A Ghoulish Battle

It was hard to believe that the sky was clear just yesterday, but when everyone woke up, they found themselves surrounded in fog. "Man, this fog is just about as thick as smoke," Joey commented. "So thick, I can barely see two feet in front of me."

"It'll also be hard to navigate our way around," Yugi added.

Mokuba looked at the map on his computer. "It'd be nice if Noah could provide us with GPS to go with this map."

"So what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" Tristan asked.

"Nothing," Duke answered. "We can't go anywhere while we're stranded."

"We have to stay together," said Téa. "We don't know what'll happen."

"It's our only hope," said Emily, "especially now that Myotismon has shown himself and is ready to fight us himself."

Just then, everyone saw many wisps lighting by. No one knew for sure what it was and just passed it as lights. But the wisps turned out to be coming from several Bakemon. Joey, Tristan, and Duke remembered these Digimon back on the island. They thought they could use the same tactic as before, but it wouldn't work this time. These Bakemon were under the control of an ultimate Digimon named Phantomon. He looked like a reaper wearing a gray cloak and his features were concealed with a red hood and he carried a sickle in his hands.

"Greetings, Digidestined," Phantomon said grimly. "Lord Myotismon has requested your presence and won't take 'no' for an answer."

"As if we're gonna let you take us prisoner," Joey snapped, but he gasped as he felt his arms being held behind his back.

"I never said he wanted all of you," Phantomon corrected. "Lord Myotismon is mostly interested in those two," he said, pointing directly at Emily and Max . "You each possess a special power, my dears, one that is not of this world."

Is he talking about our Stars? Emily thought to herself.

"Lord Myotismon was told so by his masters and is curious to see it for himself to know if it's true," Phantomon explains.

"Masters," Yugi echoed. "Are you saying Myotismon is just a lackey?"

"Oh, dear, perhaps I've said too much," Phantomon groaned mockingly. "No matter. The girls are coming with me." He raised his sickle and trapped Emily and Max and their Digimon in a shadowy orb. The others tried to fight back, but they continued to be held back by the Bakemon, being forced to watch their friends disappear into the mists. When they were completely out of sight, the Bakemon disappeared and the fog began to clear up a little.

Yugi got down on his knees. "How could I let this happen?"

"It's not your fault, Yugi," Joey assured him.

Kaiba crossed his arms. "I thought I'd be used to this happening by now, Briar getting captured and taken to the villains' lair, I mean."

"Are you saying Emily is prone to being kidnapped?" Agumon asked.

"It's true," said Joey. "In the past, a lot of people have been after Emily for her power and have tried to capture her just to take it for themselves. Max too."

"Phantomon said that too," Lunamon recalled, "that they have a hidden power that's not of this world."

Patamon remembered something too. "Yugi, you said you and Emily had wings and could fly. Could that be why Myotismon captured her?"

He shook his head. "I'm afraid it's more than that, Patamon." If Myotismon knows about Max and Emily's powers, then does that mean he knows who they are, who the rest of us are? Either way, we've got to get them back. He also thought of something else. "Phantomon also said Myotismon heard about the secret of Max and Emily's powers from his masters. That means he's working for someone, maybe a Digimon who also knows."

"Could it be the Big Five?" Mokuba wondered.

"No," Kaiba answered. "None of them knew about any of that."

"I can only assume it's a Digimon with a shard of the Cobalt Star," said Yugi.

"Hold on," Kaiba was saying, "Digiworld didn't exist during the age of the Shadow Games."

"True," Yugi was saying, "but the Cobalt Star isn't part of the Digital Word, so I think that somehow, its magic caused it to be configured into data. I can't think of any other reason why the Digimon would know Emily and Max have a power that's not of this world."

None of the Digimon understood what any of their partners were talking about, so Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba decided to fill them in with the details, telling the story of the origins of the Millennium Star and the Cobalt Star and the age of the Shadow Games, their links to the warriors who fought for the fate of mankind, and how they all got their powers. The Digimon listened without interrupting and took in as much as they could, trying to understand it all.

It was a fascinating story, but everyone still had to concentrate on the matter at hand and that was rescuing the girls. The problem was no one knew where Myotismon's lair was. Mokuba decided to send a distress message to Noah and ask for help.

Meanwhile, in a dark castle far away, Renamon and Gatomon were trying to revive their partners. Emily was the first to come to. "Gatomon, is that you?"

The white feline smiled gleefully. "Oh, Emily, you're all right." She jumped into her arms and hugged her.

Max opened her eyes and looked around. "Where are we?"

"In a castle dungeon," said Renamon.

"That's right," said a voice. It came from a round black Digimon shrouded with blue clothing and bat-wings. Renamon recognized the Digimon. It was DemiDevimon, the same Digimon who attacked her on the night Myotismon first attacked. "I gotta say, you girls are really something," DemiDevimon commented. "I wonder what the master could possibly want with you lovely ladies. Well, I can think of a few things. Maybe he wants to feed on your blood. You know how they say vampires favor the blood of beautiful young women."

Max and Emily reviled at the thought of that.

"Well, the master said you girls are in my care for the moment until he arrives, so I'll be sure to give you a hard time," DemiDevimon promised. The girls and their Digimon didn't like the sound of that. Renamon wanted to digivolve and break everyone out of the dungeon, but Max advised her to save her strength in case Myotismon would attack.

Back in Sheer Valley, Mokuba finally received a response from Noah. Myotismon's castle was located deep in the Forbidden Land. To get there, everyone had to cross the lake just at the edge of Ancient Canyon. It would take them further away from their intended destination, but rescuing Max and Emily was their main priority right now.

Just as everyone hoped, there was a lake at the bottom of the Canyon. All they had to do was cross over to the other side and once they made it through, the heroes would be in reach of the Forbidden Land. Gomamon digivolved into Ikkuakumon and told Tristan, Duke, Yugi, and Téa to climb on his back. Biyomon digivolved into Birdramon and carried Joey, Serenity, Bakura, and the Kaiba brothers in her talons.

It was still misty, making it a little hard to see, but Mokuba occasionally checked the map on his laptop, making sure everyone would stay on course. Thankfully, this time Noah installed GPS. As they were crossing the lake, everyone heard a low growling sound. Through the mists, they saw a red serpentine-like Digimon with a yellow face and green hair. It was MegaSeadramon, the digivolved form of Seadramon. Ikkakumon launched his Harpoon Torpedo, but couldn't deal enough damage.

"He's an ultimate digimon," said Duke. "We won't be able to stand a chance against him the way we are now."

MegaSeadramon looked down at Ikkakumon and attacked with his Lightning Javelin, sending lightning from the horn on his head down on his opponents. Ikkakumon turned over, knocking everyone off his back.

"Birdramon, we've got to help them!" Joey cried, and his digivice began activating.

"Birdramon, digivolve to… Garudamon!" She flew down and scooped the others up from the water.

Tristan stayed by his partner's side. "I'm right here, Ikkakumon," he promised. "I won't give up if you won't. Be strong." Then his digivice began lighting up.

Ikkakumon began to feel energy building up inside of him as the light began to envelop him. "Ikkakumon, digivolve to… Zudomon!" He grew larger and his fur was as gray as iron and he had a green armor-like shell on his back and orange fur surrounded his eyes like a mask. He scooped his partner out of the water and placed him on his back.

Tristan checked the information on his digivice. "Zudomon - ultimate level. Special attack: Vulcan Hammer." He looked at the hammer in his partner's hand. "His hammer looks like the one Thor uses."

MegaSeadramon unleashed his Lightning Javelin once again, but Zudomon used his own horn like a lightning rod to withstand the attack. He also struck the serpentine Digimon with his hammer, crushing him with its weight and stunning him with electricity. With MegaSeadramon being taken care of, Zudomon and Garudamon were able to carry everyone across the lake.

"Hey, Tristan," Joey called. "What'd your element turn out to be?"

He looked down at his digivice. The screen displayed the symbol of strength. "It's strength," he answered. "I had to be strong for my friends and not give up. I knew I had to encourage my partner to do the same thing."

"Way to go, pal," Joey cheered.

They finished crossing the lake and found themselves in reach of the Forbidden Land. The trees looked skeletal and bore no leaves and the shrubs were dried up and lightning flashed in the sky. In the distance was Myotismon's castle.

"Max," Bakura gasped. "I must get her out of there."

Duke held him back. "We can't just charge in. The whole area's surrounded." There were Devidramon perched on the castle towers and Bakemon floating around. "If we get caught, we won't be able to help the girls."

"Plus, Myotismon may send more Digimon to keep us from reaching the castle," Yugi added.

Then a horde of green Digimon with red hair and green wings began coming their way. Bakura checked the information on his digivice. "Those are Vilemon," he alerted his friends. "Though they're champions, they take pleasure in tormenting smaller and weaker Digimon."

"They're cowards then," Kaiba commented.

"Well, it looks like we'll have to get past them before we can get near the castle," said Duke. Hopmon, Gigimon, and Koromon digivolved back into their rookie forms and began attacking the Vilemon.

The commotion attracted the attention of a few Bakemon. "There are intruders trying to approach the caste."

"We must alert Lord Myotismon." The Bakemon hurried to the castle tower.

Inside the castle, Max and Emily were becoming anxious. DemiDevimon returned. "Guess what, girls," he chirped. "Lord Myotismon is ready to see you."

As he took the keys and unlocked the cell, Renamon took that as an opportunity to attack. "Renamon, digivolve to… Kyubimon!" The Kitsune attacked DemiDevimon and obliterated him into particles of data.

"Now's our chance," said Max. She and the others stepped outside, but before they could reach the stairs, their path was blocked by many more Bakemon. Kyubimon attacked with her Fox Tail Inferno and Gatomon attacked with her Lightning Paw.

Outside, Phantomon appeared and approached the rest of the heroes. "My, you're all a persistent bunch, aren't you?"

"Phantomon, we've come to rescue our friends," Yugi declared.

"Really," the reaper Digimon asked. "Well, you'll have to get past me and my friends first." He raised his sickle and brought forth two Digimon. One was Snimon, a praying mantis with the attack Twin Sickle and another was Parrotmon, a green parrot with an attack called Sonic Destroyer. Lunamon digivolved into Lekismon and began fighting with Snimon. Lopmon digivolved into Wendigomon began fighting with Parrotmon. Terriermon digivolved into Gargomon and began fighting with Phantomon. Guilmon, Agumon, and Monodramon digivolved as well and began fighting with the Bakemon.

Wendigomon attacked Parrotmon with her Koko Crusher, but the parrot Digimon cackled, feeling like he was being tickled. He unleashed his Sonic Destroyer, sending lightning from his helmet to attack the beast Digimon. Téa approached her friend with worry. "Wendigomon," she cried.

She groaned and asked, "Tea?" Sensing her partner's concern for her, Wendigomon began feeling energy building up inside her. "Wendigomon, digivolve to… Antylamon!" She raised her arms and jumped, reaching for the green parrot and striking him with her Bunny Blades.

Gargomon was having a hard time striking Phantomon. He unleashed his Gargo Pellets, but the reaper made himself transparent and able to easily dodge. He reappeared behind Gargomon and slashed him with his Shadow Scythe.

Bakura watched in horror. "This is too much for Gargomon." He also looked at Myotismon's castle. "I don't know what to do," he whimpered. "Max and Emily are trapped and they need help, but I can't just leave my friends to suffer either. There's got to be something I can do."

Bakura's digivice began reacting to his emotions, surrounding Gargomon with a green light and filling him with energy. "Gargomon, digivolve to… Rapidmon!" He sported green armor with cannon-like arms and red tips on his armor-like wings.

Bakura looked at the information on his digivice. "Rapidmon - ultimate level. Special attack: Rapid Fire." He looked at his partner again. "So this is your ultimate form."

"That's right," Rapidmon answered. "Your wish to save your friends and the one you love made it possible for me to digivolve. Max was right about you, Bakura. You're a very sincere person."

He looked down at his digivice again and saw the symbol of sincerity being displayed on the screen. "It's the symbol of sincerity. Max was right."

Rapidmon flew down and landed in front of his partner. "I know you care a lot about Max, Bakura, and I promise you we will rescue her. But right now, I have a Phantom to stop." He flew in the air again and told his friends, "We've got to help everyone head to the castle and rescue Max and Emily."

Antylamon nodded. "He's right, Téa. Leave these clowns to us. Hurry to the castle and save the girls."

"We'll catch up with you," Zudomon promised. Everyone nodded and began running to the castle.

Lekismon finally defeated Snimon with her Moon Night Bomb and Rapidmon blasted Phantomon with his Rapid Fire. The Bakemon began drifting back to the castle.

Myotismon suddenly entered the fray. "So you're the ones causing all that racket."

"Myotismon," Joey growled.

"Where are Max and Emily?" Bakura demanded.

"Funny you should ask," the vampire laughed. "I was just about to meet up with the girls until you arrived and began making a nuisance of yourselves. It looks like I'll have to deal with you first." He approached Rapidmon and struck him with his Nightmare Claw, plunging him into a frozen state of torment. He also whiplashed Lekismon with his Crimson Lightning.

"Lekismon!" Serenity cried.

"Digivolve again!" Téa pleaded. Lekismon heard their cries and digivolved into Crescemon. She tried to attack Myotismon, but he kept slipping out of her reach.

"I've had enough fun with you for now," Myotismon was saying. "If you really wish to save the two girls, I'll kindly welcome you to my castle," he offered, and turned around to retreat. Joey, Serenity, Téa, Tristan, and Bakura knew they were being lured into a trap, but they had no choice. The girls needed help and the others were already on their way.