Ogremon stood on the edge of the cliff overlooking the vast sea of trees. It was night-time and the wind was just strong enough to whip through his hair without it being uncomfortable. He clutched his studded bone club in one hand with an almost lazy lop-sided grip. It was another beautiful night in the digital world. Heh, just so long as no one else knew that he liked to watch the stars at night. Now that would be a blow to his virus street-cred. He blamed it on Leomon. He must have fought him far too much, he'd spent too much time around him. He was starting to think like him. To think like a vaccine instead of a virus. A virus oughtn't enjoy sunsets and night skies. A virus ought to be intent on fighting and winning and growing stronger so that he could fight again. So he could Digivolve. Once, Ogremon had been like that, hadn't he? It had been so long ago now... it was hard to remember to tell the truth. Ogremon lived in the present, he didn't look back into the past very often. But he remembered it in a strange half-way. Not the actual events but the emotions, the feelings. He'd die before he admitted it to anyone else of course but he didn't like what little he did remember. He remembered the darkness. Of course, as a virus attribute Ogremon would be one of the first to admit that there was nothing actually wrong with darkness per-say but this particular darkness had been different. Then there was that whole mess that was his time with Devimon and...

Well, he preferred not to think about it if he were at all honest with himself. His life had changed so much in that short time. At first all he had been concerned about was growing stronger and defeating Leomon so that no one would ever stand in his way again. Of course, he still wanted to fight Leomon but it was for entirely different reasons. What these reasons were he wasn't too sure himself. Maybe it was just a left-over thing from his heritage as a virus. Maybe he just didn't like Leomon... but he doubted it. Because he did like Leomon. In a twisted, malformed way his rival was the closest friend he had ever had. The two had clashed more times than he could count. They new each other as only the truest rivals could. They'd weathered wounds and blows by each other's fists and they had even fought together on occasion. It was only lately that Ogremon was beginning to truly realise it, but there had never been any real malice in their fights. Not even when he worked for Devimon. It had always been more akin to a contest than a real life or death fight. The two of them warring as they had done countless times, improving their technique against each other. He'd even held off on a few death-blows in his time and he knew as a fact that Leomon had done the same. Nether of them had ever wanted their eternal war to end. Not really. It was like the two of them were connected; they had a destiny. To battle for all time. It was their purpose, the meaning of their lives. Ogremon had known that he would never delete Leomon and that Leomon would never delete him. There had been comfort in that. They had been rivals but he could never remember a point in time when he had thought of Leomon as ''enemy.'' The Ogremon code was very strict on that matter. Enemies were to be defeated and destroyed. Rivals were to be kept and treasured. You could tell the worth of a mon by his rivals. If it was true then Ogremon was very rich indeed. Leomon was the best rival he'd ever had. He had thought it was never going to end...

And then it had.

Leomon had been deleted while fighting MetalEtemon and he had been forced to stand by and watch. He still remembered the feeling of absolute helplessness. He'd tried to fight, he really had but MetalEtemon was a mega. Ogremon had been thrown aside, tossed around like he was nothing. Then, SabreLeomon had come and Ogremon remembered feeling excited by his oldest rival. The power that had body contained. Leomon had become a mega and if there was one thing that Ogremon knew it was that their powers had to be balanced against each other. Call it fate or destiny or whatever. The point was that ether SabreLeomon would cease to be or that Ogremon himself would become a mega. And Leomon would never let himself lose to a punk like MetalEtemon. Then Leomon's damn heart had got in his way and he'd jumped into the path of an attack aimed for one of the kids. Ogremon had been dumbstruck then. How could Leomon sacrifice his own life for that of a human? But then, he probably would have done the same wouldn't he? The Digi-Destined had helped him more than they knew. Mimi and Joe in particular. Joe who had healed him and Mimi who had believed in him. It was thanks to her sincerity that they had been able to gather their army to fight the last of the Dark Masters. Ogremon couldn't have admitted it to himself at that point but he probably would have done the same. Heh, that was all the proof he needed that Leomon had been rubbing off on him.

But then Leomon was deleted and he was alone. How could be describe the feeling? The isolation? He'd known for all his life that he and Leomon would wind up fighting for all eternity. They would ether die at the same time or not at all. Hell, he'd never even considered that Leomon would do something stupidly heroic and get himself deleted. And it was worse... Primary Village had been destroyed when Leomon was reconfigured so he couldn't simply be reborn. Ogremon had never felt so alone in hid life. He was purposeless, adrift in a harsh sea. What was the point in fighting any more? But then the Digi-Destined had wanted to go to Primary Village and Ogrmon simply had to go with them. At the time, he hadn't really known why. Now of course he knew. Leomon's spectre had been looking over his shoulder, and the Ogremon code required him to help those who had offered him aid...but he also did it on his own. He wanted to help the Digi-Destined. It had been one of those first steps on the road to what he was now. He'd looked at those two kids and their partners... and he had wondered what Leomon would do. But had he helped them because Leomon would have done it...or because he wanted to do it? At the start it was maybe because of Leomon but by the end of it it was because someone had to do it. With Mimi's sincerity and Joe's reliability he'd learned and eventually he'd stood by their side with all his heart. Cliché as it sounded. Just so long as no virus-attribute ever heard him say that of course. His rep would be ruined faster than you could say ''Devimon.''

Still; even though he had stood at the side of the Digi-Destined during the battle with the Dark Masters he had nevertheless felt...empty. Drained, ever since Leomon passed away. Heh, who ever thought that he would mourn that overgrown cat? But he did and he was still mourning him four years later. What was he for now? Why did he exist? He'd always known deep down that his purpose was to fight and defeat Leomon...

''Why? What will you do when you defeat Leomon?'' Echoed a voice from a time long ago. Back then, he had reacted with confusion. Leomon couldn't die, that would completely invalidate the whole thing! The point was the fight, not the conclusion. The fight could never end. It danced in his blood; it boiled in his soul. The fight was his purpose as much as it had once been Leomon's. But then, Leomon had chosen a new purpose hadn't he? He hadn't always been such a goody-goody. He'd always been a good guy, true enough. But he'd made a decision long ago to help those who needed it; he'd travelled the world and fought to free those kept in chains. He'd battled dark Digimon much stronger than he. He'd won a few, lost a few but he never ever gave up. Ogremon had always respected that about him. Now that he thought about it, there was a lot that he respected about Leomon. Too bad he didn't realise back when he was alive.

Of course, Leomon would be back. Eventually. But would he remember? Would he still even be a Leomon never-mind THE Leomon? Would their battle continue or would it wither away and die? He didn't know any of it. The thoughts had tormented him since Leomon passed away. Was he doomed to be like this forever? The soul survivor of a war that was never meant to end. Looking out over the trees, enshrouded in darkness. Never sure what to do, not even knowing what his life was for. He didn't want to be like that; he wanted a purpose. He had never had to search for one before. It had always been to defeat Leomon. Had always been so simple, laid out before him like a smooth road. Clear to see. Now...now he didn't know what he was supposed to be doing. In his darkest hour he had thought about letting himself be destroyed but some part of him at rebelled. That wasn't him. Ogremon was a fighter, a warrior. He would never just give up. Never surrender.

Suddenly, a fork of lightning split the sky apart. There was a booming roar of thunder. Raising his arm to shield his eyes, Ogremon peered down at the trees below. He could see the flying form of an Airdramon now. Cutting over the trees like a great flying serpent. Now what would he be doing here? Ogremon wondered. Airadramon usually kept to themselves; they had no reason to bother with places like this. He had a bad feeling about this.

The sky filled with the radiance of light once more, pulsing veins of energy ripping the clouds apart. Outlined against the sudden brilliance Ogremon spotted a figure on the ground. The trees swayed to and fro, and wouldn't have been able to see him if it weren't for the light. It was a small figure, An Elecmon or a Gotsumon and it was running as fast as it could. The Airdraon let loose a roar that seemed to split the sky and pressed on. Gaining on the smaller Digimon with each lazy beat of its great wings.

He frowned. Ogremon knew he shouldn't get involved. It wasn't his business. Airdramon was strong. Very strong. He didn't know if he could beat him and Airdramon was a vaccine-attribute putting him at an advantage over Ogremon. It wasn't his fight and there was a good chance that he would lose. He shouldn't get involved he didn't need to, hell maybe the little guy deserved it! But he felt bad even thinking that. Because Leomon watched him from across the gulf of time.

"Damn you, furball." He growled.

Gathering his energy, he leapt from the cliff trusting to his powerful muscles to protect him on impact. The tree whipped past him, welting his skin with their branches. But there was nothing too big and he landed on his feet. The fleeing Elecmon skidded to a stop as the massive green monster appeared in front of it. It looked terrified and tired. It was hurt, blood trickled from small wounds all over its body.

"H-help me." He gasped, weakly reaching for Ogremon.

Ogremon hauled him up and slung him over his shoulders like he was nothing. The little guy didn't weigh much. Ogremon wasn't even sure why he was doing this. Maybe helping people was a habit. It didn't much matter now anyway. He was committed and there was nothing for it but to continue.

" What happened to you." He hissed to the hurt Elecmon as he ran through the forest. Dodging between trees, he aimed for one of the lesser known paths that would take them to a series of caves.

" I don't know." The little guy replied. " We were just relaxing...and suddenly all these black rings come flying out of nowhere and it all went crazy." He started to sob softly. "I-I don't want to be like them!"

"You're not going to." Ogremon growled. Dark rings? He'd never heard of such a thing but it sounded bad. He'd need to get to the bottom of it. And he would, just as soon as he got this guy to safety.

Sprinting quickly, the sound of Airdramon fading into the background he made for the caves. He could let Elecmon rest there for a while and hide out until the Airdramon gave up. Then, he'd get in contact with a few old friends. Andromon would know what was going on.

Then things went from bad to worse. Springing out of the tree cover, intent on reaching the caves just to the north, he was thrown from his feet by a fiery explosion. Growling as he picked himself up, he looked around wild-eyed for an escape route. He way was blocked by three DarkTyrannomon. He stiffened. This did not look good... he was strong enough and skilled enough to take on one or maybe even two DarkTyrannomon but three at the same time was too much for even him. He could run but...

He wouldn't be able to take Elecmon with him, no time and he would slow him down. Once he would have gone without a thought. But now he simply cursed to himself took out his bone-club. This didn't look good.

But he wouldn't go down without a fight!

"Pummel Whack!"

The three DarkTyrannomon fired in sync, their blasts combing and forcing his own one back. Suddenly fighting a losing battle, he was forced to take a step back. Then another. The searing pain of their attacks drew closer, his own one fading. I just can't hold it...

In the instaint before his Pummel Whack collapsed completely he noted that each of the DarkTyrannomon bore a dark ring around their legs. Is this what Elecmon meant?

Then, there was pain. He roared, sliding across the ground, writhing, trying to stand. It was no good, he just didn't have the power. He tried to see if Elecmon had managed to crawl away, but he was still too badly injured.

No! I won't let it end like this!

As the DarkTyrannomon drew closer, Ogremon forced himself to stand on his own two feet once more. He looked into their eyes and saw no mercy there, no remorse. DarkTyrannomon didn't usually work together this well, something was controlling them...

" Damn it. I won't let it end like this."

" Fire Blast"

"Fire Blast"

"FIRE BLAAASSST!"

Three blazing orbs of fire rushed forwards to meet him and Ogremon knew his end was at hand. But the same part of him that had refused simply to lie down and die rose again,

" Pummel Whack!"

I could really use some help here. He thought desperately. To his surprise, his prayer was answered. A bulky figure surged from the trees, Ogremon realised he must have been tracking the Elecmon already.

And then, there was only light as the fires approached and he braced himself for his own destruction.

" FIST OF THE BEAST KING!"

And Ogremon knew hope.

The end...?

AN: This is a one-shot. Mostly it was centred on Ogremon himself however I did put a little action in there at the end. Hope you enjoyed it, if you're wondering about the cliffhanger its actually a lead-up to a new fic that I'm planning. Mostly it would be centred around Ogremon and Leomon in the Digital World during the Emperor's reign, trying to put right what is wrong etc. Drop a review and tell me if you think its a good idea... or simply drop a review and tell me if you loved the fic/hated it.

Remember, reviews are the natural food of the wild author! If you don't feed us, we starve to death!