The Path of the Chosen

by pyrorynox

Now that we've found out that we must find the other five digimon of legend, Kumamon and I are about to embark on our journey to save the digital world. It's self-insert, but you should give it a chance anyway.

25. Sacrifice

So this chapter only took me about three weeks to finish and its probably one of my longest, if not the longest chapter so far. This is the last chapter of the pirate arc and after this we'll move back to the story. I got no reviews since last chapter, but the story was favorited by The Three Kings. I hope you're enjoying the story so far.

Kumamon: Last time we found our way back to Kaizokumon's ship, only to find that most of his crew had been mysteriously slaughtered by Kaizokumon.

Rexmon: Because of his evil aura, Stanleymon passed out and me and Fuzzymon went to fight Kaizokumon alone. He still has Stanleymon's digivice so we can't digivolve.

I don't really have too much to say so I'll just get Kumamon and Rexmon to do the disclaimer and you all can get started reading. Don't forget to review afterwards.

Disclaimer: You know we don't own Digimon. Why do we have to keep doing this?

"You ready? It's just gonna be me and you. So I'll understand if you're scared."

Rexmon smiled nervously as the two digimon ascended the stairs. "I'm scared, but I'm sure we'll win. We're fighting together after all. And I believe in Fuzzymon."

"Why?" asked Kumamon.

"Because me and Fuzzymon are supposed to be a team. I wish the other four were here though. It would make me feel better."

"The other four." Kumamon had forgotten that he was not supposed to be my only digimon. "I was the one who found Stanley and brought him here so it's like I laid claim to him or something without realizing it. I completely neglected that there's supposed to be six of us fighting together at some point. It hasn't sunk in that Rexmon is the same as me. He may have been too trusting, but I used to be the same way."

He reached under the front of his hat and traced a claw over his crescent moon shaped scar. "I was naïve, but somehow this is different. I wanted to believe in others. He's just kind."

"Fuzzymon, is he up there?"

Kumamon was pulled from his thoughts by Rexmon's question.

"What? Oh yeah." He looked up the staircase and found it deserted. "I don't see him. I don't feel him either."

"Well, what now then?"

"He's obviously toying with us, so let's find him first. We'll find a way to beat him."

Rexmon nodded in agreement.

"Let's go."

The two of them let out a battle cry and sped up the rest of the staircase. As they reached the deck they got into battle stances, back to back. It was quiet.

"See anything, Rexmon?" Kumamon asked looking around.

"No. Let's look around."

"Alright, but let's stay back to back, Rexmon. That way he can't sneak up on us."

"Right."

They started to walk along the deck, towards the back of the ship. The only thing back there was the Nemesis Cannon.

"You think he's in there?"

Rexmon sniffed a few times and shook his head. "I don't smell him."

"Great," Kumamon sighed. "He has to be around here somewhere."

Rexmon suddenly grabbed Kumamon's arm and yanked him towards him.

"Hey what's the big idea!" Kumamon got the idea when suddenly heard a whizzing and turned his head as something crashed into the exact place he was just standing. Kumamon's eyes bugged out of his head as he saw the large hole then he turned back to Rexmon. "I owe you."

"Big time." Rexmon gave a rare grin which Kumamon returned and both of them turned to the hole.

"There you are, you murdering bastard." Kumamon said in distaste.

Kaizokumon stepped out of the hole and faced the two with an evil smirk. "Hello, digidestined digimon." His voice sounded off. There was his regular tone, but underneath it was a much deeper on. It made his voice distorted and creepy.

"Fuzzymon, he sounds weird."

Kumamon clenched his fists as he resisted his instinctual urges to run. "So I was right. Guess since you couldn't use you own body, you decided to take Kaizokumon's for a spin. Isn't that right, MaloMyotismon?"

This time Rexmon's eyes bugged out of his head in realization as Kaizokumon's, now revealed to be MaloMyotismon, smile widened.

"Bingo, kiddie."

"Rexmon, let's go!"

Rexmon nodded as they went on the offensive. "PYRO SHOT!" Rexmon fired multiple fire balls at M-Kaizokumon as Kumamon jumped into the air that impacted against his chest, but did nothing to harm him.

"Pitiful," he scoffed.

"Then take this!" Kumamon started to spin in the air to gain momentum as his leg started to glow brightly. "FUZZY ROUNDHOUSE!" The kick landed right at the side of his head, but barely managed to budge him. Kumamon was about to punch him, but had glimpsed something in M-Kaizokumon's pocket. "Stanley's digivice!" He reached for it but was blown off of M-Kaizokumon's body by a sudden outburst of aura.

Rexmon got into Kumamon's flight path and caught the bear digimon. "You're welcome."

"I owe you two now. But I saw the digivice in his pocket. Now that we know where it is we can work on getting it back."

"I can tell this is gonna hurt." Rexmon frowned.

...

Back in the holding cells the sounds of the battle from above echoed. "Well they're still fighting so they haven't died yet. Maybe they have a chance," said a Monzemon.

"No, dey probably don't." said Deckmon. "Da captain's an ultimate digimon. Two rookies won' be able ta damage him much, if at all. He's probably just toyin' wit em.

"Yeah, but if dey could somehow digivolve, dey would stand a better chance. Especially wit dis guy right here." Swabmon nodded at my unmoving figure.

"Him?" said one of the liberated digimon. "Isn't he just a human? What could he possibly do?"

One of the lower ranked Swabmon got up and shoved the digimon. "Are ya callin me matie a liar? I got half a mind to throw ya back in the brig."

The other digimon grabbed the Swabmon but the collar of his pirate shirt and lifted him into the air. "Just you try it. We're out now and we're not gonna go back in. So if you want to put any of us back in those cells then you're gonna have to beat us."

"Fine then." The Swabmon pushed him off and prepared to punch him in the stomach, but the lead Swabmon grabbed his arm before he could.

"Oi! Stop it, all a ya! We may 'ave boarded your ship and kidnapped da lot of ya, but right now we're all in danger. So unless we stick together, none of us are gonna survive!" shouted the main Swabmon.

The two digimon that had started the fight backed down and looked away from each other. Outside of that very spot, the flying digimon from before passed a retreating Whamon.

"Whoa! What's the rush buddy?" said the digimon to Whamon.

"My friends are fighting pirates right now, but the ship they came on was abandoned so I'm going to retrieve it. A little surprise for when they win."

"Alright, well I think they're gonna be fighting a little more than pirates. You go get that ship and I'll go help your friends out. Excuse me." He flew on ahead as Whamon proceeded to find the S.S. Whamon.

The digimon floated to the side of Kaizokumon's ship. "Hmmm, I hear voices inside." He used the drills that made up the claw on his right arm to drill a hole in the wood. The digimon inside saw the hole and began to back away.

"What is that? I can still hear the sounds of the fight on the deck so it can't be that Kaizokumon character."

The digimon poked his head in. He had a yellow, bug like face and a large drill where his mouth should have been. "Hmm, with all the commotion going on I thought the fight was happening right here."

All of the digimon in the room shook their heads in unison and all pointed to the ceiling above.

"Oh, I see now. In that case, stay down here where it's safe."

All of the collective digimon nodded again in unison. The insect digimon was about to back out of the hole he made but stopped when he caught a glimpse of me on the ground.

"That amount of evil aura must have been too much for him." He backed out of the hole and flew up to the battle that was taking place.

"Wasn't that Digmon?" Asked one digimon. Imaginary light bulbs seemed to light up above every digimon's head as they realized what just happened.

"That was the legendary digimon, Digmon! We have a chance at survival now!"

Swabmon looked down at me as my face began to contort in discomfort. "Somehow I don't think it'll be that simple."

...

My back hit the wall and I feel facefirst into the hard ground. "I don't understand any of this. I was just in the digital world, so how can I be back home?"

The sound of footsteps came closer to me as I lifted myself to my feet.

"Chase," I said with distain.

My bully gave a cocky smile and popped his knuckles. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but I know that I'm gonna beat your face in. C'mere you weak piece of shit." He reached for me but I knocked his arm aside and threw a quick right jab towards his face. He caught my fist, turned his back to me and elbowed me in the rib cage, then threw me over his shoulder.

I quickly got on my hands and knees and tried to scurry away from him. Being the stalker type bully, he calmly followed after me, knowing I would not get far.

"What the hell is going on here!" I thought to myself. "I know I don't have full control of my powers just yet but I should still be able to pulverize him without my fire powers. It's like I'm back to where I was before I came to the digital world." I turned around and ran up to face him. "BLAZE KICK!"

This time I managed to jump a considerable height, before he simply grabbed my leg and yanked me painfully back to earth. It now hurt just to keep my eyes open. I struggled to keep them open as Chase stood over me with his fist cocked, ready to throw the final blow.

"Time to die."

My eyes closed just as he threw the punch but I didn't feel anything collide with my face. "What the hell?" I opened my eyes, expecting to see chase still standing over me, but instead I was once again in the white void. "This place again? Guess I know who's behind this then." I inhaled deeply before shouting as loud as I could.

"COME OUT YOU HUGE FLAMING CHICKEN!" Not a second passed before the room was filled with fire and the fiery silhouette of a large bird filled the void.

"I would rather not be referred to as simple poultry, if you don't mind."

I narrowed my eyes. "And I would rather not be pulled here while I'm in the middle of a fight. Where are Kumamon and Rexmon?"

"Your valiant comrades are currently battling MaloMyotismon, who possessed the digital pirate's body while you were away"

I hung my head at that realization. "So that really was MaloMyotismon. But why am I here? I remember talking to Kumamon one moment, and the next I'm in the human world getting my ass handed to me by Chase."

"Well that's what MaloMyotismon's aura does to humans. It fills them with fear and makes them go into a dream like state where they battle their worst fears. Your predecessors went through a similar challenge when they fought him before. I pulled you out of that dream."

"So that's why I did so poorly. So how are the others doing?"

"They are currently being manhandled, but some help has just recently arrived. Although it won't nearly be enough to stop him."

"So what do we do then?"

"You're going to go fight after I send your consciousness back into your body. I'll loan you a little of my power but it won't last. Get back your digivice before that happens. And remember, you do not have nearly enough strength to destroy him. But you may be able to trap him. His soul may be currently possessing Kaizokumon, but it is also still tethered to his original body. Also, Kaizokumon's body is not able to handle all of his power at one time, so his current strength is limited to Kaizokumon's body can take. Use that to your advantage. Now go!"

I was just about to ask a question before I was forcefully ejected from the void.

...

"BEAR FIST!" The energy attack soared but fizzled out as M-Kaizokumon knocked it aside. Kumamon and Rexmon gasped for breath as they grew more and more tired. Nothing was working.

"This guy is really starting to piss me off. We can't even get near that digivice."

"We can't give up, Fuzzymon."

Kumamon looked over to Rexmon as Rexmon's eyes went wide. "Fuzzymon! Above you!"

Kumamon looked up to see M-Kaizokumon standing over him, bringing his arm down to smash Kumamon's head. Thinking quickly Kumamon balled his paw into a fist and threw an uppercut at lightning speed. "FUZZY UPPERCUT!" The attack had just enough speed and momentum to deflect the blow and send M-Kaizokumon's fist into the decking. Unfortunately Kumamon's quick thinking was costly. Kumamon used all of his strength to deflect the powerful blow and was now completely spent.

M-Kaizokumon quickly got back to his feet and raised his fist again. Kumamon backed away as he held his injured arm and Rexmon bounded over and grabbed Kumamon in his claws, continuing to move out of the way of M-Kaizokumon's fist.

The two digimon skidded to a halt and Rexmon put Kumamon on the ground. "Are you okay?"

Kumamon held his arm as a trickle of blood streamed through his fur. "Damn, that's three now. I'll be fine, but I'm completely spent. I don't even have enough energy to dodge anymore." The two digimon turned as M-Kaizokumon stood up and turned towards them, bending his legs as if preparing for a jump. Rexmon grabbed Kumamon's uninjured arm in his teeth gently and swung Kumamon onto his back.

"Hang on Fuzzymon!" Kumamon didn't question it and wrapped his arms around Rexmon's neck as Rexmon's eyes narrowed into slits. M-Kaizokumon made a leap into the air. He pulled out Kaizokumon's gun and pointed towards the two digimon.

"It's time I stopped toying with you two and got a little more serious." "SHATEKI!" A target symbol shot from the gun and latched onto Rexmon's tail before he could move out of the way.

"Well that can't be good." Rexmon said with a slight growl.

"Oh Crap. Run!" Kumamon tightened his grip slightly as Rexmon suddenly sprinted down the deck.

M-Kaizokumon rearmed the pistol and fired. "RANPATSU!" Four shots rang out as the bullets shot after Kumamon and Rexmon.

Kumamon craned his neck around and curse under his breath as the bullets followed them. "Those things are following us. I hate that stupid gun."

Rexmon said nothing. He suddenly used his clawed feet to skid to a halt and turned to face the bullets before sprinting towards them. Kumamon would've yelled to not do what Rexmon was doing, but his instincts told him to just hang on tight. Rexmon crouched down and leaped under the first bullet that barely whizzed past Kumamon's ear. He landed on the ground on all fours then bounded to the left to avoid the second bullet, then jumped up and did a barrel roll over the third. The fourth bullet whizzed towards his face as Rexmon landed, but without hesitation he jumped over it and opened his mouth. "PYRO SHOT!" The fire blast hit the last bullet, causing it to explode and send the two digimon flying forward.

Rexmon was able to pull his body upright and stomp to a halt. Kumamon's ears rang as he heard two bullets coming at them at either side. "Rexmon, jump back!"

Rexmon jumped back and the two bullets collided, causing another explosion that this time rocked the ship. Without looking back, Rexmon backflipped over the one remaining bullet.

"Boo," came M-Kaizokumon's distorted voice as he suddenly appeared behind the two as they landed and he shoved them forward hard. The two tumbled across the deck and rolled to a stop. A close by whizzing noise was heard as the final bullet whizzed towards the two.

"Fuzzymon, I'm too tired to move."

"Come on! We have to move!" But it was useless as that surprisingly powerful shove from M-Kaizokumon took the last bit of strength out of Rexmon. The bullet came closer and closer until it was mere inches from Rexmon's face.

"GOLD RUSH!" A drill suddenly appeared over the bow of the ship and slammed into the bullet, knocking it away before it exploded. The drill turned around and flew back to where it came as a large hulking figure with buzzing wings hopped over the bow and landed on the deck.

The figure was large, yellow, and buglike. He had a beetle like shell on his back with the symbol of the crest of knowledge on it. Instead of front claws, he had two drill on each hand that were like makeshift claws, and one larger drill where his mouth should have been.

"Digmon." M-Kaizokumon said with a slight growl and anger in his voice.

Digmon crossed his pincers over his chest as he glared heavily at M-Kaizokumon. "Different body, but I can tell that stench from anywhere...MaloMyotismon."

"It's been ages, my 'old friend'. How have you been?" M-Kaizokumon asked with a tinge of venom in his voice.

Digmon responded by pouncing forward with his drills spinning. He swiped at M-Kaizokumon several times, but the possessed pirate managed to dodge and avoid all of the strikes before kicking the insect digimon in the face.

"You've gotten soft. I guess the 'Drill of Knowledge' isn't quite as intelligent without his human partner. What was his name? Cody, I believe. Those human partners are always what made you weak!"

"Shut it!" "ROCK CRACKING!" Digmon jabbed his five drills into the decking, sending wood flying into his opponent's face. With his vision temporarily obstructed, Digmon flew into M-Kaizokumon and slammed him hard into the main mast of the ship.

"How's that feel you jerk?" Digmon kept pressing M-Kaizokumon into the mast. He looked up into M-Kaizokumon's face just to see his bored expression.

"You couldn't beat me before when you were all fighting together at your highest levels. What makes you think you can do it alone as a measly champion?" He pushed Digmon away from him with almost no effort, then grabbed his arm before jabbing him hard in the stomach repeatedly.

The insect digimon groan in pain and tried to back away, but his arm was caught in a strong grip. "D-Damn!" He kept tugging, but M-Kaizokumon whipped around and threw Digmon as hard as he could. The digimon slammed hard onto the deck, bouncing over to where Kumamon and Rexmon were watching.

"You're not doing to good, old timer." said Kumamon.

"Well, I'm sure something good will happen," said Rexmon hopefully.

"Uh, maybe." said Digmon skeptically as M-Kaizokumon loomed over them.

...

My eyes opened up as I returned from the void. I sat up as all of the digimon in the dungeons looked at me with curiosity. I surveyed my surroundings and noticed Kumamon and Rexmon weren't there. "Where are my digimon?" I asked.

Deckmon pointed up at the staircase. "Dey went ta battle da captain. Ya passed out."

"What happened to ya?" asked Swabmon.

I thought back to what the phoenix had told me in the void. "His dark aura put a lot of strain on my mind, but I should be okay now." I felt the heat in my body boil as the power on loan from the phoenix poured through my veins. I felt as strong as I usually did when wearing my armor. I balled my hands into fist as flames surrounded them, surprising all of the digimon who weren't a part of Kaizokumon's pirate crew and didn't know about my powers. I waved my arm and my flaming sword appeared in my hand. "Well that's new." I faced the staircase and headed up.

"Where are ya goin?" asked one of Kaizokumon's crew.

"My friends need me, so I'm going to fight. There's very little chance of us winning, but we will. So everybody stay here where it's safe."

As I ascended the stairs the two digimon looked at each other. "Why can' we be like dat lot, Swabmon?"

The skeleton digimon shrugged and looked upward to the staircase. "Maybe we didn' have a reason ta be, until now. I know what we have to do."

...

"BLAZING SLASH!" A shockwave of fire split the deck and impacted with M-Kaizokumon's chest hard enough to knock him off of his feet. The other three digimon looked into the now flaming hole in the middle of the door to the lower levels of the ship as I stepped out of it, my sword shining brightly in my hand.

"Stanley?" asked Kumamon to nobody in particular. Rexmon and Digmon were speechless as I pulled my arm back and whipped it forward, sending another wave of fire flying in M-Kaizokumon's direction. The evil digimon was consumed in a large fire that spread to the front part of the ship.

"No time to explain everything," I said the others. "but I have a temporary boost in power. It won't last long so we have to get that digivice and somehow find a way to beat him. So let's..." I stopped as I looked at the three of them, injured and not really looking up for a fight. "Uh, looks like you guys took a beating. And you," I pointed to Digmon. "Who in the world are you?"

Digmon sweatdropped and chuckled lightly to himself. "My name is Digmon, and I'm one of the legendary digimon from the old days. I sensed this guy's aura," he pointed to the gigantic blaze from where M-Kaizokumon was burning within. "from my home on Stone and came as quickly as I could. But unfortunately I wasn't much good here. You're kinda on your own right now."

"Great." I said sarcastically. The fire was suddenly blown away and M-Kaizokumon stood tall as if nothing had happened. "Well this just keeps getting better."

The look on his face was a mix of anger and crazed joy. If possible it made him seem even more unsettling. "My power is limited by this vessel, but to actually come so close to harming me is surprising even to me. If I were to have you as a vessel I would become more powerful even than I was in my prime. You have no idea of your potential."

I glared at him and pointed the tip of my sword in his direction. "Sorry to tell you this but that's not gonna happen. I have people who I have to go home to. And unfinished business to take care of." I took off like a shot, surprising the three digimon at my side, as M-Kaizokumon took out Kaizokumon's cutlass.

He brought the curved blade up as I came down with my broadsword, easily halting it before lightly batting it aside. Gritting my teeth I swung to the side as crimson flames danced around the blade's edge. M-Kaizokumon backed out of the blade's way then kicked me hard in the chest, sending me flying backward. I jabbed my blade into the decking and managed to slow myself to a stop. My chest aching, I tried my best to catch my breath as he smirked evilly at me.

"Well even with my little power up, this isn't going well."

"Give it up, human child. Your body would be much more suited for me. You haven't even tapped into your true potential yet; I will have no trouble doing so. Now come here!" He ran forward in an impressive display of speed.

I nearly jumped out of my skin as he slammed into me and pinned my body to the edge of the deck. I struggled against him as he pushed until my upper body was over the edge. I strained with my lower body to keep from falling over. Against my better judgment I looked down at the water to see how long a drop it was. The ship's cannons caught my attention, and an idea quickly formed in my head.

"It's worth a shot." I said to myself as I strained against M-Kaizokumon's hold. I used all the strength in my legs to push away from the digimon, getting out of his hold, and plummeted towards the sea. Luckily I was able to grab on to a cannon before hitting the water. After I pulled myself into the opening of the ship I surveyed all of the cannons that riddled the ship and smirked. "This oughta be fun." I banished my sword in a burst of flame and lifted two cannons to my shoulders.

A little ways down the staircase, Swabmon and Deckmon watched me with curiosity. "Yo, what's dat kid doin with our cannons, Swabmon?"

"I don' know matie, but it looks interesting."

Up above, M-Kaizokumon growled to himself and headed towards the stairs to the ship's lower levels. Kumamon and the others suddenly stood in front of him.

"If you think you're gonna possess that kid then you've got another thing coming," said Digmon. His drills hummed to life and he lunged forward along with the other two digimon.

"I'll have his body whether you like it or not." The evil digimon waved his arm and an invisible pulse pushed the three digimon away from him. "Now, to capture my new body." He stepped into the hole I had made and proceeded to head down the steps.

"Yo!" I called up as I started coming up the staircase. "I'm taking you down!" I began to heat of the cannonballs inside of the cannons until they shot out as flaming fire balls that slammed into M-Kaizokumon, knocking him back up the staircase. I ran back up the staircase and continued to fire cannonballs at the demon until I ran out. M-Kaizokumon used that moment to charge at me with a burst of speed.

Thinking quickly, I dropped one of the cannons that was on my shoulder and used the other one as a bat as I swung it and knocked him away at the last second. I lit the cannon up with flaming energy and proceeded to bash him again and again. He raised his fist and shattered the cannon.

From the staircase the two digimon watched with wide eyes. "What in da world is dat human child?"

"I know. I had heard stories of da humans before, but none of em said dey were so strong. But we need to get dat digivice. Chances are we'll-"

"You don' ave ta say it," Deckmon interrupted. "I know what's gonna happen. But it's for a mon dat's gonna do great things someday," he said with a smile.

"Your methods amuse me, boy." said M-Kaizokumon as the pieces of the shattered cannon littered the ground.

"You should see Ash's methods. She much stronger than I am." I smirked and summoned my sword again. I could feel my strength slowly draining as the phoenix's power slowly slipped away. I didn't have long left before I would be powerless. Fortunately I wasn't alone.

Rexmon and Kumamon suddenly ran across and ran around M-Kaizokumon, ensnaring him in a rope they somehow acquired. The two digimon stood on opposite ends and pulled on the ends of the rope as hard as they could.

"A rope from the mast was loose so we decided to tie him up. Now strike, Stanley!"

"I don't have much left so I'll put all I have into this last strike!" I poured all the energy I had left into the tip of my sword and ran forward, preparing to jab it into M-Kaizokumon's chest.

"Enough!" M-Kaizokumon suddenly blew all of us away, along with the rope, with a sudden outburst of energy.

"Chompers!" shouted the two digimon from the staircase.

The three of us were all slammed backwards but Digmon flew up and caught us. "He is still very powerful. It doesn't look like we have any other options."

"And we still don't have that digivice." Kumamon growled.

M-Kaizokumon emitted a black aura as he staggered forward. Despite the power he possessed, Kaizokumon's body looked like it had seen better days. "Give me your body!" He charged forward once more as the aura propelled him even faster.

Two blurs suddenly shot out of the lower levels and slammed into him. In a flash, a small object was thrown from M-Kaizokumon and into my hands. It was the digivice.

"Wait, what the hell was that?" I asked in confusion. We all looked forward to see Swabmon and Deckmon in M-Kaizokumon's grasp.

"Boneymon! Fishymon!" came Rexmon's cry.

"You got dat device! Now use it!" shouted Swabmon.

Rexmon looked at the two pirate digimon is disbelief as they squirmed in M-Kaizokumon's grip. "Why? Why do this?"

Amidst the pain, the two digimon smiled as M-Kaizokumon. "Because we'd rather die."

"Than let a friend get hurt. We see now dat we were wrong. And we're lucky ta have met you, Chompers."

The display of friendship sickened M-Kaizokumon like nothing else and he tightened his grip on the two. "You both sicken me."

"LET THEM GO, YOU BASTARD!" I roared. I felt rage like never before as I held my shining digivice in my hand. It was reacting to me and my digimon's anger, it's power itching to be released.

"I have no problem letting them go." M-Kaizokumon said simply. A loud rumble was heard as the Nemesis Cannon rolled up.

"What the hell?" Kumamon said. "What are you playing at?"

"I'm simply 'letting them go." The mouth like cannons opened up and what looked like saliva dripped down to the ground. "Goodbye." And with that he threw the two digimon towards the Nemesis Cannon.

"MOVE!" I shouted. Kumamon, Rexmon, and I ran after the two to try and catch them before could reach the cannon, but two slimy tongues shot forth from the cannon and wrapped around their waists before pulling them into the cannon.

The saliva burned them and started to dissolve them into nothingness. But they weren't going to die without giving words of encouragement.

"Chompers...ugh...you're da only real friend we've ever had," said Swabmon as he struggled to speak.

"So do us a favor, and kick his arse!" Deckmon managed to shout before the two of them dissolved entirely, not even leaving a digichip.

We all stared, with wide eyes, as the particles that made up their bodies faded into the wind.

"NOOOOO!" Rexmon howled into the sky with tears streaming from his eyes.

I grit my teeth as I was overtaken with righteous fury and my digivice floated in front of me after what seemed like forever, the fire symbol on the back of it shining along with the symbols on my palm and the back of my hand. "You're gonna pay for that. I'll make sure of it!"

Rexmon was still howling as Kumamon crouched down on all fours in preparation. "Let's finish him," he said through tightly gritted teeth, his expression livid.

"With pleasure. DIGIVOLVE!" I connected the symbols and a golden radiance surrounded the two digimon.

"KUMAMON!" shouted the bear digimon as he suddenly shifted to a fighting stance and an outline of his digivolved form surrounded him.

"REXMON!" shouted Rexmon as he slashed the air and whipped his tail around as an outline of his digivolved form surrounded him.

"DIGIVOLVE!" Both digimon shouted together as they began their change.

Kumamon shifted into a larger grizzly bear with blue and white fur, red spiked gloves on his front paws, a red, spiked collar around his neck, and a white crescent moon mark his forehead, standing proudly on all fours. "GRIZZMON!" he roared into the sky.

Rexmon began to growl larger, much larger. The tiny ridges on his back began to grow into large, spiky ridges. The blades on his elbows grew long and sparked with electricity as three spikes came out of his head, one from the end of his snout and two out of his forehead. Spiky, white hair began to grow from the back of his head as he finally reached his full height and gave a mighty roar. "RIDGEMON!"

With their digivolution completely I decided it was my turn. Flames suddenly wrapped around my waist and hardened into a belt with a slot shaped like fire. I gripped my digivice and held it forward as it shifted into a fire emblem. "HENSHIN!" I slammed the transformed digivice into the slot on the belt and was surrounded by flames. The flames hardened into red and yellow armor with a fire motif on my upper chest, my lower arms up to my knuckles, and around my forehead, also transforming the goggles on my head. The flame sword once again appeared at my side as a pair of wings made out of fire erupted from my back and flapped once, shooting flames into the open air.

M-Kaizokumon took one look at me and his heart soared. "Yes! That's the power I need! I'll take your body if it's the last thing I do!"

"TRY IT!" With a flap of my wings I was off like a rocket.

"RIDGE SLASH!"

I had to suddenly shift to the right to avoid a flaming buzz saw that barreled at M-Kaizokumon like a missle. It bounced off of him and knocked him backward as the buzz saw was thrown into the air. Ridgemon's body extended from it balled up form and he roared with tears streaming from his eyes, which were randomly going from full to their narrow, slitted form.

"THEY WERE MY FRIENDS AND NOW THEY'RE GONE BECAUSE OF YOU!" He landed on the ground with a stomp and charged forward with electricity sparking from his elbow blades. "LIGHTNING SLASH!"

M-Kaizokumon armed his cutlass again and parried all of Ridgemon's strikes with ease. "If you miss them so much I'll be more than happy to sent you where they are."

"GRIZZLY SLASH!"

"BLAZING DRILL!" A roaring grizzly head with a flaming twister behind it ripped into M-Kaizokumon and knocked him off of his feet.

Ridgemon growled into his direction as me and Grizzmon ran up to him.

"What's the big idea! You won't be able to beat him by yourself and you know it. Especially since we're still exhausted." Grizzmon scolded.

Ridgemon uncharacteristically snorted smoke in his direction and growled. "I don't care. He's mine."

I jumped up and angrily punched him in the face. It wasn't enough to knock him down, but I made sure it hurt. "Stanleymon." he said as he held his jaw.

"You think you're the only one angry right now! I may not have known those two like you did, but trust me. I want to get payback just as much as you do. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna throw my life aways when I know that I don't have a chance of winning. You can't beat him. We can't even beat him together."

"That's not like you to say that, Stanley," said Grizzmon. "So we're gonna let those digimon's deaths be in vain? Cause despite how I treated them, they still saved our butts and I intend to win for them."

"No, I plan to win too. But we can't beat him by conventional means. He may be limited because Kaizokumon's body isn't as strong as his was and can only hold so much power. But his soul won't stop just because of that."

Ridgemon took a deep breath then looked to the side as M-Kaizokumon was getting up, unscathed, and looking at us with mild curiosity. "He's getting up again. So if we can't beat him, then what do we do?"

"I have some information that I was told would be able to help us figure out how to win, but I need time to think of how. You two hold him off and I'll try to make sense of it. But I can't do that if I'm fighting. Can you guys do that?"

The two nodded and plowed into M-Kaizokumon, giving me an opportunity to think.

"Dammit! None of this is working! What was it that the phoenix told me in the void?" 'He's still tethered to his original body.' "That's what he said but how does that help me? This guy could've killed us in a heartbeat earlier, but didn't for some reason." I thought back to when we were in the dungeon. He couldn't come all the way down the steps, like something was halting him. Then it hit me. "Or pulling him back! He can only go so far away from the Nemesis Cannon! Grizzmon! Ridgemon! Keep holding him! I'm pushing this thing into the ocean!" I pointed my sword backwards at the Nemesis Cannon to show them what I was talking about as they continued to push against. M-Kaizokumon.

It took a second, but Grizzmon came to the same realization that I did. "Alright, but hurry it up! Ridgemon, blast him!"

"MAGMA BLAST!" Ridgemon unleashed even more hot, flaming magma into M-Kaizokumon's face as I flapped my wings and floated over to the Nemesis Cannon.

"We can't kill you, so we'll make you sit at the bottom of the ocean forever. It's fitting for someone as evil as you." I said to myself as I laid my palms against the cannon and pushed. It wouldn't budge at first so I pushed harder. It was difficult to move with my energy nearly depleted but after another push it started to inch forward. "Got to keep pushing."

A small bit of black energy sparked from the cannon suddenly as I pushed, but I didn't pay it any mind. "That's not gonna keep me from beating you." More spark started to shoot from the cannon. "Okay, this might be a problem." A rather large spark struck me and sent me flying away from the cannon. The pain was great and the resulting outburst of energy caused my body to glow momentarily before fading away. Digmon gingerly ran up to me and helped me to my feet.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, this thing is just putting up a bit of a fight. Help me with it."

"You got it." The two of us ran up to the cannon again and began to push against it, the strength of two moving it a little more than I was alone.

Grizzmon and Ridgemon were still pushing M-Kaizokumon backwards when they suddenly couldn't push him anymore. Instead he had started to glide forward, but not because he was fighting back.

"What in the world?" He asked himself, then he suddenly realized what was going on. "NO!" He tried to shove the two away but they held strong.

"Fuzzymon, we won't be able to hold him much longer!"

"I know! But keep pushing him back! We can still keep him far enough away from them to stop them."

Me and Digmon had finally pushed the cannon up to the edge but were spent. "I don't have anymore energy kid."

"That dark energy took more out of me than I thought." I looked back to where Grizzmon and Ridgemon were still pushing the evil digimon back. "But I have an idea. Grizzmon! Ridgemon! Switch!" I backed up and bent my legs, preparing for one last move.

The two digimon quickly looked back and immediately knew what I wanted to do. "Later," Grizzmon said as the two digimon suddenly pushed away from M-Kaizokumon and ran towards the Nemesis Cannon as they could. At that same moment I started to run towards M-Kaizokumon and took flight, flying as fast as I could despite being injured. I passed in between the two of them and slammed into M-Kaizokumon as the two digimon slammed into the Nemesis Cannon, their momentum finally tipping the cannon over the edge of the ship. With the two opposing impacts, MaloMyotismon's soul was forcefully ripped out of Kaizokumon's body and sailed past all of us into the water. Even without a body, his scream could be heard through the raging waves.

Resting Kaizokumon's unconscious body down on the deck, I gingerly walked over to where the other three digimon were looking down at where the Nemesis Cannon had fallen.

The three of them gasped for breath as they watched the Nemesis Cannon sink down to the bottom of the ocean, MaloMyotismon's soul sinking along with it.

"Good riddance, you twisted demon." Grizzmon spat into the water.

"We did it," I said weakly as I sat down beside Ridgemon.

"Yeah, but we lost a couple of good digimon to do it," Digmon said sadly.

To my left I could hear Ridgemon sobbing to into his large claws.

...

With MaloMyotismon's spirit sealed within the Nemesis Cannon at the bottom of the ocean it seemed apparent that they digital world would never hear from the demon digimon again. But only time would tell. We left Kaizokumon unconscious on his ship with what was left of his crew and eventually made it to the shores of the land of Stone by midday with the rest of the passengers from the S.S. Whamon. Whamon had come back after the fight, pulling the S.S. Whamon behind him. We had told all that had transpired. He still wasn't very fond of pirates, but even he felt some pain at such heroic digimon meeting their ends before they had truly gotten the chance to live right. Exhausted because of the most dangerous adventure we have had yet, we rested at Digmon's home of Stone Canyon.

I slept deeply as Rexmon sat up in his bed, staring out of the window at the blue sky. "Boneymon. Fishymon." Because of Swabmon and Deckmon's bravery we got back the digivice and had enough strength to get rid of the cannon, but it had cost them they're lives. Not even their digichips were left so there was no chance for them to be reborn. Rexmon, being such a sensitive digimon, wasn't taking it that well still. He jumped slightly as he felt a furry paw rest on his shoulder. "Oh, Fuzzymon, you scared me."

The bear digimon chuckled weakly as he sat down on the bed next to Rexmon. His right arm was slightly wrapped up from the injury he got from the fight before Digmon had joined up.

"How's your arm, Kumamon?" Rexmon asked as he continued to look through the window.

Kumamon was taken back by Rexmon calling him by his actual name and gently rubbed his injured arm. "It's better. I just have to learn not to take on digimon two levels higher than me." At this the two digimon shared a short laugh. "I figured you could use a laugh. Anyway I wanted to say this. I was wrong about those two digimon and I apologize for how I was acting towards you three. What they did for us was a brave thing and I respect them for giving us a fighting chance. And you did good out there today. But I hope you see now that this journey isn't going to be all fun and games. There are going to be casualties and digimon will get hurt. But I trust you're strong enough to handle it."

Rexmon looked away from the window for the first time in hours and looked to Kumamon with tears streaming down his face. "I don't think I am, Fuzzymon."

Kumamon hung his shoulders in understanding. He had nearly lost his mother not too long ago so he kind of knew what Rexmon was going through. "Well luckily for you, you also have us." He pointed to himself and then to my sleeping form. "We'll help bear each other's weight and give each other strength when needed. Feel better now, Chomperface?" He asked with a grin.

Rexmon blinked at the variation of Swabmon and Deckmon's nickname for him and smiled despite the tears. "I feel a lot better now, Fuzzymon."

"Good. Cause we've got a lot of work to do after we get rested up. Next up, the Warrior's Palace!" Kumamon pumped his fist up in excitement only to wince in pain and gently pull it back down. Rexmon again laughed as Kumamon smiled sheepishly.

…...

Not far from where we were was a large, ornate temple. Outside of its walls hundreds of digimon lined up to gain entry into its inner sanctum. Many were there to fight, most there to watch. But one in particular was there to wait.

He twirled his staff in his paws as he waited in line like the rest of the digimon. Green eyes surveyed the area and the other combatants as he practiced his bow staff kata.

A rather large digimon that was watching the feline digimon stomped up to him and kicked dirt at him. The feline digimon backflipped out of the way of the dirt and took a striking stance with his staff pointed at the digimon that had assaulted him.

"Nice job dodging dirt, but small digimon like you shouldn't be in the Mightymon Tournament. You should just stick to being a spectator and leave the fighting to the more powerful mons." The digimon flexed its muscles and showed off to some of the other digimon in line.

While his back was turned the feline digimon jumped over him, twirled upside down, and hit the digimon in the head four times in succession before landing gracefully on his feet. The digimon tumbled and fell flat on his face with four large lumps covering his head.

"Follow your own advice," said the feline digimon before looking down at his right paw, where a small, red symbol began to lightly pulsate. He looked up with his green eyes into the forest, feeling a small presence that was a little far off. "So you've finally arrived. Stanley."

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