Chapter 36

As a last minute suggestion, Gennai thought it would be best to start the move in the early morning. It would give them the best chance of getting the refugees out without being noticed, they could sneak out under cover of darkness and get a good distance away from the base before the sun reveled them. Andromon and Piximon agreed and left to inform their troops and the refugees of their new plan. They could hear Piximon laughing as he flew down the hallway, "I can't wait to see their faces when we tell them the time I expect them to wake up."

"I'm so glad that's not us," Takuya sighed, "I'm ready for a good night's sleep." The others wholeheartedly agreed. Who enjoys getting up early?

They were given enough rooms so that they could break up into pairs and each have a room to themselves. After wishing everyone good night, they separated into their own rooms. Kouichi closed the door behind him and sat next to his brother, who was lying on the bed with his arms crossed behind his head, staring at the ceiling.

"So, are you going to finally tell me what's bothering you?" Kouichi asked quietly. Kouji remained silent and continued to stare at the ceiling.

It was nearly a minute before Kouji finally responded, "Ever since we got here, I've had this really bad feeling. The world is unbalanced; I know you can feel it too."

Kouichi nodded, "Yeah, I do. But we already knew that before we came here, there's got to be something else that's bothering you."

"At first, I assumed that it was just the world being out of whack, there's so much darkness here. But for the past few days I've realized that it's coming from here. Something or someone in this building is giving off dark energy in pulses, sometimes it's hard to detect and other times it comes on really strong."

Kouichi leaned back to rest his hands that were braced behind him. He could constantly feel the negative energy in the Digital World since he arrived. But after a while it became something normal, and he failed to notice it. "I haven't paid it much attention to tell you the truth. When we first joined with our spirits the unbalanced nature of the Digital World was painful for you; how are you doing now?"

"It's actually tolerable, kind of like a bruise that keeps getting poked at." Kouichi laughed at his brother's example, earning him a frown from Kouji. That analogy was hard to come up with. "It doesn't bother me as much, but I'm surprised that Ken and Kari hadn't said anything about it. They both seem to be really sensitive when darkness is involved."

The moment they stepped into the Digital World and felt the darkness greet him, Kouichi's first thought was to check on Kouji, Kari, and Ken. He knew that Kouji could handle himself, but the other two were a bit more fragile. At first they seemed alright, no big freak outs or anything. "They were uncomfortable; you can see it in their eyes and their posture. They've been sticking close to their partners and their friends."

"Maybe they haven't voiced their discomfort because they think they might offend you."

Kouichi nodded, Kari and Ken were both extremely kind and caring, and it seemed like something they would do. "I'll try to pay more attention to the spikes in dark energy," Kouichi said, "You really think it's coming from somewhere in the building?"

Kouji nodded, "But the security is really tight; how could anything sneak in, much less hang around and not get found out? It must be getting some kind of help. Someone is playing us for fools."

"You think it's that digimon?" Kouichi asked, remembering their confrontation with BlackGatomon.

"I don't know," Kouji admitted, "But he was staring at us."

Kouichi raised an eyebrow skeptically, "He didn't even want to look at Gennai in the eye. When did he get the chance to stare at us?"

"When we started walking away, I looked back and saw him looking at us from around the corner."

"That's a little creepy," Kouichi shivered. Things were getting so complicated; they didn't need more strange occurrences happening. "What do you think we should do?"

Kouji sat up and sighed, "I think we need to keep this to ourselves for now." His statement caused Kouichi's eyes to widen. He didn't like the idea of hiding things from his friends. Hiding the fact that he was a spirit in the Digital World was slightly different. At that time he just didn't want them to worry, but withholding this kind of information could put all of them in danger. Kouichi opened his mouth to object, but Kouji continued, not giving him a chance to interrupt. "If we tell them, they would try to find out what exactly is going on and with so many of us searching whoever is behind this is bound to notice. We need to be quiet about this. They can't know that we're aware of its presence."

"Alright," Kouichi agreed. "We better get some rest. You never know what's going to happen tomorrow." They been talking for a while and it was starting to get late.

Even after Kouichi had fallen asleep, Kouji was tossing and turning. Something was still bothering him; something that he hadn't shared with his brother, the person he trusted the most. A few days ago, he wasn't the one that noticed the spike in dark energy. Like with Kouichi, it had to be brought to his attention for him to notice it. The fear and nervousness in Lobomon's voice from that time still gave him chills.

'Be wary Kouji. Something is not as it seems.'

It was still early in the morning when the refugees began to gather outside in preparation for their trip. They planned on using the dark to hide their escape, but they didn't expect it to conceal the enemy's sneak attack.

The sun was still way below the horizon when the first explosion shook the very foundation of the building. The quaking was enough to rouse even the heaviest of sleepers.

"What's happening?"

"Did you guys feel that?"

One after another, heads popped out of the bedroom doors and looked around confusedly. As if to answer their questions, another explosion went off. This time, the explosion caused the buildings alarms to go off. The alarms began blaring loudly and red lights flooded the halls.

"Everyone up!" Gaiomon's voice boomed throughout the halls as he raced past the Chosen Children and the Warrior's rooms. MetalMamemon and Leomon followed close behind him. "We're under attack!" Immediately, they bolted out of their rooms and followed the generals outside.

Once outside, they were greeted with a horrible sight. The refugees were out in the open when the attack began, leaving them vulnerable. Andromon and Piximon's troops were tying their hardest to hold off the enemy army, but they were outnumbered. While they taught valiantly to protect the refugees they couldn't keep them from getting destroyed. Many of the refugees ran for their lives only to get picked off one at a time.

"It's a massacre," Leomon gasped. They couldn't just stand back and watch, it was finally time for them to get back into the action.

It only took a moment for the partners and the Warriors to evolve. Together, they rushed forward and began fighting with the closest enemy digimon. Following their example, the three remaining generals engaged the opposing digimon, their units right behind them. Gennai remained where he was standing, watching from a distance. "Wait, where are you going?" he shouted. Bokomon was in the process of running after his their friends. He looked back at Gennai but didn't answer, it was quite obvious just where he was headed. "Stay here. If you go out there you will be only putting yourself in danger."

Neemon walked up to his friend and stood next to him and began to watch as the battle took place. "Don't worry, they never lose!"

Bokomon smiled, "Yeah, you're right." Neemon nodded enthusiastically. "For once."

The enemy army was made up of DarkTyranomon, Monocromon, SkullMeramon, Airdramon and SkullSatamon. This was the first time that they had sent so many high level digimon after them, the rookie Commadramon were nowhere in sight.

"This is horrible." Kari's eyes watered as she watched the fighting unfold. Now that the enemy was occupied, the refugees began to escape back into the base; at least whatever was left of them. It tore at their hearts to see so many injured digimon. The ones that sustained the least damage carried their injured or unconscious family and friends back to where they would be safe.

Back in the fight, the new arrivals were managing to push the enemy back. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon flew through the sky, tearing apart the Airdramon. The SkullSatamon were a bit more difficult to dispose of, but with the aid of the other flying digimon they were also destroyed. Losing their support from the air, the ground troops were beginning to struggle.

One of the DarkTyranomon managed to knock down an allied Allomon. The blue dinosaur digimon's eyes widened as DarkTyranomon raised has clawed hand intending to finish him off. But the blow never came. To Allomon's surprise, the larger digimon was tackled to the ground by Korikakkumon. The warrior of ice, easily overpowered the enemy.

"Are you alright?" MetalKabuterimon asked Allomon. After clambering to his feet, Allomon nodded and turned back and raced off to find another opponent. Now that he knew the other digimon was alright, JP turned back to the fighting and raised his cannons firing off into the crowd. Normally, this tactic would be rather reckless, but JP's aim was unbeatable.

"Look out!" Someone shouted. JP turned around just in time to see a Monocromon charging straight at him. With no time to dodge, he braced himself for impact. The charging digimon hit him hard, causing him to slide across the ground. The Monocromon came in for another attack, but was stopped by to attacks that came from the sky. The dual attacks easily destroyed the champion. MetalKabuterimon looked up to see Piximon and Silphymon flying off.

The fighting continued for hours, with both sides loosing hundreds of forces. Zephyrmon panted heavily and sat atop BurningGreymon's shoulder. "Is this ever going to end?" she gasped. This was by far the longest fight they had ever endured.

"The end is in sight. Don't give up yet," Leomon encouraged. The lion digimon fought well for being only a champion, but even he had his limits. Exhaustion had dulled his senses, leaving him unable to detect the SkullMeramon that was sneaking up to him. Leomon grunted when SkullMeramon's fiery chain struck him in the chest.

A grunt escaped Leomon's lips as he was knocked off his feet. He landed roughly on the ground, his sword skidding away from him. There was a shiny red burn forming diagonally across his chest. Leomon's eyes widened as SkullMeramon ran at him. But the enemy didn't get very far before he was assaulted by red balls of energy.

The attack caused SkullMeramon to stop and raise his arms to defend himself. His defenses were strong but he didn't expect to get sliced to bits by MetalMamemon's claw. MetalMamemom looked on smugly, as SkullMeremon was reduced to bits of data. He then approached Leomon, picking up his fallen sword along the way.

"What's a matter kitty? Enemy too strong for you?" MetalMamemon chuckled and handed Leomon his sword back. Leomon frowned at him but accepted his weapon. He may not like the tiny ultimate, but he was a great fighter and he was glad that he was on their side.

MetalMamemon jumped back into the fray, quickly dispatching a Monochromon before disappearing into the crowd.

"You alright?" BurningGreymon asked as he helped Leomon to his feet.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. We have many more troops that have been hurt a lot worse than me." Leomon was more concerned for his unit that himself. A sudden explosion nearly knocked him off his feet again.

A Flarizamon was blasted through the air and landed at their feet. The flame digimon's form was unstable, its data already beginning to fall apart. "What's happening out there?" he practically shouted.

The Flarizamon wheezed and struggled to speak, "Sneak attack." After he struggled to utter those words, his body gave out and exploded into bits of data.

Leomon was about to rush into the chaos, when BurningGreymon grabbed his shoulder to stop him. "Stay here. Let us take care of things. Let's go Z." He and Zephyrmon took to the skies, not even waiting to see if Leomon had listened to them.

BurningGreymon and Zephyrmon flew over the masses of fighting digimon as they flew over towards where they thought the explosion came from. "Hold on," Zephyrmon said. She had spotted MetalKabuterimon, Garudamon, and MegaKabuterimon. They were currently resting and keeping watch to make sure that the enemy didn't progress any farther. As she descended, she could see Sora and Izzy standing next to MetalKabuterimon. "Hey guys!"

"Zoe," Sora smiled warmly at her.

"Did you guys see that explosion?" At the appearance of one of their own MegaKabuterimon and Garudamon moved from their post and joined them.

"Yeah, there was a few of them. At first, I thought that it was just the result of the fighting going on. But that last few blasts looked like they came from that area." MegaKabuterimon pointed off into a darker area of the forest that hadn't gotten completely leveled from the fighting yet.

"Let's go check it out. I think we've rested enough already," MetalKabuterimon said with enthusiasm.

"Lead the way," Zephyrmon instructed. The large insect digimon nodded and took off the sky where they met up where BurningGreymon.

"Hop on you two," MetalKabuterimon said to Sora and Izzy. He wasn't the fastest digimon around, but it would be faster than walking. They were slightly hesitant at first, but after figuring it was their best option they clambered onto the MetalKabuterimon. It took a second for them to situate themselves to where they were comfortable and weren't in danger of falling off. After making sure that his passengers were secure, MetalKabuterimon revved his wheels and took off, kicking up small dust clouds as he went.

As MegaKabuterimon, Garudamon, Zyphermon, and BurningGreymon approached the thicker area of the forest, they were forced to fly above the trees.

"It's too thick to fly down there. I hope we don't miss them," Garudamon voiced her concern. It was difficult to make out anything below the canopy line. But she didn't have to worry for long. A blast of energy had erupted from the trees and was heading in their direction. Luckily the four of them managed to get out of the way in time. The attack whizzed by them and disappeared into the dark sky.

"It would be kind of hard to miss that," BurningGreymon joked. They changed course and headed in the direction that the blast had come from. After a few tense minutes of flying, they came across an open field. They had found the source of the long range assaults. The clearing held three large digimon that resembled some kind of long necked dinosaur. Its bright orange skin was protected by plates of thick armor that covered its head, legs, and back. But its most noticeable feature was the enormous cannon strapped to its back. At first glance, the Cannondramon seemed to be thrashing about aimlessly. But as the four of them got closer they could see the smaller digimon battling with the Cannondramon.

It appeared that their friends had found the enemy first. Paildramon, Liliymon, and WarGreymon flew circles around the larger digimon's heads, while KendoGarurumon weaved between their legs. WarGreymon landed a swift punch to one of the Cannondramon's faces, making the larger digimon let put and aggravated snarl. Cannondramon snapped at him, but these large digimon were rather slow and easy to avoid. WarGreymon leisurely moved to the side giving Lilymon a clear shot of its face.

The next Cannondramon was distracted with Paildramon. The DNA digimon flew along the larger digimon's side, hitting as many armor free areas as they could with their 'Desperado Blaster'. Even without their armor, the Cannondramon had extremely thick hid that was absorbing most of Paildramon's attacks without sustaining too much damage. Paildramon had to swerve wildly to avoid Cannondramon's wildly swinging tail.

KendoGarurumon was weaving between the final Cannondramon's legs. It was hard to tell who was winning this exchange. KendoGarurumon was either trying to avoid getting stepped on or was trying to slice up the dinosaur's ankles with the blades on his back.

BurningGreymon dove in and slammed into the Cannondramon that KendoGarurumon was harassing. The large digimon stumbled and nearly toppled over. "Try not to get smashed alright," he teased looking at KendoGarurumon. His insult was promptly ignored as KendoGarurumon continued to attack the Cannondramon. "You're such a grouch," he pouted, it was normal for Kouji to ignore him.

Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon went to help Paildrampm since WarGreymon and Lilymon seemed to have the digimon that they were fighting quite occupied. After fighting with the Cannondramon it was clear to them that these large digimon were not suitable for close range combat at all. Finally, MetalKabuterimon, Izzy, and Sora rolled into the clearing. They managed to find Tai, Mimi, Davis, and Ken hiding among the surrounding trees.

"How's it coming?" Izzy asked as he jumped off MetalKabuterimon.

"We've managed to stop them from attacking the rest of the troops for now; we just need to finish them off," Ken informed them.

The Cannondramon, had finally noticed the humans that had gathering near the trees. The one that was fighting with Paildramon, Garudamon, and MegaKabuterimon swung its head and tail through the air slamming into the three of them; knocking them out of the air. With the nuisances gone, Cannondramon lowered the cannon on its back and began gathering energy. But instead of directing the cannon towards the battlefield, it pointed it towards the humans. They gasped when they saw the charging canon turning to face them.

MetalKabuterimon acted quickly, he lowered himself to the ground and took aim with the canon that rested on his head. His attack finished charging faster than Cannondramon's, and shot straight into the enemy's cannon. The attack collided with the energy that was being stored in there and exploded. The Cannondramon wailed in agony as the cannon on its back exploded and began to pour out dark black smoke.

Now recovered from the earlier attack, Paildramon, Garudamon, and MegaKabuterimon attacked the weakened digimon, destroying it.

WarGreymon had noticed the danger his partner and his friends had just escaped and decided to finally start acting serious. With a nod at Lilymon the two of them moved in. Lilymon flew in first, sending multiple blasts lf energy from her gun towards the Cannondramon. The attacks distracted it from the real threat that was quickly approaching. While Cannondramon's gaze was fixed on Lilymon, WarGreymon was coming in fast with a 'Great Tornado' attack. Cannondramon's armor and thick skin was no match for WarGreymon's claws. With two of the Cannondramon already destroyed, the remaining digimon was no match for all of them combined. It only took another minute for them to finish off the last Cannondramon.

"Great job guys, as always," Davis grinned at them.

"He was pretty weak for a big guy," Paildramon said.

"That's 'cause we weren't the one getting hit by that guys cannon. That was doing some major damage out there," BurningGreymon said.

"Let's hurry and get back to the others. This is seriously cutting into my beauty sleep," Mimi groaned. Her reaction caused the others to laugh, but they still listened to her plea and hurried back to where the main battle was taking place.

Without their air unit and long range cannons gone, the enemy was finally getting pushed back. "Just a little farther don't give up!" Gaiomon's voice echoed across the battlefield. With one final push they managed to force the enemy back. The last skirmish reduced the enemy numbers to only a small fraction of what it once was. Knowing they were defeated, the remaining digimon began to flee.

Cheers of excitement and happiness rose from the resistance army. But this victory had come at a cost, many innocent digimon had lost their lives along with about a fourth of the resistance's fighting force.

Now that the battle was finally over, they headed back towards the entrance to wait for the others to arrive. With the threat gone, they felt like it was safe to de-digivolve. As soon as they reached their destination, they were joined my Gennai, Bokomon, and Neemon.

"Oh you're safe! Thank goodness," Bokomon said.

"Of course we are. You need to have more faith," JP smiled.

"Yeah Bokomon," Neemon teased, making the rest of them chuckle as the two of them began to bicker. Tai and the others smiled as they watched their friends interact with Bokomon and Neemon. It was great that they had the chance to reunite with their friends.

"Are you guys alright?" They could hear someone shouting. Turning around, they saw the rest of their group heading towards them.

"We're all fine here. How about you guys?" Takuya asked.

"Maybe a scratch or two here and there but we'll live," Matt said.

"Can we go back to bed now?" Armadillomon yawned. His yawn was contagious as the other partner digimon started to yawn and rub their eyes sleepily.

"Yes, I'm sure we all could use a few more hours of sleep." Now that all the action was over, Gennai began to lead them back into the building.

Their feet were beginning to drag as the adrenaline from the fight began to ware out. But they were startled awake again from shouting voices farther down the hall.

"What the hell were you three thinking?!"

They recognized MetalMamemon's pissed off voice, and hurried along to see what he was so upset about now. Turning a corner they saw all five generals glaring at one another. Leomon, Andromon, and Piximon stood on one side of the hall with MetalMamemon and Gaiomon on the other. It looked like another fight was about to break out.

"What's going on here?" Gennai asked his gaze moving from one general to another.

"We could ask you the same thing." Gaiomon's voice was cold and edgy, much different than his normal mellow tone. "Changing the plans behind our backs. What else haven't you told us?"

"We already told you," Leomon interrupted, "It wasn't much of a big deal; just a simple change in the time."

"Not a big deal?!" MetalMamemon exploded, "Look at how many casualties we had and tell me again how this wasn't a big deal."

"That was just a bad stroke of luck that the enemy chose to strike then," Piximon defended their choice.

"That was not luck, it was strategy. Did you think you were being cleaver running out into the night? The enemy probably using the same idea and waiting for an opportunity to strike," Gaiomon countered, "This is why we agreed to discuss things as a team, but you seem to like to keep your ideas to yourselves."

"Please don't think of it that way. We merely came up with the idea later after the meeting was over. It was late and we didn't want to disturb you," Andromon reasoned. This did nothing to calm the two enraged digimon.

"Excuses," MetalMamemon spat.

"It's the truth!" Davis shouted.

"Shut up human! This has nothing to do with you," MetalMamemon snarled at Davis, who bravely stood his ground against the enraged digimon.

"We're all tired, why don't we continue this after we get some rest," Gennai suggested. The tension in between them was reaching dangerous levels. Even if they weren't happy with it, Gaiomon and MetalMamemon turned around and retired to their rooms.

Leomon let out a deep sigh when the other two digimon disappeared. They had made a huge mistake and it made them seem like they were plotting against their allies, which they weren't. "I don't think sleeping will calm MetalMamemon's temper."

"One can only hope," Piximon tried to smile. With that everyone left to go to their rooms, their minds buzzy and hearts heavy.

Matt was about to follow his brother to his room when he saw the twins walking off. "I'll be right back, I need to check on something," he said to TK. The younger boy nodded and raised a hand to cover his yawn.

Matt quickly caught up to the twins, with Gabumon in tow. "Where are you guys going? Isn't your room the other way?"

"We're just going for a walk," Kouji said.

"Mind if we come?" Gabumon asked politely.

Kouichi agreed to let them come before his brother could rudely tell them to go away. Kouji raised a confused eyebrow at his brother who only smiled at him in return. If they snuck off it would look suspicious, but how would they examine the place with Matt and Gabumon following them around? There was a rather awkward silence as the four of them walked down a nearby corridor.

Matt noticed that the twins would turn and look at every door they passed. "What are you looking for?"

"Nothing in particular," Kouji replied. Matt and Gaubmon shared a worried look. The two of them were definitely up to something.

Suddenly, the two of them stopped and waited in front of a room that led to one of the larger storage rooms. "Okay what's going on?" Matt asked. Kouji quickly slapped a hand of his mouth and raised a finger to his lips, silencing him.

Gabumon was about to protest, when the door in front of them opened.

"Not here either," BlackGatomon murmured under his breath. Matt and Gabumon's eyes widened at the sudden appearance of the cat digimon.

"What are you doing?" Kouji asked harshly, removing his hand from Matt's mouth and stepping forward. BlackGatomon jumped a little, he expected most people to go back to sleep after all the commotion outside.

"I could ask you the same thing. But I'm assuming that we're looking for the same thing." BlackGatomon turned to look at each of them in turn, his eyes hovering over the twin's faces longer than the other two. "I know who you two are; light and darkness right?" The two of them nodded simultaneously. "And you brought friends," his eyes landing on Matt and Gabumon and began to give off a purple glow that Kouji recognized from the night before. "Perfect," he smirked at them revealing sharp pointed fangs.

A/N: I'm sorry everyone! This past few weeks have been super busy and I've had less free time than normal. I can't tell you when the next chapter will be out, but I promise that I am still working on it. I can't wait until this semester is over x.x