Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Morphs: A Digimorphs Tale ❯ Fierce Clashes! Dragons in Peril! ( Chapter 16 )

Digimon / Digital Monsters and all related trademarks belong are copyright to Toei animation / Saban entertainment. 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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The first thing that hit the dragon's mind was air.

Or more precisely, the lack of it. He was underwater...and he didn't like it at all.

Can't...breathe...

Flailing his limbs wildly, he frantically kicked himself towards the light. His lungs were so desperate for air...the surface just had to be there! One moment, he was certain his mind would simply explode.

The next, he burst out from beneath the cold waters, taking in large long breaths of precious oxygen. When he finally recovered from the shock of his near-death experience, his next instinct was to examine his surroundings.

He was paddling in a lake at the bottom of a small but fast-moving waterfall. All around, the landscape was littered with trees and greenery as far as eye could see, which wasn't very far considering night had fallen and everything was rapidly fading to darkness.

Hmmm...don't recognize this place. How did I get here? The dragon wondered. Did I fall off that waterfall?

Swimming to shore, he pulled himself up and glanced at his reflection in the lake. He was a tall, black armor clad dragoniod with razor-like claws and fangs. A silver helmet was 'melded' over his entire face, leaving only his lower jaws exposed.

Then, it occurred to him that something very important was missing.

"Wait a minute...who...who am I?!"

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A lone Gargoylemon flew high above the lush forests. After giving up his search the pervious night, Steve had resumed the moment the sun came up. It was also probably the earliest time he'd ever gotten up in his life.

"Sekata! Dammit where the heck are you?!" Steve yelled, even through his voice was already sore.

Exhausted, he landed on a thick branch and sat down. He pulled out the medium sized Dragon Dagger and turned it over in his claws. Sekata had dropped it when he'd jumped onto Beelzebumon's bike during the earlier fight, and Steve figured he had to bring it along.

There didn't seem to be anything special about the dagger, other than the fact that it was silver, shiny and had its head shaped like a dragon with a couple of rubies as its eyes.

Shrugging, Steve slipped it back into his belt pouch and glanced down. He was momentarily startled at how high up he was.

"Whoa...OK, I have got wings growing out of my back. I cannot possibly be afraid of heights."

With that, he dropped off the branch and instinctively spread his wings to slow his descent towards the forest floor. Everything was going smoothly until he went right into a well hidden net.

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As much as it troubled the dragon, he simply couldn't recall anything about himself. Having nowhere else to go, he'd spent the night by the lake. Now that the morning light was streaming in through the trees, he could at least see more of his surroundings, which unfortunately gave no clues to his lost identity.

Finally, he resorted to searching himself. He didn't have anything important on other than an unusual pair of goggles. However, he had a pouch strapped to the left side of his belt and opened it to find a deck of cards.

Digimon...Yeah, that's right! I'm a Digimon!

The words and pictures seemed foreign to him, but he happened to spot one particular card that bore a striking resemblance to himself.

Cyberdramon...? Hmmm...this must be what I am.

'Cyberdramon' happened to lean against a tree and felt something strapped to his other side. He pulled out a somewhat squarish device with a padded strap. There were several buttons on its surface and a screen which was currently off.

"What's this?" He wondered, randomly pushing the buttons.

All of a sudden, the screen lit up and a series of illegible characters flashed across the screen. Cyberdramon shielded his face and the device emitted a blinding flash. The next time he looked, a rectangular 'door of light' had materialized in front of him.

Everything was confusing him even more...but somehow...he felt almost drawn to step forward. It was as if something was calling out to him. Heading for the light had saved him before, so perhaps he wound find some answers there.

Returning the odd black and silver device to its place on the belt, Cyberdramon leapt forward.

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"What the F***??!!" Steve cried in outrage.

"Hahaha! Looks like we caught a little lizard in our trap!" A familiar, but unpleasant werewolf sprang up from his hiding place in the bushes.

"Black WereGarurumon?! What the heck do you want, you loser?!"

"To put it simply, there's a nice price on your head." The wolf smirked. "I screwed up the last job thanks to Beelzebumon, but I'll be getting this one with or without his help! Dogmon, now!"

The net was suddenly pulled off the tree. Steve saw that it was attached to a miniature crane with a cartoon-like dog at the controls. The orange dog had a white 'D' on his stomach and black, long drooping ears. He snickered happily as he waved to Black WereGarurumon.

"Meet my sidekick, Dogmon." Black WereGarurumon chuckled.

"You sure have some pathetic taste in comrades!" Steve shouted.

"Yea! Yea! Yea! Yea!" Dogmon giggled, nodding his head, apparently thinking it was funny.

"He was insulting you, you dimwit!" Black WereGarurumon yelled, waving his arms. "Nevermind, you're still the one who's stuck in the net, lizard!"

"Yeah, about the net." Steve muttered. "Let me out this instant, or you'll be in big trouble!"

Both canines burst out laughing.

"All right then, we do this the hard way!" Steve growled, switching to his Flamedramon form.

With a roar, he threw his weight into one side of the net, swinging away from Black WereGarurumon. Still, his swing was too far off course to touch the crane at all.

"Hahaha! Your aim is totally off." The werewolf bent over, laughing wildly. That was when he realized that the net was swinging back, and straight towards him. "Oh crap..."

"Fire Rocket!" In a burst of flames, Steve tore through the net and rammed his opponent. The two struggling figures rolled over each other several times before Steve managed to shove Black WereGarurumon off and make a run for it.

Unfortunately, he didn't get very far.

"Gurgh! What the?!" Steve found a set of three metallic bands strapped around his right arm. Those were connected to a chain that Black WereGarurumon was currently waving around proudly.

"Slipped that on ya during our little rumble." He bragged, swinging the other end around. "Not so stupid now, am I?"

"Grrr...now I am officially pissed!" Steve roared, tugging on the chain.

"Humph!" Black WereGarurumon naturally pulled back in a tug-o-war style match. "Dogmon! Get over here and help me!"

Dogmon nodded and leapt up. However, in doing so he also stepped on one of the crane's controls, causing its 'arm' to swing right over at his partner.

"No! Not..."

WHAM!!

Taking advantage of the duo's incompetence, Steve charged and tackled WereGarurumon. The two went tumbling down the side of a hill, constantly hitting each others and spilling out curses. They continued their battle at the sandy bottom and happened to roll across a set of train tracks, where they pushed apart from each other.

"Gargh! You..." Black WereGarurumon snarled, finally able to stand up. "HUH?!"

It the midst of their scuffle the other end of the chain had gotten attached around Black WereGarurumon's left arm. That left the pair bound to each other by a chain that was about 3 feet or so.

"Now, this is really funny." Steve muttered, both tugging at the chain and slashing at it with his claws.

"Forget about doing that." Black WereGarurumon told him. "It's a high quality Chrome Digizoid alloy that's practically unbreakable."

"Even a moron like you has to have a key!"

"Yeah, Dogmon has it. DOGMON! Get over here now!"

The sounds of Dogmon's snickering drew the pair to his location. The small Digimon was sitting in a mailbag (with the words 'Digital World Mail' on it) hung on a nearby pole. Dogmon grinned and waved a key in his hand.

"THE KEY!!" Steve and the werewolf glanced at each other before rushing for the pole.

However, a long and loud whistle alerted them to something their fight had caused them to miss. They were standing on train tracks...the same ones on which a Trailmon Worm (brown colored with four yellow eyes) was rapidly approaching.

Both screamed in panic and tried to run away...in opposite directions. And because of the chain that held them together, neither of them were going anywhere.

"You're gonna get us killed!" Steve screeched.

"Me?! It's you!" Black WereGarurumon protested. "Lettgo!"

"Garrghh!!"

"Noo!!"

At the last possible instant, Steve recovered his composure enough to utilize his Fire Rocket attack and propel both his nemesis and himself out of harm's way. One of the Trailmon's carriages had a hook, which nicely caught the mailbag...along with Dogmon and the key in it.

Steve and Black WereGarurumon looked up just in time to see the train speeding off.

Still in the mailbag, Dogmon looked around in confusion for a second, then closed his eyes and started snickering for the sake of it.

"DOGMON!!!" Black WereGarurumon cried. "YOU IDIOT!!!"

"The key..." Steve moaned.

As the two stood and simultaneously gawked in depression, the winds began blowing, stirring up the sands and sending a dried-up tumbleweed rolling across their path.

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Cyberdramon found himself thrown into another series of blinding lights. It seemed like he was being randomly tossed about until he finally landed on solid ground.

His new surroundings were best described as a desert wasteland. Nothing but sand, mountains and hills in the background, under the orange glow of a setting sun.

"Huh? Whoa!" There was another short flash of light, and a sound from behind him. "Cyberdramon...? Is this...this a dream?"

When Cyberdramon spun around, two very different thing hit his mind.

One was that this figure was a young human of about 12, a boy with brown eyes and shoulder length black hair. He was dressed in green jeans, with an orange vest over a brown shirt.

The next thing his instincts went was...ATTACK!

"GGGGRRRRROOORRRRR!!!" He bellowed.

"NO!" The boy screamed, immediately springing up and running for his life. Still, it wasn't very fast by his standards and Cyberdramon deiced to toy around with his prey a little.

He pretended to give chase, keeping just behind the boy, and then suddenly somersaulted in front of him. The boy cried out in horror, dropping to the ground and covering his face.

"NO! Please! Don't hurt me!! NO!!"

"Grrrr...."

The boy uncovered his face for a second and gasped.

"Behind you!!"

Cyberdramon didn't even have time to react as a laser burst grazed his left shoulder. With a beast-like howl, Cyberdramon grasped his wounded shoulder and turned to face the creature that'd interrupted his hunt.

Although he could sense it was another Digimon, its appearance was simply bizarre. It towered over him, with a pair of large three-fingered arms and legs. However, those appendages were joined to his main body only by several strands of orange wires. His body's main color was white with several purple patterns, as were the arms and legs. The body was roughly humanoid, but it had a central core, a purple sphere melded right into where its stomach should've been. It had no mouth, just a face with two horns at the top, one horn at the chin and a single eye in the center of its head.

The mysterious intruder uttered a series of indecipherable clicks and hums as its single eye lit up.

Cyberdramon reacted instantly.

"ERASE CLAW!!"

At the same time, his opponent unleashed a purple, swirling beam from its eye. The two attacks collided, creating a huge explosion that threw Cyberdramon head over heels.

"Cyberdramon!" The same boy he'd been terrorizing earlier now ran to his side.

"Not...possible..." The black dragon muttered. The strange white Digimon was completely unharmed. Cyberdramon was so transfixed by this that he didn't notice the boy pulling something off his belt.

"Is this...a Digivice?" The boy wondered. "Wow!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Cyberdramon saw the 'Digivice' light up. The boy pointed it at the white Digimon and a small image appeared on the screen.

"Parallelmon. Final form (Mega). Virus attribute. A mutant type Digimon who hunts tamers, prowling through space and time. Attacks -- Absorbent Bang and Endless Trance." The boy read. "Unbelievable..."

Parallelmon suddenly let loose with another attack. With lightning reflexes, Cyberdramon grabbed and human and flew out of blast range, leaving Parallelmon far behind. For now, a retreat was unavoidable.

"Thanks." The boy breathed, still slightly in shock, as the winds blew past. "Thought you were going to kill me back there."

"I was..." Cyberdramon replied, shaking his head. "...but I don't know. I just couldn't."

"I..." For a long while, the boy seemed unsure of what to say. He then looked down at the Digivice and started asking questions. "Is this for me? Am I your partner? Is this a dream?"

"Don't know." Cyberdramon growled, wishing the boy would just shut up. "And don't care."

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"This is all your fault!"

"Quit complaining and keep walking." Steve snapped, tugging on the werewolf's chain.

The sun was currently at its peak and both were practically dragging themselves along the sandy path, hunched over with their tongues hanging out. Following the train tracks had unfortunately led them into an even more desolate area with neither shade nor water in sight.

And it didn't help that they had no way to release the chain tying them together.

"This wouldn't have happened if you'd gotten caught at the right time." Black WereGarurumon grunted.

"What do you think I am?! A Pokemon?!" Steve growled. "Huh? Urgh!"

The pair had unintentionally walked around opposite sides of a pole, and of course the chain had gotten stuck.

"Well, what are you waiting for?!" Black WereGarurumon yelled. "Get over here!"

"Me? You move my way instead!!" Steve retorted.

"Says who?!"

"Grrr...." In a flash of light, he switched Digimetals, becoming Raindramon.

"Nice trick pal, but changing ya skins ain't getting you out of this chain." Black WereGarurumon huffed. "You arm's still stuck in there no matter..."

That was when the werewolf noticed an evil grin on Steve's armored face.

"Remember how metal conducts electricity?"

"Huh...Oh crap..."

"Thunder Blast!"

BBBBBZZZZRRRTTTTTT!! (With anime style skeleton showing effects.)

"Ow..." Moaned the werewolf lying on the floor in spasms.

"Now, you'll do things my way." Steve said proudly.

"Urgh...says...who..."

Steve simply smirked and lit his horn up with blue electrical energy.

"Ok! Ok!" Black WereGarurumon was instantly up and sprinted behind Steve. "Hey, could I ride you? We can be like the cowboy and horse, ya know? With this desert setting and all? Whadda say, partner?"

BBBBZZZZRRRTTTT!!!!!

"I'll...take that as a 'no'..." The now charred wolf coughed before hitting the floor, face-first.

"Get up you lazy dog!" Steve groaned, jabbing his side. "Great! He's unconscious!!"

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The pair flew on for a while until night fell and they found a small cavern to take shelter in.

The cybernetic dragon found it rather amusing how the human child kept glancing at him in awe. The boy stood a short distance away as Cyberdramon carried out his task of starting the fire, then lying back against a wall of the cavern.

The dragon himself was pissed about having to flee the battle. For someone of his caliber, it was simply an unforgivable flaw. The human turned the Digivice around in his hand over and over again, before taking a seat on the opposite side of the fire. The boy had finally gathered up enough courage to speak.

"You understand Japanese?"

"Understand what?"

"The language I'm speaking now."

"You are speaking in my language."

"I am..." He wondered. "Perhaps we're both talking in our own languages, but somehow in this world, we can understand each other perfectly."

Cyberdramon looked away, uninterested in continuing the conversation.

"What was that thing that attacked us? For that matter, what are we doing here? Why us? I keep thinking this must be some sort of dream, but nothing happens when I pinch my arm."

"..."

"Aren't you listening? What do you make of all this?"

"..."

"Don't you care at all?!"

"Enemies exist to be annihilated." Cyberdramon growled. "That's all I care about. I exist to be the strongest. That's all that matters."

Cyberdramon didn't want the human to know about his memory loss, but it seemed like everything was coming back to him already. His instincts told him so...to terminate any foe that stood before him. That was his one and only goal.

"Damn, you're so stubborn!" The boy said, standing up. "Somehow, the two of us have been brought together in this crazy place. Doesn't that have any significance to you?!"

"I see only my opponent."

Sighing, the boy was about to take his seat again when something met his gaze.

"Are those cards in that pouch?" He asked. "Could I take a look?"

Apparently, one of his belt pouches had been slightly dislodged in the fighting. Cyberdramon didn't move and let the boy walk up and open the pouch. The human was nervously trembling the entire time, but his anxiety seemed to disappear once he began flipping through the cards.

"Awesome, this is an amazing deck!" The boy gasped. "I never thought I'd ever meet any Digimon in person, but even less a Cyberdramon wearing goggles with a great Digimon card deck! There are some cards I've never even seen before!!"

The black dragon leaned back and shut his eyes, hidden beneath his helmet. The boy kept talking, but Cyberdramon never really heard anything. He just wanted to ignore the human, get some rest, and regain his lost pride by defeating this Parallelmon.

Yet, he couldn't pull his thoughts away form the human, as much as he tried. Something just wouldn't let him...something just felt...familiar about the boy.

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"Sekata, whatever you're doing now, it's got to be better than dragging an unconscious werewolf through the middle of a desert." Steve complained to no one in particular.

Even switching back to his fire-elemental Flamedramon form hadn't helped much in dealing with the scorching heat. That, added to the dead weight he was dragging along just made his day.

While stumbling along the train tracks, an idea popped into his mind. (With an animated thought bubble effect.)

Steve remembered how runaway convicts in the movies lay on opposite sides of a train track and let the train run over to cut their chains. Perhaps this idea would work here. However, his own chain wasn't long enough to go all the way across and he had to settle for laying Black WereGarurumon in the center of the tracks (where the train would pass above him) while he moved to the side.

"Wait a second....I need a train for this to work!" He realized, stamping his feet. "Ah well, I could always wait."

A wave of exhaustion hit Steve the moment he sat down, forcing him to lie down on his back. He found it surprisingly nice exposing his chest and belly to the sun.

"What's this called? Basking? Jee, I see why my pet iguana liked it so much." Steve yawned, pulling his vest up and covering his face with it. "I'll just take 40 winks and be up in no time....ZZZZZ...."

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Cyberdramon awoke with a start. 'It' was coming...and he could sense it.

"It's here, isn't it?" The kid asked, feeling his companion's anxiety.

Cyberdramon only stared out of the cavern, letting off his low pitched growl. The next instant, he'd grabbed the boy and was up in the air as the whole cave came down in a loud bang.

The boy screamed, fighting off his instinctive urge of panic. Cyberdramon dropped him at a high ledge and swerved round to face the towering mutant Digimon, Parallelmon.

"ERASE CLAW!!"

Once again, Parallelmon responded by firing his purple laser beam, its Absorbent Bang attack. Cyberdramon snarled in frustration as his attack was absorbed into the mix. He fired off two more blue energy bursts with similar results.

"Cyberdramon! It's no use! He's absorbing your attacks!" He heard the human shouting. "Get out of there!"

"I don't need you to tell me how to fight!" The dragon yelled angrily.

"Watch out!"

Cyberdramon barely managed to leap away as a follow up attack left a blackened crater in the floor.

"Come on, please let this work..." The boy fumbled with the Digivice. "Card Slash! High Speed Plug-in B!"

Cyberdramon just kept on fighting and was thrown to the ground by another blast.

"What happened?" The boy wondered. "Card Slash! High Speed Plug-in B!"

Once again, the card seemed to have no effect.

"Why won't it work?!" He cried. "Cyberdramon, I'm trying to help you!!"

"Whatever you're doing, I don't need your help!"

"Cyberdramon!! Please...NO!! Don't charge in like that!!"

"ERASE..."

However, while he had spent those few seconds moving in, Parallelmon had sufficient time to recover and fire his beam again. Cyberdramon was caught in mid-attack, his own prematurely charged blast exploding in his claws.

The pain that shot through his body was excruciating, as was his roar of fury. The black dragon found himself badly charred, with crimson fluid spurting out of the stump that remained of his left arm.

Suddenly, Parallelmon was standing over him, preparing for the finishing blow.

"NO!!" The boy came running onto the scene and Parallelmon turned towards him instead.

Using the distraction, Cyberdramon sprang up, dragging the human out of blast range. By some stroke of luck, another cavern entrance was nearby. The cybernetic dragon ducked into it and fell down a long series of twisting tunnels. Fortunately, Parallelmon was too large to follow.

After several intense seconds of spinning around in darkness, the two ended up in a large, underground lake. Both were panting wildly, and the boy turned to Cyberdramon.

"You look really bad. Are you all right?"

Cyberdramon didn't answer...he collapsed.

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A long loud whistle snapped Steve out of his long daydream. In an instant, everything about the train tracks and being chained to a black werewolf came back to him. That being in addition to the fact that Black WereGarurumon was up and attempting to drag him off.

"What are you?! Crazy!! Trying to get me killed by leaving me on the tracks!!"

"Trying to get a train to run over our chains and break them!!" Steve yelled, angrily tugging back. "But the chain's too short to go across, so you'll have to lie under the train!!"

"I'm NOT doing that!!" Black WereGarurumon protested.

"Oh YES you are!!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!!!!"

"ARE TOO!!!!"

Of course, standing on train tracks arguing is not a bright idea...especially when the train's coming. Or in this case, a Trailmon Franken (red with two green eyes). Both broke out in a shoving and pushing melee upon realizing that fact. In the midst of that struggle, Black WereGarurumon leapt and grabbed onto the Trailmon's side leaving Steve, who was chained to him, to run along beside the train.

"Garug! Hargh! Help!!" Steve gasped.

Black WereGarurumon only laughed, but failed to notice a nearby pole until it hit him at the back of his head. Steve jumped aside to avoid the flying werewolf's body. This happened just as the caboose of the train passed by and their chain became entangled on one of its hooks.

With that, the wayward travelers were dragged along with the speeding Trailmon.

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Cyberdramon unwillingly pulled himself back to consciousness with a searing pain in his left arm...or what was left of it. He found a blood-soaked piece of cloth firmly tied around the stump and realized it was the vest that belonged to his human companion.

"Cyberdramon! You're awake!" The boy gasped, moving to his side. "I didn't know what to do since I've never seen an injured Digimon before, but I think that makeshift tourniquet should've helped."

The black dragon nodded, through not entirely happy about it. As far as he knew, Digimon were part organic, part digital data and some with other components as well. The human had probably kept him from bleeding to death, but that just might be a foreshadowing to an even darker fate.

"I can't use Erase Claw effectively with one hand." Cyberdramon muttered. "And I can't get close enough to use melee attacks."

"That's if you jump in there headfirst." The boy told him. "Listen, I watched while he was attacking you. Every time he fires that laser beam of his, the purple orb in the middle of his body flashes white. I think that's where his charges are stored. If we can take it out, we might have a chance. But it only seems to be vulnerable the instant before he fires, so it's a do-or-die risk."

"We?"

"Look...I know you're a powerful dragon who can just rip and shred things anytime he likes. Maybe I'm just a kid in the way, but I know I can help you, with this." The boy replied, holding up the Digivice and the cards. "If you trust me...no, please trust me. I believe you can beat him and save us both!"

Perhaps it was that fierce resolution in his eyes, but for a moment, it was just...so much like himself.

"What's your plan?" Cyberdramon asked.

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"Gargh! Whew..."

"Hargh! Dammit, that was all your fault lizard!"

"My fault?! You started this whole mess in the first place!!"

Steve and Black WereGarurumon had finally managed to pull themselves up onto the rear caboose, and were again arguing as they gasped for breath.

A familiar snickering alerted both to the figure on top of the train.

"DOGMON!!"

The orange dog waved the key in front of his face, ever-grinning as usual. How he'd gotten onto this particular Trailmon was beyond them.

"Give me the key you...urgh!" Black WereGarurumon began when Steve shoved his face aside.

"Hand it over buddy!!" The Flamedramon roared, making a lunge that scared Dogmon away.

Black WereGarurumon jerked him back with the chain and tried to leapt up, forgetting that the link worked both ways. Steve pulled his opponent down, ending up with both in a heap on the narrow platform at the edge of the caboose.

With their shoulders locked, the two struggled as they fought their way onto the roof of the train made a mad dash for Dogmon.

Steve stopped partway and knelt down. Black WereGarurumon continued running and had almost reached Dogmon when Steve yanked the chain. That, combined with the shaky motion of the train, sent Black WereGarurumon rolling over the side. With a scream, the werewolf grabbed onto the edge of the roof.

Steve didn't hesitate in charging and wrestling the key from Dogmon.

"Help me Dogmon!!" Black WereGarurumon shouted, confusing the dimwitted Digimon even more.

However, the train made a sharp turn, sending Dogmon tumbling over as well. The orange dog ended up holding onto Black WereGarurumon's pants. Steve struggled to keep himself steady as he shoved the key into his side of the lock.

"Dogmon! My pants are slipping!! Hey!!" No sooner had the werewolf said that did his belt snap. Both his jeans and Dogmon went flying, revealing his red and white polka-dotted boxers underneath. "AARRGGHHH!!!!"

Steve whistled and showed off his end of the chain. He was finally free of it, casually twirling the cuffs around.

"Errr...hehehe...you won't leave me, right? Not after all we've been through together!" Black WereGarurumon giggled nervously.

"You are the weakest link." Steve grinned. "Goodbye."

Swinging the chain like a lasso, Steve tossed it around a nearby pole. Because Black WereGarurumon was still tied to it, the chain violently pulled him off the train and swung him around the pole in circles (with anime 'wide eyes' effects), before leaving him tied to the pole, completely entangled in the chain.

"Hahahahaha! Oh yeah! I rock!!" Steve laughed, doing a little victory dance, waving his fingers in a 'V' sign. "Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!"

Then, he turned around and saw the Trailmon was entering a low tunnel.

"Oh sh-"

SPLAT!! (With an anime style 'flat character' effect.)

Steve peeled himself off the wall and flopped down to the ground below.

"Ooohh....what pretty stars...." He moaned before blacking out.

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A while later, Dogmon came up to where Black WereGarurumon stuck to the pole. Snickering, the orange dog held up Black WereGarurumon's pants.

"Grrr...YOU!!!" Furiously, Black WereGarurumon punched Dogmon so hard that he flew all the way across the nearby hills. Unfortunately, in his fit of rage, the werewolf failed to realize one thing.

"DOGMON! MY PANTS!! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!!!! DOOOOGGGGGGGMON!!!!!"

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"So that's it." The boy finished as they stepped out of their hiding place, into the sunlight. "But, how are we going to find Parallelmon?"

"He'll find us." Cyberdramon growled.

As if on cue, the ground shook as the huge mutant Digimon lumbered into view. The boy gasped, but Cyberdramon stepped in front of him.

"Don't lose it now kid. Not just when I'm beginning to trust you."

"Right." His companion nodded, bringing up the Digivice. "Give it all you've got! Card Slash! Knight Device!"

A pair of lances materialized, one in Cyberdramon's remaining hand and the other by his side. With a yell, the dragon hurled the lance towards their nemesis. Unfortunately, his aim was off and Parallelmon simply swatted it away.

"Damn, I can't throw with this hand!"

"Great, don't tell me you're left handed?" The boy moaned. "I am too, but unfortunately this isn't a good time for you to be!"

Cyberdramon threw the second lance as far as he could and began to back off, Parallelmon giving chase.

"But we have to make this work!" The human said, determined. "Let's go! Card Slash! Aegis!"

The circular shield of Dukemon appeared in Cyberdramon's hand. He charged and threw it to effectively shield himself from Parallelmon's Absorbent Bang. Pumping every ounce of his remaining energy, Cyberdramon leapt up to Parallelmon's eye level.

"Card Slash! High Speed Plug-in B!"

That gave Cyberdramon the speed boost needed to evade a claw swipe from Parallelmon. Their opponent reacted just as they'd predicted, quickly charging up for another Absorbent Bang.

"Card Slash! Shishiou-maru!" (Lion King's Sword)

Now armed with a replica of Leomon's sword, Cyberdramon timed himself, waiting for just the right moment.

Almost...almost...

Cyberdramon let the sword fly. Time seemed to slow down as the blade approached its target. Parallelmon's eye lit up, preparing for his attack. And the orb in the center of his body flashed white...just as the sword pierced through it.

"YES!!" The boy cheered.

Parallelmon let off an ear-splitting screech as energy exploded from its body, sending multicolored beams shooting everywhere. Cyberdramon grinned with satisfaction as the huge Digimon collapsed, defeated.

Suddenly, Parallelmon's claws came up, splitting into multiple spears. Cyberdramon jumped in front of his human companion and was impaled in nearly every direction.

The dragon roared in agony as he was nailed to the rocky side of a mountain, his blood decorating much of the surroundings.

"CYBERDRAMON!!" The boy sprang up and dashed to his side.

"Get...out...of here!" He managed.

Parallelmon was completely disorientated, and was randomly lashing out everywhere, hoping to take its foes down with it.

"I won't leave you!"

"Kid, just go...before you get killed!!"

"I...can't let you go like this!" The boy protested, tears coming to his eyes.

"I'm...not worth risking your life for...."

"NO, that's not true!" The human cried, causing Cyberdramon to look right into his brown eyes. "Because...because...you're my friend!"

"So...so....are you....partner..."

That was when the Digivice lit up, activating its hidden miracle. As two green words flashed across the screen, the boy held it up.

"BIOMERGE EVOLUTION!"

"Cyberdramon evolves..." Together, their forms merged into one. The boy disappeared within and Cyberdramon's features changed, becoming more humanoid. The goggles he was wearing fell and remained around his neck instead. "...Justimon!"

The new Mega-level warrior leapt out of harms way, morphing his mechanical right arm into a sword with a blazing tip.

"Critical Arm!"

Justimon sliced the remaining spears to pieces. Still in mid-air, he changed his direction and headed straight for Parallelmon. The fallen Digimon raised an arm to attack.

"Justice Kick!"

Knocking the arm aside had the additional effect to rolling Parallelmon over to its side, much to Justimon's advantage.

"Let's finish this! Cyberdramon!" The boy called from within Justimon's core.

"Understood." Justimon changed his sword arm to a large, three fingered claw. "ACCEL ARM!!"

The final move sent a long burst of energy across the ground, tearing up what remained of Parallelmon in a huge explosion.

Exhausted, Justimon split into his two components (with Cyberdramon fully restored), both collapsing on either side. No words were spoken. For that moment, the mutual feeling of victory was shared by both...in more ways than one.

"Huh?" The boy lifted his arms and noticed his form was fading. "What's happening?"

"With Parallelmon defeated, we will both be returned to our own time and worlds." Cyberdramon theorized, seeing the same was happening to himself.

"That makes sense, I guess." The human nodded. "It was a great adventure, and here. I think those belong to you, or your actual partner at least."

He tossed Cyberdramon the cards and Digivice.

"Wait." Cyberdramon spoke up. "After all this, I still don't know your name."

"Ryutsuuki Sekata." He smiled, just as the last of his body faded away.

It hit Cyberdramon all at once....being thrown through a tunnel of bright light...the boy's identity...and his own.

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

"Rrargh! Gargh!" Sekata the Cyberdramon sprang up in shock. Although he was still by the lake, his head spun as everything that had happened snapped back to him like a rubber band. It was a while before he could come up with a reasonable theory.

"That boy...was me...four years ago." He muttered. "Parallelmon....a Digimon who prowls through space and time. And through him, I met my past self. But I didn't remember it, did I? I must've thought it was a dream, but..."

Sekata flipped through his card deck.

"That 'dream', it was where I came up with my deck idea. That was why I really started playing and winning the card game!" Sekata whistled.

He reached down and found his Digivice had changed completely. Like Janet's, it had become a D-Dragon, appropriately shaped like a dragon's head. Only his was black in color with red eyes and teeth. With a satisfying click, it snapped nicely around the fist of his right hand.

"Fate...it's strange, isn't it?"