything had changed in the blink of his left eye. Everything had gone straight to hell.

The small boy Takeru quickly lost track of how long he had been running, but that didn't really matter to him. His final destination was clearly marked out to him. All he had to do was continue running down the road until he found her and took her to safety.

Sure enough, he found her and her Digimon partner waiting by the road. She seemed confused, but Takeru was out of breath from his run and did not have the time or the strength to explain anything to her. Instead, he took her by the hand and bid her run with him. Her Digimon partner, still fresh and full of energy, easily ran after them.

They found the Digital Gate that was to take them home to their world at the end of the road. Only then did the girl stop and protest, demanding an explanation. She refused to enter the Gate without answers.

"Where is everyone else, Takeru?"

He bent over, placing his hands on his knees as he gasped for air. The boy had barely heard her question, as the sound of his bounding heart was deafening in his hears.

"Where is everyone?" she asked again.

The boy felt that he had recovered enough to answer. "We have to go now," he gasped.

"Where is everyone?" she asked for a third time. Then came the question that the boy had dreaded most. "Where is my brother?"

The boy wouldn't raise his head to look at the girl. Instead, he turned his gaze to the Digimon partner. "Tailmon, please. We need to take her to safety."

The Digimon, resembling a white cat with green gloved paws, seemed to hesitate. On the one hand, she was obligated to protect the human child she was bound to, at all costs. On the other, she was obligated to help her partner, and was herself curious as to what was really going on.

"Takeru, answer my question!" said the girl, her voice uncharacteristically raising. This was the first time either the boy or Tailmon had seen her on the verge of becoming angry.

"Please," whispered the boy. "We need to cross to the other world first."

"Where is my brother?" she screamed.

He swallowed and readied himself, taking a deep breath. He was preparing to make his answer.

"Where is he?" she said.

The boy wrapped his arm around the girl's waist and pulled her to the Gate. Immediately she began struggling, lashing out at the boy with her arms and legs, but no matter how she resisted, the boy would not let go. Though she was larger than him, and much stronger, little by little he led her to the Gate and jumped in. Tailmon followed, having done nothing to help either one. To the Digimon, it seemed the appropriate compromise between protecting her partner and obeying her partner.

In a flash of bright colors and lights, they were gone from the long road. Now they stood on green field, under a bright blue sky.

"Let me go Takeru!" she cried. "My brother!"

Despite all the pain and beating, the boy managed to find the small white and gray device he was looking for in her pocket: the Digivice. Once he had it in his hands, he let her go.

"Give me that back," she demanded, realizing what he had taken.

"I can't let you go back there," he whispered, hugging her Digivice and his own to his chest to protect them from the girl's hands.

She lunged at him, tackling him to the ground and tearing at his arms to get her Digivice back, but the boy kept them clutched to his chest despite all the scratches and beatings.

He didn't know how long they struggled, but eventually the girl tired, and fell down next to him, breathless and exhausted. Tailmon came up to her side and helped her lie down, making sure she was comfortable before taking a seat beside the two.

For the longest time, no one said a word.

"I hate you," said the girl at last. For as long as she could remember, she had never said those words to anyone before. The concept of hate had seemed completely alien to her, until then. At least, she seemed to understand what hate truly was.

Still, the boy did not reply, though he loosened his grip on the two Digivices.

"I will never forgive you," continued the girl. "Nothing you ever do will make up for this, Takeru."

All the scratches and bruises on his body didn't hurt nearly as much as those words, but in his heart the boy knew the pain of breaking his promise, (no, his _promises_), would have hurt much worse. He slowly closed his eyes and sighed.

When they had both calmed down, the boy quietly made a new promise to her. And he made a silent one to himself.

* * *

**Maximum v1.0**

**Courage to Face Adventure: Flamedramon vs Monochromon**

* * *

_Now..._

"Run! The Kaiser is upon us!"

The boy smiled as he heard the screams. This title he had adopted, Kaiser, was German for 'Emperor,' being derived from the Latin title Caesar. There was nothing particularly German about this Japanese-born boy, but of the many languages he had studied he was rather fond of the German language, and the word 'Kaiser' seemed suitably imposing for his purposes.

With a snap of his fingers, a wave of black rings hanging from his belt suddenly came to life, rising up into the air and spreading out into the dark forest that stretched out in front of him.

He checked the bracer on his left forearm, which had a sort of small touchscreen computer mounted on its outer side. The Kaiser ran a few calculations on this computer, and made a small laugh as he read the results. "Projected capture rate: 94%. A decent enough yield, I suppose." He turned to leave, and then stopped.

In front of the Kaiser stood another boy, around the age of twelve, like him. Unlike the Kaiser, this boy seemed to have some European descent despite being Japanese-born, as evidenced by his yellow hair and blue eye. This boy's yellow and green clothing contrasted with the dark blue and gold of the Kaiser's costume, and seemed to characterize the two as being fundamentally opposed to one another.

This new boy smiled, though his eye was deathly cold. "Hello Ichijouji. It's been a while."

"Not nearly long enough, worm," replied the Kaiser dryly. "I must admit you did catch me by surprise. I would have expected you to be down in the forest, trying to save the inhabitants from my Dark Rings."

"Come now, Ichijouji," laughed the boy coldly. "If we catch you and bring you down, your little Empire goes with you. We catch you, and it's our victory." The boy held up his left arm, revealing a bracer similar to the Kaiser's own, though instead of a touchscreen computer, it bore a device decorated with green patterns, a D2 Digivice.

The boy's smile vanished, and his voice became stern. "Reload, Terriermon."

A light flashed from the D2 mounted on the boy's arm, and suddenly there was a small white creature, resembling a cross between a rabbit and a dog. It had large oversized ears, adorned with green stripes and tips, flanking a small horn. In height, it came up to about the knees of the two boys.

As soon as the creature had appeared, the touchscreen computer on the Emperor's left armed beeped and projected a holographic image of the creature, along with a small box of text describing it.

_**Terriermon**: Child level. Vaccine Attribute. Beast Type. Nature Spirits. Breath Attack: Blazing Fire. Special Attack: Petite Twister._

The Kaiser seemed unimpressed. He snapped his fingers, and suddenly the ground began to shake as a large dark form emerged from the forest. A large horned dinosaur like creature marched forward, a large black ring wrapped around its midsection.

This time it was the other boy's device that reacted. The green D2 projected its own holographic image of the dinosaur creature.

_**Monochromon**: Adult level. Data Attribute. Dinosaur Type. Nature Spirits. Breath Attack: Volcano Strike. Melee Attack: Horn Strike._

"Have fun trying to find me again," said the Kaiser nonchalantly as he turned to go. His Monochromon slave quickly took a fighting stance and positioned itself between the two boys.

Terriermon stared the much larger creature down and laughed. "What, we can't beat one of your pawns?" he taunted.

The Kaiser paused and glanced back at the boy and the Terriermon. "If you insist," replied the Kaiser, snapping his fingers again. A second Monochromon, also bearing a Dark Ring around its midsection, emerged from the forest and stood in position beside the first as the Kaiser vanished into the shadows of the woods.

Terriermon sighed as he studied his two opponents, though he did not dare show any remorse over his previous comment to the boy. He glanced at the boy, and saw that he was looking down at his right arm. "Takeru, the two of us alone can take them," said Terriermon. "Let him rest."

The boy, Takaishi Takeru, looked up from his right arm back to Terriermon. He hesitated for a moment, but nodded. "Alright, let's go."

There was no point in rushing. The boy had long since learned what his true loyalties and true priorities were. If he was late for his appointment later in the day, he was late. If necessary he would skip it entirely. He only ever returned to the other world when there was nothing more he could do for this Digital World, his true home world.

* * *

Motomiya Daisuke was a strange boy to most people. For one thing, he had a pair of aviator goggles strapped around his forehead. It had attracted stares at first, but over time his peers had gotten used to it. What no one ever got used to was his fantasies of other worlds.

"I'm telling you, I'm not making this up!" he would say as he described his recollection of armies of ghosts and phantoms and a Vampire Lord, of an alien land appearing in the sky. "Just because no one else seems to remember doesn't mean it didn't actually happen!"

Because he was a strange boy, he didn't have many friends. His classmates tolerated him because though he was strange he was often entertaining when he went on his rants, and they played with him in club sports because he was halfway decent on the soccer/association football field. But outside of the classroom and sports fields, the only ones who would really talk with him were other outcasts.

Inoue Miyako was a year older than Daisuke, and somehow managed to be even less popular than he. Whereas Daisuke was at least accepted by others for his competence in sports, Miyako wasted away in social exile in the school computer lab as the one of only two members of the school 'computer club.' The other member was a small quiet boy three years younger than her, Hida Iori, the only person she had ever known who had never made any comments about her eccentricities.

Observers thought of them as an odd trio, but this opinion may not have been entirely justified. If they talked to one another, it was mostly out of the coincidence of them not having anyone else. With their differing ages and differing activities, they rarely ever saw each other in school itself, and only ever really interacted on the walks to and from school.

On one particular day, Daisuke had not walked with the other two, instead opting to get to school early to play a casual game of soccer with some other boys. No one had invited him, but no one asked him to leave or complained when he joined the game.

It seemed like any ordinary day at the beginning of a spring term, and Daisuke quite enjoyed the weather and the feel of physical exertion in the morning. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

He missed a pass, which was careless of him, and the ball ended up glancing off a bag and flying into the air. As he was the nearest, it was up to him to retrieve the ball. He found it the hands of a boy he had never seen before.

"Sorry, sorry," said Daisuke quickly as he ran over to the edge of the field, where the passing boy had managed to catch the ball. He smiled apologetically and held out his hands expectantly for the ball.

The other boy only stared.

Daisuke found this behavior quite confusing, and looked the other boy up and down. This passing boy had yellow hair, with bangs that obscured the left eye. The right eye of the boy was blue. All this was good evidence that the other boy was a foreigner, but the general shape of his face was rounded rather than the more angular and blocky shapes Daisuke had learned to expect of foreigners from the depictions of them in his manga and anime.

"Maybe he's only half-foreign," thought Daisuke to himself, as he didn't know anything about Mendelian genetics or recessive genes.

Caught up in his own thought, he was surprised by the boy suddenly throwing the ball back, and only barely caught it.

"Why do you wear goggles like that?" the other boy asked quietly in perfect Japanese. If he was a foreigner, he still spoke like a native speaker.

The question was also surprising for Daisuke. Though others had certainly thought his choice of apparel was odd, few had ever asked him about it directly. And something in the way the other boy had phrased the question seemed like the boy didn't think the fashion choice was odd in itself, but why Daisuke in particular should choose it.

Daisuke stared back at the boy and frowned. "I think they look cool."

An unreadable emotion flashed in the other boy's right eye. He closed his eye and half-smiled. "I suppose they suit you, in a way."

Unsure what to make of that comment, Daisuke looked the boy and down and blurted out, "Your hat suits you."

This seemed to amuse the other boy even more, to the point that he even let out a soft half-laugh. "Thank you," he said quietly, pulling the brim of his hat forward to hide his eye in its shadow. Without another word, he resumed walking past the field toward the school.

"What a weird kid," thought Daisuke.

"Daisuke, what are you doing?" shouted one of the boys on the field, reminding Daisuke that he was still in the middle of a game.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Daisuke called back, turning and kicking the ball back into play.

* * *

After the game, Daisuke returned to his classroom, and thought nothing more about the foreign-looking boy that had passed by the field. The homeroom and English teacher was writing out something on the board.

Already bored, Daisuke slumped forward on his desk after taking his seat and sighed. His mind began wandering over his fantastic memories that he wouldn't let go and his pure fantasies he never revealed to anyone.

How could everyone else be so content with life as it was, he wondered. After seeing all the strange and exciting things he had seen as a child, all he could ever think about was going beyond the dull monotony of everyday normal life. He wanted an adventure, like in those fantasy manga series he spent so much time reading when he should have been doing schoolwork. At this point, he'd settle for a less fantastic and more realistic adventure, like attracting attention on the soccer field and being recruited from some prestigious all-star team.

Daisuke sighed again. He'd even settle for the appearance of a mysterious transfer student.

The teacher called attention to the front. From the look on his face, he was clearly just as tired and bored with his life as a teacher as his students were bored of him. "We have a new transfer student this term," he said in his usual emotionless and dry tone. He glanced at a paper in his hand, checking something.

"Our new transfer student has a weak body, and will likely be absent quite frequently for medical reasons," continued the teacher, looking back up at his class. "Please treat him kindly," he said, but from his bored eyes it was clear he didn't care either way. He gestured toward the door.

The yellow-haired boy, the same one from the field, stepped in. This certainly perked Daisuke's interest, and he straightened in his seat.

"My name is Takaishi Takeru," said the boy quietly as he bowed to the class. "I apologize for the inconvenience. Pleased to meet you."

The class chanted the customary response. Daisuke noticed a few of the girls seemed to have taken a particular interest in the transfer student. "It's only because of the yellow hair and blue eyes," Daisuke grumbled to himself. "If it weren't for that, no girl would find him interesting at all." He also told himself he was definitely not jealous.

"You can take that seat next to Motomiya," said the teacher.

The boy, Takeru, briefly glanced over at all the empty seats in the classroom before looking back at the teacher. Only then did the teacher remember that the new transfer student would have no idea who Motomiya was.

"Motomiya is over there," clarified the teacher, gesturing over toward Daisuke's desk.

The foreign-looking boy nodded and went over to his seat. He sighed and gave a half-smile to his new neighbor. "Nice to meet you again," he said quietly. "Motomiya Daisuke, was it?"

"Yes," said Daisuke. "Here's how to write it," he added, scribbling his name on a piece of paper and showing it to the other boy. The foreign-looking boy studied it and nodded.

Now that he was closer and had a better view, Daisuke noted the boy's face seemed a bit haggard, and there were bags under the boy's eye. If he didn't know any better, Daisuke would have said that this boy had not slept in days.

Though he couldn't quite explain it, Daisuke seemed to feel an instinctive aversion to the boy. No, it wasn't because he a was a foreigner, Daisuke told himself. It was something about how this other boy carried himself, how his expressions seemed somehow forced, as if his face moved to look the way it thought it should rather than actually reflect real emotions beneath the surface. It made the boy unreadable.

But at the same time, this very instinctive aversion only excited Daisuke all the more. Yes, he was old enough to know to put aside childish fantasies away and know that what he read was only fiction, but Daisuke still had a nagging hope that a mysterious transfer student could still inject some excitement into his life, no matter how small.

"Maybe he really is foreign, with family in Europe, or maybe America," though Daisuke to himself. "He could feel isolated, and then open up to me because I'm sitting next to him, and then try to befriend me, and then invite me to Europe or America or wherever over break." He smiled at the idea. That would be a decent enough adventure. How many kids his age could claim to have gone to a different country? It wasn't much, but it was something.

From the corner of his eye, Daisuke thought he saw a glint of light. He turned slightly, and saw the edge of something metal just poking out of the sleeves of the other boy.

* * *

"Could you please show me the way to the Computer lab?"

Motomiya Daisuke nearly jumped in surprise at the other boy's question. The entire school day, the other boy had not said a word unless prompted. Only now, at the end of classes, had the boy finally said something of his own volition again.

As he regained his composure and packed his bag, Daisuke coughed awkwardly and nodded. "Sure. I was actually on my way there." He blinked, and quickly added, "Not that I know much about computers. I just happen to know someone in the Computer Club here. Are you thinking of joining it?"

"No, sorry," said the other boy quietly as he shouldered his bag. Daisuke noted the bag was a lot larger than most school bags, and had been packed to the point of bulging and straining the seams.

"What does he have in there?" wondered Daisuke, remembering the glimpse he had of something hidden in the other boy's sleeves.

Setting his questions aside, Daisuke led the way down the halls of the school building. It was a large facility, housing within it both an elementary school and a junior high school. The two schools technically each had their own building, but they were connected by halls both at the ground level and near the middle of the buildings. Access to the computer lab required they take the stairs up to the middle level hall.

As Daisuke had expected, Inoue Miyako, a bespectacled girl with long hair, was already there, typing away at one of her pet programming projects on one of the computers in the row closest to the door. He had not expected Hida Iori to be there as well. The younger boy, his hair cut straight and even in contrast to Miyako's long tangled hair, was seated on the computer adjacent to Miyako, but instead of using the computer he seemed to be meditating.

"Is that you Daisuke?" said Miyako as she heard the door slide open. She began to turn toward the door. "You know, you still owe me for that... Hello!"

The elder girl brightened at the sight of the unknown face, and quickly left her seat to go to the door. "I am Inoue Miyako," she said to the new boy. "It is written like 'Kyo' as in 'Kyoto.'"

Daisuke crossed his arms and shook his head. "You are so creepy, Miyako."

Hearing this, Miyako cast a sideways glare at Daisuke. "What is so creepy about introducing myself?"

"I know your real intentions," replied Daisuke.

The youngest boy, Hida Iori, suddenly opened his eyes as he sensed the distress and quickly left his seat to intervene. He stepped forward beside Miyako and made a slight bow to the new boy. "I am Hida Iori, third year. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Iori's sudden intervention had the desired effect, and Daisuke and Miyako backed away from another. The newcomer bowed in response to Iori's greeting. "Takaishi Takeru," he said quietly. "I am a new transfer student. I am in Daisuke's class."

"Welcome to the school then," said Miyako brightly. "Would you happen to be interested in the Computer Club? I'm the president, and we are always looking for new members!"

Daisuke rolled his eyes. "'We?' You're president because you're the only member."

"Not true," growled Miyako. "Iori's always here with me."

"Iori can't be an official member, because third years can't officially join clubs."

"Who cares about being 'official?' He's here so he's a member!"

"I don't mean to interrupt," said Iori quietly. "However, we shouldn't forget out new guest."

"Oh, no," replied the other boy quickly, waving his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about me. I was only interested in learning the location of the Computer Lab."

"But what's the fun in using a computer without having someone else there to share the experience?" said Miyako, smiling again. "Please, I highly encourage you to join. If you have limited experience with computers, I can give you one-on-one lessons, like I have with Iori."

The other boy scanned the room, and his gaze settled on a clock hanging from the wall. "If you don't mind me asking, about how long do you stay in this lab?"

"Oh, it varies," replied Miyako. "Some days we stay all the way until the building closes. Some days we don't even come to the lab at all."

"How long will you be here today?"

"Well..." Miyako glanced over at Iori. "Iori and I were actually going to head out soon to pick up some snacks and then come back later, but we don't have to if you're..."

"No, that's quite alright. Don't do anything out of your way for my sake. I only want to do something really quick on the computer, than I'll be on my way."

"Are you sure? At least stay for some snacks. We could..."

"Thank you, but I am in a bit of a hurry today." The boy half-smiled apologetically.

Miyako shrugged. "Well, if that's the way it is." She reached out and grabbed Daisuke's arm. "You, on the other hand, have to come with us."

"What?" said Daisuke, attempting to wrench his hand from the girl's grip. "Why?"

"To help us carry snacks obviously."

"But...!"

"Don't lie, I know you don't have soccer club practice today!" Miyako began heading to the door, dragging Daisuke after her. Iori gathered his bag and quickly followed after them. As they reached the door, Miyako turned back and said, "It was nice meeting you Mr Takaishi. Let's meet again real soon, okay?"

The boy nodded and half-smiled. "Definitely."

Iori made a slight bow. "It was nice meeting you." He closed the Computer Lab door after him.

The boy waited until the sound of footsteps had faded away, before turning to the nearest computer and pulling up his left sleeve. He brought up his left forearm to bring the green D2 mounted there toward his mouth. "Terriermon, are you awake?" he spoke toward the device.

The screen on the D2 flashed and blinked as the device's inhabitant made his reply. "Couldn't really sleep actually. I hear you made some new friends today."

The boy shook his head. "Let's just get back to work already."

"Right."

The boy aimed the D2 at the computer monitor and waited for the devices to synchronize. The computer monitor suddenly became blank white, and began emanating a light that was far brighter than it should have been physically capable of generating. As it did, the boy noted that his green D2 Digivice was vibrating at an unusual frequency

Something was off this time, but the boy didn't know what. He shook his head and forced himself to focus. Whatever it was, it could wait for future investigation.

"Digital Gate Open."

* * *

The three were about halfway down the hallway, before Daisuke snapped his fingers and said, "Hold on a minute, I forgot that I was supposed to pick up some stuff I left in the Computer lab two days ago."

Miyako frowned and turned around. "You better not be trying to worm you way out of this."

"Picking that stuff up was why I was heading to the Computer Lab in the first place today," said Daisuke defensively. "The new kid just happened to be looking for the Computer Lab too, so I brought him with me."

Miyako narrowed her eyes and stared Daisuke down. "Fine, but we're going to escort you back. Come on, Iori."

Daisuke sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'm not trying to run away. Seriously, you're way too suspicious for your own good."

Miyako made no reply, and the three went back to the computer lab, in time to see an unearthly light leaking from the bottom of the door.

"What the...?" Daisuke ran up and slid the door open.

As he did, a faint white beam of light struck him the chest, knocking him down on his back. Daisuke quickly lifted himself up into a siting position to find that out of the light had emerged a small rectangular device about half the size of his palm. A second and third beam of light reached Miyako and Iori, dropping an identical device into their waiting hands.

"What is this?" wondered Daisuke aloud, taking the small device from his chest and climbing back to his feet. Somehow the device seemed familiar, as if he had seen it before. He did remember a friend of his once showing him something like that device.

The three looked back into the Computer Lab. The light from before had faded somewhat, and they could see that it was coming from the computer monitor that Miyako had been working on previously. The transfer student Takeru was gone. The three entered the room and approached the monitor cautiously.

Miyako leaned over and studied the computer screen. On it was a program she had never seen before. It resembled a sort of video player, displaying an image of a forest. "I don't remember installing or even seeing anything like this before," she commented.

"Hey, look at this," said Iori. He held out the device in his hand. "Look, these things began vibrating when we entered the room, and they vibrate more the closer they are to the computer."

"Did these things somehow come from the computer?" Miyako shook her head and laughed. "No, that would be ridiculous."

Daisuke said no word, but instead held out the device in his hand toward the computer screen. As Iori had said, the closer he brought it to the screen, the more it vibrated. However, he also felt that the closer he brought it, the warmer it felt in his hand. It was a pleasant feeling, actually.

"Maybe we should all hold out these things," said Daisuke.

Miyako blinked. "What are you expecting to happen?"

"Let's just try it."

Miyako shrugged and aimed her device at the computer monitor. Iori did the same.

The next thing they knew, the entire world had become a blur of flashing lights and colors.

"What in the world...?" But before Daisuke had finished speaking, the lights were gone. The whole computer lab was gone. They were in the middle of a forest, but not any forest they had seen before. The trees were bent and twisted in ways unlike any tree they had ever seen before, and their leaves were an unnaturally looking blue-green. Rather than covered by rough bark, the tree trunks were completely smooth and silvery, as if they were made of metal rather than wood.

The three looked all around at the strange alien forest around them.

"What the...?"

"Hello there!" said a new high-pitched voice. The three turned toward it and froze.

Before them stood a massive dinosaur like creature with a single large horn. Tough armor-like black scales covered its head and back. The three instinctively froze at the sight of the large creature, too surprised to even scream.

"Hi," said the high-pitched voice again. A small white form poked its head from behind the crown of the larger black creature, and waved. "Nice to meet you."

The three were still too surprised and terrified to respond.

The white creature hopped over the crown of the dinosaur and slid down the larger creature's head to the ground. "Don't mind Monochromon, he's not the talkative type, and he's a bit worn out from all the fighting he did before we freed him last night," said the creature as it landed. It made a small bow toward the three. "Hi, I'm Terriermon, Takeru's friend. You are Takeru's friends too, right?"

"It... it talked," whispered Miyako, turning pale. "It talked..."

Terriermon tilted his head to one side. "Yeah, I talked. Am I saying something wrong." He tilted his? head to the other side. "Sorry if my Japanese isn't very good. I don't speak it very often, but I'm getting better. I prefer Cantonese, but Takeru doesn't speak that." He laughed. "And you should hear his French. So bad! I end up having to correct him most of the time. Imagine that!"

Miyako finally worked up the nerve to shriek.

* * *

Terriermon cringed and held his large ears as Miyako shrieked. "Please, don't do that! You'll attract too much unwanted attention! The Dark Tower is still up in this area, and there are a lot of Ring-controlled Digimon patrolling!"

Miyako didn't hear the small creature's voice, and turned to run. "Wait!" said Iori. "We shouldn't get separated!"

Luckily, Miyako didn't get very far, before a hand grabbed her wrist. She turned and saw the foreign-looking boy, Takeru, emerging from the shadows of the trees, now wearing some sort of torn and dirty cloak over his shoulders. His face was deathly pale.

"Oh, you're back Takeru!" said Terriermon cheerily, hopping past Daisuke and Iori to jump into the boy's free arm. "I suppose you heard the scream."

Takeru did not reply, but instead looked at Miyako, and then to Daisuke and Iori, his wide eye betraying his total shock. "You guys... Why are you guys here?"

Daisuke and Iori stared back at him blankly. "Hey, I don't even know where 'here' is," said Daisuke. "One minute, we were in the computer lab, and then there was a flash of light and we found ourselves here."

Iori, slightly more helpful, held out the white and gray rectangular device to show Takeru. "This came out of the computer first."

Takeru's face somehow turned even whiter when he saw the device in Iori's hand. He let go of Miyako's wrist, but his presence had seemed to calm her enough so that she didn't appear to want to begin running again.

The Monochromon behind Daisuke and Iori suddenly stiffened. It raised its head and sniffed at the air. Takeru and Terriermon immediately realized what the gesture meant.

"They know we're here," said Takeru. He looked to the three. "We need to get you three out of here." Without another word, he pulled up the sleeve of his left arm, revealing his green D2, but his face became grave as he saw the screen. "No good, the Gate here collapsed. We need to find another one."

"We can take them to our camp in the cave," suggested Terriermon. Takeru visibly hesitated, but Terriermon quickly added, "I mean, do we have any other option?"

"Monochromon won't fit through the entrance, so he can't come with us," said Takeru. "We can't leave him behind."

Hearing this, Monochromon growled angrily, apparently offended by the unsaid implication that it could not defend itself.

"That's not what I meant Monochromon," said Takeru. "But we're still looking for your brother, and it wouldn't be right for me to abandon you now."

Monochromon only growled again and turned away, stomping off. Terriermon sighed and shook his head. "Monochromon can take care of himself. He knows this forest better than we do after all, and it's not like he has to worry about another wave of Rings or anything."

Takeru nodded. "In any case, these guys come first." He turned back to the three.

All three of them were staring at him as if he were just as alien to them as Terriermon and Monochromon. "That dinosaur thing understood you?" said Daisuke.

Miyako, having regained her composure took a more combative stance. "Alright, you clearly know about this place," she said, pointing at Takeru accusingly. "Where are we? What is this place? What is that thing? I want answers, now."

Terriermon's ears shot up and he turned his head, looking off into the distant sky. "They're getting closer," he warned Takeru. "I hear one coming in fast from the air."

"I'll explain once we get somewhere safe," said Takeru to the others. "Please, for now, we need to get to the camp."

Miyako glared at Takeru suspiciously and crossed her arms. Daisuke didn't look to happy with his reply either. Iori's face had hardened into a nearly unreadable stoic expression that seemed almost judgmental.

"Please," said Takeru. "You have to trust me. We're in danger out here in the open."

As if to further reinforce his statements, a low buzzing sound slowly became audible.

Miyako pouted, but said, "Fine, let's go. But this better be a good explanation."

"Stay close and don't get separated," said Takeru, motioning to them to follow as he began heading back into the shadows of the trees. "It's not too far, but we have to hurry. If they find us, we'll be at a big disadvantage."

Daisuke shrugged and followed after Takeru and Terriermon, ducking underneath low tree branches as he tried to keep up. Iori also followed without a word. Miyako pursed her lips and frowned, but took up the rear of the group as they worked their way through the forest.

The buzzing sound from before became louder.

"So," said Daisuke as he struggled through the underbrush behind Takeru. "You said your name was Terriermon?" he addressed the small white creature on Takeru's shoulder.

Terriermon turned and glanced back at Daisuke. "Yep, I'm a Digital Monster, or a Digimon for short!"

"And that dinosaur from before?"

"Monochromon? Yes, he's a Digimon too. Pretty much all natural inhabitants of this world are Digimon, with only a few exceptions."

"This world?"

"We can explain more when we get to camp," cut in Takeru. He glanced up at the sky through the gaps in the branches above. "Can you hear it? It's almost on us."

"No," said Terriermon, his ears raising up. "It's already on us."

Takeru froze and turned to the others, holding up his hand to signal them to be quiet.

There was a roar, and all eyes looked up in time to see a dark green insect zoom over them. The creature was massive, almost the size of Monochromon. Though it resembled a praying mantis, it's blade arms looked like they were made of actual metal. A Dark Ring was wrapped around its thorax.

The green D2 on Takeru's arm sprung to life.

_**Snimon**: Adult level. Vaccine Attribute. Insect Type. Virus Busters. Special Attack: Shadow Sickle. Heavy Attack: Slam._

"The Kaiser couldn't have picked a better hunter," whispered Takeru. "Snimon has sensitive hearing. Normally they aggressively use it to hunt down Virus attributes, but with that Ring... We need to be careful."

"But can it really hear us in this forest?" said Daisuke. "Even then, how's it going to get to us with all these trees in the way?"

The air was pierced by a loud shrieking sound, and Snimon suddenly appeared above them again, slashing its bladed claws. Dark violet energy blades emerged from the air where it slashed and rained down upon the trees, easily slashing them apart.

"Like that!" said Takeru to the others. "It's found us. Run!"

The others needed no more encouragement as Snimon made another pass over them, shrieking and raining down more attacks on the trees. As the branches collapsed all around them, a rock wall slowly came into view. Takeru pointed out toward a small cave entrance, barely visible unless explicitly noted. "There!" he called. "Get in there!"

* * *

The shrieks of Snimon slowly faded in the background as the creature flew away, confused as to how it had lost track of its prey. Takeru quickly led the others down through the cave until they reached a central round cavern, illuminated by sunlight pouring from a single small hole at the top of the dome ceiling. Directly underneath the hole was a small rock pedestal, on which was set a single red and orange egg-shaped stone with a single large metal blade emerging from one side. Beneath the blade was a small symbol resembling a sun.

Daisuke looked around, noting an improvised bed of moss and twigs and the remains of a camp fire. "Do... Do you live here?"

"For now," replied Takeru. Terriermon hopped off his shoulder and took a seat by the rock pedestal. Takeru stretched his arm out to the room, motioning to the others. "Please, sit. Rest. We should be safe for now."

Miyako immediately dropped and took a seat on the improvised bed. Iori quietly sat down on the bare rock and dirt floor beside her. Daisuke preferred to remain standing, and opted to lean against the wall.

Takeru inhaled deeply and sighed. "Welcome to the Digital World, I guess," he said quietly. He lowered his eye. "I'm sorry that you had to come here."

"Where is here?" said Miyako impatiently. "How did we come here?"

"How to explain this..." Takeru knelt down in front of them and drew a line in the dirt with his finger. "Imagine that you're an ant, living in this line. To you you can't see outside the line." He drew another line intersecting the first at a very small angle, nearly parallel with the first but not quite. "But imagine then that you walk along and reach an intersection with another line, and even cross over to the other line. Before, you couldn't see the other line, but the line was there all along. You keep walking on the new line, and then you get further away to the point that you can't see your old line."

"Wait, wait, wait," said Daisuke, stepping forward and waving his hand. "That sounds like a bunch of fancy nonsense that's dodging the real point." He brightened and smiled like never before. "What you're saying is, we're in a different dimension."

Takeru avoided Daisuke's gaze. "Well, in a sense, but it's actually a bit more complicated than..."

Daisuke clapped his hands together enthusiastically. "I knew it! Ever since the sky opened up the way it did three years ago, I knew it! No one else would believe me, but I know what I saw! I saw a whole new world, with forests and oceans, and giant monsters walking around!"

"Most of the world saw it," said Takeru quietly. "But the sad truth is that memory is a fleeting thing. Without a tangible record, people forget even the most startling things so easily..."

"I think we're missing the more important question," interrupted Miyako. "How do we get home?"

Daisuke turned around to Miyako, incredulous. "Home? Forget home! We're in a whole new dimension! A whole new world! We should totally start exploring! Have an adventure!"

Iori cleared his throat. "I don't wish to dampen your enthusiasm, but I don't think such ideas on exploration or adventure is feasible. We were just attacked and had to run in here for shelter."

"My mom and older sisters will throw a fit if I don't get home soon," said Miyako. "I help them run the shop in the evenings. They'll think I ditched work and I'll get into so much trouble!"

"Relax Miyako," said Daisuke. He gestured toward Takeru. "I mean, this guy here is proof enough we can get back home to our world easily enough, right?"

Takeru was silent for a while, but said, "You all came here at a bad time. We are in the middle of a war in this world. I will get you three home to your world as soon as possible."

"Wait, a war?" Daisuke looked back to Takeru. There was a glint in his eyes.

"We aren't the only humans in this world," said Takeru quietly. "There's another human who calls himself a Kaiser, who seeks to conquer this world. He erects Dark Towers to mark his territory, and binds Dark Rings to the bodies of Digimon to control them. My partners and I fight a guerrilla war against him."

"Then we should totally help you, right?" said Daisuke, the light in his eyes growing.

Terriermon stifled a snigger. "And what do you hope to accomplish without a Digimon partner? Sure, a human may be able to face a Child-level like me, but against an Adult-level like Snimon it'll take all your effort just to keep your head. All defense and no offense is no good, no good at all."

"But these things," began Daisuke, drawing the small device. "These things came from the computer for us. They're how we got here, right? They must be. We must have gotten them for a reason. Like, we were destined to come here."

Takeru's expression grew cold as soon as he heard those final words. "Destiny doesn't mean a thing," he said harshly. "Destiny is..." He regained his composure and quietly apologized for his outburst. "Those things that brought you here or Digital Devices, Digivices. Ignore them. You three need to get home as quickly as possible. This isn't your war to fight."

"Even if you had a partner, you two wouldn't be able to do much," added Terriermon. "The Kaiser is somehow able to prevent Digimon from evolving to higher forms, so you won't be able to power your partner up to face him. Unless you have a Digimental as an alternate power source of course."

"Digimental? Do you mean that thing?" Daisuke pointed over to the pedestal. "Is that yours?"

Takeru turned his head to glance at where Daisuke was pointing. "That? That is..." He paused for a moment. "That is not mine. It is a Digital Elemental, or Digimental for short. It's a power source that must be unlocked by its chosen bearer. That one is not mine to bear."

Daisuke casually approached it and reached out for it. "Unlocked? How?"

"Wait!" Takeru jumped up immediately. "Don't touch it!"

But Daisuke had already lifted the small object from the pedestal effortlessly. "Hm? Why not?"

Seconds later, the entire room began to shake. A faint beam of light bloomed from where the object had sat moments before. Daisuke felt the small device in his hand vibrate, and he looked down on it just in time for it to change shape. It grew larger and rounder until it was an exact replica of the D2 Digivice mounted on Takeru's arm, only colored blue instead of green.

Takeru stared in disbelief. "You... you unlocked it. Your Digivice became a D2..."

Terriermon's ears shot up. "I hear a Digimon."

The faint beam of light emerging from the pedestal faded, revealing a small blue reptilian form curled up in a fetal position. Both Takeru's and Daisuke's D2 Digivices reacted to the new form immediately.

_**Vmon**: Child level. Vaccine Attribute. Dragon Type. Dragon's Roar. Melee Attack: Buzzing Punch. Heavy Attack: Vmon Head._

* * *

The blue bipedal digimon bore a small yellow V on its forehead, from which it derived its name. As it gently landed on its feet atop the pedestal, it blinked and studied the room. Once its gaze fell upon Daisuke, egg-like Digimental still in his hand, it immediately smiled and ran up to him. "You lifted the Digimental of Courage, right?" asked Digimon happily. "You're the one Ryo said to wait for!"

Daisuke blinked, looking from the object in his hands back to the creature in front of him. "Wh- Who's Ryo?"

Takeru adjusted his hat to hide his eye in its shadow and turned away.

The Digimon opened its mouth to reply, but then hesitated and scratched its head. "Huh... I don't remember..." For a moment, it looked sad at its inability to remember, but quickly brightened again. "I'm Vmon. What's your name?"

"D- Daisuke..."

Vmon looked back Daisuke to the others, who had both jumped to their feet in surprise at his emergence. "And are you Daisuke's friends?"

Miyako shifted uncomfortably at being addressed by the creature, but Iori gave a small bow and replied, "I am Hida Iori. This is my friend Inoue Miyako."

"Nice to meet you two!" said Vmon cheerily. He turned back to Daisuke. "I've been waiting for you for a long time now! You lifted the Digimental of Courage, so I'm your partner now!"

Daisuke blinked. "Partner...?" He glanced over at Takeru and Terriermon, and a smile crept over his face as he looked back to Vmon. "Partner...!"

The sudden shaking of the ground interrupted Daisuke's thoughts. Small rocks began to fall from the ceiling. Daisuke and the others looked around wildly. "An earthquake?"

"No," said Takeru, looking up to the ceiling, where the hole at the top was crumbling open to reveal the form of a quadruped dinosaur and a large green insect: a new Monochromon and the Snimon from before. "They found us! Get back!"

The others needed no further instruction, and immediately retreated back to the tunnel as the ceiling gave way and the Monochromon broke through and crashed upon the pedestal, shattering it. A large Dark Ring was wrapped around its midsection, and its eyes glowed a malicious red. Terriermon immediately charged his breath attack and fired a burst of green flame. The larger Digimon turned its head toward the blast, protecting its ring. Terriermon's flames glanced harmlessly off its armored head.

"He's gotten smarter since we last fought him," said Terriermon.

"Must have learned a few things from watching us free his brother," answered Takeru.

Snimon fired off its sickle attack through the hole, slashing the walls and floors of the room and sending up clouds of dust. Amidst the obscuring clouds, Monochromon opened its mouth, filling the room with a faint orange glow as it charged its breath attack.

"Daisuke! Get everyone out of here!" called Takeru. "Run!"

Iori and Miyako fled down the narrow path toward the cave's entrance with Daisuke and Vmon covering the rear. As they ran, Daisuke was suddenly aware that Takeru and Terriermon had not run with them. He looked back, just in time to see the flames of Monochromon's attack emerge and lick at their heels.

"Daisuke, use the Digimental!" called Vmon.

"How do I do that?" They had now left the cave, returning to the forest. As they did, another stream of flame rocketed out through the opening after them, forcing them to jump aside. Daisuke was slow on the move, so Vmon had to tackle him to knock him out of the way.

Daisuke blinked and groaned as he got back onto his feet and dusted himself off. "Thanks Vmon."

"We have to use the Digimental if I'm going to have enough strength to fight back," said Vmon. He was beginning to look desperate. "You have to use your courage. Hold it up and say 'Digimental Up!'"

Daisuke did as he was told, lifting up the Digimental in his hand and saying "Digimental Up!" Nothing happened.

"No," said Vmon. "You have to really mean it! You have to use your courage!"

There was an explosion, blasting apart most of the cave's entrance. All eyes turned toward it just in time to see a white serpentine form winding out amidst the smoke and dust of the blast, Takeru riding atop its head. A moment later, the serpentine form glowed a light pink and shrunk, revealing Terriermon and leaving both him and Takeru floating in midair for a moment before they crashed into the ground. Monochromon emerged after them, horn ready and aimed at them.

Takeru quickly forced himself back up into a kneeling position. His left hand gripped his right arm, preparing to pull up his sleeve. From where he stood, Daisuke could see blood dripping from the other boy's arm and hand.

"Daisuke!" pleaded Vmon again.

But Daisuke had barely even heard his call. His arm was already beginning to raise the Digimental in his hands a second time before Vmon had even opened his mouth.

"Digimental Up!"

The next moment Vmon appeared as if he were surrounded in flames and growing taller and leaner. The Digimental seemed to shatter in Daisuke's hands, and its pieces flew toward Vmon and expanded in size just as the Digimon was. The flames dissipated, revealing a tall reptilian form armored in red and orange, a single blade emerging from its forehead like a horn.

Blazing Courage, Flamedramon.

_**Flamedramon**_: _Armor level. Vaccine Attribute. Dragon Type. Dragon's Roar. Ranged Attack: Knuckle Fire. Heavy Attack: Fire Rocket._

Daisuke stared. "Cool..."

* * *

Without a word, Flamedramon charged, intercepting Monochromon and sending the larger Digimon crashing into the trees.

Takeru took the moment to take Terriermon into his arms. "Are you alright?"

"Been better," said Terriermon as cheerily as he could. "Moumentai~"

"What?"

"It's Cantonese for 'No problem.' I just need some rest."

Takeru nodded and held up the D2 mounted on his left arm. "Return, Terriermon." Terriermon glowed and flashed, vanishing into the device.

The light of the screen of the D2 flashed. "Ah, that's much better," rang the voice of Terriermon from the D2.

Takeru pulled the sleeve of his left arm down over the bracer and the D2 before running back to rejoin Daisuke and the others. "Daisuke, don't just stand there, Flamedramon won't be able to do this alone."

Daisuke blinked and looked at the other boy in confusion. "What? What can I do?"

"The strength of an Armor-level Digimon varies more than that of any other level, depending on how much power of the base Digimental it can access. You've unlocked it yes, but unlocking it and calling its strength are two very different things. You're still unfamiliar with it, unfamiliar with 'Courage,' so right now Flamedramon hasn't unlocked anything close to his true potential. He can't be nearly as strong as Monochromon as he is now."

"So... what do I do?"

"We serve as another pair of eyes for our partners," replied Takeru. He pointed at the Dark Ring around Monochromon's midsection. "No matter how strong the controlled Digimon, the Ring is always the weak point. We break the Ring, we break the Kaiser's control over the Digimon. Help your partner find an opening in the opponent's defense to hit the Ring!"

Monochromon had recovered from its initial surprise at the its new opponent, but was now fully recovered and staring Flamedramon down. The smaller Digimon fire off blasts of flame from his claws, but these glanced harmlessly off Monochromon's heavy black armor. The larger Digimon opened its mouth and fired its own flames. Though Flamedramon swatted the blasts aside with his claws, it was clear that each parry took a great deal of strength, and his breathing was beginning to become labored.

Seeing its flames stopped, Monochromon forward. Flamedramon quickly caught the horn in his arms and braced it against his shoulder to avoid being gored, but Monochromon continued to press forward, threatening to crush the smaller Digimon.

Daisuke watched helplessly from the side. "What do I do now?"

There was a roar, and suddenly a second Monochromon burst from the forest and rammed its head against the shoulder of the first Monochromon. It was the same one that had greeted Daisuke and the others when they had first arrived in the world.

The surprise caused the controlled Monochromon to instinctively jerk its head up, sending Flamedramon into the air.

Daisuke saw it. "Aim for the Ring!" he called.

Flamedramon erupted a sudden aura of flame and dived headfirst down upon the controlled Monochromon like a rocket of fire. He crashed into the Ring, shattering it, before rolling aside and reverting to Vmon, sending a beam of orange light flying from his body into Daisuke's blue D2 Digivice. Daisuke looked at the screen, and saw an 8-bit image of the Digimental appear.

Some distance away, the still controlled Snimon hovered, watching the battle. From the Ring around the Digimon's midsection, the Kaiser watched all through his surveillance system as he sat in the dark room he used as his command center.

The Kaiser leaned back in his chair as he studied the monitor in front of him, only one of the many monitors and keyboards arranged around him like a dome. He frowned. "Another one? As if two weren't annoying enough..."

A small green Digimon resembling an oversized caterpillar crept up beside the Kaiser's chair. "Ken-chan, I came to tell you the time..."

"Yes, yes, the time," growled the Kaiser. He rose from his seat and scratched the back of his neck, which had begun to itch. "There's never enough time."

"Ken-chan?"

"Stop calling me that, maggot," spat the Kaiser, kicking the small Digimon aside as he made to leave the room. "You're taking the night shift as always. I had better not see any losses when I come back tomorrow." His hand tightened around the whip coiled into a small loop on his belt. "Or else..."

The small worm cowered against the chair, but nodded. "Yes..."

_**Wormmon**: Child level. Virus Attribute. Larva Type. Jungle Troopers. Ranged Attack: Silk Thread. Special Attack: Sticky Net._

* * *

As Daisuke fawned over Vmon and their victory and Iori and Miyako looked on, Takeru saw to the two Monochromon brothers. Though a bit sore and tired, neither seemed to have been hurt beyond superficial scratches to their heavy black armor scales, which would be shed and replaced by new scales as the Monochromon grew anyways.

"We thank you very much for your help," he said to the elder brother, the one that had been freed first and helped turn the tide of the previous battle in Flamedramon's favor. "If it hadn't been for you, we might have suffered some serious losses today."

The elder brother growled softly in such a way that it almost resembled a purr. The younger brother nudged Takeru on the arm with its nose, having smelled the blood there. Takeru shook his head and patted the Monochromon on the horn. "I'm fine," said Takeru, guessing the Digimon's concern. "Terriermon will be fine too. The only thing you hurt was his pride."

He cleared his throat before continuing. "I know you two have both been through a lot, and that I may be asking too much. Still, I must ask if you wish to join us in our Resistance against the Kaiser. I will not lie: it is a hard fight, and you will put yourselves in danger if you join it. You may fall victim to a Dark Ring again. I understand if you would prefer to hide away instead."

The two Monochromon growled, as if offended by the very idea that they would not join the Resistance against the Kaiser.

"I thank you for your devotion to the cause," whispered Takeru, patting the two on their horns. "If you will excuse me, I must now attend to..." He paused and glanced over at Daisuke at the others. "To my friends."

Excusing himself, Takeru went to rejoin with the others. "Time to go home," he said.

"Already?" said Daisuke. "But it feels like we've only just arrived."

"Speak for yourself, we've been here for hours," said Miyako impatiently. "My mom is going to kill me..."

"Say, where's Terriermon?" asked Daisuke.

Takeru raised his arm, revealing his green D2. The screen flashed. "In here," said Terriermon from the device. "We Digimon can stay in the D2 to rest and heal. It's also handy for not getting caught by others when we go over to your world."

Daisuke brightened and looked at his blue D2. "So that means Vmon can come over with me!"

Vmon stiffened. "Hey, I don't know about going inside some little thing like that..."

"Come on, don't you want to see my world? I'll show you around! It'll be awesome!"

"It sounds cool but I really don't want to get inside..."

"Get in there already!" interrupted Miyako, causing both Daisuke and Vmon to jump. "I want to go home as quickly as possible."

Daisuke and Vmon straightened and nodded. Daisuke held out his blue D2 toward Vmon, but nothing happened.

"It's voice activated," explained Takeru. "Say 'Return Vmon.'"

"Return Vmon."

With a flash, Vmon had become light and been absorbed into the screen of the blue D2, just as the Digimental of Courage had been earlier. Daisuke checked the screen, and sure enough, there was a small 8-bit picture of Vmon's face. The screen flashed as Vmon spoke. "Well... this isn't so bad... Hey, the Digimental of Courage is in here too!"

Daisuke chuckled as he studied his D2. Takeru took the moment to approach and coughed awkwardly to get his attention. "Daisuke, can we speak privately for a moment?"

"But what about going home?" said Miyako. Beside her, Iori was also beginning to look anxious to return home.

"It will be just a minute, I promise," said Takeru. He led Daisuke a small distance away, into the shadow of the trees, and only began talking when he was sure Miyako and Iori were out of earshot. "You were able to lift the Digimental. You unlocked it."

"Did I? Unlocking it was as simple as lifting it up?"

"Only its chosen bearer can lift it," replied Takeru. "The Digimental of Courage would not suffer me to touch it. Whenever it did, it burned my hand."

"Really? Well, I guess I did a pretty good job then," said Daisuke beaming. "This means Vmon and I can join the fight against the evil Kaiser, right? This means Vmon and I can have all sorts of cool adventures in this world, fighting evil, saving the world..."

"Daisuke, listen..." Takeru frowned and looked down at the ground. "You, Miyako, and Iori, you three were given Digivices, meaning that you were chosen to be protectors of this World against any threat."

"Alright, that's what I was saying..."

"Daisuke, listen, this is serious. It's not all fun and games. To be a Chosen Child... It can be a painful experience. Seeing as you have already unlocked the Digimental and met Vmon, it may already be too late to turn back, but this isn't something that can be taken up lightly. So long as Miyako and Iori still haven't met partners and their Digivices are still in their base form, I think they may still have a choice."

Daisuke frowned. "But if were chosen, we should answer the call. It's destiny.

Takeru flinched at the last word, but nodded and sighed. "Daisuke, do you intend to go back with Miyako and Iori?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I? I need to get back home."

"I think it would be best that you not tell anyone about what you saw today. Try to convince Miyako and Iori of the same."

"No one would believe us anyways," laughed Daisuke, remembering his old claims about the world in the sky. "Sure, I could try showing them Vmon, but then they'd totally freak out and try to take him away, right?"

"Exactly," whispered Takeru, lacking the other boy's optimism. "Part of the responsibility of protecting this world is protecting its secret."

"Alright, so how about we head back now? Miyako looks like she's going to go crazy at this rate."

Takeru nodded and led Daisuke back to the others. He had the other three stand around him so that the four of them formed a small circle, and then held out his green D2 at the center. "The base Digivice cannot open a Gate, only access already opened ones," said Takeru. "The D2 is required to open a Gate, but it requires a per-existing closed Gate to be present. There is such a closed Gate here. I will send you three back home now."

Iori understood the implications of what Takeru had just said. "Wait, you aren't going back with us?"

"This world is my home," replied Takeru in a neutral voice. "I leave it only to fulfill my responsibilities in the other world, like getting an education."

Iori looked at the older boy in wonder. "But..."

"I've been living here for a while now," said Takeru. "I know my way around here. Terriermon and I can take care of each other well enough."

"You'll be in class tomorrow, though, right?" asked Daisuke.

Takeru lowered his gaze, but nodded. "Yeah. I will. Hold out your Digivices, everyone." As the others obeyed, his armed stiffened and his voice became commanding. "Digital Gate Open!"

With a flash of light, Daisuke and the others found themselves back in the Computer Lab, while Takeru stood alone in the forest of the Digital World. He lowered his hand and returned the green D2 to the bracer on his left arm before turning to reunite with the two Monochromon brothers. The Kaiser never operated at night, so night was when Takeru made most of the counter-attacks. Having two more allies would be a big help.

The screen flashed as Terriermon spoke up. "What a day."

Takeru nodded. His hand drifted to his back, where he felt the bag on the back of his belt, and the two items that were stowed inside it. First, he felt the small rectangular shape of an old harmonica. Then, his fingers traced the round outline of a pair of aviator goggles.

"Destiny huh...?"


	2. Love Unconditional

Hida Iori had trouble concentrating for the rest of the evening. Though he had not been late for dinner as he had initially feared, his grandfather Hida Chikara had noted that he had come home later than usual, and asked where he had been.

"I was with Inoue Miyako and Motomiya Daisuke," Iori answered honestly and formally. "I also met a new student in the school that just transferred into Daisuke's class, Takaishi Takeru."

Hida Chikara sipped prune juice from a glass as he sat in the apartment living room. Iori's mother Fumiko sat on the couch opposite him. "Is that all?" he asked.

Iori hesitated. "No..." He swallowed. "But I'm not allowed to say anything else."

"Oh?" Chikara set his glass down on the coffee table and turned to Iori. "My, are you already at the age to be keeping secrets?"

Iori bit his lip and looked down at his feet.

"Don't look ashamed, Iori," said Chikara. "You're growing up fast. There's nothing wrong with that."

Iori nodded, and bowed to his grandfather apologetically before going to his room. He closed the door behind him.

Chikara sighed and turned back toward the table and Fumiko, and began nursing his juice once again. He noticed that Fumiko seemed a bit bothered by what had just transpired. "Relax Fumiko. A boy can't tell his mother or his family everything."

"But..."

"Iori's a good boy. He knows the difference between things that can be kept secret and things that should be shared despite one's feelings." He chuckled softly. "Just be glad he's not a teenager yet. Even if they mean well and want to be honest, with all the hormones raging within them sometimes they'll lie by pure instinct over the most trivial things."

Fumiko sighed and fidgeted. "It's not really that I'm worried about Iori. It's more like... I'm not sure about my own parenting sometimes." She laughed softly. "I envy you. How do you do it?"

"I like to think that I've learned from the mistakes I made with Hiroki," he replied, draining his glass. As he set it down, he looked to the alter to his left, and the picture set there. The image of a uniformed man stared back at him, serious and proud, and yet the eyes were loving.

It was Chikara's favorite picture of his late son. No other picture had come so close to capturing the complexity of the man's character.

Iori only had vague memories of his father, but his grandfather tried hard to ensure that Iori would grow up knowing who Hida Hiroki had been. Hida Chikara did his best to share stories, both good and bad, of both successes and failures, but most of all he did his best to instill qualities in Iori that he was sure Hiroki himself would have wanted in his son.

One such quality was honesty, and so as Iori closed his door and lay down to rest on his bed, he felt torn over what Daisuke and Takeru had asked him to do. He drew the small device, the so-called Digivice and held it up above his head as he lay on his back. What did this small device truly mean?

Daisuke had said that these devices meant they had been chosen to be shown the secret world, chosen to explore it and have adventures there. Takeru had not agreed explicitly, but he had implied that Daisuke's beliefs weren't entirely incorrect, that the three of them had been chosen by the world. But then, Takeru had also encouraged them to get home and forget what they had seen. After seeing the battle that had been fought, and realizing the dangers of entering a world full of monsters with such destructive powers, Takeru's encouragement to leave the world behind was quite understandable to Iori.

But another quality that Iori had been taught to embrace was empathy. Takeru had said there was a war going on in the other world, and Iori had glimpsed the war first hand in the battle between Flamedramon and Monochromon. He had glimpsed the costs of the war, in Takeru's tired expression and the dark red and brown stains on his shirt and cloak.

Could he really be asked to forget all that? Other world or no, injustice was injustice. Suffering was suffering.

Iori frowned and pocketed the device. His father and grandfather would want him to do the right thing. And ignoring such a serious problem could not be the right thing.

* * *

**Maximum v2.0**

**Love Unconditional: Pteramon vs Snimon**

* * *

"Well, this is it," said Daisuke with a smile he stepped through the apartment door. He held his blue D2 Digivice out in front of him, as Vmon had said that he could see the outside world through the device's screen.

"This is where you live?"

"Yeah. Pretty impressive right?"

"Humans sure live in small cramped spaces..."

Daisuke ignored the comment as he took off his shoes and made his way through the hallway. "I'll show you my room."

"It gets even smaller?"

"You're one to talk when you're inside this tiny little thing," said Daisuke to his Digivice. He stepped inside his room and locked the door behind him. "Well, let's give you the grand tour. Over here is my bed."

"It looks kind of small for you."

"No, that's not my bed," said Daisuke, turning the screen of the Digivice away from the pile of dirty laundry that had built up on the floor. He pointed again. "That's my bed."

"Oh. Yeah, that looks like a better fit."

"And that over there's my work desk." He directed the screen toward the mess of old and half-finished assignments strewn over the wooden desk.

"Is that human art?" asked Vmon as he saw the old assignments with all their red marks.

"Not exactly," said Daisuke quickly, gathering the old returned papers together and stuffing them away. It was only after he was finished that he wondered why he had bothered to hide his less than stellar grades from someone who probably didn't even fully understand what the term 'school' meant.

"Hey, can I come out? I kind of want to get a feel and smell of this place too."

Daisuke hesitated. "I don't know, this place might be a tight fit for the both of us..."

"Ah, so you do admit that this place is small."

"What? No I don't!" He aimed the screen of the device at his bed and remembered what Takeru had told him. "Reload, Vmon!"

There was a flash of light, but to Daisuke's surprise, it was not Vmon that came out. Instead, a much smaller form, about the size of a typical stuffed animal, emerged and landed on the bed. The creature seemed surprised as well, and looked down at its body. "Huh? I devolved into Chibimon when I came out!"

Daisuke checked his D2 Digivice. Sure enough, the device claimed to be reading a different signature.

_**Chibimon**: Baby II level. Vaccine Attribute. Dragon Type. Dragon's Roar. Special Attack: Hop._

Daisuke looked over his now much smaller partner. He remembered what Takeru and Terriermon had said about Digimon being able to evolve to become stronger. "Devolved? So, you would evolve back to Vmon?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'll evolve back when I go back in the Digivice, or when I go back to my world." He looked up to Daisuke. "Or maybe you can lend me your strength so I can try evolving now. I mean, we're partners and all."

"Well, maybe we should keep you that way for now. If you're this small, we can keep you outside the Digivice more often."

Chibimon brightened upon hearing this. Not having to spend all his time inside the Digivice was surely worth being in his smaller weaker form. It wasn't like he'd be in any danger in Daisuke's room. "Yeah, sure!" He immediately jumped up, and was surprised by how bouncy the surface of the bed was. Immediately realizing the implication, Chibimon laughed and began jumping up and down.

"Hey, take it easy on that, will you?" said Daisuke, also laughing. "I have to sleep there."

The sound of the doorknob shaking caught Daisuke's attention, and he jumped in surprise. "You're locking your door again," said a feminine voice from the other side of the door.

"Keep quiet!" said Daisuke quickly to Chibimon as he aimed his D2. "Return, Chibimon!"

Once his partner was safely inside the device and the device was safely inside his pocket, Daisuke cautiously unlocked the door and opened it a crack. Immediately, a strong force pushed the door further, nearly sending him to the floor as a taller girl almost five years his senior entered.

"Hey! Who said you could come in?"

The girl, Motomiya Jun, ignored her younger brother's outburst and looked around the room. "Who were you talking to?"

"What? No one! You're hearing things!"

Jun frowned and looked over her brother suspiciously, but decided to drop that line of questioning. "You know, mom asked you to stop locking your door."

"Maybe I wouldn't have to if you kept trying to barge in all the time!"

"What do you have to hide?" Jun suddenly smiled and covered her face with her mouth. "Unless... you've already gotten to the age where you've discovered..."

Daisuke flushed red and pushed his sister to the door. "Out!"

"There's nothing to be ashamed of Daisuke! It's perfectly natural!"

"Out!" Daisuke finally succeeded in forcing his sister out of the room and closing the door.

"Fine, but you can't stay in there for long. Mom says dinner is almost ready."

Daisuke didn't reply, but instead pressed his ear against the door. He waited until he heard Jun sigh and walk away. Once the footsteps were no longer audible, he slid down to the floor in relief and drew his Digivice.

"Who was that?" asked Vmon from the Digivice.

"My older sister," said Daisuke. "She drives me crazy sometimes." He paused. "Hey, do you know what sisters are?"

"Of course. We Digimon have brothers and sisters too, but not exactly in the same way that humans do. We don't have parents and we don't reproduce like you do."

Daisuke turned slightly pink. "You know how humans reproduce?"

"Well... not exactly. I just know that Digimon don't reproduce like that."

Daisuke suddenly remembered that his sister had mentioned dinner. "Hey, do you need to eat?"

"Well, yes, but I don't feel hungry at the moment. I think being inside the Digivice somehow takes care of that." There was a pause. "But then again, it's not like I don't _want_ to eat..."

Daisuke chuckled. "I get it. I'll smuggle you some good stuff tonight."

* * *

Takeru was in class the next day, as he had promised he would be. He looked completely exhausted, and yet still managed to keep up with the note-taking. Daisuke had wanted to talk more about the other world, but Takeru had only shaken his head and said to talk later.

At lunch, Takeru politely declined Daisuke's offer to eat together and left the classroom. He was not quite sure of where he was going, but he had the general idea of going either to the computer lab or the school roof.

As he passed the open door of the computer lab, he heard the voices of Miyako and Iori, and glanced inside. Sure enough, they were there, seated opposite one another with lunch boxes on their laps. Did they spend all their free time in there?

"Do you really need to pick at every grain of rice?" came Miyako's voice. "The way you eat it's like you want to make sure you get every last molecule."

"My late father always said that it is disgraceful to waste food," replied Iori.

The sudden piece of new information reminded Takeru that he was eavesdropping, and quickly knocked on the door frame and stepped inside. "Hello again," he said quietly to the others.

Unlike in their previous meeting yesterday, Miyako only gave the briefest of glances before turning away from him. Takeru had not quite expected such a cold reception, but he was hardly surprised.

Iori, however, seemed perfectly fine, and acknowledged Takeru's greeting in his usual polite manner. "Good afternoon," he replied with a slight bow of his head.

There was an awkward silence. Takeru remained in the doorway, wondering why he had even gone to the computer lab. Had he wanted to make a quick excursion to the Digital World during the lunch period? He had left all his food supplies in the other world after all, and being in the Digital World would give him free reign to let his partners out of the D2's so that they could eat together.

He glanced at his wrists. On the other hand, his partners generally preferred to use the time he was at school to sleep and rest inside his Digivices, and might not enjoy having their sleep interrupted.

"If you wish to come in and sit, please do," said Iori. "Make yourself comfortable."

Takeru entered and slid the door closed behind him, but he did not sit down. Another silence hung over the room for quite some time.

Takeru cleared his throat before speaking. "I'm sorry for what happened. I'm sorry that I put you two in danger."

Miyako glanced back at him, but only frowned and looked away again.

Iori, however, shook his head. "There is no need for you to apologize. It was not your fault." He hesitated for a moment and looked down at the lunch box on his knees. "If anything... we should be thanking you for the help you gave us yesterday." He glanced at Miyako hopefully, but the girl remained silent, keeping her eyes on her lunch box as she put food in her mouth with mechanical regularity.

Takeru lowered his gaze, and hesitated for a moment. "Listen... your Digivices... If you don't want them, you can give them to me."

The other two looked up and stared at Takeru, but to his surprise, neither of them moved to take out their Digivices to give to him. Miyako looked surprised, but otherwise betrayed no other emotion. Iori almost looked hurt.

"Yesterday, you said that to receive a Digivice was to be Chosen," said Iori.

"Yes, but I also said that you have a choice yourself," said Takeru. "I said that there is a war going on, one that is not yours to fight."

"But you also said that your war was one of liberation. I saw what this Kaiser was doing to the inhabitants of the Digital World. Enslavement. Forcing brother to fight brother. How can you ask me to ignore it?" He looked at Takeru almost accusingly. "If you truly care about this war of yours, then shouldn't you be happy to find allies? Shouldn't you be encouraging us to join you?"

"It's not that simple. I can't ask you to make the sacrifices that you would need to make. You barely know anything about the Digital World. You have no reasons to become involved with it. Why would you want to?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," said Iori, louder than he had intended.

Both of them fell silent, and for a while no one spoke.

Iori played around with the last of his food with his chopsticks. "You are right," he said quietly. "It is true that I know very little about this Digital World. But I know right from wrong, and I know empathy. I know how to care and love other things. It doesn't matter how little I know, I still feel pain to see others get hurt and suffer. Is it really that strange to feel passionate about something, even if one does not know it that well? In that case, I will simply learn more about this Digital World, about this Kaiser, and about you and Terriermon."

Takeru stared with a faint hint of wonder in his eye. There was far more to Hida Iori than initially met the eye.

* * *

When he returned to class after lunch break had ended, Takeru found it a bit more difficult to concentrate on the the lecture. Though Miyako had not said anything, she still did not make any offer to return the Digivice that had been given to her. Iori seemed firmly resolute on his insistence to continue going to the Digital World and joining the effort to protect it.

Takeru looked up from his notes to glance over at Daisuke, who instead of paying attention to the lecture was busy playing with his blue D2 Digivice under the desk. He and Vmon had figured out how to use the device's text-based communication system, and were making full use of it. There was little question over Daisuke's decision regarding the Digital World.

He had no right to ask them to become involved with the Digital World. But now he was starting to realize he had no right to ask them not to either.

When classes had finished, Daisuke packed up things as quickly as he could and looked to Takeru expectantly. The other boy gathered things at a much slower and more careful pace, avoiding meeting Daisuke's gaze.

"So we're going again today, right?" asked Daisuke as he followed Takeru out the door into the hallway.

"I'm going at least," replied Takeru quietly.

"But you're taking all of us with you right?"

Takeru hesitated for a moment. He remembered telling Daisuke that the D2 was enough to access the Digital World, and therefore Daisuke would be able to cross over without Takeru's help. Had Daisuke forgotten that?

"Daisuke, if you want to go with me, you may. But be warned that today I am going to go on an offensive. Are you and Vmon willing to lend me your strength?"

"Of course!"

"No, really think about it. Yesterday, you were just defending yourselves against one opponent. Today will very likely be different."

"We're sure. Vmon and I both."

Takeru sighed and nodded. They reached the computer lab, and found it empty.

"That's funny, they're usually in here all the time," commented Daisuke as he looked around.

The other boy made no reply, but quietly pulled up his left sleeve and dismounted the green D2 Digivice from his bracer. He checked its screen before approaching one of the computers. "There's a Gate that I can open through here," he explained quietly.

"Shouldn't we wait for the others? I mean, you said their Digivices couldn't open a closed Gate."

So Daisuke had remembered after all. "Maybe it would be better for them not to come with us."

"What?" Daisuke looked offended by the idea. "We can't just leave them behind. They would get so mad at us! Besides, they still need to find their Digimon partner and their Digimentals." He snapped his fingers. "Oh, that reminds me. You must have a Digimental of your own, right?"

"You can't say for sure that Iori and Miyako have partners waiting for them," said Takeru, dodging Daisuke's question.

"Why not? It seems like a reasonable enough idea. Vmon said that he didn't remember much about the Digimentals or anything, but he told me a lot about how he knew that he was going to meet me someday. Vmon can tell you himself." He glanced down at his own Digivice. "Speaking of which, can you tell me how to turn this thing's audio back on?"

Takeru sighed and showed Daisuke the necessary inputs.

The door suddenly slid open, and the two boys looked to see Iori and Miyako enter, plastic bags in their hands. "I hope I didn't make you wait," said Miyako with a smile. Takeru was startled by how much her attitude had seemed to change since seeing her during lunch period.

"Miyako thought it would be prudent to bring some food supplies," said Iori. "We stopped by at her family's convenience store to pick up these snacks."

"Great!" said Daisuke, immediately running up and grabbing a bag from Iori.

Vmon's voice came from his Digivice. "Daisuke, can I have a taste?"

"Sure thing!" He drew his Digivice and aimed the screen into the bag. "Reload!"

In a flash of light, Chibimon had emerged, and promptly began rummaging through his new environment and sampling what he could.

Iori and Miyako looked on in surprise. "Is that Vmon?" asked Iori.

"Chibimon now," said Daisuke as he watched his little friend eat. "He said he devolved or something. He has trouble maintaining his form as Vmon when outside the Digivice in our world."

"He's pretty cute this way," said Miyako, squatting down to watch Chibimon eat as well.

Takeru took a step back, and considered excusing himself and going on ahead. Iori, however, quickly approached him.

"Are you preparing to cross over?" asked Iori. "Will you allow us to go with you?"

"I have no right to stop you," replied Takeru. "But I will warn you that today might be especially dangerous."

"I am prepared to face danger."

"Do you know what danger really is?"

Iori looked up at Takeru, staring into his eye. "Yes. Yes I do." With eyes like those, Takeru could not doubt that Iori was completely serious.

* * *

"Hey, you automatically evolved," said Daisuke as they landed in the Digital World.

Vmon looked down at his body. "Yeah, I did."

Daisuke looked down at his own body. "I didn't feel anything different. Are you sure you need me to evolve at all?"

"He does," said Takeru without even glancing at them. He stepped past them to study the landscape. "The power he needs from you when making the transition to the Child level is just relatively small."

"This doesn't look like where we were yesterday," commented Iori, stepping beside Takeru to look around. They were on an open plain, with some hills visible in the distance.

"It's not," replied Takeru, pointing out into the distance. "The forest is mostly liberated. We're here to investigate something in the hills over there."

Daisuke shaded his eyes with his hand and squinted. "All the way over there? Why couldn't we have landed a little closer?"

"This was the closest Gate," said Takeru simply. He adjusted the straps of his backpack and began walking. "Stay close. I'm not totally familiar with this area, and I don't like being in places with little cover."

Daisuke and Vmon followed after Takeru, with Iori and Miyako taking the rear. At first, the surrounding field looked perfectly normal, as if it could have been a field in their own world as well. However, as they continued, they soon found what appeared to be small vending machines scattered around the field.

"Woah," said Daisuke as he saw them. "Are those...?"

"Don't touch them," said Takeru. "You'll disturb the inhabitants."

"Inhabitants? Do Digimon live in there?"

Takeru nodded and kept walking. He increased his pace slightly.

Daisuke kept up easily enough. "Say, why haven't you brought out Terriermon?"

"Let's him rest. He doesn't have to walk this way."

"Huh. I never thought of that." Daisuke turned to his partner. "Hey, Vmon..."

Vmon shook his head and crossed his arms. "I'm not going back in there unless I have to."

"Alright, I get it, I get it." Daisuke looked to the unusually quiet two in the rear. "Well, are you guys excited? Who knows? Maybe we'll find partners for you guys very soon too."

Miyako frowned and avoided Daisuke's gaze. "I'd rather not end up like you and Vmon, thanks."

Daisuke blinked and stared for a moment. "End up like me and Vmon...?"

"I do not agree with what Terriermon said yesterday," said Iori. "Partner or no, I must do all that I can."

They drew nearer to the edge of the plains. At the front, Takeru suddenly froze and raised his arm, signaling the others to stop. He was deathly still, and raised his head to study the sky.

"What is it?" asked Daisuke.

"I should have brought Terriermon out earlier," whispered Takeru. He quickly pulled up his left sleeve. "Reload, Terriermon!"

The white child level emerged and landed on the grass in a sitting position, rubbing his eyes with one paw. "Huh?" he said groggily. "What time is it?"

"Terriermon, can you hear anything?" said Takeru impatiently.

Terriermon yawned and blinked and looked to Takeru. "Hear anything...?" His large ears raised up into the air. "Well..."

He jumped up to his feet, his drowsiness suddenly gone. "Yes! It's coming on fast!"

The buzzing sound that had plagued them yesterday became audible. "Get down!" called Takeru to the others, just as the green form of Snimon suddenly emerged from behind the hills and rocketed toward them at a speed one would have thought impossible for an insect of that size.

Everyone only barely ducked underneath the ranged energy attack Snimon fired from his foreleg sickles. As the insect passed over them, Terriermon stood up again and fired green energy blasts from his mouth. The larger Digimon expertly dodged them all.

"So fast..."

Daisuke got back on his feet as well, drawing his Digivice and calling for Vmon. While still on the ground, Takeru noted the other boy's natural instinct for battle while under pressure. Those were admirable qualities for a potential soldier.

But before Daisuke could do anything further, the ground beneath his feet suddenly cracked and shattered, revealing a sudden hole and sending him falling. As the hole widened, the others quickly crawled away from the edge until the hole had reached its maximum size.

"Daisuke!" Vmon looked over the edge, and breathed a sigh of relief to see his partner alive, clinging and clawing and rocks and dirt in the sloped sides of the hole.

Both of them looked down at the very bottom, where something resembling a drill was spinning, clearing away dirt. A large quadruped beast with violet fur emerged, the spinning drill making up its nose. On its front left limb was a Dark Ring. Daisuke freed up one of his hands to check his D2.

_**Drimogemon**: Adult level. Data Attribute. Beast Type. Nature Spirits. Melee Attack: Screw Claw. Special Attack: Drill Spin._

Distracted by his partner's plight, Vmon was caught by surprise by Snimon's second overhead pass. A blast from the insect broke the ground at the edge of the hole, sending Vmon sliding down as well. Drimogemon crawled forward and grabbed Vmon and Daisuke, one in each paw, before turning and vanishing into the ground.

Miyako watched from the edge of the hole, shaking and gripping her head. "Daisuke..."

Iori stood beside her, shaking as well. "We have to save him..."

That had been Takeru's and Terriermon's first instinct as well, but as Snimon turned to made another pass, Takeru forced himself to remember that he had once made a similar mistake, and ran to rejoin the other two. "We need to get you two to safety!"

Miyako looked to Takeru and spoke to him for the first time in a long time. "We can't just leave him!"

"We're not, but you two getting captured too won't help him!" Takeru threw manners aside and gripped the two's hands to urge them to follow him. "Come on!"

They began sprinting down the rest of the plains toward the hills as Snimon followed, harassing them with the occasional blast. From his perch on Takeru's shoulder, Terriermon returned fire with his breath attack, doing his best to ensure the other Digimon couldn't line up a killing shot.

* * *

Once in the hills, Takeru led the others through what recesses he could find to hide from Snimon's sight while occasionally throwing rocks ahead and behind them in an effort to confuse Snimon's powerful hearing. As they wandered and hid, the sound of Snimon's vibrating wings lessened, and eventually vanished entirely.

Terriermon, ears raised, hopped onto Takeru's head and studied the sky. "We lost him."

Takeru checked the device mounted on his left forearm. "Right. We should continue on."

"Continue on..." Miyako suddenly turned to Takeru, fire in her eyes and her voice. "What about Daisuke?"

"We're not in a safe place yet," replied Takeru. "There is a nearby refuge. You two will be safe there, and I can go back for Daisuke and Vmon."

"And how are you even going to find him?" demanded Miyako.

Takeru casually showed her the screen of his Digivice, which was displaying a grid covered in contour lines, like a primitive map. On it was flashing a small blue dot. "My Digivice can detect Daisuke's. So long as he hasn't been separated from his, I can find him without any problem."

Miyako frowned, but apparently found the answer satisfactory and changed her line of questioning. "Where are you taking us?"

"A refuge. It's not far. Follow me." Takeru began leading the way again.

Miyako crossed her arm and glared at Takeru's back. Iori gently touched her arm. "Miyako, let's go."

The elder girl sighed and shook her head, but followed after Takeru and Terriermon. Iori held the rear.

As they made their way through the hills, the paths gradually became more and more rocky and the vegetation more and more sparse. Eventually, Takeru showed them to something resembling stone steps carved out of the side of a hill, leading up to what resembled a small temple, also cut out of the hill itself. Terriermon blasted some lamps flanking the outer door and lining the hallway leading inside.

Miyako glanced around as they entered the building. "First vending machines and now this? And this is supposed to be a world without humans? Who built this place?"

"This world has been influenced by the actions of humans in their world, and so naturally produce things similar to things in our world," said Takeru. "This place and the vending machines you saw back in the fields can be considered 'natural structures' here. Nobody built them."

Terriermon's ears suddenly raised again as they neared the end of the hallway. "I hear another Digimon."

Takeru stiffened and signaled the others to stop. He stepped into the next room as quietly as he could. Upon seeing what was inside, he relaxed and motioned to the others to follow.

They entered a square central room, not too unlike the cave they had taken refuge in the previous day. Like the cave, at the center of the ceiling was a small opening, allowing sunlight to fall upon a central pedestal. Upon the pedestal was a somewhat conical gray and blue object, with two wings extending from its sides. On the front of the main body between the wings was a symbol resembling a heart.

But perhaps more interesting was the small creature curled up at the base of the pedestal, the Digimon that Terriermon had heard. It appeared to be a mammalian quadruped, with an armored head and back. Takeru checked his Digivice.

_**Armadimon**__: Child level. Vaccine Attribute. Mammal Type. Nature Spirits. Melee Attack: Scratch Beat. Heavy Attack: Rolling Stone_.

The four cautiously approached the Digimon. No Dark Ring could be found on its body.

"He's probably a refugee that just happened to find this place," said Terriermon, hopping down from Takeru's shoulder. He gently nudged the sleeping Digimon. "Hey, hey. Are you alright?"

Armadimon lazily opened his eyes and looked drowsily at Terriermon. "Wha...?" As his gaze shifted to the other three present in the room, he suddenly rose up, suddenly wide awake. "Ah...!"

"Calm down," said Takeru quickly. "You're safe here."

Armadimon did not look entirely convinced, and backed up suddenly, bumping into the pedestal. He quickly glanced behind him as he felt the obstruction, before turning back to the others.

"We're making him feel cornered," said Iori. "We should step back."

As the others did, Iori knelt down so as to not tower over the Digimon, though as he was already the smallest of the humans, he was already quite close to Armadimon in size. "Hello, I'm Iori," he said politely.

"Armadimon," replied the Digimon, still looking a little anxious.

"It's nice to meet you Armadimon. You don't need to be afraid. We're not going to hurt you."

Armadimon glanced at the others, then back to Iori. "Are you... Are you the one I've been waiting for?"

Iori blinked. "Who are you waiting for?"

"I... I don't know. But I'm supposed to wait for someone... Someone who's supposed to help me..."

In the back, Takeru stiffened and hesitated. After a moment of contemplation, he called to Iori. "Show him your Digivice, Iori."

Iori drew the device, and as he did, a light flashed from the screen. Armadimon almost jumped back in surprise, and Iori looked down at the Digivice in wonder. It felt warm in his hand.

"Are you the one I've been waiting for?" asked Armadimon.

Iori swallowed as he stared at the device. "I... I don't know..." He looked back to Armadimon. "But... I don't think it matters whether or not I am. If you need help, I will help you."

Armadimon raised himself up on his hind legs. "You are my partner," he said.

Takeru cleared his throat. "Iori, behind Armadimon, on the pedestal, is the Digimental of Love. You may try to lift it if you like."

Iori stood up straight and looked back to Takeru. "Love? But..."

"Love is about passion and caring," said Takeru quietly. "But it also reflects responsibility, commitment, and loyalty. Ideal love is unconditional and selfless." He coughed. "Iori, I think you should try it."

Iori looked back to the pedestal. Armadimon shuffled aside to clear the way, and motioned toward it himself.

For a moment, Iori hesitated, unsure of what he had heard and what Takeru had just said to him. If he were to describe his own feelings about the Digital World, what would he say?

It seemed ridiculous, given how he had just discovered the world, but from the very beginning, as soon as he had learned of the world's plight, he had wanted to do something about it. He had told Takeru that he was willing to commit to helping the world.

"Love at first sight?" said Iori to himself, remembering the old phrase his grandfather had once explained to him.

He stepped forward and lifted the Digimental from the pedestal. As he did, his Digivice flashed and grew larger, turning into the same shape as the D2 version, lined in yellow.

* * *

The blindfold was torn from Daisuke's eyes, and he instinctively closed his eyes as he was blinded by the sudden change in lighting. After he had been captured by Drimogemon, he had been strapped to some sort of metal panel, his arms and legs bound by metal shackles. As his eyes adjusted back to the light, he slowly opened his eyes. The panel he had been strapped to was now atop a sort of canyon, and near the edge of the canyon stood a figure dressed in dark blue and gold, holding the blindfold in his hand.

"So you're the new one," said the figure, adjusting his gold-rimmed dark glasses. "After seeing what you did yesterday, I was honestly expecting someone a bit less... pathetic..."

Daisuke began struggling against his restraints, but the shackles refused to give him any room to move at all. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"You don't know me?" The other boy looked almost offended. "The other two worms didn't tell you about me?"

"Are you the Kaiser?"

"Ah, so you do know. 'Kaiser.' A fine title, don't you think?"

"You're just a kid like me!" spat Daisuke. "I don't know what 'Kaiser' means but dressing up in a blue suit and glasses probably doesn't make you one."

The Kaiser stiffened, but remained calm. "You're an insolent one, aren't you? Well, I can break you, if it is needed. Your little partner too."

"Partner?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Daisuke saw another metal panel, smaller than the one he was strapped too, wheeled forward until it was next to him. Upon the smaller panel, Vmon was bound with similar shackles.

"Vmon!"

The Digimon gave a sad laugh. "Sorry Daisuke, I got caught too."

"A touching reunion, no?" said the Kaiser. "Now, don't be thinking of trying to escape. Not only is evolution blocked here by the power of my Dark Digivice, but you also lack certain key elements necessary to do that little trick you did yesterday." He raised his hand, revealing Daisuke's blue D2. "Like this, right?"

"That..." Daisuke struggled uselessly against his shackles again. "Give that back!"

"Well, if you play nicely, I might consider this. How about we start with a few questions? For starters, you can tell me where you got this thing, and how you were able to come to this world."

"You really think I'll answer your questions?" said Daisuke defiantly.

"I suppose you are allies with those two," said the Kaiser. "I admit that it was getting boring just fighting them alone, though they did have this annoying ability to organize resistance against my conquests, and I still know so little about their and your 'Armor Evolution' trick. Another newcomer isn't entirely unwelcome, if it can make the game more interesting and varied. Especially if I subvert the usual conventions."

"Conventions? What?"

The Kaiser turned away from Daisuke toward Vmon, and reached for his belt. "In the end, I really don't have to do much with you. Why bother, when I can merely use your friend here instead?" He drew a Dark Ring.

Daisuke recognized it immediately. "That! You keep that thing away from my partner!"

The Kaiser ignored Daisuke's protest and casually tossed the Ring into the air. It came to life immediately, flashing red symbols as it began to spin and hover in mid-air above their heads. "Quite an impressive design, don't you think?" said the Kaiser with a whimsical laugh. "I designed the whole thing myself."

"Hey, you listen here!" cried Daisuke angrily. "Stop that thing!"

"Daisuke, it's fine," said Vmon, glaring up at the Kaiser with a defiant smile. "That thing won't work on me."

"Oh?" the Kaiser laughed and crossed his arms, cocking his head slightly to one side. "And why's that?"

"Two reasons," said Vmon. "First, I've been waiting for Daisuke for a very long time, and now that I've finally met him, there's no way I'm going to let you steal me away from him."

"And the second reason...?"

Vmon smiled. "...Is just arriving."

The Kaiser realized what the Digimon meant a moment later, as he heard the distant roaring sound. He jumped aside and ducked, just as the Dark Ring exploded.

* * *

The attacking Digimon flew over Daisuke and the Kaiser as the shattered remains of the Dark Ring fell to the ground. The Kaiser looked up, trying to identify the attacker as it passed, but was only barely able to make out a sleek blue and gray blur. It was as if a fighter jet had passed overhead.

As he had leaped aside to avoid the blast, the blue D2 had slipped from the Kaiser's hand and slid a short distance away. He turned to retrieve it, but stopped as he saw another Digimon now standing beside it.

Terriermon picked up the device in his arm and waved with his free one. "Hello again."

The Kaiser sneered, and lifted up his forearm to yell into the communicator built into his bracer. "Snimon!"

The green mantis emerged from the canyon and roared. As all eyes turned to it, the Kaiser dusted himself off as best he could and took his leave. He made sure not to disgrace himself by outright running, but still walked away as quickly as he could while still maintaining some air of elegance.

Snimon first focused on Terriermon, but as it raised its arm blades to use its ranged attack, it heard the roar of the other aerial Digimon, and flew aside to dodge a barrage of missiles.

As if oblivious to the sudden battle breaking out above him, Terriermon casually hopped forward to where Daisuke and Vmon were bound. "I think you dropped this," he said, holding out the blue D2.

"Terriermon!" said a new voice with a hint of scolding. Daisuke and Vmon turned their heads to see Takeru, Iori, and Miyako running toward them. "Now's not the time to be playing around," said Takeru disapprovingly. "Hurry up and help them free!"

"Right, right," said Terriermon. "Hold still now." He opened his mouth, and a ball of green energy began to build near his tongue.

Daisuke stared for a moment. "Uh... Is... Is this safe...?"

Terriermon unleashed the blast, blowing away the shackle on Daisuke's left arm. The Digimon immediately began charging up another blast as Daisuke flexed his now free arm.

Miyako was at their side immediately. "Daisuke! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," replied Daisuke. Terriermon blasted off another shackle. "Miyako, can you hand me my D2 Digivice?"

"What?" Miyako crossed her arms and looked down at Daisuke disapprovingly. "That's the first thing you think to ask?"

"Well, if I get my D2 back, once Vmon and I get free we can use that Digimental to evolve and join the fight. Speaking of which..." Daisuke looked up where Snimon was dodging another barrage of missiles as the gray and blue blur passed once again. "Who's that up there fighting Snimon?"

"That's my new partner," said Iori, joining them. "Takeru took us to a refuge with another Digimental, and I met Armadimon there."

Daisuke, completely freed, stretched his limbs as Terriermon set to work on freeing Vmon. "Armadimon, huh?"

"Well, Pteramon now. I also unlocked the Digimental and used it."

Daisuke checked his D2 digivice.

Soaring Love, Pteramon

_**Pteramon**: Armor level. Data Attribute. Dinosaur Type. Wind Guardians. Special Attack: Side Winder. Heavy Attack: Beak Pierce._

Daisuke gave an impressed whistle and looked back up at the sky, where Pteramon had made another pass by Snimon. "He's like a fighter jet! He's even got missiles under his wings! So cool."

Vmon pouted slightly as he watched his partner become excited from watching the other Digimon, but focused on standing up as Terriermon blasted away the last of the shackles. Upon freeing Vmon, Terriermon returned to Takeru and hopped onto the boy's shoulder to whisper something into Takeru's ear. Takeru nodded and turned to the others. "Daisuke, the Kaiser was here in person?"

"Huh?" Daisuke turned to the other boy. "Oh yeah, that's right, he was. That guy is a total..."

"I'm going after him," said Takeru, cutting Daisuke short. "Daisuke, Vmon, you two should try to give Pteramon support against Snimon. Like it was with you two yesterday, Iori has only just unlocked the Digimental, and Pteramon will need all the help he can get."

"Uh, yeah, sure," replied Daisuke, surprised by the impatient and anxious nature of the other boy.

Takeru nodded and began sprinting the direction Terriermon pointed out. Daisuke stared after them, but Iori and Miyako were already shifting their focus back up to Pteramon and Snimon.

"Takeru said that we should aim for the Ring and try not to hurt the controlled Digimon," said Iori. "But Pteramon hasn't even been able to hit with a single of his attacks. What should we do?"

"Simple," said Daisuke, holding out his D2. "Add more firepower! Come on Vmon!"

"Right!"

Daisuke held up his D2. "Digimental Up!" Nothing happened.

Daisuke and Vmon looked at each other. "Uh... Vmon...?" coughed Daisuke awkwardly.

"Don't look at me," said Vmon. "You need to use your Courage."

"And how do I do that?"

"Just use your Courage, like you did yesterday!"

"That..." Daisuke looked at his D2 and groaned. What was 'use your Courage' supposed to mean? He still had no idea what exactly he had done yesterday to get the Digimental to work.

Miyako sighed and shook her head. She stepped past Daisuke to stand next to Iori. "Forget them. Iori, we just need to play this in a smart way."

Iori looked up at the elder girl. "What do you mean?"

"It's like in a flight simulator computer game," said Miyako. "Pteramon's like a jet, right? That means he's going really fast, which is great for chasing other jets, but against something like that mantis it can be harder to aim. Being fast means he has to shoot his missiles a good distance away, which gives the mantis plenty of time to dodge it."

"So we need to find a way to keep Snimon from dodging..."

"The canyon," said Miyako, pointing down over the edge. "It's like a tunnel down there. No place to move left or right. A nice straight shot if we trap him down there."

"But how do we get Snimon down there?"

Miyako frowned and stroked her chin as she thought. She snapped her fingers as an idea came to her. "Bait the thing. Make that bug want to go down into the canyon."

Iori nodded and held up his D2 to his mouth to use it as a communicator, like Takeru had shown him. "Pteramon, can you hear me?"

"Perfectly," came Pteramon's gruff voice.

"Pteramon, land in the canyon and stay there," said Iori. "Get Snimon to come to you."

"What?"

Miyako stepped up and peered over Iori's shoulder to talk at the device. "You've probably really made him angry with all your passes, so he'll want payback. If you land in the canyon, he'll think he has an opening and attack. That's when you hit him back, and he'll have no room to dodge!"

"Ah, I see!"

As Pteramon flew back toward Snimon, he angled his wings to slow down and descend into the canyon, landing on the bottom in a storm of dust. Seeing this, Snimon, lowered its head and dived down at Pteramon, roaring and lashing out with its blade arms, sending slashes of pink energy down at Pteramon. The Armor digimon awkwardly shielded himself with his wings from the hail of rocks and dirt as the blasts tore through the rock walls on either side of him, making him unable to see his enemy.

But Iori had that covered. He looked over the edge and saw Snimon hovering over the cloud of dust and dirt, charging up another attack. "Pteramon, now!"

Pteramon unleashed a Side Winder missile, its sleek form catching Snimon by surprise as it burst through the dust cloud. It caught Snimon in the junction of thorax and abdomen, blasting away the Dark Ring.

* * *

Once freed, Snimon departed immediately. Though the others did not know it, now that it was free, Snimon had reverted to its instinct to hunt Virus attribute Digimon, and so had no interest in interacting with them any more. Daisuke and Miyako watched Snimon slowly vanish into the distance, as Pteramon flew up to the top of the canyon and reverted to Armadimon.

"I didn't get to do anything," pouted Daisuke. He looked down at his D2. "How did I get this thing to work yesterday?"

Miyako slapped him on the back of the head.

"Ow." Daisuke rubbed the back of his head and looked back at Miyako with resentment. "Hey, what was that for?"

"What does 'didn't get to do anything' mean? You were kidnapped by a giant mole with a drill for a nose and bound to a table by a kid who wanted to do who knows what to you!"

Daisuke blinked. "So...?"

"So? So you were in tons of danger, and you're complaining that you 'didn't get to do anything?' What is wrong with you?"

"Hey, everything turned out all right didn't it?" said Daisuke with a smile. "What's an adventure without a little danger and excitement?"

"Adventure? You..." Miyako put her face in her hand and sighed deeply.

On the other side of her, Vmon went over to Iori and Armadimon to introduce himself. Armadimon made a little bow in reply.

"So you're the new part of the team, huh?" asked Vmon cheerily.

Armadimon tilted his head to one side. "Team?"

"Yeah, all of us together are going to be a team," said Vmon. "Daisuke told me about it. We're going to build a super strong team to fight evil and explore the world!"

Iori paused for a moment and thought about what Vmon had said. "Armadimon, Vmon, what do you two know about your world?"

Vmon looked at his feet sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Well, not much I admit... I was sealed away for a while, and I don't know for how long. I don't remember much from before I was sealed either for some reason..."

"I don't have many memories either," admitted Armadimon. A shadow passed over his eyes. "All I remember... is waking up, without knowing when I fell asleep... And then I was running, running away from those Rings..." He shook his head and brightened again. "But never mind about that. Now's as good a time as any to see the world again. And with Iori, I can fight back against the Rings!"

Iori turned pink. "But I... I didn't do anything..."

"What? Don't say that," said Armadimon. "You unlocked the Digimental and gave me the strength to Armor evolve! Do you think I could have faced Snimon the way I am now?"

Iori studied his now yellow D2, an 8-bit image of the Digimental of Love on its screen. He looked back to where Daisuke and Miyako were still arguing. "I was able to lift it and unlock it, but does that mean I will be able to use it?" he whispered to himself. "Why couldn't Daisuke and Vmon use the Digimental of Courage today?"

Daisuke finally tore himself from Miyako and looked around. "Say, when is Takeru getting back?"

Miyako crossed her arms and looked up at the sky. "Good question. It is getting pretty late."

"He did say that as long as we had a D2 we could open a way between worlds," said Daisuke, looking at his Digivice. "But he never exactly told us how to do that, did he?"

"He mentioned that the D2 could detect signals coming from other Digivices," offered Iori. "That's how we were able to find you after we were separated."

"But I don't know how to do that either..." Daisuke squatted and held out his D2 with both hands, staring at his screen. "Is it voice activated?"

Miyako leaned over his shoulder. "Let me try. You don't know anything about electronics." She reached out and began fiddling with the screen and buttons while Daisuke was still holding it.

"Hey, you don't even have one of these yet," shot back Daisuke. "What could you possibly...?"

"See?" said Miyako, pointing at the new image on the screen. "Looks like a map doesn't it?"

Daisuke looked down at the grid that had appeared. Iori, Armadimon, and Vmon walked over beside Miyako to look over Daisuke's shoulder as well. "That's the screen Takeru used to find your signal," said Iori. "We're on the right track."

"Yeah, I think we have a signal," said Daisuke. He squinted to get a better look. "There's this silver dot here..."

Vmon and Armadimon both raised their heads, their attention suddenly snapping somewhere else.

The next moment, they flew apart and crashed on the ground, grunting in pain from the force of the sudden blow. A white cat had seemingly appeared out of nowhere between them, and caught the two of them with a spinning kick.

Miyako shrieked and jumped aside. Iori instinctively ran after his partner, helping the wounded Digimon back up. Daisuke turned at the sound of approaching footsteps. He glanced down at the silver dot on the screen, and back up at the approaching figure.

In front of him stood a girl, beautiful but terrible, staring at him with cold dark eyes.

"Who... who are you...?" stammered Daisuke.

The girl ignored the question and held out her own silver D2 as if displaying it proudly.

In his head, Daisuke heard the Kaiser's words again. _"I suppose you are allies with those two."_

Two.

The Kaiser's previous statement took on a whole other meaning.

"So you are the ones who took my Digimental," said the girl. "I'll be taking it back now. Tailmon?"

The white cat Digimon from before leaped backward and landed in front of Daisuke, its clawed paw raised and aimed threateningly at him. "Yes, Hikari..."

* * *

"Hold on, I don't know what you're talking about," protested Daisuke, holding out his hands defensively.

"The Digimental of Courage belongs to me and me alone," replied the girl coldly. She glanced over at Iori. "I don't know which Digimental you stole, but I will take that one as well. Whether or not it is mine, it will be of more use in my hands than yours."

Vmon, ignoring his injury as best he could, ran between Daisuke and and the girl to protect his partner. "I don't know who you are, but you're not going to even touch my partner!" said the Digimon, spreading his arms out to shield Daisuke behind him.

The girl looked down at Vmon disdainfully and checked her D2, which had protected an image of Vmon with a summary of his information. "That's your partner?" She looked back up and glared into Daisuke's eyes. "How pathetic."

"Vmon isn't pathetic!" said Daisuke, shaking his fist.

"Both of you are pathetic," replied the girl. "If you were a competent partner, you would have looked up Tailmon on your D2 immediately to judge the situation. Then you would have known the difference between that blue lizard and Tailmon is greater than that between earth and heaven."

Daisuke bit his lip and glanced down at his own D2.

_**Tailmon**: Adult level. Vaccine Attribute. Holy Beast Type. Virus Busters. Melee Attack: Cat Punch. Special Attack: Cat Eye._

"Adult level...?" Daisuke looked up at the white cat, so small compared to Monochromon, Snimon, and Drimogemon. Even Vmon looked taller and heavier.

But the next moment, Tailmon had vanished from his sight. The cat was behind Vmon, and sent him flying forward with a heavy punch to the back of his head.

"Ah! Vmon!" Daisuke made to run to his partner, but stopped as Tailmon turned to him and glared at him.

The cat was so fast and strong. Vmon didn't even stand a chance. Daisuke suddenly realized that his knees were shaking. His partner had been beaten down so easily. What should he do?

His eyes darted down at the D2 in his hands. If only he could use the Digimental of Courage. Flamedramon might stand a chance against this Tailmon. 'Use your courage,' they had said, but what did that even mean?

"Your D2 Digivice," said the girl. "Hand it over, and Tailmon just might let you and your partner leave with only a few bruises."

Daisuke remained frozen, unable to move or speak.

"Hold on a second here!" said Miyako, recovering back to her feet. She pointed at Tailmon and the girl disapprovingly. "Is this any way to behave? You can't just appear out of nowhere and pick a fight for no reason!"

Iori stepped forward, helping Armadimon walk as well. "Right! There is no need to resort to violence!"

The girl glanced at Miyako, Iori, and Armadimon, but gave them no other reply. "Tailmon. On my command." She raised her D2 in her hand as if to give gravity to her order with that gesture.

Daisuke took a step back. A cold sweat had built underneath his rectangular goggles, and was beginning to drip from his forehead and irritate his eyes. Tailmon raised her paws and prepared to pounce on him. The girl began to drop her hand to give Tailmon the signal to attack.

"Stop!"

All eyes turned to Takeru, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere beside the girl. He had caught her by the wrist before she could signal to her partner. Tailmon pounced, but backwards, landing beside the girl and Takeru.

"Please stop, Hikari," said Takeru quietly. "They haven't done anything."

"Unhand me," hissed the girl. Takeru obeyed instantly and took a step back, head bowed.

"I thought as much," continued the girl, Hikari. "So you were the one that showed them our world. You showed them the locations of the Digimental."

"I did not do that," replied Takeru, still in a very subdued voice. "They came to this world by a higher power than ours. The Digivices came to them."

"And the Digimentals as well?" spat Hikari.

"I did not specifically lead them to the Digimentals to show them. In any case, they were able to unlock two of them of their own power."

"Like they were destined to?" said Hikari mockingly. "Like they are some new generation of Chosen children?"

Takeru swallowed. "I don't deny the possibility."

Hikari's eyes narrowed as she glared at Takeru, who avoided her gaze. "I thought that you more than anyone didn't believe in destiny," she said.

"They themselves chose to come back to this world of their own will after I sent them home. There was no destiny in this meeting now."

"The Digimental of Courage is mine," she growled. "I will not suffer three simple minded fools to enter this world they do not understand and take what is not theirs!"

"They've only just discovered this place. You can't hold them to such expectations. Give them a chance." Takeru glanced over at the others. "Were we so different when we started?"

"We did not have the luxury of leaving and going at will like some after-school activity back then." She stared coldly at the others, who seemed to cower at her gaze. "But I will spare them this time..." Her gaze shifted to Takeru. "...Because I will leave their fate to you. It will be you who will take the Digimentals from them, the next time you meet. Consider it a lesson, Takeru."

Takeru stiffened. "But..."

"That is an order."

Takeru stared for a moment, and looked as if he desperately wanted to say something. But in the end, he lowered his head with a small nod. "Yes..."

Hikari turned on her heel and began to walk away. "Tailmon?" she called.

"Yes, Hikari." The white cat Digimon leaped from her position at a blinding speed, almost fast enough to leave an after image.

Iori and Armadimon stared, unable to find words. Miyako shook her head, unable to think of any other motion. Daisuke swallowed, his throat incredibly dry. "Takeru..."

Takeru would not meet his gaze. He turned away as well. "I'm sorry. This is where we part ways. Let us hope we do not meet again."


	3. Knowledge of Things to Come

Yagami Hikari wouldn't say that she hated living a double life. In some ways, she had even begun to grow fond of it. It was only by pushing herself to her limits that she had discovered just how powerful she truly was.

Everyone in her elite private school knew her name. She was consistently at the top of her class, and though her school was an all-girls institution, almost all of her classmates still agreed she was one of the most beautiful students there. Her only apparent weaknesses seemed to be in sports and tests of physical strength, but she carried her seemingly frail body with such simple elegance and dexterity that no one begrudged her for that.

Somehow she managed to maintain this aura of greatness in one world, while spending the rest of her time fighting in another. Given her weak body, one would have expected her to have collapsed under such pressure. Instead, she seemed to be flourishing.

Like Takeru, she had adopted the Digital World as her permanent residence, emerging back in the other world only to keep up appearances by continuing her education. Unlike him, she made sure to keep consistent care of herself. Though she often wore her gray school uniform in the Digital World, she always made sure to keep it in a presentable form when she traveled over, repairing any damage and cleaning it appropriately, unlike a certain subordinate who always crossed over in a ragged and beaten state, sometimes almost forgetting to take off his weather-worn cloak, always wearing that tired face that all but betrayed their double life.

And speaking of him...

She cast a disdainful look behind her as she walked from the canyon into the forest. Takeru followed her wordlessly, but the sound of his footsteps was an annoyance enough. Tailmon on the other hand followed quickly and stealthily, keeping her distance so as to function as both scout and guard, completely undetectable to human ears as she moved among the trees.

"You failed to find any trace of the Kaiser today?" asked Hikari at last.

"He briefly emerged to capture Daisuke, the boy from before. But he retreated, and I wasn't able to catch up to him. He doesn't seem to be expecting our next attack."

"That coward is very good at disappearing," commented Hikari dryly. "Hiding away in his secret bases and letting his Dark Rings and controlled slaves do all the work for him... Despicable." She glanced up at the sky, trying to judge how low the sun was. "We will have to move quickly if we are going to reach the staging point in time."

"As you wish."

Hikari's eyes narrowed. There was nothing hostile in his tone, and she knew he did not have the bravery to show even the slightest hint of opposition to her. Not after what he had done all those years ago. And yet somehow, something in his voice...

With those three children involved, something seemed to have changed in him. Something small, and subtle, but still something.

"You don't approve," she said at last. She knew he understood what she was referring to.

"My approval doesn't matter," he replied quietly. And honestly. He understood his position and did not question it.

"But you don't agree with me. About those three."

"I disagree with the approach, yes, but I do agree with you with what you believe." Takeru adjusted his hat, shading his eye. "Those three are young, inexperienced, and it would be far better for them to remain uninvolved with the world, for their own safety. But they may have already passed the point of no return. Two of them have partners now, and I fully expect the third to find a partner very soon as well."

"You misunderstand," said the girl. "I was not talking about their safety." Her expression darkened. "What I cannot tolerate is that they should have the Digimentals in their possession. By all rights the Digimental of Courage should belong to me. That they should have unlocked the Digimentals is an insult to my brother and friends!"

"But they could get better." Takeru hesitated for a moment, choosing his next words carefully. "I think they have... potential."

Hikari gave a low hollow laugh. "Yes, you made your position on that quite obvious."

"Despite our best efforts, we're still fighting a draw at best," said Takeru. "We need all the help we can get against the Kaiser. Three more Armors could be just what would we need to tip the balance from stalemate to victory."

"And whose fault it is that we're still only drawing against the Kaiser, I wonder?"

Takeru avoided her gaze.

"You can't fool me," she continued. "You lack conviction, and it weakens your partners. You don't let them fight at full strength."

"You know my opinions on violence," replied Takeru quietly. "I won't unleash the full power of my partners on anyone ever again. Even Ichijouji..." He bit his lip and looked back to meet Hikari's gaze. "But as I said, my opinions don't matter. I am your weapon, and will follow your orders."

"A weapon with no conviction to battle is a dull weapon." Hikari sighed and looked back up at the waning sun. "As I said, you and your partners will fight those newcomers the next time you meet. You will defeat them and take the Digimentals. Relearn some conviction."

Hikari could not see the look of pain that passed over Takeru's face. He knew that she said came from the bitterness left in her heart, rather than any actual enmity on her part, but that knowledge did little to soften the verbal blows. "As you wish."

"You don't need to unleash everything, but you will not hold back against them." Her eyes narrowed. "None of you will."

Her meaning was not lost on Takeru, who glanced down at his arms. For a moment he wondered if his partners were awake and listening in. He nodded again. "As you wish."

* * *

**Maximum v3.0**

**Knowledge of Things to Come: FlyBeemon vs Coatlmon**

* * *

"Digital Gate Open!"

Nothing happened.

Daisuke sighed and lowered his D2 Digivice. He remembered Takeru saying something about having to find a physical location to access a gate first, but had no idea how to do that. "What do we do now?"

"How am I supposed to know?" grumbled Miyako. She crossed her arms.

"Takeru was our way home!" continued Daisuke. "I can't believe he just abandoned us like that just because that crazy girl showed up! Who was she anyway?"

He stroked his chin, thinking back to that terrifying presence. "She looked awfully familiar somehow, like I'd seen her before somewhere..." He slapped himself lightly on his face and shook his head. "No, now's not the time to think about that. We're stuck here! What do we do?"

"Aren't you the one with the fancy big Digivice?" said Miyako with an exasperated sigh. "You're supposed to be able to open a way home!"

"Yeah, but I have no idea how this thing works," said Daisuke. He held out his blue D2 to Miyako. "Come on, do what you did before to get the map thing working. You're good with electronics right? You said so yourself!"

Miyako swiped the device from Daisuke's hands, grumbling the whole time. She squatted down and began fiddling with it. Daisuke crossed his arms and stood over her shoulder, trying to watch what she did.

"I can't work with you hovering like that," said Miyako.

"What? I'm not bothering you."

"Yes, you are."

"I am not!"

"You are!"

As the other two continued their bickering, Iori shook his head and sighed as he watched. Even in the most desperate of situations, those two would always find some excuse to clash. Armadimon, recovered from the surprise attack from before, looked on in wonder.

"Do they always argue like that?" asked Armadimon to his new partner.

"Almost always," admitted Iori. "It's because they both have strong projective personalities, so they're both constantly trying to gain some metaphorical upper hand over the other." He paused and smiled slightly. "But for them, I think it's a sign they have a good relationship. Despite everything, they are probably two of the closest friends I know."

"Friends constantly fighting?" Armadimon shook his head. "Humans are so strange."

"Don't worry," said Iori with a little laugh. "Not all humans are like that. I personally don't think arguments are worth the time and effort." He looked back to his new partner, wondering about his past. "Do you have many friends, Armadimon?"

"I have you, don't I?"

Iori smiled and nodded. "Yes, we are friends now, aren't we?"

"Hey, can you tell me about what your world is like?" asked Armadimon. "I remembering hearing stories about other worlds, and I've always wondered."

"If we can figure out how these Digivices can open the way, I'll do better than telling you," said Iori, looking down at his yellow D2. "I'll show you."

Their conversation was interrupted by Miyako's frustrated cry. They turned back to the others in time to see Miyako shove the blue D2 back to Daisuke. "I'm not a miracle worker!" she said. "I can't just magically know everything about this thing! I got lucky before because this thing's map system resembles other systems I've worked with before. Do you think I've ever worked with a computer that can open gates between dimensions?"

"Fine, fine," said Daisuke, pocketing the D2. "No need to get so upset..."

"Speak for yourself. I am going to be in so much trouble if I don't get home on time."

"Then let's hurry and try to think of something," said Daisuke, scratching his arm impatiently. "Maybe we should try to follow after Takeru and that girl. Try to convince them to help us again."

"Because they were such a great help before," said Miyako bitterly.

"Hey, it's better than just standing here doing nothing. At least by trying to find them again, it'd be doing something." Daisuke frowned and looked aside. "Besides, they're still the only real chance we've got."

"Daisuke, listen. That girl attacked us, and Takeru abandoned us like we were nothing. She even told him to fight us the next time we meet, and somehow I don't think he'd disobey that order."

"You don't know that for sure," protested Daisuke. "It's like you automatically disliked Takeru from the beginning."

"That's not true," said Miyako, suddenly somehow managing to look even more upset. She crossed her arms, her cheeks turning pink. "I don't have anything against him. But still..." She shook her head. "I don't know..."

"Let's just go. As I said, it's better than just standing here."

Miyako exhaled deeply, but nodded. "Yes, let's go."

* * *

Daisuke and Vmon led they way, their eyes darting all around their surroundings, back to the screen of the D2 Digivice in Daisuke's hands, and then back all around them. They had moved away from the canyon, heading toward a more wooded area, and as a result were beginning to have trouble finding the supposed paths and roads that the D2 insisted were there.

Behind them, Armadillomon cautiously looked around, as if he were afraid that they would suddenly be attacked. Iori noted his partner's apparent discomfort, and drew a parallel between how his eyes looked and how Miyako's eyes looked.

"Miyako," began Iori slowly.

"Hm? What is it Iori?" asked the elder girl.

Iori shifted slightly and adjusted his clothes. "If you don't mind me asking, I was just wondering... why you decided to come with us today..."

Miyako blinked. "Hey hey, what's with that question?" she said with a laugh. "Do you not want me around?"

Iori frowned, noting that such a dismissive and laughing attitude was one of the many ways Miyako would act to hide the fact that she was bothered. "It's not that. It's just... Well, you don't seem to have liked coming here like Daisuke, or really want to help Takeru like me. And now we're all in trouble, so I feel sorry that you had to be drawn into this situation if you..." Iori trailed off.

"What's with that?" laughed Miyako again. "This place is scary, but I couldn't just let you two come on your own. Someone has to look after you two." She glanced to the front, where Daisuke had squatted, staring at the screen of his Digivice. "Especially Daisuke... Now let's hurry up and find a way home, alright?"

Iori nodded slightly. "I see," he said quietly, though he wasn't sure if he did.

He had known Miyako for a long time now, living in the same apartment building and often visiting her in her family's shop whenever it was her shift at the register. As he remembered, she was the youngest of four children, and her three elder siblings were often successful in strong-arming her into taking shifts for them. She didn't seem particularly close to them either, and for a moment Iori wondered if she might consider him and Daisuke as a sort of surrogate younger siblings.

Iori shook his head. It was a charming idea, but he didn't really believe it.

"Hey, hey," said Vmon at the front, at Daisuke's side. "Someone's approaching."

Daisuke jumped back up straight. "Is it an enemy?" he asked.

Armadillomon instinctively cowered against Iori, sensing an approaching presence as well. In response, Iori readied his yellow D2, preparing for whatever might be coming.

"He's coming from over there," said Vmon, pointing out toward some underbrush. "I can smell him."

"Is he friendly or an enemy?" asked Daisuke.

"I can't smell that!"

A dark gray reptilian snout poked out from amidst the leaves, sniffing the air heavily. Daisuke and the others backed away from the underbrush. "Who's there?" called Daisuke, gripping his D2 tightly in his palm. "Show yourself!"

"Hey, hey, why are you brats so noisy?" asked the snout, annoyed. The rest of the body emerged from the leaves, revealing a black skinned raptor-like creature, slightly larger and taller than Vmon.

"Oh, some humans," growled the creature as he caught sight of Daisuke, Iori, and Miyako. "I was wondering what was smelling so funny."

"He doesn't have a Dark Ring," commented Iori, looking the new Digimon up and down.

"Ring?" The Digimon looked offended by the comment. "Hey, I'm not your average everyday weakling that lets himself fall pray to some dinky piece of metal. I am BlackAgumon, the Strongest of the Rumble Arena. I fear no Ring, and I fear no humans."

_**BlackAgumon**: Child level. Virus attribute. Reptile Type. Nature Spirits. Special Attack: Baby Flame. Melee Attack: Sharp Claw._

The others stared. Daisuke and Vmon looked at each other. "Well, it looks like it's not an enemy," said Vmon.

"Maybe we should ask him for directions or something," replied Daisuke.

"I'm not sure," said Vmon. "He doesn't look like a very reliable guy..."

"Hey, don't ignore me!" snapped BlackAgumon. "Did you not hear me? I am BlackAgumon, the..."

"We heard you the first time," said Daisuke, briefly giving the newcomer a cursory glance. He turned back to Vmon. "Anyway, we don't really have many other options here."

"Hey, hey!" said BlackAgumon again, his annoyance slowly giving away to frustration. "I'm issuing a challenge here! Fight me!"

"What?" Vmon and Daisuke both looked at BlackAgumon and stared.

"Why would we want to fight you?" asked Iori, surprised at well.

"I don't have a Dark Ring," said BlackAgumon. "Aren't you going to fight me to try to put one on me?"

"Why would we do that?" said Iori, shocked. "Do... do you think we are servants of the Kaiser?"

"You're humans aren't you?"

"That doesn't mean we are servants of the Kaiser!" Iori frowned and straightened. "We are here to oppose the Kaiser, to free Digimon from bondage, not enslave them!"

"And have an awesome adventure doing it!" added Daisuke. Miyako rolled her eyes.

BlackAgumon's eyes blinked, and then narrowed. "Oh. You're one of _those_. I thought those two were the only ones."

"Two..." Daisuke snapped his fingers and looked at the others. "It must be Takeru and that girl!" He turned to BlackAgumon. "You know them? Can you help lead us to them?"

BlackAgumon shrugged. "Eh, I don't know any 'Takeru,' but they were humans alright. I just so happened to be heading to where they set some staging point. Apparently there's going to be a battle soon, and I want to get a good front row seat for the spectacle, maybe learn some new moves."

"So you'll help us?"

"Who said anything about helping you?" BlackAgumon began walking past them. "If you want to follow me, go right ahead. I don't care about helping you, but it's not like I'm going to waste my precious time trying to stop you guys from doing anything either."

"What a strange Digimon," commented Armadimon. Daisuke and the others followed after BlackAgumon.

* * *

They passed through the forest, heading up a rocky hill. BlackAgumon claimed that beyond the hill was a Kaiser stronghold, which was where the other humans might be gathering near. "If so, it should certainly be an entertaining sight to see," he said as he lead the way. It was clear from his mumbling tone that he was mostly talking to himself, and not to the group following him.

The supposed stronghold came into view as they passed over the peak and looked down.

Before them lay a massive walled enclosure, containing within it what looked like stone houses. However, closer inspection revealed that all the windows of the buildings were lined with metal bars, like a prison. Gray mammalian Digimon and yellow spiked frog-like Digimon moved back and forth carrying metal bars and blocks on their shoulders and backs. They were bound together in lines by heavy black chains, with a few exceptions. Some of the Digimon were off by themselves, serving as overseers and guards, the Dark Rings on their bodies explaining how they could betray their comrades like that. In addition to these smaller guards, between every three stone prison buildings or so stood a large red dinosaur-like Digimon, carefully watching for any disobedience.

Most imposing of all was the black obelisk at the center of the enclosure, towering over both prisoner and guard, even the largest dinosaur types.

"What... what is that place?" said Miyako.

"What, you've never seen a prison camp before?" scoffed BlackAgumon. "The Kaiser's got loads of these over the region. He doesn't have enough Rings to personally enslave all the Digimon in the world of course, so he just controls the strong ones to force weaker ones into submission to build more Rings and Towers for him."

"Tower?" Iori pointed at the obelisk at the center of the camp. "You mean that thing?"

"How the Kaiser marks his territory," said BlackAgumon dismissively. "It's supposed to prevent evolution to keep the weaker Digimon weak, but it's not my problem. I'm already really strong without evolving." He flexed an arm as if in emphasis before he plopped himself down at the edge of the hill. "All that's really important is that the Kaiser has them built up and the others knock them down, and it's always a spectacle to watch. Just grab a seat and wait."

"You're just going to sit here?" asked Iori, incredulous at the Digimon's dismissive attitude.

"Hey, I don't know what direction the humans will come from. There's a temple near the far side of the camp, but choosing that as a staging area would be too obvious, so I might as well get a good overview of all possible directions. I'll move in closer once the battle starts."

Iori frowned and looked back down at the prison camp. "This... this sight is unacceptable. We should go down and help them."

BlackAgumon shrugged. "Do whatever you want. Like I said, I'm not going to waste time stopping you."

Iori looked at BlackAgumon. "How can you only sit back and watch while they suffer down there?" he demanded.

BlackAgumon returned Iori's gaze, condescension in his eyes. "Hey, hey, I don't like that tone of yours. You clearly don't know anything about this world, human. 'Survival of the Fittest.' That is the law of the Digital World. Those prisoners down there are those who weren't strong enough to survive. They weren't strong, like me."

"How cold of you," said Miyako. Iori turned in surprise at her sudden entry in the conversation and her harsh tone.

"It's not 'coldness,'" said BlackAgumon. "It is the truth."

"That's not truth," said Miyako, her voice suddenly cold. "You don't understand what truth is. You don't know a thing."

"Hm?" BlackAgumon tilted his head to one side.

"You have no idea what 'Survival of the Fittest' really means if you think it justifies your twisted attitude you ignorant little..."

Daisuke gently touched Miyako's shoulder. "Hey, hey, calm down there."

"He's not worth getting angry over," agreed Iori. "Come on Miyako, let's just go."

They turned to leave, Armadimon and Vmon in the rear. As they began heading down the hill, BlackAgumon called down to the two Digimon. "Hey, you really going to follow those humans? Are you two so pathetic that you can't stand on your own?"

Armadimon looked back up at BlackAgumon, and shook his head and sighed.

"Hey, what's with that attitude?" said BlackAgumon, offended that Armadimon didn't even bother verbalizing a reply.

"It's only by working together that we become strong," said Vmon. "Staying by yourself like that just makes you weak in the end." He turned to follow Armadimon and the others.

* * *

"Hey, my D2 is reacting to something," said Iori as they drew closer to the prison camp. Armadimon stood up on his hind legs beside his partner, trying to get a better look at the device's screen.

Miyako looked over his shoulder, seeing that a signal had appeared on the device's map. "It doesn't look like the one used to find other Digivices," she said.

"Mine's reacting as well," said Daisuke, studying his own device. "Takeru's Digivice was green right? The dot here isn't green though."

Miyako squinted and leaned further over Iori's shoulder. "The symbol there... I think it looks almost like a pair of glasses..."

"It looks like it's coming from somewhere near the prison camp," commented Iori. "We're pretty close. Maybe it's coming from the temple that BlackAgumon mentioned before..."

Daisuke and Vmon exchanged glances. "Should we check it out?" said Daisuke.

Iori frowned. "What about the camp?"

"We might find something useful there if the device bothered to point it out to us," offered Miyako. "Besides, we can't just charge in the camp without a plan first."

Iori nodded. "Takeru took us to another temple, where I met Armadimon and found the Digimental of Love." He glanced at Miyako. "So maybe..."

The group changed course and began walking around the prison camp, making sure to keep out of sight of the gray Ring-controlled rabbit-like Digimon serving as a rudimentary guard on the outer walls. Slowly, the temple that BlackAgumon had mentioned came into view, and it was quite a different sight from the temple that Takeru had led them to in the mountains.

The supposed temple, or at least what was left of it, looked much more modern than one would expect, being built of metal, concrete, and glass. It was clear that what was left of the temple was less than half of what it had originally been. The structure stopped abruptly, quickly dissipating into torn metal bars, rubble, and heaps of broken glass just beyond the nearest outer wall of the prison camp. Indeed, a closer inspection of the prison camp walls would imply that most of it had been built from scraps torn from the temple itself.

What remained seemed intact enough, and had an obvious entrance. Daisuke lead the way to the front of broken building and there found what appeared to be a sliding glass door. He and Vmon pushed the doors aside, and passed through the threshold.

As the entered, something caught Miyako's eye. She bent down and picked up a feather, twirling it between her fingers. "What's this doing here?" she wondered aloud. It looked so out of place amongst all the metal and glass.

"This doesn't look much like a temple," commented Daisuke as he looked around. "Looks more like the reception of an office building. There's even a reception desk." He approached said desk, and found a tarnished silver bell.

"I don't think you should touch it," called Iori. But it was too late.

The ring was subdued and dull in sound, but moments after Daisuke had touched it, Vmon and Armadimon turned suddenly, sensing a new presence. A red feather suddenly flew out like a spinning knife. Vmon jumped aside, and the feather embedded in the reception desk behind him.

"Who is it?" called Vmon, raising his arms in a boxing stance. Armadimon grew tense as well.

A Digimon about the same size as Vmon suddenly emerged from the shadows of the ceiling. It had the appearance of a large red bird, with a gray headband binding more red feather blades to the back of his head.

_**Hawkmon**: Child level. Vaccine Attribute. Bird Type. Wind Guardians. Special Attack: Feather Slash. Heavy Attack: Beak Pecker._

"I am Hawkmon, guardian of this temple," announced the new Digimon. "State your purpose."

"We are not here to fight," said Iori quickly. "We come in peace. We are only exploring this area."

Hawkmon studied them suspiciously. "Exploring?"

Iori held out his yellow D2 Digivice to show the screen. "We detected a signal here, and came to investigate."

The Digimon's eyes widened as he saw the signal on the screen. "Could it be? Are you the ones who are supposed to take the relic?"

"Relic?" wondered Daisuke. "Do you mean a Digimental?"

Hawkmon straightened and made a small bow. "If you are indeed the ones, I apologize for my previous forwardness. I have been on edge due to my recent failures to protect the temple from the nearby construction. I will show you to the relic presently." He stretched out a wing toward a door to the side, leading to a stairwell.

Vmon remained in his boxing stance, regarding Hawkmon suspiciously. "Why should we trust you?"

"On my honor, I am merely the guardian of the relic here," replied Hawkmon, offended by Vmon's suspicion. "What possible ulterior motive could I have?"

Vmon grudgingly left his stance and nodded.

Hawkmon nodded as well. "Very well. This way."

* * *

"This is the relic." Hawkmon stretched out his wing toward the table before them.

Above the table was a hole, seemingly torn out from the ceiling to allow sunlight to fall down upon the yellow, red, and purple object set atop the table. The object vaguely resembled the abdomen of an insect, with a small silver stinger at the top. A symbol of two connected violet circles was on the side facing them.

"That's a Digimental alright," said Daisuke. He glanced over to Miyako. "Well, go pick it up."

Miyako stared back at Daisuke. "What? Me? Why?"

"You're the only one of us here who hasn't picked one up, obviously!"

"But that doesn't mean I'm automatically the one that should do it!" Miyako crossed her arms. "Basic logic. You can't just assume a set is restricted to just us three based on what you've seen. That's faulty induction!"

Daisuke opened his mouth to reply but paused and hesitated. "Wait... faulty what?" He shook his head. "Aw man, now you're trying to confuse me. You always do this when you're losing an argument."

Miyako glared. "Losing?"

Iori quickly stepped between them. "Daisuke, Miyako, please. Now is not the time. We have other more pressing issues to worry about, don't we?"

Daisuke and Miyako both seemed to slump slightly and looked away from each other, slightly ashamed of their behavior. "I'm sorry," said Miyako quietly. "It's just... I don't want to touch something I don't really know anything about. It's... scary..."

Iori glanced over to Armadimon, who seemed to guess Iori's thoughts and approached Hawkmon. "Say, what can you tell us about this relic?" asked Armadimon. "And about this place?"

Hawkmon bowed slightly. "I'm sorry, but I really don't know much. I happened to be taken in by the previous occupant of the temple when I was lost and wounded. In gratitude, I agreed to serve as a guardian for the relic when my benefactor left to seek his friends." Hawkmon looked back toward the table. "As for the relic, I was really only told two things: that it would eventually be found by someone that would unlock its potential, and that its potential came from the power of knowledge."

"A Digimental of Knowledge then," speculated Iori aloud. He turned back to Miyako. "I cannot think of anyone more worthy than you."

Miyako blinked and took a step back. "What? Me?"

"Yeah, I kind of have to agree here," mumbled Daisuke, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. He turned slightly pink, and had trouble forcing out his next few words. "I mean... you're like, one of the smartest people I know. Sort of."

Miyako bowed her head and stared at the ground. "But... I'm not really like that at all."

The others looked at her, confused.

"I'm not really smart at all. Being able to play around with computers all day? Doing well on a math test here and there? That's not real knowledge." Miyako bit her lip. "Real knowledge is like the former Computer Club president had. He always took things in stride, and always wanted to know more and more. He didn't get upset if he was proven wrong, he was just excited to learn more from it. Not like me."

She raised her head to look back at Iori and Daisuke. "Me? I was terrified to learn about this place. Learning that there's this whole other world? That everything I thought I knew could be completely wrong? That scared me. I hated this place. I didn't want to come back here."

"But you still did choose to came back," replied Iori. "You do want to learn more, don't you?"

Miyako let herself make a small smile and gazed down at the small Digivice in her hand. "Yeah, I guess I do. I want to know what these things are and how they work and why we got them. But I don't even know where to begin."

"I don't think anyone ever knows where to begin," said Iori with a smile.

"How's this for a beginning?" said Daisuke quickly, pointing back to the Digimental on the table. "Try picking that up?"

Iori shot Daisuke a disapproving look, but Miyako only laughed at Daisuke's suggestion and nodded. "Yeah," she said quietly. "I can't be afraid, right? If I'm going to be like that guy..." She clapped her hands together and took a step toward the table. "Alright, let's try it."

She lifted the small object easily. It felt almost weightless in her hands.

"Well..." Miyako exhaled, a bit in relief, and felt the Digimental in her hands. "That wasn't so bad." She slowly turned to the others, to find Hawkmon kneeling right before her.

"Please, allow me to follow you as your warrior," said Hawkmon, kneeling with his head bowed.

"What are you talking about?"

"I was told it would be my duty to fight beside and protect the one to whom the relic would be entrusted to," replied Hawkmon. "Please, allow me to stand beside you. I am a capable warrior."

Miyako flushed pink. "But... but I'm not a warrior. I don't like fighting..."

Hawkmon looked up and smiled. "Then all the more reason to accept me! In this world, there are many dangers and threats, but you will fear no violence while I am here. You say you do not wish to fight, that your true passions lie in learning and knowledge. Then you shall be free to travel and learn all that you desire if you have me to defend you against all dangers. I will protect you with my life. That is my duty."

A bright light began shining from Miyako's pocket. She drew her small Digivice, just in time to see it grow larger and transform into a red D2 Digivice.

* * *

With Hawkmon and Miyako now bound by a new partnership, the group turned their attention back to the wider temple and to the prison camp just outside.

"So what keeps them from coming in here?" asked Miyako, glancing out through a gap in the wall to the prison camp.

Hawkmon shrugged. "I can only speculate that they don't consider it worth their time."

"It looks like they got careless with how they built the camp around here," said Miyako as she studied the camp wall. "If we climbed to the top of this temple, we could probably jump over onto the top of the wall and get inside without being noticed."

"Sounds like a plan," said Daisuke, slamming his fist against his palm. "Then should we go?"

"It's not really much of a plan," said Iori. "Will we have a way to get out if we jump in?" He looked down at his Digivice. "Will we be able to use that Armor evolution, or will we have problems like you did earlier today?"

Daisuke seemed to shrink back and deflate at Iori's comment. Miyako nodded. "Iori's right. We should think things through a bit more and find out what we can about these Digimentals. I mean, this temple does look sort of like an office building. There might be some useful files in here."

Hawkmon stroked the bottom of his beak. "Well, there are some things here that may be useful. I don't really know how they work, but maybe you might be able to figure something out."

With that, Hawkmon lead them up to the upper levels of the temple, and showed them to a large room. On the wall was a large drawing of the plain Digivice next to a drawing of the D2 Digivice. Opposite the wall was a table, with a single old computer that looked like it had been made in the 1980s. Hawkmon motioned toward it. "Well, that would be..." But before he could finish, Miyako pounced on the old electronic and tried to get it to work.

"Once she gets a new plaything in her sights, she just can't be stopped," said Daisuke with a laugh.

Iori however headed to the third wall, which was crumbling and beginning to break apart. Through a hole, he looked out over to the prison camp, and was surprised to find the outer wall just next to and below their current location. Armadimon stepped up beside him to get a better look too.

"Hey, Armadimon, if we broke through this wall, do you think we could jump down into the camp here?" asked Iori.

Armadimon looked down. "We definitely could. But... we wouldn't be able to climb back up."

Then the explosion happened.

"What was that?" Daisuke ran up beside Iori to try to get a look, but couldn't find enough space. "I can't see anything. If only this wall wasn't..."

"I'll take care of it!" said Vmon confidently. Before anyone could stop him, he ran up and smashed his head against the wall. Large cracks ran up to the top before half of the structure gave way and collapsed, opening up to reveal the entire camp before them.

The outer wall of the prison camp to the right of their position had been completely blown away, and from the smoke and dust emerged a small force of Adult level Digimon. Iori recognized the two Monochromon brothers they had seen yesterday, charging in and engaging the Ring-controlled guards. As they dust settled, they saw the small form of Takeru calmly walking through the gap, his torn and dirty cloak rippling in the wind.

"Reload, Terriermon!" And with that, Terriermon emerged from the green D2 in a flash of light.

"And now, Digimental Up!"

Before their eyes, Terriermon seemed to grow in size and was enveloped in the silver and white armor of the Digimental of Light, becoming serpentine in shape. His two large ears became two feathered wings flanking a mane of green fur.

Winding Light, Coatlmon

_**Coatlmon**: Armor level. Vaccine Attribute. Mythical Beast Type. Wind Guardians. Special Attack: Freeze Wave. Summon Attack: Toltec Wind._

Takeru climbed atop the back of his partner, and Coatmon spread its wings, suddenly flying up into the air like a great dragon. From above, it unleashed a blast of blue energy down upon all the Ring-controlled guards they could see, encasing their legs in ice and freezing them in place.

The path now cleared, the other girl, Hikari, appeared at the gap, her partner at her side. She glanced down at the Digimon. "Tailmon?"

Immediately, Tailmon began her attack, moving like a white blur through the camp, striking all the frozen guards as she zigzagged past them, the Rings shattering and falling in her wake.

The next moment, Tailmon had pounced again, this time toward the obelisk like Tower at the center of the camp. At the same time, Coatlmon flew up beside it and spread its wings out, calling out with a large roar. Tailmon's sharp claws hammered against one side of the Tower, while a sudden wind appeared around Coatlmon's wings, forming blades of air that rained down on the other side of the Tower. The structure collapsed, breaking apart completely as it fell.

Daisuke, Iori, and their partners stared in awe at what they had seen. "So fast... that could hardly be called a battle..." stammered Iori.

"Is that their true power?" wondered Vmon.

As they continued staring, Miyako and Hawkmon ran up beside them. "Guys, you would not believe what I just managed to find and..." Miyako trailed off as she caught sight of the wreckage of the prison camp. "Woah... what happened?"

* * *

"Well, that BlackAgumon was right," said Vmon after a while.

Daisuke nodded. "Yeah... they came alright..." He paused, and loosened his collar. "So... should... should we go down there?"

"We don't have to," said Miyako quickly. "Come on, get away from the wall there. Let's not get seen by them."

Iori peered over the edge. With the Tower down, the local Rings seemed to have deactivated or failed. All fighting had ceased, and some of the guards were even tearing off the Rings on their bodies by themselves.

"Iori?"

"Yes, yes," said Iori, finally tearing himself away from the broken wall. He and Armadimon regrouped with the others, and they formed a little circle around Miyako, who was holding out her D2 for the others to see.

"We won't need their help anymore," said Miyako. "There was a lot of useful stuff on that computer there. It was like an instruction manual or something. There was too much to read it all, but I managed to find a part about how to use these things to open the 'Gates' to get back to our world."

Daisuke tilted his head to one side. "So are we just going to go home?" He turned back to the broken wall. "I mean, without doing anything about that?"

"I'd rather not risk making that girl angry and getting in a fight with them after seeing all that out there," replied Miyako. "I mean, do you want to risk having to fight that?"

Daisuke turned back to the circle and sighed. Memories of their last confrontation flashed through his mind. He didn't even fully understand how to use Armor evolution yet. If another fight broke out, he and Vmon wouldn't stand a chance.

"Uh oh..." whispered Miyako.

"What is it?" asked Iori.

"Well, the 'Gates' appear semi-randomly, opening and closing. And right now, the nearest one is..."

"Really far away?" suggested Daisuke hopefully, though he already knew better.

"...inside the camp."

A general silence fell on the circle as they tried to think about what to do next.

"Where exactly is it?" asked Iori at last.

Miyako played around with her Digivice before showing them the screen. "There," she said, pointing at the small white dot.

"It looks like it's a little bit off from the wreckage of the Tower," said Iori. He eyed the green and silver dots near the white one. "It's too close to them. We could wait for them to withdraw if we want to avoid another confrontation."

"It is getting pretty late," said Miyako, glancing outside. "Maybe they'll leave to go home soon?"

"But Takeru doesn't have a home to go to," interrupted Daisuke. "He told us yesterday, he lives in this world. What if he decides to set up camp for the night inside this place? What then? My parents will freak and think I'm missing if I have to stay the night!"

"Hey, do you think you're the only one who would be noticed missing for the night?" said Miyako.

"Grawh!" Daisuke hit his face in his hands in frustration. "We can't just sit here waiting for them to leave! Come on, let's just take our chances and go out there! Maybe if we did it discreetly, they wouldn't notice us or something."

"It's a bit late for thinking like that," said a cold voice.

All eyes widened and turned to the broken wall. The girl was standing on the back of Coatlmon, Takeru kneeling a little ahead of her on Coatlmon's head. Miyako quickly looked back to her Digivice. The green and silver dots had seemed so far away seconds ago, but now they were right on top of their own signals.

"Honestly, did you think we wouldn't notice you?" asked the girl, holding out her silver D2 to show the same mapping screen. "As long as you carry your own D2 Digivices, you can't come near us without us noticing." She casually jumped off from Coatlmon's back, landing on the top of the outer prison camp wall. "I'll leave the rest to you," she said dismissively as she began to walk away. "Don't disappoint me."

Takeru pulled his dirty cloak closer around his shoulders. "As you wish." He turned toward the others. "I'll give you the chance to use Armor Evolution now. You can also try to use that opening to run, but be warned that we will chase if you do, and you're not likely to outrun Coatlmon's wind."

Iori stood up straight and stepped forward, staring Takeru down. Though Armadimon looked anxious and unsure, he nevertheless stepped up beside his partner and tried to look tough. "Must we really fight?" asked Iori.

"I had hoped we would not meet again, but I cannot disobey Hikari."

"Why not?"

"It's a long story," said Takeru quietly.

"What's the rush? We have the time."

"Maybe I'll tell you if you can beat us. Use your Digimental, Iori, Armadimon."

Iori stared into Takeru's eye for another moment before he looked down at Armadimon. "Very well, let's go." He lifted up his D2 and held it high. "Digimental Up!"

The next moment Armadimon had armored himself in blue and silver as Pteramon, and he charged right into Coatlmon, ramming his sharp beak against Coatlmon's silver armored side.

The resulting shock wave blew apart all that remained of the top of the temple. Daisuke, Miyako, their partners, and Iori all shielded themselves with their arms as dust and debris flew all around. Pteramon beat a hasty retreat backward and unleashed another wave of missiles, a wave that Coatlmon easily deflected by summoning another blast of wind. The wayward missiles crashed all around the walls of the former prison camp, breaking them down.

"You're pretty strong, Iori, Pteramon," called Takeru from Coatlmon's back. "But we have experience on our side. You still have a long way to go before you'll be able to beat us on your own." He looked over to where the others were cowering amidst the blown open temple. "Come on, all of you now. Don't hold back against us."

Hawkmon turned toward his partner. "Mistress Miyako, shall I?"

"You will," said Miyako confidently. "But as he said, we'll use Armor Evolution to boost you up first."

Hawkmon hesitated. "That has something to do with the relic, correct?

"Yep."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about it then..."

Miyako laughed. "Don't worry about that. I'll teach you." She fiddled with the buttons of the D2. "That little file in the computer gave me some really handy insights into how this thing and how this world works. It's a 'Digital' world right? A little binary logic goes a long way in such a world."

Hawkmon suddenly twitched and looked down at himself. "My body.. feels warm..."

"That's a good sign...I hope..." Miyako finished and held her own D2 aloft. "Digimental Up!"

The red and black portions of the Digimental seemed to expand and grow into armor like that of an insect exoskeleton, enveloping itself around Hawkmon's body. Around Hawkmon's feathered tail, the armor formed a long red abdomen ending in a sharp silver stinger. A black helm covered Hawkmon's head, allowing only two feathers on the back of Hawkmons' head to stick out like a pair of white antennae. The circular symbol resembling two connected eyes was on the forehead of the visor.

Stinging Knowledge, Flybeemon

_**Flybeemon**: Armor level. Data Attribute. Insect Type. Nature Spirits. Ranged Attack: Fly Spark. Melee Attack: Poison Sting._

Flybeemon looked down at his new body. "This... this feels incredible." He looked to Miyako and bowed his head. "In this form I will be of great use to you."

With that, Flybeemon spread his fibrous insect wings and flew up to join Pteramon, unleashing an electric blast from the end of his stinger at Coatlmon. The white serpent easily dodged it, and instead cast a blue freezing blast from its wings, one that Pteramon and Flybeemon were only barely able to avoid. As they flew aside, Coatlmon flew above them and rained down cutting blasts of wind.

"So powerful," said Iori. "Coatlmon is able to match both of our partners and still keep an advantage."

Miyako nodded and turned to look at Daisuke and Vmon. "Well, don't just stand there you two!"

Daisuke swallowed and held aloft his D2. His knees were shaking. "Digimental Up!"

Nothing happened.

* * *

Above them Coatlmon summoned an even larger wind, one that radiated out like the wave of an explosive blast. The wind proved unavoidable for Pteramon and Flybeemon, and they cried out in pain as they were blown aside. With that, Coatlmon twisted and dived down at the top of the temple remains. Miyako and Iori jumped aside, but Daisuke and Vmon stood still at the center, paralyzed as Coatlmon settled in front of them and stared them down.

Coatlmon remained motionless front of them, and Takeru leaned forward on the top of his partner's head to look at the two. "What are you two waiting for?"

Neither Daisuke nor Vmon knew how to reply.

"Are you afraid, Daisuke?" With the cloak wrapped around the lower half of his face, Takeru's expression was unreadable, but when Daisuke looked into the other boy's eye, it didn't look hostile. It looked almost as if it were a friendly expression.

"Of... of course not..." stammered Daisuke at last. "I have to use my courage to use my Digimental, so I have to be brave."

Takeru gave a soft sympathetic laugh. "Daisuke, one can't be brave unless they have the chance to be afraid first. It's alright to be afraid. Hey, this is only your second day in this world, it'd be strange if you weren't afraid. And that confrontation with Hikari from before, it really shook you up, didn't it? She and Tailmon showed off just how much stronger they were than you two. But you shouldn't let that scare you to the point that you just give up, Daisuke." He seemed to smile with his single visible eye. "Someone dear to me once told me that if you fall off a bike, you just have to get back on and try again."

Daisuke frowned. "But... I don't even know how to try. It was like yesterday was a fluke. I don't know how to use this 'Digimental' thing at all." He bit this lip. "Maybe she was right about it belonging to her..."

Coatlmon suddenly exhaled, surprising Daisuke and Vmon and causing them to stumble backward and fall. Pteramon and Flybeemon tried to fly back to them, but Coatlmon summoned another Toltec wind, one that swirled around the temple top in a circle, like a makeshift barrier to keep them out.

"We're trapped in here," said Miyako, looking around at the wind barrier. She looked back to Daisuke and Vmon. "Daisuke, do something!"

Daisuke looked to Miyako helplessly, then back to Coatlmon and Takeru. "I don't know what to do!"

"Anything is better than nothing isn't it?" cried Miyako in reply.

Daisuke's eyes widened. His friend's reply echoed what he had always been saying before.

Takeru and Coatlmon slowly backed away. "Your friends here can't beat Coatlmon and me by themselves yet," said Takeru. "Whether or not you and Vmon join could be the deciding factor. You can be afraid, but you don't have to be so afraid that you can't move when you have all of them here at your side. Don't focus on your fear. It will pass you by. Focus on your friends. They will help you. Focus on your opponent. Defeat him." He pointed at himself. "Focus on me... and act!"

Daisuke blinked, but slowly nodded. "Yeah... yeah, that's right!" He held out his blue D2, aiming it right at Takeru's face in a show of defiance. "Digimental Up!"

Coatlmon was forced to fly up in a hasty retreat as a swirl of flame erupted around Daisuke and his partner, now armored in red and orange as the tall and proud Flamedramon. As he did, the wind barrier dissipated.

"Well, he seems to have regained the confidence necessary for Armor Evolution," commented Coatlmon as he circled around the ruined temple. "But if anything Flamedramon looks even weaker than when he first evolved to fight Monochromon. He sure has a long way to go."

"Maybe," replied Takeru. "But don't let your guard down. The strength that one can summon from a Digimental can drastically change in mere moments. And no matter what their individual strength is, with three of them, we're the ones at a disadvantage now." He glanced around. "Here they come!"

Coatlmon dived down just in time to avoid another wave of missiles from Pteramon. As they descended however, Flamedramon fired off a barrage of fireballs at them. Coatlmon easily summoned a wind to blow them away.

But then...

"Above!" called Takeru. Coatlmon looked up just in time to see Flybeemon dived down at them. The red insect turned and rammed the end of his stinger into Coatlmon's back, causing the latter to gasp in surprise and pain as he felt the injection of a paralyzing poison into his body.

"That was a combination attack," said Takeru as Coatlmon dirfted down toward the temple, trying to land to recover himself as he felt his wings stiffen.

"But to organize one like that so quickly and effectively?" wondered Coatlmon as he drifted down toward the top of the broken temple. "Impossible! To plan something like that out is one thing, but to execute it flawlessly... that would require months of battle experience!"

Miyako heard the Digimon's comment as they landed. "It was really easy to figure you out after watching your initial moves," said Miyako confidently. "I noticed that you had to dodge my partner's sparks instead of deflecting it with wind after you had deflected Pteramon's missiles. Your attacks are strong, but they have a cooldown, don't they? The solution was easy: a three part stage, to force you to use your wind, dodge into an unfavorable position, and then hammer you while you're vulnerable!"

Coatlmon chuckled slightly and stared at Miyako from the side of his eye. "Clever girl..."

"When you play as many video games as I have, stuff like that is second nature," replied Miyako confidently, a glare of light reflecting off the edge of her glasses.

"And now we've got you!" added Daisuke. "It's our win this time!"

Flamedramon stepped forward and held out his claw, already charging up another batch of fireballs around his arm. Above Pteramon circled around, reading to rain down a barrage of missiles.

"Takeru, let me fight!"

Daisuke and the others were surprised by the new voice. They looked all around, but couldn't find its source.

"You're not fully healed yet," replied Takeru to the voice.

"I can still take them," added Coaltmon, struggling back up. The paralysis was wearing off and feeling was returning to his wings.

"I'm healed enough!" said the voice.

Takeru hesitated. "I can't ask you to..."

"You can't ask me to sit back and do nothing while my brother gets hurt like that!"

Takeru gritted his teeth, but nevertheless reached over and pulled up the sleeve on his right arm. The source of the other voice was revealed: a second D2 Digivice, rimmed in gold.

His eye blazing like blue fire, Takeru gave the order. "Reload, Patamon!"

_**Patamon**: Child level. Vaccine Attribute. Mammal Type. Virus Busters. Breath Attack: Air Shot. Melee Attack: Wing Slap._

"And...Digimental Up!"

Before the light of the reload had dissipated to reveal the appearance of the newcomer, the new Digimon's form was obscured by the light of Armor Evolution.

Flying Hope, Pegasmon.

_**Pegasmon**: Armor level. Vaccine Attribute. Holy Beast Type. Virus Busters. Special Attack: Shooting Star. Heavy Attack: Silver Blaze._

* * *

Before them flew the mythical Pegasus, armored in gold. From his golden wings emerged small stars of energy, which rained down upon them, forcing Flybeemon and Flamedramon away from Coatlmon. This allowed the white serpent to slip free from them. Coatlmon swirled around to rejoin his ally in the air, and the two flew together in a circle. The two Digivices, green and gold, shined brightly on Takeru's arms.

"Hey, hey, I didn't need your help you know, big brother," said Coatlmon as he flew alongside Pegasmon.

"I know, I know, little brother," replied Pegasmon with a little laugh. "But I needed a chance to stretch my wings after spending so long resting."

Below, the others looked in awe and surprise. "Two... two Digimon?"

"That's right," said Coatlmon. "Two on three is a bit more even don't you think?"

"Three on three, brothers," corrected Takeru.

Pegasmon glanced at Takeru, then nodded. "Right. Three on three. The battle is even now."

Below, the others scrambled to reorganize. Flybeemon and Pteramon hovered in the air between their opponents and the tower top, while Flamedramon stood as a shield for Daisuke, Iori, and Miyako.

"It took all three of us just to land a clean hit on one of them," said Miyako biting her thumbnail in thought and frustration. "Now we have to fight two at once? We don't stand a chance this way..."

"We don't need to beat them though," said Iori. The other two looked at him. "We only have to get past him to get to the Gate home, right?" he explained.

"That's right," whispered Miyako, looking back up, the gears in her mind already turning. "So let's come up with a new plan of attack..."

Above, Coatlmon, Pegasmon, and Takeru continued to stare their opposition down."They're planning something," said Takeru. Before them, Pteramon and Flybeemon suddenly began flying at them. "Here they come!"

A wave of missiles and electric sparks came up at them, but Coatlmon and Pegasmon easily deflected them with a blast of wind and shower of stars. The two then descended down upon them. The two blue gems on the golden armor on Pegasmon's front legs began to glow gold, as did the red gem on the silver head plate of Coatlmon.

"We'll capture them with our Sanctuary Bind combination attack," said Pegasmon. The light on their gems spread out and connected into a noose of golden light.

But as they descended, Flamedramon suddenly unleashed a wave of fireballs. Pegasmon and Coatlmon paid it no mind, as it seemed the fireballs had been aimed carelessly, and would easily miss them.

Takeru, however, thought this was strange. "Where is he aiming..." He turned his eyes to where the fireballs were expected to go, and stiffened. "Above...?"

Pteramon suddenly fired off a special brand of his missiles, and Flybeemon fired off electrically charged stingers. The missiles, fireballs, and stingers collided above Coatlmon and Pegasmon, forming a bright blinding blast.

Takeru quickly shielded his eye with his hand, but his two partners were caught by surprised. They suddenly stopped in midair. "Gah! My eyes!" cried Coatlmon.

"A blinding tactic?" Pegasmon slowly blinked as his vision gradually returned. As the temple top came into view, he suddenly realized Flamedramon and the others were no longer there. "What?" He quickly looked around, expecting an attack.

But an attack never came.

Takeru looked out from Coatlmon's back as he watched the others dart underneath and past them toward the center of the prison camp. He quickly realized that in the instant that they had been blinded, Flamedramon had taken the three into his arms and jumped down from the temple top, and then all of them had bolted for the camp rather than continue fighting.

"They blinded us to make a run for the Digital Gate," said Takeru quietly as he took a seat on the back of Coatlmon's head. "A smart move, I guess."

"They're dangerous, Takeru," said Pegasmon, flying up beside Coatlmon. "In only two days, they were able to match Coatlmon and escape from all of us? It took us months of hard training to become comfortable with using the Digimentals of Hope and Light and entering our Armor forms. To lose against them is... it's a mockery of everything we've been through..."

Takeru sighed and shrugged. "It is what it is. No sense getting too upset over it..."

"Fighting them seems like a waste of time anyways," said Coatlmon. "Really, we should ally with them against the Kaiser."

"Hikari thinks otherwise," replied Takeru simply.

"Hikari will be too busy yelling at you for letting them escape to think about anything else," said Pegasmon.

Takeru ignored his partner's comment. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Come on, brothers. Let's just head out to the next staging area. There's nothing left for us to do here, and our campaign is far from over."


	4. Kindness of Evil

Everyone said Ichijouji Ken was a genius. At his school he was always number one in all subjects, consistently scoring perfect 100's on all his exams without fail. His excellence extended beyond the school curriculum, and he often studied Computer Science, advanced Mathematics, theoretical Physics, and several languages on his own, supposedly for fun. With his perfect grades, the teachers were willing to look the other way when he inevitably grew bored of the lecture and pulled out a physics or a French textbook to study by himself. In addition to his native Japanese he had comfortably mastered Mandarin Chinese, French, English, and German. He seemed to have a particular fondness for the German language, which he could speak like a native.

He excelled outside of academics as well, being a master player on the association football field, competent in judo, and in the middle of learning archery and kendo. His true passion, however, was gaming. Strategy gaming in particular. His favorite wasn't international chess, though he was a recognized FIDE master with an Elo rating of around 2300.

No, his favorite game was one that he never talked about with anyone except for his opponents in the game.

"The Digital World isn't some playground, Ichijouji!" that girl had said to him after their fifth or sixth confrontation. "This isn't a game!"

Ridiculous. Of course it was a game. Life itself was a game. What if others were hurt by it? So what? Why should he care about them?

"You sociopath!" the yellow haired boy had said in response. "Do you not care at all about others?"

Sociopath? No, he was no sociopath. He understood and had emotions. Without emotion, he wouldn't have the motivation to conquer the Digital World, now would he? Ichijouji Ken was not a sociopath. He was just a superior being whose duty it was to spread his influence, a perfect existence surrounded by filth that held him down. All those smiling pretenders fawning over him... it was disgusting. But he couldn't do anything about it. He wasn't self-sufficient in his former world. Ichijouji Ken was trapped, forced to rely on those that called themselves his 'parents' for food and shelter while they used and exploited him for meaningless fame, forced to tolerate the existence of all those swarming worms at that farce of a 'school' he had to attend.

No, only in the Digital World was he free. Only in the Digital World was he in control. In this world, he was free to fulfill his true mission of asserting his superiority over all the inferior trash around him. With a simple black Ring, even the most worthless being could be tamed and molded into something useful.

It was so engaging, so much fun. Even those two that had declared themselves his enemies were fun to fight. Ichijouji Ken had become Kaiser, built a mighty Empire from a chaotic and broken world, and was now using it to tame said world in an elaborate grand strategy game. Those two and their Digimon partners were just an added bonus. He would hunt them down for sport.

But then something happened...

"I've had enough with your game, Ichijouji! From now on, you're the one being hunted!"

That fierce look in that girl's eyes... It was the first time anyone had ever stood up to him like that. After all, no one had ever lasted that long against him. Human or computer, he had always beaten everyone else whenever he became serious at his game. But in this game, that terrifying, beautiful presence, that girl that resisted all his efforts and even changed the dynamic of their war to force him to play defensively as well as offensively. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't completely stamp that presence out. Those beautiful glaring eyes defied him, staring back at him whenever he closed his eyes. He had even begun to have doubts over his superiority.

But finally...

"Ken-chan?"

The Kaiser was brought out of his reminiscing by the probing voice. He straightened his imperial uniform and glanced down at the small green worm crawling at his feet as he sat in his command center. "What is it?" he demanded, annoyed with the creature.

Wormmon cowered before the Kaiser's sharp glare. "I was just checking if you were alright," he said shakily. "A report of an enemy sighting has been flashing in front of you for a few minutes, but you haven't been doing anything about it..."

"Hm?" The Kaiser looked back up at the screen in front of him. Sure enough, there was a flashing report. "Oh that. No, that's supposed to be happening."

"Supposed to be?"

"It took me longer than usual, but I finally have an understanding of how my enemy thinks and plans," said the Kaiser, pointing at a city on the map. "Those two are moving just as I predicted. Having won a series of battles, they have grown bolder and more confident. Therefore, they will be reckless and try to go in by themselves, targeting my Dark Tower at that city center." His smile deepened. "And once they attack, it will be my victory..."

* * *

**Maximum v4.0**

**Kindness of Evil: Galgomon and Angemon vs 3 Armors**

* * *

Takeru wasn't in class the next day. Or the next. None of the other students really seemed to notice or care about the extended absence, but Daisuke always regarded the empty seat next to him with a degree of anxiety.

At first, he had felt relieved. Daisuke had been afraid that somehow the battle would somehow spread outside the Digital World to the classroom. Iori had argued that such an idea was nonsense, pointing out that Takeru himself had insisted that the matters between the two worlds be kept completely separate. Now Daisuke was beginning to grow concerned. Why was Takeru not showing up? Had something happened to him?

Iori had wanted to keep going to the Digital World, both to learn more about Takeru's absence and to keep doing whatever he could to help the resistance against the mysterious Kaiser, but Miyako had overruled him. They needed time to recover and orient themselves, she had argued, and Daisuke had reluctantly agreed. His heart still yearned for adventure and excitement, but it was now tempered by the experiences of the previous days.

"Vmon and I need to become a better team," Daisuke told himself. "We need to become stronger."

On the end of the third school day, Daisuke finally worked up the nerve to ask the homeroom teacher about Takeru's absence. "He has health concerns," the teacher replied dismissively.

"But what about, you know, homework and stuff? What about falling behind?"

"His sister comes and picks up assignments for him."

"Sister?"

"In any case, despite his absences he seems to be working hard. His most recent grades on his homework and the last exam are actually amongst the higher end of the class distribution. If anything, you should be more worried about falling behind yourself. You're a smart kid, but I would really like to see some more effort on your part. Your last exam grade in particular..."

And thus what Daisuke had expected to be a simple information-gathering question ended up being a long lecture about the importance of applying oneself and the shame of wasting potential and so on. It dragged on to the point that he was late for after-school practice, and was thus subjected to a similar lecture from the coach.

It was just not a good day, he thought to himself.

After practice, the coach gathered the tired boys around him to make an announcement. And suddenly, Daisuke began thinking the day was a good day after all.

Iori and Miyako were still in the Computer Lab, playing around with some code that they had written while their partners, in their smaller forms as Upamon and Poromon, looked on while feeding on what Miyako had swiped from her store. They all briefly looked up as Daisuke slid the door open and rushed inside, but none seemed too interested in the excited look on Daisuke's face.

"Big news!" said Daisuke breathlessly.

Miyako blinked and shrugged before turning back to the computer screen. "What is it this time?"

Daisuke stepped up behind Miyako and shoved his arms over her shoulders to type on the keyboard in front of her.

"Hey!" stammered Miyako, turning red. "What are you doing?"

"Look," said Daisuke as he brought up the article had been looking for.

Miyako straightened her glasses as Daisuke finally backed off and gave her some breathing room. The article that Daisuke had brought up was a sports article, which didn't really interest her, but she nevertheless began reading aloud. "Last year, the Tamachi team set the record for most goals in a single season..."

"My coach called in some favors," said Daisuke proudly. "He managed to arrange a practice game with those guys!"

"...So...?"

"So, this is a big opportunity for us!"

"Us?"

"Think. What do you know about Tamachi?"

"Tamachi?" Miyako fell silent and thought for a moment. Then her eyes widened. "Wait..."

"Local legend Ichijouji Ken plays on the Tamachi team," said Daisuke, simply beaming. "Just think! How many times do kids like us have a chance to meet a celebrity like him?"

Miyako rose from her seat and spun around, grabbing Daisuke's hands in her own. "You'll introduce me to him, right?"

Daisuke threw his head back and laughed. His posture shifted to one of superiority. "Well, I'll have to think about it."

Miyako's gaze became dangerous and her grip tightened around Daisuke's hands, threatening to crush them. "You'll think about it?"

And with that, the air of superiority vanished and Daisuke cowered before Miyako's hard glare as he tried to pull his hands away from her death grip. "I mean, of course I will! But it'll be hard, you know? I mean, I need someone to introduce me to him first and all..."

Behind them, Iori, left the computer and sat down beside Upamon. He sighed and set his head on his palm as Upamon swallowed the last of the food and hopped up into his lap.

"This world is pretty strange," commented Upamon as he looked up at his partner. "What's Tamachi? What's Ichijouji?"

"Tamachi is an informal name for the districts surrounding Tamachi railway station," said Iori. "Ichijouji Ken is a famous boy that lives there."

"Famous? What did he do?"

Iori shrugged. "Apparently he's incredibly intelligent, and has accomplished many incredible things at a very young age. About three years ago he submitted a mathematical proof of a famous unsolved problem, and that's about when people really started taking notice."

Upamon frowned. "I don't really understand how that's incredible. Has he saved the world before?"

Iori laughed. "In this world, there aren't really any people who can claim to have saved the world, so we have to settle with different sorts of incredible things. I guess that's one of the ways our worlds differ."

"In the Digital World there are all sorts of legendary heroes that have saved the world before," said Upamon. "Some of them are still around too. I'd like to meet some of those people."

Iori wondered for a moment what it would be like to meet someone who had saved the Digital World. "I'd like to too."

* * *

"How are you feeling?"

Patamon stretched his wings and body. "Better than ever."

Takeru nodded. "Look... about what happened before..."

"You're not still blaming yourself are you?" asked Patamon with a dismissive laugh. "It was nobody's fault."

Takeru fell silent and crossed his arms. Terriermon shifted slightly and approached the other Digimon. "Even so," said Terriermon. "I'm sorry for what happened, big brother."

Patamon only laughed and jumped on top of Terriermon, rubbing his paw hard against Terriermon's head. "What's with the serious attitude, little brother? Lighten up. I like your usual playfulness."

"Hey, hey, ease up you two," said Takeru as he watched the two begin to wrestle around. "We need to save our strength for what's coming up next."

"Speaking of which, what is coming next?" asked Patamon as he finally forced Terriermon down underneath him. Terriermon flailed out and squirmed beneath Patamon's paws and belly, but ultimately tired and conceded defeat.

Takeru sat down beside them and showed them the screen of his golden D2 Digivice, which was displaying a map of the region. "We're heading for this city." He pointed it out on the screen.

"Sounds good," said Patamon. "Where are we rallying our friends?"

"We're not going in like that," replied Takeru. "Hikari thinks that losses would be too heavy if we straight up attacked with a large force. Our armies will remain on standby at their respective garrisons. Instead, Hikari and Tailmon will go in covertly to take out the Dark Tower at the city center while the three of us lead a diversion at their main gate."

"Only the three of us?" said Terriermon in disbelief.

"I don't like that plan," said Patamon, hopping off of his brother and crossing his paws. He studied Takeru for a moment. "And something tells me you don't like that plan either."

"It's what Hikari decided," whispered Takeru. He noticed the look of disapproval on Patamon's face. "It's not that bad of a plan. If we engage outside of the Dark Tower's area of effect, we won't have to deal with its evolution-blocking signal, and if Hikari's successful, we can go wild with your evolved forms."

Terriermon seemed to brighten at that comment, but Patamon still frowned. "The key point being 'If.'"

"It might have a better chance of working if we asked those other kids to help us," said Terriermon.

"Hikari still thinks of them as outsiders," said Takeru. "And she will probably never forgive that Daisuke has the Digimental of Courage in his possession." He glanced at the look of disapproval on Patamon's face. "It's understandable. She wants to hold onto all that she can with regards to her brother."

"It's not an excuse for how she acts," said Patamon quietly. "And definitely not an excuse for how she treats you, even if..."

"Patamon," warned Takeru. "We're not going to talk about it."

"If you're not going to stand up for yourself, you need someone else to stand up for you then."

"Patamon!"

The Digimon fell silent and folded his wings. A cold silence fell on the camp. Takeru briefly remembered that three years ago, such an argument might have caused them to leave one another and refuse to speak. It brought a deep sense of shame whenever Takeru remembered his childhood. His immaturity was a luxury he could not afford anymore. Takeru was supposed to be the mature one now. He was the older brother.

The youngest of the three brothers, Terriermon, coughed into his paw and looked at the other two. "Shall we get going soon? I'll fly."

"I'll fly," said Patamon, rising up. "I need the exercise."

Terriermon loaded himself into the green D2 on Takeru's left arm as the boy activated the gold one to let Patamon don his armor. They set out over the desert region between them and their target city.

"I'm sorry," said Pegasusmon after a while as they drifted through the wind.

"I'm sorry too," replied Takeru.

Arguments came and went. What was important was keeping the brotherhood.

* * *

They landed atop a rocky outcrop a fair distance from the target. From where they stood, they could see that the city resembled a sort of snow globe, having a large glass dome covering it, presumably to protect delicate machinery from the outside sands and winds. Through the glass, the black form of the Dark Tower was only barely visible amongst all the silver and gray buildings surrounding it. A large gate in the metal wall beneath the glass dome opened to allow a Locomon, a train Digimon, to depart from the city along the railroad, dragging a long line of cars topped with storage crates.

"There it is," said Takeru to no one in particular as he looked over the city.

Terriermon suddenly emerged from the green D2 and propped himself up on Takeru's shoulder. "The city looks like it's on alert."

Takeru nodded. "Look around. The desert is wide open. Their surveillance probably caught sight of us ages ago."

"So the Kaiser knows we're here," grumbled Patamon.

"It was inevitable that he would. That's why we're dividing our forces and using a diversion in the first place."

Terriermon suddenly turned back. "Hey, someone's coming."

Takeru gave a cursory glance in that direction before wandering off to the other end of the outcrop. Patamon had only just shed his armor when he apparently heard as well and turned. A small black form was climbing up the rocks beside them.

Moments later, Patamon and Terriermon both sighed and shook their heads. "Oh, it's him."

BlackAgumon frowned as he reached them. "Hey, what's with that attitude?"

"You've been following us for weeks now," said Patamon. "Don't think we haven't noticed you sneaking around and stealing food from the supply lines of our armies. So what finally led you to decide to show yourself?"

"I haven't been sneaking around," said BlackAgumon. "You just haven't been paying enough attention when you go stomping through my territory."

"_Your_ territory?"

"Yeah, just a few days ago you marched your way through one of my forests and wrecked a prison camp."

"_One_ of your forests?" said Patamon with bored eyes. Behind him, Terriermon stifled a giggle.

"Anyways, I saw how you made short work of the place and even fought a few humans that were passing by too, and I thought hey, maybe we could work together. Let's join forces and fight against the Kaiser, what do you say?"

"And why do you wish to fight?" asked a soft voice.

The three Digimon turned to Takeru, who had been sitting apart near the edge of the outcrop, staying so quiet that even Terriermon and Patamon had almost forgotten that he was there.

BlackAgumon growled as if he had been challenged. "What, you think that I don't bow to humans like your little pets here, that I'm not strong enough to fight?"

Takeru sighed and looked away. Patamon frowned and said, "We are not pets. Takeru is our brother. We work together to oppose the Kaiser."

Terriermon stifled another giggle. "Besides, you may talk big but you certainly don't look very strong to me."

BlackAgumon bristled with indignation. "Why you little..."

"Terriermon, be polite," said Takeru. He rose from his seat and dusted himself off. "Patamon, Terriermon, let's relocate."

"Oh, running away then," said BlackAgumon. "Afraid to fight me or something?"

"Sorry, but we are not suited to working together," said Takeru, walking past BlackAgumon. "Fighting is not an end to itself, nor is it an excuse to prove one's strength. We are merely opposing the Kaiser. It's as simple as that, nothing more. We cannot help you." Terriermon and Patamon followed after Takeru as they began descending down the most gentle slope of the outcrop.

"Ha, I knew it!" taunted BlackAgumon. "I talked with the Digimon following those other humans too. You're all the same! Too weak to stand on your own and afraid to face an independent spirit like me!"

Terriermon frowned and looked back. "Terriermon," said Takeru quickly. "Don't fight him."

The next moment BlackAgumon fired a ball of flame. Terriermon spun, creating a small green tornado which promptly blew out the dark red fireball and sent BlackAgumon tumbling down the other, steep side of the rocks.

"Terriermon..."

"What?" said Terriermon innocently. "That could hardly be called a fight."

Patamon laughed. Takeru shook his head and sighed, but couldn't suppress a small smile either.

* * *

The day of the game arrived without incident. Daisuke's school in Odaiba was hosting the match, and the boy stood on the sideline of the field, staring at the road, waiting for the bus to arrive. One of his teammates noticed this and chastised him, calling him to quit standing there doing nothing and do warm-up exercises and stretches. Daisuke reluctantly obeyed.

From the audience stands, Miyako fidgeted in her seat with Poromon and Chibimon in her lap. Iori had decided to attend with Upamon as well, though the two of them had little interest in the game or the supposed celebrity that was to arrive. It was more of a nod of respect to their friends.

When the bus of the visiting team arrived, a small crowd quickly gathered around its door expectantly. As Iori had explained, one of the team's players was quite the celebrity. However, as the team filed out in their green uniforms, the crowd began to disperse, obviously disappointed.

Sensing something was wrong, Daisuke left his team and ran up to check on the opposing team, where he confirmed his suspicions. Ichijouji Ken was not among them.

Instead, Ken was still in his other world, his Digital World, still in his garb and regalia as Kaiser and putting the finishing touches on his trap. He was making adjustments to his troop deployments accordingly from his seat in his command room.

At the exact same moment, Hikari and Tailmon had rejoined Takeru's team to go over the basics of their plan one last time before they finally moved into action. "As you know," began Takeru, "our current campaign serves one short-term purpose and two long-term purposes. The short-term is to disrupt the enemy supply lines. The two long-term goals are to gain vital information about the enemy infrastructure, and undermine his connections to the coastal regions to fully contain him in the Server Continent."

The Kaiser boasted of his plan to Wormmon. "Their current activity has been aimed at disrupting my supply lines and gaining intelligence about my transport network." He pointed out a part of the map. "Additionally, their recent attacks on my strongholds in this area seems to indicate they seek to undermine my connections to the coast, possibly to prevent me from launching major offensives on other continents."

"As you may know, this city was the former home of the Machine Seal of the Metal Empire before Mugendramon stole it. Now it's been taken over by Ichijouji as a main manufacturing center, one that builds Towers and Rings that get shipped to wherever he needs them through his railroads." Takeru's finger traced the barbed line running down the screen of his Digivice, representing the railroad passing through the city. "If we capture the city, we not only shut down a huge production line for him, but we also get a rallying point to search for and eventually attack the heart of his railroad network. If we're lucky, we may even be able to discover where his main base of operations is. We find and take his capital, take him, and we end the war.

"Locomon are the main transportation method throughout my empire, so he is targeting this city in hopes of setting up a staging point to attack other main railroad stations, find the hearts of my railway network, and perhaps even our capital," explained the Kaiser. "As long as my railroad network exists, I have the advantage in mobility. Thus far they have only been able to liberate maybe three or four of my Locomon, so the railroads in their captured territory have nowhere as much use to them as mine have to me."

"As Ichijouji must know our relative locations by now, he will be expecting an attack, which is what we'll give them. We will be a diversion force out in the front while Hikari and Tailmon sneak in to go straight for the Tower at the city center. Ichijouji will be aggressive and send all his forces out to crush the diversion, leaving the Tower mostly undefended. Once the tower falls, it will be out victory."

"Since they know that I know their location and intentions to attack, they will likely use a simple-minded diversion to try to draw my forces out of the city, so that they can sneak in to go straight for the tower." The Kaiser laughed. "Too obvious, fools. Too obvious. Once you get inside that city there will be no way out. Your forces will be divided. And then..." He glanced at Wormmon, who cowered at the cold malevolence in his eyes. "...that's only Part One. Part Two is where the fun begins."

Shifting to a new position behind the chair, Wormmon looked on with obvious discomfort. "That's all very well and good Ken, but shouldn't you head back to your world? Your teammates are counting on you..."

"They are not my teammates!" snapped the Kaiser. "And those worms will have to do without me. I've already given that idiot coach an excuse for my absence for the first half of that stupid game." He glanced at the clock. "However, I might as well get ready to leave. The finishing touches have already been made here."

As he rose from his seat, he looked over all the different screens around him, showing live video feeds from all over his empire. There were snapshots of his Dark Towers in deserts, jungles, shores, and cities. The Kaiser smiled and laughed to himself. "Am I not a great and powerful ruler?" he asked no one in particular. "I have brought order to this young and chaotic world. I have tamed it, and made it great by shaping it in my image."

Wormmon looked up at Ken. "Is this really what you want?"

The Kaiser sighed and smiled. "What sort of question is that? It is not about 'want,' it is about purpose. My purpose is to succeed, to win. And all the world benefits when I win. When I return to that other world to play that stupid game and win it, it brings those worms pleasure to bask in that meaningless victory. When I finally conquer this entire world, all will benefit from my improvements to it." The Kaiser looked down at Wormmon. "Am I not kind?"

Wormmon bowed his head and slowly nodded. "Yes, you are kind."

* * *

Ichijouji Ken arrived right at the halftime break in the match, still feeling a bit annoyed with having to pull himself away from his true work and purpose for a small meaningless game that in retrospect he should have found an excuse to abandon entirely. He tried to calm himself as he stepped onto the field, burying his frustration behind a cold yet somehow serene expression on his face. The scoreboard read 1-0 in favor of the opposing team. Typical. The team was completely useless without him.

"Glad you could make it," said the coach of his team as he set his bag down.

Ken gave a small apology for his absence and began his stretching exercises. As he did, his eyes and ears shifted their attention to the opposing team. From what he could hear, they were giving their congratulations to the one who had managed to score the single goal in the first half of the game. His eyes momentarily widened when they found who was receiving the accolades.

It was that boy, the newcomer he had met and briefly captured a few days before. That boy wasn't wearing those moronic goggles, but that idiotic grin was unforgettable. Immediately, Ken's gaze shifted to the audience, and sure enough, there were the other two, their three Digimon partners on their laps.

Time stood still as Ken's powerful mind raced to comprehend what he was seeing.

The fact that they seemed to be living normal lives, unlike those other obsessives he was used to fighting, was soon overwhelmed by his shock over the sheer audacity that they should bring those artificial lifeforms with them. But Ken recovered quickly as he realized that in a way those three were kindred spirits. They weren't moral-obsessed fools. They were fellow gamers just like him. Those three were not necessarily enemies like the two he was locked in battle with. They were a third faction, an unknown variable, one that he could use to his advantage if he approached the matter correctly.

He smiled, more confident than ever in his plans.

The game resumed, and Ken took his place at the front and center of his team. That other boy stood directly opposite him.

"Nice to finally meet you," said the other boy, wearing a determined look on his face.

Ken answered with a small smile and loosened his shoulders. Association football was just another game. He might as well try to have some fun until he could return to his main game in the other world.

The whistle blew, and Ken settled his mind and body into the game. It was like slipping on an old glove.

Straight away he bypassed the other boy and seized control of the ball with his near inhuman speed. Around him, his teammates moved into their assigned positions, as they had so many times before. He briefly passed the ball aside as his enemy moved to try to block him. The next moment it came back to him, and his line of sight was clear. He fired.

In a matter of seconds, he had evened the score. But there was no cheers or senseless acts of celebration, like there had been for the other boy's goal. Ken made sure his team was far too disciplined for that.

Yes, he was incredibly powerful, fast, and accurate with his kicks, but perhaps his greatest strength was his control over the flow of the game. He developed formations and tactics that his disciplined teammates followed exactly, ensuring no wasted movements and perfect efficiency, leading his teammates with a commanding aura akin to that of a general leading soldiers. Mere minutes later the second goal was scored.

Ken's eyes lit up as he gradually watched the surprise and fear grow in the eyes of his opponents. They were already beginning to realize their situation was hopeless. Perfect. Psychological warfare was part of the game.

As the second half of the game neared its end, the team from Tamachi was leading with a devastating 9 to 1. And as he received the ball in the final seconds, Ken was determined to finish the game with one more goal.

"Formation C," he said quietly to his teammates, but loud enough for his opponents to hear. His teammates knew what it meant and obeyed immediately, while his enemies would be undermined by their anxiety and anticipation. Ken was quite fond of dual-purpose movements like that.

And then they were off, breezing past the feeble and demoralized defenders of the enemy team without incident. The final seconds were counting down, and the ball passed to Ken. With a confident smirk, he briefly tapped the ball up into the air and wound his leg back to deliver the finishing blow.

And the next moment he was toppling to the ground, his arms crashing hard on the grass and dirt.

Ken recovered himself as quickly as he could and looked up just in time to see the ball roll out of bounds. A moment later the whistle blew, ending the game. He had failed to score a tenth goal. But how? His gaze shifted.

There. The other boy with that typical aggravating and idiotic grin. The trail on the grass left a clear mark as to what had happened. In the final moments the boy had charged forward in a desperate slide, knocking the ball away, and Ken down as well. It was an unforgivable insult. But it wasn't even the worst part of it.

The worst part was the other boy's eyes. There was no defeat, no demoralization, no anguish. Nothing.

It was infuriating.

The game ended with the usual tradition of the two teams acknowledging each others abilities and paying respect. Once the formality was finished, Ken immediately went to retrieve his bag and prepare to return to his other game. He needed to go back as quickly as possible, and not just because of his humiliating anti-climax in the final seconds of the game. He needed to get away from the game, to forget those horrible eyes of an unbroken spirit.

Of course, it didn't end up being that simple. That other boy, his goggles restored to his forehead and his own bag slung over his shoulder, sought Ken out just as he was about to leave.

"Hi, hi, sorry about that last move back there," he said with a well-mannered grin. "You're not hurt are you?"

"I'm fine," replied Ken dryly.

"I'm Motomiya Daisuke," he said. "I'm the one who managed to get the goal during the first half. But when you showed up for the second half... wow, we just didn't stand a chance!" He laughed.

Ken forced a smile as an idea slowly came to him. "You have talent. Few have ever been able to interrupt my shots, and none have ever done it like that."

Daisuke laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Well, losing like that I thought the only thing I could do was just go after the captain. You know, bet it all."

"You are a rare man, Motomiya Daisuke." Ken extended his hand. "I look forward to meeting you again. Who knows? Next time, maybe we could play on the same team."

For a moment, Daisuke could only stare at the hand. His mind had gone completely blank both from the offer of a handshake, and from the even bigger offer that had came from Ken's mouth.

"Ye.. yes! Of course!" Daisuke grabbed the hand and shook it hard. "Definitely!"

"I think we could work well together, given the right circumstances," said Ken as he withdrew his hand after the shake.

"Hold on a second," said Daisuke, suddenly reaching into his bag and withdrawing a notebook and pen. "Can I have an autograph? One of my friends absolutely adores you, and..."

"Of course," said Ken, accepting the notebook. He quickly scrawled his name in kanji so stylistic as to be unreadable and returned the pen and paper. "Am I not kind?"

"Of course you are," said Daisuke breathlessly.

They parted, and Ken pulled something out from his bag and fiddled with it as he walked away.

Meanwhile, Daisuke ran up to the audience stands to rejoin Iori, Miyako, and all the rest. As he did, he noticed a serious expression on Iori's face. "Iori? Is something wrong?"

Iori held out his yellow D2 Digivice. A strange symbol was flashing red on the screen.

* * *

The red symbol haunted the minds of all six of them for the rest of the day. From what she knew about the Digivice, Mikayo guessed that it was some sort of distress signal, but she was unable to figure out where it was coming from. Daisuke voiced his concern that it might have something to do with the disappearance of their former guide Takeru, but hesitated at Iori's suggestion that they go over to the Digital World as soon as possible. It was already the late evening when the game had finished, and their absence would not be something easy to hide.

Daisuke tried to put it out of his mind when he returned home to his apartment, Chibimon already dozing inside his Digivice by the time he arrived. According to Miyako, his little friend had gotten quite excited watching the match, particularly when he had managed to score his goal in the first half.

"How was the game?" called his sister Jun from the kitchen.

"If you wanted to know you should have come," called back Daisuke dismissively. "I'm washing up."

Jun leaned against the hallway wall and pouted as she watched her brother vanish into the bathroom and shut the door. "I heard that you played against the team with the boy wonder from Tamachi."

She was first answered by the sound of rushing water, then Daisuke's voice calling over the noise. "Who told you?"

"Mom and dad of course. They hoped you could learn something from that kid. After all, your grades are..."

"My grades are fine!"

Jun crossed her arms and sighed. "I've seen that Tamachi kid on television. He's pretty cute. If only I were a few years younger..."

"Pervert."

"Underachiever."

Daisuke made no reply, so Jun counted the conversation as over and as her victory, and left.

After he had finished bathing and preparing for bed, he felt his Digivice vibrate and glow. It wasn't the red symbol, though it was still flashing in the corner of the screen. Miyako had sent him an email. Daisuke looked the device over, surprised that it could connect to the internet. Perhaps that was typical of a semi-magical technological device of another world.

"We'll all meet in the Computer Lab as soon as school is over," it read, with a Miyako signed with a heart symbol at the bottom. Probably a typo, or maybe Miyako liked to have fun with her signatures.

Daisuke shrugged and let Chibimon out of the Digivice, the latter preferring to sleep outside of it.

The blue Digimon yawned as he landed in the pillow and rubbed his eye. "Daisuke, that game looked like a lot of fun," he mumbled sleepily.

"It was," said Daisuke, crawling beneath the covers next to his partner. "There used to be an older boy that lived in the same apartment. He taught me how to play." He sighed as he settled into his bed. "What was his name again...?"

But Chibimon was already asleep. Daisuke laughed softly as he laid his head on the pillow. As he drifted off, he remembered the name of the other boy was quite similar to his own.

Compared to the excitement of the previous day, the next day was a total bore. Daisuke could hardly remember anything that had happened during classes. Takeru was absent yet again, and no one except for him seemed to mind or care.

He yawned as he stepped into the Computer Lab and shut the door behind him. The sheer monotony of his classes had made him sleepy. Miyako greeted him with some greater enthusiasm, and Iori with greater concern.

"The signal is gone," said Iori.

"Hm?" Daisuke checked his Digivice. The red symbol was no longer in the corner of the screen.

"Don't panic, Iori," said Miyako from behind. "I still managed to tie the signal to a specific location in the Digital World before it vanished, and we just so happen to have a Digital Gate that will take us right there."

Daisuke perked up. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go."

Iori frowned. "Something feels wrong." He glanced at his yellow D2, but shook his head and looked back up. "No, we should go investigate. Something has happened and someone could need help."

Miyako nodded and directed her Digivice at the screen. "Digital Gate Open!"

* * *

The sands and winds greeted them as they emerged into the Digital World. In front of them, beyond a sand dune, was what almost resembled a giant city in a snow globe, only the architecture of the city was completely alien to them except for the single Dark Tower at the center.

"It's that Dark Tower again," said Iori. He looked to the others. "That's what the Kaiser uses to mark his territory, right?"

"Guess it'd make sense for there to be a distress call from around here then," agreed Armadimon.

"We should look around and see what we can find," said Miyako. She took a step forward, but stopped when Hawkmon extended an arm in front of her.

"Please, be cautious," said Hawkmon. "I sense something amiss. I will go first."

Hawkmon led the way from there, moving toward the city. As they passed over the sand dune, Veemon raised his nose up into the air and sniffed. "I smell smoke."

In front of Vmon, Hawkmon suddenly stopped at the very top of the dune. "Oh dear..."

"What is it?" Daisuke ran up to the top and looked down. "Woah..."

Between the dune and the city was the battered wastes of a former battlefield. Large patches of scorched black blotted the area, while what looked to be large bulky and rusty robots were scattered, lying inert among the sands. The smell of smoke became clearly apparent even to the three human children as they crossed over the peak of the dune.

"Are those Digimon?" asked Miyako quietly, indicating the unmoving robots.

"They are Guardromon, a machine type Digimon," answered Hawkmon.

"Are they dead?"

"If they were, their bodies would have dissipated or be dissipating into raw data. Since their bodies are still intact, it's more likely they've just been knocked offline somehow." Hawkmon smiled at his partner, already guessing Miyako's next concern. "It should be safe to approach them. If they've been deactivated, they will not reactivate of their own accord."

Miyako nodded, and followed Hawkmon down from the dune. They briefly paused at the nearest Guardromon. The unmoving form's metal armor was dented and torn as if it had been blasted with a machine gun. Just beside it were the shattered remains of a Dark Ring. Miyako tensed at the sight of it.

"Over there," said Vmon as he caught up. He pointed further out toward the city, to a huddling brown and gray form.

Everyone was immediately on guard as they approached it.

The form spun around, hearing their approach. For a moment, they breathed a sigh of relief. It was only Takeru, draped in his dirty cloak, now scorched and torn as well. Terriermon and Patamon were beside him.

Takeru, they realized. They all immediately tensed again.

"You," said Takeru, his voice sounding so hoarse it was almost like that of a different person. His eye was completely bloodshot, evidence that he had not slept for a very, very long time. Beneath his dirty gray hat, his hair was a tangled mess. Beside him, his partners didn't look much better, their fur messy and unkempt.

Daisuke exchanged a glance with Miyako. They took a step back. Hawkmon stepped in front of his partner, wings spread wide.

"What are you all doing here?" demanded Takeru, anger leaking into his voice. His bloodshot eye looked completely crazed.

Seeing this, Vmon instinctively took a fighting stance, as did Hawkmon. This action obviously did not please Patamon or Terriermon, who both jumped in front of their human brother and took a combative stance as well.

"He wouldn't have called for help," whispered Miyako from the corner of her mouth. "You don't think that the distress was because of him, do you?"

Iori shook his head. "It couldn't be," he whispered back. "He's not that sort of person."

"He did attack us last time," whispered Hawkmon.

"You still haven't answered my question," called Takeru, growing increasingly discontent after seeing them whisper to one another. "Why are you here?"

"We could ask you the same question," answered Daisuke, unsure of what else to say. "Are you looking to try and fight us again?"

Takeru threw up his arm, his cloak flowing behind his back as he pointed at them. His eye burned with a renewed mad intensity. "I don't have time for you. If we battle, it will be by your choice. Now, I ask you to leave this place in peace. This has nothing to do with any of you."

Something in the tone of the other boy's voice pushed Daisuke in just the wrong place. "Hey, we have just as any right to be here as you," he shot back. His voice ended up being a bit louder than he had intended.

"You have no such right!" barked Takeru, taking a step forward.

The tension became too much, and Hawkmon drew one of his bladed feathers as a precaution. Seeing the flash of the draw, Terriermon growled and pounced before Patamon could restrain him. Straight away, Terriermon spun and generated a green twister, which he blasted right at them.

Daisuke yelped as he jumped aside, the green tornado blazing past him. He drew his Digivice. "Digimental Up!"

Seeing Daisuke's actions, Miyako drew her own Digivice and called the activating words. In a flash, both Flamedramon and Flybeemon stood before them.

"You chose a poor place to confront me," said Takeru as he stared them down. He held out the green D2 strapped around his left arm, but did not call the activating words to use the Digimental of Light.

Terriermon laughed and jumped back, his eyes glowing with excitement. "We are outside the range of the Dark Tower in the city. I can show you my true evolution!"

Iori took a step back. Only he had not drawn his Digivice or sent his partner forward. "True evolution?"

Patamon seemed hesitant as well. "Takeru, wait..."

But Takeru had not heard his other partner, and was already raising his green Digivice into the air. "Evolve, Terriermon!"

And then it was no longer Terriermon in front of them. From the light of evolution emerged a much larger form. The new beast wielded dual chain guns, one on each hand, with a long bandolier of ammunition around his furred chest.

_**Galgomon:** Adult level. Vaccine Attribute. Beast Type. Nature Spirits. Ranged Attack: Gatling Arm. Heavy Attack: Dumdum Upper._

* * *

Flamedramon leaped forward, orange flame swirling around his right claw. Galgomon jumped in turn, the gun on his left arm suddenly whirling and emitting a powerful green glow as he brought it up in a sharp uppercut. The orange and green collided and exploded, the force sending Flamedramon crashing backward into the sand. Galgomon landed upright, completely unperturbed by the exchange of blows.

Flybeemon tried to give cover for his ally, but as he fired off his electric blasts Galgomon aimed with his other arm. The gun whirled and fired, its green energy pellets shattering and dissipating all of Flybeemon's attacks.

Iori and Armadimon looked on helplessly. This was the power of the Adult level, and they could see that it surpassed that of the Armor level that had not yet truly unlocked all the Digimental could offer. To overcome Galgomon they would need to push themselves to unlock the full potential of their Digimentals.

That, or rely on numbers.

Armadimon evolved to Pteramon and dove in, just in time to defend the Flamedramon, still on the sand, as Galgomon leaped forward to deliver another strong uppercut. Galgomon was quite surprised by the sudden entry, giving an opening for Flybeemon to blast him with electricity.

It now seemed to be three on one, but Takeru did not turn to his other partner, nor did Patamon make any other movement. They both remained quiet as they watched, calculating.

Daisuke cheered encouragement from the sideline as Galgomon leaped backward, allowing Flamedramon, Flybeemon, and Pteramon to regroup and stand together. The Digimon stared each other down, the tension building in the air with each passing moment.

"If you will escape, now is the time to do it," said Takeru suddenly, his voice full of an uncharacteristic coldness. "We will not hold back if you insist on continuing. We cannot afford to hold back against you this time. Not with what's at stake."

"What is he blabbering on about?" growled Daisuke. "He picks a fight with us and now he's acting like we're the ones that want to fight?"

"Maybe we should just leave," answered Iori in a half-whisper. "Something doesn't feel right."

"I'm with Iori here," said Miyako. "Last time it came to fighting it ended with us running away after pulling a trick. We can't do the same thing twice."

But the excitement of the moment was taking hold of Daisuke. He had not forgotten his success on the playing field yesterday. Riding on the momentum of yesterday's victory, there was no way he could fail. "No. We're finding out what's going on here. We're going to settle this once and for all."

The other two fell silent and considered Daisuke's words. They also wanted to know what was going on, and the temptation was near irresistible.

The battle resumed the next moment, the three Armor level Digimon unleashing their ranged attacks all at once. Galgomon, so much larger and bulkier than his smaller form as Terriermon, was unable to fully dodge, and shielded most of the blast with his heavy arms.

Miyako cheered and urged Flybeemon on. Now they had the initiative, and it was imperative that they not let it go.

Patamon sighed and glanced up at his partner. Though he was quite sure that Galgomon could handle things himself, his first instinct was always to go to his younger brother's aid. He suppressed that instinct for the sake of his other adopted brother. If he joined the fight, things would only escalate. "Takeru..."

Takeru glanced down at his partner, and Patamon cringed slightly at the icy look in his sleep-deprived eye. "No holding back," whispered Takeru. "Those were her orders. And because we didn't listen, she..." He looked away. "It's my fault. Because I lack conviction..."

Patamon weighed his options: address one brother's mental health, or address the other's physical health. "Galgomon needs my help. I'm joining the battle."

There was another exchange of blows, and the three Armors regrouped and pulled away, staring down the now wounded Galgomon on the other side. Patamon flew up beside him.

Iori froze. Sensing Iori's concern and feeling a fair bit of his own anxiety, Daisuke tried to laugh it off. "So we have to face a pig too. Everything will be alright."

Takeru held up his other arm, letting the golden D2 shine its light. "Evolve, Patamon."

_**Angemon**: Adult level. Vaccine Attribute. Angel type. Virus Busters. Melee Attack: Holy Rod. Heavy Attack: Heaven's Knuckle._

The light that came from the evolution did not dim as the humanoid angel towered above them. Instead it was gradually replaced by the terrifying light of the angel itself. As it spread its six white wings and held aloft its golden staff, it was clear that this was no messenger of peace or love. This was a harbinger of destruction that purged the world of evil with a scouring white light.

The six standing before it were suddenly paralyzed in awe and fear.

"He became an angel..." whispered Iori. "Just what are they?"

But Takeru was not finished just yet. "And that's not all..." He raised both his arms. "Galgomon has been injured. To heal his wounds, we shall take this one step further. No holding back."

Angemon remained silent, his expression unreadable behind his cold impassive mask. Galgomon stretched and shook his arms in excitement and anticipation.

"Behold the power that surpasses the Adult level," continued Takeru, his voice becoming harsher and colder like one possessed. And suddenly it seemed to everyone present that it was no longer Takeru standing there, no longer the quiet and friendly boy that was reserved and hated violence. Someone else was in control. "You shall witness the power of the Perfect level! Galgomon! Angemon! Jogress Evolve!"

He slammed the green and gold Digivices on his arms together, and all the desert was set ablaze by the terrifying white and gold light that burst from the collision.

* * *

Nothing happened.

The light vanished from the green and gold Digivices. Beneath them, the skin on Takeru's arms was burnt black and red, as if the light the Digivices had somehow been turned to a horrible destructive heat. Angemon and Galgomon were no longer there. But neither was there a Digimon of the Perfect level. Instead, Terriermon and Patamon lay on the sand, unconscious, their fur scorched.

Takeru blinked, the madness leaving his eyes as it was being forced aside by the pain. His mind raced and tried to make sense of what had happened.

The Joint Progress Evolution process had been suddenly interrupted, and the immense energy that had built up, unable to power the evolution, had been reflected to hurt both Digimon and him. But a sudden block on evolution could only mean...

"No..."

"This turned out so much better than I expected," laughed the cold voice of the Kaiser.

Takeru let his arms fall, his eye staring out in disbelief. He'd been caught off guard.

Daisuke and the others immediately turned their attention to the voice. Their partners tensed and jumped back from the now powerless Child levels they had been fighting back to the side of the three.

The Kaiser strode forward, his arm outstretched and holding out the black Digivice that had prevented the Jogress Evolution. All around, Guardromon that had been lying inert suddenly reactivated and righted themselves up. They were all bearing new Dark Rings that had somehow been placed on them without anyone noticing. Beside the Kaiser, the sand suddenly shot up in a swirling torrent, and two Drimogemon emerged and took positions beside their master.

"I lost," whispered Takeru. He had let his guard down, let the Kaiser sneak up on him and strike him when he was most vulnerable.

"You did," said the Kaiser with the largest smile he had ever made. He snapped his fingers, and two of the Guardromon immediately advanced on Takeru.

Seeing this, Daisuke suddenly looked to his former opponent. "Hey!"

Takeru looked up and met the other boy's gaze, and Daisuke cringed at what he saw.

"This is my fault," said Takeru quietly. "I lost my calm. And thus I got my brothers hurt. I lost Hikari." He lowered his head. "This is my total defeat."

The two Guardromon smashed their fists down on Takeru, whose unconscious form collapsed into the sand like crumpling paper. One collected the limp body in its arms, while the others went and collected the two defeated Digimon.

"Stop this!" snapped Daisuke. Flamedramon raised his arm, charging a ball of flame.

The Kaiser laughed as he stared the other three children down. "Oh please. I did you all a favor."

"Let him go," said Iori coldly. Pteramon lowered his wings to aim the missiles beneath.

The Kaiser seemed not to notice. "You're in luck. Now that I have my prize I won't risk it dealing with you, so I won't show you any hostility." He laughed and looked to Daisuke specifically. "In any case, any hostility from here seems pointless. Come, we have no reason to fight anymore."

"Yes, we do," said Daisuke indignantly.

"Are you referring to the old kidnapping business a week ago? Come now, that's all in the past. I thought you were my enemy, but now I know that you are not."

"We are your enemies," hissed Iori.

"We've seen your prison camps," agreed Miyako. "We know what sort of person you are."

"I am a benefactor!" answered the Kaiser, spreading his arms out wide. "I am giving structure to this world. I am building it in my own great image. Am I not kind?"

Daisuke shivered, suddenly feeling odd. There was something strange about the Kaiser.

"Slavery is your image?" demanded Iori. "Dirty surprise attacks are your image?"

"Surprise attack?" The Kaiser looked almost offended. "You understand nothing, little boy. This was no surprise attack. This was my trap! My most brilliant yet!"

"I see no brilliance here, only cowardice," Iori called back.

"Because a pitiful insect like you could never comprehend my genius! It's so simple! Divide and conquer. By splitting those two insects apart I broke their leadership and waged psychological warfare on their minds. And then I played you all like puppets, leading you here just after I had told our mutual 'friend' here all about how I had convinced you three to ally with me."

"He'd never believe that!" cried Daisuke.

"It is not about belief! The mere idea is poison to an already unstable mind, and with that poisoned and broken mind I let him waste his strength against you after baiting you three here."

"Baiting us here..." Miyako's eyes widened. "The distress call!"

"I sent it!" laughed the Kaiser, light dancing in his eyes. "That is the danger of stealing the equipment of your opponent. They know all about it, and how to use it against you. My knowledge of the Digivice is unparalleled. It was the perfect plan, and it worked out completely perfectly!"

"No it didn't," said Iori. "We're not going to let you get away."

"I've had enough with you brat," spat the Kaiser. He looked to Daisuke instead. "You, on the other hand, seem to have much more sense. You have potential. I have seen your abilities. Come. Join me, and you could become amongst the greatest of my lieutenants. I think we could work well together."

Daisuke stared blankly. A cold feeling was building up in his stomach, and he was beginning to recognize that feeling. "I've met you before," he whispered.

The Kaiser paused for a moment, as if thinking. Then he smiled, and removed his glasses. And all of a sudden, the Kaiser looked different. His hair and voice changed as the glasses slipped from his face. It was a face familiar to Daisuke and the others now.

"Ichijouji Ken..."

"That is what they call me in the other world. But the amount I can do to better the other world is so limited compared what I can do to better the Digital World, and so I have no more use for that world or that name. The Digital World is my home now. As the Kaiser of this world I can use my unmatched intellect to break through to the very core of this world and change it on a fundamental level!"

Daisuke took a step back. "You're crazy."

The Kaiser returned the glasses to his face, restoring his hair and voice to what it was before. "Choose your words well, worm. I have made you an offer that will not be made again."

"We will never join you."

The Kaiser shrugged. "Suit yourself. I have already defeated an enemy far stronger than you. You are no threat to me. I can destroy you all at any time." One of the Drimogemon beside him reached out an arm and picked him up, preparing to carry him off.

"Then why are you running away from us?" fired back Daisuke.

The Kaiser either did not hear or did not care enough to answer, and vanished underground. The two Guardromon, carrying their new prisoners, followed. At this, Iori and Pteramon seemed to snap out of a daze, and moved to stop them. The remaining Guardromon intercepted them and the battle was renewed.

In a small way, Daisuke and the others were victorious in the end. There weren't many Guardromon left, and Flamedramon, Flybeemon, and Pteramon easily destroyed the Rings, leaving them slumped and deactivated in the sand once again. But the Kaiser was long gone, as were the Kaiser's new prisoners. The other Drimogemon had disrupted the sand and closed the holes, leaving behind no trail that they could follow. Their victory was a hollow one, and they all knew it.


	5. Miracle Worker

_Two Years Ago..._

The smell of smoke and ash was everywhere. What had once been green was now black. Above, blue had become red and gray. No survivors were in sight.

In his mind, Takeru had been rehearsing what he would say to any survivors he found. He had been sure they would be a few. Those classified as Nightmare Soldiers were quite resilient. They'd be badly injured, in continuous pain, but they'd be alive. They'd be aware of their agony. They would beg him to save them.

"This is what you deserve," he would say. "You are not worth saving."

But there were no groans of pain, or cries of mourning. There was only silence.

It was a disturbing silence, and he was almost happy when he heard a small noise at last after such a long time. Slowly, he turned around, all the rehearsals flashing through his mind.

There was a small green blob with a little horn on its head, a lost Baby II level. Its eyes were looking around desperately, as if searching for something or someone it had lost. Though it wasn't hurt in any visible way, its eyes were full of pain and loss. It began desperately crying out for its lost little brother.

Then it saw him, the cause of the death and destruction. The mourning transformed into rage. But there was nothing that the little Digimon could do to him beyond that glare of anger. The small creature was too weak to harm him.

And in those angry eyes he saw himself, and realized just who he was now.

He had wanted to revenge, and now this little thing wanted revenge on him. Poetic.

His mind reached back to more peaceful times, to dozing against his brother's arm listening to soft harmonica melodies, to laughing and sharing a rare feast that he and all his friends had painstakingly gathered together. His smiles back then had been genuine. Those friends had become a second family for him. What would they say, if they were there to see him now?

It was then that he learned to hate violence, and to hate his own anger as well. In such times, violence might be inevitable, but he swore to himself then and there that despite the violence he would bury his anger forever. No matter where or when, even in desperate battles where he fought for his own life, he would never let himself hate his opponent. He would never let himself feel anger.

It was another promise to add to the many already weighing down on him, but it was an important one. It was one to keep.

_Now..._

Takeru woke as he felt something tap on his forehead.

His vision returned steadily. He was in a mercifully dim room, bound in shackles on a metal backboard, identical to the one he had previously seen Daisuke strapped to. His hat and his bags had been casually tossed aside in a corner, while the torn shreds of what had once been his brown cloak dangled from his shoulders and arms. In front of him was the Kaiser, tapping on Takeru's forehead with his gloved finger.

Takeru actually felt happy to be conscious. It was better than dreaming.

"Finally awake?" asked the cool voice of the Kaiser.

"Where are my brothers?" whispered Takeru. As he spoke, he became aware of how dry his throat and mouth was.

"The rabbit-dog and the winged pig? Much in the same situation as you are now. But don't worry. I have to keep you all alive for a while, as I still have a use for you three.

His throat was too dry to laugh or make a defiant remark, so Takeru shifted his gaze. He was suddenly aware of a nearby window, which surprised him. Some part of him had expected to be kept in some dungeon deep underground. It would have fit the Kaiser's sense of style. But the fact that there was a window gave Takeru a sudden insight. It was dark outside.

"This is still the Digital World," he whispered. "Isn't it...?"

"Of course it is," said the Kaiser. "I don't have anywhere to keep you in the other world."

"But It's night..." A chill ran down Takeru's back. "If it's is night, why are you still here?"

The Kaiser leaned in, his gloved hand gripping Takeru's chin. "Now that I have you, my victory is all but complete. The Digital World is my world now. I have no more need to go back to that other trash world anymore. It's over."

Takeru swallowed his growing horror. The fact that the Kaiser still went back to his home world and therefore didn't spend as much time campaigning as they did had been their one advantage over him.

"It's not over. Hikari still…"

"She is still trapped and pinned down in the city the last time I checked. It's only a matter of time before she and her little cat are captured."

"Daisuke and…"

"They have no reason to continue your senseless resistance against my dominance. With you taken care of, they will have no more reason to come to the Digital World."

"It's not over," rasped Takeru. "There are still many out there."

"True, the war isn't quite over. It will take time for me to find and destroy all the various rebel strongholds you've built up, but doing so will be easy, especially once I get what I need from you."

"And what do I have that you have not already taken?"

"Not much. I just need a little secret." The Kaiser turned and brought up a small metal tray on a cart. "Regarding these." He casually tossed the green and the gold D2 digivices on them.

"I thought you said you knew everything there was to know about them."

The Kaiser picked up the green Digivice and casually looked it over, feeling the ridges with his gloved fingers. "I do know everything about using the D2 Digivice. One D2 Digivice, that is." He tossed the Digivice back on the tray and turned back to Takeru, gripping the latter's chin once again. "But you have not one Digivice, but two. You have not one Digimon partner, but two."

Cold sweat was building on Takeru's forehead. "So?"

The grip tightened on Takeru's chin. "What ultimately holds me back is that the power of my Dark Digivice to block evolution is ultimately only a secondary function. The true power is the same as any other Digivice: the power of evolution. While I can project a block on evolution on any Digimon, the power to grant evolution is still restricted to the one Digimon that is bound to the Digivice."

"Do you see what I'm getting at?" continued the Kaiser, leaning in closer. "I'm sure you are aware of that little worm that follows me around. That worthless insect holds me back. I require a second Digimon partner, one worthy of standing beside the undisputed master of the Digital World. You will tell me how to get one."

Takeru couldn't help but smile. "For all your talk, you really don't understand a thing about this world."

The Kaiser's expression hardened and he slapped Takeru across the face. "You will tell me your secrets."

"There is no secret," replied Takeru, finding the energy to force out a laugh as if the slap had somehow strengthened him. "I have two Digivices because that is how it was decided. I did not choose to have two partners."

"Unlike you, I decide my own destiny," growled the Kaiser. "And I have decided to take a second Digimon."

"How? Are you going to magically build your own Digivice? The Digivices were entrusted to us when we were Chosen. You were chosen to have one Digivice. You have only one Digimon partner. You cannot change that."

The Kaiser straightened and looked down on Takeru with a cold look of pride. "Who said that I needed to change anything?" He held out his black Dark Digivice with his left hand, while his right reached into cape and pulled something out.

Takeru's eyes widened. "How...?"

"I have no need to build a new Digivice," said the Kaiser as he held out the second, violet D2 Digivice in his right hand. "All I require is to choose a suitable second Digimon and bind it to my will. And you will show me how to do that second part. I will find out what about you allows you to use two Digivices at once. I will find out how you can be bound to two partners. While you are here, you are my little test subject, my little case study. You will reveal everything I need to know."

The Kaiser pocketed the violet Digivice. He picked up a scalpel and probe from the nearby tray and smiled. "Now, let's see what makes you tick…"

Takeru closed his eyes and remembered his promises.

* * *

**Maximum v5.0**

**Miracle Worker: Tailmon vs BlackGreymon**

* * *

"It's simple. We go find Ichijouji Ken at Tamachi."

Miyako frowned and crossed her arms at Daisuke's suggestion. "That's the big plan you had? That's what was so important that you dragged us all to the computer lab?"

"What?" Daisuke blinked. "Weren't you coming here anyways?"

"Not today!" Miyako rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I have a life outside of the Computer Club, you know. Do you think I sleep here too?"

"I have kendo lessons with my grandfather," said Iori timidly, eying the nearby clock. "I can't be late."

"It's fun to watch," added Upamon from his seat in Iori's lap. "I kind of want to learn too."

"Yeah, yeah, but come on guys, we can't just pretend that everything's fine," continued Daisuke, putting his fist in his palm for emphasis. "The Digital World's in trouble now that Ken's basically won the battle with Takeru. We have to go do something, and the best thing we can do is try to get Ken while he's in this world. He's too strong in the Digital World right now."

Miyako and Iori exchanged glances.

"Come on guys, let's go!" urged Daisuke.

"I understand how you feel," replied Iori, his calm tone in sharp contrast with Daisuke's excited manner. "However, we can't forget our other duties. We're not like Takeru. Our home is this world, and we have to observe its rules and behave properly."

"Iori's right," said Miyako. "We can't just drop everything and go to Tamachi. We also need to arrange transportation and stuff too. It's not like I can have Poromon here become Flybeemon and fly us all over there in broad daylight."

"I would be willing to do so if it was asked of me," chirped Poromon as he sat on the desk next to Miyako's chair. "I am at your service for any of your requests."

Miyako turned to her partner and began to explain what the concepts of citywide panic, police, and the military were.

Daisuke sighed and dropped down into a chair. As he rubbed his face in his hands, he remembered the confrontation in the desert. He remembered frustration, and frustration becoming feelings of helplessness. But most of all he remembered that terrible look of defeat in Takeru's eye. That single blue eye haunted Daisuke's memories.

Daisuke had become involved with the Digital World by accident, and he had stayed involved because the world had seemed so much more fun and interesting than his own. It was the adventure and excitement he had always been looking for. And yet, after seeing the prison camp and the look of sadistic glee in Ichijouji Ken's eyes, he was beginning to understand Iori's reasons for staying involved. There was more to the Digital World than having fun with it.

Perhaps there was more at stake than just the Digital World too, thought Daisuke. Takeru had been the one to show him the excitement he had always been dreaming of. That was a debt that Daisuke hadn't paid back yet, and he didn't want their last meeting to have been a fight or his last memory of Takeru to be that sad and devastated look of loss.

"Well, I think I've found our route."

Daisuke looked up as he heard Miyako's voice. She was at the computer, looking at the screen while Poromon perched on her shoulder. Iori and Upamon were at her other shoulder.

"We'll meet at the school gate in about three hours before heading to the subway station together," said Miyako, looking over to Daisuke.

Daisuke stared blankly. "What?"

"We're going to Tamachi, like you said," answered Iori.

Daisuke gaped. "But… I thought…"

"What, that we were trying to talk you out of going to Tamachi?" Miyako smiled slyly. "It's like Iori said. We understand how you feel. You're not the only one who cares about the Digital World. We want to do something about Ken too."

"But we have to do it the right way," said Iori. "We can't drop everything. I still have lessons with my grandfather. The Digital World is important to me, but my relationship with my grandfather is very important too."

"Three hours will be enough time for us to get everything taken care of so we can go to Tamachi," said Miyako. She studied Daisuke. "It better be enough time for you too."

Daisuke brightened. "Yeah. Plenty of time."

* * *

It was surprisingly easy to ride the trains without attracting attention. After changing lines, Daisuke even risked bringing out Chibimon to sit on his lap, and still no one paid any mind. Chibimon quite enjoyed being out of the Digivice's storage function, and watched the flashing lights outside the window with wonder.

"This world is so cool," said Chibimon before Daisuke could stop him.

"Hey, keep it down," whispered Daisuke. "It'll be a problem if people hear you and figure out you're not just some toy."

Miyako looked around and held out her red Digivice on her lap. "I wonder if the older version of the Digivice had the storage function. If it didn't, that would mean Takeru might have had to travel around with his Digimon partners in plain sight."

"Hard to imagine," commented Iori.

They all shared a soft laugh together as they imagined kids riding around the subway with Digimon partners on their laps, but quickly fell silent again, the mood suddenly changing as they remembered their situation. Daisuke gave Chibimon a small squeeze to reassure himself. Things would be alright once they got to Ken.

It was only after they had left the station and walked halfway to the apartment building that they realized they still didn't have a plan for after their arrival.

"We can't just walk up to his door, and tell his parents 'Hey, your son is a megalomaniac conquering an alternate dimension,' right?" said Miyako. With the much less densely populated streets, she had finally risked bringing out Poromon, after the latter's continued insistence that he be prepared to protect her.

"We'll think of something when we get there," said Daisuke at the front of their group. He kept his gaze fixed straight ahead.

"We're basically there already," said Miyako.

Iori frowned. "We should be prepared and have a plan. We don't know what might happen. What if he attacks us?"

Miyako paused and started to think. "Good question actually. He's been rampaging in the Digital World, but what's stopping him from trying to use what he has in the Digital World to terrorize our world?"

"That would be most catastrophic," said Poromon, suddenly alarmed. "I have little understanding of the power of this world, but I imagine that if the Kaiser were to launch a surprise attack he could devastate this city easily before a response could be made."

"We don't have to worry about that," said Daisuke at the front.

"And how do you know that?" replied Miyako.

"I just do." He still didn't turn around. His eyes were fixed straight ahead at something ahead of them.

Miyako only rolled her eyes, but as she did her eye caught the sight of flashing red lights that Daisuke was staring at. The others soon saw it as well. They picked up their pace until they were almost running ahead.

The apartment building they were supposed to go to was essentially blocked off by gathered crowds. Beyond the crowds were parked police cars, the lights on their roofs flashing red all over. Nearby was a white news van, where a reporter was talking to a camera.

"What's going on?" wondered Iori aloud, but Daisuke had already begun asking questions from some of the spectators.

"The Ichijouji boy has gone missing," one woman had answered.

"His parents found his room empty except for a note on his computer," a man had said. "It just read 'I'm done playing in this world. It's time to move on to my true purpose.'"

As they listened in, they heard some other spectators speculate if the seemingly vague message implied that the Ichijouji boy was suicidal. Still more gossipped about the possibility of joining a gang or running away to seek fortunes in the United States of America. Daisuke, however, knew exactly what the note really meant. He looked back to the others. "'Done playing in this world,' huh?"

"He's staying in the Digital World," said Iori, with a hint of repressed disgust in his voice. "Was he afraid of facing us?"

"He said that there was no harm in revealing himself to us, didn't he?" said Miyako, thinking hard. "Maybe he was already planning to move exclusively to the Digital World for a while."

"In either case, things are going to be a lot harder for us," said Iori, frowning. "We'll have to try and chase him to the Digital World, where he's strongest. And it'll be just us. Takeru and his friends were strong, but the Kaiser still beat them."

"Last chance for us to back out of this," said Miyako as a mirthless joke.

"Now that Takeru's gone, it's all the more reason for us to fight," said Iori, his face resolute. "The responsibility is ours now. We have to continue for the sake of protecting those innocents from that Ken."

"And to save Takeru," added Daisuke. "We can't just leave him."

* * *

"Still no luck?"

Hikari briefly looked up from her silver Digivice. "Nothing."

"Something must have happened to them," answered Tailmon, risking a peak out of the narrow corridor they were hiding in. They had managed to forcefully punch throw enemy lines to retreat back to the sewers and resurface elsewhere after their initial surface had been swarmed by ambushing Guardromon. However, all available exits were too heavily guarded to actually escape the city. For the time being they were stuck, at least until Takeru's forces could break through from the other side and go to their aid.

Unfortunately, Takeru's signal had vanished the previous day and still not returned. They had tried staying on the surface and sneaking onto the rooftops, thinking that perhaps higher ground might somehow solve that problem. Ever since the full severity of their situation had settled on Hikari, her attitude had seemed to change slightly.

"Takeru you idiot, where are you?" Hikari scowled and ran her fingers through her hair. He couldn't have just left. He wouldn't have.

Tailmon looked back from the edge of the corridor. "I think I've figured out the pattern of the patrols. We should be able to sneak out of here back to the sewers, if you so wish."

"That might be the best idea," agreed Hikari, rising and pocketing her Digivice. "There's nothing more we can do up here. At least in the sewers it's easier to hide."

They waited for the next Guardromon patrol to pass before returning down underground. The tunnels were well lit, and the metal surfaces seemed clean and polished. Still, the brown river of what Hikari and Tailmon believed to be waste oils still smelled somewhat foul, and made the travel and stay less than pleasant.

"That's strange," commented Tailmon, lifting up her head, her ears twitching. "I think the distribution of Guardromon has changed."

"Is there an opening now?"

Tailmon's ears twitched some more. "No, but there's now one exit that's much weaker than before. I should be able to break through without too much problem." She hesitated. "It could be a trap."

"We'll have to risk it," replied Hikari, doing her best not to fidget. Her eyes were flashing with some mysterious emotion she hadn't dare share with anyone in the longest time. "Takeru and the others will probably be on the other side."

Tailmon looked back at her partner with an almost amused look, which quickly brought out Hikari's ire.

"Are you laughing at me, Tailmon?" Her eyes flashed cold.

"Of course not," replied Tailmon, her ears drooping low in seeming disappointment. "It's just…"

'It's just been a while since I've seen you like that,' Tailmon would have liked to say. But the sudden resurgence of ice in Hikari's eyes discouraged Tailmon from making such a comment out loud.

The two changed direction, doing their best to avoid any passing patrols. The city was still on high alert, but the security had grown lax at least in the sewers, as the Kaiser believed they would not retreat back there. Soon enough they reached one of the city's drains, a single patrol of three Guardromon stationed at the open mouth of the exit pipe.

As they drew nearer, the reason for the change in guard became a bit more obvious.

Just ahead of the guard were two more Guardromon, slowly trying to turn as BlackAgumon ran circles around them and pecked at them with dark red fireballs.

"Come on you primitive screw-heads is that all you can do?" laughed the black dinosaur harshly.

Hikari slapped her face in her hand. Tailmon and Takeru had both talked about seeing and bumping into the strange Digimon that occasionally stalked their movements, but this was the first time for her to personally meet the creature.

"What is that fool doing?" wondered Tailmon aloud. She prepared to pounce, but stopped at a gesture from Hikari's hand.

BlackAgumon had begun to do fancier tricks now, jumping atop one to blast the other with his fiery breath. His luck, however, had run out. The Guardromon guards had wised up to his pattern. As one turned towards BlackAgumon, the other remained stationary, and caught the jumping dinosaur in its arms.

"Hey!" BlackAgumon struggled against the grip of the second Guardromon and breathed another fireball at the other. The Guardromon holding him promptly gripped the Digimon by its mouth to prevent further attacks.

They stopped there however. With the standing orders to hunt for Hikari and Tailmon, the Guardromon had little interest in the current annoyance, and prepared to return to their duties, even while one was holding down the intruder.

"Now," whispered Hikari.

In a flash, Tailmon seemed to appear in front of the first Guardromon, quickly deactivating and freeing it with a single lightning-fast jab to the Ring surrounding its chest. The second instinctively released its prisoner to block Tailmon's second attack with its arms. For a moment BlackAgumon only stared up, stunned by his sudden release.

"Don't just sit there you fool!" snapped Tailmon. The other three Guardromon were already moving up to join their comrade, and Tailmon was sure she would lose a straight-up four-on-one battle. "Attack!"

BlackAgumon didn't need to be told twice, and quickly unleashed a fireball directly up, catching the Guardromon in the chest and temporarily stunning it, giving Tailmon the opportunity to smash its Ring with her paw.

The other three were already firing their rockets. Tailmon easily avoided them, but BlackAgumon cried out in terror and jumped aside as the missed missiles exploded on the walls around him. He yelped again when Tailmon grabbed him by the tail and suddenly flung him ahead at the approaching Guardromon.

BlackAgumon shielded his eyes as he landed in front of them, waiting for the attack. It never came. He opened his eyes and blinked, finding all three Guardromon defeated. Tailmon had used him as a diversion to find the opening to quickly close in and finish them off in one pass.

Tailmon landed beside Hikari, just in front of BlackAgumon. She looked back at the other with a look of clear disapproval. "You could at least thank us for your survival."

BlackAgumon balked. "Hey, I was doing just fine. I didn't need your help."

"Keep telling yourself that, weakling," grumbled Hikari, not looking back at the Digimon.

"I am not a weakling!" snapped BlackAgumon, his temper suddenly flaring. "I'm strong!"

"A child level like you, without a human partner and unable to evolve, can make no claim to power," said Hikari. "Tailmon, let's go."

"Wait, take me with you," said BlackAgumon suddenly, his usual proud and confident persona suddenly dropping away. "I don't know my way around here."

Hikari ignored the Digimon and jumped down the opening to continue their escape from the city. With the last inner guards gone, things would be easy. Tailmon followed without a backward glance. BlackAgumon prepared to jump after them, but hesitated as he heard a strange whirring sound. He turned just in time for something to slam against his jaw.

* * *

The lower levels of the Kaiser's main base of operations contained the main testing grounds. His current experimentation required a different approach, however, and so he set three prisoners in a different room above the testing area, near the top of his base. An elevator connected the two to allow quick and easy transportation, and its bell rang as Wormmon arrived to rejoin the Kaiser at the top floor.

The Kaiser looked up from the data he was studying. "Well?"

"We found…" Wormmon trailed off as he noticed the largest prisoner hanging from the wall. There were a seemingly endless number of wires all strapped onto or stabbed into that prisoner, and a few drops of red and dark brown were scattered on the floor beneath him. The other two prisoners lay motionless in two cages on the floor beside the hanging prisoner. Each of those two was bound with a Dark Ring in addition to having a few wires strapped to their bodies.

"What?"

The Kaiser's harsh tone snapped Wormmon back to attention. "We captured that rogue Digimon and rushed it here by express Locomon as you ordered. He's uncooperative as ever, but we were able to learn some things from him." Wormmon hesitated and readied himself for the possibility of being kicked. "It seems that the girl will likely escape the city very soon."

The Kaiser seemed strangely unperturbed by this news. "If you brought the rogue in fast enough, then we'll be ready before she can get very far. Put a Ring on the rogue to shut him up, and then send him down to the testing chambers." He rose up and stretched a bit before heading for the elevator.

Wormmon did not rejoin the Kaiser immediately. "What about…?" He gestured slightly at the prisoners.

"I'm almost finished with them," said the Kaiser dismissively. "Now come."

Wormmon's face twisted slightly, but he obeyed. He cast one last glance at the three before the doors of the lift shut, and they began to descend. For a moment, he opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't find the right words. By the time he had thought of something, the lift had stopped. The doors opened to main testing area.

The room was very spacious, as the Kaiser enjoyed running tests on larger Digimon such as Tyrannomon or Monochromon. "You can watch their twitching in far greater detail," he once said to Wormmon. This time, however, their test subject was a lot smaller, for the time being. It lay on the ground, Dark Ring around its neck.

"BlackAgumon, Child-level, Virus Attribute," said the Kaiser out loud as he approached. He began to slowly circle the still form, Wormmon following just behind. "This is certainly an interesting specimen: arrogant and conceited, a trouble-maker. However…" The Kaiser stopped and smiled. "It is strong, with the potential to grow stronger, unlike a certain someone…"

Wormmon shifted uncomfortably as the Kaiser cast a sideways glare at him.

The Kaiser continued pacing again. "Unfortunately, it seems the Dark Ring is insufficient for this purpose. It binds strong enough for me to control them through the Dark Digivice, but not enough to make the victim a true partner, a partner I can make evolve." His hand reached into his cape to grab something hanging from the back of his belt. He produced it with a proud flourish and looked down at Wormmon. "Behold, worm, the crowning achievement of my research. With this, your very existence is about to become obsolete."

In his gloved hand he held a spiral, seemingly made from three Dark Rings cut and bound end to end, but adorned with new red symbols and circuits. The Kaiser took a moment to study his own handiwork with a smile, before giving further orders. "Wormmon, remove the Ring."

Worrmon poked the Dark Ring around BlackAgumon's neck with his claw, causing it to deactivate and fall away.

The Kaiser casually flicked his wrist, and the spiral in his hand immediately wrapped itself around BlackAgumon's right arm. The captive Digimon rose to its feet. Its eyes opened to reveal a menacing red. It was the time for the real test. The Kaiser drew his violet Digivice, and in a flash of violet and black light, BlackAgumon was no more.

_**BlackGreymon**: Adult level. Virus Attribute. Dinosaur Type. Nature Spirits. Ranged Attack: Mega Flame. Heavy Attack: Great Antler._

The new beast stood many times taller than before, its black skin now turned a sickly bluish hue. Upon its head was an armored and horned helm of dark grey and black. It raised its head up to the ceiling and let out a triumphant roar.

Wormmon ducked and cowered at the sound of the roar, but the Kaiser stood impassively, studying the creature before him. "It worked. Good… but could be better." He turned and went back to the elevator. Wormmon looked to the Kaiser in surprise, and then hurried to catch up.

This time the lift took them to a central level. The door opened to reveal a catwalk in another spacious room. At the end of the catwalk and center of the room center was a small round chamber, a sort of core. Wormmon looked in confusion as the Kaiser walked out toward it, before quickly following. "Ken, what are you doing?"

"I can't believe I didn't think of this before," whispered the Kaiser to himself. He tapped an access code into the panel at the end of the catwalk, causing the door to open and give him entry into the central core. "Looks like I am finished with those prisoners after all."

Wormmon shifted uncomfortably. "So… what will you do with them?"

The Kaiser reached up to his neck, and pulled a necklace out from his collar. At its end hung a small golden rectangle, a smaller violet one set inside it. He shrugged. "Dispose of them somehow, probably." He held out the golden tag in his hand, out toward three altars at the exact center of the core room. Atop the closest altar was a large golden block.

As he held out his hand, the object seemed to glow, and suddenly appeared to unfold from the purple crest at the center, as if pulling new layers out of nowhere. Within a second, it had unfurled into what appeared to be a large pink flower roughly the same size as the golden block. Carefully, he reached out and touched the block, before he began to pull it away. With his other hand, he began to push the flower onto the altar. He did this very slowly, as if he were making a switch atop a land mine. Once the switch had been made, the golden block began to fold, an exact opposite process of what the necklace had done. In a second, it had folded into a golden rectangle necklace, which the Kaiser promptly put around his neck.

The Kaiser turned without another word, and left the central core room, taking the catwalk back to the elevator to go back down to the testing room. He did not notice that Wormmon had not followed him. Instead, the Digimon had taken the opposite catwalk on the other side of the core, to take the stairs up.

* * *

It took almost all his effort to keep awake, but somehow Takeru managed it. For one thing, he would not allow himself to slip back into his tortured dreams. More importantly, he had to keep an eye on his brothers. Seeing Terriermon and Patamon bound by Dark Rings and stuck with so many probes and wires hurt him more than anything else he had been subjected to as the Kaiser's little plaything, but he still forced himself to keep watching. Not knowing their condition would have been even more painful.

He almost missed the painful probes and cuts, now that he was alone with his tortured thoughts. With nothing to distract him, all he could think about was how he had failed his brothers and brought all this pain and suffering on them. Then there was the question of Hikari and Tailmon. The Kaiser had said no more of them, saying only that their situation was hopeless. Takeru prayed that the Kaiser was bluffing. Hikari and Tailmon had escaped from far more desperate situations, he told himself.

But then, those times it hadn't been just the two of them alone. There were others.

"Promise me," he had been asked. Takeru shut his eye and sighed. He was too tired to cry.

He heard a sound of a door opening, and slowly lifted his head. It wasn't the elevator door. A separate door on the side of the room, leading to a stairwell, had opened, revealing Wormmon. It seemed strange to Takeru that the Digimon should come alone.

Wormmon approached the three prisoners without a word and unlocked the cages. He deactivated the Dark Rings on Patamon and Terriermon with a single tap of his foreleg.

"Wha…?"

Wormmon looked up at Takeru and motioned that he should remain silent. He then began to slowly and carefully remove the wires attached to Patamon and Terriermon, to ensure they wouldn't be hurt in the process. When he was finished, Wormmon moved to Takeru, carefully pulling out the needles and wires implanted in his arms and legs.

The removal turned out to hurt even more than the implanting, despite Wormmon's best efforts, but Takeru made no complaint. After the wires were all gone, Wormmon went to the panel the Kaiser had previously been working at and hit a switch. The shackles on Takeru's limbs, opened, letting him slump down to the floor.

As soon as he was free, Takeru crawled to the cages to check on his partner. He set his left hand on Terriermon, taking comfort in the soft fur and rise and fall of the Digimon's breathing. Takeru sighed and closed his eye, seeing the sad eyes of loss on the small green creature of his dreams again.

"You'll want these to carry and heal them," said Wormmon, approaching Takeru and holding out the two Digivices. "You can take the stairs down to the main train station and catch a Locomon train out of here."

Takeru looked at the Digimon, but did not move to take the Digivices. "Why are you doing this?"

"Ken is finished with you. He has what he needs from you."

"So? That doesn't explain why you're helping me, your enemy."

Wormmon shook his head. "I don't consider you my enemy. This is just… common decency toward someone who's hurt." He pushed the Digivices into Takeru's hands. "You don't have much time. You have to hurry."

Takeru cast one last suspicious look at Wormmon before turning back to his partners. "Return, Terriermon. Return, Patamon." Once his partners were safely stowed in the Digivices, where they could slowly heal from their wounds, Takeru fastened his two Digivices to his forearms and collected his hat and bags from the corner of the room. Wormmon led him to the stairwell when he was finished.

"The train station is clearly marked," said Wormmon. "You should have no trouble finding it."

Takeru looked down into the stairwell for a moment, and thought. It certainly looked like some sort of trick, but Takeru couldn't figure out the logic behind it. Were they going to release him so that they could follow him to a rebel stronghold? There was no central stronghold to betray, as the resistance was mostly decentralized to prevent such a scenario, and even then Takeru was quite sure he could easily escape any followers.

Slowly, Takeru turned back to Wormmon. "You do not wear a Ring. You are Ken's original Digimon partner, the one he ignores and intends to replace. So why do you follow him?"

"Because he is my partner," said Wormmon.

"So what? He treats you horribly. I've seen it. Right now he is outright trying to replace you, and using me to do it. So why do you still stay with him?"

"Ken does what he thinks is right, and I have to support him no matter what. That is my purpose."

"Purpose…" Takeru looked back to the stairwell, and thought of his own purpose.

"Ken has done some hard things, and I don't try to excuse them, but he's always done what he thinks is best. No matter what, I'll stay with him, because Ken is Ken, and that is enough."

Takeru let out a soft ironic laugh. "I think I can understand your reasoning, and… that scares me." He stepped into the stairwell and began his descent, but suddenly stopped to say one last thing to Wormmon. "Won't he punish you, for letting me go?"

"He probably even care," said Wormmon. "I know Ken. He has other things he cares more about than you right now."

Takeru laughed again and continued down. "More important concerns... Story of my life..."

* * *

Traveling down the rest of the exit pipe and finally escaping the city was easy enough after BlackAgumon had so graciously served as a distraction to help them clear the inner ring of guards. Within an hour, Hikari and Tailmon slipped past the last outer ring of Guardromon and slid out of the last drainage pipe, landing in a pile of sludge where waste oils had mixed with the sand. Hikari glanced up. No Takeru. No Terriermon. No Patamon. Nothing. Somehow her eyes managed to grow colder. Yet again she learned that there was no one that she could depend on. She scolded herself for daring to forget her lessons.

What was worse though was the most unwelcome sight they did find in front of them. Hikari narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Daisuke turned red at the intensity of her gaze and took a step back. Next to him, Miyako looked up from her red Digivice with a look of distress, and Hawkmon instinctively moved to shield her from a possible attack.

Iori, however, took a step forward, unwavering even under Hikari's and Tailmon's suspicious gaze. Armadimon timidly stepped behind him. "There is no reason to show us hostility," said Iori. "We are on the same side here. We are all trying to stop the Kaiser from abusing this world."

"We just tossed aside useless baggage back in the city about an hour ago," said Hikari. "I don't have time to deal with more. Come, Tailmon."

"What is your problem?" said Daisuke, his annoyance and growing frustration overcoming his fears. He moved to block the girl and the cat from leaving.

Hikari could barely contain her own growing frustration. "My problem is that a trio of fools and their incompetent inexperienced partners think they want to fight my war for me. You all have nothing to do with the Digital World. You didn't go through what I had to go through. You just showed up out of nowhere and changed everything, took the Digimentals that should have been my inheritance, and even now you just come and go as you please. You don't have to commit even a fraction of what I have had to commit to this world."

"So. What."

Hikari turned. Miyako had spoken, and now had her arms crossed and a face as stern as the other.

"We're Digimon, just like any other," agreed Vmon, pumping his fists with enthusiasm. "This is our home."

"Why turn us away?" said Iori. "We may not have gone through what you have, but we're still here to help. The very reason we are here right now was to look for you, and help rescue Takeru and his partners."

Hikari paused, and the hardness in her expression faltered and grew brittle. "Rescue?"

Daisuke and the others exchanged glances. "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

They fell silent and hesitated for a moment. Daisuke cleared his throat and spoke. "The Kaiser ambushed them and caught them. They're prisoners now. We're looking for ways to rescue them."

Tailmon's eyes widened in alarm, and she looked to her partner. Hikari however lowered her gaze, and her expression became unreadable.

"Do you understand now?" continued Daisuke. "Your friend's in trouble. It's just you two now. You need our help."

Hikari looked back up. "He's not my friend."

"What?"

"He and his two partners are weapons, nothing more," said Hikari softly. "Their destiny is not my concern. If they are strong enough, they will find their own way out. If not, they aren't worth saving."

Everyone else, Tailmon included, looked in shock. "You can't believe that," said Daisuke.

Hikari did not reply, but held the boy's gaze.

"Do you know how they got caught?" continued Daisuke, pointing at Hikari accusingly. "It's because he was worried about you. He was trying to think about how to save you when you were in trouble. And right now, you're going to tell me, that you seriously, honestly, believe that he's not worth saving?"

Her eyes shifted downward in thought. In her mind she remembered her hand gripping tightly to a wrist as she fell into the abyss amidst the sound of a clown's laughter. She remembered a cool reassuring hand on her burning hot forehead.

But then she remembered a different hand on her forehead, from another time when it was burning even hotter. Her ears heard someone else's voice.

Hikari looked back up to meet the boy's gaze, her face resolute. "Yes."

Daisuke and the others exchanged looks. With a sigh, Daisuke shook his head and turned around toward the city. "Come on, guys. It looks like we're doing this on our own. Let's free this city and get some information on where Takeru is."

"You don't stand a chance," said Hikari quietly.

"More of a chance than you two have," fired back Daisuke. "There are six of us and two of you. And once we find the Kaiser and bail out Takeru and Terriermon and Patamon, it'll be nine of us."

Hikari watched them go for a while, before turning and beginning to head for a different direction away from the city. Tailmon jumped after her partner. "Hikari, wait? Are we really going to just…?"

"There's nothing we can do," whispered Hikari, stopping.

"What?"

"You and I both have no idea where the Kaiser's main base of operations is, or where he keeps his prisoners," said Hikari. "And they have no idea either. You and I both know they won't find any ideas inside the city. There's nowhere to begin looking. There's nothing we can do..."

"Hikari…"

Hikari forced herself to smile, and let out an empty laugh as she looked back at her partner. Tailmon cowered slightly at the look on Hikari's face.

"I've already lost many comrades already," she laughed as tears welled up in her eyes. "What's another three?"

* * *

_**Locomon**: Perfect level. Data Attribute. Machine Type. Metal Empire. Ranged Attack: Wheel Grinder. Heavy Attack: Steam Bomb._

The large train Digimon paid no mind as Takeru climbed aboard one of its cars. Takeru's eye fell on the black canvases covering loads and loads of crates in the car. Without a second thought, he tore himself a new cloak from one of the canvases to help him blend in among the cargo. As he did, he felt the old hat on his head. At least he didn't need to replace that.

He blinked, still feeling a bit dizzy, before settling into one of the crevices near the side of the car. The door was slightly open, giving him a view outside. A chill passed over him, and he wrapped his cloak tighter around him as he tried to remain conscious. He felt so very tired, but couldn't let him fall asleep when things were still so dangerous. And there were still his nightmares to worry about.

Takeru thought he heard footsteps, but as he looked around he could see nothing, and they sounded so distant. He blinked the stars out of his eyes again as he shook his head hard to stay awake.

The train rocked to life as the Locomon pulled away from the station. For a moment, Takeru wondered where the train was going, but the gentle rocking was soon too much and his consciousness slipped away.

Then he dreamed again.

Takeru woke with a start, and instinctively grasped the green Digivice on his left arm. He checked his Digivices. Both Patamon and Terriermon were still sleeping. Their rate of recovery was painfully slow. The damage from the experimentation was quite thorough and would take long to repair. It would be a long time before they could fight again.

As he still felt dizzy and unbalanced, he had to push himself up against a wall before rising to his feet. Takeru considered his options again. Though he had lost track of time, but given the speed of the train it shouldn't have taken more than a few minutes to be safely out of sight of the Kaiser's main stronghold. He considered simply jumping out of the train, and checked his surroundings through the crack in the door. Outside, all he could see was sand and plateaus and the occasional Dark Tower in the distance. It seemed safe enough to jump.

Then his mind clicked. Sand.

He looked further, and the old city where everything had gone wrong was in the distance ahead of them. They were going back. Why?

No, it didn't matter why they were going back. What mattered was what was still inside the city the last he had heard. Hikari and Tailmon.

Suddenly alarmed, he checked his Digivices, and saw a most unwelcome sight. Some distance ahead of him was a single dot, half-black and half-purple. Takeru's eyes widened. The Kaiser was on the same train? He hadn't been imagining the footsteps from before after all. But then why hadn't the Kaiser noticed his presence either?

Takeru's mind raced. Either the Kaiser knew about him and was planning something, or hadn't bothered checking because he assumed Takeru was still locked away. As he considered this, another thought came to him. Why was the Kaiser aboard the train? Why would he be going back to the city?

A chill ran down his spine. Could it be that the Kaiser intended to test his new information on multiple partnership by attacking Hikari? Takeru widened the field of view on the map displayed by his Digivice. Far off, but quickly approaching, was a single dot colored silver. A little bit beyond that were another three dots colored red, blue, and yellow.

* * *

Tailmon heard the whistle of incoming Locomon first, and paused. She held up a paw to signal to Hikari. "A train is coming."

The next moment, Hikari's Digivice reacted. She checked it and saw the purple and black. "The Kaiser?"

A little bit behind them, closer to the city, Miyako and the others were talking about their future plans. "So are we really just going to attack the city and hope it just gives us some information?" asked Miyako with a tired sigh.

"It's better than doing nothing," answered Vmon, echoing what his partner had said before.

Daisuke seemed a bit too upset to say anything himself, and remained silent as he marched on ahead at the very front of their group.

It was then that Hawkmon heard the incoming Locomon, a few seconds after Tailmon had. He paused and cupped his ear. "I think I hear something approaching."

Miyako looked down the track behind them. "Is it a train?"

The sound of a whistle cleared all doubt. Everyone backed away from the track as they watched the Locomon slowly come into view in the distance. The large train Digimon rocketed right past Hikari and then them without pause, but as the many cars passed them one by one, Vmon, Hawkmon, and Armadimon suddenly tensed up.

"An enemy?" wondered Hawkmon, drawing a feather blade from his headband.

After the train completely passed, they saw the Kaiser standing directly opposite Hikari on the other side of the track behind them. Beside the two, BlackAgumon and Tailmon stared each other down as well. BlackAgumon's eyes were a menacing red, and he held his right arm partially raised to show off the Spiral wrapped around his forearm. Seeing this, Daisuke and the others immediately began running back to the pair, stopping just a few meters from the tense standoff.

The Kaiser glanced towards them as they stopped and gave them a casual nod. "Honestly, I wasn't really expecting any of you to come back. Well, I suppose it's fitting. You saw me take care of one half of my opposition, and now you can watch me take the other half."

Iori and Miyako backed up together while Hawkmon and Armadimon moved to shield them. They were expecting a large Digimon to suddenly burst up from the sand, as usual. BlackAgumon seemed of little importance. Daisuke, however, had other ideas.

"Ichijouji Ken!" snapped Daisuke angrily. "What did you do with Takeru?"

The Kaiser frowned. "I am the Kaiser of this world and will be addressed as such."

"I'll call you whatever I want! Now answer my question!"

"I'm not here to answer questions," said the Kaiser as he drew his violet Digivice in his left hand and his whip in his right. He turned back to Hikari. "I'm here to test a little project of mine and eliminate my last real enemy in one fell swoop."

Iori began raising his yellow Digivice, but Hikari quickly said "Don't get in my way. He's mine." The strength of her voice was enough to make them hesitate, and they all took a step back.

The Kaiser chuckled. "Touchy, aren't we? Are you upset that I took your little blond toy from you?"

Hikari sneered and said only one word: "Tailmon."

Tailmon vanished in a flash and reappeared right above the Kaiser, swinging her claw right at his head. BlackAgumon intercepted immediately, swatting aside the claw with his own.

"So is that your little project?" asked Hikari "I've already seen it in action. Unless your little spiral can do more than make it a little faster, you're in a lot of trouble now."

The Kaiser only smiled and raised his violet Digivice. "Go, BlackGreymon!"

The light of the sudden evolution came as black and violet, and Hikari instinctively shielded her eyes. Before she could drop her arm, the towering form of BlackGreymon suddenly charged out of the light right at her.

"Hikari!" With a cry, Tailmon immediately pounced and struck BlackGreymon hard on the head to change his direction enough to give Hikari room to dodge. The next moment, BlackGreymon swung around, his tail striking Tailmon and sending her crashing into the sand.

The Kaiser laughed as he watched BlackGreymon take the offensive and drive Tailmon further into the ground with a furious barrage of stomps. "Yes, I made the right choice. This Digimon is so much stronger than that little worm." He glanced over to where Daisuke and the others were still standing dumbstruck. "Come on, don't be shy. Join in the fun. I want to crush all of you while you're at full strength."

"If that's how you this is going to be, we'll play around for now," said Daisuke. "But once we beat you down, you're going to give up your stupid Kaiser game for good!" He drew his blue Digivice. "Digimental Up!"

Iori and Miyako followed suit, and their partners entered their armored forms.

Flybeemon and Pteramon charged right at BlackGreymon to push him away from Tailmon, but the dinosaur swung at them as they came and slammed his armored antlers into them, sending them crashing down as well. With that, BlackGreymon pounced upon them and tried to trample them as they rolled in the sand avoiding his feet.

Flamedramon seemed to ignore the rampaging dark blue dinosaur and instead charged up a fireball as Daisuke had told him. He proceeded to launch it directly at the Kaiser.

"Always going for the enemy King first," laughed the Kaiser as he swatted the fireball aside with a crack of his whip.

"You know it!" shouted back Daisuke, directing Flamedramon to attack again with a wave of his hand.

But Flamedramon did not get another chance to attack. He jumped aside as BlackGreymon's massive tail smashed into the sand beside him, shaking up a blinding cloud. In that instant however, Flybeemon and Pteramon were up in the air again, ready to blast BlackGreymon with their ranged attacks.

The Kaiser saw this, and his smile became more twisted. "Well, now that everyone's involved in the fun, it's time for the real test." He set aside his whip to draw his golden necklace with his right hand. The golden artifact began to glow a brilliant yellow as he held it up beside his Digivice, which began to emit a powerful violet light.

This did not escape Iori's notice. "What's he doing?"

Hikari saw as well, and her eyes widened in horror as she recognized the artifact in the Kaiser's hand as a tag and crest.

"Now to reach the next level of evolution!" declared the Kaiser triumphantly. "BlackGreymon, evolve to your Perfect level!"

* * *

Before their eyes, the sickly blue flesh melted away in the pure black and violet light of the twisted evolution. Yet at the same time as the flesh vanished the creature grew larger, and soon what was left was a monstrous draconic skeleton twice its former height. On its back was mounted a single organic orange shark-shaped missile, strapped to the spine by mutated white bone. Long skeletal wings spread out to cast a web of shadows over all beneath its terrible form.

_**SkullGreymon**: Perfect Level. Virus Attribute. Undead Type. Dragon's Roar. Heavy Attack: Ground Zero. Breath Attack: Curse Breath._

Hikari took a step back, eyes wide in shock. Tailmon slowly crawled up out of the sand and jumped back in front of her, but both knew that Tailmon was no match for the undead dragon before them.

"SkullGreymon, an undead Digimon driven by pure combat instinct," said the Kaiser in awe. His grip tightened around the golden tag in his hand. "It was a complete success. All of it. I bound a Digimon to me like a partner and made it evolve to the Perfect level." He slowly began to laugh. "It all worked out. But of course it did… I cannot fail. I succeed in everything I do!" He began roaring with laughter as he held aloft his Crest. "Nothing is out of my reach. I am a true Miracle Worker!"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a black blur.

The next moment, the Kaiser was sent reeling backward, eyes wide in surprise at the sudden blow. As he lost his balance and crashed into the ground, he heard someone shout "You can't fight that! Run!"

The Kaiser's expression darkened as he recognized the familiar voice. He rose back to his feet, and caught sight of the golden haired boy in the black cloak and grey hat. "You…"

Takeru turned back to the Kaiser and threw another punch, but without the element of surprise like before he had no chance of making contact. The Kaiser easily sidestepped it and retaliated with his own punch, catching Takeru against the side of the face. As Takeru reeled backward, the Kaiser took a step forward and delivered a single hard kick right into Takeru's torso. Takeru fell and rolled in the sand.

Daisuke only had a moment to be surprised by Takeru's sudden appearance and surprise attack on the Kaiser. SkullGreymon paid no mind to the new intruder, considering Takeru a negligible change. It raised its skeletal claw and brought it crashing down toward Daisuke and Flamedramon. The latter just barely grabbed his partner and jumped aside.

But the next moment, the same bone arm was flying back up, ramming itself hard against Flamedramon. The fire Digimon had instinctively turned his back to take the blow, so as to shield his partner, but despite this Daisuke still felt a sharp pain in his chest from the impact.

Pteramon unleashed a salvo of missles, all of them catching SkullGreymon in the head and torso in a fiery explosion. The smoke cleared, revealing no damage whatsoever. In response, SkullGreymon lowered its head, and the bones on its spines began to pull away from the organic missile on its back.

"No! Stop!" called Takeru, slowly crawling up onto his hands and knees. "You can't beat that thing! Run!"

"Worry about yourself first!" snapped the Kaiser. He stepped up to Takeru to deliver a sharp kick into the boy's stomach.

The massive missile fired from SkullGreymon's back. Pteramon's eyes widened at the sheer size of the fleshy missile, and immediately grabbed Iori in his talons and took to the sky. Flybeemon grabbed Miyako and followed.

The missile turned slightly, trying to track its targets, but this caused it to rocket off into the distance instead. For a moment, Pteramon and Flybeemon breathed a sigh of relief.

Then the missile finally crashed and detonated.

A massive mushroom cloud blossomed in the distance after a blinding flash of light like that of a nuclear detonation, the sheer shockwave of the blast catching Pteramon and Flybeemon at unawares and sending them reeling. They only barely managed to keep Iori and Miyako from falling.

"Run," wheezed Takeru. He was struggling to breathe after having the wind kicked out of him by the Kaiser. The Kaiser raised his leg to deliver another kick.

It never came. The Kaiser suddenly jumped aside, dodging a surprise punch from Daisuke. Just behind Daisuke, Flamedramon jumped forward and scooped up the wounded Takeru in his arms. The next moment, he was back beside Daisuke and taking his partner into his other free arm.

"Hold on tight," said Flamedramon.

Daisuke obliged and held onto Flamedramon's arm for sheer life. Flamedramon summoned all his strength and leaped backward, reaching a height comparable to where Pteramon and Flybeemon were in the air. Just as he landed, he kicked the ground hard again, and in this manner Flamedramon began running away with Daisuke and Takeru in tow.

As he clung to consciousness, Takeru reached out and tugged Daisuke's arm. He managed to force out a hoarse whisper. "Hikari... and Tailmon..."

Daisuke nodded and shouted out to Flybeemon and Pteramon. "Don't forget our guests!"

Iori shifted from Pteramon's talons to grab onto the legs so that Pteramon could swoop down and grab Tailmon before the latter could protest. Flybeemon swooped down as well to grab Hikari with his right arm as he held Miyako in his left. Both flight capable Digimon then followed after Flamedramon, who was already sprinting off ahead.

The Kaiser dusted himself off as he watched his enemies flee before him, heading toward the mountains. "Poor fools. There's no escape route there. All you're doing is trapping yourselves to make the hunt less interesting." He looked up at the undead dragon beside him. "Come, SkullGreymon. The battle isn't over yet."


	6. Friendship is Not Enough

_Early Release for Christmas 2012! Enjoy!_

* * *

_One Year Ago..._

"Did you know? Though Imperialdramon Paladin Mode is revered as the founder of the Royal Knights, he is not considered a member."

Terriermon looked up from Takeru's lap. "Really? Why is that?"

"Imperialdramon Paladin Mode fell in battle before the organization was officially declared," said Takeru. "It was only under Alphamon and Omegamon that the group actually became known as the Knights, so Imperialdramon Paladin Mode could not be counted."

From Takeru's shoulder, Patamon added his own opinion. "That's so sad. He left with his dreams unfulfilled. He must have passed with a lot of regrets."

Takeru nodded in agreement as he looked back at the altar in front of them. The three of them were enjoying one of their rare moments of peace and rest in a small green field secluded from the wider world by surrounding mountains, where said altar had been set as a memorial. It was a plain one of white stone, with an image of the Omega Sword carved in the front. As his eyes fell on the two symbols on the image, Takeru felt his heart sink slightly in his chest.

Terriermon climbed out of Takeru's laps and walked up to the altar. He reached up and felt the carved image of the Omega Sword with his paw. "Do you know what these symbols mean?" he asked, indicating the two round shapes on the sword.

Takeru closed his eye. Patamon answered instead. "The sun represents Courage. The storm represents Friendship. The organization was originally founded on those principles."

"Imperialdramon Paladin Mode is also credited as the originator of the Brotherhood Oath for that reason," said Takeru once he had regained his composure. "He wanted to use Fraternity to bind Courage and Friendship together and instill both ideals upon his followers at the same time. It is even said that Omegamon himself was the embodiment of the ideal of Fraternity, that he was originally two oath brothers who merged into one Digimon when Imperialdramon Paladin Mode passed the Omega sword onto them."

"Cool," whispered Terriermon. "Is that story true?"

Takeru smiled. "I have good reason to think it is."

Terriermon jumped back into Takeru's lap. "Hey, how about we three take the Brotherhood Oath?"

Patamon laughed. "Why would we need to do that? We're already partners and friends."

"Exactly," said Terriermon, looking up with an innocent smile on his face. "Why don't we just make this step too when we're already this close?"

Patamon couldn't think of a good answer, and looked to Takeru for guidance. Takeru was quiet for a moment as he studied the altar. He had once been told a story that Imperialdramon Paladin Mode had also been asked why he had taken the extra step. Supposedly he had replied, rather ominously, that "sometimes Friendship is not enough." And yet, perhaps even fraternity was not enough sometimes too. After all, the ancient Royal Knights had fractured into warring factions and gone their separate ways in the end, or so the legends said.

Takeru looked down at Terriermon and took his paw. "I'll take the oath with you two if you want." He paused. "But I don't really believe in the Brotherhood Oath."

Terriermon titled his head to the side inquisitively. "Then what do you believe in?"

"You and Patamon."

* * *

**Maximum v6.0**

**Friendship is Not Enough: Raidramon vs SkullGreymon**

* * *

_Now..._

Takeru woke and found himself stretched out on his back, staring up at the blue sky. He couldn't remember when he lost consciousness, but it must have been sometime during the retreat, as he could still remember the feeling of Flamedramon's arm around his torso. Slowly, he shifted his head to one side. They were somewhere in the mountains.

At that moment he thought he felt something slip from his hand, but the feeling came and left so briefly he wondered if he had imagined it. He lifted and turned his head the other way, and saw that Hikari and Tailmon were kneeling at his side.

"I managed to break out of the city, only to find that you weren't there," said Hikari quietly.

Takeru let his head drop back down and closed his eye. He wanted to turn away to hide his face in shame, but his body ached with even the slightest movement. He was thankful that the collar of the cloak and the brim of his hat already covered most of his face. "I'm sorry. I broke my promise."

"Don't let it happen again." Hikari shifted uncomfortably. Her usual calmness had slipped again, which pleased Tailmon, though the cat said no word out of deference to her partner.

When he opened his eye again, Takeru thought he saw faint smudges underneath Hikari's eyes, as if she had been crying. He dismissed the thought. She hadn't let herself cry for years now.

"That Ichijouji Ken," whispered Takeru, shifting his mind back to the task at hand. "He actually succeeded in his goal of taking a new Digimon partner, and what's more he has the power of the Perfect level. To think that I would see SkullGreymon again after all these years."

Hikari straightened, her face completely serious again. "Where did he find a Tag and Crest?"

"I don't know... but I don't think that really matters," said Takeru. "Crests are only a mental crutch to help its wearer access the real source of power within... which means that Ichijouji Ken is stronger than us now. That's our real concern."

Hikari leaned forward, her clenched fists grinding the dirt in front of her knees. "What can we do?"

Takeru's gaze shifted to look at the group of three children and three Digimon standing some distance behind Hikari, whispering to themselves. He coughed out a small laugh and looked back up to Hikari. "Accept help," he said.

* * *

"What should we do about them?"

Miyako was making a reference to Takeru, and the partners presumed to be in the green and gold Digivices bound to his forearms, as well as Hikari and Tailmon. Flamedramon had laid the cloaked boy down on the ground when they had taken refuge in a shallow alcove in the mountains. Takeru had lost consciousness sometime during their flight away from SkullGreymon. Hikari and Tailmon had said no word to anyone, but remained quiet as they knelt over Takeru as if keeping vigil.

"We can't leave him in the state he's in," said Iori, looking the unconscious boy. "He looks badly hurt. Maybe we should try to head back to our world and take him to a hospital?"

Armadimon, who stood now in his unarmored form, asked what a hospital was, and Iori temporarily left Takeru to explain the concept to him and to Flamedramon. Only Flamedramon still wore Digimental Armor as a sort of sentry, allowing Armadimon and Hawkmon to rest for a bit. Hawkmon stood beside Miyako, and tried to comfort her. It was obvious her nerves were badly shaken from the previous battle.

"Well, we came out here to look for him," said Miyako. "And now we've found him. I'm with Iori. We should get out of the Digital World."

"What about SkullGreymon?" asked Daisuke.

"What about him? We can't fight that... monster."

"Maybe if we went at it all of us together we could," said Daisuke. "Takeru and his Digimon partners are pretty strong."

"Yeah, and the last two times we saw that strength it was being used on us," said Miyako, not without a hint of venom in her voice.

"Still, I think we should try to figure something out with them," replied Daisuke. "We're all supposed to be on the same side, right?"

Flamedramon nodded his head in agreement, having just rejoined them along with Armadimon and Iori. "I agree. Terriermon isn't a bad Digimon, and I don't think Patamon is either. Angel type Digimon are supposed to be messengers sent by the Gods of Digimon to enforce order on the world."

"I agree with Daisuke too," said Iori. "Despite our nominal opposition, Takeru has always done his best to avoid being outright hostile, even in battle. We would have been completely lost without his help the first time we came to this world by accident."

"I don't like it," muttered Miyako, crossing her arms. "I'm thankful for his help of course, but I can't just ignore the fact that he attacked us. And even if Takeru isn't hostile, what about Hikari?"

"I'm not ignoring that fact," said Iori. He paused and looked over at the subjects of their conversation. "I'm not sure it even matters whether we convince them to join us or not. With the state Takeru is in right now… even if he were an enemy, he's at our mercy now, and we need to help him. That should be our first priority."

"Now that you bring it up, what do you think happened to him?" said Daisuke, turning back to glance at Takeru. "Do you think Ken did that to him?"

An awkward silence passed before Miyako tried to set them all back on track. "So it's settled then. We'll try to head back home and get help for him?"

"Right," said Daisuke. "Settled. Let's go. Where's the nearest Gate that we can take back home?"

"Let's find it now," said Miyako, drawing her Digivice and looking over her screen. Hawkmon, Armadimon, Flamedramon, and Daisuke all crowded around her immediately. "Back off," she said. "Don't crowd me. Daisuke, you have your own Digivice don't you?"

"Right, right," said Daisuke. He noted with some displeasure that Iori had not forgotten and was checking his own Digivice off to the side.

"Here we go." Miyako smiled and turned her Digivice to show the screen to Daisuke. The boy noted with some irony that she had found the gate and shown him her Digivice before he even had the time to draw and check his own, but as he looked closer he realized that something seemed off about the image.

Iori looked confused as well as he searched his screen. He saw various signals representing the distant city, the railroad, and various other landmarks, as well as a strange symbol he had not seen before, but no digital gate. "I'm not seeing it."

"It doesn't look too far," said Miyako. "It's just a little further ahead in the mountains. We should reach it relatively easily, so…"

"That's not a gate," said a voice none of them had been expecting.

They turned in surprise to see Takeru staggering toward them, leaning heavily on Hikari's shoulder. "Look more closely. It does resemble the symbol of a gate, but it's actually the symbol of a storm."

Miyako checked again, and sighed in frustration as she realized that Takeru was right. The symbol had a bluish tinge and was flanked by two small curved waves at the ends, resembling a meteorologist's symbol of a storm.

"It's a Digimental signal," explained Takeru. "We should head toward it. I've passed through these mountains before, and the paths become narrower in that area. Due to SkullGreymon's size, the Kaiser will have difficulty pursuing us if we go in that direction."

"Tailmon, let's go," called Hikari with a single backward glance. With a nod, Tailmon jumped and seemed to vanish and reappear beside them. Hikari shifted her position to try to let more of Takeru's weight onto her shoulder before pushing on ahead of the others.

Miyako frowned and crossed her arms. "We can have FlyBeemon or Flamedramon carry him you know."

Hikari ignored her.

* * *

Tailmon ultimately spoke up and suggested that Hikari accept the offer so as to not tire herself out, and further insistence from Takeru finally convinced her. Flamedramon carried Takeru in his arms and walked at the front with Daisuke, so that Takeru could offer guidance through the mountain paths. Due to Tailmon's speed and sharp senses, she served as a rear scout to ensure that SkullGreymon and the Kaiser remained a safe distance behind them. Consequently Hikari took up the rear as well, though she seemed reluctant to entrust Takeru's care to the others. Miyako and Hawkmon in turn still seemed wary about the latest addition to their party, and took up the back middle to keep on eye on her, while Iori and Armadimon were the front middle right behind Daisuke.

For most of the beginning, they said nothing, but Daisuke found the silence increasingly unbearable as the time passed. He cleared his throat. "So..."

Takeru glanced over at Daisuke. He blinked, but did not say anything.

Daisuke shifted uncomfortably as he walked beside Flamedramon. "About what happened yesterday..."

"I'm sorry," said Takeru. "I should not have lost my temper. I don't presume to ask for forgiveness, but I have paid dearly for my mistakes."

Daisuke laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Come on, don't be like that. We're not mad at you. I mean, I don't blame you." He glanced back at the rear of their group, where Hikari maintained a steady distance from the rest, constantly glancing back as Tailmon roamed the area.

"She doesn't hate you," said Takeru as he followed his line of sight.

Daisuke nearly jumped in surprised. "What?"

"I just wanted to say that she doesn't hate you, if that's what you're concerned about. Hikari is just offended that you took the Digimental of Courage, because Courage is a trait she associates exclusively to her brother Taichi." He glanced up at the Digimon carrying him. "No offense, Flamedramon, but your appearance probably bothers her."

Flamedramon shrugged. Daisuke however turned his head back to Takeru at the sound of the name. "Taichi? Yagami Taichi?"

Takeru blinked as he saw a look of realization spread across Daisuke's face. "You knew him?"

Daisuke slammed his fist into his palm in triumph and laughed. "Ha, I knew I met her before. She's Yagami Hikari, Taichi's younger sister. Yeah, Yagami Taichi used to live in the same apartment building I do. He taught me how to play Association Football."

Takeru laughed and sighed. "Did he now?"

"Yeah, I loved playing with him. He was like a cool older brother." Daisuke snapped his fingers again. "Yeah, and I knew I saw the old model of the Digivice before. Taichi had one with him. He showed it to me after I told him about that time I was taken prisoner by those ghost Digimon, except I didn't know they were Digimon back then of course. No one else believed or cared about my story, but he told me not to let what others thought bother me."

"Oh, you were one of the kids caught up in Vamdemon's invasion." Takeru closed his eye and sighed. "That brings back memories... I was there too you know."

"Really? Heh. Maybe we passed each other by three years ago."

Takeru smiled and nodded. "Maybe."

Daisuke glanced back at Iori, who was just behind him. "Hey, Iori, you were there around the same time too, weren't you?"

Iori nodded. He and Daisuke had discussed the subject before, as Iori had always been one of the few people who talked with Daisuke seriously about the latter's stories in the past. "I was in a plane that went down in that area around that same time, but I can't really remember much of it."

"I always thought it was a bit of coincidence how we were both in that area at the same time," said Daisuke.

Takeru glanced up at the sky. "Maybe that was when you two were Chosen," he whispered.

Daisuke and Iori turned back to Takeru, only faintly hearing the whisper. "Did you say something?"

"Nothing, nothing." Takeru pulled the collar of his makeshift cloak closer around his face and checked the two Digivices on his arms. The wounds from the probing were healing nicely, but the burns from the interrupted evolution were taking longer. The fact that the wounds that were his fault were more severe than the ones inflicted by the Kaiser's probes and vivisections was not lost on Takeru. His hand instinctively reached up and began to flatten the hair covering the left side of his face.

Flamedramon glanced up and squinted at something off in the distance. "Is that it?"

Daisuke strained his eyes at the mountains ahead, but couldn't see anything. "Is what it?"

Iori checked the map on his Digivice. "I think he saw the location of the Digimental signal."

"Wow, you have great eyesight," said Daisuke to his partner. "How far away does it look?"

"Not too far," said Flamedramon. "We should reach it pretty soon."

Before they could go any further, Tailmon suddenly flashed in front of them. Daisuke yelped and jumped back in surprise. No matter how many times he saw the Digimon, he could not get over how fast she was. He glanced behind to see how Tailmon had managed to bypass Miyako and Hawkmon so easily, and, a bit unsurprisingly, found Miyako arguing with Hikari. It seemed that Miyako was also bothered by Tailmon's speed and how easily the Digimon passed them by.

"The Kaiser is catching up too fast," said Tailmon immediately, addressing Takeru. She patently ignored the surprised reactions of the others to her sudden arrival. "Hikari wanted your opinion."

Takeru signaled to Flamedramon to let him down, and he slumped into a kneeling position on the ground and pulled up a map projection from the green Digivice on his left arm. He pointed out a few locations on it. "We can slow them down by blocking the paths behind us at these locations. In those spots he can't have SkullGreymon blast obstacles part without risking a landslide that will just create more obstacles."

Tailmon nodded. She looked back. Miyako, Hawkmon, and Hikari were catching up to them so that they could all discuss it.

* * *

Takeru outlined his basic plan to buy them more time to finish their journey to the temple refuge and eventually onward out of the mountains to a transdimensional gate and temporary safety to rest and plan a counter-offensive. Essentially, he and Hikari would stay behind to cause intentional landslides to block the paths. When he was finished, most of the others nodded in agreement. The notable exception was Miyako.

"It sounds like a plan, but I'm going to make a small modification to it," she said. "Instead of you, Hawkmon and I will go."

Hikari's glaze flashed sideways at Miyako, but Miyako did not return the suspicious glare and neither said a word.

Takeru glanced up at Miyako. "Why?"

"You are in no condition to go through with that sort of thing. You'd be better off leaving it to someone else. Flybeemon will be able to get us from place to place pretty fast because he can fly."

Takeru held Miyako's gaze for a moment, and then smiled. She had tactfully avoided pointing out the more obvious concern. If he and Hikari and Tailmon were left alone, Miyako's group would have no guarantee that they wouldn't be abandoned. The switching of roles was essentially an exchange of hostages. Even the choice of Miyako and Hawkmon reflected this. In air speed, Pteramon and Iori would be faster, but Miyako wanted to keep an eye on Hikari herself.

"You are a very clever girl, aren't you?" he said with a small laugh.

"You know it," replied Miyako with her own confident laugh.

"Alright, we'll use Miyako's modification," said Takeru, looking back down at the projected map. "We'll split up here, but we can keep in touch through the Digivice's communication systems. Remember to send regular updates to each other."

With that they broke again and split up into the two groups. As he watched the girls go, Daisuke shook his head and said "I have a bad feeling about leaving those two together..."

"It will be good for them," said Iori. "The best way to resolve antagonism between groups is for them to work together."

As they resumed their march, Takeru once again being carried due to his still weak and unsteady body, Takeru commented "Iori, you don't really speak in a way one would expect someone of your age to. Your Japanese is very formal."

Daisuke laughed when he heard this. "I could say the same about you." He glanced between the two boys on either side of him. "Really, to me, you two practically sound exactly the same."

"You should have heard how Takeru used to talk," chirped a voice.

Takeru glanced down at his right arm, draped over his chest with the gold Digivice bare. "Patamon, you're awake?" He lifted his other arm. "You too Terriermon? How long have you been awake."

"For a while," admitted Terriermon, the screen of the green Digivice flashing as he spoke.

"You guys were having a good conversation, so I didn't want to interrupt at first," said Patamon with a knowing laugh. "It was nice to hear you open up a bit."

The only visible part of Takeru's cheek above the brim of his cloak turned red, and he pulled his hat lower over his eyes. Everyone else had a good laugh when they saw that, even the usually serious Iori.

"It's good to hear from you two as well," said Flamedramon after they had finished. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore, but getting better," answered Patamon from the Digivice.

Flamedramon nodded and looked back ahead. After they continued a bit further, he said "I think I see our destination up ahead." He rushed ahead and saw a smaller hill, pausing to admire it as the rest of the group caught up.

The location they came looked like it might have once looked not unlike the temple in the mountains where they had found the Digimental of Love. Now however it was in a far different state, its walls and pillars and roof apparently broken and torn down by an unknown power. At the center, Instead of a pedestal, they found a pile of rocks and dirt.

Flamedramon set Takeru down onto the pile of dirt that looked the most comfortable before reverting to Vmon. He sniffed the air and said "There's no Digimon here." He stepped over to the central pile of rubble, thinking back to his confrontation with Hawkmon back at the temple housing the Digimental of Knowledge. "This artifact is unguarded. That seems a bit strange."

"I wasn't a guard or anything," answered Armadimon. "I just took refuge beside the Digimental of Love because it seemed to be a safe place. It was just coincidence that I became Iori's partner."

"There are no coincidences in the Digital World," said Terriermon in a sing-song voice from his Digivice.

Daisuke followed after the two Digimon and looked at the pile. "Do you think the Digimental is under there?"

"It probably is." Armadimon bared the sharp claws of his forepaws. "Leave this one to me. I'll dig it out right away."

"I can help by moving the larger rocks away," said Vmon, getting right to work. He picked up a large bolder and shifted it onto his shoulder before glancing at Daisuke. "You can go take a rest. Just leave this to us."

Daisuke stared at the boulder on Vmon's shoulder, noting how he would probably be unable to lift such a rock. He looked back to Vmon, noting how much smaller the Digimon was than him. Feeling a bit emasculated, he slunk over to where Takeru was seated and sat down next to him and Iori.

"So now we have some time to kill," said Daisuke with a sigh as he watched Vmon and Armadimon gradually clear the rubble.

Iori nodded. Takeru gave a noncommittal grunt.

Daisuke glanced over at Takeru. "So you knew Taichi too, huh?"

"You want to ask me more about the past," said Takeru. It wasn't a question.

Iori glanced over while Daisuke shifted uncomfortably. Neither said anything.

Takeru sighed and closed his eye. "I'll tell you a little, if you want. Just a little."

* * *

"My generation was not the first to discover the Digital World, and from my generation I was not the first. Yagami Taichi was. About six or seven years ago, there was an accident in the Digital World. A Digimon egg managed to emerge from the Digital World into our own world, where it was found by Yagami Taichi and his younger sister. They hatched it and raised it, but another Digimon emerged and the two Digimon battled. Both perished. There were six other children that saw this battle too, and powers in the Digital World identified them all as potential allies. All eight were Chosen to become heroes for the Digital World, by binding the innate power within those children to the power of evolution.

"In the August of 1999, seven of us eight children were together at a summer camp, where we received the earlier generation of Digivices and were simply dropped into the Digital World to fight for their survival alongside their chosen partners." Takeru paused a moment, and his expression became pained. "Because of our inexperience, there were… losses in those early days."

From there, he traced a little bit of his first journey, how he and six others had landed on File Island, crossed the Net Ocean, and traveled across Server before briefly returning home for the eighth Chosen who had left behind. "That was Hikari. She was sick and stayed home from camp, but her partner wasn't waiting for her on File Island anyways due to other circumstances. A coincidence maybe." He paused and glanced over at the digging Digimon. "Or maybe not."

"It turned out that we had been Chosen to fight a was a conglomerate of hatred and resentment that had built up over many ages and transformed into a warped mockery of a Digimon. Its existence was like a virus that warped the time and space of the Digital World itself. Though the damage done by that thing was so much that the Digital World had to be rebooted after the battle, so the speak, the process seemed to have occurred without any problem. We left the World in peace. That was my first Adventure."

"Wow," whispered Daisuke. He had been on the edge of his seat on the dirt pile the whole time he listened to the story. "That all sounds so cool..."

Takeru shrugged. "I guess it does when you hear it. It's a bit different to live through it."

"You only ever mentioned Patamon in that story," noted Iori. He was about to say more, but stopped as he saw a change in Takeru's expression.

"Yes, Terriermon hadn't met us back then."

"Right, right," said Daisuke, nodding. "Nothing about the Kaiser or the Digimentals or anything either. That all comes later, right?"

Takeru looked down and shifted uncomfortable. "Yes. Yes it does."

"Where are Taichi and the other older kids now, anyways?" asked Daisuke, not noticing Iori trying to subtly signal to him. "I know Taichi's family moved out of the apartment a while back. I heard some rumors they couldn't afford the rent anymore because of some medical bil- Ow!"

Daisuke recoiled and looked down. Iori had stepped on his foot.

Takeru didn't seem to notice, but said, softer than before, "There was another space-time warp, from an even bigger and more dangerous monster, and it worsened the effects left behind by the first warp. The final aftermath left the Digital World in a very unstable state. The Kaiser appeared suddenly, claiming that he could fix the Digital World's problems. Unfortunately, his supposed solutions involved enslaving all the Digimon he could find and building his Dark Towers. Those structures emit distorting frequencies that warp space and time in addition to broadcasting the signal his Dark Digivice emits to prevent evolution and control Ring-bound slaves."

"But how did he appear?" asked Iori. "Why?"

"Ichijouji Ken is a Chosen. He can be called either the Ninth Chosen of my generation, or the First Chosen of your generation."

"Found it!" called Vmon from the dig site, interrupting their conversation.

Iori helped Takeru stagger up to his feet before the latter could refuse, and the three boys stepped over to the now cleared out crater surrounded by the displaced rocks and dirt. Vmon and Armadimon stepped aside and waved toward what they had unearthed with their paws. There, at the center, was a long black egg-shaped thing, with a single golden lightning bolt extending from one end. On the other end was a blue symbol of a storm.

Daisuke leaned over and looked at it. "Another Digimental huh?" He glanced over at Takeru. "But you have two already, right?"

Takeru knelt down at the edge of the crater, and for a moment he remained there studying the symbol. "Perhaps it is one of yours," he said, turning away. Though he longed to reach out for it, he still remembered the burns the Digimental of Courage had left on his hand, even after they had healed long ago.

"Hey, just because you already have two doesn't mean you can rule yourself out, right?" Daisuke thought for a moment. "Speaking of which, what are your two Digimentals anyways?"

Takeru glanced at Daisuke and sighed. "What good does that information do you?"

"What good?" Daisuke looked at Takeru as if the latter was insane. "What kind of question is that to ask? I'm just interested. These Digimentals are supposed to reflect who we are, aren't they?"

Iori stepped into the crater to get a better look at the Digimental. "Should we try to lift it?"

Daisuke turned from Takeru back to Iori and the Digimental. "Yeah, but who should go first?"

Takeru did not reply, but instead limped back over to the dirt pile to sit down. He was suddenly feeling very, very tired. As he sat, he felt his Digivice vibrate as it received a message. As he brought up his Digivice to check it, he saw Armadimon suddenly raise his head, ears twitching. A second later, another second it was Vmon. Takeru glanced up in alarm, the meaning of the message already clear to him. "Impossible..."

Flybeemon suddenly came into view over the nearest mountain, Miyako and Hikari in his arms. The next moment, the entire mountain exploded, unleashing a massive tidal wave of brown dust. Takeru pulled up his black cloak to shield himself, while the others ducked behind the nearest rock pile as the dirt washed over them.

Takeru lowered his cloak as the dust cleared, and saw the twisted skeletal monstrosity climbing through the wreckage, the Kaiser riding on the shoulder.

* * *

The stage was set. While Daisuke and Iori crowded around the Digimental, their partners moved to form a protective half-circle around them as SkullGreymon landed in front of them. Takeru remained noticeably outside the circle, but was still close enough to maintain an easy conversation with the others behind him. Despite his wounds, Takeru had instinctively tensed and taken a combative stance, his arms stretched out to allow easy access to his two D2 Digivices.

Flybeemon landed near him, dropping off Miyako and Hikari. In a white flash, Tailmon landed beside them, clearly guarding Hikari, who sat with her right leg tucked in. It was a largely pointless gesture. Tailmon could not even hope to slow SkullGreymon down due to her lack of a ranged attack. If she tried to rush SkullGreymon with her speed, the best she could hope for was to leave a few scratches on the bone before being crushed.

Takeru shifted his stance and side-stepped his way to Hikari. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that there was dirt and scratches around her left side, and that she was gripping her right ankle. He forced himself to keep himself calm as he glanced back up at his opponent.

"You'll certainly good at running and hiding, I'll give you that," said the Kaiser. "But the attempt to slow me down with narrow paths and landslides was far too transparent. That, and you underestimated the power of the Perfect Level. If there is no path, SkullGreymon will make one. It is well within the power of SkullGreymon to level this entire mountain range. Now the running is over."

No, that was impossible, thought Takeru. If that were true, it would mean that they never had a chance of escaping from the beginning. SkullGreymon couldn't actually be that strong, unless...

He needed to buy more time to think. "You're all about playing the game, Ichijouji," called back Takeru. "Where's the sport in fighting us while we're in this state?"

"It's not about the fight anymore. It's about the satisfaction of watching you suffer. And honestly, that may just be enough for me, given how long you've been an annoyance." The Kaiser pointed down at them from SkullGreymon's shoulder. "SkullGreymon, finish them."

With a roar, SkullGreymon lifted his skeletal claw and brought it down upon Takeru, who stepped forward to the forefront between SkullGreymon and the others to ensure Hikari and Tailmon would not be targeted due to their limited mobility. There was the sound of bone colliding against metal and a flash of green light, and as the wave of energy passed and the smoke cleared, Galgomon stood in front of Takeru, holding the sharp claw of SkullGreymon claw up with his two machine gun gauntlets.

"Takeru, are you alright?" asked Galgomon.

His eyes flickered as he felt the blood pounding through the veins in his head as if they were about to burst, but he nodded. "I'm fine. Worry more about yourself, Galgomon. You're the one in combat, and your wounds aren't fully healed."

From atop SkullGreymon, the Kaiser smirked as he looked down on the Adult level. It had been a clever trick. By evolving while still inside the Digivice, he had managed to escape the Kaiser's notice and reach the higher stage before the Kaiser could use his own Dark Digivice, which required conscious activation to broadcast an evolution block as opposed to the Dark Tower's passive broadcast. With a nod, the Kaiser gripped his Digivice and turned his gaze to Takeru's other arm. The other Digimon would not be able to evolve normally anymore.

In a flash of golden light, Pegasmon emerged from the other Digivice, charging and firing a green burst of energy into SkullGreymon's side, forcing the undead dragon back to give Galgomon more breathing room.

Daisuke ran up to Takeru's side. "We'll fight too! Vmon, let's go!"

"No."

Daisuke stared, stunned by Takeru's response. "What did you say?"

"Get out of here Daisuke. Take Hikari and Tailmon and the Digimental and leave with everyone else."

Iori stepped up as well. "That's ridiculous. We aren't going to let you three stay here to fight alone. We are all enemies of the Kaiser."

"Exactly," agreed Miyako. She turned to her partner. "Flybeemon, we're joining in."

"As you command!" Flybeemon charged ahead beside Pegasmon, blasting electric sparks at SkullGreymon.

"Armadimon, we will fight as well," said Iori. His partner nodded and donned his armor, sending a barrage of missiles into SkullGreymon's chest.

Takeru felt a trickle of liquid seep down his chin. His parched lips had cracked. He wiped away the blood his cloak. "This isn't your fight."

"What?" Daisuke took a step back and gaped for a moment. Then he approached and continued, his voice suddenly rising. "What are you talking about? How is this not our fight? SkullGreymon is chasing after us just as much as he is chasing after you."

"That's not the point. The Kaiser is my enemy, not yours. If he finishes me off he will think his victory is complete and let you go. There's no reason for you to stay and fight. I won't see anyone hurt for my sake."

"And what about your partners? What about Galgomon and Pegasmon?"

"The three of us are Oath Brothers. We die as one." Takeru looked at Daisuke. "Think of your friends, Daisuke. You will all end up being hurt if you stay here. Are you really willing to let yourself and your friends be hurt for my sake?"

"Yes."

Takeru clearly did not expect such a simple and curt reply, and stared in utter confusion. "What? Why?"

"Because you're our friend too!"

* * *

For a while Takeru could not think. He stood as if his mind had gone to another world, and the sounds of battle between SkullGreymon and Galgomon, Pegasmon, Pteramon, and Flybeemon could not reach his ears. SkullGreymon's tail scraped the mountain side, dislodging a boulder that crashed mere meters away from Takeru, but even as his hair and cloak flowed in the wave of the crash, Takeru did not move.

At last, he forced out a single whisper. "Why?"

Daisuke blinked and stared. "What do you mean why?"

"I attacked you all back in the desert."

"So? You weren't exactly in the best state of mind. We fought back too, and it wasn't like you hurt any of us."

"I attacked you at the ruins of the prison camp."

"But that was the battle that helped me learn to use my courage." Daisuke smiled. "But I still haven't gotten it all the way there."

"And it helped all of us learn to work together as a team," added Vmon.

As if looking for another way out, Takeru turned to look at Miyako. "I abandoned you at the canyon and left you stranded in the Digital World."

Miyako shrugged. "We found our own way. And maybe it was for the best, since it helped us learn to stand on our own. Your friend Hikari was saying something about us being spoiled by being able to come and go as we pleased."

Takeru turned to Iori. "I got you all involved in a war and a world that you had nothing to do with."

"We got ourselves involved when we decided to use the Digivices we found," replied Iori. "And I don't regret a thing. Maybe I don't know this world that well, but I have come to deeply respect and care for this world and its inhabitants." He managed a small smile. "Including you."

Daisuke stepped up beside Takeru and patted a hand on his shoulder. "I know it sounds cheesy and all, but there are some things you can't do with others without becoming their friend. We've had our rough spots, but I can tell that you care. This whole time we've been traveling together, you can't say that you weren't opening up to us. You care. And I care too, man." He turned his head to his partner. "So let's join in the fight already. For our friend."

Vmon nodded and ran to the front. Daisuke, his left hand still on Takeru's shoulder, lifted up his blue D2 Digivice triumphantly up in his right. "Digimental Up!"

Flamedramon rocketed into SkullGreymon's chest in a spiral of flame, forcing the undead dragon back a few steps. While SkullGreymon reeled back stunned and the Kaiser gripped the bone spikes protruding from the back and shoulders of SkullGreymon to stay balanced, Pteramon flew around to try for the Spiral with another salvo of missiles. The wave missed by mere meters when SkullGreymon turned aside.

"So close," said Miyako, hammering a fist into her hand in frustration. "Pteramon's fast, but he needs a clear shot with his missiles. Flybeemon's electricity blasts have a larger margin of error, but he's a bit too slow to have a chance at a shot."

"Then we've got to keep trying," said Daisuke as he left Takeru's side to rejoin her. "Once we cut the spiral thing we'll have the Kaiser cornered and everything! With all of our partners fighting, at least one should be able to manage a shot."

Iori frowned and shook his head. "Galgomon and Pegasmon aren't anywhere near to their full strength though. And our own partners are getting tired."

"The longer this goes on, the bigger our disadvantage," agreed Miyako. She frowned as SkullGreymon recovered from another hard blast from Flamedramon and Flybeemon. "That thing just keeps tanking all our hits like they're nothing. We need a clear shot at the spiral before we use up all our strength… something both fast and a good A-o-E attack."

Daisuke blinked. "A-o-E?"

"Area of effect," said Miyako. "Play more video games, seriously. What kind of grade-schooler are you?" The only response she received was an odd look between distaste and amusement on Daisuke's face.

Takeru cleared his throat. The three turned back to him.

"I know this will sound cheesy," said Takeru. His face remained completely straight as he said his next comment. "But perhaps we should try using the power of friendship." He indicated the still untouched Digimental of Friendship with a nudge of his head.

Daisuke laughed. "We could try that."

* * *

"New Plan," said Takeru into his green Digivice to communicate with Galgomon as he went back to regroup with Hikari and Tailmon and help them pull back toward the Digimental site, further away from the fighting. "Devolve and use the Digimental of Light. We're going to try to stall for a bit."

Galgomon dodged one of SkullGreymon's stomps while firing back with his chain guns. "Are you sure? The longer we stall the weaker we'll become."

"We just need to buy some time. You and Pegasmon have enough power behind your combination attack to hold SkullGreymon back for a fair bit."

"Alright, if you say so." Galgomon jumped back and reverted to Terriermon. While Pegasmon gave him cover with a rain of energy stars, he prepared to switch to his armored form. Behind, Takeru lifted up the green Digivice and called the activating words.

The next instant, Coatlmon and Pegasmon were circling around SkullGreymon, the golden light of their Sanctuary Bind forming between the blue gems on Pegasmon's legs and on the red gem on Coatlmon's forehead.

"As if two Armors could hope to stop a Perfect level," said the Kaiser with a laugh. The next moment however, the noose of light had wrapped around SkullGreymon's torso, binding his arms to the side of his body and tying the spinal bone spikes down so that the organic missle could not fire. SkullGreymon began struggling furiously against the bindings, but to no avail.

Miyako whistled. "That's pretty impressive. Those two actually managed to stop that thing."

The Kaiser was forced to concede that he too had been caught off guard, but he noted with interest that both Pegasmon and Coatlmon were becoming increasingly sluggish, especially after binding SkullGreymon. "They haven't fully recovered from their wounds," said the Kaiser. He looked down from his perch on SkullGreymon's shoulder and neck. "This binding probably won't last that long. And besides, SkullGreymon is still a powerful force even without his arms and missile." The Kaiser directed SkullGreymon to continue the attack with a wave of his hand.

With a seeming roar of agreement, SkullGreymon began stomping around, trying to kick up waves of rocks and dirt at those flying around him and stomp the retreating Tailmon, Hikari, and Takeru beneath his feet. Seeing this, Pegasmon swerved and made a pass over SkullGreymon, raining down needle hairs fired from his mane at the Kaiser.

"As if such weak attacks could hurt me," said the Kaiser, deflecting the hairs aside with his cape. As Pegasmon passed overhead, he lashed out with his whip, the point nicking Pegasmon's lower left leg as he passed. Pegasmon seemed to falter as he was fit, feeling a sharp yet cold feeling shoot up his leg.

"Some kind of poison?" wondered Pegasmon, sinking to the ground. The golden light binding SkullGreymon suddenly seemed to dull and slightly fade.

Seeing his partner falter, combined with knowledge of how tired and painful it must be for both Digimon to continue fighting in their wounded and half-recovered state, was a bit much for Takeru. He cast a glance back at Daisuke. "Ready to get back in the fight?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," called back Daisuke. He frowned and looked back down at the black and gold Digimental before him. "Takeru said the Digimental of Courage burned him because it wasn't his," muttered Daisuke under his breath as he reached down. "I hope this thing doesn't fry me with electricity or something…"

It came up in his hand, lighter than a feather. Daisuke breathed a sigh of relief.

He tensed up for a moment as he felt his Digivice suddenly vibrate in his other hands. Daisuke drew it and looked at it, watching as the design of the outer casing changed color before his eyes, crimson and light yellow stripes appearing and adding an additional flair to the plain old blue.

Vmon, having shed his armor, looked to Daisuke expectantly. Daisuke returned the look with a smile. "Digimental Up!"

Above them, the clouds seemed to gather and darken, and a sudden bolt of lightning erupted from where Vmon stood, shooting up into the clouds. As the sparks dissipated, Vmon seemed to grow larger, now standing on all four legs like a great draconic beast. The black shape of the Digimental covered his body, with three thunderbolt shaped spikes emerging from his shoulders and back. The thunderbolt shaped blade of the Digimental now formed his horn.

Thunder Friendship, Raidramon

_**Raidramon**: Armor level. Vaccine Attribute. Dragon Type. Dragon's Roar. Ranged Attack: Blue Thunder. Heavy Attack: Lightning Blade._

* * *

Raidramon flexed like a stretching cat. "Daisuke, get on my back."

"Huh? Why?"

The draconic beast smiled, baring his sharp white fangs. "Because, we'll have a better shot if we take him together."

Daisuke laughed nervously as he climbed up onto his partner's back. For a moment he remembered his old dreams of riding into battle on horseback as a heroic warrior. Such fantasies seemed so childish and from so long ago now. "I've never ridden anything before," he managed to force out at last.

"Just hold on tight to my spikes," said Raidramon. "I'll do the rest."

"Alright, just warn me before yo- Ah!" Daisuke was cut off as Raidramon suddenly began sprinting back into battle. His hands gripped onto the black spikes on Raidramon's shoulders more tightly than anything he had ever gripped before, and his knees locked up against Raidramon's sides.

SkulllGreymon was still flailing about, preventing either Pteramon or Flybeemon from lining up a clean shot at the Dark Spiral on his arm, but the golden light of the Sanctuary Bind was slowly loosening and flickering. Pegasmon had faltered and landed, and Takeru now stood at his partner's side, examining the scratch. Coatlmon had pulled back as well, shielding Pegasmon with his own body.

Raidramon sprinted right past Miyako and Iori, the displaced air breezing into their hair. "He's certainly got the speed," said Miyako as she pushed her hair out of her glasses and checked her red D2's assessment of the new Armor type. "He's much faster than Flamedramon. Hopefully Raidramon's electric attacks will have the range and spread too."

Iori nodded, but his greater attention was to Pegasmon, Coatlmon, and Takeru, and not only because he knew they would lose their advantage over SkullGreymon if the Sanctuary Bind failed. The younger boy also admitted that he also felt general concern for the trio's well-being. His concern for the Digital World's suffering at the hands of the Kaiser was in many ways similar to his concern for the older boy and his two partners now.

Raidramon unleashed a sudden blast of blue electricity from his horn, but SkullGreymon saw it coming and turned aside. The Blue Thunder attack struck the creature's horn, and its electricity dissipated around the skull without reaching the Spiral.

"It has the spread, but we still need a clear shot," said Miyako. She began chewing her thumbnail as her mind raced, trying to calculate and plan. "The electricity just flows around the bone. Raidramon may not be as much help as I first thought..."

Raidramon jumped back to avoid SkullGreymon's counterattacking stomp, and landed next to Miyako and Iori. "Let's not give up just yet," said Daisuke from Raidramon's back. "Just one clean hit on the Spiral and our electricity will fry the thing."

Even as he spoke, Daisuke gripped Raidramon more tightly. He remembered what Takeru had told him before, about how the power of Armor-level depended on how much power the human partner could summon from the Digimental. Daisuke gritted his teeth and tried to force his mind onto his appreciation of his friendships. He filled his mind with thoughts of how happy he was to have spent the time to get to know Miyako and Iori over the years, to have met Takeru and found the Digital World, to have met and spent his days with Vmon.

The light of the Sanctuary Bind failed at last, and the golden ropes snapped and vanished as SkullGreymon flexed his now free arms. From SkullGreymon's shoulder, the Kaiser laughed in triumph and shouted his taunts down at them, but Daisuke and the others were too dismayed at seeing the bind fail and too focused on planning their next move to pay the empty words any mind.

Off to the side, Pegasmon reverted to Patamon and Coatlmon to Terriermon. Takeru slumped down, breathing hard, and looked at Hikari. Their eyes met, but neither of them said a word. Slowly, Takeru righted himself and crawled over to his brothers, wordlessly signalling to them. All three of them closed their eyes as they tried to call upon the last of their strength. Hikari and Tailmon exchanged a look, before closing their eyes as well.

The bone spikes on SkullGreymon's back opened, preparing to release the regrown Ground Zero missile. Seeing this, Daisuke cursed and tightened his legs around Raidramon's back. "Let's just rush him. We've got no other choice."

Raidramon nodded and charged ahead.

"Cover them!" called Miyako to her partner. Both Flybeemon and Pteramon fired off their attacks, hoping to stun SkullGreymon enough to both stop the missile launch and to give Raidramon one last shot at the Spiral. The stingers and missiles struck SkullGreymon in the rib cage in a sharp explosion, but SkullGreymon remained unphased.

Then the next moment, there was a bright flash of golden light behind Miyako and Iori, and a single golden missile fired off over their heads.

Both of them whirled around to try to find the source of the light, but before they could even blink, all that their eyes saw was Takeru, Patamon, and Terriermon slumped on the ground, completely exhausted. Tailmon slowly stepped over to them, checking their vital signs. Hikari turned her head away.

The single golden missile blasted right into SkullGreymon's chest, causing the beast to suddenly reel back and roar in pain. On his shoulder, the Kaiser cried out in surprise and shock and held on for dear life. "What was that?"

But the damage had been done, and SkullGreymon's arm lifted up in the air as the creature tried to balance itself. A massive sword of blue electricity built up around and above Raidramon's horn. Daisuke gripped his partner's shoulders to steady the dragon's aim, trying desperately to call upon all the strength that the Digimental of Friendship could offer.

The Lightning Blade attack sliced the Spiral in two, and the shattered pieces withered and melted as the electricity coursed through it. With the connection severed between Digimon and Digivice and Crest, SkullGreymon began losing power and reverting immediately, and the Kaiser unceremoniously tumbled down from the shrinking form and landed on his back.

Seeing their opponent stopped at last, Flybeemon and Pteramon breathed a sigh of relief before letting themselves relax and shed their armor. Hawkmon and Armadillomon slumped down onto the ground for a brief moment before Miyako and Iori disturbed their short rest with triumphant hugs.

Raidramon landed and shed his armor as well, causing Vmon to land facedown into the dust with Daisuke directly on top of him. Daisuke apologized profusely as he climbed off his partner, and as he did, his eyes fell on BlackAgumon and the Kaiser, and he remembered that things weren't over yet.

"Now we've got him," said Daisuke, and he began moving to where the Kaiser was struggling back up. There was no way for the Kaiser to escape this time. He was all alone in the mountains with no other allies.

Dark red fire from a Baby Flame attack landed directly at Daisuke's feet, causing him to jump back.

"Stay back!" snapped BlackAgumon, his eyes burning with a fierce passion.

"I'm not going to hurt you," said Daisuke defensively, holding up his hands. "You're free now. I'm just going to get the Kaiser behind you."

"Exactly," growled BlackAgumon. "Stay back!" The black lizard looked back to the Kaiser, who was now standing. "Are you unharmed, lord?"

"Lord?" Daisuke froze and stared. "What are you saying?"

The Kaiser seemed equally surprised for a moment, but gradually the look on his face changed from surprise to triumph and pleasure. "You will address me as Kaiser in the future."

"Yes, my Kaiser," said BlackAgumon. "We are at a disadvantage here, my Kaiser. We should go."

The Kaiser looked down at the Digimon with a look of smug satisfaction. "Very well. Let us retreat."

"What are you doing?" called Daisuke as the Kaiser and BlackAgumon began to turn to leave. "He enslaved you!"

"He gave me power!" replied BlackAgumon. "In this world only the strong survive and rule. I follow those with power!"

Daisuke took a step forward to pursue, but the Kaiser called back "I think you should be more worried about your fellow worms. They don't seem to be in any condition to try to follow me."

Daisuke tightened his fists in frustration, but looked back nonetheless. There was Hikari, scratched up and with an injured ankle. There were Takeru, Patamon, and Terriermon, slumped and motionless as Tailmon tried to care for them. When he looked forward again, the Kaiser and BlackAgumon were out of sight, seemingly vanished into the mountains.

* * *

"Why don't you stay with us?" asked Daisuke. "You're our friend."

Takeru glanced over to the mountain path leading away from where Daisuke was headed, which Hikari and Tailmon had already begun going down after they had splinted Hikari's ankle until she could walk somewhat comfortably with Tailmon's help. He shook his head. "I don't deny it, and I will fight alongside you all the same, but my first loyalty must always go to Hikari."

"Why?"

Takeru closed his eye and sighed with a sad smile on his lips. "You are friends, better friends than I deserve. But there are some things that have to supersede friendship. Sometimes, friendship is not enough. Please understand."

Daisuke shook his head in resignation. "Alright, if you say so… but just know, the offer's always open. We'll always accept you."

Takeru looked off toward the path, then back to the other boy. "Daisuke, you're a good person. In many ways you remind me of my older brother." He paused and glanced at the rectangular aviator goggles around Daisuke's forehead. "Two of my older brothers, actually."

He took a tentative and shaky step forward, and felt Daisuke's hand on his shoulder in support. "Are you sure you're well enough to walk?" asked Daisuke. "Vmon's still more than willing to carry you."

Behind Daisuke, Vmon looked up upon hearing his name. "Wait, I'm willing to what?"

Takeru let himself laugh and patted his hand on Daisuke's before gently removing it from his shoulder. "I'll see you in class when I'm recovered." He looked past Daisuke to Miyako, Iori, Armadimon, and Hawkmon. "I'll see all of you in the Computer Lab sometime."

Miyako crossed her arms and studied Takeru. "Oh, are you joining my Computer Club?"

"As a way of making things up for past mistakes."

They parted there, and Takeru hurried down the path after Hikari while Daisuke and the others took the other direction to take a gate home. It was a slow walk for him, but Hikari and Tailmon had to move slowly as well.

After a while, Terriermon's voice chirped up from his Digivice. "If you won't let Vmon carry us, I could carry us."

"You're in no condition to be flying."

"And you're in any condition to walk?"

Takeru laughed. "I'm okay, little brother."

Up ahead, Hikari limped on with Tailmon at her side. They were heading to one of their old hidden refuges to rest. All in all, the campaign had been somewhat of a disastrous one.

Tailmon glanced up at her partner. "Hikari… do you want to talk?"

The girl made no answer.

"Hikari, I know it can be painful, but you can't keep all your thoughts bottled up inside," continued Tailmon. "I will always respect your privacy, but even back when your brother…"

"This is nothing like what happened with my brother," said Hikari. "This doesn't even compare."

Tailmon hesitated and rubbed her paws together nervously. "Even so… I'm not only here to protect you physically…"

"I'm not a little girl anymore. I don't need protection."

Tailmon sighed and looked back. With a soft nod, she jumped off to scout further down the path.

Soft fabric landed against Hikari's shoulders, and her hands instinctively wrapped them tighter around her. The next moment, she lifted her head in surprise, and looked at the black cloak now draped over her. She looked up at her benefactor. "I'm not cold," she said.

Takeru shrugged.

Hikari opened her mouth, but thought better of it and closed it. She was in no mood to talk or reflect about what had happened the past few days. All she wanted now was to reach the refuge and sleep beside a warm fire with Tailmon at her side, wrapped in the cloak on her shoulders.

"I won't fight them again," said Takeru after a while. He didn't have to indicate whom. "The Digimentals are going to them not because of destiny, but because they are earning them. Today I saw that fact so clearly that I can hardly believe how foolish I have been to have not seen it earlier."

Hikari made no answer.

Takeru smiled wistfully and looked up at the sky. "Do you remember what Gennai told us? He said that the two of us were the heirs of our elders; that we must accept and carry on the traits of our friends through the Digimentals. But I had forgotten what Friendship is, and today, Daisuke and the others showed me what I had forgotten."

"You're okay with them having the Digimental of Friendship?" whispered Hikari impassively.

"They earned it. They used it to stop the Kaiser. They managed to defeat a Perfect level." Takeru laughed softly. "And then they let the Kaiser escape because they were more worried about us. They asked me to join them and stay with their group."

Another silence passed. "Why didn't you?"

"I acknowledged our friendship, so I won't fight them again. But I won't join them either. I don't stay with you for friendship. I stay because…"

"Don't," interrupted Hikari. She looked up and glared at his eye with her own, but not out of anger or bitterness. If anything, her eyes seemed afraid. "Don't say another word."

Takeru closed his eye and nodded.

When they found the refuge and set up camp, Takeru took some time alone to gaze up at the starlight. His hand reached for the bag on the back of his belt. After a moment's hesitation, he drew the old harmonica and studied it under the starlight. He slowly brought it to his lips and gave it a soft experimental hum. The tone sounded very unpleasant to his ears. As he brought the harmonica down from his mouth and studied it again, he wished he had asked his brother to teach him to play.


	7. Purity of Intentions

Wormmon studied the other Digimon warily. His forelegs clicked against one another nervously as his eyes wandered up and down the body of the black reptile before him.

"Why did you come back?" he asked at last.

"What's it to you, worm?" said BlackAgumon.

"If you are going to insist on staying here, I have a right to know your intentions."

"You didn't care about my intentions when I first arrived here."

"That first time, you were a prisoner under the control of one of Ken's devices."

BlackAgumon smirked. "You're a cheeky one, aren't you? Calling the Kaiser by that name…"

Wormmon bristled indignantly. "It's his name. Why shouldn't I use it? I'm his partner."

"Not anymore you aren't," said BlackAgumon with a laugh. "I'm here because you're going to be phased out of that role."

Wormmon's nervous wringing of his forelegs intensified. "Only if Ken decides that, and that doesn't answer my question. What are your own intentions? No one has ever come back after being freed from a Ring."

"For your information, it wasn't a Ring that was placed on me, it was a Spiral. And if it'll finally get you to shut up, I'll answer your question." BlackAgumon stepped closer, bringing his snout right up to Wormmon's face. A fierce, almost feral, light was burning in BlackAgumon's eyes. "The Kaiser is strong, the strongest I've ever seen. And what's more, he's generous with his strength. He made me strong, stronger than anyone I've ever seen, stronger than all those who mocked and tormented me."

Wormmon cowered under BlackAgumon's harsh gaze and took a step back. "There's more to life than strength…"

"Of course you would say that," snapped BlackAgumon "Little weaklings always say that, trying to claim meaningless 'moral' victories every time you crawl up out of the filth your opponent left you rotting in, claiming that just because you survived you somehow won. But that isn't living. You haven't truly lived even a day."

Hearing this, Wormmon tensed and took a step forward again, staring the other Digimon down. "You don't know me."

"I know your kind," said BlackAgumon with a sneer. "Hell, I was like you once… But no more! No more bowing and begging for survival. No more hiding and cowering while watching everyone else evolve and become stronger. I finally have the light of evolution for myself, and I will never let it go!"

Wormmon turned away. "But you don't really have evolution…"

"What did you say?"

"You're still dependent on Ken, and Ken doesn't care about you. For him, you're just a tool."

"A tool?" BlackAgumon laughed. "So what? Only the power matters. Soon he will send me out again, and give me the power to crush everything."

"Really?" whispered Wormmon.

"Really!" said BlackAgumon.

"Then why hasn't he put a new Dark Spiral on you to bind you to his Digivice again?"

BlackAgumon paused and frowned, but said no other word.

Wormmon sighed and shook his head, then walked away. BlackAgumon did not follow him.

Aside from the occasional passing Mekanorimon guard patrol, the Kaiser's headquarters seemed eerily quiet that night. Wormmon left his usual room, which he was now forced to share with BlackAgumon just because the larger and stronger Digimon had barged in and demanded it. Though the Kaiser had been amused by the willing collaborator at first, there were other collaborators too and the novelty was limited. Upon arriving back at his base the Kaiser had disregarded and ignored the new arrival, and so BlackAgumon went off on his own to bully Wormmon.

Wormmon knew that the Kaiser was still in his main command room, and took the elevator up to that level. The entire hallway was dark and difficult to navigate, but Wormmon could see his destination up ahead in the faint glow coming from the command room. Like the hallway, the room was unlit, except for the many monitors mounted in the half-dome all around the Kaiser's central chair.

"What is it?" asked the Kaiser.

Wormmon paused. He had not expected the Kaiser to have heard to his approach. "I was just checking if…"

"You've checked. Leave."

"I also wanted to talk about BlackAgumon."

"Who?" The Kaiser turned in his chair. "Oh right, the one I used for SkullGreymon. What about that thing?"

"What do you intend to do with him?"

"What concern is it to you, worm?"

Wormmon bowed his head and changed his strategy. He knew he would have to appeal to the Kaiser's ego to get a proper answer. "I was merely hoping that you could enlighten me with your genius…"

The Kaiser half-grunted half-laughed and turned his seat back to face the monitors and resume his typing. "As if you could understand my plans… I intend to continue using that lizard as a continued test subject. He was a good start, but I've started to realize the limitations. SkullGreymon was fairly strong, but he was still defeated because of one crucial weakness, the very same weakness that has prevented me from completing my victory: the Dark Ring, or in the lizard's case, the Spiral."

"But how can you get around using a Ring or Spiral?"

"I can't, nor do I actually need to for the bulk of my army. But for a proper partner that can utilize my own inherent power as a Chosen, something like a Ring or Spiral is unacceptable. As shown in SkullGreymon's defeat, the loss of the Spiral cuts me off from my would-be partner and I lose the invested power."

Wormmon felt his heart rise within him. Dare he hope?

"I needed the Spiral to bind BlackAgumon to my Digivice and use him as a partner," continued the Kaiser. "But imagine if I created a new Digimon from the very beginning to be my partner. That would eliminate the need to use the Spiral. It would remove the weak point that my enemies can always exploit."

Wormmon's heart sank back down. "What are you saying…?"

The Kaiser laughed and looked back at Wormmon. "What, were you hoping that I meant to use you? Ha! What could you possibly evolve into but a bigger and even more useless worm? No, my dreams are far grander." The Kaiser smiled and turned back to his screen, typing away with even greater fervor. "SkullGreymon was a Perfect level, but my next partner will be even greater. My next partner I will shape myself… at the Ultimate level…"

* * *

**Maximum v7.0**

**Purity of Intentions: Shurimon vs Igamon  
**

* * *

"We don't have any method of payment," said Takeru.

Digitamamon, a large Perfect level completely hidden inside an egg shell except for the pair of green reptilian legs extending through the cracks at the bottom of the shell and the two red eyes peering out through the dark open crack on the face, only laughed at the comment. "Don't worry about payment! It's not everyday that one gets the chance to meet someone from before the great Reboot of Apocalymon, let alone five!"

Terriermon crossed his arms and tilted his head to one side. "Four. I was born after the Reboot."

"Hey, you're still one of the Digimon honored as a partner of the Chosen, aren't you?" continued Digitamamon. "You can eat free too!"

Takeru frowned and crossed his arms. The diner behind Digitamamon was obviously not the same one where he had watched Jou and Yamato fight years ago, but it was still built in the same style. Patamon had similar bad memories and sighed from his perch on Takeru's hat.

"Enough," said Hikari from behind Takeru. "Let's just go inside and see if the food is to our liking."  
Takeru turned to Hikari, eyebrow raised.

"I'm still as cautious as ever," said Hikari. "Hence I had Tailmon scout the inside while its manager was busy out here."

Digitamamon blinked. "You what?"

The door behind him opened, and Tailmon casually stepped out. "There's nothing dangerous inside."

"I already told you, I've changed my ways," said Digitamamon. "No more taking bribes from small devil-bats for me. From now on, it's all legitimate business."

Takeru frowned and glanced back at Digitamamon. "I didn't realize legitimate business meant exploiting free Digimon by profiteering on low food supplies."

"The war with the Kaiser's hurting everyone, me included! With food prices the way they are just keeping this place open is being charitable to the Resistance cause! I'm no soldier after all." Digitamamon looked up at the others impatiently. "Besides, I'm letting you guys eat free, aren't I?"

Takeru and Hikari exchanged glances. They did need some time to rest and plan their next move. "Alright, we'll stay for lunch," said Hikari.

After they sat down, Terriermon wasted no time in placing food orders. Tailmon watched with a look of disdain, but it was clear that she was excited too from the waving of her tail. It had been a long time since they had eaten a proper meal. Patamon, however, remained with Takeru and Hikari, who had gone straight into business.

Takeru pulled out his gold D2 Digivice and used it to project a holographic map onto the table between them. "It's been a few days since Daisuke and Raidramon managed to stop SkullGreymon, and in that time the Kaiser has no longer been seen leading any new offensives. The only activity we've seen are the usual border attacks led by autonomous divisions of his army."

"None of my contacts have reported seeing him in person," said Patamon. "Perhaps he's licking his wounds from the last battle?"

"Possibly, but if he is, you know it won't be the only thing he's doing," said Takeru. He frowned and studied the map. "He's planning something. His experiment of creating an artificial partnership using his Dark Spiral was a success, even if he was defeated in battle. Logically, he should be trying something like mass producing Dark Spirals and using his Digivice to power up more Perfect levels to fight us. Since he's not doing that, he must have some bigger idea..." Takeru trailed off and shook his head. "But there's no point worrying about what he might be plotting. Whatever it is, we need to go on the offensive. Hit hard. Hit fast. If we can do enough damage, then he won't even have a chance to pull off whatever he's planning. What do you think Hikari?" He looked up to find her staring out the window wistfully. "Hikari?"

"You met this Digitamamon before during your first Adventure," she said. "That was before I joined."

Takeru coughed and looked back down at the map. "Yes. Do you know the story?"

"My brother told me."

Both of them fell silent, and the only sound in the diner became the playful half-arguments as Terriermon tried to provoke the usually stoic Tailmon to have some sort of reaction and the sound of Digitamamon cooking in the kitchens. Neither Takeru nor Hikari said another word until Digitamomon brought the food, pushing up a cart stacked with plates of egg-fried rice, American-style omelets, and pickled eggs. Tailmon sniffed all the plates first. Digitamamon seemed offended, but Takeru countered that it was a more general caution that made no direct accusation at Digitamamon. Other Digimon merchants must have handled the ingredients before selling them to Digitamamon's diner.

"Well, can't be too careful I guess," agreed Digitamamon grudgingly. He was about to leave, when his eyes fell on the holographic map. "Oh, are you heading to the ocean?"

Takeru instinctively turned off the projection and hid away his Digivice. "It is one of the directions we might go."

"If you do, be sure to drop by the Gekomon village in the mountains," said Digitamamon. "Most of my supplies pass through there on the Egg Road. Last I heard the nearby Star Mining town at the border between the mountains and desert was conquered and its inhabitants absorbed into the Kaiser's army. There's a lot of pressure on the trade routes along Egg Road now."

"I'll certainly keep it in mind," said Takeru, turning back to his food.

"Well, I'll leave you to enjoy your meal." Digitamamon bowed and left their table.

At the end of the table, Terriermon tried challenging Patamon to an eating contest, but so far Patamon resisted all of his younger brother's prodding and continued eating in small restrained bites while Terriermon showed off his stuffed cheeks as a taunt. Tailmon sighed and shook her head, embarrassed just by watching the whole ordeal.

"About the Gekomon village," began Takeru, trying to restart his conversation with Hikari. "Perhaps I could ask Daisuke and the others to check it out, since we're in a hurry. I promised them that I'd have something for them to help with soon."

"Do whatever you want," said Hikari dismissively, pushing a ball of fried rice back and forth with her spoon. There was no hostility in her voice. Takeru knew that she no longer felt anger toward the others after they had all but saved their lives from SkullGreymon. All that was left... well, he wasn't sure what was left, actually.

Hikari set down her own spoon and looked at the window. There was a lake just outside, its water sparkling in the midday sun. Though she couldn't explain why, something about the water seriously bothered her.

* * *

Miyako had forgotten how long she had been staring at the blank computer screen in front of her, though it couldn't have been much more than ten minutes or so. Daisuke and Chibimon were late, of course, but so were Iori and Upamon. Only Miyako and her partner were in the Computer Lab at the moment. She crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat, sighing.

She glanced at the red D2 Digivice by the keyboard. "Hey, Hawkmon."

The screen of the Digivice flashed as its occupant made his reply. "Yes? What can I do for you?"  
"Does it ever feel cramped in there?"

"You don't need to worry about me. I'm fine anywhere in your service."

Miyako frowned and drummed her fingers on the desk in front of her. "What was your life like before you met me?"

"Hm? Why do you ask?"

Miyako leaned back forward and rested her arms on the desk and her chin on her arms. "Well, we're supposed to be partners and all, so I thought it'd be proper…" She glanced at the door. Daisuke and the rest still weren't there. "Hawkmon, are you happy having me as a partner?"

"What? What kind of question is that?"

"I mean, I get that you're all about duty and stuff, but are you happy being stuck with me?" Miyako sighed again. "Compared to Daisuke or Iori, what am I? So far they've been doing basically everything. I just sort of tag along…"

"What kind of talk is that?" stammered Hawkmon. "Yes, I am very concerned with duty and obligation, but I serve you wholeheartedly! This is not a grudging obligation, this is a happy one! I am very glad to be at your side!"

"Iori actually cares about the Digital World and works really hard because of it. And Daisuke can be kind of dumb sometimes but he's really passionate about it too. You hadn't met us back then, but I wasn't even really sure that I wanted to get involved in the Digital World. It was Iori that convinced me. And it was Daisuke who convinced Takeru to fight on our side when I was suggesting that we should just leave him. Daisuke's the one who has two Digimentals, and great ones at that." Miyako let out a soft sarcastic laugh. "Knowledge? What does that even mean? That I'm more bookish than Daisuke and Iori?"

The Digivice flashed as its occupant let himself out, now in his form as Poromon. "Miyako, where is all this coming from?"

"I don't know," said Miyako, straightening and rubbing her eyes. "And that's the worst part. It's like I'm jealous of them, but I shouldn't be. The way I'm talking it sounds like I only want to get involved in order to be more important than them, and that's just horrible. I should be trying to help for the sake of helping itself."

"It's alright," said Poromon as he hopped into Miyako's lap. "Everyone feels discouraged sometimes. I know I said that I joined you to protect you, but I meant more than just protecting you physically. Anytime you feel troubled, just let me know, and I will help you."

Miyako gave a warm pat on Poromon's head. "Yeah, I guess I'm just in a weird mood right now. You haven't known me that long, but sometimes I get like this. Thanks for listening to me though."

"The pleasure is all mine," said Poromon. "And to answer your previous question, yes I am happy to have you as a partner. Someone like Daisuke or Iori would never be so honest about his or her feelings."

Miyako laughed and patted Poromon again. "It's weird, but I feel really at ease when you're around. I can trust telling you stuff."

Poromon laughed as well. "That trust sort of naturally happens when someone has fought beside you."

"If I try to be serious with Daisuke he just laughs at me," continued Miyako. "And Iori would get even more serious than me and be all worried."

"What about your parents?"

Miyako straightened. "You know about parents? Chibimon said that Digimon didn't have parents."

"Well, Digimon don't, but I understand the basic concepts. We Digimon know a lot about humans, due to the information that passes from this world to the Digital World."

"Yeah, Terriermon once said something about knowing a bunch of different languages." Miyako suddenly laughed. "Actually, I should have you help me with my English class."

"It would be an honor," said Poromon in perfect English, with an American east coast accent.

Miyako smiled to herself as she petted Poromon again. She was suddenly aware of how long it had been since she had actually really opened up to someone else. Daisuke and Iori were her friends, sure, but there were still some things that she felt like she couldn't tell them.

* * *

The door slid open as Daisuke barged into the Computer lab, Chibimon brazenly nestling on his shoulder. Iori entered with somewhat greater discretion, Armadimon tucked away inside his yellow Digivice.

"Alright, we're all here," said Daisuke with a smile. "Let's go!"

Miyako stared at him with one eyebrow raised. "What? Not even a hello?"

Daisuke only laughed and gave Miyako a casual slap on the back as he settled behind her. "Come on, Takeru said that he had a pretty cool place for us to check out."

"We're not going there to have fun," said Miyako with obvious disapproval.

Daisuke looked at her with narrowed eyes. "Oh, you're in one of your moods…"

Miyako bristled. "What moods?"

Behind them, Iori sighed and shook his head. Once again it was up to him to make the necessary preparations, since his friends were too busy fighting for dominance again. He drew his D2 Digivice and directed it at the computer, opening the Gate to the other world. This reminder of their destination cooled off the confrontation, and Daisuke and Miyako turned their attentions back to the task at hand, saving any future discussion for after they crossed over.

On the other side, they found themselves surrounded by mountains on a long and winding road. Further down the road, they could see the very top of one of the obelisk-shaped Dark Towers, standing beside the top of various other buildings.

Iori squinted as he looked out into the distance. "Those roofs are curved," he commented. "They look like classical Asian buildings."

"Is that where we're supposed to be going?" wondered Daisuke aloud. "It's probably a city we're supposed to save or something." He smiled at Vmon, who was just beside him. "Well, then let's go!"

Vmon nodded enthusiastically and the two began to walk ahead. They were stopped by Miyako grabbing Daisuke by his collar and Vmon by the scruff of his neck."

"Hey, don't rush off!" she said. "Remember what happened the last time we went to a city?"

"Yeah, but that time it was a trap," said Daisuke. "Takeru asked us to take care of this ourselves, which means things probably won't be too bad or anything."

"If it is a city, there will be many Digimon there," said Iori. "We should hurry and check out the area. The Kaiser might have converted that area to another prison camp, in which case the sooner we help the Digimon there the better."

Miyako sighed and relaxed her grip. Once free of Miyako's hands, Daisuke and Vmon ran off together almost as if they were racing each other. Iori shook his head but still smiled, amused a bit by Daisuke's enthusiasm. He nodded to Armadimon and the two tried to keep up.

"They're just wasting energy," grumbled Miyako, crossing her arms.

"Still, it would be best not to get separated," said Hawkmon.

Luckily for them, Daisuke and Vmon suddenly stumbled and fell further ahead on the road. Miyako shook her head in disapproval as she rejoined them. From where she was standing, she could see that they had tripped and crashed into a large round rock.

However, as she drew closer, she saw it was not a rock, but a large egg, with two reptilian legs poking out from holes in the bottom. A large wooden cart was nearby, laden with large white bags.

"A Digimon!" said Hawkmon. He instinctively jumped ahead of Miyako to shield her from a possible attack, his sharp throwing feathers drawn in one wing. Miyako checked her Digivice as it projected a holographic image of the information of the Digimon.

_**Digitamamon**: Perfect level. Data Attribute. Egg Type. Nightmare Soldiers. Special Attack: Nightmare Syndrome. Melee Attack: Swing Egg._

"A Perfect level?" Miyako frowned and looked at the egg again. "This little thing? This is a far cry from SkullGreymon…"

Daisuke had gotten back on his feet, laughing and rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, sorry," he said. "We were in a rush and didn't see you among the rocks."

Digitamamon grunted as he got back up on his feet, his glowing eyes angled in clear displeasure at having been so rudely knocked aside. "Hey, watch where you're going you f…" He trailed off as he saw who he was with. "Oh, humans!"

"Yeah, we're humans," said Daisuke, guessing from Digitamamon's tone that that fact was in his advantage.

"Ah, you must be the ones that one-eye and ice queen were talking about," said Digitamamon. "They mentioned that you were going to be on the way to the Gekomon village."

Daisuke blinked in confusion upon hearing Digitamamon's odd nicknames. "Do you mean Takeru and the others?"

"Yeah, the shabby dirty one," said Digitamamon, nodding. "I figured that since you were probably on the way to Gekomon village to fight off the Kaiser's army, the roads would be a bit safer. I was just on my way too…" He stopped and suddenly noticed something. "Oh! My cart!"

"Do you mean this cart?" asked Armadimon, pushing up the wooden cart back into Digitamamon's view.

"Ah! Yes!" Digitamamon happily ran back to his cart, pushing it so that it was straight on the road. "I figured that if the roads were safer I'd go and pick up some more supplies for my restaurant."

Daisuke seemed to jump at the mention of food. "You own a restaurant?"

"Yep. I have a nice little one down the road, beyond the Gekomon village and the Star Mining Town." Digitamamon shook his head sadly. "With both of them under the Kaiser's control it's hard to get fresh ingredients. Customers get pretty desperate for food." Digitamamon paused for a moment with a glint in his eye. "Prices go up…"

Miyako frowned and studied the egg Digimon suspiciously. She noted Digitamamon's bare legs, but also the fact that the egg shell hid away the rest of the body.

* * *

As they followed Digitamamon and his food cart to the Gekomon village, Miyako pulled Daisuke aside to whisper in his ear. "Are you sure we can trust this egg?"

Daisuke gave Miyako an odd look. "What? He hasn't done anything suspicious. There's no Ring on him or anything, so he's not under the Kaiser's control."

"How do you know he doesn't have one under the shell or something?"

Daisuke shrugged. "He hasn't mindlessly attacked us or anything. All the Digimon we've come across with Rings don't talk to us, they just charge at us."

"But didn't you hear what he was saying? He's a war profiteer!"

"A what?"

Miyako rolled her eyes. "He's someone who's taking advantage of supply shortages caused by the war to raise prices and take advantage of others."

"That does sound kind of fishy," said Daisuke, crossing his arms and thinking for a moment. Miyako, however, knew better than to expect any decisive action. She was sure her friend was only thinking about if that meant it would be more expensive for them if they wanted to stop by at Digitamamon's restaurant on the way back.

"Well, we'll just wait and see what he does," continued Daisuke. "Maybe we could check out the prices ourselves once we're done in the village."

Miyako sighed and backed off to rejoin Hawkmon. Iori and Armadimon were also near the end of their group. Daisuke and Vmon meanwhile went up ahead to casually chat with Digitamamon and talk about food.

"You know what's really said?" said Miyako to Hawkmon. "I want to say that Daisuke and Vmon are doing this for all the wrong reasons, but I can't." She growled. "There's just incredibly irritating innocence about them that won't let you call them selfish. And the very fact that I want to be able to say bad stuff about them makes me the worse person."

"Don't worry about it too much," replied Hawkmon with a shrug.

They continued on the road for a while longer, and the Gekomon village soon drew into view. The Dark Tower was near the border, standing amidst a broken wooden city wall. Smoke was visible, presumably the effects of war. They were definitely drawing close to a battleground.

Digitamamon hesitated as they drew closer. "I wasn't expecting there to be an outright battle right now. I'm no soldier. I'm not going in there if there's fighting."

"Are you kidding?" snapped Miyako. "You're just going to sit here and do nothing but wait for us to clean things up for you or something?"

Iori stepped forward to put his hand on Miyako's arm. "Miyako, we can't force him to help us if he can't. It wouldn't be right."

"He's a Perfect level like SkullGreymon! What's he got to be afraid of?"

"Hey, not all Perfect levels are the same," said Digitamamon, eyes narrowed in irritation. "And there is a level even above Perfect, even if they are incredibly rare."

Hawkmon suddenly jumped in their midst, wings raised. "Hold on. Something's approaching!"

Armadimon looked up, his large ears twitching. "Really? I don't hear anything."

There was a sudden whistling sound, and Hawkmon pulled a feather blade from his headband and threw it above Armadimon's head. The ring of metal against metal sounded in the air as the feather and a throwing star both landed in the dirt. Before anyone else could react, Hawkmon drew four more feather blades and threw them, intercepting four more stars that were aimed at Vmon, Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori.

Their attacker appeared before them in a puff of smoke. It was a strange mutant Digimon with a round body-head hybrid and four humanoid limbs. A curved Japanese style sword was across its back, and it wore a dark red hood over its face. The Kaiser's Spiral was wrapped around one arm.

_**Igamon**: Adult level. Data Attribute. Mutant type. Nature Spirits. Ranged Attack: Blade Throw. Melee Attack: Fire Waltz Sword._

"You are talented at throwing blades," commented the newcomer, staring Hawkmon down. "When Starmon told me to scout ahead, I was afraid that I had been handed a boring throwaway mission, but things just got interesting."

Miyako nudged Daisuke with her arm. "You were saying something about Kaiser-controlled Digimon never talking to us and just attacking?"

"Hey, to be fair he did attack us before talking," said Daisuke.

"I've heard of you," said Hawkmon to Igamon, drawing more of his feathers. "You're a practitioner of the Iga-style Assassin Arts. The followers of the Iga-style are supposed to be fiercely independent. And now look at you, just a pawn for the Kaiser."

Igamon laughed and pointed at the Spiral on his arm. "Make no mistake. I'm no pawn. These Spirals are more advanced than the Rings used for lowly grunts. They're for autonomous field officers like me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have enough of my own will to be able to postpone our fight to have a nice chat."

"You're a collaborator like BlackAgumon?" said Miyako indignantly. "You let that Spiral be put on you?"

"Did you think I could be so weak as to let myself be caught by surprise by a few metal trinkets like these?" asked Igamon. He turned to Hawkmon. "You. Bird. You have some talent, but I will soon prove to you that I am the most skilled blade thrower in all the Digital World since the Dark Clown!"

Digitamamon peeked out from behind his cart, which he had used as an impromptu shelter as soon as the first clash of throwing blades. "Hey, I don't think this is a good idea," he called to the others. "We should get out of here."

Miyako either did not hear or did not care about what Digitamamon had said. "Hawkmon, take this guy down!"

Hawkmon threw his feather blades, but Igamon threw a smoke bomb and vanished in its wake. The feathers passed through and embedded in the tree beyond the cloud. The next moment, Igamon was on top of Digitamamon's cart, throwing two stars directly at Miyako.

Miyako cried out in surprise and shock, and Hawkmon desperately dove ahead of her, catching the throwing stars in his torso and collapsing into Miyako's arms.

Igamon smiled and drew his sword, ready to move in for the kill.

The next moment, he was flying through the air, eyes wide in surprise and pain. A dark blast shaped like a demonic ghost had emerged from the crack in Digitamamon's egg and smashed into Igamon's back. Digitamamon's Nightmare Syndrome attack sent Igamon off into the distance, and the ninja crashed far off, out of view.

* * *

"Hawkmon!"

The wounded Digimon stared down at the two throwing stars embedded in his chest. A cold feeling was spreading from the blades through his chest, so he pulled the two stars out of his chest. The cold feeling didn't disappear, but instead spread even more. "Paralysis poison…?"

Daisuke and Vmon were at Miyako's side right away. "Is Hawkmon alright?"

"There's some kind of poison on these blades," whispered Hawkmon. He began shivering.

Digitamamon stepped up beside them. "Let's hurry to the Gekomon village. We can get help there."

Miyako said nothing. She remained still, holding Hawkmon and staring down at the two holes in his chest, which seemed to be turning a dark green color against his red feathers.

Daisuke shook Miyako by the shoulder. "Didn't you hear? Let's go."

Miyako only nodded dumbly and followed after Daisuke and the others as they continued down the road as fast as they could.

They reached the wooden gate of the village at the end of the road within minutes, but to Miyako the journey felt like it had taken several long agonizing hours. Ahead, the gate was built in a distinctive East Asian style, complete with a tall wood banner above the doors, only the words were written in strange symbols native to the Digital World instead of Chinese characters one would have expected from a similar human construction. The gates, however, were closed shut and watched by two frog-like Digimon with thin wiry bodies and large brass horns extending from their shoulders. Seeing that these Digimon were free of the Kaiser's control, Daisuke ran up to greet them, and his Digivice detected the Digimon and projected their information to him.

_**Gekomon:** Adult level. Amphibian Type. Virus Attribute. Nature Spirits. Special Attack: Crash Symphony. Melee Attack: Tongue Strike._

"Open the gates!" called Daisuke. "We need help!"

The two Gekomon regarded them suspiciously. "Our village is under attack right now," said one. "For security purposes all gates are to remain closed until our leader ShogunGekomon successfully defeats the invaders."

"But we really need help right now!" Daisuke turned around and pulled up Miyako and Hawkmon. He pointed to the poisoned Digimon shivering in Miyako's arms. "He's been poisoned or something. We need help right away!"

The two Gekomon hesitated and exchanged looks.

"And we're not enemies; we're your allies," called Vmon. "We can help you all fight. Certainly you must have heard of us! We've been fighting the Kaiser's forces for a while now."

"What about that one?" said one of the Gekomon, suddenly pointing to Digitamamon. The large egg had been trying to be as discreet as possible by standing behind his cart and the others.

"He's that profiteer that shows up every now and then," commented the other. "He buys up our sake and vegetables at dirt cheap prices because we're desperate to sell with so few traders around."

"What of it?" said Digitamamon with a harsh and indignant voice. "I brave the dangerous roads, so I have to make more money. You should be happy someone is willing to buy at all."

The Gekomon frowned and looked at each other again.

Iori stepped forward as well. "Despite what you may think of Digitamamon, we are offering to help you if you can help us. Please. Our friend is in desperate need right now, and we would be eternally grateful if you would just open the gates."

Iori's calm voice seemed to smooth tensions over, and the Gekomon nodded. "Fine, you can all enter, but not the trader. We don't have time to sell with the current state of things, and we don't want him looting our abandoned shops."

Digitamamon grumbled something under his breath, but said nothing and remained still as the Gekomon opened the gates. Daisuke and Vmon pushed on through ahead, pulling Miyako and Hawkmon along after them. The gates shut after Iori and Armadillomon entered, separating them from Digitamamon.

The sight that greeted them was not a pleasant one. Though they were far off from the very front of the battle, the effects were still visible. All the buildings had been abandoned, their shutters nailed closed. Every now and then various Gekomon would run past, bearing stretchers of their wounded comrades. Some cast a glance at the children, but they were generally in too much of a hurry to pay them any serious mind. Other Gekomon ran by pushing wheelbarrows loaded with broken Rings, perhaps intended to be salvaged as scrap metal. Every now and then, bright lights appeared in the sky near the Dark Tower and then rained down upon the village, causing large explosions.

"That was Starmon's Meteor Squall attack," whispered one of the Gekomon guards as he left the gate and joined them. He turned to address them. "Follow me. I will take you to the castle of Lord ShogunGekomon, our leader. You can find medical help there, as well as ask our Lord for permission to fight alongside him."

Daisuke gave the Gekomon a quizzical look. "We have to ask for permission?"

"Those are our laws."

* * *

Despite the outward appearance of feudal-era Asia, the castle of ShogunGekomon had a distinctly modern style on the inside. The lobby they entered had marble floors like that of an office building or an expensive, complete with a Gekomon with a red hat operating elevators. At the very least the center of the lobby had a small green field containing a pond and a cherry blossom tree.

Their Gekomon guide led them to the elevator and brought them up to a higher level. The doors opened to a large room like an executive office, though the space was occupied by many improvised cots where Gekomon laid clutching burns, cuts, and bruises. Beyond this makeshift triage center was a balcony, where a massive red Digimon with two large brass horns mounted on its shoulders stood looking out at the Dark Tower on the other side of the village. More lights appeared in the sky in the distance and began to rain down on the village, but the large red frog Digimon fired a blast of sound from its two horns, causing the lights to explode in mid-air.

_**ShogunGekomon**: Perfect level. Amphibian Type. Virus Attribute. Nature Spirits. Special Attack: Musical Tone. Melee Attack: Frog Kick._

As the Gekomon bid Hawkmon lay down on a cot, Miyako settled next to her wounded partner. Iori frowned as he looked over the wounded Gekomon. Even Daisuke seemed visibly stunned, and hesitantly approached the Gekomon lying nearest to Hawkmon. "What… what happened here?"

The Gekomon on the cot stifled a sob and turned away, but their guide returned bearing a number of bottles and vials filled with various colors and answered Daisuke's question as he set his load down. "While the Kaiser's usual strategy is to just flood an area with Rings to capture as many as possible, our sound-based attacks are especially effective at taking down Rings from a distance. That's why, for us, he's making sure to 'soften' us up before he sending in too many Rings. The leader of the attacking army, Starmon, can summon meteor storms to rain destruction upon us. Our leader ShogunGekomon does his best to blast the meteors away with sound waves, but a few still manage to get through."

"That's horrible," whispered Iori as he looked over the burns on the Gekomon on the cot. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Take down the Tower and end the attack," said the guide. He pointed out to the balcony. "They will have to retreat if the Tower goes down as it will cut off the power supply of their Rings. Our Lord ShogunGekomon is right there talking with several other guests to prepare for the assault on the Tower."

Daisuke and Vmon exchanged a glance and nodded. They were about to head right to the balcony, when they noticed Miyako again.

Miyako looked up at them as she realized they were looking at her. "Go on," she said quietly. "I'll stay here with Hawkmon."

"Are you sure?" asked Daisuke.

Miyako nodded. "Go. I won't be much help right now, but you call can." She looked at Iori, who was visibly hesitating. "You too, Iori."

Iori bit his lip but nodded and followed after Daisuke and Vmon. Armadimon even paused and looked back before hurrying up after his partner. After they were gone, the Gekomon guide studied the wounds in Hawkmon's chest before looking through the bottles and vials that he had brought. He pulled out a bottle containing a red liquid which he poured over the cuts, and a vial containing a clear one which he poured down Hawkmon's throat.

Next to the cot, Miyako kneeled and sank her face into her hands. It was all her fault. Hawkmon had ended up in such a state protecting her because she was too dumb to listen to Digitamamon. If she had instead retreated things might have turned out differently. Even before then, if she hadn't been so suspicious of Digitamamon and held everything up they might not have even come across Igamon at all.

The absolute worst thing, for her at least, was that part of her mind that felt an incessant need to try to justify herself. Part of her wanted to still argue that her criticism of Digitamamon's profiteering was right. Another part of her still wanted to argue her anger over Igamon and BlackAgumon's collaboration with the Kaiser was right. Did being right matter at all if it put her partner in such a state?

"That's the wrong vial."

Miyako looked up at the new voice and saw a newcomer pull a vial of blue liquid out of the Gekomon's hands. "Isn't it obvious that you're dealing with the poisons of the Iga school?" continued the newcomer disdainfully, casually tossing the vial aside. She pointed to a different bottle. "That one's the one you want to use. It'll get him up and running again in a matter of minutes." The Gekomon frowned at the intrusion, but still followed the directions given to him.  
Miyako only managed to swallow, as the rest of her body frozen in surprise and anxiety. She didn't know what to say to the beautiful girl that had appeared and was slowly turning to her.

"What are you gaping at?" said Yagami Hikari.

* * *

"You…! You're…!"

Hikari frowned. Beside her, Tailmon casually stepped forward, eyeing Miyako and Hawkmon and shaking her head.

"You again," Miyako managed to force out at last. She suddenly rose to her feet. "You're not here to start another fight are you?"

"My name is Yagami Hikari, for your information, and no, I'm not here to fight you. This is no place to start one. I was merely passing through when we happened to get caught up in this. We were supposed to push on further, but Takeru insisted we change our plans when he saw that Starmon and Revolmon of the Star Mining Town had been enslaved and made the leaders of the attack on this village." She cast a sideways glance to the balcony, and Miyako followed her gaze.

There was Takeru, wrapped in his black cloak with Patamon on his shoulder and Galgomon next to him, standing with a stunned expression on his face while Daisuke gripped his hands and talked excitedly. Above them, the towering form of ShogunGekomon seemed bewildered by the exchange going on, but did nothing else.

"I see your leader is as obnoxious as ever," said Hikari.

"Leader?" Miyako blinked and looked back at the other girl. "What? Daisuke? Leader? You're joking right?"

Hikari made no reply, but instead looked down at Hawkmon. The Gekomon had begun treating the poisoned Digimon with the medicine that Hikari had pointed out. "I was wondering why you weren't with the others at first, but now I see it was because you lost to an Igamon."

Miyako bit her lip and glared at the other girl. "What of it?" she snapped. "Hawkmon and I and everyone else are just trying to help, but you have to do everything to try and antagonize all of us."

The other girl seemed a bit surprised by Miyako's outburst, but remained cool in her demeanor. She shrugged. "You seem unusually upset."

And with that casual dismissal of her outburst, Miyako deflated and felt embarrassed, realizing that if anything she had just been acting more antagonistic.

"You are a very interesting person," said Hikari, taking a seat beside Miyako. "You're right actually. I do want to antagonize you, or at least did. I don't like how you all are getting involved like this is all just some after-school activity for all of you. You don't really have a single tie to this world." She laughed and glanced back at Miyako. "And you keep coming back. It makes me wonder why."

Miyako could think of no reply that would be satisfactory, because it felt like Hikari's eyes could somehow strip her bare and look deep into those selfish intentions that Miyako was so terrified would be there. Her heart sank as she remembered her jealousy of Daisuke and Iori, her selfish interest in studying the D2 Digivice and learning more about the Digital world, and how in the end even Hawkmon, who she had called a friend, had ended up being just a shield for her.

"Because she has good intentions..."

Miyako and Hikari both looked down at Hawkmon, who was slowly rising. The Gekomon had finished applying the medicines, and the newly awakened bird was answering Hikari's question. "Miyako isn't hard to understand at all. Miyako can't answer because she's afraid you're right… but that's because she's self-aware. She considers her own intentions and meditates on them deeply, and deep down tries her hardest to make sure that they're pure ones. The high standards she hold for others are the same high standards that she constantly judges herself by. Her own self-doubt about her own goodness is itself proof that she is a good person. She is the type of person I will serve no matter what."

Hikari seemed amused by the reply. She opened her mouth to make a reply, but Tailmon suddenly glanced up at her partner and tugged at Hikari's hand. When Hikari looked down in response, Tailmon put a paw up to her mouth and whispered something.

Hikari's eyes widened, and Immediately both she and Tailmon jumped up and began running to the balcony. Miyako watched them in confusion and looked back outside. Her eyes widened as she saw it.

A long rope had suddenly appeared above ShogunGekomon, where Igamon was sliding down, a Spiral in hand. ShogunGekomon only had a brief moment to look up before Igamon slapped the mind-controlling device onto the stalk atop his head.

* * *

The effect was immediate. ShogunGekomon turned toward the room and unleashed a massive shockwave from the twin brass horns on his shoulders.

Tailmon stopped mid-run and braced herself against the impact as the massive wave passed through the floor, ripping apart the walls and ceilings and sending Gekomon tumbling out of their cots. Glass bottles and vials shook violently before shattering under the massive pressure of the passing sound wave.

Miyako and Hawkmon had pressed their hands against their ears as the wave passed. They now looked up, and found that Hikari had run back to them at the last moment and helped shield them from the sound wave.

"Help the Gekomon out of here," said Hikari, clutching her own ears as she looked back to Miyako. "Tailmon and I will handle ShogunGekomon."

Miyako nodded dumbly and helped Hawkmon out of the cot. The Gekomon that had attended to Hawkmon asked their help, and they quickly followed after him, helping all the Gekomon that had trouble walking to get to the elevator. As Miyako glanced backward, she saw Iori and Armadimon running to rejoin them and help them evacuate. Daisuke was on Raidramon's back as the dragon-beast jumped off the balcony and began running on the rooftops, trying to get ShogunGekomon's attention away from the floor. Similarly, Takeru was on Pegasmon's back as Coatlmon flew alongside.

As the elevator door slid shut with Miyako and everyone else inside, the last thing Miyako saw was Igamon throwing another rope down the balcony to flee before Tailmon and Hikari could engage him.

The elevator went down agonizingly slowly. Miyako looked from the door to her partner. Hawkmon was stretching his wings and back.

"Hey… Hawkmon?"

The bird Digimon looked up at her. "Yes?"

Miyako smiled. "Thank you."

"I live to serve."

There was a ring as the elevator reached the bottom and the doors slid open to greet an unlikely Digimon waiting for them.

"Yo," said Digitamamon.

Miyako blinked in surprise. "You! You...?"

Digitamamon motioned toward his cart, which they now saw was empty of the boxes and packages they had seen before. "Things got ugly at the gate, and the guard decided to let me in anyways," explained Digitamamon. "And I figured, hey, I might not be a soldier, but I might be able to help using my cart or something."

Miyako looked back at all the Gekomon, most of them exhausted and clearly having difficulty walking. She turned back to Digitamamon. "Thanks."

Digitamamon chuckled. "I mean, I understand what you were saying about me. I always tried to justify what I was doing with my prices by saying I was helping get food through and that was what's important. But you were different, and called me out, so I started thinking, maybe I can afford to make a little less. Everyone has to make sacrifices in these times."

Miyako was stunned by the Digimon's words. She could not think of a response. Instead, Iori bowed to Digitamamon in appreciation before helping the Gekomon rest on the cart to continue the evacuation. Outside, rubble was falling like rain as ShogunGekomon continued his sudden rampage.

"Digitamamon," said Miyako at last as the most hurt Gekomon were placed on the cart. "I don't... I mean, I..." She paused, then just smiled. "Thanks for your words."

Iori suddenly tugged on her arm. She looked down as the younger boy held up his vibrating yellow D2, showing a sudden signal detected on its screen that resembled a green teardrop. "It's coming right from the pool," said Iori. "I think it's a Digimental. Let's check it before we go."

Miyako looked up to the pool, and as she did, a light suddenly began to glow from something near the middle. She looked to Digitamamon. "Go on ahead everyone. We'll catch up after we check this out."

Digitamamon nodded and began pushing the cart out of the castle, followed and helped by the most able Gekomon remaining. Miyako turned and waded into the pool, where she reached down and felt something round, like an egg. Her fingers wrapped around it and she pulled, finding it impossibly light as it sprung up from the water. The Digimental was dark green and seemed to have a four-pointed metal star as a base.

The very moment that she did, Hawkmon suddenly tensed and drew one of his feather blades. He quickly threw it, and it struck a throwing star in mid-air causing both to fall into the pool.  
In a sudden flash and puff of smoke, Igamon appeared at the lobby door. He tensed as he saw the object in Miyako's hands.

Miyako glanced to her partner. "Shall we?"

"Of course!"

"Digimental Up!"

Hawkmon grew larger in a flash of light, his limbs growing into long and flexible corded bundles of vines that wrapped around three-pronged bladed stars. The Digimental seemed to unfurl in Miyako's hands, becoming a white cloth that spread and covered Hawkmon's growing body. Two large green leaves covered his shoulders while the star base of the Digimental became a massive throwing star on his back. In his new form he was a fierce ninja that towered above Igamon.

Bursting Purity, Shurimon.

_**Shurimon**: Armor level. Data Attribute. Mutant Type. Jungle Troopers. Ranged Attack: Autumn Wind. Special Attack: Leaf Concealment._

The two ninja stared each other down as the castle shook violently around them and continued to collapse.

* * *

Shurimon and Igamon charged at each other, the latter throwing a barrage of stars as he ran. The coiled arms of Shurimon spun, and the spinning blades at the end of his arms deflected all the incoming blades. As they drew near to each other, Igamon drew his sword to catch the spinning star blades.

"Don't think that just because you're wearing some fancy cloth armor that you have any more chance of stopping me," taunted Igamon as their blades locked together.

Both jumped back as the ceiling above them cracked and a piece dislodged and landed where they had been standing mere moments before.

Iori tugged Miyako's arm. "It's still dangerous in here. We should get out."

Miyako nodded and called to her partner.

"Go on ahead," Shurimon shouted back. "Leave Igamon to me."

The others nodded. Armadimon donned his armor to become Pteramon before gripping Miyako and Iori in his talons and carried them out through the lobby doors.

"Come on, come on!" said Igamon, his face twisting into a gleeful smile. "You've got the garb of a ninja, but can you actually use those shuriken or not?"

Shurimon made no reply, instead jumping back to unleash all extend all four of his coiled limbs like springs. Igamon only managed to deflect one of the blades, while the three slashed across his legs and his one arm. He had specifically blocked the attack aimed at his Spiral.

Just as they were about to clash again, the cracks on the ceiling expanded until the entire ceiling above them crashing down. They began running out of the castle, dodging rubble and exchanging attacks the whole way through. As they jumped through the crumbling door, they both glanced back and saw the massive form of ShogunGekomon come crashing down through the ruined ceiling.

Both ninja jumped onto the rooftops, still exchanging throwing stars as they continued to move away from the castle. Behind them, ShogunGekomon seemed to be following after them as he continued his rampage through the streets, blasting his brass horns indiscriminately to destroy all the buildings around him he could see.

Shurimon and Igamon clashed again in close quarters, sword locking against blade stars. As they were locked down, Raidramon suddenly bounded up to them, Daisuke on his back. Daisuke's D2 identified Shurimon's new form for him.

"Need some help there Shurimon?" called Raidramon.

"Focus on ShogunGekomon," answered Shurimon. "He's the bigger threat right now." He pressed on his attack, and the two ninja continued their duel further down the rooftops.

Raidramon looked up at the rampaging ShogunGekomon, currently being circled by Coatlmon and Pegasmon. "Maybe I should switch Armor forms to Flamedramon," said Raidramon to Daisuke. "I'm more mobile as Raidramon, sure, but ShogunGekomon is a pretty slow moving target."

"No, stay as Raidramon," called a voice from below.

Both Raidramon and Daisuke looked down. Hikari was there, Tailmon at her side. "You two should continue helping with any necessary evacuation, and will need your greater speed in that form. Tailmon and I will join Takeru and his brothers to handle ShogunGekomon."

Daisuke frowned and studied the girl suspiciously. "Why should we listen to you?"

Hikari gave a dismissive laugh. "Why do I need to give you a reason? You're going to obey anyways."

She continued down the road to join the fight against ShogunGekomon, Tailmon following after. Behind her, Daisuke growled in frustration and looked down at Raidramon. Both of them shook their heads in annoyance as they grudgingly set out in search of Miyako and Iori to continue the evacuation. Hikari had been right. They obeyed, having no ideas as to what else they could do to help.

Meanwhile, Coatlmon and Pegasmon set out their Sanctuary Bind combination attack, wrapping around ShogunGekomon's arms and legs to hold him in place. This had the desired effect, and the Perfect level turned his attention to the flying pests, following after them as they flew toward the outskirt of the village. They abruptly stopped near the border, and ShogunGekomon poblemply blasted both his horns at them. Takeru gripped Pegasmon tightly as they and Coatlmon braced to take the attack.

The sound and air waves rippled through them, severely wounding them. But it also continued on after past them, striking the Dark Tower behind them. They had specifically positioned themselves between ShogunGekomon and the Tower after getting the Digimon's attention.

ShogunGekomon paused and blinked in confusion as the Tower began to crumble and fall, perhaps realizing that he had done something he was not supposed to. This hesitance gave Tailmon all the opening she needed to jump up and slash off the stalk bearing the Spiral, severing the Kaiser's control.

Though one problem had been solved, the duel between Shurimon and Igamon dragged on with no conclusion. Raidramon ran alongside them as they fought, catching sight of Pteramon, who had rejoined with Digitamamon and the other evacuees. The dragon-beast jumped down to rejoin them.

"Daisuke, Raidramon," called out Miyako. "Have you seen Shurimon?"

Daisuke pointed his thumb behind him just as the two dueling ninja leaped over the nearest rooftop and sailed above them, exchanging more throwing stars the whole time as they fell. As they landed, Igamon glanced at the Gekomon.

"Well, I'll admit you're stronger than I thought, but now it's time for me to finish this," said Igamon. He formed his hands together in a strange seal. "I'll wipe all of you away with the secret art of the Iga School, the Shadow Clone Technique!"

In a puff of smoke, copies of Igamon suddenly appeared all around them, all of them drawing poisoned throwing stars. Shurimon's eyes widened as he watched them take aim at the Gekomon, realizing his plan. He jumped forward, drawing the large four-pointed blade Kusanagi on his back, raising it high to throw in a line through all the Igamon clones before they could attack.

Shurimon was too slow on the draw. The wave of poisoned stars flew out the same instance as the Kusanagi flew through the line of clones, wiping them out in puffs of smoke and severely wounding the original. Part of the Spiral was cut away, and the severed end sparked with electricity.

Igamon gripped his wounded arm and damaged spire, cursing. "I'll concede that you've won this round." He drew a smoke bomb and threw it at his feet, vanishing with the dark cloud of gas.

Shurimon looked back to the Gekomon in fear, but to his surprise not a single one had been hit. He looked to Miyako, and saw that she was looking at something with a stunned expression on her face. He followed her line of sight to Digitamamon.

The Perfect level had shielded the Gekomon with his body, and though many stars had been deflected by his shell, many others were embedded in his exposed legs. One star had even gone through the open crack on the front, lodging in his left eye.

Miyako took a cautious step forward toward Digitamamon.

"Heh, I told you that I wasn't a soldier…" Digitamon sank to his knees before falling forward, and did not move again.


	8. Honesty in Adversity

There was a Digital Gate near the outskirts of the village waiting to take them all home. Daisuke and Vmon had wanted to try to pursue Igamon, but Takeru overruled them and sent the younger ones packing. It was getting late and night was fast approaching. Furthermore, it only took one glance at Miyako, Iori, and Armadimon's faces to know that they were in no condition to keep going.

Digitamamon's body was already half dissolved by the time Takeru rejoined them. There was nothing he could do but explain that this was the life cycle of the creatures of the Digital World. At death, Digimon returned to the raw data from whence they came, just as creatures of their own world returned to dust and earth. Takeru took off his hat and bowed to the gradually dissipating form alongside Terriermon and Patamon, but said nothing more. They had seen their fair share of casualties before.

"We'll pursue Igamon ourselves," Takeru told the others. "With the Tower down, the Kaiser's strength has been broken in this region and it will be a while before he can try another attack. In the meantime, there's another base and labor camp further ahead, along the coast. Igamon will probably be heading to regroup there, and we can simply follow him."

Terriermon frowned and looked up at Takeru. "With Digitamamon gone, his restaurant's finished. There'll be no one left to run supplies out there."

"Travelers in general won't be following Egg Road now that the Kaiser is actively trying to cut it off by taking this village," added Patamon with a soft sigh. "We were successful in stopping the attack… but this can hardly be called a victory."

"Hikari will also be upset we got slowed down here," said Takeru. "She was hoping to push on ahead to attack the coastal installation today, but…" He shook his head and looked back to Daisuke. "Sorry, we're rambling. You guys can go. Get some rest."

Daisuke shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry… if we had been…"

"You did a good job today," said Takeru. "You all saved the lives of many villagers."

With that, they parted. Takeru flew off on Coatlmon's back in the opposite direction, further down the road to the coastal base that supposedly lay ahead. Daisuke and Vmon turned to rejoin the others.

Miyako was standing still, staring at the spot where Digitamamon had fallen. "I was so critical of him… "

Hawkmon gave Miyako a pat on the arm. "In the end he agreed with some of what he said. He said that you were right."

Miyako pursed her lips and nodded, but it did little to assuage her own feelings. It was only when she looked at Iori that she forgot her own troubled emotions. She knew about Iori's past, and the circumstances surrounding his father's passing. Her own misgivings suddenly seemed insignificant as she wondered how Iori must feel. She cautiously took a step toward the younger boy. "Iori?"

The boy looked up. His expression was blank and unreadable. "Yes?"

"Are you alright?"

Iori looked back down at where Digitamamon had fallen. "I'm alright… I think…" He straightened. "Even if it was hard to watch, I think in some way it was an important experience for us…"

Miyako nodded and sighed. Deep down inside she grudgingly admitted that she had learned a lot from what she had seen.

A cold silence hung over the group when they crossed back over to their world. As they gathered their things to go home, all of them suddenly became aware of a barrier that had seemingly erected between them. Daisuke had always known that in many ways Miyako looked down on him a little as being immature compared to her, but now he felt an experience gap more than ever, having been a much greater distance away from the battle with Igamon. Miyako in turn felt her own immaturity and inability to offer any words of advice or comfort to either of her younger companions.

Iori merely took Upamon in his arms and left with a polite bow.

As they left the school to go down the street, Upamon looked up at his partner and asked "Shouldn't I go inside the Digivice?"

Iori shrugged. "I thought we could talk a little."

"Sure. What about?"

"Just some things," said Iori. After a beat, he continued. "My own father passed away trying to protect others."

Upamon blinked. "Oh. I'm sorry…"

"I didn't really know my father that well. I was still very young when it happened. My grandfather told me a lot about my father's work. He was a police officer, and he was trying to protect a lot of people when it happened. My grandfather has always been telling me that my father was a hero and that I should admire him." Iori paused and thought. "Sometimes I wonder what it means to be a hero."

* * *

**Maximum 8.0**

**Honesty in Adversity: Submarimon vs MegaSeadramon**

* * *

Iori was a practitioner of ken-do. His grandfather regularly trained him. It was not only a way for the boy to train his body physically, but a way to train his mind. Iori's father Hiroki had trained in kendo as well, and had often remarked that its teachings had often helped him keep calm under moments of stress. In some ways Iori was beginning to understand this in his own way, and was deeply focused in his lesson the next day. However, during a bout he made a fatal misstep, and Hida Chikara delivered a quick blow on Iori's helmet with his sword.

At the end of the lesson, as they removed and gathered their gear, Hida Chikara commented on the misstep. "Though you tried hard to remain focus, some part of you was straying elsewhere."

Iori was somewhat surprised by the remark. "My apologies, grandfather."

"I have sensed that something has been troubling since yesterday," continued Chikara. "If you wish to share your thoughts, I am always open."

Iori paused for a moment from wrapping up his sword. Part of his mind screamed at him to be honest with his grandfather and tell everything, but he ultimately shook his head and said "I'm fine, grandfather."

"Iori." Chikara's words were stern, and Iori looked up at his grandfather in surprise at the change in tone. "I do not ask you to say things that would make you uncomfortable, but please, do not lie to me. I am not so old as to have lost the ability to see when others are troubled."

"My apologies, grandfather," said Iori, bowing.

They continued packing their equipment for some time in silence, when Iori spoke again. "Grandfather, what do you know about war?"

Chikara looked to Iori, somewhat surprised by the question. "I have had some experiences with war in my youth," he said after a beat. The old man settled back on the ground. His eyes had become distant. "War is a terrible thing, Iori, and something that I believe can be avoided. It is my hope that you never have to experience anything like it. People do not ever need to fight."

Iori looked down at his feet, feeling slightly guilty. "Then grandfather... why do people fight?"

"It depends," replied Chikara. "People have many different reasons for fighting."  
"What was yours?"

Chikara's eyes refocused as he turned to look at his grandson. "I didn't want to die."

Once they had finished, Iori excused himself, explaining that he had made promises to meet with his friends Daisuke and Miyako. Chikara waved goodbye to his grandson and watched the young boy scamper off, but remained troubled by his grandson's question. Iori on the other hand tried to keep his mind occupied, and drew his yellow D2 Digivice to converse with Armadimon as he hurried to the school computer lab.

Daisuke was pacing around the lab impatiently when Iori and Armadimon arrived. Miyako and Poromon were beside the computer, both staring off distantly into space. They seemed to awaken at Iori's arrival. Daisuke practically leaped up to greet the boy.

"Iori! You're here!" Daisuke ran up to the boy impatiently. "Good. Talk some sense into Miyako. Poromon's been no help at all since he won't contradict her because of some 'honor' nonsense. Anyways, Miyako's considering not going with us to the Digital World today!"

Iori glanced at Miyako. The elder girl returned his gaze, but said nothing. Iori coughed and scratched the back of his head. "Actually, Daisuke, I too am..."

"What?" Daisuke took a step back, staring at Iori with a look that could only be described as total shock. "You too? You... you're the one who was all about helping the Digital World before! Now you just want to abandon it?"

"It's not that," said Iori. "It's just that... maybe it's better for the Digital World for us to be less involved. We're not as strong as Takeru, Patamon, and Terriermon. What if we're only getting in the way? What if Digitamamon would have survived if we hadn't been there? What if we're doing more harm than good?"

Daisuke gaped. "You don't honestly believe that, do you?"

"That girl Hikari has always been going on about how we don't belong in the Digital World because we don't take it seriously," added Miyako from the side. "You know, maybe we haven't been."

"Our situation is indeed different from theirs," agreed Iori. "They live entirely in the Digital World. We still have obligations to this world. So far, I've been telling myself that not telling my grandfather the truth is somehow different from lying to him, but deep down I know that it's not true." Iori paused and thought of his father and grandfather. "Heroes don't lie."

Daisuke crossed his arms and shook his head. "I can't believe you guys." He turned to the computer. "Well, if none of you are coming along, that's fine. Vmon and I will just go ourselves. Takeru is expecting our help today, and if you're just going to bail, go right ahead."

Miyako, and Poromon all exchanged looks. "Daisuke, we'll go with you today," said Miyako. "After all, we did say we would, and there's no way we can just let you and Vmon go alone. But while we're there, I think we should talk with Takeru about this. He might agree with us."

Daisuke refused to look back at them as he opened the Digital Gate with his blue Digivice.

* * *

The former prison camp might have been quite a center of activity in its heyday. A long railroad track stretched along the coast, running through the camp. In past times the tracks might have been busy with Locomon, bringing in cars of prisoners and building materials and carrying away cars of slave soldiers and freshly made Rings and Towers.

What remained now was completely empty and in ruins when they arrived. At the center was the crumpled remains of the fallen Dark Tower, surrounded by shattered remains of broken Rings. The holding centers had been torn forcefully open by strong winds and beams of light. Opposite the ruins of the former main gate, on the other side of the former camp, was another broken gate leading out to a bridge that stretched out from the shore to what resembled a large oil rig.

Beneath the second gate in front of the bridge sat Takeru, Patamon, and Terriermon, apparently exhausted after a hard fight. They looked up at the newcomers and acknowledged them with a small nod.

"Looks like you've been very busy," said Daisuke, glancing around at the ruins.

"This was a major installation," answered Takeru. "But the real battle is ahead. Some remaining enslaved Digimon are beyond in the rig."

"They seem unusually interested in holding it," added Patamon, doing his best to ignore Terriermon sitting on his back and playing with his wing-ears. "There's probably something important inside"

"It's good that you've arrived," continued Takeru. "We could really use the back-up here if what's ahead is as important as we think it is."

Miyako and Iori shifted uncomfortably while Daisuke frowned and glanced back at them. It ended up being Vmon who asked the next question. "Where's Tailmon?"

"Hikari and Tailmon went scouting further down the railroad," said Terriermon cheerily as he flapped Patamon's ears with his paws. "She said it was because she wanted to secure the general area, but if you ask me it's because both of them are scared of water."

"Terriermon," said Takeru suddenly. From the tone of his voice, it was clear his statement was a warning.

"Sorry, sorry," said Terriermon quickly, though he remained as cheery and playful as ever.

Daisuke frowned and crossed his arms, glancing back at Miyako and Iori every few moments. However, he did not say anything more. Miyako also shifted uncomfortably and said nothing. In the end it was Iori and Armadimon who had to get things going. The young boy stepped forward to address Takeru. "Before we go, can we talk?"

Takeru briefly looked up at Iori, then lowered his gaze to the sand at his feet. "About Digitamamon and Igamon?"

"Yes."

"It wasn't your fault," said Takeru quietly. "I know that you don't want to hear this, especially so soon. I didn't want to hear it my first time. But you can't blame yourself for casualties."

"There's more to it than that," replied Iori.

Takeru nodded. He glanced up at Miyako, who did not avoid his gaze this time. "Alright. We can..."

He trailed off while the Digimon all stiffened as they smelt or heard the approach. Takeru quickly raised his right arm to protect his head. A throwing star glanced off of the gold D2 Digivice there and landed in the sand. Everyone shifted and looked to the source: the bridge beyond the broken gates.

There were two Digimon there, Spirals on their arms, yelling taunts and calling challenges to fight. One was Igamon, the assassin Digimon. The other was shorter, and looked as if he were dressed completely in ken-do gear except for his bare purple reptilian legs and tail. This Digimon was even carrying a wooden sword, which he held out in front of him in a combative stance.

Iori was the first to identify the new Digimon, his yellow D2 already projecting a hologram and information about the newcomer.

**_Kotemon_**_: Child-level. Reptile Type. Data Attribute. Nature Spirits. Special Attack: Thunder Kote. Heavy Attack: Fire Men._

Takeru jumped back to avoid another throwing star, as did Terriermon and Patamon. He turned to find Iori, Miyako, Hawkmon, and Armadimon near him. "They're trying to draw us out to fight on the bridge. Probably a trap. We should avoid confrontation for now."

"Tell that to Daisuke and Vmon," said Miyako, pointing out to the bridge.

Takeru's eyes widened and he whirled around. Sure enough, Daisuke had already charged the bridge, D2 raised in his hand. "Digimental Up!" Once his partner was armored in the Digimental of Friendship, Daisuke had climbed onto Raidramon's back and the pair charged down the bridge, firing blasts of electricity at the retreating forms of Igamon and Kotemon.

Trap or not, they couldn't let Daisuke and Raidramon go alone. Iori called out his Digimental, and Pteramon carried the boy down after him. Hawkmon drew his feather blades and ran after them.

Takeru called out his own Digimental of Hope, but did not ride on Pegasmon. Instead, he looked to his partner and said, "Head down the railroad and find Hikari and Tailmon. If they need to come back here, it'll be faster if you can carry them. Terriermon and I will look after the others."

Pegasmon nodded before taking off and flying along the railroad. Takeru called out the Digimental of Light and rode Coatlmon's back near the end of the bridge. Both of them looked out on all sides, trying to sense if there was an ambush. They found nothing.

At the other end of the bridge, Igamon had created shadow clones to slow Raidramon down while he and Kotemon vanished into the darker recesses of the oil rig. Takeru sighed and signaled Coatlmon to go in after them. Both Takeru and Coatlmon noted with some interest that after watching Daisuke and the others charge ahead so eagerly, they no longer felt that tired.

* * *

They had only just crossed the bridge when the entire structure began to shake. Takeru and Coatlmon looked back to the bridge just in time to see a massive long red tail with a Spiral wrapped near its end emerge from the waters and crash against it. Some distance away, the other end of the red serpentine body emerged, revealing a reptilian head armored in bronze, with a single jagged lightning-bolt shaped horn.

**_MegaSeadramon_**_: Perfect level. Aquatic Type. Data Attribute. Deep Savers. Special Attack: Thunder Javelin. Heavy Attack: Maelstrom._

"They're trying to trap us on the rig!" stammered Coatlmon, turning to try to fly back toward shore. As he did, MegaSeadramon fired a blast of electricity from his horn, driving Coatlmon back toward the rig.

"That electricity is a pretty effective anti-air attack," said Takeru. "MegaSeadramon was put here to prevent escape by both sea and air."

"We can still take him," growled Coatlmon.

Takeru shook his head. "Too risky. MegaSeadramon is a Perfect level, and with Pegasmon gone we can't use Jogress Evolution. We should regroup with the others and try to attack all at once."

Coatlmon reluctantly nodded and landed, reverting back to Terriermon so that he could fit through the door leading down into the lower levels of the base. As they vanished into the depths, MegaSeadramon turned his attention to completing the destruction of the bridge, before raining down his electricity on the upper levels of the rig, piling up rubble to make escape more difficult.

Takeru checked his green Digivice. He and Terriermon had been separated from the others by their brief encounter with MegaSeadramon. Ahead of them, the rest of the off-shore base spread out like a labyrinth of metal hallways lined with countless pipes and valves. It seemed like a very easy place to get lost in.

The closest by far was the yellow signal: Iori and Armadimon. Terriermon hopped up onto Takeru's shoulder as the latter tightened his black cloak and went down the hallway that seemed to best lead toward the signal. The sound of a battle reached their ears, and they hurried all the faster. It seemed the sound was something like that of wood against metal, and as Takeru and Terriermon rounded a corner they found the source of the sound.

Before them was a metal frame stairway leading down to a more open area, where the armored purple Digimon from before, Kotemon, was simultaneously holding off both Iori and Armadimon. Iori stood on one side with a metal pipe in hand as an improvised sword and Armadimon on the other. Both of them were defending against a flurry of sword swings by Kotemon, who stood between them and constantly spun around to keep the pressure on both sides.

Three opponents proved to be too much for Kotemon, however, when Terriermon jumped down from Takeru's shoulder and spun around, generating a powerful green whirlwind with his Petite Twister attack. The miniature tornado slammed Kotemon into the opposite wall. He slumped against the wall, temporarily stunned.

Takeru ran up to rejoin them. "Iori, Armadimon, are you alright?"

Iori nodded. He pointed out to the wall opposite the staircase, which upon closer inspection looked more like a blast door due to a lack of pipes and valves. "Armadimon and I were separated from Miyako and Hawkmon. When we were about to follow, Kotemon ambushed us, and then that door came down and blocked us off."

"They're trying to divide us to make us easier to fight," said Takeru. "We should try to find and rejoin the others as quickly as possible."

Before Iori could reply, everything suddenly began shaking violently. "What was that?" said Terriermon, looking up. One of the valves on the tube above him suddenly snapped, letting out a jet of a mysterious pale yellow liquid right on top of him.

As Terriermon jumped out from under the shower, coughing and gagging, Takeru frowned and said "Whatever it is, it doesn't sound good." All around them, more valves were snapping, unloading jets of liquids of all sorts of curious colors.

Iori suddenly turned with his pipe drawn, the improvised sword catching the wooden one of Kotemon just before it could strike at Takeru. The Digimon had apparently recovered from the stun of Terriermon's attack.

Following this parry, Iori pushed the sword aside and struck out with his own pipe, catching the Digimon by surprise with a hard blow on the helmet. Iori smiled as Kotemon stumbled backward. He recognized the Digimon's misstep as the same one he had made before and that his grandfather had exploited.

Terriermon moved to join the fight, but stopped when Takeru suddenly blocked him with his hand. "I think he has this one," said Takeru to his partner.

Iori briefly closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. When he opened them, Kotemon was charging at him once again, raising his sword up above his head and causing it to suddenly emit a bright flame.

In one swift motion, Iori parried the blow and counterattacked hard. He did not even take a single step, while the stunned Kotemon stumbled and fell to his knees. The broken Spiral slipped off Kotemon's arm.

* * *

For a moment, Kotemon remained still. His yellow eyes were wide in surprise behind the mask of his ken-do helmet. Slowly, he recovered himself and bowed to Iori, throwing his wooden sword at the latter's feet. "I acknowledge my defeat. Your skills far surpass mine."

Armadimon and Terriermon still regarded the Digimon with suspicion. "Do you think he's a willing servant of the Kaiser?" said Armadimon, arms crossed and frowning. "Igamon had a Spiral too and he said he let it be put on him."

Kotemon turned to bow to Armadimon. "I am willing in the sense that I surrendered and allowed the Spiral to be placed on me by my own free will."

Iori picked up the wooden sword at his feet and looked down at the bowing Digimon in confusion. "But why would you do that? You're just letting yourself be controlled."

Kotemon glanced up at Iori. "Well, yes... but why is that so strange? Many other Warlords have used similar methods in the past."

Iori looked to Takeru. The elder boy sighed and nodded, shifting his cloak and hat. "What he says is true. You remember my stories about the Black Gears and Dark Network, right? During my first Adventure in the Digital World, my friends and I were attacked by Digimon under mind-control of other Digimon."

"But even so, why would anyone let themselves be willingly controlled?" protested Iori.

"The difference this time is that it is a human doing the controlling," said Kotemon. "The tales of the legendary human heroes of the past are widespread. Though I resisted at first, after I was defeated I began to realize that perhaps the Kaiser may finally represent a chance of World Unification. For that ideal, I agreed to sacrifice my free will, and consider it worthwhile. However, since you have defeated me, I surrender to you now and submit myself to you as a prisoner of war."

"Your surrender is accepted," replied Takeru. The elder boy motioned to Terriermon, who nodded and took a guarding stance behind Kotemon.

The exchange was interrupted by another pipe bursting and spilling out a thick black sludge. Takeru frowned as he looked around at the various leaks. "Kotemon, do you know what is happening here?"

Kotemon shook his head. "This is a surprise to me as well, but if I had to guess it might be that the base is starting to collapse in on itself in an attempt to trap and destroy you here."

"That would be the typical plan," grumbled Terriermon. "We should try to get out of here then."

"Not with everyone else still unaccounted for," said Takeru. "Plus, we'll need everyone to deal with MegaSeadramon outside." Iori and Armadimon looked to Takeru at hearing the new name, so Takeru explained further. "The Kaiser posted a guard outside this base: MegaSeadramon, a perfect level. We'll have to get past him if we're going to get out of here."

Armadimon glanced back to the blast door. "Vmon and the others ran up ahead through here, but the blast door is blocking our way."

"I'll take care of that," said Terriermon proudly. "Since the Tower's down in the camp, I can evolve and take care of this, no problem."

Takeru obligingly used the green Digivice, and Terriermon grew into his larger and bulkier form as Galgomon. The larger Digimon charged up the Gatling gun gauntlets on his arms by spinning them until the barrels began to glow with green fire, and then rammed both of his gauntlets as hard as he could in his Dum Dum Upper attack. He did this again and again, slowing ripping apart the metal and opening a hole through which the others could crawl through.

Kotemon watched the larger Digimon in awe. "Why didn't you do that to begin with? I never would have stood a chance against you in this form."

"Efficiency," said Takeru from behind the Digimon. "Iori was better suited for facing you."

Iori turned slightly pink in his cheeks and bowed. "You flatter me."

"Galgomon, lead the way," said Takeru. He looked to Kotemon and Armadimon. "If you could do me a favor, Armadimon, could you keep a watch on our prisoner? Iori and I will take up the rear, where we can talk."

Armadimon nodded, and the group went through the hole to continue deeper into the base, Galgomon leading, and Kotemon walking unarmed between Galgomon and Armadimon. Around them, small leaks were already appearing on the pipes running through the hall, leaving small puddles on the metal floor, though it was nothing like the large gushes that had come from the previous room.

Iori glanced up at Takeru as they walked. "You wanted to talk?"

Takeru nodded. "Now is as good a time as any. Let's finish the conversation that was interrupted back on the beach."

* * *

"Do you want to quit?" asked Takeru.

Iori sighed. "Not really... It's just that..."

"It's just that you feel like you're doing more harm than good."

Iori kept his head down and gaze low, but still managed a small nod.

"Don't forget, Iori, that I have been a part of this for longer than you havve. I think I can understand some of your feelings." Takeru sighed and closed is eye. "Casualties are inevitable. People will get hurt whether or not you are there fighting. You can't blame yourself for casualties. If you do..." He opened his eye. "You lose the will to fight, and you start hurting people through inaction. Sometimes, inaction hurts more than action."

The younger boy glanced up at the elder, and for a moment he wanted to ask if the last comment was a reference to Hikari or perhaps something else in Takeru's past. The look in Takeru's eye convinced him not to.

Iori cleared his throat. "There's more to it than that. You were right in guessing my doubts, but I, unlike you..." He trailed off, unsure of how to phrase his next question.

"You still have ties to your home world," said Takeru. "You can't sever ties like I have."

Though a bit surprised by the perceptiveness of the other, Iori managed another nod.

"Miyako has similar feelings, right?" continued Takeru.

"Yes," said Iori. "I believe she was also deeply affected by our failure at the village. However, I can't speak for her. And I also have some other concerns..."

He was about to say more, but Takeru raised a hand to signal him to wait. Ahead, Galgomon had signaled the Kotemon prisoner and Armadimon to stop and wait as well.

"Sorry, Iori, but it looks like we're going to have to cut this short a second time," said Takeru quietly, his eye searching the hallway ahead. "We'll definitely finish the next chance though."

Iori nodded and readied the metal pipe in his hand. A few tense seconds passed.

There was an explosion in the hallway ahead. They saw Igamon suddenly burst through the wall backwards before plowing straight through the opposite wall. The next moment, Flamedramon and Shurimon followed in a swirl of fire and leaves.

"Those two certainly make a powerful combination," commented Takeru as he watched the fire feed on the burning leaves. "Come on, let's go rejoin the others."

They arrived at the gaping holes in the walls just as Daisuke and Miyako were poking their head out from the side their partners and Igamon had burst from. Daisuke immediately brightened upon seeing them, and called out to them.

"Now's not the time," said Miyako, pushing past Daisuke. "We've got trouble."

"Does it have anything to do with all the shaking and the leaks?" asked Galgomon from the front.

"Apparently they're trying to bring this whole place down to take us down," said Miyako. "And they've got some big Digimon outside helping hurry up the process outside and making sure we can't get out."

"MegaSeadramon," said Takeru. He thought for a moment. "We should try to force our way back to the surface. If all of us are there, we may stand a chance at fending him off, especially if Pegasmon can find and bring back Hikari and Tailmon to attack from the other side. With the Tower down, we can let Galgomon and…"

Kotemon interrupted him with a slight cough. "That might be problematic."

All eyes turned to the Digimon. Daisuke looked him up and down. "Hey, isn't this...?"

"He surrendered to us after he was defeated," said Takeru.

"Yeah, Iori took him on all by himself!" added Armadimon proudly. "It was amazing to see."

Iori turned pink at the praise and hid the metal pipe in his hand behind his back. He turned to Kotemon, pretending that he had not heard the others. "What's the problem?"

"I've been in here for a while, and know a little bit about this place," said Kotemon. "If the plan is really to sink this base, it may have gone into lockdown. If that's the case, the blast doors will have closed."

"No problem," said Galgomon. "I'll punch holes right through them."

"The blast doors I'm talking about aren't the same as that little piece of tinfoil you punched through earlier," said Kotemon. "Maybe you could break through them eventually, but it would probably be faster to just get the doors open."

"And how do we do that?" asked Takeru.

"There's a ventilation system that I can fit through which leads right to the controls. The vents themselves have their shutters closed during lockdown too, but I or any other Child-level can easily wrench them open. Once on the other side, I can use the controls to override the lockdown and get the doors open."

"And why should we trust you?" said Daisuke, crossing his arms and looking at Kotemon with suspicion.

"Hey, I'm stuck down here too," said Kotemon indignantly. "You think I want to be stuck in here when this place sinks?"

"And how do we know you won't try to run off? Why don't we all just take this other way?"

"You're too big to fit through the vents," said Kotemon. "Watch, there's a vent right here." He walked a bit further head and bent down, where there was a closed shutter. Kotemon reached out and grabbed the shutter, and with a little effort managed to pull it open to reveal the ventilation shaft.

Daisuke frowned as he looked at the vent. Kotemon was right. It was much too small for him. Daisuke turned back, and noticed something. "Well... what about Iori and Armadimon?"

Iori nearly jumped in surprise. "What? Me?"

Kotemon turned and looked the other two up and down. "They could fit. Sure, they can come along if you think it's necessary."

"Then it's settled," said Takeru. "Iori, Armadimon, try to get the blast doors open. In the meantime, Galgomon and I will help finish up the battle and get Flamedramon and Shurimon back, so we can all head up together."

Iori hesitated.

"Come on," said Daisuke. "Our lives are in your hands, Iori."

"Don't worry," said Takeru, holding up his green D2. "We can use the Digivices to communicate if there are problems."

"Time is running out," said Kotemon, beginning to climb into the vent.

Iori nodded, and followed after Kotemon with Armadimon.

* * *

As the inside of the vents were dark, Iori had to use the light of his Digivice screen as an improvised flashlight. Armadimon followed the light closely, but Kotemon seemed to have no trouble seeing in the dark. After a short while of crawling through the dark portions, they reached an area where the inside of the vent was illuminated by small red lights scattered every few meters, where an upper route branched off with a ladder of metal rungs on one side.

"Up there," said Kotemon as he began to climb.

Amadimon paused at the bottom of the ladder. "It sure looks high up..."

"Just don't look down as you climb," grunted Kotemon from higher up on the ladder.

Iori gripped the ladder and followed after Kotemon, Armadimon taking up the rear.

"You're a pretty accomplished swordsman," said Kotemon after a while.

Iori's grip tightened on the rungs and he looked up at Kotemon suspiciously. "What are you saying?"

"I'm just trying to make a little conversation," replied Kotemon with a sigh. "I'm surprised that a human could do so well against me, even if I'm only a Child."

Iori frowned, but said "I was trained by my grandfather. He is a talented teacher."

"I would like to meet him."

Below, Armadimon growled. "Hey, quit acting so familiar with my partner and his grandfather."

"If you indeed want to make conversation, you could explain why you are willing to serve the Kaiser," said Iori. "I'm still not satisfied with your previous one. You don't seem like a bad Digimon."

"My previous one was an honest one," said Kotemon. He had reached the top of the climb, and was beginning to try to wedge open the grate above him. Seeing that he was having trouble, Armadimon slowly climbed up above Iori to try and help.

"Is uniting the Digital World really worth making such sacrifices?" asked Iori.

The shutter was pushed aside, and Kotemon climbed up. He turned to help Armadimon through as he continued speaking. "For me, yes. The Digital World is always fighting because it is wild and untamed. Some said the Great Reboot after Apocalymon would fix it, but really things only seemed to get worse afterward. If the Digital World was united, there might be a chance for a lasting peace."

"But there is a war right now because the Kaiser is trying to conquer it all. Is the current fighting worth the chance of later peace? And even if he were successful, would that guarantee peace? Would it be worth it living under his tyranny?"

"Maybe the sacrifices aren't worth it for everyone. It's what I decided though. When the World is in a chaotic time, what is needed is decisiveness. Just sitting back and trying to ignore it is no good. Action is needed. If it's the wrong one, then it's the wrong one. I don't know if my decision was the right or wrong, but not doing anything would definitely be the most wrong choice possible."

Iori climbed up out of the vent after the Digimon. "You have a very interesting perspective."

"You must believe that too, or else you wouldn't be here fighting," said Kotemon.

Iori paused and opened his mouth, but then thought better of it and sighed. "Let's just undo this lockdown so that we can rejoin the others." They found themselves in a new sort of hallway, filled with the usual leaking pipes. Kotemon pointed out the direction, and the three all went down together.

"We can override the system here," said Kotemon, pointing to a sort of security control room that had appeared as they rounded a corner. They stepped inside and found a panel full of flashing lights and levers, as well as several monitors hooked up to security cameras. In one monitor, they could see that the fight in the lower levels was still going on. Igamon was no longer alone, but joined by several other controlled Digimon that Iori had never seen before.

Iori's attention was pulled away by a sudden ring. He looked over to see that Kotemon had slammed his head on a large red button on the wall. "There, the blast doors should be opening now," said Kotemon. "You can go out and join your friends if you'd like."

"Say, Kotemon..." Iori frowned and studied the other Digimon. "If I were to say that my friends and I were trying to unite the Digital World too, but through different means, would you leave the Kaiser and join us?"

Kotemon's yellow eyes blinked from behind the mask of his helmet. He laughed. "Maybe I would, but you would have to convince me that you stand a good chance of succeeding."

Armadimon tugged on Iori's sleeve. "Hey, Iori, something else opened up when Kotemon hit the button."

Iori and Kotemon turned to look where Armadimon was pointing. In the back of the room, a door labeled with the word 'Restricted' in English and two other languages that Iori did not understand had indeed slid open. As he looked, Iori felt his Digivice vibrate. He looked at it and saw that the screen displayed a black cross-shaped symbol.

"Is it a new Digimental?" wondered Iori.

The base suddenly shook more violently than it ever had. All eyes turned back out the windows of the security room into the hallway, where a long jagged metal horn had suddenly burst through. It slowly withdrew, letting water gush through at an alarming rate.

Kotemon ran to the window and looked out in shock. "Was that MegaSeadramon's horn? He must be getting desperate to drown us."

The wave of water rushed out, splashing against the closed door of the security room. Armadimon shivered as he saw the water. "Let's go through the door. With the water we can't go back into the hallway."

Iori checked his Digivice, and saw the flashing dots of red and blue, plus one that was half-green half-gold. "The others will be able to find us using the Digivice. Right, let's go." They turned and went through the door, which closed behind them automatically.

* * *

What Iori found waiting for them was a large room, its round walls lined with large panels with buttons and levers plus two other doors identical to the one that Iori had just passed through. The room itself was illuminated by the same dim red lights that had lit the vents, with a single large red light shining directly at the pedestal in the center. Upon it was the Digimental in question, a roughly oval shaped artifact with a silver front and a purple back. Upon the front was the black cross symbol that the Digivice screen had reported.

Armdimon approached the Digimental and gave it an experimental sniff. "Iori, do you think it's yours? Everyone else has two except for you."

"I'd rather not try it until we're reunited with the others," said Iori. "What if it's not and it incapacitates me? It's not a risk we can afford to take considering how things are going right now."

"It's strange though," said Kotemon, crossing his arms and thinking. "I've never seen this door open before when lockdowns were initiated and undone as drills in the past. Why did it open this time?"

Iori sent a message through his Digivice, asking if everything was okay. The reply from Takeru said he was on his way as fast as he could and would arrive shortly.

Within minutes, one of the other two doors opened, and suddenly Coatlmon slithered into the room, Takeru on his back. Takeru jumped down to rejoin Iori. The elder boy smiled. "Iori, good. You took the initiative. My Digivice noticed the Digimental signal next to your Digivice signal. I sent Daisuke and the others up ahead. We can go rejoin them on Coatlmon's back once you grab it."

Iori glanced back at the artifact. "Are you sure it's mine? I don't recognize its trait."

Takeru noticeably paused, which slightly bothered Iori. "Honesty."

Keeping his eyes on the Digimental, Iori replied slowly in a subdued voice. "I know our time is short, but... can we finish our conversation this time?"

Takeru stood and stared for a moment. Then nodded. "Sure." He turned to his partner. "Coatlmon, secure the area. I promised that there wouldn't be any more interruptions." He then turned to Aramdimon and Kotemon. "I hope it wouldn't be too much of a bother to ask that you help Coatlmon with that?"

"No problem," said Armadimon. Kotemon nodded as well, and they joined with the white serpent.

They waited a bit for the Digimon to pull back. Takeru looked to the other boy. "And the other reason you're concerned... is because you feel like you're lying to everyone by living like this. Am I right?"

Iori looked at the elder boy. "How do you know these things?"

Takeru gave a sad smile. "Iori, I told you last time. I've been doing this for a long time now."

"Yes, that's true. I often feel like I am lying to my grandfather, by not telling him what I am doing. He..." Iori frowned and lowered his head in shame. "He always tells me stories about my father and how he was a hero. He works hard to make sure that I grow up into a good man like my father. And good men don't lie. Heroes don't lie. By not telling him the truth, I am betraying his trust. He… he even said that he hoped that I would never have to know what war is like."

"He has experienced war before?"

"Yes. He was a soldier."

Takeru thought for a moment. "Did he tell you why he fought?"

"He said that he didn't want to die."

"A good answer," said Takeru with a smile. "You know, some of my relatives were soldiers too. My mother's side and father's side were on opposite sides of a war. But I'm just rambling…" Takeru closed his eye and sighed deeply. "Iori, if being honest about this life of yours with your grandfather is important, then go ahead and tell the truth."

Iori looked up at the elder boy in surprise. "Really?"

"I'm sorry if I pressured you otherwise, but if honesty is important to you, then you should be honest. I can even go with you and help you explain things with your grandfather." Takeru gave a little laugh. "Actually, I'd like to meet your grandfather anyways. He sounds like an interesting man."

"I would be honored to introduce you two."

"Thank you." A deep tremor rocked the room, causing Takeru to look around. "So… how about we grab this and go before this shaking gets any worse."

Iori nodded and lifted the Digimental of Honesty from the pedestal. Takeru whistled to his partner, and Coatlmon returned, ready to carry them all out of the base.

* * *

The hallways began collapsing and the pipes bursting even as Coatlmon slithered through as fast as he could. Pressure in some of the pipes had become so intense that pieces began bursting off and flying at them as they passed. Armadimon curled up and shielded himself with his hard scaled exterior while Iori batted a few aside with his metal pipe. Seeing this, Kotemon reached out to the boy. "My sword, please. I can help."

Iori already began moving to return the wooden sword, but hesitated for a moment to look at Takeru.

"It's fine," said the elder boy, dodging a metal shard that flew right past his head. "Just give it to him."

Iori tossed the sword back. Rearmed, Kotemon stood next to Iori and the two continued deflecting debris as Coatlmon rushed forward. Slowly, Flamedramon and Shurimon became visible ahead of them, and Coatlmon soon caught up with them.

Daisuke and Miyako were in their partners' arms, holding on for dear life. Takeru leaned over from Coatlmon's back and called out to them. "Where's Igamon and the Gizamon and the others? Did you lose them?"

"I think so!" called back Daisuke. He turned green right after shouting and had to clamp his hand over his mouth, so Takeru decided to wait until they were all out of danger and no longer running before asking another question.

In the back, Iori moved to block another piece of debris, but as he felt his sword vibrate in his hand, he realized something was wrong. He looked at the pipe, and founded a metal throwing star embedded in it. "This...?"

"I won't let you get away!" cried a voice.

Iori and Kotemon looked back, and sure enough, Igamon was running right after them, sword drawn and catching up fast. Seeing this, Kotemon raised is sword in challenge and stepped forward.

"Wait!" cried Iori, grabbing Kotemon's shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"I'll hold him off." Kotemon glanced back at Iori. "Since I am no longer bound by a Spiral, Igamon automatically considers me an enemy anyways. The autonomy the Spiral affords isn't that much as to leave him enough of a mind to prioritize you all over me."

"So? If you jump off to fight him...you'll...you don't..."

"Sorry, but honor is very important to me," said Kotemon. "I am currently in your debt for sparing me, and my debt would really become impossible to pay off if things keep up at this rate. That's why I'll be paying you all back now."

And with that, Kotemon tore himself free and jumped from Coatlmon's back, his wooden sword clashing against Igamon's steel sword. The force of the blow slowed Igamon down, and soon both of them disappeared into the shadows as Coatlmon and the others continued pressing forward.

Up ahead, the pile of rubble that MegaSeadraon had laid to try to keep them trapped came into view. Seeing this, Flamedramon raised one arm and threw a barrage of fireballs to weaken it. Coatlmon then rammed through the rubble with full force, and he and all his passengers burst out from the depths back into the sunlight. Behind him followed Flamedramon and Shurimon, Daisuke and Miyako in their arms.

As soon as they did, they saw MegaSeadramon waiting for them, Spiral wrapped around the end of his tail. The serpentine dragon immediately slipped its tail back below water, so as to be out of sight and out of range of their attacks.

Takeru turned to Iori and Armadimon. "Now is a good a time as any to try it."

Iori briefly looked out to the opening to the depths of the base, where Kotemon had vanished, but nodded and turned to Armadimon. "Digimental Up!"

Aramdimon grew in size as the Digimental Armor wrapped around him. He became a large armored submarine with a purple underbelly and shining silver top and most prominently of all, a long sharp harpoon for a nose at his front. At his very top of his back, behind his eyes, was a small glass opening where someone like Iori could comfortably fit inside. Though his front limbs were now silver flippers, his back remained the simple paws of Aramdimon.

Whirling Honesty, Submarimon!

**_Submarimon_**_: Armor level. Aquatic Type. Vaccine Attribute. Deep Savers. Special Attack: Oxygen Homing. Heavy Attack: Aqua Vulcan._

"On my back, Iori," said Submarimon, letting his glass top slide open.

"Go for the Spiral on his tail underwater," called Takeru. "We'll keep his attention up here on the surface."

"Right!" Iori climbed onto Submarimon's back. The glass top slid shut and Submarimon dived right into the water.

As they vanished into the depths, Daisuke climbed off Flamedramon's arms and watched them go. A sudden thought came to him. He looked back up at his partner accusingly. "Hey, why didn't you just become Raidramon so it'd be easier for me to ride you? I almost puked from having you carry me like that!"

Miyako looked to her partner as well. "Yeah! As Flybeemon, you would have been easier to ride too since you can fly in that form."

Flamedramon scratched the back of his head with his claw. "Huh. Now that you mention it..."

MegaSeadramon unleashed a thunder javelin, which Coatlmon forcibly blew aside with a strong gust of wind. "Hey, hate to do this, but could you save that for after we take care of this guy?" called Coatlmon.

* * *

Despite the turbulence of MegaSeadramon's writhing coils, Submarimon managed a steady descent into the water. The leaf-like tip of MegaSeadramon's red tail waved in the distance, and Submarimon immediately fired his homing oxygen torpedoes. The gas exploded as they made contact, but MegaSeadramon twisted away at the right moment, and though cracked and damaged the Spiral remained functional.

Above, MegaSeadramon turned his head down toward the water and prepared to dive.

"He's noticed Iori and Submarimon," said Takeru to his partner. "We've got to press hard and keep his attention up here."

"Right!" Coatlmon flew out and let loose a freezing blast directly at MegaSeadramon's armored head. A sheet of ice formed around the serpent's horn and left side of his head. MegaSeadramon turned and blasted the ice aside by unleashing another electric javelin, which Coatlmon only barely managed to dodge.

Back on the rig, the shaking was intensifying and the entire structure was slowly beginning to sink. Miyako had her partner switch armor forms so that Flybeemon could carry her off.

Daisuke coughed to get her attention. "Uh... neither Flamedramon nor Raidramon can fly, and the gap to the shore is a bit too far to try for a jump..."

Miyako shook her head. "Oh Daisuke..."

"Hey, it's not my fault!"

"Just stick Vmon into your Digivice and let's go."

Flamedramon turned to them upon hearing that he'd have to go back in the Digivice. "Do I have to...?"

"Hey, think about how Flybeemon would have to feel carrying all that weight," answered Miyako.

As they readied themselves and departed from the sinking rig, MegaSeadramon's attention turned back to them. Coatlmon swooped down and rammed the serpent in the side to prevent another electric blast from being sent at Flybeemon as they headed to shore.

Down below, Submarimon built up speed as he chased after MegaSeadramon's tail. "Hold on tight, Iori! I'm going to try ramming that thing off!"

"Right!" Iori's hands tightened on his partner as they rushed through the water. Submarimon's harpoon horn crashed right against the Spiral, shattering a good part of it off.

Above, MegaSeadramon roared in pain and lifted its tail up out of the water into the air. What remained of the Spiral only barely managed to stay on, its control over the serpent flickering on and off.

In a white blur, Tailmon suddenly jumped out and swatted the remains off with a quick slash of her paw. Pegasmon flew up and caught her on his back before she could fall into the water. As the broken pieces fell off and vanished into the water, MegaSeadramon roared in pain and annoyance and dove completely back into the waters. Submarimon did not give chase as the now free Digimon vanished into the dark depths.

Coatlmon and Pegasmon began flying together. "Brother!" called Coatlmon. "You're late!"

"You looked like you were doing pretty fine on your own," answered Pegasmon with a laugh.

From Coatlmon's back, Takeru looked across to Pegasmon's back. "Tailmon, where's Hikari?"

"On the shore," said Tailmon with a small nod of her head.

Takeru bit his lip and was quiet for a moment. Then he gave a small nod and directed his two brothers to fly back to shore. Sure enough, there was Hikari, standing on the sand and looking out at the ocean with a blank and distant stare. Pegasmon and Coatlmon landed nearby and shed their Armor.

"Hikari..." Takeru slowly walked up to her side. "Are you... alright?"

His voice seemed to snap her from a trance. "I'm fine." She turned away. "You know being near the ocean bothers me, yet you had me come here anyways."

"I'm sorry."

Hikari crossed her arms and softly said "Let's just go."

"I still need to talk with the others, and I was also thinking of trying to find MegaSeadramon so that we could ask him if he would join..."

"Do what you need to do, but hurry."

Takeru slowly nodded, then indicated to Terriermon and Patamon to stay with Hikari and Tailmon with a nod of his head. He then returned to the edge of the water, where Submarimon had pulled ashore and reverted to Armadimon.

"Iori, Armadimon, you did great today," called Takeru.

"We should head back to the off-shore rig," said Iori hurriedly. "Kotemon stayed back there to..."

The younger boy was interrupted by a loud creaking sound. He turned back just in time to see the entire rig collapse on itself and vanish beneath the surface of the water.

Iori's voice came out as a whisper. "No..."

Takeru shook his head and sighed. He made a small bow toward where the off-shore rig had once been. "He was a soldier. He knew the risks. He was ready for the sacrifices."

"He was supposed to be an enemy, yet his last act was to help us get out safely," whispered Iori. "I don't understand it at all."

"It was..." Takeru spent a moment trying to find the right word, but gave up and settled with a sigh.

Daisuke and Miyako and their partners had rejoined Takeru, Iori, and Armadimon by the shore. The boy had taken off his goggles to wipe his sweat and dust off his hair. "Man, today was a crazy day," he said. "What an adventure." He shook his head disapprovingly. "And you guys are seriously considering not doing this anymore."

"No," said Iori. "I'm sorry for wavering, but I will continue to help this cause. I must be honest and reliable, and not lose sight of my beliefs. It would be disrespectful towards those who have made sacrifices for my sake." His gaze turned back to the ocean that had claimed Kotemon.

Miyako gave a soft laugh. "Iori, you are far wiser than I'll ever be. You're right." She gave a nudge with her elbow at Daisuke. "It wouldn't be fair to leave this guy alone and getting into trouble. He and Vmon would have drowned if it weren't for Hawkmon and me."

"Hey, I do just fine without you," said Daisuke, rubbing the sore spot that Miyako's elbow had left behind.

"You have the mentality of a little brat. You'd be totally doomed without me."

"You're one to talk!"

Iori shook his head as Daisuke and Miyako continued to bicker behind him. Takeru ignored it as well, as his attention was caught by a glint of light reflect off something just off the shore. He began wading into the water, and slowly bent down to retrieve what he had found.

"What is it?" called Iori from the shore.

"You were wrong," said Takeru. "Kotemon's last act wasn't to help us get out safely."

The elder boy turned around to show a wooden sword with a throwing star embedded in it. Upon the side of the star, someone had managed to scratch a series of numbers.


	9. Light Dreams

_Seven Years Ago…_

The young boy with messy hair groaned and turned in his bed, trying to move away from the soft prods against his shoulders. The prodding continued, however, and eventually he was forced to throw aside his blanket and sit upright. He yawned as his eyes struggled to examine his surroundings in the dim light. Eventually, they settled upon a small figure at his bedside who was hugging a pillow to its chest.

Yagami Taichi rubbed his eyes and quietly asked "Hikari? Is that you?"

The only reply was a soft whisper of a whistle.

"Did you have another nightmare?"

There was another quite whistle.

Taichi sighed and lifted up his blanket to let his sister climb into his bed, which she did so immediately. Little Hikari snuggled up against him, and Taichi could feel her shivering. He began stroking her hair in an effort to help calm her, and after a few minutes, his sister's breathing indeed began to calm.

"Don't be afraid of nightmares," whispered Taichi. "Nightmares can't really hurt you. They're not real. Dreams keep you safe. They don't put you in danger."

Hikari wasn't asleep just yet. As she felt the reassuring hand of her brother against her head, she tried to remember exactly what her nightmare had been. They were strange and fuzzy affairs, which vanished almost immediately after she woke up, but though the exact memories of events faded the emotions of fear and sickness did not leave so easily. It was only when she climbed into her brother's bed and felt his protective hand on her hair that those feelings began to fade.

She knew for sure that the nightmares had started shortly after when Koromon had appeared and then disappeared in the fight with the giant parrot. Though Taichi tried to insist that it had just been some weird dream that they shared, Hikari knew in her heart that it had been real and somehow changed the two of them. That wasn't the exact start of the nightmares, but it had happened before the nightmares started, almost as if the incident had been some sort of prerequisite. Something else had been the actual trigger to the start of the series of strange dreams, though she couldn't remember what.

And then suddenly, at that moment, she began to remember her dreams again. They all involved a long gray shore beside an endless ocean.

She could remember it now because she could see the ocean in front of her.

In the blink of an eye the warm blankets transformed into cold and clumpy sand that fell away from her body, which had suddenly aged by seven years. The feeling of the warm hand against her hair suddenly became cold and wet. Alarmed, Hikari pushed herself up from the ground and looked around. There was no one beside her. There was no hand, neither the warm one of her brother nor the cold slimy one of her nightmares, against her head. There was nothing beside more cold wet gray sand on a long beach beside the endless sea.

_Now…_

Hikari woke up. She was lying on her side in the same position as in her dream. Tears had collected around her eyes. Her hands were white from how hard she was clenching her blanket tightly around her. The details of her dream began to slip away from her mind immediately, but the feelings persisted as always, condensing into a sickening cold weight in the pit of her stomach.

But she felt a soft hand on her head, gently stroking her hair, and she let her tense body slowly relax. Her hands slowly let go of her blanket and returned to normal color. The cold weight in her stomach dissolved away.

Wait.

She remembered. Her brother couldn't be calming her down at the moment because he was still… Hikari glanced down at the blanket she suddenly remembered she hadn't had the night before and saw that it was a black cloak.

She immediately pulled away from the hand and looked up at the boy sitting beside her.

Takaishi Takeru lowered his hand. "Sorry, you just… You were shivering, and it looked like you were having a nightmare…" There were bags under his eyes, indicating how little he had slept the previous few nights.

Hikari wiped her eyes and tried to regain her composure. She looked around. It was still early morning, but it seemed that the day would be a dark overcast one given the clouds above them and the fog gathering around them. "Why are you here? You and your brothers usually go wandering off on your own in the early morning."

"We do, but as I was getting up today, I saw…" He gestured vaguely. "I mean, Taichi said that whenever you had nightmares…"

"You're not my brother," whispered Hikari. She slowly removed the cloak and casually tossed it aside in Takeru's general direction. "Stop trying to pretend that you are."

"I'm sorry. I was just trying to make you feel better."

"I don't need it. I'm not a little child. Stop trying to coddle me." Hikari turned away and pulled a small pink scarf to wipe away the tears. As she cleaned her cheeks she realized that the cloth in her hand was the old scarf she used to wear three years ago. She turned pink and quickly hid the scarf away in her pocket.

Takeru let out a soft laugh. He pulled the discarded cloak back to him and pulled it over his shoulder. "You know, I used to say the same thing to my older brother. Back when we first met, I envied you actually, because I thought that Taichi didn't coddle you like my older brother did with me. I was wrong of course, but…" Takeru trailed off and stared at the ground for a moment. "Taichi is a good brother. He cares a lot about you."

Hikari rose to her feet and began to straighten her wrinkled clothing. She glanced over at her bag, lying near the slowly dying remains in the embers of the previous night's campfire. "Where's Tailmon?"

"Scouting."

Hikari nodded and began to pull her school uniform out of her bag. "I need to change."

"You're going to class today?" asked Takeru.

"I've missed too many of them recently. And I have an exam today."

"I'll walk you there."

"I don't need you to."

"I know. I'll walk you anyways."

Hikari swallowed and hesitated. She nodded. "Alright…"

* * *

**Maximum v9.0**

**Light Dreams: Angewomon vs Vamdemon**

* * *

Hikari and Takeru walked down the sidewalk toward the private school that Hikari attended. As always, Takeru had his two Digivices mounted on his forearms, underneath his sleeves. Hikari merely set hers aside in her bag. Also as always, Takeru had taken his cloak off and folded it up to keep in his bag, though he insisted on always wearing his hat, tilted at just the right angle to shade the left side of his face. It was still early in the morning, and there was no one else in sight. It seemed a gloomy morning to Hikari, with a gray overcast sky that darkened her mood as well as the day, and though she would never admit it she felt a little glad to have some company in that depressing weather.

"Miyako is helping me try to decode the numbers that Kotemon left behind," said Takeru, briefly taking off his hat so that he could straighten the yellow hair over the left side of his face. "Most of the numbers look like they might be coordinates." He paused and chose his next few words carefully. "I don't want to be overly optimistic, but if these are the coordinates for what I think they are for, then an end to our long war may actually be in sight. It's just that the last few numbers don't make any sense no matter how many times any of us looks over it." Takeru let out a small laugh of defeat. "Well, they say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting to change the unchangeable."

Hikari only responded with a slight nod.

Takeru paused. He couldn't hide the small frown on his face. "Are you sure you want to go to class today? Don't push yourself if you don't feel up for it."

"I'm fine," said Hikari. "Schoolwork is easy. If anything, going to class is a break for me."

A breeze passed over them, and Hikari thought that she briefly tasted salt. Takeru noticed her shiver. "Are you cold? I can get my cloak or something."

Hikari shook her head and continued walking along the sidewalk at an accelerated pace. She noticed that her school was now in view, but the beach was as well. Instead of their usual path, it seemed they had taken one that brought them close to the coast. From the edge of her eye she could see the beach. The water was calm, and thus reflected the dark gray color of the sky.

She wasn't afraid of water. At the very least, it wasn't a conscious fear. However, large bodies of water had always bothered her in some subtle way that she couldn't quite explain. Hikari frowned and rubbed her hands together to warm them. This was a reminder for her to pay better attention to her surroundings. Their usual path didn't bring them so close to the shore. She must have taken a wrong turn somewhere before without noticing.

However, now that she thought about it, she realized that she didn't remember much of their travel at all, not even when they had crossed over from the Digital World. She also did not remember seeing all the fog that had begun to settle over them. "Takeru, how long have we been walking?"

There was no answer.

But that was impossible. Hikari turned, unwilling to believe that she could be alone. "Takeru?"

Takeru blinked, slightly surprised by the slight alarm in her voice. "Hikari, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Just… answer my questions."

"Did you ask something? I'm sorry, I must not have heard."

Hikari frowned and turned away. "Honestly, you…" She trailed off as she noticed that she had already reached the front gate of her school, far from the beach. The ocean was far away and out of sight, especially with all the surrounding mist.

"Well, this is as far as I go, I guess," said Takeru. "As this a private all-girls school, just being at the front gate might attract some unwarranted attention." He smiled and ran his hand through the gray hair on his bare head. "If you need anything, just let me know, alright? If you're not feeling well, you don't have to go today." A sudden thought came to him, and he removed his bag from his belt and handed it to her. "But if you insist, you should have these. You know, for luck on your test."

Hikari accepted the small bag and glanced inside, finding her brother's goggles.

"Hold onto them, actually," continued Takeru. "It's better that you have them."

Hikari closed her bag and closed her eyes. She inhaled deeply and forced her thoughts elsewhere. "You're not going to your school today?"

Takeru shook his head. "I should get back to scouting the area and charting possible paths. Daisuke has been helpful by sharing his notes so I don't fall behind. Again, just call me if you need me." He pulled his black cloak closer over his shoulders and walked away. Hikari spent a few moments watching him leaving until he was too far away to make out in the gathering mist.

When he was gone, Hikari pulled her bag tighter over her shoulder and turned back to pass through the gate and enter her school.

* * *

Before she knew it, her hand was moving over the paper on the desk in front of her. Hikari blinked and brought up her other hand to wipe her eyes. She suddenly felt a bit confused. Having spent the last few minutes or possibly hours concentrating on her test, Hikari could no longer remember anything about what had happened in that time. After passing the gate and entering the school, she remembered nothing about going to her classroom except for a few fragmentary flashes of views outside the windows of the hallway. She didn't remember meeting or even seeing any of the other students.

With a sigh, Hikari tried to turn her attention back down at her test. Forgetting unimportant details when focusing on other things was not unusual for her. However, now that her concentration had been broken, she found that she had trouble regaining it. No matter how hard she tried to focus on the questions on her test paper, all she could see was a fuzzy and garbled mess of lines and curves, nothing even resembling a coherent word or number or any sort of meaningful symbol.

Despite this, her hand continued on, scribbling equally incomprehensible lines onto her test against her will. She could not stop her hand.

Hikari reached out with her other hand and grabbed her arm, and then at last did her writing hand respond and drop the pencil. Her hands both felt incredibly cold, while her face felt warm as if it was burning with fever.

A sudden bout of drowsiness seized her, and her eyelids began to feel heavy. But she couldn't sleep, not in the middle of test. It was hard however, especially as there were the sounds of rolling waves in her ears, sounds that seemed to call out to her to sleep.

Her head began to bow forward, and it took all her effort to keep herself from falling forward onto her desk or out of her seat. That incessant sound of gray waters colliding against damp sandy shores kept calling her, tempting her to just give in and let her fall into her world of dreams.

And nightmares.

Hikari forced her eyes a little wider open as she remembered her nightmares. Thoughts of not wanting to fall asleep during a test fell aside to the more pressing desire not to go back to her nightmares.

Her feet felt cold. She looked down. They were submerged in gray water up to her heels, and slowly rising. The feeling of drowsiness was gone, and she straightened. She was no longer in her classroom. The gray water stretched out in all directions, an endless ocean covered in thick mist. Her table and chair was all that was there besides the water, a lone island in an endless universe of gray water.

"I'm asleep," she whispered to herself. "This is just a dream. Dreams can't hurt me. Dreams are safe."

The water level had reached her knees. Out of the corner of her eyes, she thought she could see small shadows shaped like hands and claws slowly rise up from the waters.

"It's just a dream."

She felt a claw tightly grab her heel.

But she also felt a sharp pain on her forehead. Her eyes snapped open. She had fallen forward and her head had collided against her desk. The classroom was back. The water was gone.

Quietly, Hikari rose from her seat and excused herself to go to the Nurse's office to rest.

The door slid shut behind her, and she was alone in the dark hallway. Hikari looked out the window, and saw nothing but the dark overcast sky and the fog surrounding the school building. With a slow breath to try to calm herself, she took a step. Then another.

A drop of water landed and rippled.

Hikari paused. She didn't remember ever seeing a faucet in the hallway, and for some reason the sound of water unnerved her in ways that she could not explain. She swallowed and began walking again, but as she did, she saw a pair of black claws slowly reach out from behind her in the corner of her eyes.

"Who is it?" She whirled around, ready to defend herself against the imagined devil, but she found that she was still all alone.

Hikari shook her head and turned ahead again. She told herself it was just a dream. She had nothing to be afraid of. Dreams were imaginary. Dreams could not hurt her.

As she took another step, she heard a squishing sound. Hikari was suddenly aware that her shoes and feet were wet. In fact, her legs all the way up to her knees were wet. When she looked down to examine her legs, she felt tenderness on her heel, and pushed her shoe slightly down to see the bruise left behind there by a tight grip.

Another wave of drowsiness swept over her, even greater than the first. She fell to her side, her face landing against the soft sand of the beach that she had been walking on the whole time.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to thrash about. But she couldn't. She was paralyzed, unable to even blink even as her heart pounded and the sand touched and irritated the corner of her eye. Hikari was alone on the beach, unable to move a single muscle, with no one to help her and no one to hear her silent screams and no one to wipe away the tears building up on her eyes and staining her pillow of gray sand.

* * *

Hikari was in the bed of her school's nursing office. She was lying on her side, and her gray pillow was wet with her tears. Takeru was beside her. He had been trying to calm her while she slept by stroking her hair. As soon as he saw her eyes open, he immediately backed away.

The scolding he was likely expecting did not come. Instead, Hikari slowly rose to a sitting position. "What happened?" she whispered.

"You suddenly collapsed while you were taking your test," replied Takeru. "They took you here and called the home number they have registered under your name. Of course, that number led to me instead of…" He trailed off. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone off on my own this morning. If I were there this morning I would have realized you weren't feeling well today."

Hikari slowly nodded. That was right. Takeru had not been there in the morning because he had made his usual early morning scouting. He and his brothers were exploring the general area that the coordinates left behind on the throwing star had indicated.

"What time is it?" asked Hikari.

"Early afternoon. The nurse suggested that you go home early today. Normally, they would want a parent here, but I was able to convince them that I could take you." Takeru let out a soft ironic laugh. "I mean, the family resemblance between us is obvious."

Hikari turned and glared at him. Takeru's small ironic smile vanished immediately. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"Just because the school thinks you're my brother doesn't mean you can make callous remarks like that," whispered Hikari. She slowly climbed up out of bed, waving away Takeru's offered hand. After she smoothed her wrinkled clothes, she turned back to see Takeru holding out her bag for her. She grabbed it without a word and made her way toward the door. The nurse was not at the desk at the front, but Hikari did not wait for her to return.

When she stepped out into the hallway, she had to blink as her eyes had to adjust to the new light, or rather to the lack of light. The hallway was darker than usual. During the daytime, the ceiling lights were kept off since the sunlight was more than enough to illuminate the hallway, but this day was a dark overcast one. The hallway had a gloomy overcast look, and unnerved her. Hikari almost breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Takeru join her in the hallway.

"Should we go back to the Digital World?" asked Takeru quietly.

"No."

Takeru turned to her. "No?"

"Take me home," whispered Hikari. "My real home..."

A silence passed.

"Are you sure?" asked Takeru.

"Yes."

Takeru slowly nodded. "I'll walk you."

Hikari did not protest. She took a tentative step forward.

As she did, she was suddenly struck by a sudden attack of dizziness. Her eyes were overwhelmed with visions of black spots and stars, amidst swirls of dark gray. She reached out to grab onto Takeru to steady herself, but her hand felt nothing but cold wet sand. As the floor rocketed up toward her face, the patterns of tiles morphed into lines and numbers on white, into test questions on paper.

A sharp pain spread throughout the side of her face, and she raised her head again. She was at her desk, her half-filled out test right in front of her. While taking it, she had dozed off, causing her to fall forward and hit her head against the test.

No, that made no sense. She had already passed out while taking her test and then again in the hallway after she had excused herself. She had woken up in the Nurse's office. She looked down at her test. As before, instead of numbers and words she saw a tangled mess of nonsensical squiggles, and realized that the seemingly flat paper had four instead of two dimensions of space.

And then in an instant, she was back in the hallway, her hand gripping Takeru's shoulder and holding on for dear life. His hands were on her arms as well, helping her straighten again. Hikari realized she was breathing hard and staring directly down at the tiled floor in front of her.

"What's wrong?" asked Takeru in a desperate whisper. "What happened?"

Hikari forced herself to keep her breath steady. "What time is it?"

Takeru blinked in confusion. "Early afternoon. I just told you."

"You said that I passed out in the hallway, right?"

"No, I was told that you passed out while you were taking your test."

Hikari swallowed. She blinked and tried to concentrate, and then slowly nodded. "Right, that's right. I remember. I was confused. Help me back into the office. I need to lie down. I'm dizzy, and my sense of time is all wrong."

"Right. Back we go." Takeru helped Hikari turn around and go back to the bed. He helped her lie down and pulled a blanket over her. "Do you want to go to a hospital?"

"No. They will have to call my real home phone number, and if they do that then…"

"Your health comes first, Hikari."

Hikari closed her eyes. She was beginning to see spots again, and the entire room felt like it was starting to spin. Before her very eyes, straight lines were straightening and shortening into curves. "I just need some sleep."

Sleep began to set on quickly, but even so she suddenly realized something. If she went to sleep, she was liable to dream again, and if she dreamed, she would have to face her nightmares again. For a moment, her mind silently raged, demanding that she wake up immediately. But then she felt calm. While she was dreaming, she was safe. Dreams couldn't hurt her. She relaxed and let herself slip into the dark.

* * *

Hikari woke up in the bed of her school's nursing office. She was lying on her side, and her gray pillow was wet with her tears. She couldn't remember having any dreams. Takeru was not at her bedside, which seemed strange to her, but her bag was, and she pulled it to her.

She slipped in a hand. Her heart skipped a beat. The bag was empty.

Her breathing normalized again when she turned and saw her books and her Digivice in a neat pile on the small table beside her bed. A quick glance confirmed that there was no one else in the nursing office, and she activated her silver Digivice. "Tailmon."

With a small flash, Tailmon emerged from the Digivice and landed on the bed beside her. The white cat Digimon was clearly worried. "Hikari, are you feeling better? Your health comes first."

"Yes." Hikari looked around the room again. Everything was three-dimensional, and the straight lines were straight. "Where is Takeru?"

"He's probably still in the Digital World scouting the area we think the coded numbers is indicating."

Hikari blinked. "Wait, still scouting, you say?"

"Well, he did walk you to the school this morning, but afterward he went back to resume his wanderings in the area."

Slowly, Hikari began to shake her head. "I don't understand. He was here before. The school called him after I collapsed, and he came here to pick me up before I became too dizzy to walk. The school thinks Takeru is my brother."

The concerned look on Tailmon's face deepened. "Hikari… the school doesn't think that. You are registered under your real name here, remember? They know about your current family situation. It's true that the phone number you gave them would reroute to Takeru instead of your parents, but Takeru can't actually come here claiming to be your relative. He wouldn't really be able to pass as your brother anyways. You two look too different."

A cold weight sank into Hikari's stomach, weighing her down. Tailmon was right. She swallowed and looked ahead at the blank grey wall in front of her. Slowly, she brought a hand up to feel her forehead. "Yes, that's right. I'm sorry. I was just dreaming."

Tailmon glanced around. "Maybe you should rest some more."

"No!" said Hikari. Tailmon nearly jumped in surprise, and Hikari realized she had been too loud and sudden in her speech. "I mean, I'm already well-rested. I've already slept too much today." She climbed up out of the bed and massaged her temples. She had no intention of sleeping again. It wasn't just the nightmares anymore. Now she was beginning to have trouble distinguishing her real memories from things she had dreamed. It was as if her nightmares were somehow becoming real.

"Should we return to the other world?" asked Tailmon.

Hikari shook her head. "No. I… I want to go see home today." She swallowed. "My real home."

Tailmon blinked in surprise. "Really?"

"Just a quick visit," said Hikari. "I just want to see… how everyone is doing…"

Tailmon was quite for a moment. She nodded. "A quick visit wouldn't hurt."

Hikari gathered her things in her bag, and recalled Tailmon into her Digivice. She shouldered her bag and left the empty school building. The grey overcast sky and slowly gathering fog greeted her as she pushed aside the heavy metal door, but the dark and depressing weather did not deter her as she stepped outside. She was going to see her home and her family, and nothing would stop her.

It was hard to see where she was going with all the fog, and a growing feeling of anxiety began weighing down her heart. She reached her hand into her bag and reassured herself by touching her Digivice. When she found that this wasn't enough, she pushed on and felt the small bag that Takeru had given her. Hikari reached inside and ran her finger against the smooth plastic of one of the round lenses of the goggles.

Before she knew it, the apartment building was coming into view. It wasn't the same one she had lived in back then. This apartment was different. Her parents had been forced to move to this cheaper one due to the financial burden of new medical bills. Hikari thought it was a shame, in a way. Her family had been one of the few that had not moved away seven years ago, after the incident that had been officially labeled a terrorist attack. Rather than leave from that bang, they had left in a whimper.

Hikari hesitated some distance away. She had lost track of how long she had been walking through the fog, partly because she had started to feel drowsy again. She gave herself a light slap on the cheek to tell herself to focus.

As she took a tentative step forward, she was suddenly aware of the old television broadcast station, the same one that had been occupied and damaged by Vamdemon. On a whim, she turned and began walking towards it instead.

* * *

"I wouldn't have expected to find you here," whispered Hikari.

Takeru glanced up from his seat on the floor of the observation deck. He had draped his black cloak over his shoulders. "Same. I just decided to come here on a whim after I finished the initial scouting. The information we've managed to obtain from the throwing star seems to be accurate. I couldn't go too far of course, since, well, it might alert Ichijouji that we're starting to close in on him."

Hikari nodded and walked forward to stand beside him. The two of them were the only ones in the observation deck of the building, which was a bit strange given how crowded and busy the broadcast station was. Perhaps no one was interested in visiting the observation deck because there wasn't much to see because of all the gray fog.

"Do you come here often?" asked Hikari.

Takeru looked back out the window at the fog. "No." He paused. "Just when I feel like remembering a few things."

"Your father still works here, right?"

Takeru laughed and smoothed the gray hair hanging over the left side of his face. "If he saw me, he probably wouldn't recognize me." He shook his head and changed the subject. "You probably haven't heard, but recently there's been some commotion going on in this broadcast station. People are claiming that they're seeing ghosts."

"Considering what happened here, that doesn't sound that strange." Hikari approached the window and looked at the roof directly outside it. "Actually, that's the exact spot where…"

The lights overhead flickered, causing both of them to look up. The next moment, all the lights sparked one last time and switched off completely. Takeru rose from his seat, his eye darting around the room. Hikari tensed as well. She felt a sudden chill, and shivered. Outside, the fog seemed to grow even thicker.

"Someone else is here," whispered Takeru. His left hand reached to his right arm, preparing to pull up his sleeve so that he could use his Gold Digivice. Hikari had already pulled her Silver Digivice from her bag.

A faint shadow appeared on the floor and began to creep around. Takeru seemed not to notice, but Hikari saw it clearly. She directed her Digivice at its direction and called out Tailmon.

In the same instance that Tailmon emerged from the light of the Digivice, the shadow seemed to retreat, crossing the floor toward the center of the deck. "There," said Hikari, pointing out toward it and following. Tailmon nodded and pounced after it.

"Where?" asked Takeru as he followed them. "I don't see anything."

The shadow came to a stop at the exact center of the deck. Tailmon stopped in front of it and hesitated. She glanced back at her partner as Hikari came to a stop beside her. "This presence is familiar…"

Right then, before their eyes, the shadow seemed to rise from the floor and take a three dimensional shape. Though it retained a black and gray appearance overall, small hints of color appeared in dark blue and yellow patches. Tailmon began shaking slightly as the shadow took the faint outline of a pointed hat and cape. From the cape emerged a gloved hand, black and gray with small patches of brown.

Takeru saw what the others saw at last. "I don't believe it…"

A low voice that sounded as if it were distorted by static began to steadily chant in a raspy ominous tone. "_hear me please hear me please hear…"_

"We can hear you," said Tailmon breathlessly. "You… but how…"

"_little time we have little time we have…"_

It was clear that the shadow had something important to tell them, and that it must tell them quickly. Hikari nodded. "Yes, what is it?"

The finger of the ghost slowly rose and pointed at Takeru, shaking the whole time _"three one six code three one six code three…"_

Takeru's eye widened and he immediately reached into some bag he had on his back, underneath his cloak. He pulled out the throwing star and looked down at the numbers.

"_six six number six six six number six…"_

Hikari and Tailmon turned to look at Takeru, who seemed to be turning pale upon hearing the numbers and looking at the throwing star.

"_of death four is the number of death four is the number…"_

"I get it now," whispered Takeru. "The last few numbers… It all makes sense now." He looked up at the shadow. "But how could you know…?"

"_a miracle hope for a miracle hope for…"_

All eyes turned back to the shadow. The tone of the chanting had changed, becoming more urgent and grave.

" _the dark kind to the dark kind to…"_

Takeru shook his head. "I don't understand."

"_for__ destiny light a path for destiny light a path…"_

Hikari realized that the finger of the shadow had shifted to point at her, directly at her chest. She realized then that her hand had instinctively covered her heart. "Do you mean me?"

"_wake up time to wake up time to…"_

Gradually the shadow began to fade, the colors turning back to gray, then black, and then vanishing entirely. Tailmon stepped toward the shadow, paw reaching out and eyes wide.

From beneath the brim of the shadowy hat, two eyes, blue, seemed to appear and look out at Tailmon. Its voice became softer. _"sorry I am sorry I am..."_

Tailmon ran forward, paw still outstretched, but the shadow was already gone. Hikari stared at where the shadow had been. She felt something warm on her cheek, and suddenly realized that she was crying.

Takeru took off his hat and stepped forward. "We already owed him so much… and now it seems that we owe him even more, even after…"

Hikari wiped her eye. What Takeru had said matched her exact thoughts.

Tailmon had settled onto her knees, and was now staring at the ground, not saying anything. Takeru swallowed. His throat was apparently dry. His eye was dry as well, but Hikari couldn't remember the last time she had seen him cry. She remembered that when they were younger he seemed to cry all the time.

"You were on your way home, right?" whispered Takeru. "I'll walk you there."

"I don't need you to," replied Hikari.

"I know. I'll walk you anyways."

"Wait." Hikari felt another chill and studied Takeru suspiciously. "How do you know I'm on my way home?"

"You told me you wanted to go home back at your school. Remember, when we were in the Nurse's office?"

And then, all of a sudden, things began to make sense: why she didn't remember any of the travel time, from leaving her school to walking home to entering the television station and reaching the observation deck, and how she could have done all that just by walking when it should have taken hours.

"No," whispered Hikari. "That was just a dream."

"Hikari, what are you…?"

"Which means this is a dream."

* * *

Hikari was in the bed of her school's nursing office. She was lying on her side, and her gray pillow was wet with her tears. Straight away she looked to the table beside her bed, where her books and Digivice were. She quickly grabbed her bag and packed her things up again. This time, she did not call out Tailmon, but immediately cleaned herself off and left the Nurse's office.

The hallway was dark. For some reason the lights were off, and very little sunlight could penetrate the thick fog outside the window. Hikari did not let it bother her, and headed straight for her school's computer lab to open a gate, any gate, to go back to the Digital World. The whole way, she forced herself to pay attention to her dark surroundings. She needed to make sure that she was not dreaming again by ensuring that she remembered her travel time and that she was actually physical traveling from place to place instead of mentally teleporting to roads and buildings.

"I'm not dreaming," said Hikari aloud as she reached the door of the computer room. "Everything made physical sense. I woke up in the Nurse's office, and then came here."

She pushed the door open, and found the teenage Yagami Taichi sitting on a chair, facing her.

Hikari's heart sank. She stepped into the room. "This is a dream."

"Is it?" asked Taichi. He was wearing the green jacket and slacks of his school uniform, as well as a blue headband, the same one he used to wear beneath his goggles so that they wouldn't chafe.

Hikari reached into her bag and found the smaller bag that Takeru had given her. She opened it and felt inside, finding the goggles. She closed her bags and looked back up at Taichi. "This is a dream. You can't be here. That's impossible."

"Why is it impossible?" asked Taichi with a little smile. "Am I dead?"

"Yes." Hikari paused. "I mean no, you're just…" She paused again. Her voice shook. "I… I don't remember. I can't tell apart my nightmares from my memories anymore. I can't distinguish between dreams and reality..."

"Well, even dreams are real, in a way," said Taichi. "Your worst nightmare was always me dying, right? It must have been a shock for you, then, when reality ended up giving me a fate worse than death."

Hikari shook her head. "That's not true. This is just another nightmare. That didn't happen. This isn't real."

"Are your thoughts real? Are your emotions real?" Taichi reached up and tapped his temple with his finger. "All those are all in your head too, right? If those are real, why can't your dreams be real? And when you're dreaming, everything looks real. Everything feels real. Maybe right now, you're the real Hikari, and all that other stuff was just a nightmare in your head."

Hikari heard the door close behind her. She turned and found Takeru, without a hat or cloak or anything of that sort. He had entered and closed the door, which he was now leaning his back against. His clothes were clean, a vibrant green and yellow, and his yellow hair was combed so that both sides of his face were clearly visible. Both of his blue eyes were looking at her.

"This is a dream," said Takeru quietly. "And because this is a dream, you are in control. You can have anything you want. So tell me, what do you want?"

"Well, it's a bit clear what she wants," said Taichi, rising from his seat. He stretched and flexed his arms. "She wants me healthy and full of life, not in whatever condition that I actually am right now. She wants that old wizard alive in some way, even as a ghost, just so that she can feel a little less guilty about the whole mess, instead of dead and gone."

Takeru laughed and shook his head. He focused on Hikari. "I mean, what do you want to ask me? You have something to ask me, don't you? Something you've always wanted to ask."

Hikari shook her head and whispered "I don't understand."

"You want to know why I still follow you." Takeru's smiled deepened. "You don't trust me. You see, you don't understand why anyone would go so far for your sake. So you have to try to justify it to yourself. You've come up with all sorts of possible explanations, and are trying to figure out which one is the correct one."

He spread his arms wide, as if beckoning her to stab him in the chest. "So ask. Ask why I serve you. Is it because of that promise I made to Sora, when we were the last ones still not yet captured by Piemon? Are you just a promise to Sora? Ask."

Hikari closed her mouth shut and shook her head.

"Is it because of that promise I made to Taichi, when we were the last ones still outside the warp? Are you just a promise to Taichi?"

Takeru took a step forward, his gray hair shifting by the movement and scattering a few stray hairs over the left side of his face. "Is it because you are supposed to be the Chosen of Light, and therefore it is my duty to do whatever I can to protect you? Are you just an obligation?"

His arms lowered back down, and he leaned forward, scattering more hairs over his face. "Is it because you are a girl, and I am some foolish little boy trying to impress you? Are you just a prize to be won?"

Hikari recoiled from the approaching face and clutched her bag to her body. But then she remembered that she wasn't alone.

Her bag glowed with the light of the Digivice within. Hikari heard Tailmon's voice. "Hikari, don't listen to them. They aren't… this isn't a dream! I'm here with you!"

Suddenly emboldened by Tailmon's voice, Hikari slapped the face of the thing in front of her. It staggered and recoiled from the blow.

"You're not Takeru," she whispered. She turned back to look at the other thing. "You're not my brother." Her eyes narrowed. "And you're not part of my dreams either."

The thing that looked like Taichi smiled, then shimmered and changed form, becoming taller and darker.

_**Vamdemon**__: Perfect level. Virus Attribute. Undead Type. Nightmare Soldiers. Special Attack: Bloody Stream. Heavy Attack: Nightmare Wave._

Hikari glanced back at the other form, which transformed into a tall humanoid devil draped all in black.

_**Devimon**__: Adult level. Virus Attribute. Fallen Angel Type. Nightmare Soldiers. Special Attack: Death Claw. Ranged Attack: Razor Wing._

* * *

"Surprised?" asked the devil. "Well, you haven't fought me before, so you don't know the full extent of my abilities." He raised a long claw and gestured toward his blood red eyes. "Those who meet my gaze fall under my hypnotic power. Creatures of weaker will fall under complete domination, though even for those of stronger will, I can maintain an influence to affect them when their will is weakest: whey they sleep."

Hikari shook her head and looked back at the other creature. "You're dead."

"Am I?" said the vampire. "I thought you said that you could no longer tell apart memories from nightmares."

"No," said Hikari darkly. "Watching you die was definitely a memory."

"Well, then why couldn't I come back as a little shadow to haunt you? After all, you saw that traitor return to deliver a message to you back at the broadcast station."

"That was a dream."

"Are you sure?" Vamdemon shrugged. "If you believe that, you will surely be surprised when you wake up and find that those numbers in the message really are the missing piece to your puzzle." The vampire tilted his head to one side and smiled, baring its fangs. "Well, you would, if you were going to wake up from this." It reached out towards her.

Hikari grabbed her Digivice from her bag before throwing her bag into the vampire's face. As Vamdemon recoiled from the sudden blow, Hikari whirled around and brought up her Digivice just as Devimon was about to strike her from behind. Tailmon emerged in a flash and slashed her claw against the devil's face.

Tailmon landed and took a combative stance while Hikari stood at her back. "I'm already awake," said Hikari with a hiss. "This isn't a dream. This is just a hypnotic illusion."

"Well, that just makes things even worse for you does it not?" said Devimon, advancing upon them. "Dreams can't hurt you. We can."

Hikari glanced down at her Digivice and studied the green and gold dot on the screen. "In dreams, I'm alone. Here…"

The door behind Devimon shattered as it was pierced by a golden shaft, which struck Devimon squarely in the back. The devil grunted in pain and fell to one knee. With that threat removed, Tailmon turned and pounced in the other direction toward the vampire. Meanwhile, Hikari, her hand still over her heart, felt a warmth flow through her in ways that she hadn't felt in nearly three years. She looked down at her hand and chest and saw a symbol of a shining pink star glowing so brightly she could see it through her covering hand.

The vampire recoiled and tried to shield itself with its black cape as Tailmon was enveloped by the white and silver light of evolution, growing larger and shedding her white fur and gloves. The scars on her paws vanished as the paws became smooth and slender hands, and eight shining wings emerged from her back. A helmet marked by a holy cross covered her now humanoid face, amidst long yellow hair.

Devimon turned back toward the golden door, but was struck down again with the golden staff as the remains of the broken door broke away, revealing the six winged angel in the hallway.

_**Angewomon**__: Perfect level. Vaccine Type. Archangel type. Virus Busters. Ranged Attack: Holy Arrow. Heavy Attack: Heaven's Charm._

"When we last fought, you had six other Perfect levels to support you," said Vamdemon with a sneer at the archangel. "Without them, you lack the raw strength to kill me. You can't defeat me one-on-one."

Angewomon's voice betrayed no fear or concern. She raised her gloved left arm, and the two feathered wings attached to it grew and transformed into a bow. "Perhaps that was true then, but you are no longer as strong as you once were."

Vamdemon's eyes narrowed. "You're a perceptive one…" It raised an arm and cut open its wrist with a fang. The flowing blood glowed crimson and formed into a whip. "But I'm still strong enough to defeat you!" The vampire lashed out with its Bloody Stream attack.

A beam of light ran through the crimson lash, causing the attack to evaporate away, before striking Vamdemon straight in the chest, causing the vampire to reel backward and grip its heart in pain. Vamdemon fell to one knee, but looked up in confusion. The beam of light had not been fired from Angewomon's bow. Instead it had come from over Angewomon's shoulder.

Angewomon in turn had fired a Holy Arrow attack, but in the opposite direction. Behind her, Devimon stood frozen in mid-attack with its arms raised high to attack Angemon, who had fired the previous light beam at Vamdemon. Devimon remained frozen, head bowed and eyes focused on the arrow of light protruding through its chest, right through the heart.

"Clever," whispered the devil as it dissolved into dark violet bits of data. "Very clever…"

Angemon twirled his golden staff behind him as he stepped forward, standing beside Angewomon. The latter smiled at Vamdemon and redirected her bow to aim at the vampire's chest. "Now it's no longer one-on-one."

Vamdemon said no word. The creature straightened to its full height and raised its arm and pointed its hand behind it at the wall rather than at its two opponents. A telekinetic blast shattered the wall, revealing the dark fog outside, into which the vampire turned and jumped into. The angel and archangel flew out through the hole after the vampire, but hesitated just outside. Pursuit was impossible with all the fog. The vampire was gone.

* * *

"The nightmares should be over, right?" whispered Hikari. She approached the hole in the wall and looked out over the fog. In the distance, she could see the black light of a lone lighthouse by the edge of the shore. As she looked out over to the ocean, she felt a cold breeze flow from the direction of the water. Before she could even shiver, she felt a reassuring black cloak drape over her shoulders.

Takeru stepped beside her and then took a seat in the hole, letting his legs dangle over the side of the wall. "Well, how is the school going to explain this hole?" He glanced back over at the broken door. "Or that hole?"

"That's the school's problem," replied Hikari. "Not our problem."

"I suppose that's true." Takeru looked up at Hikari. "If you're ever in trouble, just call me. I'm here for you, alright? Leaving me out of the loop hurts more than any hurtful thing you've ever said, including what you said this morning."

Hikari nodded and wrapped the cloak tighter around her like a blanket. She looked back out at the lighthouse in the distance.

"Wait," said Hikari. She turned back to Takeru. "What did I say to you this morning?"

Takeru turned back to look out over the fog and shook his head. "I know you didn't mean it. You say things but you don't mean them. It's fine. We're fine."

"What did I say?" repeated Hikari with more emphasis.

Takeru glanced back up, confusion in his eyes. "You don't remember?"

Hikari blinked. Her mind reached back into her memories of that morning.

"_I'll walk you there."_

"_I don't need you to."_

"_I know. I'll walk you anyways."_

"_I don't need you to!"_

"_Hikari…"_

"_I don't need you pretending to me my brother, alright? I have a brother. I have a family. A real one, not like your little pretend family you have with Patamon and Terriermon!"_

"_Hikari, the brotherhood…"_

"_Enough about that stupid oath! I don't care. I don't need to play house with Digimon to make myself feel better about how miserable and alone I am like you do."_

Hikari swallowed and shook her head. She wrapped the black cloak tighter around her. "No, that's not what happened. That's not what I said…"

"_I'll walk you there."_

"_I don't need you to."_

"_I know. I'll walk you anyways."_

"_Alright…"_

She turned away from the hole in the wall and went back to her bag. She opened it and began searching for the small bag that Takeru had given her outside the school.

"_But if you insist, you should have these. You know, for luck on your test… Hold onto them, actually. It's better that you have them."_

Her bag was completely empty for a single small pink tear-stained scarf. No books. No smaller bag. No goggles. Hikari's hand shook as she took it out of the bag and held it out in front of her. It fell from her hand as she straightened and looked around the room again.

Takeru sat frozen in place at the edge of the hole. Everything was still. All color had vanished. There was only black and white and endless shades of gray. The laws of geometry gave way as the room warped in indescribable ways, with curves and straight lines becoming indistinguishable from each other.

Throughout all the gray chaos about her, Vamdemon appeared before her again, casually walking toward her on some invisible straight path. Only the vampire and its path made any sort of physical sense. "So this is the story you made up about yourself, to try to deny what was really happening to you."

Angewomon leaned over her shoulder and whispered in her ear. "It's a good one. It has heroes and villains… even a happy ending."

Yagami Taichi smiled and shook his head. "But it's not true."

Hikari's eyes snapped open. She was in the bed of her school's nursing office. She was lying on her side, and her gray pillow was wet with her tears. Slowly and carefully, she rose to a sitting position, and saw herself at the foot of her bed. Her double was hunched over, draped in Takeru's black cloak.

"Do you know what 'Light' is?"

Hikari looked around the empty room. She was suddenly aware that there was no color except black and white and endless gray. Every single time she had woken up, there had been no color in the room. Every single time she had woken up, it had been just another dream.

"It's a weird trait to be associated with, isn't it?" continued the dark image of her on the bed. "Well, 'Light' is supposed to actually be a sort of umbrella term covering many different traits about a person. If I had to use a different word, I might try something like 'Understanding.' You see, Light represents what we can see, what we can know, what we can feel. It represents a higher state of awareness. 'Enlightenment' if you will."

Hikari slowly reached out toward her dreamed image of herself, who twitched and turned like a puppet on tangled strings to look toward her. She recoiled in fright at the indescribable black and twitching masses that it had for eyes.

"Therefore, 'Darkness' is really 'Ignorance.' It is just what cannot be known, what cannot be understood. Therefore, it seems to me that this concept can apply to you quite well too. Taichi once told Koushiro a story, about how you were sick and in his care when he wanted to go play. He took you outside with him, and you collapsed from exhaustion. Do you remember that? Do you remember what you said to him when you returned from the hospital?"

Hikari shook her head and slowly shifted away from the puppet like thing sitting on the foot of her bed.

"You apologized to Taichi about how you didn't play right. Imagine that." The thing twitched and tilted its head. "You couldn't possibly understand just how guilty you made your brother feel with those words. You hurt him in unimaginable ways."

The face of the thing began to droop as if the flesh were melting away, and yet it also began to shift upwards in some areas as if the thing was trying to smile. "But you didn't mean to. It wasn't your fault. You see, you just cannot seem to understand what you are to other people. You cannot understand what others think of you, or why others would help you, or be nice to you, or do things for you, or give their lives for you."

The thing raised its arm, a single bony finger outstretched to point at Hikari. "That is your 'Darkness.' That is what you try to deny about yourself." The finger turned to point back at the thing. "That is you and me."

It approached her, its horrid face drawing closer to hers, forcing her down back into lying on the bed. Before she knew it, she was lying on her side again, face against the pillow and eyes staring wide at the thing before her. She could not move. She could not blink or close her eyes.

"I've explained Light," it whispered. "I've explained Dark. Now, do you know what Insanity is? 'Insanity' is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting to change the unchangeable."

She felt the cold wet breath of the whisper in her ear: "So enough dreaming over and over. Wake up, Hikari. Wake up and smell the ocean."

* * *

Hikari woke up. She was lying on her side in the same position as in her dream. Her eyes were completely dry. There were no tears. Her hands were their normal hue, not any whiter or redder than usual. Yet within her nose, she could smell the faint aromas of sand and salt, the aromas of the ocean.

This time, she was awake. She was sure she was awake, because it was time to answer the call.

She slowly rose to a seating position. With a blank stare, she turned her head toward one side and saw Tailmon, quietly napping beside the ashes of the former fire. She turned to look at the three to her other side. Patamon and Terriermon were eating some sort of breakfast while Takeru was packing his things in his bag. The throwing star was in his hand. "Code Three One Six," he muttered to himself. "Four is the number… It all makes sense now...But how do I…?"

He trailed off as he noticed Hikari. "Oh, Hikari, you're awake early." He paused. "Are you alright? You look really pale."

Hikari held her hands in front of her. Her hands had suddenly become deathly white. Then they flickered, becoming translucent.

"Hikari!" Takeru was at her side immediately. Throwing courtesy and manners aside, he grabbed her hands. They were solid once again, though deathly cold. "What was that?"

"I have to go," whispered Hikari.

Tailmon rose, having been woken by Takeru's sudden outburst. She turned around and looked to her partner. "Hm? What's going on?"

Hikari looked up at Takeru. "Before I go, can you answer a question for me?"

Takeru stared in utter confusion. "What are you talking about? Where are you going?"

"You're not my brother," continued Hikari. "I'm not your sister. And I think that deep down neither of us wants us to be like that. We don't have any sort of sibling loyalty or promises, or shared memories, or shared blood."

"Hikari?"

"So what am I to you?" she asked in a voice so soft it could be scarcely heard. "Why do you do what you do for my sake? Why?"

Takeru blinked. His grip tightened around Hikari's hands. He was afraid of what might happen if he let go. He was still confused, but nevertheless, he slowly opened his mouth to answer.

Hikari pulled her hands from his, and as she did Takeru felt her leave something behind in his hand. Before he could look down at it or answer her question, she placed a finger against his lips. "No, never mind. Don't say it."

His mouth stayed open.

"You can't say it," she said with a small mysterious smile. "It's better, if you don't say it."

Takeru closed his mouth and nodded. Hikari's smile brightened. "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting to change the unchangeable. Don't be insane, Takeru." She pulled away from him, rising to her feet. "This is just a dream. Let's keep dreaming. Never wake up."

Everyone watched her in confusion as she began to walk away. With each step, her outline seemed to fade and blur, and her body seemed to lose color. At the third step, she vanished completely.

Takeru looked down at the small pink scarf that Hikari had left bundled up in his hand.


	10. Dark Wakening

_Two Years Ago…_

"Are you hungry?"

The small green blob glanced at the offered bread, but scowled and turned away, trying to crawl even deeper into the small rock crevice in the cave wall. Patamon sighed and ate the bread himself before flying back toward the mouth of the cave, where Takeru sat tending the campfire.

"Gummymon, Nature Spirits," mumbled Patamon to himself in between his chewing. "I've heard about them, but they're supposed to be extremely rare and never found alone. Gummyon is always found alongside Chocomon, because they are twins born from a single egg. If there's a Gummymon, there should be a Chocomon too."

The only reply was a small sniffle. Patamon drew in close, and saw tears in Takeru's right eye. The boy noticed his partner, and quickly wiped his eye.

Patamon shook his head sadly and nestled next to Takeru's leg. There were tears in his eyes as well. Whenever he saw Takeru begin to cry, he always began to cry as well.

"It was our fault," whispered Takeru, his voice shaking. "While we were… his brother Chocomon was probably… it was our fault…" He shut his eye and wiped harder, but the tears refused to stop. "No, it was my fault… I shouldn't have lost my temper…"

Patamon wiped his own building tears and touched Takeru on the knee.

"I'm sorry Patamon," said Takeru, trying to force a miserable little smile as he wiped his eye. "I shouldn't cry. I said that I wouldn't cry anymore. I have to be tough, like brother and Taichi and Jou and Koushirou, because I'm going to be on my own from now on."

"You're not completely on your own," whispered Patamon with another nudge to Takeru's knee.

Takeru nodded and picked up Patamon, hugging the Digimon close to his chest. When he set his partner back down, he noticed Gummymon poke its head from behind a rock, but just as their eyes met the small green blob retreated back into the shadows in the back of the cave. Takeru felt his heart sink again.

"He must hate us a lot," whispered Takeru. "He probably… he probably feels even angrier than we did when everyone else got…" He frowned and shook his head. "And he probably feels even more scared than we did. Maybe we should go."

"We can't just leave him," said Patamon. "Look at him. He's all alone. He can't protect himself. We have to take care of him, take him with us."

"How can we when he hides away anytime we try to get close?" asked Takeru.

Patamon frowned and looked back into the shadows of the cave. "Well… then we'll just have to stay here until he stops hiding."

"We don't have that much food. We'll have to get some more, and he might run away and hurt himself if we both leave."

"Then we'll have to leave and forage in shifts," said Patamon. "We'll stay at this cave for however long it takes for Gummymon to trust us enough to come with us, or however long it takes for Gummymon to grow strong enough to take care of himself."

Takeru shifted his position and hugged his knees. He looked into the darkness of the cave where the scared little Gummymon was hiding, and then back at the mouth of the cave and the fire that he would be tending for days on end, in between alternating foraging shifts with Patamon, doing the same thing over and over again for however long it would take to change Gummymon's fear of them, if he decided to go along with the plan. He sighed. They were supposed to be in a hurry. If they remained at the cave, they would fall behind in the race to stop the growing problem of the space-time distortions.

"Okay," whispered Takeru as he remembered Gummymon's sad and scared eyes. "We'll do that."

* * *

**Maximum v10.0**

**Dark Wakening: Andiramon vs Dagomon**

* * *

_Now…_

There was nothing but an endless gray shore beside a dark ocean that stretched out past the horizon, blanketed by thick gray fog, just as in her dreams.

Now that she was there in person, awake and aware, she could see just how strange her surroundings were. As in her dreams, lines could be both straight and curved at the same time, if they could be said to exist at all. The border between the water and sky in the distant horizon was indistinct and blurred, as if her eyes were out of focus. She blinked. It didn't help.

Hikari took a cautious step and turned to look in the other direction. Opposite the ocean the ground gently sloped upward until the gray sand ended, leading to a field of dead gray weeds, marked by the remains of a fence of broken dark gray wooden planks bound by twisted and rusted gray wire. Beside the ruined fence was a wooden post, broken near the middle such that the upper half was bent at an odd angle, which bore a sign, marked by strange symbols she had never seen before in her life.

With nowhere else to go she left the sand and stepped onto the fields, the dead weeds cracking and snapping beneath her feet as she crossed a gap in the battered fence. She pushed past the taller dead weeds that awaited her on the other side, until the dead plant matter ended as well and she saw what resembled an abandoned seaside village, worn and broken by centuries of neglect.

The architecture was completely alien to her, stranger than even the strangest things she had ever seen in the Digital World. Like the beach there was a dream like quality about the buildings. Their outlines were blurred and indistinct, both straight and curved at the same time, and their geometry was completely impossible, with looping stairs that constantly climbed higher and never lower. Perspective was completely fractured, obtuse angles appearing acute such that she could see multiple sides of everything. Hikari was forced to quickly close her eyes and turn away. Just the brief glance had made her feel nauseous and given her a massive headache. Looking for longer would have likely driven her completely insane.

Hikari briefly massaged her head and tentatively opened her eyes again, keeping her gaze low. The road before her was both twisted and straight, but not as overwhelmingly multifaceted as the rest of the town. She could stand to look at it a few second at a time without losing all sense of direction and spatial position. Her confidence slightly restored, she took a step forward.

After a few more steps, she was forced to stop again as something strange came into view. Rather, what she saw was strange because it was not strange. The outline was distinct and straight. Hikari raised her head. Before her was a perfect cube of black stone. The material looked as if it was the same that made up the outer shells of the Kaiser's Towers. Eleven more such stones were arranged with it, such that all twelve formed a complete perfect circle.

Eleven of the stones were topped with broken black stone fragments, with more black shards scattered around them. It was obvious that these cubic stones were pedestals, and the stone fragments the pieces of what had once been statues standing atop the cubes. The twelfth stone still had its statue intact. It was a tall vaguely humanoid creature in jester's clothes, with a head that vaguely resembled that of a rabbit. Long mammalian ears flanked three small horns.

Scattered with the broken stone were abandoned tools that had likely been used to cruelly tear down the other eleven black statues. They were twisted and nightmarish like the buildings, defying all laws of geometry, with forks having two prongs at the base and three at the end. Among them was another small miniature statue, likely to have been intended to be set in place of the torn down statues.

Hikari approached the miniature statue and then recoiled in disgust once she saw it more clearly. The stone it was made of was dark green and soapy with yellowish striations, resembling slime and ooze. It was positively revolting when compared to the sleek and clean black stone of the pedestals and statues, both broken and intact. Yet the repelling nature of the material was nothing compared to the sickening shape of the stone.

The stone shape was that of a creature resembling a mutated octopus. Countless tentacles extended down from its rounded head and were bundled together into four limbs, giving it an almost humanoid shape which added to its frightening appearance. Hikari looked away, unwilling to spend any more time observing the thing.

She walked past the circle of black stones, further into the abandoned village, but as she progressed she found that the sound of ocean waves began to become louder and clearer instead of softer and weaker. The next thing she knew, there were dead weeds in front of her again. Hikari pushed on past, unbelieving, but sure enough she was at the broken fence again, at the exact same gap beside the broken wooden post and sign. Up ahead she saw the gray sand and ocean again.

That was impossible. She had been walking in an exact straight line, never straying from her path. Hikari turned back to the village in confusion, but immediately snapped her head back when the slight glance led to another headache that felt as if her skull was being hammered apart.

With nowhere else to go, Hikari walked through the weeds again and returned to the gray sands.

* * *

"What happened?" stammered Tailmon. She ran up to the spot where Hikari had vanished. "Where did she go?"

Patamon and Terriermon ran up beside her and stared at the spot as well. Neither could think of anything to do or say. They all turned back to Takeru, who was still kneeling alone, staring at the silk scarf in his hand. Without unfurling it, he set it aside and turned to them. His bangs had drifted over his eyes, casting a dark shadow over them, and his breathing had suddenly become irregular.

"Her scent is gone completely," continued Tailmon, still not having noticed the change that had come over her traveling companions. "But how…? I mean, that wasn't anything like a dimensional gate opening, so… so what's going on?"

She sniffed the air harder in desperation and noticed a faint change in the air. Her hair began to stand on end as she felt a strange aura. Tailmon turned back to the others at last, and noticed the change that had come over them.

Patamon flew up to Takeru and remained hovering in front of him. "Takeru?"

Takeru's fist collided with the ground and began grinding the dirt, the pressure forcing the blood from his skin and turning it pale white. His pupil had contracted, and his iris was almost glowing with emotion beneath the shadow of his hair. In his head, he was remembering the battle weeks ago when he had foolishly let Hikari be trapped inside the city while he was outside, unable to help. He still remembered how badly things had gone because of him, and yet what he was facing now was infinitely worse.

His fist rose up and smashed against the ground again. "What the hell was that?" he hissed. Slowly, his head began to shake back and forth. "No… No, this is not… Not again…"

"Takeru, look at me," said Patamon, growing agitated. "You need to calm down."

Takeru's fist struck the ground a third time. He rose and drew the throwing star, throwing it into the ground, where it embedded and quivered. All feelings of triumph at finally understanding the message had vanished and given away to utter shame that he could have felt any positive feeling at all in the past given the present situation.

"We have to think about this rationally," said Tailmon, holding out her paws as if trying to reassure the others, which she thought was quite odd considering it was her partner who had vanished. "That didn't look like a dimensional transfer, but what else could it be? We should try crossing dimensions to the other world."

"She's not there!" snapped Takeru, his voice rising. "You said so yourself. That wasn't a dimensional gate opening! It was… something different."

"Some other, third world perhaps?" offered Tailmon.

"If it's another world then we need to get to it!" Takeru pulled his green Digivice from his forearm and glared at it. "And how are we supposed to do that? Can this thing open a pathway to it? Of course not! We have to get to her, and this thing is completely worthless! Again and again, I can't do anything!" He raised it high above his head, ready to smash it on the ground. Both Patamon and Tailmon moved to protest.

"Takeru, don't lose your temper!" cried Patamon, but the hand holding the Digivice was already making its way down toward the ground.

Terriermon jumped up and spun as if using his twister attack. His ear flap slapped Takeru across the face with enough force to send the boy crashing into the ground. The green D2 slipped from his hand as he fell, landing softly and safely to avoid any permanent damage.

Takeru blinked in surprise. His hat had slipped off his head and his eye returned to its normal dilation as he felt the pain pass from his cheek to his mind. Terriermon landed in front of his head and looked him straight in the eye. The digimon's own eyes were brimming with tears.

"You are the older brother now!" yelled Terriermon in Takeru's face. "You have to take care of your younger brothers and sisters! It is your burden! Do not falter! If we cannot rely on you, what will we do?"

For a moment, no one spoke.

Takeru smoothed his hair back over the left side of his face before replacing his hat. He pulled the brim low as he inhaled and smothered his desires to cry and rage, yet again killing that part of him until the only thing that left his lips was a single soft sigh.

* * *

Now that she was back on the beach, Hikari attempted to explore a different direction and began walking parallel with the coastline. With the water on her left and the broken fence on her right, she eventually reached what appeared a sort of end of the beach, where the land shifted up as a rock barrier. In the side of this earthen wall, someone had constructed a dimly lit tunnel with round concrete walls. Like the village, it seemed to have been abandoned and long ago fallen into disrepair, but unlike the village the path was straight and made physical sense. When she looked in the opening, she could see a dim light ahead, which was comforting. Deciding that she had nowhere else to go anyway, she stepped into the tunnel.

The light she had seen was the first of a series of small dim lights mounted on the ceiling of the tunnel. As she approached it, it began to flicker, as did the others ahead. She was suddenly gripped by a fear that the lights would suddenly fail when she was deep inside the tunnel and leave her completely lost in darkness. She began to turn around, and that was when she heard the pained groan.

It had come from deeper within the tunnel, and defied all attempts to describe with words. She was not even sure if it could be called a groan. The noise was unlike anything that any human ear had heard before, and reflected a deep horrid pain that no human had ever experienced or imagined.

And yet at the same time she felt she recognized the groan. No, not groan. Call. The sound was calling for her.

"Hello?"

Her voice echoed down the tunnel, but received no reply. She took a step forward, and looked ahead to the next light. There was a massive hole carved out on the left wall beneath the light, while opposite the hole on the right wall was something written in dark red and black. The symbols were scribbled and unintelligible, resembling no language that Hikari had ever seen, and yet somehow when she looked at it she thought she could understand its meaning.

Greatly bothered by what she read, Hikari approached the opposite hole and saw another tunnel carved straight out of the rock. In the distance she could see a faint light, possibly the end of the tunnel, and began to walk towards it despite the intervening darkness. The ground was uneven, but she kept moving ahead, keeping her eyes fixed on the faint light ahead. However, an uncomfortable feeling began to grow in the back of her head the longer and longer she kept walking toward it.

And then she realized what was wrong. The light was not getting any brighter no matter how far she walked. It didn't seem like she was making any progress in approaching it.

She felt something cold and slimy grab her heel, and looked down.

Perhaps her eyes had adjusted to the darkness. She found that the faint light from the distant end of the tunnel that she could not get closer to was enough to see the faint outline of a lanky humanoid shape lying on the ground at her feet. The strange creature uttered a mixture of a gurgle and a moan, and yet it seemed clear that these odd guttural sounds were actually some sort of language, an ancient primitive language that the rest of the world had long ago forgotten.

Most bizarrely of all, despite never having heard these sounds before, Hikari somehow found that she could understand the alien gurgling sounds. The creature was asking for help.

More sounds began joining that made by the creature at her feet, a low dissonant chorus of pained grunts and sounds. Hikari began to realize that she could see many other dark forms identical to the one grabbing her heel, all scattered around the tunnel floor.

"What are you?" she whispered.

The thing groaned its answer. It was short, and only confused Hikari further, but before she could press the matter it began begging for help again.

"Help with what?"

As the thing answered, it also motioned toward its arm, drawing attention to the black shackles binding tightly to the slimy gray skin of its forearm. The shackle was not bound to any chain, and it was spiral instead of a single ring. Hikari's mind flashed back to the spirals she had seen bound on BlackAgumon, ShogunGekomon, and MegaSeadramon.

"The Kaiser?" she whispered aloud. "No, that makes no sense. How could Ichijouji…?"

A shudder rippled through the crowd of the lanky creatures at that name, and yet it did not seem to be a shudder of fear. If anything, it seemed more reflective of excitement.

"How can I take those off of you?" asked Hikari.

The thing pointed past Hikari to the end of the tunnel and gurgled.

"You want me to unlock the power source there?" Hikari shook her head and began to turn to look back to the end. "But no matter how far I walk, I never get…"

The mouth of the tunnel was directly in front of her, only it wasn't the mouth of a tunnel anymore. It was the frame of a broken door, directly opening up toward the ring of twelve black stones. Confused, Hikari looked around at her surroundings again. The rock was morphing seamlessly into rotting gray wooden walls of a decaying village house. The tunnel had routed her directly back into the village center. Somehow, she wasn't exactly surprised.

The grip on her heel relaxed, revealing the slight bruising that the creature's tight grip had left behind and allowing her to push aside the remains of the door and approach the village center and the ring of twelve black stones. The crowd of lanky black slime creatures crawled after her, grunting with pain with each movement and yet still trying to croak words of encouragement. They were telling her to unlock the power inside the lone intact black statue.

Hikari approached the ring of stones again. Her migraines had faded, and the bizarre geometry-defying tools and surroundings had somehow righted themselves, becoming perfectly normal looking except for their lack of color beyond various shades of gray.

Not knowing what to expect, she reached out and touched the black cube base with the edge of her fingers.

Nothing happened.

Hikari turned back to the dark creatures. They had refused to enter the circle of stones with her, and had instead crowded around the broken door she had exited. It was almost as if they were afraid to draw too close to the statue.

"What am I supposed to do?" asked Hikari.

The creatures gargled and grunted the same words of encouragement from before. Hikari swallowed and looked back to the statue. She wanted to help end their pain. She really did.

She suddenly felt a slight hint of warmth at her fingertips.

The next thing she knew, she was eight years old. The seaside village was gone. Instead, she was in an open field. She wore a yellow shirt and a pink scarf around her neck. Hanging from her neck was her old whistle. That whistle had been with her for as long as she could remember.

Something that towered over her approached her and offered its large brown paw. She reached out and touched it.

* * *

Hikari was back in the seaside village at her normal age. Her hand left the statue. She looked around, confused. Somehow it felt as if years had suddenly passed by, and yet when she turned and looked back at the still hooting and gargling dark slime creatures, it seemed as if it had been less than a second.

However long it had been, she began to hear a low grinding sound, like two rugged stones rubbing against one another. The creatures' hoots and cheers became louder as they began to crawl away from the dilapidated house into the circle of black stones. Hikari looked back to the statue. The grinding sound was coming from it.

Before her eyes, the black statue began to move. It lifted up a leg and stepped off of the black cube pedestal. The statue's head turned back and forth, as if it was looking around. Its gaze settled upon the crowd of the lanky black creatures that had entered the ring of stones.

The creatures were hooting. They were demanding that the statue join and obey them.

The black statue lifted up its right arm. The large paw at the end began to morph, the fingers melting together and widening, becoming a sharp double-bladed axe head.

"You hide under darkness, because underneath it you are nothing but smoke and void," said a voice. "Nothing but empty puppets. Be free."

The axe head fell upon the nearest lanky creature, cleaving it in two. The victim let out a gurgling wail before its two black slimy halves melted away into gray vapor and mist before vanishing completely. Immediately, the other creatures stopped their hooting cheers and began trying to crawl away from the black statue. Meanwhile the statue raised its axe arm up and brought it down upon the next nearest creature, which wailed and vanished like the first.

Hikari's eyes were wide with surprise and fright as she watched the black statue continue its grim execution of the creatures, one by one. Her hand closed as she remembered the warmth she had felt with her fingertips. Had she brought the thing to life? Was this her fault?

The statue paused and turned its head, its blank and lifeless stone eyes settling upon Hikari. Her heart froze in terror, but the statue did not move to attack her. Instead, despite the fact that the face of the statue was unmoving stone, somehow it looked as if the statue was confused.

A sick feeling began to pool within her gut. Was the statue confused by her fear? What if the statue was attacking the creatures because it somehow thought it was what Hikari wanted? An even more disturbing thought: what if she actually had wanted it to?

It took a cautious step forward, looking down at Hikari the whole time. She heard a voice. "You hide under darkness." Its left arm began to reach out toward her.

As more fear began to strangle Hikari's heart, she wished the statue had never noticed her but continued focusing on the strange lanky creatures.

A black shadowy javelin struck the face of the statue and exploded.

The statue reeled backward from the force of the blow, but as the shadowy material dissipated, Hikari saw that the face of the statue was still perfectly intact. She turned to look for the source of the javelin. Once again she was taken by surprise.

Space seemed to have warped yet again, albeit more violently this time. The gray sand of the beach itself was now mere meters from where Hikari stood. The half of the seaside village between the beach and the ring of black stones had been crushed together into a mess of black and gray debris by the sudden shift in land and water.

More slimy creatures, even taller and lankier than the ones Hikari had met before, were emerging from the gray waters, carrying long shadowy javelins. The closest ones lifted up their weapons and threw them at the statue, causing more explosions against the black statue. Meanwhile, the pained crawly creatures were making their way into the waters of the dark ocean. Hikari watched as the furthest one dipped its arms into the dark waters, and like some corrosive acid the water caused the spiral shackle to melt away. With a hooting croak of joy, the now free creature dove completely into the water before emerging again, taller and lankier, and carrying a shadowy javelin.

The creatures began chanting their dissonant gurgling chant. Hikari understood their strange song. They were singing her praises, thanking her for bringing them to the saving embrace of the dark waters of the ocean.

Why should they do that? Hikari had not done anything to help them… unless, perhaps, she actually _had_ moved them to the ocean or the ocean to them. This dark world, with its callous disregard of physical and geometrical sense, was almost like a dream world. Perhaps like a dream, it could be reshaped by her mind. Perhaps like a dream, unconscious desires that she was not aware of was somehow influencing the dark world.

As she thought this over, the statue recovered and pushed through the barrage of exploding javelins, raising up its right axe arm and swinging it down to cut through the nearest five creatures all at once. It was trying to position itself between her and the army of things by the ocean, as if shielding her. They were fighting over her, she realized.

Another explosion and a javelin flying just in front of her face woke her from her trance, and she tried to find cover in the wreckage between the ocean and circle of stones. The sounds of battle were growing louder and louder, reminding her of so many other battles she had been through. As she remembered them, she realized all of them had been unpleasant, whether they ended in victory or defeat.

"You know my opinions on violence," he had said. She did know. She had always known because she shared those opinions, but like so many other things about herself she had tried to bury it away, hide it in deep dark recesses of her mind.

It was like she was shining a light into the dark corners of her mind again, trying to relearn who she had been, and who she really was. Hikari realized then that she wanted help. She wanted her brother with her again, and she wanted Tailmon by her side. But she also wanted Takeru there with her.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. She blinked. "You came."

A small ironic smile greeted her. "I guess I'm just insane."

* * *

"He said… he had someone very important to him.

"He said… that someone was why he wanted to be better, why he wanted to be a hero.

"A hero was someone who had the heart, the will, to do whatever was necessary. I wanted to be a hero too."

Takeru glanced up at the three Digimon in front of him. "The first time through, we ended up separating twice. I don't know if I ever told you about those times. You weren't with us yet, Terriermon."

Terriermon shook his head.

"Tailmon, you weren't with us yet either, actually, when we split up the first time."

Tailmon nodded.

"The first time was a bit unexpected. We were fighting a local warlord on Server, Etemon. Taichi finally used his Courage in that final battle, allowing MetalGreymon to defeat Etemon. But at the time, Etemon had integrated himself into his Dark Network, and the resulting explosion was strong enough to warp local space and open a gate, and it ended up sending Taichi and MetalGreymon over. We didn't know that back then. We had no idea what had happened.

"Things changed, but I don't think any of us expected everything to break apart like it did. But it did. Koushiro was our brain, Jou and Sora are backbone, my brother Yamato our eyes and hands, but that time showed us that Taichi was our heart, our will. He was the only one with the vision to find the common ground of all our different perspectives, the only one that could create the single compromise, no, _synergistic_ vision that all of us could work toward. With him gone, we began going our own separate ways."

Takeru looked down at the ground and smoothed the hair hanging over the left side of his face.

"Sora came close though, and she helped keep us from completely turning against each other until Taichi could return and reunite us. The second time was different though. That time was when we fought the Dark Masters.

"Things were different that time. The Masters were strong, and they were in control. The odds were against us. When we lost, innocents died. Even when we won, innocents died. But I was still a little child then. I didn't fully understand. I thought I could be a hero. I was very proud of myself, actually, when I supposedly sacrificed myself to be Pinocchimon's hostage.

"Of course, when I escaped and went back, well, things weren't that simple. My brother and Taichi were arguing again. They always did when things became hard. My brother was upset. He had been ever since he had watched all those Digimon of the Net Ocean die. The casualties were rising, and he accused Taichi of not caring about them. He accused Taichi of not caring about me, because Taichi had tried to restrain him from recklessly rushing Pinocchimon's mansion alone. If anything, my return somehow made things worse.

"My brother wanted to stop fighting. Taichi refused and said 'If we don't keep fighting there will be more hurt in the end. In war there are always sacrifices.'

"My brother said 'A man who does not care about his followers cannot lead!'

"Taichi turned away, but my brother followed to force the issue. I saw then, that if things kept on like that, something bad would happen. I thought I could do something. I thought I could be a hero. So I stepped up to stop him.

"I said 'Taichi is right.'

"He told me to move, but I refused. 'Taichi is right.'

"He yelled. He pushed me aside. I moved back in front of him. 'Taichi is right.'

"He raised his hand. I recoiled. He didn't hit me. Seeing me turn away from his raised hand brought him back to his senses. After that, things quieted down again. It was a while before we realized that he and Gabumon had disappeared somewhere.

"Then, when he came back, he challenged Taichi to a fight to settle things. And that was that. We were all split up again.

"He regretted the fight a lot. He apologized to Taichi, and Taichi forgave him easily. But the whole incident changed things. It changed things between us. My brother never looked me straight in the eye after that. I was sad. Even now, it hurts, but…

"Taichi was right."

Takeru took a long pause after he finished his story.

"Well, I guess this is what it must have felt like for my brother back then," said Takeru at last. "I'm sorry for losing my temper before." His hands tightened into fists as they rested on his knees. "Waiting is hard, but we've been divided before. We'll reunite again. In the end, we always do."

"_Fan__ gau__ bit__ hap__, hap __gau __bit__ fan__,_" whispered Terriermon.

"You were strong back then, when you went alone to the mansion," said Tailmon. "Hikari is strong too. Whatever happened, we must have faith in her."

Takeru nodded slightly. He felt a chill, and pulled his cloak tighter around himself. It didn't help.

He felt sick in ways indescribable. In his head, he thought over and over about those final moments that he had spent with her. What should he have done? Should he have refused her and answered anyways? Would that have changed things?

No, he should not be thinking like that. If he were to wonder about what could have been if only he had acted differently, there were so many other things for him to wonder about. Right now, only one thing mattered.

If he had to wait, he would wait, for however long as it took. It was like what Terriermon and Tailmon said. They would reunite. Hikari was strong. No matter how bad it seemed now, he could face it, and things would get better again.

He had to keep believing that.

Takeru suddenly lifted his head. The sickness had passed. Instead, he felt something new, something strange and yet familiar. It was a feeling he had felt before, but not for a very long time, not in years.

He stood up. The others watched him, confused by his sudden movement. He was looking straight ahead, and the Digimon tried to follow his gaze. They, however, saw nothing. "What is it?" asked Patamon.

"That light," said Takeru, pointing out. "Don't you see it?"

The Digimon looked on, searching the area where Takeru was pointing. "I don't see it," said Tailmon. "Where is it?"

Takeru began walking forward, his hand outstretched and pointing in front of him. His finger touched the small light in the air that apparently only he could see.

The air shattered in front of him. The Digimon saw something at last. Cracks were emerging out of nothing, as if some invisible wall was breaking and crumbling away, revealing a window into a dark world of black and grey.

Whatever it was, it was enough for them. Takeru was already running through it before any of the three could begin to speak. Patamon and Terriermon charged in after their oath brother, into the breach of dimensions. Tailmon lagged behind a moment, marveling at the strange sight. "Could it be?" she whispered, before following. "Did he just open a path to another dimension… through the strength of his emotion alone?"

On the other side was some sort of wall of debris, made up of crushed shards of gray wood and stone. Hikari was there, crouched beside it. Forgetting himself, Takeru reached out and touched her shoulder.

She looked up in surprise. "You came."

Takeru thought for a moment, and then smiled. "I guess I'm just insane."

* * *

The brief celebration of reunion was immediately ended when Takeru felt a massive pain grip his head, as if his skull was being cut open by an ax. Hikari straightened, and the expression on her face was clearly one of worry. "You're bleeding," she said.

Takeru felt something wet just below his nose, and hesitantly touched the area above his lips with two fingers of his right hand. When he looked down at the tips of those fingers, he found that they were red.

Before either could say anything, there was another explosion, louder than the ones Hikari had heard before. They turned and saw the black statue stagger backward. A group of the lanky creatures had flung their javelins in unison at a single concentrated point, and clearly done some damage. Meanwhile, Patamon, Terriermon, and Tailmon finally crossed the gap between the tear in space and their partners by the wall of rubble.

"What's going on?" asked Takeru. He pushed aside the feeling of pain to concentrate on the task at hand. His eye focused on the strange shambling creatures, with their long thin limbs, slimy gray skin, and threatening shadow javelins.

With the statue momentarily stunned, the crowd of lanky gray creatures was turning its attention back to Hikari and the newcomers. Tailmon paused and took a fighting stance. "I don't like the way these things are looking at us," she said.

The crowd began chanting again. It was a single word. Tailmon and the others had no idea what it was, but as before HIkari could understand: Interlopers.

Hikari gave a cry of surprise as she felt the cold wet grip of a claw on her arm. She turned. One of the creatures, thankfully unarmed, having already thrown its javelin at the statue, had crept up the other side of the rubble and surprised her. It croaked its demand that she follow it to the ocean, to meet the God waiting in the depths… to go down into the ocean with them, and never leave it.

"No," said Hikari, trying to pull her arm away from the cold grip. "Let me go…"

The thing only tightened its grip and croaked an obvious threat, warning Hikari that she had no choice in the matter anymore.

"Let her go!" said Takeru, moving to grab the creature's arm and force it off Hikari. Before he had even finished taking the first step toward Hikari, however, another creature hopped forward and grabbed Takeru's left arm, pulling him away.

Patamon and Terriermon went straight into action, firing their airburst and green fire breath attacks at the creature holding Takeru. To their horror, both the air and fire seemed to merely dissipate as it struck the creature's slimy skin, leaving it completely unharmed.

Tailmon pounced, the golden ring on her tail flashing with light as she tore the arm of the creature holding Hikari with her claw. The swipe slashed through the arm, and the creature howled in pain and fell backward. Before their eyes, it and its severed arm seemed to dissolve into smoke and vanish, just like the ones that the black statue had cloven with its ax arm.

Hikari glanced at the still-glowing ring on Tailmon's tail, and instantly made the connection. She looked up at Takeru, who came to the same realization. He nodded and lifted up his still-free right arm, revealing the golden Digivice, and called to Patamon.

In the next moment, Angemon emerged from the white light of evolution, the golden ring on his wrist and golden staff in his hands both glowing brightly with a fierce light. Angemon lifted up and jabbed his staff like a spear, impaling the chest of the creature holding Takeru, causing it too to wail and vanish. The next moment, he turned and swung his staff, cleaving through another creature that was trying to sneak up behind him with its shadow lance.

"No fair," muttered Terriermon as he looked on.

His attention however turned to the rumbling sound of footsteps. The black statue had recovered and was advancing again. Its blank stone gaze was fixed on Takeru as it reached the piles of debris.

A voice seemed to whisper "In the midst of the boy's darkness, there is something… but still…" The statue raised up its ax arm threateningly as it stood over them.

Recognizing the statue as different from the gray creatures, Terriermon smiled as he figured out a role he could still fill. As the green Digivice on Takeru's left arm flashed, he charged forward, evolving to Galgomon in midair before bringing up his strong right arm, gauntlet gun barrels spinning with green fire, into a heavy uppercut right into the black statue's stone face.

It seemed the battle between the statue and the slime creatures had ended, but only because the two sides had a third side between them to cut through first. Despite having lost two of their number to Tailmon and Angemon, the remaining slime creatures continued to advance on them, shaking their javelins angrily and continue to gargle and croak mysterious chants.

"What do they want?" asked Takeru, looking on anxiously as the crowd of creatures began to form a half circle around them despite Angemon and Tailmon trying to ward them away with swings of their staff and claws.

"They want to take me away," said Hikari. "They want me to join with their God… under the Ocean…"

Takeru glanced at Hikari, confused. "You can understand them?"

Hikari nodded. "They're… they're saying that because of your interference, the stars have changed…"

"The stars? What does that mean?"

Hikari shook her head, indicating that although she knew enough to translate she didn't fully understand the mysterious chants herself. "The stars have changed," she repeated. "When the stars are wrong, the dead God must wait. Now that the stars are right, the city is rising, and the dead God is waking again…"

Takeru blinked, only growing more confused. "What city? What God? What…?"

He suddenly cut off as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down and saw something like the point of a gray spear protruding from it.

* * *

_"What the… What is this…? Is this a spear?_

_"No, it's not a spear. It's not metal. It… it feels fleshy… and wet… maybe even rubbery… No, this isn't a spear at all. This is a tentacle. There are even little suckers on the bottom._

_"Ah. It pulled back._

_"Strange. It doesn't hurt._

_"That's not a good sign. It's supposed to hurt. If it doesn't hurt, that means something is really broken somewhere. Maybe it severed some nerves. Maybe? Damn. After spending all that time with Jou, why don't I know more about stuff like this? Why can't I feel anything?_

_"Did I just die? Did this tentacle just kill me?_

_"No, I'm not dead. At least, I'm not dead yet. I'm still alive. I can still think. I can still see. I can still hear._

_"Wait, no, I can't. Hikari is saying something. I can see her open her mouth, but I can't hear what she's saying. Huh. Are those tears in her eyes? No, they can't be. She hasn't cried in years. And why would she cry? She's not hurt, is she?_

_"I don't see any wounds on her. Those things that grabbed her before, they seem to be backing away, actually. That's good. And I can't hear that horrible sounding chant of theirs. That's good._

_"Hikari is okay. She's not hurt. That's good. That is what's important here._

_"Hm... Did I just fall? I must have. Everything looks different now. Is that my hat over there? It must have slipped off._

_"Why can't I feel anything?_

_"Damn. That tentacle must have really did some damage. I really am going to die._

_"Damn it. Not like this. Not right after we found the coordinates. Not right when the end of the war is finally in sight. In a year there will be peace again. In a year Hikari is going to smile and laugh like she used to. We will have that walk along the beach together, where we finally have that nice long talk to set some things to rest, just like I promised we would._

_"I still haven't written down records of our adventures in the Digital World. I was supposed to do that, for Taichi and Agumon and my brother and Gabumon and Sora and… and everyone really… I still have to write down what everyone did, what everyone went through, so that it will be remembered and never forgotten. I was supposed to do that, so that everything they did and everything they went through would live on, like it should, so that all the sacrifices wouldn't be for nothing._

_"Terriermon still hasn't finished teaching me Cantonese either. We still have to visit Guangzhou. And Taibei. And Paris. And in the Digital World, we still have to finally explore Directory Continent. We still have to revisit the Royal Knights monument to pay proper respects. We still have to bring a real sacrificial tribute to leave at the altar, not like that little trinket we left the first time. And there are so many other things I still have left to do._

_"It was hard to survive this long, you know. I was lucky to have made it this far.. and now it's going to end like this? It's not fair._

_"I don't want to die."_

* * *

Hikari was too horrified to even scream as she caught Takeru in her arms. Her hands gripped the hole the tentacle had left behind, desperately pushing down as if she could somehow close it and heal it just by doing so.

The gray tentacle lazily pulled back, and her eyes followed it back to its source: the ocean. Some more identical tentacles were beginning to poke out from the waters as well, adding to Hikari's growing panic. She remembered the strange miniature statue made from the slimy alien stone, with its appearance of a mass of countless tentacles bundled together as limbs. When she glanced up at the distant horizon, she thought she could see the faint outline of menacing red eyes staring through the mist at her.

Her surroundings seemed to grow dimmer, and when she looked around at her companions she saw why. Angemon had shrunk down back to Patamon, his white glow vanishing with the evolution. Galgomon had reverted to Terriermon. The two looked down at their small forms in surprise, before turning and finding the reason for their sudden power loss.

With Angemon no longer at her side as support, Tailmon could no longer hold off the onslaught of the advancing slime creatures alone, and was gradually pushed back. Steadily, the crowd advanced upon them, pace by pace, as Tailmon was forced back, pace by pace, and Patamon and Terriermon ran to Takeru's fallen form.

"Hikari…"

Upon hearing her name, Hikari shifted Takeru's body to a cradling position in her arms, holding his head close to her chest even as her hands remained pressed down on his.

"Listen, Hikari… I'm sorry…"

Hikari pushed ever harder on the hands covering the hole. "Hush, don't talk," she said, blurting out the first thing that came to mind. Her racing mind told herself that talking would cause shaking inside the body and make things worse.

"I'm sorry… about what happened… back then…"

Hikari shook her head, not understanding. "What?"

"Three years ago… with everyone… I'm sorry…"

"That…" Hikari bit her lip and tightened her grip on the hands in hers. "No, that…" She shook her head. "That wasn't your fault, that… that was my fault. What happened back then… was my fault…" She shook her head harder and gripped so tightly her hands turned white. "No, don't… I… the things I said… I was always mad, but I never really blamed… I never… I never meant what I said… I was angry with myself. I lashed out. But even so I never… I never really blamed you…"

"You asked what reason I had, to do what I do for you..."

"That's not important right now," said Hikari desperately, her mouth practically tripping over itself as she tried to keep talking, as if somehow words could save the situation. Her hands briefly left his, going to his face. "That was a stupid question. Forget about it. Just… just stay awake, alright? Don't… don't fall asleep or anything. Just stay awake."

"I know why you are afraid to ask. You are afraid that... that what drives me is guilt. But you don't have to be afraid of that. It's not guilt. I don't do what I do out of guilt. Even if things had been different, I'd still do what I do. The reason is something else entirely."

"I take back what I said before," stammered Hikari. "Everything. All of it. Please, just don't…"

He closed his eye and smiled. "The reason is simple. You are Hikari. That is enough."

Patamon flew up and grabbed Takeru's right arm, shaking it wildly as he called his partner's name. Terriermon grabbed the left arm and shook it desperately as well. Tailmon looked back, her face contorted in desperate fear, and she jumped back to join them all. Around them, the crowd of long limbed slime creatures drew closer and closer.

Hikari's grip on the body tightened. She looked at Patamon and Terriermon, and couldn't help but smile sadly, despite herself. "An older brother protects his younger siblings," she whispered. She shook her head. "You say that, Takeru… but Takeru, you're the youngest one. You were supposed to be the last one standing." She placed her hand on his, giving it a light squeeze. "An older sister protects her younger brother."

And with that, she looked up at the advancing crowd, and said a single word. "Stop."

The advancing crowd faltered. They looked on, tilting their twitching heads side to side in an almost inquisitive manner. One tentatively raised a leg to step forward.

"I said stop," said Hikari. She reached out and pointed directly at the crowd. "Get away."

Some of the creatures exchanged glances with each other. The nearest one gurgled in response, asking her to stop resisting. No one could resist the power of the old God, not even they. They were all bound to obey the will of the one down in the depths.

"I don't care if you are slaves, or victims, or puppets, or whatever," growled Hikari. "You think you can still win even a hint of sympathy from me now, after all this? You think you can scare me? I'm not afraid of your threats anymore. Get away."

Another creature croaked an answer, explaining their previous statement. It was not a threat. It was advice.

Hikari's eyes widened as the oppressive aura almost crushed her. Tailmon, Patamon, and Terriermon all collapsed to the ground, gripping their chests and gasping, as if the wind had been suddenly forced out of them. Before them, the entire ocean seemed to swell with rage, massive waves and whirlpools suddenly forming as the dark clouds above began to twist and swirl. The long grey tentacles rose up high into the sky all the way up to the clouds, waving in wild chaotic spasms. And beneath this horrible aura of concentrated malice and dark will, Hikari glimpsed the power hidden in the darkness before her, and understood just what was before her.

_**Dagomon: **__Perfect level. Virus Attribute. Sea God Type. Deep Savers. Melee Attack: Forbidden Trident. Rapid Attack: Thousand Whip._

Slowly, she lowered her head. The sheer presence of the thing threatened to suffocate her. The thing before her was on an entirely other level of existence. She could not hope to compare. She could not hope to win.

A low groan from one of the creatures called for her to give up.

Hikari sighed. She smoothed the hair of the head pressed against her chest.

"You know, he had a lot to live for," she whispered.

A shiver of anxiety passed through the wave of creatures, and even the long gray tentacles seemed to shrink slightly back into the ocean.

"He always fought hard, and survived so much to make it this far, and despite that, he was willing to bet it all on me." Hikari looked up at them, and smiled. "So really, do you think that I care whether or not I can win? I'm not afraid of the dark anymore. He is enough reason for me to keep going."

Hikari slowly set down the body she had been cradling, and straightened, standing tall despite the oppressive presence trying to crush her down.

"Here I come."

* * *

The crowd let out a wail of despair, and a haunting groan came from the ocean, one that recalled regret and mourning.

This was not supposed to happen. She had been brought so that her power could be joined with the power of the Sinful Priest of the Ocean Floor, not so that she could use it against the God and the world. The way things were going now, she would not only deny the dark world of the much needed light it had sought to gain, but also cause some more damage to the decaying world in the process as an extra layer of spite.

All around, the creatures flung themselves to the ground, wailing and begging her to stop. The Sinful Priest would destroy her if forced to, and everything would have been for nothing.

But through all the wails, the black statue marched forward to stand beside Hikari. It looked down at her, and pointed. "Use it," said a voice.

Hikari looked at the statue in confusion. "Use what?"

"Remember," said the voice. "Use it."

And then, Hikari remembered the day she had spent in the wide open field, some three years ago. Her hand reached down to her pocket, and felt something that had appeared there.

No, she felt something that had always been there. She just had never noticed it before. Her hand slipped inside and pulled the object out: a second, pink D2 Digivice.

The oppressive aura from before seemed to lessen, allowing Tailmon to get back up. Meanwhile Hikari looked back to the black statue in surprise. Cracks began running down the surface of the statue, cracks which revealed a powerful pink light emerging from beneath the outer shell of black stone. "This is a Digivice?" said Hikari in wonder. "Just who are you?"

"Hidden in your darkness is... well, you already know better than I do," said the emerging form as the outer black shell completely broke away, falling aside and revealing the true appearance of the tall humanoid rabbit Digimon, with brown fur and dressed in violet and white. "It is the strongest I have ever seen. You are the one I have been waiting for all these years. I will join you."

_**Andiramon**__: Perfect level. Data Attribute. Holy Beast Type. Virus Busters. Melee Attack: Treasure Ax. Support Attack: Meditation Cure._

Hikari studied the now free Digimon, and suddenly she understood. "Andiramon, you have the ability to warp time and space. That's why they wanted to unlock your power. You could have changed the stars for them. And back when I touched you... you changed the past so that I would have this Digivice with me at this moment."

Andiramon shook its head. "No. The past is the past and the future is the future. I cannot change that. What I did was merely close a temporal loop that was already and will always be there. You always had the Digivice with you for all those years. You always will have had the Digivice with you for all those years."

A tentacle suddenly shot forward at Andiramon, but the Digimon cut it down with its ax arm. The stump retreated back to the water, writhing the whole way, while the severed piece fell to the ground, squirming and twitching.

Hikari turned back toward the ocean. The remaining tentacles looked as if they were regrouping to prepare for another wave of attacks. "Can you defeat that thing?" she asked Andiramon.

"No," admitted Andiramon. "I cannot fight at full strength in this world, and even if I could, I still would not be able to match that thing by myself."

Hikari's hand curled into a fist as she looked back out over the ocean. She felt something brush her leg, and looked down. Tailmon was there. "We should use the space-warping ability to open a way out and retreat," advised the cat. "Escaping this place and living on is how we will really win this fight."

Hikari frowned, but nevertheless nodded in agreement. She looked up at Andiramon. "Can you open something like a dimensional gate?"

"Like before, I will only be able to do so with your power."

It took only a moment for Hikari to remember the warmth she felt at her fingertips when she touched Andiramon as a statue before, and realize what Andiramon meant. She nodded. "Alright, but…" She looked back to where Patamon and Terriermon were cradling Takeru's still form. Hikari held up the pink D2. "Like you did with this Digivice… can we something similar, only this time to change…?"

"The past is the past. I cannot change it."

"Right," said Hikari, swallowing heavily, yet there was a hint of defiance in her eyes as she reached out and touched Andiramon's paw. "The past is the past." She grit her teeth as she felt the warmth reappear in her hand before growing into a burning heat. "You cannot change it."

Andiramon's right arm shifted its shape, turning from the doubled bladed ax back into a paw. It reached out and touched the air, causing the air to suddenly crack around them. Immediately, Andiramon suddenly began to glow and shrink down into a much smaller form. Even with Hikari's power, the amount of energy needed to open the way was so much that Andiramon was completely drained, and could no longer support its Perfect level form. As the Digimon shrank down, it blinked in surprise. It had expected opening a way would be draining, but not this much. Something was wrong.

All the tentacles of the Sinful Priest lashed out from the ocean, trying to grab the six before it was too late.

But it was already too late, and the tentacles smashed against nothing but sand and wooden debris and stagnant dead air. They were gone. The tentacles slowly began to slither back into the water. The stars had changed again with the opening and closing of the path between dimensions, and the Sinful Priest would have to wait yet again, until another opportunity arose.

But it wasn't a total loss. And it could afford to wait.


	11. Destiny Awaits

The two beast type Digimon stared at each other, surprised at how much they resembled each other. Not only were their body size and shape essentially identical, even the pattern of their fur was the same, except with a difference with color. The one was white with green, and the other brown with pink. Each one lifted up its long rabbit-like ears, and was surprised to see the other make the same movement. It was like looking into a mirror.

Both of them lowered their ears. Terriermon leaned in close, as did the Digimon standing opposite him in a mirroring way. "Wow, we're almost exactly alike," he said. "You win in number of horns, though."

Indeed, the biggest difference between them was that the one with brown and pink fur had three horns, while the white and green Terriermon had one.

"It is strange," said the other, looking down at its small body, which it was still somewhat getting used to.

_**Lopmon**__: Child level.__ Data Attribute. Beast Type. Nature Spirits. Breath Attack: Blazing Ice. Special Attack: Petite Twister._

Terriermon shrugged. "Well, if you're really going to be staying with Hikari from now on, we're going to be working alongside one another." He took the other Digimon's paw in his. "Let's get along well, alright?"

Lopmon gave a little polite bow. "While I learn my way around, please take care of me."

"You have an archaic way of speaking," said Terriermon, tilting his head to one side. "You prefer gender-neutral pronouns, for instance. But that will make talking about you difficult, so why don't you tell me what gender you would like to be identified as?"

Lopmon seemed to flush and removed its paw from Terriermon's. "What's wrong with using gender-neutral pronouns?"

"Come on, it just makes talking easier, doesn't it?"

"I don't see how so."

In this way, the two almost identical Digimon began to have their first argument. On the sideline of the dispute, Tailmon shook her head in disapproval and turned back to Hikari, who was standing alone a few paces away. The girl was perfectly still, staring at the grassy area in front of her, obviously waiting for something. She did not turn to acknowledge Tailmon joining her.

After a few moments, Tailmon cleared her throat. "You did your best, but Antylamon did tell you that…"

"They're late," said Hikari, clearly not in the mood to talk about what Tailmon wanted to.

"So they are." Tailmon's tail slowly waved back and forth in the air.

Hikari clasped her hands together behind her back and stood up straight. Her posture gave her an authoritative and imposing look. She shook her head, but did cast a small sideways glance at a nearby mound. Atop the mound was planted a stick, on which were tied the torn rags of what had once been a black cloak. Said rags were gently waving in the weak breeze passing through the field.

Tailmon noted the glance, and would have pressed further. Hikari however was saved by the opening of the dimensional gate and the arrival of the guests they had been waiting for. In a flash, Miyako and Hawkmon stepped onto the grass before them, followed by Daisuke and Vmon, and then finally Iori and Armadimon.

After one last deep breath to try to calm her nerves, Hikari stepped forward to greet them. She did not smile. "Welcome. Thank you for coming on such short notice."

"Short notice?" Miyako laughed as she brushed herself off. "We've been waiting for ages to hear back about those numbers. So, we finally decoded what they meant?"

Hikari looked down at the ground, and nodded.

Vmon pointed out toward where the twin beast types were still arguing back and forth. "Hey, uh, is it just me or… did Terriermon double himself?"

The two noticed the attention that had just shifted on them. Lopmon jumped in surprised and pulled its large ear flaps in front of its face while trying to hide behind Terriermon, who laughed in amusement at the other's behavior.

"Oh, shy are we?" said Terriermon. He turned to the others. "This is Lopmon, Hikari's partner. Oh, and just warning you now, Lopmon hates gender-specific pronouns. For some reason."

The six sets of eyes turned back to Hikari. "Partner?"

Hikari sighed and drew her pink Digivice to show them. She then held out her silver Digivice beside it. The two D2 Digivices were exactly identical except for the differing colors in casing. "Silver for Tailmon, Pink for Lopmon," she said quietly. "It's a long story."

Daisuke frowned at the site of the two Digivices, and began looking around again. It was then that he noticed the stick with the black rags tied near the top. His frown deepened and he looked around. Only Hikari, Tailmon, Terriermon, and Lopmon had been there waiting for them.

He crossed his arms and nudged Miyako with his elbow. "Hey, do you have a funny feeling like we missed something really big?"

* * *

**Maximum v11.0**

**Destiny Awaits: Flamedramon vs BlackGreymon**

* * *

"This is the plan."

All other questions were put on hold as Hikari turned the direction of their conversation away from getting caught up to what lay ahead. She held out her Silver Digivice and used it to project an image of a large map for everyone to see. Said map was roughly divided into hexagons, either tinged with a white overlay or black overlay. "Black hexes are areas with an active Dark Tower," explained Hikari. "White hexes have no Dark Tower."

With her other hand, she held out the Pink Digivice to project another image on top of the map and point out one hexagon in particular, which was identified by a flashing violet border. "That is the hexagon marked out in the coordinates left behind on the throwing star. That is where we think Ichijouji Ken has placed his headquarters. That is the capital of his would-be empire that we are going to attack."

The secondary overlay projection now began to display two red arrows, starting from two white hexagons and crossing over black territory and converging on the violet hexagon. "These are the planned routes of our two-pronged attack."

Daisuke and Vmon looked over the projection, nodding and rubbing their chins in almost identical ways. They had been the ones most unsatisfied by what Hikari had told them to catch them up, but now their attention was completely on the presentation, as they had not understood much about it except that they would probably be following the two red arrows to the violet hexagon.

Miyako chewed her thumbnail for a while as she thought. "Okay, so you're outlining a two-prong attack. Typically, when you do that, you're trying to pull an old-fashioned 'make a sound in the east and then punch them in the west' approach. How's that going to work here?"

Hikari briefly blinked in confusion at the other girl's strange archaic expression, but quickly caught on. "We already have allies amassing at these two hexes," said Hikari, pointing out the white hexagon starting points. "They're roughly equal in strength, so we're going to try to apply equal pressure on the two fronts."

"That's not a sound strategy," said Miyako. "Typically in a situation like this, you would want to concentrate your forces. Sure, common wisdom says not to risk everything all at once, but usually that's done on a smaller scale, like having reserve forces and such. For a big picture deal like this, splitting your strength just means you're less likely to break through on both ends. Usually, you'd want to send one weaker prong as a feint to draw away defenders, then send the stronger prong to punch through elsewhere, hence the saying 'sound in the east, strike in the west.'"

Daisuke looked over at his friend, looking both impressed and disturbed. "How do you know so much about stuff like that?"

"It's all basic stuff you pick up playing RTS's."

"What kind of games has stuff like 'sound in the east' or whatever? That's like something you read in a thousand year old book."

Miyako turned pink and crossed her arms. "Okay, maybe that's not from a game…"

Iori cleared his throat. "Maybe we should get back to our task at hand. We don't have all day here."

"That brings us to our second point," said Hikari. She paused and looked up at the others. "When we begin our attack, we will need to be fully committed. Once we launch the campaign, Ichijouji will find out we are heading for his headquarters relatively quickly, and therefore he will know that we know where he is. If we abort, that will give Ichijouji time to regroup and relocate his headquarters, and everything we worked for will be lost." Her hands tightened into fists. "We lost too much trying to get this information. We can't let it go to waste. Once we start, we will have to keep going until the end."

The others briefly exchanged glances. They all understood what she was getting at.

"For this mission, there will be no going home until the end. We called you here not only to ask your opinions about the plan, but also to ask if you'd be able to come with us this time. If you want to come along, you will have to be really committed."

A silence hung over the gathered group for a while.

Daisuke broke the silence with a laugh and punched his fist into his hand. "Vmon and I are in. This is a legitimate reason to skip school if I've ever see one."

"Skipping school is the least of our problems," said Miyako with a nudge to Daisuke. "The plan's to start off on a weekend, so school won't even be an issue if we push hard and win within that time period. The problem is our parents. What are we going to tell them?"

"That's easy," said Daisuke with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'll just make something up. My parents will believe anything."

"Maybe we could tell them the truth," whispered Iori.

Silence returned as the group turned in his direction.

"I talked about it with Takeru before," he continued quietly. "We're not here for fun and games. This is serious, and we are putting ourselves at serious risk by coming here. I think that maybe our families have a right to know what we are doing."

Armadimon stepped up beside Iori and stood on his hind legs in a show of solidarity. "I agree. Honesty is a good policy."

"I won't push you to do anything that you don't want to," said Hikari. "If you can't come, we will understand. If you can, well, I already explained the meeting place in the last message."

Miyako spoke up again. "Actually, I think we should modify that plan one last time, if we're all going to be going."

"I'm listening," said HIkari.

"Instead of our simple two prong plan, how about a three prong?" Miyako pointed out at the two white origin hexagons. "You've already built up the two attack forces, so now would be a little late to try to make transfers between them. So instead, we can make them both serve as decoy prongs. They draw off defenses around the capital, while a third prong sneaks in and takes out Ichijouji Ken: us." She smiled and looked around at the others. "Think about it. Ken is basically the one thing holding everything together, so once we take care of him everything will fall apart. The Towers and Rings will stop working. And what does Ken have as a personal guard? BlackAgumon? All of us together have already beaten SkullGreymon before. All of us together is more than enough to take care of Ken and any guard he has. We can go in as a special sneaking strike force and win this thing!"

Hikari found herself nodding in agreement. "Having the two attacking forces both serve as feints means that they don't have to be as committed in pushing and will have more breathing room to retreat, so there will be fewer casualties. The main dangers will be shifted onto us. That's a very good plan." She paused. "But to maximize our chances, then we will need everyone together."

"I already said I'm in," said Daisuke.

"I need to make arrangements first, but Hawkmon and I are in too," said Miyako.

Everyone looked to Iori.

"Armadimon and I are in," said Iori. He lowered his head. "I just… I just need to talk with my family first."

* * *

Iori hesitated at the threshold of the living room. He spent a few moments staring at the boundary here the hallway ended and the room began while his hands fidgeted with the yellow D2 Digivice in his hand. Originally he had hoped for Takeru to be there with him to help with the whole thing, but apparently that had fallen through. Being who he was, Iori had tried to come up with some sort of plan or outline of what he was going to say, but now that he was at the door he had forgotten everything. Even so, he couldn't back out of it now. He had promised to join the attack, and intended to indeed finally end the war with the Kaiser.

Just as he was about to make the final step, he saw the shadow of someone about to leave the living room. Hida Chikara was surprised to see his grandson standing there without saying a word. "Oh, Iori. I'm sorry. I didn't notice you."

Swallowing his apprehension as best as he could, Iori said "Grandfather, there is something I need to talk with you and mother about."

Chikara backed away to make room for Iori to go to the couch and coffee table. "Let us go then. Your mother is just finishing up her tea."

Keeping his head low and his gaze on the floor, Iori walked to the couch on the other side of the table. His mother Fumiko glanced up from her book and set down her cup of tea. "Iori, is everything alright?" Chikara returned to the table and took a seat beside her.

With a sigh, Iori brought out his yellow D2 and whispered the commands, and in a small flash Upamon landed right into his lap.

The small Digimon shyly waved its ear flaps. "Hi."

Fumiko recoiled and turned white, letting out a strange high-pitched sound of surprise. Chikara made n sound.

Iori kept his gaze low, so he could not see the look on his mother's face or his grandfather's reaction. "Grandfather, mother, this is Upamon. He is… my Digimon partner, and my friend."

"Digimon?" echoed Fumiko. "What? I don't understand…"

Chikara held up his hand slightly to quiet her. "We should let him finish."

Iori took a deep breath to calm his nerves, and continued. "You've met my friends Miyako and Daisuke. They have Digimon partners too. The three of us can go to another world, where the Digimon live, and right now we are all trying to stop someone from doing evil in that world. These past weeks we have been traveling to the other world after school to help, and we have been through a lot together, even dangerous situations." He nudged his partner. "Upamon, shall we show them now?"

Upamon glanced up and nodded. Iori held up his D2 again. "Evolve, Upamon."

In another flash of light, Armadimon jumped from Iori's lap onto the table, causing it to shake and knocking over the cups of tea. Fumiko made another cry and nearly jumped from her seat. Chikara still made no sound.

"Now he is Aramdimon," continued Iori. "With my help, he can become even larger and stronger, and together, all of us are fighting evil in the other world. This weekend, I will be going to try to stop the wrong doing once and for all."

"Stop this," said Fumiko. "Iori, this… No, Iori, you can't…"

"I have to go," said Iori. "If we are really going to have a good chance of winning, all of us need to go no matter what the dangers."

"Iori, you're just a child," said his mother. "You can't put yourself in danger."

"But I have to," said Iori. "No one else but us can cross over to this other world and help fight evil. And the truth is, I want to go. I knew there would be danger from the beginning, and I was even given the chance to turn away. But I chose to stay and keep fighting, because it is the right thing to do. There are many Digimon that are suffering, and Armadimon and I can are among the few who can make the entire world a better place for them." Slowly, he left the couch and bent down on his knees. He bowed his head toward his mother until it touched the ground in the traditional way. "Please understand. Please let me go."

"This is crazy," said Fumiko. "A group of children… without an adult… going somewhere dangerous… this is all too crazy…"

"What do you need?" asked Hida Chikara.

Fumiko turned in surprise. Iori raised his head to look up at his grandfather. Aramdimon climbed off the table and shifted awkwardly. No one knew what to say.

"If you are going to be gone for a weekend, you will need to bring things with you," said Chikara. "Will there be water and food? There should be if these creatures eat and drink, but will it be good for you?"

"What are you saying?" asked Fumiko, shocked. "Iori is not even ten years old!"

"That is old enough," said Chikara. "Moreover, Iori is already far older and wiser in his heart than the mere number of his age would suggest. And I myself was younger than ten when I…" He trailed off and shook his head. He slowly rose to his feet before walking to Armadimon.

The Digimon bowed, and looked up shyly.

"Aramdimon, right?" said Chikara.

Armadimon nodded.

"Will you take good care of Iori?

Armadimon smiled. "Of course. We'll keep each other safe."

"Thank you." Chikara turned to his grandson. "I will start helping you pack and prepare."

Iori blinked, suddenly feeling wetness in his eyes he didn't know was there before. "Grandfather… thank you."

"Go and do what you need to do. However, you must promise to do one thing for me." Chikara set his hands firmly on his grandson's shoulders and stared into the boy's eyes. "You must come back safe and sound."

Iori wiped his eyes and nodded. "I will, grandfather."

They separated from each other, and Iori turned to lead the way while Aramdimon and Chikara followed after. When they reached Iori's room, the boy pushed open the door and went in first, with Armadimon going in second.

"Iori."

Iori paused and looked back at his grandfather, who was hesitating at the threshold.

Hida Chikara spent a moment looking at his grandson and the creature at the boy's side. He sighed. "You remind me of your father."

Iori managed a small smile and turned to start gathering things. In a voice too soft for anyone else to hear, Chikara whispered "And right now I wish that you didn't."

* * *

Miyako hummed to herself as she walked through her family's convenience store with a shopping basket on her arm, grabbing any goods that were about to expire while her mother walked behind her with a clipboard in hand. Anything about to be thrown away anyways she could take for free, but everything else would come out of the allowance she received for her shifts in the store. Luckily for her (and unluckily for the store) business had slowed down, and there was a fair number of pre-made lunches and bags of chips ripe for the taking.

"Are you sure your friends are okay with eating expired food?" asked her mother as she checked off the latest about to expire boxed lunch that Miyako had picked up.

"You've met Daisuke, right?" said Miyako. "He'll eat anything."

"If you say so..." Miyako's mother glanced over the inventory list. "So are you sure there isn't some permission slip I have to sign or something?"

"I already told you mom, this trip isn't an official school one. It's just something the Computer Club is throwing together on its own funds." Miyako glanced back and smiled at her mother. "Hence why we have to settle for anything that we can get."

"Well, if you say so. I still don't see what going on some camping trip for the weekend has to do with computers."

"Oh, you know, we spend all day inside staring at computer monitors, so for a break we have to back out and enjoy nature." Miyako carried her full basket over to the counter. Her mother joined her, and the two went over the inventory together.

In Miyako's mind she wasn't really lying. Daisuke and Iori were both part of the Computer Club as far as she was concerned, even if their names weren't on any official registries or anything. It had been thanks to a clerical oversight that the Computer club still existed at all after its membership had dwindled to just her. As for her weekend alibi, in a way, she was going on a sort of camping trip in nature.

There was still some lingering guilt in the back of her head, but she was doing her best to push it aside. She couldn't even begin to imagine how her parents would react if she tried to tell them her real plans, and given how crazy her father could be at times regarding his fear of animals, Miyako couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't grab a chair and smash it over Poromon if she introduced her partner. She still shuddered when she remembered the kitten incident one of her older sisters had caused.

Besides, her parents had enough to worry about with all her older siblings running about and getting into trouble, on top of the recent business slump that had hurt the store's finances. Her flimsy excuse was only possible because the attention of the parents rarely ever turned in her direction. If she were an only child, there would have been no way that her parents would have so easily believed and accepted her story about a computer club trip that had been approved by the school and yet somehow didn't require any documentation. Having to compete with siblings for attention was annoying sometimes, and other times it had perks.

However, as she finished transferring the food she had secured to plastic bags, Miyako noticed her mother sigh and smile at her. She frowned and tied up her bags. "What?"

Her mother smiled again and shook her head. "Oh, it's nothing."

"No, really, what?"

"It's just… it's just nice to see you going out and having fun with friends."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's just nice to see it, that's all. You don't usually go out very often and you don't bring back lots of friends to the apartment or anything."

"So...?"

"Well, your father and I worry about you sometimes, you know, if you're happy and having fun at school."

Miyako's raised an eyebrow as she lifted up the supplies and prepared to leave the store. "Really?"

"Oh, I know your we let you do your own thing most of the time, but that's because you've always been the good one. The only concern was that you were always holed up in your room with your computers instead of out with friends." She smiled and laughed as she set aside her clipboard. "But now I see we don't even have to worry about that either."

The bags in Miyako's hands suddenly felt a lot heavier. She hesitated at the door, but managed a little smile. "Thanks mom."

* * *

"Well, here we are," said Miyako. "I hope everyone is ready."

They were gathered at the agreed upon meeting place, in the shadow of a hill that marked the border between a free area and a controlled area within range of a Dark Tower. Upon said hill were Terriermon and Lopmon. They were supposed to be standing guard, but at the moment seemed to be arguing about something trivial instead. Tailmon was not in sight, probably because she was quickly scouting the general area. Hikari stood alone at the very back of the gathering.

Iori shouldered his pack, feeling its weight. Beside him, Armadimon stood on his hind legs with his own little pack on his back. Iori seemed to hesitate for a moment, but nodded. "There's no turning back from here."

Daisuke shouldered his own pack and looked down at his blue Digivice as if it were a compass, and said "Well, let's get moving then. We've got a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time. Ready Vmon?"

Vmon smiled and saluted. "Right behind you!"

The two began climbing up the hill. Iori and Armadimon followed afterward, and then Hawkmon. Miyako lingered slightly behind. She turned around. Hikari was at the rear, nervously fingering her own pack. Her straight hair had strayed to partially cover her face.

"Thanks for coming," said Hikari. "I was afraid I'd have to try it only with my partners."

"No need to thank me," replied Miyako. She looked the other girl up and down. The way Hikari carried herself had certainly changed. Miyako began chewing the nail of her thumb again as she continued to study the other girl.

"I'm sorry, by the way," continued Hikari, snapping Miyako from her thoughts.

"For what?"

"For how I rude I was to you all, in the beginning. It wasn't fair to you, and you didn't deserve it."

Miyako chewed a bit harder on her nail. "Did something happen?"

Hikari seemed surprised by the question. "What?"

"I mean, it was nice to get this apology and everything, and make no mistake, I wholeheartedly accept it," continued Miyako. "It's just that, well, your attitude now is a pretty big change from your old attitude when we first met."

Hikari shuffled slightly. "I was being too hard on you all. I was lashing out about things that didn't have anything to do with you. I've had time to reflect on how I behaved."

"I get that," said Miyako. "I mean, I get mad and do stuff too. But still, you have to admit that you've changed. Before, you were all tough and assertive. Now, well, you're a lot more reserved and quiet." She flushed and shook her hand quickly. "I mean, that's not a bad thing, but still… well, how do I put this…?"

"Yes, something did happen," replied Hikari. "I was reminded of how I was when I started out, and how hard things can be for those who are Chosen." She paused for a moment. "I was reminded of what is really important in life."

The two began climbing the hill. The others were nearing the top.

"You know, I never thanked you," said Miyako.

"For what?"

"You protected me back at the Gekomon village." Miyako paused. "You know, I think that was when I started to realize that there was more to you than our first impression." She smiled. "And really, I think that if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have seriously reflected about why I was here and doing the right thing."

Hikari smiled slightly and looked down. "You were always going to do the right thing. Your partner Hawkmon was right. You have pure intentions. I was the one doing things for the wrong reasons. Deep down, I'm still very weak at heart."

"Don't talk like that," said Miyako. "I don't know what happened, and I don't know what you've been through, but I respect you. I know you went through a lot of hard times, and you were definitely strong to have made it through all that."

They cut their conversation there, because they noticed the others had stopped at the top of the hill. The two girls hurried up the rest of the way to see what the delay was.

"Why'd you all stop?" asked Miyako. She stepped up to Daisuke. "What's the…" She trailed off and stared out over the distance. "Woah…"

A valley stretched out before them, desolate and bare except for a single small river that ran through its center. The river itself did not seem to be one of water. The foul liquid was black and thick, and had such a powerful stink that they could smell hints of it from the hilltop. Scored black remains of what were once tree stumps dotted the areas around the black river, tiny black dots compared to the tall obelisk that was the Dark Tower of the area. Beyond it, they could see more such Towers in the distance, stretching out amidst the gray and brown hills. Beside the next nearest Tower were the tall gray walls of a fortified prison camp.

Hikari swallowed and tightened her grip on the straps of her bag. She could remember when this area used to be green and blue, and filled with Digimon.

"And that Ken has the nerve to say he's doing this world a favor," muttered Iori under his breath. His hands were gripping the straps of his bag so tightly that his fists were beginning to shake.

Vmon pointed out at the prison camp. "Let's take that out."

"We can't," whispered Hikari. The others turned to her. She looked down and shook her head. "Remember, we're on a stealth mission. We can't attract any attention on our way to the capital."

Vmon turned back to look at the camp. "But…"

"No, Hikari is right," said Miyako. She bit her lip and shifted uncomfortably. "We can't stop for this camp. We have to push on and take the capital. It's not just about saving that one camp. It's about saving all the camps."

The others fell silent. Daisuke gritted his teeth, but did not protest. Instead, he began marching down the other side of the hill. "Come on, let's hurry up. The sooner we win this thing, the better."

* * *

They passed through the desolation in silence, not only for the purposes of maintaining stealth but also because their surroundings were simply too depressing for any normal conversation.

Tailmon, easily the fastest and having the sharpest senses, scouted ahead the furthest, only rarely reappearing to Hikari to make a report and then jumping back into the shadows so fast as to almost leave an after image. Hikari herself had ended up taking a position in the rear with Lopmon and Terriermon, as those two had the sharpest hearing after Tailmon and could listen for anything that might be following them.

Daisuke and Vmon found themselves at the front, leading the way, albeit with occasional scolding from Miyako every now and then when he threatened to blunder off the planned path. "Backseat driver," mumbled Daisuke to himself, trying to increase his walking pace so that it didn't feel like the girl was spying over his shoulder at his Digivice every second.

He found that he quite liked the feeling of leading the way. It was a confidence boost to be sure, being entrusted to lead the vanguard of their little party. This was always the sort of thing he had been dreaming of, ever since he was a little child. He didn't want to settle for just any boring old life. He wanted adventure, to blaze a bright new trail through wild and wondrous lands.

That said, as he stepped over a scorched black branch that had fallen over the path, he mused that though this was not exactly a wild and wondrous land that he was marching through, it might have been some time ago, before the reign of Ichijouji Ken.

The arrangement of placing Miyako and Hawkmon directly behind Daisuke and Vmon had not been exactly planned and not exactly pleasant for Daisuke, but it did seem to have a pleasant consequence of speeding the whole group along. Daisuke kept on trying to get ahead of Miyako's occasional nagging, and Miyako kept on trying to catch up to make sure he didn't go off the path and get them lost in the middle of hostile territory. Everyone else had to keep up the pace so as to not get separated, and the whole group covered much more ground than they had expected.

"We are far ahead of schedule," commented Hikari after checking the map on her Digivice during one of their short breaks. She pointed ahead to a ring of mountains just ahead of them. "The capital is just over those peaks. We can camp on them for the night, and prepare to infiltrate once most of the garrisons are drawn off by our allies."

"Then let's get going again," said Daisuke, rising back up and shouldering his pack. "Come on, let's hurry and see just what we are dealing with here." With that, he began walking toward the mountains ahead with renewed vigor.

"Be careful," called Hikari after him. "There will be heavy surveillance this close to the capital. Make sure that you don't get spotted."

They began their journey up at a slow and steady pace, doing their best to stay in the shadow of the various rock outcroppings that spotted the mountainside. There had been a forest in the past, but now the mountains were bare. Trees that could have served as extra cover for them had been systematically torn down for scrap wood and metal to fuel the Kaiser's imperialist expansion.

The sky was darkening as they reached the peak. Daisuke made one last sprint up the final few meters, eager to get a good look at their objective ahead before night fell and the light vanished. His heart pounded as he made the final few steps, and not only because of his physical exertion. He crossed the final few rocks and stood at the highest point of the mountain.

"What the…?"

An empty gray plain greeted him.

To be more exact, it was not completely empty. Two railroads stretched across the dusty expanse, on either side of a large crater. A few Dark Towers were standing alongside the railroads like post markers or scattered here and there across the empty lands. Aside from that, however, there was nothing resembling even a single building, not even a small railroad station.

He turned back to the others as they reached his position. "This can't be right," he said. "There's nothing here."

"What?" Hikari pushed past him and looked out over the gray flatlands. She shook her head. "No. that's not possible. This is the spot. This is where the coordinates said!"

They looked over the emptiness in silence.

Miyako swallowed and shook her heads. "Well… we were putting a lot of faith in a few numbers scratched on a small piece of metal."

"No, it has to be here!" said Hikari desperately. "After everything we went through to get those numbers…After..."

Tailmon flashed forward and landed at Hikari's side, pacing a reassuring paw on her leg. "We did our best."

"Our best wasn't good enough then," said Hikari. "What about our allies that we sent on a march. We sent them to risk their lives so that we could sneak into an empty plain?"

"Well, maybe it is here," said Lopmon.

Everyone turned in surprise at the small Digimon standing near the rear of their group. They had almost forgotten that Lopmon was there. Lopmon however flushed pink at suddenly gaining all attention, and hid behind Terriermon, whispering something in the latter's ear.

Terriermon nodded as Lopmon finished whispering. "Lopmon says that what we're looking for could be underground or something."

Miyako and Hawkmon both stroked their chin in thought, in an almost identical pose. "That sounds plausible," said Hawkmon.

"It makes sense," agreed Miyako. "Ken probably wouldn't put his headquarters out in the open for just anyone to see." She pointed out. "That crater certainly looks suspicious. I mean, it's exactly between the two railroads, which are exactly next to the outer ridge."

"Then let's check it out," said Daisuke, punching his fist into his hand.

* * *

Ichijouji Ken had not slept properly in days.

The nightmares had started soon after losing his last coastal installation, which had been guarded by MegaSeadramon, the last of his once proud navy. Some of the nightmares were unsettling affairs, involving horrible imagery of slime and tentacles. Those were not the worst nightmares, however. The worst were the waking nightmares: he would get up, shiver at the strange dreams, and then go back to work on his project, only to find himself waking up a second time. Perhaps they were not as scary, but they were infinitely more frustrating. He was losing track of his exact progress and what still needed to be done.

Wormmon thought it was a sign he was working too hard, but these nightmares only pushed him to work even harder. If he could no longer be sure of what he had actually accomplished versus what he had only dreamed of accomplishing, then he would simply have to get more done at a faster pace to make up the difference.

Thankfully, the nightmares had abruptly stopped the previous night. He had dozed off at the keyboard, dreamed of a large storm over a gray ocean, and then woke suddenly upon feeling a horrible pain in his chest, as if he had been stabbed. Afterward, however, he felt completely renewed and refreshed. What was real and what he had dreamed suddenly became completely clear in his mind. Organization returned, and his project entered its final stages.

There was only one thing left to do.

"Have the upper levels been completely dismantled?" asked the Kaiser.

Wormmon, who stood behind the Kaiser's chair in the command room, replied "Completely. There's nothing left of them. All the metal has been shipped down to the bottom levels. It should be more than enough to finish building the engines."

"And when can we expect the construction will be complete?"

"Within the hour."

"Dump anything that's left over once the engines are complete," said the Kaiser. "Any extra weight will be a waste of energy." He paused and felt the outline of the rectangular necklace just under his shirt. "Energy we cannot exactly spare."

They remained that way in silence, the Kaiser leaning back in his chair, fingers impatiently drumming on his necklace, and Wormmon standing awkwardly just behind him.

"Do you know the story of Mugendramon?" asked the Kaiser suddenly.

Wormmon started, unsure of how to reply to such a question. "Mugendramon?"

"Mugen, Infinity," said the Kaiser. "The name comes from the fact that in terms of pure brute power, Mugendramon is rated the highest in all the Digital World. But what is the source of Mugendramon's power?" He turned in his chair. "I'll tell you. It is has to do with the fact that he is composed of the most powerful parts of the most advanced cyborg Digimon."

Wormmon stared back at him, shifting awkwardly. The Kaiser leaned forward, anxiously scratching the back of his neck.

After a while of this impatient scratching, he rose and began walking away from his chair. "I had a dream," he said. "Actually, I had many dreams, some wonderful, some horrifying, but right now there is one dream in particular I am thinking about." He sighed and briefly felt the rectangle under his shirt again. It had settled over his heart. He checked the screens. Roughly half an hour had passed. "Let's initiate the launch protocol."

Wormmon nearly choked in surprise. "But not all the engines are complete."

"We will dump any extra useless weight on the way." He turned and pushed his chair aside, leaning forward and typing in the necessary inputs. The low groan of bending metal echoed throughout the endless empty hallways of his headquarters. There was the sound of rock grinding against rock, and the whir of some machinery coming to life.

Wormmon moved to grab onto the wall of the command room to steady himself, looking around in anxiety as the entire structure began to shake. "Ken, are you sure about this? Why are we pushing things when they aren't ready?"

"We're behind schedule," said the Kaiser, still tapping his foot impatiently against the floor even as it began to push back against him. "Destiny awaits."

Outside and above, cracks spread through the ground as rock shattered and dirt fell away to make room for the massive metal structure emerging from beneath the ground. The darkness surrounding the command room suddenly fell away with the soil, and the walls of the room revealed themselves to be made of glass, now free of the earth and facing the open air as it rose above the ground. Wormmon could not help but sigh in awe at the beautiful sight of the wide open land appear around them and slowly shrink away as they rose higher and higher. At last he understood why the higher levels of the former interrogation chamber and engineering labs had been torn away and cannibalized. Now it was the central command at the top of the structure, giving them this awe-inspiring view.

His Dark Towers dotted the landscape as far as he could see. In the far distance, he thought he saw fires and explosions. Those were the reports of attacks he had received and dismissed earlier in the day. Even seeing them now, he still paid them no mind. Such things were now beneath him, literally.

The Kaiser walked up to the glass and placed his gloved hand against it. He could feel the coldness of the glass even through the thick fabric. In a short time, such things like those battles in the distance would never happen again. There would be no more war.

"The game is almost over," he whispered with a small frown. He was sad to be finishing such a fun and engaging game. But on the other hand, it would lead to other challenges to occupy him. It would not be easy to rule a world united after being so long divided. That itself would be another game.

His hand left the glass, and he smiled sadly. "This is my home, not that other fake world." His smile grew wider. And darker. "This is my world."

* * *

"Well, here's the crater," said Miyako at the bottom most point. "Should we just start digging or something?"

The others gathered around her, except for Hikari and Tailmon, who kept watch on the outer ridge. They thought the general lack of surveillance unnerving, and wanted to be extra cautious. Moreover, Tailmon thought she had heard a faint rumbling sound, like some sort of machinery.

"If there really is something underneath the ground here, there would be some sort of door or gate," said Hawkmon, scanning the dirt and rocks. "We should try to find it before just digging randomly."

Miyako nodded and began walking around the crater, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Tailmon looked up to Hikari and said "I really don't sense anything watching us. Perhaps we should join the search."

Hikari nodded. "If we're inside the crater, we'll be harder to spot anyways."

The two descended into the crater and joined the search. They all split off into partnered pairs, probing here and there, but still found nothing resembling a line or crack or shadow that might have hinted at a hidden door in the ground.

Tailmon's ears twitched slightly. She scratched them. There was some strange ringing in her ears that bothered her.

"Hey, I think I found something," called Daisuke from near one of the edges. The others slowly drew around him. He pointed down at a small piece of metal poking out of the dust. No one would have noticed it had it not reflected some light. However, a cloud seemed to slowly pass over them, darkening it and making the metal hard to see.

Daisuke bent down to brush aside from dirt and get a better look. Tailmon scratched her ear again. The ringing sound was getting worse.

"Aw, it's only a piece of scrap metal," said Daisuke as his brushing abruptly reached an end. He tentatively touched the piece of metal and bulled the rest of it out of the dirt. It was the end of a short metal pole that had been roughly torn at one end.

"Maybe there's more to it," said Vmon. He began digging around in the same general area.

Off to the side, Armadimon coughed. "Uh, guys…"

"Yeah, let's keep digging around here," said Daisuke. He bent down on his knees and used the pole he had used to stab apart more dirt to make it looser and easier to dig.

"Guys, this is really important," said Armadimon in an unusually high-pitched voice. Iori looked over to his partner, who was pointing up. Iori looked up.

"Does anyone else hear that ringing?" asked Vmon. He looked up from his digging and saw Iori and Armadimon looking up. Hikari and Tailmon had also noticed those two, and were looking up as well. As he watched, Miyako and Hawkmon looked up and began staring.

"Why'd you stop digging?" said Daisuke, still poking. Vmon answered by tugging on his sleeve and pointing. Daisuke glanced up.

Above them floated something resembling the underside of some massive battleship merged with an asteroid and countless spinning turbines and fans, casting a dark shadow over the entire crater. Dotted in the rock were what resembled numerous rocket engines that glowed with blue fire.

"Well," said Daisuke quietly. "I suppose that's why it got dark."

"That's the base," said Hikari urgently. She turned back to the others. "Quick! We have to get on it!"

The next moment, Hawkmon had armored himself in red as FlyBeemon and Armadimon in blue as Pteramon. Taking up everyone else in their arms and talons respectively, they flew up out of the crater and moved as quickly as they could out of the shadow of the massive base.

They now had a better view of the floating fortress from the side. The structure had an obvious bow and stern of metal, while most of the central regions were still coated in rock. As they flew, they saw that another battleship shaped crater had appeared just beside the circular crater they had been investigating before.

"Well, we had the right idea," said Miyako, "Just wrong location."

They gained altitude, and from the top they could see that the floating fortress was crowned with a dome of glass, the obvious helm of the flying ship. Hikari immediately signaled that they should descend and avoid being sighted, and they drew off toward one of the rocky tops of the structure. As they landed, Hikari said "We need to get inside quick. The higher this thing goes, the lighter the air will get. We will have trouble breathing."

Iori looked to Pteramon, who nodded. In a flash, the violet armor was replaced with silver armor, and the rock suddenly collapsed beneath them, and the group crashed down into a large metal hallway. The hallway was roughly square and very spacious.

* * *

"Is everyone alright?"

At Iori's question, Submarimon turned around and began pointing at the others with his fin one by one, counting them. "Yep," he said as he shed the Digimental of Honesty and reverted to Armadimon. "Everyone is all accounted for."

"I never would have thought of Submarimon being so helpful out of water," commented Miyako, brushing dust and dirt out of her hair. "Nice job creative thinking there with using Submarimon's harpoon nose as a drill." She smiled sheepishly. "And nice job keeping a cool head. Honestly I had trouble thinking of stuff because I was a little anxious about how we were out in the open for anyone to see as we were flying."

Iori blushed and scratched the back of his head. "To be honest, Armadimon and I wouldn't have thought of it either without Lopmon suggesting that the headquarters might be underground. As soon as it was brought up, Armadimon and I started wondering how we would get down to it."

"My paws are good for digging," said Armadimon, holding them up for emphasis. "But to make a big enough hole for everyone, well, I would need a bigger digging tool and a bigger body."

Everyone looked back up. More dust and dirt continued to pour down from the large hole above them as the structure they found themselves inside continued to lift higher into the air. "Good thing we thought of that when we did, or else we would have missed the chance to get inside before it rose too high," commented Hawkmon after shedding his armor.

The next moment, the entire group was thrown against the metal wall. The flying ship had suddenly accelerated. As it reached a constant speed and the group slid back down to the ground, Vmon groaned and rubbed his sore back. "Good thing we got on before that happened too."

"Huh, this thing is moving now," said Miyako. "I wonder where it's going." She got back up and brushed herself off.

"Who cares where it's going?" said Daisuke. "Let's just go find Ken already."

They regrouped and began walking. The halls were strangely empty, which was both unnerving and reassuring. Eventually they came to an intersection and turned left. "Good thing we didn't get noticed boarding," said Miyako. "I was worried for a moment when we saw that glass dome at the top."

"You were right to be worried," growled a voice behind them.

They turned around. BlackGreymon smiled as he looked over them, standing in the hallway that had been on the right of the intersection. Despite the spacious nature of the hallway, it was still too small to allow him to stand at his full height, and he had to lean forward like a raptor. On his right arm was a Dark Spiral, linking him to the Kaiser's Digivice and providing him with the power of evolution.

"Well, actually, you did manage to pass without the Kaiser noticing," continued BlackGreymon. "I only barely caught the sight of you while I was in my quarters, and came to finish you off. I will present your charred black remains as a surprise gift."

"You!" Daisuke pointed out at BlackGreymon's armored head, boldly standing right in front of the Digimon's bared teeth.

"Yes, me," growled BlackGreymon. "Is that all you know how to say?"

"We don't have time for this," whispered Hikari. "If we've been sighted we need to hurry and find Ichijouji Ken before this entire fortress mobilizes a defense."

"Go on," said Daisuke, pulling out his Digivice and slamming it against his hand. "Vmon and I will take care of this guy. He really pisses me off."

The next moment, Vmon donned the red and orange armor as Flamedramon. He stood beside his partner and pointed out in the same posture Daisuke had moments before, charging a fireball in between the three sharp metal claws of his gauntlet.

"Wait, Daisuke," said Miyako. "We can't just leave you two. One Armor alone against an Adult?"

"Relax," said Daisuke. "We've got this."

Miyako was about to protest more, but Hikari stopped her with a touch on the shoulder. "I think he has this one," she whispered. "Let's hurry."

Miyako frowned, but nodded. "Alright Daisuke, but you better catch back up with us."

"No problem."

Hikari and Tailmon led the way. Everyone began running down the hallway while Flamedramon and Daisuke remained behind, staring BlackGreymon down.

BlackGreymon laughed as he looked at the bright orange flame building in Flamedramon's claw. "You call that fire? I'll show you fire!" He opened his mouth, charging up a massive dark red fireball on his tongue.

Flamedramon jumped up and smashed the fireball in his claw into the black red fireball, causing the latter to explode inside BlackGreymon's mouth. The explosion rocked the entire hallway and caused BlackGreymon to recoil backward, the three armored horns of his head tearing and embedding into the metal ceiling.

"We're not the same guys you fought before," said Daisuke.

BlackGreymon slowly tore his horns down from the ceiling and glared down at Flamedramon. "So you aren't. No matter. I still have more than enough power to crush you. See the glorious power that the Kaiser has given me! In this world, only strength matters! Weaklings like you…"

He was cut off by Flamedramon ramming another fireball, this time into the bottom of BlackGreymon's jaw, shutting him up mid-sentence and driving his horns back into the metal ceiling.

"You talk too much," said Flamedramon.

* * *

"There it is," said the Kaiser as a tall mountain came into view. "File Island, the Island of Beginnings."

He glanced down at the swirling waters nearby. In that region, the water looked gray and black, rather than blue, and had formed a sort of maelstrom. "And that would be the anomaly."

No one knew what had caused the anomaly to appear near File Island, nor could anyone say when it had exactly appeared. When File Island first appeared after the formatting, the ocean surrounding it had been normal and blue. It had stayed that way for years. And then the strange gray water of the dark whirlpool had appeared, without anyone around to witness the formation of the strange anomaly.

To be perfectly honest, the Kaiser did not care anything about the anomaly. The only thing that interested him was the rumors of powerful dark data buried deep within. And now that he was there, he could scan the area personally. His floating fortress decelerated and came to a full stop directly above the whirlpool. The sensors went to work immediately. The results were mostly some bizarre static, but through the noise he could see the hints of exactly what he had hoped to find. If he were in a more patient mood, he might have wondered about the cause of the static and investigated further, but for the time being he was in a rush. He relayed orders for a scouting party to descend and get more readings that would hopefully have less static.

_**Mekanorimon**__: Adult level. Virus Attribute. Machine Type. Metal Empire. Ranged Attack: Twinkle Beam. Heavy Attack: Gyro Break._

The name of these creatures came from "Mecha Norimono," or mechanized vehicle, and indeed they were little more than armored personnel carriers. Though their metal exoskeleton did contain some organic areas including an eye, the thing had only a primitive intelligence that mostly functioned as an autopilot for when there was no occupant inside the glass cockpit at its top. Said intelligence was barely complex enough to operate the creature's two metal arms. Typically, other more intelligent Digimon rode in the top cockpit, where they overrode the Digimon's native intelligence and piloted the body. Despite the limited intelligence of the Digimon, they still wore Dark Rings as a precaution anyways. The added power of the Rings strengthened the native intelligence enough to lock down the controls and prevent unauthorized pilots from using their bodies.

The scouting team consisted of four Digimon which left from a lower hanger bay and descended down into the open center of the swirling water, relaying a live video feed and constant stream of measurements as they went.

As he watched, a sudden thought came to him. How did he know about the anomaly?

His throat grew dry. He remembered now. There had been something on his monitor, some sort of map with the anomaly marked out. "No," he whispered. That had been a dream. He was sure of it. But if that was a dream…

"Am I dreaming now?" His gloved hand flew up to his cheek and scratched. Hard. Pain flashed through his face. He blinked. Nothing had changed. He was awake.

He swallowed and shook his head. No, he needed to be absolutely sure. He scratched again, even harder. He scratched and scratched.

"Ken!"

He paused and turned. Wormmon was right behind him, eyes wide with shock. "Ken, what are you doing? You're bleeding!"

Ichijouji Ken dropped his hand, suddenly aware of a feeling of wetness on the side of his face. He looked down at his hand. The tips of his glove were red.

There was a beeping sound, and he looked back to the screens. The signals from all scouts had disappeared.

"What happened?"

"Ken, your face…"

The Kaiser ignored the Digimon. He straightened and returned to the nearest keyboard, typing new commands and leaving red stains on the keys. The structure shook to life again and began to descend.

"Ken, what are you doing?"

"If I can't take what I want outside of it, then I'll just have to move operations inside," muttered the Kaiser, more to himself than in answer to the Digimon.

The floating fortress lowered into the opening, its bow and stern cutting into the surrounding water. The force of the swirling water caused the entire fortress to shake violently. Sounds of straining and bending metal filled the command room, causing Wormmon to instinctively grab onto the nearest wall yet again. The Kaiser seemed not to notice the sounds, and instead entered more commands. At the bottom of the fortress, large portions began to shift, unfolding out and lowering down into the darkness below.

With a small sigh, the Kaiser turned on his heel and walked toward the exit of the command room. Wormmon mastered himself and let go of the wall. "Ken, wait…"

The Kaiser kept walking without a word.


	12. Hope for a Miracle I

_Four Years Ago…_

"That was foolish of you Angemon, to exhaust your strength here…"

It was night, but the aftermath of the blast had suddenly lit up the entire sky with a strange white glow. Everyone below was almost blinded by the light, and could only barely make out the two bodies facing one another in the sky. Both bodies were slowly dissolving into small pieces of data that resembled small feathers being scattered in the wind. The one dissolved into black and the other white.

Devimon was dissolving faster. He was not clinging onto life, trying to slow the process by which the pieces of his body were breaking away. If anything, he was helping the process along willingly to show how little he cared.

Already the entire lower half of his body had vanished, but there was a hint of a mocking tone in his voice as he continued speaking. "File Island is only the beginning. Beyond the Net Ocean wait far greater powers than me. You have no idea just what lies in the darkness beyond. You are all doomed!"

Devimon began to laugh. His laughter continued to echo through the air even as the last of him broke apart into small black feathers.

Angemon's expression remained blank the whole time. Even when Devimon was gone, he continued to stare at where Devimon had been. His own dissipation into white feathers had reached his chest.

"Angemon…"

The voice was soft, but Angemon heard it, and looked down. Takeru, that small pathetic little boy, was standing on the mountain, highest of all the others and closest to where the two Digimon were dissolving. Very likely, only Takeru saw and heard the last conversation between the two in the sky. There were tears in the boy's eyes.

"Takeru, don't cry," said Angemon. "This isn't your fault…"

The boy below continued to stare up, frozen in place.

Angemon smiled down at Takeru. "This is just… my destiny…"

Then he was gone. The light faded, and the island was dark again.

The boy Takeru knelt down, bowed his head, and wiped his eyes. He was trying to do what his partner had told him to do: not cry.

Most of the scattered feathers spread out and began to pass out of sight. The black feathers that had fallen from Devimon in particular tended to fall over the waters of the ocean. Rather than float as one might expect of a feather, they sank down and disappeared.

But five white feathers and one black feather landed together in front of the kneeling boy, and there they suddenly coalesced and melded together, forming a single large white egg, decorated with yellow stripes.

The others gathered around the boy and the egg.

"It's an egg," commented Tentomon, the red child-level insect type. He had a knack for stating the obvious.

"Is it… Angemon's egg?" asked Takeru softly.

"As long as it evolves properly, you'll see Angemon again," said the plant-type Palmon.

One of the elder boys, Ishida Yamato, a tall thin child with dark blonde hair, so dark it was almost brown, looked out over the waters where the data from Devimon's former body had vanished. "What about Devimon then?"

The others cast a few cursory glances, but their attention was instead grabbed by the realization that the pieces of File Island were beginning to converge again. Devimon's dark power over the Island had been broken, and now the island was beginning to repair itself. This discovery excited the group. The sudden appearance of a beam of light, projecting the image of an old man, pulled their attention away further, and they forgot the question that Yamato had brought up.

In any case, they had no way of knowing that the black feathers were sinking to the ocean floor beside the Island. They did not know the data would remain buried there beneath the waves, like a final underwater grave for the would-be Lord of File Island. At least it would have been a final grave, if it had not been for a small gray tentacle that suddenly poked out of the dirt, right beside one black feather, which it began to prod with curious interest.

* * *

**Maximum v12.0**

**Hope for a Miracle, Part I: GoldenRapidmon vs Chimeramon**

* * *

A lone island sat at the bottom of the whirlpool, its edges mere meters away from the surface of the spinning water around it. A few meters below the surface the darkness became completely impenetrable, and so it was impossible to tell if the island was on top of some rock column that extended down further or if it was somehow floating on air or water.

The lowering machinery of the ship that was definitely floating on air touched down near one edge of the island, shifting to reveal a glass elevator in which a lone Mekanorimon was descending. Beneath the glass dome atop the Mekanorimon sat the Kaiser himself, studying the landscape before him with hungry interest.

Overall the island was gray, but the tones and shades seemed somehow inconsistent. Every time he took a second glance at something, the color and shape appeared different, somehow shifted. Edges of shapes looked a bit blurred and undefined.

The glass doors of the elevator parted and the Mekanorimon slowly stepped out, followed by metal arms and probes attached to the machinery surrounding the elevator, some of which were carrying boxes of tools and sensors. Now that he was traveling on the island surface, the Kaiser noticed that his setting reminded him somewhat of a graveyard. At first he had thought that the piles of gray dirt and the gray rocks were distributed randomly, but upon closer inspection he saw that taken as a whole, every deviation from the flat surface, whether dirt pile or round rock, was in total arranged in neat columns and rows.

He paused briefly to study one of the closer rocks, which have a very rounded appearance. When he looked closer he realized that the rock had an oval shape there were faint gray spots and bars decorating it. The whole thing looked like a decorated egg, only completely gray instead of white and bright paints of red, blue, and yellow.

The columns and rows of dead eggs that would never hatch and the dirt piles were arranged such that there was a clear path leading toward a large central mound. The Kaiser drove his Mekanorimon toward it, and found a small black cross at its top. A lone white feather had nestled beside it. He made the Mekanorimon's arm pick the feather and pass it to one of the metal arms following behind, which converted into a vacuum tube and sucked it up, taking it deep into the floating fortress above. Next he made the Mekanorimon's arms dig at the dirt pile, pushing aside a large claw-full with each hurried swipe. Soon enough the Mekanorimon's claws scraped against something hard.

"_Don't disturb the dead, boy…"_

The Mekanorimon suddenly seized up and began shaking violently, sparks suddenly shooting up from all the control panels. With a panicked cry, the Kaiser pushed an eject button, causing the glass above him to spring open and his seat to be launched out, where it landed a few meters behind. As the Kaiser tore off his seat belts and stood back up, he saw the Mekanorimon in front of him suddenly fall to its knees and begin to dissolve into raw data, as did his former seat beside him.

"What the…?" The Kaiser took a cautious step forward, studying the rapidly decaying Digimon in front of him. Something had killed his vehicle just as its claws were about to reach the data that he needed.

"No matter," whispered the Kaiser as he stepped to look at the hole the now completely dissolved Mekanorimon had left behind. "I can dig by hand from here if I have to."

The Kaiser signaled to one of the metal arms, which moved forward to pass an open tool box, from which he grabbed a shovel. He figured that whatever had destroyed his vehicle had done so by targeting the delicate machinery within it, and did not want to risk damaging his entire base. In any case, the metal arms were too crude and imprecise for the job ahead. Only his delicate and perfect hands could be trusted. Clenching his jaw, he began to dig.

"…_You go to dig and wait for salvation… In the dark you sure look brave…_

_But as you dig down through the dark barren ground, you just find that you're digging your grave…"_

The Kaiser's head snapped back up and he looked all around for the source of the voice that had sung in a language that he had never heard before but could understand. "Who's there?"

The sound of crashing waters of the vortex around him was his only answer.

He scratched the side of his face again, reopening the cut on his cheek. The Kaiser ignored the feel of the blood dripping down his cheek as he turned back to his gruesome work.

* * *

"Why are these prison cells empty?"

The group stopped running and began to look around at Hikari's question and signal to pause. After leaving Daisuke and Flamedramon to fight BlackGreymon, they had hurried on so quickly that most of their surroundings had just seemed to pass by as a blur. Now that Hikari had pointed out the strange fact that they seemed to be in some sort of prison block without any prisoners, they were very much aware of their surroundings again.

On either side of the metal hallway were large cells blocked off by metal bars. The walls and floor of each cell were completely smooth and bare. Armadimon leaned in close against the bars of one, and then pointed at the floor. "Hey, there's a small crack here."

Everyone crowded around and looked at the crack. Tailmon stepped forward, and set wedged the tips of her claws into the crack, slowly working their way in until she had enough leverage to begin pulling. Before their eyes, the two halves of the floor began to slide away, revealing a small crack that Hikari and Tailmon, the two closest, could look into. Hikari's hand flew to her mouth. Her face turned completely white.

Beneath the floor were a series of razor sharp grinders and saws that, when running at full speed, could easily tear apart a large adult level Digimon to shreds in mere seconds. Through the gaps between the metal saws, they could see some sort of drain pipe. From the angle of the shadows, Tailmon could tell that the pipe angled down toward the hallway, and guessed that there was a large master pipe to which all the cells were connected beneath their feet.

The others tried to push in to get a closer look, but Hikari motioned to Tailmon, who quickly pulled back her paws and allowed the two halves to snap shut again. "Sorry," said Tailmon. "It's shut too tight."

"We'll figure it out later," said Hikari quietly. "Any prisoners can be saved after we find and stop Ichijouji Ken."

"Alright," said Miyako, frowning with suspicion as she studied the other girl. Hikari had been the one to suggest stopping in the first place, and now she wanted to move again so soon without figuring out why the cages were empty.

When they continued on, Hikari led the group at an increased pace, as if she desperately wanted to have all the empty prison cells completely behind her.

Eventually, they reached the end of the prison block, entering a much wider and open area. The group slowed to a walk as they looked the place over. The hallway they were running down converted to a metal lattice walkway that was suspended over a warehouse area. Beneath them a pipe extended from the wall, as Tailmon had expected, before bending down and leading to a series of large industrial vats and boilers that completely covered the floor of the room. When they looked around, they saw numerous other walkways and pipes that led to other series of vats. All the series ended with a thin pipe which all converged upon one large circular hole at the very center of the room.

"This place looks like a chemical processing plant," commented Miyako.

"It's a data processing plant," whispered Hikari to herself.

"We've got company," said Hawkmon, suddenly drawing feather blades from his headband.

Everyone looked below. From among the series of metal containers, long limbed metal Digimon were emerging, flying up toward their walkway using jets mounted on their backs.

"Mekanorimon," muttered Tailmon. She looked to the other Digimon. "They have powerful long range weapons. We're easy targets on this walkway."

Just as she spoke, the highest Mekanorimon waved its arms and fired a beam of light at them. The beam struck and cut through the lattice of the walkway at Tailmon's heat, leaving a hole edged with glowing red molten metal.

"Right, we need to get off this walkway," agreed Hikari. She motioned to the others and began sprinting down the walkway, followed by Miyako, Iori, and Armadimon. Hawkmon ran as well, but at a slower pace as he threw feather blades down at the flying Mekanorimon. They glanced off the Mekanorimon's metal exterior, leaving only small scratches.

The highest of the Mekanorimon reached the level of the walkway just as the team reached the other end. It hovered in place and began charging its beam attack.

Tailmon charged forward, claws flashing. The broken halves of the Dark Ring fell from the Mekanorimon's body and vanished into the shadows of the vats below, leaving a now inert Mekanorimon floating motionless beside the walkway. Tailmon jumped back, dodging the series of beams from the Meknarimon lower down. As she landed, she suddenly paused and shivered.

At the edge of the walkway, Armadimon, Hawkmon, Lopmon, and Terriermon began shivering as well. The latter two twins instinctively gripped each other, wrapping their large ears around themselves in fear.

Miyako looked down at them in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Something's coming," whispered Hawkmon, the feather blades slipping out of his grip and landing on the floor.

On the other side of the large room, in the metal hallway where they had entered, BlackGreymon and Flamedramon briefly disengaged and pulled away from each other. Both were looking down at the floor, suddenly aware of how severely their legs were shaking.

An unearthly roar, unlike anything that any of them except for Hikari had ever heard before, suddenly shocked its way up the entire fortress. Beneath them, vats began to crumple and implode. An explosion rocked something below the floor, sending a column of green fire out of the cylindrical hole at the center of the room that completely vaporized the lowermost Mekanorimon guards.

The next moment, the hole cracked and broke as something large rammed itself through. A monster appeared out of the ruin. Its head was an armored insect carapace, topped with the long and straight black horn of a sea creature. Beneath the head was a reptilian torso with orange scaling, mammalian legs covered in white and blue fur, and a long reptilian tail with dark blue scales, all of which were completely covered with long and thin needle-like spines. On its back were two pairs of wings, the top covered in red and orange feathers while the bottom covered in feathers of pure white. From its shoulders sprouted four arms, the bottom left arm made entirely of bone, the bottom right arm a shiny red insect claw, and the two top arms black and devilish.

Most sinister of all was the long stitched scar across the left side of its chest, which seemed to shiver and twitch at a regular rhythm like a beating heart.

* * *

The abandoned shovel was stuck blade first into the pile at the head of the hole it had dug out, where the black cross had formerly been. Its position made it look like a replacement headstone for what had been unearthed.

Opposite the shovel on the other side the hole, the metal tubes ceased their suction and began to withdraw. The Kaiser stood with his back toward the hole, facing a keyboard at the end of a metal arm extending out toward him. In front of him, the metal machinery was shaking so hard that it was leaving cracks on the glass elevator between it.

The Kaiser's own hands were shaking as he furiously typed commands at the keyboard, staining the keys red with the blood covering the tips of his gloves. Shivers were coursing through his body as he made the final touches. After all the exploratory missions that had gone out to collect the information and samples that served as the models, after all the Digimon that had to be sacrificed for the actual raw data to serve as the building blocks of the creation, after this final mission into the dark vortex in the shadow of File Island, things could finally be finished. At long last, he was a true Chosen, with a true unstoppable partner that would once and for all destroy all resistance to his rule.

His fingers hesitated over the keyboard, over the little red key that would deliver the final command. A thought came to him. Now that he was finally at the threshold and could see what he had created, he wondered if this was truly what he had wanted. He remembered his strange and troubled dreams, and wondered for a moment if some dark parts of his subconscious could have somehow overrode his conscious designs and goals and changed them.

A metal arm shifted, bringing up a communication monitor over his red stained keyboard. It switched on, revealing the face of Wormmon.

Wormmon shivered, his nervous forelegs clicking back and forth. "Ken, are you finished?"

The Kaiser seemed not to hear the question. Instead, he began rambling in a low monotone voice. "In terms of sheer brute strength, Mugendramon is rated the strongest in all the Digital World because of its pure metal body, constructed from parts of cyborg Digimon. Its right arm and helmet are those of Megadramon and Gigadramon. Its jaw and chest come from MetalTyrannomon. Its left arm is that of MetalGreymon. Its legs are repurposed Andromon bodies. On its back are the deadly Infinity Cannons, larger and more powerful versions of MetalMamemon's Psycho Blasters."

The Kaiser smiled. His hands were shaking in what he thought was excitement. "The strongest of all Digimon was constructed from the best machine parts from the greatest cyborg Digimon… What now, if I take the best organic parts from the greatest beast Digimon, and combine them into one all-powerful being?"

"The swift legs of Garurumon to give it unmatchable speed on the ground; the powerful wings of Garudamon and Angemon to give it indisputable mastery of the air; the long tail of BlackGreymon and the arms of SkullGreymon and AtlurKabuterimon to give it deadly range and crushing power; the strong chest of Greymon to give it inexhaustible stamina; the helm of Kabuterimon and horn of Ikkakumon to give it unstoppable inertia in its charge; the thorns of Togemon all over its skin and the spiky hair of MetalGreymon over its neck to give it complete protection around its entire body…"

The Kaiser trailed off and looked down at the red button again.

"And to finally finish it off, two more arms and a heart… from Devimon: the heart to give it cunning and deadly will, and the arms to achieve the aims of that will… so that nothing, absolutely nothing, can hope to oppose it."

He frowned.

"Is this what I want?" asked the Kaiser aloud as his right index finger hovered over the red button.

He felt a shiver rung through his body, as if something within him was shifting, pulling out of his very nerves. At that moment he suddenly felt perfect clarity in his mind, a sense of conscious awareness that he had never experienced before.

Ichijouji Ken was free. He was truly free. No one but him would make the final choice. He could press down on the red button and complete his work, or he could stop. Just stop. The choice was completely his. At this critical point, there was nothing else but him to make this decision.

"I already passed the point of no return a long time ago."

The red-tipped finger touched the red-stained button.

Another shiver ran through the body of Ichijouji Ken as the roots settled back into his nerves. The Kaiser blinked and stared at his motionless finger against the button, as if only just becoming aware of what he had done. An unearthly roar shook the entire fortress before him. He looked up at his shaking fortress and felt the sound wave pass through him. A feeling of sickness suddenly tightened over his stomach like a vise.

_**Chimeramon**__: Ultimate Level. Composition Type. Data Attribute. Nightmare Soldiers. Breath Attack: Heat Viper. Melee Attack: Death Claw._

* * *

The other panels and metal arms slowly began to withdraw and fold themselves back up until only one keyboard and monitor were left in front of the Kaiser. Those two also began to withdraw as the Kaiser walked toward the glass elevator. Now that he had taken what he wanted from the bottom of the anomalous whirlpool, he felt a sudden hurry to get out of it as quickly as possible. The keyboard and monitor matched his walking pace exactly, so that he could comfortably keep his eyes on the monitor and continue watching his creation's progress in eliminating the intruders and removing further excess baggage that he had not yet had the chance to remove.

As he walked and watched the monitor, his attention briefly shifted to the camera view of Wormmon. The small worm Digimon was looking down, deep in thought and fully of worry.

"What's the matter?" asked the Kaiser.

"I'm watching the battle," replied Wormmon. "BlackGreymon went by himself to engage Flamedramon. Right now, Chimeramon had destroyed all our reserve Mekanorimon guards and engaged Shurimon, Pteramon, and Tailmon."

"So?"

Wormmon swallowed. "Ken, all your defenders have been deployed, but there's someone in the opposition that we haven't seen yet."

The Kaiser paused. He was mere meters from the elevator doors, but Wormmon's last comment suddenly captured his attention. "That's right," he whispered. "There is someone we haven't seen yet."

"I'm afraid he will strike us where we are weakest," said Wormmon.

The Kaiser nodded again. That made sense. "But where are we the weakest?" he wondered aloud.

He froze. A cold sweat built over his forehead and neck as realization swept over him. Where he was now, he had no security or defenses of any kind. His fingers quickly typed on the keyboard. The fortress's sensors made a scan over the island. A small sigh of relief left his lips as the monitor reported that there was only one life signal on the island: his own.

"You shouldn't have disturbed the dead, Ichijouji Ken."

The Kaiser straightened. A chill ran down his spine as he turned around and glared at Takaishi Takeru.

Standing in the little path between the rows and columns of graves, the yellow-haired boy looked much the same as always, though the simple green and yellow he wore appeared drab and gray in the shadows of their surroundings. The twin green and gold Digivices were on his arms, though their screens showed nothing but static. His bangs swept over the left side of his face. He was missing his usual cloak and hat, however, and his skin looked deathly pale and gray in the dark lighting of the vortex.

"The dead can't hurt the living," replied the Kaiser quietly. He looked his opponent up and down, wondering how the boy could have avoided detection. "A mere boy like you may be afraid of the dark, but I am the Kaiser, master of this world. I fear nothing."

Takeru smiled and shook his head. He was clearly trying to stop himself from laughing, but a few suppressed giggles escaped.

"What's so funny?" demanded the Kaiser.

The other boy mastered himself and stopped laughing. He looked up with a cold smile on his face. "You think that you're brave, because you're not afraid of the dark?" He shook his head. "It's not the dark that you should be afraid of, it's what hiding within it. 'Master of this world,' you say? You clearly have not seen what hides in the shadows of this world, if you really think you can master it. You have no idea just what is waiting for you beyond the darkness."

Takeru took a step forward, his smiling growing broader. "But then, that's how it's always been for you, right? You're always the little helpless child, hiding behind your big brother, unable to face the cruel bullying world by yourself. You're so angry at the world for its injustice, so you have to try and make everyone else just as sad and miserable as you are. That's your justice. That's how you bring order to chaos." He laughed and spread out its arms. "Isn't that right? If everyone is dead, everyone is equal. That's fair."

"Shut up!"

There were tears building in the corners of Ichijouji Ken's eyes as his hand pulled his whip from his belt.

"You don't know me!" screamed Ken. "You don't understand! Don't talk like you do!"

The other boy laughed and tilted his head. "Ichijouji, you're crying…"

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!"

The metal tip of the whip was flashing forward before the Kaiser was aware of it, as if his arm had moved on its own. The lash struck the other boy across the face, tearing open flesh in a spurt of black viscous blood.

Takeru's head had been forced to turn by the force of the blow, but it slowly turned back to stare into the Kaiser's eyes. A finger slowly lifted up to point at the torn cheek, which rippled and spurted a few more drops of blood as the face smiled again. The wound itself did not bleed beyond the small squirts, as if the blood within the body had completely coagulated and stopped flowing.

"Oh look," he said with a laugh as he pointed at the bloodless tear on his cheek. "Now we match!"

Ichijouji Ken took a step back and swallowed. He was suddenly horribly aware of the feeling of wet blood flowing from the torn scratches of his own cheek. The liquid feeling was stinging his cheek and causing his face to twitch with discomfort.

"You said the dead can't hurt the living, right?" The other boy advanced another step. "I think you have that backwards. It's the dead that don't feel pain and the living that do. Here: I'll show you."

In the blink of an eye, the other boy had closed the gap between them. Ichijouji Ken felt pain as a fist collided against his bloody torn cheek, and again as his body flew backward from the force of the blow, crashing through the keyboard and monitor behind him.

* * *

"What the hell is that thing?"

That was all Miyako managed to say before the creature burst out of the hole it had made in the floor, its four arms reach out and grabbing a Mekanorimon in each claw. Each arm then simultaneously brought the captured Mekanorimon down toward the waiting jaws, and all four Mekanorimon instantaneously vaporized into raw data as the sharp teeth made contact. The monster then inhaled deeply, swallowing up all the raw data. The long stitched scar across its chest increased the frequency of its beating as the monster consumed the last of the data.

Hikari looked down at her pink Digivice, which was projecting the information on the new arrival. Her blood ran cold as she read the reading of Ultimate level.

Seeing the imminent threat, Armadimon donned the blue armor of Pteramon and Hawkmon the cloth armor of Shurimon. Pteramon went first, firing missiles down at the rising beast below, but each attack did not even dent or scratch the creature's armored head and horn. As it approached eye level, Shurimon drew his Kusanagi blade and threw it, but the star mere glanced off the spiky hair and spines on its neck and shoulders, respectively, before it could even get to the skin.

Miyako swallowed as the creature's eyes reached their levels. "I don't think we did anything to it besides make it angry."

"I don't think it even felt enough of that to become angry," said Shurimon.

The head slowly began to turn its side toward them, so that its left eye, wild and feral, could look at them.

Lopmon whispered something to Terrerimon, and the two nodded. As the eye began settling on them, the two began spinning together, the one generating a whirlwind of green energy and the other of pink. The two whirlwinds combined into a single large blast that rammed into the feral eye like a screw. The armored head doubled backward and the creature let out a roar of anger and pain.

"Don't just stand there," said Hikari to the others as the twin Digimon landed from their spinning attack. "Let's go!"

Pteramon swooped back and gripped Iori by the shoulders with his talons, while Shurimon took Miyako and Hikari into his corded arms. Lopmon and Terriermon jumped up onto Pteramon's back as he flew ahead while Shurimon and Tailmon sprinted after. Everyone was well out of sight by the time the irritated left eye of the monster opened back up.

However, even without the eyes, Chimeramon had not lost track of the targets it had sensed before. The stitching on its chest twitched at a hard and fast pace as it began to rely on another sense that was not sight nor hearing nor smell. By analogy, the sense was closest to taste, and its long tongue, dripping with corrosive saliva, licked the air and instantly gave Chimeramon all the information it needed. Ahead were three fleeing humans, carried by two Armor levels, plus two Child levels and an Adult level.

Behind, however, were a human, an Armor level, and an Adult level.

Chimeramon turned around and opened its mouth wide. A massive green fireball charged atop its tongue, which unleashed in its deadly Heat Viper attack. The blast completely vaporized everything in its path, plowing through the fortress until it punched even to the outside of the fortress and collided into the surrounding water, resulting in an explosion of steam that shook the entire fortress.

In the hallway where they had been dueling, both Flamedramon and BlackGreymon had to stop fighting to regain their balance from the shaking and the shock at suddenly seeing a beam of green flame suddenly blast through the area between them. The next moment a massive skeletal claw suddenly burst through the gap, tearing apart metal and grabbing wildly. Daisuke yelped in surprise just as Flamedramon grabbed him and pulled him away from the claw's grasp.

BlackGreymon meanwhile stared at the skeletal claw in utter confusion, recognizing it as that of his Perfect level form. He heard the crashing and tearing of something else, and turned just in time to see a massive black and devilish claw burst through the metal wall and grab him by the throat. The claw pulled hard, forcing his body through endless walls that ripped at his flesh just as his body was forced to rip through them, but the claw held too tightly around his throat to let him cry out in pain.

Just as he thought his dark blue flesh would be completely flayed from his bones, the tearing ended and he was free in open air, though his neck was still a prisoner of the large black claw. BlackGreymon found himself high up in a large open area, held in the grasp of a terrible creature, larger than even his SkullGreymon form, which flew up amongst walkways above endless vats and pipes and strange machinery below. His eyes shifted back toward the deep holes left behind by the monster's claws and fire, where Flamedramon and Daisuke were looking out cautiously.

Chimeramon had noticed those two as well, and turned its mouth toward them, charging up another green fireball on its tongue. Flamedramon grabbed Daisuke in his arms again and jumped down from the hall just as the fireball, much larger than the last, annihilated the place where they had been standing moments before.

As they landed on the ground amidst all the pipes, the fortress began rocking. The sound of shifting and folding machinery came from the lower levels, and Flamedramon felt the floor push up against his feet. The floating fortress was pulling back up, withdrawing from the surrounding water at an alarming pace. If he didn't know any better, he would have said that the fortress was trying to run away.

* * *

The Kaiser fell headfirst onto the floor of the elevator. Without giving himself time to even think, he let his arm fly up on pure instinct and blindly smash against the wall, desperately trying to hit the controls to close the glass doors and begin the fortress's withdrawal process. In his blind flailing he managed to at last hit the controls, and sighed with relief when he heard the glass doors seal shut. He climbed back onto his feet and turned toward the door.

Everything was black except for the single glowing blue eye, staring at him from across the glass.

The Kaiser screamed and fell backward again at the terrible pale face pressed up against the glass, but the elevator was already moving up again, and the face soon disappeared from view. All around him was the sound of moving machinery. The lower portions of the fortress were beginning to fold back up, and the fortress itself would soon be leaving the dark vortex.

One hand went up to his chest, while the other went up to his bleeding cheek. His heart was pounding so heavily against his ribs that it hurt, but no matter how hard he tried he could not calm the beating nor slow his breath down from the panicked gasps that he was making.

Outside his floating fortress finally left the whirlpool below, and as it did the vortex closed, its gray waters turning blue once again. Within seconds the strange anomaly had vanished from the surface of the water, just as quickly and mysteriously as it had first appeared. The fortress reached a steady altitude, floating around the middle levels of the tall mountain at the island center.

At last, the Kaiser's breathing began to normalize as the elevator brought him up to the middle levels of his fortress, continuing on from the lower glass levels back to the normal metal shaft that ran through most of the upper levels.

The elevator stopped and the doors parted. He had arrived at his fortress's central power facility, the large spherical room that provided the energy to fuel everything. The Kaiser briefly wondered why the elevator had stopped there. He did not remember specifying this as his destination.

There was a crash above, and he looked up just in time to see the ceiling crack and shatter. Amidst the falling rubble was Flamedramon with a screaming Daisuke in his arms. The pair landed on the bridge connecting the elevator to the central spherical core, right in front of the Kaiser. Immediately afterward, the gap widened even further as Chimeramon crashed through, still holding BlackGreymon by the throat. A few moments later, at the door on other side of the spherical room, Pteramon and Shurimon arrived with their passengers, followed shortly by Tailmon.

Perhaps it was a striking coincidence, but the Kaiser did not think so. It was definitely not a coincidence that all his enemies should suddenly appear before him. He began to laugh.

"Yes, this is truly the end," he said. "All the players have been drawn together like water pulled into the center of a vortex. This is not coincidence. This is destiny."

Above, BlackGreymon clawed at the hand still gripping his throat. "My Kaiser," he gasped. "Help me…"

The Kaiser glanced up. "Oh, it's you. Wormmon told me you went off to fight Flamedramon." He looked back across the bridge between the elevator and central core, where Flamedramon and Daisuke stood tense, not sure of what to do about the massive threat floating above them. "What could I possibly want from a weakling like you, who can't defeat even one opponent alone?" The Kaiser sneered and shook his head. "You are not worthy of serving me, and I have no more use for you." His finger pointed out toward the Spiral on BlackGreymon's arm. "Chimeramon! Remove that Spiral!"

BlackGreymon's eyes widened, betraying fear, desperation, and simple pain. "Wait!"

A black claw, one of the fingers stained blood red, reached down and casually touched the Spiral. The device cracked and shattered. BlackGreymon began shrinking immediately, until he was nothing but small helpless BlackAgumon, alone and broken, shuddering in pain as he lay in the palm of the black devilish hand of Chimeramon.

"As I said before, excess baggage must be dumped," said the Kaiser. He signaled out with his arm toward Chimeramon.

The great beast bent its head down and unleashed a stream of green flame that punched straight through the rounded floor of the room. Outside, the green beam continued out through the bottom down to the island below, leaving a black scorching hole in the middle of a forest and starting a fire that soon began raging across the land.

BlackAgumon stared down at the hole below, its edges still glowing red hot from the heat of the blast. He knew what was coming next. "No, wait!"

Chimeramon turned its hand over and dropped him. BlackAgumon fell, screaming in terror as he plummeted down to the cruel death that awaited him at the bottom. From such a height, his body would be completely vaporized into raw data by the sheer force of the collision.

The screams snapped Daisuke and Flamedramon out of their stupor. They looked across the bridge at the Kaiser in disbelief. "He was your ally," said Daisuke.

"He was excess baggage," whispered the Kaiser. He pointed out at him. "And you are dead."

Above, Chimeramon opened its mouth, charging another Heat Viper attack.

Across the room, the others took their cue. Shurimon shifted to FlyBeemon, and Tailmon grabbed hold of his abdomen. Pteramon and Shurimon then jumped out from the door, flying across. "Daisuke, we're pulling back for now!" cried Miyako from FlyBeemon's arm. "We can't fight that thing now!"

Daisuke looked up at the terrifying monster above him. Miyako was right. BlackGreymon, who Flamedramon had barely been able to fight evenly with, had been completely helpless against that creature.

But Vmon had no flying forms available to him, and both Pteramon and FlyBeemon were already almost overburdened.

Chimeramon unleashed the green fireball. Daisuke closed his eyes and jumped off the bridge to the flaming hole below, hoping against hope that somehow things would turn out alright. Flamedramon jumped after. Either way, the fall was a better chance than just standing there waiting to be vaporized by the green fire.

Pteramon and FlyBeemon immediately flew down after them through the hole as Chimeramon's blast tore a gaping hole through the bridge where Daisuke and Flamedramon had been standing moments before. Chimeramon would have flown down toward the hole as well after them, but the Kaiser signaled the creature to stop.

He smiled to himself again and shook his head. That unpleasantness below in the vortex had put him behind schedule, and he was impatient to move on to the next phase of his plan. In any case, with his opponents trapped on the island below, he could deal with them while simultaneously moving on to the next phase. The Kaiser looked up at the massive Ultimate level before him. "Well, destiny waits."

* * *

Daisuke opened his eyes, which surprised him. First, he was surprised that he was alive and able to open his eyes. Second, he was surprised to see that he was not on the dirt ground and surrounded by trees, but still in a metal hallway. He sat up and turned his head. Just a few meters away from him was the massive hole he had been falling through.

There was a groan. He turned and found both Vmon and BlackAgumon sprawled on the ground next to him. There was a single small golden feather clutched in BlackAgumon's claw.

It was strange. Daisuke saw absolutely no way how they could have been suddenly pushed off to the side to this lower hallway instead of through the hole down all the way to the island below.

In fact, the others were surprised too. They suddenly came up through the hole to rejoin them, having flown right past them at first. Miyako was the first one on the floor with them, her Digivice in her hand. "How did you end up here?" she asked, confused.

"I'm not sure," said Daisuke honestly.

Everyone landed and settled down, FlyBeemon and Pteramon shedding their armor and entering their Child forms. As they took stock of their situation, Armadimon nudged Iori and pointed. "That's…"

They all turned to BlackAgumon, who was crawling back up to a sitting position. The Digimon paid them no attention. His eyes were glaring straight through the floor.

"Leave him be," whispered Hikari. "He's not a threat right now." She looked back to the hole. There was no need for her to identify what was the threat.

"What do we do now?" said Miyako, also looking to the hole left behind by the green fire. A few points on the edges were still glowing red hot. She swallowed and shook her head. "That thing destroyed all the Mekanorimon in one shot, and beat BlackGreymon with only one arm. It's like… ten times stronger than SkullGreymon…"

"There was no Ring or Spiral on it," added Tailmon, standing beside them with her arms crossed. "I looked it all over. There are no easy weak points. Its body is completely covered in scales and spines. Even the neck is protected by spiky hair."

Iori frowned and sat down. "What do we do?"

"Against an Ultimate level, without the ability to evolve ourselves…" Hikari watched the last few glowing red points on the edge of the hole slowly burn out. "There's nothing we can do. We came so close, and yet…"

Daisuke quickly jumped to his feet. "What? We can't just give up now. I mean, we were expecting to face something like SkullGreymon when we got here, weren't we?"

"SkullGreymon we've fought before, but that thing is at least ten times worse," replied Miyako. "Our original plan was just to take out the Spiral on him or take out the Dark Digivice that the Kaiser uses to power the whole thing."

"Why can't we still do that?" said Daisuke.

"There's no Spiral powering that thing up," said Miyako. "That old plan won't work anymore."

"No," said Hikari. Everyone looked over to her. She turned from the edge back to them. "It will still work. Removing the Dark Digivice will no longer remove the enemy, but it will still remove our inability to fight this enemy. No, it doesn't even have to be removing the Dark Digivice. We just need to shut down the broadcast of the anti-evolution signal. The Dark Digivice's anti-evolution functions just like our Digivice's regular evolution function: it requires conscious activation. If we remove the passive broadcast, then we can evolve and catch the Kaiser and the Ultimate level by surprise."

"But none of us has any experience with regular evolution," said Armadimon. "Well, except…" He turned to look at Hikari's two partners.

Tailmon glanced over to Hikari as her tail gently waved behind her. Lopmon hugged its ears over its body. No one yet noticed that Terriermon was no longer there for Lopmon to hide behind.

"Well, we don't really have many other options, so let's figure out how to shut off the broadcast," said Miyako. But the next moment her eyes suddenly brightened and she snapped her fingers as she remembered. "The power core!" she exclaimed. She frowned again. "But that was the room we were just in. How do we get back up there without having to fight that creature again?"

"The private elevator," mumbled BlackAgumon.

Everyone looked to him. He had been so quiet and unmoving that everyone had almost forgotten that he was there.

"You can take the Kaiser's elevator from this level back up to the core," continued BlackAgumon. "Since the elevator is private, you should be able to use it to sneak in without being noticed. The passcode to use it is three-one-six."

Hikari's eyebrow rose as she heard the numbers. The others stared at BlackAgumon in silence.

"What? Don't trust me?" growled BlackAgumon. "That bastard just tried to kill me."

Still no one knew how to reply.

"I'll go with you too, up to the core, as a sign of good faith," continued BlackAgumon. "Inside it are three small power sources. Just remove them and the Dark Tower broadcast system will shut down."

Miyako crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. There was something that she found unsettling in the tone of BlackAgumon's voice, and the way his eyes had seemed to glint when he mentioned the three power sources.

"It's a very risky plan," commented Tailmon. "We'll have to hurry if we really go through with it."

Hikari looked to her partner. "We have to go through with it. Normal evolution is the only chance we have."

* * *

The Kaiser stepped back up to his glass domed command room at the top of his fortress. Around him, the many screens began to play video feeds from his surveillance system, which was focused on watching Chimeramon's progress on the island. With his enemies down below in the forest, sending Chimeramon down to rampage there now served two purposes.

From the surveillance screen, the Kaiser saw that the green of the leaves and trees had been replaced by the green of Chimeramon's fire. There was absolutely no chance that anything caught within the flames could survive the blaze.

He watched the fire burn with an impassive look on his face. Perhaps he should have been laughing in triumph, but at that moment he felt a strange sense of sadness and longing that he could not explain. Something was wrong, or to be more precise, something was missing. The boy felt the pain of that missing piece in his very heart. He was aware of it, even ashamed of it, but could not understand what it was.

The hastily applied bandage on his cheek itched, and he scratched at its edges. He could still see the blue eye staring into his.

"If everyone was equal…"

No, that other boy didn't understand anything. Ichijouji Ken did not give a damn about equality. Inequality is inherent to the world. It is not injustice. What is injustice is that inequality just never seems to be in one's own favor.

When he was young and naïve, he had hated bullies and oppressors, and dreamed of justice. As he grew he sought to become a champion of justice, to fight against oppression. He blamed the disorganization and chaos and inequality that allowed oppression to exist. It was only as he grew up that he began to realize the inherent oppression of existence. So instead of fighting oppressors, he became one.

"That's not what I wanted… is it…?"

The pain shot through his neck and spine suddenly and without warning. He fell to one knee. His neck and chest were suddenly drenched with cold sweat. But his mind told him that it was not sweat. It was blood.

There was so much blood. His hands were completely red.

"…_But there's nothing to catch you as you tumble down, and you're nothing but dead at the bottom…"_

The Kaiser looked down. Instead of a floor, he saw an endless abyss.

Just as he felt he was about to scream, everything was back to normal. He was aware he was covered in sweat, and just sweat. His hands were covered by his dry black gloves, not blood. As he straightened again, his gloves absentmindedly played with his necklace, which had fallen loose from his clothes when he had suddenly fallen to one knee before. His fingers stroked the small violet symbol.

Wait, violet?

The Kaiser pulled out his necklace again and looked at the small violet rectangular Crest inserted into the golden Tag. That was odd. He was sure that he had switched the violet Crest for the gold Crest for his SkullGreymon expedition. He did not remember switching them back.

He turned around. He was alone in the room. Wormmon was not there. Now that he thought about it, it was strange that he had gone so long without the worm bothering him with questions as to whether he was feeling alright.

The Kaiser looked to the nearest screen. His private elevator was lifting up to the level of the power core, the private elevator that only he was supposed to use.

"No…"

* * *

Alarm sirens were blaring as the elevator doors opened up.

"You said this would get us here without getting us noticed!" yelled Daisuke at BlackAgumon as they and Vmon ran from the elevator onto the bridge that connected them to the central spherical room.

"Well apparently I was wrong!" snapped BlackAgumon. "Whatever! Just get to the core before this gets any worse!"

There was a half circle hole in the bridge left behind by Chimeramon's Heat Viper attack, so they had to run single file through that part. Daisuke went first, followed by BlackAgumon. Vmon came up at their reader to make sure that the defector did not try anything funny.

Just as Vmon crossed the narrow path, a pillar of green flame rocketed up through the floor, punching a second gaping hole at the bottom and completely vaporizing the already damaged portion of the bridge.

Daisuke turned back, his blood running cold as he realized they had been separated from the others. "You guys!"

On the other side, at the edge of the bridge, Miyako and Hawkmon shouted back at them. "Just keep going!"

"I will back you up as soon as I am able to evolve again," shouted Tailmon as well.

The furious roar coming from the ground gave them more encouragement, and they ran the rest of the way. "Four is the number of death," muttered BlackAgumon to himself as he entered the codes onto the panel beside the door. The door however opened before he was completely finished. Not one to question a good thing, Daisuke immediately ran inside. BlackAgumon and Vmon followed. Inside the spherical room, lit up by a single light at the ceiling, there were three pillars.

But as Daisuke looked them over, he said "I only see two power sources…"

Indeed. Though the far two were occupied, each with a small item roughly the size of a trophy, the nearest pedestal was empty.

"Here," said a voice.

Daisuke turned just in time to catch a small golden rectangle attached to a loop of thread. As soon as the rectangle touched his hand, it began to unfold out of air, transforming into a large golden block roughly the same size as the other two power sources still on the pillar. His eyes flashed as he realized he was holding a golden Digimental in his hands. "The power sources are Digimentals?" said Daisuke in wonder.

He looked back at the Digimon that had thrown the one in his hands to him.

Wormmon stood in front of him, looking at him intently. He had been inside the core before them, next to the door. They had rushed in right past him so quickly that they had not noticed him at first.

Daisuke stared blankly in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Giving you what you need," replied Wormmon. "But make no mistake. I'm only helping you help Ken."

Daisuke was not sure how to respond to such a statement, so he instead turned to look at the other two pillars and the Digimentals mounted atop them. One was golden as well, and resembled a large golden feather emerging from a golden ball marked by a curvy symbol. The other was crystalline, with a single black glass orb set atop a clear gem-like column.

BlackAgumon paid the others no mind. "Betray me, will you," he muttered under his breath. He ran forward and grabbed both objects from the pillars, one in each claw, and pulled them off.

The room suddenly became pitch black. A second later, a dim red light switched on to illuminate the room, while a warning siren blared. The floating fortress had switched to emergency reserve power and shut off all nonessential functions while also slowly beginning a descent.

This meant of course, that the broadcast preventing evolution had been shut down as well.

Daisuke sharply exhaled. He was suddenly aware of his pounding heart, which had been hammering against his chest the whole time he had run from the elevator to the spherical core room. "We did it."

But the next moment, the ceiling above them was suddenly torn apart. Everyone looked up to see Chimeramon flying above them, its bone arm holding the torn away portion of the spherical room and crushing it into dust.

BlackAgumon clutched the two Digimentals to his chest. There were tears in his eyes. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Not again!"

Vmon however remained calm and quickly turned to Daisuke. "The Digimental!"

Daisuke nodded and lifted it up. "Digimental Up!"

Nothing happened.

Daisuke's blood ran cold. He remembered what it took to activate a Digimental. "But what the hell is this Digimental?" he whispered to himself. "What trait do I need to activate it?"

BlackAgumon dropped the two Digimental in his hands and ran to Wormmon. "Come on, you must know something!" yelled the raptor desperately. "Tell us how to use this power against that thing! I am not going to die here, alright? I am not going to die here!"

Wormmon shook his head and held out its forelegs to try to defend himself. "Please stop. I don't know what you mean."

Daisuke pointed at the golden block. "What is this thing called?"

Chimeramon's black devil arm was descending upon them, about to crush them in one blow.

"The Digimental of Miracles!" cried Wormmon.

A golden missile flashed in between them and the beast, striking Chimeramon right against the side of its insect armored head. The force of the explosion forced Chimeramon back, and the swing of its arm just barely missed the edge of the floor they were standing on. They all looked up as a golden knight, its forearms and back covered with mounted missile launchers, floated up in front of them. Its helmet covered its entire head except for two small holes for its eyes.

_**GoldenRapidmon**__: Perfect Level. Holy Knight Type. Vaccine Attribute. Virus Busters. Ranged Attack: Rapid Fire. Special Attack: Golden Triangle_.

The newcomer turned its head and winked at them. "Thanks for shutting off the anti-evolution broadcast."

The gaps between the golden armor revealed white fur, while its golden armored ears resembled that of a rabbit. There was a single long golden horn on its head between the ears. On each leg was a golden ring marked with holy symbols, holy rings like the ones found on Angemon's wrist or Angewomon's ankle or Tailmon's tail. Daisuke blinked as he recognized the contrasting beast and angelic features. "Terriermon? Patamon?"

"Don't just stand there watching," said GoldenRapidmon with a laugh. "This guy is too big for just one Digimon to fight alone. Use that Digimental already."

"But how?" asked Daisuke. "What the hell does 'Miracles' mean?"

"It means changing the unchangeable," said a voice. Daisuke felt a reassuring pat on his shoulder. "Relax. I'm here with you. Let it come naturally."

Daisuke looked down at the golden Digimental in his hands. He held it aloft again. "Digimental Up!"

Vmon vanished in the resulting golden light, and a second golden knight floated up beside GoldenRapidmon. The new Armor level was still reptilian with blue scales, but was armored in angular golden armor over its chest, waist, forearms, and forelegs.

_**Magnamon**__: Armor Level. Holy Knight Type. Vaccine Attribute. Virus Busters. Ranged Attack: Plasma Shoot. Heavy Attack: Extreme Jihad._


End file.

Digimon, Adventure