Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Beyond The Other Side ❯ Fourth Configuration, Part 1 of 2 ( Chapter 7 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Author's Notes: Mediaminer is kind of messed up with some aspects of the login system. At least I find it messed up. No offence or anything.

Disclaimers: Digimon belongs to Fox, Saban, Toei Animation and whoever else owns it.

Beyond The Other Side - Fourth Configuration (Part 1 of 2)

Majiramon gave a small groan as he opened his red eyes. He had landed on a building that has just been crushed due to his weight. 'Wait a second...I crashed into somebody else before I collided into that structure.' He shook off his dizziness before hearing someone address him in a cold tone. "Good, you're awake. Now I can hear you scream during the torture session before I send you off into the afterlife."

The dragon Deva looked down to see a black figure with a blue cape, glaring at him with intensity in his eyes, indicating that he was one pissed off fellow. "Do you really think you can defeat me, inferior being? I'm one of the twelve Devas who serve under the great Digimon Sovereign himself!!" Shadowgallantmon still fixed his icy glare on the other Digimon. "As far as I'm concerned, you're the one who ruined what was to be my greatest victory. And now you shall pay for it with your blood...and then I will find your precious Sovereign and upload his data."

Majiramon roared in rage as he attacked the figure on the street. He leapt up into the air and landed on the dragon's head. 'How can someone move that fast?!?' The dark knight snorted. "Is this the best you can do? If it is, then it wouldn't be worth the energy just to delete you..."

The dragon Deva could feel the tip of the knight's lance on the top of his head. Majiramon tried not to move around too much. "This can't be happening!! No one Digimon is this powerful!! Only the Sovereign can wield such power!!!" Shadowgallantmon rolled his eyes in disgust. "You talk about your Sovereign like he's some sort of God or something. News flash: Gods don't exist."

"You're wrong. Millenniumon can digivolve into a God..." This caught the interest of the dark knight. "Just who is this Millenniumon? The way you talk about him indicates that this guy obviously strikes more fear in your heart than I do. He has to be one insanely powerful Digimon."

"He is extremely powerful. Millenniumon has the power to bend space, time and reality. All of that power at his fingertips...you seem to possess great power yourself. You must aid us in our fight against him!! From what my master has told me, we will require all of the help we can get against him." Shadowgallantmon didn't respond because he was lost in his own thoughts.

'I wonder what it will be like to absorb the data of a God. It must be more satisfying than capturing the boy's essence.' He turned his attention back to the dragon Deva. "This guy sounds like quite the popular fellow." He quickly plunged his lance straight into the dragon's skull before uploading the data. "I look forward to meeting him."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

'How convenient. A portal has already been opened for me to get into the human world.' Millenniumon positioned himself to enter the vortex. 'I need to find a way to digivolve into my other form...it's not as easy tapping into the fabric of reality in this body. Bringing other beings forth from other dimensions and controlling the dimensional gateways are a few things. Actually creating a portal for myself is another matter.'

As the D Reaper drew closer, it could sense the massive amount of power that one of the programs possessed. The only instructions it received were to terminate any programs that exceeded its normal parameters. When it got closer, it started sensing more readings outside...especially the worst program of them all. The one who can give out upgrades and jeopardize everything. The priority subroutines kicked in as it went to dispose of the closer program.

The mega Digimon was about to go through the portal when he noticed something closing up from behind him. He whirled around to see a large wave of red liquid hurtling towards him. Before he could do anything, the liquid engulfed him. Inside, Millenniumon had already started to take countermeasures for whatever was attempting to delete him. He started to concentrate as some of his arms appeared to be coming apart. His mind continued to focus as a small barrier formed around him. The red liquid had to go back but kept attempting to devour him. 'Thankfully, that stuff didn't do any serious damage. What the hell is this thing anyway?'

Millenniumon started to think. 'With whatever this is making a mess of things, my whole schedule has been thrown off...I planned to throw a little party on their world and that's exactly what I'm going to do. I suppose I'll have to find someone else to start things up. Now which candidate would be suitable for this job?'

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Janyu Wong had to sit down to try and digest what had just happened. Thirty minutes ago, there was a report of a monster sighting trashing the city. Two minutes later, the family was preparing to leave the apartment and move somewhere else. Ten minutes after that, an object crashes into the apartment. It didn't take too long for his youngest daughter, Suzie, to grow attached to it.

Then a few minutes after the arrival of the large rabbit, his son Henry barges into the apartment with several friends and more monsters. His wife couldn't take anymore of this and fainted. His other two children were pretty shocked to say the least. He could still remember the tense moment when he confronted his son.

<Flashback>

"You've kept this secret for this long and you didn't even tell me?" The two were alone in the computer room. Kari and Yolei were helping Suzie with the first-aid application on Antylamon. Most of the Digimon were helping themselves to the food in the fridge and other storage areas. Takato and Rika had to call their homes, telling their worried relatives that they had to stay at a friend's house with the evacuation order.

Henry was partially surprised that his father didn't explode at him for keeping Terriermon a secret. "I wasn't sure how you would take it...do you remember all those conversations we had in the past year in which every time the subject of your AI project came up, you would talk about something else? You indicated that you didn't want to talk about the project. If I showed you a real live Digimon..." Janyu gave a sigh. "Well, I wish you would have told me sooner but I suppose it's better late than never. Now, can you explain about your other friends? As I recall, Davis Motomiya was a fictional character on a cartoon series."

"Sorry, dad. It would take too long to explain. The only reason I came here was that we needed to recharge on energy. There's a powerful Digimon that's loose in the city. We've got to find him and take him out before he can cause any damage. After we take care of that, I'll explain everything. You have my word." A small smile made its way to Janyu's face. "And I know for a fact that when a Wong gives his word, he carries out that promise."

<end flashback>

The man could see Henry working on some sort of strategy with almost all of the other male children. One of them was sitting down on the couch. His black hair rested against one of the cushions. Some of the Digimon began to digivolve to their rookie stages. 'All this time Shibumi was right. He said that Digimon and humans would work together to create the next step in evolution for all living beings. And it seems that my son will be one of the chosen to carry this out...'

Kari Kamiya finished tying up the bandage on Antylamon's arm. "That should do it. Try not to move that arm around too much." The ultimate Digimon gave a small nod. 'All this time, the Sovereign said that humans were dangerous. I never really thought about them since all I ever did was guard the gate. But they seem to be kind hearted...especially this little one.' Suzie was trying to get some cushions to make Antylamon more comfortable.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Ryo was starting to get a bit of a headache, watching all of the Holy Beasts argue about coming up with some sort of a plan to counter whatever Millenniumon had in mind. Cyberdramon gave a sigh in his raspy tone. "Hold it, laddies!!! I feel something!!" The other Holy Beasts stopped their bickering as they watched Ebonwumon feel the shift between dimensions. "What is happening, elder brother?" One of the turtle's heads turned to reply to Baihumon's inquiry. "Oh, nothing much. Other than Millenniumon summoning a few soldiers from the Dark Ocean and sending them to wreak havoc in the human world inside Zhuqiaomon's realm..." Baihumon started grumbling. "I had to ask."

Azulongmon noticed the puzzled look on Ryo's face. "The Dark Ocean...that's where everybody's negative thoughts and forgotten dreams exist. It also gave rise to extremely powerful and evil Digimon who were able to concentrate on tapping into those negative feelings and channel it into the power needed to digivolve. The only known way to pass through into the Dark Ocean is to concentrate on negative thoughts."

Zhuqiaomon decided to make a few additions to the statement. "From what we can tell, the Dark Ocean is connected to all of our realms. Practically, this ocean is at least five times bigger than your two biggest oceans combined!! Plus, the amount of negative energy creates problems for anyone attempting to summon a creature directly from the realm. Trying to maintain on the gateways between the Dark Ocean and the other realms is extremely difficult."

Ebonwumon started to give a hearty chuckle. The others looked at him as if he had gone mad. "Hmmmm...I believe the pressure of the situation has gotten to our elder brother," stated Baihumon. Both of the turtle's heads gave dangerous glares at the guardian of the Western Sector. "I'm perfectly fine!! I just realized that if Millenniumon is focusing his energies on summoning creatures from the Dark Ocean, he won't have as much control over the other gateways that connect our worlds!!"

Ryo's mood had considerably brightened up. "Alright then!! I should be sent to that world to help the chosen...whoever they are." "Wait!! We don't know how exactly Millenniumon's control is being affected. We must be cautious in how we can take advantage of this weakness," warned Azulongmon.

Ebonwumon spoke slowly. "I would wager that he can still sense humans crossing the gateway. He wouldn't want to deal with any of the chosen children. Not now anyway...I suppose we can bring forth some Digimon. We can help to disguise their data trail as natural elements in the gateway. All we'll need now is for you to use a pair of digicores to revive the two halves of one of the greatest warriors of all time." Azulongmon slowly realized what Ebonwumon was getting at. "I just hope that they can successfully become the warrior. They won't have as much human support unlike the Diaboromon incident a few years ago."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"And this is when it was my birfday!! I got lots of pwesents from evewybody!!!" Suzie was proudly showing off the photo album to Antylamon. "My daddy got me this dollhouse!! I could show it to you!" The ultimate Digimon blinked in surprise. A child who can still play even when her world is in danger. Remarkable. "Sure...when was your birthday?" Suzie started to think. "It was Feb...Feb..."

"February." Suzie looked up to see her older sister who has been able to find the strength to accept the fact that Digimon exist and that they're more than a game. She gently picked up her sibling. "So how's our little rabbit?" Suzie started to pout. "I onwy want mommy and daddy to call me wittle wabbit."

"Little rabbit? I thought your sister was a human." The other girl started to laugh. "I guess you don't know much about the Chinese zodiac. You see, each year is named after one of the twelve beasts. It just so happens that Suzie was born on the first day of the year of the rabbit back in 1999 so all of us call her little rabbit."

"We're going to have to hunt him down before he can hurt anymore innocents. With Azulongmon's digicore and the fact that Guilmon can digivolve to mega, I think we have enough firepower to finish off Shadowgallantmon," stated Henry. Takato wasn't sure what effect this would have on him but he had to take the risk.

All of the Digimon partners belonging to the Digidestined have digivolved to rookie. Salamon still remained in her rookie form but it wouldn't take too much out of her to digivolve to champion. The room remained silent for a few moments until Henry's brother came in with the radio. "Guys, I think you should listen to this!!"

The tamers and the Digidestined crowded around the radio. "According to media sources from Canada, the United States, France and China, there have been reports of a powerful monster destroying the capital city of each respective country. All attempts to subdue the creature have proven futile..."

Henry clenched his fists. "Great...Shadowgallantmon will have to wait. We have to go to each of those countries and stop those Digimon!!" Yolei narrowed her eyes. "And how exactly can we get there? It's not like we have a private airplane or something!!" The boy took out the digicore. "As a matter of fact, we do...Imperialdramon!!"

"Imperialdramon? Who the heck is that guy?" asked Davis. Rika crossed her arms. "It's the mega form of Paildramon. All you need to do is get Veemon to digivolve to champion and then to DNA digivolve with Stingmon. Leave the rest up to the digicore and your partner."

"Well, Imperialdramon has to be huge if he can carry us all around the world," stated TK. Henry looked at his father. Janyu gave a small sigh. He knew that look in his son's face that whatever he said, Henry would leave anyway. The situation has become more extreme and it requires him to do something. "Be careful, son."

"Hold it...I'm getting an update on the crisis...it seems that all of the monsters have left the capital cities of those countries and are heading off to destroy other cities." A small drop of sweat rolled down Cody's cheek. "Now we'll have no way to track those renegade Digimon down!!"

"They're too far away for your Digimon to use their senses. I don't suppose that you can use your compass or something..." Kari drifted off in the middle of her sentence. Takato gave a weary sigh. "I think it only works in short range or something. We're just going to have to figure this out...and we have to do this carefully and quickly. Imperialdramon may not have a lot of energy left after digivolving to mega."

Rika raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you become the tactical expert, goggle head?" The boy's red eyes came to rest lazily on Rika. "Well, I kind of developed a tactical instinct by hanging around you...and Henry of course." Takato silently gave a 'whew' in his mind. "Whatever. Let's follow the others."

The group quickly made their way to a place that had enough room to contain Imperialdramon and where there were no spectators. Ken took out his Digivice. "I guess it's time to save the world, Wormmon!!" A voice came out of nowhere, shattering the silence. "Good grief...you actually think you're going to save the world? With the powers your Digimon possess up against the powers that are approaching quickly...it'll only take them about three minutes tops to turn everybody into street pizza." The voice sounded shocking familiar to the boy. "I...I know you...don't I?"

"Who's there? Show yourself!!" demanded Renamon. Veemon started to stroke his chin. 'Something about this guy just feels weird.' The voice gave a small grunt as if he were struggling with something. "Normally, I would be here but thanks to this accursed...goo, I have been forced to delay my arrival. But I'm sure that my friends will be more than happy to get things started."

A compass popped up on Rika's Digivice. She took it out and noticed there were four signatures around the group that were getting closer. A blast of wind hit the group and nearly knocked them off balance. When they got up again, they saw a huge shadow over them. He had wings on his back, along with a cannon. His skin colours were mostly black, red and a bit of white. Takato went pale as he recognized that Digimon. "Imperialdramon?!?!"

TK heard a growl over to his left. He looked to see a familiar shape but when the shape came into view, he noticed that instead of a blue metallic alloy, it was black. "You don't look right...you can't be him..." The viral version of Metalgarurumon just ignored the boy's rantings.

Kari frantically fought the urge to hyperventilate. She started to relax when she saw the shape of Wargreymon underneath one of the buildings. The girl was about to call out when she saw that it wasn't Wargreymon at all. He had black skin with grey armour. Red eyes and hair along with red garments finished off his look. Henry whipped out his Digivice to scan this new version of Blackwargreymon. "His red hair and eyes indicate that his power is stronger than the other Blackwargreymon. He also turns berserk during the heat of battle, increasing his attack power for a short duration of time."

Rika wiped some sweat off her forehead. One mega Digimon they could handle. Two is a bit stretchy. But definitely not three. She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a small hiss come out of Renamon. A few hundred metres from their position, another Digimon simply stood there with a cold look in her eyes. She looked exactly like Taomon except she had black pants and black headgear. Rather than yellow fur, she had blue fur. Her shirt had the Ying-Yang sign but other than that, it was mostly white with bits of black. Rika knew that she saw a card with the exact same picture once. "That's not Taomon...it's..." Renamon remembered seeing that card once on Rika's shelf. The vulpine Digimon snarled as she spat out the name. "...Doumon."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

'Whoa...it sure is quiet. I wonder where is everybody?' Calumon was hopping from rooftop to rooftop. So far, he hadn't spotted any people. Typically, the streets were filled with people going about with their evening activities but tonight, they were empty. Calumon was about to head off in another direction when something flew over him. For a split second, the in-training Digimon could feel rubber on the top of his head.

The next thing he knew, there was a loud screech as if a vehicle is coming to a stop. He looked behind him to see a large motorcycle with a rider slowly dismounting off the vehicle. Calumon started to feel a bit nervous in front of this dark presence. "Um...y-you should be more careful..."

The demon lord Digimon crouched down to get a closer look at Calumon. "You look kind of familiar..." His thoughts drifted back to the time when he was Impmon and it suddenly came to him. "You were the humans' pet. The adorable innocent one. As soon as you cried out for help at that time, they immediately rushed to your rescue. I was hoping to meet your friends again but since you're here..." Calumon tried to back away but tripped and fell flat on his back. Beelzemon gave a savage grin as he got closer. Then a startling red beam of light erupted from the in-training Digimon. At the same time, about 10 kilometres away, a bright light was shining as if tapping into the red beam's radiance. The demon lord Digimon noticed this. "What in the...?"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"You're doing fine, Ken!! Don't think about that bad memory!!! Focus on helping Paildramon get to the next level!!" Yolei's words seemed to have a partial impact on the boy. Although he was feeling a bit better, he couldn't help wondering why that voice sounded so familiar. The more puzzling question is why couldn't he remember where it came from. Every time he tried to remember, it was like something was blocking him out. 'Maybe it's some sort of repressed memory...but I have to know. Sooner or later, I'm going to have to face it...'

The tamers' Digimon had quickly digivolved to ultimate with a blue card. Needless to say, Rika was pissed off that Takato couldn't get Guilmon to digivolve to mega. The boy's only response was that he was only able to do it in the heat of the moment last time. All three Digimon quickly went on the offensive against Doumon. Although she was outnumbered, there were a few tricks up her sleeve that could even the odds. Henry quickly glanced at Angemon, Gatomon and Paildramon who were waiting for their upgrade. 'I hope this works.' He took out the digicore.

"Gatomon digivolved to...Angewomon!!"
"Angemon digivolved to...MagnaAngemon!!!"
"Paildramon mega-digivolved to...Imperialdramon!!!"

The viral Imperialdramon raised one of his front claws to attempt an attack. "Mega Crusher!!" Imperialdramon tackled his counterpart to the ground before taking off in the air. A growl came from the mega virus Digimon before he took off in pursuit. He was about to fire a Positron Laser but the other Imperialdramon flew off at a great speed.

Digmon and MagnaAngemon had their hands full trying to deal with Blackwargreymon, who was already firing Terra Destroyers in a reckless fashion. Buildings were quickly demolished as the berserk dragon man Digimon went on his rampage. Meanwhile, Metalgarurumon started firing beams of energy from his snout at Angewomon and Halsemon. The armored Digimon barely got out of the way while Angewomon gracefully dodged all of them before summoning three Celestial Arrows. (AN: You could think of it like Pajiramon's crossbow...you could also think about it like to Galuda's Arrow Power Fusion attack) "An ultimate and an armored up against a mega...I like these odds," grumbled TK.

Takato quickly checked out Doumon's statistics on his Digivice. "This Digimon is an ultimate. Data type. Her special attacks are Spell Prohibitor, Cursed Scrolls and...Hell's Gateway?" He looked up to see Doumon countering every one of Taomon's attacks. Rika clenched her fists. "It's like Taomon's fighting someone who has been designed specifically to fight her!!"

Henry prepared to take out a card. "Then let's try and confuse her!! Rapidmon, get in there!!" The cyborg Digimon was about to fire some missiles when he heard screams of agony in the background. He glanced over to see Halsemon, Digmon, MagnaAngemon and Angewomon caught in Metalgarurumon's missile assault. Blackwargreymon looked like he was about to fire a Terra Destroyer. "But the others need our help!!"

"Then help them already!! We can handle ourselves!!!" Rika took out a card along with her Digivice. "But Rika-" Takato's meek attempt to protest was cut off. "Get going, goggle head!!!" snapped the girl. Taomon fired another attack but it was quickly countered by Doumon.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Yamaki entered the room where his Plan B project lay in front of him. "What's our status?" One of the engineers looked at the man wearily. "Installation of the weapons and propulsion systems is complete. The primary programming has also been installed but for some reason, Grani is not responding to our commands."

"What do you mean not responding?!?" The engineer brought up a schematic of the unit's computer core. "We've identified the problem but all attempts to flush it out of the system have proven futile. We've even tried to reboot the whole thing but the data still remains lodged in the computer memory." Yamaki looked closer at the monitor as it displayed the subroutines of the program that is currently in its memory core. 'Could it be that those wild ones were able to corrupt the programming?' The man glanced over at the giant red dragon-like machine, hoping to find some sort of answer before it was too late for mankind.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"You can't be serious, Ryo!!! What you're proposing is absolutely insane!! You would be signing your own death warrant if you even try!!" The boy had examined his plan very carefully and knew that the others would have doubts. "Well, I have faced Millenniumon and came out victorious. This shouldn't be too difficult. I do understand how this is different so you don't have to lecture me, Azulongmon."

Azulongmon continued to speak. "The Dark Ocean is a plane where nothing is for certain. The fact that it is a place of discarded dreams and negative thoughts means that it is not suitable as a way to get in between worlds!!" Ryo crossed his arms. "The normal dimensional pathways are blocked by Millenniumon. Since he's focusing on them, he won't be able to do anything about travel in and out of the Dark Ocean. That means I can slip in, find out where I need to go and take him by surprise!!"

"The problem is that you don't know where you need to go!! We can safely assume that it is very difficult to find the dimensional openings between worlds in the Dark Ocean. What would happen if you got lost?" asked Baihumon. Ryo was about to state how he had to take the risk when Ebonwumon spoke up. "It may be possible to create an anchor of some sort. But it would be very tricky."

Zhuqiaomon narrowed his eyes. "And how exactly can we create this anchor?" The turtle had a little smile on his face. "The answer is right in front of you, my friend." The phoenix wasn't sure what he meant until he saw them fly around. "Well, I'll be...using the Digital Gnomes as an anchor. Not bad for someone who is supposed to have a slow wit." Ebonwumon ignored Zhuqiaomon's last statement.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Our attacks aren't doing any damage!! Any plans up your sleeve, Henry?" The boy wasn't sure how to respond to Cody's query. Although Wargrowlmon and Rapidmon had joined in the fight against Blackwargreymon and Metalgarurumon, they didn't make too much of a difference. Even with Henry and Takato slashing cards through their Digivices, the two megas were still too powerful for them. Before Henry could try and give an answer, Blackwargreymon and Metalgarurumon prepared to unleash their attacks. "Terra Destroyer!!" "Giga Missile!!!"

"Aw, man!!! This really bites!! I'm too young to die!!!" wailed Davis. Before the red ball of energy and the missile could hit the group, a pair of voices came out of nowhere. "Terra Force!!!" "Metal Wolf Claw!!!!" Then an orange ball of energy and a white beam nullified the two other attacks.

A look of relief came across Kari's face as she saw two familiar mega Digimon. "Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon!! How did you two get here?" The vaccine dragon man Digimon took a protective stance in front of the group. "It's a bit of a story. Remind me to tell it to you some time!" Blackwargreymon flew at his vaccine counterpart in a rage. Wargreymon had barely enough time to parry the attacks with his claws. Digmon and MagnaAngemon slowly got up to try and assist Wargreymon. Angewomon and Halsemon tried to shake off the pain just as Metalgarurumon engaged his counterpart.

Meanwhile, Taomon was having some trouble against Doumon. "Thousand Spells!!" Several red pieces of paper flew out of her sleeves. Doumon simply concentrated before making a counterattack. "Spell Prohibitor!!" Immediately, the red papers dissipated into thin air. Rika whipped out a card. "Digi Modify!!! Battle Tomahawk Activate!!"

A weapon appeared out of nowhere in Taomon's arms. She gripped on to it as best as she could before charging at her opponent. Doumon blocked her attacks before knocking the weapon out of Taomon's grip. "Cursed Scroll!!!" She fired some scrolls from her sleeve. "Digi Modify!! Hyperspeed Activate!!" Taomon got out of the way before those scrolls could hit her.

"Rapid Fire!!!" "Atomic Blaster!!!" Doumon was knocked back by those two attacks. Rika looked behind her to see Rapidmon, Wargrowlmon, Henry and Takato. "What are you guys doing here? Shouldn't you be helping the others?" Rapidmon prepared to fire some more missiles. "We were able to get some reinforcements."

The three ultimate Digimon prepared to close in on Doumon when several scrolls came out of nowhere. Taomon and Rapidmon got out of the way but Wargrowlmon became temporarily incapacitated. Takato ran over to see what he could do to help. "Hell's Gateway!!!" The next thing Rapidmon knew, he couldn't move. A giant gate appeared behind him. He could feel the amount of dark energy coming from the other side. The power of the vacuum started to drag him back. "Hang on Rapidmon!! Digi Modify!!! Alias Activate!!" Terriermon was ejected from Rapidmon's form as the gateway got nothing but data. Henry quickly caught the tired rookie Digimon.

"Talisman Sp-" Taomon never got to finish the attack when Doumon landed a heavy hit. "Cursed Scroll!!!" The other ultimate Digimon didn't have a chance to get away as she was still trying to recover from the blow. As soon as the scroll hit her, she could feel her whole body tearing itself apart.

At first, Rika couldn't understand how come Taomon was in so much pain. She was certain that her partner can take much more than that. 'What is going on here...oh, no!!! In the card game, Doumon's attack power quadruples against Taomon!!! How could I have been so stupid?!?!' She frantically searched her card pouch for an Alias card. When she looked up again, she was just in time to watch her partner decompile into data. "Taomon!!!!!!!"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Beelzemon sped through the city, hungry for battle. 'Those kids have got to be there. If not...at least I get some more Digimon to absorb. Either way, I win...' He twisted the handles on Behemoth, trying to get some more speed. Instead, he got knocked off the motorcycle by an unknown figure. A snarl made its way to the demon lord's lips as he took out a shotgun. "Douple Impact!!!"

Rather than tearing through the target, the bullet bounced off harmlessly. Beelzemon was startled to say the least. In front of him, the figure gave a chuckle. "If I ever meet the person who invented delivery service, I must remember to thank him." His chuckle turned into a dark laugh as he raised his silver and blue lance to engage in battle.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Positron Laser!!!" Up in the sky, the two Imperialdramons were engaged in a deadly battle with the viral version being the more aggressive fighter at this point. The vaccine version flew around for another assault. "I hope you know what you're doing, Exveemon!!" exclaimed the worried Stingmon.

"Piece of cake. It's just a little game I call chicken..." The vaccine version of Imperialdramon was flying forward at full speed. His viral counterpart flew forward as well except he had his Positron Laser charged. Exveemon gave a tiny gulp. "Get down!!!!" Just as the viral Imperialdramon fired his energy blast, the vaccine version dived down towards the ground.

"We need to come up with a plan!! Let's slow down and think for a bit!!" Exveemon was slightly surprised by the sudden change of attitude in Stingmon. He concentrated on slowing down with Stingmon doing the same thing. Just then, he heard a girl screaming out the name of her fallen partner. The mega Digimon saw Taomon's physical form dissipate into data while Doumon prepared to absorb it. Exveemon remained silent for a moment before screaming out his own pain and anguish. Stingmon started to feel a bit uncomfortable. "Exveemon?"

"I just got the perfect idea. We go over there and kick some ass!!!" Suddenly, they were slammed from behind as the viral Imperialdramon tackled them. His cannon was still recharging for another shot. "But first, we beat this guy up to a pulp where his remains won't be enough to fill an ashtray!!!" While Exveemon prepared to go into battle, Stingmon just tried to figure out what just happened. 'What does he mean the remains won't be enough to fill an ashtray? Well...it's Exveemon. Go figure.'

"Oh my God..." Yolei's statement pretty much summarized the thoughts and emotions that were running through each of their heads. The other Digidestined just stared in shock as the scene unfolded before them. Davis took off his goggles as to show a sign of respect to their fallen comrade. "She saw her partner killed in front of her...I don't know if any of us will be able to take that," murmured Cody.

'This isn't happening...I can't lose her!!!' Rika Nonaka stood on the ground in a state of emotional pain. The Digimon Queen, the city champion of the Digimon Trading Card Game Youth Division Tournament, has just lost the biggest battle in her entire life. She felt Henry tug at her arm. "We have to get out of here and regroup with the others."

Rika didn't even hear Henry's words. She just kept watching as Doumon uploaded Taomon's data. Her hand gripped the Digivice even tighter. "I don't want it to end like this...please let me save her," choked the girl. A small Tao symbol flickered on the screen of her Digivice. "PLEASE LET ME SAVE HER!!!!!!"

A blast of light erupted from her entire body and blinded everyone in front. Takato, Terriermon, Henry and Wargrowlmon had to shield their eyes. Henry tried to see what was going on. For a minute, he thought he saw Rika's spirit flying towards Doumon during the upload sequence. He quickly shut his eyes again. When the light show was over, the group opened their eyes and gasped.

Rika had disappeared as well as Doumon. Instead a new figure stood in the place of Doumon. She had blue gloves and boots with a Tao symbol on them. Her shoulder and breast plates were also blue. A black bodysuit covered her legs, midriff and arms. A silver belt hung around her waist. She had on a mask which appeared to be a fox except it was completely blue, except for some darkened areas for the eyes and nose. There were two ponytails of white hair. In her right arm, a silver staff with ornaments glittered in the moonlight. Davis broke the silence. "What just happened?" Ken slowly realized that their odds of winning had just decreased. "I don't think I want to know."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

When Rika became aware of her surroundings again, she noticed that she was in some sort of void, where she could only see blue from all sides. She gave a small gasp at how her appearance has changed. Rather than her typical tomboyish outfit, she was wearing a Japanese kimono fit for an empress. Her red hair has been let down as well. If her mother saw her now...Rika shook off that thought and focused on the task at hand. "Renamon!!!"

She kept walking around this endless void, searching for any sign of her partner. After what seemed to be an eternity, she just sat down and silently sobbed. "Dammit!!! Why did you have to leave me?!?" Out of nowhere, a familiar voice echoed throughout the void. "I haven't left you, Rika."

Her tears of sadness quickly became tears of joy. 'She's alive!!!' The girl wanted to find Renamon and give her a hug but she couldn't see the vulpine Digimon anywhere. "Where are you, Renamon?" There was silence for a moment until her voice began to speak again. "I'm not sure. I...I can't feel my body. To be honest...I don't think I have a body anymore. But I can feel you...your strong will, your emotions...everything."

A look of confusion crossed the girl's face. "I-I don't understand. Are you saying that we became one or something?" Her partner thought about how to explain this before answering. "Do you remember when Takato and Guilmon somehow became one powerful being? I'm assuming that the same must have happened to us. I only wish we had some more answers."

"I recall Shadowgallantmon talking about it back in the digital world in the Digidestined realm. He went on rambling about how a tamer's essence can bring out a Digimon's maximum power. I think we've reached mega level, Renamon. But you were being absorbed by Doumon. So...now I'm majorly lost." Rika patiently waited for a reply from her partner. "Do you remember how when a Digimon absorbs the data of the opponent that had just been defeated, the victor's personality dominates? I've heard of a few rare cases in which the victim's mind was able to overcome the dominant one. Then the victim subsequently assumes control of the victor's body. This can only be done with some sort of external assistance."

Renamon paused. "In our case, Doumon was in the middle of absorbing my data. Then you activated your essence and together, we overcame Doumon. Her personality must have been lost while I assumed control. From what I remember, Takato was the one in control when he became Gallantmon so you'll have to take control when I'm in this form." Rika gave a small chuckle as a thought occurred to her. "At least you can go back to your old self in this body. After all, Doumon's rookie form is..."

A small snort came from the vulpine Digimon. "I get the idea." With a few answers about what has happened in mind, Rika set out to try out the new body. She concentrated for a few moments. It wasn't long until she felt herself standing on the ground. She could see her friends and the other Digimon. Rika looked at herself for a moment. 'Wait a second...this isn't Renamon's real mega form. It's Doumon's...'

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Henry took out his Digivice to scan the new Digimon. "Kuzuhamon. A mega level, dark shaman Digimon. Data type. Her specialty attacks are Demon Helix and Dark Triad. Let's see the evolution chain..." (AN: An evolution chain would be the stages and forms a Digimon takes on at each level. An example would be Tokomon, Patamon, Angemon, MagnaAngemon and Seraphimon. And I don't know Patamon's baby form so quit bugging me about it!!) Before he can continue, Takato ran up to him and started shaking him hard. "What happened?!? Where's Rika?!?"

Terriermon had a worried look on his face. Takato wasn't the type of person to go into this type of frenzy. He considered saying 'momentai' but somehow it didn't seem that would be enough. Henry tried to calm his friend down. "From what I've seen, Kuzuhamon there is Doumon's mega form. But I don't see how she could have gotten to that level by just absorbing Taomon's data...unless..." Takato started to shake Henry again. "Unless what?!?! Tell me!!!!!"

"I tried to see what was going on during the whole thing. I barely saw Rika transforming into a beam of light and heading towards Taomon's data. The next thing we see...Kuzuhamon. This is only a hunch but I think Rika must have tapped into her essence at the last moment to save Taomon. A last ditch effort. But instead of helping Taomon, Doumon absorbed the essence as well and she reaches mega without too much of a problem. We have to assume the worst case scenario...Rika and Renamon have died in the line of duty. Now we have to fight a fourth mega Digimon. I suggest we retreat and try to come up with a new plan." In the background, noises from the ongoing battles could be heard. Even when they are outnumbered, Blackwargreymon and Metalgarurumon have proven to be a handful for the Digidestined.

Takato collapsed to the ground, trying to soak in all this information at once. Henry placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I know it's hard to accept the fact but she's not coming back. We can mourn for her later...but we can't let her sacrifice be in vain. The battle may be lost but we have to stay alive to finish the war." The boy just remained silent. Terriermon slowly walked up to stare Takato right in the eye. "She wouldn't want you to be sad or anything. Actually, she would want you to kick some ass!!" His tamer gave a sharp glare.

Takato got up but he was a bit shaky. A small, almost insane, smile crossed his face. His red eyes had a glazed look in them. Henry felt like that he was dealing with a highly dangerous mental patient rather than his friend. "It was on the day I got my Digivice. The egg was getting ready to hatch into Guilmon...that night, I dreamt about her. Rika and Renamon battled some powerful Digimon...they beat it without a problem." Terriermon had a small surprised look on his face. "No wonder you're all sad...she was your dream girl."

The boy continued to speak. "I don't know why I dreamt about her. There was something that just drew me to her. Underneath all that cold attitude lay a good person. Full of heart and emotion...if you felt it, you would almost think you were in heaven." Henry slowly understood the reason behind Takato's behaviour. "You loved her, didn't you?"

A sorrowful look replaced the psychotic one on the boy's face. "I must be the saddest person in the universe. I only knew her for a few days and I fell head over heels in love. If she ever found out, she would beat me up to a pulp...but I think it would have been worth the risk. Now I'll never get to tell her..." Terriermon crossed his small arms. "Well...there is such a thing as love at first sight-" Henry gave his partner a not so gentle jab to indicate that he wasn't helping.

Unknown to the group, Rika overheard everything, thanks to Kuzuhamon's excellent hearing. Her mind went out of focus and her essence was transferred back to the void to think about what they just said. 'He loves me?!? But it can't...it's impossible!! It just doesn't make sense!!'

"We better go before Kuzuhamon gets any ideas..." The other boy didn't move. "You go then...I've got some unfinished business to take care of." Behind them, Wargrowlmon stepped forward, ready to fight. Henry looked at Kuzuhamon, who remained motionless. 'What is she waiting for?!'

He tried to talk to Takato again but before he can even speak, the other boy looked at him. Once again, the dark psychotic look had reappeared on his face again. "Rika would want me to fight to the end. That's what I'll do...I'm also obligated to deliver justice for her wrongful death." He raised his Digivice slowly. "That murderer will get what she deserves," spat the boy. What Henry saw on the screen of the Digivice disturbed him greatly. Guilmon's viral icon had appeared and was glowing a blood red. He looked over to see the viral icon on Wargrowlmon's chest flashing. 'Oh no...'

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Ryo gasped for air as he just survived the trip through the Dark Gate. He had to find his negative emotions and channel them so that the Holy Beasts could open a gateway. Cyberdramon stood silently by his side. The boy slowly got up to see nothing but black and white. "This is disturbing, Cyberdramon. Let's try and find the portal..." Cyberdramon only gave a grunt.

He could feel the energy of the Digital Gnomes tugging at him. Ebonwumon was able to use their energy as an anchor of some sort. If he was in any trouble, the energy signature of the Digital Gnomes would fluctuate, signalling that there was something wrong. Then the Holy Beasts would pull him back to safety.

Ryo walked along one of the beaches, searching for some sort of clue. It wasn't until Cyberdramon gave a growl. "I've found something..." The boy looked at what Cyberdramon was talking about. In the waters of the Dark Ocean, there was a bottle with some sort of message in it. Cyberdramon flew over to get it.

"Let's see what's in this little bottle." Ryo popped the cork and took out the paper carefully. "This thing says... 'Whoever is bound to one of the Four Great Dragons shall gain an insight to worlds beyond their own.' What does that mean?" Cyberdramon gave a shrug. Ryo narrowed his blue eyes. "Let's keep going, Cyberdramon."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Rika? You seem to be disturbed." The girl gave a dry laugh. "That's an understatement, Renamon. I just checked out our new form...and it turns out that we have digivolved to Doumon's mega form. Not only that, I learn that goggle head is totally in love with me!! Can you believe this?"

"So what do you plan to do about it? If you do plan to hurt him...then do it gently. His emotional pain will be far greater than any physical pain that can be inflicted." Rika blinked at what her partner suggested. "I don't plan to hurt him...but I still need to find a way to deal with this. Heck, I don't even know what I feel towards him."

"What do you think about him? Do you feel that when he's around, he instills a feeling inside your heart that you've never felt before?" Rika started sputtering out her next words. "W-well...he's the most immature kid I've ever seen!! A-and...he's not exactly the best Digimon tamer too!! Um...he's a goggle head, meaning that intelligence isn't his best quality and he can be naive to what's in front of him, although he does look kind of cute when he realizes that he did something completely stupid-" The girl clamped her hands over her mouth.

"Cute? Now that's something I don't hear you say very often." The vulpine Digimon's amused tone embarassed Rika even more. "If you tell anybody about this conversation, I'll come up with a training routine so brutal that not even a mega Digimon can endure it!! Anyways, I can deal with these feelings after we help our friends fight those other mega Digimon!"

"That would be an excellent idea. However, I suggest we help ourselves first as there is a rampaging red dragon charging at us." Rika was about to ask how Renamon knew that when she felt herself being tossed back into reality. When she came to, she saw a powerful red dragon with Guilmon's viral icon on his chest and shoulders charging towards her at full speed. And the murderous glare in his eyes indicated that he wasn't very happy. Behind the dragon, Henry and Terriermon watched with horror and awe in their eyes. The rabbit Digimon's next statement pretty much summarized the situation. "He's baaaaack..."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Darkness Claw Attack!!" Beelzemon tried to slash his opponent but his claws got nothing but air. He looked behind to see Shadowgallantmon preparing to counterattack. "Obsidian Lance!!!" The next few moments for the demon lord Digimon were a blur as he was in too much pain from the repeated assaults from the lance. He finally collapsed on the ground. His shotguns lay beside him, empty. Even if Beelzemon had all the ammo in the world, it wouldn't make too much of a difference.

A snort of disappointment came from the dark knight. "You're pathetic. Deleting you and absorbing your data would be a waste of time. These powers aren't truly your own. You're just pretending to be a powerful being when in fact you're nothing." Beelzemon struggled to get up. "No!!! I got power!!! And now I'm gonna use it to kick your rear end to the other side of the world!!!"

"How amusing...you're making threats but you don't have the muscle to back them up. I would love to play some more but there's bigger fish to fry." Shadowgallantmon flew off, leaving Beelzemon with his own thoughts. 'This is what I've always wanted...it doesn't matter how I got here...does it?'

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Get us in as close as you can!! I want to get as much footage as possible!!" The pilot gave a nod as he flew in closer to the battle area. News helicopters were closing in to get footage of the battle of the century. The cameraman focused on several flying monsters fighting in the air. "Hey!! I think that looks like a monster on one of my kid's cards!!"

The helicopter made a sharp turn to the left to avoid one of the energy discharges. This caused the cameraman to stumble and fall out of the helicopter. He expected to fall for about thirty seconds before hitting cement. Instead, he landed in the arms of an angel with blonde hair and a helmet. "Are you alright?" He could only nod meekly in front of the celestial being who caught him. "You shouldn't be here. This is a dangerous place." She quickly returned him to where he fell out before flying back to battle. The man only had one thought after that experience. 'I am so going to get hazard pay for this!!!'

Before the dragon Digimon could bring his jaws down on his opponent, she dropped her staff and caught both jaws as they came down. Acidic saliva dripped onto her arm. The momentum of the dragon's charge was strong but Kuzuhamon stood her ground. 'I've seen him before...but where?'

Henry took out his Digivice to get some statistics on Takato's demonic form. "Megidramon, a mega level dragon Digimon. Virus type. As the most powerful of the Four Great Dragons, his Megido Flame attack can raise the temperature of anything it hits up to 5000 degrees Celsius in a minute!!" Terriermon gave a tiny gulp. "I've said it before and I'll say it again...we're all going to die."

"No, we're not. Megidramon is basically focused on killing Kuzuhamon. If we're lucky, he may turn on the other evil Digimon that the Digidestined are currently battling. But if he loses the battle, then we'll be in big trouble." Terriermon just gawked at his tamer's statement. "You're worried about him losing?!? I would be more worried about what will happen if he wins!!! For all we know, he could turn on us!!!"

Megidramon landed a powerful blow to Kuzuhamon's solar plexus, knocking her on her back. He pounced to go in for the kill but she brought up her legs, placed her soles on Megidramon's chest to catch him and stretched her legs, tossing him back. She quickly flipped back up. Her staff flew right into her hand by reflex. An uncomfortable feeling burned in Rika's stomach. "R-Renamon? What's this s-strange feeling?"

"As a dark shaman, Kuzuhamon feeds on souls who have not crossed over to the afterlife. She uses their despair to fuel her own power. That is the only explanation to all of these...apparitions appearing right here in this void. Don't worry about me. Stay focused on the task at hand, Rika!!" The girl started raising her staff. "Let's see what type of dark powers she has..." She focused on Kuzuhamon's card and the attack names on it. "Demon Helix!!"

Several chains shot out from her staff to surround Megidramon. For a moment, they appeared to restrain the dragon. Kuzuhamon allowed a small smirk on her face. But that smirk quickly vanished when Megidramon burst up into the air and started diving down at his opponent. As he got closer, Kuzuhamon was able to see the murderous intensity reflected in his eyes. Then it hit her. It was during the time before they were taken to Renamon's digital world. She remembered hearing Takato scream in anger...red glowing...then a giant red dragon with the exact same murderous glare tackled the dark knight who was about to execute her. "Takato?"

The dragon raised a fist as the distance between him and his target closed. Kuzuhamon got out of the way before Megidramon's punch could connect. All he did was punch a hole into the ground, creating some dust. "Renamon, this may sound a bit crazy but I think that's Takato attacking us!!" The vulpine Digimon concentrated to see what was on the outside. (AN: I'm thinking of this whole bio-merge thing like this...the tamers are in the driver's seat while the Digimon are on the passenger seat.) "There's only one Digimon that I know who has the same icon as that dragon...Guilmon!!"

"This is one of those times when I wish I wasn't right. The big question is how did they digivolve into this...psychotic dragon?" Megidramon started to get up again. He shook off a bit of dust that had settled onto his wings. "The first time that he digivolved into this dark form was when Shadowgallantmon was about to destroy you for failure to comply with his ultimatum. I think that this form came into existence by an extreme emotional trigger. In this case, I believe that his anger is what caused this. His anger and pain...over you."

Kuzuhamon quickly moved to avoid getting hit by Megidramon's Megido Flame attack. "What?!?" Her partner continued to speak. "It seems reasonable to assume that he believed that we had both died, thanks to Doumon. That would mean that he's made us his target and will stop at nothing until he destroys us."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The battle footage that had been shot by the news helicopters was being seen by people around the world. Within moments of seeing these events, activity on the net had skyrocketed. E-mails are flying everywhere with the main discussion topic being how things are going to change with Digimon being real. Adults were feeling frightened, especially if their children have Digimon merchandise. Chat rooms were being set up to discuss the recent events and toss around the idea that the good guys are going to win.

"You're not going to believe this, sir...but network activity has doubled over the past eight minutes!!" Yamaki narrowed his eyes at Megan. "How is that possible? Network activity should have been completely shut down with these nuisances constantly bio-emerging in our world!!"

Riley interrupted him. "Wait!! I may have an explanation...do you remember those two large signatures that were clogging up network activity? One of them has completely eliminated the other!! Now the remaining signature...appears to be preparing to bio-emerge!! At this rate, it will enter our world in five minutes!!"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The sky above rumbled but nobody took notice as they were too concerned with their own battles. So far, Blackwargreymon and Metalgarurumon have shown few signs of fatigue. "It's like they keep going and going!!" exclaimed Davis. "Maybe they're fuelled by the darkness like a solar battery is powered by the sun," noted Kari.

"That would certainly explain why they've been a pain in the butt since the start of the battle," muttered Yolei. Cody just kept watching the above figures, flying around in a deadly yet captivating dance. "Maybe if we find out where the source of all this trouble is...that voice!! We've got to find out who spoke to us earlier just before they appeared!"

Wargreymon was about to fire another attack when a small tingling feeling in the back of his head went off. "Terra Destroyer!!!" He didn't even notice the attack coming. Had Metalgarurumon not pushed him out at the last second, he would have sustained a serious amount of damage. "What's wrong with you?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!?"

"Sorry...but I could have sworn I felt something. Almost like the time when we both battled Diaboromon. Don't you remember?" The other mega Digimon gave him a strange look. "Yeah...I kind of feel it. But that's impossible...we're in the real world, not on the actual network!! How is this...?"

"I don't know. But I can feel all of the courage and support of all of the humans. They must be aware of the battle. It's like the collective spirit has gone beyond the network and is now integrating into us...just like the Diaboromon battle."

Metalgarurumon quickly fired several missiles to deflect a few attacks as well as stall for time. "Are you suggesting that we should attempt at the fusion? But we don't have Matt and Tai with us." The vaccine mega Digimon pointed a claw in the middle of his chest. "Tai's power and courage are within me...like Matt's are within yours. It doesn't matter that they're not physically here with us." The doubt started to wash away from Metalgarurumon's face as both Digimon begun to glow simultaneously. (AN: I'm going to change the DNA digivolution sequence and make it more like Transformers when Ultra Magnus and Optimus become Omega Prime. It's just more cool that way)

"Combine into the ultimate warrior!!!!" Metalgarurumon's body transformed into an arm with his head changing into the barrel of a cannon. Another arm was formed, thanks to Wargreymon's body. White chest armor as well as legs formed to bring the two arms together. A white helmet appeared with blue eyes looking out of it. Finally a cape materialized, completing the transformation. "Omnimon awakens!!!"

Ken was relieved to say the least at the arrival of the new Digimon. "That guy looks powerful enough to finish off Blackwargreymon and Metalgarurumon on his own!!" TK had a confused look on his face. "How were they able to DNA digivolve in the first place? It's not like we were on the network or anything. But I guess I shouldn't be complaining."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

All twelve eyes of the three confused Holy Beasts were staring directly at Ebonwumon. Zhuqiaomon broke the silence. "Alright, elder brother. Spill it. How did you know that they would be able to fuse in the first place?" A small chuckle came from the turtle Digimon. "You have obviously forgotten how powerful the human spirit can be. However, since you would all prefer some sort of logical solution, the only theory I can come up with is that it was Millenniumon himself who allowed the fusion."

Baihumon gave a growl of frustration. "That does not make any sense!! Why would Millenniumon even consider allowing this?" The other head of the vaccine Digimon started speaking. "He can't help it. Remember all the fluctuations he caused between the barriers between each of our realms, in both human and digital worlds? It is his very existence that causes these fluctuations. As a result, the amount of network data gathered from around the world must have strengthened Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon up to a point where they can fuse. Perhaps this also explains how your tamers are able to tap into their essences and become one with their partners in an environment where under normal circumstances it would be impossible." Zhuqiaomon merely grunted in response.

"Speaking of the tamers...I do believe that one of them has become the most powerful of the Four Great Dragons due to a tragic loss. But he is emotionally unstable," stated Azulongmon. This earned a look of worry from Baihumon. "This is just what happened back in my realm...a Digimon reached mega level but was unable to control his own emotions after some friends were caught in the line of fire. As a result, he lost his mind, went viral and became a destructive force. Luckily, the Guard Tamers were able to stop him and send him to the confines of the Dark Ocean." The data Digimon paused to think about that particular Digimon. "And now he's back and combating his counterpart even as we speak."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Kuzuhamon deflected another attack as she kept playing 'keep away' with Megidramon. "Renamon, just how do we get through to Takato? The guy's so thick headed that-" She didn't have time to finish as Megidramon knocked her out of the air, forgetting about his aerial speed. He dived down, preparing to finish the job. Kuzuhamon sprang off from the ground and clamped the dragon tightly around the neck. He started thrashing wildly but she held her grip. By now, Kuzuhamon was more than annoyed at the dragon's assault based purely on uncontrolled anger. "Take a chill pill, goggle head!!!!"

Henry and Terriermon gave simultaneous gasps. "I think that was Rika's voice!!" The other boy remained silent with this revelation. Megidramon stood still. Whatever remained of Takato Matsuki slowly asserted some control. Kuzuhamon spoke to him in a tone that he had heard only from one other person: Rika Nonaka. As the two Digimon descended to the ground, Kuzuhamon gently released her grip. Megidramon stood there, uncertain of what to do. The shaman Digimon gave a small sigh. 'Well...here goes nothing.'

Before she could break the silence, Henry beat her to it. "Takato, stay focused!!! You've got to destroy Kuzuhamon before she gets another opportunity to hurt more innocent people!! Think about what happened when she killed Rika and Renamon!!" Kuzuhamon gave a start. 'Guess this explains about how that dragon appeared in the first place.' She took a quick glance at Henry. "Doumon didn't kill us, Henry. We were able to overwhelm her at the end when my essence joined with Renamon's data. After driving out her personality, we took control of this body."

A poisonous look made its way to the boy's face. "Isn't that convenient. We get our friend back as well as another mega Digimon on our side. Rika always went with the idea that we must make our own advantages in battle. Anything else is usually too good to be true." The girl gave a small curse at her earlier train of thought. 'Of all the times he decides to take a page out of the Digimon Queen's book...'

"You mean you're not going to even consider the possibility?! And I thought you were the type of person who would-" Henry quickly cut Terriermon off. "Rika's gone, Terriermon. It's going to be hard to accept it but we still have to face it in the end. All I see in Kuzuhamon is someone mimicking Rika to let our guard down. She may be a mega but Megidramon's got the type advantage. We don't know the effects of what happens when a Digimon absorbs the essence of a human in the middle of the downloading process. For all we know, Kuzuhamon has access to all of Rika's memories and inherited some of her personality traits. Then she could use them to her advantage to try and fool us."

She focused her attention back on to Megidramon. So far, there didn't appear to be much life coming out of the dragon. A moment later, he started snarling again. "Somehow, being in this form isn't convincing him that we're fine. All he sees is the Digimon who they think destroyed us," stated Renamon. An idea popped into Rika's head. "Maybe we can show them your real mega form. I think it should convince them that we're in one piece. From what I remember on the card game...Sakuyamon." She concentrated on Sakuyamon's form.

Yolei squinted her eyes to see what was going on. She wished she could go help the tamers but right now, their hands are full with three viral mega Digimon. Although they have been able to calm things down, their opponents have given them nothing but grief. Hopefully, Omnimon will be able to finish the job. 'Hang on, guys.'

Henry clenched his fists. "What is Kuzuhamon up to...Takato, now's your chance!!" Megidramon was planning on attacking when Kuzuhamon's body emitted a powerful light. The next thing he knew, she was surrounded by cherry blossoms. Rather than her cold blue look, her upper torso had changed to yellow. Purple gloves and boots replaced the blue ones. The silver had been replaced by gold. Henry looked at his Digivice. "Sakuyamon...mega level, shaman Digimon. Data type. Her attacks are Dragon Helix, Fox Drive and Talisman Sphere. I guess this means that Kuzuhamon can tap directly into Renamon's data and use Sakuyamon's powers!!"

Sakuyamon was overwhelmed by the amount of pain inside Megidramon's heart. 'He cared about me that much...I caused him so much pain.' Everything seemed to slow down as she saw Takato's essence. Rather than the cheerful goggle-headed boy she knew, she only saw a face twisted by pure hatred with his whole body engulfed by fire. In his eyes, she could see a large pool of lava...and someone was drowning in it. "What was that?!?"

The vulpine Digimon seemed to be disturbed by the startling vision. "I would guess that we just had an encounter with Takato's demonic side. Filled with hatred, anger and primal emotions within the human heart." Rika shook her head. "No!! I mean what was that I saw in his eyes!! I think there's another Takato drowning in...something!!"

"He's drowning in his own emotions. If he doesn't resolve this, he will be lost forever and pernamently remain as the creature before us. What he needs is the comfort of someone he loves...and who loves him back." Rika hesitated on what to do. "I-I can't...I was the one who caused him to hurt so much in the first place. Besides, I'm not very good when it comes to the department of love."

Renamon was about to argue when her partner cut her off. "I've treated my mother and my grandmother like they weren't important. If I can't handle the love of relatives, how do you expect me to handle this romance?!? I'm...scared about this, Renamon." The vulpine Digimon remained silent for a few moments before speaking again. "I suppose it's the idea of losing control which scares you, Rika. Everyone would feel better if they were in control of every aspect of their lives. However, with love...you lose that control. The only way for love to work is for both partners to trust each other. There's a chance that it could be shattered but from what I have observed in your world...the rewards are far greater than the risks."

Slowly, the words started to settle into Rika's mind. She felt that a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. 'She's right. I-I don't believe this...a month ago, I would have been revolted at the idea of love...especially with Takato. But this feeling in my heart feels so warm. Right now, Takato needs that warmth.' She focused back to reality where Megidramon stood there, uncertain of what to do. Henry tried to get his friend back on track. "She's still Kuzuhamon, Takato!! All she did was use Renamon's data to take on Sakuyamon's form!!! You have to destroy her now!!!"

Sakuyamon started walking towards the dragon. "Takato...please let me help you. Let me ease the pain in your heart." Megidramon flew back slightly, trying to figure things out. Henry continued to shout. "Don't fall for her tricks!! Concentrate on what happened earlier...when she took the lives of our friends!!!"

The dragon Digimon clutched his head, trying to silence all the voices inside. He remained this way for a few moments until he felt another pair of hands on his face. Megidramon's arms dropped as he stared right into Sakuyamon's face. She leaned forward slowly. "Please...show me that the boy I fell in love with still exists," said the shaman Digimon in a whisper. The last thing he heard before he felt his world spiral out of control was Henry shouting his name to try and warn him. "Takato!!!!"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

He could feel his body trapped within an ocean of anger, pain and other powerful emotions. Every time he struggled to get out, he felt himself being pulled even deeper. Finally, the forces that were pulling him beneath the surface have dragged his entire body underneath. The cold embrace of despair and darkness awaited him when hands shot out from above him to grab his armpits.

A new surge of life went through him as he was pulled out. As he regained his vision, he saw a blue aura surrounding his savior's arms. He leaned back and was surprised to find a surface. The boy looked behind him to see some sort of...princess in a kimono. She had a gentle smile on her face. One person came to mind as he gazed upon her. "Rika?" He never got a chance to say anything else as his lips were covered by her own.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Um...Henry? What are those two doing?" The boy looked in disbelief at the scene before him. Sakuyamon's lips were pressed firmly against Megidramon's. Terriermon poked his partner in the leg. "Hello? Anybody home?" Henry looked at his Digimon with a dark look on his face. "We've lost Takato...now this time, we're all gonna die." Terriermon gave a small pout. "That's my line!!"

A brilliant red flare erupted from Megidramon. Henry knew that running wouldn't do any good. But one can imagine the surprise on his face when he saw Gallantmon in Megidramon's place. His red cape was flying freely in the wind. Sakuyamon stepped back. Without his face mask, Gallantmon's face looked so much like Takato's except with a few of Guilmon's features, like the red skin and golden eyes. The face mask materialized within a few moments. And the only thought that came to the holy knight's head was 'Whoa!!! This is going to be some story when someone asks me how my first kiss went!!'

Henry still couldn't recover from the shock so Terriermon had to ask the obvious question. "How did you transform back? What just happened?" Gallantmon turned to face his friends. "Sakuyamon was able to bring back my real essence. When we kissed...her love flowed right through and was able to overwhelm my demonic side. I don't really remember what happened when I let those demons take control but I'm glad it's over."

"Unbelievable!! I mean...of all the girls you could have...I mean you two a couple?!? That's insane!!! It's like a cat being in love with a mouse!! And Rika being all lovey dovey?!?" An annoyed look made its way to Sakuyamon's face. "Shut up, rabbit!!!" Terriermon raised an eyebrow. "Ooh la la...the bitch is back!"

Gallantmon still couldn't believe what just happened. He just found out that the girl he was in love with loved him back. The holy knight smiled underneath his mask. "You just..." He wasn't sure what to say. Fortunately, Sakuyamon was able to fill in something. "...became a mega? Well, it's a bit weird but when you're a tamer, weird pretty much comes with the job description!"

"No, no...what I mean is that you're...um..." He fought to get the words out. "...mega beautiful." Sakuyamon gave a small smile. The romantic moment got ruined when Terriermon's voice broke the silence. "That has got to be the corniest pick up line ever!!" Both megas shot dangerous looks at the rookie Digimon. "Shut up, rabbit!!"

"Oh my God...what have I done?" Sakuyamon and Gallantmon were diverted by Henry's voice. He fell to his knees, sobbing. They both rushed over to him. "Henry, what's wrong?" The boy didn't even raise his head. "I-I just...I tried to get my friends to kill each other!!" Sakuyamon placed a hand on Henry's shoulder.

"You didn't know, Henry. We don't really blame you or anything. You were just trying to do what's best for the team. You only assumed the worst case scenario so you can plan some sort of contingency plan." More tears continued to fall. "I should have considered the possibility that you were alive!!! Instead, I sent the two of you into a battle to the death!! Would a real friend do that?!?"

Terriermon hopped on Henry's head and started patting him softly. "Don't take it too hard, Henry. It was an honest mistake. Momentai." A large clap of thunder echoed throughout the air. Sakuyamon and Gallantmon rose up in alarm. Then the holy knight Digimon saw something coming out from the sky. It was too far so he couldn't tell who it was. But he could have sworn that it looked a bit like Kimeramon except that it looked a lot darker. A cold shiver ran throughout his body as he waited for the inevitable arrival of the dark being before them.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Doctor Trevor Goldberg leaned back in his chair as he waited for the printer to finish spewing out his report. "I'm telling you, Max...the best quotation from any InQuest magazine has to be the Colonel Klink quote!! 'Ve have vays of making you tap!'" The red haired man gave a chuckle.

His Chinese companion rolled his eyes. "You're nuts...I liked the one with Saint James on casting creatures. 'And they begat a Blastoderm. And it was damn good. And it did go forth and kicketh the ass of thine enemies. And it was good.' How's the report coming anyway?" Trevor got out of his chair to collect the papers. "Everything's right here. I tell ya...these are probably the most messed up patients we've had in our careers!!"

Maxwell raised an eyebrow before pushing up the rims of his glasses. "Are you sure? Remember the time we spent working in Canada with those so called...Hamlet clones? You interviewed Claudius while I had to work with Ophelia. But I have to admit...a group of Japanese people who are obsessed with creating a society where the currency is Coca Cola...that's a whopper of a case!! Heck, they've already built a catapult and aligned it directly with a Coca Cola factory miles away!! Maybe we should have just stayed in Canada."

"It was an opportunity of a lifetime. To work under one of the world's renowned psychologists...man, clinics will go to war to get us to work for them after we get back!! Cheer up, MacDaddy of Ryerson!! Hey, how about we play a bit of Magic? It's been a while with all the work that's been piled on top of us." Trevor walked over to the stereo system to insert an Apocalyptica CD.

A grin formed on Maxwell's face. "After I check some e-mail, I'll bring out my American way deck and nuke your squirrels!!" He quickly logged on to the internet. "Interesting...an old friend of mine said that the internet was primarily used to find two things: Star Trek and pornography. But now, it appears that Digimon has made its way to the top."

"Digimon? What are you talking about? Digimon was just a small time hobby for kids. It had its peaks but it wasn't a strong mainstream hobby like Magic." Maxwell clicked on a news hotlink. "According to this, real Digimon have been spotted in the West Shinjuku area...dude, that's pretty close to where we are!!"

Trevor shuffled his deck and drew his hand. "Hmmmm...should we check it out and increase our possibilities of getting caught in the crossfire or should we stay here where it's just the two of us, Apocalyptica music at a loud volume, several cases of Coca Cola, a carton full of Magic cards and decks...gee, tough choice but I'm obviously going to go for the latter. I don't want to go back to hell again..."

Maxwell rolled his eyes. "Here we go again...and you say that the catapult-obsessed Japanese need our help?!? Look who's talking!! You keep thinking that you went to hell when it was all some wacky dream where you thought we were giving medical testimonies based on the mental health of Hamlet to determine where he will go in the afterlife. Something happened, you got eternal damnation and boom!! You're awake."

"Oh, yeah? I remember specifically that I got a scar in my right arm!! Here it is!!" This earned only a shake of the head from his friend. "You moron...when we visited England, we went to the Robot Wars arena. You decided to be an idiot and get a close look at Dead Metal...the rest is history."

"Dude, if it was Dead Metal, my entire arm would have been cut off!! Besides, the only house robot I was interested in looking at was Sir Killalot-" He was interrupted by loud noises outside the window. They could see military vehicles soaring throughout the sky. The two men looked to see what was going on.

"What in the...?" A few moments later, they heard explosions as the vehicles were destroyed by some unknown force. The two men jumped back, startled, as they saw many weird looking creatures fly by. And it looked like that they were all connected to something with great power as a large shadow made it harder to see outside the window. The window crashed as one of the small creatures broke through. It appeared to scan them for a moment. "Human bio-signatures confirmed. Initiate termination sequence..." It shot out grappling hooks to tie up the two men.

Trevor gave a groan. "Ah, crap...this is one of those moments when running away a few seconds earlier would have been helpful. At least this is kind of a cool death...hey, if we go down to Hell and we see Hamlet there, you owe me a Coke!!" Maxwell rolled his eyes. "Please...for the love of God, shut up!!!"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

'He's here...I can feel it. But what are these other creatures?' Antylamon had hidden herself out of sight from the army that was slowly going into another part of the city. She glanced back to make sure that the humans were staying out of sight as well. The lights had been switched off but nobody knew for sure whether this would actually affect the ability of the army outside to see inside the apartment. The rabbit Digimon checked her arm. It had healed back nicely with a bit of time.

A creature had stopped. Aiming a small cannon, it fired to destroy an entire wall of the apartment to gain access as it was fairly big. Antylamon crouched by the sofa, ready to take it out if things got out of hand. "Digital anomaly confirmed. Initiating termination sequence." Tendrils from the creature shot out to grab Antylamon. She struggled to get free but the creature had a firm grip.

"Oh, no!!! Antylamon!!" Suzie started to get up but her father quickly pulled her back down again. "Daddy, let me go!!" Antylamon's arms quickly formed into axes. She hacked at the tendrils but they still wouldn't budge. Slowly, the creature aimed its cannon at the rabbit Digimon. Suzie was able to wriggle out of her father's arms and rushed over to her friend.

"Human bio-signature detected. Terminate..." The cannon turned slowly to aim at the little girl and fired. Antylamon felt a surge of strength flow through her. She ripped herself free of the tendrils and grabbed Suzie, using her back to shield her from the blast. The blast left her severely weakened, forcing her to go back to her rookie form. "Suzie, run!!!" The little girl didn't need to be told twice and grabbed Lopmon before moving. Another blast was fired from the cannon. The blast impact tossed Suzie and Lopmon through the large hole in the wall.

Her older sister felt tears well up in her eyes. "Suzie!!!" The creature turned its attention back onto the humans. Janyu tackled the creature. "Kids, get your mother out of here!!! Don't look back!!!" When their father spoke in that type of tone, there was no arguing. The children carried their unconscious mother out of the apartment.

The rabbit Digimon could see all sorts of those creatures soaring towards a general area as she and Suzie plummeted down to what appeared to be an inevitable meeting with death. But that didn't concern her...right now, Suzie and her family needed her help. "Don't worry!!! I've got you and I won't let you go!!" Lopmon stared at the girl in amazement. 'For a child so young, she has an incredibly brave heart...'

A powerful glow erupted from the child. "Lopmon bio-merged to..." Suzie's essence transferred straight into the rookie Digimon. She grew larger, with pink fur replacing her usual brown. A piece of cloth similar to a jester's neck ring appeared around her neck. A pair of brown rings appeared on her ears. "...Kerpymon!!!"

Suzie felt herself stop. She didn't know how...she just thought about stopping and she did. Panic gripped her as she noticed that she no longer had Lopmon in her arms. "Suzie!! Are you okay?" The girl gave a small sigh of relief. "Where did you go? I thought you were in my arms!"

"I think that I became part of you and you became part of me. But we can worry about that later. We better go back up to the apartment. That thing is still up there!!" Suzie felt herself fly up. She couldn't help but give a squeal of delight since flying is an exhilirating experience. As soon as she got up, she saw that the creature had aimed its cannon at her father. "You're not being nice!!" Words sprang to mind as she felt herself form something in her right hand. "Lightning Spear!!" Moments later, the spear was stuck right in the creature's head. The creature dissipated into red liquid before vanishing completely.

This attracted the attention of several more creatures. Before she knew it, about a dozen of them were aiming their cannons at her father. She held out her left hand. "Heaven's Judgement!!" A shockwave of holy energy spread out, destroying the creatures. But every time she destroyed them, more seemed to take their place.

Finally, an energy blast had started to cause the roof to collapse. "Daddy!!" Kerpymon dived to cover Janyu as several slabs of rock fell upon her. There was hardly anything left to be seen except for a pile of rocks. Satisfied, the creatures rejoined the army. They didn't even notice the pile begin to move.

Janyu burst free from underneath the rock. He quickly started to dig to find the rabbit who saved him. But all he found was his daughter, unconscious with a small brown rabbit in her arms. The rabbit opened her eyes for a moment. "Is Suzie okay?" She asked weakly. The man nodded and whispered a thank you. Lopmon drifted back to sleep, secure with the knowledge that the family was okay for now.

The man gently picked up his daughter when he noticed something in her hand. Gently prying it open, he was more than startled to see a white and pink Digivice. 'This looks like the Digivice that Henry...oh no...' He hugged Suzie to his chest with small tears on his face. 'Oh, God, what have I done? This is all my fault...now Henry and Suzie are involved...'

* * * * * * * * * * * *

'Great!! Now that they know they can't win, they switch to hit and run tactics!!' Omnimon was chasing Metalgarurumon when Blackwargreymon fired another Terra Destroyer. MagnaAngemon had attempted to subdue the dragon man Digimon but it did very little. Hawkmon and Armadillomon were knocked forced to retreat and recharge. And with only one other ultimate Digimon to try and slow them down, they won't be able to help their friends.

Omnimon dodged the ball of energy and quickly checked on Metalgarurumon. He was more than a little surprised to see that another Digimon had appeared on the battle. "Dragon Helix!!" Metalgarurumon gave a howl in pain. The holy knight wasted no time and went down for the kill. "Omega Sword!!" (AN: Personal preference over Grey Sword) The last thing that Metalgarurumon saw was the tip of the sword's blade.

"Terra Destroyer!!" Blackwargreymon was trying to take advantage of the situation. Suddenly, another Digimon popped out of nowhere and used his shield to deflect the attack. Omnimon aimed his right arm directly at the dragon man Digimon. "Garuru Cannon!!" A ball of energy headed straight towards Blackwargreymon. He barely had enough time to take the two halves of his shield from behind his back and place them together when the blast collided with him.

He could see the shield was cracking. It can't survive another blast like that. "Royal..." Blackwargreymon looked behind him to see that the tip of a white and red lance was pointed straight at his back. It was glowing which usually meant that the attack was charged and ready to go. "Oh, sh-" "...Sabre!!!" And with that, Blackwargreymon dissipated into nothing but data. Gallantmon gave a sigh before going down to land.

MagnaAngemon, Angewomon, Sakuyamon and Omnimon had already rejoined with the Digidestined. "So let me get this straight...you're Rika, right?" The shaman Digimon gave a sigh. "That's right, Davis. Now will you knock it off with the questions already?" The boy crossed his arms. 'Well, I guess this complicates Veemon's love life even more...I suppose that dating in mega form is out of the question.'

Yolei snapped her fingers. "Hey!! We should give Imperialdramon a hand!! That viral imposter won't last a minute with all of us!!" Sakuyamon shook her head. "If he needs our help, he'll ask for it. After all, Veemon did allow Renamon to finish her battle with Gigadramon. I should extend the same courtesy to him..."

Omnimon examined the other holy knight Digimon carefully. "A virus holy knight. Never thought I would see the day..." Gallantmon gave a tiny gulp. After all he was standing in front of Omnimon. The Omnimon! The one who saved the digital world and the real world from certain disaster when Diaboromon emerged! "Tell me...how is a life measured?"

Before he knew it, the words just flowed naturally to him. "A life is measured by the lives it saves." (AN: I borrowed that quote from Wizards of the Coast) Omnimon gently tapped his left hand on Gallantmon's right shoulder. "Spoken like a true holy knight. You'll do just fine..."

For a moment, Gallantmon remained silent. His girlfriend snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Hello? Earth to Takato, come in!" He blinked once before giving a small laugh of excitement. "I can't believe it!! Omnimon said I'll do just fine!! Omnimon!! The legendary holy knight from their world said that I'll do just fine!! This is...oh my God...this is so cool!!"

Before he could keep on ranting about how cool his encounter was, Sakuyamon grabbed him by his cape and put his face close to her own. "As much as I love you, if you don't shut up now, I will have to hurt you." The holy knight Digimon gave another tiny gulp. "Um...yes, madam..."

Terriermon gave a tiny giggle. "Oh, man!! They've only been a couple for a few minutes and he's already taking orders from her!! I guess that's love..." Henry didn't respond as he was still feeling guilty about what he had tried to do earlier. The vaccine Digimon gave a small sigh. "Come on, Henry. Momentai." He felt a gust of wind go past him. "What the...?"

TK recognized the vehicles and aircraft soaring towards them. "I think those are military tanks and aircraft coming right at us!!" Missiles were fired from the vehicles and aircraft at the Digimon. "They must think they're the enemy!!" exclaimed Cody. Ken placed an arm in front of his face to block some of the dust. "Everyone scatter!!"

The Digimon took off in different directions. "Remember, these are human beings who don't understand the entire situation. Don't destroy them!!" Right after Gallantmon issued his warning, an aircraft missile collided right into him and sent him flying into the park. He dug his hands into the dirt to slow himself down and landed in front of a park bench.

Before he could get up, an old lady started to hit him as he had chased away the pigeons she was feeding. "Take it easy, lady!! I'm the good guy!" He got up and took off into the sky. A few moments later, another figure took off, following the holy knight from a good distance. Shadowgallantmon carefully aimed his lance at his counterpart and was about to fire when a missile nearly caught him off guard.

By the time he had avoided being hit by the missile, Gallantmon had vanished from his sight. Shadowgallantmon gave a growl before flying off. 'Damn!! Now where did he go?' He only got a few hundred metres when he felt bullets bounce off his black armour. A helicopter was right behind him. "At least I can have a little fun..."

The Digimon were weaving in and out of the fire storm that came from the military vehicles. Sakuyamon noticed out of the corner of her eye that soldiers were preparing to take the children out of the area. Before she could move, she heard explosions and screams. The military vehicles and personnel were being destroyed by a variety of...creatures that didn't appear to be Digimon.

Ken was shaking uncontrollably as he saw the giant looming above him. "I-I-I've seen you b-before..." Sakuyamon gave a start when she saw Millenniumon. She quickly called up statistics. (AN: They can access their Digimon Analyzers by simply thinking about it) 'Millenniumon, mega level, synthetic virus Digimon. His Dimension Destroyer is a powerful attack which causes dimensions to implode upon themselves. But in this form, he needs twenty minutes to power up for the attack just for one dimension. However, his Temporal Eraser doesn't need that much powering up. With just one shot, he can erase a target from all of reality.'

Gallantmon had rejoined the group and got a good look at the Digimon in front. He could feel the fear settling in his stomach. "T-that's Millenniumon...this is not good. But he seems to be a bit different." The synthetic Digimon narrowed his red eyes on his targets. "Sorry, I'm late. I hope that my friends-" He was cut off when the two Imperialdramons crashed to the ground. The vaccine one was on top and prepared to deliver the finishing blow. "Mega Crusher!!"

"Oh, this is hardly fair." Millenniumon fired a small bit of energy at the virus Digimon. The viral Imperialdramon felt a new surge of strength as he morphed into Fighter Mode. "Ah, crap!!" The vaccine Imperialdramon felt himself get tossed by his viral counterpart. He attempted to fire an attack. "Positron Laser!!" The other Imperialdramon dodged the attack and flew in to deliver a series of punches and kicks.

Omnimon flew down to stop Imperialdramon when several creatures blocked his way. Kari looked over at Henry. "Henry!! What do we do?" The boy didn't respond as he was lost in his own thoughts. Sakuyamon landed next to the girl. "Since Gatomon and Patamon were the only ones other than Paildramon to benefit from the Digicore, they have a fair amount of Azulongmon's energy. Get them to release it towards Imperialdramon...hopefully, that will be enough to even things up."

The Digidestined child of Light focused her attention on Angewomon and MagnaAngemon. "You heard her!!" The two ultimates started to glow before releasing their energy towards the vaccine Imperialdramon. "Imperialdramon mode-changed to...Fighter Mode!!" Moments later, the ultimates changed back to their champion forms.

Just as the viral Imperialdramon went in for another kick, something blocked the attack. "Payback time!!" The viral Imperialdramon took off with the other one in pursuit. He quickly turned around to fire. "Positron Laser!!" In this form, it was easier to manoeuvre in the air so the vaccine mega had no problem dodging the blast

Armadillomon gave a small shiver as he looked at the amount of creatures that were before him. "Whatever these things are, they're giving me the willies!" A small drop of sweat rolled down Hawkmon's beak. "We should try and focus on digivolving to champion form before DNA digivolving to ultimate. Just think about that instead of thinking about how these things are scaring you." Armadillomon grunted. "Easy for you to say, Hawkmon."

Millenniumon noticed the amounts of confused faces staring at his little army. "I suppose you're wondering what these things are. You can say that I've had an interesting encounter with some sort of red matter. It tried to swallow me but I was able to slow it down. In fact, after having momentary contact, I was able to see its entire history. Apparently, it was a program created by humans called D Reaper. Quite a piece of work. Its primary function was to delete anything which had overstepped its limits. It turns out that it had mutated thanks to the amount of data it obtained by deleting Digimon. Had it continued, it would have destroyed the digital world."

He paused. "Since I was planning on doing that, it had to go but it was too unique just to be simply deleted. I settled on resetting it to the simple program it was before it mutated. By doing that, I accidentally gained some of its unique abilities...particularly the ability to create these creatures you see before you. Now if you excuse me, I have dimensions to destroy. If you wish, my friends here would be willing to entertain you." As he started concentrating, the creatures shot forward with their cannons ready. Gallantmon aimed his lance. "You guys better digivolve to ultimate!! We'll cover you!! Everyone else find shelter!!!"

"Henry! We have to go!!" The boy ignored the pleas of his partner. "You go then. I just want to think...think about how all this chaos could have been averted if only I had listened..." Terriermon was about to shout again when he saw one of the creatures heading towards them.

"Isn't this the moment where we run like mad?!? That thing is going to kill you if we don't hustle!!" Henry looked up. Whatever sparkle he had in his eyes was long gone. Instead, Terriermon saw only a deep sadness. "Let it kill me. I deserve to die after what I tried to make my friends do. They trusted me and I...I betrayed their trust. My sensei told me that treachery is the worst sin one can commit."

The creature on his right closed in fast. "Fox Drive!!" In an instant, the creature morphed back into red liquid before disappearing. Sakuyamon hovered just above of her friend. "What do you think you're doing here?!? You should be with the others!! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!?"

Before Terriermon could reply, more creatures started to swarm them. They fired energy shots towards Henry and Terriermon. Sakuyamon used her staff to deflect the shots. However, they were coming in faster than ever. Gallantmon quickly came to give her a hand. Henry looked at his two friends who were fighting with all their might to protect him. "You're fighting to protect me even after what I had done to you...why?" Gallantmon slashed another creature. "Because you're our friend. Sakuyamon, we better take this fight somewhere else." Both Digimon flew away, drawing the creatures towards them.

"I'm still their friend? How can they forgive me this easily?" Terriermon hopped off his head. "Isn't it obvious? They understand the fact that you're human and that you have limits. You put too much pressure on yourself. Yeah, they rely on you to come up with plans but if it doesn't work, they simply say 'no problem' and wing it. They care about you, Henry. They know you would never do something without a good reason. And considering the circumstances, you had good reason to make some assumptions about what happened earlier. Get this through your skull...we're all one big family. Sort of."

Some of Henry's guilt washed off as the boy started to believe that his friendship with Takato and Rika was not severely damaged. "I wasted so much time wallowing in self-pity that I totally forgot about everything else!! We need to find a way to help our friends!!" Terriermon crossed his tiny arms. "Well, it's not like I can turn into a walking fortress with giant bazookas or anything. What's the plan?"

Henry was about to reply when his Digivice started beeping. On the monitor, part of a yellow face appeared along with part of a picture of the earth. Henry's eyes widened at this new revelation. "Simple...we go out there and kick some butt!!" He raised his Digivice. "Biomerge Activate!!"

BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION.... "Terriermon bio-merged to..."

As Henry's essence transferred into Terriermon, the vaccine Digimon had a massive growth spurt. Green armor formed as well as several missile launchers and machine guns. Two giant rocket launchers appeared on his shoulders with yellow faces popping in as the missiles. The dog-like head popped up to finish off the look.

"...Megagargomon!!!"

Henry looked at himself for a moment. He had completely changed into a giant, walking machine. 'Okay...I can do this...' He quickly found his two friends, engaged in battle with several creatures. Bits of his armor opened up, revealing the missile launchers. "Mega Barrage!!" Green missiles shot out, destroying the creatures. Sakuyamon and Gallantmon were more than surprised to see a giant green Digimon.

The holy knight started to check out this new Digimon. "Megagargomon...that's Terriermon's mega form. It's Henry!!" Both megas flew towards their giant friend. "Man, talk about a whole new perspective!! You guys are kind of...never mind. Look, I'm really sorry about my whole suicidal mood and everything..." Sakuyamon just smiled. "Just glad you're back with us!"

Silphymon and Shakkoumon were busy combating some of the other creatures when they noticed green flashes of light. Both ultimates turned to see a giant green Digimon. Davis gave a small whistle. "Godzilla...eat your heart out!" Ken was trying to calm himself down but he had never been so afraid in his entire life.

Gallantmon blinked as a red Chinese character appeared on his lance. "What the...?" Sakuyamon also felt something on her right shoulder. A blue Chinese character was inscribed on it. Megagargomon looked down to see a green Chinese character appear on his chest. "What does this all mean?"

Megagargomon quickly started to scan the images of the characters to his memory. "It's times like these that I'm thankful that my parents forced me to go to Chinese school and learn how to read these characters. Let's see here...the blue character stands for heaven. The red character stands for man and the green one...earth." Sakuyamon crossed her arms impatiently. "Your point?"

"From what my dad told me, the Chinese believed that these are the three basic forces of nature. Maybe this is a sign. We may be able to combine our powers in one super shot or something!!" Gallantmon gave a shrug. "Let's give this a try." He hovered close to Megagargomon's head as did Sakuyamon.

Terriermon got a look at what was going on outside. "Henry!! Check it out...Sakuyamon has one unbelievably nice ass!! I mean, if you focus in, you can see-" The boy rolled his eyes. "Shut up already, you pervert!!" All this got was a demented giggle from his partner. "I think I just found a fun new way of tormenting you..."

The tamers found themselves focusing their energies. Soon, they were each glowing a different coloured aura with Gallantmon being red, Sakuyamon blue and Megagargomon green. They all slowly pulled back their right arms as the words for a new attack came to mind. "Triad Cyclone!!!!" (AN: Well, they did have a Trinity Burst in the fifth movie. And that was acheived only in ultimate form!)

They all thrust their right arms forward, each firing a different coloured energy blast. They combined together to form a powerful cyclone which started sucking in several of the creatures. (AN: It was moving like a Beyblade, spinning madly but retaining control) This took Millenniumon by surprise. He quickly fired a temporal ray at the cyclone, slowing it down until it dissipated. "Annoying pests..." His red eyes glowed blue.

"I don't know what he's doing but everyone split up!!" Sakuyamon and Gallantmon didn't need to be told twice. Millenniumon fired his beam. "Temporal Eraser!!" The beam was heading straight towards Gallantmon. He tried to fly away faster but slowly the beam inched closer to him. Then, out of nowhere, a beam of black energy collides with Millenniumon's beam, deflecting it to hit a building. It shimmered a bit before disappearing.

The synthetic Digimon gave a start. "What just happened? The beam was defying every temporal and dimensional mechanic that existed!! The only way that it could possibly be deflected was if a beam with an equal amount of power hit it!!" He looked at his target again. Right above him was a dark figure with a blue cape flying freely in the wind. "If Gallantmon is to be destroyed, then I and I alone will be the one to deliver his death!!"