Yang-Yin
Chapter Twenty-nine: "No One Mourns the Wicked"

The rain came down in sheets, beating everything mercilessly. Thirsty plants greedily drank up the water, treasuring every drop. They stretched out across the wasteland, broken in places, warped by unnatural growth, and beaten, but they had retained enough of their near-sentience to wrap around their devolved master, who lay unconscious in their embrace. Nearby, craters filled with water to form ponds and fallen meteorites burned despite the rain. A boy lay facedown beside one of the ponds, in danger of drowning in the puddles. Beyond them, in what they had tried to designate as a safe place, another boy and four Digimon were out cold in their camp.

Lightning flashed as a staff came slamming down with almost no regard for the weapon. The opponent leapt over it easily and aimed a vicious roundhouse kick at the staff user's head. Unable to move out of the way in time, he was forced to take the hit, but it hardly bothered him. His next attack was a jab with the bladed end of his staff, using it as a glaive. It was too strong a thrust, however. Before he even knew what had happened, his opponent grabbed hold of it and used his momentum against him, pulling hard enough to send him flying. While he was disoriented, a quick tug freed the staff from his hands. Now, with his weapon turned against him, he found himself unable to turn the tide back in his favor. The bladed end jabbed at him quickly over and over, never giving him a chance to dodge or defend. He could only just manage to hold his arms up to block when an idea hit him. As the staff thrusts continued, he gathered energy into the lion's head on his breastplate and prepared to release it.

But the very next thing he knew, the staff jabbed directly in the lion's mouth. The dark power exploded violently, sending him falling back and the staff flying into the air. His adversary leapt back and retrieved the staff in midair, brandishing it like a polearm, ready to attack again. But Fractal Code wrapped around Loewemon and devolved him, making the staff disappear. Koichi struggled to pull himself up, but he hardly had any strength left. Later, he'd convince himself that the reason he and the others were still alive had nothing to do with mercy.

The storm raged on, turning the ground into mud as the lone Warrior ran from the battlefield. Eventually, a bright light appeared in the middle of the wasteland, nearly blinding the runner. When it faded enough to reveal a woman in glowing green armor and golden wings, the Warrior devolved and ran forward, dropping to one knee.

"At last, we meet face-to-face, Warrior of Water," Ophanimon declared. "Or would you prefer I call you by your given name?"

"Whatever you wish, my lady," Chiaki replied, never once looking up. "I am yours to command."

"Then let us meet with your new teammates."

Their base was a network of caves built into the cliffs of the wastelands. The Warriors were waiting in one of the larger caverns, but when they saw who was accompanying their mentor, they stared in shock.

"What are you doing here?" Zoë demanded.

"Zoë," Ophanimon said in a soft, but commanding tone of voice that quieted her immediately. "Chiaki has agreed to join us. She's spent the past month reporting to me on her former team's actions and buying us time to recover."

"But, Lady Ophanimon!" Zoë insisted. "How can you believe anything she says?"

"Sounds to me like you're questioning her," Chiaki replied smugly.

While Zoë gaped like a fish and struggled between indignation and deference, Takuya cut in quickly and said, "We're just not sure about anything yet. We just need some time to get used to it all."

"I understand," Ophanimon replied. "In that case, I will give you some time to grow accustomed to this while I test Chiaki. If you are still not satisfied, let me know and I will arrange something better."

"Thank you, Lady Ophanimon," Takuya answered.

Starting with Zoë, who brushed past her as she stormed off, Ophanimon's Warriors left. Remaining impassive, Chiaki muttered, "It looks like they don't like me very much."

"You've hardly given anyone a reason to trust you," Ophanimon said. "You spent about the past three months fighting for Cherubimon while they've been for my cause from the start, and suddenly you change sides. How is anyone supposed to trust you?"

"They shouldn't," she answered. "I wouldn't."

Ophanimon gave her an appraising look. "You are intelligent. I can give you that, if nothing else."

"Don't get me wrong, Ophani—Lady Ophanimon," Chiaki corrected herself. "I don't have any illusions about what we're doing. I know that the systematic destruction and reconstruction of the Digital World is for your purposes, to set yourself up as the new god of the Digital World."

"Is that an accusation?" Ophanimon asked, her voice neutral.

"Not at all," Chiaki replied. "I just wanted to set the record straight. I don't need any spell to ensure my loyalty. I'm behind you completely."

"Why the sudden change in heart?" Ophanimon asked. "You didn't always believe this; otherwise you never would have joined Cherubimon."

"Maybe I can't be moved by a world that doesn't have anything anymore," Chiaki said with a wistful look on her face. Ophanimon simply nodded and asked no more.

-------

After Koichi had managed to get up and rescue the others, they hid in the miniature jungle Katsuharu's plants had created. They couldn't afford to start a fire, so they were forced to weather out the cold and wet. At least the rain had finally stopped, giving them a chance to dry somewhat before they had to move on.

Katsuharu watched his team carefully, trying to figure out just what to do next. For far too long, he'd shifted some of his responsibilities to the others, namely Chiaki in the leadership department, but now he had to own up to them. And that meant figuring out and analyzing his friends' moods and likely behaviors. Teppei he wasn't too worried about; he was at least pretending to take it all in stride, though there was a sense of seriousness that he didn't usually have. He at least wasn't likely to do something incredibly stupid. The Digimon, though heartbroken, weren't likely to cause problems down the line either. It was Teruo and Koichi he was worried about. Teruo was in denial—from the moment he'd woken up, he refused to believe what Chiaki had done. Katsuharu supposed he couldn't quite blame him for that; he wouldn't have believed it either, but being thrown into his own trees by Calmaramon's Titanic Tempest was very convincing. But Koichi? He was quiet, even by his own standards. When he was like that, it was hard to guess his mood, but Katsuharu figured he was angry. And when Koichi was angry, no one was safe.

"How come Chiaki doesn't want to play with us anymore?" Patamon asked, and Katsuharu noticed how Koichi very suddenly stiffened, as if putting all his barriers into place.

"Yeah," Lopmon agreed. "I thought we were friends."

"So did we," Teppei answered quietly. "Guess that answers the question of where she was going all month."

"How long was she playing us like this?" Koichi asked, his anger just barely restrained. "Was she a spy from the start, or is this some new development?"

"She couldn't be," Teruo argued. "There's no way…"

"There's no way she would have betrayed us either, but she did," Koichi snapped.

Seeing that Teruo was about to retort, Katsuharu said, "Knock it off. Don't even start, you two."

Bokomon stopped trying to write and said, "What I want to know is how we were taken down so easily. Obviously, the shock of the betrayal affected your fighting abilities, but why were the rest of us unconscious?" Katsuharu tried his hardest not to flinch. This was what he'd been afraid of—sooner or later, someone was going to ask.

Apparently unaware of Katsuharu's behavior, Teppei added, "Yeah, that was just weird. One minute, we're all eating dinner, and the next thing we know, you guys were out. Even I felt a little light-headed."

"She poisoned us then," Koichi answered shortly.

"Then why only me and the Digimon?" Teruo insisted. "It would have been easier to knock all of us out, then slip out unnoticed. Why'd she go to such lengths to ensure you three could fight her?"

"She probably didn't want to waste it on us," Koichi said. "Katsuharu and I are immune, and she probably didn't see the point of only poisoning Teppei. Besides, she needed Ymirmon's mace to knock Katsuharu out."

Katsuharu took a breath. "You're both wrong."

Everyone stared at him in surprise, and Teppei asked, "Why? What do you know?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the pouch of herbs. Only a sprinkle of crushed leaves was left inside. He tossed this to Teppei and explained, "I've been slipping that into Teruo's food the past week or so." At the looks of shock everyone gave him, he added, "It was the only way he would sleep through the night. I tried to keep it a secret, but I guess Chiaki found out. My best guess is that she got it away from me while I was washing up and added more to everyone's food, but there wasn't enough for everybody—my last refill of the herb could only last a few days, and there isn't any of it nearby. When she got to Teppei, she probably ran out, and that's why he only felt a little out of it. It wasn't enough to affect him."

"What are you…" Teppei started. "What the hell?"

"You've been drugging Teruo for this long?" Koichi demanded. "What were you thinking?"

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Teppei affirmed.

"What was I supposed to do?" Katsuharu asked, keeping his voice calm—a guilty conscience helped with that, no problem. "Nightmares every night straight for a month. It was the only way I thought I could help. I know now that it was probably the wrong thing to do."

"Probably?" Teppei repeated.

"Anyway," Katsuharu interrupted, "there's one person whose opinion really matters on this, and he's the only one I haven't heard from." Everyone turned to Teruo, who seemed to shrink under their gazes. "Teruo, I'm sorry. I really am." In response, he simply nodded. Katsuharu wasn't sure if it was just supposed to make him feel better or if it was the truth.

"In any case," Bokomon said, and Katsuharu was never more grateful to him for interrupting, "we all need to figure out what to do next. Obviously, we need to determine where we need to head next. Should we try to find the train tracks out, or see if we can find another way off this continent?"

This was territory safe enough for him to walk back into. "Our compasses have been pretty much useless since the Sakkakumon incident, and I don't think they're going to work now, not with us hurt and confused like this. I think our best bet is to try and find some kind of landmark and try and figure our way back to the Dark Gate from there. Koichi, got anything?"

He shrugged in such a way that signaled to Katsuharu that he was just slamming down his barriers again. Great. But still, he answered, "There are ruins all over the place, some in the forest like we were hiding near. But with all the damage Ophanimon's Warriors are causing, it's hard to tell where the wastelands really start."

"So we're stuck," Teppei realized.

"Not exactly," Koichi said. "There is the old castle—I mentioned it before, when I was trying to get Bokomon to come along with us. The problem is that I don't know where it is from here. Without Cherubimon's tower as a landmark, I can't figure it out."

"It's something at least," Katsuharu answered. "We'll keep trying to find it. With any luck, we'll be able to find some train tracks on the way, and we can follow them out."

There were reluctant nods from the others, but all agreed that this was the best course of action, not to mention the only course of action. As he saw Teppei coming over to yell at him some more, Katsuharu braced himself for what was probably going to be the worst leadership trial of his life.

-------

"No."

Zoë was pacing around the lair, with arms folded and generally sulking. Takuya and Tommy had given up on trying to reason with her long ago and were playing some sort of game. That left J.P. to be the voice of reason.

"Zee, come on," he sighed. "I know you don't trust her, but we've got to work with her."

"Ugh, you don't get it!" she groaned, stopping her pacing and throwing her hands in the air in disgust. "Chiaki wouldn't even split from Amaya's worshippers, let alone her own harem. There's no way she's not up to something!"

"Are you sure you're not just letting your history interfere?" Takuya asked. When Zoë fixed a glare on him, he raised his hands in defense and said, "I'm just saying."

"I don't know how Lady Ophanimon trusts her!" she declared. "We've been fighting for her nonstop for the past few months, and she goes and accepts Chiaki after one battle! How do we know that they didn't stage it?"

"You know, maybe Lady Ophanimon doesn't trust her," Tommy suggested. Everyone turned to look at him, and Zoë reined in her anger.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, she is keeping a pretty close eye on her," he said. "And it doesn't sound like she's told her much of anything. She's not even letting her hang out with us. She even said she needed to test her."

Zoë sighed and seemed to deflate as she sat down. "Okay. That makes sense."

"See, Zee?" J.P. asked. "Lady Ophanimon knows what she's doing. She'll come up with something to figure out if we can trust her. But for now, we've got to wait."

"Maybe not," Takuya answered. When everyone's attention turned to him now, he said, "As much as I respect Lady Ophanimon, she leaves us out of the loop too much. If Chiaki does something that proves herself, Ophanimon's not going to tell us what it is. I think we need to come up with one on our own."

"What do you have planned?" Zoë asked.

"Nothing yet, but I think all four of us can come up with something," he replied. Everyone gathered in the middle of the room, sketching out plans and tossing around ideas. While they couldn't yet agree on just what to do, they all knew it had to be big.

-------

"Here," Katsuharu said, handing Teruo some food. When Teruo looked at him, he hurriedly added, "Don't worry, I didn't put anything in it. I don't have anything to put in it anyway."

"It's okay," Teruo assured. "I don't blame you. I think I can see why you did it."

"Yeah, well, try telling them that," he replied, sitting next to him with his own food. "Teppei's still reading me the riot act, and Koichi—well, you know how he gets."

"Quiet," Teruo said, and Katsuharu nodded.

"I actually think he's at his worst when he's like that," he admitted. "I can handle someone yelling at me—at least then, I know what I'm in for. So when Koichi's yelling and angry, I know what he's mad about and that he's just going to burn himself out soon enough. But when he gets quiet like that…"

"You can't read him," Teruo finished, and Katsuharu nodded again.

"And it can smolder for days. I hate saying it, but when that happens, it's like we're dealing with Duskmon again: silent, mysterious, and likely to snap at any given moment."

"But Duskmon's gone for good," Teruo reminded him, but after a pause, he asked, "Isn't he?"

"I want to say yes," Katsuharu replied. "The Spirit's been purified and everything, but something about it still bugs me. Why would a corrupted Spirit match to a pure heart?"

"What do you mean?" Teruo asked.

"I really don't know. I know Koichi's kindness isn't an act. But it still bugs me that something so inherently cruel and apathetic would bond only to someone who acts like the exact opposite. Does that make any sense to you?"

"I don't think so," Teruo confessed. "But I think that's what Teppei was trying to get at too, remember? When we were trying to figure out what to do about the Spirits of Darkness?" Katsuharu nodded. "I know we don't know a lot about the Spirits, and Bokomon said Darkness is the most mysterious of all of them. But maybe…"

"Maybe we were looking at it from the wrong angle," Katsuharu finished. "Maybe instead of wondering about the Spirit of Darkness all that time, we should have been wondering about Koichi."

"But he's our friend," Teruo insisted.

Katsuharu bit back the obvious reply about Chiaki and simply answered, "Even so, it doesn't mean we know absolutely everything about him. If we did, we wouldn't be surprised by half the stuff he pulls."

"True," Teruo admitted.

"I'm not saying he's hiding anything from us. Honestly, I don't know what I'm saying. But there's something going on with him that we don't know, and he probably doesn't know either."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know. Probably follow him, be sure he's all right. It's really all I can do."

Teruo pointed in the distance, where Koichi was stalking off. "I think you might need to start now."

"Yeah, looks like it," Katsuharu sighed. "I'll call you if anything goes wrong. Let Teppei know." Teruo nodded, and Katsuharu went to follow Koichi. After watching them with some apprehension, Teruo started to eat and noticed that the difference in taste from what he was used to. There was no slightly bitter taste from sleeping drugs. With a guilty sense of relief, he began to eat more heartily.

-------

There was an underground spring in the cave system that sprung a leak big enough to flood one of the catacombs. Though she wasn't sure about the drinking quality of the water, Chiaki figured it was fine to wash her face with. Several hours on constant, high alert against teammates who seemed twice as likely to literally stab her in the back as metaphorically was enough to drain her. She couldn't afford to lose her edge.

It was why she turned around sharply when she heard footsteps approaching her from behind. She only relaxed out of her ready stance when she saw that Takuya and the others were giving her a confused look.

"What is it?" she asked.

It had been generally decided that as leader, Takuya was the one who should step forward, and he did without any hesitation. "Chiaki, we've been talking and we've decided that we haven't seen enough of your ability."

"You want me to prove myself," she surmised. Dropping the act, he nodded.

"Saying you're dedicated isn't enough," he said at last. "We need to see it for ourselves, and before Ophanimon decides anything. We've been fighting for her for long enough that she respects our opinions."

"I understand," Chiaki answered. "What do you want me to do?"

It was Zoë who said, "We need you to capture a Spirit from your old teammates."

Before any fighting could break out, Takuya amended, "We just want to be sure that you can fight them."

"Prove that I have no remaining loyalties to them, you mean."

"Well, when you put it like that…"

"You can't be split between them," Zoë reminded her. "You need to show us now whose side you're really on."

"Fine," Chiaki answered shortly. "Name anyone. I'll get their Spirit."

"Anyone would be good—" Takuya started, but Zoë cut him off with "Koichi."

"What?" Takuya asked.

"He was one of your closest friends, and he's the strongest of them to boot," Zoë said. "I think he's the perfect candidate."

"So do I, then," Chiaki replied with a hard look. "Now if you'll excuse me…"

Without even waiting for anyone to move, Chiaki pushed past Zoë on her way up through the caves. Her D-tector was firmly in hand as she left the base and headed into the wastelands.

The plan was to search the wasteland-turned-jungle where they'd last fought, but Chiaki didn't have to go that far. Somehow or another, she and Koichi met alone in the barren plains. Whether it was by coincidence or by each seeking the other, neither would ever know. There was no acknowledgement between one another that they were anything more than just another enemy—if even that. Without words, both evolved with their Beast Spirits, and assumed battle stances. Neither would remember who made the opening shot, but before they knew it, they were locked in the fiercest battle they'd ever had. Little pretend battles on the beach in the moonlight were long forgotten. This was about so much more.

Ebony Blasts fired repeatedly from the air when JagerLoewemon leapt up and soared over her, relentlessly shooting. Calmaramon tried to return with volleys of Acid Ink, but he was far too fast and agile. The moment something got close to him, he was already out of the way and shooting again. And the few times she did manage to get acid on him, he brushed it off as if he'd never felt it, and it was difficult to tell if his armor had taken any damage. He certainly didn't. Changing tactics didn't help either. When she tried Titanic Tempest, it got her nowhere. He simply charged at her with a Dark Master.

Unwilling to get torn apart by the attack, she switched evolutions and twisted out of the way, blasting a stream of water at him from behind. He couldn't avoid it, but it wasn't meant to hurt him—simply to annoy him. He landed and saw her cocky smirk, and it only enraged him further. He charged her again, but she nimbly jumped out of the way. She summoned a cloud to rain on him, but he leapt through it, tearing it apart. He attempted to pounce her on landing, but she made a back-flip out of the way just in time. He snarled; though he outclassed her in terms of strength, in agility they were matched.

Koichi hated losing the advantage he had with agility, but he wouldn't be able to defeat her on her own terms. He shifted to Loewemon's evolution and took his staff to her, again jabbing as if it was a glaive. She dodged it and whipped up the puddles of water all around them into a suitable wave, smashing it into him and sending him back several feet. As she manipulated the water into a steady stream, he formed his shield. The phantom weapon offered just enough protection that he could breathe when she continued her onslaught, but he still found himself being driven back.

Desperate to regain the upper hand, he fired a Shadow Meteor at her, forcing her to stop her attack so she could dodge. It gave him just enough time to take his staff and throw it like a boomerang, striking her in the side in midair. She didn't quite catch herself when she fell, giving him ample time to retrieve his staff and twirl it above his head as he charged her, trying to bring it down on her head. But although she was a bit off-balance, she wasn't completely out of it. She raised an arm to block the attack and used her free hand to gather enough water to form enough of a stream to swipe at him with. He slid back to avoid it and swung the bladed end of his staff out as if to try and decapitate her. She ducked, getting low enough that she could push off the ground into a handstand, grabbing the staff with her feet. The quite literal tug-of-war continued until Loewemon got the idea to try and kick at her, as the armor on his feet was bladed. Ranamon let go of the staff barely in time. As she drew back, clutching the thankfully shallow cuts on her chest and stomach, he blasted a Shadow Meteor at her that sent her reeling. She picked herself up and found herself facing the blade of the staff.

"So, that's it then?" she asked. "You're just going to finish me off right here? And here I thought there was more to us."

"There's nothing between us now," he growled. "Not when you betray us like that. Every gesture of friendship, every thing you ever said or did to me was just a lie. You were playing me the whole time!"

"Do you really think I'm that petty?" she demanded. "Do you really think that I'm the kind of person who'd just pretend to care, just to get what I want?"

"I don't know what to think anymore!"

"I can't believe you," she groaned. "How stupid are you? All those times I was running away, all those times I was uncomfortable around you—you couldn't figure that out? I loved you, don't you get it? And I loved Teruo too, and I couldn't figure that out!"

Loewemon stared at her in shock, barely able to hold his staff anymore, and completely unable to speak. Single words barely made it out, and even then they couldn't string themselves together into anything resembling coherent. Ranamon stood, and he couldn't even raise his staff against her anymore. It fell to the ground without him noticing.

"I knew Teruo for a month before I met you," she said. "I knew he had a crush on me, and I just lived with it. When you came, I was attracted to you—I admit it. You were something new, and you were exactly the kind of nice boy every girl wants to marry while having enough of the bad boy that every girl is drawn to. But there was always Teruo there, and I couldn't just leave him for you. At some point, things evened out and I felt the same way about both of you, though I never wanted to tell you because I was afraid how you'd take it. I didn't want to hurt either of you. And I still feel that toward both of you."

At some point, one word finally came through: "No." Whether it was to this revelation or to the debilitating blow Chiaki dealt him, he wasn't sure.

Katsuharu, who had fallen behind while trailing Koichi, arrived in time to hear this confession and see Ranamon thrust the bladed end of the staff directly into Loewemon's unprotected middle. He screamed in agony, and his Spirits began to separate from him. Instead of his Fractal Code appearing with the Spirits hanging onto it, his form split into three—a trinity of human, Human Spirit evolution, and Beast Spirit evolution. It was obvious that they were trying their hardest not to, but in the end, the Human Spirit lost its grip, for want of a better term. Ranamon was able to scan it into her D-tector, and Koichi slumped to the ground, unconscious, as his remaining Spirit returned to dormancy. Katsuharu clenched his fists at the sight and ran forward.

"Chiaki!" he yelled.

"Katsuharu," she greeted calmly, as if it was any other day. "Coming to collect your friend?"

"No," he decided. "Let's move this away from here."

"Fine by me," she agreed.

They walked in silence to a spot far enough away that Koichi would not be in danger from their attacks, yet still close enough that Katsuharu would be able to find him easily when the battle ended. Once they were satisfied with their battlefield, Katsuharu evolved to Xolotlmon and grew a huge, twisting dome of thorns and woody vines that completely encircled them and left plenty of room for attack.

"Trying to make sure that I don't get any help?" Ranamon asked. "Good plan, but I came here alone. Turns out that when you betray one team, the new one doesn't exactly trust you."

"Can't imagine why," Xolotlmon deadpanned. "And no, this is to make sure that nobody gets out."

"I'm surprised you're so eager for another beating after the last one."

"Well, I've been calling myself a leader all this time. Figured it was high time I lived up to it."

Knowing that she would need all the strength she could get against a Fusion form, Chiaki shifted to Calmaramon's evolution. Hoping it would be more useful against Xolotlmon than JagerLoewemon, she spewed Acid Ink at him. He tried to duck out of the way, but it hit his arm. He grimaced in pain but tried to ignore it. He could still use that arm, and in any case, he still had three other good ones.

In response, he fired several Xochitl blossoms at her. Acid Ink stopped several of them, but there were so many that she had to dodge the rest. One barely scratched her, but it wasn't enough to keep her from attacking again. The dome was large enough that she could use her Titanic Tempest, and she slammed into Xolotlmon relentlessly, smashing him against his thorn barrier over and over until he slumped to the ground.

"That was pitiful," she said, gearing up for another attack. "I thought you'd put up some kind of fight."

She came at him again, this time from above, to crush him into the earth. But as she got close, suddenly a thorny vine wrapped itself around her and flung her across to the other side of the arena.

"Looks like Teppei's not the only one who can get people to underestimate him," Xolotlmon said as he got up. "Or did you forget? Warrior of Wood. We're completely surrounded by my element, and there's barely a trace of yours. Let's see which one of us lasts longer."

Angered by the challenge, Calmaramon attacked him with a fierce battle cry. Xolotlmon held out his hands, and pieces of the barrier broke off and formed four thick, thorn-covered clubs. The advantage of having four arms soon became clear. When he needed to block acid with the bracers on his top arms, he was still able to attack with the bottom pair. When one arm was holding off a heavy tentacle, he could still attack from that side.

It was certainly an interesting battle, to say the least. Chiaki and Katsuharu had never sparred with each other in the past, and given that Xolotlmon was a new evolution and Calmaramon a recently regained one, they were surprising each other at every turn. Calmaramon was incredibly powerful and had a great deal of strength, enough that Xolotlmon had to keep regenerating the thorns and vines he was using so that they wouldn't break when trying to hold her down or let her break the barrier. She also had incredible control over her strength, as she had to constantly control the force and direction of her Titanic Tempests. But Xolotlmon wasn't without his fair share of advantages too. His form was strong but light, and four arms made it easier to climb rapidly up the walls of the arena. And with his Cuauhunacayotl ability, he could manipulate the weapons in his hands to change functions from clubs to whips or any other weapon the situation required.

At some point, Calmaramon started to notice something was wrong. Her Titanic Tempests were making her dizzy, and she wasn't hitting with quite as much strength as before. At first, she ignored it, thinking that fatigue was starting to set in. Eventually, though, her symptoms got to be much more insistent. Her vision began to swim, making it difficult to see where Xolotlmon was coming from. His weapons hit her over and over, and she couldn't muster the strength to stop them. As she started to attack with another Tempest Twist, the thorns of the barrier started whipping at her, and it took all she had not to devolve and pass out.

"What did you do?" she asked, just able to get her voice above a whisper.

"Looks like you forgot another thing," Xolotlmon said. "My Xochitl are poisonous. That graze you got wasn't enough for it to affect you immediately, but with all that exertion, it made its way through your bloodstream faster. My brother-in-law's a doctor, remember? That's how I knew I had to keep you fighting."

"You…" she started, but nausea kept her from saying anything more. She vomited ink and other things she didn't want to think about while he looked on nonchalantly.

"I can't say whether or not it's lethal," he continued. "To be honest, I've never used it against someone it would work on. Still, I think you'll want to see someone about it. Of course, I could find an antidote for it—it's my own poison, after all. It'd just cost you."

"I'll never pay your price," she gasped out.

He shrugged. "Suit yourself." He held out a hand and parted the barrier. "Good luck making it back to base."

She sped off, eventually devolving so she could run. He gave her less than a five minute head start before taking chase. No matter what she'd done, he wasn't going to leave her poisoned in the middle of the wastelands like that. Sure enough, she'd lost consciousness at some point. He started to hurry toward her, but a bright light appeared near her and stopped him dead in his tracks. It cleared momentarily, and he recovered his sight enough to see Ophanimon gather Chiaki in her arms before the light formed again and they were both gone.

Sighing, Katsuharu devolved and pulled out his D-tector to make a call to Teruo. But as he did, he happened to look toward the sky, where he saw Kazemon flying off in roughly the same direction Chiaki had been running. He raised an eyebrow and considered following her, but he finally shot down the idea. He was too tired and way too outnumbered. He'd need to call in Teppei and even then it would be four against two, not to mention Ophanimon would probably be there. And in any case, he still had to get Koichi to safety.

"Hey, Teruo. Get Teppei and start following Koichi's signal. I'll meet up with you guys. It's not pretty."

And that was the understatement of the year.

I apologize for the extremely long wait for this chapter. Several things took over for a while, including a bout with writer's block. Heavy inspiration for the feel of this chapter comes from the Jake Long episode "Homecoming" and theJustice League three-parter "Starcrossed." The title comes from the song of the same name from the musical Wicked. Major thanks to Ryan Griffin and Shaun Garin for their help in this chapter and for keeping it a complete secret.

As a note, as I am trying to do a bit of an adaptation of a universe with pretty flexible rules, I'm forced to take creative license with some of it. The biggest example would be Koichi, whose very nature in the Digital World seemed to contradict itself every other episode (particularly the whole bit about Fractal Code, as it's there when he dies in episode 48 and Koji clearly scans something to capture the Spirits in episode 32). If all else fails, I recommend the McDuffie Solution—"Don't worry about it."