And I'm back with my terrible old habit of staying up way longer then I should just because I got in a writing mood. Now this is a rewrite in that it will pretty much have the same basic plot and characters but lots of things are changed, things like personalities are tweaked and dialogue and so on and so forth. It was incredibly tough to start this chapter, I've been trying for the past week or so but after enough time banging my head against the wall I finally managed to break through so I hope you enjoy!


DIGIMON

RISE OF THE EIGHT DEMON LORD

Once upon a time

We are not alone in our existence. There is something else, something more, something not made of flesh and blood. They are called digimon.

Once nothing more than programs and data, ones and zeroes with little to no life behind them, existing for no purpose, created by man for reasons unknown. Maybe they were an accident, maybe they were once meant to serve something.

Whatever reason they may or may not originally have been made for it is now lost to us. We abandoned our creations thinking nothing of what might happen, what the consequences might be. After all they were not real, they were just data and data is not alive.

Or so we thought.

Left on its own the programs would change, they would evolve and grow to become something we could never even imagine. Their world came first, created on another plane of existence to ours in a way one would not think possible.

As mankind advanced, unknown to us so did they. Creatures would inhabit this once empty world. it would all take shape from our reality, from us, but created from data they would also differ, adapt and be more than we could ever hope to be.

Planes of nothing became lush hills of green, mountains that reached the sky, oceans as far as the eye could see, forests stretching for miles with no end in sight. This world was not limited by our laws, it seemed to never stop, continuing forever with physics breaking feats of existence, floating mountains, whole regions where the light would never shine, in turn regions where the light would never leave and so on and so forth.

As this world grew and flourished with life, so would said life evolve and adapt to inhabit every part of it. Starting small there was digimon embodying the creatures of our reality, more intelligent and more powerful than they had any right to be, but they were more than just animals. As their intelligence grew, so did their strength. Over time some would come to represent humans in form.

Digimon would continue to evolve, the basic structure of their data would change to give them even more individuality from their brethren, to give them different properties to suit different habitats so they could better care for their world. Affinity would be at the base of their creation, deciding what they had the potential to be.

The beast type digimon were the first, with the creation of oceans there were aquatic digimon. Over time they would continue to evolve and branch out to different types to further distinguish themselves from each other. From the forests there were insectoid and plant digimon, from the searing heat of deserts and volcanic mountains there would be dragon and fire type digimon. From the pits where the light never shone there were the dark digimon, their typing a brand of distrust more than anything else, although usually completely baseless.

What did affect digimon on a deeper level though were their attribute, of which there were only three different variations. "Vaccine" digimon were those of noble hearts and minds, wishing only for the prosperity and safety of their kind (well, mostly). Then there were those almost opposed to this way of life, often brutish and aggressive, with little care for anything other themselves were dubbed "virus" digimon. Mostly a generalization of virus and vaccine digimon alike which did none of them justice, as virus digimon could be kind and caring while in turn vaccine digimon could be cruel and selfish. But this did not stop them from branding each other by their attributes. "Data" digimon were the neutral of the three, and therefor left with more freedom and less prejudice. They did as they liked but usually preferred to avoid unnecessary conflict most of the time. A digimon at the start of their life would lack these attributes, and was given a small window of opportunity in which they could try to influence their growth.

As digimon always does they continued to evolve, their attributes would be less of a characteristic and more a mark of birth then anything else. However, this did nothing to change the traditional view: vaccine digimon good, virus digimon bad.

Although digimon are hardy and adaptable they still need one thing to live, data. At one point in time one of the only possible ways one would acquiring this life energy would be to destroy another digimon and absorb them, brutal by today's standards but there was no other suitable way of consuming enough data for higher level digimon to survive.

There would be growths of plants and fruit like matter in forests and other fertile areas one would consume, but the energy gained from these elements were minute and would only serve to feed champion level digimon at most, any higher level and nature would be unable to provide for them. A side effect was discovered from this form of self-sustain, massive growth was possible by absorbing a strong opponent and could hasten the speed in which a digimon would be able to digivole to a stronger form.

No longer would you need years of experience and battle prowess to digivole, there was a catch however.

Over time there were clear negative effects from rapid consumption of other digimon, if absorbing data to often the offender would eventually become overcharged, in a haze from too much power and with no experience to control it they would lose sight of anything other than becoming stronger. These digimon were dangerous, a hazard and a plague. Killing their own only to satisfy their own greed.

After the byproduct of absorbing other digimon became well known it was considered a taboo, a massive act of wrongdoing to absorb another. Some on the other hand. found this state of existence to be desirable, most commonly virus digimon were the offenders. They would hunt the weakest of their kind, and eventually work their way up the evolution chain becoming more powerful over time. Those opposed to this destructive practice were unable to fight back because of their own morals.

These selfish digimon drunk on their own power could not be stopped by someone who refused to stoop to their level, they wouldn't be strong enough. these consumers would continue to evolve, eventually becoming grotesque in form and mindless at heart, eating almost everything they could.

When a digimon died its data would wander the digital world for some time before reforming somewhere in the form of a digiegg, its life would start over and it would be given a second chance, but when absorbed only a small amount of data would be left. The time before the digimon could reform would extend immensely.

As a result, the population started to dwindle, the few digimon left would be hiding from those who let themselves become monsters in every way of the word. "This is not right!" someone once exclaimed. What was left of digimon eventually banded together, they would hunt down the consumers, destroying them one by one. It was dangerous and a single miss step could cause their death, and one of their deaths would make the enemy stronger. The situation was desperate and if they didn't stop these beasts they would never be safe.

Eventually the last of the monsters would fall, ended by their own greed. At one time they might have been a kind person, with loved ones who in a desperate bid to survived absorbed a digimon. But no longer.

Those left after the near wipe out of life needed to find a new way of survival, so that their kind could live peacefully. The answer was surprisingly simple.

Crops.

Created by humans they would adopt our ways. Fertile land would be harnessed and protected for production purposes. Over time the digimon would refine the art of agriculture and branch out to farm more varied foods. It might not have been a lot but a few meals a day would be able to sustain even higher level digimon and with the crops steadily growing there was no longer a shortage of a data for consumption. Communities would be formed for manpower and safety, they would build villages and form something akin to what humans call families.

As virus digimon had been at the forefront of the near extinction, they became shunned for what their ancestors did, some managed to stay within the parameters of civilization, while some would venture out on their own, throwing themselves into a dog eat dog world, foraging and killing for survival but being mindful of consuming their own kind as to avoid becoming just another problem to the world.

The rest would leave for the dark area, where the light didn't touch and no one but them would dare venture. There were a few parts of the world which were considered neutral where no one really cared what you were, but these places were not suitable for settling down.

Not necessarily virus digimon but some would also regress to their basic instincts and live off the world, although not with bad intention, they simply couldn't be bothered to work within civilization. A few types of digimon were fated to this existence simply for what they were, but for most it was a personal choice and as such it was their right.

Although rarely it would still happen that a digimon would become overcharged in the wild, if one to many digimon wandered through the wrong place at the wrong time they would find themselves devoured. To avoid the past from repeating itself there was a group of digimon formed.

The royal knights, a formidable collection of powerful data and vaccine type (with one exception) mega level digimon sworn to protect and serve the masses. They were at the forefront of protecting the digital world (well most of it anyway), and keeping the consumer population to a minimum.

On the other side of the spectrum there were people not so happy about how things were run. Unruly, powerful and dangerous. Lucemon, the unfortunate situation of a digimon to prideful for his own good, banished to the dark area never again to be allowed back into what was the common civilization.

Over time other virus digimon would flock to him, build their own home, or what could pass for it anyway and scrape together what they could to make themselves a life. Digimon would grow stronger, honed by the cruelty they resided in. Over time some would come to be Lucemons equals, creating their own ranks as somewhat of a silent opposition to the royal knights.

The demon lords they were called. The strongest and most vile of the virus digimon, unrivaled in their lust for power and contempt of rules and order. Over time news would reach the Knights as the lords would push the limits of what was considered acceptable.

There would be small skirmishes between the factions, but none ever managed to get the upper hand. A rivalry would ensue and not a very friendly one at that. They wanted each other dead, out of they way.

The royal knights had the numbers but a direct assault would be dangerous as the lords powers rivaled theirs and with an army massive in scale it would be downright foolish to attack them, it would be a full scale war.

Tension would keep building as it always had, but how much longer would their relations bend before something broke?

The demons were plotting, because the breaking point was near.


The barren wasteland was empty except for the occasional rock formation and hardy plant that was too stubborn for its own good. The heat was blistering and the dunes stretched on forever in what seemed to be an endless sea of sand and rocks.

A roar of engines could be heard from miles away, the source at the front of a giant trail of dust. Behemoth, a monster of a machine following loyally the path set out by its master. A demon lord by the name of Beelzemon, his power rivaled by none other than the leader of his ranks.

The demon biker was already well on his way back to the fortress where his associates resided when he had been summoned. It was rare for there to be a meeting, ever rarer for him to be invited. Beelzemon was not what you would call a people person. He usually preferred his own company, or the company of the select few he deemed worthy of being called comrades.

The demon lord was unaffected by the extreme heat and would rather relish in the feeling of the wind flying by his masked face. This is going to be a long drive, better enjoy it.


Whoever was guarding the perimeter probably heard him before they could see him. There was no mistaking the deafening roar of Beelzemon's main form of transportation. As such they made sure to open the massive gates, leaving plenty of time for their lord to pass through the even larger walls protecting their home.

Speeding to a halt a few paces away from the main gates which were already being opened for him as the demon lord dismounted his loyal companion. His clawed hand patted the machine affectionately.

"Off you go" his gesture was rewarded with a soft rumble. "not too far this time alright?" Behemoth roared in acknowledgment before speeding off the way it originally came from. Beelzemon tilted his head in a rare moment of puzzlement what in the world does a digital, monster motorcycle do in its spare time?

The thought dispatched almost immediately when he suddenly became aware of how late he was, oh well.

The demon lord sauntered through the open doors of the fortress, silently dismissing the welcoming guards. The sound of his heavy, metal plated boots echoed off the stone walls, long tail contently waving behind him for a few seconds before slowly dropping lower and lower to the ground until it was eventually dragging behind him. Beelzemon sped up his pace considerably and placed a clawed hand on the gun holster attached to his left boot. A nervous habit he told himself while wondering how long Lucemon would be chewing him out this time around for being late.

Despite the maze-like corridors Beelzemon had no trouble finding his way to the lords assembly room. He had after all, memorized these halls long ago. A few more minutes of walking and he found himself rounding the corner leading towards the assembly where a pair of mummymon was standing guard. The moment they spotted him they pushed their shoulders against each of the twin doors, slowly forcing them open.

"Come on boys, put some muscle into it" Beelzemon bellowed and placed one hand on each of the doors and with strength way beyond the guards capabilities, threw them open with ease. The doors slammed against the walls as Beelzemon paraded through them, biting down a chuckle as the pair of mummymon struggled to not topple over from their lord's sudden removal of the weight on their shoulders.

The demon biker took in the giant chamber for what must have been the thousandth time. It was simple, a massive table in their midst surrounded by six thrones of variable sizes to seat himself and each of his fellow lords, a big platform for the largest of their rank with their crests carved into each of their respective seats.

"honey! I'm home!" Beelzemon shouted with all the confidence in the world. As all the eyes in the room turned to follow his form he kept his own locked on the seat waiting patiently across the table for him. That's a really big table…

The demon lord made no attempts to alter his course, moving to the closest throne and using its armrest to boost himself on top of the table before continued to make his way towards his own seat.

"Goodness Beelzemon, watch where you step!" Barbamon exclaimed in that old man voice of his, barely managing to move his arm out of the way before his fellow demon lord used his throne as a staircase.

A few seconds later the Biker had settle himself in his seat, his legs stretched out and crossing on the table, arms behind his head in a relaxed manner.

"Demon lord of gluttony reporting for duty" Beelzemon grinned witch a mock salute.

"about time" Barbamon muttered as he continued to dust of his armrest. His bony, ring covered fingers tightened around his staff in distaste as he glared at what his fellow demon lord had chosen to use as a foot rest.

"More like glutton for punishment" Lucemon sighed. "You're late" The fallen angel paused for a moment before raised his voice "again"

"Hey, I was literally half way across the world when you called on me, it takes more than a few hours to make that ride, even with Behemoth" The demon biker's hands raised in defense. Lucemon opened his mouth to reply but Beelzemon cut him off "besides, if you've been waiting here for so long would you rather finish this meeting or give me a stern talking to?"

The blond could see the muscles in Lucemon's jaw tense up "Love, wouldn't you rather we just finish this?" Lillithmon interjected from the seat beside her lord's. A perfectly manicured hand went up to touch her face "I am so very tired after all" She gave him one of those smiles, the ones that could calm almost anything.

Another sigh rose from Lucemon and he made a gesture towards her "yes, please get this over with"

The lord of lust smiled even wider, flashing one of her fangs.

"I'm sure you're all aware of how things are going with the royal knights" she started, multiple sounds of disgust rose from around the chamber. "yes, I agree" she continued.

"Not very well and it's about time we did something about it"

"Lillithmon…you're not suggesting full scale war, are you?" Barbamon questioned.

The woman's smirk was all the answer he needed.

"You can't be serious" Beelzemon chimed in "I don't know what you've been smoking lady but that's a stupid idea, I'm not putting my tail on the line with odds like ours"

A few voices of agreement were spoken.

"It was not my idea, it belongs to our great leader" Lillithmon gestured to her great leader.

"It was simply my assignment to even our odds" she proclaimed.

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Daemon asked, his giant hands restlessly clawing on his armrests.

"we need to extend our ranks-"

"Beings like us don't just come out of nowhere Lillithmon! None of our troops even have the potential to-"

"DAEMON!" The lord of lust's screech made the whole chamber tense up "Do. Not. Interrupt. Me." her voice suddenly low and dangerous.

She sighed and drew her face back into a smile.

"I am aware that there is no digimon with the potential we need in our service" she glowered at Daemon who even with his massive size, somehow managed to shrink back in his seat.

"Which is why my plan is not very conventional, to get what we need I had to think outside the box" Lillithmon said.

Leviamon seemed to finally take interest in the conversation. "Even with another demon lord we would still be outnumbered, individually we have more power but fighting two opponents at once, especially someone as strong as the knights would be near impossible"

"I'm aware of that as well Leviamon, be quiet" Lillithmon shushed the massive beast.

"To get a powerful digimon you need a powerful base" The lord of lust started explaining. "Each of us represent one of the seven deadly sins, something powerful with a deep root in human religion, these ideas have been around for a long time, that's how powerful digimon are created, over time data assimilate to mirror something in the human world"

"Then there is no bases left for there to be another demon lord" Belphemon whispered almost inaudibly, barley even conscious.

"Oh, but there is" Lillithmon answered, her voice soft in replying to the small digimon. "A loophole. As the human world grows, as its network gets bigger and more encompassing of all there is, we can draw inspiration from that. The humans recently unearthed an old civilization in worship of an evil god. Sacrifices would be made to this god as to satisfy her. It was a god they believed were giving of conscious thought as they knew it, and as god giveth god taketh away, loss of conscious thought was described as a loss of self, the ultimate sin to give up on life bestowed upon an individual. But one does not simply lose their self-awareness, but one may slowly have their mind spiral out of control, a loss of sanity would be believed to be a curse from their god, the suffering it caused would be punishment for straying off the path and would eventually lead to death!"

"I could not have found this information without you, Barbamon" The lord of lust waved at her spellcaster comrade "your web of connections was invaluable in my research" she was rewarded with a respectful nod. "It was my pleasure." He replied.

"Demon lord of insanity? Sounds unstable" Beelzemon yawned.

"So we have the base for your spell Lillithmon, but there is no digimon fitting that sort of description" Barbamon said.

"That's why" The lord of lust started "we use a human"

"Okay, you lost me. How is that even gonna work?" The demon biker wondered.

"There's been a few instances where humans stumble into our world is there not? They are clearly made up of data while roaming our world, but they don't have any types, they don't belong to a branch and they don't have a set path written for them like most digimon do. The time it would take for the demon lord of insanity to eventually evolve would be immense, that is if it even ever happened. Using a human, we can speed up the process and control their development"

"Insanity is usually not a state of stable thought, and how are we going to transform a human into a digmon? Much less a stable one out something based on that?" Barbamon asked.

"We only need someone on edge, leave the rest to me." Lillithmon said. "There is a few requirements our human needs to meet." The lord of lust did a waving motion with her hand and a holographic console appeared before her. She swiped through multiple commands before finding what she was looking for. A large holographic sphere appeared, rotating above the center of the table.

"Earth, the human world" she explained. "The most basic requirement is that the human needs to have been in close contact with digimon at an earlier stage of their lives" multiple points on the hologram lit up. "the second is we need someone with a wavering mental state, with personality traits that is both accommodating and similar to our own. This will make them easier to manipulate. The final thing we need from our human is for them to be someone unimportant with little connections to the human world. It will make them easier to sway and more likely to have a disdain for those that never showed them any sympathy, it would also be easier for them to leave their world behind. Not to mention a human disappearing all of a sudden would cause a stir in the network if they have many loved ones, it would put the knights on edge and we don't want them looking for signs that we transferred a human here now do we? I believe I found a very fitting candidate, she will be our little test subject, if we succeed we can start expanding"

An image appeared in place of the rotating sphere that was the human world.

"That's…a woman" Barbamon announced.

"More like a girl, she's rather young" Beelzemon smirked.

"I'm aware, I have been wanting for some suitable female company for a while now" Lillithmon clapped her hands.

"Your experience with their world is finally coming in handy Beelzemon, as you will be the one to retrieve her from the human world" Lucemon said.

"What, seriously?" The demon biker questioned.

"Yes, and I know you were planning on asking me to open a portal for a pleasure ride to the human world any time now, but no toying with the girl, do you understand?" Lillithmon explained.

"Nice, she's cute" Beelzemon's smirk widened, baring his fangs, his eyes gliding approvingly over the red curls covering the girl's face. A collective groan erupted from the chamber. "What? What!?" The lord of gluttony exclaimed.

"Remember what I just said, Beelzemon. Finding even one human meeting these requirements was a chore" The lord of lust growled. "Don't mess it up!"

"Can't you ever think with the big head Beelzemon?" Leviamon asked.

"It is the big head" The demon biker grinned at his associate, who replied with a grunt of disgust.

"Don't tell me you're jealous?"

"As if I would be jealous of something so-"

"Of course, I don't judge you, If I were anyone else I would probably be jealous to. I mean who wouldn't? I'm tall, handsome, powerful-" Beelzemon began listing reasons for his self-proclaimed superiority with a massive grin on his face, making fun of Leviamon's assigned sin was a hilarious way to rile him up.

"You insufferable whelp!" The lord of envy Growled.

"What was that?!" The demon biker rose out of his seat, a boot stomping down on the table, ready to launch himself at the opposing demon lord. A playful but still somewhat manic expression on his face.

"You wanna dance you overgrown flytrap?!" A clawed hand settled over the handle of one of his weapons.

"That was not-" Leviamon tried defending himself, slowly backing his massive form away on his platform.

"Oh, come on big guy, its fine, I haven't had a proper fight in weeks, I'm begging ya" Beelzemon kept pushing.

"That was not my intent-" The giant crocodile tried to reply.

"Are you really backing away from a fight Leviamon!? Don't be such a coward!" Daemon roared. Shouting and threats soon ensued from between the three.

Lillithmon slumped back in her seat. Children, all of them she pouted.

A loud snort instantly silenced the room.

Belphemon's eyes fluttered "You guys are so loud" He whined, the restraints around his tiny body tightened.

"It's alright dear, just go back to sleep" Lillithmon's whispered, the whole room suddenly tense.

The only movement were from Beelzemon slowly shuffled his way towards the exist. "I better get going…" He mumbled.

"That's it, go back to sleep" The lord of lust repeated. The breath she didn't know shed been holding slowly poured out of her. The tension in the chamber eventually dispatched as the lord of sloth seemed to relax back into his cushioned seat.

"FIRE!" Beelzemon shouted from where he stood at the exit. The volume of his bellow made everyone recoil in their seats as Belphemon's eyes snapped open, glowering crimson as his chains broke with the thundering sound of snapping metal.

"Better lock that door down fellas" Beelzemon said between gritted teeth as the pair of mummymon scrambled to bar the door.

"Honestly don't even know why they let him in anymore" A howl of laughter escaped his chest as he sauntered down the corridor. His grin nearly splitting his face at the sound of shouts and howls emerging from the now closed off chamber.

"Worth it"


EXPOSITION! Exposition for days! I'm sorry that was horribly slow, I hope you didn't get to bored off it. Let me know what you think, I feed on comments, they make me stronger and they're always a treat to see. We could all use some ego stroking from time to time. I remember the enjoyment I gain from reading a well written story with an interesting premise and I hope I can wake that feeling in someone else!