Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Revival

Chapter: 36/ Darkness: Part 3

Itsuya stood in the hallway with his penlight on, carefully cleaning his glasses with a handkerchief. Lying on the floor, battered and beaten, was the shadow creature, one gold eye staring listlessly up at him while the other was swollen shut. Liquid flowed from the creature's hand as it gripped its stomach. Raising its remaining, free hand, the creature began to drag itself away from Itsuya, its body shaking with the effort. It drew in a sharp hiss and soon stopped, finding itself unable to continue. Its good eye glanced down at its legs. They were twisted and mangled.

"You won't get very far in the shape that you're in," said Itsuya casually as he inspected his glasses with his penlight. "As a matter of fact, I'd suggest that you try to not move. You might aggravate your injuries if you continue."

"What…what are you…?" the shadow creature asked. Its voice sounded thick, as though it were full of fluid. Itsuya gave it a small smile and replaced his glasses.

"That I can't tell you. But I'm surprised that you can't tell. Your kind and I have met before but once." Itsuya's smile widened slightly in remembrance. "That is to say, always. Ahhh…I do not remember the last time I joked. It has been…far too long."

"You're not human…"

"As if that hasn't been established by now."Itsuya focused his light on the shadow creature. "Nothing but devils in this place right now." Itsuya strode over to the shadow creature and knelt down next to it, shining the penlight in its face. "Thanks to everyone keeping their heads low in the dark, I can afford to go all out without being seen. Well…it's still risky, but the odds have been significantly lowered. Prometheus can take care of the rest."

The shadow creature's good eye narrowed. "I do know you…Snake in the grass…"

"Good," Itsuya nodded. "You remember now. But, memory or not, I'm afraid that I can't allow you or your kind to stay here. You have crossed the border—something that you should have not done. You know the rules. You made your choices. Down in the depths you will stay. That is your fate."

The shadow creature began to struggle into a sitting position. "We will not serve you bastard creatures…you false pretenders…"

"Whether it is digimon or something else, you will serve. And if you serve yourselves, that does not change the fact that it is the Dark Area that you will stay in. You will go no further than that."

"For now…but that day will not be fore—!"

"This conversation is becoming boring," interrupted Itsuya, pushing his glasses up onto his face. "Goodbye."

Reaching out with one hand, a swirling mass of darkness reached out from his palm and enveloped the shadow creature. It screamed but once in defiance, and a second later, it was gone. Itsuya got up with a sigh, knuckling his back.
"How it is that my master even put up with those things, I have no idea." Glancing over at the unconscious Suzie and Lopmon, Itsuya made his way over to them and lifted them carefully into his arms. "I think it's time we vacated to some place a little safer and out of the way. Wouldn't you say?"

With that, Itsuya reentered the room that they had exited and shut the door behind them with a click.

…

Guilmon's tail lightly tapped the ground as he snored away.

Mmmm…Guilmon Bread… he thought, his tail twitching again. Off to the side, Terriermon giggled and glanced up at Guardromon.

"I'm telling you, he's dreaming about food."

"Are you certain?" asked Guardromon. "I remember him mentioning about how his dreams are always full of some kind of white light. He informed me of this when he had been telling me about his first incident down in the tunnels."

Terriermon huffed and placed his tiny paws on his hips. "Oh, come on! This is Guilmon we're talking about! I know he's a mon of very little brain, but he's not that empty headed! If he's not thinking about Takatomon, he's thinking about food. He's that simple."

"Hmmm…" Guardromon glanced over at Guilmon and scratched his armored face. "Well…I suppose you're right…"

Off in the distance a muffled explosion resounded upon the air, causing the two digimon to glance in its direction.

"That's the second time I've heard that," mused Terriermon. "They must be doing some pretty heavy construction work or something. Normally only digimon would make that kind of ruckus."

"You should hear Kazu's mother whenever I step in her flower bed. I do believe she's even louder, and twice as terrible as an agent of the D-Reaper."

"Yeah, but at least she feeds you," grumbled Terriermon before heaving a sigh. "I'm bored. I really wish a digimon would show up or something—anything to get out of sitting here all day. What does Henry think I am, his pet?" Terriermon changed the pitch of his voice as he began speaking in a mockery of his Tamer. ""Stay here, Terriermon. Don't cause any trouble Terriermon. Don't momentai me, Terriermon." I swear, one of these days that guy is going to die from an over clocked heart." Terriermon giggled. "Knowing him, he'll probably do it when he has sex for the first time."

Guardromon blinked. "I'm…afraid I don't understand."

"Let's just say that for humans it's just like building a robot, only it grows in a girl's stomach or something and makes them all fat and irritable. At least, that's how it looks on TV anyway."

"I'm afraid I still don't understand. Why would they…" Guardromon paused and frowned. ""Build a human inside a girl's stomach?""

"You really need to access the Internet," chuckled Terriermon mischievously. "But I'm sure there are lots of reasons for it—one of which is that it's supposed to feel good, but it's also how they make more of themselves."

"I…see." Guardromon scratched his armor again, contemplating this. After a moment a puzzled look fell over his eyes. "Actually…I don't. It feels good and yet it makes girls…fat and irritable? Why would they do that then if it made them that way? It sounds so…conflicting."

Terriermon looked at the mechanical Champion with a raised eyebrow.

"Really, how could you have been here for this long and not know even this much? You can listen in on police radios and broadcast waves, but you don't check out the Internet or anything? What kind of Guardromon are you? Even Renamon knows more about this stuff then I do." Terriermon tapped his chin in confusion. "Kind of weird that she does, now that I think about it. She has no idea how to use a computer…"

Once again, the sound of a muffled explosion reached them, and Terriermon's ears twitched in agitation.

"That's really starting to bug me."

"Hmmm…perhaps I should tune into the police radios to see if there's anything we should be concerned about. After all, even though neither of us sense a digimon that doesn't mean that we might not be of some use. After all, we are public officials now. We should be available for any crisis that might arise."

"Well…okay." Terriermon trotted on over to Guardromon and hopped up on his head. "I'm bored anyway, and at least this'll give me something to distract me. Even if it's for five seconds."

"Must you be on top of my head though? Sometimes you interfere with the signal."

"Momentai!" proclaimed Terriermon, proudly expanding his ears and raising them into the air. "All you need is the ol' rabbit ears and you'll be fine!"

"Oh, dear…"

Guardromon closed his eyes, and within short order, various news reports began to infiltrate his audio circuits. He furrowed his brow as he began to sort them out.

"Oh my…there's quite a bit here. Some kind of commotion outside of Hypnos. The military is being considered to be called in…"

"What?" Terriermon raised both eyebrows in surprise. "Really? What's going on?"

"It would appear that there are two digimon currently rampaging and…oh."

"Ooogh…" Terriermon toppled off Guardromon's head and landed gracefully on the ground. "Kinda slow in the uptake, aren't you? That settles it!" Terriermon quickly went over to Guilmon and immediately began shaking him. "Hey! Come on Guilmon! Wake up! This is important!"

"Is Takatomon here yet?" asked the crimson dinosaur in a sleepy tone. Raising his head he glanced around and yawned. "Mmmnnn…Terriermon. Why'd you wake me up?"

"Because there's a digimon attack going on at Hypnos. We've got to get going so we can help save the day."

"Digimon?" Guilmon frowned and immediately got to his feet, all exhaustion dropping from him immediately. "But…I don't smell any digimon except you guys."

"It could be one that we missed," supplied Terriermon, trying to be helpful. It's not like it'd be the first time we missed out on one or two…or a dozen…

"Actually it would appear that they have just bio-emerged," noted Guardromon. "The reports indicate that a digital field descended upon Hypnos shortly before the first explosion that we heard."

"But we didn't sense anythi—oh…never mind! We've got to get a hold of Henry and the others so that we can start kicking some serious booty! I don't know about you guys, as much as I want to get down there and start kicking some butt, I can't do much with this tiny body especially when…"

An even louder explosion rang out and all eyes turned towards the plume of smoke that was rising into the air. Bolts of bright energy shot outwards and a loud roar followed immediately after them.

"Uh…that sounded…pretty loud."

"I'm not afraid," said Guilmon with determination as he took a step forward. "All I need is Takato. Nothing can stop us whenever we're together."

Sniffing the air, Guilmon turned and immediately dashed off.

"Hey! Guilmon! Where are you going?"

"To Takato's school!" the reptile replied.

"Well wait for me, would ya?" the rabbit dog demanded, immediately bounding after him. "Sheesh! With feet this small I can only get so far you know!"

Guardromon shook his head before casting a worried glance over his shoulder. More smoke was rising now, and growing in thickness.

A digimon that has bio-emerged without any of us detecting it. What kind of danger is appearing in the digital world now?

Eyeing the rising smoke warily, his rocket engines activated and he went off in search of his partner.

...

Dracmon watched the battle with eyes, hidden beneath his leaf-shaped mask, with growing surprise.

No way. This is…this is impossible, isn't it? Those guys…those are the Dark Masters! Er…aren't they? They look like them, but…

Dracmon narrowed his eyes. Something about the whole situation seemed wrong to him. On one side, Machinedramon continued to fight Crusadermon, despite being bereft of his primary method of attacking while the Royal Knight hacked and slashed away at him with her ribbons. This time, unlike her earlier success with his cannons, her attacks were far less effective, though they scored the metal plating and cut exposed wires, the massive war machine refused to go down or back off, instead attacking relentlessly with its massive claws. Crusadermon avoided his slow, lumbering attacks with ease due to her speed, but often at the cost of extensive property damage. Neither appeared to be gaining any ground against each other and it didn't look like things were changing anytime soon.

This…probably wasn't the best time to slip away from Terriermon and the rest, thought Dracmon, looking over to the other two combatants. Sakuyamon was presently tugging on her captured wrist, trying to free herself from Puppetmon's wires while simultaneously beating off the rest with her wand. Flashes of light exploded in midair as the wires failed to reach their target and fell to the ground, writhing like snakes. Puppetmon didn't stop trying however, and continued to send wire after wire towards the shaman priestess, determined to capture her within his grasp.

There was something else though. Leaning forward, Dracmon peered closer, taking note of the ominous, glowing circles emblazoned on the chests of the two Dark Master digimon. Dracmon couldn't be sure, but…there appeared to be something familiar about that circle, as though he knew it from somewhere. For the life of him he couldn't figure out why that was, but it…called to him, tugged at him on some primal chord. Shaking his head, Dracmon cleared his thoughts.

Something's really not right here, he thought, taking another look at the two Megas. Those two digimon… Huh. Funny, they're not acting any stronger. I've heard about this glowing symbol thing from the Tamers, and they always talked about how the digimon they faced that had 'em were always stronger than they should have been. These guys don't seem to be strong t all. In fact, they seem to be…dead.

Dracmon glanced at Puppetmon. There was something in his eyes that looked to be vacant and empty, as though he weren't entirely there.

Well, either way, thought Dracmon, dusting off his hands as he crouched down. One way or another, I've got to get in there. I only hope that one of these guys kills me before Miki does it for them. Man, she's going to be pissed that I didn't stay where she told me too…

With that, Dracmon leapt down into the fray.

…

This…is starting to become annoying, growled Rika inwardly as outwardly Sakuyamon swatted away another wire. "We're going to have to change tactics. But…how? He's got us caught, and he's limiting what I can do myself with these weird wires of his!"

"His specialty is treating everyone and everything as though it were a toy," commented Renamon from the darkness surrounding Rika's blue colored data sphere. "But he doesn't have all of us trapped yet."

"How observant…Renamon!"Rika grunted as she swung Sakuyamon's arm up again and sent a river of violet energy ripping another set of wires to shreds before they could reach her. "Care to tell me something I don't already know? I can't bring out our full power as long as he has just a piece of us caught!"

"True, but remember this Rika. He may have us, but that also means that we have him as well."

"Huh?" Rika's eyes lit up as realization struck her. "Ohhh…"

With a sharp movement, Sakuyamon suddenly pulled violently backwards with her captured wrist. Puppetmon lurched forward, taken off guard by the unexpected maneuver. His concentration broken, Sakuyamon reached forward and grabbed firmly on the wire that held her while simultaneously spinning her wand.

"Amethyst Wind!" shouted Sakuyamon as energy that had previously been restricted by the wooden Mega once again flowed through her. Thousands of crystal shards of sparkling purple materialized around Sakuyamon before flowing into a whirling vortex before her. Smirking, Sakuyamon checked her grip on the wire and once more pulled forward, this time with even more force behind it. Puppetmon's feet were ripped from the ground and he flew forward into the storm wall of Amethyst shards. The Mega let out a horrible scream as the crystals tore at him, gouging tears all along his wooden body. Within seconds he broke free from the storm, continuing to barrel onwards towards Sakuyamon. Still smirking, Sakuyamon tucked her wand into her dress's waist belt and pulled back her free arm. Getting into a stance, she waited until Puppetmon was close enough before belting him clear across the face, sending him flying back into the razor-sharp whirlwind, where the crystals once again began tearing into him, quickly reducing him to shards of data.

"You didn't have to punch him, Rika," mooted Renamon. Feeling as though she were being given a quizzical look from her partner, Rika tilted her head to one side, still smirking while she outwardly cracked Sakuyamon's knuckles.

"Yeah," she said, reaching down and ripping Puppetmon's wire free from her wrist. "But I felt better doing it. Now…" Sakuyamon plucked her wand from her belt as she prepared to assist Crusadermon in her part of the fight. Before she could do so, a polite cough from off to her right caught her attention.

"You know…sometimes I wonder if your dork of a boyfriend feels inadequate as your knight in shining armor. I mean…you end up rescuing yourself so many times it makes having him around kinda redundant."

"Dracmon," Sakuyamon greeted, spotting the Rookie as he was shaking his head in amazement. "Are any of the others here?"

"Nope. I…ah…slipped away from the park a while ago and saw all this going on. Funny. I didn't sense these guys busting through. Do you think that means that they won't be here?"

"No. Takato knows the situation and he's on his way here." A small smile graced her features just then. "In fact, he should be along any second now…"

As if to prove her point, a bright flash of electric blue light illuminated the ground around them as a powerful voice boomed upon the air.

"Lightning Joust!"

A beam of pure energy smashed into Machinedramon as he raised one arm to again try and strike Crusadermon. Sparks flew and the machine monster roared, staggering back. Sakuyamon traced it to its source, her smile widening to find Gallantmon in his X-Antibody form alongside Guardromon and Rapidmon, descending towards the battlefield. The crimson and white armored knight tipped Sakuyamon a salute.

"You're late," Sakuyamon said in an accusatory tone. Gallantmon gave an embarrassed chuckle.

"Sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his helm. "Had to find Guilmon."

"Give the guy a break, Rika!" exclaimed Rapidmon as they all landed. "All heroes have to wait for the last minute before making their entrance! That's the whole point of dramatic timing!"

"That's the problem with you digimon with super fast speeds," sighed Sakuyamon, rolling her eyes beneath her facemask. "Suddenly you think you have enough time to do everything."

Gallantmon coughed politely. "Uh…guys? Machinedramon over there…"

The ground shook as the massive Mega righted itself, growling menacingly at the group of digimon. Crusadermon lighted down in front of it, tilting her head to one side as she took stock of its condition. Looking down at his chest where the attack had struck, Crusadermon nodded in both satisfaction and approval to see a large, gaping hole filled with molten metal dripping out of it, revealing an exposed sphere of pulsating blue energy.

"Very effective," Crusadermon breathed, raising her sash blades. "Its core is exposed. We can end this qui—."

Crusadermon paused as she noticed something unusual about the digi-core.

That's odd… Normally a digimon's digi-core is colored blue. This one is…gray for some reason. I'm not seeing any activity in it either. No energy circulation. No…nothing. But how? It can't move otherwise. Even Death-X digimon have something even if they lack digi-cores. They have to devour other digimon to maintain themselves. What's going on here?

Crusadermon was interrupted from her thoughts as Machinedramon began to storm forwards. Its right claws snapped open and red fire spilled out. Cursing for letting herself be distracted, Crusadermon leapt forward, stabbing outwards with her sash blades. They skewered the unmoving digi-core, shattering it into broken shards of sparkling data.

Under normal circumstances, the battle should have ended right there and then, but it did not. Instead, the Machinedramon pushed forward, swatting Crusadermon to the side with its left claw, stunning the Mega from the force of the blow. She barely had enough time to hear the words Shield of the Just before a massive explosion filled her vision, blinding her. The pink armored Royal Knight tumbled through the air for a moment, fighting to right herself and regain her flight, but the blow had disrupted her concentration. She was going to hit—

Crusadermon grunted as her fall was abruptly halted by a pair of metallic arms. Blinking, she looked up to find herself being carried bridal style by Gallantmon, who was looking at her with golden eyes filled with concern.

"Are you all right?" he asked in Guilmon's voice. Feeling suddenly uncomfortable, Crusadermon squirmed and broke free from the other Mega's grasp.

"I-I'm fine! I just…stunned. I'll be all right."

Crusadermon quickly looked around her. Everyone was watching her with some measure of amusement painted on their face—even Sakuyamon! Crusadermon flexed her fingers carefully as she felt an intense heat build up inside of her armor.

Wha…What is this? I've felt this before but…what…is it?

Crusadermon had the sickening feeling that she knew the answer to that question.

"Well all right," acknowledged Gallantmon, looking over at the shrouded Hypnos building. "Can anyone tell me what's going on over there?"

"Haven't had the chance to check it out, Takato," replied Sakuyamon as she moved over to his side. "We've been a little busy cleaning up around here. But…" Rika made a few gestures with her hands and closed her eyes beneath her helm. An aura of light surrounded her body and stabbed outwards into the fog. Immediately she stiffened up and the light winked out of existence.

"Guys," she said, her tone completely serious. "We've got to get in there! Something is going o—!"

A powerful roar split across the air as a new form ripped free from the digital field. It was long and serpentine with a thick, flowing main and shining armor of silver and gold. Blood red eyes stared downwards towards them as a cannon attached to the beast's nose began to glow with a dangerous silver-blue light.

"A MetalSeadramon?" exclaimed Kazu, his jaw dropping. "Oh, man! I always wanted that card when I was a kid!"

"Not now, Kazu!" exclaimed Guardromon, grabbing the boy and firing up his jet engines. Looking up he realized with growing dread that he wasn't going to be fast enough to get them out of this one. This isn't good…

"River of Power!" MetalSeadramon shouted, firing a beam of raw energy down at the Tamers.

"Sakuyamon!" shouted Gallantmon, reaching out towards her with one hand instinctively. Nodding, Sakuyamon quickly grabbed it, slashing her wand through the air as she did so. Her hair, tied to appear as two foxtails lifted upwards as white fire began to race along their edges. Gallantmon's armor began to take on a blinding, red glow as power swirled into the blue gem of his shield. The two tightened their hands around each other as Sakuyamon quickly mouthed incantations. Power flowed between them and Gallantmon's light began to spill outwards.

"Divine Shield!" shouted Sakuyamon, and the crimson light suddenly solidified above the group. MetalSeadramon's attack struck it, straining against it, but the barrier did not so much as give beneath its intense pressure. Seeing this, MetalSeadramon poured more power into the attack and the barrier wavered.

"Takato…"

Gallantmon staggered, feeling the power behind MetalSeadramon's attack. He could sense Rika and Renamon's resolve as they poured everything they had into their defense. Tightening his grip once more on Sakuyamon's, Gallantmon stood firm. Power swirled around his armor in shifts of gold and red and his eyes lit up with energy.

"Power…we need more…power! Grani…!"

"Would you like to fly, Gallantmon?" whispered a memory in the back of his mind.

Gasping, metallic, razor sharped wings burst free from his back and extended outwards while his armor, in a blast of heat, took on dragon-like curves and sharp points.

"Final Justice!" Gallantmon shouted, feeling the ever-increasing torrents of power flow through him. A double-bladed spear materialized in Gallantmon's hand and a lance-like blast of energy rocketed out, piercing the barrier and stabbing MetalSeadramon through his mouth, cutting off his attack. Explosions ravaged the Mega's body, and with one final scream, he disintegrated into shards of data.

Silence fell across the battlefield as the digital field surrounding Hypnos dissipated, revealing the building once more. With a deep, relaxing breath, Gallantmon flexed his wings and began to glow once more, separating into Takato and Guilmon, their power spent from the exertion of their final attack.

"Man…" Takato panted, looking over at Guilmon with an exhausted smile on his face. "That…was quite the scream…huh, boy?"

"Ah…hah…" agreed Guilmon, nodding.

With a smile on her face, Sakuyamon ruffled the boy's hair and looked over at Dracmon, who was presently unfolding his arms from around his head. The Rookie Demon looked at her and although no words were exchanged, he immediately understood the meaning behind her gaze.

Jeez… That kid's a monster sometimes, he thought, gulping audibly.

…

The vision of Shinjuku swept into view as Prometheus materialized on the rooftop of Hypnos. Taking in a breath of fresh air, he glanced around.

"Oh. The Tamers defeated the last of my guardians. That's…inconvenient. Oh well. I'm almost done here anyways."

"Indeed you are," spoke up a voice from behind him. Turning, Prometheus saw the shadow creatures phasing out of shadows cast by the helicopter sitting on landing pad.

"You got here pretty fast," commented Prometheus, jerking a thumb in the direction of the sun. "All things considered, you're not made for the land of the living or anything that has light. You guys must really want this flame, huh?" Prometheus tapped his breastbone where he had inserted the fire, smiling at the creatures.

"Don't play games with us," growled the lead one. "This game is over."

"'Fraid it is," chided Prometheus. "Unless you want to burn that is. The sun's not your thing as I recall. Can't say that I blame you really. Solar flares and everything…ouch." Prometheus winced. "And the terrible sunburn on top of it… Cancer rates going up…yeesh. I'd praise the Vitamin-D, but that's no good for you guys either. Or for me for that matter…"

"Shut it! No more games. No more talking. You will hand over the Flame. It is the key to all the worlds…to the Core System and the higher echelons of reality. We will not be denied…"

"What? This flame?" Prometheus raised one hand and immediately a small blue ball of fire materialized in his palm. "Or this one?" Prometheus smirked as he repeated the gesture. "You really aren't in any position to demand anything from me," he continued, beginning to juggle the balls of flames, adding another two more as he did so. "You have a choice. You can either come out into the light and take the Flame from me—which is unlikely since your power is greatly reduced on this side of that shadow you're in and I on the other hand…am not—or you can crawl back home and wait for another opportunity. A better one that won't have your boss wondering why you're out past your curfew. How is that worshipping of Dragomon going by the way? Working out for you? I hear stories about his whatchamacallems—Juzu prayer beads? He always carries those around after he takes a life, right?"

Prometheus grinned as he added still another ball of fire. The eyes of the shadow creatures gleamed in the shadows, but they made no move to leave. Frowning, Prometheus tossed a ball of fire towards them and it immediately ignited, casting harsh light upon them. The fire died down rapidly, but Prometheus made his point and the creatures began to sink back down into the shadow of the helicopter.

"Very well…whatever you are. But be warned that you have made an enemy this day. Watch yourself carefully. Watch the waters."

"I already do," mused Prometheus under his breath as he dismissed his balls of fire. After the last of the creatures disappeared he let out a sigh of relief. "I've really had all I can stand from the Dark Ocean. Omnimon-X…you really mucked things up when you 'reset' the digital world you know. Not very cool."

Glancing up at the antennae's on the rooftop, Prometheus wandered over to them and placed his hands against their support structure.

"This won't be good for the digital world," he said, a blue glow flowing from him and into the dishes, "but I can't allow any more infiltration into Hypnos. I've got enough problems as it is—never mind the ones that aren't here yet."

Prometheus released his hand and disappeared from view before materializing on a rooftop removed from Hypnos. Smoke curled from a hole where one of Machinedramon's blasts had struck but the building remained miraculously structurally sound. Leaning against a nearby wall, he peered out towards Hypnos, seeing lights coming back on one by one. A forced smile curved up on his face upon seeing them.

"I can only hope that things don't get too hard on the digital world." His smile disappeared. "I'll have to work even harder to speed things up. But first, finish up with Suzie and Atsuo. And then…"

Prometheus' eyes narrowed as he glanced towards the battlefield, his gaze lingering on the Tamers as they rushed towards Hypnos.

…And then…

A/N: My apologies if the three Dark Masters that appeared seemed defeated so easily. Why this happened is hinted a little bit by Crusadermon, and will become a bit more apparent in Marcus' part in the story (and other attacks by digimon bearing similar problems). As they didn't serve much of a role in this story beyond stalling the Tamers (who are now pretty damn powerful in their own right), it didn't make much sense to keep them around for very long. I enjoyed writing them in as a cameo though. As for Piedmon…well, the reason why I didn't include him was because last I saw him he was being trapped in MagnaAngemon's Gate of Destiny. Don't know if that actually deletes or just traps digimon it captures, but from what I've read in previous works, the general consensus is that it just serves as a trap from which there is no escape, and I've kept that in mind in the event I want to make use of it as such. Pretty badass if you ask me, and probably a very long, very boring jail term even with all the Vilemon that were trapped in there as well (unless they got their own separate 'cell').

On another note, one thing that I forgot to mention in my previous author note was that I finally figured out what Sakuyamon's Kabuki Mode's wand is called. Up until now, all I had to go on was the description of it as a 'mop'. The image, at first glance does look like a mop, but having studied a little bit of Japanese culture, it resembled something I'd seen used in Shinto practices (weirdly enough, Wikipedia's own remark on the device is that it can be confused with a feather duster, which does look similar apparently). It's called an Onusa, which is a wooden wand with zigzagging streamers of paper called Shide, which are pretty common in Shinto rituals. Usually it's waved at a slow, rhythmic pace that makes the Shide rustle, and is usually used for blessings and purification rituals on people and property. It's cool stuff and it was fun learning about while writing the previous chapter.

The plot continues apace, slow, but it's moving forward. What happens next we shall see next chapter. :P

'Till then.

-Crazyeight

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