Digital War

by XDragon2688

Part two in the Digital Trilogy. It picks up with Ace Chambers three years after the events of Digital Invasion. It a rewrite of the original and differs greatly. Check it out!

Digital War

Ace Chambers leaned against the door to the subway car as the train rocked back and forth. He reached into his messenger back hanging over his side and raised the volume on his Ipod as Always by Bon Jovi drowned out the sounds of the train and the people talking around him. Ace closed his eyes, slipping his hands into the pockets in his gray suit pants.

'Another great day at work and another lovely commute. God this sucks.' Ace thought as he opened his brown eyes to look at the sign as the train came to a stop at one of the stations. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't his stop. He sighed heavily as Bon Jovi belted out the lyrics, "When he holds you close, when he pulls you near, when he says the words you've been needing to hear, I'll wish I was him 'cause those words are mine to say to you till the end of time…"

Ace pulled his headphones off, draping them around his neck. He could still here the muffled sounds of the song, but thankfully could no longer make it out. This is what his life had become…it wasn't that long ago, just three years that he was on top of the world. In fact after he and Kaze defeated Piedmon, things really started to settle down. There was no Digimon activity and they graduated college. Kaze moved back home to Redemption to work at his family's company and Ace decided to stay local and took a job offer at Schopf Health. As for Renee, well Ace shook his head, dispelling the thoughts as the train pulled into the Madison Street station. He placed his headphones back onto his ear before running his hand through his messy brown hair. Once the doors opened, Ace hustled out of the train, through the turnstile, up the stairs and onto the street where the setting sun bathed the city streets in a nice orange glow. He cut through crowds, bobbing and weaving his way down the sidewalk and across the street. From where he was standing, Ace could clearly see the construction on Loudon Tower, which was still being repaired after it was blasted to apart by a rampaging Machinedramon three years ago. Ace smirked at the sight. At least the city was moving on…

Ace walked up the three flights of stairs to his apartment with a brown paper bag in his right hand. With his free hand he fished his keys out of his bag and slid the key into the hole. There was a dull click as the lock released its grasp on the door. Ace pushed the door open and stepped inside his dimly lit apartment. "Demi, would it kill you to put a damn light on every once in a while?" Ace yelled as the door closed behind him. He sighed and walked past the light in the living room without turning it on. He had more on his mind than a simple dark room.

The light clicked on as Ace pulled a bottle of tequila out from the brown paper bag.

"What are you doing with that?" a voice asked. Standing next to the lamp was a small deep red dinosaur like creature. His hands released the switch and his green eyes focused on Ace.

"I'm going to drink it DemiTyrannomon. Is that okay with you?" Ace asked and rolled his eyes at the Digimon. Of course Demi was just trying to help Ace, but this was not the night for that. Over the last year Ace had become solitary and hardly left his apartment except for work and to get groceries. He had no plans to go out to the bars with a few guys from work on a Friday night; all he wanted to do tonight was get nice and cozy with his good friend Jose Cuervo.

DemiTyrannomon closed his eyes and placed his hand on Ace's knee. "At least get something to eat. I can't call 911 if you pass out drunk and die. Who knows what the government will do if they catch us."

Ace paused as he unscrewed the bottle. "Fine go order a pizza for us. I'm going to run to the deli so you'll let me drink in peace." With that, Ace tossed the cordless phone to DemiTyrannomon and walked out of the apartment.

A few minutes later Ace opened the bag of chips and walked slowly up the stairs. As he neared his landing, he shoved a handful into his mouth and paused. Standing in the hallway just outside of her door was Ace's neighbor Celeste. He had no idea what she did for a living, but every time he saw her, she was dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants and a light pink t-shirt, tied in the front and exposed her midriff. She was hot, but Ace would never admit it. The two had never really talked too much; sure they stopped in the hallway to talk every now. Actually she had invited him out a few times to the bars but he always declined.

Celeste stopped with her key in the keyhole to her door and smiled at Ace. Her red hair flowed down to her butt and moved slowly as she turned to look at him. Her green eyes were framed by a slim pair of glasses. "Why Ace, I can't believe you're actually outside your apartment," she teased with a grin. "I honestly thought you were a shut in."

Ace quickly chewed the rest of the chips in his mouth and swallowed. "Funny Celeste."

"I thought so. So! What brings you out of your cave Mr. Chambers?"

"Just getting a snack. What about you, got any plans tonight?"

"Nope, just going to sit at home and watch some movies on TV. I decided to splurge and get a good bottle of rum," she paused, letting that sink in for Ace. "I wouldn't mind some company drinking it if you're not too busy with your whirlwind social life," she batted her eye lashes and opened her door. She lingered there for a second, threw Ace a wink and then stepped inside, leaving the door open.

Ace stood there at the top of the stair case, trying to rationalize what just happened. Maybe if Ace was in a better mood he would have had some comeback, some banter to share with her but he wasn't. This was the anniversary of what should have been the best night in his life.

A year ago he planned to propose to Renee but she dumped him before he could pull the ring out of his pocket. She just up and left him sitting alone in the restaurant. That had destroyed him and left him a shell of his former self. Kaze had told him to move on, to forget her, but that was impossible. He loved, no he was still in love with Renee which made it all the more painful. But if she could rip his heart out, maybe he should do something. At least Celeste was cute. Of course nothing was going to happen, Ace wasn't feeling particularly frisky. Besides, pizza was coming….but then again, how often would a hot girl invite a depressed shell of a man into their home?

"Fuck it," he muttered and walked past his apartment and into Celeste's. "All right, you mentioned rum?"

A few hours later and a few bottles later Ace slumped against the couch in Celeste's apartment with Celeste leaning against him. Puzzled, Ace looked at the top of the girl's head and tried to figure out how he ended up in this position. "Celeste, you..you're awesome" Ace said, breaking the silence. He slipped his hand out from behind her and draped it across her body. "I haven't had so much fun in forever. I mean like…ever" he added nodding his head quickly.

"Well you never go out. How's a guy supposta have any fun when all he does is sit at home and play with himself huh?" Celeste asked, shifting up against him so his hand was covering her breast.

"Oh? Well, I dunno. It's not important. But but…I'm holding your boob aren't I?" he asked, looking down at his hand. Whatever thoughts he had were instantly gone. She was flirting with him…okay she was doing a lot more than flirting. "Celeste I'm…" he started to say as she sat up and gripped her shirt, and slowly lifting it up over her head. She sat there in a black and pink lace bra and grinned at Ace. "You're what?" she asked, leaning in and placing a kiss on his lips.

Ace started to chuckle as she pressed her lips against his, but he quickly returned the embrace and wrapped his arms around her as she pressed herself against him and pushed them down on the couch. Things quickly started to escalate until they were both in their underwear. Ace pulled back from the embrace and shook his head. "We need condoms," he panted. "I have some in my room. Come on."

Celeste pouted playfully and climbed off of him and rose to her feet. She brushed her long hair back behind her ear and watched as Ace awkwardly gathered his clothes.

"Well, come on," he whispered and paused at her door. "On the count of three…one…two… three!" Ace flung the door open and darted across the hall. To his surprise the door opened easily, DemiTyrannomon never locked it. Celeste appeared behind him and closed the door, locking it behind her. Before she could say a word, Ace grabbed her hand and pulled her past a sleeping DemiTyrannomon and into his bedroom. He let go of her hand, closed the door and pulled open his dresser drawer. He searched through boxers and socks, moving them aside until he paused in his frantic search for birth control. Laying with a sock through the wrist band was his watch like Digivice. He hesitated then pushed it aside and saw what he had been searching for, a box of condoms. Ace grinned in triumph, pulled one out of the box and turned to look at the red headed beauty. "Now where were we?" he asked.

"Right here," Celeste whispered as her bra fell to the floor.

Ace's eyes slowly forced themselves open at the sound of a frantic high pitched beep coming from somewhere in the room. He didn't remember falling asleep, why he was naked or why he set his alarm for 4:30 A.M. "Stupid alarm," he grumbled and smacked the clock next to his bed, but that didn't stop the beeping.

"Ace, shut the clock off," a female voice next to him moaned. Confused, Ace looked to his right and stared right at Celeste. Suddenly things started to piece themselves together. He had gotten drunk, brought her back here, grabbed a condom and had sex with her. He froze and quickly shifted his attention to his dresser. The noise made sense; it was his Digivice going off.

"I will, you just get back to sleep. I need to go check on something," he whispered. Celeste just groaned in agreement and rolled over, exposing her bare back to him.

Ace shook his head, wishing he could crawl back into bed with her. Yeah, he might regret this in the morning, but now, it's where he wanted to be. Unfortunately he couldn't. Ace stood before his dressed, opened the top drawer and removed his Digivice Omega and slipped it on his wrist. The beeping stopped, reacting to his flesh. Ace pressed the large button on the face of the device which caused a holographic three dimensional map of downtown Loudon to appear and illuminate the room in neon green. A red dot flashed indicating the position of an aggressor Digimon. The map suddenly faded back into the device bathing the room in darkness once again. He quickly got dressed, pulling clothes out of drawers haphazardly, not caring about how he looked since it was the middle of the night.

Ace slipped out of his room and closed the door as quietly as he could and walked down the small hallway back towards the living room where DemiTyrannomon was sleeping. He was a little surprised he didn't feel that drunk anymore considering they finished two full bottles, but he and Celeste did get quite a workout going, or so he liked to believe, he honestly didn't remember the details of the last few hours.

"Demi, get up," Ace called out in a hushed tone. The dinosaur Digimon stirred lightly in his sleep, groaning.

"Five more minutes," DemiTyrannomon whined, waving his claw to dismiss Ace.

"No, get up. Something is attacking downtown. Ace replied, walking over to DemiTyrannomon.

In an instant, the Digimon's eyes shot open and he leapt up, standing fully alert and awake.

"Just be quiet and don't wake Celeste up," Ace instructed as he grabbed his car keys from the rack.

The dinosaur Digimon tilted his head to the side and stared at Ace with his golden eyes. "Did you say Celeste?" he asked, trying to comprehend what Ace was saying. "How much did you have to drink again?"

"Just shut up and get in the car."

It took a few minutes for Ace and DemiTyrannomon to arrive at Main Street. The gray SUV came to a stop about a block away from the red dot on his holographic map of the city. It might not have been the best idea to drive, with Ace still be slightly drunk, but it was one of the fastest ways for them to get where they needed to go, and it helped DemiTyrannomon conserve his energy. The two stepped out of the vehicle and looked around their surroundings.

"I don't see anything, do you?" Ace asked.

As if on cue, balls of fire streaked across the sky over Ace and DemiTyrannomon, impacting the buildings across the street from where they were standing. The flame balls exploded, raining fire down onto the street and igniting some rooms in the building. Ace looked back to see the source of the fire balls. His brown eyes locked onto a figure standing on top of a building a few yards behind them. From what he could see the creature's shape was rather humanoid, with a large horn protruding from his head and large claws on his hands and feet. Once it noticed Ace and DemiTyrannomon looking at it, it leapt into the air, encasing it's body in sphere of flames. As it neared the ground, it expanded the flames, sending them off in all directions, setting trees, telephone poles and buildings ablaze. The Digimon landed in a crouch before slowly rising to its height. Bathed in the light of so many fires burning, Ace could clearly see the Digimon's features. It had a blue body, with orange and red armor covering its head, chest, hands and feet. It had three claws on each hand, and foot, and one large prominent horn on its forehead.

"They said you'd come," the Digimon said, grinning slightly. "I'm disappointed, you don't look that dangerous."

"Well, you know what they say, looks can be deceiving." Ace replied, as he pulled up the Digimon's information on his D-Omega. According to the data he had, this Digimon's name was Flamedramon.

"So I've been informed. Don't worry, I won't take this lightly, as I'm sure you won't either," Flamedramon replied, moving his left leg back and adjusting his stance into a more aggressive one. Slowly, flames began to form around him until he was almost completely encased in a fiery aura. "Fire Rocket!" he bellowed, blasting off from the ground and flying straight at Ace.

DemiTyrannomon leapt into Ace, knocking him to the ground and avoiding the attack. "Bastard didn't even wait. Come on Ace, let's show this punk who's he messing with," DemiTyrannomon said, crawling to his feet.

Ace nodded, pushing himself off of the ground. "Right, DemiTyrannomon, evolve!" he yelled, as his D-Omega emitted a bright white light. His Digimon partner was encased in a cocoon of light for a few seconds and then exploded revealing a new, larger form.

"Dragonmon…" the creature snarled. Dragonmon resembled a four legged black dragon, standing at about eleven feet tall from the ground to his back. The dragon Digimon had a long slender neck and powerful tail which ended as a cannon with a scythe over it. Dragonmon had two large wings on either side of his body as well as two horns foot long came out of the side of his head and swept back towards his tail. Along his back were twin sets of spines green spines which ran down the side of the back and ended before his tail. Part of his body is shielded in silver armor that covered the top of his head, his shoulders and knees adding protection and giving him an intimidating look.

"Well, isn't this more interesting," Flamedramon scoffed.

Dragonmon snarled, spewing flames from his nostrils. A holographic reticle appeared over his left eye, locking onto Flamedramon. "You'll regret coming here. I'll send you back to the hole you climbed out of," Dragonmon's wings started to beat, lifting the dragon off of the ground. He hovered in the air, focusing on the blue Digimon. "Dragon Inferno!" he bellowed, spewing a stream of flames at Flamedramon.

The flame suddenly dispersed as Flamedramon came rocketing towards Dragonmon. He lowered his head just before slamming into Dragonmon's chest and carrying the larger Digimon with him and through Ace's car and into a building. Flamedramon landed outside of the hole the dragon Digimon created. He turned his head back towards Ace and smirked again. "Poor dumb bastard..."

Dragonmon groaned in pain as he struggled to right himself and get back to his feet. His eyes narrowed as he struggled to regain his senses. The targeting system over his left eye glitched on and off momentarily before locking onto Flamedramon. He may have been caught off guard once, but not again. If fire wasn't going to work on him, then he'd have to use his size and other abilities. "Alright you cocky little freak, try this one on for size," Dragonmon growled as his targeting system diagnosed and locked onto Flamedramon. His tail swayed behind him slowly with the cannon-like tip facing Flamedramon. Once the reticle turned green, the dragon smirked. "Giga Impact!" he yelled, firing a golden ball of energy from his tail. The attack caught Flamedramon off guard, and sent him careening across the street and against a parked car. Dragonmon opened his mouth, and let loose a stream of fire at the parked car. Within moments the car exploded around Flamedramon. With the coast clear, Dragonmon lumbered out of the building, nodding over at Ace. "Now, what the hell do you want?"

Flamedramon pushed himself up off of the pavement. He was visibly wounded from the force of the attack, bruises and burned marks covered his unexposed flesh and the armor like material was lightly cracked. "Consider me an emissary of your death."

"From who? We killed Piedmon three years ago." Ace asked, stepping forward a bit. Dragonmon put his left arm out to keep his partner at bay.

"That's right we blasted him to dust."

Flamedramon laughed. "Piedmon was an overzealous fool, but his death showed my kings the threat you all pose. The great lords have been gracious enough to allow me to warn you of your impending doom in any way I see fit. You should consider your selves lucky, it's not everyday fortune smiles upon you."

"Fortune? You coming here and burning the neighborhood is fortunate? You know, some people write letters and not destroy the neighborhood." Ace replied as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Consider this a warning shot. This is just the start, and you know you stand no chance. Surrender now and maybe your lives will be spared," Flamedramon taunted.

In the distance the sound of sirens from the fire department pierced the silence of the night. Ace didn't want to get caught here with his Digimon, but he couldn't just leave Flamedramon to cause some actual death and destruction.

"Dragonmon, they're coming."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear them," Dragonmon replied as his cannon tipped tail began to collect energy in preparation for one last strike. He whipped his tail to fire the blast at Flamedramon. The fire Digimon stood there with his arms outstretched, taking the full force of the blast.

"This will be your final victory. Glory to the King!" Flamedramon yelled as he faded into the golden light. Dragonmon let out a sigh of relief.

"What was that all about?" he asked, blowing a small amount of smoke out of his nostrils.

"I have no idea, he just let himself die too," Ace replied, shaking his head. "Let's get out of here before we get caught," Ace suggested. Dragonmon nodded in agreement and lowered his neck for Ace to climb up. Once Ace was seated on Dragonmon, the Digimon took off into the night sky mere moments before the first fire engine arrived on the scene.

The sunlight entered through the slits of the blinds, shedding light into Ace's room. The lump buried under the sheets stirred a bit and let out a loud groan. Ace reached out from under his sheet, grabbed his pillow and pulled it over his eyes, trying to hide from the sun. After a few minutes lying this way Ace gave up, threw the pillow off of him, sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Ugh why am I awake right now?" he groaned and looked around the room. He should have been passed out cold for another few hours considering the events that transpired just a few hours ago, yet here he was wide awake. Ace looked down to his right, looking for Celeste, and frowned when he noticed she wasn't there anymore. Did she think he had left her as in a one night stand? No, they were in his apartment so that didn't make any sense. Ace tilted his head to the side, arching his eyebrow. Was she still in his bed when he returned home? He couldn't remember. Regardless, he had other issues at the moment. A missing girl from his bed was the least of his worries considering the attack he just dealt with.

Ace sat up in his bed, grabbed his cellphone off of his nightstand and tapped it, bringing the screen to life. He hesitated, staring at the name displayed on the screen. It wasn't too early to call Kaze, Ace just hadn't spoken to him since Renee left him, though to be fair it was mostly Ace's fault for that one.

"Ace, this is a surprise," Kaze answered.

"Yeah, hello to you too buddy," Ace replied, closing his eyes as he rubbed his right hand through his hair.

"What are you doing up anyway? It's not even noon yet," Kaze teased.

Ace stood up and walked out of his bedroom, down the hall and into the living room where DemiTyrannomon lay passed out on the couch. "I couldn't sleep."

"Why? Oh, has it been a year already? Listen Ace, you're better than that, I know it sucks but,"

"What? No…Damnit this isn't about Renee. I was attacked last night by a Digimon." Ace yelled, cutting Kaze off. He frowned rolling his eyes at where Kaze was going. Was he really that pitiful? Okay maybe just a little

"What did you say?" Kaze's voice sounded shocked, almost confused.

"You heard me."

"Well, you took care of it didn't you?"

"Of course Kaze, but that's not why I'm calling. He killed himself, I mean he stood there and let Dragonmon finish him off. Plus he kept going on about our deaths and an invasion. According to him, Piedmon was just the tip of the iceberg."

Kaze remained silent on the other end for what seemed like forever. Ace checked his cellphone to make sure the call was still connected. "I'll be there as soon as I can," Kaze said suddenly. "I got a meeting tomorrow that I can't get out of...I'll see you in a few days."

"That sounds good to me. Ace ended the call, set his phone down on the table and sighed. It was a bit much to take in now that he had the time to just sit down. What Flamedramon said unsettled Ace. The image of the Digimon's arms outstretched and willingly taking the blast that ended his life was too creepy. Ace shook his head in an attempt to change his thoughts, but nothing seemed to work.

"Piedmon was just a joke? The monster who slaughtered so many and killed Kaze's sister is weak? Just what I wanted to hear." Ace grimaced.

The sound of the door opening got his attention. He looked down at the sleeping DemiTyrannomon once before stepping quickly to his door in time to see who was standing on the other side.

"Celeste?" Ace asked, tilting his head to the side like a confused canine. "What are you doing here?"

The red head smiled, her green eyes lighting up at his confusion. "I told you I was getting us breakfast." Celeste pushed the door fully open with her foot and stood in the hallway wearing one of Ace's t-shirts and her sweatpants. In her right hand were two bags from McDonald's. "You didn't think I was the kind of girl to fuck and run did you?"

Ace blushed and looked down at his bare feet. "Well I hoped not," he admitted and stepped aside so she could walk in. Celeste placed the food down on the table in the kitchen and sat down.

"So, did you have fun last night?" she asked with a coy grin.

Ace chuckled nervously and shook his head. "Direct aren't you? Yeah, yeah I did. I needed that," he replied and joined her at the small table.

"You're a hard one to get alone Mr. Chambers," Celeste teased as she slid her foot against Ace's leg. "I've been subtle for months."

Ace shuddered from the sudden sensation against his leg. He may have been out of the dating game for quite some time, but it was pretty clear she was flirting with him.

No doubt she's a sexy lady, but if this is going to go past a one night sex thing, she ought to know the truth. "I've had a hard time, my ex left me with a wedding ring in my hand a year ago yesterday and I've been slow to get over it, ya know? I don't want to scare you off or weasel out of anything, I just think you should know what you're getting into."

"Ace, you told me all about Renee last night. I knew what I was getting into when I kissed you," she replied and unwrapped her Egg McMuffin.

Well that was easy. "Okay then!" Ace replied. Well now that that monkey was off his back, he could relax a bit. For a while the two of them sat in silence, just eating their breakfast. Occasionally, Ace would look up and catch Celeste staring at him and she would just smile and lock her green eyes with his own before looking away.

I have no idea why I didn't ask her out sooner. Honestly, she's gorgeous, funny and…well I don't know too much more but do you really need more than that?

"I smell food," DemiTyrannomon groaned, sitting up from the couch where he lay. Ace's jaw dropped and his gaze quickly shifted to Celeste to see how she'd react. How could he have been so stupid?

"Oh no way!" she exclaimed. "You're one of those monsters right? Like the one that blew up the tower three years ago?"

DemiTyrannomon froze and just stared at Celeste. "Y-Yeah," he started to say.

"This is awesome! You must be one of the good ones right? Like that white angel or the samurai? Oh crap what did they call themselves? X-something,"

"X-Omnidramon," Ace said quietly. "The angel is X-Omnidramon." Ace stood up, walked around the table and motioned to his side. The dinosaur Digimon hopped over the couch and stood next to Ace. "Celeste, this is DemiTyrannomon, my Digimon partner."

DemiTyrannomon waved his left claw at her and smiled. "Pleasure to meet you. Hey were you the one whimpering and calling out for god last night?"

"Demi!" Ace yelled.

"What? It was weird! You try sleeping with someone whimpering all high pitched like. I bet you can't!" he retorted, and crossed his arms. "At least Renee was quiet," he added under his breath.

Celeste grinned. "That's right DemiTyrannomon, Ace touched me in ways I haven't been touched before. Mmm, just thinking about it makes me wanna… mmm… oh god!" she moaned, closing her eyes and rubbing her hands down her sides slowly.

"Uh…" DemiTyrannomon blinked and looked up at Ace who just stared at Celeste.

"Oh you're so gullible," she laughed and leaned back in her chair. "I'm sorry we kept you up."

"Uhm, if you promise never to do what you just did again, I think I can let it slide," DemiTyrannomon smiled nervously.

Ace just stood there lost as to what was going on. He honestly didn't expect Celeste to be okay with this, let alone tease DemiTyrannomon. Well, no sense looking a gift horse in the mouth

"Oh crap!" Celeste called out and headed for the door. "It's 10:30? I gotta go, I've got to get to work. Sorry to just leave like this," she stopped in front of Ace and placed a small kiss on his cheek. "I'll see you later."

With that, Celeste walked out of the apartment.

In the time since Celeste left, Ace took a shower got dressed and sat down to watch some TV with his Digimon partner next to him. Earlier in the broadcast there was some carnage about downtown where the battle had taken place. Ace watched that for a bit to make sure there were no leads and once he was satisfied he let DemiTyrannomon control the TV and they were now watching some random cartoon.

"Hey Demi, I've been thinking about the fight with Flamedramon. Does anything that he said make sense to you?"

"No, it's been four years since I left the Digital world. When I came to find you, there was something going on in the western sectors and our village was under attack by Ogremon when that portal opened up and sucked him away. Our guardian, Dukemon, sent me after him with that D-Omega for you. He said you humans were the key or something like that. I wasn't really paying attention. But I have no idea what that flaming psycho was babbling on about," DemiTyrannomon laughed and focused on the TV.

Ace looked over his shoulder as someone knocked on the door. He looked down at his D-Omega and noted the time. It was only 11 so it couldn't be Kaze. He assumed it was Celeste, so Ace hopped over the back of the couch.

"You got out early, I thought you needed to work?" Ace asked as he pulled the door open. To his surprise, it wasn't Celeste standing on the other side, but Renee. The girl looked up at Ace and gave him a small smile before brushing some of her shoulder length brown hair behind her ear. She had on a pair of dark blue jeans with brown heeled boots that reached her calves, and an olive green jacket over a white camisole on.

"Hi," she said.

Ace stared at her in disbelief. "Renee, what are you doing here?"

"Well I wanted to make sure you were okay," she shifted her stance and crossed her arms. "I live downtown and saw the destruction you and Demi left."

"Oh," Ace replied. "Well I'm fine so…"

"Good, I'm happy to hear that," she smiled at him. If things were awkward moments ago, an uncomfortable silence fell over the two of them. Renee looked down at Ace's bare feet, then back up at him. "Hey, who did you think I was when you answered the door?"

"Oh, uhm my neighbor Celeste," Ace replied. He could have told her that she spent the night with him; that he was moving on after a year, but the latter would be a lie.

"I see, so you've been keeping busy, that's good."

"What about you and…?" Ace asked

"Tyler. He's doing well, just got a promotion at the office."

Ace rolled his eyes and looked at his left arm absently mindedly. "Oh good. Well, Kaze is coming soon."

"Oh yeah," Renee exclaimed, obviously flustered. "I got errands to run, I can't stay to chat." She turned her back to him and slowly walked down the hall.

"Yeah uhm it was good to see you Renee."

Renee paused and looked back over her shoulder, smiling weakly at him. "You too Ace. I'm glad you're okay." She disappeared down the stairs shortly after, leaving him standing in the doorway.

"You okay?" DemiTyrannomon asked from somewhere inside the apartment. Ace nodded and pushed the door closed. He sighed and turned his back to the wood and slid down the face of the door until he was sitting with his keens bent and his hand holding the top of his head. Ace breathed slowly as he sat there staring at the floor for what seemed like an eternity. Never in his life did he want to vanish into a hole more than he did at this moment.

"Of all the people, of all the times to come, it had to be her and it had to be today. I can't Demi, I can't…it's not fair you know? Why the fuck did I even ask about that stupid boyfriend of hers? I don't care…she shouldn't be with him anyway. She should be with me." Ace yelled in frustration. He slammed his hand back against the door as hard as he could. "I love her and she doesn't care? How pathetic can a guy be? Hung up on a girl who doesn't give two shits about him, who left him for some douchbag prick… I haven't been happy in a year, a year, while she's out having the time of her life with Tyler.'

DemiTyrannomon walked over to Ace, putting his hand on his partners shoulder. "Hey, come on now; don't let her get to you like this. She does care; she came all the way over here to see if you were okay."

"Well she's a bitch then," Ace snapped back. He looked Demi with a tear stained face. "She didn't seem to give a fuck when she left. I was going to marry her man! I wanted to spend my life with her, not pining over her!"

DemiTyrannomon stood there watching Ace with his golden eyes. There was nothing he could do right now, it would be best to just let Ace exhaust himself. He stood up, stormed into his room and flung open a drawer on his dresser. "I don't know why I hung onto this thing. But you know what Demi? I don't want it anymore."

He held up a black velvet box. Before the Digimon could speak, Ace turned and threw the box as hard as he could out his open bedroom window.

A few days later, Ace sat in a booth at Cain's, a local diner located at the base of one of the few high rises in the city. Across from him sat the man he planned to meet. Kaze was of Japanese descent and in the past three years had cut his hair short so it reached the top of his ears on the side. Ace had to admit, he looked very professional even in a red t-shirt with a faded eagle on it and a pair of jeans.

"This isn't good Ace," Kaze said after he was fully caught up. He picked up his glass and took a sip of the iced tea.

"Yeah well, I figured that much out on my own. Do you know anything about this? Betamon and BlackAgumon seemed to always know more about the Digital World than DemiTyrannomon ever did," Ace replied taking his hand off the table and rubbed it against his forehead. "Have you been able to go back since Piedmon?"

Kaze shook his head. "No, we haven't been able to open a portal. It's like we're cut off."

"We might be, but Flamedramon was able to come here last night. I think we're in serious trouble man," Ace replied with a heavy sigh.

"Ready to order hun?" the waitress asked, interrupting the two. She smiled at Kaze and twirled her pencil as she waited.

"Yeah, sure…just give me a gyro, lamb with extra yogurt sauce." Ace replied, quickly handing the woman the menu.

"I'll have the grilled chicken salad and can I have the house dressing on the side please?" Kaze asked, and gently handed the menu to her. "Oh and another Dr. Pepper when you get a chance?"

"Sure thing hun," the waitress replied, smiled at Kaze and left them alone.

"Ace, you need to be a little nicer to people. She's just doing her job."

"I know Kaze, but I don't really think we have the luxury of sitting here wasting our time. I'm telling you, something bad is going to happen and we can't just wait. Maybe we should tell the military or something,"

"Are you out of your mind?! Do you have any idea what they'd do to us if? Don't you remember the news stories, the investigations? They'd hang us at the very least!"

"Maybe, but they could plan for this, hell they might need us alive. I'm not going to sit here and wait for someone to force our hand. I've sat back and waited for too long and nothing good ever comes from it!" Ace yelled, slamming his hand on the table and the entire diner fell into silence. "Fuck this," he snapped, rose to his feet and stormed out the door before Kaze could stop him.

"Damnit Ace" Kaze cursed and rushed out the door behind him. He grabbed a hold of Ace's arm and yanked him back. "What the fuck was that about? I'm just looking out for us. You remember what the news said after we battled Piedmon. We can't risk something happening to us now."

Ace remained standing and looked at his feet. "I waited too long and lost Renee, so why would this be different?"

Kaze let Ace's arm go and put his hand on the man's shoulder. "Because this isn't the same. I know you loved her,"

"Love her" Ace corrected. "Kaze, I just need to be alone right now okay? Why don't you head back to the apartment with Demi. I need to clear my head."

"Ace I think I should stick around,"

"No Kaze, just…I'm fine. Really, go back to the apartment. I'll see you in a few hours." Ace turned to Kaze and gave him a reassuring smile. "Really, I'm fine. I'll see you later," he finished and walked down the sidewalk, leaving Kaze standing outside the diner.

The sun had started to set by the time Ace reached the harbor. He had walked for the last few hours just getting his thoughts together. With the impending war coming, all he could really focus on was Renee. The woman had been in his mind since she stopped by the apartment earlier and while what Flamedramon said had concerned him, he couldn't stop thinking about what if. His phone vibrated in his pocket, snapping him out of his thoughts briefly. Ace reached in, pulled the phone out and looked at the image of Kaze on the screen. He hesitated, tempted swipe decline but he sighed and pulled the phone up to his ear.

"I'm fine, just down by the harbor. Like I said, I'll be home in a while. Just play Halo with Demi." Ace said quickly, hanging up before Kaze could respond. He sighed and slipped the phone back into his pocket and leaned against the railing that boarded the water.

The waves crashed against the sea wall gently as the tide came in. It was one of his favorite sounds in the world, just relaxing really. A small smile crossed his lips as a the breeze off the water brought a hint of salty air his way. Nearby, lit up was the historic Bay Bridge, one of the few things the city was known for and dated back to the turn of the last century. It connected Loudon's waterfront to the rest of the city, and was built in the vein of the Brooklyn Bridge with tall stone towers and steel cables to hold the roadway up. "Maybe I should move away, once we take care of this Digimon crap, just pick up and move to another city, give myself a chance to be free," he said to himself as he looked down at the water again. He'd miss the water, that's for sure but not all the pain. Stupid Renee

"I've always liked the bridge." Celeste said from behind Ace. He jumped and spun around. She had a black corset on and a pair of black leather pants with a leather choker around her neck.

"Christ, you scared me," Ace gasped as he clutched his chest. He had been so lost in his mind he never heard her coming. "What are you wearing? You look incredible…" Ace gasped as the girl smirked and leaned in, pressing her lips against his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and broke the kiss.

"Thought I'd find you here," she whispered and bit her lip playfully and kissed him again.

Ace kissed her back. "I'm glad you did," he replied and smiled. "Wait, what?" he asked. Why would she have thought he'd be here? He didn't even know he'd end up here. That was a weird coincidence.

"Just a feeling," she replied and slid his hands down her side so he held her waist. Celeste kissed him again, sliding her tongue into his mouth and pushing him against the fence. Ace did his best to keep his balance and kissed the girl back. Celeste pulled back after a few minutes with a smirk on her face. She licked her lips and bit them, then raised her eyebrow playfully. Ace's D-Omega started to beep wildly. He looked down at his bare wrist and panicked.

"Looking for this?" Celeste asked twirling the digivice around on her finger. "It's safe here hun, don't worry," she assured him as a loud explosion was heard. Ace spun around to the bridge as massive green and gold portal appeared and expanded to the height of one of the towers on the bridge. A metallic monstrosity lumbered out of the portal and onto the bridge. The creature stood just under the archway of the tower and had two massive cannons on its back.

"Machiendramon!" Ace yelled in a panic. He and Kaze had battled one three years ago and it destroyed Loudon Tower before it was sent back to the digital world. Here was another one and he was without a Digimon. He fumbled for his phone and dialed Kaze.

"Ace you on your way home?"

"No, Machiendramon's on the Bay Bridge. Get down here now. Fuck protocol, he's going to level the city if we don't stop him. I gotta do something. Just get here now."

"We're on our way. Don't die," Kaze finished and hung up the phone.

"We gotta move!" Ace said, spinning around and grabbing Celeste's hand. The girl yelped in surprise as Ace dragged her away from the water. The couple raced up a flight of stairs to one of the overlooks adjacent to the bridge.

"You should get out of here, it's not safe Celeste," Ace cautioned as Machinedramon ignited the cars on the roadway setting off a chain of explosions.

"So this is the human world. How pitiful," Machinedramon bellowed. "Infinity Canon!" he roared and fired twin beams of energy from the canons on its back towards the other end of the city, creating a massive explosion. Flames lit up the sky behind it as the turned to face Ace and Celeste. It took a step forward and fractured the roadway beneath its weight.

"I'm not going anywhere," she assured him and gave his hand a squeeze. "Is there anything you can do? Can you send it back to where it came from?"

"No, he'll just come back again. I bet you he was sent here, so sending him back won't stop the threat. God, I wish DemiTyrannomon were here…" Ace muttered as a helicopter took up position above them. A spotlight shone down on Machinedramon, illuminating him.

"What are they doing?" Ace asked, stepping back.

Machinedramon roared again and took a step towards. The city behind Machinedramon was covered in flames for blocks backing the metallic Digimon in a hellish scene as the sound of sirens echoed all around him. On the bridge, numerous police cars and SWAT vehicles screeched to a halt and blockaded the Digimon's path. Cops poured out of their vehicles armed to the teeth with whatever they could carry.

"Shit, what is that thing?!" once of the police yelled in horror. "Fire! Fire!" The sirens were drowned out by the sounds of gunfire, small arms, automatics and shot guns, all which seemed to have no effect on Machinedramon. Bullets harmlessly bounced off him drawing the digimon's attention. He roared and took a step forward, cracking the pavement on the bridge and exploding one of squad cars underfoot. The cops scattered, running for their lives as Machinedramon raised his right arm, opening a small hole in the middle of it before slamming it down against the bridge. Flames flew out, engulfing whatever was close to by. The screams of the poor unfortunate souls who couldn't escape the flames filled the area. Celeste cringed and buried her head in Ace's chest as he raised his arms to shield them from the heat.

Machinedramon roared out again. The bridge shook beneath him as he stepped forward again and crushed another police car. He looked up at the chopper shining the light and turned his body to face it. The cannons started to glow with golden energy and then released the energy at the chopper overhead. There was no time for the bird to evade and it exploded in a brilliant ball of fire raining debris around the bridge and into the water.

Ace grabbed Celeste's arm again and motioned for her to follow him off the overpass. Machinedramon lumbered through the concrete structure seconds after they made it down and headed off into city leaving them surrounded by death and destruction. Celeste backed away from Ace and looked down at the ground, her red hair covering her face. She moved the D-Omega in her hand and slowly raised her head to look at Ace. A smirk crossed her lips as she moved her arm back, ready to throw the digivice away.

"Get away from him, you bitch!" a female voice yelled out as a large brown horse stampeded into the girl, knocking her over and dropping the D-Omega on the ground where she was standing.

"What the fuck?" Ace yelled and spun around to see Renee standing there. She narrowed her eyes at where Celeste laid. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" he asked and ran to check on Celeste.

"Ace, open your eyes. She was going to throw your digivice away! She's not even human." Renee countered as the horse walked back next to her. It stood much taller than her, with silver armor covering its nose, and legs. Where there should be a saddle sat twin gatling guns, folded back and relaxed.

"How did you know girl?" Celeste asked, sitting up in Ace's arms. She looked at him and grinned, cupping his face in her hand. "She's going to ruin everything, and I so wanted kill you first. I guess you'll have to wait. I'm going to kill your whore first" she said, grabbing his throat and shoving him back. Ace flew, much to his surprise and smacked his back into a crumpled car. Celeste stood up and shed her human flesh and revealing her true form. It looked as though all color from her skin had faded and she was dressed in a very tight leather outfit, with one leg free. She had demonic wings that extended from her shoulders, and chains wrapped around her body.

"LadyDevimon," Renee introduced her as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I have to say, I'm not too impressed by your whole S&M thing you got going on. Didn't anyone tell you, leather makes you look like a cheap slut."

"Coming from you? You're one to talk," LadyDevimon replied, walking towards Renee. "You have such a pretty little face, so cute…it's going to be a shame when I rip if off,"

"Stallionmon, go!" Renee pointed her arm at LadyDevimon. The horse Digimon reared and whinnied.

"Thunder Gatling!" he called out. The canons folded off of his back and spun up, firing thousands of electric bullets at the fallen angel Digimon. LadyDevimon raised her arms to cover her face as her wings folded over her body, deflecting the attack harmlessly. She opened her wings and took off into the air.

"Is that the best you can do? I can't see why he cared about you so much about you after you left him. You're nothing better than a tramp." LadyDevimon mocked as her left arm extended out and her hand grasped Stallionmon's face. She dug her nails into the equine Digimon's face and violently ripped him off of the ground and launched him into air. LadyDevimon turned to face Renee with a grin.

Renee stood her ground, glaring up at the demonic woman before her. "You don't know anything. It wasn't like that."

LadyDevimon shrugged. "It doesn't matter, but I know you are responsible for the death of Ace Chambers," she retorted and licked her lips. "Evil Wing!" She crossed her arms over her chest then spread them out, releasing hundreds of small black bat like creatures at the slumped over Ace.

"No!" Renee yelled as she launched forward, diving in the way as the bats seemed to explode on her. Ace opened his eyes in time to see the girl take the attack that was meant for him. She screamed out in pain before collapsing the ground just in front of Ace. She groaned and rolled onto her back. Her jacket had noticeable burn marks on it and her white shirt was stained with blood.

"Renee!" Ace jerked forward, wincing from the pain but ignoring it. He crawled the short distance between then and cradled the girl's head in his lap. "Jesus are you okay? What were you thinking?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered reaching up to touch Ace's face. "for everything."

"Stop talking. It's okay. You're going to be okay," he encouraged, cupping her cheek. He looked her over again. She was pale, her shirt was getting redder with each passing moment. She needed help.

"Touching." LadyDevimon mocked. "Shame I don't care. You two make me sick. I should just end this before I throw up. Evil…"

"Iron Spark!" a voice from above yelled out. LadyDevimon looked up in time to catch twin disks of electricity in her body. She convulsed as it coursed through her body then was suddenly kicked in the face by two large hoofs.

"You will not hurt these two!" the equine Digimon threatened. He was taller than Stallionmon by about two feet. His mane and tail consisted of pure blue electricity and he had cybernetic parts covering his nose and legs.

"The p-pony grew eh?" LadyDevimon mocked as she staggered to her feet.

"Furymon," he corrected her and gently landed next to Ace and Renee, guarding them. "Will she be okay?" he asked back at them for a second.

"She's losing a lot of blood, I need to get her out of here,"

Furymon nodded and pawed the ground, kicking his front left hoof back and sending Ace's D-Omega back to him. He scooped it up and alerted Kaze to their location.

"You're not getting any help, I'll kill you both!" LadyDevimon shrieked in terror. Her eyes grew wide as she prepared to launch another attack. "Evil Wing!" she yelled, sending the bats again.

Furymon snorted and lowered his head. Electricity surged from the tail, coursed through his body and raised his main. He took a step back to brace himself and nodded his head. "High Voltage!" he bellowed, sending a beam of electricity out and engulfing the bats, exploding them all harmlessly before hitting LadyDevimon. She began to convulse violently and struggled to stand before losing control of her muscles.

"Keep going," Ace instructed. "Fry her."

Furymon kept the attack going, until the evil Digimon burst into flames and collapsed to the ground in a smoldering heap.

"How is she?" Furymon asked as he turned his back to where LadyDevimon once stood.

"About as good as she looks. We need to get her to a doctor or something," Ace said, with tears in his eyes. He glanced up at Furymon and then back at Renee. "Where did you come from anyway?" he asked.

"From me Ace." A voice replied with a British accent. Ace and Furymon turned to see the source. Standing there was a figure in a dark red robe. On the hood was a pentagram and two bat like wings protruded from his back. "Don't be alarmed. My name is Daemon and I came here to assist you. Please, step away from the girl. I can save her."

Ace hesitated, looking the Digimon over. He looked like something out of a book on demons, but Furymon made no aggressive gestures towards him. If he wanted to kill them both, surely the creature could. He nodded and stood up, taking a step away from her.

"Thank you," Daemon replied politely. He walked over to Rene, closed his eyes and clasped his hands in front of him. He muttered some prayer and held his hands over the girl. A rainbow light came out of his hands and enveloped the girl. The blood stain on her shirt seemed to shrink and color returned to her face. She gasped, taking a deep breath and looked up at her savior.

"Daemon!" she smiled. Her green eyes shifted to Ace and her smile shrank again. She darted her eyes aside and cleared her throat. "You're okay."

"Me?" Ace asked, almost laughing. "You almost died! What the hell were you thinking?" he asked in disbelief.

"I had to save you, I had to…I…" she paused and frowned. She stuck her hand into her pocket and pulled out the velvet box that Ace had thrown out. "What is this?" she asked.

Ace looked down, then back up at her. "A ring… look can we talk about this later? Machiendramon is about to ravage the city and I need to go…"

Renee grabbed Ace's shirt and pulled him in, kissing him.

"Finally!" DemiTyrannomon hollered, clapping his claws together. "Damn what happened here?"

"N-nothing." Ace gasped, breaking the kiss. "I'll tell you later. Renee, you stay here…LadyDevimon was one thing but Machinedramon is in a class all of its own. Kaze and I can deal with this."

"We need to talk…" Renee grabbed Ace's hand. "Promise me we'll talk later."

Ace looked down. "I promise Get somewhere safe. Maybe Daemon…wait, where is he?" Ace asked glancing around for the demonic Digimon.

"Hurry up!" Kaze yelled, getting Ace's attention. He nodded to Renee and took off running towards the bridge. The two dodged flames and passed dead bodies as they followed the path of destruction led by the mechanical monstrosity. Ace caught sight of Machinedremon, slid over the hood of a parked car and kept running, closing the gap between him and the lumbering behemoth. Now the tables were turned, and this monstrosity was about to meet its end before it could cause anymore destruction.

"Hey ugly!" Ace yelled.

Machinedramon turned slowly, noticing Ace, Kaze and their Digimon partners. "Primary targets located. I see LadyDevimon failed…" he growled and adjusted his body to fully face his challengers.

"You're about to be scrap metal!" Ace yelled again.

"That's right. You're assault is over. Ready Ace?" Kaze asked.

"Let's do this."

"Bio-Merge Activate!" They both yelled in unison.

Nothing happened.

"Well that was amusing. Was something supposed to happen?" Machinedramon mocked.

Ace looked at Kaze, then back at DemiTyrannomon. "Why isn't it working? Shit what do we do now?"

"Something, he's about to attack!" Kaze replied in a panicked tone.

Ace looked down at his D-Omega, and then back at his partner. "DemiTyrannomon, Super Evolve!"

DemiTyrannomon was bathed in a cocoon of light which flashed the form of Dragonmon quickly before growing in size again and shattered revealing a new creature. A bipedal dragon stood where DemiTyrannomon once stood. The Digimon's body was covered in black armor with silver, white and red highlights covering his head, chest and knees. The left arm was replaced with a cannon while wings on his back folded out in sections, keeping a mechanical appearance to them all.

"PanzerDragonmon!" The Digimon announced. He stood half the height of Machinedramon and just as imposing.

Joining him were two other Digimon, MegaSeadramon, a large red and white underbelly sea serpent Digimon similar in appearance to Seadramon with a harder exoskeleton covering its head and a lightning-shaped blade protruding from the forehead, and MetalGreymon, a larger version of the blue Greymon with a large cybernetic helm and left arm, missile ports covering his chest and a pair of blue wings from his back.

"Giga Destroyer!" MetalGreymon called out and fired two large black missiles from his chest.

"Thunder Javelin!" MegaSeadramon snarled and discharged a blast of electricity from the horn on his head.

"Dragon Destroyer!" PanzerDragonmon leveled his cannon arm at Machinedramon's head and fired a concentrated blast. The three attacks hit their mark and exploded on the mechanical Digimon, covering him in a veil of smoke.

"Did we get him?" Kaze asked.

"Is it ever that easy?" Ace retorted.

"Infinity Cannon," Machinedramon bellowed, and blasted MetalGreymon. The cyborg Digimon roared in pain as the blast sent him careening through one of the buildings across the street.

"Infinity Cannon," Machinedramon bellowed again, and targeted MegaSeadramon and PanzerDragonmon in one shot. The two Perfect level Digimon didn't have any better luck and crashed onto the street fifty feet from where they were. Machinedramon didn't stop firing though, the cannons kept blasting in various directions causing explosions all over the city.

"This can't be happening!" Ace dropped to his knees and punched the cracked street. "How can we be so outmatched? Why can't we Bio-Merge?!"

"I don't know, but you have to get up Ace. PanzerDragonmon needs you. It's not over yet. We can take him, we just have to be less direct." Kaze grabbed Ace's arm and pulled him up. "Come on, we have to keep fighting. You don't want Renee to die do you? We're the only hope this city has. If we lose now, we're done."

"Our attacks aren't even damaging him though."

"Look, he's huge. I bet you he can't move that quickly," Kaze explained.

"Yeah so? How does that help us? He can take anything we can throw at him and send it back one hundred times stronger."

"Not if we knock him over," Kaze grinned. "PanzerDragonmon, MegaSeadramon, MetalGreymon, are you all ok?"

"Yeah, I've felt worse…" PanzerDragonmon groaned and pushed MegaSeadramon off of him.

"I'm good Kaze, it'll take more than that to stop me," MegaSeadramon replied.

"Yeah, you got a plan Kaze?" MetalGreymon asked as he staggered out from the rubble.

"I do. PanzerDragonmon, do you think you can knock him over?" Kaze asked as he looked at Machinedramon.

"I'll give it a shot. Okay, let's try this again you recycled piece of garbage," PanzerDragonmon spread his mechanical wings as two rocket engines appeared underneath each wing. He blasted off and climbed high into the sky. Once he was at a good elevation, PanzerDragonmon turned and dove for Machinedramon. "Panzer Blitz!" he yelled as the sound barrier exploded around him. "Aaaaah!" PanzerDragonmon yelled as he slammed into Machinedramon hard, sending shockwaves out in all directions. The cannon fired a blast of energy at point blank range into Machinedramon's stomach, sending PanzerDragonmon back to where MetalGreymon stood. The force of the attack, combined with the impact of the hit knocked the mechanical dragon off his feet onto his side.

"Now!" Kaze commanded MetalGreymon and MegaSeadramon.

"Thunder Javelin!"

"Giga Destroyer"

"Dragon Destroyer!" The three attacks combined into one. The missiles became encased in the energy as the electricity circled around both. The attack impacted and exploded on Machinedramon.

The flames died down, revealing Machinedramon standing again. He laughed in a taunting manner. "I didn't even feel that. My turn. "Booster Claw!" Machinedramon's right hand started to spin like a drill as boosted across the street. He brought the claw down on PanzerDragonmon and held it there. The armored dragon roared in pain before he reverted to his DemiTyrannomon form. "You're not even worth my time," he mocked. "As for you two, Infinity Cannon!" Machinedramon quickly blasted both MetalGreymon and MegaSeadramon. The two Digimon reverted to BlackAgumon and Betamon and collapsed on the ground. "Now, you humans are next."

Ace gulped and closed his eyes. "Well, it's been one hell of a run huh buddy?"

"Don't talk like that…" Kaze grumbled.

Machinedramon seemed to grin and took a step towards them. "Let's not rush this. Your deaths were inevitable. I want to enjoy killing you both."

"S-stop!" Betamon cried. The aquatic Digimon pushed himself up slowly and winced in pain. "I won't let you hurt them."

"And what can you do to stop me runt? If you want to be so noble, I'll make sure to end your existence now."

"Betamon, what are you doing? You can't win against him," Kaze cried, trying to change his partner's mind.

"Kaze, it's been great being your partner. I can't let him hurt you… I will defend you!" Betamon closed his eyes as a bright light surrounded him. His digivice began to glow aqua blue in Kaze's hand as Betamon was encased.

"Betamon, warp-evolve!" The cocoon flashed images of Seadramon and MegaSeadramon before it exploded and revealed a new Digimon. It was much larger than MegaSeadramon, and was completely covered in a metallic armor. The tail of the Digimon was split into two smaller tails at the tip and the head had a cannon like hole on the nose with a large blade sticking up on the top of the Digimon's head.

"MetalSeadramon!" the Digimon announced. "Kaze, Ace, get your partners and get to safety. Leave this guy to me."

"You think you're a match for me sea snake? Now you're finished." Machinedramon taunted.

"Be careful MetalSeadramon," Kaze said with BlackAgumon in his arms. He and Ace raced away from the battlefield back towards the safety under the bridge.

MetalSeadramon nodded. "Forgive me Kaze, I'm sorry." MetalSeadramon wrapped his body around Machinedramon's and held the mechanical Digimon tightly.

"What do you think you're doing MetalSeadramon? Is this your best shot? I'll send you back to the slime pit you crawled out of!" Machinedramon's eyes lit up red once again and energy started to collect in front of his cannons.

Kaze paused in his tracks and turned back to see the battle unfold. His eyes widened in horror as he realized what his partner was about to do. Kaze dropped BlackAgumon and started back towards the battle.

"Betamon! Don't do this!" he yelled as Ace tackled him to the sidewalk. "Ugh get off of me!" Kaze grunted and tried to roll over to get Ace off of him.

"Kaze, you'll die if you go there. We have to go, Betamon knows what he's doing…if you get closer than his sacrifice will be for nothing!" Ace stood up, grabbed Kaze and pulled him away.

"This ends now! For Ace, for Kaze and for the human race. You will not win! ULTIMATE STREAM!" MetalSeadramon screamed, collecting energy into his nose cannon and firing it just as Machinedramon unleashed his own attack. The two attacks collided at point blank range and exploded, taking out the block.

"Betamon!" Kaze cried, dropping to his knees. "No!"

The dust from the explosion settled, and to Kaze's despair there was nothing left, no sign of either Digimon. Kaze looked at Betamon's digivice as it cracked down the middle, then shattered into a million little pieces right in his hand. "Betamon…"

"Kaze, we have to go." Ace encouraged, as he tried to pull his friend up. Ace grunted as the digital portal opened up once again Thousands of digital creatures poured out, spreading across the city. It was an invasion.

"It's not safe here," a British voice spoke, catching Ace's attention. He looked over his shoulder at Daemon who stood there behind them. He folded his hands over his chest and looked around the destruction. "Come, we must go," he said, stepping forward, touching their shoulders.

In an instant, they vanished only to reappear on the outskirts of the city, up in the hills. The sirens echoed in the distance. They were far enough from the destruction that is just seemed like a bad dream. Ace looked around as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He was able to make out a few large shipping containers meaning they must be in a warehouse. Daemon held out his hand, illuminating the darkness.

"Come inside." Daemon said calmly. He stepped aside to let Ace and Kaze past.

Once inside, Ace leaned against a pillar in the middle of the large dark room. "So now what do we do? I don't know if you saw but an army was pouring out of that Digital Gate," Ace asked and stepped back from Daemon. He couldn't figure a way out of this, or a way to win. DemiTyrannomon and BlackAgumon were down for the count and Betamon was gone. Kaze was in no condition to battle and Renee was too green. They were outmatched on almost every level possible.

"We organize a counter-attack of course," another voice spoke from behind the group. The Digimon stepped into the light and stood around sixteen feet tall. He was a blue dragon-knight like Digimon with a golden V on his chest and two large wings on either side. He held his hand out and waved at the group of humans before him. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am UlforceVeedramon, ranking member of the Royal Knights. We are the sworn protectors of the Digital world and beings of justice. It's an honor to meet you all."

"Or what's left of us anyway…" another Digimon muttered and stepped into the light. He was shorter than UlforceVeedramon and stood around ten feet tall with brown and white armor, a leopard like helmet and two eagle wings which came out from his shoulders.

"Duftmon, don't be so snappy," UlforceVeedramon scolded. "Forgive him, he's a younger member of our group and does not know how to present himself. Unfortunately what he says is true, we are the last of our kind, just like Daemon is the last Demon Lord."

"Ace!" Renee yelled, rushing past the Digimon and threw her arms around him. "I was so worried," she admitted. Ace hesitated and weakly put his arms around her.

"I'm fine. I you're okay too…" he stepped back and looked at her in the poor light. "Thank you Daemon."

Daemon nodded in approval. "You are the last hope after all."

"You might want to rethink that. I don't know if you saw, but we got our asses kicked out there. Betamon died because I wasn't strong enough to save him," Kaze snapped.

"So? There were thirteen of us before this all started. You lost one of your numbers, we lost eleven. Suck it up!" Duftmon snarled. "Why are we wasting our time with these creatures anyway? You heard it from one of their lips. They can't do this. Let me fight Ulforce, I will restore honor to our ranks. The Royal Knights shall not go quietly into the night!"

"Duftmon! Silence!" UlforceVeedramon said and moved towards Duftmon. "You will not question my authority or the decisions put forth three years ago by the order. Omegamon and Dukemon had a plan, and we're here to see it through." He motioned to Renee.

Ace stepped forward and looked up at UlforceVeedramon. "With all due respect, Kaze and I have been with our partners for years and have fought together most of the time and we couldn't even defeat one Machinedramon. Renee doesn't have time to practice, to get to know one another as well as I know Demi, or Kaze knows… either way, I don't want them to get hurt just because you suddenly decided to pair her up with a Digimon."

"I admire your concern Ace Chambers. That is a quality any leader should have. I have the utmost confidence in their abilities though, you can't win without them." UlforceVeedramon replied.

Ace looked back at Renee. She was petting Coltmon and talking to her new partner, probably trying to find out everything she could about him. She seemed to get along better than he and DemiTyrannomon did at first, Coltmon wasn't kicking Renne.

"Duftmon, could you please tend to DemiTyrannomon and BlackAgumon? The rest of you please come, gather around. There is much you need to know." Daemon held his arms out and waved for everyone to come and sit.

Kaze dragged his feet and sat down next to Ace. "This had better be worth it, I've lost so much already."

"Kaze and his sister Mizu were the first humans we were able to contact many years ago," UlforceVeedramon said as he looked down at Kaze. "His partner, Betamon and Mizu's BlackAgumon were the first Digimon to bond successfully with a human. Because of their bond, they were able to evolve into stronger more powerful forms, as you're all aware of. Unfortunately, Mizu's life was cut short thanks to a rogue Digimon, Gesomon and Kaze became the sole partner for two Digimon. As time went on, a war broke out in the west. A mysterious cult, known as Apocalyptica was born and started to take over vast quantities of the digital world. At the same time the barrier between our worlds was suddenly weakened by an unknown force and BlackAgumon and Betamon were sent to retrieve Kaze. It was during that time we Royal Knights decided to enlist more aid. DemiTyrannomon, one of Dukemon's greatest students was selected and became partners with Ace."

Duftmon shifted uncomfortably as he listened to UlforceVeedramon talk.

"After that, things started to take a turn for the worse. Apocalyptica gained more ground and the three angels, Seraphimon, Ophanimon and Cherubimon were killed and the cause for the cult was revealed. They sought to revive the ancient evil, Arkadimon. Realizing this, an alliance was formed between the Royal Knights, Demon Lords and the four Guardians to destroy Arkadimon before he could become too powerful. It was at that time that Piedmon was destroyed over here in this world. It became apparent that the two of you," UlforceVeedramon motioned to Ace and Kaze, "would not be enough on your own. We set forth seeking other potential human partners but we were too late. A new enemy appeared out of nowhere, Millenniumon and with his powers added, we were on the defensive. We held them to a stalemate for over a year but during one battle, we lost half of our numbers. Arkadimon gained more power and his forces consumed more of the world. They hunted us down one by one and slaughtered us, bringing us to the brink. We were only able to find one more in the short time we had…"

"So we hid for and waited for them to make their move," Duftmon spoke up. He stepped past UlforceVeedramon and looked down at the humans. "When Flamedramon was sent in, we followed him to remain undetected and here we are now."

"Let me get this straight, you just watched as Betamon sacrificed his life?" Kaze growled.

"No, we were biding our time. We didn't want to force their hand by revealing ourselves too early," Duftmon replied as he shifted his weight.

"So you did just wait until Betamon died. Am I missing something here?" Kaze asked as he shook with rage.

"As I said human, we were just waiting for the right time. We couldn't risk endangering everything…"

"You son of a bitch, you coward! You just sat idly by and let Betamon die because you couldn't be bothered to get off your ass?"

"Kaze," Renee said softly as she put a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off and stood up.

"Kaze, calm down," Ace chimed in.

"No! Because of them my life has been ruined. They took my sister from me, they took my partner from me and they expect us to fight their battles for them. Why? So we can die too?"

"Calm yourself. We are here to help you Kaze. That's why we came. You must believe us," Daemon said.

"Fuck you, I'm done."

"You're done?" Ace asked. "After everything you're done? You're going to just puss out?"

"You haven't lost everything Ace, don't lecture me on any of this. Who the hell do you think you are?" Kaze yelled, getting into Ace's space.

"I'm your best friend, the one you abandoned when shit hit the fan," Ace yelled back.

Kaze swung quickly, hitting Ace in the face and sending him stumbling back.

"Stop!" Renee yelled, rushing to her feet in an attempt to get between the two of them. Ace rubbed his lip, and looked down at the blood on his hand. He smirked and charged at Kaze throwing a punch back. The punch sent Kaze's glasses flying as he collapsed to one knee.

"Get up!" Ace panted. "If you puss out on us, then everyone dies. Do you want that on your conscious?" he asked, holding his hand out. Kaze grabbed the hand and rose to his feet as Renee handed him his glasses.

"I'm sorry Kaze. I truly am. None of this was meant to happen this way. We were foolish, we thought we could contain Arkadimon…It was irresponsible of us to put you and your sister in harm's way all those years ago. But you are strong." UlforceVeedramon said.

"Kaze, you need to be strong. You still have BlackAgumon, and your friends. It may be difficult, but you have incredible resolve," Daemon added.

Kaze looked up at the demonic Digimon. "BlackAgumon was Mizu's partner. But he's been with me for so long, always by my side…I owe it to him don't I?"

"You do," Daemon replied and held his hand over Kaze's digivices. They changed shape and morphed into a blue D-Omega with white accents on it. "I can only offer you this bit of advice Kaze, don't forget you're never alone in this world. You have a group, use them, trust in them…we didn't and we paid the price."

"That's right Kaze, I'm here for you." BlackAgumon chimed in. Kaze spun around and looked down at the back dinosaur Digimon. "You're my partner and I won't let anything happen to you."

"I know. I'm sorry. Come on BlackAgumon Let's go." Kaze looked down at the Digimon and walked off leaving Ace and Renee alone. Ace shifted uncomfortably and scratched the back of his head. There was no avoiding this conversation or this moment. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

"Ace?" Renee squeaked. He looked back at her then looked down at his feet.

"What the hell were you thinking? You could have died" Ace interjected before Renee could continue her thought. He was going to take control of this conversation and derail her. "Damnit you scared the crap out of me. I can't stand the thought of losing you again."

Renee brushed some loose strands of hair behind her ear and bit her lip. "I couldn't let you get hurt…"

"So what was different this time?" he cut her off. She closed her eyes and shrugged lightly. "I don't know. I was worried about you. I still care about you."

Ace rolled his eyes at that. "I'm sure you do," he brushed the statement off and slipped his hands into his pockets. "That's why you left me for that douchebag right?"

"You don't even know him! How dare you talk about him like that," Renee shot back and moved closer to Ace.

"Why the hell would I want to?" Ace snapped. "You walked away from me in the middle of dinner and…" Ace threw his arms into the air. "I can't get over you, I can't forget you. Every time I try, you show back up and bring back all those feelings I want to forget. Why do you do this to me? Why are you here?"

"Because I love you, you asshole!" She yelled again with tears in her eyes. "I love you and I was terrified something like this would happen so I left you. I can't let you go…I left Tyler months ago," Ace took a step back and looked down.

"You…" he muttered, unable to finish his thought. "You broke up with me, how can you…" Renee slipped her hand into her pocket, pulled out a black velvet box and held it up so Ace could see it. She opened the box and looked at the ring, then back at Ace.

"You're such an idiot," she whispered before wrapping her arms around his neck and placing a kiss on his lips. "I panicked that night and made some stupid decisions. I wanted to talk to you sooner but I couldn't… I'm sorry,"

Ace bit his lower lip and looked into her green eyes. Part of him wanted to yell at her, to push her away and make her suffer like she made him, but the rest of him knew he couldn't do that. It wasn't him.

"Can I see you for a moment Ace?" UlforceVeedramon interrupted. Ace looked over at Renee for a second, then back at the blue Digimon.

"Yeah," he nodded and moved away from the girl. He looked back over his shoulder at her and shrugged with a small smile before walking into the darkness of the warehouse. The small fires that Daemon had unleashed emitted just enough light to see what was around them but not enough to advertise their location to the outside world. They walked for a bit and stopped next to the other two Ultimate level Digimon Ace paused for a moment and collected his thoughts. They explained a lot earlier but there still were some questions in his mind that he'd rather have answered.

"I was wondering if you knew why Kaze and I couldn't Bio-Merge during the battle with Machinedramon?"

UlforceVeedramon looked up at Ace and seemed to smile back at the human. "Yes, it's because of us. You see, DemiTyrannomon was chosen by Dukemon, and Betamon and BlackAgumon were chosen by Dynsasmon and Examon respectively. You gained your power of evolution from them and while you were able to access it with the death of Kaze's sister, that power was lost in the last three years. I don't know if you will ever be able to bio-merge again."

Ace shook his head. "How do you expect us to do anything if our Digimon can't evolve past the Perfect level?"

"Have you considered that you humans hold a special power? You can facilitate evolution in Digimon, or have you not noticed that?" Daemon asked.

"Yes, you and your partners are capable of great things. We are here to protect you and to fight alongside you," UlforceVeedramon affirmed. He rose to his feet and nodded down at Ace. "You'll be needing your rest for the coming day. I'm sorry the answer you got was not the one you wanted, but don't lose faith. Tomorrow is a new day."

"Tomorrow? With all due respect, we can't just sit here while they destroy our city. We need to get back out there and close up the digital portal," Ace protested.

"It's far too dangerous to go out. Trust us when I say this," Daemon lectured.

"Besides, your Digimon aren't fully rested," Duftmon chimed in.

"Then get help us out, do something. Provide cover while Kaze, Renne and I close the portal. We can't let our world get destroyed," Ace pleaded. "You wanted our help, well we need yours first…"

"Why you insolent little…" Duftmon snapped. UlforceVeedramon raised his hand to silence the younger Royal Knight. Daemon closed his eyes and nodded in agreement.

"You have a point," he conceded. "Very well, we will assist you."

Ace, Kaze and Renee stood on a cliff overlooking the city. The forest behind them was illuminated by the light of the burning city below. The digital portal over the city seemed to have expanded in the past few hours and thousands of more Digimon were attacking by the second.

"So what is your plan?" UlforceVeedramon asked.

"Simple," Ace replied.

"Close the hole," Kaze finished, raising his left arm and pointing his D-Omega at the portal. Ace followed suit as did Rene. Three bright beams shot forth and hit the portal, slowly forcing it closed.

"So now that you're basically flashing kill us signs to the world…" DemiTyrannomon chimed in after a few minutes of watching this unfold.

"He's right. We've been noticed," Duftmon acknowledged and pulled out his rapier.

"No, you stay here and protect these three. Daemon and I are more than capable of intercepting these vagrants. What do you say my demonic companion, shall we have some fun?"

"I thought you would never ask," Daemon laughed. The two Digimon took off with such force they shattered the sound barrier. Duftmon grumbled in frustration.

"How much longer? You are attracting a lot of attention here." Duftmon asked. Ace rolled his eyes and shook his head in response. The portal crackled with electricity before closing moments later.

"There," Kaze sighed and turned to Duftmon. "Now all we have to do is clean up what's left." He smiled confidently. Suddenly a tree snapped in half as Demon crashed against it. He collapsed to the ground with a thud.

"Daemon!" Ace cried and ran over to the demonic Digimon's side. "Holy crap, you look horrible, what's happening?!" he asked. Daemon's cloak was torn in numerous places, some of it was singed and burned. He seemed hurt, and hurt bad.

"They're coming. You must get out of here…" Daemon started to say as UlforceVeedramon crashed a few feet away. His armor was cracked in all over, he had bruises on him and didn't seem like he was going to get up anytime soon.

"Oh god no!" Renee cried.

"Ulforce!" Duftmon yelled from above them. The leopard warrior was hovering in the air and looking down at his mentor with concern. "Please get up, Daemon…I need help here."

"Du…Duftmon, leave Chaosdramon to us," UlforceVeedramon grunted. He slowly sat up, taking a great deal of effort to even move.

"No, you're in no condition to fight," Duftmon protested.

"You need to protect them. Don't fail the Royal Knights Duftmon," UlforceVeedramon replied and stood up. He clutched his stomach and breathed heavily as his eyes caught Ace knelling next to Daemon. "We'll stop him…there is no justice without honor. Daemon, can you move?"

"Like I would let you hog the glory you stupid knight…" the demonic Digimon replied, laughing weakly.

"I can't leave you Ulforce. If you go down, I'm joining you." Duftmon stated as he landed next to his companions.

UlforceVeedramon placed his hand on the smaller knight's shoulder and nodded. Suddenly the dirt beneath him sprouted root arm, grabbed Duftmon and held him in place. "Protect them Duftmon. They are the key to saving the Digital World, and their own. As a Royal Knight, you are duty bound to them. I look forward to see you again."

"No! Let me go! I can fight damnit! I can fight!" Duftmon struggled to get free as UlforceVeedramon and Daemon slowly rose out of the holes they made. "No! Don't leave me like this! UlforceVeedramon!"

The ground shook violently as a mechanical monstrosity landed a few hundred yards from everyone. Standing there was a Digimon that resembled Machinedramon almost to the T, except his body was red and his head was more rounded and less mechanical looking. The Digimon, Chaosdramon was suddenly hit in the face by a massive ball of fire and staggered back.

In the air above him UlforceVeedramon hovered with a blue energy blade extended from his right wrist pointed down at Chaosdramon. "Servant of darkness, you will no longer harm this or any other world. I, UlforceVeedramon of the Royal Knights condemn you to death."

"I will drag you to hell with me where you belong," Daemon added.

Chaosdramon seemed unphased by the threats of the two Digimon before him. His only response was to collect energy in front of his twin cannons on his back.

"Shining V-Force!" UlforceVeedramon crossed his arms in an X over his chest as the V-shaped armor started to glow. He uncrossed his arms outwards and a powerful beam fired down at Chaosdramon.

"Chaos Flare!" Daemon held his arms out and unleashed a blast of dark, unholy energy just as Chaosdramon fired his twin cannons.

The three attacks collided in midair and seemed to meet in a stalemate. UlforceVeedramon grunted in frustration as Chaosdramon seemed to overpower him and Daemon and their beams were pushed back slowly. "Daemon, I can end this, but I need you to take over for me!"

"Just do it knight. I can hold back this slave."

UlforceVeedramon ceased his beam, and Daemon's got even larger, taking up the slack,

"What is he doing?" Kaze asked as he watched the battle unfold before them. Duftmon continued to struggle against the concrete hands that held him in place to no avail. "Look! Daemon is starting to break up!" Kaze pointed to the lower part of Daemon's cloak which was being converted into data and vanish.

"They're using all their power to save us," Celeste said.

In the air, UlforceVeedramon stared down at Chaosdramon, then over at Duftmon and the humans. His body began to glow white as a giant ethereal dragon covered his body. "For the glory of the Royal Knights, I end you with this! DRAGON IMPULSE!" he yelled and vanished as the ethereal dragon dove down at Chaosdramon and flew threw him, dropping UlforceVeedramon on the ground. Daemon ceased his attack as did Chaosdramon and the demonic Digimon fell to the earth below, landing next to UlforceVeedramon.

Chaosdramon roared and moved to take a step towards the imprisoned Duftmon, and then suddenly stopped. A large diagonal slice appeared in the Digimon's stomach, and head and piece by piece he fell apart and vanished into a golden light.

Duftmon was freed and took off running to where UlforceVeedramon landed, followed by Ace, Kaze, Renee, Celeste, Lynn and their Digimon.

"Lord UlforceVeedramon," DemiTyrannomon gasped at the sight before them. Both he and Daemon were half creatures. Their lower halves had faded away leaving only their chest and heads.

"Duftmon…protect them," Daemon instructed, his voice faint and weak.

"Hallowed Ascension!" a voice echoed across the night sky as bolts of lightning suddenly rained down on Daemon, striking the Digimon multiple times before killing him.

"What? Who did that?" Kaze clenched his fists as Daemon vanished before his eyes. "Who's chicken enough to attack a dying Digimon huh?!"

From the heavens a celestial figure slowly descended. Ace glared and held up his D-Omega to scan the coward. An image appeared on the screen of an angelic warrior with ten wings clad in blue and silver armor, and a helm that covered his entire face. A gold star rested in the center of the face plate.

"That can't be right," Duftmon gasped. "That's Seraphimon, one of the three angels. He was killed during the war…"

"If he was killed, how is he here right now? And why did he attack Daemon?" Kaze asked.

"Wh-what? Seraphimon…" UlforceVeedramon groaned.

The angelic Digimon landed and casually walked over to the injured UlforceVeedramon. He knelt down next to him. "Surprised to see me? Don't worry, you won't have to question this for long. Allow me to end your suffering."

"No! Sword of Destruction; Ernste Welle" Duftmon yelled, holding his sword handle in his right hand and the blade in his left so the face was aimed at Seraphimon. A blast of pink and dark purple energy flew out of the blade and into Seraphimon, crashing into him and sending him across the ground.

"You must leave and get to safety. Humans, hold out your digivices." UlforceVeedramon instructed. One by one the three held up their D-Omegas. "I give you my strength, may it help keep you safe." UlforceVeedramon's body turned into a golden beam of light and shot into the digivices.

"I can feel energy surging through me!" DemiTyrannomon announced. Ace, let me fight."

"Kaze, it would be an honor to fight alongside you as your partner." BlackAgumon said and placed his claw on Kaze's hand. Suddenly an orb of light exploded next to Duftmon sending the Royal Knight flying back and debris everywhere.

"That was most unpleasant. I suppose I underestimated you Duftmon. I won't make that mistake again however." Seraphimon sneered as he hovered above everyone again. "I'd like to introduce you to a companion of mine, or maybe it's more of a re-introduction. DexDorugoramon, come forth!"

A twisted, tortured roar filled the night sky as a digital gate appeared above Seraphimon. A creature the size of Machinedramon and Chaosdramon plummeted to the earth below and landed in a crater. The Digimon resembled a dragon like beast in purple armor standing on two legs with massive red and black wings and a tail that ended in a mace like fashion. DexDorugoramon roared and slammed its tail against the ground.

"Do you recognize him Duftmon? No? Well it seems Alphamon has seen the light and revealed his true nature. Don't you see, you're on the wrong side. This is the order of the digital world now, we are the law, we are the guardians!"

"No, you're a traitor and a coward!" Duftmon snarled. "You had Ophanimon and Cherubimon killed and faked your own death. You were a servant of God! How could you?"

"Arkadimon is God!" Seraphimon shot back. "I give you one last chance, surrender and join us Duftmon, or die like the humans and that sacrificial lamb UlforceVeedramon."

Duftmon looked from Seraphimon to Ace, then back at Seraphimon. "I made a vow, don't make me regret it Ace."

"Don't Duftmon. Are you guys ready?" Ace asked.

Kaze, and Renee nodded in agreement. Ace held his left arm into the air, showing off his D-Omega and the others followed suit.

"Ready? DemiTyrannomon, let's kick some ass!"

"DemiTyrannomon, warp-evolve to…" DemiTyrannomon leapt into the air and was encased in a cocoon of light. Images of Dragonmon and PanzerDragonmon flashed before the cocoon exploded, revealing a dragon-man warrior Digimon standing about ten feet high. His skin was deep red like DemiTyrannomon's and wore black armor resembling Dragonmon's scales with leg guards that ended at the knee and a chest piece that looked like the dragon's head around it. He held a large claymore sword with dragon claws making the hilt up in his left hand and over his right hand was a large gauntlet with three long claws sticking out. Out from his back appeared two translucent green wings and a strong powerful tail behind him. "Dragoonmon!"

"Let's do this, in memory of all those who died protecting us. For Mizu!" Kaze announced, holding his arm down low. BlackAgumon put his claw ontop of Kaze's hand and nodded.

"BlackAgumon, warp-evolve to…" BlackAgumon was encased in cocoon of light. Images of Greymon and MetalGreymon flashed before the cocoon exploded revealing a dragon-man warrior Digimon standing around the same height as Dragoonmon. His skin was black and had a grey helm covering the top of his head with two horns coming out of the sides of the head and one more on top of the nose. He had a grey chest piece with three gold straps down the center, grey leg guards and two black gauntlets that covered his hands with three bladed claws coming from them. On his back was a black shield that split down the middle. "BlackWarGreymon!"

"Coltmon, let's go!" Renee yelled, holding her D-Omega high above her head.

"Coltmon, warp-evolve to…" Coltmon reared back on his hind legs and was encased in a cocoon of light which exploded revealing a much larger equine Digimon covered in chrome armor like an old medieval war horse that covered his neck, chest, legs, hind quarters and face, revealing two electric blue eyes. The mane was made of electricity and his tail consisted of sharp razor like material. On the horse's back sat an ornate elegant saddle. "Antaresmon!"

Dragoonmon pointed his sword up at Seraphimon. "Your evil will not extend past this day. We'll take you down, right BlackWarGreymon?"

"Right! Let's do this!" he growled and rocketed up off of the ground towards the angelic Digimon and slashed at him with his claws. Seraphimon moved back to avoid the attack.

Dragoonmon was right behind him and when the angel moved to avoid BlackWarGreymon's attack… "Ice Dragon Claw!" Dragoonmon yelled as his gauntlet became encased in ice. It caught Seraphimon's foot and encased it in ice.

Seraphimon growled in frustration. "Heaven's Knuckle!" he yelled, firing the spinning orb of light at his foot to shatter the ice. "Clever, but that won't happen again."

"Hey, wait for me!" Duftmon called and flew up into the air, hovering for a moment.

"I guess the big boy is all mine then," Antaresmon stated with a shrug"Shall we?" he asked as a knight appeared on his saddle. The knight wore white armor with blue X's on his shoulders and a Mobius on his chest. A lance appeared in his left hand as Antaresmon took off running towards DexDorugoramon.

"Divine Retribution!" Antarasmon's rider leveled the lance at DexDorugoramon and fired a concentrated beam of holy energy at the beast. The attacked nailed the large creature on the wings, disintegrating some of them. In an instant, DexDorugoramon turned and slammed its tail into Antarasmon, knocking the Digimon aside. He stood up and shook the attack off. The rider dematerialized the lance and formed a bow and arrow. "Heavenly Bolts!" The arrows pierced the creature through the leg, destroying the armor.

DexDorugoramon screeched and jumped into the air, landing nearly on top of equine Digimon stepped to the side at the last second. The beast spun around quickly, roared again and brought his tail around, dragging the mace like end across the ground, ripping up dirt, rocks and trees.

"It's like it has no soul," Renee noticed as the massive dragon's tail sent Antaresmon flying into another tree. "It's not using any attacks, just brute strength."

Antarasmon huffed in annoyance. "Let's try this again," Antaresmon bowed his head as the rider re-materialized with the lance in his hand again. "Lightening Joust!" the equine Digimon yelled as electricity collected into the lance and fired out in a beam.

The attack impacted on DexDorugoramon chest, knocking the massive beast back a few paces. The creature screeched and charged at Antarasmon again, reaching out and trying to snatch up the horse Digimon.

"Whatever attacks I do, it damages him but he just doesn't feel it," as he avoided another attempt by the beast to grab him. "I need to end this in one move, before he kills me," Antaresmon muttered and raced away as DexDorugoramon brought his tail around again. "I have an idea…".

The equine Digimon dismissed the rider from his back and closed his electric blue eyes as his own white aura started to circle around his body." By the order of the heavens, come forth fallen hero of the past. There is on final battle which you must fight, for the fate of the future, and retribution for the past. Come forth of great warrior…Miracle Assault!" Antaresmon opened his eyes and the aura flew into the ground. Antaresmon dropped to his knees and reverted back to Coltmon.

A stone doorway rose out from the ground and opened revealing a blinding white light that kept DexDorugoramon at bay. A figure emerged from the doorway, which faded behind him. A black Digimon stood there with a flowing white cape and two feathery wings at his back.

"So, my body was brought back to serve the demons?" he asked as he studied the monstrosity before him.

"Alphamon, the wandering seat of the Royal Knights…." Ace said. "Whoa…"

"Your Digimon brought him back from the dead?" Kaze gasped as he studied Coltmon.

"I guess, that's a very strong attack huh?"

"I'll say…" Ace said, almost in awe.

Alphamon held out his left palm towards DexDorugoramon. "Be gone, monstrosity. Digitalize of Soul!" Suddenly hundreds of neon green energy bolts flew from his hand and took DexDorugoramon apart piece by piece, until there was nothing left. The Royal Knight turned away from where the creature once stood and faced the humans.

"Keep fighting for us. I'm sorry we never got the chance to meet," Alphamon said with a nod before vanishing from sight.

In the sky, the three warrior Digimon faced off against Seraphimon. The angel seemed almost amused by the turn of events that had led him to this battle.

Duftmon grunted in frustration as his own sword crossed with Seraphimon's translucent blade. The Digimon traded blows, countering each stroke of the blade no matter where the sword came from. They were caught in a stalemate.

"How could you…how could you betray the Digital World?!" Duftmon grunted as he pulled back from Seraphimon.

"I did no such thing. You're misguided Duftmon, I simply joined the winning side, the ruling side. Haven't you realized that the world is at peace now and our only aggressors are on the outside? " Seraphimon asked and dissipated his sword. "Duftmon, what was your creed again? Justice is power, was it not?"

Duftmon looked aside and nodded. "Yes…"

"Then by your logic, I am justice, Arkadimon is justice, and as a Royal Knight, you are sworn to fight for that."

Duftmon clenched his sword in his hand so tightly, the blade began to shake. "You murdered my friends, you betrayed your own kind! That's not just, that's not power. You bastard! How dare you speak to me about justice. What do you know of it Seraphimon? Nothing! You're a snake, a coward and an opportunist, and I will avenge the deaths of my fellow knights tonight! Ernste Welle!" The leopard knight pointed his sword at Seraphimon and fired a beam of energy.

Seraphimon held out his left hand and fired off a spinning ball of light that cut apart Duftmon's attack as it traveled. "You're a fool Duftmon," Seraphimon said as the ball slammed into Duftmon's face and knocked him down towards the ground below.

"I got you!" BlackWarGreymon yelled and dove after the falling Royal Knight. He grabbed hold of the digimon's arm and stopped him in mid-air. "You can't fight him on your own. Swallow whatever pride you have and let us fight with you."

"We're a team Duftmon, and the three of us can take that bastard down," Dragoonmon added.

"How touching, a pep talk to get the old gang back together. I dare say I'm touched by this, really. Come on, have at me then"

Dragoonmon narrowed his eyes. His wings beat once and he was off, racing across the sky. "Ice Dragon Claw!" he yelled, slashing at the angel with his gauntlet.

Seraphimon avoided the attack and kicked Dragoonmon straight in the back, knocking him down a few feet.

"He's toying with us," BlackWarGreymon grunted.

"We can't keep this up. The bastard isn't even tired," Dragoonmon replied as he floated back up next to BlackWarGreymon.

"What's wrong? Don't tell me one Digimon is too tough for you three?" Seraphimon taunted from above them. "If that's the case, Allow me to put you out of your misery! Hallowed Knuckle!" he yelled, punching a spinning orb of light down at Dragoonmon.

"That's it!" Dragoonmon roared in frustration as BlackWarGreymon flew in front of him with the shield off of his back and held it in front of his body He deflected the orb of light down towards the ground and moved aside as Dragoonmon charged forward with his sword. He slashed it at Seraphimon who countered with his own translucent energy blade.

"You expect to win against Excalibur?" Seraphimon taunted as he struggled against Dragoonmon.

"No," the dragon warrior admitted. "I don't have to"

"Black Tornado!" BlackWarGreymon yelled from above Seraphimon. Dragoonmon kicked the angel away as BlackWarGreymon spun down, creating a black vortex around him.

"Nice try, but not good enough. Seven Heavens!" Seraphimon pulled back his arms as seven balls of light formed in front of him. He pushed his arms forward and sent the attack up right into BlackWarGreymon.

BlackWarGreymon yelled in pain and flew back across the sky. Duftmon flew back as well and caught the dragon-man Digimon.

"You ok?" Duftmon asked.

"Yeah, thanks for that…"

"Consider us even." Duftmon replied and let BlackWarGreymon go.

"Inferno Dragon!" Dragoonmon yelled, spinning his sword above his head. Flames shot out of the blade and up into the sky, illuminating the night in an orange glow. The flames collected into the form of a dragon much larger than any of them. "Now, you burn Seraphimon!" Dragoonmon snarled and pointed his sword at the angelic Digimon. The fire dragon beat its wings and flew through the angel.

Seraphimon screamed in pain as the flames passed over his body and turned around for a second attack.

"Not this time you foul creature," Seraphimon extended Excalibur and brought his holy blade across the fire dragon's neck, ending the attack. "I see, I guess playtime is over then is it not? I am getting bored with this. Hallowed Assencion!"

Lightening shot down from the heavens all around the three warriors. BlackWarGreymon looked up at the bolts, and danced around the sky trying to avoid getting hit. He moved left, missed one to the right, but then got nailed by one, then two, and three in a row and vanished in a cloud of smoke. Dragoonmon didn't even have time to dodge, he was nailed by the first strike directed at him. Duftmon narrowed his eyes at Seraphimon and held his sword out in a threatening manner.

"I will kill you! Die you traito-ugh!" he yelled in pain as a bolt hit him in back and knocked him towards the ground.

The smoke cleared from around the three Digimon, revealing them to be in really bad shape. BlackWarGreymon's armor was completely cracked, parts of his shoulder armor was gone, he lost both gauntlets and even the left horn from his helmet. Dragoonmon had dropped his sword in the attack, and had his armor almost destroyed in the process. Duftmon regained himself and floated back up.

"And yet you come back for more. Admirable, but it won't save you. You know, you three should feel honored. You've lasted longer than Ophanimon. Duftmon, if Omegamon were alive, I'm sure he'd be impressed by your resilience to survive. Though this is going to end the same way for you as it did for him. Pity, you would have all made fine additions to our ranks. Oh well, instead you'll all be just another causality of war." Seraphimon was suddenly struck by a small bolt of electricity. He looked down as Coltmon sent another bolt of electricity.

"How priceless, the little one has come to your aid. I guess you all just want to die today. I will be more than happy to help you with that," Seraphimon moved his arms back, ready to attack again.

"I…have a plan…" BlackWarGreymon coughed and looked at Dragoonmon. "We need to take him out in one shot…you'll see," he gasped and closed his eyes. "Black Tornado!" BlackWarGreymon spun again creating a vortex and flew across the sky at Seraphimon.

He canceled his attack and flew left, avoiding BlackWarGreymon's desperation attack "That didn't work once, why would it again?" Seraphimon asked smacked the Digimon with his sword. BlackWarGreymon grunted in pain and fell.

Dragoonmon elbowed Duftmon and nodded. "Follow my lead."

"Okay, this better work…"

Dragoonmon raised his arms over his head as air started to spin in a spherical pattern, growing larger and larger until the sphere was twice the size of Dragoonmon. "Strato Destroyer!" he yelled, and ignited the oxygen into a flaming ball before throwing it.

"Ernste Welle" Duftmon yelled, holding his blade as it shot out a powerful blast of pink and purple energy.

Both attacks flew above Seraphimon. "That's it? That's your final attack? You missed. With aim that bad, how did you think you had a chance at beating me?"

"We didn't miss," Dragoonmon replied with a smirk.

"You're finished, traitor." Duftmon panted.

"TERRA DESTROYER!" BlackWarGreymon screamed from behind Seraphimon. The angelic Digimon turned around to see a huge ball of red energy held between the claws just as BlackWarGreymon hurled the attack down Seraphimon.

"Im-impossible!" Seraphimon yelled as the attack hit him. He struggled the hold it at bay, but the combination of the three attacks into one was just too much for him. "Glory to Arkadimon!"

The attack exploded, obliterating Seraphimon.

Duftmon landed gently next to Ace and Kaze, with Dragoonmon and BlackWarGreymon behind him.

"Thank you for your help," Duftmon said as he dropped to one knee and bowed his head. "I was wrong about you all. Forgive me."

"Aw it's okay big guy!" DemiTyrannomon patted the Royal Knight on the back. "Suck it up, you're one of us now."

Ace held his hand out to Duftmon and smiled. He looked back at the human and grabbed hold of his hand. "Demi's right. Your stuck with us."

"I wouldn't consider an alternative," Duftmon replied and shook Ace's hand. "Your Digimon surprised me. They were able to kill two very powerful Digimon. Dukemon and UlforceVeedramon were right, you humans do give Digimon great power…"

"Well, we're pretty much awesome," Renee chimed in. "What's going to happen next?"

"Who knows. At least we won the battle," Kaze replied, looking back at the Renee.

Ace walked over to the cliff that over looked the city and closed his eyes as a breeze blew against him. Renee walked up alongside in and brushed her hand against his. Ace glanced at her and grabbed her hand in his. "Sun's coming up," she noticed.

"Yeah," Kaze said, stepping up next to them. They stood shoulder to should and looked out at the city below. In the morning light the true destruction could be seen. Half of the high-rises were collapsed, the bridge lay in the harbor and the smoke from hundreds of fires polluted the air. Suddenly a large explosion echoed across the cityscape. High above the city, another digital gate ripped opened and resumed spewing out countless Digimon by the minute.

"No! How can that be?" Duftmon asked in horror. "You closed the portal. They shouldn't be able to open it up that large.

"It gets worse," Ace noticed. "Study the city, do you see anything off about it?"

Kaze squinted his eyes, trying to find something wrong with his home, other than the apparent signs of destruction.

"There's some buildings that don't belong there," Renee said, pointing to this large black obelisk. Dozen more digital gates opened all around them.

"But that means… can we stop it?" Kaze asked.

"You could, but that won't happen," a voice bellowed from behind them. Ace was the first to spin around and gazed at the source of the voice. The Digimon floating behind them dwarfed anything they had seen before. It's body was a dark gray, almost black color and seemed to be a composite of various Digimon, with an insect like head, Greymon torso, wolf legs, and four arms, two looked demonic in nature while the others were an skeleton arm and a red insect arm. Above that body was a glowing golden being who looked to be Machinedramon's head, cannons and arms.

"What's wrong Ace, Kaze, don't you recognize me? I must thank you for sending me back to the digital world three years ago. You've allowed me to gain infinite power."

Kaze arched an eyebrow at the creature. "Wait," he declared and stepped back, "You're that Machinedramon that blew up the tower. But you're different…"

"Millenniumon!" Duftmon gasped and raised his sword. He stepped in front of the humans and lowered his head ready to strike.

"Don't waste your strength Duftmon. You can not harm me," Millenniumon sneered as his cannons fired off a small blast that exploded just behind everyone. "Consider this a thank you present. When we next meet, you won't be so lucky."

The explosion opened up a hole in the air, resembling a digital gate. A powerful wind began to pull against Ace and everyone, slowly dragging them across the dirt.

"Don't let it win!" Duftmon grunted and slammed his sword into the dirt. "Give me your hand!" he yelled, reaching back to Renee. She grabbed on and took hold of Kaze, and Ace. Their partners clung to Duftmon's legs.

"It's getting stronger!" BlackAgumon yelled as he was suddenly ripped away and vanished into the spinning vortex.

"I…can't…hold….on" Duftmon grunted as his sword faltered in the dirt.

"So long chosen," Millenniumon laughed and reached out with his demonic hand. He pinched the base of the sword in his fingers and pulled it out of the ground, sending everyone into the vortex.

Ace moaned in pain as he opened his eyes. The sun was shining brightly in the sky and everything took a minute or two to come into focus for him. He rubbed his head and sat up. "God that hurt. What the hell happened?" he asked and looked around. He was in a clearing below the ridge where the warehouse was.

"Oh good, you're up. I was afraid I'd have to poke you with this really sharp stick I made while waiting for you to get up," DemiTyrannomon laughed and swung the stick through the air like a sword.

"Demi! I'm glad to see you're ok. Any idea where everyone else is?" Ace asked.

"Nope, but I haven't really gone too far just in case you got attacked while you decided to sleep on the job," DemiTyrannomon replied and dropped the stick.

Ace frowned. That wasn't good. How could the others not be close to him. They all were blown off the ridge at the same time and entered that vortex together. What happened after that was a blur. Images of Renee screaming and Kaze grabbing for her flashed in his mind, then a calming white light, and finally he was awake and looking around. None of it made any sense. The land around him didn't seem damaged by battle and the air didn't smell like ash. He was standing in the middle of a clearing surrounded by oak trees, pine trees and… Ace stared at the palm tree a few yards away from him.

"This shouldn't be here. This doesn't make any sense," he said and ran over to the plant. Ace knocked on the trunk, feeling the texture of the plant. It was real.

"Hey Ace, come look at this," DemiTyrannomon called out and waved his claw back and forth.

Ace jogged over to his partner. "What? Whoa! What the hell?" Ace asked. On the ground was a white exoskeleton of an enormous stag beetle.

"It looks like a Kuwagamon shell. But why would that be here?" DemiTyrannomon mused and rubbed his chin.

"I don't know, but we need to find the others," Ace replied. He looked at his digivice and pressed a few buttons, bringing up the holographic map. "There," he exclaimed, pointing to two dots on the map. "Hey that's just up the ridge," he laughed and dismissed the map.

"Guess it's time for Dragonmon huh?" DemiTyrannomon asked. "Man, I was looking forward to a little r and r after that fight last night."

"Suck it up," Ace replied.

DemiTyrannomon was encased in a white cocoon which quickly exploded, revealing Dragonmon. Ace climbed onto the dragon's back, and Dragonmon took up, climbing the thirty feet in a matter of seconds. Ace leapt off of his partner's back as Dragonmon reverted to DemiTyrannomon.

"Guys, you're ok!" he grinned.

"Ace!" Renee smiled and ran at him and practically tackled him in a hug.

Kaze nodded with a smirk at the sight of his best friend. "I knew you were ok."

"We were worried since you weren't here with the rest of us," Duftmon said.

DemiTyrannomon was having a small reunion of his own, with BlackAgumon tackling him, probably for something he said.

"You're all ok. This is great! I guess Millennium's vortex didn't do anything," Ace said as he manage to slip from Renee's grasp.

"Hey guys… you better come look at his!" Coltmon yelled.

Ace led the group to where Coltmon was and looked at the scenery. His mouth hung open a he took in the sights before him. The city was there, sort of. Most of the buildings had been replaced by a giant castle. Where the ocean was, mountains extended thousands of feet out of the water. The entire landscape had changed.

"Years must have passed. Duftmon spoke quietly. "I can't believe this. He sent us forward in time."

"Oh god, we lost," Renee gasped and collapsed to her knees. "Everyone's dead.." she whispered in between sobs.

Ace looked down at the girl, then back out at the scene before him. He was at a loss of words. What could he possibly say to make this situation seem any better than it was? Renee was right, they lost all because that bastard sent them through time. No, it wasn't over. Maybe their time was, but they were still alive and they could still fight…

"If he sent us here, he can send us back…" Ace said under his breath. His eyes lit up suddenly and he turned to look at the others. "Millenniumon brought us here, he can send us back. We're going to find him, and we're going to go home and prevent this from happening!" he yelled.

"Millenniumon uses to magic to send beings through time. If he dies, the spell will break and we can go back to our original time," Duftmon added, confirming Ace's belief. "However, I'd imagine Arkadimon is here as well, ruling over his new kingdom."

"This isn't over! We're not the chosen for nothing and I'll be damned if some time traveling bastard is going to cheat his way to a victory. We're going to take back our time, and our world!"

"You really think we can do this?" Kaze asked. He scoffed and shook his head. "That's a dumb question, of course we can do this…"

"Y-yeah…you're right. He'll pay for everything he's done…" Renee got to her feet and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Arkadimon and Millenniumon have no idea what they're in for…" Ace grinned and turned back to face the city. Kaze and Renee joined him, putting their hands on his shoulders.

"You're all either brave or crazy, but I'm with you all the way," Duftmon chuckled and stood behind Ace.

The group surveyed the landscape before them, taking in the sights and learning the land. They weren't going to back down, not to anyone or anything. The war was just beginning….