Author's Note: I actually managed to find a bit more time to work on this, so it's going up a little earlier in the night than the last chapter! No guarantees I'll be able to keep up the nightly updates but I hope to keep rolling with them as long as I can.

Special thanks to animangafreakZX who not only favorited this story, but favorited all of my stories and me as an author. As another interesting note, this story now has the highest number of visitors of any of my stories- which is strange to me, because it's the finale of a trilogy (and I call that out in the summary). Not sure why it's working out like that, but hopefully people are willing to go back and read the other two stories because this story does rely on things set up previously. Anyway, on to the chapter!


Cody found himself withering under Keiko's continued tirade. When she had started yelling at the Digimon, he had decided to quick step between the two so, at least to an outside observer, it would look like she was yelling at him instead of an empty stand. And sure enough, Keiko had drawn a crowd. Luckily, that crowd included Hiroshi, Takashi, and Noriko, who managed to push their way to the front of the crowd as an added barrier between other onlookers and the Digimon. Even though the crowd consisted only of students helping set up the event and the chaperones for the younger grade levels, they viewed secrecy as the best policy. You never knew who could panic or start a riot when Digimon suddenly appeared.

Still, while he knew hiding the Digimon was for the best, Cody found himself almost wishing for something drastic to happen to cut Keiko off. He honestly wasn't sure where all this anger came from- she was usually such a sweet girl, but he guessed she must have bottled up a lot of anger and was now letting it all go. He wasn't even the target of her rant, and even he was only managing to avoid feeling like the worst person ever by viewing it as training for withstanding a particularly thorough opening statement by the prosecution when he became a lawyer.

However, Keiko's tirade was suddenly cut short by the surprise appearance of a red devil flying overhead with a small pitchfork in his hand. In the time it took Cody to pull out his Digivice and identify the Champion-level Boogiemon, the Demon Man laughed and threw his pitchfork into the crowd, hitting a man with purple hair in the shoulder. However, any chance Boogiemon had to gloat was cut off by a blinding light from the concession stand.

"Kunemon, Digivolve to… Flymon!"

"Psychemon, Digivolve to… Fangmon!"

Tsukaimon, Digivolve to… Devidramon!"

Huckmon, Digivolve to… BaoHuckmon!"

Unfortunately for the DigiDestined, the sudden appearance of their four champion levels didn't exactly calm down the already panicking crowd. Cody supposed it couldn't be helped- a giant wasp, a demonic dragon, and the closest thing to the Big Bad Wolf from the fairy tales probably looked more like enemies than allies. At least BaoHuckmon looked kind of like a knight in shining armor, but he was still a dinosaur. And the mob of people was the least of their worries at the moment, as Boogiemon apparently had backup. Not anything the partner Digimon couldn't handle- it was a motley assortment of Boogiemon, Vilemon, Bakemon, and even some DemiDevimon- but with around a hundred enemies protecting all the people in the building from attacks would prove to be difficult.

Glad he had prepared for a scenario like this, Cody pulled out his D-Terminal and called out "Digi-Armor Energize!" He knew Armadillomon's usual forms would be less than helpful in this situation- their attacks would either harm the civilians directly or collapse the building itself- so he had swapped out the Digimental of Knowledge with Yolei to take on a form more suitable for fighting here. At least this wouldn't be Armadillomon's first time Digivolving using the Digimental of Love.

"Armadillomon, Armor Digivolve to… Pteramon, the Storm of Love!"

Admittedly, Pteramon still wasn't a perfect fit for the situation- the concourses of the stadium were just barely wide enough for his wingspan, so he couldn't use much of his aerial agility- but he could manage the flight. Between his wings and beak, he was able to knock out any enemy Digimon that got in his path, and he was harder to avoid since he took up most of the space near the ceiling of the concourse. He also had his missile storm attack for emergency use, but was holding back on using it just in case the missiles would damage the building itself.

With Pteramon circling near the ceiling, Devidramon and Flymon were handling any Digimon that tried to stay below the Dinosaur Digimon. Between Devidramon's Red Eyes attack paralyzing enemies and Flymon's Deadly Sting poisoning them, Fangmon and BaoHuckmon had to deal more with protecting people on the ground from falling Digimon than protecting them from actual attacks. Seeing this, Cody immediately pulled out his laptop and opened a Digital Gate. It had been so long since he had fought a Digimon without having to destroy it that it was nice being able to just send them back to the Digital World again. Of course, they were still enemies, but the Sovereign had set up a prison to hold any of Lucemon's minions they managed to capture. The odds of getting any valuable information from such low-ranking soldiers were slim, but Cody was glad to take any option that didn't involve him having to kill anything while still working towards Lucemon's defeat.

Unfortunately for Cody, with someone like Lucemon serving as a deity, such thoughts were equivalent to tempting fate. Just when the swarm of enemy Digimon seemed to be thinning out at last, a new Digimon made his presence known by crashing through the wall. Just by looking at it, Cody could tell it was bad news. It bore a vague resemblance to Machinedramon, but instead of combining the parts of other mechanical Digimon this one went for a more coherent theme- just about every part of its body was either made from or contained a gun of some kind. Still, the worst sign was the reaction to the new arrival. Now, Cody expected the panicking crowd to start panicking in another direction when something like this burst into the stadium. What he hadn't expected was the absolute terror on the faces of the Boogiemon that seemed to be leading this swarm as they all started running for their lives. If Lucemon's army was afraid of this guy, he had to be a serious threat.

A quick scan of his Digimon Analyzer pretty much confirmed Cody's fears. The newcomer was the appropriately-named Gundramon, a Mega level Digimon with Der Blitz and Gewalt Schwärmer attacks. While he wasn't sure on the translation for that last one, he knew enough German to know a mobile artillery platform executing anything called a Blitz wasn't something to be taken lightly. Gundramon emphasized the point by silently aiming all his weapons around the room and firing seemingly at random. Cody quickly dropped to the floor and managed to avoid being hit, but Devidramon and Flymon were not so lucky. They didn't seem to take more than a glancing blow, but the damage was catastrophic. Cody could clearly see a four-foot hole in one of Devidramon's wings before he reverted to Tokomon, while Flymon lost two legs and then reverted to Yokomon.

With the new arrival, Cody knew he couldn't afford to avoid collateral damage. Luckily, Gundramon's newly-created entrance would serve as a convenient exit to force the fight outdoors where the damage would at least be minimized compared to a building full of people. Cody quickly came up with a plan, and luckily his last adventure had provided him with more than just a Crest. Reaching in to his backpack, he pulled out a Digivice 01. Neo's habit of deleting monsters that failed to live up to expectations had at least provided enough of these for the whole group to use them, which made communicating with their partners without being overheard a great deal easier. Nobody had quite mastered typing commands to the level of Neo and the Alias III, but Cody trusted Armadillomon enough to understand the plan even if it was given in short bursts as Cody worked on typing the rest. Not the best way to communicate, but they didn't have enough time to communicate the whole plan at once.

Missiles- upon receiving this command, Pteramon launched his Missile Storm at Gundramon. The attack didn't accomplish much, but the Armor level knew it wouldn't against a Mega. Hopefully, it would at least manage to draw Gundramon's attention to him instead of the humans below.

Dive- this one wasn't too difficult to figure out either. Now that Gundramon was focusing on him, he couldn't exactly afford to stay still. Plus, he was probably going to have to draw Gundramon outside to fight him, which would be much easier if he was close enough to physically push him outside. So, Pteramon dove towards the Mega level, just as the ceiling where he had been exploded under another salvo.

Revert- at this point, Pteramon pretty much pieced together Cody's plan. Basically, he was pulling the same stunt he had against Kimeramon when they were trying to meet with Minervamon, only on his own instead of with Aquilamon's help. And he'd also be hitting a lot harder than Ankylomon when he landed this time around. As an added bonus, when he reverted his smaller size only made it that much harder for Gundramon to shoot him out of the sky.

Sure enough, just as Armadillomon predicted, the next command didn't come from Cody's Digivice 01, but rather from his Crest of Tenacity. Armadillomon smiled at the influx of energy, but he didn't have time to call out his transformation. As it was, Vikemon had barely finished Digivolving when he used his maces to break his fall- and the two large revolvers on Gundramon's back. However, the Machine Digimon didn't react to the sudden injury in the slightest, and even without the two largest guns he still managed to turn a veritable armory on the Beast Man Digimon. Luckily, Vikemon managed to overcome his shock at his opponent's reaction just in time to use his Viking Flare attack to knock Gundramon out of the building, where he would be able to fight without holding back. If his opponent didn't care about losing pieces of his body, this wouldn't be an easy fight to win…


Murmukusmon took a deep breath as he prepared to enter Lucemon's newly acquired throne room. Throughout much of his life, he had dreamed of a time like this- where he could exist above all other lifeforms in the realm of a god. He had no illusions about his own power- while strong in his own right, he was nowhere near powerful enough to conquer the world. However, he had long since learned to adapt to his lack of power with cunning, and as such had risen to Lucemon's top advisor. And with the Demon Lord's mental instability, he was often the one who truly had command over the ruler of the world.

Unfortunately, such influence could be a double-edged sword. After all, Lucemon didn't exactly like to hear bad news, and the current situation called for exactly that. Telling a Demon Lord who has nearly limitless access to all the horrors throughout the world's history that he has to stop entertaining himself was not exactly the safest proposition. Still, Murmukusmon did not survive as long as he had by accident. He had a better understanding than most of how the Demon Lord's mind worked, and the most likely path to success was through Lucemon's own ego. It sometimes took a little bit of convincing, but luckily the Demon Lord of Pride would agree to follow the wiser course of action just to make himself look even better.

Murmukusmon knew he couldn't afford to delay any longer, so he strode into the throne room without betraying any of his fear. The Demon Lord had the unfocused look on his face that indicated he was currently observing something far away, either temporally or dimensionally. Best case scenario, he was preparing for the upcoming fight with the DigiDestined. Worst case scenario, he was watching the current fight in the human world, and enjoying it. If that was the case, he'd have to slowly work towards calling the retreat.

"Lord Lucemon, how go the preparations?" The Demon Lord's eyes returned to focus, and turned an irritated glare on his advisor. "I highly doubt I need preparation, considering my brilliant plan for the DigiDestined. And even without that, I am so far beyond any Digimon they can throw at me. As you are fully aware of both of these things, I can't help but wonder if you are here to deliberately waste my time, or if you came to tell me some bad news?"

Murmukusmon bowed his head. "You are as observant as always, sir. I come bearing a simple request, one which I'm sure you will see the wisdom of. Considering the current shortage of our troops and our future need for them, I request you call off the attack on the convention center. When your trap draws all the Crest-bearers to the Digital World, you shall need others to draw the Legendary Warriors to the appointed place."

Lucemon chuckled. "Ah, yes, I thought you would ask for something like that. You always were the cautious one, trying to spare as many soldiers as possible for the future. However, what is most interesting is some conflicting advice I've gotten recently. Usually, you and Astamon are on the same page, and yet he suggested I send MORE firepower against the DigiDestined. And though Gundramon was in many ways a failed experiment, I still feel like he was more useful than any of the lower-class servants you are trying to save. So, I guess this means one of you is knowingly working against my goals…"

With this and an almost nonchalant flick of his hand, Lucemon conjured up one of his strange dimensional rifts, and within a few seconds Astamon appeared within, chained up with bands of what appeared to be solidified darkness. Only Murmukusmon's long devotion to self-discipline stopped him from wincing- Lucemon's attempts at moving living things through time or space resulted in death more often than not, and those that were strong or lucky enough to survive still had to deal with the pain of being completely deconstructed and then reconstructed where Lucemon wanted them. Not a fate he would wish on anybody, particularly a friend like Astamon.

Lucemon almost seemed disappointed at Murmukusmon's lack of reaction. With a dramatic sigh, he shook his head. "You interrupt me when I'm watching a few DigiDestined squirm, and then you won't even give me something entertaining to work with here. Between Astamon's betrayal and your boredom, I'm beginning to think you've both outlived your usefulness. Any last words?"

Murmukusmon locked eyes with Astamon, and in that one glance Murmukusmon almost burst out laughing. As a few of the only sane members of the ruling class of the Dark Area, they had gotten good at communicating in ways their superiors couldn't hear and use as an excuse to execute them. And in this one glance, Astamon was expressing worry, not for his own safety, but for Murmukusmon's. It seemed the Prince cared so much about changing life in the Dark Area that he would give his life to save the Count to rule in his stead. Never mind that Murmukusmon was not fit to rule and he would probably find a way to make things even worse than Lucemon had. Sometimes, Astamon was too noble for his own good.

However, for better or worse, some of that nobility must have rubbed off on him as well over time. He couldn't just let Astamon die, even if it would be so easy. Then again, he wanted to enjoy a nice comfy life behind the scenes of the throne of the Dark Area, and with a madman like Lucemon in power that wouldn't be possible. Since the only options for rulers were Lucemon, Astamon, and himself, it really was in his best interest to save Astamon's life. Though doing so would mean convincing Lucemon to change his mind, Murmukusmon easily came up with a strategy that should work.

"Forgive us, Lucemon, for not being able to see the whole picture like you can. However, now that I understand his position, I think it may be possible to turn both of our plans to your favor. He wished to send Gundramon to join the battle, doubtless for his own reasons. However, you cannot deny that a fight between Gundramon and Vikemon would be much more entertaining than a fight between Vikemon and a Boogiemon. I wished to recall the Boogiemon to keep forces available for your brilliant trap- after all, bait works so much better when it can be controlled."

Murmukusmon had to put severe effort into not matching Lucemon's grin. The Demon Lord had once again proven vulnerable to this approach- equal parts flattery and wisdom to convince Lucemon that the best approach was actually his idea. At the very least, it would turn Lucemon's attention away from Astamon as he sought out his entertainment. However, when Lucemon turned back to Murmukusmon, his next words chilled the weaker Digimon to the core.

"Well done, Murmukusmon. Looks like you haven't slipped up quite yet. I am looking forward to when you CAN'T convince me to follow your plans. Still, I enjoy testing my wits against you. Keeps me sharp and all that to have someone trying to manipulate me hanging around. But enough about that. I've found a way to improve on your little suggestion. After all, we have more failed experiments than Gundramon, and Astamon is going to need an empty cell to move into until the next phase of the plan…"


Keiko took a few deep breaths trying to calm herself down. As soon as Gundramon broke in, the situation had gotten out of control. Now Cody was stuck outside, Takashi and Hiroshi were trying to recover their partners, and she was forced to work together with Noriko against the remaining Boogiemon. Which would have worked fine, if she and Noriko were friends. As it was, they had a mutual understanding that they would tolerate each other, but that was as far as it went. Unsurprisingly, Noriko took the first opportunity to split off, with the justification that they couldn't have their only two Digimon in the same spot when there were people and Boogiemon throughout the building.

Even though Keiko agreed with this reasoning, she almost wished Fangmon would turn around and come back. She didn't feel like she even belonged in a fight like this, let alone having to fight alone. She was a baker at heart, not a fighter. She only got involved in battles like these for two reasons: she felt she had a duty as a DigiDestined to help others, and Huckmon really enjoyed training and fighting. She didn't belong on a battlefield like this.

Almost like the universe had somehow heard her complaining, one of the Boogiemon broke off from its group of ten and threw its pitchfork at her. Time seemed to slow down as the weapon flew at her, but Keiko found herself unable to move or even take her eyes off the projectile. Fortunately, a familiar voice snapped her back to her senses with a cry of "Teen Slash!"

BaoHuckmon leapt into view, using his tail as a blade to cut the pitchfork in half and reduce it to data before it could hit anybody. Turning to his partner, all the ferocity drained from BaoHuckmon's eyes. "Keiko, don't worry. It's okay to be scared- fighting isn't for everybody." Almost immediately, the glare returned to his face as he spun around and shouted out "Fif Cross!" The claws on both of his front legs suddenly lit on fire as he turned and slashed Boogiemon, who had flown in with his Death Clash in an effort to get revenge for the loss of his pitchfork. Still, BaoHuckmon was far too powerful for the Demon Man Digimon, who burst into data at the contact of the holy flames.

With that enemy defeated, BaoHuckmon smiled back at Keiko. "See, told you that you didn't have to worry. I got this." Chuckling a little bit, he added, "These guys barely even count as training. I'll stay close to you, but I'm going to take out as many as I can." Keiko shook her head, but couldn't keep a smile from coming to her lips. How is it that she, someone who hated violence in general, got partnered with someone who was practically obsessed with battle? Still, if BaoHuckmon said he could handle this, she knew she would be fine. He wouldn't let anybody get even close to her—

Keiko's thought was cut off as something grabbed onto her shoulder. Hearing Keiko's screams, BaoHuckmon turned around and ran back to his partner. He was slightly taken aback that her attacker was a serious-looking human with purple hair almost completely shaven off, but even if the attacker was a human he had sworn to protect his partner from anything. However, as he got closer he saw the man wasn't trying to hurt Keiko, but was trying to calm her down. Paying closer attention, BaoHuckmon saw the man had a wounded shoulder on one side and had his other arm protectively draped over a young girl who looked like his daughter. As he was now apologizing for startling Keiko, he seemed like he wasn't a threat- though BaoHuckmon decided to stay close enough that he would be able to hear whatever he was saying and jump in if necessary.

Since Keiko seemed to have calmed down enough, the man started talking. "Sorry again for startling you, miss, but is that your Digimon over there?" Keiko started stammering- keeping her identity as a DigiDestined a secret had been a habit born of necessity, and since she was currently in the middle of a Digimon attack it probably wasn't the best idea to draw more attention to herself. However, the man seemed to take her hesitance as a yes, and continued talking.

"You don't have to worry about keeping it a secret from me. My name is Shisamaru Katsuragi, and I'm a captain in Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. And I know you probably have a good reason to distrust any authority figures here, but I'm on your side. I'm part of a special task force under the command of Colonel Fuyutsuki created to respond to situations like these. We even have a Digimon in our unit- PFC Sealsdramon is the first Digimon enlisted in the JSDF. Obviously, he isn't enough to win battles like this on our own, but our role is more evacuating people safely than fighting the battles ourselves. Sealsdramon fights, but the rest of our unit has to leave it to heroes like you."

Keiko blushed slightly, but turned her eyes to the ground. "I'm not a hero. I can't actually save the world like Cody and everybody else. I'm just going to be a baker…" Captain Katsuragi cut her off by forcibly grabbing her shoulder and speaking in a tone that left absolutely no room for argument. "I've worked with a lot of national heroes, and each and every one of them says they were just doing their jobs. Now, I need you to do me a favor so I can do my job. I have to get in contact with the colonel to report this situation, but all wireless communication has been jammed. There should be some old emergency payphones here, but I can't take my daughter with me through an open battle zone. So, watch after her, and I'll take care of the rest."

Adopting a much warmer tone, he then turned to his daughter. "Listen, Misato, I know this was supposed to be our weekend, but Daddy has to go back to work now. This girl and her Digimon will look after you. I know the Digimon looks scary, but so does Sealsdramon. I'm sure if you asked really nicely, he'd enjoy your tea parties just as much as Commandramon does. So, be a good girl, and I'll be back in a few minutes. I love you." With that, he left the relative safety of the concession stand, quickly navigating his way through the battlefield and leaving Keiko with a confused girl who looked to be about eight and on the verge of tears.

Trying to at least make things more comfortable for Misato, Keiko thought to introduce herself. "Hi, my name's Keiko. Your name is Misato, isn't it? I heard your dad say—" However, this mention of her father caused Misato to start sobbing. Keiko could only make out about half of what she was saying, but apparently Captain Katsuragi never had time to spend with his daughter since he was always at work, this was one of the only times she got to see him in 'forever', and something about her mommy trying to replace daddy with someone else. Keiko understood this last part pretty well- her parents had gotten divorced three years ago, and if she had been eight years old she probably would have acted the same way Misato was- but that wasn't exactly the right thing to say to comfort a distraught little girl.

Luckily, while Keiko wasn't exactly sure what to say, BaoHuckmon provided a nice distraction just by being a talking dinosaur. He simply walked up to the crying Misato and asked, "So, what's this I hear about tea parties? I mean, I probably shouldn't drink any actual tea since caffeine makes me go all twitchy, but I love all the cakes and stuff. I can even help bake them if you want!" The whole situation seemed to surprise Misato enough that she stopped crying and only managed a confused nod, leaving Keiko extremely grateful to her partner for pulling her out of that situation. Still, since the current situation of 'in the middle of a battle' would always be more worrisome than the situation of 'dealing with a crying child,' Keiko felt the need to bring her partner's attention away from tea parties.

Before she could even say anything, though, BaoHuckmon cut her off. "Don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on things. It's weird, though. The Boogiemon have just been staying up at the ceiling doing nothing for the past minute. It's like they are getting new orders or something…" As soon as he said this, all the Boogiemon suddenly winked out of existence, meaning Lucemon must have pulled them back to the Digital World. Still, this wasn't exactly the most comforting of news. Lucemon had never been the type to just give up halfway into an attack like this. If he was withdrawing his forces, something else had to be going on.

In addition to his general unease at Lucemon's latest tactic, something else was gnawing at BaoHuckmon. He wasn't sure if it was a smell, or maybe just a general feeling about the air, but something in this calm felt almost familiar. He didn't have any memories of a life before he became Keiko's partner, but retaining memories after dying and being reborn was often a random process. Something in this moment was telling him he had experienced it before, and it wasn't a pleasant experience. He wasn't sure whether to call it instinct, intuition, or paranoia, but SOMETHING was telling him he needed to get Keiko out of here, and do so now.

Unfortunately for BaoHuckmon, while his instinct kicked in before the actual threat appeared, he was too late to act on it. Before he could even take a single step, the air was suddenly filled with horrible shrieks coming from a swarm of new arrivals that managed to block off his entire view of the ceiling. In what was perhaps another flash of memory, he saw the image of large black dragons with red fur before he snapped back to the present. This current swarm was composed of smaller members, but they still looked dangerous- they were dark blue, about his size, and seemed to have undergone a very poor mechanization, with metallic limbs and live wires sparking from their tails. This was all the time BaoHuckmon had for observation before around fifty of the dragons dove towards him, shrieking in a predatory fashion…


Author's Note: And with that, the first major fight scene begins! We start off small with the Dark Spore kids at Champion level against a swarm of Lucemon's cannon fodder. Sadly, this motley assortment of Rookies and Champions represent most of what's left on Lucemon's side- between the DigiDestined and his own lack of care for his army, there aren't many soldiers left under the Demon Lord. Of course, he's just been getting stronger, so the DigiDestined haven't really been coming out ahead. And there are still wild cards Lucemon likes to throw into play- like the modified Gundramon introduced last chapter and this new swarm. You'll find out what they are later, and why BaoHuckmon is getting flashes of recognition when he senses their presence.

In terms of new characters, Misato Katsuragi really serves two purposes- proving that I watched way too much Evangelion while I was writing this and potentially setting things up for future stories if I ever decide to return to this universe. Her father serves as the first sign that not all humans in positions of authority hate Digimon- there's even a contingent of the JSDF with Digimon members. Again, a little detail that will have some payoff later on in this story and potentially more in the future. I picked Shisamaru as his name because -maru is a common suffix for male Japanese names and a Shisa is a type of guardian spirit in Okinawan mythology shaped like a lion. You can probably tell where I'm going with this.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and feel free to leave me any feedback you have!