A/N: It was this song, "Supper's Ready", that played a big role in KingViolet96 and I getting to know each other. Part of the reason I wrote this fic was to celebrate my friendship with him (and this fic was also written to celebrate my friendship with tiedwithribbons, hence why I had Oikawa and company as the main characters, since she likes those characters). As such, I'm going to make this last chapter really awesome! Prepare yourselves!
"...and in other news, the partners of the Digidestined have returned to the Digital World, and are currently setting up their highly-anticipated party for what has been dubbed the Day of the Digidestined in some circles. Interestingly enough, they were spotted wearing strange rings. While our reporters - kzzzt! - ask them about - kzzzt! - we were still able to-"
The television unceremoniously cut to static, with no sign of the signal returning anytime soon.
"Are you kidding me?" Arukenimon stomped across the room and switched the TV off. Yes, this was an older model, to the point where it used dials instead of buttons (if she didn't know better, she'd guess it was older than Oikawa), but if it worked just fine before...
Mummymon looked concerned. "I hope Tanemon gets back soon..."
"He'd better!" Arukenimon returned to her seat, right next to where Mummymon was sitting. "Usually, he's back by now."
"I'm sure he's all right. He could come back any minute now."
Arukenimon's hand tightly gripped the arm of her chair. "I swear to God, if someone killed him..."
"Maybe he just got lost, or someone's telling him a lot of information."
"Couldn't he at least send someone here to tell us that?"
"Well, he's probably - hnnngh!"
Mummymon abruptly stood up, clutching his head and stumbling around, as if trying to fight something.
Arukenimon gave him a weird stare. "Mummymon, what do you think you're-"
Suddenly, he pinned her against her chair, glaring straight at her sunglasses. His normally-golden eye had turned a bright red, and Arukenimon thought she could see a red glow coming from his other eye socket (it was hard to tell through her purple lenses, but something about it just didn't seem right).
"If you run, we'll catch you." His voice didn't sound like his voice anymore; it was more high-pitched and strangled than anything else.
"What-"
"If you hide..." Mummymon suddenly let out a groan in his usual voice, and clutched his head again before resuming the weird speech. "...we'll find you."
Now free to stand up, Arukenimon clenched her fist. "Mummymon! What the hell?"
"If you - ugh!- fight...argh! We'll kill you!" He was now stumbling all over the room, hands pressed firmly to his head. "You...can only win..."
He suddenly turned his head towards her and started charging at her. Most digimon would probably panic at the sight, but Arukenimon wasn't most digimon. As soon as he was close enough, she punched him right in the face, sending him reeling backwards. His back hit the wall, and he slowly slid down until he was sitting. With a groan, he rested his hand on his forehead; his face and voice were back to normal at this point.
As she walked up, he looked up at her. "I'm really sorry, dear. I don't know what came over me..."
"You don't know, but we all know!"
The high-pitched voice caught them both off-guard.
"Who's there?" Arukenimon glared in all directions, her fists clenched so tightly that her gloves were the only thing preventing her nails from digging into her hands. "Show yourself!"
A white ghost suddenly materialized, and Mummymon yelped a little.
The ghost shook his head. "Well, she wanted me to show myself. I do what I'm told..."
If looks could kill, Arukenimon would have already sent this ghost back to Primary Village. "Who are you?"
"Me? Oh, no one, really..." The ghost floated to the other end of the room. "Just Bakemon, one of the many grunts of the last Dark Master. I'm a fighter, a dark mage, a possessor of bodies..."
"Wait..." Mummymon's tone became increasingly hostile. "Are you the one who possessed me?"
"That's a good question. Even I can't say for certain who possessed you." Bakemon smirked. "I mean, was it me..."
Suddenly, another Bakemon popped out of nowhere. "Or was it me?"
A crowd of Bakemon materialized. "Was it us?"
Across the room, another crowd appeared. "Or was it we?"
Arukenimon and Mummymon looked at all the Bakemon around them, both surprised and confused. Soon enough, though, Arukenimon decided she wasn't having any of it. "I don't care which of you it was; you're all going to die! Spirit Needle!"
She pulled out some strands of her hair and flung them at the Bakemon. Giggling, they used their powers to teleport out of harm's way.
"Necro Magic!" A large number of them flung orbs of dark magic at the duo, knocking them to the floor. As they groaned and stood back up, they noticed that even more Bakemon were appearing, and all were grinning at them with malicious intent.
"Wait! I heard about something the Digidestined once did!" Mummymon ran up to the nearest table and began rhythmically tapping his cane against it. "Bakemon, lose your power! Bakemon, lose your-"
"That's not gonna work anymore!"
In that instant, the room became much darker, lit only by a faint purple light coming from somewhere. Some strange kind of mist lightly filled the room, and the TV began broadcasting horrific scenes of thunderstorms over the roughly-churning ocean. The Bakemon all started circling around Arukenimon and Mummymon, who soon heard voices invading their minds.
If you run, we'll catch you.
If you hide, we'll find you.
If you fight, we'll kill you.
You can only win if you surrender.
Let the ocean cleanse you...
...or drown in its wrath!
"That's it!" Arukenimon started towards the door. "Come on, Mummymon. We're going out to find Tanemon!"
"Can we get out?" Mummymon looked around at all the Bakemon.
"Of course we can, you idiot!" Arukenimon flung more Spirit Needles at the Bakemon, clearing a small number of them out. "Now!"
She and Mummymon ran towards the door and threw it open, running to the car, which was surprisingly untouched.
The Bakemon flew out after them. "Necro Magic!"
The two just barely dodged the attacks as they climbed into the car; they saw the ever-growing group of Bakemon fanning out, intent on destroying them.
Mummymon started the car, growing more frantic every second. "Where should we go?"
"I don't care! Just get us out of here!"
"Right!" As soon as they faced the road, Mummymon slammed down on the gas pedal.
As they started off, trying to stop the Bakemon from tailing them, Arukenimon was just barely able to consider things. "He's an In-Training digimon; he can't have gotten far."
Mummymon looked briefly at the evening sky, which seemed much cloudier than he remembered it being last time he saw it. "I just hope he's okay..."
And thus, the two drove off, looking for their master's partner.
It had been a long time since the last time they were this panicked...
...hadn't it?
"Come on, don't you want a ring? It's very pretty."
"I already said no thanks."
The normally-patient Tanemon was getting more annoyed every second. This Divermon had approached him on the way home and was repeatedly offering him a ring. Since he had remembered the accounts of the suspicious rings, he politely declined the offer. Divermon, however, just wouldn't listen. It didn't matter how many times Tanemon told him he had friends waiting for him, or that he felt he looked fine the way he was, or anything else. To Divermon, it seemed, the word "no" was secretly a code word for "bug me more and I'll say yes".
"What, you think the ring will make you look girly or something?"
"No, it's-"
"Well, I got the Digidestined to wear these rings, and they're some of the toughest digimon around! If they don't mind wearing those rings, what's there to be ashamed of?"
Tanemon was shaking a little. "I-"
Divermon walked closer. "Oh, I know what it is. You heard some rumors about our rings jinxing people or something. Well, my friend, that is simply not true. Our rings are just rings, and that's that. I wanna find whoever said those things about them and sue them for slander!"
Tanemon's heart was racing. Divermon was pressuring him into taking a ring, when he knew full well that something wasn't right with these rings, and he wouldn't let him go home, even as night was clearly falling. Mummymon was probably worried sick, and Arukenimon would have a few choice words for him...
He decided, one more time, to calmly explain the situation, and so he took a deep breath. "Listen, thank you for your kind offer, but I'm not interested in any rings right now. You see-"
Divermon smirked at him. "Are you sure?"
"Yes! I'm sure!" Tanemon's patience had worn thin, and that little interruption (coupled with that annoyingly smug smirk on Divermon's face, no less!) was the last straw. "I've told you several times over that I'm not interested in any rings, and that I like how I look right now, and most importantly, since it's getting dark outside, that I have friends waiting for me at home! You think they like wondering where I am? You think they like wondering if someone killed me, or kidnapped me, or left me for dead in the middle of nowhere? Well, I know for a fact that they don't! So will you please just let me go home, and get back to me tomorrow morning or something if you're so desperate?"
Tanemon was breathing heavily, trying to reign in his internal firestorm of emotions. Who did Divermon think he was? Divermon, meanwhile, just gained a look of sadness on his face.
"You know, my friend makes these rings with nothing but love. He only wants to see the happy faces of satisfied customers." Divermon put his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky, his voice cracking. "The fact that you think he's up to no good, that he really only wants to hurt people, when you haven't even met the guy..." He started wailing.
Tanemon's expression softened. Wait...I wasn't that harsh, was I...? But then he shook his head. No! Don't fall for it! He's only trying to trick you! "Listen, you! An honest salesman wouldn't-"
"No, no. You don't need to try to comfort me. I understand." He walked up to Tanemon. "But I do have good news for you..."
Suddenly, he grabbed Tanemon's hand and threw a purple ring around it, his look of false sadness changing to a sadistic grin. "I'm a real good liar!"
Tanemon tried in vain to remove the ring from his hand; when he couldn't, he glared at Divermon. "I knew it! These rings are evil! You were trying to trick me all along!"
"You know, I have to admire your bravado. Most In-Training digimon wouldn't even try to stand up to an Ultimate, but you told me off until I was crying crocodile tears!" Divermon ruffled the sprout on Tanemon's head. "And you got brains, too; enough to tell that I wasn't who I said I was! Too bad there's nothing you can do about it!"
Of course, Divermon just had to tempt fate with that last statement. Tanemon soon saw the headlights of a yellow car approaching the vicinity; since cars were rare in the Digital World outside of racetracks, there was only one logical explanation.
"Hey! Guys! Over here!" Tanemon hopped up and down. "Help me! Help me!"
The car pulled over, and of course, Arukenimon and Mummymon were the occupants. They got out, and made their way up to Tanemon and Divermon.
"What is going on here?" It was clear that Arukenimon was this close to losing her temper.
Tanemon pointed at Divermon. "Ask him! He's the one who kept harassing me about taking one of his rings, no matter what I said to him! I even told him I had friends waiting for me, but he didn't listen!" Looking at his ringed hand, he suddenly remembered his plight, and started pulling on the ring. "Oh, and speaking of rings, can you guys help me get this off? It doesn't come off when I try it."
Mummymon crouched down, took the ring, and pulled it right off of Tanemon's hand.
"Thanks, Mummymon!" Tanemon smirked at Divermon. "You hear that? We're not gonna fall for your tricks anymore! We're just gonna go home and-"
"We can't go home."
Tanemon raised an eyebrow, looking at Arukenimon. "What?"
Mummymon sighed. "There was a large swarm of Bakemon threatening us in the house - far too many for us to handle. One of them possessed me!"
Divermon laughed. "So that's why Mamemon wanted our army to have Bakemon in it! The guy's a genius! Even if he is overly wordy!" Since none of the trio was laughing with him, he just continued. "And I think our army is coming soon! You think you can fight 'em off? Well? Do ya?"
Tanemon hesitated for a moment, but he soon remembered Yukio's words.
It's time for you three to become heroes.
With renewed confidence, Tanemon stared down Divermon with a grin. "We'll do it, or we'll die trying!"
Arukenimon and Mummymon both simply nodded (though the latter seemed a little uncomfortable at the thought of them dying).
"You've all got guts, you know that?" Divermon folded his arms. "But we've got power in numbers! You better find some friends if you wanna live!"
A pinkish rabbit who appeared to be wearing a dress was cleaning some glasses in a tavern. She wiped them down ever so carefully, making sure that they were just as clean as they were when they were first made.
"Come on, move it!" A purple penguin tapped his flipper on the bar, resting his chin in his other flipper. "You know, Lunamon, if you'd used that dishwasher over there like I told you, you'd be done by now!"
Without stopping, Lunamon glanced at the penguin. "Now, Penguinmon, you know I don't trust dishwashers. I've lost several perfectly good glasses to them, even when I carefully load them."
With a sigh, Penguinmon leaned down on the bar, resting his head on his flippers. "Whatever. Can you just hurry up? I'm really thirsty."
Lunamon picked up the pace slightly. "I'm trying, all right? You have to be patient."
"You want me to be patient? A big, ugly serpent and his goons took over our home and kicked us out, and they're probably going to follow us here and be all like, 'Join us or die!', and you expect me to-"
A green turtle suddenly burst through the double doors, panting heavily. "Guys! We've got company!"
Lunamon and Penguinmon stared at the newcomer, with the former very nearly dropping the glass she was cleaning. "Company, Kamemon?"
Kamemon nodded.
"Friends or foes?" Penguinmon, having turned himself around, leaned back against the bar.
"Friends! Three different ones! They said they were all trying to stop MetalSeadramon and his army!"
Lunamon set the glass on the counter. "Let them in!"
With another nod, Kamemon ran back outside. Lunamon and Penguinmon could hear him say, "You guys can come in."
"Thank you!"
The others watched as Tanemon ran into the tavern, with Mummymon and Arukenimon close behind.
Penguinmon stared at the trio. "So this is the welcome wagon? Two humans and an In-Training? I guess we need all the help we can get, but..."
"Actually, we're not just humans." Mummymon walked over to Penguinmon and took a seat next to him. "We're digimon who can turn into humans."
"Yeah, right. I'll know it when I see it."
Right after saying that, Penguinmon felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned and saw Arukenimon glaring at him. She almost immediately started glowing, and after a short while, she was in her digimon form. "You were saying?"
"I..." Penguinmon looked over at Mummymon. "What about him?" When Mummymon showed Penguinmon that he had a digimon form too, Penguinmon sighed. "I stand corrected."
Arukenimon transformed back into her human form and claimed one of the barstools. "What drinks do you have here?"
"All I have is water." Lunamon looked at the ceiling and sighed. "I had a juice bar on the island where we used to live. There were all sorts of fruit trees on the island, and I would make lots of drinks for all our friends."
"And then MetalSeadramon came!" Penguinmon was just barely suppressing his rage. "He and his bootlickers were all like, 'This is our island now because we said so! Get out!' and we didn't have the power to take them all on, so we just left. And I heard they dug a huge tunnel connecting the center of the island to the ocean, 'cause MetalSeadramon's a whiny brat who's too important to just have his minions come to him at the beach! And Kamemon told us that around this new pool, they made a huge pavilion where everyone can come to see him! 'Cause there sure wasn't a beautiful field in that location, oh no!" Penguinmon growled. "Why, I have half a mind to go back there and tell MetalSeadramon that he and his yes-men had better get out right now because we said so! And besides, we were there first! Who does he think-"
Kamemon ran back in. "They're coming!"
"What? Who's coming?" Tanemon looked at everyone else; they were just as clueless as he was.
"Shellmon! Numemon! Candlemon! They're gonna-"
"Knock, knock!" The three aforementioned digimon burst into the tavern, grinning maliciously at the occupants.
Penguinmon rolled his eyes. "Oh, look, it's the island thieves! Tell me, have you guys stolen any more homes? I'm sure everyone's gonna love you for that!"
"Heh, heh, I haven't stolen any homes..." Candlemon pulled out a small white sphere from behind his back. "But I did make this!"
"What's that thing?" Penguinmon and the others stared, perplexed.
Candlemon started chuckling. "I'm very glad you asked..."
He threw the ball to the floor. In an instant, large clouds of white smoke billowed out from within, and the whole room was covered in haze.
"Argh! A smoke ball! Shoulda known!" Penguinmon facepalmed.
"Ready or not, here we come!" Shellmon sang.
In a panic, Tanemon started running. He didn't care where he was running, just that he would be as far away from the intruders as possible. Thus, when he reached a flight of stairs, he didn't hesitate in descending. Not as much of the smoke had reached this new room; therefore, Tanemon could easily tell that he was in the cellar. He walked over to some of the empty barrels and tried to hide amongst them.
When the smoke clears out, I'll know it's safe. I feel kinda guilty for running away, but I'm an In-Training digimon; what am I supposed to-
"Found you."
Tanemon gasped, seeing that Numemon was standing right there, in the middle of the cellar.
"Think you can just run and hide, do you? Well, when you're facing someone like me, running and hiding will just put you into a corner! Time to say good night, shorty!"
He started flinging some sludge at Tanemon, who leaped out of the way like his life depended on it (and to an extent, it did). After Numemon's initial barrage, Tanemon glared at him and began glowing.
Numemon blinked. "What? This again?"
"Tanemon digivolve to..." Once the light dissipated, he stood before Numemon as a bipedal plant creature with a bluish-lavender flower on his head. "Alraumon!"
Numemon sighed. "Yeah, it's this again." He threw some more sludge.
"Nemesis Ivy!" Alraumon threw some vines out from his leaf hands, encircling Numemon.
Numemon felt just a little more numb. "Well, you're slowing me down, but-"
"Is that you, Tanemon?"
Alraumon looked at the top of the stairs, and there was Kamemon, looking concerned. "Kamemon! Help me!"
As Kamemon ran down the stairs, Penguinmon appeared and followed him down. "Is there a beatdown going on? Count me in!"
Lunamon approached, and followed them after a brief moment's hesitation. "I must do what I can to help my friends..."
When they all made it down, Alraumon looked at them. "Quick! Before he gets out!"
"Armored Arrow!" Kamemon shot a guided missile at Numemon.
"Ice Prism!" Penguinmon fired some ice crystals out of his beak.
"Tear Shot!" Lunamon fired a ball of water out of her forehead antenna.
All three attacks hit Numemon at the same time, and he let out a loud groan.
"Numemon?" Shellmon suddenly appeared and rushed down the stairs, going up to him. "Are you okay?"
"I'm not gonna make it, Shellmon..." And just like that, Numemon's body dissipated into a cloud of data.
Somehow, this didn't faze Shellmon, who just smirked at the Rookies. "You guys think you're so tough? Well, I'm the supernatural landlord! And MetalSeadramon told me you each have to pay eighteen million bits, or you're gonna die! So fork it over or else!"
"Spirit Needle!"
"Necrophobia!"
Some needles and a gun blast hit Shellmon in the back (at least the areas where his shell wasn't protecting him). As his breathing became much more ragged, he turned to look at Arukenimon and Mummymon, who were standing at the top of the stairs in their digimon forms.
"I was only kidding! You guys are no fun!" And Shellmon also became data.
"Thanks, guys..." Alraumon watched his friends go down the stairs. "Sorry I ran away."
"It's all right." Mummymon turned back into his human form, as did Arukenimon. "So, what should we-"
Candlemon floated over to the stairwell. "Shellmon, Numemon, are you guys-" He froze as he saw four Rookies and two Ultimates glaring at him. After a brief pause, he decided to run out. "Game over, man!"
"After him!" Penguinmon ran up the stairs, and Arukenimon and Mummymon followed.
Lunamon watched them leave, and turned to Alraumon and Kamemon. "If you two don't mind, I'm going to set up a cauldron outside so anyone who needs water can get some."
"Thanks, Lunamon!" As Kamemon left with Alraumon, he decided to tell Alraumon about his life on the island. "I used to love looking at all the flowers on the island, and I would even help care for them on occasion. But since MetalSeadramon took over, I've been sneaking to the island to see the flowers, and even look further inland to see what else is going on. The middle of the island used to be a beautiful field, but when they got their hands on it, they turned it into a stone-covered pavilion where plants don't grow. They even ripped a huge hole in it so that it leads directly to the ocean! I shudder to think about what will happen if we don't reclaim our island soon..."
The two walked outside, where Lunamon was setting up her cauldron, and Alraumon looked at Kamemon. "Don't worry. I'm sure we can do this. We have the Digidestined on our side, remember?"
Kamemon smiled. "I guess you're right." And the two ran off into the field to join the fight.
Meanwhile, after Lunamon filled the cauldron, she suddenly realized something. "Oh, no! I forgot the cups!"
Thus, she ran back into the tavern to fetch some paper cups. She liked to save them for emergencies; tonight, it was definitely an emergency.
But she didn't notice a Mushroomon tiptoeing up to the cauldron, canteen in his hand. Snickering, Mushroomon opened the canteen and dumped its contents into the cauldron. Since whatever was in the canteen looked just like water, Lunamon wouldn't have a clue.
He had started stirring it with the nearby ladle when Lunamon walked back out. "Can I help you?"
"Oh, I just wanted to fill my canteen!" Mushroomon laughed nervously.
"Why not? There's enough for everybody!"
Thus, Mushroomon filled his canteen, just to avoid looking suspicious, and walked off. Oh, if only Lunamon knew what he was really doing.
He went up to his friend Roachmon and whispered something to him. Roachmon started laughing. "This is gonna be good!"
With that, he started flying around the battlefield, looking for the main targets. And he saw the green one and the red one standing together near a patch of dirt; the blue one wasn't there, but Roachmon decided it was close enough.
He landed in front of them like a maniac. "Surprise! You guys ready to party?"
Alraumon and Arukenimon froze. "What the-"
"Lemme show you my new dance. I call it the Roachmon Shuffle!"
Before Arukenimon could reach for her flute, Roachmon started dancing. The dance involved a lot of dragging his feet in the dirt, along with a copious amount of kicking up dust. Soon, a large cloud of dust had formed, causing the two to break into a fit of coughing and hacking. Somehow, Roachmon himself wasn't affected, and he flew off.
Arukenimon tried to fan the dust away. "Gah, I'm thirsty..."
When the dust had cleared up enough, Alraumon could see Lunamon's cauldron in the distance. "Let's ask Lunamon for some water!"
They ran through the field until they reached Lunamon, who let them drink until they were satisfied. The water tasted a little bit off, but to them, it didn't matter.
When they were no longer thirsty, they ran back out into the battlefield, looking for other enemies to strike down. It didn't take long, however, for both of them to start feeling rather tottery. The world around them began to twist and blur, and they both fell onto the grass.
"Hey, Arukenimon? What's going on?"
"Why don't you tell me?"
And that was the last thing they said before the world became strange for both of them.
Mummymon was running through the battlefield, but before long, he caught sight of the two lying on the grass.
"Oh, no!" He ran up to them, trying to rouse them from unconsciousness. "Arukenimon? Alraumon? Is everything okay? Speak to me!"
But their minds were far away from reality right now.
Arukenimon found herself in what appeared to be a strange temple of sorts. There was white everywhere, and whatever wasn't white was varying shades of blue. The only thing she could hear was what sounded like running water in the distance.
Where am I?
She looked down. There was marble tile beneath her boots; it was shiny and hard. As she started walking, the click and clunk of her boots against the marble reverberated throughout the room.
"Hello?" Her voice echoed in a similar manner. "Oikawa? Alraumon? Mummymon? Is there anybody in here?"
No one was answering her. She continued walking, hoping that maybe, just maybe, someone would explain what was going on.
Before long, she was face-to-face with a white brick wall. She looked to her right and saw a similar wall. To the left, however, there was another hallway. She proceeded down this hallway, wondering when she would find her answer. It was hard for her to tell just how long she walked; time seemed to have no meaning in this temple. But after what felt like several minutes of walking, she thought she could see something in the distance.
Was that a person?
She picked up her pace and started running down the hallway. As she got closer, she saw that it was, in fact, a person. One of the Digidestined, to be specific. And not only that, but there was a second one nearby. The two were sitting side-by-side against the temple wall, staring mournfully at their digivices.
Arukenimon walked up to them. "Hey! What's going on here?"
The two didn't even seem to acknowledge her prescence.
"I said, what's going on here?" Didn't their parents ever teach them that it wasn't polite to ignore someone who was asking them a question?
And then one of them responded. It was inaudible, though, and only consisted of one word.
Why?
With a sigh, Arukenimon quickly decided that she wasn't going to get any answers from these two, and continued walking. She saw a few more Digidestined, but none of them were any more responsive than the first two.
Eventually, she saw an even stranger sight far away. As she approached, though, a part of her almost seemed revolted as she saw what it was: the rest of the Digidestined, lying unconscious in a pile, clutching their digivices. But were they just unconscious, or...?
Arukenimon tried to comprehend the whole thing. Back in 2002, this would have been exactly the kind of thing she would have loved to see. So why was she so disgusted when she saw it now?
Before she could think about it any further, she could hear something in the distance. Something that wasn't there before...a voice?
Maybe they'll explain things to me!
She walked through the temple, following the sound of the voice. As she got closer, she began noticing that something about the voice sounded strangely familiar...but maybe she was just hearing things. The voice got louder and louder as she got closer to its source; when she was right outside the room where the voice was coming from, she could actually hear the words the voice was saying.
"I pledge to let the ocean cleanse my soul. MetalSeadramon is, was, and always will be my only master; all other masters were not the true master. My entire life will be dedicated solely to pleasing MetalSeadramon in everything I do. He is such a wonderful master that I would even willingly die for him."
Wait... Arukenimon froze. That voice did sound familiar...too familiar!
She threw open the doors to the room and walked inside. It almost looked like the interior of some kind of church; there were stained-glass windows everywhere, most of which depicted MetalSeadramon. Also, there were waterfalls on either side of the room, obscuring the view of some of the windows, and emptying out into pools in the floor. But what caught Arukenimon's attention most of all was the figure kneeling at the other end of the room, reciting the words she had heard.
It was her digimon form.
"What are you doing?" Arukenimon walked a little closer to the spider. When the spider refused to answer, Arukenimon straight-up decided to march in her direction. "Listen, I've been trapped in this place for I-don't-know-how-long, and you're the only one who I've heard saying anything! So tell me what's going on, or-"
Abruptly, the spider turned to face her. "This will be you."
"What are you talking about?"
"If you don't change your attitude, this will be you."
"My attitude?"
"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about!" The spider walked behind the nearby podium, staring down her human form. "Thinking you need to mistreat others or act as if they don't matter to you just because of your pride. You're so desperate to prove yourself as an adult that you've forgotten that even adults need help sometimes!"
"They don't need help all the time!"
"That's why I said 'sometimes'." The spider folded her arms. "Think about it this way: if Oikawa didn't need help, would you have been born?"
Arukenimon paused for a moment, and her mind became more turmoiled as the realization came to her: her other self was right.
"Well? Yes or no?"
"...No."
"Exactly." The spider stared up at the ceiling. "So why don't you do your friends a favor and give back to them for a change?"
"Friends?"
"You know, Mummymon and Alraumon? I heard you calling out for them when you arrived."
"They're not my friends. I just tolerate them."
The spider rolled her eyes. "You know, you can hit anyone else with that excuse all you want. But I'm you, and you're me, and I know how you really feel about them. And I suppose if you just tolerated them, you wouldn't care at all if this happened?"
She clicked her fingers. Arukenimon could suddenly hear a man's voice yelling, crescendoing every second. When she looked up, she saw a cobalt-blue figure falling from the ceiling, getting closer and closer. He almost looked like...
"Mummymon?"
He came crashing down onto the floor, and weakly looked up at her. "Arukenimon...I-" But he couldn't finish his sentence, as his body, clothes and all, crumbled in front of her until there was nothing but a pile of dirt.
Arukenimon wanted to say something, but what had just happened was so nonsensical that she couldn't bring herself to form words. Her thoughts were interrupted when the yelling of another voice, this time that of a young boy, became audible. She looked up, and this time it was Alraumon who was falling. When he landed in the dirt, he tried in vain to climb out, but the dirt was sucking him in.
"Save yourself..." were his last words before the dirt swallowed him. And then the strangest thing of all happened: a small green sprout began growing out of the dirt, with several days' worth of growth happening in just a few seconds. Eventually, the plant bloomed (the bloom was the same color as Alraumon's bloom), and Arukenimon was more puzzled than ever.
She looked at her other self and asked one question.
"A flower?"
Alraumon opened his eyes, and found himself in a strange field.
Maybe Yukio's here...I should at least find someone and ask what's going on!
Thus, he took off running through the field. This was a strange land indeed; it was the land of metal trees, kettle fleas, petal cheese...
...the sights could bring him to his knees!
To his left, Alraumon saw a Renamon standing on a boulder, turning a crank on some weird kind of box, and chanting "Now, now, now, now, now..." as if nothing else mattered.
On the other hand, when he looked to the right, Alraumon saw a huge banquet table. He could see Arukenimon and Mummymon in two of the seats; the rest of the seats were occupied by either the Digidestined, their digimon partners, or some of their most notorious foes, such as Devimon, Etemon, Myotismon, the Daemon Corps, and most of the Dark Masters. It was especially bizarre because all of them were laughing it up together like old friends, as if one half of the group didn't hate the other.
"Tra la la!" Puppetmon, the one Dark Master who wasn't at the table, skipped through the field, chasing after a dragonfly.
Alraumon stared at all the sights. "None of this makes sense..."
"Why does it have to make sense?"
Alraumon yelped and turned around; there, he saw Gennai, one of the Digidestined's most notable allies. The sight of him normally wouldn't be that weird, but right now, Gennai happened to be wearing a brown dress.
"Um...er..."
"You shouldn't worry about stuff making sense. If you worry too long, you'll just get tense. And you don't want to get tense, so stop making sense."
In that instant, Gennai vanished into thin air. Alraumon could hear someone lumbering nearby, and when he looked, he saw a ShogunGekomon ambling around.
"It sure is a wonderful day, isn't it?" ShogunGekomon lay down in the grass, his terracotta skin clashing against the green. He curled himself up until he turned into a giant, heavy rectangular prism, still with the same colors. The prism soon morphed into a giant egg, and the egg cracked open, and out popped a Falcomon.
"Phew! I've been meaning to fly again for some time!" He looked at Alraumon. "I haven't seen you around; are you-"
"There he is!"
Alraumon and Falcomon saw that the crowd at the banquet table had gotten up, and they were all staring at Falcomon with huge grins.
Ken pointed at him. "It's Falcomon!"
Wormmon nodded. "Maybe he knows the way to the beach of gold!"
Devimon crouched into a position that made it look like he was a runner waiting for the starting gun. "We should beg him for directions!"
They all started running in the duo's direction.
"Ack! They're hard on my tail!" Falcomon brought Alraumon close. "Grab on so we can fly away!"
Alraumon tightly wrapped his leaf hands around Falcomon's torso, and Falcomon took to the air. Miraculously, none of the crowd members, not even the ones who could fly, decided to follow; they just stood there yelling "C'mon, Falcomon!"
"That was a close one!" Falcomon flew for a short while before landing in a different field; this one had the entrance to a farm nearby, designated with a sign labeled "Garden".
Alraumon looked around. "Where are we?"
"We are in a very strange land; that's where we are." Falcomon turned around. "In this land, everything can change in an instant, like this!"
When Falcomon said "this", Alraumon suddenly found himself in a room, sitting in front of a mirror, with one key difference to his appearance: he had turned human!
He had hands! And feet! And green eyes!
He had purple hair!
...oh, and he had some clothes, too. A green shirt, blue jeans, brown shoes...nothing too out of the ordinary.
"See what I mean?" When Falcomon said that, Alraumon found himself right back where he previously was, at the farm with Falcomon, and a digimon once more. "Follow me."
He and Alraumon walked into the farm, and the latter looked at all of the plots of dirt. "Is this your farm?"
"Yes."
"What do you grow here?"
"A better question would be, 'What don't we grow here?'" Falcomon directed Alraumon to another portion of the farm, where there were different plants engaged in various activities. Alraumon couldn't help but stare at the sight; it was one thing for a plant digimon to do those kinds of things, but actual plants?
"As you can see, we have all sorts of different plants here. Some like to play sports..." He gestured towards a stadium where a team of cacti and a team of rhododendrons were going head-to-head in a game of...whatever it was that some of the Digidestined liked to play. Football? Soccer? Whatever it was called.
"Others like to make art." Falcomon showed Alraumon to a white lily who was painting something on a canvas. The lily was soon done, though, and showed Falcomon and Alraumon the picture; it depicted Hawkmon and Biyomon in some kind of cubist style.
Falcomon smiled at the sight. "Excellent picture, Lilith."
The lily (apparently named Lilith) took a bow.
Falcomon and Alraumon started off again as the former continued to explain. "And some of them even like to-" He suddenly stopped, holding Alraumon back with his wing.
"What's wrong?"
"Here it comes again."
Before Alraumon could ask, Falcomon pointed into the distance, from which a head of lettuce came rolling through a number of wickets before coming to rest near the duo. A flower of a kind that Alraumon had never seen before came running up to it with a croquet mallet, and prepared to take a big swing.
Alraumon looked at Falcomon. "Uh, what's going on?"
"These are what we call head games." Falcomon looked around. "Some of my plants even like to write poetry. They use only the best loose-leaf, of course. A number of my best flowers haven't grown yet, though."
"Will they ever grow?"
Falcomon shrugged. "It depends. This is, after all, a very bizarre land, where everything can change just like this!"
Suddenly, Alraumon was no longer on the farm with Falcomon; he was instead floating on a raft in the middle of a huge lake. The lake was so huge that he couldn't even see the shore from any angle.
"Where am I now?" He started panting. "Is it getting hot out here or something? You there, Falcomon?"
"Hey, Alraumon!"
Alraumon looked and saw Mummymon floating up to him in some kind of canoe. Oddly enough, his boat had no oars, sails, pedals, motors, or any other visible means of propulsion; all it had was a desk.
He sweatdropped. "Uh...hi, Mummymon."
"It's a wonderful day outside, isn't it?" Mummymon pulled a calculator from one of the desk drawers, typed "07734" into it, held it upside down, and showed it to Alraumon. "I'm having fun! Are you having fun?"
"Well, uh..."
"I, for one, am most certainly having fun!" Suddenly, Arukenimon appeared, floating in a deskless canoe and dunking her scarf into the lake. "The sky is shining, the sun is blue, the clouds are singing, and there's not a bird in sight! Could this day be any more perfect?"
Between seeing Gennai in a dress, seeing Falcomon's weird garden, and everything else he had seen, Alraumon's mind was feeling twisted, trying to comprehend everything. At this point, he decided it was in his best interests to tell his friends just how he felt about this whole thing.
"You guys are acting weird."
"Are you sure we're acting weird?" Mummymon randomly opened another desk drawer, this one full of tennis balls. He selected three and started juggling them.
Arukenimon had a weird smile on her face. "What if we're acting normal...and you're acting weird?"
Suddenly, she cracked her scarf at Alraumon like a whip. Wha-pssh!
Alraumon yelled as he was sent flying from his raft. He flew quite a large distance over the water, and everything else seemed to blur for him until he crash-landed in the same field he was first in. This time, night was beginning to fall, and he couldn't see Renamon, the banquet table, the crowd, or anyone else. He decided to run through the field, trying to find a way out. But as he ran, he began to hear some voices in his head, calling out to him.
First, there was Arukenimon's voice:
Come on, stay with us forever!
Then Mummymon chimed in:
You know you want to!
And then Gennai:
Don't you think this is paradise?
Alraumon kept running, until he found himself right in front of a huge pile of dirt. He could see Falcomon standing next to it, waving at him.
"You look like you could stand to grow a little." Falcomon laid down Alraumon in the grass, covered his body up to his neck with soil, and held up a strange bottle. Before Alraumon could ask what was in it, Falcomon put the bottle's drinking end in Alraumon's mouth, and seeing no other choice, Alraumon decided to drink.
He drank...
...and drank...
And then one last weird thing happened.
The landscape around him began twisting and warping, and he could feel his own mind beginning to clear up.
Finally, he was no longer in a field, wrapped in soil, with Falcomon giving him something to drink. He was instead in a tent, wrapped in a blanket, where Lunamon was giving him something to drink.
"Hmm?"
At the sound of this, Lunamon removed the bottle from his mouth. "Alraumon! Are you back to reality?"
"Yeah...I guess so. What happened?" He looked to his left and saw that Arukenimon was also in a makeshift bed. "And what's Arukenimon doing here?"
Lunamon sighed. "It turns out that the water in my cauldron...somehow, it got laced with some natural hallucinogens."
Alraumon blinked. "Natural what-now?"
Arukenimon looked over at him. "They're drugs that cause you to start seeing and hearing things that aren't there."
"Oh...that explains why I was seeing all those weird things!"
"I swear, it was just plain water when I put it in the cauldron." Lunamon put her face in her hands. "I should have kept a closer eye on the cauldron, or asked someone to look after it, or had my supplies all ready beforehand, or-"
"Hey, it's okay. No hard feelings." Alraumon stood up. "And whatever you gave me just now, I think it helped to clear things up."
"It's an antidote. This one neutralizes the hallucinogenic properties of whatever was mixed into the water."
"Oh. Okay."
Arukenimon also stood up. "Does Mummymon know what happened here?"
Lunamon nodded. "I told him everything I knew. He's currently scouting the area, and he should be back-"
Suddenly, Mummymon walked into the tent. "I'm back, Lunamon!" When he caught sight of the others, he gasped. "Arukenimon! Alraumon! You're okay!"
Alraumon walked up to him. "Yep! Lunamon gave us an antidote!"
"Did you find out anything important?" Arukenimon also came closer.
"Yes, I did! When I was scouting the area, some of the exiles gave me some really important news!"
"And that would be...?"
"The Digidestined are here."
Greymon and Garurumon were running through Server with their human partners in tow, trying to find the rest of the team. Birdramon and Sora were flying up above, keeping an eye out.
Tai, riding on Greymon, looked around. "They should be around here somewhere!"
"I hope we're not too late..." Matt muttered.
Suddenly, a small swarm of Bakemon flew out of the nearby shrubs, clearly trying to evade something.
"Vee-Laser!"
"Spiking Strike!"
The combined power of the two attacks finished off the Bakemon, and Davis, Ken, ExVeemon, and Stingmon emerged from behind the shrubs.
Birdramon flew down, and Sora stepped off to greet them. "Hey, guys, have you seen the others?"
Davis shrugged. "Last thing I heard, they were going down to the beach to fight off everyone there. Ken and I were trying to follow them, until those freaks ambushed us."
"The Bakemon?"
"Yeah. I heard there's even more of them." Davis grinned at his friends. "Nothing we can't handle, though! Right, guys?"
Ken nodded, and looked at Stingmon. "I don't see why we can't DNA digivolve, though..."
"Wait..." Tai looked at Davis and Ken. "You can't DNA digivolve?"
"We'll show you!" Davis readied his digivice, as did Ken. Soon, ExVeemon and Stingmon started glowing.
"ExVeemon!"
"Stingmon!"
"DNA digivolve to..."
The glow dissipated, only to reveal ExVeemon and Stingmon standing there, arms raised above their heads.
"Paildra-" They paused, looking at each other and noticing that they had most certainly not DNA digivolved. "...Never mind!"
Matt sighed. "We can't digivolve to Ultimate, either. We've tried, but nothing's working."
They all ran off to the beach, where not quite all of the other Digidestined were fighting off MetalSeadramon's troops. All of the partner digimon were at their Champion stages.
"Hand of Fate!"
"Tail Hammer!"
Angemon and Ankylomon's combined attacks took care of some more Bakemon, and TK and Cody ran up to the others.
"Hey, guys! Something weird's going on! I tried to get Angemon to digivolve to MagnaAngemon, and it didn't work!"
Cody shook his head. "We couldn't get him and Ankylomon to DNA digivolve, either."
"Welcome to the club." Davis looked at the others, who nodded, and then looked out at the opposing army. "But we can still take them on! Right?"
"Wait..." Ken noticed the rings that the partner digimon were wearing. "Do you think maybe those rings have something to do with this?"
Garurumon thought a moment. "Maybe...but they don't come off. We tried."
Ken started pondering. "If we could just get them off, maybe you guys can digivolve again. But how?"
Meanwhile, the two Digidestined not on the beach, Yolei and Kari, were walking through a forest. Gatomon was walking with them, and Aquilamon was flying overhead.
"I hope we get to the beach soon!" Yolei looked around. "The others are probably wondering where we are!"
Kari nodded. "I'm sure we'll find it soon."
Suddenly, Gatomon heard something rustle, and her ear twitched. "Who's there?" She brandished her claws, glaring in all directions.
"Oh! Um..." They all stared as a plant-like digimon walked into view. This digimon looked oddly familiar to all of them...
"Palmon? Is that you?" Yolei still had her doubts, though; Palmon's flower was pink, not lavender, and this digimon had a more boyish voice than Palmon.
"Oh no, actually, my name's Alraumon." He looked up. "I think I'm a subspecies or something..."
As Aquilamon flew down to see how things were going, Yolei walked closer to Alraumon. "Do you know the way to the beach?"
"Yeah, I've walked through this forest before." He pointed. "Go that way and you should be there pretty soon."
"Thanks!"
"Oh, and one more thing..." Gatomon pointed at the pink ring encircling one of her fingers. "Do you know anything about these rings?"
Alraumon nodded. "A Divermon put a ring on me and I couldn't get it off, no matter how hard I tried!"
Aquilamon gave Alraumon an incredulous look. "That happened to us, too!"
"But my friend, who's an Ultimate, managed to get it off no problem."
Kari smiled at this development. "What's your friend's name? Maybe they can help us!"
Alraumon laughed nervously; how was he supposed to explain his friends' identities to the Digidestined? Finally, he took a deep breath. "Funny story about that...you see, my friends-"
Suddenly, Arukenimon walked into the area, Mummymon close behind. "Alraumon, did you find-"
At this point, all parties in the immediate vicinity froze, staring at each other. Of course, the Digidestined were the most shocked of all at the sight of their old foes. On the other hand, Arukenimon and Mummymon were also somewhat shocked; they knew they would have to face the Digidestined soon, but right now? And poor Alraumon was caught in the middle, knowing anything could happen at this moment.
Eventually, it was Yolei who managed to speak. "Arukenimon and Mummymon are back?"
Alraumon raised his hand. "Yeah, um-"
Gatomon glared at them. "If you two are up to no good, we're gonna turn you into scratching posts!"
"Wait! They're on our side!" Alraumon ran between the two groups. "They're the ones who helped me get my ring off! Maybe they can help you, too!"
Aquilamon looked at Alraumon in disbelief. "Do you know who they are?"
With a nod, Alraumon looked down. "I know that they used to be evil, and I understand why you don't trust them. But you have to believe me when I tell you that they've changed. You see, Yukio told us to-"
"Yukio?" The realization dawned on Kari. "Like Yukio Oikawa?"
"That's right! Remember the Datirimon he met before he died? That's me. Just about a week ago, his butterflies took me to a secret grotto along with Arukenimon and Mummymon's eggs. Once they hatched and became Ultimates again, he appeared before us as a shade and told us that we needed to become heroes."
"He's right, you know." Arukenimon walked up to Gatomon and held out her hand. "Give me your paw so I can take the ring off."
With slight hesitation, Gatomon held out her paw. Arukenimon took hold of the ring and pulled, and the ring slid right off.
"Whoa..." The Digidestined, having previously failed to remove the rings themselves, were amazed that Arukenimon made it look so easy.
Mummymon looked at Aquilamon. "Let me get your ring." He walked up to Aquilamon and removed the ring from around his toe.
Once the ring was off, Aquilamon looked at his partner. "Yolei, do you think Gatomon and I could DNA digivolve now that the rings are off? We couldn't before..."
Yolei looked at Kari, and the two readied their digivices. "Let's give it a try!"
Their partners began glowing.
"Aquilamon!"
"Gatomon!"
"DNA digivolve to..."
When they burst out of the light, they had successfully merged into their Ultimate form...
"Silphymon!"
Kari felt the urge to jump for joy. "It worked! We couldn't do it earlier, but it worked now!"
"So that's what the rings do..." Alraumon scratched his head. "I mean, I heard they did something to mess with digivolution, but I wasn't sure until now. So, they prevent you from digivolving to Ultimate, huh?"
Mummymon leaned against a tree. "Maybe that's why you have to be an Ultimate to take them off..."
Yolei nodded. "Right! Now let's go find the others!"
Arukenimon shook her head. "Like they're even going to listen to us..."
"We'll vouch for you!" Yolei admittedly felt a little strange saying this about their former enemies, but so far, they seemed to have genuinely changed.
Thus, the group started off towards the beach, following Alraumon's directions.
Meanwhile, the remaining ten Digidestined were all standing on the beach, trying to map out a plan. Izzy had drawn some sketches in the sand with a stick to help out.
"So if the island is here, and we're right here...but how are we going to get to the island without alerting too many of the guards?"
Davis shrugged. "Maybe we'll just have to-"
"Hey, guys!"
Everyone turned to see Yolei, Kari, and Silphymon running for them, looking excited. But what confused the Digidestined was the sight of Arukenimon and Mummymon driving close to them in their car, holding an Alraumon none of them were familiar with. And Yolei, Kari, and Silphymon didn't seem to care or even notice.
Yolei stopped in front of the group. "Guess what, guys? We found out that the rings are what's stopping us from digivolving to Ultimate!"
Davis raised his hand. "Uh, Yolei?"
"Once Aquilamon and Gatomon had their rings off, we tried getting them to DNA digivolve, and it worked! Perfecto!"
"Yolei?"
"And Davis, I know what you're trying to tell me. You're trying to warn me that Arukenimon and Mummymon are right over there. Well, you're not gonna believe this, but they're on our side now! They're the ones who got the rings off!"
The Digidestined stared amongst each other in silence for a moment until Cody turned towards Arukenimon and Mummymon. "Is it true?"
"Yes, children; it's all true." Arukenimon got out of the car. "Mummymon and I used to want you at our mercy, but now we have to help you."
Mummymon followed her. "We can help you take those rings off."
Ken, remembering how they used to be, stepped forward. "You're not going to backstab us later on, are you?"
"Oh, so we're helping your digimon regain the ability to digivolve to Ultimate and Mega, just so we could try to kill you later?" Arukenimon folded her arms. "That's a genius move!"
"Gotta admit, that is a good point." Togemon walked up to them.
Thus, for the next minute, Arukenimon, Mummymon, and Silphymon helped the other Digidestined digimon get their rings off. When the last rings were gone, everyone tried to have their partners digivolve, and just like with Aquilamon and Gatomon, it worked; ExVeemon and Stingmon successfully became Paildramon, Ankylomon and Angemon became Shakkoumon, and the remaining six partners became MetalGreymon, WereGarurumon, Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon, Lillymon, and Zudomon. Almost instantly, they decided to go to the island, now that they had the firepower to handle it.
Tai looked at the trio. "Are you sure you're not gonna come with us?"
Arukenimon nodded. "We heard one of the lieutenants has a fortress over here. We'll deal with him while you take back the island."
"That makes sense. We'll see you guys in a little while!"
As the Digidestined left, Arukenimon, Mummymon, and Alraumon got back in the car and drove around the beach, looking for the fortress. It was beginning to rain by the time they finally found it, and somehow the ocean had turned a sickly black color. They parked the car outside, and Arukenimon and Mummymon changed into their digimon forms. A few Bakemon floating outside the fortress taunted the trio, but Arukenimon and Mummymon made short work of them.
They all ran into the building, where the room was round, the walls were stony, and there was a spiral staircase along the walls. A locker was leaning against one wall, and another wall featured a blackboard with sketches and data regarding the rings.
Arukenimon recalled the Bakemon outside. "This must be the place. I've heard the lieutenant commands an army of Bakemon."
Mummymon looked around. "Yes, but where-"
"Smiley Bomb!"
The explosion caught all three of them off guard; Alraumon was especially dazed. They all looked at the staircase and saw Mamemon slowly descending.
"It would seem that you all have exceeded expectations in terms of how far you would progress." He smirked. "Of course, according to my calculations, your chance of success is infinitesimal."
Alraumon glared at Mamemon. "Well, I think your calculations are wrong."
Mamemon scoffed. "What do you know? You're probably unable to explain to me the difference between an algorithm and a logarithm!"
"Why do you need it explained to you? Shouldn't you already know?"
Arukenimon tried as hard as she could to resist laughing. She didn't think Alraumon, of all digimon, had it in him!
Mamemon, however, wasn't impressed. "You know exactly what I meant! Do not try to inject humor into this situation, as it will only prolong your demise!"
He climbed onto the rail and jumped off. "Smiley Bomb!"
The three jumped out of the way of the attack, the blast just barely singeing them.
"Spirit Needle!" Arukenimon threw the needles at Mamemon, who just stood there grinning as he took the attack.
"The firepower from your follicles has little effect against my metallic skin. However, I will give you a passing grade for your effort!" He started running.
Mummymon readied his gun. "Necrophobia!" He started firing lasers at Mamemon, who was running around the room. Not a single one hit him, but they did hit the walls.
"Wait, Mummymon!" Alraumon ran up to him. "If you keep hitting the walls like that, you might bring the whole fortress crashing down on us!"
Mamemon stopped running, laughed, and started advancing on the trio. "Well, it would seem you are at a disadvantage. One of you possesses attacks that are ineffective, one of you possesses attacks that potentially are destructive, and the last of you is of an insufficient digivolutionary level." He stopped right in front of them, folded his arms, and let out a huge laugh. "Is there anything that might even give you a slight hope at this point?"
As Mamemon laughed, Alraumon and Mummymon looked concerned. Arukenimon, however, had one more trick up her sleeve.
"Poison Mist!"
She exhaled a toxic cloud in Mamemon's face. He went from laughing to hacking in an instant.
Arukenimon looked at Mummymon. "Do it!"
He nodded. "Necrophobia!"
He fired a laser at Mamemon, who couldn't dodge this time. Mamemon fell to the floor, and tried to get up.
"Keep shooting him!"
Mummymon did what Arukenimon told him. Gun blast after gun blast hit Mamemon, who had less and less energy to dodge with each attack.
Finally, Mamemon collapsed on the floor, the data in his body beginning to crackle. "Your tactics are exceptionally clever." He smirked. "But I still have one more measure to execute! Sparkling Glow!"
With the last of his energy, he made his body emit an incredibly bright light.
Then, he dissolved.
The trio groaned as they all tried to shield their eyes. Arukenimon and Mummymon reverted to their human forms in the vain hope that their hats and her sunglasses would help protect them from the light.
"That's my cue!" They heard a locker door open, and just as the light was beginning to fade, they could feel someone put their hands behind their backs and place cuffs around their wrists. When they looked back, they saw an Asuramon glaring at them. "You're coming with me."
"What? Why?" Arukenimon struggled to get the cuffs off.
"For trying to resist MetalSeadramon, of course! In all the time I've worked for him, I've never met three digimon more worthy of punishment!" Asuramon fetched a nearby burlap sack. "Your behavior fills me with the urge to annihilate!"
"No! Don't do it!" Alraumon tried desperately to appeal to whatever shred of goodness might have been in Asuramon's heart.
Asuramon, however, just glared at him. "I only take orders from MetalSeadramon himself. Rookies need not apply!"
He stuffed the three of them into the sack, ignoring their protests, and tied the sack up. As he walked outside, he could see the lightning flash and the ocean churn. Thunder was rolling, the wind was howling, and a deluge of rainfall slammed onto his skin. But he didn't care; a Seadramon was waiting nearby to take him to the island. In spite of the nasty weather, the Seadramon swam through the ocean as naturally as if it were a calm, sunny day.
Once they reached the island, Asuramon made a beeline for the fort. After going inside, he ran down the hallways until he reached the room where all the exiles were held captive. Lunamon, Penguinmon, Kamemon, and the others gasped at the sight of him. He entered the nearest cell, dumped his newest captives onto the floor, and removed their cuffs.
"I'll deal with you later." He closed and locked the cell door, and was on his way.
Alraumon looked around. "Well...what are we supposed to do now?"
With a sigh, Mummymon stared at the ceiling. "I think all we can do...is wait."
Meanwhile, it had been at least a few hours, but the Digidestined had gotten rid of almost all the enemy troops, and were facing Divermon and Asuramon just outside the pavilion. The latter two had tried to take them down any way they could, but they were simply outnumbered.
Divermon, however, wasn't giving up anytime soon. "Striking Fi-"
"Static Force!"
"Flower Cannon!"
"Vulcan's Hammer!"
The combined attacks from Silphymon, Lillymon, and Zudomon hit Divermon point-blank, and he broke apart into data.
"Diver down! Diver down!" Asuramon brandished all four of his fists and glared at the group. "Fire Fist of-"
"Wing Blade!"
"Horn Buster!"
"Justice Beam!"
The attacks of Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon, and Shakkoumon slammed into Asuramon, who lingered a bit and laughed nervously. "I guess a 'drop and give me twenty' is out of the question?"
As his body dissolved, the Digidestined ran up to the pool, and MetalSeadramon emerged to greet them. "What a surprise! I didn't think you'd be here this soon!"
Tai shook his head. "We weren't going to come back until this morning, but then we heard you had returned."
"You might as well give up, MetalSeadramon." Matt glared him down. "You're the only member of your army still standing."
MetalSeadramon laughed. "You wish! But I'm still the strongest member of the army!"
The digimon partners all charged at him, but he just laughed and knocked them away with his tail. He smirked at the Digidestined. "Why don't I just get rid of the power at its source?"
He charged up an energy beam in his snout. "River of Power!"
As he fired the beam, the Digidestined all braced themselves...
...but then, Tai heard MetalGreymon cry out.
When the Digidestined looked, they saw that MetalGreymon had taken the full force of the attack, and was dedigivolving all the way down to Botamon.
"Are you okay?" Tai picked up his partner and held him close.
With another laugh, MetalSeadramon gazed down at the scene before him. "I'd like to see how you'll get out of this one!"
Tai was desperately trying to come up with a plan in his head...
...but then, a beam of golden light hit Botamon.
Gasping, Tai turned to see Imperialdramon channeling his power into Botamon.
"Don't worry! We've got you covered!" Imperialdramon kept channeling his power, and Tai found himself letting go of Botamon, allowing the latter to float in midair. Eventually, as soon as Imperialdramon stopped and reverted to Chibomon and Minomon, the golden light enveloped Botamon.
"Botamon warp digivolve to...WarGreymon!"
WarGreymon stared down MetalSeadramon for some time, before turning back to the other digimon partners. "Help me out!"
All the partners who could still fight fired their strongest attacks at MetalSeadramon, stunning him for a short period of time.
"Now's my chance!" WarGreymon leaped into the air and started spinning. "Great Tornado!"
MetalSeadramon screamed as WarGreymon's claws hacked and sliced at his body, going all the way down just like last time.
By the time WarGreymon was through, MetalSeadramon was no more.
As all the partners dedigivolved, Tai looked out across the horizon; the rain was beginning to die down. "We did it. We won..."
"Congratulations, Digidestined."
Everyone gasped as they turned towards the source of the voice: it was none other than Yukio Oikawa, coming back to them as a shade.
Cody was the most surprised of all. "You're back?"
"Since our last meeting, I have learned how to take this form." Oikawa looked out across the land. "But I will explain things later; right now, there is something I must do."
The sound of a keyring rattling caused Alraumon, Arukenimon, and Mummymon to wake up from their dreams somewhat. It was a distant sound at first, but as it got closer to their cell, it got louder. When it was their door being unlocked, they fully woke up and turned towards the door, expecting the worst.
Instead, they saw Oikawa unlocking the door and pulling it open for them. "You're all free to leave now."
They were all stunned at the sight, Alraumon most of all. "Yukio?"
Oikawa smiled. "I did say we were going to meet again someday soon."
Mummymon gave him a confused stare. "But MetalSeadramon-"
"Is gone now. The Digidestined have defeated him."
Arukenimon stood up. "And Divermon and Asuramon?"
"They're gone, too. All of MetalSeadramon's troops are no more."
Alraumon's face began to light up. "You...you mean...we won?"
Oikawa nodded.
Penguinmon ran up to them. "Come on, guys! Last one outside's a rotten egg!"
The last few drops of rain fell, the clouds started clearing out, and the sun began to rise as Oikawa, the trio, and the exiles all walked outside and started making their way through the island.
Penguinmon went off to look at the ocean. It wasn't that sickly black color anymore; now, it had returned to its normal blue color. He could stare at it for hours and-
"Penguinmon!"
He turned around at the sudden voice, seeing a red version of himself running up to him.
"Muchomon!"
"Hey, bro!" The reunited brothers hugged, and Muchomon looked at Penguinmon. "I was in a super-secret hiding place for a really long time. No one could find me! I came out of it as soon as I was sure those creepy digimon were gone, and I was scared because I thought they did something to you, but you're here, and you're okay!"
"Yeah...and I was worried something had happened to you, too! Thank the Four Gods you're okay!"
Muchomon nodded, and looked out at the ocean. "You wanna go play in the water?"
"Do you even have to ask?"
The brothers ran out to the beach as the sun rose over the water.
Meanwhile, as Lunamon went off to look at the fruit trees, Arukenimon and Mummymon went off with Oikawa, and the rest of the exiles went elsewhere, Kamemon showed Alraumon to his favorite flower garden.
"I'm so glad my flowers are okay." He looked around. "I thought for sure MetalSeadramon and the others would've done something to them."
Out of the corner of his eye, Alraumon could see something going on in one of the grassier parts of the garden. "Hey, what's going on over there?"
Kamemon looked where Alraumon was looking. "I think a new flower is growing!"
They both ran up to the place where the flower was slowly inching its way out of the ground. While most flowers took a while to grow, this one was taking no time at all as it steadily grew taller and formed flower buds...
And then, with all the force of a sledgehammer, the buds burst into bloom.
"Whoa..." Kamemon and Alraumon stared at the new flower. Its blooms were mostly red-orange, but there were a few light-blue ones in there as well. The flower looked very extravagant, but also...enigmatic, in a way. They weren't sure what it was about it, but it did feel enigmatic to stand near it. Almost philosophical, in a way.
"I've never seen a flower like that before..." Kamemon muttered.
"Nope." Alraumon could soon notice four more plants creeping out of the ground nearby. "Hey! There's more!"
Kamemon and Alraumon watched as the four plants grew. The first of these plants weaved itself out of the ground in a complex, intricate manner. When it bloomed, the flowers were white with black spots. Something about the flower almost seemed gentlemanly in a way, but the duo somehow got the curious feeling that if they tried to attack the flower, it would attack right back.
The second flower, when it bloomed, was a misty blue. It looked very mystical in some aspects, almost as if it were an acolyte in the midst of a voyage. Even so, the flower looked somewhat brotherly in a way that just couldn't be described.
The third flower sprouted up mechanically, and when it finished growing, it was clearly the tallest of all the flowers. The blooms were a shiny gold. Despite being the tallest, the flower gave off an aura of friendliness.
Finally, the fourth flower bloomed in an array of warm colors. Something about this flower seemed funny, yet sweet at the same time; maybe it was the gentle way in which it had bloomed.
"Wow..." Kamemon walked around, looking at the newest flowers in the garden.
Alraumon smiled. "I think even the flowers are grateful!"
"The flowers are grateful?" Kamemon and Alraumon turned around, seeing that Arukenimon was walking into the garden, with Mummymon and Oikawa standing near the entrance. "You do realize how ridiculous that sounds, right?"
With a shrug, Alraumon looked at her. "I'm a plant digimon. I know these things."
Oikawa chuckled. "Well, Alraumon, would you like to come with me? I have something I would like to share with you."
"Sure!" He looked back at Kamemon. "Is that okay?"
"Go ahead; I'm gonna stay here and see if any more flowers grow."
As the trio followed Oikawa, he felt overjoyed for the first time in years. The Digidestined had saved the Digital World again, on the morning of the day celebrating them, no less, and his own digimon were well on their way to becoming full-fledged heroes...this truly was a wonderful day, a new painting on the wall of his life, and even he felt like celebrating.
Finally, they arrived at the grassy hill where all the Digidestined were waiting.
Oikawa walked to the middle of the hill, standing in the sun. "Today truly is a day worth celebrating. Not only is it the anniversary of the first time the Digidestined originally arrived, but it is also the celebration of the victory we just had over MetalSeadramon." He looked at the trio. "And for the first time, we're going to celebrate with Arukenimon, Mummymon, and my digimon partner Alraumon. This victory wouldn't have been possible without them."
Arukenimon clearly wasn't used to taking compliments about heroism. "Well...Alraumon's the one who told us about everything in the first place!"
Alraumon looked at Oikawa. "And Yukio, you're the one who brought us all together! We have to give you some credit, too!"
Everyone stared at Oikawa, who simply smiled.
"I think this is everyone's victory."
Thus, the Digidestined and their three new allies prepared themselves for the celebration that would be happening soon.
And a cloud of white butterflies flew across the Digital World, happiness radiating from their very core.
Credits (because I can):
Digimon Adventure 02 created by Toei Animation
All songs on Foxtrot written, composed, and performed by Genesis (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, and Mike Rutherford)
Inspired by the works of tiedwithribbons (stories like "Magical Warrior Ejyputomon") and KingViolet96 (stories like "The Garden by the Sea")
The Digital World is a place of peace, and above all else, a digi-egg is a digi-egg.