Devil's Advocate

by rgm0005

Takato thought it was all a game. Lucemon played upon that belief. And the Digital World trembled, as that smiling boy walked. Things would never be the same again.

10. Chapter 10: Changing Point Part I

Devil's Advocate

Chapter Ten: Changing Point

Part One

"Move Greymon to this area…" Taichi said, expression thoughtfully. "And…Koushirou, have Kabuterimon cover this area."

"Got it." His friend said.

"Garurumon and I can cover this area." Yamato said, pointing at the screen.

"Okay, then…" Jyou frowned uncertainly. "Ikkakumon is probably a good choice for this one, since it's by the water."

"Then I'll ask Mimi if she can cover the area with the Gekomon; they've always been fond of her." Koushirou said, quickly moving through windows on the computer screen.

They were acting defensively for now. The Kaiser had suddenly gotten more aggressive, probably because they had begun taking down so many Dark Towers. But while that aggression was, on one hand, reassuring, as it meant they had him on the run, it was also dangerous, because he was getting backed into a corner. He was on the offensive, now, and was attacking recently freed areas, trying to bring them under his control.

As a result, the older Chosen were moving their partner into position in those places. While they couldn't evolve in areas the Kaiser controlled, freed areas were another matter; they could send their evolved partners to the frontlines to guard it while the other freed areas sent in reinforcements to help the freed areas recover, as well as protect it.

The older Chosen covered this part of the battle, protecting the freed areas and slowing the Kaiser's attempts to advance. Meanwhile, the newer Chosen acted as the offensive force, entering the areas near the border between the captured and the freed. They ventured into the areas that were threatening the freed areas the most and destroyed the Dark Tower there. After that, the process would repeat as they gained new ground and pushed the Kaiser further and further.

Suddenly, a window arose on the screen and Mimi's face appeared. Koushirou blinked as he wasn't the one to open it.

"Ah, Mimi; you have great timing-" He began before she cut him off.

"She's awake!" Mimi said, freezing everyone in the room.

Mimi wasn't with them planning strategy for one very simple reason.

They needed someone to watch over Sora.

"You mean…?" Taichi asked, not ready to get his hopes up but very much wanting too.

Mimi nodded her head furiously and her happiness was evident.

"Sora's awake!"

XxXXxX

"Taichi?" Sora asked, as he walked into the tent. It was a small thing, just something they'd managed to sneak away without anyone noticing. Jyou had brought it, saying it was one that he'd gotten after their camping trip went horribly awry.

Taichi took a moment to silently thank Jyou for being the responsible one. He'd done that a lot of times.

"Sora…" He said, focusing. It was weird; after all the time he'd spent worrying by her bedside, now he honestly wasn't sure what to say.

No, that wasn't it; he had a lot to say, but he wasn't sure where to even begin.

"Where am I?" She asked.

Taichi started, realizing he hadn't even thought of that.

"What do you remember?" He asked.

She frowned and seemed to be trying to remember, but also seemed to be having a hard time doing so.

Well, Taichi thought, it was quite a long time ago.

"We were going to Pyocomon Village?" She said, hesitantly, as if asking whether or not she was wrong.

Taichi nodded.

"Because…" Suddenly her eyes widened. "Because the Village had been attacked! Everyone was gone and we found Mimi at the empty Village-"

Taichi nodded again, but Sora seemed to be ignoring him now.

"And they weren't in the Village of Beginnings, either. But we heard something was happening back at the empty Village, so you and Yamato went in, but you got attacked, right?" If it was a question, she didn't give him time to answer. "So Birdramon and I-"

Sora froze, suddenly looking around.

"Where's Piyomon?" She asked.

Taichi winced. One of the questions he'd wanted to avoid, and she hit him with it right off the bat.

Sora must have noticed his hesitance, because fear began to fill her eyes.

"Where's Piyomon!" She tried to struggle to her feet, but she ended up nearly falling over.

Taichi quickly caught her.

"Be careful." He said, before taking a deep breath to prepare himself for what he was about to say. "You've been asleep for awhile."

"W-what do you mean?" Sora asked, and Taichi saw that she understood; she just didn't want to accept it.

"When the Tower made Birdramon devolve, Piyomon got hit and you fell. You've been unconscious ever since." He said, before dropping the bomb. "It's after Golden Week."

Emotions crossed Sora's face too fast for him to keep track of.

"And Piyomon…?"

Well, at least there was some good news he could give her.

Even if it had its downsides.

"Piyomon's okay." He said. "She was in bad shape since she took most of the blow, but she survived. However…she hasn't woken up yet. We don't know why; after about a week, she was fine, as far as we could tell."

Taichi suddenly frowned.

"And so were you. We honestly have no idea why you didn't wake up sooner."

"…And my parents?"

"I talked to them. They know what happened and they were…upset. And as for school…" Taichi trailed off with a sigh. "That was complicated. But we managed to get Agumon into the internet again, and we handled it."

He didn't really want to explain how they handled it, though. It wasn't illegal, but only because there weren't any laws concerning sneaking Digital Monsters into computers and screwing around with them.

Sora apparently realized that and didn't ask.

"Sora…a lot happened while you were unconscious. And I mean a lot. But before I fill you in, there's something I need to ask, and I feel bad about asking you this just after you woke up, but it's really important. Do you remember anything about whom or what shot you down?"

It might be something really important. It might be just another one of the Kaiser's slaves. But either way, Taichi really wanted that information.

Sora furrowed her brow.

"I saw it." She said. "But I don't recognize it. It was big; about the size of Greymon, but maybe not as bulky. And it was red. I couldn't see a lot of details from the distance I was at, but…when Piyomon wakes up, we can ask her. Maybe she got a better look."

She hesitated.

"And…I'm not sure, but…I think I saw something…I think I saw a human nearby, too. I could barely see them and it could have been a humanlike Digimon, but…it looked like a person." She said.

Taichi had a few thoughts about that and it did a lot to confirm that the Kaiser did it, but…

"Anything else?"

Sora looked down at her hands and frowned before lifting her head to look at him again.

"It's not something I saw, but…while I was asleep, I guess, I had a…really strange dream about a bearded blue dragon."

Taichi blinked at that.

"Uh…?" He ventured.

"I know it sounds stupid, but he kept warning me about something." She put a hand to her head, as if it hurt. "But…why can't I remember what?"

"Oi, easy there. Dreams have a tendency to fade in the morning."

XxXXxX

Guardromon fired Destruction Grenades one after another.

"Intrusion. Intrusion." It said, an Evil Ring binding its will.

"Gold Rush!" Digmon shouted, launching his drills at the slaves.

Guardromon had very high defensive abilities, even for Adult Digimon.

But it didn't mean a thing. In exchange for that ability, they sacrificed a great deal of speed, and their offensive abilities weren't particularly impressive for Adult Digimon, though still powerful. In a straight up fight, they would have been very dangerous to fight, but only because it would take so much effort to keep one down.

In this case, however, they'd all been given a weak point, and one that was easily exploited at that.

Guardromon were heavily armored.

The Evil Rings were not.

Each of Digmon's drills destroyed a Ring, freeing a Guardromon.

"Shooting Star!"

"Knuckle Fire!"

There was a simply trick to defeating the Guardromon; just stay at a distance and destroy the rings. It took some aim, but that wasn't a problem.

And therefore, the Guardromon weren't a threat.

…Is what Daisuke would have liked to say.

"What is with these guys!" He said as they ran.

The Guardromon were easy to take out.

But there were just so many of them! And they just kept coming and coming! Whenever they freed a Guardromon, it just stood still and the others marched around it.

And there were a lot of others; Daisuke had never seen this many Adult Digimon in one place.

"They're going to wear us down like this!" Iori said. "We have to go!"

"I agree!" Miyako threw in. "We're so outnumbered…we should retreat for now!"

"But the Tower's right there!" Daisuke protested. "If we can just get to it, then it does matter how many of them there are! If we break it, we win!"

"Daisuke…" Fladramon whispered. "We should go back and come up with a plan. I can't take much more of this."

Daisuke looked at his partner and grit his teeth. But then he sighed.

"Okay, okay; I get it!" He said. "But where is Takato!"

"I saw him that way!" Hikari said, pointing over the Guardromon's heads. "I can reach him if I go around!"

She ducked into an allyway before anyone could protest.

Daisuke was alarmed to notice that none of the Guardromon paid her a second glance, staying focused on them instead.

"Hikari!" He tried to warn. "It's a trap!"

The Guardromon immediately began to fire upon them.

"Knuckle Fire!" Fladramon shouted, taking out a trio of slaves.

And then, he was engulfed in a bright light, reverting back to V-mon.

"S-shit…" V-mon said, unsteady on his feet. "Not now…"

"V-mon!" Daisuke shouted as the Guardromon continued to fire. He scooped his partner up into his arms and tried to run, but he knew it wouldn't be enough to escape the blasts.

There was a bright light and an explosion, but when Daisuke realized he wasn't dead or hurt, he looked back to see Armadimon lying prone on the ground. Immediately, all the Guardromon shifted, changing targets to the fallen Digimon.

"Armadimon!" Iori shouted, worriedly.

"Shit!" Daisuke cursed, already turning back. He knew that if he couldn't escape while carrying V-mon, then he sure as hell couldn't while carrying Armadimon too, but he had to try.

He didn't want to leave any of his friends behind.

"Daisuke, just run!" Miyako said, Holsmon already swooping down to Armadimon's rescue. "We got this!"

Holsmon grabbed Armadimon awkwardly with his front paws and lifted him into the air. The Guardromon quickly changed their targets, and Miyako found herself being attacked from all directions by little missles.

"Miyako!" Iori shouted worriedly, but the girl and her Digimon seemed to be doing a good job of running away from the attacks.

"Takeru!" Daisuke said, choosing to have faith in Miyako. "Can you get to Hikari and Takato!"

"They won't let me through!" He snarled angrily in return.

Daisuke understood his feelings.

"Damn it!" He swore as the Guardromon's attack forced him to abandon his friends.

XxXXxX

"Hikari, this is a trap." Takato said quite calmly the moment he saw Hikari.

Hikari nodded ruefully.

"I realized that about halfway here, but it was too late to do anything about it. And it's not like we could have left you here, even if it was a trap."

"Thanks, but that's not what I meant." He replied. "I meant that this entire area was one giant trap and that all of us walked into it."

"Ah?" She said, surprised. But when she looked over her shoulder, she began to understand. "Actually…now that you mention it…I would have thought that 'literal armies of powerful Adult Digimon' would have come up when we heard about this area, huh?"

Takato nodded.

"We heard that this area was dangerous because it was attacking nearby areas and they were having trouble with it, but this army could have steamrolled over all of the areas around it." He said. "But it didn't. I think it was putting up just enough fight to draw our attention to it and get us to rush in as if it was any other area."

"And we did." Hikari added, sighing.

"And we did." Takato agreed.

"But…why aren't they attacking us?" She wondered. She'd grabbed Takato and pulled him out of sight, but none of them had attacked the two, despite having many chances.

"We're not important, yet." He said. "They're heading for the gate."

Hikari froze at his words, eyes widening.

"W-what?"

"They're going for the gate." Takato continued calmly. "They aren't chasing us right now because they have no need to. After the gate is destroyed, we'll be two humans and their partners in the middle of Kaiser Territory. He can hunt us down at his leisure; it's not like it matters. This area is completely sealed off. The only way for us to get out if the gate is destroyed would be to blow a hole through the walls. Which we could do, sure, but that would give our location away and even if we escaped, we'd have to run to the next area, at least. While being chased."

"Then we have to get to the gate before it's destroyed!" Hikari said. When Takato didn't reply, she was confused. "…Right?"

Takato sighed.

"Well…it would be nice if we could do something like that. But in that case, we wouldn't be having that problem. But if the six of us at full power can't fight our way from the gate to the tower, then the two of us won't be able to fight our way from here to the gate."

"Then…the Tower."

"The Tower's our best bet." Takato agreed. "But our odds aren't good. Once they destroy the gate, it should be obvious that our only real way out of here is to destroy that tower in turn. As such, the defenses around it must be amazing."

"Then what do we do?" Hikari asked. "You look calm…you have a plan, don't you?"

"It's not much of one. In fact, it's probably not elaborate enough to be called a plan, even. But…yeah, I have a plan. Send a message to Daisuke and the others. Tell them to get out of here before the gate is destroyed and leave us behind. They should get away, feed their partners, and rest. Afterwards, they should enter the Digital World through a nearby area and come the long way. You and I will just have to survive until then."

Hikari swallowed.

"That could take them awhile." She said, but she took out her D-Terminal and started writing.

"Hm…" Takato smiled. "Well, it shouldn't be a problem from one of the Older Chosen; you had to live here, after all."

Hikari took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

But when they opened, the resolve in them had hardened.

"Sure. A city full of Adult Digimon? No problem. Mugendramon's area was way worse."

Takato's smile widened and he nodded towards her.

"I'll be in your care, then, Hikari-sempai."

XxXXxX

The four Chosen Children crashed into the ground in a particularly rough landing.

"Did something just explode?" Miyako asked, scrambling to her feet. Thankfully, nothing seemed wrong in the lab itself.

"Guardromon…" Takeru groaned out, lifting himself off the ground. His partner nodded on his shoulder.

"I saw it; a Guardromon attacked. We made it just in time!" Patamon chimed in.

Daisuke just glared at the wall.

"We still failed. Twice even." He said. "We didn't destroy the Tower and, what's worse, we left Hikari and Takato behind."

"You saw Hikari's message just like the rest of us." Iori said, acting as the voice of reason but quite obviously not happy about it. "There was nothing we could do and staying behind would have just made things worse, for both us and them."

"Iori's right." Miyako agreed. "Right now, we have to have faith in Takato and Hikari. They said they would stay out of danger until we could mount a rescue, so we'll have to believe them. If the gate had been destroyed with us on the other side, then we wouldn't have been able to do anything to help either of them; at least this way, we can save them later."

Daisuke didn't say anything, but he didn't stop glaring at the wall, either.

Takeru understood his feelings, but knew that now wasn't the time.

"…Rather than feeling bad about it…we'll just have to make up for our weakness later, won't we Daisuke?" He said.

"…You're right." Daisuke said, standing. "Miyako, go find anything that's edible; our partner's need to eat something. Iori, you go with her just in case."

He hesitated here, but continued a moment later.

This wasn't something he wanted to do.

But it was something he needed to do.

"I'll go talk to Taichi. Takeru, could you explain things to the others?"

XxXXxX

"All things considered…" Hikari began, thinking quickly. "We can't stay here. They'll find us too easily and when they do, we'll both die."

Takato conceded that point without argument, choosing to keep his thoughts of Growmon to himself.

He wasn't in actual danger yet, but if the Guardromon cornered him again, he was evolving his partner and that was the end of the story. Growmon's Exhaust Flame could probably take down the Tower from this distance.

If Hikari had escaped, as well…

He suppressed a sigh at the missed opportunity.

"Where do you suggest we go, then?" He asked.

Hikari looked around. This area was full of buildings, which were the obvious place to hide. With so many skyscrapers, it would require a lot of time to search them all.

Unless they had security cameras or something, which she couldn't discount, then it would take hours to find them by just looking.

But then she shook her head, dismissing the idea. While that may have been true if the Guardromon had no idea where they were, they'd seen both of them in this area and Guardromon filled the streets. If they'd tried to run, they would have been noticed. As such, the Guardromon could probably guess that they were still around here and simply fence off this area or something. Searching the buildings would still take time, of course, but with the limited number of places they could be, it wouldn't take hours.

And if the Guardromon found them within the buildings, that would be it. Space would be limited in the rooms and halls of the buildings and if they ventured above the first few forms, they'd have no way out since neither of their partners could fly.

No, the buildings were too isolated.

But the roads were to open. Anybody could see that and they could be surrounded. And there was also the fact that the Guardromon literally filled the streets. Add that to how they knew these streets since they lived here and staying out in the open was a bad idea.

Not to mention that if they tried, they'd have to run for hours, something that would simply be impossible for them.

They couldn't stay in the streets and they couldn't hide in the buildings. Where did that leave?

Something caught Hikari's eye.

"We're going down." She said, nodding towards what she saw.

XxXXxX

"I must admit." Ken began, looking at the screen. "This is even better then I'd planned."

Takato and that girl had fallen into his trap. It wasn't as ideal as capturing all of the Chosen, of course, but the trap had mainly been for Takato and that boy with the Digmon. The latter had gotten away, but at least he'd gotten his most consistent annoyance.

"But Ken-chan," Wormmon started worriedly. "What about that girl? She seems to know what she's doing."

The Kaiser frowned in silently agreement. She'd foolishly rushed in, but since then, they'd managed to avoid his servants. If she managed to keep away from them long enough, then he might have to rethink whether she was being foolish or if she was just that good.

But, if that happened, his plan would have failed completely and this entire setup would have been a waste.

And he did not intend to let that happen. He was on the defensive at this point and he was steadily being pushed back.

It had gotten to the point where he had to honestly contemplate the possibility of defeat.

A few weeks ago, he would have laughed if someone had suggested that as being possible; that he would lose to a bunch of kids who happened to have Digimon. Granted, he was a kid himself, but he was a genius, too. He should have crushed them like he crushed everyone else.

And yet…here he was.

He was beginning to sound like a cartoon villain with his I'll-get-you-next-time's but never actually being able to.

Had he actually had a real victory against the Chosen, yet?

He didn't think so.

Ah, but Wormmon was waiting for an answer, wasn't he?

"Yes…she is one of the returning Chosen, isn't she? One of the two who found the ability to Armor evolve? I suppose she probably knows what she's doing." He said casually, attempting to belay his unease.

He could let things progress normally and let the Guardromon wander around until they found them, but…

He had no guarantee that they would.

And if he was to be honest with himself, he didn't actually expect them too.

If there was one thing the Chosen had proven consistently, it was that they were more competent then his normal slaves.

Then…

"I just had a good idea." He said after a moment. "Let's test him."

XxXXxX

He carefully searched the area where the intruders were last spotted.

He stopped over the sewer cap, examining it carefully. Drawing on his databanks, he confirmed that it was slightly different from the norm.

Loosened.

He quickly realized the most likely explanation given the current state of things.

If the intruders were to enter through this opening, they'd have to open the cap and enter. Once doing so, however, it would be hard to close from the inside. None of the Guardromon were small enough to enter through this opening and none of the smaller Digimon were currently on the streets; as such, it was likely they didn't worry about it, either.

Of course, he was too big to enter either and he was unsure how long ago they entered. As such, he couldn't be sure where exactly they were now in the city's extensive sewers.

Tearing his way through the ground and entering the sewer in this location would accomplish little. He needed to get a better grasp of his target's locations.

His databanks quickly supplied the answer and Andromon moved on.

XxXXxX

"So that's what happened." Taichi said, closing his eyes.

Daisuke looked at him uncertainly. He'd expected –maybe even hoped– for anger.

But there was none of that.

No…rather, there was a great deal of emotion brewing beneath the surface, Daisuke felt.

But…

He didn't think that any of it was directed at him.

"If Hikari is trapped, then obviously we need to rescue her." Taichi said after a moment.

Daisuke nodded.

"We're already on it. Our partner's were exhausted in the fight, however, so they'll need awhile to recover."

His face flushed in shame, but Taichi merely nodded. The only expression on his face was a frown of consideration.

"Did Hikari send you any messages?" He asked, surprising Daisuke.

"Ah…Yeah. When we got separated, she told us to leave before the Guardromon reach the gate. She said we should come back later by entering through a nearby area. She said that she and Takato could manage until then."

"As expected from Hikari. Don't blame yourself, Daisuke. You are not the first Chosen to have fallen into a trap and you're not the first group separated by one." Taichi said. "We'll save her. Go feed your partner and…call your family, too. This could take awhile."

"What's this about Hikari?" A voice Daisuke didn't recognize asked.

But when he looked behind him, he recognized the girl it belonged to and his eyes widened.

"An army of robot Digimon separated the group and now Hikari is stuck somewhere in a mechine city." Taichi replied with remarkable casualness.

Sora tilted her head to the side, looking worried.

But what she said was:

"…Hasn't this happened before?"

"Yeah." Taichi replied. "But it's a different city and a different army."

"Ah." She said. "Where is it?"

Taichi frowned at her and Daisuke thought he was going to protest letting her go anywhere, but seemed to think better of it at the last moment.

"Is Piyomon awake yet?" He asked.

Sora looked at him sourly.

"I didn't think so. Don't go anywhere; I'll be back in a few hours."

XxXXxX

The Tamer tilted his head to the side.

"And what are you, I wonder?" Takato asked, while Guilmon braced himself for battle at his side. Oddly, his partner seemed to be shaking in…disgust?

The creature's rotten, asymmetric face gave no sign of having heard his question. It simply continued to stare silently with its red eyes. They'd stumbled upon him while moving through the sewers aimlessly. It's not like they really had anywhere to be; they were just wasting time, after all.

Behind him, Hikari made a gagging noise. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the expressions of disgust on her and Tailmon's faces.

"Something wrong?" He asked them.

"How can you not smell that? It's vile!" Tailmon said, her tone as disgusted as her expression had been.

Ah, Takato thought, of course. It was something in the game.

He didn't smell anything, though, so instead he just clicked his tongue and smiled at her.

"That's rude, Tailmon." He said.

Hikari swallowed her distaste and nodded.

"He's right, Tailmon." She said. "He doesn't seem to have an Evil Ring. Probably because he lives down here in the sewers."

"See?" Takato said. "He's not an enemy."

He placed a hand on his partner's head.

"Be polite, Guilmon." He said.

Guilmon relaxed, but still couldn't hide his revulsion.

Well, he did have a very sensitive nose…

Both Tailmon and Guilmon perked up, startling both their partners.

"Tailmon? What's wrong?" She asked.

"I hear something." Her ears twitched as they stood in silence, not even breathing.

Making unnecessary noise could distract their Digimon and if it had drawn their attention like this, it was probably important.

"Footsteps." Guilmon growled.

"Guardromon." Hikari's partner added. "There must be other entrances to the sewer…"

Both of the humans stiffened.

"Should we go back to the surface?" Takato asked. "We're pretty far from where we started; they'll have a hard time finding us."

Hikari thought for a moment before shaking her head.

"These Sewers are huge." She said. "The odds of a group finding us in them this fast is amazingly low, if they're searching blind. Unless there was an army down here…"

Tailmon shook her head.

"I would have heard it." She stated.

Guilmon nodded in agreement.

"Then…you think they're watching us?" Takato asked.

Hikari nodded.

"And if so, it only makes sense for there to be a group up top as well." She said. "Let's try to gather a bit more information before we end up walking into another trap."

"In that case, it seems we'll be leaving now." Takato told the strange looking Digimon. "You should probably hide somewhere until we free this area, or else you might get hurt."

The creature looked at him for a moment and Takato wondered if he understood, but then nodded.

XxXXxX

"The entrance is right there, but…" Takeru said.

"Tch. I should have expected there would be guards." Daisuke scolded himself.

Takeru wanted to tell him he was being too hard on himself. In fact, he intended to ask Taichi or his older brother to talk to him.

But it would have to wait until later.

"How do we get in?" Takeru asked. "Can Digmon drill through sand, Iori?"

The youngest amongst them turned to his partner and spoke after receiving a silent nod.

"No problem."

"Then should we drill our way in?" Takeru asked Daisuke.

After a moment, he nodded.

"Yeah. But…if they're really are hunting Takato and Hikari…" Daisuke began, thinking. "Then…being subtle might not be the best choice."

Takeru nodded, understanding.

"While sneaking in would make things easier for us, an army of Guardromon are chasing after Takato and Hikari." He refused to accept the possibility that they'd been captured already, because he knew what that would mean for them. "If we made a ruckus, it would divert their forces, making things easier on those two."

"Then…" Miyako lifted an eyebrow. "Should we go through the front door?"

Daisuke bit his lip before shaking his head.

"No; diverting their forces is important, but we have to remember that our main goal is finding Hikari and Takato; it's fine if we have to abandon this area today, since we can always come back some other time with a better plan. As long as we can get them out, it's our victory, as far as I'm concerned, and having an army chasing after us would just get in the way of that. No, most of us should go with Digmon. But a distraction would be useful…"

Daisuke tilted his head to the side in thought. A moment later, he nodded to himself and turned towards Takeru.

But, for some reason, he hesitated before saying what he had in mind.

"…I'll go distract them." He said instead. "Fladramon and I can take out that Guard and make a ruckus to draw attention to ourselves. If needed, we can back out the way we came and get back to one of the free areas."

He patted his backpack, which had a bento inside.

"Thanks to Miyako, we have plenty of food, so I don't have to worry about V-mon getting hungry. Takeru, I'll leave saving them to you."

Says the man who really wants to rush in there to save his friends, Takeru thought. If he'd been sacrificing that chance because it was the best move, Takeru would have thought it admirable, but in this case, he just sighed and rolled his eyes.

He turned to Miyako and Iori.

"You'll have to forgive him; what he meant to say was that I would go make a scene while he lead you after you snuck in." He glared at Daisuke. "After all, my partner can both carry me and fly, so I don't have to worry about being cornered or caught and I can search the city from above. Something that would blow our cover if I tried doing it while sneaking around."

Daisuke was silent for a second. Of course, he knew all that. In fact, he was going to ask Takeru to play the role of distraction. But…

"Takeru…" He began.

"Daisuke, I know you feel guilty for what happened to Hikari." Takeru said, cutting him off. "And I understand that you don't want to put the rest of us in danger. Honestly, I appreciate that, since you're the one usually giving orders. But don't let it get in the way of your judgment. I don't want to get hurt and…I don't want to see any of my friends get hurt. But it's for that reason that I fight; so that I can protect everyone. Hikari, Takato, my family in the Real World, and…"

Takeru looked at the three younger Chosen and their partners.

"Of course…all of you as well. Because, I don't want to see my friend's get hurt. For that reason, if it will help Takato and Hikari, I don't mind doing this, even if it's dangerous." He focused on Daisuke, then. "And…you really want to protect your friends, too, don't you Daisuke? I know that you don't want to have to run and leave them behind."

A glance at the others told the Leader of the New Chosen that Takeru knew that didn't apply to just Takato and Hikari.

Daisuke fell silent again at his friend's words.

And then he surprised Iori and Miyako when he bowed to Takeru.

"Thank you, Takeru."

"Hmph." Takeru huffed, though there was a smile on his face. "If you have time to thank me, shouldn't you go play hero? I'll be fine."

Takeru's expression became serious.

"I promise."

Still bowing, Daisuke closed his eyes and smirked.

"Yes…!" He rose. "Iori?"

"On it."

Takeru watched as his friends left before smiling at Patamon, who returned the expression.

"I'm happy." His partner said, bubbly as always. "It seems we've some good friends this time around, too."

"Yeah." Takeru agreed before turning his attention to the Guardromon who was, appropriately, guarding the gate. "…Patamon?"

"Yes?"

"You know what I just realized?"

His partner looked at him inquisitively.

Takeru smirked.

"The only Dark Tower around is the one inside." He said, already lifting his Digivice.

Patamon smiled.

XxXXxX

"Which way?" Takato asked.

Tailmon looked around.

"That way." She said, nodding to the opening in the side of the strangely spacious sewer. "There are Guardromon coming from that direction."

She nodded again, this time towards the direction they had been travelling in the straight tunnel.

"And there are some behind us, too…" Hikari said, but she sounded a bit worried.

Takato knew why.

He looked at his current companions one by one and spoke.

"So none of you guys are going to say it?" He asked. "This is totally a trap. I mean, it's pretty obvious. Every time we come to one of these intersections, there's always Guardromon blocking every path except one. Now, if that had happened once or twice, maybe I could buy it being an issue of manpower or something, but this has happened seven times. We're being lead somewhere."

Hikari looked at him but didn't disagree; which, in this case, was pretty much the same as a complete agreement.

"But…" Tailmon said, not denying it either. "Why? Why not just close in on us in these tunnels? An Army of Guardromon in relatively close quarters…we'd lose, for sure."

"…Not necessarily." Takato disagreed. "It's true that in these tunnels, a fight involving explosives is far from ideal, but at the same time, that hurts the Guardromon even more than it does us. They're a group of large, slow moving Digimon and their attacks involve explosions. If they were lucky, they could drop the tunnel on us, but…Guilmon, would you?"

"Rock Breaker!" Guilmon cried, slamming a claw into the side of the passage and startling Hikari and Tailmon. It dented noticeably but didn't break.

"I thought as much." Takato said, nodding. "This tunnel is remarkably well built. I don't doubt for a second that they could bring it down, but I bet it'll take long enough for us to get out of the way. And while bringing it down on top of us would kind of suck, bringing it down behind us or in front of us would ruin their day, since we could continue on a free direction. Remember, all we need to do is find a way up to the surface and this plan of theirs is ruined. We saw plenty of sewer caps up top; I bet there aren't that many paths through the sewers that don't come across any of them. In fact, if this isn't the only one, I'd be surprised."

"You think they want to keep us down here?" Hikari wondered, glancing upwards.

"They almost surely have a way of keeping an eye on us while we're down here. It's not the best place for a bunch of Guardromon to fight, but they do have a pretty major tactical advantage. They know how to navigate this place and we don't."

"But…" Tailmon began, thoughtfully looking at the open passageway. "They aren't just trying to keep us down here. They're leading us towards something. What?"

Takato shrugged.

"Who knows? Something better suited to fighting down here? Something worse than a bunch of Guardromon? It could even just be a large number of Guardromon; enough of them could bring down a tunnel pretty quickly, I bet. I'm kind of curious, but not enough to actually want to find out."

Tailmon nodded in agreement to that.

"Then should we face the Guardromon?" Hikari asked. "We have no way of knowing if what's waiting for us down that way; it could be worse than the Guardromon, but it could be better, too. Fighting the Guardromon is risky; if something goes wrong…I know you said the tunnel is sturdy, but…"

"Also," Tailmon added. "Guardromon have missiles. As a cat, I'm allergic to explosive weaponry, especially while within confined spaces."

Takato smiled at them.

"Did you guys never get that speech about the path of least resistance?" He wondered. "The Guardromon are dangerous, but they have the weakness of the Evil Rings and we spent, like, three hours up top proving that we could hit those Rings. If we can take out the first few, Tailmon can dive into melee and break the Rings on everyone behind them and Guilmon can follow up with some Rock Breakers. It would require us to be fast and lucky, but…it's that or walk into another trap."

The girls went silent for a moment.

Takato glanced at his silent partner. It seemed the sewers didn't agree with his sensitive nose.

"You think you can make you Fire Breath hot enough to stop a group of Guardromon, boy? If you do, we can find a way back to the surface and get you out of here."

Guilmon eagerly nodded at that.

Takato lifted an eyebrow at the girls.

They glanced at each other and sighed, but there were smiles on their faces.

"Fine." Hikari said. "Let's do this."

XxXXxX

Andromon watched his four targets wordlessly. He was currently connected directly to the computer system of this city. Through that connection, he watched the Chosen and their partners and through that connection, he contacted and directed the Guardromon.

His plan was simple. Herd the Chosen to an area where their odds of escape were extremely low. Naturally, he wasn't worried about the battle that would no doubt follow; he was a Perfect.

It would take more than two Adults to defeat him.

Sadly, that plan seemed to have failed. The Chosen had noticed that they were being led along, which, he suppose, was unsurprising.

Andromon wasn't overly bothered by that failure, however; he'd more or less expected it. This plan, forcing them to take one specific path to one specific place while preventing escape, wasn't particularly subtle.

No, he hadn't expected it to work.

But it would have been nice if it had.

If they hadn't noticed, he could have led them straight to him, closed the only door, locked it from the outside, and planted an army of Guardromon on the other side of the door. They chances of survival would have been…

He wouldn't say impossible, for he didn't believe in the word and didn't have access to all the information he'd need to safely make that assumption.

But…

While not impossible, they would have been, at least, astronomically low, according to the information currently at his disposal.

Sadly, it was not meant to be.

Oh, well. Since he hadn't expected it to work, he'd made a number of plans based off its failure. While there was always the possibility that they would mess up in their fight against the Guardromon and die, rendering the issue moot, he would also operate under the assumption that the Guardromon would fail, as they largely had on the surface.

Andromon consulted a map of the cities sewers, pulling it up from his data banks. He noted the Chosen's current location, his current location, and charted the fastest route to get to the former from the latter and immediately set off.

If he couldn't bring them here, he would go to where they were. Again, he wasn't worried; he had observed their rates of movement and he knew he could move quite a bit faster than any of them, baring surprises. In addition, all of them were quite tired at this point and exhaustion would likely set in soon, if it hadn't already; they'd fought for hours, run for hours, and been forced to be on high alert for hours.

However, he wouldn't underestimate them. Something in the back of his head, like a half forgotten voice, told him that the Chosen were truly strong, and, as their performances against his master in the past supported this, he had no reason to doubt that.

While he was still confident that he would have no trouble defeating them in a straight fight, he would acknowledge the possibility of escape; he'd tried getting them to this place for the very reason of preventing that and failed. In the same way, they had often escaped from his master during past conflicts.

He didn't like the thought of failure, but he would acknowledge the possibility of it, nonetheless.

What to do then? If the possibility occurred, he should have a plan to deal with it, just in case.

It didn't take much thought to come up with a plan.

If they escaped together, he'd continue to hunt them down.

If they split up, he'd go after one of them.

But, in the latter case, which one?

The boy was dangerous, Andromon remembered. That was what his master had told him. The obvious choice was to go after him.

But, for some reason, he couldn't get the girl's face out of his mind.

A memory lingered just beyond his grasp, teasing him. For a brief moment, he thought of another girl, years younger, but the thought vanished a moment later, like a dream come dawn.

Such a thing didn't change anything, though.

Or rather…

It shouldn't have changed anything.

But, even so…

If forced to make the choice, Andromon decided he would chase the girl.

XxXXxX

In the following moment, three things happened at once. It was unintentional, but the Chosen had acted in perfect unity.

And they all did the same thing.

The three groups were scattered across one area, but the all moved steadily towards the completion of their missions.

One pair; Takeru and Patamon, laid siege to the city gates.

XxXXxX

The light of evolution enveloped the unintimidating Digimon and when it faded, Angemon took to the skies. The darkness of night was washed away by his glory and the attention of the Gatekeeper was drawn in an instant.

It mattered not.

"Hand of Fate!"

The power of the attack blew away the Guardromon in an instant and erased the doors behind it in that same moment.

It didn't even deserve to be called a fight, but Takeru wasn't surprised. If there was one thing he knew was reliable, it was Angemon's power.

Angemon stepped into the city, but couldn't take more than a few steps before reverting back to Patamon.

The Child Digimon turned in midair as his partner caught up to him.

"I'm back to normal." He said, his disappointment obvious in his voice.

Takeru just smiled at his partner.

"Don't worry; we knew that would happen." He replied reasonably. "It can't be helped."

Sounds of motion drew their attention and it became obvious that they'd achieved their goal.

Well, marching up to someone's house and kicking down the door does generally draw people's notice, Takeru thought. And that's basically what they'd done, only with explosions.

Takeru gazed calmly in the direction of the approaching noise. There were a lot of them; that much was obvious. But once you've been chased through a castle by a Dark Master out to turn you into a keychain, most other things simply didn't compare.

"Digimental Up."

"Patamon, Armor Shinka!"

XxXXxX

Two pairs fought beneath the ground.

XxXXxX

In all honesty, it wasn't that great of a plan.

'Beat up the Guardromon before they can start shooting.' They weren't going to go down in the history books for coming up with that strategy.

But Takato and Hikari had an advantage over their opponents. Two of them, really.

Their names were Tailmon and Guilmon.

The Guardromon may have been Adults, but they were large, slow moving Adults in a small area, with basically zero maneuverability. Not to mention their obvious weakness of their Evil Rings.

Meanwhile, Tailmon was a small, fast-moving target who could easily move around in the, to her, fairly large tunnel. And, though most did not remember, there had been a time and a place when she'd bounced the Adult forms of the partners of the older Chosen around like impudent children to buy Vamdemon's army time.

Guilmon wasn't as small as Tailmon, but he was notably smaller than the Guardromon, and he was, quite frankly, a monster.

Such are the benefits of feasting upon the broken remains of one's enemies.

"Fire Breath!" Guilmon roared, exhaling a wave of flames and tremendous heat.

It wasn't the best of ideas to throw around fire in a tunnel, Takato mused, glancing at Hikari who suffered momentarily from the heat and consumed oxygen.

He didn't even notice, but…

"Guilmon, that's enough." He said and his partner promptly stopped. The flames snuffed out amazingly quickly, likely willed to do so by their creator.

However, just because he'd paused in his assault didn't mean the Guardromon were safe or that they were left unharmed. The front three Guardromon had their chest plates badly scorched and their rings destroyed. Those behind them were largely protected by their comrade's bodies, but it didn't matter, because, as they always did, the freed Guardromon halted in their tracks and refused to move.

In the confines of the tunnel, they served to halt to approach of their former fellows.

Tailmon was a white blur as she dove into the fray, moving between the legs of one of the freed Guardromon and zigzagging towards the nearest slave.

"Neko Punch!" She said, lashing out with claws copied from SaberLeomon's data.

The Evil Ring shattered and she immediately grabbed a hold of the wheel on Guardromon's chest with her other hand. With that hand, she lifted herself high enough to place her feet on it and jumped, in two bounds, to the unresponsive Guardromon's head and then as high in the air as the tunnel would allow.

Guilmon penetrated the Guardromon's ranks a moment later, barreling through the freed Guardromon in the front row without any hesitation or remorse and attacking the first slave he saw.

Tailmon was grateful she'd noticed what he was doing and continued onto the next row; she didn't want to get involved in that fight.

"Surudoi Tsume!" Guilmon cried, lashing out with his sharp claws. He knew the Guardromon were slaves and that he wasn't supposed to hurt them, but he also knew his Tamer was in danger, which took precedence.

Even so, he tried to hold back.

His claws rent the armor of the Guardromon even as they freed them from the Kaiser.

He considered himself mostly successful.

"Wild Scratch!"

Two more slashes left two more gashes on two more Guardromon, taking them out of the fight along with their Rings.

Landing, Tailmon delivered a mighty kick to the Guardromon she's landed on, before using the resulting impulse to perform a back flip, landing gently on Guilmon's head.

She frowned down at her ride.

"Be more gentle, Guilmon. It's not their fault that they've been enslaved; I don't see what you're being so ferocious about-"

"Warning Laser!" The last remaining Guardromon cried, launching twin beams of light from his eyes.

Guilmon dove to the side, nearly throwing Tailmon off, landing…

Right in the path of the attack.

A snarl and slight jostle were his only reactions to the attack.

Tailmon glanced over her shoulder at the two humans who would have been hit by the attack before returning her gaze to the Guardromon, displeasure shining in her eyes.

"Nevermind." She said, jumping from his head. "Neko Punch!"

"Rock Breaker!"

XxXXxX

And three pairs hunted for their comrades below the city.

XxXXxX

"Gold Rush!" Digmon cried, launching his drills and freeing the four Guardromon.

"This way," Daisuke said, squeezing past the suddenly still Digimon without a moment's hesitation.

The others followed him wordlessly; or rather, they followed his Digivice.

They'd managed to find Hikari and Takato's signals, but when they checked the surface, there hadn't been anyone on it. That had stumped them for a moment, but Daisuke remembered what Sora had said and they had decided to check beneath it.

Sure enough, they had burst into a sewer of some sort. Almost immediately, they'd been under siege, which was problematic, since Holsmon couldn't fly very well and they'd quickly learnt that letting Fladramon go all out was a bad idea.

They'd been forced to rely on Digmon, who was holding up well so far, but Daisuke didn't want to be stuck down here for very long if he could help it.

Luckily, their friend's signals were nearby.

All they had to do was fight their way through the Guardromon…

Suddenly a path cleared through the Guardromon.

The Chosen stopped moving, though they weren't sure why.

Suddenly, a figure appeared at the end of their vision. It was different from the Guardromon in size and shape, but all they could see of him were his two red eyes and the occasional glimmer of bright steel.

"Who…who are you?" Daisuke wondered.

Andromon stepped forward into the light.

XxXXxX

Takato and Hikari ran behind their partners.

They were in a hurry, now; they'd broken through the Guardromon, but now they needed to get to the surface.

"Wait," Tailmon suddenly said.

The two humans obeyed immediately, worried that they were walking into another trap.

Tailmon was still on top of Guilmon's head. She'd claimed the spot after the battle and allowed Guilmon to carry her. While his partner hadn't objected, Takato almost had. His partner wasn't some horse to be ridden.

The Catlike Digimon's ears twitched a few times before she glance at her partner.

"Nothing," She said.

Hikari blinked.

"Nothing?" She questioned.

"I don't hear anything anymore," Tailmon clarified.

Takato frowned and glanced behind him.

"Weren't there Guardromon behind us?" He asked, suppressing the urge to take out his Digivice.

"They're gone," Tailmon said after a moment of concentration. "Or, at least, I can't hear them anymore. They could have fallen too far behind, but…"

That was doubtful, Takato silently agreed. They'd chased them through the city and then into the sewers without losing them. And they apparently had a way of watching them.

But then, why weren't they there? Were they setting up another trap? Could they have all gone to the surface? Would an army of Guardromon be waiting for them when they went up?

No. That couldn't be it. Takato was sure of one thing; the ordinary sewer caps were too small for the Guardromon to go through. For them to have gotten down here, they must have used some other entrance. In that case, for them to get back to the surface, they would need to use those same entrances. And after all the time they'd spent in down here and all the running they'd done, it was impossible for them all to be nearby such an entrance. And it was unlikely that one of those entrances would lead to a spot near where they would be exiting the Sewers.

No, there couldn't be an army up there yet…but it wouldn't be weird if they were already migrating to the surface. If they had broken through and the Guardromon thought that they wouldn't be able to catch up, then it would make sense that they'd start heading for the surface.

But surely they had to know that time was against them, right? After all, it would take time for them to leave the sewers and it would take more time for them to move from…where ever that would put them to the sewer cap that they would be exiting. And since they had no intention of sticking around, it would take more time for the Guardromon to hunt them down.

Surely they didn't think the others would just abandon them? They couldn't be that stupid, they had know it was only a matter of time before the others-

A matter of time.

Damn it.

"Hikari, how long have we been down here?" He asked.

Hikari blinked at the sudden and unexpected question, but reached for her Digivice after a moment's pause.

She didn't even have time to switch to the clock function before realization struck and she understood Takato's question.

"They're here." She said, showing him the glowing dots on her Digivice's screen.

Takato sighed in relief.

"Finally. Let's hurry up and get to the surface-"

"No," Hikari said, cutting him off. "They're here. As in, down here."

This time, it was Takato who needed a moment to understand and after he did, he needed a few more to associate that information with the disappearance of the Guardromon.

"Shit!" He swore. "There must be an army after them!"

"Follow me." Hikari ordered, brushing past him without another word.

XxXXxX

The new Chosen were fighting Andromon with everything they had.

The new Chosen were getting their asses kicked.

Digmon slid back at the kick just in time to catch the badly beaten Holsmon as he was thrown. But he had no place to talk; he probably looked just as bad. While Fladramon stayed back, his involvement being too risky, he and Holsmon were going toe-to-toe with a Perfect level Digimon.

It…was going about as well as could be expected.

"Red Sun!" Holsmon cried, aiming for Andromon's weak point. Even if he was a Perfect, if they could shatter that ring, it was their victory!

But…he already knew this tactic wouldn't work.

Andromon lifted his left arm and blocked with his metal-encased forearm and didn't make a sound to show that he even noticed the impact.

"Gold Rush!" Digmon tried, not willing to risk using Big Crack in a tunnel.

Andromon calculated the speed and trajectory of each drill and caught the one meant for his ring with his left hand. He allowed the remaining drills to bounce harmlessly off of him as he crushed the drill in his hand into powder.

"Digmon." He identified his attacker. This was one of the targets his Master most wished to die. Digmon…and the boy behind him, as well.

He turned to face them fully.

Daisuke's eyes sharpened at the action. He knew that their new opponent was targeting Iori, now.

He also knew that he wouldn't allow that to happen.

"Fladramon, remember that thing about you staying back?" He asked. "Now would be a good time to forget that completely."

Fladramon didn't hesitate for a second; he simply dove into the fray where he knew he belonged.

"Knuckle Fire!" He shouted, attacking with a fist encased in flames. As he predicted, Andromon caught it with his left hand.

He hadn't used his right yet; was he unable to or was there something special about it?

Only one way to find out.

"Claw Express!" He cried, trying again with his other hand.

Before he could hit the Evil Ring, however, Andromon stopped it.

With his right forearm.

Fladramon nodded mentally. There was something about it; that hand.

Maybe it was nothing.

Or maybe it was really, really bad.

He had no desire to find out. He could ask this Digimon after he'd freed him, if he really wanted to.

Fladramon pushed closer to the larger Digimon, but he couldn't make Andromon budge an inch, so he was forced to bend his own arms to get closer.

For a moment, the opponent's eyes met.

Fladramon nearly sneered in distaste.

He enjoyed the thrill of the fight.

But the dispassion in Andromon's eyes…it wasn't something he wanted to see in his enemy's eyes. He despised those rings; for that and so much more.

"Flame Shot!" He attacked, coating his body in flames just to distract his opponent. In that brief moment of reflexive action in which Andromon almost pulled his hands away, Fladramon managed to take a step forward. Andromon recovered almost instantaneously, then, tightening his grip on Fladramon's hand and putting his forearm back in the way of the other.

But it was already too late.

Fladramon was now close enough to successfully finish 'Flame Shot.' He cut diagonally upwards with his helmet blade.

Andromon realized his trick at the last second, however, and managed to awkwardly kick Fladramon in the stomach. It was a testament to Andromon's might that even off balance, one of his kicks was enough to throw Fladramon into the air.

It still didn't matter, Fladramon thought, ignoring the pain.

Andromon had fallen into his pace and now he was off balance. Granted, Fladramon was in the air and couldn't do anything about it, but…he didn't need to.

"Holsmon!" He cried.

Holsmon immediately understood.

"Mach Impusle!"

The 'blade' Holsmon released slammed into Andromon before he recovered. The Perfect level Digimon was forced to cross his arms over his neck and endure.

"Digmon; don't hold back!" Fladramon shouted the moment he confirmed a hit. Already, his movement through the air had halted and he stood, hanging above the floor of the tunnel. "Fire Rocket!"

He didn't bother looking at Digmon, such was his trust in his friends. He had his own attack to focus on.

"Big Crack!"

It was a risky move, splitting the floor of the tunnel; risky and extremely dangerous.

But Digmon did it anyway, because he, too, trusted his friend.

They were lucky; nothing happened to the rest of the tunnel when Digmon split the floor.

And they were even luckier when the off-balance Andromon nearly fell in.

Fladramon saw his chance and took it. Like a meteor, he flew through the air and rammed into Andromon, leaving a trail of flames behind him.

Andromon was a Perfect level Digimon.

But even he had his limits.

He began to fall back.

Fladramon didn't let up for a second. He landed on top of his opponent when his back finally met the ground and even as his aura of flames flickered and died, his hands reignited.

"Knuckle Fire! Ora!"

Blow after blow slammed down upon the Perfect Digimon, who could do nothing but protect his ring. Fladramon, experienced in combat in ways his friends couldn't imagine, knew the truth of the situation.

Against such an opponent, if he backed down, he would die. Without a doubt, if he stepped back and let Andromon recover, he would die and, more importantly, he would lose what was important to him. Behind him stood the person he'd waited so long for and so…

He would not step back.

"Enough." Andromon ground out, opening his chest plate. "Gatling Missile!"

Fladramon saw the two missiles only seconds before they were fired, but it didn't take him long to figure out what they meant.

Andromon expected him to dodge. No, Andromon wanted him to dodge. He was in a bad position and he knew it, so he was trying to change things by getting Fladramon off of him.

It was only natural that Fladramon would dodge; it was that or take a higher level attack head on.

But Fladramon didn't dodge. He snuffed out the flames on his hands with a thought and he caught the missiles gently the moment they were fired.

He smiled wryly at Andromon's expression, which not even the Evil Ring could suppress.

"Let's see who can take a bigger asskicking." He said.

His hands re-ignited as soon as the words left his mouth.

XxXXxX

The explosion rocked the tunnels, nearly making Hikari trip. Takato managed to catch her, but he was equally startled.

"What the hell…?" He wondered.

"An explosion." Tailmon stated the obvious.

"Yeah, but…that wasn't a Guardromon," He stated with certainty. "Their attacks wouldn't do that much."

Hikari silently agreed with him.

"I suppose it was too much to hope for that the only slaves in this city were the Guardromon, huh?" She said.

"Ahem," Tailmon uttered, drawing their attention.

The moment she had it, she continued.

"I think the two of you are missing the importance of this explosion. If…whoever's over there is causing explosions, it means he's attacking, and if he's attacking, then the most likely explanation is…"

"He's found the others," Hikari finished. "Meaning now's not the time to talk. Right. Let's go."

XxXXxX

Fladramon flew through the air back towards his friends. He hit the ground and bounced, skipping over the uneven surface like a thrown stone over the water. He almost impacted with Daisuke, but he managed to retain enough presence of mind to dig his claws into the ground before they collided, protecting his partner.

A moment later, an orange light surrounded him before flying towards Daisuke, leaving V-mon behind.

"V-mon!" The leader of the new Chosen cried, kneeling beside his beaten partner.

V-mon coughed painfully before speaking.

"D-damn…it." He said, gazing into the cloud of smoke that still lingered where Andromon had been. "Daisuke…run."

"Huh?"

The dust suddenly cleared—no, it was blown away! Andromon stood, his armor blackened and his skin burnt, but nonetheless undefeated.

But Daisuke didn't care about that, despite how important it was.

Something about him had already caught his attention.

Andromon's black right hand began to rotate and energy gathered around it.

Daisuke still didn't recognize Andromon, having never met him before. He didn't know what his attacks were.

But even so, he knew better than to stand by and let an unknown and powerful Digimon just attack after it finished beating on their partners.

"Guys!" He shouted.

"Red Sun!"

"Gold Rush!"

But Andromon evaded both attacks by jumping as high as the tunnel allowed. He drew back his hand and Daisuke knew that he and, more importantly, his team, were in great danger.

"Digmon, Holsmon, get them to safety!" Daisuke cried, his thoughts turning immediately to his team.

Iori and Miyako opened their mouths in simultaneous protest, but something, maybe acknowledgement of Daisuke's authority, maybe just a desire to protect their partners, drove the two Digimon to obey the Leader. Digmon grabbed Iori and the two were below ground a moment later. Holsmon picked up Miyako and the two were flying away from Andromon in seconds.

The only ones left before the attacking Digimon were V-mon and Daisuke.

"Spiral Sword!" Andromon said, lashing out with his arm, unleashing a blade of energy.

Daisuke knew, with a certainty he'd seldom felt, that if that attack hit him, he'd die.

But he also knew that the same went for V-mon.

And Daisuke would not abandon his partner.

The boy's forward dive would have earned applause from his coach, had he been there to see it. He hugged V-mon tight to his chest a moment before turning his dive into a roll, just in time to let Andromon's attack go above them.

Daisuke had just enough time to feel relief before the blade curved unnaturally in midair.

For a moment, he feared that it curve back towards him for a finishing blow.

What happened instead was almost worse.

The blade curved up to collide with the ceiling of the tunnel, and the mighty attack was too much for it to withstand. Before the boy's wide eyes, the tunnel collapsed, locking off any hope of retreat.

He turned his head to look back at his enemy, who looked down at him with cold, dispassionate eyes.

Daisuke swallowed.

He was stuck between Andromon and a hard place.

XxXXxX

What happened couldn't be blamed on anyone.

It couldn't be blamed on Guilmon, for how could the young Digimon know? After all, ever since the day he had been born, never once had there been a fight that had made him think 'I can't win.' He had never lived within the Digital World as a normal Digimon; he had no grasp of what others would think fundamental. He knew only the will of his Tamer, the ferocity of battle, the thrill of victory, and the rush of power that shortly followed it. Nothing else had ever been of import.

How was he supposed to know that Andromon was a Perfect? How was he to understand what that meant? How was he supposed to know that there was always a bigger fish in the sea when there never had been before?

It was not his fault that when he saw the massive Digimon looming over V-mon his…ally? Friend? He knew not what the word to describe the two of them, since he was, to a limited degree, aware of the plans his Tamer and Father had hatched.

But for the moment, he knew they worked together.

When he saw Daisuke in danger and V-mon defeated, he rushed in.

It was not his fault any more than it was Takato's.

How was the Tamer supposed to know he was running towards a Perfect?

How was it his fault that his partner didn't know that and rushed into the fray?

How could he be blamed for, in that important, decisive moment, freezing at the sight of an enemy that he knew was strong, unsure of what to do?

He stopped only for a second; in any other time, it would have been a wise choice, to stop and think before rushing in.

In this case, it was the difference between stopping his partner and letting him go.

But it was not his fault any more than it was Hikari's or Tailmon's.

How could either of them not have frozen at the sight? At the knowledge that it was Andromon who they would have to fight? How could they not freeze at the knowledge that they would have to fight a Perfect level and one who was their friend?

How could they be blamed for, in that moment of shock, forgetting that they were the only ones around who truly knew who Andromon was or about the power he held?

They too could not be blamed for their reactions.

But blameless or not, an event that could have been avoided still happened.

XxXXxX

Andromon's hand began to spin again and this time, Daisuke had nowhere to run.

He knew that.

Worse, Andromon knew it too.

He could see it in the Perfect's eyes; he no longer even thought of this as a battle.

This wasn't even an execution to him; Daisuke no longer even held enough relevance for such a thing.

Daisuke was nothing but a chore now; Andromon could have slipped his death in between taking out the trash and buying the groceries.

"Spiral Sword," Andromon announced, sounding a bit bored.

"Rock Breaker!" Daisuke's savior interjected, saving his life by coming out of nowhere and crashing a claw into Andromon's right hand.

On the bright side, the attacked missed Daisuke, leaving him with his life.

On the down side, he had to quickly scramble to keep it when the right side of the tunnel began collapsing.

"Andromon…" Hikari said, standing a ways behind the Perfect Digimon. Her voice sounded strangely pained.

Takato stood next to her, but didn't say anything. Instead, his expression had shifted into something that looked a lot like terror as he gazed upon the battle Guilmon had started. The smaller Digimon was unleashing blow after blow at the Cyborg, but…

He was faring no better than the Armor Digimon had. Andromon either blocked or ignored each and every blow.

If anything, he just looked…annoyed? He seemed annoyed at Guilmon, but…he kept sneaking glances at Hikari.

Daisuke frowned, worried at that change.

Takato's expression suddenly shifted from fear to incredulous disbelief.

"Daisuke?" He wondered. "Did you come here alone!"

The goggled Chosen started but was quick to reply.

"Wha-? No! I just got separated from the others by this guy-"

Takato cut him off.

"It doesn't matter! This isn't the time! You need to get the hell out of there!" Takato cried. "Guilmon, you too; that guy, he's-"

It was too late.

Andromon had had enough of the pest standing between him and the girl.

With lightning speed, he struck out with his left hand, grabbing Guilmon by the throat. He lifted the suddenly choking Digimon into the air as if he weighed nothing.

And then his right hand began to spin again.

Three human's widened their eyes at the sight, all of them knowing what it meant.

"Guilmon! No!" Takato shouted, as if his plea would change anything.

It didn't.

"Andromon, wait!" Hikari tried, her partner already running across the tunnel, hoping to get there in time.

She wouldn't.

"V-mon!" Daisuke screamed, as if, by some miracle, his partner would find the strength to do something to change things in time.

He couldn't.

"Spiral Sword!" Andromon attack, lashing out at his captured opponent.

And Guilmon…

Screamed.

XxXXxX

Takato could have given a number of explanations for what he did next.

He could have said that if Guilmon died, he'd lose the game.

He could have said that, real or not, Guilmon was his creation.

He could have chalked it up to pride, annoyance, anger, or frustration.

He could have passed it off as a sudden reaction to a momentary, phantom pain, which was gone even faster than it came; so fast that he couldn't even tell if it had been real or not.

And maybe, just maybe, he really did think of Guilmon as his friend.

Maybe some of these reasons were true. Maybe some of them were not.

It didn't matter; regardless of his reasons, his actions remained the same.

"Takato!" Hikari yelled out.

In what, he did not know. Warning? Fear? Surprise?

But that, too, didn't matter.

The Tamer ran towards his partner, one hand reaching into his pocket for his Digivice and the other going for his Evolution card. He didn't even have to look for it; he didn't carry around any of his other cards.

After all, if something happened, having all of those would be suspicious.

But he always carried the Evolution card, for one simple reason; if something ever happened, something like this, he would be able to evolve his partner.

He kept some things in mind at all times, however; that evolving Growmon could easily blow his cover. That having a supposed 'Perfect' level would draw suspicion and might ruin his plans. That using Evolution was a last resort.

But at that moment, he didn't care. He stood right in front of Andromon, planting his feet between the Digimon and his partner. He glared up at him with anger burning in his red eyes.

The only reason he hadn't evolved yet was because he was worried about the effects it might have on his partner.

He cast a quick glance at Guilmon, but returned his gaze to his enemy almost immediately, not so much because was worried about his opponent—though he certainly was—but rather because he couldn't bear to look at his partner.

Guilmon was strong.

For a Child Digimon, he was monstrously powerful.

He had disguised his partners strength by calling him an Adult—pretending to everyone that he was an entire level higher than he actually was—and if anyone had noticed something that gave them cause to not believe that, they hadn't shown it.

But even so, there was a difference between a very strong Child like Guilmon and a Perfect like Andromon.

Andromon's Spiral Sword had nearly cut Guilmon in half.

It was weird to look at; Guilmon had nothing like organs or blood. As such, it was hard to describe his wound; it was a parting of flesh, but not the flesh of a human or anything organic. There were no entrails revealed by the wound that stretched from his left shoulder to the right of his waist. The closest similarity it had to a normal injury was the fact that there was something coming out of both wounds, but Guilmon's data could never be mistaken for blood.

It shouldn't have been as bad as looking at a human with the same wound.

And maybe it wasn't; Takato wouldn't know.

But he knew that watching those particles of data slowly trying to rip themselves from Guilmon's body hurt more than anything else he could remember.

His grip tightened around his Digivice and he wanted so badly to slash the card that would end Andromon's life.

But he knew he shouldn't.

In Guilmon's condition, he had no guarantee that becoming Growmon wouldn't end Guilmon's life as well. And even if it didn't, how could he know whether or not he'd be able to fight Andromon?

In his state, Andromon might…

He glanced around quickly.

Was there any way to avoid this fight?

V-mon was no help; he was obviously pretty beaten. Tailmon was still in okay condition, but Takato dismissed her almost immediately. If Guilmon couldn't do it, then what hope did she have?

Unless she could use her small size and speed to-

No, that was too risky.

Takato had already seen it, hadn't he?

The power of Andromon's attacks…

If he couldn't hit Tailmon—if he attacked and missed—then…

Would this tunnel survive?

More importantly, would he and Guilmon survive?

The Digimon were of no use here and he didn't even know where the other Chosen were. And it's not like their partners would be of any help-

Wait.

Takato looked back at Andromon, who wasn't even looking at him.

He had eyes only for the others.

Why…?

Something clicked.

His eyes darted from Andromon to Hikari.

Could he be…? Could he remember Hikari, even through the Ring? How…?

It didn't matter, Takato thought, cutting off that train of thought.

The 'how' of it didn't matter, at least not to him.

What mattered was one thing and one thing only.

Andromon was more interested in Hikari than he was in Guilmon or Takato himself. Whether it was because Hikari was the only one left with a partner capable of fighting or if he really did remember something didn't matter.

Only one thing did.

If Hikari ran, would Andromon chase her?

XxXXxX