We've seen one side of the battle. Now let's take a look at the other. Yep, many major battles in this story swap back and forth between both sides. Helps to keep it interesting, I think.

Case 8: Demise

This cannot be! thought Angewomon, staring at the enraged Hippogriffmon and the groggy Arata. What is this blasphemous bond between life and death?

The Hippogriffmon spirit lunged toward Angewomon, talons outstretched. "Heat Wave!" Flames shot out of its mouth, which Angewomon dodged with a few singed feathers.

Suddenly Angewomon was put on the defensive, trying to weave around all the fire and claw swipes. When this spirit was a Unimon, it was noble, even kind, willing to join the Vanguard to deal with other spirits. Now Angewomon saw nothing but blind madness in its eyes, as it evaded their few Celestial Arrows. If they didn't stop it...

This was why the Vanguard had to hunt spirits in the first place. They felt terrible for these lost souls, an unfortunate combination of reality and data, but they were threats to the stability to both worlds. Protecting the barriers between worlds was the prime mission of the Vanguard. Neither Keisuke or Hudiemon wanted the sorrows of the previous timeline to be repeated.

Suddenly the Hippogriffmon was faster than ever, and torched them with a Heat Wave. It seared and stunned them, but they weren't falling for long. In that brief time, however, they saw Arata, chest still bleeding data, surrounded by hacker screens. Ah, so the Hippogriffmon's increased speed was his doing. His eyes were just as mad as the Hippogriffmon's.

If only Keisuke was here to level the playing field. Then Angewomon could have power boosts too. At least they didn't need Keisuke's help with healing, as they quickly refreshed their burned skin and feathers.

...But perhaps it was best that Keisuke wasn't here. Keisuke was too softhearted, even after everything. Poor Keisuke was still horrified by DNA digivolution, even though two Digimon could only combine if they had ultimate trust in each other. But no, all Keisuke saw was one of his Digimon absorbing the other. He didn't understand that Aquilamon chose this, chose her. And that was why the gentle bird didn't come back when Keisuke forced them to de-digivolve from Silphymon. They missed that form even now.

And now...Something was very wrong about Arata. They had their suspicions before, but now that his data was spilling out of his avatar...They still couldn't place exactly what was wrong, but...But they knew Arata had been part Eater for a while in the old timeline, and the insanity that brought him. If even a trace of that remained...considering the horrible things the Eaters did to Erika...

Angewomon knew they should have shot Arata back then, when he showed up with the black-and-white clawed arm and red eyes. But Keisuke didn't let them, because Arata was his friend. Friends always stayed friends, right? Even when clearly corrupted by viruses or Eaters? So softhearted.

Keisuke did not need to witness the demise of another loved one.

Angewomon aimed their bow at Arata. "Celestial Arrow!"

But the Hippogriffmon rose up and took the arrow to the wing. As it fell, it swatted Angewomon down to the metal slide on the playground. The Hippogriffmon landed on top of them, pinning their arms and wings.

"You tried to hurt Arata again." The spirit's breath writhed with embers. "You tried to hurt my partner again."

"Partner? Don't be absurd. Spirits do not have partners." Angewomon's body shone brilliantly, and smoke sizzled out from beneath the Hippogriffmon's claws. "Your kind aren't even supposed to exist."

But the spirit only snarled louder, eyes narrowing to slits. "You hurt Arata with this attack too." Its talons punctured Angewomon's wings and anchored both itself and Angewomon to the slide. The air around the Hippogriffmon's beak shimmered with heat. "And if I let you go, you'll only hurt him again! Heat Wave!"

Angewomon did not have time to think, much less heal. They screamed as the Hippogriffmon spirit blasted them with one long, point-blank stream of fire, until only loose data remained.

This ended up being a shorter chapter, funnily enough, and not nearly as hard to edit as the last one. Not too surprising though, since there was really only so much that could be covered in Angewomon's POV. Went with "they" pronouns since they were previously a DNA digivolution, and changing digivolution lines didn't change what already happened. And yes, in-game a DNA digivolution is obtained by one Digimon being sacrificed so the other can evolve.