(A/N: Well, this is extremely embarrassing. I can't believe I screwed up this badly. So, last chapter, we had Agumon Digivolve to defeat Minotarumon. For some reason, I had him Digivolve to Greymon, when I meant to have him Digivolve to GeoGreymon. So... my bad. I went back and fixed it, but I'd like to thank The 5th Doctor for pointing that out to me, otherwise I might never have noticed. So thanks a bunch. Hopefully I won't make any other screw ups like that in the future. Now, on with the story!)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 128: Human Interaction

"That's one crazy story," Marcus told the teens when they finished with their tale. "I've been in the Digital World a long time, but I've never turned into a Digimon."

Agumon smirked. "You don't need to, bro. You're plenty strong."

Takuya raised an eyebrow. "Why do you call him 'bro'?"

Marcus wrapped an arm around the reptile Digimon. "Because we're sworn brothers."

"You know it," Agumon replied, and the two fist-bumped. "We've been together since the beginning. Ever since bro first got here."

Tai's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, how did you get here? And how long have you been here for that matter?"

Marcus' eyebrows rose. "That's a bit of a long story. As for the how long I've been here… geez, a really long time. I stop keeping track ages ago."

Agumon nodded. "Yeah, me too, but I'd say it's been about 12,000 years."

Davis spat out the water he had been drinking; it was the only thing Deramon would serve them. "Wait, are you serious!?"

Marcus appeared to think about it for a minute before wobbling his head in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"But how's that possible!?" Takato exclaimed, trying to wrap his head around this.

Marcus shrugged. "Ever since I got here, I seemed to have stopped aging." He tapped his chin. "Well, ok, not stopped, more like I age reeeeeally slowly. I am a little older than when I first came here."

"It's the time different," said Kari, and everyone looked at her. "Cherubimon told us that one minute in the real world is one day here. That's why you've aged so slowly; we still age by real world time."

Marcus stared at her for a few moments before shrugging. "Whatever. I guess it makes sense. I stopped trying to make sense of this world a long time ago."

Davis snorted. "Right there with you, pal."

TK's brow was furrowed as he attempted to do the math in his head. "So wait, you've been here for over 12,000 years."

Marcus nodded. "Yeah, I guess about that long. Give or take a few centuries."

TK crossed his arms. "Then going by that, that means that it's been about eight and a half years in the real world since you got here."

Marcus shrugged again. "If you say so. I was never a math wiz."

TK looked back at the others. "Doesn't that sound kind of familiar?"

"Familiar how?" Kari asked.

"That news report about that kid and that scientist that went missing not too far from where we live. The only reason I remember it was because it was close to us."

Tai's eyes suddenly widened. "Yeah! It does, now that you mention it." He looked back at Marcus. "I thought your name sounded familiar. I saw the news report on your disappearance about eight years ago. You and this other guy disappeared together. The police and everyone else assumed he abducted you."

Shoutmon snapped his fingers as he remembered as well. "That's right, Cherubimon spoke of you. You're the human who appeared thousands of years ago. You and another one."

Marcus' eyes darkened a bit. "So I was abducted, huh? Yeah, I guess that's one way of putting it. And the other human, yeah, I know him as well. A real creep named Akihiro Kurata."

Agumon scowled. "That basket case. I hope the old windbag got stomped on by a bigger Digimon, or eaten by one."

Kari frowned. "That's not very nice."

But Marcus was scowling as well. "No, he's right. That guy was a total scumbag. He even tried to sacrifice me to save himself. It's his fault we ended up in this world in the first place."

"How so?" Tai asked, hoping that if they found out how Marcus and this Kurata person got here that they might be able to find an alternate way home. "How'd you two get here?"

A deep sigh escaped Marcus. "I don't think it'll help you, but I'll tell you what I remember. Wow, that was so long ago." He crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling. "I remember, it was Take Your Child To Work Day. My little sister went with my mom since she was so young, but I went with my dad. He was working with a team of scientists doing… I'm not really sure what. It was such a long time ago, and I didn't really understand it. It was pretty boring anyway, so I wasn't really paying attention."

Agumon chuckled. "You're not interested in anything besides fighting, bro."

Marcus bopped him on the head before turning back to the teens. "One of the head scientists was Kurata. Dad told me to watch out for him, said he was doing some shady and dangerous stuff he wasn't supposed to be doing, but that he had friends in high places to keep him out of trouble. Turns out Dad was right."

"Why?" Kari asked. "What was he doing?"

Marcus shrugged. "Heck if I know. All that science stuff was way over my head. But I did catch him sneaking off into this one room; he didn't look like he wanted anyone to see him go in there. I got suspicious and followed him to see what he was up to, and found him working on this really freaky machine."

He sighed. "Seems like I wasn't very good at being a spy. He ended up catching me, and asked if I wanted to… help him with what he was doing. By 'asked' I mean he wasn't really giving me a choice, and by 'help him' I mean he used me as a guinea pig. I didn't really have a say in the matter. And while I tried to come up with an escape plan, he began activating his machine."

He shook his head, his gaze dark. "Seems that something went wrong with it though. From what I remember, it looked like the machine was going to explode. Kurata even said as much. Before it did, however, there was this big flash of light. Next thing I knew, both Kurata and I were in the Digital World."

Takato's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Whoa, that's amazing. Um, not the using you as a guinea pig part, but the transporting part. Whatever that machine was that Kurata guy was working on, it must have opened a portal to the Digital World."

Marcus rolled his eyes. "Yeah, no kidding. Anyway, shortly after I regained consciousness, I found this guy," he nudged Agumon, "fighting with this ugly devil looking thing."

"Boogeymon," Agumon told him. "I remember it like it was yesterday."

Marcus flashed him a grin. "Yeah, and I remember you were getting your butt kicked."

"Well, he was a Champion."

With another roll of his eyes, Marcus continued. "Anyway, I came to before Kurata did and saw this little guy in trouble, so I thought I'd lend him a hand."

"Landed a blow right to Boogeymon's jaw," Agumon announced proudly.

A big grin spread across Marcus' face. "Yeah, and it gave me this little power surge that I was able to send to Agumon so he could Digivolve."

Agumon crossed his arms, looking proud. "I totally kicked Boogeymon's butt after that, and bro and I have been best pals ever since, taking out any Digimon that are causing trouble. Bro even taught me his fighting skills. And check it out." He showed off the red belts wrapped around his claws. "He gave me these too. I'm like a real street fighter."

Shoutmon considered all this with interest. "Fascinating. We've already established that the power of the human spirit can allow a Digimon to Digivolve. That's why the Sovereigns brought these guys here to begin with, so they can resurrect the Guardians with their inner power channeled through their Digivices. Seems that when you fight, it stirs up your spirit enough for you to send Agumon the power to temporarily Digivolve."

Kari's eyes widened as something clicked. "Shoutmon, the last DigiCard!"

It took the dragon Digimon a moment to realize what she was getting at. "Oh, yeah! That could work. Marcus, do you have your selfin?"

"Cell phone," Takuya corrected.

"Right, that thing. If you give it to me, I can plug Alphamon's DigiCard into it so it'll become a Digivice, then you could Spirit Evolve too."

Marcus gave him a sorrowful look, also looking disappointed. "Sorry, man. That thing stopped working thousands of years ago, so I tossed it." He scratched his head irritably. "Wish I had known about the Spirit Evolving thing back then; I would have held onto it."

Tai sighed. "No, it makes sense that you wouldn't have kept it after all this time. Too bad, we could have used the help."

"Hey!" Agumon exclaimed. "We can still help. With bro's assistance, I can Digivolve without absorbing data. At least until my energy is depleted."

Marcus gave them a thumbs-up. "He's right, we can help. In fact, we were on our way to where Beelzemon was ourselves; we didn't even know about you guys. We heard about what he was doing, and that he wanted the humans to turn themselves in. We thought he was talking about bro, so we were on our way there to kick his butt. We just stopped here for the night and were heading out today until that Minotarumon decided get on our case. Thought he could get on Beelzemon's good side if he turned bro over to him."

Shoutmon snorted. "If you were really going there, then you're damn lucky we ran into you before you left. Beelzemon would have torn you two apart."

"Hold up," said TK. "Whatever happened with Kurata?"

Marcus' gaze darkened. "Who knows? That guy was a creep, and the biggest coward I ever met. He was so terrified of the Digimon we met, even Agumon here, that he became convinced that they all needed to be destroyed without exception. Including Agumon, and he even protected us on our travels."

He shook his head in disgust. "But then one day we ran into a pair of Tuskmon. While Agumon, well, GeoGreymon at the time, fought one, the other came after us. That Kurata creep actually pushed me into its path and told it to take me while he took off running. That was the last we ever saw of him."

"And good riddance," Agumon growled. "That guy actually tried to kill me in my sleep one night. I woke up and saw him standing over me with a large rock that he tried to bash my head in with. After all I did protecting him and bro, finding food and shelter for them, taking care of them, he still tried to kill me. Fortunately, I was too fast for him."

The teens were shocked that anyone could be so ungrateful, and even Marcus looked surprised. "Wait, when was this?"

Agumon shrugged. "The third for fourth night after we met. I decided not to tell you so there wouldn't be any problems between the two of you."

Marcus punched his palm. "I wish you would have, I would've kicked his ass."

"And I would have helped you had I been there," Davis stated. "But instead, lets kick Beelzemon's together."

Tai nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're welcome you come along with us. Once we defeat the Demon Lords, we'll get to go home. You'll be able to come with us too."

Marcus gave him a grateful, yet resigned smile. "I appreciate the offer, and we'd be happy to help you give Beelzemon a beat down." He closed his eyes. "But as for going home, I'll pass on that. I gave up on going home after my first decade here. This place has been my home for thousands of years." He opened his eyes, and there was a sadness in them. "Besides, I've been gone from he human world for, what was it, eight and a half years, you said? Everyone I knew will think I'm dead and have moved on. Just like I have."

Kari gave him a sad look. "You mean you don't miss anyone back home? Your family, your friends?"

A sad smile was present on Marcus' face, and he lowered his eyes. "Of course I do. I miss my parents. I miss my little sister, Kristy, and her wannabe boyfriend, Keenan. I miss my own girlfriend, Yoshino, and my best friend, Thomas." He chuckled. "I wonder if that girl, Nanami, ever managed to hook up with him. I even miss her two annoying friends, Kouki and Ivan."

He shook his head as he realized he was getting caught up in old memories from a life he barely remembered. "But you have to understand, they're dead to me. I didn't know about the time difference until you told me. I thought they've been dead for over 12,000 years. I mourned them and buried them in my heart long ago. I'm sure they buried me too, thinking I was dead. They moved on with their lives, and I've moved on with mine, building a new one here in this world. I can't just go back and pick up where I left off."

Tai frowned, but could also understand what Marcus was getting at. "I see what you mean, but I don't think it's too late to go back if you want to."

Still smiling sadly, Marcus shook his head. "Thanks, but no. I'm staying right here with Agumon. This is my world now. Besides," he gave them a wink, "I'll have a much longer lifespan in this world than in the human world."

Shoutmon shook his finger at him. "Not if Beelzemon kills you. So you should really reconsider challenging Beelzemon."

Agumon took an aggressive step forward. "I'll never let anything happen to bro. I'd die first."

"And you probably will, depending on what Beelzemon and Laylamon are planning."

A smirk, however, crept up Marcus' face. "Don't be so sure. We've got a secret weapon recently that I think will really help us out."

Shoutmon raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Oh, yeah? A secret weapon strong enough to take on a Demon Lord? This I gotta see. If it's so great, then why haven't you challenged one before?"

Agumon rolled his eyes. "Because we're not stupid. We may have a secret weapon, but we're not dumb enough to think we can take on a Demon Lord by ourselves, no matter how tough we are. But with you guys on our side, we might stand a chance."

Kari frowned. "But then why were you on your way to face Beelzemon if you knew you weren't strong enough on your own?"

A snort escaped Marcus. "Isn't it obvious? He wasn't giving us a choice, what with his kill 10 a day ultimatum. We had to chance it, even though we knew we were most likely walking to our deaths." He punched outward. "But with you guys on our team, we might stand a chance."

This time it was Shoutmon's turn to scoff as he crossed his arms. "Hate to break it to you guys, but if the Champion level is your limit, then you're just going to hinder us; no matter what your secret weapon is."

Agumon glared at him. "I can actually Digivolve up to Ultimate on my own, thank you very much. But with bro's help, when he gives me an energy charge like you saw him do against Minotarumon, I can actually Digivolve to Mega. I can't stay at that level indefinitely like I can my other forms though; once the energy bro gives me runs out, I DeDigivolve, but it should be enough for a long battle."

Takuya beamed. "Great, that'll definitely be useful. The last two times we fought Beelzemon on our own, we almost got ourselves killed."

A grin spread across Marcus' face. "Well, now you have us. So lets kick some Beelze-butt together."

"Yeah!" Agumon exclaimed.

The two jumped up and made a run for the door. Tai blinked at their sudden departure and called out to them. "Hey, wait, where you going?"

Marcus and Agumon skidded to a halt and looked back at them. "Um, after Beelzemon, duh," the latter commented.

Marcus nodded. "Yeah, we were actually on our way out of town when we had that run-in with Minotarumon. Come on, let's go."

Shoutmon held up a hand. "Hold up there, guys. You may be well rested and raring to go, but we've been walking for days. We're tired and hungry. We need to rest up a bit and get something to eat to replenish ourselves. We'll head out tomorrow."

"Tomorrow!" Marcus exclaimed. "But that's 10 more Digimon that Beelzemon will kill while you're here relaxing."

"And if we charge into battle without getting proper rest, or if we lack energy, then we'll all die, and Beelzemon will just keep killing countless others. It may sound cruel, but we can't save everyone. We have to take care of ourselves before we can take care of others. You two spent the night here, didn't you? Wasn't that 10 more Digimon that Beelzemon killed during that time?"

Marcus hesitated. "Well, yeah, but you guys have your Digimon powers, right?"

"Doesn't matter," Tai reluctantly replied. "We still get tired and hungry. The last time we fought Beelzemon and were sleep deprived, we nearly died. Probably would have even if we were at full strength. If we're gonna face a Demon Lord, we need to be well rested and in top form."

The human-Digimon duo exchanged a look before sighing simultaneously. "Ok, you make a good point," Marcus grumbled. "We'll leave first thing in the morning."

Davis stood up, looking eager. "Yeah! Lets make this the final battle with Beelzemon."

The others punched the air, letting out cheers of their own. However, this was soon overtaken by a sinister chuckle that drew everyone's attention. The laughter came from the back corner of the bar where a lone Digimon sat in the shadows, eavesdropping on their conversation.

"How very cute. The humans have made some new friends."

The teens immediately leapt away from the Digimon, regrouping beside Marcus and Agumon. "You! What are you doing here?" Tai demanded.

Chuckling, Boltboutamon stood up and stepped out of the shadows. "Oh, I've been around for a while. You really should be more aware of your surroundings."

Marcus glanced at his new friends. "You know this guy?"

TK's fists clenched. "Unfortunately, yeah. He's been pretty much stalking us."

Another chuckle escaped the demon Digimon as he edged closer, stepping up onto the counter, kicking over drinks as he walked along. "Oh, now, I wouldn't say that I'm stalking you exactly. More like following your progress. You humans are so interesting to observe." He reached up and removed his hat, giving Marcus a bow. "The name's Boltboutamon. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The way he said it made it clear that the pleasure was all his, and not the pleasant kind. One of the drinks he had kicked over belonged to a Digimon known as Shawjamon. It was clear that he was drunk as he glared up at the demon Digimon, not seeming to realize who he was confronting in his drunken state. "Hey, buddy, you spilled my drink."

Without even glancing at him, Boltboutamon pulled out a gun, pointed it at the kappa Digimon, and fired. Shawjamon burst into data, and terrified cries rang throughout the bar as Deramon and the customers scrambled to get out.

Boltboutamon brought the smoking gun up to his nose and took a whiff before blowing away the smoke trail. "That was so rude. We were having a conversation, and he had to go and interrupt."

Marcus' eyes narrowed at him furiously. "What the hell was that about!? You just killed him, you evil bastard!"

The demon Digimon simply grinned as he casually reached down and picked up one of the shot glasses from the counter. "I take that as a compliment," he said before gulping down the glass' contents.

"Why are you here?" Tai demanded again. "I thought Beelzemon and Laylamon had some plan for us."

Boltboutamon just grinned. "Oh, they do, my boy, they do. But you see, Beelzemon's already had his chance to get revenge against you a couple of times. I thought it was only fair to give someone else a chance first before he had another go."

His explanation was incredibly vague, and it didn't look like he was going to say any more. Tai realized he was baiting them, but couldn't help asking, "What's that supposed to-"

Before he could finish asking the question, there was an explosion from behind them. The teens were thrown forward from the blast as the entrance to the bar was blown apart. Boltboutamon, however, remained where he was, not even affected by the shockwave. "Ah, here they are now. Perfect timing."

Amongst the flames and rubble, Tai pushed away the debris covering him. He looked around worriedly, but saw only the collapsed remains of the bar. Panicking, he called out to his friends. "Hey, is everyone alright!?"

There was movement to his left, and Takato pushed aside a collapsed part of the wall. "I'm ok."

More movement, and TK and Kari emerged from beneath some debris. "We're fine too."

One by one, the teens and Shoutmon surfaced, as did Marcus and Agumon. None of them had any major injuries, but none of them looked happy.

"What was that?" Marcus demanded.

There was a chuckle from Boltboutamon as he nonchalantly strolled by them. "Like I said, I thought someone else should get a chance for revenge."

A shadow passed over the group, like a grand bird of prey circling over its hunting grounds. The teens looked up and spotted a giant purple bird flying above them.

Shoutmon sputtered. "Ornismon!? What is that monstrosity doing here!?"

Takuya glanced at him. "You know this Digimon?"

"Of course," the dragon Digimon replied. "She's infamous, and very powerful. In fact, in a way, she's the ancestor of AncientGreymon."

"She's a monster," Agumon told them. "Ornismon is a very dangerous Digimon who feeds on the anger and fear of others, growing stronger on hatred, and then unleashing her power on her victims."

"Ok," said Takato, "that sounds bad. But what's it have to do with us? I thought this was about revenge."

Boltboutamon laughed. "It is, but I never said that Ornismon was the one seeking it."

Up above, Ornismon circled back, and as she got closer, the teens could see that there was someone riding on her back. Whoever they were, they jumped down, and landed with a heavy thud that shook the ground and rose up to their full height.

Davis blinked. "Hey, isn't that… BlackWarGreymon?"

Kari stared hard at the dragon Digimon; she'd gotten a very close look at BlackWarGreymon when Tai had become him and she had purified him. While the dragon Digimon was almost a carbon copy of her brother's dark Spirit Evolved form, the color was slightly off. "No, wait, the color scheme isn't quite right. Shoutmon, this isn't a BlackWarGreymon, is it?"

Shoutmon gulped. "No, it's not, it's his Digivolution."

"His Digivolution!?" Takato exclaimed. "Who?"

"Your doom," the new Digimon replied, running his clawed gauntlets together, creating sparks. "Greetings, humans. I am ChaosBlackWarGreymon."

Davis blinked. "ChaosBlackWarGreymon? Boy, that's quite a name."

"This isn't funny, Davis," Shoutmon snapped. "ChaosBlackWarGreymon is one of the seven Chaos Generals."

"Chaos Generals!?" the teens exclaimed.

"Indeed," ChaosBlackWarGreymon replied, pointing his claws at them. "And in the name of my fallen master, Lord Belphemon, I have come to put an end to you."

(A/N: Surprise! Bet you never expected to see another human enter the story. Now Marcus has joined the fray. This could very well change everything. Who knows what this could mean for our heroes. But not all news is good news. Laylamon has now given Beelzemon an X-Antibody, and we all know what that means. And now he's coming our heroes go to him in a rather sadistic way. Will Marcus be the ally they need to turn the tables? And how did he get to the Digital World, and how long has he been there. Stay tuned to find out.)

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New Digimon that appear. Replace the DOT in the link(s) with actual periods.

digimonDOTwikiaDOTcom/wiki/Boogeymon

digimonDOTwikiaDOTcom/wiki/Tuskmon

digimonDOTwikiaDOTcom/wiki/Shawjamon

digimonDOTwikiaDOTcom/wiki/Ornismon

digimonDOTwikiaDOTcom/wiki/ChaosBlackWarGreymon