Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Return of Shadows

Chapter: 9/Shadows beneath the Sun

"So…when do we begin?"

The memory of Metusmon's words rang in Norn's mind as she oversaw the giant spire that towered over the desert. Only 'spire' wasn't exactly the word for it.

From a distance, it resembled the black obelisks that had once peppered the landscape of the Eastern Quadrant, all built by, if Norn's information served her, a human individual calling himself the 'Digimon Emperor'. But once one got close enough, the resemblance to that particular madman's attempt at self-gratification ended there. It certainly stabbed into the sky, and the way light fell upon it caused it to become enshrouded in shadows, but again, distance determined what one perceived the tower to be.

For those who hailed from the Eastern Quadrant, the resemblance was enough to call up unpleasant memories of slavery and beastly torture. But to those of the Southern Quadrant, it marked a small sector of territory that was best avoided, which was the second, and last similarity that the two constructs shared.

No, this was no engineering of hubris—of pride. Far from it in fact, it was the exact opposite in every way that counted. It was a safe haven, but only to those that lived there. For all else, entering the territory belonging to this tower was certain death. Certain enough to count as suicide to all but the most powerful or stealthy.

Norn's eyes tracked the area around the tower, spying a small dot with buzzing wings descending upon the tower—a rocky, dirt construction—and disappeared within a carved out hole. She narrowed her eyes and they glowed slightly, replaying the image in her mind and enhancing it.

A Kabuterimon… she thought as the glow in her eyes vanished.

A shadow fell upon Norn's back and she turned to see her two warriors, LoadKnightmon and RhodoKnightmon, standing at attention. RhodoKnightmon nodded to her while LoadKnightmon fingered the scars on his helm.

"This is it," Norn said to them. "We have arrived at the Hive."

"I am detecting multiple Champions and Rookies in the area," said RhodoKnightmon in response. There are a few Ultimates in the vicinity, and at least three Megas. No doubt they make up the Royalty."

"We're not here for them," said Norn. "Just their infected."

"And nothing else?" came a cool voice that sent a chill down Norn's voice. The digital goddess didn't react any further than that, though she heard her Knighthood quickly adopting defensive stances. A quick gesture was enough to silence them however.

"Something on your mind, Metusmon?" she asked. "I thought I told you to wait at the cave."

A low chuckle whispered into Norn's ears as cold air crawled across her bare skin. Norn swallowed slightly as she saw wisps of mist moving about her body before withdrawing.

"Just thinking. This whole region is a place of old human data that is decaying—fossilizing—into the digital world. The data may be old, but it's still there. It might still be useful, just like all the junk that went into that 'trash heap' you call the Village of Discarded Data."

"There is nothing here that would be of help to us," said Norn firmly, pulling her hands into tight fists.

"Of course you would say that. And with the Hive there, there's no real reason to go investigating. After all, it's not like the Knighthood could take on all those insect digimon and live."

"That's enough out of you," growled RhodoKnightmon, lashing out with her sash blades. Norn turned just in time to see a shadowy form disappear from behind her, and her knight's weapons stopped just inches away from her eyes. Norn looked at RhodoKnightmon and she retracted her sash blades, looking rather abashed at her reaction, even though her helm obscured her face.

"How sharper is the serpent's tooth," mused Norn, glancing around her for any sign of the shadowy digimon. "Even as Lucemon, you were never like this."

"I was never like this to begin with. But we have you and Prometheus to thank for that, don't we?"

Norn grimaced, hearing the blame in the angel's voice.

"I can only promise to restore you to your form, whichever one you prefer, after this is all over."

"We'll see." A pair of red eyes appeared in midair and a pale, gray-skinned figure with black wings and swirling black tattoos phased into being off to Norn's right. "So now that we're here, what do you intend to do? You said we only needed their 'infected'…"

Norn nodded and returned her attention to the Hive tower.

"The Sin code, unfortunately, does not distinguish between anyone, and requires no actual physical contact to spread, though it is possible for that to occur as well. Primarily though, it appears through breaks between the barriers of the worlds, namely this one and the Dark Area and seeks out an individual that is close to what it desires. There it takes root and…feasts."

"One could say that it is of similar substance as the Dark Spore that was recorded in the Eastern Quadrant following the battles Ryo had with Milleniummon," supplied RhodoKnightmon, folding her arms over her chest. "Everything in that world is polluted, and it only serves to do more. The plants, the water…the very air you breath…everything is poisonous. Some master it. Others become consumed by it. But all are soiled in some manner and are never the same. Even those who end up there with good intentions in their hearts."

"I know well what happens in the Dark Area, knight," replied Metusmon in a bored tone. "I went there myself, and was imprisoned within a variation of it, living with my own darkness. I don't need a science lecture."

RhodoKnightmon glared at Metusmon angrily and her ribbons flexed dangerously.

"Remember, young one, that your power has diminished since you ceased to be Lucemon. I can still load your data any time I wish."

Metusmon simply stared at RhodoKnightmon with an impassive expression.

"You can try," he replied calmly.

"Enough," snapped Norn, becoming annoyed with their bickering. "The time is almost here. The Hive will not be content to simply allow their infected to live when they pose a threat to their greater whole. Knighthood. In position, now!

At her command, RhodoKnightmon and LoadKnightmon both took a step forward, their ribbons quivering in anticipation. At the base of the tower, a small hole appeared and a massive MegaKabuterimon, flanked by several Kabuterimon and Kuwagamon appeared. The massive red beetle snarled and snapped at his fellow insect digimon and electricity sparked around his horn. However, an unseen strike from behind quickly put the Ultimate on the ground, revealing a humanoid, golden-armored figure.

Interesting, noted Norn. A MetallifeKuwagamon.

The MegaKabuterimon strove to rise back to its feet, a glowing yellow-colored ring appearing on its shell. Spinning, it stabbed its horn into an unfortunate Kabuterimon, shattering its form with a blast of electricity. The insects data flowed freely for a second before being rapidly drawn into its much larger cousin, whereupon it began to grow larger. Spikes sprouted from its shoulders and its jaws took on a significantly more predatory look with cruel fangs jutting out from them, glistening with poisonous venom. As Norn watched, the Ultimate's shell shifted from a red color to a dark-blue, almost purple color.

The yellow glow from the ring on its back increased in intensity as it struck out, smashing its horn into the MetallifeKuwagamon, who now struggled to keep it from destroying the base of the tower.

"Knighthood," began Norn in a low tone. "Take him."

The Knighthood burst into the air, ready to do their bidding.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Suzie Wong cracked her eyes open. White ceiling tile greeted her vision and she let out a sigh of disappointment.

How boring…

"Suzie?" The worried face of her mother, Mayumi, cut across the ceiling, causing Suzie to blink in surprise. She placed a comforting hand on her daughter's forehead and looked around her. "Henry, Rinchei, Jaarin. Suzie's awake."

"Wha…what's going on?" asked Suzie, sitting up in her bed as her family, minus her father, crowded around her. "Why am I…?" Frowning, she looked around her. "I'm in a hospital?"

"We were all fighting against Daemon," said Henry, placing a concerned hand on his little sister's. "Remember?"

Terriermon, who was sitting on the teen's shoulder, glanced at him with a sarcastically raised eyebrow.

"How would you know, Henry? We were both unconscious at the time."

Henry glared at his partner. "Terriermon. Takato told us after he heard about it from Miki, who was awake for it…"

"I'm just poking fun at you. Sheesh, Henry. Momentai already."

"Daemon?" Suzie shook her head, feeling more than a bit confused. Her memories felt like a jumbled mess. Nothing was making sense to her. Closing her eyes, she thought hard on the last thing she could clearly remember.

At that moment, Antylamon lunged forward, hands transforming into giant, double-bladed axes. The weapons swung outwards in wide, sweeping, upward arcs that sliced through the air towards Daemon. The Demon Lord deftly stepped into her attack and ducked down, dodging both blades and her massive arms before counterattacking by smashing his right hands claws into her stomach.

Antylamon gagged as the breath immediately left her body from the force of the impact, and behind her Suzie's hands went to her stomach as she felt the same thing happen to her. Her legs trembled and white sparks flew across her vision, but she held firm.

"H-Hang on…An-Antlya…mon…" she gasped, quickly scrabbling for her digivice and cards.Oh man… I…I can't breathe. Antylamon! H-Hang on…

"Ah!" Suzie gasped, her eyes widening in horror. "Lopmon! Is she…?"

"Don't worry, Suzie," eased Jaarin, reaching out and massaging Suzie's hair, now loosed from their traditional hair ties. "She's fine. She's just at Hypnos being looked at right now."

"Yeah," chimed in Terriermon. "Word is, she got roughed up by Daemon pretty bad and not only that, she dark digi…"

"Terriermon!" Henry snapped, causing the long-eared digimon to shut his mouth.

"Sorry."

"I heard what you said," glowered Suzie. Her fingers curled together tightly and her nails bit into her palms. "And…I know what I did." She closed her eyes, remembering the desperation that she felt in the battle.

"A-Antylamon…?"

Nothing came from the Ultimate level rabbit Deva as her body blurred. She was dying! Suzie could feel it. Dying! And there was nothing she could do! All because she wasn't strong enough to help her partner when she needed her the most!

What was I thinking? The thought hammered home as Suzie caressed her partner's soft fur. A sob hitched itself in her throat and tears threatened to spill forth from her eyes. She held them back though, not wanting to lose sight of her partner before she…before she…

Suzie gasped as her hand went through Antylamon's slowly fading form. Sparkles of white light began to rise from her unmoving form. She became transparent—ghost-like in appearance.

"No…" Suzie whispered in denial, clutching her digivice tightly in one hand. "No…"

She balled her free hand tightly into one fist as tears began to flow down her face, no longer encountering resistance. "No! You can't leave me! Antylamon! You can't go! I…I won't let you go! Lopmon!"

Light burst free from Suzie's digivice, engulfing Antylamon. Her eyes shot open as energy suddenly surged through her, causing words to involuntarily come to her mouth.

"Antylamon! Digivolve tooo…"

"Suzie…" began Henry, seeing the look on his little sister's face. Scowling, Terriermon hopped down off his partner's shoulder and landed on the bed with Suzie, placing his little hands firmly on his hips and waving his ears agitatedly so as to get her attention.

"Hey, you listen to me, Suzie, 'cause I'm going to tell you what Henry, Lopmon, and the others would say if they were here. Only better because I'm me, and they're not. You are not to blame for what happened. Seriously, don't be like Takato because he blames himself for everything. And I mean everything. With what was going on there…Antylamon was in a tight spot, and everyone was getting their butts pasted. You wanted to keep Lopmon safe right? You did it. You saved her. So why sweat about the details?"

Henry grimaced slightly. He could understand Terriermon's reasoning, but he wondered if he was just fooling himself with what he was saying. Takato's experiences with dark-digivolving, and their own experience with the matter as well—twice now!—was not something that could be taken lightly, no matter what the situation.

Mainly because of the scars it leaves, he thought. Takato was lucky. He wanted to protect everyone because he knew if he didn't, Beelzemon would kill everyone. He used that to push past everything that could have pulled him down. And he came very close to staying down.

Henry remembered the pivotal battle in the digital world. Megidramon was down, his chest all but crushed beneath the furious strength that Beelzemon had laid into him with. And during the pause in the battle, Takato had gone over to his beaten partner and slumped down next to him, becoming paralyzed and blaming himself for not only the failure to protect anyone, but for lashing out the way he did and losing control.

If by some chance Takato and Guilmon survived Beelzemon's attack, but had not biomerged into the powerful and majestic Gallantmon, the two would have born inner scars that would have taken time to get over. Suzie had been given the same chance, but hadn't been able to follow it to the same conclusion.

Still, Henry could hardly fault Terriermon. The Rookie was initiating the healing process, and Suzie, he knew, would need that both as a person and as a Tamer. Lopmon would also need it if she were to recover as well. A Tamer and their partner were entwined tightly. Whatever happened to one, affected the other.

"I want to go see Lopmon," muttered Suzie, hugging her legs close to her chest. Mayumi pressed her lips together tightly and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, dear. But the doctors want you to stay here a little bit longer so they can make sure that you're okay. Lopmon will be all right, and I promise that you can see her later. Okay, honey?"

"Yeah. Don't worry," cheered Terriermon. "Ol' Henry and I are going down there now, so we'll be sure to take a look at her to make sure she's fine. We'll pass along your hellos too."

Shifting his left ear, Terriermon manipulated its tips until he was giving the young girl his equivalent to a 'thumbs up' and he winked. Suzie's expression remained troubled, but she nodded all the same.

"Okay," she said. This caused Terriermon to turn his head at her, a bit surprised by her response, but he quickly shrugged it off. Henry reached down and picked up his partner, setting him back on his shoulder.

"Well, we've got to get going now."

"Be careful, Henry," said Mayumi, giving her youngest son a concerned look. "The roads are pretty bad out there."

"Momentai," giggled Terriermon. "As long as he's got me, Henry's going to be a-okay."

Henry gave his mother what he hoped was a comforting smile, and after saying goodbye to everyone, he left the room.

As he padded down the halls, he breathed out a sigh.

"You can say that again," said Terriermon. Henry raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" asked Terriermon sardonically. "Henry, the atmosphere in that room is so thick you could make a meal out of it. Guilmon should have been in there. Heck, even Calumon should have been there. They would have chewed up all that tension and…well, you get the idea. I'm done making dinner proposals and I'd rather not get into toilet humor right now."

"For once you actually show restraint," breathed Henry, a note of relief in his tone. Terriermon glowered at him.

"Hey! I have plenty of restraint. I just don't show it when I'm eating. Your mom's food is too good." He huffed in annoyance before continuing. "Anyway, did you see how Suzie didn't fight to go down to Hypnos to see Lopmon? That's not like her."
Henry nodded. He did notice, but hadn't said anything.

"We'll have to keep a close eye on her and make sure that we help her."

"You don't have to tell me twice. I'll do what I can, even if I have to put on the Princess Pretty Pants costume myself." He glanced down at his stomach. "Do you think I need a diet to do that?"

"Do I think? Is that even a question?"

"I could delete all the files on your computer, you know…"

Henry sighed again. "Well, I'm just glad that everyone made it out all right."

"Almost everyone," reminded Terriermon. "Noriko's still out of it. At least, according to what your mom told us after getting done talking to your dad. I don't think that counts as 'all right'. And we still haven't heard a thing from Lumemon. Where's that angel guy when you need him? Sheesh. How irresponsible."

Henry furrowed his brow. "I wonder if there's some connection with what we found before Daemon showed up…"

"So many mysteries. Do you think we'll actually get some time to solve them?"

"We may have to rely on Hypnos for this one. We don't exactly have the equipment to go analyzing a digitized part of the park. Besides, we work for them now, so Yamaki will be sure to give us information."

"On a 'need-to-know' basis, I'm sure." Terriermon crossed his tiny arms across his chest. "I know government types. They don't like to tell you everything."

"No." Henry grinned slightly at his partner. "They just don't like to tell you everything because they know you'll either blow it out of proportion or tell the whole world."

"Hey! I resent that!" Terriermon feigned being insulted for a moment before his expression became more concerned. "Hey… Do you think Noriko's going to be okay?"

Henry's expression fell as he came to a stop outside Takato's room.

"I wish I knew," he replied. "But I can only hope that she is." With that, he knocked on the door.

"Really, Mom," Henry heard Takato complain from the other side. "I feel fine. I just got knocked around a little bit."

"A 'little bit'?" came the shocked reply of Mei Matsuki. "Takato, if there's anything that I know, a 'little bit' always means 'a lot'…"

The door opened, revealing Takato's father, Takehiro, and the man smiled upon seeing him.

"Hey, Henry. Great to see that you're up and about. No rest for the weary, eh?" He tossed a glance over his shoulder meaningfully and Henry took a careful look. Takato was just coming out of the bathroom, having changed out of his hospital gown and into the dusty, battle-worn clothes that he had worn yesterday.

"No…I suppose not," remarked Henry as Takato grabbed his D-Arc from off the counter next to his bed and clipped it to his waist.

"Bye Mom! Bye Dad! Gotta go! Fate of the world and stuff! C'mon Guilmon!"

"Bye Takato's Mom and Dad!"

"Mr. Matsuki!" exclaimed Takato's mother heatedly, you wait right there this instant!"

"Uh…" Henry backed away from the door as Takehiro stood aside and pulled it open, allowing his son to escape out of the room, and closing it quickly before his wife could follow. "Well, that was interesting…"

"Takato's Mom was worried about him again," supplied Guilmon as the four friends headed rather speedily down the hall. "I think she's afraid that he'll hurt himself or something."

"Well, you've gotta admit he has the habit," noted Terriermon. Henry couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"Takato, maybe you should slow down before something happens…"

As though on cue, an old man in a wheel chair appeared from out of the corner and directly in Takato's path. The teen's eyes bugged out of his eyes as he realized with a sinking feeling that he was going to crash into him.

"Aw nuts…" he said aloud, unknowingly repeating the same words that were already going through Henry and Terriermon's minds.

To everyone's surprise however, Takato's body immediately began to twist and turn, avoiding the wheel chair bound man. It was far from a graceful thing, as his feet seemed to be on the verge of stumbling every step of the way, coming within inches of knocking into the man's foot or one of the wheels. Finally, after what felt like a terror-filled eternity, Takato staggered to a halt on the other side of the man, panting heavily while being glared at.

"Sorry," Takato breathed, clapping his hands together and bowing apologetically. "I am very, very sorry…"

"You kids are in too much of a rush," the old man grumbled irritably as he maneuvered the chair around the turn, passing by Henry, Terriermon, and Guilmon without so much as a glance in their direction. Terriermon scowled at him, looking rather insulted.

"Boy, I don't know whether to feel annoyed that he wasn't surprised by us, or admire him for being so awesome."

"Just let it go," said Henry, shrugging the incident off. "Anyway, we'd better keep going—without nearly giving everyone heart attacks and causing chaos."

"Sorry," blushed Takato, still embarrassed.

Henry chuckled and clapped his friend on the back.

"Well, on the bright side, your reflexes have gotten better."

"Uh, huh," nodded Guilmon as they moved on towards the elevators. "Before, you would have caused an accident and then we would have had a lot of hospital nurses yelling at us." Guilmon's ears wilted as though remembering a previous incident. "I hate it when they do that."

"Don't be such a baby," said Terriermon cheerfully. "That nurse made it up to you by giving you flowers and giving you a peck on the nose, didn't she?"

Takato and Henry both gave a laugh as they came to a stop in front of the elevators and pressed the call button.

Robert 'Dolphin' McCoy wiped at his glasses and leaned back in his chair, feeling thoroughly exhausted but at the same time utterly relieved. Quite unprofessionally, he let out a yawn and stretched slightly.

"What would Alice say if she saw you do that?" laughed a familiar voice with a slight accent.

"She would tell me that I earned it and to sit in my easy-chair and fetch me the latest science and technology magazine," Robert replied closing his eyes and folding his hands behind his head. "A man of my age deserves to have some rest you know."

Reopening his eyes, he turned around his chair to face Rai 'Curly' Aishuwarya, dressed in her a fluffy white sweater. She was carrying a mug of warm coffee.

"I suppose you do," she replied, smiling. Rob smiled back.

"You know, maybe it's because I'm getting older, but this job is a lot harder than Palo Alto."

"I thought you liked the challenge," Rai remarked, taking a sip from her mug. "That's why you stayed on, isn't it?"

"Well, it was to save the world and make sure it stayed safe," chuckled Rob. "Hypnos is where the action is, and there aren't many people around who know half of what I do—what we all do. Digimon, construction of Artificial Intelligence and the original algorithm that we used… It's not exactly something just anyone can use you know." Robert glanced at Rai and grinned. "Besides, we can't let Tao and Shibumi hog all the fun."

"Of course not," chuckled Rai. "So how is your 'baby' doing?"

"Ah, the Arc II. I've fully reconnected it back to Hypnos. Now that all the important systems are up and running again, I've been gradually sending in modifications. 'Gradually', since the network is still pretty rough, but Yamaki wanted this up and running as soon as possible back when Urocyomon disappeared." He paused. "How's he doing, by the way?"

"Nishimura Miyahara, the young man from the medical department, has been keeping an eye on him. I haven't heard anything else, I've been so busy."

"Hmmm… In either case, take a look at this." Robert tapped a few keys on his keyboard and brought up an image of a red-colored machine with numerous communication dishes and odd tubes sticking out of it from its spherical shape.

"I see you've made quite a number of modifications," Rai noted, her curiosity caught.

"Indeed, my lady," grinned Robert. "The original model of the Arc II, if you recall, was a tad bit more complex in its shape. Then we lost it and had to redesign it from the ground up. Simplification made producing it faster and once it did its job we placed it in storage. There didn't seem to be much need for it after that until Urocyomon went missing."

Rai stood there and took another sip from her mug. Robert enjoyed talking and really liked to listen to himself. He wasn't egotistical by any means, it was more that once he got into the swing of things, it took an apocalypse scale attack to distract him.

And besides, everyone in the Monster Makers group liked to listen to him as well. So why not indulge him?

"So it was brought out…" she continued, keeping things flowing.

"It was brought out because the old Tracers had reached the limits of their design. Their design was rather simplistic even by the Arc II's standards and something new needed to be designed to better scan the digital world. Urocyomon's disappearance necessitated something to be built quickly, and the Arc II was a natural choice as its programming could be modified easily."

"You designed it with the original digimon algorithm…"

"Yeah." For once Robert looked uncertain. "There hasn't been any sign of intelligence in a long while. Not since we brought the Tamers home three years ago. I wonder if being placed into storage did something to it. I wish I had more time to study it…"

"We haven't had much time for anything since Japan requested that we all be brought back," sipped Rai. "My students were sad to see me go. There are times where I miss my work at Miscatonic University."

"At least Shibumi and Tao are in their element here. Same for Daisy. I miss Babel though, but he's with Morpheus right now."

"I heard from him recently." Another sip. "He says that his superiors may have found evidence of Tamers in the United States."

"They've been saying that for years. Makes me wonder what's so special about Japan where it's the only country that actually confirmed it. Everyone else only has rumors."

"It could be because we're closer to the digital world. D-Reaper came here first before anywhere else. Even the reappearance of digimon happened here first."

"It makes me wonder if we're gearing up towards another world crisis," Robert mused. "If so, Yamaki's probably going to want me to install something like Yuggoth or Juggernaut onto the Arc II for defensive purposes."

Rai nearly dropped her coffee mug she was so surprised.

"I doubt he'll do that."

"I'll admit he's a lot more than the typical government type, like that Itokawa guy from three years ago. But there are a disturbing amount of them around. Japan's always been about pacifism ever since World War II, and any politicians who call for a more 'proactive' stance aren't greeted very well by civilians or the majority of the government, but if push comes to shove, and with Japan on the metaphorical 'fault line' of the worlds, it makes one wonder what they might do. Heck, I'm already nervous about what America might do. They're not quite so handcuffed as Japan you know."

Robert's frown deepened.

"They've been quiet. Very quiet. Not what I'd expect from a world power when the digital world and all of its potential is right there in the backyard of our very small world."

Rai moved to take another sip from her coffee, only to discover that her mug was empty.

"Well, we can only hope for the future," she replied. "And Yamaki has enough faith in the Tamers to believe that things will be better."

"Yeah," smiled Robert. "I'm sure if Alice were here, she'd vouch for that. Forgive an old man for his ramblings."

"No forgiveness needed," smiled Rai.

Rai made her way down the hallway, smiling occasionally to the odd coworker that passed by. Turning a corner, she paused outside a door with the name label Itsuya before pushing it open and closing it behind her. The office was empty, but that didn't matter to her. Walking around the desk, she placed the coffee mug on it and sat down in the big chair. A moment later, a soft glow enveloped her body and Rai changed, her features slipping away and becoming more masculine and thin. The fluffy white sweater disappeared, replaced by a dark blue suit.

Takahashi Itsuya pushed up his glasses and leaned back in his chair, frowning. He glanced over at the folders lying on his desk. The ones lying on the top contained the files concerning Suzie Wong and Miki Nakajima.

"Risking a lot on just 'hope' for the future Prometheus." He brought his fingers to rest against each other. "You'd better hope that your gamble pays off. Hope can only get you so far."

A/N: I meant to update Friday, as I couldn't do any updating on Saturday do to commitments, but the chapter was having some difficulty coming together. Dialogue, characterization…everything just refused to work together. About half a chapter pretty much worthless (really, you don't want to see what I originally wrote). So with yesterday as my break, I rethought the chapter and came back to it today with a fresh eye. Surprisingly, things came together a helluva lot better.

This chapter is all about Suzie's recovery, Henry's thoughts on it as her older brother, some mention of Noriko, Norn as she continues her part of the plan…etc and etc. The last bit between Robert and Rai came about for two reasons: one in that I've never really gone into the background of the Monster Makers, their jobs, and the fact that their lives were pretty much uprooted to deal with the digital world. Two, to begin setting up for a later story that will deal with the missing Demon Lords required for Prometheus' plan to work. But more on that in the future. ;P

Until next chapter.

-Crazyeight

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