Foreshadows

by Chris Magician

With a deadly time limit looming overhead, the Digi-Destined search for light in the darkness. Their enemy has finally showed himself, but a little while remains to cherish their time with each other.

"I see the bad moon arising.
I see trouble on the way.
I see earthquakes and lightnin'.
I see bad times today.

Hope you got your things together.
Hope you are quite prepared to die.
Looks like we're in for nasty weather.
One eye is taken for an eye."

-Credence Clearwater Revival-

"Safe and sound, don't make a sound

Look up at the sky shit's going down.

I heard a bang, and stars collided."

-Eve6-

The dark symphony in Devyn's mind had reached its peak. Every note, every solitary tone, was held at a crescendo of impossible proportions. His mind felt like a part of the music, stretched across it as tightly as the drawn string of a bow. Although he wasn't aware of it, adrenaline was pouring through his body, and when he returned to it he would find his clothing soaked with the sweat of rapturous excitement. Twilight was coming for this world, his world, and the thought thrilled him beyond belief.

At an unspoken, unheard command, every instrument in his mind's orchestra dropped away but one; the quavering song of a single violin. His consciousness flowed around the sound like black water, and he let himself become a part of it. Now he and the melody were single entity. Then, with a wrench, he tore the sound of the violin from himself and cast it into an infinite darkness. He listened as its tremulous song faded, became indistinct, and ultimately vanished. He was satisfied.

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

Sora wondered if she had to get up, then remembered that she was falling to her death and didn't have to. With this in mind, she turned back over and pulled the blankets closer under her chin. Then it hit her: falling to her death. She jerked up, head whipping violently around the room, almost screaming. She wasn't falling. No ground was rushing toward her, no desert sand or white clouds to be seen. There was sunlight streaming through a nearby window, but she was undoubtedly inside. In bed, to be more specific.

"Gennai's room," she thought, trying to will her heart back into her chest. "What happened?" Pushing the blankets off, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and tried to get her thoughts together. If she was back at Gennai's house, then she definitely wasn't dead. Unless she was dead, and this was Heaven. Although she had always imagined Heaven being a bit whiter…but she didn't seem to be in the afterlife, and, looking herself over, she realized she had the bruises to prove it. That crash must have been worse than she'd thought.

"The crash," she thought suddenly. "Biyomon." She practically launched herself from the bed, dashed across the floor, and threw the door open. This happened to be bad for Tai, who had been about to come inside. It caught him cleanly alongside the head, and he plopped down on the carpet in a daze.

"Tai!" Sora cried, dropping down beside him. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" Tai's head lolled around crazily for a moment. "Hey, say something! Do you know who you are?"

"Yeah," Tai said slowly. "I'm the real Slim Shady!" Sora stared at him dumbly for a moment, then she slapped him on the arm.

"That was so mean! I really don't need any more stress right now, and you," Tai gave a lazy grin, "aren't helping.

"I'm fine. But," he said, standing and brushing himself off, "are you okay? Birdramon brought you--"

"Birdramon?" Sora blurted. "You mean she's alive?" Tai frowned.

"Of course she's alive. She's still in her Metal form, which is kind of inconvenient since she's pacing, but she's definitely alive." Sora breathed a sigh of relief, and heard Tai add quietly, "Second annoying bird this week…stupid chicken."

"I didn't know," said Sora, "I was so sure she was dead for a while. After we crashed…"

She trailed off, and Tai stayed silent for a moment. Then he said, "You crashed? Birdramon didn't remember much, so she couldn't tell us what happened."

"Yes, we crashed out in the desert. We were following the search pattern Gennai mapped out, and we got this message from…someone."

"Someone?" Tai asked. "Who 'someone'?"

"He was…" she paused.

"What's wrong?"

"I-I can't remember him. I saw him three times, once in Birdramon before we went down, then a little later. I was locked in a stone room, and he let me out. I got a good look at him both times, and I saw him again one more time, but…I can't remember what he looked like." Tai opened his mouth to say something, then stopped.

"What?" Sora asked.

"I was going to ask if there was another person, but I can't think why there would be."

"Another person?"

Tai nodded. "Yeah. This is going to sound a little weird, but did he have a spider with him? A Digimon, I mean." Sora's eyes widened.

"Yes," she whispered, "he did."

"Hmm. This is getting suspicious."

"What are you talking about, Tai?" she demanded, frowning.

"I'll tell you later. But for right now, can you go and talk to your stupid Digimon? She's been pacing around like a nut since she brought you back, and Retailmon finally had to make her go outside since she was making such a mess. You'd be amazed how many things a big metal bird can step on without realizing it." Sora grinned at the thought of her friend walking around Gennai's yard.

"I'll go calm her down then. But before I go, what was that about a chicken?" Tai sighed.

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

"Space," thought Gendamon, staring at the night sky, "is much to big to just be sitting there like that. It should be doing something, not just hanging over my head." A moment after thinking this, he wondered if he should go lie down since it made very little sense. Deciding to go with a deep sigh instead, he watched for a shooting star. Humans wished on shooting stars, he remembered. Or at least, that was what Devyn had told him. When he had asked how Devyn knew so much about humans, the man had only laughed.

"It's not important," he had said. "Let's just say that I've had a long time to watch the both worlds, and I know how humans behave. They're very odd creatures, Gendamon. Did you know that?" Gendamon had said no. "Very odd. They fight and kill each other over petty things, and later try and pretend it didn't happen. They claim to have morals and ethics, but they constantly break their own laws. Many of them are miserable, and for ridiculous reasons. I whiled away numerous hours trying to figure out how their brains work, but I finally gave it up."

A bright streak slipped across the sky, and Gendamon's four eyes traced its path. There it was, but what wish should he make? For success? That wasn't easy; he wasn't entirely sure what the plan was. Devyn referred to it often, speaking of it as if it were a child at times, a weapon at others, but always proudly. Or maybe wish for power…after his failure to transform at the critical moment, Gendamon had felt abnormally shy about even approaching the dark man. He hadn't been able to explain why he couldn't do it, and that had been the hard part. Devyn had questioned him later the same day, and had just glared coldly when Gendamon's only reply had been, "I don't know."

So much had happened over the last few days…and he had only hidden in shame. He didn't know if Devyn would ever forgive him, or even still allow him to be a part of the plan. The Digi-Destined were finally involved, and everything was coming together so fast. What role, if any, would belong to him now?

"So many thoughts, and so many possibilities," thought the spider sadly. "I can't even make a childish wish on a star. What right do I have to be serving someone like Devyn?" He couldn't find the answer, and he shouted it out to the darkened sky. "What right do I have?!"

"Every right," said Devyn's voice from behind him. Gendamon whirled around in surprise, his claws clinking on the metal ground. Devyn came striding toward him from seemingly nowhere, and his luminescent green eyes flashed in the night's blackness. "Never question yourself, my friend. You're not a slave, and you're not my servant. You are my equal, my partner, and my counterpart. Without you, my plan would never have begun, and it could have no hope of reaching an end. Always remain confident of your abilities, for I know what you are capable of, even when you do not. And above all, always have faith. Have faith in anything you believe, and always in yourself." Gendamon's mouth hung open slightly, his mind reeling at this speech.

"But…but I thought you were angry with me," he said finally. Devyn laughed aloud.

"No, of course not. Where would you get that idea?" Gendamon blushed hotly under his matted black fur.

"When I couldn't change to destroy the girl…and I hid. When you needed me, I hid."

"Minor details. The girl will come into our grasp in good time. And as for your disappearance, think nothing more of it. The fact you couldn't change was no fault of your own, and you have your own mind to conquer, my good spider. I need you at your peak, and I believe your withdrawal provided the time you needed to reach it. We have much more important things to think of now, you and I. Fantastic things await the two of us, Gendamon, and I know where we should go to find them." He turned, pausing to look back at the spider. "Come with me," he said, "and I will take you to a place that will change everything you believe."

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

A forty foot metal bird pacing anxiously across a lake's shore wasn't something most people got to see, but Sora was treated to that exact sight when she emerged from the path leading to Gennai's house. Birdramon's immense weight had worn a deep rut in the ground, almost deep enough to qualify, thought Sora, as a really big hole. She was feelingly oddly giddy, probably caused by the fact that she was NOT dead, and neither was her Digimon. Birdramon also seemed profoundly relieved to see Sora alive since she came running toward her, shaking the ground and knocking over only a half-dozen small trees in the process.

"I'm so glad to see you!" the monster bellowed, trying to figure out a way to hug the girl without crushing her. She finally gave up, and Sora hugged her, or rather her leg, instead. "I thought you were in a comb!"

"I think you mean a coma," laughed Sora. "But no, I'm not." She stared admiringly at the Digimon, gladder than ever to see her. Not only had she rescued Sora from a death in the desert, but she had come out of it looking very nice.

Birdramon's Metal form had two different modes it could take. The first was looked more like a Metal version of Garudamon than Birdramon, but it was still pretty impressive. Huge silver wings raked out from her back, consisting of what looked like thick pipes and covered with feather patterns. Red missiles lined the tips of her wings, as well as sharp blades. He torso was shaped to look almost as if she was wearing a vest, as there was a large black 'V' shape on it. Directly molded into her chest was a transparent red hemisphere, rather like a gem. Vents and grates were placed at various points all over her body. He arms and legs remained largely the same, save that they were whitish metal. He head was shaped to look as if she were wearing a crown of sorts, and her face was decorated with striking red patterns. The second mode was somewhat less impressive, looking mostly like a silver fighter jet.

After a few more minutes of simply being insanely glad to see each other alive, Sora put on a 'serious face'.

"Birdramon," she said, "I need to ask you a question." Birdramon looked expectantly at her. "In the desert, right before we went down, did someone contact you? A man?"

"A man?" asked Birdramon, slightly confused. "No, it was only the two of us. But…"

"What?" said Sora hurriedly.

"There was someone else there. I don't know who, and I don't know how he was there, but I think you're right. There was somebody else with us." A hush fell over them, and a chill ran down Sora's back. She had seen the man with her own eyes, three times! Why couldn't she remember what he looked like? She sighed in exasperation.

"So what do we do now?" she asked no one in particular.

"You help me carry this lettuce!" said a somewhat muffled voice from behind her. Sora turned and saw a person staggering under the weight of what indeed seemed to be multiple oversized heads of lettuce. From the pink dress that was only barely visible beneath the mound of vegetables, Sora guessed it was Mimi. She leapt over to help, and they managed to set the food down without dropping too much of it. Mimi gave a sigh of relief and brushed herself off.

"Thank goodness that's over with! You'd think Tai could come out and help, but no, he's got to stay and take care of things at the house. (As if there were anything to do there but sit around!) Can't help me carry the heavy lettuce Retailmon just has to have, can he? Can't buy a salad, can he? Nope, he--" She stopped midstream. "Sora! You're awake!" Muffling a laugh at her friend's antics, Sora nodded and was caught only slightly off guard when Mimi wrapped her in a smothering bear hug. "I didn't think you were ever going to wake up! I'm so glad you're not dead! Did Tai take good care of you? Should I beat him up again? I wouldn't mind! And most importantly, what in the world are you wearing?" Sora hadn't quite noticed this last item herself until just then. Someone had thoughtfully changed her clothes, and she was wearing what seemed to be Matt's tank top, which hung off her, and an old pair of sweat pants.

"Poor Sora, you're a fashion nightmare! What am I going to do? Quick, we can't let anyone see you looking like this!" Unable to decide whether to laugh or protest, Sora decided to stay quiet and was content to let Mimi lead her back down the steps, still talking about how she looked like a refugee from a bad eighties music video.

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

A twisting mountain path wasn't where Gendamon had planned to be tonight, but his curiosity got the better of him. Devyn led the way, lighting their path with nothing but the moon and the green glow of his eyes. The moon did its best to shine, but was often cut off by something in the sky that, for all intents and purposes, should not have been there. However, it occasionally found an angle that let its cold light through, and cast a frigid glow across the silent world.

Time had been lost in the stillness of night, and Gendamon couldn't tell if it had been hours, days, or only minutes since they had left. Everything had taken on a surreal, misty quality, and it was impossible to judge the passage of time.

"Here," he heard Devyn whisper suddenly. "This is it." The path took one last sharp curve then gave itself in to, surprisingly, a grassy slope. It was like magic; the harsh brown stone ended, and soft green took its place.

"Where is here?" Gendamon asked when he finally found his voice.

"Somewhere very, very old. A place…I know well." The moon broke once more from behind its barrier, flooding what the spider now realized was a valley, with frosty blue light. A few hundred yards further on, white structures loomed. They were clearly ancient, for the marble they had been built of was cracked and dilapidated in many places. Pillars had fallen over one another, and many of the bases they had stood on had crumbled to rubble.

"It's a city," Gendamon said in awe. "An entire city, just stuck between two mountains." He looked up to Devyn, who was staring at the ruins in a pensive manner. "Who built it, Devyn? Why is it here?"

There was a long silence.

"They were artists," said the man finally. His voice had taken on a distant quality, laced with sadness, but also something that might have been contempt. Or hatred. " Builders. Humans." Gendamon's eyes widened in fascination.

"There were humans in the Digital World? How?"

"The humans in the Real World created our world," he said. "Any creator puts some of themselves into what they build…this was only a more literal sense. In playing God, they recreated themselves without ever knowing why, or how, or even knowing these new beings existed. But the humans of the Real World had no idea what they were making. Unknowingly, and perhaps unwillingly, they cast into life an entirely new reality inside what they called computers. Machines to make their lives easier, and eventually playthings. A form of entertainment."

He shifted his gaze to the spider.

"Did you know that, Gendamon? Humans created you, yet they have no idea you exist. The only humans ever to live here vanished long ago."

"Were you created by humans too?" Gendamon asked cautiously. Their conversation, like the night itself, had taken on an unreal quality

Another long silence filled the air, and the spider noticed in astonishment that Devyn's hands had clenched into fists. His nails were digging into his palms, and dark blood was dripping onto the ground.

"Yes," he whispered. "I was created by humans as well." He whirled around, long black cloak flying behind him, and when his eyes met Gendamon's the spider he felt as if had been struck by lightning. Never before had he seen such raw intensity in one expression, such anger, hate, remorse, and shame.

"I was made by humans," he spat. "The bastard child of an unwilling father. First revered, then feared, then despised. That is why I have returned," he said, "to collect the dues brought forth from the shadows by my parents. I will make them pay for what they did to me, for what they stole from me. And make no mistake…" his eyes pulsed with an unearthly, hellish light, "…the cost will be great indeed."

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

Sora emerged from Gennai's bedroom once more, rubbing her hair dry with a towel borrowed from the house's one bathroom. She was dressed once again in her own clothes, and was now full of questions. She hadn't thought much about it at first, but during the hot, refreshing shower she had just finished she'd begun to wonder where the other kids had gone. Biyomon had been first on her mind, and since that had been dealt with she could look to other matters.

Entering the kitchen, she was mildly amused by the thought that it could have been a scene from a sitcom, if sitcoms featured monsters from alternate dimensions. Both Tai and Mimi were seated at the kitchen table, Digimon beside them. Tai was eating, to Sora's distaste, from a can of Spam, and Agumon was reading A Midsummer Night's Dream. Mimi and Palmon were playing tic-tac-toe on a sheet of blank white paper. She sighed with new appreciation for her friends. A near-death experience certainly made you appreciate what you had, even if it wasn't a lot.

Tai looked up from his grisly feast and gave her a wave. He swallowed and said, "Hey, come on in. You look like yourself again!"

"What light from yonder living room breaks?" Agumon put in. He looked around expectantly.

"What the heck was that?" Tai asked after a short silence. Agumon gave a disgusted snort.

"That," he said indignantly, "was literature." Tai rolled his eyes, and Sora muffled her laugh.

"You've been hanging around Tentomon waaay too much," he said. Sora pulled a chair out and sat down across from Tai. He held up the half-eaten can of Spam. "Want some?" She swallowed.

"Um, nah. You enjoy it." He shrugged and dug back in. Sora watched for a moment, then asked, "Tai, where is everyone? Did they find anything? Or are they still out scouting? And where's Gennai? And where are my Digivice and crest? And--"

"Don't ask him too many questions," Mimi warned. "You'll short his brain out and he'll go into vapor lock." Tai shot her a dirty look, but otherwise ignored her.

Turning back to Sora, he said, "Well, I guess I should start from the beginning, because you probably won't believe me if I tell you what's happened so far." She gave him derisive expression.

"Tai, have you forgotten where we are? I'll believe anything."

"Well," said Tai, "as far as where everyone else is, believe it or not, they're shopping." Sora blinked and gave a short, surprised laugh.

"Shopping? As in 'La-dee-da, we're out buying things?' That kind of shopping?" Tai rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Yep, that's the one. I have no idea where they went for it, but Retailmon said he knew a place."

There was a short silence, and Sora prompted, "And they're shopping for…?"

"Oh, right. Party supplies." At her disbelieving look, he added, "Seriously! No joke!"

"So we're having a party? In the midst of our epic monster hunt, we're dropping everything and having a kegger." Tai nodded, looking a bit sheepish.

"Well, yeah. It was actually my idea." He paused. "Wish I'd thought to tell them to get some kegs. And by the way…"

"What?"

"Well, the monster hunt is over. See, we kinda found it."

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

"So much has occurred, Gendamon," said Devyn. His voice was trembling with energy, and the air around him seemed to tingle with his exuberance. The blind fury he had displayed at the ruins had slowly given way to excitement, then finally uncanny enthusiasm. Gendamon couldn't help but be infected with it, and he was following Devyn eagerly across the command room, afraid to miss a single word. "The final hour will soon become the present, and our destiny will rise to meet us." He stopped at one of the keypads and began to press buttons rapidly. "Your absence, necessary though it might have been, did keep you from seeing a great deal, but that isn't a problem. I have all the time in the world to show you what you need to see."

He tapped on final key, then stepped back as the wall began to split in half. Gendamon watched with fascination as the entire room opened like one gigantic sliding door, exposing another chamber in the depths beyond. Murky yellow light filtered down from the ceiling, and the spider could only just make out the shapes inside. They appeared to be tanks of some sort lining the back wall. Five large ones, from what he could tell, and innumerable smaller ones stacked against the other sides of the chamber. Devyn threw his arms out grandly, and walk forward with his coat sweeping behind him. Gendamon scrambled after him. Reaching the back of the room, Devyn halted, arms still outstretched, and ran his had along the surface of the largest of the five main tanks. The gesture was strange and sentimental, almost like a blessing. He turned and faced the spider.

"Humans," he said, "believe in a supreme being, an all-powerful force to help and guide them, and, at times, to punish them." Smiled darkly, silvery skin catching the dim light in every crease. "I rather like the idea, to tell you the truth. However, I don't plan on playing to any god's whim. I forge my own fate, and my destiny is what I make it. And with that in mind, I made these." He raised his hand to the cylinders against the granite wall, and Gendamon could just trace the outline of something inside it. "One god isn't enough to serve me, my friend. So I created five."

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

Sora stared for a long moment, trying to get a grip on what Tai had just said. Over? They had found the monster? Was it the spider they all seemed to have seen? Or was it something she hadn't even encountered yet? She asked, and he shook his head.

"No, it wasn't the spider. I haven't even seen the spider since he stole my chicken, as a matter of fact." He fell silent, and Sora sighed with exasperation.

"Well? Don't just leave me hanging, Tai. In case you'd forgotten, I am still recovering for a near-death experience. I could keel over at any moment if you put too much strain on me." Tai got an oddly frustrated look, as if he were trying to write a poem but just couldn't get the words right. She guessed he was trying to think of how to tell her whatever the news was. But the thought conjured up a mental image of him chewing pensively on a pencil, which made her laugh at just the wrong moment. He looked at her evenly as she tried to regain her composure.

"Did I miss a joke?" She shook her head, trying desperately to stop giggling. "Um, okay. Look, the whole monster thing is a really long story, but it'll explain everything, including why we're having a party tomorrow night. Let's go in the other room and I'll tell you what's happened while you've been snoozing."

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

Staring at the tanks lining the wall, Gendamon's mind was struck with a myriad of thoughts. While he knew Devyn was only speaking metaphorically about creating gods, he was confused as to why the dark man would even need help. Wasn't he enough? Between the two of them, not to mention what Devyn had torn from the desert, they had more than enough power to handle anything, or so he had believed. He asked, and was rewarded with a good-natured laugh.

"Well, you can't be too careful, what with those Digi-Destined running about and spontaneously saving things. I'd rather be over-prepared then caught unawares, wouldn't you?" Gendamon had to agree. He turned his four eyes back to the glass again, and realized all at once that two of the large tanks were empty, save for a rippling blue fluid.

"What about those?" he asked, gesturing. Devyn smiled, and the shadows played across his silvery skin dramatically.

"That was yet another delightful moment you were deprived of during your sabbatical," he said. "While you were away, circumstances forced me to awaken two of the gods slightly sooner than planned. However, they still performed admirably, and I was even able to make a cosmetic improvement to one while I was at it." He paused, then asked, "Would you like to meet them?"

"The gods?" Gendamon asked, incredulous. Devyn nodded.

"Indeed. I think you'll be most pleased with them, my dear spider. They wrought considerable havoc, make no mistake. Worthy of yourself, I daresay." Flattery was not lost on the monster, and he flushed under his fur. Turning away, Devyn barked out two quick sentences. They were hoarse and guttural, no language the spider had ever heard. He wondered if they were something older, something that only someone as ancient as Devyn had professed to be could know.

From the opposite side of the room, two forms moved forth from the shadows, pulling forth from the blackness as if it were hot wax. As they approached, the spider was able to see that both were humanoid, and clearly some type of Digimon. They stopped a few feet away, and Devyn swung around and faced his friend.

"The first of the five gods," he proclaimed, almost as if he were showing off a prize. The taller of the two, a hulking, massive slab of muscle and fur, let out a snort. "Taromon," said Devyn. "Created, ironically, from one of the bodies I rejected. You might remember it." Gendamon did.

Taromon was enormous, nine feet tall if he was an inch. Looking him over, Gendamon realized he had been wrong in thinking he was humanoid. The monster's lower half was that of a black-furred Brahma bull, complete with a swishing tail and a collection of flies. From the waist up was a human's body, bulging with muscle in every possible location. Tattoos in the Digital World's code ran in circles on his huge arms, as well as on a thick gold collar that appeared to be riveted to his neck. It struck Gendamon as odd that such a heavy piece of armor would be worn around the beast's throat when the rest of his body was unprotected, but he decided not to ask about it. Hooves as big as one's entire body, coupled with a face that looked less than amiable, encouraged silence. Above the collar, the bullish look resumed, as Taromon had a short snout with a nose ring and enormous, curving horns. His eyes were dark, watery brown, and his teeth were constantly bared.

"Not much of a conversationalist," Devyn admitted, "but a fighter who, so far, seems to have no equal."

"And him?" Gendamon asked, looking up at the other figure. Devyn gave a nasty smirk.

"I'm rather proud of him, actually. In a way, his creation was an ode to my resurrector." He waved a hand, signaling Gendamon not to ask. "Don't trouble yourself with it; it was only whimsy. His name is Rictusmon. He's made from a few choice monsters, all of which came together into the stuff of nightmares."

Looking over the newcomer, Gendamon had to agree. While Taromon was physically imposing, Rictusmon sent a chill down his spine better than any combination of nails and chalkboard could ever hope to accomplish. His face was narrow with bone-white skin, nose long and pointed. He had reflective red eyes that bulged slightly, and stole whatever light came close enough to them. A black hat silhouetted his face under a shroud of shadows, and he wore a long cloak that hid the rest of him from view. But all else was forgotten when eyes were laid on his mouth. It was bent upward in a permanent, wicked smile, ear-to-ear and made up of dozens of needle-like teeth. He looked the bogeyman after a short vacation in a satanic dentist's chair.

"He's not so much of the offensive type like our bovine companion," said Devyn, giving Taromon a slap on the flank (Taromon gave another snort at this), "but more along the lines of germ warfare. It's rather hard to explain without seeing it firsthand, but that will come in time. Forty hours, to be precise."

"Forty hours? What happens then?" Once more, Devyn's unpleasant smirk showed itself.

"That is the exact moment when the Digi-Destined will begin to discover just how unpleasant fate can be."

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

Sora leaned against the wall and let out a long, slow sigh. She was finally feeling relaxed, and although he insisted current situations were extremely serious, Tai seemed to be as well. Both of them, along with Mimi and their two Digimon, all found a spot on the thick carpet in Gennai's living room to settle down on.

"So," said Sora, "let's hear the history of the past two days. I don't think I can take the anticipation much longer." It came off dryly, but she meant what she said.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather have me tell it?" Mimi asked sweetly. "I think Tai's hair attracts static electricity, and it might have messed his memory up." Sora expected Tai to snap back a response, but he just looked at the girl in pink quizzically.

"Have you been getting enough fiber lately?" he asked. "I hear that can cause irritability."

"If it can also cause stupidity, then I think that's more your problem."

"That time of month, eh, Mimi?"

"Why you--!" Mimi started to launch herself, but Agumon and Palmon jumped between them, and Sora scooted along the carpet and grabbed them by the shoulders.

"Will both of you just grow up? If we're in as much trouble as you've been saying, then I hardly think this is the best time to be fighting like little kids." The two relented and went back to their respective seats, but not without a few malicious glares.

"So anyway," said Tai, "a lot has happened. I've gotten the stories from everyone else, so I can pretty much tell it all myself now, but I'll start with me."

"Big surprise, Tai wants to talk about himself," Mimi muttered. He ignored her and continued.

"It was about ten o'clock on the day Birdramon rescued you," he said. "You and her were both missing at the time, and we were all out monster-hunting and looking for you. I was up in a mountain range with Kari and Gatomon…"

"I was there too," Agumon added.

"Right, right. Now don't interrupt my flashback."

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

Tuesday, 10:00 AM

Unexpectedly, the ground under Kari's feet began to shake. It was only a light tremor to start, but it rapidly grew into a full-fledged earthquake. She looked frantically around for her brother, calling his name.

"Tai! Tai, help!" Boulders from the cliffs overhead began to dislodge themselves, and the girl was thrown violently to the ground. As it turned out, she had been lucky, as a massive chunk of granite smashed into the spot she had been standing a moment earlier. Tai vaulted over a sharp ridge just a second after and scooped her up and into Gatomon, who was waiting in her Metal vehicle form.

"Go!" he shouted, and the monster needed no further encouragement. Tires squealing, she roared down the winding path and back down to the green earth below. They got a safe distance from the falling stones, but the shaking ground couldn't be escaped so easily.

"What's going on?" Gatomon demanded, finally grinding to a halt. "One minute there's birds chirping all over the place, and the next they've been flattened by falling rocks!"

"I have no idea," said Tai, looking around. He wasn't sure what he was trying to find, but he had a feeling he'd know it when he saw it. "I'm betting there aren't many earthquakes in the Digi-World?"

"No! Hardly ever, and never like this!" Their conversation abruptly ended when Gatomon had to accelerate again to avoid falling into an abyss that had begun to open only a few yards away. Once they stopped again, she said, "So what do we do? It's probably not much safer back at Gennai's house, and--"

"No!" Kari gasped suddenly. Tai looked down at her, and was shocked to see all the color had drained from her face. She looked up at him, deathly pale and shaking like a leaf. He moved quickly over to her, pulling her against him.

"What is it?" he asked. "What's going on? Is something coming?" Adrenaline was pumping through his system like it was coming from a fire hose. He had a feeling that things were about to hit the fan.

She looked around wildly. "Coming…yes! We, we need to find the others! We're not safe by ourselves!" There was terrified desperation in her voice.

"Okay, okay!" said Tai, trying hard to sound calm. He reached into a backpack he had been wearing and pulled out a gray laptop and flung the top up. "Um, okay. Uh…dammit! How do you turn this stupid thing on?!"

Agumon tapped a button marked 'Power' and Kari absently remarked, "Mom doesn't like it when you use words like that." Tai ignored her and guided his pointer to a folder holding an instant messaging program.

"Okay," he said to himself, "think! Who's out there? Um, Izzy, Joe, and Mimi, right." He clicked on Izzy's name and sent a single line of text: Where are you guys?

The reply came back quickly: Found something in the woods. Checking it out.

What kind of something? Tai sent back.

Some kind of metal pipe. Looks like silver. Joe's following it back.

Back? Back where? Tai wondered. He typed the question.

Out to the desert. Meet you later?

No, Tai typed, have to meet now. Kari's getting something, she's all weirded out. Need to stay together. Get Matt out here and call Joe back. All of us meet at edge of forest. Izzy confirmed, and Tai closed the computer. "Gatomon," he said, "head for the end of the woods. We need to regroup." She said nothing. "Gatomon, what's--" his sentence trailed off as he saw Kari staring into the sky. He hadn't noticed, but it had been growing progressively darker, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. He followed his sister's gaze, and his throat went dry. For a few minutes, he said words that would have had his mother in conniptions.

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

Tuesday, 10:22 AM

"What was that all about?" asked Mimi. Izzy closed his much-loved computer and shook his head.

"I'm not sure, but Kari's sixth sense is acting up again. Tai said she thinks something big is about to happen, and he wants us to regroup at the edge of the woods." He looked down at the metal pipe longingly, wishing they could follow it to the end. His mind was roaring, desperate for the knowledge of what it was, and why it was so carefully placed. After Joe and Gomamon left, Izzy had used his computer to trace the path of the pipe. With Togemon's help, they unearthed it in several more places and were surprised to find that it wasn't just one pipe, as it had first seemed. Instead, it branched out in every direction and unexpectedly ended under most of the forest's larger trees. The roots had been enveloped into the silvery metal. Experimentally, Izzy chipped away some bark from one large pine tree, and jumped back in alarm when, instead of sap, it oozed something that looked like mercury. At this point, he himself would have told Tai that something was up. Hearing it from Kari only made him surer.

"That sixth sense," Mimi sighed. "Why can't it ever mean anything good, like a sale or something? It's always when someone is in trouble, or when something bad is about to happen."

"Even if it was a sale-sense, it's not like there would be anywhere to shop." Togemon folded down into her drilling tank mode, and the humans clambered in, followed by Tentomon. "Okay, head for the edge of the woods, Togemon," said Izzy.

"Something's about to happen, isn't it?" Tentomon asked.

"It sure seems that way," Izzy murmured, tapping at his keyboard. He was trying to get Joe to respond to messages sent over their computer link, but instead he kept getting an annoying message Retailmon had installed, a pair of dancing bears holding a 'Please try again' sign.

"I wonder," said the Digimon tensely, "if we've even been looking for the right thing."

Izzy was silent, wrapped up in his work, but Mimi asked, "What do you mean? We were trying to find the monster that killed Myotismon."

"Yes," agreed Tentomon, "but what if it isn't even a monster? What if finding Myotismon's skeleton was just foreshadowing?" Mimi frowned and asked what that was. Despite the seriousness of the conversation, Tentomon was only too glad to show off his knowledge. "Foreshadowing is a literary tool, used extensively in Shakespeare." She groaned inwardly when he mentioned the author. The only thing worse than a know-it-all was a know it all who loved the sound of his own voice, and Tentomon had become both since discovering Shakespeare. "It involves the use of textual subtleties to hint at what will happen later in the book."

"So you mean," Mimi asked thoughtfully, "that when we found Myotismon, it might have been a hint that something bad was going to happen?"

"Very possibly. A skeleton could clearly symbolize death, and if it belonged to someone like Myotismon, I'd bet on it. Also," he added, "there's Kari's new sense, and Matt's dreams. You can find foreshadows everywhere if you look carefully."

"Wow," said Mimi. "It sure is a good thing we're not characters in a story." There was a moment of silence, save for the faint sound of a keyboard being tapped somewhere in the distance. After another few seconds, Izzy sighed and slammed his laptop shut.

"This doesn't make any sense," he said, irritation evident in his tone. "Joe's computer should accept the message no matter where he is. I designed the program to use the Digi-World's entire code as a conductor so we wouldn't even have to think about this kind of problem. Even if it were turned off, the power would go on automatically if a message were sent. This should be impossible."

"What happened to Myotismon should have been impossible too," said Tentomon blithely. "If a few more things like this happen we can top it off with breakfast at Milliways."

"Not now, Tentomon, this is serious. The only thing that could keep Joe from answering was if his computer was destroyed."

"Destroyed?" came Togemon's voice from the dashboard speaker. It was still disconcerting to talk to the monsters that way, but everyone was getting used to it

"Destroyed," Izzy confirmed. "We need to find Joe, and we need to find him before anything else hap--" His sentence was never finished, as he flew out of his seat and against the wall. Mimi and Tentomon did much the same, a product of the immense tremor that had just hit them. Togemon shouted in surprise, tried desperately to regain control of her direction, and was finally heaved completely out of the earth and onto the forest floor. Things weren't much better there, however. The entire span of trees was shaking, and there was an ominous rumble that was impossible to miss. Groaning, Izzy managed to pull himself up.

"What in the world was that?" he gasped, holding his arm and grimacing in pain. He had smacked against the metal bulkhead of Togemon's cabin and couldn't move his hand.

"Earthquake!" Togemon answered. "What do I do? It's not safe here, and it's sure not safe underground!"

"I, uh…I don't know! This is why Tai's the leader!"

"Well Tai isn't here!" Mimi snapped, hauling herself to her feet. "It's just us, okay? So what do we do?"

"Okay, okay. We still need to meet up with the others, and it's better to have a few inches of steel between us and any falling trees, so we stay in Togemon. Keep moving forward, but take it slow and easy. Got it?"

"Got it," said the monster. There was a scrape as the gears of her engine ground to life, and they started to crawl steadily toward their destination. The two kids and Tentomon strapped into their chairs, each hoping the foreshadows had only been chance.

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

Tuesday, 10:25 AM

What Tai was staring at went against every natural law he had been raised with. Things that huge, things that could block out the sun and cause earthquakes and leave holes the size of two Grand Canyons as they emerged from the ground, simply did not fly.

"What…is it?" he breathed. He'd been struggling to find his voice for some time, and it had apparently been hiding somewhere in his spleen. There was no response from Kari or the Digimon. They were even more transfixed than he, wide-eyed and mouths agape. He gave himself a shake and swung around, facing Gatomon's dashboard. "Go! Move, move! We've gotta get out of here!" Wordlessly, the Digimon's wheels screamed to life and they rocketed forward. Tai opened his laptop again, mind racing. Whatever was happening, whatever that…thing was, he didn't want to face it alone, leader or no leader.

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

Tuesday, 10:30 AM

Everything was falling apart at the seams. Or, more accurately, the Digital World itself was falling apart at the seams. After practically being crushed by multiple falling trees, Izzy had directed them back under the soil. There didn't look to be any completely safe place at the moment, and ending up like sardines wasn't what he considered a good time. But even with the threat of compaction gone, Togemon had to keep swerving to avoid falling into vast chasms that were opening up in front of them. The silver pipeline was thrashing and writhing on Izzy's radar like a spasmodic serpent, ripping trees up roots and all. When whatever was happening was over, he thought grimly, no one would be having picnics in the woods anymore. There wasn't much left of them.

Staring at his laptop, he tried to imagine what could be causing the cataclysmic earthquake. Nothing he had ever heard of or, for that matter dreamed of, could do this kind of damage. He scanned the surrounding area and was dumbstruck to discover that the seismic waves were almost everywhere within a two hundred-mile radius. On a ten-point Richter scale, this thing was a fifteen.

He started to ask Togemon how close they were to the forest border, but the monster once again screeched to a halt, throwing everyone unceremoniously around the cabin. "Now what?" he shouted angrily.

"Sorry," Togemon said meekly, "but there's nowhere to go."

"What?" He crawled forward and dragged himself up to peer out the cockpit window, and his stomach dropped into his sneakers. There was nothing there. Togemon's front end was sticking out of a cliff face, and the bottom of an impossibly huge, abysmal chasm was hundreds upon hundreds of feet below them.

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

Tuesday, 10:50 AM

Gatomon had started burning rubber not a moment too soon. When the looming black sacrilege behind them had finally finished it ascension, the spot they had been sitting on was no longer there. Neither was most of the desert for that matter, as well as a good deal of the mountain range, and the entire forest. In their place was a canyon to put anything in the real world to shame a few times over, and then some. But that wasn't the bad part. The object itself fulfilled that role effectively. Big simply didn't describe it. Tai couldn't locate any word in the English language that could put its size into speech, he discovered. There was just too much of it.

It was roughly spherical in shape, as far as he could tell. The sun was completely blocked out, so it was a little difficult to make it out exactly. The surface was mostly black metal, but it was irregular in every other aspect. Silver pipes and cords protruded form any available location, implanting themselves into the ground at impossible angles and sometimes into each other. Sharp, needlelike rods spiraled upward like homicidal trees, clearly ready and willing to impale anything stupid enough to fall on them. More of the silvery pipes were ripping themselves from the ground, trailing roots and streamers of dirt, and leaving ditches like scars along the ground's surface. They snaked toward the sphere, retracted partly into it, then jammed their ends in wherever there was room. When they did, there was an explosion of a yellow, pus-like substance from the ground. It coated much of the surface; there were that many pipes.

But even through his horrified awe, Tai could sense something familiar about it. It seemed as if he'd seen it before, but in a different time. It had been different. In the sudden still of the unnatural night, he said, "Everyone okay?"

"Still breathing," said Gatomon dryly.

"I'm okay," Agumon replied, sounding sick. Kari said nothing, but Tai knew she was all right. She was pushed close against his side, face buried against his shirt. He could feel the beating of her heart, and her hot, terrified breaths against his skin.

"Good. Next order of business: What in the hell is that?!"

"The light at the end of the world," said Gatomon. Tai blinked in surprise.

"What?"

"The light at the end of the world. It was something Myotismon used to talk about. There was a tablet he had, kind of like Gennai's, but it had a prophecy about the Digi-World's version of Armageddon."

"Somehow that doesn't sound like a good thing."

"Not for us, but he ate it up. I can't even count how many hours he'd spend staring at it. I guess he figured he'd have something to do with it." She gave a short, unamused laugh. "Looks like he'll never get a chance now."

"How much of that prophecy do you remember?" Tai asked with interest.

"A lot. Myotismon could practically recite it, and I was usually there when he did. All kinds of garbage about darkness, and light, and destroyers." She paused for a moment. "There was also stuff about us, too. I think, anyway. It always referred to people called 'The Warriors'. I'm betting it was us, but I'm also kind of hoping it wasn't…"

"Why?" Tai was pretty sure he knew the answer, but he had to hear it for himself.

"Because it said we die."

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

"We what?" Sora shouted. In a panicked moment she would later be sorry for, she leapt up and took a step back.

"Die," said Tai with unnerving calm. "You know, that thing where we aren't alive anymore?"

"I know what death is," Sora said, "but you're taking it pretty casually, aren't you?" Tai shrugged with resignation.

"I guess. But who's saying that prophecy was even about us? Maybe the tablet Gennai has been working on how to tell us where we can find Digimon warriors who can destroy Devyn." Sora blinked, and her stomach turned inside out. "Sorry," Tai said quickly. "I'm getting ahead of myself. But I can definitely tell by the look on your face that you just remembered something." She nodded weakly.

"Yeah. I just…I remembered what he looked like. Devyn…" Devyn. She instantly knew that was the dark man, the man with the silver face and glowing green eyes. His features had come back to her in a rush, and she could recall his face down to the last pore. If Tai had seen him, then even more had happened than she had ever guessed.

"That's him. The number-one Digital head case psychopath himself." He grinned. "Snappy dresser, though." Sora looked at him levelly trying to decide if he was serious, but he just kept grinning that infuriating grin. Finally she gave an exasperated sigh and plopped back down beside him.

"Okay, so we know what this clown's name is. But how much do we actually know about him?"

"Um, a little less than nothing. Aside from the fact that he wants us all dead, and gave us exactly three days to get ready to fight him. And a few other things, but I'll get to that."

"Three days?" Sora repeated. She opened and closed her mouth a few times waiting for something intelligent to come out, but results failed to be produced. She closed it firmly.

"Yep," said Tai cheerfully. "Three days exactly. Seventy-two hours from four o'clock on Tuesday."

"How much time do we have?" Sora asked. Her stomach had righted itself as far as direction went, but she now had a problem involving what felt like numerous tiny men clog dancing inside it. Tai looked at his Digivice.

"Thirty and a half hours. Give or take a few minutes."

"So…what happens when the time is up?" Tai started to answer, but Agumon, who had seemingly fallen asleep, piped up.

"We cry havoc," he said, "and let slip the dogs of war."

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

All was finally right with the world.

Gendamon was back where he belonged: directly at Devyn's side. That was the way he had always wanted it, the way he had always felt it should be, and now that was the way it was. He'd been worried for a while; when the Digi-Destined girl had started to defy him, he was sure a collapse was imminent. But now, with the plan smoothly in motion and the countdown to the final hour ticking off second by second, he felt he could finally relax.

And relax he did. Crouching on the dark embryo of Devyn's hell-spawned child, he marveled at how far he had come. At one time, long ago, he had lived much as other Digimon had. Day-to-day, hunting and foraging and eking out a meager existence, he had spent his nights huddled in a miserable burrow under a rotted tree. His preys were often sentient by his own choosing, but always smaller and weaker than himself. To begin with, at least.

After an interminable span of time, Gendamon had become something most Digimon never did; he had become ambitious. Chasing down a sick, exhausted rodent on a gray afternoon, he had cornered it against a cliff face. The creature cowered against the rock, wretched and shivering with fear. Gendamon never spoke to his prey, or victims, given the circumstances. Conversation could dull the edge on fear, and the sour flavor of fear made for a much better meal. But as he was about to close his fangs around the animal, allowing neuro-toxins to seep deep into its brain, he was struck with a powerful sense of dissatisfaction with himself and his lifestyle. It wasn't as if he enjoyed the emaciated carcasses of rats and mice. He certainly didn't like the pathetic squalor he lived in. They were just easier to catch, and it had been convenient. But why not give himself a challenge?

After that, nothing had been the same. The spider forsook regular meals in favor of stalking monsters usually several times larger than himself, and carefully mapping out their habits and habitats. When he was confident that the moment was on his side, he would lay a painstakingly planned trap. His favorite method was to wait until the other had left its home, then sneak in and plant a few spots of his strongest webbing on various locations. When the unfortunate chosen one touched it, he would be unarguably stuck, unless he could shed his skin or shed like a balding housecat. But for the most part, things went the way Gendamon had anticipated. Begging and pleading were routine in any hunt, but the pleasure was that much more intense when the victim had to look down on you.

Now, the scale of the endearments he and Devyn would receive would be massive, coming from every corner of the Digital World. Countless monsters sobbing for their lives, beseeching them to allow their days to be some of those that weren't numbered. How many, Gendamon wondered with amusement, actually realized what was coming? Doubtless, many had already been killed off when the black sphere had risen from its earthly womb. Even more would perish when the next phase of the plan ignited. But they wouldn't be telling anyone what they had seen, and the majority of the populace would remain oblivious until it was too late. It was a wonderful thought.

He sighed, wishing he could reflect for longer. But there was still work to be done, even at this late stage. He finally knew every detail of Devyn's master plan, and it sent chills of delight down his spine every time he thought about it. To be a part of this, and to be this much of a part…it was the stuff of dreams, and when the plan was finally complete, dreams would become reality.

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

"So," said Sora evenly, "just for the record, let me say this back to you. Tell me if I've got it straight."

"Okay," said Tai without hesitation. Sora couldn't get over how cheerful he seemed given the current circumstances, but she decided to push on anyway.

"There's a guy called Devyn," she said, "he has silver skin and glowing green eyes. He's made some kind of black moon that's hovering above the Digital World, it was in the ground for some reason, and it ripped a hole twice the size of the Grand Canyon when it came out. And, he's planning to use it to kill us."

"Right on all counts but the last. I don't think he's actually after us, we're just in the way." Sora scoffed in disbelief.

"So basically we're roadblocks to this guy?"

"Mmm, I'd say more like speed bumps."

"There's a nice thought," she said, rolling her eyes. "Okay, one last question."

"Shoot."

"Even with all this happening, this dire emergency literally hanging over our heads, we are having a party?! Please, explain why this statement makes sense, because I think I'm missing something." Tai sighed and rubbed the back of his neck pensively.

"Well," he drawled, "it was kind of a momentary thing…you had to be there for it to really make sense. Besides, there's a lot more stuff that happened before we ever got to deciding about the party."

"Okay, okay." Sora leaned back on her hands. "I'm dying to know the rest of it anyway."

"Right. Where was I again?"

"You were just telling me that a prophecy said we all die."

"I remember. But before I say anything else, you tell me something."

"What?"

"Do you really believe in prophecies?" Sora started to answer, then hesitated.

"I guess I do," she said.

"Why?"

"Well, when we were fighting Myotismon the first time that prediction Gennai found sure seemed to be accurate. You and Matt would've been very dead if it hadn't." Tai nodded willingly.

"I'll give you that. But how do we know that wasn't just a one shot deal?"

"Oh, come one, Tai." Sora stood up and paced restlessly. Surviving something like she had, then being thrown directly into the line of fire again didn't do much for her mood. Also, she thought Tai was deluding himself and said so.

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. All I'm saying is that when we're facing things like this, you have to keep an open mind. Anything is possible, and I think you know that. If not, then you're the one deluding yourself."

"You sound like Joe."

"So? Joe's got his head straight. I consider it a compliment, except for the whole pessimism thing."

"But what you're suggesting is that it's possible to change fate, change destiny. Everything we've seen in this world points toward predestination being a very real force. Why do you think we're called the Digi-Destined?"

"I think that's just something some stupid thing a writer at Fox made up. Seriously though, I don't like the idea my fate isn't mine to control, Sora. But if you're right, and we're all screwed no matter what, I'm sure not going down without making this Devyn guy a big mess of bruises first."

"You'll get no argument from me there. As a matter of fact, I plan to special deliver him a big can of whoop ass myself. We've got a score to settle."

"Remember the days when Sora was all nice and sweet?" Mimi said dreamily from beside the bookshelf. "Now she's going amazon on us."

"Go talk to someone who doesn't want to plug his ears when he hears you, 'kay?" Tai snapped.

"Ah, go wax your Afro, pillar-head."

"Why don't you just--" Sora slammed her hand against the wall, rattling the glass pane keeping the lake out.

"Would you two just stop it! I am sick to death of this stupid little feud! All Tai ever did was put some measly little pine branches in your purse, Mimi, and it didn't even stain! Why can't you just forget about it? And Tai, why are you giving her the satisfaction of fighting back? Don't you realize if you just left her alone she'd forget about it?" Tai blinked in surprise.

"You really think so?"

"Of course! I mean, no offense, but this is Mimi we're talking about."

"Hey!" Mimi exclaimed. "That's not really fair."

"Sorry. All I'm saying is that if the prophecy is true, we're all going to die in a little over thirty hours. Do you really want to be arguing that time away?" Tai and Mimi exchanged guilty glances, and Sora got the feeling she was missing something. Ignoring it, she said, "Now, I want you both to give each other a big kiss and say you're sorry."

In unison, Tai and Mimi shouted, "WHAT?!" Sora laughed and waved her hand.

"Just kidding. But really, you two need to cut this out."

"Especially since everyone else just got back," said Palmon from the kitchen doorway. All three of the kids were on their feet in a second.

"They were really out shopping for party supplies?" Sora asked Mimi. She nodded, and Sora shook her head in disbelief. "There had better be some killer logic behind this."

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

Devyn and Gendamon stood before the endless rows of tanks, the blue fluid inside them sloshing gently against their glass sides. The forms inside were more apparent now as they were nearly complete. In a few more seconds…

Behind them were Taromon and Rictusmon, standing quietly in the shadows. Rictusmon seemed to merge with them, but his glittering blood-colored eyes always gave his position away in the gloom. That, combined with the fact that he let out an occasional, irrepressible, giggle made him hard to miss. Taromon, due to his size, was also quite obvious.

"Very soon now," Devyn said. His voice was smooth and regulated, but Gendamon could easily sense that the dark man shared his own anticipation. He'd been waiting for this moment for an eternity, and Devyn even longer. He admired the man's composure, as he now realized just how old he must be. "In moments, Gendamon, all will come to pass. It's a thrilling time, is it not?" Gendamon had to agree. "And you two," he said, turning to Rictusmon and Taromon. "Are you excited? Eager to see what awaits?"

"Oh, so very eager," Rictusmon agreed, letting another of his giggles escape. His voice reminded Gendamon of dry leaves scraping across sandpaper, and his laugh was like a low-pitched version of grinding chains. "Do you think, master, that we might be allowed to assist? The plan is all-important, and it would give me great pleasure to aid in its becoming." Devyn gave a short laugh and turned back to the tanks.

"Don't try to kid me, Rictus. I know you only want to bask in the carnage." The smaller monster looked startled and hurt, but Devyn waved his hand in that casually dismissive manner that always filled the space around him. "Don't be insulted; I created you just for such purposes. I'm very pleased with your attitude." Rictusmon started to gain a hopeful sparkle in his crimson eyes, but Devyn dashed his hopes again by saying, "However, I want you to conserve your energy. Your battle with the Digi-Destined was taxing, and I need you at your very best when the last hour arrives."

Gendamon wondered what was going through Taromon's head right now, but the bull's face betrayed no emotion. It would be natural to assume that Devyn had programmed the same bloodlust into him as he had Rictusmon, but the man worked in strangely methodical ways. There were still three other gods in development, and Devyn would doubtlessly want a balanced team. While Rictusmon was clearly intelligent, Taromon could act as the brute force and not have as much brainpower. But if the gods were intended to fight separately as well as on a team, they would need to be individually balanced. Besides, there had already been a battle, and only two had been available at the time. They would have to be able to think for themselves, and also be strong enough to fight whatever enemy came their way. Gendamon was gaining newfound respect for Devyn, as he now realized just how much thought had gone into the plan.

"It's time," said Devyn suddenly, interrupting the spider's thoughts. "The next phase begins…now."

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

Outside Gennai's house, a large purple van had just pulled up. It had gold trim in several places, and seemed the sort of thing Elvis might have taken on vacation if he had been partial to economy cars. The sliding door was open, and the remaining five Digi-Destined, along with their partners, were piling out. Sora was so glad to see them she thought she might break down in tears; she had never realized just how much they meant to her until she might never have seen them again. She was made even happier when she realized that they were all laughing and smiling.

TK and Kari were eating ice cream, Patamon flitting around their heads and trying to nab a lick. Gomamon kept trying to get Joe to wear a propeller beanie, which had Izzy and Tentomon laughing until they could barely breathe. Sora noticed with concern that Izzy's wrist was in a cast, then remembered that Tai had told her how it had happened. Retailmon was climbing from the driver's seat, Matt from the passenger side. Matt looked serious, but not grouchy. Retailmon was smiling, but it was different from his usual contorted grin. This was a genuine, happy smile, the product of time spent with good friends. They all carried white plastic bags of various sizes, consistently plastered with red letters saying Bacchusmon's Discount Party Supply Outlet. Closing the doors on the van, they headed for the house, still acting as if the party had already begun. Sora waved from the porch, afraid to talk, knowing she would cry if she did.

"Hey, Sora's awake!" TK shouted. He dropped the bag he was carrying and ran over to her. "I'm so glad you're awake! I wish you could have come with us, Sora, it was such a great place! Why were you sleeping so long? Were you awake the whole time you were missing? And where were you? And--oh. I think I got ice cream on your shirt." She laughed and cried at the same time, bending down to hug him. Then all the others were there too, and she was laughing and hugging all of them too. They were all there, all fine, all as glad to see her as she was them. No matter what happened tomorrow or the next day, things were perfect for now.

When the uproar finally settled down, Joe said something about his hands falling off if he didn't set his bag down soon. With a few good-natured cracks about his puny arms, he and the others went inside to deposit their loads. Sora started to follow them, but suddenly noticed with quiet dismay that Matt had hung back from the others, still standing by the van. How she had missed him, she didn't know, but there he was. He was wearing a different shirt, presumably since she'd been wearing his, but he looked the same otherwise. She stared for a long moment, and he stared back. When it became apparent that telepathy wasn't an option, she walked toward him and stopped a couple feet away.

"Well?" she said. "Aren't you even going to say hello?" Yes, her mind said, say hello. Say hello for a long time, and then…Matt reached out and shook her hand.

"It's good to see you. We were really worried."

"Oh," she said. "I…it's good to see you too." Matt stood silently a moment longer, then walked slowly toward the house. A few paces away, he stopped and turned back to her.

"No romance, remember?" he said softly. "It's not that kind of story."

"Right," she said, trying to hide the gloom in her voice. "I know." Matt nodded, turned, walked the rest of the way to the house, and went inside. "I know," Sora muttered between gritted teeth, "but if I ever see the author, he is one dead duck."

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

The black abomination in the sky rotated slowly, then ground to a tenuous halt. Somewhere deep inside it, machines and motors rumbled into activity, and others switched themselves noisily off. Pistons and hydraulic churns swung into motion, beginning the next phase.

The lower hemisphere of the dark moon suddenly leapt to life, the silver tubes writhing and thrashing with activity. Viscous yellow liquid began to seep from pores all over, coating the ground with a foul-smelling coat of lubricant, and the chutes began to open. Everywhere, all over the unholy landscape of machinery, slots whirred and slid back revealing unlit tunnels to unknown depths. Blue liquid, faintly luminescent in the darkness, suddenly spilled out in a rushing torrent and tumbled to the earth below. It splattered mostly on the cold stone of the new canyon's floor, but some was carried by the wind. Only a few scattered drops made it past the chasm, but wherever it landed, life sprang up. If it fell near a flower, the flower rocketed up in an ecstasy of growth, producing leaves and branches worthy an ancient oak. Single blades of grass became monstrosities of flora, sprouting blooms previously unseen by anyone. Many Digimon left their homes to investigate, and then the darkness fell.

From the same tunnels as the glowing fluids came irregular, asymmetrical shapes. The tumbled the miles upon miles from Devyn's fortress to the surface of the Digital World, and slammed into it with crunches that sounded like breaking ice. But it didn't stop them. They dragged themselves up, snapped whatever bones had been dislocated back into place, ignored the ones that had been broken or shattered, and set out to complete their mission.

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

In the shadow cast by a newly grown tree, a Kunemon saw something fall from the sky. It knew the sky wasn't the same anymore; it was always night now. It thought maybe the day had run when the black moon had come, but it wasn't sure. If that was the case, it couldn't blame the day. Seeing the Falling Thing, it scurried across an open field to where it had landed. The Thing was gone.

The Kunemon heard a scratchy sound behind it and turned. Nothing there either.

This particular Kunemon had led a fairly unremarkable life, thus far. It had been born as all of its kind were, thousands of brothers and sisters, and had left home when the proper time had come. It lived in a forest, ate fruit, talked to other Kunemon it saw. Then, one day, something happened. From the sky, the same sky that was always night now, there had come a cloud of black dust. The dust had forced itself into the Kunemon's body, saturated every cell, and taken over. The Kunemon had been scared, but it didn't last. A spider had come, and then kicked it under the chin. The dust left, and the Kunemon had been alone again. Things had gone on as normal.

Now, it was trying to find the Thing That Fell, and without much luck. It hoped the Thing That Fell was food, maybe even fruit. But if it didn't find it, the Kunemon would never know. It heard another scratchy sound, behind it again. It turned around. The Thing was there. It wasn't fruit.

The Thing raised its arm suddenly, and it let out a screech. The Kunemon wondered what to do, and the Thing shook its arm. The Kunemon trotted over to it and looked at the arm. It was made of metal, but also of skin. The Kunemon knew some Digimon that were like that, but it didn't think the Thing That Fell was a Digimon. It didn't smell right. The Thing's arm opened up, all sharp edges and flickering little barbs on the inside. Four metal claws clamped shut around the Kunemon's head, and fear shot through it. Evil Digimon! Run!

But it couldn't run.

The claws tightened, and the little flickering barbs scraped across its skin making it burn. The Thing That Fell screeched again, then tensed the muscles in its arm, jamming the claws shut all the way. There was a wet crunch as the Kunemon's skull splintered and gave way, spilling its contents onto the ground. The Thing That Fell retracted the claws and dropped the decapitated body. From the surrounding area, it heard cries of other Digimon who had met other Things. Cries of surprise, cries of pain. Some who could talk were threatening, some were begging.

Most were begging.

The Thing detected a scent in the air, and its complex fusion of brain and computer made calculations. A Digimon. Target. A Betamon. Weak. Primary target. Destroy the weak. On its back, a pair of thick, transparent wings hummed to life. Combined with a small set of turbines, the Thing lifted itself from the gore-covered ground and into the air. There was much to do. Many targets, all weak. And the weak would die.

The night was filled with blood.

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

"It's so very nice when things go as planned, isn't it?" said Devyn jovially. He and Gendamon stood and watched the view screen in his main control room. It showed the locations of many of his shock troops, first person views in most cases. Each of the beasts was an erratic fusion of technology and organic life, no two the same, but somehow they always managed to be perfect for what they were designed for.

They were designed for killing.

"Soon, my friend, every weak Digimon on this world will be dead. Only the strong will survive, only those powerful enough to stand up to my Dymaphathysts. Then we will begin the final stage of our rise to glory in the Digital World." He nodded in satisfaction.

'Dymaphathyst' was the name Devyn had given to his creations, for reasons the spider hadn't been sure of at first. He'd asked after a while. Devyn got unusually quiet, and a look of solemn reflection shadowed his silver skin.

"They're named for an old friend," he'd said. "Someone I owe nearly everything to. He'd be pleased with my plan, Gendamon. He'd appreciate the irony." The spider didn't press the issue any further. It just didn't seem like a good idea.

There were hordes of the Dymaphathysts, too many to be counted. Each had been grown in a separate tank, surrounded by the life-giving blue liquid the dark man had created. Funny, Gendamon thought, that creatures grown in a substance capable of giving birth to anything were meant for the sole purpose of destroying everything.

"I wonder how long it will take to completely purify this world," Devyn mused. "What do you think, Gendamon? A day? Two?"

"It's a big world," said the spider.

"You're right. I've been patient this long, I can wait a while. I estimate four days, maximum, until all the Digimon too weak to protect themselves against the Dymaphathysts have been destroyed."

"I'm curious about one thing," said Gendamon. Devyn looked at him questioningly. "You told me you already used some of the Dymaphathysts against the Digi-Destined, and that they won easily. If that's the case, they've already defeated the strongest adversaries that they can ever challenged by. There is no Digimon strong enough to face them." Devyn smiled.

"You're finally beginning to understand." It took a moment for the meaning his words to dawn on Gendamon. The he laughed. He laughed long and hard, because, for the first time, Gendamon knew that Devyn was utterly invincible.

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

Within twenty minutes of entering Gennai's living room, the Digi-Destined had turned it into a disaster area. Silly string, balloons, colored shaving cream, and streamers were littered about the floor and plastered to the wall and ceiling in various places. Sora ducked behind a chair, narrowly avoiding a foamy pink glob that whizzed past her ear and splattered into the wall. Laughing so hard she could barely breathe, she rolled out from her shelter and managed to peg TK with a green chunk of the same goop. He fell over with exaggerated cries.

"She got me! Help, Patamon! Use the secret weapon!" Sora gasped in mock terror.

"He's got a secret weapon! Oh no!" Patamon swooped down from the ceiling, a water balloon clasped between his paws.

"Harpoon torpedo!" he shouted, and dropped his load. Sora grabbed Matt from beside her and shoved him into the balloon's path.

"No!" he gasped, then sputtered as water saturated his hair. "Oh, now you're gonna get it." He snatched a can of silly string from Mimi, who squealed in surprise, then just took another from the bag. Retailmon's funds seemed infinite, and there were enough messy things in the shopping bags to decimate the cleanliness of Gennai's house a few times over.

Sora jumped up and half-ran half-tripped over to the other side of the room, spraying string as she went. "Come and get me!" she taunted. Tai surged up to her left and pinned her arms, laughing evilly.

"Matt, now!" Matt got an equally sinister grin and showered Sora with the contents of his can. When he was done and about to indulge in good-natured gloating, Kari dropped an ice cube down his back. Unable to resist laughing at Matt's hoots, Tai released Sora and sat back down. "Why didn't we ever do this before? Gennai's house has always been way too clean. And maybe we could've used this stuff to persuade him not to serve fish anymore."

"Because we never knew there was a party supply store forty minute's drive from here," said Izzy. He was stacking paper lanterns in a complex pyramid, but Tentomon kept blowing on it and knocking it over when he wasn't looking. "Why won't this stupid thing stay up? It's balanced perfectly…"

"Maybe you need something to stick it together," said Sora, dropping a wad of string on his head. Izzy threw it back at her, but she dodged and it splattered on the wall instead. With a happy sigh, she sat down on the carpet beside Retailmon, who was winding up little toy ducks and aiming them to walk under Izzy's pyramid.

Sora picked at the mass of green on her shirt, wishing life in the Digital World was always like this. Just laughing, talking, acting five years younger than they were. It was a lot more fun than being in life-or-death struggles, that was for certain. But even enjoying herself as much as she was, Sora couldn't get rid of the nagging voice in the back of her mind that kept reminding her what was really going on. She had spent some time trying to figure out why they were having a party, but every idea she came up with seemed too unlikely. At first she'd thought they'd all gone insane, but that obviously wasn't the case. Her second thought was that it was a distraction. She hadn't a clue what had happened to the others while she was being held captive, but she knew it must have been awful to cause a total retreat from it. The other kids were having fun, but they were also laughing a little too easily, and talking a little too loudly. They were hiding from the truth. Then, even that had faltered and collapsed. It wasn't a defense, it was real. After a while, she just gave up and enjoyed it. There would be plenty of time, she decided, to worry later.

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

In Devyn's throne room, every light was off. Since there were no windows, there was nothing to cast a shadow, and pitch darkness was everywhere. In his chair in the room's center, Devyn was slumped forward. For the first time since his rebirth, he had removed the hood covering his head. All his skin was silver, including his eyelids. His looked to be asleep at first glance; breathing rhythmic, muscles relaxed. But with a few steps forward, his face would be revealed to be in a spasm. Every muscle was contorted, his normally calm features twisted into rage and hate. He was remembering.

Since returning to life, he had managed to avoid the memories. He had kept busy at all times, clung to the excitement and joy his master plan filled him with. When he needed to meditate, he would let the dark orchestra buried in his mind weave its haunting melody, and the memories would be kept at bay. But no more.

Now, he let them come. He needed to be reminded of why he followed his ambitions. Voices surged forth from the past, screamed through endless millennia of oblivion, and seemed to echo through the chamber.

Why are you doing this?

It was a girl's voice, and he knew it immediately. He would never forget that voice. Revenge, his mind answered. For what you did to me. For preventing me from reaching my destiny. His own voice answered the question in his memory, startling him slightly.

For power, my sister. It is my fate to have power.

And it still was. No one would keep him from it this time, for he had grown during his stay in nothingness. Between his death and his resurrection, he had had so much time to develop the abilities he had been given, and to grow smarter and better than before.

It's not your fate to decide what will happen to these people, what will happen to us!

That voice he remembered as well. He doubted any of them would be forgotten, no matter how long he lived. It had been his fate to decide then, and it still was now. The small-minded fools…how little they had known, and how little they still knew. Had they really thought he was dead?

You can't do this, brother! You can't play God!

Ha.

I am God!

That was true.

And you cannot stop a god!

He had never lied.

No. But maybe we can stop the devil.

Him again. Damn him…Devyn hoped he wasn't dead yet. Once the Digital World was his, he hoped to find his sister and the boy in the real world. He owed them a visit, at the very least.

You can try.

Oh, how he had relished the next few moments. The enormous debt he owed to the Avatar could never be paid in full, thanks to the boy, but its death had been truly spectacular.

Bastard! Now you die!

That was as much as he could do for his fallen mentor. He truly wished he had been able to accomplish more in his first life, but it had paved his way for the present.

Farewell, my sister…I look forward to seeing you again…

He had truly loved her then, but now…? Affection yes, but that could be set aside. When she was dead, then he would finally be able to rest.

Goodbye…

Even then, she had loved him as well. After all he had done, her feelings had been so strong…

Devyn sat slowly upright, leaning back against his chair. The disturbing realization that no matter what happened, he would still had love inside him had just surfaced. It was hard to deal with, especially with all that was happening. But Gendamon would be there to keep him on course. He wondered with amusement if the little spider realized how important he really was. He couldn't know, but Devyn enjoyed keeping the secret.

His sister would be difficult to handle when the time came, but that was still a ways off. He wished he could simply send one of his gods to dispose of her, but it was out of the question. Family must be dealt with by family. He would just have to ignore his emotions long enough to finish what he had started all those centuries ago.

And he always finished what he started.

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

Matt stood in the ruins of an ancient city, somewhere between twin mountains. All around him were the skeletal remains of white marble buildings, seeming to glow in the bluish moonlight. He turned slowly, wondering where he was. He couldn't remember leaving Gennai's house…so he must be asleep. That made things clearer, but no less strange. How often did you know you were dreaming? While it was comforting to understand what he was seeing wasn't real, Matt couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. As of late, his dreams had invariably been nightmares, although none had been as defined as this one.

He walked forward, seeming to be controlled by an outside force. Up a white stone stairway and into the dilapidated form of what might have been a temple, in another time. Into the structure, about twenty paces in, then stopped. Shadows flowed from the walls like sheets of water, making it impossible to discern many details. But against the far corner, he thought he could make out the shapes of pillars. Or rather, pedestals, on which something was gleaming gold. He wanted to investigate, but he still was being moved by something other than his own thoughts. That something took control of his legs again and turned him around.

Coming up the same steps he had moments earlier was a boy, only a few years older than Matt himself. He had strange clothes, made from some unknown material cut in a style that looked vaguely Indian. Or Native American, Matt thought, if you wanted t be politically correct. The look was partially spoiled by the fact that his hair was highlighted in the fashion so many teenagers in the real world chose. He was tall and well built, and although his faced was creased with lines of worry, he was obviously someone who smiled a lot.

The boy opened his mouth, shouting soundlessly into the darkness. He continued forward, apparently not afraid of anything he might encounter in the ruins, and shouted again. Matt felt a giant hand on him once more, and he whirled again to face the opposite direction. From the oily shadows, another person walked, or rather crept, out and toward him. This one was a girl, maybe his age or younger. It was hard to tell because she was so small. She might have been as young as ten, or as old as the other boy. Her clothes were also odd, but appeared more like something from ancient Rome or Greece. She had long black hair, pulled back from her face in an elaborate braid. She was pretty, he thought, but looked as prone to frowns as the boy did smiles.

She seemed nervous, and a frown dominated her delicate features at that moment. On second thought, she seemed downright terrified. Her tiny hands were shaking at her sides, her pale face shaded with panic, and her steps were slow and halting. Matt wondered if she was afraid of the black moon that hung over their heads like a mechanical tumor, but her fear wasn't directed upwards. Was she afraid of the other boy? Or was it Matt who had her shivering with fear?

As he watched, she advanced ever so slowly and finally stopped a few feet from him. The cosmic force pulled him back so he could see both of the other people at once. The boy said something and smiled, extending his hands palms-up. Relief flooded into the girl's face, and she started to run toward the boy. It was only then that Matt saw the third person.

He was well hidden in the inky blackness of the temple, and Matt knew he was only seeing him because he was supposed to. The stranger was older than him or the other two children, an adult or very close to it. He was smiling. There was something familiar about him as well, and this time Matt put his finger on it right away. It was his eyes.

They glowed green.

He watched, paralyzed with horror, as the man swept forth from his concealment and caught the girl by the arm in mid stride. She had barely a moment to face him before he brought his hand around and stabbed her in the side with the curved blade in his hand. The girl's eyes went wide, her mouth open in silent pain. She cast a single look of desperation toward the other boy, whose expression was even more panicked than Matt's. She fell to her knees, then collapsed completely. Matt could see blood spreading on the marble floor. He wanted to help, to run to her aide, but he was still held like a puppet chained to a tree. The instant before he awoke, he saw two more forms rushing toward the temple's entrance, and could only hope that they weren't too late.

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

Under the star-filled night sky, Gendamon slept. His sleep was deep and dreamless, but his mind never really ceased to think. It came with his predatory instincts; a permanent awareness that could never be turned off. It had saved his life when he had lived on his own, as there were plenty of Digimon larger than him in the world. Of course, they would all be gone soon…

He slept to keep his wits and reflexes sharp, for he knew what was on its way. The galactic tide was shifting. There was a storm coming, a storm of epic proportions, and he wanted to be ready for it. Overhead, thousands of crystalline points of light shown and flickered with energy. It was as if the entire universe was excited, tensed and in waiting for the first bolt of lightning to strike. He breathed deeply, his small body rising and falling in a rhythmic motion. Every now and then one of his claws would flex rapidly, as his mind unconsciously perceived prey that wasn't there. It came with being a hunter.

Somewhere a little ways off, a door opened. Devyn stepped out onto the black metal of the world he had created, what had once been called the Dark Network, and millions of years before that had been called by a name in a now-forgotten tongue. It was a power even older than he, so ancient it was almost unfathomable. But still, he had gained the ability to bend it to his will, and now it belonged forever to Devyn.

Walking slowly forward, his radiant eyes found the sleeping spider's form with ease. He stopped a few paces away and stood, gazing silently at his friend. His only friend. Desperately, he tried to shove the emotion in his chest away. It burned like bile rising in his throat, and he wished he could spit it onto the ground. But it was no good. Like it or not, Devyn still had human emotions. And, staring at what had been his truest companion so long ago and was again, he could no longer ignore them.

"Gendamon," he said quietly. So different from the name he had first been called. But he was the same being, although changed in every way imaginable. The spider shifted, and his four yellow eyes blinked open. "I didn't mean to wake you," Devyn said. "You can go back to sleep, if you like."

"What are you looking at?" Gendamon asked. His voice was slightly thickened by grogginess, but his question still cut right to the heart of the matter.

"The past. And the future." The spider made no reply. "Do you know why you were drawn to me, Gendamon? Why we were drawn to each other?" Devyn's face was turned upward toward the moon. It shown down, full and bright, and caught his silver skin at stunning angles. Gendamon shook his head slowly.

"Why?" he asked hoarsely.

"Destiny," said Devyn. "You and I were destined to stand side-by-side, to face and conquer anything that comes toward us. You know how old I am. Do you know how old you are, Gendamon?"

"I…"

"Older than me by a hundred years or more. But because of the humans, your memory was lost. When you were killed, all you had come to know vanished like smoke in the wind."

"Killed?" Gendamon asked, disbelieving. "You mean, this isn't my first life?"

"No. But unlike humans, many Digimon can be reincarnated. Few retain memories of their past lives nowadays, but you should have. You were dealt a terrible injustice when you were destroyed. That's why you can't always transform now. And that's why you don't remember the prophecy. I'd assumed you'd kept at least some of your memory, but every trace of it is gone. Now you can only change at the most crucial of moments, and sometimes not even then." He looked the spider full in the face. "Do you realize, Gendamon, that if it weren't for humans, you would be able to stay in your transformed state indefinitely? Because of them, you must remain in a weak, puny body almost all the time. It shouldn't be that way."

"I still don't understand," said Gendamon. "How is it the fault of the humans? They've been dead for millennia…"

"This is your second life, and mine as well. You were reincarnated naturally, and I came back as a result of foolishness and predestination. But the first time, you were destroyed by humans from the real world. Because of the way you died, you forgot nearly everything, including how to transform. But I know everything from my past life, Gendamon. My memories are intact. And I know how to return yours to you." He smiled slowly. "Are you interested?"

Gendamon was speechless. Finally, he found his voice, and croaked, "How? It's so hard to transform, and even when I can do it, it hurts so much. Is there an easier way?"

"There is. And I will show it to you. But before you go, I must warn you of something."

"What?" Gendamon asked warily.

"This is a journey you must make alone," the spider started to protest, but he held up a silencing hand, "for there is another purpose to your going. You must do something for me."

"Anything," said the spider without hesitation.

When you arrive, you will meet a human. A male, about sixteen years of age. You must lead him and anyone with him, back to the place where you first find yourself. Follow him, and from then on, stay in the shadows."

"That's all?" Gendamon was a little disappointed, although he tried not to show it. "How will that return my memory?"

Trust me, my friend. But there is one thing I must warn you about. Choose to go, and although I urge you to, and you will not be able to communicate with me. And you may not be able to return in time to prevent what may be inevitable."

"Inevitable?" Gendamon's stomach got a slight sinking feeling. "What are you talking about?"

"I am talking," said Devyn grimly, "about my death."

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

For a long time after he awoke, Matt just laid in his bed, silently staring at the ceiling. Never in his life had he dreamt so realistically, and it wasn't the best dream to have experienced in DVD quality sound and picture. Every nightmare before that one had been disjointed, a series of nonsensical images and an occasional voice that had left him unsettled, even momentarily terrified, but never as completely horrified as he was now.

Seeing the man who could only have been Devyn glide from the darkness, seeing the shining, wickedly curved blade, then seeing the tiny girl's face as she fell, had grabbed the roots of his soul and wrung them like a wet towel. Nausea churned in Matt's stomach, and he finally got up and headed for the door outside. Pulling it open, a cool, damp breeze flowed over him, drying the sweat on his face and making him feel a little better. He had been under a lot of stress, he supposed, and if he had been Joe he might have been able to chalk the dream off to that. But he had more of an imagination than Joe did, and somehow, as unlikely as it seemed, Matt knew the dream was an echo of the past. What he had seen had happened somewhere, at some time far before his own.

He walked toward the bridge across the stream, wondering briefly if forcing himself to throw up might get rid of the roaring queasiness in his abdomen. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply but still walking forward, then tripped over someone who made a surprised squeaking sound. They tumbled over each other, and finally rolled completely off the bridge and into the cold, cold stream. Matt opened his eyes and looked directly at-

"Sora?!"

"Matt!" Sora stared at him in shock. "What are you doing up at this time of night?"

"I…couldn't sleep. What about you?"

"Are you kidding? I had a two-day nap. I won't need to sleep for a week."

"Oh." He fell silent, not sure what else to say. "Well then…how are you?"

"I'm…" she paused and looked down at the trickling water, "…wet. And you?"

"Sopping."

"Huh. Well, I guess that's what happens when you fall into a stream, right?"

"I'd have to say so."

"Yep."

There was another awkward silence.

"So," Matt said finally, "want to go dry off?" Sora nodded eagerly.

"Sure. I hear that's the thing to do when you're wet."

"So I've been told." They helped each other out of the stream and made their way back toward Gennai's house, Matt thinking that cold water was an effective way to forget nightmares for a few minutes.

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

Gendamon exhaled sharply as he and Devyn dropped out of nothingness.

"I'm sorry," the man said, "but teleporting is the fastest way to get around, and time isn't something we have as much of as I'd like." Gendamon nodded understandingly, and looked around with curiosity. He blinked in surprise.

"I know this place," he said. "This is--"

"Myotismon's castle," Devyn confirmed. "Although I don't think he ever really appreciated the full potential of what it contains."

"What do you mean?" Gendamon asked. "I thought it was just a castle."

"Oh no, my dear spider. Look over there." Devyn extended his arm, pointing to something at the far end of the vast chamber they had materialized in. "What do you see?"

"I see…doors. Huge doors."

"That's right. Do you know what's behind them?" The monster made no reply. "Gendamon?"

In a faint voice, the spider said, "The gate. The…Chroma Gate." His last word faded into a whisper.

"That's exactly right," said Devyn. His voice was hushed as well, but with excitement. "You remember! By the ancients, you remember!" He laughed, and in a single motion bent and scooped a shocked Gendamon up and embraced him tightly. "You actually remember the name of the gateway! This is fantastic!"

"I'm glad," Gendamon gasped, "but could you put me down? You're very strong, and I'm not very big." Devyn lowered the spider back to the stone floor, an embarrassed expression on his silver face.

"I'm sorry. I just never expected any of your memory to be intact. You remembered me, but that was…" he hesitated before using the word, "…destiny. The Chroma Gate. And you remember it! Ha!" He stood up, spinning to face the doors. "No ancient prophecy is going to run our lives, Gendamon! We'll show those Artisans yet." He strode toward the immense metal doorway, stopping about twenty feet away from it. "Myotismon, as I said, didn't appreciate what he had. He didn't even know what it really is, or where it came from. He was a fool, but we owe him thanks for keeping the gate safe for us."

"Don't we need some kind of cards to open it?" Gendamon asked meekly. Devyn looked mildly surprised.

"How do you know about the cards?" Gendamon did a four-legged version of a shrug.

"After Myotismon's death, most of his soldiers scattered. I heard talk, from time to time."

"I see. And to answer your question, no, we don't need the cards. They were simply a tool for an idiot on a fool's errand. The way he was using the gateway, Myotismon could have quite easily have killed himself. He had no idea how to control it, you see. Not enough power, and not enough brains, Watch, and see how it's really done."

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

Matt pushed the sliding door to Gennai's kitchen open, and he and Sora stepped inside. Although Matt was trying his best to hide it, they had both been seized tightly by a terrible case of The Giggles, and Sora's face was turning red with laughter. She paused to wring out her shirt, and the water dripped onto a welcome mat. Matt stared at it for a moment.

"You got the cat wet." The mat showed a picture of a small white cat under a tree. "The cat on the mat." She stared at him for a moment with a blank expression, then practically fell over with a fresh bout of laughing.

"That…wasn't even…funny," she gasped, face turning red. "So why…are we laughing?"

"I'm not," Matt insisted, swallowing several times and furrowing his brow in an effort to keep a straight face. "Really." Sora gave him one glance, then did fall over. "What?" he asked. "What's so funny?"

"You. You're trying so hard not to laugh, and it's just making you look even more ridiculous."

"You should talk. You're sitting on the cat's face now." Sora convulsed with laughter, rolling over the soggy doormat and finally ending up under the kitchen table. Matt leaned over slowly and looked at her. "Are you okay?" Sora was on her back, staring at the bottom of the table.

"Yeah. You know, I think Gennai chews a lot of gum," she said seriously.

"Why's that?"

"Because, I've never seen so much under one table in my life. Want a piece?"

"Thanks, but I'll pass." He pulled a chair out and sat down, yawning deeply. "Man, I've got to quit getting up like this. I won't be able to do anything when our time's up if I can't stay awake." Sora crawled out from under the table and sat down beside him.

"Believe it or not, I forgot about that."

"What?"

"You know," she said slowly. "That. Devyn, and the black moon. Tai started to tell me, then you all got back and…well, you know the rest." He nodded.

"Yeah, then we started the party a little early. I wish we didn't have to worry about it…" He paused, sighed, then said, "Do you want to know the rest of what happened?" She nodded.

"Do you mind telling me?"

"I really don't want to, but you need to hear it. I'm not sure if I'm a better storyteller than Tai, but I think I can get the general point across."

"Okay." Their giddiness had faded, and they were both quiet for a moment.

"What was the last thing Tai told you?" Matt asked finally.

Sora thought back, and answered, "He had just finished telling me about seeing Devyn's moon, and Gatomon talking about the prophecy." She hesitated before asking, "Do you believe it? Do you really think we're going to die?"

"I don't know. After what happened up there, we're going to need some major luck to survive, that's for sure. But even if we die, I think we'll take out Devyn in the process. Retailmon said he's cooking up some new stuff to help us, something about upgrading the Ultimate Digivolution clips. He's working on the Armor clips too, but I don't know if we eve want to try using those again…" Sora nodded in agreement. Retailmon's Armor clips were meant to provide 'natural armor', but it basically turned the Digimon using it into a giant blob of fat. In their defense though, they did make the monster totally invulnerable. "There's just one thing that really frustrates me," Matt said quietly.

"What's that?" Sora asked.

"The Digimon. They do all the fighting, and all we can do is…well, all we can do is stand there, hoping they throw the right punch. I don't want to be helpless this time, Sora. I want to fight." She nodded slowly.

"You're right. This whole time, through everything, all we could do is get them to Digivolve. But how can we help? If what's up there is so terrible that even they couldn't stop it, what can we do?" He shook his head.

"I don't know. Maybe Retailmon can help us there too. But anyway, you need to know what we're dealing with. Did Tai say what time it was when he stopped?"

Sora wracked her brain for the detail, then said, "I think it was about eleven o'clock, on Tuesday. Or something like that."

"Okay. Let's see, if I remember correctly, Gabumon and I had just gotten a message to come and meet everyone the edge of the forest." He gave a derisive snort. "As if there's a forest anymore. But anyway, Gabumon had gone to his Mega form, and we were flying over what's left of the Digital World, looking at the damage…"

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

Tuesday, 11:20 AM

"I don't believe this," Matt whispered. "How is this possible? How could it have done this kind of damage?" Wind whipped past him, blowing his hair in every direction but he paid it no mind. Below them was a crater that looked like half the planet had been ripped away, and overhead was Devyn's creation. It loomed in the sky like a black eyeball, the silver tubes covering it making it look grotesquely bloodshot. The temperature was also a lot lower than Matt thought it should have been, considering it was the middle of the summer. "How could something so huge just have been sitting under the ground without us knowing?"

"Simple. It was under the ground," said MetalGarurumon. "You can't see down there."

"Thanks a load, Sherlock. Do you see the others yet?" The robotic wolf scanned the horizon for a few seconds before answering.

"I can't make out much of anything, really. The dust is still settling from when that thing came up. I think it'll be a while before we find them, unless you see them on your Digivice." Matt checked for the telltale red dots, but there was no sign.

"Nothing. I hope that's not a bad omen; we can usually pick them up no problem.

Maybe we should land," Garurumon suggested. "That dust cloud might be blocking them from the Digivice's radar or something."

"Good idea. Can you take us down?"

"Right away, captain." Garurumon adjusted his wings, and descended in a circling pattern. They touched down a few minutes later, and Matt clambered down from his partner's back. With the first breath he drew, a coughing fit seized him. He pulled his shirt over his mouth to block the thick dust, and tried vainly to fan it away from his eyes.

"Can you see any better than me?" he asked, still choking a little.

"Lots. My eyes are metal."

"Anything worth mentioning?"

"I don't think…wait, maybe." Matt strained forward, trying to locate what the monster had spotted. "Over there. There's a black thing. I can't quite make it out, but I think it might be a Digimon."

"We'd better go see if it needs help," said Matt. They trooped forward through the cloying dust for a few minutes until they reached their goal. The creature was curled next to a rock in what looked like a fetal position, except it had a few too many arms to do it normally. Pair of thick, transparent membranes were curled over its back, and there were patches of glittering machinery covering black skin. Matt stepped forward, reaching out toward it slowly. "Excuse me," he said, cautiously touching one what he guessed were its wings, "are you all right? Do you need any help?"

For a moment, there was no response of any kind from the creature. Then, with a small, clicking whir, it started to stand. It rose completely in a few seconds, then turned to face them. Matt sucked in a breath, suddenly oblivious to the dirt filling the air. Even with all the Digimon they'd encountered, he had never seen anything like this. It had a wide, triangular body and three arms on each side. The arms were all completely mismatched, as one might look totally organic, and the other a collection of constantly moving splinters of metal. Its torso was heavily muscled and covered with silver armor, as well as having two smaller limbs sprouting directly from the chest. The legs branched out in two directions at the knee, so it essentially had four feet, each of which were as asymmetrical as the arms. The wings looked much too thick to be of any use, as they were patterned after an insect's. But it was the creature's head that got rid of any doubt in Matt's mind that this was not a Digimon. It looked partially insect as well, with enormous compound eyes and flickering mouthparts. But there were also metallic scales running the length of its forehead, and two segmented antennae ran nearly to the ground. It was all too patchwork to be natural, he realized. It looked more like something from an episode of Star Trek or a modern horror movie than a digital monster.

As he and Garurumon stood before it, the animal made a rasping sound, and a series of buzzes came from its head. Matt thought he caught the traces of words coming from it, then he was certain he did. They were faint, and had a computerized tinge to them, but it was definitely language.

"Targets sighted.

Identification: Human.

Designation: Yamato Ishida.

Abbreviated Designation: Matt."

He stood dumbly, stunned. What was this thing? How did it know who he was? He was pretty sure it wouldn't answer even if he asked, but the creature wasn't finished anyway. Another string of buzzing words sounded from its cranium.

"Digimon identification: MetalGarurumon.

Level: Mega.

Threat assessment: minimal.

Target priority: primary.

Engage and terminate."

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

Tuesday, 11:25 AM

"Nobody sneeze," Izzy whispered. Togemon's front end teetered precariously, the bottom of the gaping maw below them so far away it was practically invisible. A fascinating collection of wonderfully jagged rocks jutted out along the sides of the canyon, clearly very willing to tear them to ribbons if they fell. "Just…hold…very…still."

"Why?" asked Mimi. She leaned forward in her seat, and Togemon rocked back and forth like a berserk seesaw.

Simultaneously, everyone in the cabin forgot their situation and shouted, "SIT DOWN!" Mimi did so rather quickly.

"Okay," Izzy breathed, trying hard to keep every muscle in his body perfectly still. "Togemon. Can you go backwards? It feels like the earthquakes have stopped, so it's probably safer than here."

"I can try," the Digimon said nervously. "But maybe if you all go to the back of me very slowly, so there's something weighting me down…"

"Good idea," aid Izzy. "Tentomon, you go first. Fly back, then set down as lightly as you can." Tentomon's wings hummed lightly as he floated up…and Togemon rocked around crazily. Tentomon dropped back to the floor, then launched again, as Izzy cried, "No! Just go; it'll be better just to do it!" Without further delay, the insect flitted to the back of the cockpit and landed on the steel deck plates. Togemon's rocking slowly lessened, then faded to a faint creaking. "Great," Izzy sighed, "that's one down. I'll go next, then Mimi can go last."

"Why am I last?" Mimi asked indignantly. "I'm always last. Sometimes I think maybe you guys don't trusty me, or think I'm stupid or something. I'm just as smart as anyone else is, even if I like different things! Just because I always wear pink doesn't mean I'm any less--"

"Your teeth look nice today," said Izzy.

"Really? Thanks, I just brushed them last night!" said Mimi, completely forgetting about their previous conversation. She yammered on while Izzy made his way to the rear and hunched himself in a corner. He got her attention with a hand signal.

"You see?" she muttered, crawling toward Izzy. "Completely ignored everything I just said, as if it didn't even matter. Honestly…"

"All right, Togemon," said Izzy, completely ignoring everything Mimi was saying, since it didn't matter. "Let's give it a try."

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

Tuesday, 11:21 AM

The black creature leapt forward so fast Matt could hardly comprehend it. He got an impression of humming, transparent wings and spinning turbines, but there was no time to concentrate on any one detail; that was how fast the thing was.

In a flash, it was standing in front of MetalGarurumon. Its pure speed had caught the monster completely off guard, and he didn't even have time to defend himself before the creature threw its misshapen, spiked fist outward, catching him alongside the muzzle. The beast's attack left only a thin rip in Garurumon's armor, but it was enough to phase him. Its wings screeched momentarily, and it launched itself over his side in a dazzling flip. The next instant, the thing was next to him, pummeling his metallic armor with insectile arms. Then behind him, raking its pincers across his flank and ripping deep gashes in his hide. It moved like lightning, so quickly it was hardly even a blur. Almost before the battle had begun, it was over with Garurumon on the ground and gasping for air.

"No!" Matt shouted. Desperately, he dashed forward. The creature was standing over his partner one forearm raised. It split outward in three directions, and a protrusion that dripped a viscous yellow fluid emerged. It spun like a drill, curved metal spines sliding out from it, although the majority of the new limb was organic. It had started to lower the weapon toward Garurumon's head, but at Matt's shout, it looked toward him and paused, as if contemplating. It looked down at the Digimon, then back towards Matt.

"Situation unconfirmed. Multiple targets, equal priority." It turned its head skyward, toward the unnatural moon, and let out a piercing buzz. Matt clapped his hand over his ears involuntarily as a high-pitched squeal reached him. It sounded a little like a modem, but much more intense. The noise continued for roughly a minute before the creature returned its multi-faceted gaze to Matt. Stepping over Garurumon smoothly, almost daintily, it walked towards the human.

"Me and my big mouth," Matt muttered under his breath. He saw with surprised relief that Garurumon was all right; he was actually getting up. True, he had look much better, but he was definitely alive. And he was pissed. That was a good thing, for Matt, but not for the creature. It was still advancing, mouthparts clicking in what could have been excitement. "Okay…just stay there…" It didn't listen. The thing was now no more than ten feet from Matt, and he could see it much better than he wanted to. It raised one arm, misshapen palm facing toward him, and it's entire appendage split open. It went four ways, the inside partially organic, and partially machine, but it gave a whole new definition to the word 'cyborg'.

Garurumon attacked. His mouth swung open on a metal jaw, fangs gleaming, and a torrent of cold, blue, energy surged outward. This time, it was the black monster's turn to be surprised. The tidal wave of light caught it squarely in the back, and it hurtled past Matt and directly into the rock it had first been crouching by.

"Cheap…shot…" Garurumon panted, stepping closer. The claws on his feet slid outward like knife blades, then glowed yellow. "Dirty trick," he snarled. "Didn't even give me time to fight." Matt backed away, sensing things were about to heat up. "Ugly little bi--" The creature launched itself from the rock, propelled by a powerful kick from its legs. It didn't even bother to turn, letting its back smash into Garurumon's face. Both monsters were thrown backwards by the charge, but neither was stunned this time. They rocketed up, each moving with different wings, and Matt couldn't tell which was chasing the other. One second Garurumon was flying toward it, snapping and slashing, and the next the creature was slicing the air in front of his snout. Neither seemed to be able to land a hit on the other, but at the same time, neither was submitting.

Then, all at once the black beast's arm opened again and the dripping yellow spike shot forth. It found its target directly on Garurumon's foreleg, then slapped against his underbelly. Matt didn't see the point, until he realized what the yellow fluid was. Acid. The creature swung a clawed heel around backward and caught Garurumon directly where he had just received a chemical burn. The Digimon let out an earsplitting roar of pain and fury, but the new injury was too much for him. His metal coat shattered, wings vanished, and then he was only Gabumon. Gabumon, falling toward the ground much, much too fast. Matt ran, pumping his legs like he never had before, and threw himself forward with every ounce of strength he could muster. Gabumon landed in his grasp, and Matt rolled for a few paces and lay breathless on the ground. He heard a slight hum, and saw two black and silver claws touch the ground in front of him. He looked up. The beast was staring back at him, one compound eye shattered and leaking a black liquid, like ink or oil. It took a slow step forward, then stumbled and fell.

Matt didn't need another moment. The monster was already trying to pull itself up, so he took the lead, threw Gabumon over his shoulder, and ran for all he was worth.

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

Tuesday, 11:40 AM

"That wasn't so bad, now was it?" said Mimi, sighing with relief. She clambered out of Togemon's hatch, followed closely by Izzy and Tentomon. "I can think of a lot of things that would have been a lot worse than that. Like taking finals at school, or buying lousy CDs, or…" She trailed off, frowning, then looked up. "Um, guys? Wasn't it morning a little while ago?" Izzy followed her gaze. "I mean, shouldn't the sun be up?"

"Yes, it definitely should," Izzy agreed. "But something's blocking it…is that the moon?"

"It certainly doesn't look like any moon I've ever seen," said Tentomon. "It looks more like a bunch of tubes wrapped around a ball of black clay. On a much larger scale, of course."

"I'm thinking we should try and find the others," said Izzy weakly. "Um…any ideas on where to look? We were supposed to meet at the edge of the forest, but I don't think that's an option anymore." He gestured to the area behind them. There was nothing there. Everything for miles upon miles had vanished, fallen in on itself, resulting in a canyon of such size that it seemed it should have been illegal. Nothing was that big, Izzy's brain told him. Except now two things were very plainly defying his brain's logic. One was the canyon, and the other was the thing floating overhead.

"That black moon must have been underground," said Tentomon. "That's what made the crater. And now it's blocking out the sun."

"But what is it?" Mimi demanded. "It sure wasn't there yesterday, I know that!"

"Whatever it is, it must have some connection to the monster that killed Myotismon," said Izzy. "And maybe to that spider as well. It just seems like there's some piece missing from all this, though…something we don't know yet. We'd better find the others. You guys hang on for a second, I'll try and get them on the computer."

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

Tuesday, 11:43 AM

Tai's laptop made an unpleasant noise at him. He shot it a dirty look, then realized he had someone trying to contact him, and flipped it open. The message window was open, and a sentence bearing Izzy's name was waiting for him.

Do you see what I see, fearless leader?

Sure do, Tai responded. Any scientific explanations?

Not a one. But meeting by the woods isn't an option anymore. Just home in on my signal and meet me where I am.

Roger, Tai typed. Make sure the other guys know too.

Will do. Izzy's name blinked off the screen.

"Izzy's team is okay," Tai announced, snapping the computer shut. "Let's use the Digivices to find them." He pulled his out and directed Gatomon toward Izzy's signal.

"I hope this is over soon," Kari whispered, her voice muffled by having her face buried in her brother's side. "I'm getting cold. And there are all these voices whispering in my head." Tai's brain didn't register what she had said for a few seconds. Then it did.

"Voices?" he repeated, head whipping around so sharply his neck cracked. "Like, those voices…?" He peered around in the darkness, but was unable to make anything coherent out from the shapes whipping past. Gatomon was driving as fast as possible, which happened to be very fast. "Agumon," said Tai quietly. His partner's green eyes shifted toward him. "Be ready to go Mega. I've got a bad feeling about this.

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

Tuesday, 11:52 AM

Matt didn't dare breathe. Any movement could give away his position, he told himself, and it was precarious enough as it was without his stupid respiratory system screwing things up. Beside him, Gabumon lay unconscious on the ground. His heavy fur had stopped most of the bleeding the black monster's chemical weapon had caused, but it still bothered Matt that he even had bled. He almost never seen Digimon blood before, even with all the battles they had fought.

"It's because that thing wasn't a Digimon," he thought, and his stomach turned. "It didn't use attacks, either. So what was it?" And more importantly, his brain said, where was it now? He didn't think it would be waiting behind him, just to frighten him if he turned to check over his shoulder. More likely, it would just stab an acid-coated knife through his head. "Nice thought." He kept his back pressed firmly against the inside of the hollow tree he had found, and his hand against Gabumon's wounded chest. It was caked with dry blood. "I hope the others are doing better than me."

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

Tuesday, 12:00 PM

Out of the darkness, something screeched and collided with Gatomon's metal frame. Beside Tai, Kari let out a brief shout and Agumon an equally short yelp of surprise. Gatomon lurched to one side, only two tires touching the ground, and then she flipped over completely. They tumbled across the open grass, metal clanging and groaning under stress, and Tai feeling like his stomach was about to fly out of his mouth. In the instant before Gatomon had started to roll, he'd caught a glimpse of a thick, muscular…something, with rough black skin and sliver scales, and long, twisted claws. Then they were caught in a spin, falling over themselves and each other. Tai's laptop fell out of his grip, and he later recalled hearing a crunch. It was a few minutes before he came back to his senses, and looked around.

He was lying flat on his chest, roughly twenty feet away from Gatomon. She was no longer in her Metal body. His eyes trained across the ground and fell upon a Digivice. Not his, since it was safely in his pocket, so it must have been Kari's. The Edible clip that had kept Gatomon in her evolved state was lying a small distance from it, presumably separated in the crash.

"Everybody okay?" he croaked, hauling himself into a sitting position. "Kari? Agumon?"

"I'm okay," Augment's voice said. Tai spotted him, and was relieved to see the Digimon had his sister beside him. "She's fine too. I think she got knocked out, though, Tai."

"As long as she's not hurt. Gatomon? You okay?"

"I'm just peachy," Gatomon grumbled. "Figures Retailmon would forget to install anti-lock brakes, though."

"And air bags," Tai added. He plucked Kari's Digivice and clip from the grass and deposited them in his pocket. "Any idea how far we rolled?"

"Not too far, I think," said Gatomon, looking around. "I can still see most of the same landmarks as before. But, Tai," she added, "what was that thing that hit us? I think it was alive, but I don't think it was a Digimon."

"Why not?"

"It smelled wrong," said Agumon. "I don't think I've ever smelled anything like that, but I'm sure it wasn't a Digimon."

"Then what was it? And where did it go?" No one knew. He got to his feet, helped Agumon up, and cradled his unconscious sister in his arms. "Man, what I wouldn't give for a good flashlight right about now. Oh well. We'd better start walking. I don't want to risk hitting something else, and I've got a sneaking suspicion we should try and make as little noise as possible." Neither of the Digimon protested, so they set out. All three of them were jumpy, imagining noises that weren't there and constantly reassuring themselves that the shadow on the ground was only a shadow. Tai hadn't felt so nervous since he was five years old and his nightlight had burned out.

The thick darkness made it hard to see much of anything, so Tai didn't even notice Gatomon wasn't beside him for almost fully a minute. When he finally did, he stopped and looked to where he thought she'd been, then over at Agumon. "Did you see where Gatomon went? She was just here, wasn't she?"

"I thought so," his partner murmured, turning around. "Gatomon? Where did you go?" Unsurprisingly, there was no response.

"We'd better backtrack a little," said Tai. "Maybe she, er, fell in a hole or something." They retraced their steps for about five minutes with no luck. Tai was about to suggest the try going to the left when his foot hit something soft. He stopped, knelt, and picked it up. "Agumon," he breathed, feeling his gut twist into a pretzel, "this is Gatomon's glove. One of them, anyway."

"The suspense can end now," Agumon gulped, nervously glancing side to side. "I think…I…think…" Tai had no idea what he thought, and never found out. He had spotted the black monster at the same time Agumon had. It was crouched about fifteen feet away, silvery, multi-faceted eyes studying them with morbid fascination. It was holding Gatomon in one of its five hands. Three of the others were resting at its sides, but the fourth, a mass of spikes and blades, was poised to smash itself directly into the cat's skull. From the look of things, they had momentarily distracted it from its objective, and it tilted its head to the side with unmistakable curiosity.

"Shit," said Tai.

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

Tuesday, 12:15 PM

Izzy wished he had a tree to prop his back against. It wasn't a ridiculous wish, considering there had been a forest where he was sitting the day before, but now there was only a mind-numbingly deep canyon. Mimi was lying on her back, Palmon resting with her head on Mimi's stomach. Tentomon was flying in circles above them, seemingly too nervous to sit still.

Izzy had his own worries, but he didn't feel compelled to voice them just yet. After calling Tai, he'd attempted to contact Matt. There had been no response. Joe was still unreachable, which didn't surprise him. What did surprise him, and indeed, worry him greatly, was that when he had tried to let Tai know about his communication problems, he had gotten Retailmon's dancing bear message, saying Tai's computer was unavailable.

"Not encouraging,' he thought. "And still no sign of Sora…I wish I knew what was going on." The one detail that kept Izzy from panicking was that both Tai and Matt still registered on his Digivice. That meant that, if worst came to worst, he and his team could pack up and go to find the others instead of waiting around. And that was encouraging.

Although, currently, not much else was.

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

Tuesday, 12:30 PM

Matt dared to hope he was safe. Nearly forty minutes had passed with no sign of the creature that had attacked. Gabumon was still unconscious, but his breathing was much easier, and the wound had finally stopped bleeding. Moving quietly, Matt reached to his pocket and slipped out his Digivice. The small display clearly showed a cluster of red dots, glowing brightly in the murky darkness of the cavern.

"I should make a run for it," he thought. "That monster hurt Gabumon a lot, but it wasn't in very good shape either." And, he reasoned, if the others were still all right, then maybe it was safe to come out. There was an overabundance of shadows to hide in, and it was better than spending the rest of his life in a cramped tree stump.

"Still, if I run into trouble, there's no Digimon to save my butt," he remembered with a frown. Since when had humans become so pathetic? Maybe since they'd gotten dropped into a world full of bloodthirsty beasts without a weapon? He gave a dissatisfied snort, and poked his head out of the hole.

The night, or day as it stood, was still and quiet. The tree Matt was in was one of the few that had survived the earthquake, and there didn't seem to be anything else alive in the small patch of forest. Uncurling his cramped legs, Matt crawled from his hiding place, shooting wary glances at everything that didn't move. He started walking, and every twig he stepped on sounded like a gunshot. One large stick sounded particularly like an explosion.

"It even shakes the ground like an explosion," he thought absently. "Wait...that was an explosion!" Abandoning all attempts at stealth, Matt dashed to the edge of the grove. High above the ground, at least a mile away, something hot and orange flashed. It was a massive ball of flame, or some kind of energy, glinting and radiating with power.

"That's a Terra Force attack!" Matt thought frantically. "And if that's up there, than so is WarGreymon, and Tai must be right near him! Throwing aside all worries of attracting attention, Matt kicked his legs into overdrive and ran as fast as he could. Gabumon was dead weight, but he didn't notice or care. All he could think about was getting to Tai and the other kids, warning them about what he had seen, and getting help for his partner. Closer, closer...a hundred yards...eighty...fifty...he could almost make out the shapes of people and Digimon now...forty yards, thirty...he was so close now, his chest was burning but he ran even harder...twenty yards, so near, but still so far...

Ten yards away from his destination, Matt's legs gave out. It wasn't that he had run out of strength; surviving in the Digital World had provided lots of chances to run for his life. The problem was that he now saw why WarGreymon had attacked. It was the black monster.

But it wasn't the same one.

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

Tuesday, 12:32 PM

"Terra Force!" WarGreymon roared, and hurled a second shot at the beast. It kicked one leg to the side, snapped its wings, and easily avoided the attack. Tai heard Greymon give a frustrated growl, and wished Kari would wake up. He had snatched Gatomon to safety after his Digimon's first attack, but neither of them was much help unconscious.

The black thing landed roughly fifteen feet from where Tai was crouched, and there was enough light from the fires WarGreymon's attack had started to see what it was doing. Its entire torso had spilt in half, and rows of metal cylinders, coated with an inky, black slime, telescoped out. With short hissing sounds, the cylinders spat dozens of spiked barbs out and skyward. Greymon swung an armored glove and the barbs bounced off harmlessly.

"Hope that wasn't your best shot," he growled gutturally, brandishing his claws. The monster cocked its head in the same curious manner as before, the weapons returning to their stowed position. It let out a series of clicks and, strangely enough, chirps, and let its head tilt to the other shoulder. "Talk, talk, talk," muttered the Digimon. His armored wings flared behind him, and he hurtled down and toward the monster. "War Claw!" Greymon was nothing but a gold blur; he seemed to be almost as fast as the black monster, bladed fist raking across its front, shredding the armor thick covering it. The beast flew back, stunned by the force of his blow, but it didn't stay that way for long. Again flicking its wings, the black monster spun sharply around and caught Greymon across the face with its muscular forearm. There was a metallic clang and a brief shower of sparks as metal struck metal, and WarGreymon momentarily reeled from the strength behind the assault. But not to be outdone, he reared his blades forward again and impaled the monster's gnarled hand with a spray of black fluid.

Tai watched all this from a safe distance, his Digivice vibrating quietly in his hand. Seeing the tide of battle flowing neatly toward WarGreymon, he let himself relax a little. The planet could shake itself apart, enormous mechanical moons could hang in the sky like satanic bricks, but a Mega level Digimon could still handle anything that came its way. At his side, Kari stirred and her eyes fluttered open.

"Tai? What happened?" Tai helped his sister sit up, and she looked around dazedly.

"Stay low, Kari. We got attacked by some kind of…I think it's a Digimon, at least. I thought it had Gatomon for a few minutes, but she's okay. WarGreymon is handling things now."

"WarGreymon…?" Kari repeated, almost in a whisper. Her eyes trailed around blankly, and she looked over her shoulder in apparent confusion. "But he can't…" Abruptly, she looked back at Tai. "Call him back, Tai! We have to go!"

"What do you mean? He's winning!" As if to prove Tai's point, the black monster flew in a graceful arc over their heads and landed with a sickening thud about twenty feet behind them. WarGreymon followed, hurling orbs of reddish energy two at a time. They struck the ground around the monster, sending it rolling across the scarred grass.

"He can't beat that thing! It's…I don't know what it is, but it isn't like him! He can't beat it yet, we have to go now!" She scrambled up and started trying to drag Tai with her.

"Hey, come on, Kari! Where are we supposed to go? There might be more of those things out there, and Gatomon isn't exactly in fighting condition. Greymon is our only defense right now. We need to stay put until he finishes what he's dealing with!" Monster and Digimon were now shooting overhead, thrusting and dodging in turn, neither seeming to be able land a hit on the other. WarGreymon finally found an opening and caught the patchwork antagonist on the underbelly with his elbow. It let out a whoosh as the wind was knocked from it, tumbled head-over-heels , and yet again smashed into the turf. Greymon lowered himself back to the ground and took a few steps toward his fallen aggressor.

"Tai?" he called. "Finish it?" The monster gave a protesting buzz, twitching its mangled wings uselessly.

"Yeah," said Tai quickly. "We need to find the others and see if they've run into these guys too. Take it out." WarGreymon raised his bladed arm, concentrated heat glowing and ready to launch.

"Tai…" Kari whimpered, "please, Tai, listen to me! He can't beat that thing! We've got to—"

"I know, I know, find the others. But he's about to win, Kari, look!" The energy in Greymon's fist had grown to about the size of a beach ball, more than enough to finish the beast. Taking a flying leap back, he whipped his arm around and let the blast rocket forward. It slammed directly into its mark, and a cloud of foul-smelling smoke filled the air. "Y'see?" Tai said, climbing to his feet. WarGreymon alighted behind them, breathing hard but unmistakably satisfied. "I told you he could—gaaack!" Something metal shot out from the smoke with a high-pitched whine and skimmed Tai's side. He staggered, looking shocked, and collapsed. He lay gasping for breath, hands clamped down on his abdomen.

Simultaneously, WarGreymon and Kari shouted, "Tai!" and dove for him. Kari managed to pry his hands away as Greymon thundered up beside her and she felt her stomach twist in horror. WarGreymon recoiled slightly, which was unnerving considering his incredible size and strength. An oversized version of one of the black monster's barbs had sliced a deep gash along Tai's left side; it was still dangling from the torn threads of his shirt. Blood poured from the wound, soaking the ground and Kari's hands. She looked up at the Digimon with panic burned into her features.

"What do I do? I don't know what to do, Greymon!" Tai let out a racking cough, rolling back and forth in agony. Greymon stared at his partner, helplessness and fear radiating from his eyes like torchlight. He seemed about to answer when another whistle overrode Tai's gasps. The monster's head jerked back as if he had been hit from behind. A spray of blood misted from beneath his helmet, and he too coughed and his own legs buckled. Kari shrieked and leapt out of the way as he fell forward, a second barb jutting from the back of his neck.

Behind him, torn, mangled, and half-dead, three of its arms ripped away, the black monster clicked happily.

Mission accomplished.

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