A/N: This is an entry for Lunamew's Lopmon contest. I personally think that he, like Guardromon and MarineAngemon were overlooked at times, but since they and their Tamers were only secondary characters, it's understandable. I hope that you enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: Digimon is the property of Toei Animation and of Bandai.

Know Thyself

By Frozen Phoenix

As a digimon and as a Deva, I am one who firmly believes in the fickleness of fate. At this present time, my form is that of Lopmon, a Child Digimon, although months prior it was that of Antiramon, a Perfect. It was during that time, that I was honored with the duty of guarding the gateway leading to the inners sanctum of Zhuqiaomon-sama, one of the four Holy Beasts who protect the Digital World.

Zhuqiaomon-sama. Even thinking that great name demands profound respect. Aside from being one of the most powerful Digimon in existence, he was also the creator of the order of the Devas. Save for me, it was the duty of the Devas to protect the Digital World and to later venture to the world of humans and retrieve the Shining Evolution, who had been given the form of a Baby II Digimon called Culumon.

But this task did not come without altercations. In what the humans refer to as the Real World, most of my brethren fell at the hands of children known as Tamers. But these children alone were not the complete source of the decimation of the Devas. The Tamers had digimon companions of their own and together they slaughtered most of my kind.

But no situation is without its dual sides. Zhuqiaomon-sama holds an intense loathing for humans, a hatred that was passed down to many of his servants. The methods the other Devas used in order to apprehend Culumon were not always noble or kind, but with the advancement of D-Reaper in the Digital World, desperate measures were undertaken.

There are times that I wonder how those I considered my brothers and sister fare. What infuriated Zhuqiaomon-sama the most was how the Tamers did not absorb the data they had reduced his servants to. By not doing so, the other Devas, Vajramon, Pajiramon, Khumbiramon, Sandiramon, Mihiramon, Indaramon, Sinduramon, and Vikaralamon were sentenced to oblivion. But I think that if the Tamers knew what a large impact the absorption of data has upon the deleting digimon, they would not have acted as such.

You must still wonder what I meant when I said that fate was fickle, and now the time comes for my explanation. Though I am not a talkative digimon by nature, preferring observation to discussion, this explanation I will gladly share with you.

It all begins with Makuramon. While I hold deep respect for the rest of my kind, he is a blatant exception. His uses of cunning and deceit are not original, and yet he believed that his guile granted him the excuse of acting as he saw fit. And ironically, when challenged, his excessive pride gave way to an even deeper cowardice.

When a lone human child, the one who would change my life forever, accidentally wandered into Zhuqiaomon's realm, the monkey sought to bring her to him, scrounging for some type of favor. He cared nothing for her, despite knowing that Zhuqiaomon-sama would smite her down for her indiscretion.

It was something that I could not allow. Before encountering Makuramon, the human, a young girl encountered me while I stood guarding the Southern Gate. Her reaction was very extraordinary to me, because as Antiramon I am a far more intimidating rabbit and yet she showed no fear of me.

She immediately grew attached to me, regardless of my attempts to ignore her and finally, in order to be rid of her, I spent the afternoon humoring her. We engaged in activities that she referred to as "play" until I had almost completely wore myself out.

And that was when I took advantage of her distraction to leave her. Though I did not wish to do so, I was still the servant of Zhuqiaomon and still had my duty. That was when Makuramon took advantage of my absence and tried to take the child. Unwilling to see her harmed, I fought him. And when it became clear that I had the advantage, he fled, leaving the child once again in my protection.

For a human child, I had chosen to stand against my kind and my god and was as a result punished. When the child's, whom I came to know as Lee Shuichon, brother Jenrya, his dog Digimon Terriermon and fellow Tamer Takato and his dinosaur Digimon Guilmon arrived, Zhuqiaomon-sama stripped me of my power and my title as a Deva, but left me with my life, which despite his aloof personality, was a sign of his mercy, even to one who had betrayed him.

From that day on, I became partners with Shuichon and faced Zhuqiaomon-sama with the other Tamers and only an intervention from the Eastern Beast Qinglongmon saved all of us from destruction. And after an encounter with D-Reaper, we left the Digital World, and I entered the Real World for the first time.

It was a strange place, and it was there that I learned of Shuichon's penchant for dressing my twin Terriermon and myself in strange feminine clothing. But during D-Reaper's attacks, things became far more serious, for it was not only the Digital World in danger, but the Real World as well.

All of the Tamers did their parts, but while Shuichon was young and I powerless, we rarely had a chance to do much. But during an attempt to rescue the human Katou Juri, who had been kidnapped by D-Reaper, Shuichon used "Card Slash." Which enabled me to evolve back to Antiramon and the card she used, a "Queen Device" gave me a boost in power.

I was able to intervene and help the Tamers when they were under attack from D-Reaper's agents and it was I who first noticed when Beelzebumon, the Ultimate Digimon who killed Juri's partner Leomon and Culumon were pulled inside the D-Reaper's core.

It was in there that the real battle to rescue Juri took place, with the Tamers, Takato, Jenrya, Makino Ruki and Akiyama Ryou and their digimon all evolved to their Ultimate levels fighting against almost impossible odds to save their friend.

But in the end, they succeeded, with help from MarineAngemon, his Tamer Kenta, Hirokazu, his partner Guadromon and Shuichon and I. We exited the dying D-Reaper with victory, but it was to be short lived.

After our departure from D-Reaper, we reappeared in the park, the place that the Tamers had traveled to the Digital World from. And it was then that something odd began to happen. The other Digimon and myself began to loose our power and de-evolve to our Baby II forms. And when we de-evolved, a gateway back to the  Digital World opened and began to draw us inside of it.

Shuichon was terribly upset, as were the other Tamers at our departure. And even I, the former Deva, loathed the thought of leaving the little girl who had become not only my partner, but also my friend.

So now I wait. The Digital World was deeply scarred from D-Reaper's power and the battles that we waged against it and the four Holy Beasts are doing all they can to restore it. The other Digimon share my longing to return to the Real World, even the irascible Impmon, though he tries to deny it.

But I do believe that we will return. Perhaps not immediately, but soon. Soon I will see my Shuichon once again.

~The End~