Davis made his way into the lair and looking around, he was mesmerized by what was there.

He spotted the three enslaved preteens in glass-sealed capsules at the foot of the lair, which was a beach. He heard the sound of waves crashing along the shore; any other setting and this would have been his ideal vacation spot.

But he knew it wasn't, and he knew what needed to be done.

He looked off to his left and he saw the rest of the DigiDestined, chatting amongst themselves.

This set Davis off.

"Hey! What are we standing around for? Shouldn't we be helping our friends?"

"There is no use," Yolei said, "they are stuck in there for the time being."

"We tried a few things while you were out waiting for Wormmon," Arukenimon said, "including shooting at the capsules – they are trapped for good."

Davis kicked some sand from under him as he made his way over to the group.

"So then, what now?"

"I suggest you sit down and wait," Gatomon said, "I've been doing that since I got here."

Hawkmon looked surprised. "You didn't run up to Kari?"

"I tried, but it felt…cold; the closer I got, the colder I became."

"That's a weird feeling to have," Armadillomon said as he laid stomach down on the sand.

"Ooh, I hope Ken is alright in there," Wormmon said, shaking his head.

"Don't worry – soon, we'll get them out," TK said, reassuring the worm.

Silence filled the lair; the only sound was the waves crashing on the shore.

"So, you want them out, huh?" said a deep, mysterious voice from out in the waters.

"Yes, please?"

Davis would have pleaded his life away to be able to save the entrapped.

Thankfully, he didn't have to as with a snap of some random fingers, the captured to be freed.

All three hit the sandy shores, slowly stirring awake.

"Kari!"

"Ken!"

"Noriko!"

Gatomon, Wormmon, and Davis were elated about their respective person's escape, but before they could make a beeline towards them, they felt a rush of cold air hit them.

"Geez, what was that?"

"That's what I felt the first time around."

As soon as Gatomon said that, there was a bellowing laugh that filled the lair.

"You all thought you had it easy, huh?"

As they heard footsteps coming near the shore, the three stepped back towards the group.

What they saw was unlike anything they've ever seen.

Towering over the glass capsules stood a blue octopus-like Digimon, eight tentacles wrapped in gold bracelets and belts made up his legs. His right arm was that of a squid tentacle, while his left arm was eight tentacles wrapped in chains. His reddish wings were flapping lightly, and he wore a prayer bead around his neck.

"Why, hello there; the name's Dragomon, otherwise known as the Depraved Monk of the Deep. I see that the DigiDestined crew have wandered into my lair unannounced. I will make it so that it's the last thing you'll ever see."

"Oh yeah, who's stopping us?" Davis asked.

Dragomon laughed, "Do you think you can defeat me?"

Davis's gripped his hands into fists as they started to shake.

"That's enough! We'll show you!"

"Yeah!"

Both Veemon and Davis were ready to fight, but the rest of the crew were mortified than anything.

"Davis, use your head," TK said, "do you think we can take him on?"

"Even if we digivolve, it won't be enough," Patamon added.

"Even at full strength, you won't be able to win," Dragomon said.

"Alright, fine; let us be at full strength then."

Davis held out his hand as he wanted those captured to be reunited.

"You can have them," the Cthulhu Digimon said as the lair widened up – the entrance that was behind them simply disappeared. They were all now only standing on a sandy island with Dragomon still in the water.

As the Digimon backed away, the three captured were now alert, not knowing where they were but were more than ecstatic to see their friends.

"Gatomon!" Kari cried as she ran towards her partner, engulfing her in a hug.

"Wormmon!" Ken followed suit, with the last being Noriko, who simply walked over to Davis.

"What…what am I doing here?" she asked the leader.

"You're here because you were called," Davis answered.

"Called to do what, exactly?"

"Called to be my servant," Dragomon answered. "There were more that should have joined my ranks, but I found them useless."

"You…it was you that killed our master!"

Arukenimon's comment made Gatomon perk up as she remembered the dream that she had a while back.

"I wanted you to join my elite," Dragomon said to Arukenimon as she approached him, "but I saw no reason after I easily defeated your master. It was like taking candy from a baby."

Arukenimon shook her head, "I'll show you who the weak one around here is!"

Before she could transform into her Digimon self, Dragomon unleashed his Thousand Whips attack on her, knocking her back into the water opposite of him.

"Arukenimon!" Mummymon cried out, seeing his partner easily knocked out.

"And here is where I finish you."

Summoning his trident, he threw it towards Arukenimon, and as it collided, she went up in bits of data.

"No!"

All the DigiDestined stood in awe at what took place – in a simple instant, they saw a former enemy die.

Mummymon took it the hardest. "How could you!"

"How could I? Well, it was very simple – now unless you want to suffer the same fate, you must go."

With a snap of his tentacled fingers, Mummymon was whisked away from the battle, leaving only the DigiDestined.

"Okay, Kari; let me at him!"

"…I…I can't let you."

"And why not?"

"Because I don't want you to die!"

After hearing Kari cry out, it sunk in for the feline – there was a possibility that they could die.

Dismay filled the rest of the group as each one didn't know what to do.

"C'mon, guys," Davis tried pepping the group up, "we can still fight."

"I don't…I don't know, Davis," TK said downtrodden, "how are we going to win?"

Suddenly, a cry rang out from Kari as she fell onto her knees.

"Oh, I want to get out of here!"

"Don't you hear her, let us out!" Gatomon cried out to Dragomon.

All he did was laugh. "Pathetic humans, and to think I wanted you as a slave…"

"I don't deserve to be a slave…"

One person had enough of Kari's current state and walked over to her, knelt down, and slapped her.

"Yolei!" Hawkmon and Gatomon said.

"Listen, you are not a slave, and you should be counting your stars that you have people here that care for you. They don't want to see you downtrodden; they want to see you stronger than life."

"Yolei – how are we going to win? How do we get out of here?"

"How do I know? The only thing I know is that you are stronger than this. You've dealt with this before, and you can deal with it again. You have a great partner ready to protect you at all costs."

As Yolei said this, she turned towards Gatomon and gave a silent nod to which the feline returned.

"And I have my partner who is ready to fight at any given moment. We'll get through this together."

"Yolei…I can't thank you enough. You've been a true friend through all of this."

As the two girls entwined their hands, they felt their digivices go off.

"Huh? What in the…"

Before Hawkmon could finish, he found himself digivolving into Aquilamon.

As the digivices shone in the darkness, the whole group became curious as to what was happening.

Seeing Gatomon and Aquilamon levitate into the air, their data fused together and multiplied like nothing else. In the end, when the transfiguration was complete, there was a new Digimon in the bunch.

Aquilamon…Gatomon…DNA Digivolve to…Silphymon.

"What the!" both Yolei and Kari were dumbfounded as they saw their new combined partner.

"What is DNA digivolving?" Cody asked.

"It looks like a fusion of two higher Digimon to create one awesome Digimon," Armadillomon answered.

"Okay, so how do we do that?"

"Good question…hey, Patamon, do you want to become an awesome Digimon?"

"…Huh? I mean, Angemon might be fine for this battle, but—"

"Don't be talking crazy," TK said, "we need something better than Angemon."

"So then, do we team up and see what happens?" Cody asked.

TK nodded, and as the two entwined their fingers, their digivices went off.

"Okay, here we go!"

Armadillomon digivolved into Ankylomon; for Patamon, he was now Angemon.

Data began to fuse once again as a new Digimon was formed.

Angemon…Ankylomon…DNA Digivolve to…Shakkoumon.

"Nice work!" Cody exclaimed, seeing Mutant Digimon.

All the rest of the group turned towards Ken and Davis.

"Davis…" Noriko said, "you know what needs to be done."

Davis nodded. 'Alright, here we go…better later than never.'

Dragomon laughed as he saw what was happening. "Oh, this is too good to be true."

"Shut up!" Davis snapped as he made his way towards Ken.

"Okay, you want to hear something?"

"Not unless you mean it," Ken responded.

"I do…I mean it, Ken. I'm…I'm sorry for the way I treated you all throughout this journey."

Ken didn't move an inch.

"Look," Davis continued, "I want you to be fine with me. I'm willing to look past the incident with Veemon because I know you have changed for the better."

"Is that it?" Ken asked.

"…What else do you want me to say?"

"How about feeling how I felt throughout all of this – feelings of being an outcast because I captured the leader's Digimon. Feelings of being insecure with yourself because you would never live up to your oldest sibling. Feelings of remorse for putting your parents through the ringer and back."

"Ken – I can't do that. I can't help you undo any of that, but instead of living in the past, how about you live in the now?"

"Because the past will always follow me; it's something that I can't magically erase. If there was a way, I would love to know."

"Oh, there is one," Dragomon said, laughing in response.

Ken shook his head, "Not like that, never like that."

"What – taking your own life? Ken, are you crazy?"

The silence that lingered in the air was too much to handle for the leader.

"Ken, you know you have people in your corner. Your parents, your friends, your partner…please, I want to be there for you. You have to let go and live for the now, otherwise, you'll always live in regret."

Ken's eyes started to water.

'Maybe he is right…maybe I've been too hard on myself…maybe I do need to change.'

"Okay, fine, when we get out of this—"

"If you get out of this."

"Shut up!" Ken snapped at Dragomon as the being simply laughed in response.

"I'll change for the better…now, let's kick some butt."

Before Davis could interject, he felt his hands entwine with Ken's.

Both digivices went off, allowing Veemon and Wormmon to digivolve into ExVeemon and Stingmon respectively.

As their data was manipulated, both parties felt a sense of relief – they would be able to aid in this fight after all.

ExVeemon…Stingmon…DNA Digivolve to…Paildramon.

'Okay, now it's three to one,' Davis thought, 'now we have a chance against this beast!'