Hello everyone! Here's another long chapter again. I have to say, I really enjoyed writing this one, so I hope you like it. Like I said in previous chapters this is pretty much the last chapter that I'm using to create the setting. Really, its a transition into the adventure (especially the last part of this chapter). Thanks to TrioF, Rhyme13kh14Xion8, Roses of Truth, and DigitalWarrior96 for reviewing! Keep the reviews coming. I'd love to know what you're thinking!

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon or anything you may recognize.

"Geez, you weren't kidding! That was a long story," Davis exclaimed. "You can talk almost as much as my history teacher!"

"Not the time Davis," TK hissed, elbowing the goggle head.

Izzy had a serious look on his face. Tai recognized it immediately. His friend was deep in thought. "What are you thinking about Izzy?" He asked.

"Everything really." He turned to Becky. "Why tell us now?"

Becky looked at him gravely, "Because we think the time of the final battle is approaching. Everyone here was pulled together seemingly by fate. The forces of good are assembling. That means we're about to fight a war. We need to start working though, we're still missing a few pieces."

Tai grimaced at this statement. He wasn't sure he was ready for this, let alone the younger Digidestined, and he had no clue about the Tamers. "Who are we still missing?" He asked.

"My brother Charlie, a girl named Alicia, both of whom are Digidestined, and the six Legendary Warriors."

Tai turned to his partner. "Agumon, what do you think?"

The orange dinosaur thought for a moment. "I think we need to know our mission before we make any decisions. Do we know where to find the others?" He asked Annalismon.

"We know where Charlie is. The trick is getting him to come back to the Digital World. As for the other Digidestined, I don't know. We never kept watch over her since she didn't have her partner yet. We can find her partner though," she replied.

Becky nodded, "Yeah, we rescued her when Charlie's partner died. Her name is Lunamon. Coronamon has been looking after her since he was reborn."

Annalismon looked worriedly to Becky, "How are they?"

"I'm not exactly sure Annalismon, I haven't been to the Digital World since the gates closed. I haven't seen Coronamon since you saw him."

Rika sighed exasperated. "That's all well and good, but what do we need to do after we get them? We can't just wander around the Digital World like a bunch of idiots."

"Isn't it obvious?" Annalismon asked. "We have all the original Crests except for the Crest of Kindness. We've got to find that."

"Really?" Takato asked. "That's it? That doesn't seem so bad. Unless of course there's an evil digimon already after it."

Becky shrugged. "No one else is after it that we know of, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. Something is moving. It seems calm now, but it's the calm before the storm hits."

Looking at the time, Tai cleared his throat and asked, "So, are we good to leave? It's getting late and all of us Digidestined need to get home. We can meet again tomorrow. We can't make any plans like this. There's been too much emotional turmoil today. I think we all need some time to calm down." He made eye contact with Sora, Matt, Izzy, and Joe. They nodded and started pulling the younger Digidestined and their partners toward the door.

"Wait a minute," Yamaki said sternly. "You can't just leave. We still have questions to answer, and tests to run. It may not be safe to keep crossing continuities."

Becky stuck up her hand and said, "Let them go. I'm still staying."

"But, what about home?" TK asked. "What do I tell Mom?"

"The truth, a lie, I don't care honestly. Whatever you think is appropriate. I can write a letter if you'd like."

Sora extended a hand to Ryo. "Come back with us. I'm sure your parents are ready to see you again."

The Tamer stared at her hand for a moment. "No," he said taking deep breaths. "I'm not ready yet."

Sora looked sad, "I guess, if you're not ready then, but I still think you should come."

Ryo felt exasperated. He didn't harbor as many negative feelings toward Sora. She was never in the tournament. Yet, her insistence was grinding on his nerves. Somehow he managed a polite, "Maybe later, but not now. I don't think I can face them yet."

"I'm staying too then," came Ken's soft voice.

Yolei and Davis' jaws went slack.

"But Ken!" His girlfriend countered. "What about your mom? You've already disappeared twice. You can't do that again."

"Yeah man!" Davis added. "Why stay here?"

Ken looked at Ryo, "I need to talk to Ryo. Don't worry it's not forever. I'll come back soon. And don't tell my mom about Ryo yet. If he comes back, I want to tell her."

"But Ken!" Yolei countered.

Tai shook his head at the girl. "Let Ken do this. Both he and Ryo need to." He turned to Ken. "We'll take care of your parents. Don't worry."

"Actually, instead of writing a note, why don't I cross the border and call instead?"

Izzy laughed, "Of course why didn't I think of that!"

Accompanied by the Tamers, Yamaki, and Janyu, the Digidestined made their way back to the border in the park. Izzy had his computer, which he had retrieved from a reluctant Yamaki, and was scanning for the warp. "Here it is!" He cried.

Yamaki looked at Becky. "How do I know that you aren't going to cross over and never come back?"

The girl rolled her eyes, "I have a bit more honor than that. But, if you don't believe me, why not send a Tamer over to make sure."

Henry stepped forward. "I'll go."

Becky nodded and ushered him forward along with Ken. "See you in a second," she called as she stuck her Purple D3 out. A bright light came out of the device and the trio walked forward. The rest of the Digidestined followed.

On the other side, Ken called his mom. "Mama?" He said when she picked up. Ken proceeded to converse with him mother, wincing a few times as she scolded him. At one point he took the phone away from his ear. "She won't let me stay unless one of the older kids stays too."

Joe held out his hand for Ken's phone. The boy gave it to him. "Mrs. Ichijouji, this is Joe. I'll stay behind with Ken. Don't worry."

The woman on the other side sighed with relief, "Thank you Joe. You are responsible. Make sure to get my son back here tomorrow."

"Don't worry ma'am. I'm on the job."

Mrs. Ichijouji seemed relieved and said goodbye to her son.

Ken looked over to Becky who was also just hanging up. She laughed and said, "Well, that could have gone better. Nancy isn't too happy with me." She turned to Henry, "Ready?"

The Tamer nodded.

"Ok guys," Tai said seriously. "We'll be back tomorrow after school. We can try to figure out a plan then." He looked at Henry, "Tell the other Tamers to meet us at your hideout at 4 PM."

Henry nodded. With that, Ken, Wormmon, Becky, Annalismon, Joe, and Gomamon waved goodbye and crossed over the border. As they disappeared, Joe exclaimed, "Dang it Gomamon! I have Biology tomorrow! My professor is going to kill me when I'm not in class!"

"Oh Joe, relax. I'm sure that Dr. Sato is nowhere near as scary as Ogremon, and he's one of our friends!" Gomamon replied cheekily.

"You're just saying that because you don't have to take his tests!"

Becky sat in a room of computers and sensors back at Hypnos, arguing with Yamaki. "I think Annalismon has made herself clear. You will not analyze her data. We'll answer questions, but she is not some science experiment."

She had been arguing the past hour with the government agent about scanning and analyzing her partner's data. When the question had first come up, Annalismon had said absolutely not. She had been raised with too much pride to let someone look at the secrets her data. When she was continually pressed, the rabbit stormed out of the room and left the arguing to Becky.

"I don't understand Becky. You said that you would comply so that we would know that you guys are allies. I don't see how this is compliance."

"Yamaki, you don't understand what you are asking. Annalismon is copied directly from one of the oldest digimon in the history of the Digital World. There are probably things in there that she doesn't want the government to get their grimy hands on."

"You do realize that you're talking to a government agent, right?"

Becky sighed, "Yeah, but you know better than most. You know that the Digital World is not something that humans can control, destroy, or create. I would bet my Digivice that there is a link to the code that created digimon in her data. Imagine the awful things that people could do with that sort of information. There is no way Annalismon will ever let a government database have that. She was raised in a life of secrecy."

Yamaki sighed, "It would be nice to know how different her data is to the data of Terriermon. We could see if any damage has been done by splitting the world into separate continuities."

"Everything has the same origin, so it should be pretty much the same. Here," she said as she through her pockets. She pulled out a stone. "This comes from File Island, which is in the center of all 4 Quadrants. It should have all four types of data. Analyze this and compare it to your records."

"A rock, really?"

"It's the best you're getting. You do not want to see Annalismon in a bad mood. Its ugly."

When Annalismon had stormed out of the room, Henry, Terriermon, Takato, and Guilmon witnessed the scene.

"Why doesn't she want to be scanned?" Terriermon asked. "It's not like it hurt or anything."

"Yamaki seems to think it's pretty important," Takato mused.

"I don't know, remember what they did last time to Terriermon? They could try something sneaky like that again," Henry responded.

"Well, why don't we try to at least try to get her to open up to it a bit more. We can ask your dad to do the scan. I bet he wouldn't dare do that again. Come on. I have a plan to convince her." Takato answered.

Henry laughed, "And what is that?"

"We give her what every digimon loves, food! Let's go guys!" Takato and Guilmon started marching down the hall toward the break room.

About twenty minutes later Henry, Becky, and Yamaki walked into the break room after Becky and Yamaki had reached an agreement. The scene in front of them flabbergasted them. Takato, Guilmon, and Terriermon were tied to three chairs with layers of Saran wrap with peanut butter smeared all over their faces. Annalismon was standing off to the side, the jar of Nutella in her hand licking some off of a spoon with a smug look on her face.

Becky broke into laughter and went over to her partner to give her a high-five. "I don't think I can even get after you for this. It's too good!" She said through fits of laughter.

Henry, also laughing, approached Takato, "They found a compromise Takato."

"Eh, now you tell me," The Goggle Head replied exasperated.

"Takato!" Guilmon whined, "I don't think I like peanut butter as much as I before did now that it's in my nose."

"What was that," yelled Terriermon, "you want a butter hose? I can't hear anything, the peanut butter got into my ears."

Becky laughed again. "I guess we should free these guys." She began to pull the Saran wrap off.

Her partner sighed in response, "Fine."

Rika sat in a small room staring at her cup of green tea. Sitting beside her were Ryo and Ken. She sighed and looked around the room uncomfortably. That older guy, Joe, had left earlier making the room almost unbearably awkward. You could almost cut through the emotional tension with a knife. It was like a contest, who could hide their real thoughts for the longest. She wanted out of that room, but that meant dealing with Takato and Henry who were probably trying to cook up some wacked out scheme with Yamaki. Plus, that also meant leaving Ryo, which she wasn't sure that she could do. He was like a drug in which she was increasingly becoming dependant upon. Sure he was a friend, but she shuddered to think what life would be like without him. It hadn't been like this until he had used her power in the D-Reaper. Afterwards, it was like something clicked between the two of them. She could finally see past the Mr. Perfect demeanor unlike everyone else. Perhaps she could sympathize with this Ken guy? After all, Ryo's absence in his life was his reality.

Finally, Ryo broke the silence, "So, do you know where you're staying tonight?"

Ken didn't respond. He had a far off, dreamy expression on his face.

Scowling at his friend's lack of attention, Ryo waved his hand in front of Ken's face. "Hey! Are you listening to me? You can crash at my place tonight, but it's a bit of a hike."

Ken shook his head and came out of his reverie. "I would really like to stay with you. It would be nice to catch up. Sorry about zoning out like that. I was just remembering that one time Sam, you, and me went fishing and didn't catch a thing. So we went to the market and got that huge fish and tried to convince our moms that we caught it at the park."

Ryo laughed. "Yeah, I remember that. Sam was so obsessed with bringing home a prize fish that even after we bought the fish; he went back to the pond and tried to catch something else. Success eluded him though. For all his genius, he could never catch a fish."

The pair laughed for a while. Finally, Ryo sobered and got a serious expression on his face. "Man, I miss him a lot."

Ken nodded sadly, "Me too."

Ryo got a pained look on his face. "Sorry for asking, but how did it happen?"

Ken sighed and buried his face in his hands. "We were crossing a street. Sam was in a hurry because we were late for soccer practice. Then, it all happened so fast. I was waiting for the signal to change. But Sam was in such a hurry; he was trying to cross the street. He hadn't seen any cars. He had turned around to scold me for not coming with him. And then it happened. A car was going too fast, and couldn't stop in time. I watched as he died in the middle of that street." Ken's voice broke at the end, ragged sobs coming from him.

Tears fell from Ryo's eyes as well as he put an arm around his friend. "I'm so sorry Ken. I should have been there. I wish there were a way for me to turn back the clock and change what happened."

Ken wiped away some of his tears. "As much as I wish that was possible, I think for some reason, you were needed here. It was probably a good thing that you went to this continuity."

"Maybe, I guess."

The pair sat in silence again for a while.

Finally, Ryo spoke. "Hey Ken?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you go with me to see my parents? I think I want to see them after the Digidestined come back tomorrow."

"Sure. No problem."

"Thanks." Ryo's eye's turned to Rika, "What about you Wildcat? Will you come too?"

Rika was shocked that Ryo would ask her to do something like that. "You really want me to come along too?"

"Yeah. It doesn't seem right without you. Maybe I'll ask Becky too. She and Annalismon would be good at answering questions."

"Well, ok. But this doesn't mean anything beyond friendship Hero Boy."

Ryo laughed in response, "I wouldn't dream of it."

Joe came back into the room. "Hey guys, that Yamaki guy says he's got all the info he needs for now. We can head out and get some sleep now. It's getting pretty late."

Everyone walked out of the building into the cool night air. The Tamers began saying their goodbyes and started departing to their homes. Becky, Annalismon, Joe, and Gomamon looked at each other, confused.

Ryo called out, "Guys, this way. Come with me. Ken is staying at my place. You can come too."

The four looked at each other, shrugged and followed Ryo toward the train station.

Rika looked on the scene with slight distaste. She didn't understand why, but she didn't like the doting look that Ryo was starting to give Becky. She didn't want to date the guy or anything, but she still didn't like it.

As morning broke the next day, Annalismon slowly opened her eyes. Years of training had conditioned her to wake up early, and today was no different. She looked around. She and Becky had shared the pullout in the couch. There had been a big argument the previous night where she and her partner would sleep since they were the only girls in the house. Ryo, being chivalrous, tried to give them the bed, but Becky wouldn't hear of it. Her partner just had too much pride. 'But then again,' Annalismon thought, 'I have quite a bit of pride too. I guess that a reason we're good partners.'

The rabbit began to shake the slumbering girl next to her. "Becky," she whispered. "It's time to wake up."

The girl took a deep breath and stared up at Annalismon with squinted eyes. "Is it morning already?"

Annalismon laughed, "Yup, time to get up."

"Alright, give me a second."

Becky got up and stretched. Following her partner, she soon found herself on the roof of the house. It seemed almost strange to her. This had been a morning ritual ever since she had met Annalismon so many years ago, but for the last year, she had done it alone. It was a relief to have someone else to train with once again.

The pair began to go through a series of stretches and training exercises. As the finished warming up, Becky laid down on the ground as Annalismon took a drink of water. "I know that this sounds sissy, but I really don't want to train today. I haven't seen you in a year, Annalismon," Becky sighed. "I kind of just want to spend some time with you. Can we get back on the boat tomorrow, and take a break today?"

Annalismon smiled because she had secretly been thinking the same thing, "Sure, let's not tell Gennai or Piximon."

"Ha ha yeah, I can imagine what they would say."

Annalismon sat down next to her partner, "So, what do you want to do?"

Becky sighed, "I think praying might be appropriate. I mean God did bless us enough to bring us back together."

Annalismon smiled. This had been a journey that they had embarked upon together. She remembered distinctly when they were saved all those years ago in the Digital World. It was strange to think that she had spent all those years of her life without the salvation of Jesus or her loving heavenly Father. It was got her through all those horrific battles, and it only strengthened her resolve to protect the weak. She grabbed Becky's hand. "Sounds good to me."

Becky took a deep breath and started, "Thank you Papa God…"

Monodramon woke as the Sun began to rise. He looked over to see his partner sleeping heavily. He smiled. This was one of the rare moments that he got to be himself, not the darkness the resided inside him or the vicious Cyberdramon. He often wondered what he would have been like if he hadn't had the darkness inside of him. He had vague memories of his past life. He knew that he knew Ryo then and that he had been hurt very deeply by the Digidestined. And, he had made the darkness in his soul a part of him, but why, he could not remember. All he knew was that the darkness was dangerous.

He sensed something above him. He got up quietly and navigated around the sleeping bodies around him. He stopped at Ken for a moment, remembering the night before. It had been a cool moment when the boy and his partner discovered that he was Ryo's partner. Apparently there had been some problems with that in the past. He continued out of the room and ascended to the roof.

What he found was something he did not expect. He saw Becky and Annalismon sitting holding hands and praying. It was strange. He did not often see someone praying. Ryo was pretty irreligious as he was himself. He wasn't foolish enough to think that there wasn't a Creator of some sort. Not many digimon were. Whether that creator was a human or some other force was up for debate. Yet, he had never prayed with such sincerity to anything. He had heard about the religion that the pair was practicing. It was all about love, and salvation. But, he could not believe in it. He had seen too much pain, even in his short life, to believe in such hope.

Monodramon decided to leave the girls in peace, and began to quietly go back toward the house. But, Annalismon's voice rang out, "Please stay Monodramon, we've pretty much finished up."

The small dinosaur cleared his throat uncomfortably, "No, it's fine. I don't want to disturb you." He feared this would quickly turn into an effort to try to convert him.

Becky laughed, "It's ok Monodramon, we're not going to Bible bash you. Seriously, Annalismon and I are finished praying. What's got you up so early anyways?"

The dinosaur sighed, "Nothing really, just kinda antsy."

Annalismon furrowed her brow, "Any reason why?"

Monodramon didn't answer. No one but Ryo knew about his dark side. But yet, it seemed as if Becky and Annalismon might have the answers he was looking for. Finally he responded, "You seem to know about Ryo's past."

Annalismon nodded a bit, "Not all of it. Just the parts that were important to the Digital World."

Taking a deep breath, Monodramon dared to broach the subject. "I don't really remember much from my past with Ryo before I hatched from my digiegg. I do know that for some reason I absorbed some kind of darkness. Do you know what it is and why?"

Becky and Annalismon shared a concerned look. Annalismon started, "Monodramon, that darkness is Millenniummon."

A look of shock and terror passed over the dinosaur's face.

Annalismon continued, "What you did was brave and noble. Ryo and Millenniummon are connected, somehow partners. Yet, you were his partner too, and to claim him as your rightful partner, you forced Millenniummon to fuse with you. It was the only way to contain and control him."

Fear laced through Monodramon. He had never expected his dark side to be so powerful or dangerous. He needed to digivolve as soon as possible. As much as he liked being himself... He couldn't bear to think of the consequences if he didn't digivolve soon.

Noticing the terror on the digimon's face, Becky asked, "What's wrong Monodramon?"

Almost shaking with fear, he responded, "I need to get to Ryo right now. I've got to digivolve back to Cyberdramon. Every minute we lose is precious."

Concerned Annalismon asked, "Monodramon, what's going on? There's no danger. Why do you need to digivolve?"

"Because…" Suddenly the dinosaur fell to his knees screaming in pain and clutching his head. "Not now!" He gasped desperately. He looked at Becky and Annalismon, "Get Ryo, I can't control him as Monodramon. Don't let me do anything to hurt anyone!"

With that Monodramon's eyes shut as he quaked in pain. When they reopened, Becky and Annalismon couldn't believe what they saw. The once playful golden eyes had changed into ones of sheer black. He stood up and gave the pair a menacing smile. "The sentimental fool. This is what he gets for not demanding he digivolve as soon as he fell back to rookie. Disgusting creature at least as Cyberdramon we can fulfill my bloodlust."

Terror laced through the partners. They were face to face with none other than Millenniummon trapped in Monodramon's body. "Millenniummon?" Annalismon stuttered.

Monodramon smirked and bowed mockingly, "The one and only. I do have to say thank you my dears. Good old Monodramon was putting up a good fight at suppressing me until you told him the terrible news. The sheer terror he felt was a nice distraction in order to break through. But now, for my favorite part, the killing. Ryo has kept my violent impulses contained for far too long. I do look forward to killing a human. It seems so much more satisfying than simply killing a digimon who won't bleed."

He paused for a moment and smelled the air. "Ah excellent, I see young Ken is here too. He did to foil my plans, but he may be of some use to me. Yes, that dark spore should still be ingrained in there. You know, that was meant for Ryo to make my goody-two-shoes partner more willing to take part in my plans. But Ken ruined it all. Now, he'll help out." A maniacal cackle came from his mouth.

Becky and Annalismon assumed a fighting position. They had been fighting together for so long now that only a glance was required and they knew. Becky would make a dash for the house to get Ryo while Annalismon held of Monodramon. Becky took a breath and nodded her head a bit.

Inside the house, screaming awakened Joe. He shot up to find Ken on his side, whimpering in pain as he clutched the back of his neck. Ryo and Wormmon were already kneeling next to him, trying to talk to him.

"Ken!" Wormmon cried worriedly. "What wrong?"

The boy didn't answer, but kept screaming in agony again. Ryo's brow furrowed. He couldn't figure out what was going on. Unless…

He looked around, but couldn't find Monodramon. His stomach dropped.

Suddenly, there was a large crash. The window in Ryo's room broke as Becky kicked her way in. She looked terrified. "Ryo," she said desperately. "Millenniummon, he took control of Monodramon. Quick, you need to get on the roof. Annalismon is holding him off the best that she can."

Ryo nodded, mentally smacking himself for not having Monodramon digivolve right away. 'I couldn't resist his request though,' he thought. 'He wanted to be himself for a while. And I have to admit, I missed him too.' He ran out the door to get to the roof, already having his D-Power strapped to his pajama, an old habit from his days living in the Digital World.

When he reached the roof. He saw a disturbing scene. A bruised and battered Annalismon was charging toward Monodramon. The dragon had an evil-looking smirk on his face. As Annalismon neared him, a dark force came off his body and nearly knocked the rabbit off the roof. Though Monodramon was only at rookie level, Millenniummon was somehow to channel a greater amount of power through his body.

Becky helped her partner back up. "Thank God you're here Ryo," Annalismon sighed. "I could probably take him down as BeastAngemon, but I don't want to risk killing Monodramon."

Millenniummon smirked, "What? Too soft-hearted to kill poor Monodramon to get rid of me?"

Becky snorted at the evil digimon's attempt at manipulating them. "Nope. Monodramon is our friend. And we especially won't do it because you won't be bound inside of him anymore." She turned her attention to Ryo. "We need you to get him to digivolve to Ultimate."

Ryo sighed, frustrated. "I know, but I can't do it while Millenniummon is in total control like this. There's not telling what he'll digivolve into if I give him the power to."

Becky thought for a moment. "Maybe if we knock him out, Monodramon can take back some control. But how?"

A menacing laugh came from Millenniummon. "Ha! You continually underestimate the powers of evil. They have been moving right under your nose. Even if you were to beat me, you will never defeat the others. The war is starting, and you don't even really know it!"

"Becky! Annalismon!" Ryo called. "You need to digivolve!"

Worry creased Becky's eyes, "But what about Monodramon. We could unintentionally hurt him badly."

"We have no other choice. I trust you guys."

Becky grimaced, and squeezed her eyes together. Yes, it was necessary. Things like this always seemed to be. A part of her mind laughed at the irony of how much Ryo sounded like Tai. 'Crazy boy,' she thought. She opened her eyes. "Ready Annalismon?"

Taking a deep breath the rabbit nodded, her eyes focusing on the target ahead. "Let's do this."

Grasping her crest, Becky shouted, "Crest of Life! Partner Mode Activate!"

She felt herself become wrapped in Annalismon's glow as their energies merged for a moment. Even in the heat of a battle, she love this short moment, where she and Annalismon became one. Then it stopped, and she was simply herself again, but now coursing with new power. She looked over at BeastAngemon and knew she was ready.

Again they charged forward. Becky felt the power coursing through her legs. She often wondered if this was what Digievolution felt like. BeastAngemon took the lead this time going on the offensive right away. "Magna Blast!"

Millenniummon just laughed, blasting the attack away. "Trying the same thing again I see."

Yet even as he was saying this, Becky, who has continued toward him aerially during BeastAngemon's distraction, grabbed him from behind in order to restrain him. The digimon simply laughed again. "Ah I see what you plan to do now. How stupid of you to trust your victory in the hands of this weak human." He tried to blast her off.

But Becky didn't go flying. 'I have to stay put,' she thought. 'This needs to end now, and I'm the one who has to stop it.'

Distracted by the stubborn nuisance on his back, Millenniummon began to concentrate all of his power toward getting rid of the girl, yet somehow she refused to let go. The attacks would hit, and she would groan in pain, but she would not give up. BeastAngemon took advantage of Millenniummon's lack of defense. Getting up close she attacked again with her sword, "Kairos Blade!"

The dragon fell limp in Becky arms. Now was the time. "Ryo!" She shouted. "Swipe the card now!"

Ryo grabbed his D-Power and swiped his blue card. "Digimodify! Matrix Digievolution Activate!"

Becky let go and watched as Monodramon began to glow, and morphed into Cyberdramon. She sighed in relief.

But even as Cyberdramon stopped glowing, it was easy to see that it wasn't over yet. The energy from Digievolution helped Cyberdramon regain consciousness, and he was mad with rage. Within, Monodramon's conscious was in a fierce battle to regain control from Millenniummon. Ryo's brow furrowed. He recognized this behavior. He ran up and produced a whip of light from his D-Power. "Cyberdramon, stop this now," he ordered.

Becky watched in horror. "What are you doing?"

Ryo sighed. He knew that this looked so cruel, yet it was necessary. "I'm trying to contain Cyberdramon's bloodlust. If I don't he's going to go on a killing spree. I'm trying to reach the Monodramon part inside of him."

Cyberdramon fought again the whip and growled angrily. Ryo sighed, "This isn't going to work. I need to biomerge."

Drawing back the whip he cried, "Biomerge activate!" Once again he became one with his digimon. But this time it was different. He had only biomerged with Cyberdramon like this once before, the first time, back when the D-Reaper attacked. Millenniummon's darkness had taken over Monodramon much as he had done today. Ryo had managed to get his partner back to Cyberdramon, where he could better manage his dark side. Yet, the resulting blood lust crazed his partner to an extent he had never seen before. He yearned for the day that Cyberdramon could be free from this. It was this burning desire to save his partner from himself that led to Ryo biomerging for the first time.

As he merged with his partner, an agonizing pain split through his head. He sank to the ground, groaning in pain. Internally, Ryo joined Monodramon, and with their joint consciouses, began restraining Millenniummon back into his place.

Becky and Annalismon huddled around Justimon, who knelt on the ground grasping his head. Minutes seemed to drag by as they waited for some sign of what was happening.

Finally, Justimon's tense form relaxed and he stood up. He glowed and once again became Ryo and Cyberdramon. Breathing heavily, Ryo patted his partner. "Good job. We did it!"

Cyberdramon simply nodded.

Confused, Annalismon asked, "What just happened?"

Remembering the presence of the girls he laughed sadly. "I helped him fight Millenniummon back. Ever since Monodramon merged with Millenniummon, he has struggled to keep control. That's why I had to go to the Digital World with him in the first place. He was too dangerous. We found that as he digivolved further, he could better control his dark side. As Cyberdramon, he can almost totally keep control, except in the heat of a battle. And as Justimon, Monodramon and I can both keep him in check. I think its in that form that Monodramon has really had full control of himself since he's been reborn."

Joe and Gomamon's head peaked over the side of the roof. "Everything alright up here? I finally got Ken to calm down. He's laying in bed right now." He struggled to pull himself up off of the fire escape. "Is Millenniummon gone?"

The trio nodded, relieved.

Becky got a serious look on her face. "We have to keep this a secret."

Ryo nodded, but Joe's eyes widened. "Why?" He sputtered.

"Because," Annalismon answered, "if the Sovereign find out, they will try to take Cyberdramon away from Ryo. The idea that Millenniummon's consciousness still exists and can take control of Monodramon presents too much of a risk. We can probably tell the others, but we still need to be careful. Don't forget that Tai, Matt, Izzy, and Mimi fought against Ryo to make him into the perfect soldier. I don't think Tai would try anything, but I'm not really sure."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Becky continued. "I think we should leave it up to Ryo to tell them when the time is right. Sound good?" She asked turning to Ryo. She knew he would be worried how Tai would react.

Ryo nodded.

Annalismon shook her head. "Something doesn't sit right with me. Millenniummon is the Son of the Virus, and he said the war had already started. I wonder if he knows something that we don't."

Becky sighed, "I guess we won't know until they make a move."

"Umm Becky?" Everyone turned around to see Ken poking his head over the roof. "I just got an emergency message from TK. You've got to go back to America ASAP."

"Why?" She asked confused.

"Its your brother. Word just came that he's gone missing."