Author's Notes: In this installment, I'm planning to use the Digiegg of Fate for Terriermon to armor-digivolve into Rapidmon's armor form. If you're not sure about this, check under Rapidmon in the Digimon Encyclopedia. It follows up after the normal ultimate level Rapidmon cards. This one's a whopper installment so enjoy!!!

Disclaimers: Digimon belongs to Fox, Saban and whoever else owns it. Star Trek belongs to Paramount. Don't sue!!!

Beyond The Other Side - V 1.9

Tai narrowed his eyes as Henry, Takato and Rika made their way to the top of the hill. "So you three are the new kids that Izzy's been talking about." Takato winced slightly. 'Great!! Tai is giving us one of those stern tones!!!' The older boy noticed the tense look "I'm guessing that you're thinking we're mad at you because you destroyed Digitamamon when he could have been saved by destroying the dark spiral."

Henry cleared his throat. "We can explain. Our friend..." Rika raised an eyebrow. "...acted totally on instinct. Where we come from, the Digimon we encounter are nasty to say the least, except Terriermon, Renamon, Guilmon and Calumon. The three of us alone are responsible for defending our world against renegade Digimon and we have to do whatever is necessary to accomplish our goal." Matt gave a smile. "In a way, we've been through that same road. We had to defend our world against evil Digimon like Myotismon and the Dark Masters. I guess the idea of freeing a Digimon from a dark influence never came across your minds." The three tamers remained quiet.

"We've met for only a few minutes and we didn't even introduce ourselves properly! I've learned that little lesson in manners from Cody. Anyways, I'm Joe..." "We know who you are already. It would be a waste of everyone's time to go through with useless introductions," said Rika sharply.

"Since we know your names, it would be only fair if you know ours. I'm-" Henry placed a hand on Takato's shoulder. "I think it would be wise to say nothing. Don't you remember what I told you?" Terriermon piped up. "It's only a name, Henry!! Momentai!!" Henry released Takato's shoulder. "Yeah!! It's not like telling our names would be contaminating the timeline or anything," said Takato in a light-hearted tone.

"I guess so..." Takato grinned before turning back to the Digidestined. "I'm Takato and this is my Digimon partner, Guilmon!" The red Digimon waved. "Hi!!" Sora noticed Takato's headgear. "You must be the leader of the group." The boy's face fell. "Huh? Oh, you think that I'm the leader because of the goggles!! To be honest, there really isn't anyone in charge."

"I'll take goggle head's orders when hell freezes over," muttered Rika. Takato's ears perked up at her comment. "That's Rika, the icy warrior of our little group. Renamon is her partner. She's not around unless Rika calls her." Just as he finished that sentence, Renamon stepped out, with Calumon bouncing around. "What are you doing here, Renamon? I didn't call you." The fox Digimon held Calumon by his collar. "I want someone else to babysit Calumon so I can meditate in peace." Terriermon smiled. "I'll play with him!!" Renamon released Calumon and disappeared immediately.

"Last but not least, the brains of the group, Henry! Terriermon is his partner. He's the Digimon playing with Calumon right now." Demiveemon hopped off Davis to join the fun as well as Upamon and Poromon. Tai gave a curious look at the energetic Digimon. "Who is Calumon's partner?" Takato shrugged. "Just before coming here, me and Henry were searching the city to find a suitable partner for Calumon. We had no luck though."

"So what are we going to do today? Hanging around here's fine but it'll get boring after a few hours," remarked Davis. "I'm up for finding a way to go back to our world. We should be there to fight any wild Digimon," stated Henry. Izzy stroked his chin. "Maybe if you tell us how you got here in the first place..." Takato started to talk away.

'Finally. Some peace and quiet.' "Uh...Rika?" Right behind her was Mimi. "I...I would like to apologize for overreacting back in the digital world." Rika's eyes snapped open. She turned to face the other girl. "Why are you apologizing? You said that I killed a Digimon."

"I didn't really know your history with the digital world. I was wondering...would you still destroy Digitamamon if you knew there was a dark spiral controlling his actions?" Rika thought about it. The answer that popped up said yes. But the small bit of conscience in side her mind asked her, would you destroy Renamon if she was under the influence? "Maybe, maybe not. If he was endangering the lives of others and there was little time before he inflicts serious damage, yes. But I suppose that I would attempt to disable the spiral first."

Mimi gave a bright smile. "Regardless of all that fighting you had to do back in the future, you would try to save any lives that are being controlled against their will. That is what defines a person with a good heart." Rika rolled her eyes. Mimi continued to speak. "I'm serious. I know that you have a good heart. Renamon probably thinks that you have a good heart as well." Rika narrowed her eyes. "And why do you think Renamon feels that way?" The other girl gave one of those know-it-all smiles. "Intuition."

"Hey, Henry. Since Takato officially named you the brains of the group, I was hoping that you would be able to shed some light on what happened today," stated TK. Henry blinked in surprise. "Excuse me?" "Well, Takato's Digivice couldn't filter out the dark data out of Growlmon. Our Digivices normally filter out darkness. Like on File Island, with Devimon controlling Leomon and the black gears. There's also the case when the light from Kari's Digivice destroyed Andromon's dark ring. If you are supposed to be Digidestined, shouldn't your Digivices follow that same format?" Takato had finished telling his story and now the entire group, except for Mimi and Rika, was waiting for Henry's answer.

"I don't think you should be asking that question, TK." Matt stepped up behind TK. "We need to have some answers. You don't have to go into detail about the future but TK's question is important. There is the possibility that you could be deceiving us." Henry sighed, knowing that he was backed into a corner.

"There's a difference between a Digidestined Digivice and a tamer Digivice." Stunned looks immediately followed Henry's response. "A...tamer?" He nodded. "Where we come from, there are no Digidestined. Only those who can look beneath the surface of the cards can become Digimon tamers."

"Digimon tamers...?" The group was about to ask more questions when Izzy waved his arms. "I know that there are a lot of things we want to know but we have to keep our questions to ourselves. Temporal prime directive, remember?" The others grumbled in agreement.

Takato went up to Henry. "Well, I suppose we can tell them a few little things to help save time. I mean, they will eventually find out these little things today." Henry remained silent for a while. "It won't really hurt the timeline so I guess it's acceptable." Takato clenched his fists and silently went 'yes!' "Okay...where to start? Izzy, your theory about the D3s is correct. They have the power to open up the digital gateway from any computer." Izzy brightened up. "Prodigious!! It looks like I won't have to use Davis as a guinea pig." Davis raised an eyebrow.

"About the TV station, the ghost of an old friend will come back from the grave to give you a riddle. Once deciphered, you will know what to do concerning the Digimon Emperor." Gatomon's eyes widened. "Could it be...Wizardmon?" She dashed off towards the TV station. "Wait up!!" Patamon flew after her with Kari running behind him. Mimi noticed the commotion. "Looks like they're going somewhere. We better catch up to them!" Rika just muttered a 'whatever' under her breath.

"Hey, where are you guys going?" Davis scooped up Demiveemon in his arms. "Gatomon's kind of freaking me out. All Takato said was...some sort of riddle and she went nuts." Upamon and Poromon were picked up by Cody and Yolei. Terriermon leapt on Henry's head while Calumon rode on Guilmon's head as he jogged beside Takato.

"Man, Gatomon put the pieces of the puzzle together fast!!" Henry jogged slowly as not to bounce Terriermon off his head. "Wizardmon was her best friend. Possibly more. His sacrifice at the TV station has been seared into her memory permanently. When she heard the words 'old friend' come out of your mouth when you spoke about the ghost haunting the station, it just snapped together." He stopped jogging.

Guilmon ran right into Henry. "Ow...why did you stop?" Henry kept his gaze on the Digidestined as they went through the front doors. "This is a special moment for them. We would only be extra weight. We should wait here...figure out some things as to how to preserve the storyline and get back home." Mimi ran past them while Rika just hung back.

"Is preserving the storyline all you can think about, Einstein?" asked Rika coldly. "If it gets altered, the consequences could be disastrous in our world. I don't know how disastrous but there will be repercussions if we mess up things here," said Henry in a dark tone. "You're insane!! You're talking about protecting the future of characters that don't even exist!!!" yelled the female tamer.

"At first, we thought Digimon don't exist. But we've seen them come to life. Isn't it reasonable to assume that the Digidestined exist as well? Just because they're fictional characters in our world doesn't mean they can't exist!! There's probably some world out there where we're nothing but fictional characters!!!" Takato jumped in between the arguing duo. "Whoa, whoa!! Chill out for a second. Henry, we're real people. I can feel my pulse running. I exist!!"

"And in this world, the Digidestined exist as well. I'm not about to tell them that where we come from, they only exist as characters of fiction. If they find out, then all their hopes and dreams of a good future will vanish...and Malomyotismon will have no trouble claiming victory," stated Henry. Rika gave an icy glare. "What are you talking about, Einstein?"

Henry paused for a moment. "In the season finale, the combined hopes and dreams of the original Digidestined as well as Digidestined around the world destroyed Malomyotismon's physical form and created the weapon that Imperialdramon used to finish the job. By knowing the fact that they're fictional characters in our world, they will be mentally affected. Whether it is confidence in the fact that they can't die as well as their partner Digimon since they are the protagonists or depression from knowing that their accomplishments, victories and achievements are make-believe events in our world...whatever way it goes, their perspective of life will change itself. They will be shocked by the fact that the decisions they make and the important events in their lives concerning the digital world is only entertainment to us. In simple terms, they will start believing that whatever they do, it will be for nothing."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"In local news, three children have disappeared without a trace just a few days ago. Police officials have been searching high and low for the whereabouts of Rika Nonaka, Henry Wong and Takato Matsuki. However, no luck-" The TV was turned off. "Sir..." Yamaki turned his head towards Riley. "Is it possible that those kids were caught in...?"

"I don't know. But children should know better than to play with dangerous toys." Riley's conscience did not buy that explanation. "What if Yuggoth's interference with that anomalous reading was the cause? The children disappeared around the same time as Yuggoth vanished."

"You should know by now that in order to achieve our goal we would have to pay some sort of price. Casualties and sacrifices are a part of the road to eradicate those beings that have been bio-emerging lately." Before Yamaki could continue, the other operative picked up a reading. "There's another strange reading, sir!"

"Activate Yuggoth. So far, it has proved to be most efficient with dealing with our problem. Keep an eye out for any further readings. I have some business to take care of." He left the room, reading a status report on the program code named "Juggernaut".

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Aw, man!! Why couldn't we bring marshmallows?" The Digidestined were wrapping up preparations for their long weekend in the digital world. TK sighed. "Davis, we're not going camping. It's just a legitimate excuse so that we can focus on defeating the Digimon Emperor without having to worry about returning home on time." Takato, Rika and Henry were given their own supplies (sleeping bag, camping gear, etc.) from the older kids. Henry placed a flashlight in his bag. "I still don't see why we should be going too. This is their fight, not ours."

"Well, there is always a chance that something could go wrong. Besides, we have to make sure that tweedle dee and tweedle dum don't create any more problems," said Takato as he grabbed the bag of cookies before Guilmon could bite into them. Renamon just waited patiently beside Rika. Calumon and Terriermon were playing tag. Upamon was bouncing around Cody while Demiveemon and Poromon were making guesses as to Yolei's strange behaviour.

"Is everybody ready?" A simultaneous 'yes' followed Yolei's question. "Then let the final battle begin!! Digiport open!!!!" Izzy unplugged his laptop after they all disappeared. Tai stepped into the room. "Yo, hurry up!! We haven't got all day!!" Izzy grabbed the rest of his stuff and followed the other boy out.

[Insert Digiport sequence, music, all that stuff]

"Alright, troops!! I'm going to scout the area!! If I see anything unusual, I'll report back immediately!!" Yolei slung the rope over her shoulder but before she could go, Tentomon bumped into her. "Don't worry about it, Yolei. Tentomon probably knows the area already," stated Kari.

"Okay, what did you see? Spill out some answers or I'll get them out of you myself!!!" Yolei grabbed Tentomon and start shaking him. Hawkmon flew over in alarm. "Stop acting like this!! Please let him go, Yolei. He has nothing to hide." She let him go and stomped off towards the edge of the cliff. Hawkmon started bowing repeatedly in front of Tentomon. "I must apologize for my friend's enthusiasm. Normally, she doesn't act like this." Tentomon recovered from the dizziness. "She should save that enthusiasm for the Digimon Emperor!!"

"If you don't stop acting like this, someone could get hurt," said Takato. Yolei turned her fiery gaze on the boy. "The only people that are going to get hurt are those who stand in front of me and victory!!" As she turned back to the task at hand, Henry came up behind Takato. "Let her learn her lesson herself." Takato sighed before noticing that Guilmon was trying to get the cookies again.

In the distance, Arukenimon and Mummymon stood in front of a small clump of control spires. Five to be exact. "What exactly do you plan to do, darling?" She pulled out five small bits of white hair. "Eradicate those new kids before they cause some serious trouble. And if you call me darling again, I will personally bury you in an underground tomb." Mummymon gave a nervous gulp. "Eep!!" "Spirit Needle!"

"Oh, no!! Hawkmon!!" Hawkmon had just taken the full effect of Dokugumon's attack. Davis grabbed his Digivice. "Digi Armor Energize!!!" "Veemon armor-digivolved to...Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage!!" He dived in to fight Dokugumon. Rika looked at the spider Digimon. She was about to call Renamon to join the fight when Henry came up. "Don't interfere with the battle, Rika," stated Henry sternly.

'Damn.' Takato went up to his fellow tamers with a ripped cookie bag in his hand. "Uh...we're out of cookies. I'm so sorry!! I tried to stop Guilmon!" Henry gave Takato a small smile. "Don't worry about it. It's just cookies." The boy gulped. "Yeah...I shouldn't be worrying about cookies when a huge dragon Digimon is closing in on our position."

The two other tamers looked at the sky in alarm. They saw a huge flying Digimon heading their way. Henry gritted his teeth. "Gigadramon, Megadramon's stronger counterpart." Gigadramon launched his missiles. The explosion threw back the tamers.

Takato landed on a stuffed Guilmon while Terriermon and Calumon tried to stop a knocked out Henry from rolling into Dokugumon's canyon. He jumped off Guilmon and grabbed Henry's shirt collar before he went over. Renamon dashed over to catch Rika and they both landed inside the canyon. Rika got down from her partner's grip. "Einstein's out. This means this Digimon's ours!! Let's do this!!"

As soon as those words came out of Rika's mouth, Renamon had already engaged the enemy. She jumped and grabbed a hold of Gigadramon's tail just as he swooped over the group. With a toss, she was thrown down onto the ground. Davis could only stare in awe. The others were too busy trying to get Yolei and Hawkmon up. "Whoa, that's a huge Digimon!! And Renamon's trying to take it down herself!!" He noticed that Flamedramon had already destroyed the dark ring on Dokugumon and was still in the canyon.

Gigadramon circled around and started to charge at Renamon. She quickly ran up, jumped on to a slanted side of a rock and used her momentum to get higher into the air. The big dragon Digimon was moving in head on. "Diamond Storm!!" The attack had no effect and Gigadramon plowed through.

"Renamon's in trouble!! Flamedramon, go in and help her!!" Flamedramon didn't move. Davis looked at his partner in surprise. "What are you waiting for? The perfect time to save her and play hero? Give her a hand!!" Flamedramon kept his gaze on the fight. "I'm not going to help her. This is her fight. I'm not going to interfere unless she asks me. To do so without her permission would be dishonorable."

"Take a good look, Flamedramon! I'm pretty sure that big Digimon is stronger than Renamon!! And it can fly while Renamon's grounded!! Plus the fact that she's taking a beating!! If you team up with her, maybe you can take down that other Digimon!!" Flamedramon still didn't move. "Although her opponent has an advantage, she could easily compensate for it. She can adapt her strategy and claim victory. Renamon's going to pull through." Davis still couldn't believe that Flamedramon would refuse to help a fellow warrior. Then it started to make sense in a crazy way. "Wait a minute. Is it...?" A smirk came to Flamedramon's lips. "Fighter's Instinct, Davis."

'I gotta level the playing field. But how...?' Rika searched through her cards but she didn't find one that could give Renamon the ability to fly. "Goggle head, I need to borrow the Hyperwing card!!" Takato had to catch his breath from pulling up Henry. He took the card out and tossed it to Rika. "Digi Modify!! Hyperwing Activate!!"

Renamon took off into the air, just dodging Gigadramon's attack. Although he got a few good hits, she was still hanging on. Gigadramon started to fly up but he turned away and started diving towards Rika, remembering that his primary objective is to dispose of the tamers. "Rika!!" Even though her life was in danger, Rika forced herself to remain calm as she dug out a card. "Digi Modify!! Flamedramon's Fire Rocket Activate!!" Renamon burst into flame. "Fire Rocket!!!"

Davis gawked in surprise. "Hey...isn't that your move?" Flamedramon supressed the urge to drop his jaw in pure shock. "Yeah...the more amazing part is how Renamon has increased the effectiveness of the attack. Her physical parameters have completely neutralized the air resistance, allowing more speed when she charges...impressive."

Gigadramon loaded up a missile in his hand when Renamon crashed into him. He lost some of his balance and started toppling over on the right side. The attack had caused him to lose concentration and he released the missile right into Renamon. He was only a small distance from the ground. "Renamon, no!!!" She was tossed back two hundred meters. Gigadramon regained control and stared directly at the one who disrupted his mission. He started flying towards her at the same altitude and armed a missile.

"Renamon's in trouble! I need to buy a bit of time in order for her to recover from those missiles!!" Rika noticed that there was a rather large branch from the initial missile attack near the forest. She picked it up and quickly jabbed it in Gigadramon's lower body as he flew over her. The irritation caused Gigadramon to whip his tail and hit Rika. She went flying into another part of the canyon, not too far from Renamon. Gigadramon noticed that he hit something. Once he saw the tamer, he fired his missile. Rika wasn't in the best condition to dodge to say the least. 'What a way to go. At least, Renamon's out of danger...' Her Digivice started glowing as did the mark on Calumon's head.

DIGIVOLUTION...

A glow started coming from Renamon. Rika noticed the glow. 'What? Is Renamon finally digivolving? But how did it happen? Is it because of me concerned with getting Renamon out of danger?'

"Renamon digivolved to...Kyubimon!!!"

Kyubimon had little time before the missile collided. "Dragon Wheel!!" The energy wheel spun towards the missile and created an explosion. The smoke blinded everybody in the area. By the time the smoke cleared, Kyubimon had Rika on her back. "Got a plan, Rika?" Rika pulled out a card. "Up for using a mega Digimon attack?"

Gigadramon started to charge towards them. Kyubimon started to charge as well. Rika prepared to swipe the card through her Digivice. She waited until Gigadramon started to fire his missile. "Digi Modify!! Metalgarurumon's Metal Wolf Claw Activate!!!" Kyubimon fired the attack immediately. "Metal Wolf Claw!!!" The energy blast stopped the missile and incinerated Gigadramon.

Rika got off Kyubimon. "You finally digivolved." The fox Digimon nodded slowly. "It was because of you and your good heart." 'I guess Mimi was right. I do have a good heart after all. And the way Kyubimon just fought to save my life. There is no way that she can be just data. Now I know that she's more than that. I wonder if all Digimon act like that when someone close is in danger.'

"Rika!! Are you alright?" Takato had to yell his question. "I'm fine, goggle head!! And thanks for lending me the card!!!" Takato's jaw dropped. The Digimon Queen thanking him? 'I don't know what happened. But I definitely like the new Rika!!' Henry woke up with a small moan. Calumon grinned. "You just missed all the fun!"

"That was some fight!! You should have seen it, guys!!" Cody gave an annoyed glare. "Well, Davis, we all decided that saving Yolei and Hawkmon was more important than watching Gigadramon and Renamon duke it out." Davis gave a sheepish grin. "Sorry." "The more interesting question is how someone was able to digivolve in the heart of Digimon Emperor territory," stated TK. Kari shrugged. "They probably found a way to bypass those types of things. We shouldn't ask them for specific details. Besides, we have other things to deal with."

"I'm so sorry, Hawkmon!! If I hadn't been so rash-" Hawkmon interrupted Yolei's sobbing. "You don't have to cry over it. I'll be up and about in a few hours with the medicine from your first aid kit." "You know, Takato gave me a warning about this!! But did I listen? Noooooo!!"

"Well, now that you know you have a good heart, can we be friends now?" Rika hesitated before answering Takato. "All I will say is that my tolerance for all of you has increased." Takato gave a small groan while Henry grinned. "That's as much as we're going to get for the time being. Don't worry about it." The other boy smiled. "You're right. At least we got the Digimon Queen to be a little more social." Rika's eyes narrowed. "Shut up, goggle head."

"So you're saying that Gigadramon was created by the Emperor?" The group had started walking towards a more secure camp ground. Henry nodded. "Think about it. Megadramon had been created by a few control spires. He attacked without even thinking about it. The same thing happened with Gigadramon. It's a distinct possibility that the Emperor has found other ways to use his control spires."

"We have to stop him before he refines his technique!! I'm sure that you know where his base is," said Cody. Takato scratched his head. "It's not that simple. It never stays in one location. The main fact is that it can move anywhere, from the air to underwater-" Henry had clamped a hand on Takato's shoulder. "That's enough. We can't reveal too much about what's about to happen."

Not too far away, Arukenimon and Mummymon had just overheard Henry's warning. 'Apparently those children can predict the future,' thought Arukenimon. Mummymon was in a state of nervous shock. "They know about what's going to happen? Maybe they're on to us!! Our whole plan's going to fail if they blab out everything!! What do we do?!?" "We stay calm and change our plan. It's as simple as that."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"I wish I had some microwave dinners," groaned Mr. Ishida as he made another pitiful attempt to catch some fish. Matt, Tai and Izzy were crowded around the computer and reading an e-mail from Cody. "Let's see here...whoa!! It looks like that Ken can create Digimon out of his control spires!"

"No way!! That's total craziness!! What else did they say?" Izzy made a face. "Tai, what have you been eating?" Tai looked at Izzy strangely. "The last thing I ate was my mom's tofu surprise." Matt waved his hand and started fanning himself. "Rinse your mouth, man! You stink!!!"

"We can lecture Tai on the importance of good dental hygiene later..." A new message popped up. "The kids have located the Emperor's base. Apparently, it's flying towards a new area. There's a Digimon right in front of the base clearing the way with some sort of attack. Takato's Digivice is telling us that Digimon is Kimeramon, an ultimate level synthetic Digimon. Data type."

"An ultimate level?! I don't know if they have the firepower to take down an ultimate level Digimon!!" Izzy gave a small smile. "Don't worry about it, Matt. Davis and the others can handle it. And if they run into some tough times, the tamers will have to step in. After all, this is probably a key battle in the evolution of their world." Tai still had a worried look on his face as did Matt. The only noises made for several moments were the typing on Izzy's computer, the noises of the wildlife outside and Mr. Ishida cursing his luck at fishing.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Do you remember all of that, Guilmon?" The red virus Digimon nodded. Takato swiped a card through his Digivice. "Digi Modify!! Hyperwing Activate!!" Guilmon grew the wings and flew down to the ground to find the specific target. After finding it, he turned the wheel and let out a large burst of oil. As soon as Kimeramon passed, Guilmon let a Pyro Sphere loose. A large flame started to coat the base and slow it down. Guilmon reactivated his wings and flew back. "Did I do okay, Takatomon?"

Takato smiled. "Good job, buddy. You guys better hurry up!!" Davis leapt down with Raidramon to the side entrance. Pegasusmon, Halsemon and Nefertimon and Digmon also came down as well with their respective partners. "We better get going. Henry?" The boy still didn't make a move. Rika rolled her eyes. "You say that we should make sure that those two morons, Arukenimon and Mummymon, don't screw things up. And now you say we should not get involved in their fight?!?"

"Uh...you know what I mean by..." Henry didn't have time to finish as Calumon started to try to jump the long distance. "Hey, don't start the party without me!!" He landed on the edge of the platform and disappeared. The three tamers simultaneously groaned. "I swear we have to get some handcuffs and chain him to someone," muttered Rika. They all followed the little Digimon and the Digidestined into the caverns of the Emperor's base.

When the tamers and Calumon arrived, the Digidestined had just finished beating up some Bakemon. Yolei clenched her fist. "Perfecto!!" All of a sudden the walls started to rumble and Kimeramon entered the room. Takato, Guilmon, Terriermon and Henry ran off to hide somewhere. Rika didn't move for a moment. "Let them handle this, Rika!!" hissed Henry. She gave a disgruntled look before hiding herself. Renamon stayed out of sight.

Several Heat Vipers later, all the Digimon were in their in-training forms with the exception of Patamon and Gatomon. Kimeramon started to advance on them when it suddenly stopped. Henry gave a small smile. "So far, so good." The events had been going as planned. What he didn't know was that the Emperor had spotted them just before they hid and ordered a surprise attack. "Heat Viper!!"

The tamers were thrown back. "Takato!! Rika!! Henry!!" They shook off the shock from being discovered. Takato turned to the Digidestined. "We'll hold Kimeramon for a while. Get to the power source!! You'll know what to do when you get there!!" Davis nodded as he took off with Demiveemon on his head. The other Digidestined started to follow him.

A small glow started to shine within each tamer's card pile. They all grabbed the glowing card and it turned out to be the Digivolution Plug In card. Calumon's mark started to glow red as well. "I guess they must be reacting to our immediate situation!!" Rika gave a scowl. "Stop analyzing the situation already, Einstein!!"

"Digi Modify!!! Digivolution Activate!!"

DIGIVOLUTION...

"Guilmon digivolved to...Growlmon!!"
"Terriermon digivolved to...Gargomon!!!"
"Renamon digivolved to...Kyubimon!!"

"What?!?" The Digimon Emperor clutched his black Digivice. "My dark Digivice is having no effect!!" He kept his gaze on the monitor of the battle. He didn't even notice that Wormmon has slipped out of the room. "No matter. Kimeramon will finish them off!!" Before he could give one of those super villain laughs, a voice started talking in his head. "You shouldn't be playing with the forces of darkness..." The Emperor clutched his head. "Not you again!! Get out of my head!!!"

"Fox Tail Inferno!!" Kyubimon sent nine blue fireballs into Kimeramon's face. It didn't do much damage considering he had Kabuterimon's helmet. "Gargo Laser!!" Gargomon shot out several small energy beams from his machine gun hands. "Pyro Blaster!!" Growlmon's attack was waved aside by one of Kimeramon's arms. "Heat Viper!!"

The tamers each took out a card and prepared to slide it through their Digivices. "Digi Modify!! Speed Activate!!" All three Digimon started to run all over the place. Kimeramon had a diffficult time trying to get a good shot. He finally gave up and flew into the air to fire a huge Heat Viper. But before he was about to prepare the shot, the lights went out. Henry grinned. "Mission accomplished!!" Kimeramon immediately created a huge hole to get to the power chamber. "Where's Frankenmon going?" A golden light came out from the hole. "That answer your question, Rika?"

Davis held the Digiegg of Miracles in his hands. "Golden Armor Energize!!" Veemon became surrounded by the light. "Veemon golden armor-digivolved to...Magnamon!!!" "What's this?!?" Davis gave an angry glare at the Emperor. "Magnamon is going to be the one who takes you down!!" Just as the Digimon Emperor and Davis were exchanging more insults, Kimeramon burst out from below and charged at Magnamon.

The tamers came out from the hole, with Takato, Rika, Henry, Calumon, Terriermon and Renamon riding on Growlmon's back. "Hey, check out Magnamon!!" exclaimed Takato. The group got off from Growlmon's back and he transformed back to Guilmon before landing on the catwalk. "I'm tired, Takatomon..."

"Are you guys alright?" Henry gave a smile. "Don't worry about us, Cody. Just stay focused on Kimeramon." More explosions rocked the area. An alarm started ringing through the base. "If this base is going down, you're going down with it!! Goodbye, Digifools!!" The Emperor laughed as he ran off.

"Rika, you and the other Digidestined kids should go down to the dungeon and free the Digimon down there," said Henry in a 'no arguing' tone. "Whatever. What about goggle head and his twin brother?" Davis was cheering on Magnamon as he dodged several of Kimeramon's Heat Vipers. Takato brushed off some of the explosion dust off his sleeve. "Henry and I have to keep an eye out for any additional trouble here. You should do the same for the other kids."

"Mm-hmm. Let's go, Renamon." The two started to follow the Digidestined kids to the dungeon. Takato turned back to the battle just in time to see Magnamon take a punch from Kimeramon. "No, no!! Give him the old one-two!!" Magnamon shook off the hit. "Who's doing the fighting here, Davis?!?"

Takato turned to Henry. "Shouldn't we give a hand or something?" Henry shook his head. "This is Magnamon's fight. He should be strong enough to take down Kimeramon. Remember at the end how Wormmon gave that energy boost to help finish the fight?" Davis kept on yelling encouragement phrases, oblivious to what the two tamers behind him said. Takato looked around. "Where did Wormmon go?" Terriermon pointed a small finger at the small window which the Emperor previously occupied. "I think I saw him climbing up to get to there."

"Aren't you just the little bit worried that things are going to screw up at the end?" The other boy shook his head again. "It's destiny. And destiny cannot be denied." That line of reasoning wasn't good enough to convince Takato. "What about when the Digidestined interfered with the Emperor's plans to take over the digital world, Henry? What if the Emperor's destiny was to control the digital world? That changed."

"I know you want to help but Magnamon's doing just fine." Takato stared at the battle scene. "Oh, really? Take a look for yourself." Henry turned his gaze to see Kimeramon beating the living snot out of Magnamon. "He's an armored Digimon. He'll be able to pull through this battle with his armor softening Kimeramon's blows."

Takato's frustration grew even more. "Henry, what are you afraid of?! You say we have to preserve the timeline but you also say that we can't interfere with the battles of the Digidestined!! You're not making sense!!" Terriermon hopped off Henry's head. "He does have a point. You're not making sense."

"It's as simple as this. We preserve the timeline by stopping anything that doesn't fit into current events. We let the Digidestined fight their own battles, they get the same victories and life goes on, both in their world and in ours," said Henry. Takato calmly started to state his argument. "The problem is that they won't get the same victories. When we came here, we set things way off course. We messed up when we stopped Yolei from obtaining the Digiegg of Sincerity. We led the Digidestined on a wild goose chase. While on the way, things could have changed to make our world a little bit more messed. I say if we're going to change things, we might as well make good changes rather than bad ones."

The boy remained silent as he took in these new facts. "But fate will prevail in the end. It always did..." Terriermon put his tiny hands on his hips. "Well, as I see it, fate will prevail only if we help steer it in the right direction. Kind of like one of those...things your dad drives. He has to make changes in order to get where he wants. Now we have to do the same. And personally, I think that makes sense."

Henry smiled. "You're right. The both of you. There are battles we have to fight in order to steer the future where we want it. The Digidestined will have no idea where the future may lead. I say we watch the roadmap and help them steer while they drive towards their fate and possibly ours as well." A card in his pocket started to glow.

The other Digidestined ran inside the room. Yolei gave a status report. "All the Digimon are out! Rika's checking for any other prisoners. We came back to get you out of here...what's that glow?" Henry took out the card. "It's the...Digiegg of Fate." A simultaneous 'what?' came out from TK, Kari, Davis, Yolei and Cody. Takato grinned. "It could be a sign!! Slide it through your Digivice!!"

"Okay, Takato. Digi Modify!! Digiegg of Fate Activate!!" The card in his hand started to transform itself into the Digiegg of Fate. Henry lowered his arm gently and held the Digiegg. Takato was shaking with excitement. "Now say the magic words. You know..." The boy snapped out of his shocked state. "Right. Digi Armor Energize!!!" "This feels funny," said Calumon as his mark glowed red.

ARMOR DIGIVOLUTION....

"Terriermon armor-digivolved to...Rapidmon, Holy Knight of Fate!!" Rapidmon had yellow armor with red streaks covering the ends of his arms and his ears. The icon of Fate appeared on the bottom torso. He leapt off the catwalk and attacked. "Rapid Fire!!" The missiles caused Kimeramon to back away from Magnamon. Rapidmon hovered close by. "You up for a double team?" Magnamon gave a chuckle. "Let's do this!!" They both got into a defensive position as Kimeramon prepared to attack.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The Emperor kept climbing the long flight of stairs. In a few moments, the base would collapse. Too bad he couldn't activate the self-destruct device but unfortunately, he had to drain power from it in order to complete Kimeramon. No matter. Kimeramon is a walking, talking weapon that will take care of everything for him. "Going somewhere, little boy emperor?" The Emperor stopped in his tracks to see a figure walking towards him. "You!!!! Y-you're one of them!!!!" he stammered as he stared into the icy, violet eyes of the Digimon Queen herself, Rika Nonaka.


I'm done!!!!!! At least this installment. I hope I don't have to keep writing installments this long. They're killer stuff. Before I sign off, I got a surprise for you. The Saga of the Devas has been one of the best mini-series I have ever seen. What's even more cool is how each Deva is an animal from the Chinese zodiac. Anyway, I've come into a little dilemma that maybe you can help me out with. I plan to set the action of the third configuration in the tamers' world (with the Digidestined of course. 02 Digidestined kids only so I'm saying sorry in advance to 01 fans) but I have three main ideas.

1) Pre-Juggernaut. When the gang returns, there are a lot of questions that they have to answer. Plus they have to watch out for digital fields and they have to fight the Digimon that slipped past Yuggoth.

2) Juggernaut. The program becomes activated just as they return and this spells trouble for the Digimon of both the tamers and the Digidestined.

3) Post-Juggernaut. The program opens a rip in the real world to allow access to the Devas as well as other wild Digimon. Chaos reigns as the war between humans and Digimon rages on...with the gang stuck in the middle.

Plus in all three of them, they have to worry about Shadowgallantmon (My name for Chaos Dukemon!! Wicked, huh? If you want to borrow it, ASK!!!). Now for your part. There are three possible storylines and ten installments per configuration. The way it works out is that each gets three votes. Then we'll have a tiebreaker and that will be the one I focus on for the third configuration. What you have to do is answer questions that I will make up based on the Chinese zodiac at the end of each installment in the second configuration. It's rather simple. BUT you must be the first person to review after I post up the segment. I will keep track so don't worry. AND you must answer the question and write down what storyline you're going for (1, 2 or 3). If you don't have one of those details, I will disqualify it and go to the next valid entry. So check out some calendars and do some research!! It's not really that hard, you know. Whew!! I'm done!!! Expect the next one to be out in a few weeks since that one is probably going to be a whopper as well. Review and ask me questions because now that I got the main details out, you can ask me things to iron out the final details.