Adventure 08: Shattered Reign

by lordtrayus

World War Three continues to rage and the Ultimate Evil is getting closer to achieving victory. While a new enemy threatens from the digital world, it seems as if humanity itself is starting to become a threat as the Digidestined find themselves surrounded and their very existence hanging in the balance as villainous schemes, rising fears and warped devotion threaten them all...

1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon (or the PSP game would be out over here, and on DS)

Chapter One

Friend and Foe

"Begin the attack." Came the cold, grating voice of their overlord and with that, the force moved in.

The fortress on the Folder continent had long been empty, and most had presumed it was still that way until his ever alert agents had spotted that the windows were now open, blinds shut, condensation on the windows, all the small signs that pointed to renewed inhabitation. After all, it was the job of his agents to notice such things, and notice they had, and as more and more agents had scouted out the fortress, they had discovered that it was indeed inhabited once more, and what was worse, it was playing host to forces opposed to them.

So naturally, it was a target.

The war hadn't truly begun, not yet. At least not in the way that it could actually be defined as a war. While war raged in the real world, the various forces of the humans trying their hardest to annihilate one another, the war in the digital world was still much more subtle. Few military strikes had been made, the war was still being fought in the shadows. Though the darkness was now spreading, the Dark Area had expanded for the first time in centuries and several former outposts and fortresses near to the Dark Area, long ago designed as lookout posts, had fallen under a shroud of darkness. Yet while this had happened, and there were signs of a few troops, the war itself had no actually begun, the Ultimate Evil and its most deadly servants were yet to be seen. However, its agents were certainly on the move, as they were here, and it was here that the most lethal of the servants of evil was attacking.

The fortress was operational again for some unknown purpose, but this far from the protection of the Sovereigns and the safety of File Island and Server, it was an easy target. Most likely, the inhabitants had thought that placing the site so close to the border would lure the enemy out, and to an extent it had succeeded, only it hadn't lured out the enemy they wanted, it had lured out the most dangerous of its henchman.

Who was now launching a blistering attack on the fortress.

Agents swarmed all around the place, their various forms attacking the fortress, the walls melting away with the presence. The twelve of his most lethal servants, combined with his retainers, flooded through the disintegrating door, emerging into the confines of the fortress as the battle truly commenced. Sharp claws and teeth helped rip apart the defending Troopmon as their leader entered, bringing a chill with him as he did so. His blade made short work of the remaining Troopmon as he swept through the fortress, his forces right behind him.

"Bring it down." He ordered one of the largest of his agents as he beheld the door to the inner sanctum, and with a well placed attack, the door melted into nothing allowing him to enter with his forces.

"Well well well, someone forget to invite me to the Tupperware party. What are you trying to hide from us I wonder?" he asked in a deathly voice as the various inhabitants of the room, all of them young and human looking, dressed in white robes, looked at him in alarm.

"There's nothing here for you." The leader said, strolling forward, his eyes narrowed angrily and the leader of the attacking force smiled maliciously.

"Really Gennai? I think you're lying to me. Because I see what you're making, and can't help but wonder why, if only to exasperate the Ultimate Evil, and by extension myself." He growled icily, and Gennai, in his youthful form, twitched his hand, as if preparing to take the sword from his back.

"We will do what it takes to stop you and your master." Gennai vowed and his opponent laughed, a cold, grating laugh that sucked all warmth out of the air.

"No you won't Gennai. And now, you and yours treachery is plain for us all to see." He purred and Gennai took a step back.

"Treachery is it to try and save the world from the ravages of evil? I don't think so." He said defiantly, drawing his sword with a flourish and the rest of them followed suit, making their foe laugh.

"Quaint. You must realise, you are doomed." He growled, throwing off his cloak and revealing his true form to the air.

"We will see." One of Gennai's clones, Benjamin said stoutly and their foe snorted derisively.

He looked at them all, the Guardians, the creatures elected to help protect the digital world by the spirit that guarded all things. However, the spirit, thought to be the shattered form of the original queen of the gods, the goddess of Light, frequently seemed determined to undo the Ultimate Evil, as evidenced by her creation of these creatures. All but exterminated by Piedmon, only Gennai had escaped, allowing the Digimon of the original eight Digidestined to escape as well and hence scupper many a well laid plan, in fact their actions had all but ensured the continued stagnant reign of the Sovereigns for many more years than they ought to have had. However it was too late now, the Ultimate Evil was on the rise, the long years of planning were bearing fruit at last and this time the Guardians would not stop them, no matter what they were doing here. Not that any but Gennai were true Guardians, he had been forced to clone himself to try and protect the digital world after the human world had learned about it. And it was now all those clones that were marshalling against him.

"Indeed we will. Your extinction is at hand. I will not make Piedmon's mistake: all Guardians must die!" he roared and leapt into action, his supporters also springing into battle behind him.

Phelesmon, laughing evilly, moved first, his long vicious claws ripping open the neck of one of Gennai's clones before he even brought his sword to bear. With blood showering the wall, he quickly turned, ripping open the throats of another two, one of them the one with the Australian accent, Hogan. As the three clones fell to the ground, blood soaking the walls and ground, the battle truly began. Benjamin leapt in front of Gennai, protecting him from the attack of the enemy himself.

"Gennai, go! Take the digi-eggs, you must escape!" he yelled and with a tortured, hesitant look, Gennai ran for it, heading to the large glass cabinet, in which the fruits of their industry were being kept.

"You will not get far Gennai, but run if you wish. I enjoy a good chase." Their enemy whispered in a menacing voice before he decapitated Benjamin.

The battle was raging all around them, the fifty or so clones of Gennai marshalling to the defence of the compound as Gennai tried to make his escape. Agents swarmed around, obliterating the clones into nothing as his troops battled the clones, their swords no match against the threat that was at hand.

"Demon Shout!" Phelesmon roared, knocking several Guardians back before a cry rent the air.

"Terra Blade!"

Two black swords then cleaved four Guardians in half as the battle raged all around them, their master hot on the tail of Gennai who was trying to flee. A squawk echoed through the room as the others surged inwards, their attacks blasting through the ranks of the Guardians.

"Positron Pulse!"

Three Guardians were disintegrated by the attack as they ripped through the defences of the Guardians, however, the group, much smaller than it had been, came together in a tight cluster, their swords beginning to deflect the attacks of their assailants. One of them however, the Mexican version of Jose, ran forward, determined to end the threat of one of their attackers once and for all before he was crushed under the rampaging hooves of another attacker.

"Thunder Stomp!"

The attacker then sprang to another Guardian, crushing him too. A group of four had been isolated from the others, making them easy bait as a white tail swung at them, clutching a lethal instrument, a hissing noise chilling them to the marrow before they were all slashed to pieces with the words

"Venom Axe!"

A howl then rent the air as their leader's faithful pet entered the battle, his jaws clamping on the throat of another Guardian, spitting it out with a satisfied roar, before growling menacingly at another Guardian who had been separated.

"Emerald Blaze!"

A group of six, angered by the losses they had so easily sustained, gave a rallying war cry, their swords brandished as they ran towards Phelesmon, but as the devil like Digimon smirked at them he simply moved aside to allow them to look their deaths straight in the eye.

"Horn of Desolation!"

The energy blast wiped them from the face of the earth as the defeated Guardians started to run for the doors, going the same way Gennai and his pursuer had went. However as the first of them reached the door and ran up the narrow corridor, there was then a great bellow as the massive form of another attack burst through the wall, trampling three of them as they tried to make good their escape. A long staff then punched through two more Guardians, dropping their lifeless husks to the ground as the owner leapt to the top of the effective battering ram, laughing in malicious enjoyment. A large green dragon then blasted through the wall, consuming the Russian clone Ilya.

The remaining twenty clones, looking at each other in abject terror, realised they were surrounded and came together in a tight formation, their swords raised defensively. However, they were no match for their foes. A vicious roar filled the room, forcing four of them to look in the direction the roar came from.

"Armoured Tiger Tail!"

And with that, the four of them were hewn into thirds with a lethal metal flash. A large howl and grinning smile signalled the demise of two more them, as the owner of said smile ripped another three apart with his sharp claws.

"Flaming Arrowheads!"

The Guardians cried out in pain as all of them were punctured by lethal flaming projectiles before the white and gold clad form of another wiped three more from existence. The last eight, abandoning all pretence, made for the window, as if that would be their salvation, but two more dropped in front of them, cutting off their escape.

"Arm Bomber!"

"Primal Orb!"

Their two attacks destroyed three each, leaving only two of them, who went back to back as Phelesmon, laughing mockingly, approached them. Jackie, the Chinese version took a deep breath and ran at him, the other clone right behind him, both their swords moving to take Phelesmon's head. Phelesmon, laughing maniacally, simply twirled on the spot, his lethal nails ripping open the throat of the other clone and leaving Jackie all alone.

Jackie looked around in shock. Sixty of them, their had been sixty of them all together, all of them cut from Gennai, cloned from him. And now only he, and hopefully Gennai, was left. The attack had been brutal, efficient and bloody. Blood stained the floors and walls, the bodies of those not deleted sporting various wounds from the attack. Blood had geysered up the walls, slumped bodies laid where they had fallen, dismembered limbs dotted the ground, and gruesome wounds marked those who had been crushed, bone and shredded cartilage marking puddles where they had all been crushed. Jackie looked at a cackling Phelesmon and fought down a shiver.

They had failed. The war had begun and the Guardians were the first casualty. All of them wiped out in one fell swoop, for Jackie had no doubt he too was about to be murdered.

"You put up a brave fight, but it was ultimately futile." Phelesmon said conversationally and Jackie looked around the room in sickened disgust, seeing the murdered forms of his brethren.

"Death is coming for everyone and everything." He whispered to himself, and Phelesmon nodded.

"Indeed it is. Your rule has failed. The Sovereigns time is over. The Ultimate Evil is ascendant, and we will triumph. And no matter what you do, your vaunted Digidestined will lose this war. You can scurry around trying to find the final members of the Eighteen if you wish. It will do you no good, for their destiny is set, and they too shall fall. His granddaughters have seen it, and you know they are never wrong, death will come to the Eighteen. As you say, death is coming for everyone and everything. Including you. Black Statue!"

Jackie was then transformed into a black rock, and with a wicked kick, Phelesmon destroyed the last of the Guardians with a well placed kick, to the laughter of all others present.

Up on the roof, a death defying duel was going on as the assailant and Gennai went at it, the blade of the assailant easily deflecting Gennai's panic driven attacks. Gennai knew he was now all alone in the world. He had felt the deaths of every one of his clones as if it was his own, and he knew that now he was alone, facing this great threat without any help available. The Sovereigns were too far away, the allies also on File Island and unable to help. The Digidestined, ostracised from the Sovereign as they were, were in the other world and of now use to anyone. And the Royal Knights had their own part to play and hence could not help him. No, he was on his own and facing one of the most lethal Digimon in the digital world.

He lunged, his sword coming in high to try and flank his attacker, but his foe was much too wily for that, easily blocking the attack. His attacker then unleashed a relentless offensive against him, blade singing and flashing in the night as the moon glinted off the blood stained blade, before Gennai managed to lock their blades.

"You will not succeed!" Gennai vowed, grunting with the effort of keeping both their blades stationary, and his attacker laughed darkly.

"On the contrary Gennai, we will. My granddaughters have foreseen it. The future is written, the darkness is falling, and soon now you, your Sovereign and your vaunted Eighteen will be no more. The end time has come. Blood will be spilled within the Eighteen, the Sovereign will be destroyed and both worlds will fall to us. And you can do nothing to stop it." He informed him, before twirling out of the lock and slashing downwards, right through Gennai's shoulder.

Blood then spurted on his face as Gennai screamed in pain, his right arm and sword dropping to the ground as he collapsed beside them, desperately calling on his power to banish the items they had created but his attacker got there first, seizing the bag and stamping on Gennai's wrist, breaking the bone. Gennai, his breathing shaking, his shoulder gushing blood, his eyes drawn to his lifeless arm, looked up at his opponent, who opened the bag and chuckled darkly.

"Really, this is what you were building? This is your last defence against us? Don't make me laugh! You really think new armour forms will help save the Eighteen?" he asked, turning the bag upside down and allowing the digi-eggs of Loyalty, Compassion, Wisdom, Trust, Understanding, Thoughtfulness, Faith and Kindness to clatter to the ground.

"Anything we can take to end you, we will." Gennai said defiantly, his face very pale and his red eyed opponent cackled evilly, his glowing red eyes boring into him as he approached slowly.

"You are a fool Gennai, and you and your friends will lose everything." He promised darkly, patting Gennai's head and Gennai glared up at him.

"What are you waiting for? Kill me!" he challenged and the evil Digimon chuckled.

"No my good friend. Your death will come in time. But before that, you are going to tell me everything. And there's no time like the present, is there?" he whispered in a cold, deadly voice, and he sent a stream of foul fire into his amputated arm, making Gennai's screams split the night air.

XX

"Lopmon digivolve to...Turuiemon!"

Mara swore as Drimogemon, who had appeared right in the middle of the motorway in broad daylight (to the disgust of the Prime Minister, the travel authorities, the commuters and the road workers) leapt off the side of the motorway, charging down an alley beneath them.

"Sorry mom, I'll be back soon!" Mara called, her red hair glinting as she and her partner vaulted over the edge, dropping down into the alleyway and pursuing the Digimon.

This was getting ridiculous. For the last eighteen months, ever since they defeated Daemon basically, Digimon had been appearing in the real world, right in the middle of town. From what limited information Izzy, Sam and Yolei had been able to gather, the barrier between the worlds had been warped by some unknown force, and as such any Digimon out for a casual stroll in the digital world ran the risk of emerging into their world, which of course led them to panic and start attacking the bloody place.

But, if the situation was just that, Digimon emerging and causing havoc before they could shunt them back, they could cope with it. However, that was far from the case.

Digimon had been appearing frequently for the last eighteen months, however by the time any member of the Eighteen got to them, the Digimon had usually vanished into thin air. The Digimon that were strolling through were vanishing as soon as they reached the real world, and it was driving the Eighteen nuts. This was the third time she had seen a Digimon, last time there had been a Devidramon which had disappeared into thin air and the time before that a Gesomon had vanished mysteriously. None of them had any idea what was going on. All of them but Tai (who had decided for the sake of his sanity and to stop Hawong nagging him that the others were all going nuts and seeing things) had encountered at least two Digimon, which had vanished as soon as they were pursued. It was incredibly bizarre and frustrating, and she didn't like it one little bit.

It wasn't as if the Eighteen didn't have enough on their plates without worrying about vanishing Digimon. The war had been raging for a year and a half now and it showed no signs of stopping, so they were busy with that of course as it seemed to be a favourite habit of the Chinese, the Mexicans, the North Koreans and the Russians to attack Japan when they got bored. As a result, the Eighteen frequently had to defend the country from enemy attack, which nowadays only served to strain already tense relations between the lot of them to breaking point. They were still two members of the Eighteen short, which was causing them no end of frustration and also meant they couldn't reach their full level of power until they found them, but with the war raging and all leads turning up blank, they were all incredibly annoyed about their lack of progress in that regard. And as a result of their lack of progress, their own irritating nature and Tai and the rest of the leadership's increasing reluctance to cooperate with the increasingly belligerent Sovereigns, their relations with the digital world were strained. While before Azulongmon had virtually been alone in his disdain for the Digidestined, their relationship had now degenerated to such a degree that if any Sovereign should try to talk to them it automatically raised the hackles of the Digidestined, and vice versa. As a result, Cannondramon, BlackWarGreymon and SaberLeomon, who all had their own problems to be getting on with, were now basically intermediaries between the two factions and had frequently been baked in the crossfire last time they had nearly come to blows, which had been caused by the Sovereigns not telling the Digidestined that they had found the two missing crests and Relics, those of Faith and Perseverance. Along with their frosty relationship with the Sovereigns, their relations in the real world were strained almost to the breaking point.

While things had certainly improved with the prime minister, to the degree that Tai and Matt, their two leaders now had an equal vote to the generals on the war council meetings and the prime minister treated them with friendship other than disdain (other than Rana but both of them had accepted the previous year that they were never going to like one another), there were still plenty of people in the world and in Japan itself who despised the Eighteen, and blamed them for starting the war. True, the battle that had coincided with Daemon's final assault had won them a lot of goodwill but there were still a few people, either those who hated them that much, lazy people with nothing else to do or annoying people wanting to make a nuisance of themselves who still made their presence and dislike known with graffiti, vandalism and taunts in the street. Combined with that lot, the police, who due to the nature of their role in home defence the Eighteen had to work with fairly frequently were also split on how to perceive the Digidestined, and the commissioner himself loathed them, believing them nothing more than contributors to anarchy. Several prominent Diet members also made their dislike for them known, a fact that gathered them many supporters in the populace, a populace that had several factions that were growing more and more opposed to the Digidestined presence within Japan, despite their presence being all that kept Japan from falling to the enemy. The various aspects of the populace all striving against the Digidestined was straining the group's overall unity.

A unity which was already on dubious ground. The war was brining up a lot of their problems and it was affecting their unity to a subtle but significant degree. While the couples were all coping fairly well it was overall group unity that was being threatened. Tai, being the leader had been forced to take many a difficult decision, which had had a negative impact upon his command style. While he had always been a strong leader, he had once ruled by consensus, listening to the advice and opinions of all the other kids. However, with the war still dragging on, and the fate of the people he cared about and the country often depending on his calls, he had become a lot more authoritarian of late. Gone were the days of general consensus, while he wasn't making all the decisions he was certainly making a good many of them without referring to the overall group, only relying on the rest of the original eight to act as his counsel. While they were all happy for Tai to be their overall leader, his authoritarian position, and the fact that he wasn't listening as much to the other leaders was causing strained relations with both Davis' group and Rana's group, and while it wasn't bad enough to cause a schism yet, there was the potential for it to turn into that. That fate was made all the more likely by the fact that Davis seemed to be determined to do things his way. Rankling under Tai's command and wanting to prove himself due to his being sidelined by Tai, Davis was wanting to take a more active role in the command of the Eighteen, a fact that the majority of the original eight (and the ones Tai listened to most) were opposed to, believing he wasn't ready to take on such a job. While Davis only wanted to make his own identity, Tai saw it as nothing more than rebellion which was causing a small undercurrent of tension within the group.

Along with the difference in Tai and Davis, Cody and Yolei were sending up flags for all the wrong reasons, which were actually the right reasons. Both of them hated the war, hated the violence and above all hated the killing. While the others did agree with this, in fact given their way they wouldn't kill anyone, the fact that they were at war necessitated it, and Cody and Yolei's reluctance to kill was getting stronger by the day and could endanger them all if it went too far. Part of the problem was they were being tarred with the brush they had developed back when Daemon had first attacked, the two of them hadn't wanted to destroy LadyDevimon, SkullSatamon or MarineDevimon despite the threat they posed, and that was causing problems within the group for they feared that if push came to shove they wouldn't do what had to be done and endanger them all. It was unfair, but tensions were running high.

All in all, the group wasn't quite as happy as it should be, though not nearly as stressed as it had been the year before when Daemon had arrived, or as they had apparently been when Ghoulmon attacked. However the undercurrents of tension were growing and there was a great fear that it could blow up in all of their faces if they weren't careful.

"He went down here I'm sure of it!" Turuiemon said as they galloped down the alleyway, and Mara grinned as they did so.

"We've got him this time Turuiemon, there's no way out of this...alley?" she asked, looking around as they arrived.

There was no sign of him. He had vanished completely. She looked up and down the buildings, all around the ground and found nothing, and even her digivice didn't give any indication as to where the hell he had gone to.

"Did he go underground?" Turuiemon asked in confusion, but Mara shook her head.

"He can't have done, he would have left a hole. Where the hell are these Digimon vanishing too, it just doesn't make any sense! How can they be here one minute and vanish the next?" she demanded and her rabbit like companion shrugged.

"Maybe they go back to the digital world?" she suggested though her tone of voice showed she didn't believe it anymore than Mara did.

"Doubt it. Something weird is going on Turuiemon, and I don't like it one little bit. Come on, let's get back to mom and dad then we can call Izzy and see if he has any more ideas, because I'm beginning to worry Tai's right and we really are all just nuts." She said, scowling darkly as Turuiemon returned to Lopmon and the two of them, after giving the suspiciously empty alleyway a last look, headed away.

On top of the building at the end of the alleyway, a young man stood, his brow furrowed. He was dressed in a grey battle suit, with a shoulder plate on one side. A red robe was around his waist and he had a red scarf around his neck. He had brown spiky hair and there was a gauntlet on one of his arms. And mounted on the gauntlet was the D-Tainer, where a very angry Drimogemon now resided, brandishing his fists at his unexpected captors.

"I still don't see why we don't talk to them Ryo, we're all on the same side." His partner, a purple dragon by the name of Monodramon said impatiently and Ryo sighed.

"Because Kanalaka thinks they're a threat, and because I've not seen enough that convinces me they aren't. Come on, let's get back to base so we can send Drimogemon home." Ryo said, watching curiously as Mara strolled away.

He didn't want to believe they were a threat, in fact he didn't truly believe it, he was just being cautious. But if they were, he only hoped his group had it in them to stop them.

XX

"You are sure that this plan of yours will work Kanalaka?" came the voice of his Russian superior, the one of the two that he preferred, and cursed the fact that he would need to have the exact same conversation with his other boss after he finished this call.

"Yes sir, I've assembled enough Digimon that I'll soon be ready to make my move." He assured him, and the Russian Foreign Minister glowered at him.

"You had better hurry Kanalaka, this has taken too long as it is. You promised us Japan and we are still waiting." He said angrily and Kanalaka bowed his head respectively.

"You need only wait a little longer sir." He promised and the foreign minister scoffed.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. You still haven't told me how you plan to deal with the forces of the Eighteen." He challenged and Kanalaka smiled.

"I assure you they will be dealt with sir, I have a plan that will deal with them in preparation for the arrival of your forces." He said and the foreign minister nodded.

"Be sure that it does." He said before cutting the video and Kanalaka exhaled, rubbing his temples. Plotting to take over your own country was stressful, particularly with the Russians involved. However, out of the two, they were the least amount of trouble, at least the Russians, and the agent they had sent, were fairly useful, and would support him when the time came. The Chinese weren't nearly so helpful and their agent was about as much help as he got.

Kanalaka sighed. Ever since he had seen what was happening, that Hawong was behind the rising tensions that had led to the war, he had offered his services to the Chinese. However, after their initial attacks on Japan had shown that they were just as inept as Hawong was, he had also offered his services to the Russians, he didn't care who we worked with (with, not for, he was adamant on that), provided they helped stop Hawong. However, since his miscalculation with the Digidestined, he'd had to scale his plans back, but now, his plans were nearly complete. For the last eighteen months, he had with the help and funding of the Chinese and the Russians, been preparing to make his move. Hawong had to be toppled, he had to be stopped if Japan was to survive. However, while he was determined to topple Hawong and save the country, the Eighteen made that rather difficult. While he had hoped that they would be his natural allies in toppling Hawong, they didn't have the courage to work with him, and had now become little more than enforcers of his will, so as his Russian master said, he had to have a plan to deal with them.

And then the answer had fallen into his lap. He had emerged from his office to find Ryo Akiyama, the son of the defence secretary waiting for him, complete with his Digimon. Kanalaka had been delighted to discover that there were other Digidestined in Japan other than the Eighteen, and he had acted quickly, recruiting them for his own purposes. Promising them he would keep them from Hawong, he had easily learned their trust, allowing the children under his command to carry out much the same role as the Eighteen carried out. Now with a force that could conceivably hold off the Eighteen, he had the basis of an army. And that was just the beginning of his plans. With the allegiance of his own Digidestined force, Kanalaka had moved on to what had always been his plan B, uniting with the secret government facility known as Hypnos. Set up after the worldwide darkness caused by MaloMyotismon five years before, the facility had been looking for a way to rid the world of the Digimon problem forever. Led by Mitsuo Yamaki, the shadowy organisation had been looking for a way to stop the Digimon once and for all before they posed a further threat to humanity. That had changed when Kanalaka gave Yamaki his information. Acting upon information confirmed by two different and interested sources, one of them being Ryo and his group, he had told Yamaki the truth: something had happened in the digital world, shattering the thickness of the barriers between the worlds. With the barrier between this world and the next now violated irreparably, Hypnos had two options: adapt or be overwhelmed. As such, working with Kanalaka, Hypnos had changed. Rather than trying to find a way to destroy the Digimon forever, they had begun to combine their purposes: make the Digimon who entered from the digital world work for them, while figuring out how to turn them on the very world that had spawned them. With the backing and genius of Hypnos, and the power of Ryo's group, Kanalaka was well on his way to achieving his goals.

But his true weapon was what was currently sitting on the desk, watching him intently. The greatest ally he had found, he had been responsible for finding the others of his kind and was an invaluable aid to Kanalaka, Hypnos and their plans.

His Digimon partner Syakomon.

"Something's coming." He said softly, looking at his partner and Kanalaka frowned.

"Something? What kind of something, does it affect us?" he asked and the shell like Digimon moved its body up slightly, his equivalent of a shrug.

"I don't know I can just feel it." He said and Kanalaka smiled.

"Don't worry my fine little friend. Everything will turn out just the way we want it to." He said, picking up the black and grey digivice from the desk and mulling it over in his hand with a sinister grin on his face.

Yes Syakomon was his partner, but his partnership wasn't like the one between the Eighteen or any of Ryo's group and their Digimon. After all, he wasn't completely honest with his Digimon, and didn't take him everywhere. His little friend didn't need to know what went on behind closed doors, or just what Hypnos was truly doing for him, or the real reason he needed Ryo's group. Just like Hypnos didn't need to know just why they were doing what they were doing, why Yamaki didn't need to know why he'd given him a Digimon and just like Ryo didn't need to know about Hypnos, what was going on in the basement of their headquarters and just why Kanalaka had been so keen to take him on.

In the end it all came down to what Kanalaka knew, and how much he wanted others to know, which wasn't much. Indeed, Kanalaka knew that above all else there was one undeniable truth:

Japan would soon be his.

XX

"And once again my friends we see the Digimon for what they truly are: savage monsters!" Isaac yelled to cheers from the crowd in the packed church hall.

Today's news, other than that about the war had been filled with the news that a nest of Dokugumon had set up shop on the Golden Gate Bridge, causing all sorts of chaos in the state of California as the spiders set up shop. Once again it was an example of the foul creatures, the Digimon, entering their world and causing havoc. Not only were the beasts filthy, degenerate abominations, most of them were malicious killers or skilled manipulators, out to take the real world for their own.

Isaac was not in a mind to let them.

While his faction had started growing slowly with the start of the war, over the course of the last year and a half, the entire thing had taken off. Claiming that the Digimon were dangerous abominations that ought to be hunted down and exterminated, he had gained many followers from across the country, people who either agreed with him on a basic level (after all it was these beasts that created the war), on a religious level (the Digimon weren't created by god, they are abominations that mock their faith) and the worried parents (the foul creatures got close to their children, turning them against their parents and convincing them that they are their friends in order to further their own ends). Now, Isaac had over one thousand supporters, all of them demanding the same thing: that the Digimon, the ones belonging to the Eighteen in particular, be rounded up an exterminated. Especially now that a way existed to do it.

About nine months ago, the Russians had sponsored a mercenary invasion of an American research facility in Hawaii. Once there, they had discovered plans for the DDR, the Data Deletion Rifle. Created through some complicated process, no one knew why the Russians had even bothered to steal the design in the first place, until a Mammothmon went rampaging through Moscow. The Digimon had slipped through from the other world and had caused widespread destruction when the home guard, armed with these rifles, fired their orange beams into the elephant, making the Digimon burst into data, permanently destroyed.

The DDR rifles were created with one purpose: the destruction of Digimon. News spread like wildfire, and though some governments, such as Britain and Canada, had criticised the creation of a genocidal weapon, every other country had immediately placed orders with either America or Russia in order to buy the weapons so that they could destroy the Digimon that threatened their world. That was how many countries, France and Russia being the most prominent examples, had dealt with the invasions of various Digimon. A Digimon slipped through into the real world, it was put down like the savage beast it was, no questions asked.

Isaac's group, called Citizens Against Digimon, or CAD for short, had been growing exponentially for the last eighteen months. His closest allies were parents of the young and impressionable. With various press campaigns by the government trying to convince people that the Digimon on their side were harmless, the youth of today were convinced that Digimon were cool, and every one of his supporters believed it was only a matter of time before their child found one of the disgusting animals and decided it was a friend for life. Isaac himself knew this pain personally. He and his closest deputy, Satoe, were losing their children to the Digimon. Two of the most high profile Digimon, Candlemon and Palmon, had gotten their claws well and truly into their children, Sam and Mimi, turning them against their parents, making them associate with only a small group of people, taking their children away from them and manipulating them, turning them into weapons and getting them involved in a war that they had no part of. Isaac and Satoe had tried many times to reason with their daughters, to make them see sense and abandon the Digimon, but the Digimon were smart, they had their claws in deep and wouldn't give up without a fight, and as a result both children, and their friends, were furious with their parents, but they were determined to make their children see sense.

However, being a priest he also had the support of a few religious people. While most of his supporters were frightened parents of children of various ages, who were dwarfed by the size of the group of people who just hated the Digimon and the Digidestined on principle, blaming them for the war, for the deaths of loved ones and for breathing basically, he had a small but powerful group of people like himself, those who found the Digimon as abhorrent abominations who ought to be destroyed because they were not of this earth. That group, who despised the ones that dared assume the forms of angels most of all, were a small but potent force within CAD, which was gaining in strength, power and size the longer the war went on.

However, today the various sects within the CAD didn't matter. It didn't matter if you feared what the Digimon would do to your children, if you hated the Digidestined and the Digimon for what they had done to the world or if you hated the abominations that dared to assume they were living creatures, today they were here to hear their leader talk, to hear his views and his calls for action.

"These monsters aren't wanted here! They come here, preying on the loneliness and insecurities of our children, taking them from our families and turning them against us! Do they think we want these savage beasts ripping apart our world? These things have done nothing but bring misery and destruction to our world, and its only getting worse! Look at what's going on in the world! These Dokugumon on the Golden Gate Bridge, Tyrannomon in the pyramids, Monochromon rampaging around the Acropolis and worst of all, Vilemon on the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro!" he bellowed, to the shouts and cries of fury, disgust and outrage that filled the hall.

"These creatures are invading all over the world, spreading like a plague yet people do nothing! I don't agree with the French approach to the crisis that threatens our existence, after all, the children are young and impressionable, they aren't to blame! However, they are right about one thing! The Digimon must be exterminated! These things are determined to pollute our world, warp our children and destroy our way of life. We must not let them! We must take action! These beasts would take our world from us, we must fight to keep it from them!" he roared to further roars and nods of approval.

"We need to take action, we can not stop until these monsters are put down. Death is the only way to end their threat. Our children have been turned against us, but we know what is best for them, and I say to you that we will not be cowed by these animals, we will rise above them, free our children from their grasp and crush these monsters once and for all! Who's with me?" he yelled and the entire hall erupted in cheers once again.

Destruction was all these Digimon knew. That was all they would respond to. Destroying them would be the only way to ensure that their society, their civilisation endured. And above all else, destroying them would be the only way to ensure that their children came to their senses and came back to their parents where they belonged.

And Isaac would not rest until Samantha saw the light and came back home, without the benefit of her pet abomination.

XX

World War Three continued to rage, just as it had done for the last year and a half. Battles were fought daily, victories won and losses endured. Millions were dead across the world, war measures had taken hold across the globe and there was still no sign of the end of the conflict. More and more troops were required to continue the war every day as more and more troops were killed in the field. The devastation wrought by the war was nearly as bad as the last world war, with bombings, Digimon attacks and terrorism taking hold and making its presence felt across the world. Neutral countries grew fat off the profits of war, other countries spiralled further into debt and bloody anarchy as the fight continued, supplies were short, revolutions had come and gone and there was still no indications of victory on either side. The two sides were trapped in stalemate, the war was going nowhere, and all it was succeeding in doing was dragging out and getting more people killed.

Which was exactly what the Ultimate Evil wanted of course.

The allied war effort continued. Led by a joint coalition of America, Britain, Australia, Japan and Brazil, the allied forces responsible for prosecuting the war continued to battle across the world, all of them leading their various allies in the charge against the enemy powers. To that end, other countries had now joined the allied war effort, adding their considerable forces to the allied command.

Iceland had entered the war, forsaking its neutrality. When the French assassinated an ambassador who was visiting Britain for purely economic purposes (they were talking about war time supply, and being neutral Iceland supplied both sides), Iceland had been furious. Finding out (somewhat suspiciously, a few sceptics suspected the involvement of British intelligence) that France had always intended to assassinate the minister, Iceland, furious at their actions, had joined forces with Britain and the rest of its allies, sending their considerable forces to aid in the war with France.

Following Iceland's lead, and after the Russians ill advised but successful invasion of Finland, the rest of the NNL (Northern Neutral League) had also taken up arms against the enemy powers. Norway, Sweden and Denmark had all joined forces with the allies, making the enemy victory in Finland seem rather feeble a prize when all it did was bring three tense, angry and individually powerful nations into the war, especially when it was against them.

The war had also changed for the allies in Africa. Eventually succumbing to political pressure, Lesotho had joined the war effort, following the example of its larger South African neighbour. Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Cameroon had entered the war, forsaking their laissez faire approach in order to stop the civil war in the Central African Republic from spilling into their territory. Acting pre-emptively, they had joined the allies for fear that the civil war in their near neighbour would spread, giving the allies in Africa a much needed boost to morale and resources. Kenya, purely to give themselves the added assurance of having armed troops on their border with a justified reason, had also entered the war, but remained relatively uncommitted, not committing any troops to the war rather keeping troops from the surrounding countries out. Also joining the allies were Sierra Leone and Liberia, both of which had been in economic trouble, so in exchange for their help in the war, they too had joined the allies.

The Middle Eastern theatre remained stubbornly unchanged from what it had been at the start of the war, to the disdain of the two sides in the conflict.

The Asian theatre had undergone some changes. Following a successful offensive by Vietnam and Thailand, Malaysia had fallen in a long gruelling battle. Impressed with the tactics and skill of the two allies, Cambodia had then entered the war on the allied side, and had been joined by Laos within a few weeks, all of them contributing to the garrison of Malaysia.

The South American theatre had also changed, with Brazil taking the French Guinea in a decisive victory.

However, while the allies had made some progress, there had also been considerable setbacks in numerous fields. The Middle East remained neutral, and some more African countries, which had originally not wanted to become involved in the war at all, had also declared neutrality. Niger and Chad had joined the ranks of the neutral countries, and they were not the only ones that had done so. Azerbaijan had also declared neutrality, in an effort not to get roped into the war by Russia. Uruguay had also become neutral over the last eighteen months. Nepal and Bhutan by mutual agreement had also declared neutrality for the duration of the conflict.

The neutral fortunes of the war did not match those of the allied enemy nations. A vast coalition, led by two of the strongest nations in the world, China and Russia, they also saw France as a natural ally and between the three countries were prosecuting a rather successful campaign against the allies.

In Europe, Russia had launched a blistering campaign, taking Finland for their very own, however the following advent of war with Denmark, Norway and Sweden had made the victory rather a moot one. A coup in Romania had allowed them to further expand their borders, adding Romania's prowess to their side of the war and throwing the nations in and around Greece onto the defensive. However, one of the military generals who had participated in the coup had elected to strike west rather than south, and before anyone knew what had happened, Bosnia had been taken (after a very difficult battle in which millions died and had only been won due to the actions of local militants siding with the Romanian force). Fearing a return to the chaos caused by the Kosovo war, Croatia had then thrown their lot in with Romania as had Slovenia, before the Austrians and Italians had thwarted their further plans by putting a large armed embargo on each of their borders, drawing the wind from the defected countries sails.

The frontiers had also changed in Africa. The civil war in Ethiopia had been won by those sympathetic to the enemy cause, throwing their lot in with that side. Government forces had also lost the war in the Central African Republic, bringing that country into the conflict that it previously been too busy fighting to become involved in. Malawi had also joined the enemy's side of the war, and between Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia had fallen and was now under heavy garrison, and despite resistance, there was little chance that that would change any time soon.

The Asian theatre hadn't changed as much as other regions in the war. Other than the loss of Malaysia and the joining of Cambodia and Laos into the war, the enemy strength in the region remained much the same as it had eighteen months ago. The Chinese had temporarily taken Sri Lanka, however India had forced them off the island within the month and returned it to the allied side of war by restoring the exiled president to power. However, a grievous blow to the allied war effort had been the joining of Kazakhstan to the war effort of the enemy, but they had only joined a few months before and were yet to have any great value in the field.

South America had also changed for the enemy as well. Paraguay had been won over by Argentina's entreaties, further stretching the already overtaxed Brazilians. Suriname, alarmed by the show of Brazilian aggression when they took the French Guinea had hasted to join the enemy against the allies, further stretching Brazil's resources as it was now facing a war on three fronts, one of which was massive.

While the war continued to rage across the globe, being fought in modern terms of land, resources, lives and machines, it was also being fought by the Digidestined. The creation of the DDR rifles had led to massive losses across the world in terms of Digidestined, and the general wear and tear of war had also contributed to their losses, the kids in question either being used by governments that targeted the Digidestined or by opposing sides of the war that used the Digidestined to protect the country or further their aims. Upon taking Finland, Russia had tried to round up all the Digidestined, but wise to their intentions the collapsing Finnish government had organised their escape to Norway. Others were not so fortunate. The Digidestined in Bosnia had all been killed, executed when Russia took over. Ethiopia's Digidestined had been forced to flee when the war had ended badly, their friendly government being toppled and forcing them to flee to Kenya for protection. North Korea had killed all of their Digidestined and Iran had had all of theirs arrested. However, things weren't necessarily better for the Digidestined on the allied side. America continued its persecution and micromanagement of the Digidestined, and a protest gone wrong had left three Digidestined kids dead, which had led to a massive fallout in which the allies had criticised America, several enemies gained the moral high ground and also undermined a lot of support for the government's policies. Australia had put its Digidestined under a form of house arrest or protective custody, sticking them in the middle of nowhere in order to try and keep them safe. Even Britain had now insisted on weekly updates from each of its Digidestined. However, a few countries on both sides, such as Japan, New Zealand, Canada, Argentina, Cuba and Malawi mostly viewed their Digidestined as heroes and they were as a result very popular in those countries.

However, the war had changed a lot of things for the Eighteen, still fighting to defend Japan from the attacks of China, Russia, Mexico and North Korea. Indeed, many now said that it was down to the presence of the Digidestined that prevented the enemy from either launching an all out attack (realising it would cost them a lot more due to the presence of Digimon such as GigaSeadramon), causing any truly lasting damage (MagnaSeraphimon and MagnaAngewomon could heal and repair a lot of the damage inflicted) or even launching nukes (which could be easily intercepted by Imperialdramon). The Digidestined's lot had certainly improved over the last eighteen months but it was still far from perfect.

The stress of the war had certainly gotten to the Digidestined. While they had tried as long as possible, and still strived to do so, the number of deaths being caused by them and their Digimon was going up, bringing a host of reactions, guilt, resignation and fear. Cody had taken to visiting the graves of war dead as a result to try and assuage his guilt and Mimi had been given sleeping tablets in order to help her cope. Many people were dead because of them, the world was changing them, and in many ways not for the better.

Tai, being the leader and hence responsible for everyone's safety was not the same person he had been with the start of the war. Fearing for everyone's lives, he was becoming a lot more untrusting, and was a lot less hesitant to trust the lives of his charges to anyone else. And by anyone else it was the newer Digidestined that were implied. While Tai knew Davis and Rana were both very capable, he was loathe to entrust them with anything significant, instead preferring to rely on the advice and strengths of the rest of the original eight. He no longer ruled by consensus and had become much more authoritarian than in the past, taking a lot more power to himself and delegating only to the original group. While he still listened to the others, it was clear he didn't need or want their advice as much as he did the original Digidestined. While his new attitude was understandable, it was also straining relations in the team. Agumon, while less authoritarian than Tai was being, had also taken command of the Digimon, and along with Tai was helping direct the home defence operations and dealing with internal security problems along with the police.

Matt had become much more prominent, basically becoming Tai's right hand man. However, being his best friend he could also see the way Tai had turned and spent a lot of his time trying to mediate between Davis and Rana's disgruntled factions while trying to encourage Tai to delegate more. He had also taken on much more of a leadership role of late and unlike Tai he did delegate tasks, while trying to juggle his own life (his own university course and frequently helping Tai with his), his love life and keeping the country and more importantly the Digidestined from imploding. He had also become a lot more protective of Sora and TK, even including Kari and Cody in that and tried very hard to protect all of them from whatever harm may befall them. Gabumon had also taken a more active role in the war, when he wasn't fighting he had taken to helping the wounded. Given a basic course in medicine both human and digital by Joe, Gabumon would frequently help the wounded after a battle, patching up those he could and doing whatever he could for those he couldn't. His calm demeanour, soothing voice, gentle disposition and quiet nature all made him an excellent nurse, and even when things were most dark, seeing Gabumon wearing a white nurses uniform with a red cross on a paper hat that fitted around his horn was a definite uplift for anyone.

Sora, in her role as the Digidestined of Love, had also changed in her role. Along with helping Matt to keep the peace between the rest of the team, she had also became the sort of group counsellor (as she thoroughly enjoyed the psychology elective she was taking at uni), willing to listen to anyone within the group, human or Digimon and help them with their problems. She had also had a very unpleasant session with Mummymon in which he wailed and blubbed for a better part of an hour that he wasn't sure Arukenimon truly loved him. Indeed, she was so traumatised by the experience that she had taken to hiding whenever she saw him coming in some highly imaginative places, a bus (which had led to her being driven halfway across town without her bag, phone, boyfriend or Digimon (which had in turn earned her a stern ticking off from her parents, partner and boyfriend)), a pot plant (Palmon had been delighted and had immediately told her of all sorts of plants she could grow) and a bin (to which they had all avoided her like the plague due to the smell). She was also trying to reason with Cody and Yolei about their problems in facing the war, but she felt like she was getting nowhere. Biyomon meanwhile was dealing with the refugees, assisting those in charge of evacuations in getting children out of the city and of rehoming those who had lost their homes in an enemy attack.

Izzy had progressed as well, and had become the chief consultant to the military triumvirate on the threat of the Digimon. He had also joined forces with several other computer hackers, protecting Japan's information systems while playing havoc with China's (he did so enjoy messing with all the traffic lights and closing off roads at the most inconvenient times). He wasn't particularly fond of the war, but understood the basic principles: that people died and that they were preventing more from dying. When he wasn't dealing with such matters, he was spending his time with Sam, Michael and Mara, searching for any leads into the next member of the Eighteen and also helping Sam to escape from her turbulent home life. Tentomon meanwhile had taken the job upon himself of restoring energy to stricken neighbourhoods after enemy attacks, earning him a great deal of popularity.

Mimi, despite her guilty conscience that was impeding hers (and hence Joe, Palmon and Gomamon's) sleeping patterns, had truly blossomed due to the war. With the defeat of Daemon, Hawong, not wanting to deal with the aftermath of any Digimon or Digidestined related problem whether it be good or bad had proposed to Tai that someone be appointed as the spokesperson for the group, and in a stroke of genius Tai had made Mimi their new press liaison. Since then Mimi had made the Digidestined much more accessible and human, helping with charities, propaganda campaigns and information nights that had done a lot to demystify and improve their standing with many of the people. It was also due to her actions that a successful government recruitment campaign had been launched, the faces of select Digidestined (Tai, Matt, Mimi and Rana (ie the ones seen as most attractive) being sued to recruit people into the war effort in various ways. As a result of her actions, the Digidestined's popularity had greatly increased over the last eighteen months. Palmon had also become the most well known of the Digimon in their usual forms, helping with the war effort by helping with the growing of vegetables, rice and fruit to keep their forces marching.

Joe had amazingly maintained a cool demeanour of calm through the entire thing. While he worried endlessly about Mimi, Gomamon, his family and his friends, his work as a doctor allowed him to structure his otherwise mad life. He had also set up a mercy corps, of people with limited medical experience to help with triage in the aftermath of battles, and along with that he had also set up a group that people had come to call the Soothers, people who sat and listened to those too wounded or sick to survive and tried to help ease their passing. He had sort of become the professional face of the Digidestined, a reassuring sight and he was often the one people wanted to see most in the aftermath of any battle, he was a soothing presence, and complete with Gomamon, who often managed to cheer people up in the darkest of hours, he was truly a godsend in these dark times.

TK on the other hand had not had a pleasant experience in the last eighteen months. He and Mimi had been on patrol when the Russians had launched a raid, complete with helicopter gunships. While their forces repelled the raid, a Russian gunner, armed with one of the DDR rifles had fired at him and Pegasusmon in quick succession. The blast had skimmed Pegasusmon, who had already been turning away from the attack but the damage had been done. Although only grazed by the attack, Pegasusmon had reverted to Tokomon, his data close to falling to pieces and being destroyed. As Tokomon flickered, about to disappear completely from existence, TK, unconscious had somehow used his crest to generate a sort of stasis field for his partner, managing to keep him alive. However he had plummeted to the ground, his body already damaged by the rifle, and had only just been caught by Mimi and Lillymon before he had slammed into the ground. Catching him had wrenched her shoulder in the process and knocked her off too, but they only fell a few feet to the ground. The damage had been done however.

The DDR rifle had hurt TK nearly as much as it had Patamon, and TK had spent a month in hospital in a coma, during which time Matt and Kari had been beside themselves with fear, barely leaving his bedside, often accompanied by Sora, Tai and Cody. Tokomon had also been very slow to mend, with Gabumon, Biyomon, Gatomon and Armadillomon rarely leaving him, wrapped in his little golden ball as he was, with Wizardmon's ministrations making very slow progress in healing him. When TK finally woke up, to the great relief of his incredibly anxious big brother and distraught girlfriend, their Digimon, all the other kids and their partners, his parents, his barely conscious Digimon and a denying Hawong, they had found the true extent of the damage. Whatever was used to power the beam so it could kill a Digimon played havoc with a human's bones, making them incredibly weak and as a result the first time he had moved his entire rib cage, where he had taken the blast, cracked into pieces, all the bones breaking. While none of his organs had been damaged by the blast, the breaking of his ribs caused some superficial damage to many of them, prompting an operation to patch him up. The nature of the blast also meant that MagnaAngewomon (as even two months later Tokomon had yet to awaken for more than a couple of minutes at a time and hence digivolve) couldn't heal him, TK had been stuck on the long road to recovery the old fashioned way. As a result, his father, mother, brother and girlfriend all took turns watching him intently when they moved him home, babying him and fussing over him to his great disgust, and when Matt (who had gone to get them some lunch) had discovered TK trying to move before he was able to, he had lost it and had summoned each of the other Digidestined to help watch him, something which Mimi (who had suddenly developed very maternal feelings for him akin to Sora's due to saving his life) took to with great delight, a delight that TK shared though he refused to admit it. TK and Patamon had only returned to full operational fitness three months before. It had taken three months for Tokomon to remain awake as he normally would and a further month after that before he was able to digivolve to Patamon. However, he now had a long, thin pale scar down his right flank that would show up on all his forms. Over time, the DDR radiation in TK's body had dissipated, and after six months after the attack, it had gotten to the stage where MagnaAngewomon could heal the two of them again much to their great relief. When he had returned fully armed and operational to the job, he had been met with a standing ovation by the Digidestined, the war cabinet, Hawong, several Diet and police members and Aurkenimon and her group. He had then mysteriously vanished for a while with Kari (both of whom had bemoaned the lack of sex due to his injuries) apparently to make up for lost time. However his near death was an experience none of them were willing to repeat, and all of them were fearful of the danger the DDR rifles posed. Patamon had also made the long road to recovery, having been out of action for months, and now every time he digivolved you could see the scar the attack had inflicted, no matter what form he assumed, a scar that refused to heal, and due to what had happened it made TK even more paranoid of losing his partner.

Kari was also being affected by the war. Being what she was, the Digidestined of Light, the endless cycle of violence and death the war had forced on them was getting to her more than some of the others, her nights filled with dreams of faceless victims of their defence of the realm. What was more, she had also started having prophetic dreams, she had foreseen little snippets of things to come, such as TK falling from Pegasusmon, and as time went on her night time visions were getting bigger and more intense, as she had predicted a Chinese submarine attack and had been proved right the next day. This new trick of hers was serving to freak out many of the others, and was also making Tai and TK incredibly anxious, afraid every day that she would have predicted some other misfortune about to befall them. Recently her dreams had been of the airport, and a faceless girl and none of them knew what it meant, only that she was being protected by a large shadow of some sort. Gatomon, when she wasn't worrying about Kari's new found power or avoiding her and TK when they were together, she had been largely helping with Patamon's recovery, knowing that out of the two of them (awful though it sounded) they needed Patamon working at full strength before TK. Now that he was fully recovered, she had been acting as a messenger between various services in town, quickly passing messages during a crisis when her digivolutions weren't called for.

Davis had also changed. Feeling increasingly sidelined since the war began due to Tai taking on a much more involved leadership role, Davis had begun speaking out against Tai's leadership. He truly didn't believe Tai was a bad leader, quite the opposite, but ever since the war had begun, it seemed like he was trusting Davis and Rana less and less to do the jobs they had always done. He was also ignoring their advice and reducing the amount of time they spent in the field, the amount of decisions they made and the level of involvement of their respective groups, and it was beginning to frustrate him. He didn't want much, but it seemed as if Tai was trying to take his and Rana's groups away from them, even though they had both proved they were capable of leading their groups into battle. As a result, Davis had been trying to convince Tai to tone down some of his actions and give some of their own power back to them, but he wasn't having it so as a result Davis had been needling him further and further, his actions (which would be bordering on insubordination if they were a proper military group) becoming slightly more rebellious than ever before as he attempted to change Tai's position. He was also dealing with the same problem Tai was: not having a girlfriend. Kari, Sora and Mimi had decided while chatting away (as they were prone to do) that much of Tai's more negative personality aspects of late were due to the fact that he was one of the few Digidestined without a significant other. All of the rest of the original eight had one as did all of Rana's group (though Rana wasn't dating a member of the group, she was dating Davis and Ken's football team rival Derek), and only Tai, Davis and Cody had no one (not that it seemed to bother Cody as much). Reasoning that stress and envy were combining to make a not so good combination, they had decided that what Tai really needed was a girlfriend. Davis was also without one, however unlike Tai and Cody who had no girls in sight (well there were the ones who cried 'you saved my life' and basically wanted to sleep with Tai but he ignored them), Davis was already in love with someone. Ever since he had met her, his feelings for Rana had been growing stronger and stronger and seeing her every day with someone who wasn't him was tearing him apart. He wanted nothing more than to tell her how he really felt, but he couldn't. While Davis tried to make Tai see sense and gain back some of the ground he had lost, while also aching over Rana, Veemon had taken to the airwaves, sending out a radio show with Armadillomon, both of them hosting a talk show which served to cheer a good many people up with takes on the news, less than polite critiques of the kids (though not completely offensive since they had made the foolish mistake of insulting Mimi) and basically just cheering people up.

Since the creation of the DDRs and Japan taking a few from captured soldiers, Ken and Yolei had been studying the weapons, trying to find some way to adapt to them or subvert them or something before they got any of them killed. Working with a team of scientists, they had been at it for months, and while they were no closer to figuring out how to stop them, they had figured out how they worked and hence how they were able to cause so much damage to TK as well as Patamon. Wormmon was also helping in his own unique way, going around the children's homes with Hawkmon, explaining about Digimon and keeping orphans and lost kids happy and cheering them up when things were bad.

Cody's life has also changed. Once more a master at all things martial arts, he had been helping his grandpa and another sensei teach self defence classes to interested people. He also made sure to visit the war graves every week to make sure no one was forgotten. Along with that, he and Yolei had started campaigning for a peaceful end to the war. Disliking the constant fighting, they wanted to see a return to peace, and they were also becoming more and more opposed to just destroying evil Digimon. Much of this was due to the reports that Digimon were appearing all over the world in every country except Japan, and finding out so many Digimon had been killed did not sit well with them. Their empathy, while admirable, was beginning to cause problems for the Digidestined, who while they didn't like it, realised they were fighting a war on two fronts and were often left with no choice but to destroy attacking Digimon, and also with Hawong, who was becoming annoyed that people so close to his inner circle were criticising the war. Those weren't the only changes. Helping Matt clean out some space in order to make room for all his uni stuff, Cody had discovered Matt's disbanded band's drum kit and, bored, started to play on them. Matt had been very impressed with him despite being an amateur and over the last eighteen months had been teaching Cody to play the drums, which was helpful, because when Mimi heard that Cody was good at drums she pounced. Taking the opportunity to strengthen the kids position, along with helping the war wounded, homeless and orphans, she had organised a charity concert which would feature Matt's reunited band, complete with Cody as the new drummer. Backed into a corner, they had had no choice but to agree, but the news that she had conned Sora, Kari and the three of their Digimon into singing as well had taken the edge of, and now they were practicing for their concert on the third of December. Armadillomon had taken on a new role in the world as well, helping to keep the fractured foundations of buildings damaged in battles in good repair.

Rana was also chafing under Tai's new authority. As she had been leading her group for very little time, she had originally not minded, but Tai kept sending them on irritating missions that weren't too threatening, as if they couldn't cope with as much as the others could and it had been getting on their nerves. As a result, she and the other three in her group had been sneaking into the digital world, battling in tournaments in File City to bring themselves up to scratch and also helping keep an eye on events, acting as a sort of liaison between Cannondramon, who was a link to the Sovereigns, and the rest of the kids. She was however, becoming increasingly unhappy with her relationship with Derek, and was resolving to split up with him not long after the concert. Tsukimon had also been helpful, helping disable any mines when the Chinese deployed them in their bombardments, and also helping to defuse any missiles that landed and didn't explode.

Michael and Mara however were under a considerable deal of pressure. The disappearing Digimon act appeared to be driving Mara round the twist a lot more than all the others, which wasn't helping. However, due to being American nationals, despite America being on the same side, the actions of their arrogant and power hungry president was earning them few favours or friends. Their parents were also rather irate at being stuck in Japan due to the duration of the conflict despite their film closure, Hawong secretly performing a bit of political skulduggery that meant they couldn't go home due to Mara and Michael being needed here, forcing their parents to star in either Japanese movies or propaganda films. They were also the ones in charge of trying to find the other two members of the Digidestined, Tai's reasoning being that completely new eyes might find something they missed (thought it was obvious he just didn't want to do it anymore, and after looking through records for months they could certainly sympathise, if not resent him for giving them this job). Betamon and Lopmon were also endlessly stuck looking, only allowed out when there was an attack and all of them were going a little stir crazy.

Samantha however was not doing nearly so well. Though she like most of the others had just accepted the fact that they were at war and was dealing with it in her own way, her home life had gone completely down the drain. Her poor mother was now the wall that kept Sam from beating her father to a bloody pulp for his stupid, arrogant attitude. Ever since the war had truly broken out, he had been hell to live with, ranting and raving about the Digimon threat, dismissing them all as evil abominations who ought to be destroyed, and he had made it clear time and again that he didn't want Candlemon in the house and that she ought to abandon him, her friends and her boyfriend all because they were associated with Digimon. He claimed they were not of this earth, and his constant diatribe frayed her already frazzled nerves to the breaking point. He had also made it clear that he had no use for his daughter if she did not see as he did. He saw the Digimon for apparently what they were, godless, evil monsters intent on destroying god's earth, and it was all she could do to stop herself attacking her father for his stupidity, as he didn't quite seem to grasp that without the Digimon on their side, they would all be dead, her along with them. As a result, Sam would leave early in the morning, never stay in the same room as her father for more than five minutes, and give him a look of contemptuous loathing before leaving and give him the same one as she returned, where she would go straight to her room, avoiding meal times with him altogether. Her mother was frantically trying to repair their bond but it seemed like it was too far gone to ever be repaired. As a result, their home was cold and impersonal, both of them talking to her well enough but completely furious with the other, and her poor mother was stuck in the middle. As a result Sam had all but moved in to Izzy's, her family life stressing her out to the max.

Candlemon had been her constant companion, acting as solace during her dark time.

The Digidestined were not doing well as a whole. The war was wearing them down, stressing them out and worrying them sick. They couldn't do their jobs properly, be themselves properly and the constant fighting was getting to them, affecting their personalities, emotions and health. The ever increasing number of dead, which they felt responsible for, and in their own way contributed to, was all but destroying them, destroying the things that made them good, and pure and human, destroying the ties that bind. Events were getting too far out of control for them, and there was no sign of any relent from any quarter.

And of course it was that night that Kari dreamed of six darkly shining beings, which could only mean one thing: trouble.

XX

Kari bolted upwards, shaking in a cold sweat. Taking a deep breath to try to bring her breathing back under control, she looked around the darkened room, everything seeming normal. Patamon and Gatomon were curled up at the foot of the bed, Gatomon's long tail coiled around the two of them. Beside her was the peacefully sleeping form of her boyfriend, TK, his hand just an inch from where hers was. She took another breath to try and calm herself. Her nights hadn't bothered her this much since before their last trip to the Dark Ocean, but now, in place of nightmares, it seemed she was starting to get visions, seeing things before they happened. She had foreseen the emergence of Digimon into their world, however all she had been able to see was a Digimon appearing. She had also seen TK falling before he was attacked, and had been terrified to learn that she had foreseen the future at the time. She scowled. She didn't mind the visions per se, but while they could be quite handy, because they were so new to her at the moment they were more of a nuisance than anything else. She didn't see enough or long enough to be useful, all she got was a little teaser that left her with more questions than answers.

Tonight was no exception. A small girl with brown hair, slightly darkened skin and a digivice was backed up against a wall, cowering in the shadow of a Monochromon, as he bravely faced six Digimon that were shrouded in darkness. She bit down a wave of frustration. Who was this girl, why was she dreaming about her? She had thought she was a member of the Eighteen, one of the two they were missing, but she had so little information she wasn't sure, though she was leaning towards thinking this girl was indeed one of the ones they were looking for. But if she was, how was she meant to find her? She harrumphed in annoyance. It would be so much easier if they were of some use, these visions, but they weren't, so why couldn't she go back to dreaming of interesting things, like an aeroplane made of chocolate, Tai with Gatomon's tail or her and TK somewhere nice, warm, relaxing and sunny with no problems, no war...

"What is it sweetheart?" TK asked sleepily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes as he surveyed his girlfriend.

"Another vision. Why can't my dreams go back to just being dreams?" she asked irritably and he kissed her shoulder gently, his blue eyes looking at her beseechingly.

"What was it?" he asked softly, stroking her hair behind her ear gently.

"Some girl with a Monochromon, I'm leaning towards the theory that she's the next member of the Eighteen. But whoever she is, she's in trouble, there's six bad guys after her, but I can't make them out." She said worriedly, and TK frowned.

"Six bad guys? That's all we need, we only had one big bad last time and look at the mess he made. You recognise anything about her?" he asked quietly, and she shook her head.

"No, like I said, my visions aren't much use, they're just snippets kind of like a trailer would be. And being chased by six bad guys? That can't bode well for any of us." She whispered darkly, and he nodded.

"You're right about that much. We haven't really been attacked by a Digimon since we blew up Daemon. I reckon we're probably overdue for an attack." He said with a scowl and she smiled slightly, kissing his cheek.

"Since when did you become so cynical?" she asked playfully and he grinned, kissing her deeply before breaking off.

"Because in case you missed it honey, anything that can go wrong for us generally does. The stalemate aside, we're basically getting on with our lives, albeit with added patrols. Hence, by the laws of the ancient law of sod, something needs to happen to make the other shoe drop. Call Tai?" he asked, but she shook her head.

"No, it can wait till morning, we don't know anything about her anyway so even if I told him it wouldn't do us much good, and besides, he's stressed out as it is, I don't want to add to that until we have to." She said, and he nodded.

"Well, as we aren't telling Tai, and as Matt warned me that if he and Sora got interrupted tonight I wouldn't be much use to you as a boyfriend anymore, why don't we just go back to sleep?" he asked, and she grinned, tracing her finger down the thin scar that marked where he had been shot, and then stroked down one of the tiny incisions they had made to fix his bleeding stomach and lung.

"Why go back to sleep when we can play instead?" she asked playfully, and forced her grinning boyfriend down, totally ignoring the two snoring Digimon at the bottom of the bed.

XX

"All is in readiness your splendidness." A voice said and he nodded, watching as the last of their troops entered into the rift, high above their temple.

Soulmon, Spiritmon, Shademon and Spectremon all headed into the rift, hundreds of them, all filling into the vessel that would take them to the real world. Their time had come. Due to their newest member's actions, the barrier between the worlds was all but broken. The rift would easily convey them to the real world, and with the Sovereign's gaze distracted elsewhere by the actions of their father, now was the perfect time to move.

"Hurry along daughters, you'll be left behind." His sister chided fondly and her three daughters went to join her adopted son, before heading into the rift.

"At long last, we will take our rightful place in both worlds. No longer will we linger here, lost and forgotten in the shadows. Now, we return and remind the world of our power." Her oldest brother said with dark excitement and she nodded.

"Agreed brother. The worlds will pay for forgetting us. I must say, I'm looking forward to meeting the Digidestined. It's been so long since we purged the gods from the earth." She purred, as her two sisters appeared, and the younger of the two, the tempestuous one, looked at her curiously.

"Do you think sister anything within them will realise who we are?" she mused and the eldest sister thought about it, pondering it over.

"Perhaps. But then the children are not unintelligent. They may discover who we are without having to...remind them." She said, fiddling with her wand.

"Either way it matters not. We once rested this world from the gods, we shall do the same to the Digidestined. Just because the rank and file have mostly forgotten about us does not mean we are gone. Now we shall return!" the eldest said, to the appreciative chattering of his siblings.

The time had come.

The Primordials would rise again.

XX

Tai was feeling very wrongfooted. He had entered the Prime Minister's office to find General Pei, Marshal Kuji and Admiral Wang all waiting for him, with Hawong sitting at his desk, with Margaret standing loyally behind him as always. Had he forgotten that there was a war council meeting this morning? He can't have done, or Matt would be here, so why had he been summoned? Contrary to popular belief, he wasn't just the leader of the Digidestined and one of the most well known defenders of Japan, he was also trying to pursue a career in banking through his university course, not that he had much time to focus on that.

"Tai, come on in." Hawong said as the door shut behind him, and Hawong beckoned for the four other men to sit.

"Is there a war council meeting I've forgotten about?" Tai asked, and Hawong shook his head.

"No, this is different, a secret meeting that cannot get out to the general war council or even to the public until we are good and ready. Do I make myself clear?" Hawong asked, and Tai nodded.

The Digidestined's relationship with him had greatly improved in recent months. He had greatly softened towards them, while maintaining a sort of peeved uncle's disapproval of their antics, but his behaviour was vastly different from what it had once been to them. The generals were also fairly friendly to the Digidestined, all of which contributed to make one less of a headache for the entire team. Hawong had gotten them any equipment they needed, materials, aided with their press relations and also acknowledged their efforts to protect the country. While he still refused to allow Digimon into his office, he did allow them into the building now rather than having them wait miles away from where their partners when they could need them.

"Good. Now, as you know, the war hasn't been going anywhere, we've been at stalemate for months." Pei said and Tai scoffed, a blind man could see that neither side was getting nowhere fast.

"Too true. Wait a minute, is this another try to get us to attack somewhere?" he asked suspiciously, but Margaret shook her head.

"No Tai, because an attack would have to be followed up by an invasion and quite frankly we don't have the forces to spare to invade a football pitch never mind an enemy country, we're spread too thin battling a war on so many fronts." She explained, and Tai looked at Hawong, wondering where this was going.

"That is however, about to change. A major operation is in the works." Wang explained from his side, and Tai turned to look at the admiral, who activated a switch on the projector to show a map with all the current boundaries, and Hawong walked over.

"Supreme Allied Command is adamant, the stalemate must be broken. And they wish to break it before Christmas, hopefully force the enemy onto the defensive so that people actually have something to celebrate. Which brings us to our operation. America is about to launch a massive invasion in the Gulf of Mexico, forces from Canada, Spain and Britain have already travelled to Virginia to rendezvous with the attack force marshalling there. We're hoping that the enemy will believe the intelligence trail that points to them about to go and reinforce Brazil. And that is essentially correct." Hawong explained, and Tai frowned.

Brazil was the key to the entire South American theatre, if the country fell it would be a significant setback for the allies. But despite fighting a multifront war as it was, it didn't seem to be in any immediate danger.

"So what, command wants to conquer South America by Christmas? How are we meant to do that in a month? Argentina in particular won't go down without a fight." He reasoned and Kuji nodded.

"You are correct. Which is why Brazil isn't the real target." He said, and Hawong pointed to the islands in the gulf, and it suddenly clicked, and Tai was saved the necessity by Hawong explaining.

"The combined task force will launch a simultaneous attack throughout the entire gulf. We intend to hit them hard and fast, and provided we take Cuba within the first twenty four hours of the attack, the rest should fall into place, with the most powerful enemy nation being unable to help the ones it coerced or conquered into the enemy camp. Rebels in Jamaica are poised to help, and the government in exile on Puerto Rico is also prepared to return to power. The mission will be launched on the twentieth of December, and by the end of it, if all goes well, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and all the other small nations around it will hopefully be under allied control." He explained, and Tai frowned.

"Alright, with you so far. We take those islands, we get a major boost in morale and in resources, it also means we control the gulf and can easily reinforce Brazil. But I still don't see why I'm needed here, or how you plan to pull this off. I mean the plan's good and all, but Mexico won't let us take everything in the gulf, its a threat to them and will let us reinforce Brazil, which they don't want. How do you plan to pull this off?" he asked, and Hawong grinned.

That is where you and your team come in." He said, sitting back down at his desk and looking frankly across at Tai.

"Mexico is in trouble. It knows it cant keep this up much longer. Whether we take the gulf or reinforce Brazil, either way if we succeed, it means curtains for Mexico, it will be facing a war on two fronts. The Americans, due to them helping out us and the Europeans, haven't been able to deploy all of their forces to deal with Mexico. That's coming to an end now. With American forces freed up in Iraq due to the new government there, there are now two thousand American troops about to land right on the Mexican border. Within two months, they will push into the country and end the war, either that or if Brazil breaks the stalemate and heads north, Mexico will be threatened from both sides. Now, Mexico does not want to be beaten by the Americans. The Americans will not treat them well, they know that and quite frankly the American president will cripple them if he can get away with it. As a result, they want to avoid a confrontation with America. They do not want a showdown with them, and they also do not want to surrender to America." Hawong explained.

"So what do they intend to do, declare neutrality? Russia and China will wipe them off the map." Tai said, and Pei nodded.

"You're correct son. However, if they join the allies, America will be honour bound to help protect Mexico from any reprisals. Also, if Mexico defects the entire American theatre will be thrown wide open for us." He explained, and Hawong nodded.

"Which is what you're doing here. Mexico has realised the precarious position it is in. It won't survive long against a superior American army. They will not surrender to America either. That leaves them with defection. They want to change sides in the war."

"So what's stopping them? They could easily get someone into America and end their war in a stroke." Tai said, and Hawong nodded.

"Correct. But they do not want to treat with America either. As it was us they originally declared war on, its us they want to end their war with. As such, a Mexican ambassador is coming here in two days time in order to discuss Mexico's defection. If the terms are agreeable, Japan will bring Mexico into our side of the war, Mexico will become an ally of ours and our war with them will end. If we succeed in securing Mexico's defection, their considerable resources and military will be put to our use. But above all else, two more things will occur. If Mexico joins us, the Neutral Gulf Territory has said that they will not stop any army marching into South America. So, if we make peace with Mexico, the benefits are many. We stop fighting Mexico, freeing up some of our troops in order to fight elsewhere. America will no longer have to fight Mexico, and will be able to focus on battles elsewhere. The allies will gain Mexico's considerable resources and materiel, and above all else we will gain vital intelligence from them about Russia and China's movements. And, with the neutral states doing nothing and the islands in the gulf under allied control, we could easily reinforce Brazil and take the rest of South America. With one stroke of a pen, we could potentially bring the entire American theatre to an end." Hawong explained and Tai leaned back in his chair, considering the implications.

Mexico wanted to defect, to join the allies., If it did so, it would change everything. Their forces would be freed up, less lives would be lost, it would be a significant victory for the allies, it would also break the stalemate (especially if the islands in the gulf were taken, which a defecting Mexico would do nothing to stop) and potentially end the entire American theatre, as Hawong said. It was far too good an opportunity to pass up. With one swift stroke, they might be able to help bring the war to a much closer end.

"He's coming here?" Tai asked with a slight grin, and Hawong nodded.

"Yes. I want you lot to protect him, if he goes to the toilet I want you there wiping his bum. We cannot allow anything to happen to him. The gulf offensive does not depend on Mexico's defection, but it would make our lives much simpler if it was, and also considerably reduce our losses. And as we've explained, Mexico's defection is paramount. If we achieve their defection, this war comes one step closer to ending. We can't afford any screw ups, and for the sake of my blood pressure, we also cannot have any more foreign dignitaries dying on our soil. Protect the ambassador with your life. Speaking of which, in case the hardliner enemy sympathisers get wind of the possible defection, he is bringing his family with him to keep them from harm. You also need to protect them. Clear?" Hawong asked, and Tai nodded.

"Perfectly. This is it isn't it?" he asked and Hawong nodded.

"Indeed it is. Now I know you lot like to do things mostly by consensus, but we can't afford that this time. Do not tell the others that Mexico is considering defecting, if words gets out to the enemy agents in the country they'll stop at nothing to kill him. We can't afford it this time Tai. We need you and your friends to protect the ambassador no matter what, and by doing so, we can hopefully bring this war to a closer end. No mistakes, no screwups. We have no room for error this time, do not fail me." Hawong warned, and while he rankled a little, Tai just nodded.

"Complete secrecy, don't even tell Agumon." Wang said, feeling bad because he quite liked the little dinosaur.

"Understood." Tai said stoutly, and Hawong nodded.

"Then we are done here." Hawong said and the generals traipsed out, bidding the others goodbye.

"Where are we stashing him?" Tai asked and Hawong waved his hand.

"You don't need to worry about that, all you need to do is protect him that's all. Now, I'll see you later." He said and Tai was about to head out when he spotted something on Hawong's table and grinned.

"I didn't know you were a music lover." He said, and Hawong looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"The tickets to Matt's concert on your desk." He said, pointing and Hawong seemed to deflate, then scowled up at Tai.

"If you must know, Margaret got them for us, she seems to like his music. Besides its for a good cause, and the Prime Minister must support such things. Now get out." He said and cackling with mirth Tai made a hasty retreat.

Hawong reclined in his chair. He hated to admit it, but messy though they had been (they still were but MagnaSeraphimon and MagnaAngewomon cleaned it up, and the rest of the country was such a mess no one noticed anyway), defiant and insubordinate, they had certainly grown on him, which when he had first assumed office he would have said was impossible. However, the war was dragging on. The entire thing was stuck in a stalemate, it seemed for every victory won, there was another battle lost, no one was making any progress at all. He once more scowled at the thought of Daemon and Devimon. The original plan had been a war between Japan and China that would grant him greater power, an authoritarian Japan of which he would be sole master. In return, he would restrain the Digidestined while Devimon schemed behind the scenes. However, they had betrayed him, and rather than just his little war they had created World War Three which still raged with no end in sight. As a result, Hawong had tried harder and harder to protect the Digidestined. He sighed. He knew full well he could protect them all he wanted, the evil Digimon out to get them would stop at nothing to get them. And he also knew that if they ever found out he was working with the Digimon, and according to Devimon if TK in particular found out who he was dealing with, no matter how much goodwill he had built up with them they would crush him in an instant. He had contemplated coming clean, but he feared for Japan if it lost him. Not that he was arrogant, he just didn't like the idea of his noxiously eager deputy prime minister being in charge of the country or the kids. Odd though it sounded, he just didn't trust Kanalaka. So, fearing what Kanalaka would do to the country, and in no small way fearing what the Digidestined would do to him, he had kept his silence, and continued to keep it, fear preying on him at every moment that someone, anyone, would discover just what secrets he was carrying.

However there was one bright spot in his life. Devimon hadn't been seen or heard from for eighteen months, not since the Digidestined had sucked CacoDaemon into oblivion, and Hawong only took that as a good sign. He knew there were Digimon appearing in the real world, and in the city, but none of them had done any damage, so whatever was going on, he wasn't going to worry about it. No Devimon meant no imminent all out Digimon attacks which seemed to revolve around trying to kill the kids while making as much mess as possible...

"Greetings Hawong."

As Hawong leapt about a foot in the air, yelping in alarm, he realised he had spoke too soon, for standing in the corner of the room, red eyes narrowed and long arms crossed and clutching his shoulders was Devimon.

"I thought I'd gotten rid of you." Hawong growled, wishing his heart rate would return to normal.

"Silly Hawong, you and I are partners." Devimon said, once again helping himself to Hawong's whisky.

"Partners see each other more often than every eighteen months Devimon." Hawong growled and the Digimon sniffed as he downed the whisky.

"How goes the war?" Devimon asked, and Hawong quickly adjusted his papers to put the stuff about Mexico out of his sight.

"Nowhere." Hawong responded curtly and Devimon smiled.

"Excellent." He said, and Hawong scowled, it certainly wasn't excellent for him, but as he had suspected, Devimon didn't know about the coming offensives or Mexico and he intended to keep it that way.

"If you say so. To what do I owe the pleasure, such as it is?" Hawong asked irritably and Devimon examined his fingernails.

"You're about to come under attack again." He said and Hawong groaned.

"Must you? May I remind you Devimon that every time any of your lot attacks, all they succeed in doing is making one hell of a mess before getting themselves blown up by the Digidestined. You know it will only end in failure." Hawong said darkly and Devimon narrowed his eyes.

"You overestimate them Hawong." He said, and Hawong rolled his eyes.

"No I don't, you underestimate them. I would think that seeing as how many of your friends have been destroyed by them, you would be a bit more careful about engaging them in battle." Hawong said irritably and Devimon chuckled darkly.

"Could it be that you have actually grown to care for them Hawong?" he asked mockingly, and Hawong wisely held his tongue, which only made Devimon laugh.

"How quaint. Well, your new heroes will be under attack soon enough." Devimon assured him, and Hawong glared. Devimon knew he had softened to them, so he might as well do the thing properly.

"I won't allow you to hurt them Devimon. If any harm comes to them..."

Devimon hissed, his red eyes narrowed in angry disdain.

"You'll do what Hawong? Tell them everything? They'll kill you as easily as they would kill me, make no mistake." He warned, and Hawong gave him a cold smile.

"No, but remember, I know enough of your plans to allow them to screw you up, perhaps irreparably. If harm comes to them, then I will tell them just enough so they can stop you. I need never be involved other than that." He said smugly, and he abruptly found Devimon's long arm striking outwards, his hand clasping around his neck as he seized him off the ground, his red eyes alight with malice.

"You overstep your bounds Hawong. You are our agent nothing more, you were convenient at the time. However you continue to be so, and your untimely demise in your office will have the infernal little brats looking towards me before I want them to, which is the only reason I am sparing your life. You are useful to us Hawong, that is all. Do not stop being useful simply because your conscience doesn't sit easy. But, if you jeopardise my plans in any way, if you make any attempt to warn them of what is to come, I will kill you, and your torment will be legendary. Am I clear?" he sneered, and Hawong nodded feebly before Devimon released him and dropped him back to the ground.

"Perfectly." Hawong ground out and Devimon smiled.

"Excellent. Never overstep your bounds again." He said with a hint of malice, and just like that he was gone.

Hawong gasped as he got back to his feet, cursing the fact that he had ever allied himself to Devimon. When he had first thought he would get power in exchange for destroying the kids Digimon, he hadn't cared at all, and back then he didn't care at all for the kids either. Things had changed since then. Now he knew the truth, Devimon and whoever he worked for wanted the kids dead, not the Digimon (though they wouldn't say no), and they had caused a world war for some purpose that he didn't quite grasp yet. And loathe though he was to admit it, he did care about them.

So, he obviously couldn't warn them as himself, and as Devimon was apparently back and knowing the foul creature would be for a while, perhaps he had to look at other methods of letting them know the danger they were in.

It was time for Mr X to come out of retirement.

XX

The benefits of being the deputy prime minister was that people rarely questioned you, and as soon as he was in the back seat of the car, he effectively became invisible. And as a result, he was able to meet with his two compatriots in his limo in relative peace, other than the noises of the traffic.

Working as an agent for both the Chinese and Russian governments was a nuisance in many ways, however it had provided him with two bodyguards, who, upon being told the exact same cover story only with different actors, had consented to work together, because after all, they were meant to be on the same team.

His Russian bodyguard was named Alexandr, a big, tank like man, bulging with muscles in a tight black tshirt with bandoliers across his chest. He had narrow grey eyes and short grey hair. Sitting beside him was his partner, ToyAgumon, who Kanalaka had procured for him. His Chinese bodyguard was a small man with thin black hair and thick glasses by the name of Khon Sum and his little Digimon Monmon, who Kanalaka had also got for him, was sitting with him. Syakomon was sitting with his partner, seeing all as always.

"The Eighteen are going to be attending a charity concert. I think it's time we have our group announce itself to the world." Kanalaka said, and Khon Sum looked at him in surprise.

"Are you sure? With your plan so close to succeeding..." he said, and Kanalaka waved him off.

"Exactly. As I get closer, I need the Eighteen looking elsewhere, rather than at anything that is potentially going on in their own backyard. I'll have Ryo and his group infiltrate the arena, and then we can see what they're made of." He said, and Alexandr frowned.

"A risky strategy. There are no guarantees they will not kill Ryo's group, which endangers the entire plan. Our superiors will not like this!"

Syakomon glared at him.

"All Ryo needs to do to ensure the Eighteen don't kill them is show themselves. When they see that other Digidestined are behind the attack, their hand will be stayed." He said confidently, but the others didn't look so convinced.

"Even if that's true, there's still the fact that Ryo's group do not have the firepower to hold their own against the Eighteen for long, there's only eight of them." ToyAgumon said musingly, and Kanalaka nodded.

"Indeed, which is why Yamaki will lead his group as well. It's time we moved out of the shadows." Kanalaka said, and Monmon frowned.

"I still don't see an attack on the Eighteen as wise. Even with Yamaki's help we are still outnumbered." He said warningly, and Khon Sum looked thoughtfully out of the window.

"Only by one, that should be more than enough, maybe if we kill one of them..."

"No, no killing. This is an aggressive fact finding mission only. For my plan to work, Ryo and his friends, along with us and Yamaki, must be able to deal with the Eighteen, at least as far as such things go, we must be able to match them evenly, if only for a little while. When the time comes for us to move, we'll need Ryo and his friends to back us up, and we will have to go through the Eighteen to get what we want. So, we need this mission. And we will all be there as well, not in view of course, but we will be there." Kanalaka said, and Alexandr smiled.

"And once all is said and done, the Eighteen will be so busy worrying that they won't think to look until it's too late."

"Exactly the point. And by the time any of them realise just what I'm up to, I'll have them." He said, as he and Syakomon laughed darkly.

XX

The open air stadium was packed to the brim, music was pounding out from the stage as Matt and the Teenage Wolves, now including Cody, went through their first song. Screaming girls, lustful guys (who were here for the girl's acts) and curious older people, like the very out of place looking Hawong and jumping Margaret were all staring down at the stage where the band was, and at the front of the middle rows were the rest of the Digidestined who wouldn't be singing, along with Hawong, Margaret and the Digimon.

Tai was enjoying himself, relaxing for the first time in ages, and also having a night off for the first time in what felt like forever. With the young of the city all packed into the outdoor arena, Hawong had decided rather than stretch out the police, he would have the Eighteen police the event, which suited him just fine. When he wasn't dressed in his combat gear, he was dressed in black jeans with a long sleeved zip up blue sweater with a white tshirt beneath. His hair wasn't quite as wild as it had been, due to some of it being fried slightly by an overhead missile, but despite being a couple of inches shorter was still a bushy mess. Beside him, Agumon and Gabumon were singing along to the song Matt, Cody and the rest of the band were currently singing.

Next to him was Izzy, his arm snaked around Sam's waist as the two of them swayed to the music. Izzy was dressed in an orange and brown jumper that he worse usually, a thick black fleece and had a blue scarf around his neck which Lopmon (who was apparently a compulsive knitter) had made for him. His hair was still quite short, though combed more than usual, slightly to the right. Samantha was clad in a pair of dark green jeans, a pink top, and was wrapped in a warm long coat, and was also sporting her Lopmon made scarf, which was a cheerful yellow. Her hair reached the top of her shoulders now, she also had a new pair of glasses that were glinting in the bright lights of the concert. However, while she was smiling and enjoying herself, the worry she was under did still shine through a little on her face. Tentomon and Candlemon were beside the two of them, dancing in their own way which they seemed to fine acceptable.

Joe was at the far end of the row of Digidestined in that row, next to Hawong and Margaret. For once he had changed out of what everyone called his doctors gear and was wearing a turtleneck dark green jumper with beige trousers while sporting an extra cardigan. His glasses were also new (no matter what he did his glasses always seemed to be a recurring casualty of war) and his hair was shorter than it had been for years, slightly shorter on top than it had been on their first trip to the digital world. Gomamon was hanging over the railing, singing along to the songs with Margaret, who had let it slip that he was her favourite.

On Tai's other side was TK, who was looking proudly on at his brother and friend, though he was more interested in the next act in which his girlfriend would be performing. Clad in a yellow tshirt, he was also wearing a zip up green hoody, his white bodywarmer and his own Lopmon scarf, this time a red one. His hair had also undergone a cut, short and spiked up at the front and nowhere near as long as his or his brothers had used to be. Patamon was swaying to the music in front of him, enjoying the music and the view.

In the row behind, Davis was in the centre, looking much the same as he always had. Now dressed in a blue tshirt, with a black hoody and leather jacket, he was grinning as he and Ken tried to embarrass each other with worsening dance moves. His hair had been cut as well, slightly shorter than it had been for years, and now with blond highlights at the tips (all of which Ken claimed was to try and attract Rana's attention). In front of him, Veemon was trying to instruct Wormmon in the finer points of a Mexican wave, not quite realising that poor Wormmon wasn't quite built for such a feat.

Beside Davis and losing the war of embarrassment while singing to Matt's song, Ken was looking down at Cody's performance on the stage, he had been worried the little kid would freeze up, but it looked as if Cody was having the time of his life. Dancing slightly, Ken was clad in a shirt and sweater, a nice warm dark blue one that Lopmon had initially made for Michael but had made it too big for him, so Ken, not wanting the little rabbits feelings to be hurt, had taken it for his own, and still insisted that other than telling Yolei he loved her, it was one of the best things he had ever done, it was lovely and warm. He was also wearing grey trousers, much to Wormmon's disgust as he slid off them when he tried to crawl up them. His hair was much the same as his brother's had once been, short and messy as he danced badly beside Davis and Yolei.

Beside him, Yolei dressed in a lilac sweater with a cream skirt and red rights was dancing in her own way, while vowing she was never going anywhere with Ken again. Her hair was now only down to her shoulders, due to her hair flapping in her face whenever she flew, and there were now also some muted green streaks in her hair as a result of a drunken dare with Kari. Hawkmon had noticed Wormmon's peril and was trying to support him while Veemon continued his Mexican wave unperturbed.

Michael and Mara were on Davis' other side, smiling as they rocked to the music. Michael was clad in a suede jacket with a fur lined collar, a green sweater and a black shirt beneath it, complete with suede shoes and brown pants. His blond hair was much the same as it had always been, though it had grown ever so slightly, but he often complained trying to grow his hair was a pointless exercise, made all the more pointless by the pink hat Lopmon had made him that he was wearing unabashedly on his head (she had run out of the colour she had meant to use). Beside him Mara was swaying as well, clad in a purple faux fur coat, surrounding a red turtleneck and black jeans. She was wearing a set of purple gloves Lopmon had made her, her hand entwined with Michael's. Her red and gold hair was piled high on her head, and beside her Betamon, clad in a knitted grey scarf and socks was singing along with Lopmon, who had a orange scarf, green gloves and yellow horn warmers on as they sat in the cold night air.

Down on the stage, Matt was coming to the end of his song. Dressed in a black tshirt with a jagged white icicle, he was also wearing a black leather jacket which matched his jeans. His hair was only spiked up at the fringe, unlike TK's. On the drums Cody was clad in his own scarf, this one purple in colour and was wearing a warm sweater vest on top of a Henley shirt as he pounded away at the drums, his hair slightly spiky. Armadillomon was sitting in the wings, as he was in charge of the announcements for the night since Mimi was taking to the stage.

The song came to an end and applause filled the auditorium, even Hawong was clapping enthusiastically.

"I said it's rather loud!" he shouted to Margaret who laughed.

"It's a music concert prime minister, it's meant to be!" she said, and he nodded, and then raised a hand to Matt and Cody as they moved off the stage.

"They're rather good." He said, and Gomamon grinned up at him.

"Yeah, I saw you boogeying a bit." He said teasingly as the others all laughed, while Hawong favoured him with a scowl.

"A prime minister does not boogey, and I'm afraid I shall have to have you shot if you say it again." He said with dignity, but it only made the others laugh more, and realising he had lost, he looked down onto the next row.

"Isn't than Rana?" he asked.

It was indeed Rana, standing beside her big and burly boyfriend Derek, his arms wrapped around her waist as the two swayed. Tai, and also Davis, noted that she didn't look particularly happy. She was clad in a red fleece over a purple bodywarmer and a pink top, along with a lilac skirt and white tights. Her brown hair was also styled up, with tips of dyed white which were also the result of Kari being better at truth or dare. Tsukimon was sitting on the wall behind her, head bobbing to the music while his eyes never left his partner.

Speaking of Kari, she, Sora and Mimi had appeared on the stage, along with Biyomon, Palmon and Gatomon, who were backing singers. Sora's red hair had deeper streaks of red in it, once more Kari's doing, and was also styled high like Mara and Rana's was. Clad in a leather jacket like her boyfriend, she was wearing a pink top with black jeans. Mimi was in a long green coat that covered her yellow skirt and grey tights, with a knitted green hat covering her light auburn hair which she had tied into a ponytail. Kari was wearing a purple top with a pink bodywarmer, with her own silvery scarf (which wasn't knitted by Lopmon, TK had bought it for her), her brown hair hanging to her shoulders.

The girls then began their song, to the appreciative cheers and whistles of the male patrons, but other than suggestive comments and encouragement nothing was thrown in the girls direction (though that could be due to SaberGarurumon, WarPlesiomon and MagnaSeraphimon being well publicised). The group enjoyed the girls song, and then Matt and Cody and the rest of the band came back on for the final song, and it was then that things started to go downhill. As the two groups sang, Hawong, his ever alert eyes ever watchful, noticed a group of people moving to the ends of the rows they had been sitting in. Curious, he squinted to see through the darkness, and then saw a small red lizard following one of the boys, who then nodded at the one at the front, who was backed up by a purple dinosaur.

"Tai!" he said, as the little red dinosaur opened his mouth.

"Pyro Sphere!"

Screams then began rending the air as the concert goers began scrambling away from where the little Digimon had fired his attack up into the air. On the stage, Matt rolled his eyes and exchanged a grin with Sora.

"One of these days I'll finish a concert without a Digimon attack." He said, and she grinned too.

Caught in the stampede of people who knew full well that a Digidestined concert with an attacking Digimon couldn't mean anything good, the others could do nothing but watch. Izzy's mouth dropped as he saw what he was seeing.

"Tai, they're Digidestined!" he exclaimed, his voice barely audible over the din.

"What?" Tai demanded, but there were indeed eight kids standing with their Digimon, and he suddenly realised not all of them were Rookie levels.

"That can't be good." Davis said.

"Who are they?" Biyomon asked in shock as the eight Digimon appeared from what seemed like nowhere.

The first was a strange dressed boy, his hair spikier but neater than Davis', dressed strangely. Beside him was a small purple, winged dinosaur who growled upon seeing them.

Monodramon: This vicious and brave little Digimon is not someone you want to get on the wrong side of, his Cracking Bite is worse than rabies!

Right beside him was a younger boy, dressed in a blue hoody, who, much to Kari's amusement (Tai, Davis and Rana wouldn't be happy), had the gall to be wearing yellow goggles over his messy brown hair. Beside him was his small red dinosaur Digimon, who was sniffing around hopefully and looking with interest at the other Digimon on the stage.

Guilmon: A Virus type, this playful little Digimon may seem to be a kid at heart, but he has the heart of a true brawler, and his Pyro Sphere makes Pepper Breath look tame.

On the level above were two more kids, one a guy and one a female. The guy was clad in an orange bodywarmer and black clothes, while the girl was wearing a white and blue tshirt with a broken heart on it, her hair styled to make her head look like a pineapple, while his was a slightly messy ebony style. A giggling white Digimon with long ears was on top of the boy's head, while a tall, yellow furred fox like Digimon appeared from nowhere behind the girl.

Terriermon: A laid back and playful Digimon, that doesn't mean he can't fight when he needs to, his Terrier Tornado will knock you away!

Renamon: A very tough Rookie level, this foxy lady can unleashed a lethal Diamond Storm which is sure to push her point home.

"Hey, it's a vanilla flavoured me!" Lopmon said in outrage as she and the others rushed down to ground level as she saw Terriermon.

Another two kids then emerged from the middle of the row, one a girl with reddish brown hair with a side ponytail. Clad in a yellow blouse, green dress and a warm coat, she looked nervously at the approaching members of the Eighteen while her partner, Leomon, laid a hand on her shoulder gently, giving her a reassuring nod. Beside her was a kid Cody's age, clad in a waterproof black jacket, black sweater with a green top, his dark brown hair spiked up at the front. Beside him was a small cat like Digimon with a tuft of red fur on his head, and a green collar hanging from his neck.

Liollmon: A Holy little Digimon, his savage Lio Claw will leave you begging for mercy!

The last two members then streamed from out of the rows. One was dressed in a black tshirt with a yellow cross on it, a cap covering his light brown hair and eyes. The other was clad in an open grey shirt and a red tshirt, with black hair and glasses, yet unlike his partner, who was backed up by a robotic Digimon, he didn't seem to have a Digimon in sight.

Guardromon: This tank like Digimon can take a severe beating, but can dole it out just as well with his Guardian Barrage attack.

On the bottom level, Ryo looked up to see Matt and the others rushing off the stage to confront them, while Tai and the others descended from above, their Digimon already getting ready to fight. Ryo hissed between his teeth, he didn't want to attack the Digidestined, but Kanalaka had been insistent, and seeing how they owed him, there wasn't much they could do.

"Ryo?" Monodramon asked, and hating himself, Ryo nodded, his heart heavy as he did so.

"Let's do it guys."

"Monodramon digivolve to...Strikedramon!"

"Guilmon digivolve to...Growlmon!"

"Terriermon digivolve to...Gargomon!"

"Renamon digivolve to...Kyubimon!"

"Liollmon digivolve to...Liamon!"

As their Rookie forms assumed their Champion forms, they were soon joined by the rest of his team, their partners Leomon and Guardromon preparing for battle.

"What the hell? They're Digidestined!" Cody exclaimed in shock as he watched the eight of them digivolve.

"They aren't the only ones, look!" Gatomon exclaimed as a group of four Digimon appeared from the sound stage, also charging towards the team.

Four Digimon then sprang down to the floor, the lead one growling at them.

Dobermon: A vicious guard dog Champion level Digimon, he is loyal to his partner, and anyone who threatens him can expect to be on the end of his deadly Black Beam attack.

However, Gatomon wasn't concerned with the dog like Digimon, it was the cat like Digimon beside him who was worrying her, for she was exactly the same as she was, only with a different colour and no tail ring.

"I prefer my colour scheme thank you very much." She said tartly, baring her claws.

Mikemon: More volatile and untameable than Gatomon, this vicious wild cat's Neko Claw would send any dog away with its tail between its legs.

"What the hell is going on down there?" Margaret asked as Hawong tried to steer her to the safety of the stairs.

"We can find out after we get off of the platform that's bound to collapse if they start shooting!" he said, shoving her into the stairwell.

The other two Digimon also vaulted over, one of them was Starmon, who took up position beside Dobermon. The other was a small armoured sweet potato looking Digimon who gave them a big grin as he jumped into battle.

Yakiimon: A vegetable Rookie level Digimon, he wields a Beniazuma Uppercut that will make vegetarians tremble

"Yakiimon digivolve to...RedVegiemon!"

"Tai, behind us!" Agumon cried as three more Digimon leapt into the auditorium, a small Syakomon flanked by two others, one an Agumon that looked as if he were made of Lego and the other a small green monkey.

ToyAgumon: While he may look like he's made of Lego, this little Digimon wields a nasty Plastic Blaze attack that'll make you think twice before toy buying again!

Monmon: This little warrior Digimon wields a Banana Sling attack that gives you a banana spit right in the eye, don't upset this little monkey, or he'll drive you bananas.

"Syakomon digivolve to...Gesomon!"

"ToyAgumon digivolve to...Flareizamon!"

"Monmon digivolve to...Ninjamon!"

Tai skidded to a stop the same time Matt did at the other end, and the two of them shrugged across at each other.

"Hey kid, whoever you are, you don't have to do this." Tai said gently, towards the one with Strikedramon who seemed to be in charge.

The guy, who was about the same age as Davis and Rana sighed.

"And believe me, we don't want to, but we don't have a choice. Get them guys!" he ordered and the various Champion levels leapt into battle.

"Everyone...!" Tai yelled to get all of their attention.

"Digivolve...!" Davis continued as the newcomer Digidestined's partners bore down on them.

"Hurry!" Rana encouraged as she skidded to a stop beside Davis, having seen her boyfriend safely away.

"Agumon digivolve to...Greymon!"

"Gabumon digivolve to...Garurumon!"

"Biyomon digivolve to...Birdramon!"

"Tentomon digivolve to...Kabuterimon!"

"Palmon digivolve to...Togemon!"

"Gomamon digivolve to...Ikkakumon!"

"Patamon digivolve to...Angemon!"

"Veemon digivolve to...ExVeemon!"

"Wormmon digivolve to...Stingmon!"

"Hawkmon digivolve to...Aquillamon!"

"Armadillomon digivolve to...Ankylomon!"

"Tsukimon digivolve to...Devidramon!"

"Candlemon digivolve to...Meramon!"

"Lopmon digivolve to...Turuiemon!"

"Betamon digivolve to...Seadramon!"

And with a confused roar, the two forces of Digimon ran at each other, leaping into battle.

Greymon growled menacingly at Growlmon, who coiled as if to strike.

"Nova Blast!"

"Pyro Blaster!"

The two attacks collided in mid air, there was a scarlet flash and the resulting energy wave knocked the two Digimon, Tai and Growlmon's partner off their feet.

Angemon then charged at Leomon, who gave a growl and easily met his attack with his sword.

"Why do you attack us? You're Digidestined!" Angemon said, and Leomon narrowed his eyes.

"We may be Digidestined but we aren't the same. Fist of the Beast King!"

"Hand of Fate!"

The two attacks slammed into each other, cancelling each other out and the girl looked up at her partner, but only after she sent an apologetic look to TK.

"Don't get hurt Leomon, and don't hurt him either." She said, and Leomon smiled.

"Don't worry Jeri, I won't." He promised as he swung his sword back to engage Angemon in battle.

Matt however was more concerned about the other group that had appeared. While the Digimon attacked one another behind him, he looked at where Dobermon and his friends had arrived from, squinting into the darkness.

"Black Beam!"

"Howling Blaster!"

The flash between the two Digimon's attacks lit up the room Matt was trying to see into, and his jaw dropped. As he had suspected, those four did indeed have partners. However, they weren't like other Digidestined.

They were adults, and were considerably older than even Joe, at least a good ten years.

"Tai, they have adult Digidestined!" he yelled, pointing and Tai and several of the others looked around in shock as they saw the four of them emerge from the room.

One was a man with blond hair, dark glasses and dressed in a black business suit. Behind him was a man with black hair dressed similarly, and flanking the two of them were two women clad in grey jumpsuits, one with short ginger hair and the other with long reddish hair.

"Since when were adults Digidestined?" Tai demanded.

"Get them." The leading man said, as the four Digimon sprang into action.

"This little box isn't big enough for the both of us, and frankly I was here first. And I'm decidedly cuter, so back off." Gatomon warned, readying her claws.

Mikemon snorted derisively.

"Litter box? It's easy to see you're a well trained house cat, waited on hand and foot. You're in my world now!" she hissed, and sprang at Gatomon and both cats started rolling around, their lethal claws scratching at each other frantically.

"Meteor Shower!"

"Red Chilli Pummel!"

RedVegiemon and Starmon both launched their attacks, forcing back Aquillamon and Meramon.

"Alright, this needs re-evaluated, and since when were adults Digidestined?" Meramon asked, firing his attack at Starmon, but the other Champion was already on the move.

"Awfully sorry about this old chap. Meteor Shower!"

"Fireball!"

Although Meramon was experienced and powerful, sometimes some attacks were just bigger, as he discovered as he was knocked flying backwards through the air, as a reluctant Starmon followed him.

"Stink Jet!" RedVegiemon yelled, sending a noxious cloud of yellow gas towards Aquillamon, who flew up into the air.

"Blast Rings!"

The attack slammed into the ground, knocking RedVegiemon through the air with a yelp of pained surprise.

"RedVegiemon!" the woman with ginger hair yelled, running to her fallen partner's side.

"Fox Tail Inferno!"

"Meteor Wing!"

The two fiery attacks crashed into each other, sending billowing flames outwards that made both Sora and Kyubimon's partner dive for cover.

"Why are you attacking us?" Sora demanded and the girl that looked like a pineapple shrugged.

"No idea, but a fight's a fight. Get her Kyubimon!"

"Dragon Wheel!"

Birdramon barely broke away from the blue fiery attack, but it slightly singed her tail feathers as she flew out of harm's way.

Behind them, Greymon and Angemon were still locked in their brawls with Growlmon and Leomon respectively, while Gatomon and Mikemon were still rolling around on the ground, their hisses filling the air. The other battles were continuing apace, and now Ikkakumon entered the battle as Gesomon squared up to him.

"Coral Crusher!"

"Harpoon Torpedo!"

The two attacks went unnoticed as Gesomon flapped his flippers at Ikkakumon, trying to swat him away but the other Digimon was much wiser, going nowhere near him and settling for another attack. Seething in annoyance, Gesomon retaliated with one of his own, the explosion making the area shake.

"That's weird, those three don't have any partners, yet they digivolved." Joe said to himself as the others continued to fight.

Flareizamon was already leaping up into the air, his blazing fists coming down at Devidramon.

"Flame Tower!"

Devidramon gave snarl of annoyance, flying out of the way of the cascading flames, before pulling his claws back to strike.

"Crimson Claw!"

His attack cut right through Flareizamon's, but the other Digimon bounced off the wall and slammed into Devidramon, tackling him to the ground, his burning body adding insult to injury.

Ninjamon was moving faster than Stingmon could see, and it was then that he felt a rush of air behind him.

"Ninja Knife Throw!" came the screeching voice and Stingmon yelled in pain as the knives dug into his back.

"Stingmon, look out!" Ken yelled and the insect harrumphed.

"Look out he says, have you ever tried stopping a ninja?" he asked irritably, swinging his blade around in the off chance he would hit them.

"Gargo Laser!"

"Gauntlet Claw!"

Turuiemon and Gargomon were going at it just as viciously as Gatomon and Mikemon, the rabbit and the dog locked in mortal combat.

"I really am sorry about this." Gargomon said lightly, and Turuiemon grimaced as she used her claws to block his pummel.

"Sorry about it? Why attack us in the first place?" she asked, kicking him in the stomach and knocking him away from her.

"He's sorry? Who apologises for attacking us, unless it's friendly fire? What's going on here?" Mara demanded as Turuiemon was forced back onto the defensive.

"No idea love, but we better figure it out fast, Seadramon isn't doing so well against Liamon is he?" Michael asked, wincing as Liamon bit down on Seadramon's body.

Strikedramon and ExVeemon were also locked in an all out battle, and to ExVeemon's annoyance it was him who was being forced onto the defensive, Strikedramon was good, damn good.

"Strike Claw!" he yelled, his sharp claws digging into ExVeemon's gut, so ExVeemon decided to adopt a different approach, flying into the air.

"V-Laser!"

The beam shot right for Strikedramon but he sprang into the air, easily avoiding the attack before once more slamming his claws into them.

"Alright am I the only one finding this insulting? We're the Eighteen for pity sake and these guys are still managing to put up a decent fight." Tai grumbled, and Rana frowned.

"You're right, it is insulting. How can there be so many other people in Japan who are Digidestined, and how powerful are they? Considerably apparently." She said, bemused, as Devidramon flew past, Flareizamon having just headbutted him in the stomach, as if her mood wasn't bad enough already.

"Guardian Barrage!" Guardromon yelled, firing a stream of missiles at Kabuterimon, who avoided them all deftly.

"If I can take down Andromon what makes you think you bother me? Electro Shocker!"

The attack went nowhere near him as Guardromon decided to use himself as a weapon, slamming hard into Kabuterimon and crashing him back down to earth with a feeble groan.,

"You also had Greymon and Garurumon helping you that time." Izzy pointed out quietly and Kabuterimon groaned as he got back to his feet.

"He doesn't need to know that does he?" he asked, and once more zoomed at his enemy, wind shearing Izzy as he did so.

Mimi looked around, annoyed. She had put a lot of work into planning this concert, and this lot had ruined it before it was finished. She quickly glanced over to where Ankylomon was protecting Hawong and Margaret and she was just about to tell Togemon to go and relieve him so he could fight (loathe though she was to admit it, Togemon's attack meant she couldn't fight ranged battles as well, she wasn't built for it) when the new kid who hadn't sent out a Digimon pulled something out of his pocket, and to her great surprise a tiny little pink Digimon with big green eyes, a collar and a little red heart on his chest flew out.

"Togemon, who is that?" she asked in astonishment upon seeing the little Digimon.

MarineAngemon: Don't let her small size fool you, this little sea nymph is actually a Mega level, who can both heal and harm with her Kahuna Waves attack.

"A Mega level?"

"Hello hello!" the little Digimon said cheerfully zooming around Togemon's head.

"Sorry about this." Kenta said, and Mimi looked at him in confusion.

"Sorry for what, attacking us?" she demanded, and he nodded.

"Pretty much yeah. Oh, and for what she's doing." The bespectacled (who had a slight resemblance to Joe when he was younger) kid said, pointing to his partner, who, giggling, had appeared behind Togemon and was still looking for her.

"Kahuna Waves!" she cried loudly, making Togemon leap in fright and then get hit by the attack, knocking her face first into the ground.

"Mimi, have you seen my dignity? I had it at the start of the night..." Togemon lamented as MarineAngemon giggled behind her.

"Why apologise for attacking us? It doesn't make any sense. Unless..." Mimi said, a flashback making her wonder if she was right, and Togemon grinned.

"With you Mimi, this is getting boring anyway." Togemon said, and the kid and his little partner cocked their heads curiously as Mimi's green crest blazed to life.

"Togemon digivolve to...Lillymon!"

The little Digimon looked at Lillymon zoomed at her, her face determined.

"Flower Wreath!"

"Whoops a daisy. Literally too!" MarineAngemon said cheerfully as the wreath, much too big for her, dropped to the floor, and Lillymon pouted at Mimi.

"No fair, she's too wee for it to work!" she moaned, and Mimi frowned, something definitely wasn't right, besides the little Mega was far too small and playful to be affected by a virus. So just what was going on here?

"Pyro Blaster!" Growlmon roared, as Greymon charged at him with his horns.

"Growlmon, move!" his partner yelled, but Growlmon didn't move fast enough and the charge caught him in the stomach, flipping him into the air, before slamming him back down to the ground with a sickening crash.

"Growlmon!" his partner yelled as his digivice blazed to existence.

"Growlmon digivolve to...WarGrowlmon!"

"Whoa, they can go to Ultimate level!" Greymon exclaimed in surprise and Tai rolled his eyes. Typical, he might have known the one time the Sovereigns were helpful it would come back and bite them all in the ass.

"Alright, this battle's getting nowhere!" Tai complained and it truly was.

All of them were around equal in power, and added to the fact that none of them wanted to be fighting, their lot for fear of killing the kids and their partners, the other lot for whatever reason meant that no killing strikes were being committed or even crippling strikes, it was like watching a fight in slow motion due to the Digimon not wanting to hurt each other. But if they were going to get any answers, they had to change things and do it quickly. The new Digidestined and their adult counterparts were out of the way and various digital brawls were blocking them from getting to them. So, it was time to clear the playing field.

"Digivolve!" Tai yelled across the room.

"Greymon digivolve to...MetalGreymon!"

Just as WarGrowlmon had been about to attack, MetalGreymon appeared before him, his claw already rising to continue the battle.

Dobermon and Garurumon were rolling around on the ground, neither gaining any advantage when Garurumon perked his ears up at hearing Tai's order.

"He's right Garurumon, take it to the next level." Matt ordered and his partner nodded, springing back from Dobermon to do so.

"Garurumon digivolve to...WereGarurumon!"

The man with blond hair looked at him contemptuously as he saw Garurumon digivolve, and with a nod to Dobermon, the digivice on his waist blazed to life.

"Dobermon digivolve to...Cerberumon!"

Gesomon saw the others digivolving, and after whipping Ikkakumon away with his tentacles decided that he too would join the effort, after all, Kanalaka wanted to see how far they could go.

"Gesomon digivolve to...MarineDevimon!"

Ikkakumon growled as he saw his opponent assume his new form, and Joe nodded, looking around the room worriedly.

"This is getting us nowhere, do it Ikkakumon!"

"Ikkakumon digivolve to...Zudomon!"

"Dark Deluge!"

"Vulcan's Hammer!"

The two attacks slammed together, black spray covering the area, but the two fights closest to them didn't notice as the new Digidestined Digimon, at least the ones in the group of three they were assuming were Digidestined, went for the next level as well.

"Ninjamon digivolve to...MetalMamemon!"

"Flareizamon digivolve to...Volcdoramon!"

"Metal Smirk Bomb!"

"Volcanic Fount!"

Stingmon and Devidramon roared as their bodies were blown across the room, finishing the job of collapsing the stage which MetalGreymon and WarGrowlmon had done such a good job of wrecking.

"Stingmon, are you alright?" Ken asked, as his partner got back to his feet, not at all happy.

"Alright, no more mr nice guy!" he said, and zoomed right for MetalMamemon who beckoned him towards him mockingly.

"Stingmon digivolve to...Dinobeemon!"

"Speed Slashes!" he yelled, and the mocking MetalMamemon was suddenly thrown into the air, caught by surprise as Dinobeemon unleashed his attack.

"Devidramon, you ok under all that buddy?" Rana asked, running to the ruined stage, and she then saw his four blazing eyes flash open and her crest began to glow.

"Devidramon digivolve to...Megadramon!"

"Dark Side Attack!"

Thousands of missiles then flew into Volcdoramon, who roared in alarm as the missiles blasted him up the stairs of the ruined auditorium as her large dragon like partner bore down on his opponent.

Kabuterimon was slammed back into the ground by Guardromon, who shrugged at him.

"I think to use the human term, this is just business, I assure you, I take no joy in batting you around." He assured him and Kabuterimon groaned.

"Could have fooled me."

"Guardromon!" his partner yelled as a ruined chunk of the level above fell towards him.

"Kazu!" Guardromon yelled in panic, but it was clear he wouldn't make it in time, his rockets were out and he had to walk.

"Kabuterimon, save him, go to it!" Izzy yelled as Kabuterimon got back to his feet.

"Kabuterimon digivolve to...MegaKabuterimon!"

MegaKabuterimon then flew low, seized Guardromon, who yelped in protest and blazed towards the falling rubble.

"Oh I see, that's very clever! Guardian Barrage!" Guardromon yelled, blasting apart the rubble, making his partner sigh in relief.

"Thanks pal. And to you!" he said cheerfully, to MegaKabuterimon, who looked at Izzy in confusion.

"What is going on here?" Izzy asked, and his partner put his hands up in a 'don't ask me' gesture, forgetting he had a hold of Guardromon, dropping him to the ground with a dull clang.

"Ouch!"

"Oops...sorry." MegaKabuterimon said sheepishly as the boy called Kazu scowled up at him.

Mikemon and Gatomon finally separated, hissing and spitting at each other before once again springing at their opponents, but this time the digivices were reacting (and in Gatomon's case the crest).

"Gatomon digivolve to...Angewomon!"

"Mikemon digivolve to...Persiamon!"

"Celestial Arrow!"

"Helter Skelter!"

Seadramon hissed as Liamon came around for another pass, this guy was seriously not messing around, though something about his eyes reminded Betamon of a curious cat rather than a vicious one, and then it clicked. He was playing, roughly, but he was playing, otherwise he'd have finished this ages ago. Playing or not though, it still hurt, and if he liked to play dirty so he could he.

"Seadramon digivolve to...MegaSeadramon!"

"Hey, no fair!" Liamon protested, jumping out of the way before pouncing towards MegaSeadramon's head, but this time he was ready for him.

"Thunder Javelin!"

The blast caught the lion like Digimon in the chest, crashing him to the earth, and this time Liamon gave a furious roar.

"Liamon, are you ok?" his partner asked desperately, and he nodded.

"Yeah he just likes playing rough that's all, two can play at that game though." Liamon assured him, pouncing once again.

"Liamon digivolve to...LoaderLiomon!"

"Loader Morningstar!" he yelled, swinging the iron ball on his tail around, and MegaSeadramon grinned, now this fight would be interesting.

"You as tired as I am?" Gargomon asked, and Turuiemon nodded.

"Yeah, why don't we just pack this in and you lot can tell us about yourselves?" she asked hopefully, because she actually was tired, and despite being a cheap knock off of her in his Rookie form, she was actually quite growing to like him.

"Love to, MarineDevimon might not approve though and I don't want to cross him." He said, and she sighed sadly.

"Thought not." She said, as they once more went at it.

"Better luck next time old boy!" Starmon encouraged as Meramon fired an attack at him which missed badly, making Meramon scowl.

"Come on Meramon you can aim better than that!" Sam yelled, and he glared at her, and she went pale.

"I mean 'Meramon, Meramon, he's our man if he can't do it no one can'." She said sheepishly and he nodded approvingly.

"That's better." He said, as her crest blazed to life.

"Meramon digivolve to...SkullMeramon!"

"Well I say that's rather fancy, should I give it a whirl too?" Starmon asked.

"Starmon digivolve to...SuperStarmon!"

"Oh give me a break!" SkullMeramon complained as they got back to their battle.

"There's more to life than fighting!" Sora tried to reason with the younger girl but she just scoffed.

"Really? Show her Kyubimon." She ordered, and her fox Digimon spiralled away from Birdramon, landing gracefully before glaring up at her foe.

"Kyubimon digivolve to...Taomon!"

Before Birdramon could do anything, small paper spells were peppering her, blasting her backwards, and Sora cursed.

"Teach this pair some manners!" she barked in annoyance, who was this chick, ratting on her Digimon?

"Birdramon digivolve to...Garudamon!"

"Talisman of Light!"

"Wing Blade!"

Taomon was quickly forced into retreat, and her partner was scowling, making Sora grin.

"Hey, want to talk?" she challenged and the girl fumed even more.

"RedVegiemon, back off, he's too strong for you!" his partner begged, and he growled.

"Poppycock. Boost me!" he said and she sighed and rolled her eyes as Aquillamon came back around for another pass.

"RedVegiemon digivolve to...Pumpkinmon!"

"Trick or Treat!"

A large pumpkin then dropped on Aquillamon's head, blinding him.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" he asked in shock, flying off course and promptly slamming into MetalGreymon's claw.

"Hey, watch where you're flying!" MetalGreymon scolded.

"You try flying around with a pumpkin on your head and see how well you fair." Aquillamon retorted irritably, and WarGrowlmon looked at him as he flew off.

"He seems grumpy." He commented, and MetalGreymon looked at his claw then rapped WarGrowlmon on the head with it.

"Ow, that hurt, what did you do that for?"

"To find out if it hurt." MetalGreymon responded, and WarGrowlmon growled and thumped his own metal clad arm onto his opponent's head, making him yelp in pain.

"Does he often do that with guys he's fighting?" WarGrowlmon's partner called over to Tai, who shook his head in response.

"Nah, your guy must be special." He said, bemused, as the two Digimon began fighting each other again.

Despite his initial success, Strikedramon wasn't getting very far now, and with a nod from Ryo, he sprang back from ExVeemon, who was bearing down on him like a bat out of hell.

"Strikedramon digivolve to...Cyberdramon!"

"Time out!" ExVeemon cried, seeing the much more formidable looking form that had just appeared before him.

"Desolation Claw!"

Cerberumon tackled WereGarurumon, who was knocked from view allowing Yamaki to look across at Ryo.

"I think we've done enough. Time to finish this." He said curtly, and Ryo nodded, he had never wanted to do this in the first place.

"Cyberdramon, time to get out of here!" he yelled, and the dragon nodded, before effortlessly knocking ExVeemon away.

"I don't like that dude Davis." He moaned as he landed, and Davis scowled as Cyberdramon hefted Ryo onto his shoulder as they all made for the bottom of the ruined stage.

"He's right, it's time we end this. You thinking what I'm thinking?" Tai asked, and Davis nodded, eyes narrowed at the various Digidestined, including the adults, and the Digimon that were running to the ruined stage, forcing the ones on their side to get out of the way before they were crushed.

"Yeah, we need to get our hands on one of them, then we can call them all off and find out what the hell is going on." He said, and Tai nodded.

"Alright guys, let's finish this!" Tai ordered as they all ran after them, both sets of Digimon readying themselves to attack each other.

"Giga Blaster!"

"Wolf Claw!"

"Wing Blade!"

"Horn Buster!"

"Flower Cannon!"

"Vulcan's Hammer!"

"Hand of Fate!"

"Celestial Arrow!"

"V-Laser!"

"Speed Slashes!"

"Blast Rings!"

"Tail Hammer!"

"Dark Side Attack!"

"Metal Fireball!"

"Gauntlet Claw!"

"Thunder Javelin!"

"Atomic Blaster!"

"Emerald Flame!"

"Talisman of Light!"

"Guardian Barrage!"

"Kahuna Waves!"

"Dark Deluge!"

"Fist of the Beast King!"

"Helter Skelter!"

"Desolation Claw!"

"Metal Smirk Bomb!"

"Trick or Treat!"

"Volcanic Fount!"

"Superstar Soaker!"

"Gargo Laser!"

"Loader Morningstar!"

The wall of attacks slammed into each other, resulting in a massive blinding explosion that flattened what remained of the auditorium and sent all the kids and the Digimon flying in a maelstrom of rubble and debris. As the dust cleared, they looked up to see everyone but Taomon had returned to their normal forms, and the kid in charge gave them a respectful nod, as opposed to the glare the adult in charge gave them, before Taomon raised a hand with a spell in it.

"Talisman Spell!"

A large clear bubble then surrounded them all, and with a gesture the bubble shot into the air and out of sight, leaving the battle site far behind.

Their partners all returned to their normal forms, and looked at their human partners, and then they all looked at each other as well, all of them staring at each other in shock, disbelief and exhaustion as they sat there in the rubble. They then became aware of a noise and turned to see a furious and dusty Hawong and a slightly scared but slightly impressed looking Margaret, and it was then that Hawong asked the question that was on all of their minds:

"What the hell was that about?"

And we're back! I wasnt meant to start this until I finished my data squad story but it wouldnt leave me alone so I figured I'll do the first two chapters then go back to everything else that needs written.

So we've started once again, and events are already on the move. What happened at the start, who attacked Gennai and his friends, and just what were they doing? The guy in charge of the attack is the big bad from 09, a most nasty piece of work.

And what the hell is going on in the real world? The war isnt going anywhere, weapons that can kill Digimon are becoming commonplace and to top it all off, theres digimon coming and going as they please, vanishing in some cases and the war protestors are making a bigger nuisance of themselves than usual. And just what is Kanalaka up to? How did he and his adult friends get their hands on Digimon, and what does it mean for us?

And then we have this mysterious group, the Primordials, who are this lot, and more importantly what are they capable of? (Believe me, youll see just what one of them is capable of next chapter)

And then the kids themselves, so much has happened to them since 07 and in so many ways, what will happen next? Who is the mysterious girl in Kari's visions (im sure the clever clogs among you will figure it out)? Will the brewing storm within the ranks come to pass? Things may have improved in some ways for the kids but in others theyre just as bad as ever, poor Sam is having a lot of daddy issues, Rana's got her own problems too, internal divisions are on the rise, its all go isnt it?

And the war, major offensives are afoot, what does the future hold?

But the question everyone wants to know is, who are these new Digidestined and where do they, and more importantly their adult counterparts, fit into everything? As you may have spotted from their partners, they are of course adventure equivalents of those in Tamers (handy that I'm watching that again right now), aside from the one partnered with Liollmon (and isnt he a cute little Digimon), who is in honour of a very helpful youtube friend who had been a great source of Digimon advice.

So, we've begun 08 (I now need to think of a name), and we've got a long way to go, so for now and until the next update please read and review, and see if you recognise the dude in the story pic because he's one of the mysterious Primordials!