Later in the evening, the Digi-heroes found themselves in various rooms within the DATS Tower, getting some much needed sleep after, especially Davis and Kari, with the brunette having spent hours after the day's events trying to harness her ascended abilities, and Izzy, who spent the last few hours deactivating the Digivice link up in order to prevent their enemy from listening in once again, while the PawnChessmon remained awake and alert, remaining vigilant in the event their enemy struck again.
And vigilant they remained, much to the dismay of some of the heroes as the alarms blared in the middle of the night, waking up everyone as they rushed to the Command Room, with Airu all but crying out. "What's wrong with you two little idiots?!"
However, the blonde was silenced as she and the others looked at the monitors, seeing a part of the western wall of Primary City breaking apart by black flames and twisters, before the image zoomed in on those responsible, causing many, especially the Legendary Warriors and the old TK, to look on with shock to see the corrupted versions of Takuya and the others slowly marching within the city.
"Not good. They're a different kind of threat compared to the others." The older blond remarked, looking back to see the Legendary Warriors all expressing their nervousness, even Mercurymon and Arbormon looking concerned.
From the sights, and her own fears, Ranamon suddenly slid herself back, sliding her arms around Koichi and burying her head in his chest, causing the Warrior of Darkness to blush a little at Ranamon's antics.
But knowing she was doing it not out of her flirtations, but from nervous emotion, Koichi set a hand on Ranamon's back, allowing her to remain in his warm hold.
"Most of us aren't ready to fight again so soon." Thomas remarked, seeing how tired most of the Digimon and Appmon appeared to be, with even Pulsemon looking like a zombie that dragged himself out of bed, the electrified Digimon drained after having reached Ultimate for the first time.
"We can handle this." Takuya then stated, getting nervous, but affirmative nods from the rest of the Warriors, while the older TK sighed in annoyance.
"This isn't something you can just 'handle'. They can't be hurt, let alone killed, anything you do to them, they just regenerate. They don't tire, they don't feel pain, and they don't stop." The blond said, still remembering how destructive his corrupted friends used to be.
"Well it's better than just sitting around here and doing nothing while our dark counterparts run wild." Koji said back, refusing to allow the Dark Legendary Warriors harm anyone.
Though in agreement with his sibling, Koichi had to ask. "How did you stop them last time?"
"Remember I said we encountered the Davis of my world's past? Well, he managed to harm them. And after my Kari was defeated, it looked like they were freed and passed on." The older TK said in reply.
"I'm not tired, so I'll help them." Davis spoke up, to which the others thought would be a good idea, and that they would have a chance, before a loud roar caught their attention, causing everyone to look back at the monitors.
Walking up from behind the Dark Legendary Warriors were three massive monstrosities, tall, if not taller than most buildings in the city, looking almost human-like, save for their skin, which looked as though it was composed of a dark marble, where cracks throughout the creatures beings were exposed, allowing a dark mist to pool out and surround their dark forms.
Jagged spikes came out of their legs, upper arms, shoulders and back, while their face, true nightmares, had two horns sticking out of the sides, with two lower jaws that opened as the creatures let out a loud and near deafening roar.
"Ok... never seen those before..." The older TK said with a nervous tone, while Shadowknight growled lightly.
"Shadow Colossi. They're powerful, one's enough to level this city." The alternate Takato said, looking at Davis as he then added. "We need to deal with them before we can stop the Dark Warriors."
"Then we'll distract them until you two can help." Takuya offered, getting nods from the other Warriors, while the older TK added. "I'll come too. They used to be my friends anyways.
"Be careful, all of you." Sampson said, expressing command and clear concern for the Digi-heroes.
"We'll coordinate an evacuation of Primary City in the meantime to minimize the damage." Kudamon added, showing his more alert status compared to most of the Digimon around him.
That being said, Davis, the older TK and Legendary Warriors headed out, preparing for their battles ahead, with Miki and Megmui hopping straight to their keyboards to keep an eye out over their friends and to issue a warning to those within the western district.
'Be careful.' Kari thought, wishing more than anything to be out there, helping Davis and their friends, but putting her faith in the belief that they would be victorious.
-Moments later-
Continuing to walk as a soulless group, the Dark Warriors made their way towards the DATS Tower, their only desire to capture Davis and Kari for their Master and Mistress as they tore through everything in their path, an action mimicked by the Colossi behind them as they even walked through building, innocents below them fleeing in fear as they tried not to get stepped on.
The corrupted Warriors then came to a halt, their attention drawn up as a flash of light and fire shot above them, the Colossi letting out roars as Davis slammed his fist into the middle one's face, causing the creature to stagger a bit, before refusing as the shadow demons tried to attack him and Shadowknight.
"Pyro Darts!" A familiar voice then announced with might as shots of fire rained down before the Dark Warriors, who were unfazed by the attack as they looked before them, seeing their counterparts, plus their TK, standing before them.
"Alright, you ugly wanabies, you're going to have to go through us if you want to get our friends!" Beetlemon yelled out, smashing his fists together, gathering lightning in his hands, before he and the Legendary Warriors got into their respective fighting stances.
However, Takuya and the others still felt somewhat unnerved as their counterparts just stared blankly at them.
Then, before they could even blink, Dark Agunimon had appeared right before Agunimon, showing no emotion as he clenched his fist, reeled his arm back and set ablaze in black flame, ready to strike.
Fortunately for Takuya, the older TK had moved in front of him, using his sword to block Dark Agunimon's combination of physical strength and flames, groaning as he tried to hold him back.
"Damn it! Takuya, I know you're still in there! You were freed once, so fight this!" The older blond let out, with Agunimon reminding himself that this TK was talking to his manipulated counterpart, and that they were from the same world.
However, much to the shock and horror of the Legendary Warriors, and that of the older TK, Dark Agunimon's face all but split open, shocking those present to seeing a large, gaping mouth with rows upon rows of sharp teeth as it let out an inhuman roar, before TK pushed his foe back, his face returning to normal as the older blond blinked and said. "Ok... that's new..."
"Geez! What the hell did the Dark King do to them!?" Kazemon let out, freaking out at the sight, a feeling the other Legendary Warriors shared.
"Probably pumped them with more of the Dark Ones' energy then my Kari did." The older TK remarked with a growl, seeing the other Dark Warriors starting to twitch a little, possibly having the same corruption running through them.
"It kind of makes me glad we just worked for Cherubimon." Arbormon whispered, hating the thought of being turned into such an abomination.
The shock then quickly turned to fear as the other Dark Warriors let out similar inhuman cries, looking more feral than they did a moment ago, despite being in their Human Spirit forms, before each launched themselves at their counterparts, ready to end them and proceed with their objective.
Pushing the older TK aside, Agunimon and his fellow Warriors sprang into action, each charging head on against their opposites.
Taking on their dark counterparts, the Legendary Warriors all rushed ahead, gathering their strengths as they prepared themselves for what would be one of the toughest fights they ever faced.
"Lobo Kendo!" Lobomon let out as he jumped at Dark Lobomon and swung his light blades down, only for them to collide against his mirror counterpart's weapons, this left Lobomon growling as Dark Lobomon stared back at him with a continued blank look, before pushing the Warrior of Light back, rushing back at him as he swung his dark energy fueled blades, with Koji doing his best to dodge the attacks.
Ducking low enough, Lobomon then made a clean strike, cutting through Dark Lobomon's torso, before jumping back, where he looked to see his corrupted duplicate piece himself back together, astonishing him to see wisps of darkness pool from the wound and heal his foe like it was nothing.
"We won't let you win." Lobomon stated as he got back into a fighting stance, feeling slightly unnerved as his counterpart turned to him and finally spoke, replying with a soulless chill. "You have no choice..."
Dark Lobomon then let out another inhuman shriek, his mouth opening similar to what they saw of Dark Agunimon, before the corrupted Warrior of Light charged at his double, putting Koji back on the defensive as he hoped the others were faring better.
"Hurricane Wave!" Kazemon announced, putting a clear effort into her attacks as she gathered pink energy into the tips of her fingers and threw the energy as a great stream of wind at the Dark Kazemon.
However, though seeing her attack managed to land a hit, the speeds and intensity of her attack leaving deep cuts along Dark Kazemon, the corrupt Warrior of Wind took a moment as to allow her body to regenerate, before rushing at Kazemon, who dodged as Dark Kazemon tried to strike her with her fists, to which Kazemon did her best to counter.
Frustrated as the pair exchanged blows, with Kazemon remaining on a more defensive side, seeing her darker side taking a few punches and ignoring the damage, the Warrior of Wind thought. 'How am I supposed to beat her if she just keeps putting herself together?'
Distracted by her thoughts, Kazrmon felt herself get struck in the chest by a powerful kick, sending her flying back, though briefly, before feeling a hand on her throat, finding herself struggling as her counterpart lifted her up slightly as Kazemon thrashed in her restrained position.
"Your struggle is meaningless... you will all die in the end..." Dark Kazemon stated, bringing her other fist up to strike at her counterpart, who was not in any mood to lose like this.
"Roseo Temporale!" Kazemon let out as she quickly flipped in Dark Kazemon's embrace, delivering a powerful kick attack into her dark counterpart's head, the attack having just enough force needed for Dark Kazemon to let go of the Warrior of Wind, who quickly took to the air, moving fast as she saw her foe quickly closing in on her.
"Pyro Punch!" Agunimon yelled as he slammed his fist into Dark Agunimon's face, shocked to see his double not only take the hit, but remain unfazed, before the corrupted Warrior of Flame grabbed his counterpart's wrist, gripping it tightly and moving it to the side, where, through his pain, Takuya saw his dark double's burnt face heal up as Dark Agunimon stared down at him.
"You are weak... useless... They will all die because of your weakness..." Dark Agunimon stated, his face opening up once more as he let out an inhuman shirek, before delivering a burning kick to Agunimon's chest, sending him flying back and crashing into the side of a building, cracking it slightly and slumping to his knees in pain as he counterpart walked towards him.
Seeing this, the older TK wanted to help, before a familiar sound caused him to turn, seeing many Stalkers coming in through the gap in the wall, causing him to growl in frustration as he took his sword and rushed at the Shadow Demons.
Finding the Legendary Warriors struggling, Kumamon too found himself in a similar position against his dark double.
Despite giving his fight a great effort, trying to overwhelm his counterpart with his snow and ice attacks, it all seemed in vain against the Dark Kumamon.
"Crystal Breeze!" Kumamon called out as he released a blast of icy breath at his dark double, happy to see the ice quickly cover his foe and encase him within the ice, only for his eyes to widen as it cracked and shattered apart mere second later, with Dark Kumamon continuing to walk towards him like nothing had happened.
Drawing up his snowball launcher, Kumamon tried to repel the Dark Kumamon, but found that even before he could fully grasp the trigger, he was on the receiving and painful end of a snowball barrage, seeing Dark Kumamon had withdrawn his own snowball launcher and showed no mercy as he pelted the Warrior of Ice with a relentless barrage.
"Ok... that does hurt..." Tommy groaned as he got up, but felt a further pain as Dark Kumamon all but smashed his snowball launcher into Kumamon's head, knocking him back down to the floor, before finding his dark counterpart aiming the weapon at his face, seeing the snowballs replaced in the ports with spiked icicles.
"You never had a hope of beating me... No matter what changes, you will remain weak and pathetic..." Dark Kumamon stated, giving his last words and a sense of dread to Kudamon, only to then jump back as a bolt of electricity ran past where he was, causing Kumamon to look and see Beetlemon having taken a shot while fighting his double, giving the Warrior of Ice a chance to get back on his feet, though unsure of what to do against his enemy.
From his position, Beetlemon continued to gather thunder in his arms and his horn, firing it off at Dark Beetlemon, who avoided a few of the attacks, but seemed to allow more than a handful to actually strike him, the electricity cackling along his being, only for the Dark Warrior to ignore the attacks.
Growling in frustration at seeing his attacks showing little to no effect, Beetlemon increased the frequency and intensity of his thunderous techniques, leaving lightning sparking wildly throughout the area as he tried to strike down Dark Beetlemon.
However, matching the speed of Beetlemon's attacks, Dark Beetlemon closed in on Bettlemon, set his arms around the Warrior of Thunder and released a great surge of lightning and dark energy from his being, impacting a great and terrible pain to Beetlemon, who continued to cry out in clear pain and agony.
"You are pathetic... a nuisance... you are..." Dark Beetlemon started to say, continuing to pump Beetlemon with dark lightning, only to cease when Beetlemon then headbutted him, the strike causing the Dark Warrior to let his counterpart go as he staggered back, which was followed by Beetlemon delivering a quick punch to his face.
But even with his strength and determination, looking at Dark Beetlemon, the Warrior of Thunder knew he had to push himself further if he was to stand even a second against his dark opponent.
"Shadow Lance!" Loweemon called out as he swung his weapon at his counterpart and expelled a blast of dark purple energy amongst his weapon, only for Dark Loweemon to block the attack with his own variation, showing no emotion or effort as he easily held his opponent's attack back.
As the two attacks collided, groaning from the strain and feeling his double growing with an intense source of darkness, Loweemon looked in shock to see his counterpart slowly walking towards him, unhindered by his own attack and looking ready to strike once he was close enough to his foe.
"Whipping Waves!" Ranamon called out, cutting in as a rush of water slammed into Dark Loweemon, sending him crashing into a nearby wall, and allowing the Warrior of Darkness to look and see Ranamon give him a thumbs up, before dodging a kick from her own counterpart.
"I probably owe her a date for that." Loweemon thought aloud, having a brief mixture of feelings at seeing Ranamon doing all she could in her ordeal, before directing his focus back to his counterpart, sensing his darkness growing as the Dark Loweemon returned to his feet and resuming to make his way towards him again.
Nearby, the remaining Warriors were having their own troubles with their doubles, with Mercurymon struggling to best his darkened mirror image, finding his back to the wall as his counterpart repeatedly tried to punch him.
"Thou art a trickiest of an adversary." Mercurymon let out after one great punch to the head, knocking him aside and to the floor, where he gave a small smile. "But thou seeks power within thee and not from that around him."
It was in that moment that Shadowknight sweep down from above, delivering a strike at Dark Mercurymon, cutting the Dark Warrior in half, before quickly returning to help Davis fight the Colossi, where Mercurymon saw the two halves of his foe start to pull themselves back together, giving him a moment to strike.
"Dark Reflection!" The Warrior of Steel then let out as he held his right arm up, where the mirror set upon his arm began to glow, harnessing his element and cast out a blast of light energy he had saved up from a sparring match with some of his Light-based allies, throwing the stored energies at Dark Mercurymon just as he finished healing, sending him flying back a few feet, which left a smirk on Mercurymon's face.
However, the smirk faded as Mercurymon saw his counterpart become consumed in a black sphere of energy, before looking around to see a similar occurrence amongst the Dark Legendary Warriors, much to the normal heroes' shock.
"Change Spirit forms, now!" The older TK suddenly called out as he swung his sword, cutting through several Stalkers, while looking up upon hearing a pained roar, looking up to see one of the colossi without a head as it fell backwards, dissolving into shadows before it caused any damage, while seeing Davis turn his attention to the other two.
'Just hang in there, guys, Davis will help us soon.' The blond thought, though part of him hoping that Davis wouldn't be too exhausted to help as he turned his head, seeing the dark spheres bursting, revealing the Dark Warriors in their Beast Spirit forms, showing their corrupted beings and letting more feral cries of rage and pain.
"You heard him!" Takuya yelled as each of the Legendary Warriors were covered in cocoons of Data, accessing the powers of their Beast Spirits.
"Slide Evolution!" The Warriors of Flame, Light, Wind, Thunder, Ice and Darkness announced, altering their forms alongside the Warriors of Water, Wood, Earth and Steel, with Calmaramon, Petaldramon, Gigamon and Sakkaukmon appearing amongst the Legendary Warriors, who emerged from the data cocoons and let their names out with might.
"BurningGreymon!"
"KendoGarurumon!"
"Zephyrmon!"
"MetalKabuterimon!"
"Korikakumon!"
"JagerLoweemon!"
The Beast Spirit Warriors looked amongst their counterparts, ready to fight, only to look on with confusion as Dark Sakkaukmon flew up into the air, moving his body to form a perfect circle above his allies, before seeing dark auras form around him and the other Dark Warriors, which moved up to the Dark Warrior of Steel, his body glowing a dark purple light.
Seeing this, and knowing what was coming, the older TK yelled out in warning. "Take cover!"
A blast of dark elemental energy then fired from out of Dark Sakkaukmon's form, sending the Legendary Warriors flying back, while devastating the area around them, tearing up the ground and many buildings around the surging dark force.
Davis turned to see this, but found his focus drawn back to the Colossi as one swung its claw at him, mentally growling that he couldn't help his friends while these monsters were walking about.
Back below, the Legendary Warriors struggled to get up, looking to see their counterparts shrieking inhumanly at them, with some keeping close to Dark Sakkakumon, as though ready to lend him their energy if needed, while others moved in to strike as Dark BurningGreymon's body was consumed in dark flames.
"Move!" BurningGreymon called out as he and those closest to him moved out of the way, just as his counterpart released the fiery attack at the area, giving the Warrior of Flame a chance to strike back.
"Pyro Barrage!" BurningGreymon then bellowed, firing a series of concentrated flame blasts upon Dark Sakkakumon, taking more caution to his target as he directed the flames to just around the eyes set upon the sphere sections that made up Dark Sakkakumon's body, hoping to damage the Dark Warrior of Steel and to not allow it to absorb and replicate his attacks.
However, Dark Zyphermon quickly flew between each flame attack, striking them down with her talons, while Dark KendoGarurumon and Dark JagerLoweemon engaged their counterparts in close combat, looking like wild beasts as they fought, leaving Korikakumon and Dark Korikakumon to swing their axes at one another.
"Takuya, watch out!" Zephyrmon yelled in concern, causing BurningGreymon to turn, just as his double slammed into him, causing the pair to crash into the ground below, with the Warrior of Flame groaning a little in pain.
However, upon opening his eyes, Takuya saw his dark counterpart raise not only pinning him down, but having his head raised, letting out a monstrous roar as Dark BurningGreymon's mouth split open like his Human Spirit Form's, causing BurningGreymon to quickly move his head as his foe tried to bite his off.
Keeping up on his defence and protecting himself, BurningGreymon found his attention broken from his own safety, noticing the growing conflicts amongst his friends, seeing that despite all the effort that each of the Legendary Warriors placed in their attacks, it wasn't enough.
"Plasma Paws!" Zephyrmon cried out as she clashed with her double in the air, before dodging an energy blast from Dark MetalKabuterimon, to which MetalKabueterimon responded by firing at his double, knocking him back, while nearby, Gigasmon and Dark Gigasmon where wrestling with one another, only for Dark Calmaramon to sneak in, sliding her tentacles around and grab the Warrior of Earth from behind, twisting and crushing him within her grasp.
"Acid Ink!" Calmaramon cut in, looking out for her friends, spitting her black sludge amongst the Dark Calmaramon's tentacles, burning right through and causing them to peel from off Dark Calmaramon, allowing Gigasmon to break free from the corrupted Digimon's twisting hold.
Giving small thumbs up to Calmarmon, glad he could count on her, the Warriors of Water and Earth returned to their fight, switching to face Dark Gigasmon and Dark Calmarmon, but found the corrupt Digimon able to adapt despite their opponent, their skills and their strategies.
Petaldramon, meanwhile was having his own battle and troubles with his double, finding that their gargantuan builds left him at a disadvantage as to avoid accidentally crushing or harming his teammates, a notion Dark Petaldramon didn't share as he swung his tail around, smashing through a whole line of buildings, before bringing it into Petaldramon's head.
Meanwhile, Sakkaukmon engaged Dark Sakkakumon, moving between his counterpart's circle formation, a growl of frustration left the Warrior of Steel as Dark Sakkakumon let out a surge of dark energy from several of his orb sections, but the Warrior of Steel powered through it, drawing on the strength he held, alongside that of his allies.
"Taste thine wrath and the wrath of Aldamon! Atomic Inferno!" Sakkaumon bellowed, before releasing an intense and heated barrage of flames at Dark Sakkakumon, striking the central orb, but found that as the flames died down, the orb began to repair itself, removing all traces of the attack.
Countering Sakkakumon, the Dark Warrior of Steel broke from his circle formation, striking at his double as the pair crashed into the ground below, their bodies trying to move into different formations as they tried to strike at one another's core.
Seeing his friends in trouble, and having enough is his own double's attempts to bite his face off, BurningGreymon brought his right foot up and slammed it into Dark BurningGreymon's chest, sending him flying back, and allowing the Warrior of Flame to deliver another strike.
"Wildfire Tsunami!" The Warrior of Flame exclaimed, releasing the gathering inferno growing through his armour and all but throwing it upon Dark BurningGreymon, consuming the corrupt warrior in flames.
"Lupine Laser!" KendoGarurumon then called out from his end of the battle, jumping back from his counterpart and unleashing a powerful blast of light down on Dark KendoGarurumon, which was followed by a small explosion, leaving the Warrior of Light to land on his feet as he gave a smirk.
However, the smirks vanished from BurningGreymon and KendoGarurumon's faces as the smoke and flames cleared, showing that their counterparts had changed once again, with a dark version of Aldamon and a dark copy of Beowolfmon staring their counterparts down, letting the Warriors know that this fight was far from over.
"They're putting up quite the fight." ChaosGallantmon commented from within the Dark King's throne room as he, his allies and their Master and Mistress watched the battle, smirking to see how pathetic the Legendary Warriors looked in their battle against their doubles.
"The Dark Warriors were powerful before, but now... now they are something else." Dark Rika then added with a wicked smile, seeing how different, and how strong, her former friends were now.
"My dear, you haven't seen anything yet." The Dark King commented with a smirk, adding with a growing sadistic tone. "The fun hasn't even started yet."