Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Morphs: A Digimorphs Tale ❯ Two Betrayals ( Chapter 36 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Digimon / Digital Monsters and all related trademarks belong to Bandai. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission.

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Two Betrayals

By nightdragon0

Sekata stood in the darkness of the graveyard, amongst the mist and fog. He always hated being here, but as time went on, things simply felt darker and darker.

Something big was coming up, and he knew it.

The Vritramon made his way from the swinging gate, up the central dirt path lined with gravestones, and finally to the white stone temple. AncientGreymon was lying there, curled up on the top of the steps, and turned his head at Sekata's approach.

“Welcome. Haven't heard from you in a while.” The ancient dragon chuckled.

“You've been awfully quiet yourself lately.” Sekata snarled. “I would consider that good, if not for this.”

Sekata held up the D-Dragon on his right wrist, with the percentage counter displayed on its screen.

“Well too bad. You use it, you pay for it.” AncientGreymon replied. “It's all in the contract after all.”

“Humph, I guess I couldn't expect anything else from you. But that's not why I'm here…I want to know…about you.”

“Hmm?”

“You obviously have power over me, especially now that I'm stuck with you. But what exactly do you need me for? You've gone out of your selfish ways to make sure I come out of things, in workable condition, to say the least.”

“You say that as if you already have a theory in mind.” AncientGreymon remarked. “Let's just say that I'm gaining power from you. All those battles you've fought, foes you've vanquished, each time you draw on your powers…some of that goes to me.”

“It's what I've been thinking. Because you know that I won't stop fighting, that's why you keep using me like this.” Sekata folded his arms. “But you are already dead, aren't you? What's the point of all this then? Just to cling on to life?”

“You're getting better at guessing things. Well, you can consider me dead in a way, but not entirely. The final battle with D-Reaper in my time came out, less than satisfactory.”

AncientGreymon's tone wavered a little at the last sentence, as if he were reluctant to talk about it. That had to be his reason, and Sekata was about to try and probe more into it when he heard more voices in his mind.

Sekata! Hey wake up!

“Zoe?” He gasped.

“Real world calls I see.” AncientGreymon gestured. “Well, I'll tell you before you go that you can expect me to pay you a visit once you hit a hundred percent on the counter. And it won't be in this realm…”

Before Sekata could say anything else, he was drawn back as his world erupted in a bright flash.

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“Hargh….almost there!” Aero panted.

The armored blue dragon skidded below the closing metallic door and rolled hard against the wall. The sound of explosions reverberated against the walls of the abandoned city as Aero staggered to his feet.

“I really have to compliment you on that one.” The Chaos Dukemon, Dynamo, stood down the corridor, clapping his hands. “Tripping the wires down at the safe deposit must've set off a few more traps than I thought.”

“Speaking of the safe deposit…” Aero pointed. “I believe I had the key first.”

“Na-ah! Finders keepers!” Dynamo taunted, tossing a large object in his hands. It was a gray key in the shape of a `T', with a green glowing ring at the top. “Besides, you wouldn't want to start a fight in here.”

Dynamo gestured to the surrounding corridor, best described as a tubular structure with reinforced glass forming its upper layer. Outside, various fish and other marine life forms could be seen swimming about.

“Oh, I don't have to.” Aero grinned.

“Grrrrr….”

“Oh crap!” Dynamo whirled around at the snarling to see a cybernetic velociraptor plough straight into him. “Gargh! Gettoff!! Argh!!”

As the black knight frantically wrestled with Zelia, trying to free his hand from the tightly clamped jaws, Aero saw his chance and went for the dropped key. Dynamo rolled onto his side, twisting his body so Zelia had to bite at an angle, and thrust out with a hard kick, knocking Zelia against the wall.

Aero grabbed the key, only to have Dynamo knock it out of his hands. The dragon slid backwards and ignited the energy sword of his Alforce V-dramon form, which quickly met with Dynamo's lance. Sparks flew as the two warriors clashed, slashing and hacking away at each other.

“Dynamo, what's taking so long?!” Junon shouted, rounding the corner onto the scene.

“Hey help me out here!” Dynamo yelled, stumbling as Aero threw a wide vertical slash against him.

“Oh no you don't!” Janet roared, leaping into Junon's path.

The Cyberdramon and Rhodo Knightmon locked hands, shoving against one another. Janet took a deep breath and twisted both her arms downwards. Junon cried out in pain and Janet rolled the knight over to the side.

“Spiral Masquerade!” Junon whipped one of the yellow ribbon structures on her back, taking Janet's feet out from under her.

“Ambush Crunch!” Zelia lunged into the midst of the weapon duel and clamped onto Dynamo's right arm.

Crying out in pain, Dynamo dropped to his knees and saw Aero approaching. Without any other option, he formed his left hand into the Gorgon shield and fired its energy blast, `Judecca Prison'.

It was enough to knock Aero back and cause him to take a second missile in the chest. The new attack belonged to Metallix, who darted out from behind the fallen Aero.

“Careful how you use those things!” Junon snapped, still struggling with Janet. “One wrong move and you'll blow the walls out….and fill this whole place with seawater!!”

“Hey no sweat, I never miss with this baby!” Metallix bragged, raising his gun arm and taking aim at Zelia, who was locked in combat with Dynamo.

“Hey doggy-boy!” A voice taunted over the corridor's loudspeakers.

Metallix glanced around in confusion until he spotted someone taunting him through the windows. Steve, in his Depthmon form, was floating outside and waving.

“I'm sure you know who I really am, doggy-boy!” Steve continued. “But either way, you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!”

“Grrr…you!!” Metallix fumed, changing his aim. “I've still got a bone to pick with you!!!”

“NNOOO!!” Junon and Dynamo yelled.

BOOM!! Steve easily moved, but Metallix's missile blew a large hole in the wall, sending the outside seawater pouring in. Alarms sounded as the city's emergency breach defenses activated, trying to pump out the water from the corridor.

The corridor was nevertheless filling up with water, though not at a very fast rate.

“Eekk….” The Metal Garurumon X stared, sweatdropping.

“Damn, Steve!” Aero tapped his Digivice. “Better get our ride ready! I have a feeling we're gonna need it in a hurry!”

“I'm on it!” Steve replied, swimming away. “Just hang tight!”

“You idiot!!” Junon fumed. “We've already got a moron on this team and we don't need an understudy!”

“Yeah, what she said!” Dynamo added in. “Huh?! Wait a sec, aren't you referring to…oofff!!”

Zelia swung her tail and knocked the black knight across the room. At the same time, Janet took the chance to knock Junon off her and charge up her own attack.

“Erase Claw!” The Cyberdramon roared.

“Urgent Fear….urrghhh!!!” Junon's counteraction was too slow and resulted in the shot from her arm mounted Pile Bunker going into the ceiling, making another hole and increasing the flow of water.

“So, who's the moron now?” Dynamo asked, making his way to Junon's side.

“Oh shut up.”

BAM!!! A single sword stroke from Aero immediately sent Metallix spinning over to land at the two knight's feet.

“Gughh…we'll still beat you to this one.” Aero muttered, clutching his chest in pain.

“Come on, let's get the key!!” Janet shouted, charging.

“Jan wait! The…”

An emergency door slammed shut in the middle of the corridor, leaving Janet's face to smash right into it as everyone else cringed.

“Ow…not a very smart move, eh lady?” Dynamo laughed.

“Why you!!!” Janet jumped up, rubbing her red, sore snout. “You'll be in for a world of pain when I get my claws on you!!”

“Relax lady, we haven't fought enough times to be considered mortal enemies, now have we?”

What?! That idiot still doesn't realize who I really am!! Janet thought furiously.

“Forget it.” Junon growled, holding her own injured left side. “Get the key and let's escape before this entire city floods.”

“Hahaha, luckily it's still on our side.” Metallix gleefully picked up the key.

“What's that thing for anyway?” Janet demanded. “Are there more abandoned cities like this one?”

“Probably….but I'm not telling.” Metallix gestured.

“Because you don't know, am I right?” Aero stepped forward, nudging Janet's side.

“I do!” Metallix replied. “But I'm not supposed to tell you.”

“Ha! You really don't know.” Aero laughed.

“I do! Dammit I do!!”

“You don't.”

“I do know! I do!”

“You definitely don't.”

“I do! I do! I do I do I do I do!!!”

“Oh, most certainly not.”

“Most certainly do!!” Metallix raised his voice, an annoyed twitch forming on his face.

“Boy, they must think you're too stupid.” Janet added in. “That's why they don't tell you these things. So just admit that you don't know and we'll be on our way.”

“The damned city's on the western coast of the Dark Continent! And this key is to open the door and let the boss use Arkadimon to find that portal to the CHAOS!!” Metallix boomed. “See! I do know all this stuff!!”

Junon and Dynamo just stared in disbelief.

“Eh….uh oh…” Metallix sweatdropped.

“Oh yeah!” Aero and Janet gave each other high-fives.

“A most interesting way with words.” Zelia remarked.

“We'll be ready for you!” Junon called angrily as Dynamo and herself dragged Metallix off. “You can count on it!”

The enemy trio disappeared down their end of the flooding corridor.

“That's a good breakthrough.” Steve cheered, arriving outside the window with a yellow mini-submarine behind him.

“Yeah, a whole lot of information.” Janet nodded. “Nice idea Aero.”

“Thanks, but I mostly learnt it from you constantly fighting with Adrian and Cimons.”

“Ugh…” Janet huffed. “Am I that bad?!”

“Better chat later guys.” Steve urged. “There's a submarine bay just down that path, so I'll drag this down and meet you guys there!”

Soon enough, the party departed in their vehicle, leaving the abandoned, underwater city behind.

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“Sekata?” Zoe shook his shoulder.

“Ugh…I'm up.” Sekata muttered, pulling himself off the couch. “What's going on?”

He'd fallen asleep in the dining room of their base, where Zoe stood with an electronic map in hand.

“Aero just called back, and he's found some information on the Royal Knight's whereabouts.” She told him.

“So soon?”

“Their skirmish at the underwater city yielded a bit of interesting information.” Zoe explained, bringing out a map as she relayed the findings to Sekata.

“This is the Dark Continent, isn't it?” Sekata pointed to a region across the continent, close to the sea.

“Yes, and dark energies are strong around this area, they say.”

“Should that be of any particular importance?”

“You remember the story about Omegamon and the CHAOS right?” Zoe looked up. “And that it was sealed in realm between the dimensions?”

“Again it comes back to this particular piece.” Sekata remarked. “Arkadimon seems to be a key in all of this, and unfortunately it also doubles up as a weapon.”

“Also, Omegamon is said to have entered the inter-dimension somewhere in that area.” Zoe clicked her XV-mon claws against the table.

“Definitely merits some exploration, with a full team this time.” Sekata decided. “When will they be back?”

“Later tonight.”

“They'll need some time, maybe a couple of days, to rest up. And we'll have to start getting prepared ourselves.”

“Um.” Zoe nodded.

“What is it? You're not usually nervous about this sort of thing.”

“No, it's just that I feel we're on to something big this time.” Zoe turned around, glancing at the floor.

“Hey, it'll work out.” Sekata raised his claw to touch her shoulder, but Zoe didn't notice it and walked forward. “Uh…”

“Sekata?” Zoe turned around.

“Oh, it's nothing.” Sekata shook his head.

The Vritramon waited until he was sure Zoe was gone, then flicked his D-Dragon to the screen with the percentage counter.

78.28… Sekata told himself. What is it you're planning, AncientGreymon?

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The moon shone down across the cloudless sky, with the dim light casting odd swaying shadows of the trees in the field. At one corner stood a tree much larger than the rest, probably hundreds of years old. This was where Makuramon, the monkey-like warrior, awaited, sitting crossed-legged on a rock.

“Argh…why do we always have to set up these meetings so late at night?” Mihiramon the tiger yawned, rolling restlessly on the grass.

“Because it's the best time for our agent to sneak out unnoticed.” The monkey replied calmly. “Hmmm…and there he is.”

A small shadow was rapidly emerging from the direction of the moon. Soon, the figure revealed itself to be the white armored form of Dynasmon, who executed a flip and landed nicely on his feet.

“Well my friend, any new developments?” Makuramon questioned.

“A fair bit.” Dynasmon replied in a gruff voice. “The Royal Knights plan to enter a forbidden city on western coast of the Dark Continent. And they have already acquired a key is to open a certain door for Lucemon to find the portal to the CHAOS.”

“Lucifer's still up to his old scheme.” Makuramon nodded. “Still on his search for the CHAOS after so long.”

“Arkadimon seems to be required for this process, from what I've heard.”

“Ah Arkadimon, a familiar foe to you, is it not?”

“Humph.” Dynasmon growled.

“But putting all that aside, it seems Lucifer has all his pieces in place now.” Makuramon scratched his chin. “It indeed is just as we originally thought.”

“What is?” Mihiramon piped in. “I'm a little lost here.”

“Daemon was originally working on a spell to find the CHAOS for himself.” A female voice spoke up. “So intent on it was he that he linked it to his own core…his Digital DNA. And since Arkadimon was made from the Digital DNA of Daemon, Lucifer presumably has access to that spell too.”

“Antiramon (Antylamon)…at least I can count on you in this field of knowledge.” Makuramon turned his head towards another Digimon.

She was a Deva too, and an odd figure at first sight. Standing upright, she had the head and ears of a rabbit, together with a slim body, long legs and even longer arms that ended in oversized hands.

“Magic and the mystic arts are my fields of study master.” She bowed. “I am always proud to provide this you with my knowledge.”

“Hey…. Arkadimon was made from Daemon?” Mihiramon the tiger asked. “Sort of like a super clone right?”

“And we confirmed it too, after checking the holes here where he ran me through.” Dynasmon suddenly spoke up, putting a claw to his chest.

“Majiramon, don't use the device to directly control him. It does have limited power.” Makuramon shot an annoyed glance towards another Deva. “Additionally, doing it too often could leave him brain dead.”

He took the form of a green Eastern style dragon, with four legs, two long upper arms and golden horns. He had a long white `Chinese' mustache and similarly colored hair tied in ponytails. The Dragon Deva was normally a lot larger in size, but he had shrunken himself down to a more human size like his fellow Devas present.

The dragon Deva currently wore a headset and held a rectangular box with a `touch screen' in his palm.

“What's the use then if we can't keep up its effect?” Majiramon folded his arms and huffed. As he did that, Dynasmon spoke the same words and mimicked the Deva's action.

“It's enough to keep this remote controlled toy car with teeth in check.” Makuramon got up, snatched the headset and control box from Majiramon, and placed it down on the rock.

And it happened to be just a few inches away from Dynasmon's right claw.

“So since we know all this, we should just go after Lucifer and steal his prize for ourselves.” Mihiramon growled. “I'm tired of all this waiting and planning! The battlefield calls for me…gggrrrrr….”

“Not when we're going to get resistance from them, and also interference from this fellow's friends.” The monkey jabbed a thumb in Dynasmon's direction.

While the Devas were busy arguing, the look in Dynasmon's eyes changed slightly. No longer did they have their `tough' glare, but instead one that was filled with desperation. His right hand trembled, as if he wanted to move it, and yet could not.

Some inner strength seemed to force his arm forward, and slowly, the fingers begun to move. Little by little, the trembling hand crept forward, its sole goal aiming for the control device on the rock nearby.

Antiramon was the only one who saw all this, but she remained silent with watched with a great deal of curiosity. These were not her matters to deal with.

“The original plan will take a little more work, but it will give us much more assurance!” Makuramon stomped a foot on the rock and snatched up the control device that Dynasmon had failed to reach.

The disappointment in the dragon knight's eyes was barely noticed by any of the other Devas.

“What he's proposing in very interesting indeed.” Majiramon decided. “And the full moon will be up tomorrow night…in perfect tandem for the spell to work.”

“Indeed it will, but the subjects are likely to resist.” Antiramon spoke up.

“Oh there are ways we can take care of that.” Makuramon grinned, lifting up a black leather bag. “Especially with our little agent here.”

Dynasmon's eyes hardened into their normal stern expression as the dragon knight turned towards the monkey Deva and nodded.

“It's time to put our plans into action.” Makuramon rubbed his hands together.

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“So that's our destination.” Sekata pointed to a spot on the virtual map. “If everyone's rested up enough, we should head out there tomorrow.

Together with the rest of his group, the Vritramon had decided to follow the Royal Knights to the Dark Continent.

Seated in the chairs around the dining room, Zoe, Janet, Aero and Steve all gave their affirmative nods. Katsu, Cimons and Adrian would remain at the base as usual to watch over the place.

Sekata gave a quick glance toward Zoe.

“And we'd better be prepared guys. I have a feeling that this mission will be a tough one.” He added in.

“We'll be ready.” Janet nodded.

“Hmmm….where's Zelia?” Sekata glanced around.

“I let her run around outside.” Aero replied. “Relax, she'll come back and be up in time for the mission.”

“You sure that's all right?”

“Zelia is well, different. But she deserves some freedom too.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Sekata shook his head.

“No need to be so tense man.” Steve walked over and nudged the taller dragon's side. “So, if you're done with all the inspirational talking, how bout we start eating? Not nice going out for a mission on an empty stomach eh?”

Steve always knows how to lighten the mood of things. Zoe thought as the group settled down for their meal. But why do I still feel…nah it must be what I was sensing earlier about the Dark Continent.

A call went out and the trio of Katsu, Cimons and Adrian joined them at the table. It was during the meal that Zoe noticed Steve fiddling around with a black leather bag.

“What's that you're holding?” Janet looked up and asked.

“Oh, just something I found while going through the stores.” Steve opened the bag. “Here, check this out.”

Steve produced a wooden puppet in the shape of a Strikedramon and showed it to Janet. It was made up of multiple jointed parts and connected to a wooden T-shaped piece by several thin strings.

“Hey neat!” Janet took the puppet, gripping the T-piece carefully in her three-fingered claws.

“There are a few more…” Steve gestured.

The bag was filled with similar puppets, wind-up toys and other simple playthings. Most were modeled after various Digimon.

“Wow, check it out!” Cimons poked his head into the bag, going through the items inside.

“Yeah, there's this too!” Adrian added in.

“Wanna take a look?” Steve glanced over to Sekata, who was at the far end of the table.

“No thanks.” Sekata growled. “I stopped playing with toys a long time ago.”

“Hey man, I've told you about a million times or so, you've seriously got to lighten up and relax once in a while.” Steve pushed past the others and stuck his hand into the bag. “Here, why don't you take this one since it looks just like you?”

Sekata was initially startled, but still managed to catch the object Steve tossed in his direction. As expected, it was a wooden Vritramon puppet with its strings nicely attached to a flat T-shaped piece of wood.

“Humph.” Sekata looked over the puppet, then placed it down on the table. “I'll think I'll go to bed. See you all tomorrow.”

The red dragon got up and left the others still poking through the bag of figurines.

“Sekata?” Zoe called from the table as he left.

“Guess we pushed him the wrong way or something.” Steve sighed, shaking his head. “Well, better leave him to get over it.”

Laughing softly, Steve went back to join the rest of his companions at the table.

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The night was cloudless, with a slight breeze blowing up. Yet, there was no sleep for Sekata on this night, owing it to being caught up in a nightmare.

In the dream, he saw himself in a black colored, endless void. There was no up or down, nor any left or right. Simply darkness stretching out in all directions.

The world around was foggy and his vision blurred. Voices echoed all around, and at the same time seemed to come from nowhere in particular.

Sekata was running and although he didn't know why at first, the reason soon became apparent. A huge apparition of AncientGreymon was rapidly closing in on him.

The red dragon panicked and slashed about wildly, only to have his claws strike air. Frantically, he glanced around, but his sword was nowhere to be found.

A gust of wind suddenly knocked him over and Sekata found that instead of AncientGreymon, a dark shadowy figure stood, like a giant towering over him.

He wanted to run, but his body barely responded. If was as if he were stuck in a thick web of viscous mucous. His limbs flailed as a huge hand reached over him.

And suddenly, he was bound. Strings were around his neck, wrists, wings, waist, tail and ankles. Struggling had no effect at all and he was jerked up and suspended in mid-air. His arms were spread out horizontally out, and the strings pulled taunt, rendering him as helpless as a puppet.

Sekata was roaring and screaming, but no words escaped his jaws as his threshing strung-up form was spun around to face the dark figure.

Then, the light came towards the figure's face, revealing it to be….

Steve?!

Desperately, Sekata fought to awaken from the nightmare.

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Suddenly, Sekata blinked and found himself lying on the bed in his own room. But something was seriously wrong, for he was bound by thick ropes around his wrists and ankles.

Sekata was about to cry out, but only got off a muffled hiss as his head was suddenly grabbed and his jaws tied shut. Although he struggled, Sekata found himself unable to break the bonds.

His body was surprisingly sore and weak, as if his strength had mysteriously been sapped away.

“Don't bother, the drugs in your food will leave you weak and helpless for a few more hours at least.” A voice chuckled.

Makuramon, the monkey Deva, stepped out of the shadows and stood by Sekata's bedside. The Vritramon let off a soft growl of rage, but could do little else.

“You probably have a lot of questions in mind.” Makuramon continued. “But to put all our answers in brief…”

The room's door swung open and Steve stepped inside. Sekata grunted to the Flamedramon, trying to warn him of the Deva present. But it soon became apparent that Steve was already aware of it.

Too well aware, in fact.

“You've done well kid.” Makuramon patted Steve on the shoulder. “You help was essential to our plans.”

Steve?! Help?! Sekata stared. No…don't tell me you drugged the lot of us? Then, did you let them into the base too? Grrr…Steve…you…

“And we could always use the help of the Legendary Warrior of the Flames too.” Makuramon brought up a fistful of powder and tossed it into Sekata's face.

The dragon immediately found it hard to breathe and begun coughing through his gag. Some small object was pressed between the palms of his bound claws, though Sekata's eyes were blurred and thus, he was not able to make it out.

His thoughts were growing sluggish, movements going stiff…slowly losing consciousness…

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As she'd expected, the building was dark when Zelia returned. She'd spent the time sprinting through the hills outside, followed by lying down on the grass to cool down in the late night's breeze.

It had brought some odd, exhilarating feeling to her body…yet more fragments of her seemingly irrecoverable past. Was it how she was like before this…change? Zelia just couldn't pinpoint it.

Now as the raptor approached, she found the back door slightly ajar.

It registered to her as `unexpected', for the others were cautious enough to avoid this sort of thing. Zelia nudged the door open with her snout and peered inside.

The lights were all off and the hallways devoid of any noises, meaning the others were probably asleep. But Zelia's acute night senses gave her the tingling that something was not right.

A strange scent led up from where she stood to the stairs nearby. Zelia approached and climbed, threading lightly and making as little noise as she could.

At the top, she rounded a corner and started as she bumped into a large, bulky shape.

“Aero…” She recognized the figure in the dark.

The Aero V-dramon stood with his back turned and didn't respond. Zelia glanced at him curiously, then opened her jaws to speak.

“Is something wrong….raarrgghhh!!!”

The raptor was caught completely off guard as the blue dragon's spinning maneuver brought his fist straight into her chestplate, sending her flying backwards.

BAM!! Zelia rammed into the wall, bringing stars to her eyes.

“Ugh…Aero…what…” Zelia never got to complete that sentence, for another figure emerged from the adjoining corridor and smashed a heavy tail into her back.

Zelia hit the floor face-first, but forced herself up and turned to see her assailant….the slim form of an XV-mon, Zoe.

Suddenly, Aero attacked again and Zelia dodged both of his blows. Zelia feinted a swipe, drawing out a careless punch from Aero, then countered by using her tail to knock him back.

Janet, in her Strikedramon form, appeared from one of the doors and caught her with a blow to the side of her head. The raptor staggered and was clobbered by Aero, then thrown back into Zoe, who roughly hurled her off the balcony.

The tiles on the lower level cracked to varying degrees as Zelia landed hard. Snarling in pain, she rolled over and tried desperately to clear her senses.

Aero, Zoe and Janet all leapt down from the upper level and turned to face her.

“Why….why are you attacking me?!” Zelia gasped.

There came a clicking of claws on the tiles and Zelia instinctively ducked her head out of the way. However, it wasn't in time to fully avoid a metallic sphere projectile, the Cannonball attack of Cimons, which struck her left wing.

The appendage was twisted in another direction, leaving Zelia to roar in pain. She was hit afterward by a burst of flames in the back and by a series of needle-like bullets in the left knee. Those were the Flare Buster and Spinning Needle abilities of Katsu and Adrian respectively.

Zelia reared back and charged, ramming Katsu away first. She then clamped her jaws around Adrian's serpent-like body and hurled the Airdramon into the nearby Cimons.

“Not you too….” Zelia grimaced in pain.

Aero, Zoe and Janet were now approaching and Zelia was too worn out to do anything else but run. She managed to plough through the three and slip into the next room. But there, she was immediately seized up by a pair of powerful claws.

Although she wrestled frantically, Sekata's towering Vritramon form was strong enough to subdue her. One arm held her head and neck in a chokehold, while the other was grasped tightly around her waist.

Grunting and struggling, Sekata carried Zelia back to the main room where the others had gathered.

“What's going on?!” Zelia demanded. “Why are you doing all of this?!”

There was now some light streaming in from one of the upper level rooms, giving her a clearer look at Aero's face.

He seemed fairly normal, however it was his eyes that caught Zelia's attention. Instead of their normal colors, they were filled with a yellowish glow that completely covered up the pupil and the white sclera around it.

Zoe had that same look, and Janet too. All of the others did in fact.

Zelia stared for a while longer before coming to the realization….their minds were not their own.

“Fascinating how well the spell worked.” Makuramon stepped through the crowd, who gave way to him.

The raptor continued to hiss furious curses as Mihiramon the tiger and Majiramon the dragon entered.

“Grrr…what did you do to my comrades?!” Zelia snarled.

“How about I let them tell you for themselves?” Makuramon held up a partially open black bag, which had soft squeals coming from inside it.

Zelia saw wooden puppets of a Vritramon and Strikedramon, a wind-up XV-mon toy, a light blue colored glowing sphere, and three hand puppets representing Shadramon, Dorugamon and Airdramon.

And the sounds were coming from that bunch of toys.

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“Gurghh…can't…move…” Came Sekata's voice.

“Damn!! I hate this!!” Janet's howled.

“Zelia?!” Aero's voice called. “Zelia!! Get out of here!”

“You…!!” Zelia starred in horror.

“Well, we had to put their souls somewhere while we borrowed their bodies for a while.” Makuramon laughed. “But don't worry…you'll be joining them too!”

Zelia wiggled desperately, but Sekata's body held her firmly and the monkey Deva approached to throw a handful of powder in her face. The raptor started coughing and choking as Makuramon pressed a blue cube close to her face.

“No…rarghh…” Zelia gasped weakly.

Her threshing grew slower and weaker as Makuramon recited the lines of the spell in an ancient language. Before long, Zelia's eyes fell close and Sekata's body dropped her limp figure onto the ground.

The others, in their helpless forms, could only stare in silent horror.

“That was far too easy.” Mihiramon commented. “Didn't put up much of a fight at all.”

“He did most of the dirty work though.” Makuramon grinned, gesturing towards the approaching form of Steve.

Unlike the rest of the group, Steve's eyes were perfectly normal, indicating that he wasn't under the same spell.

“Steve!! What's going on here?!” Janet yelled. “What are you doing helping these guys?! They're our enemies remember?”

“Don't bother, he's been ours for a much longer time.” Makuramon sneered.

“Steve…why…?” Zoe cried in disbelief.

Everybody had been so distracted that no one noticed Zelia's prone form slowly stirring, then blinking her eyes. It was Mihiramon who felt a hot breath against the back of his neck and whirled around to find Zelia rising and snarling at him.

“Huh? Wha…”

WHAM!! Zelia swung her tail and knocked the tiger Deva into Majiramon, sending both crashing into a bookshelf, which toppled over and landed with a loud crunch on their heads. A vicious kick of her clawed talons took Steve down as well, leaving a long scar across his belly.

She then went for Makuramon, who was too surprised to react, and bowled him to the ground as well. The monkey dropped the bag containing the `toy forms' the others, spilling its contents onto the floor.

Zelia too, fell over, feeling the injury in her knee.

“Zelia! Get out of here!!” Aero shouted. His mind was trapped in the form of the blue sphere lying out of her reach. “Hurry!!”

The raptor always responded to his orders, and she was prompt as always. Zelia only paused to grab the closest objects, the three hand puppets of Katsu, Cimons and Adrian, before making a mad dash for the door.

“Stop her!!” Makuramon ordered.

The `zombie bodies' of Sekata and his group immediately moved in to block Zelia's path.

“No you don't!!” Zoe hissed.

Exercising her unique psychic powers, Zoe managed to gain control over her own body for a second. She made it swing an arm, knocking the others down and giving Zelia enough time to escape.

“No dammit!!” Makuramon swore.

Mihiramon and Majiramon ran to the window, but Zelia had already disappeared into the darkness of the night.

“She's faster than I thought.” Majiramon muttered. “Seems like she's gone.”

“Get out and look or there goes three of our zombies here!!” Makuramon fumed.

“Why?”

“I can't control the bodies of the Shadramon, Dorugamon and Airdramon without the vessels where I placed their souls into.”

“Looks like your perfect plan has some flaws after all.” Sekata taunted.

“Either way, it's not under your control.” Makuramon replied angrily, snatching up the Vritramon puppet. “But as for the rest of you, you'll stay here until we sort this little matter out.”

Sekata was tossed into the bag, along with the tiny temporary bodies of Zoe, Janet and Aero, before the bag was zipped shut.

“Well this is an all-time low.” Aero growled in the darkness. “I never thought Steve could…”

“He couldn't have done it willingly, could he?” Janet cut in. “What if they cast some weird spell on his mind or something like that?”

“I'm quite sure I would've sensed it.” Zoe sighed. “Either that or Steve might've…”

“No, please don't say that! I don't believe Steve would do such a thing!!”

“It's a question we won't have the answer to for a while.” Sekata pitched in.

“But there's still hope since Zelia got away somehow.” Aero pointed out.

“It's like she was completely unaffected by the spell.” Zoe remarked.

“It had something to do with transferring our souls right?” The Aero V-dramon noted. “Then perhaps it's true what I've been thinking. That she doesn't have one.”

“Hmm?!” Zoe asked.

“Hey, but Zelia's out there alone now.” Janet interjected. “She's not going to be able to fight off all the Devas, plus our bodies as well. So what's she going to do?”

“Trust me, I've been training her well.” Aero spoke up. “She'll find a way…”

“You're awfully optimistic.”

“It's the only thing we can hope for right now.”

Yeah, unfortunately he's right. Sekata thought in despair.

Meanwhile, Zelia opened a hidden trapdoor by the outer walls of the house. The dino watched until she was sure that all the Devas and the zombie bodies of the others were gone.

Carrying a small pouch in hand, Zelia crept away into the pitch black hills beyond.