Hiya guys

Sorry for the long wait, I've kind of hit a creative slump these past months. I haven't felt up for creating anything. I still haven't completely gotten out of that slump, but it's been getting better.

I've been having some changes with my job (because yes, I actually have a job now) and things have been one big question-mark for a while. It's nothing major, but enough to worry this anxious mess. Most of it has been worked out now luckily, so hopefully I can stop worrying and start writing and drawing again.

I can't promise regular uploads like I did before, but I will try to not let you wait for another 5 months.

And PhoenixP016 to answer your question: Is Vibramon a bat?
Kind of? She's based of Noibat and Noivern, both of who are bat-like pokemon, but I wouldn't say she is a bat. I mean, she's the warrior of sound, what other animal would I use for her beast form? ;) (Btw, sorry this is so late! I only just noticed your comment 3 days ago when I decided to write again, otherwise I would've replied sooner)

Anyways! As always, I hope you enjoy~

Disclaimer: Do I look like I own digimon? Hu-? Oh, right, you don't know what I look like... Well I don't own it, alright! I only own Sophia, Sonamon and Virbramon, any and all changes to the original plot (trust me, there's gonna be quite a few of that) and other characters that aren't mentioned on the wiki page.

(It's been so long since I've written my disclaimer that I had to go back to my previous chapters to look at what I wrote... That's just sad)

"I can't believe it." Takuya sighed in relief. "We're actually here."

"My legs can believe it..." JP moaned.

Finally after another full day of traveling they did it. The gang finally made it to the Forest Terminal. You'd be surprised how fast and easy you can travel when you're not constantly hunted by a Spirit-hungry warrior.

Takuya pointed ahead of him. "There's the sign." he said. "Forest Terminal."

There were multiple sighs of relief. It was official. They made it. They finally made it to the Forest Terminal!

"Um... But shouldn't there be a Trailmon here?"

Koji's words halted the relieved thoughts for a moment. There should be a Trailmon, shouldn't there? They could see the station a little bit farther into the fog, but there was clearly no Trailmon.

Looking around and behind him, Takuya found nothing to indicate a Trailmon was close. "Well, maybe they're on their way back right now?" he said. Though he even doubted his own words.

Sophia shook her head. "Not likely." she muttered. "Trailmon are kind of cowardice, and this place has just the right amount of creep to keep them away."

Takuya groaned. "So that means more walking."

JP followed Takuya's example, until he noticed something in his peripheral vision. There was a building just on the left of them. Although he couldn't read the Digi-Code that was on the sign and the flag outside, it was a pretty save bet it was a restaurant based on the mouth-shaped door, smell and the little bit of interior that he could see.

And a restaurant means food! "Hey, who cares about a Trailmon? There's a restaurant here!"

"Sure, who cares about our easier mode of transportation. Because food." Sophia mocked in an over-exaggerated tone.

JP growled at the girl, but otherwise ignored her as he went over to the restaurant. Koichi grabbed Sophia by the arm, just get her alone to talk, but she responded by ripping her arm out of his grasp. The dark-haired boy sighed. Things were definitely not going well in their group.

When they arrived at the doors a peacock-like digimon, which Bokomon already told them to be a Deramon, was waiting for them behind the counter.

He greeted them with a friendly smile. "Welcome, weary travelers."

"What do you have to eat?" Tommy asked.

It sounded kind of rude how he said it, but Deramon took no offense. "Ask instead what I don't have to eat." he bragge- I mean told the kids. "Step right up, friends, and don't worry about money. For you, the first meal is free."

Well, of course JP didn't waste any more time and ran inside. The others gave each other a look of approval. Free food is always good for them. Besides, they hadn't eaten since the night where Bakumon gave Tommy a nightmare, which was two or three days ago, so they needed this meal.

They followed JP into the restaurant, much to the delight of Deramon who immediately started cooking. Within a few short minutes everyone had a bowl of noodles in front of them. Deramon's Yolk-Surprise, with raw eggs on top of the noodles. A quick thank you to the chef and then they dug in, or tried to in some cases because they weren't used to chopsticks *coughcough*.

On their first bite, everyone's expression changed from happy and delighted, to outright grossed out. This food was disgusting! The little bit that they ate was immediately spat back in the bowl as exclamations of disgust were uttered.

"We must respectfully decline your kind offer of food." Bokomon said politely after everyone had calmed down. Although... How much of that respect was left after literally screaming out every insult towards the food the kids could've thought of?

"I can't feel my tongue anymore..." Ah, and Neemon took another bit of respect off of that.

Deramon was already pissed at their earlier behavior. Neemon's words were the last drop. "Alright, alright. What's the big idea?" he asked, vein popping. "I can't believe all of you are gonna turn down free food."

"That was food?!" Zoe asked in disbelieve.

"That wasn't food, dude. That was trash." Sophia told the digimon. "Actually, no. That's an insult to trash. What did you do? Boil it in sweat socks?"

Deramon nodded. "Indeed I did."

Stomachs dropped. They just... ate something boiled in...sweat socks?!

"Koichi... Cover Tommy's ears..." Sophia growled lowly, trying to remain calm but failing. As soon as Tommy's ears were covered, hell broke lose. "What the actual fuck?! You're a fucking idiot if you think that shit tastes good!" She took her bowl of food in her hand. "You can take this and shove it down where the sun don't shine! Goddammit!" She shoved the bowl in his face and stormed out the restaurant. "Piece of junk. Stupid idiot chef. Ghaa!"

The guys took a moment to look at what just happened. That was... unusual. Very unusual.

Tommy trembled a little. "I-I still heard it... That was scary." He'd never seen her get that mad before.

Deramon took the bowl off his beak, staring at the humans in front of him with a mighty glare. "Get out of here, kids. You're bugging me." He was doing his best to sound dangerous. "Go on and go to the Forest Terminal. They say no one's ever returned from there."

The gang wasn't effected by this rumor. "Yeah well we'll just take our chances. I doubt the Forest Terminal will be any worse than this food." OOH! Burn from the warrior of flame!

That finally broke Deramon's angry facade. "Oh, come on guys..." he said with tears running down his face. "I was just trying to be nice, that's all."

"Being nice has nothing to do with cooking." Takuya told the digimon. "And rumors don't matter to us. We've already been told that we have to go to the Forest Terminal."

Without another word, Takuya stood up ans walked out of the restaurant. The others followed soon, going to where they were just a moment ago. Sophia was already there, sitting against the sign. Not sure how to react to her outburst earlier, they just gave her a small notice that that it was time to move on and left.

Zoe found herself in a familiar scene when she saw Sophia breaking twigs. She knelt down next to the girl who kept avoiding eye contact. Zoe sighed. "What's wrong, Sophia?" she asked. "You can't convince me this is about what Deramon served us." Sophia just shrugged. The blonde let out another sigh. "I thought we were friends, but you can't even tell me what's wrong?"

"And you can't respect when I don't want to talk." Sophia said softly. "I just feel bad right now, Zoe. I don't want to talk about it."

She stood up from her spot and moved to join the boys, Zoe following behind. The boys had already moved into the fog before the girls joined them. Since there was still no Trailmon, what other choice did they have?

When they arrived at the Trailmon station, they found it completely abandoned and covered in a thick fog. You could barely see a few feet in front of you, but it was clear enough to notice the lack of Trailmon and digimon.

"This place is empty too!" Koji remarked.

Zoe nodded as she looked around. "Yeah, and just a little bit creepy."

It was unsettling how quiet it was. It's unnaturally quiet.

Takuya took a deep breath. "Keep your eyes peeled, guys." The reasons why were left unspoken, but understood.

"For what? All we can see if fog." Okay, understood by everyone except JP.

Takuya resisted the urge to roll his eyes. That is the exact reason he said to keep their eyes peeled! "Well, there have to be some people here."

"But what if they're all..." JP shrunk into himself as he walked. "Ghosts?"

Sophia on the other hand, did not resist the urge to roll her eyes. "Ghosts don't exist in the digital world, only digimon that look like ghosts. Like Bakemon, Soulmon and Phantomon."

"Who, who and who?"

"Never mind..."

It didn't help, though. The kids were still unsettled by the idea of ghosts. Even when they climbed the stairs that were somehow built inside of a tree they didn't stop looking around for the 'ghosts'. They didn't even stop to question why there were stairs built inside of a tree. Or maybe they just stopped questioning the digital world a while ago, who knows?

The staircase ended at the base of a branch, which was shaped perfectly to walk on. The moment they stepped out of the stairway, they were met by an ear-piercing noise which can only be described as nails on a chalkboard combined with screeching, like sirens singing out of water*.

"Stop that noise!" Sophia screamed, covering her ears like everyone else.

Soon after she screamed, her D-Tector gave off a soft glow. The noise became softer and softer, until it was finally gone.

Takuya carefully peeled his hands off his ears, just in case the noise returned. "Did it stop?" he wondered.

The others were still covering their ears, so they didn't hear the question. They did hear, however, that the screeching had stopped, or at least softened. Carefully, they also removed their hands from their ears, and they were relieved to find it all silent again.

"What was that just now?" Tommy asked.

Koji frowned. "Looks like someone doesn't want us here."

"But we can't go back now." Takuya argued. He looked towards the stairs. The noise stopped for a reason. "Let's keep moving."

They followed the stairs on the branch for a few minutes, only stopping once they arrived at a two-way. One was going straight ahead, while the other branched off to the right.

"Great." Takuya huffed. "Now what?"

An odd sound came from Tommy's D-Tector. Out of curiosity as to what caused it, he took it out. The screen was lit up for some reason. Not even a second after taking it out, a holographic map appeared on screen. A pink dot in the middle quickly shifted to the right.

So...They had to go right? Tommy looked up from the screen to the path. Well, it's worth a shot. "It's that way." He pointed the group to the stairs on the right.

Takuya looked at the smaller boy. "How do yo-" The question died on his lips when he saw the map.

Without further questioning, the gang went right. Unfortunately they were stopped yet again when there were a bunch of trees blocking the path. Did they go the wrong way after all?

Before they had the chance to turn around, JP's D-Tector made the same odd noise as Tommy's had. And once he got it from his pocket, a green light engulfed it, and the trees parted.

"And for my next trick." JP responded jokingly.

"You'll finally shut up?" Was Sophia's bitter reply, which earned her another glare from the plump boy.

Zoe's D-Tector eventually helped as well, clearing the fog that was becoming thicker and thicker the higher they got. Now with the fog gone, the group had a view of a castle in front of them. It was still quite a bit of walking, but from what they could see...

The thing was huge, sticking out above the trees and seemingly made entirely of crystal. At least, if the shimmering and glows were anything to go on, but this was the digital world so who really knows? It was quite beautiful however. And...somehow supported by one branch? Never mind, stop questioning it.

"This place is beautiful." Tommy awed.

Koji frowned, crossing his arms as he inspected the place. "Doesn't mean it's not dangerous."

Tommy looked over at Koji with a questioning look on his face. "What if this is where the person from our D-Tector lives?" he asked. "We did get a message to come here."

"Well, should I knock?" JP asked, already having placed his hand on the double doors.

Koji frowned. "I still don't think it's safe."

Of course right at that moment, as if to prove Koji wrong, his D-Tector glowed. Koichi's did the same. One of the double doors was suddenly surrounded in white light, while the other had a dark glow. As the lights of both devices and the doors dimmed, the doors swung open.

'Of course the twins open the twin doors.' Sophia snorted.

"Well at least they're polite, I guess." Takuya smiled nervously, unsure about this whole situation.

JP crossed his arms, frowning. "Yeah, that or eager to lure us in there."

No one moved, opting instead to stare at the castle doors. There was nothing and no one in the courtyard, so that shouldn't cause any problems I guess... But should they really go in there? No one had even the faintest clue as to who or what was waiting for them behind those doors.

Zoe eventually got sick of just standing there doing nothing. "I say we go inside." she said, placing her hands on her hips in a confident manner. "How bad could it be? Sleeping Beauty used to live in a castle in the forest."

Koji scoffed. "Well, so did the wicked witch."

"Unless I missed something, Sleeping Beauty used to live in a cottage in the forest, not a castle." Sophia added her own thoughts. "And didn't she get cursed into eternal sleep once she returned to the castle?"

"Since when are you the debbie downer?" Zoe asked the other female.

"I'm not." Sophia looked away, crossing her arms and pouting. "I'm just... sticking to the fairytale as I learned it..."

Finally having enough of all the bickering the group decided to just...go in. Should something happen, they had their Spirits to protect them. Should nothing happen, they...still had their Spirits to protect them... There was still some debating on what to do if nothing happened.

Takuya used the door knocker, hoping to get an answer from whoever was inside. Though, there was nothing even after a minute.

"Maybe no one lives here." Tommy suggested. Strange to hear him say it, though. After all, he was the one who, not a minute ago, thought the person from the D-Tectors lived here.

An odd sound from his pocket caught Takuya's attention after his reply to Tommy. He got his D-Tector from his pocket, knowing from before that that device was making the noise. Almost immediately after he held it in his hand, it glowed a bright red, and the doors swung open.

Their happy celebration had to wait, however. On the other side of the door was a not-so-welcome reception waiting for them. Yeah, waiting with a staff pointed at Takuya's face.

"Get back, Cherubimon scum!" The digimon holding the staff ordered.

The children stepped back a little, observing their new opponent. "Uh... I-isn't that Wizardmon?" Takuya asked, noting his similar appearance.

"But he's a different color." Tommy said, remembering that digimon with a different color are most likely a different digimon.

"And meaner." JP added.

"That's Sorcermon. A champion level specialized in ice magic, rather than electric magic like Wizardmon." Sophia rushed through her explanation in a monotone voice, not expecting anyone to listen to her.

As expected, Takuya didn't listen. "We can beat him." he said, striking a fighting pose. "Just like we beat Gigasmon."

Sophia looked away. "That was you..." 'I couldn't even pull the others out of the mud...'

Sorcermon, who'd been standing motionless observing the children, finally spoke up. "Gigasmon?" he questioned. "But he's one of Cherubimon's goons."

"Yeah?"

"So... You're not allies with Cherubimon?" He never lowered his guard even as he asked this.

Zoe frowned at the thought. "Are you kidding?!"

"Why would we ally ourselves with someone who wants to destroy the world?" Koichi asked, disgusted by the thought.

Koji stepped up a little. "Look, why don't you put that wand down, okay?" he tried to coax the digimon into calming down. "We're all on the same side. Isn't that obvious?"

To their surprise, Sorcermon actually lowered his wand. "This is what comes of fighting too much. Everyone seems to be an enemy." he explained regretfully. "I apologize, friends. How did you find this place?"

"We got a message that told us all to come to the Forest Terminal." Takuya began explaining. "But there was no one there, and when we kept walking we ended up here on your doorstep."

"My solitude has driven common courtesy from me, I apologize." Sorcermon bowed. However, Koji didn't miss the digimon muttering something beforehand. "As your friend said, my name is Sorcermon. Please, come in. I have something important to show you."

Not knowing what Sorcermon said before his apology didn't help gain Koji's trust. Although he still felt the kindness in the digimon, he had his suspicions.

Sorcermon led the group through the hallways. They noted that even the interior of the castle was all crystal. Crystal walls, crystal floor, crystal doors, crystal...whatever those things on the ceiling were. Probably lamps.

"Where are you taking us anyway?" Koji asked the wizard digimon, getting more suspicious the farther into the castle they got.

"To meet someone." Was Sorcermon's simple answer.

Koji crossed his arms. "I bet it's a trap."

Tommy rolled his eyes at the older boy. "You think everything's a trap."

"What happened to 'we're all on the same side'?" Sophia asked him, to which Koji only growled. He didn't like it when his words are used against him.

"Caution is wise, friends, but only within reason." Sorcermon stopped walking once they reached a set of doors. "This is no trap, this is a prophesy."

He opened the doors, revealing a huge room. It was empty aside from a few pillars holding up the ceiling. And when I say empty, I mean empty. As in, there was no one there, no one to meet.

Koji was the first to notice. "So where is he?" he asked.

Sorcermon looked up to the ceiling. "Up there." The group followed his gaze up to a floating crystal. He brought them here to meet a rock? "Allow me to introduce our salvation, Seraphimon."

Seraphimon? But that's like a digimon name. How is that rock a digimo- Wait... Now that they looked closer, there was a faint outline of a humanoid figure inside the crystal.

"Um... Are we supposed to know who that is?" Zoe asked. By Sorcermon's introduction he sounds pretty important.

"Seraphimon was one of the three Celestial Digimon chosen to rule this world." Sorcermon briefly explained.

Takuya looked back up at the crystallized digimon.

It's not that he didn't want to help, but... "So what are we supposed to do? He's all frozen up." They couldn't even reach this supposed 'ruler of the digital world'. How were they supposed to help him? H-her? It? Man, digimon are confusing!

"Perhaps not for long." Sorcermon's voice broke through his thoughts. "There is a prophesy-"

"Let your lights shine as one."

It was the voice from the D-Tector! But it was different. It sounded like it came from all around them rather than just the D-Tector. Though, a look around the room revealed no one was there.

It shocked Sorcermon to hear it, it didn't even matter that the voice cut him off mid-explanation! "That was Lady Ophanimon!" he exclaimed, looking around to search where it was coming from. "She's the one who asked me to watch over Seraphimon."

"Ophanimon?" So that was her name. "She must be the voice that told us to come here." Ya think, Taky?

"It's all falling into place." All eyes were back on Sorcermon. What is falling into place? What is he talking about? "I brought you here because the prophesy says that one day a group of wayward humans will free Seraphimon."

Free... And free him how? This only brought on more questions than answers. And it also brought some complaints from Bokomon, but no one paid attention to that. Well, I guess some did, but his complaints didn't matter right now.

The children were left wondering what the prophesy meant. I mean, obviously it means that they were to free Seraphimon, but again...how? Zoe noticed some odd noises coming from her D-Tector, taking it out for inspection. JP, of course, followed her example.

Come to think of it... Didn't Ophanimon always talk to them through their D-Tectors? In fact, didn't she give them the devices? Maybe the D-Tectors were the way to help free Seraphimon!

Zoe was quick to voice these thoughts. All that, and the fact they were making strange noises right after Ophanimon told them the prophesy and they were standing in the room with the digimon they were supposed too free! It was too big a coincidence.

Sure enough, said devices answered. The screens of each D-Tector lit up, shooting a beam of light into the air. The kids moved them around a little, trying to see what they were supposed to do with these beams. But Takuya quickly figured it out. Aim them at the frozen Celestial.

There was a reaction as soon as the lights touched the crystal. White and red sparks flew off it as the crystal melted and disappeared. The humanoid digimon, which they could now see was covered in silver and blue armor with several pairs of golden wings on his back, was slowly lowered to the ground. Not once did he face the human children.

Sorcermon was in awe. The prophesy was true. Lord Seraphimon was free! "Welcome back, Lord Seraphimon." He welcomed the Celestial as he landed before him.

"It's good to be back, my faithful servant." Seraphimon said in a regal voice. "You have done well." Seraphimon was silent for a moment, trying to recall what had happened, and why he woke up the strange position that he had. But he came up blank. "Sorcermon, tell me. There's so little I remember."

"My lord, when your defeat seemed imminent, Ophanimon was able to get you to safety." the white-clad digimon explained. "She sealed you away from danger so you could be revived after the trouble had passed."

That stirred a few of Seraphimon's memories. "Ophanimon! That's right!" he called her name in worry. "Has she been harmed? Why isn't she here?"

Sorcermon's gaze dropped to the floor. "Truth is often unpleasant, I'm afraid." He did not want to be the one to tell his Lord this, but he had no choice. "No one knows where she is." He took his gaze of the floor to look and gesture at the human children. "But these humans have been in contact with her, so all is not lost."

The angelic digimon finally turned around to face the group. His wings ruffled in delight, but dropped slightly when he actually caught sigh of them. "These humans? But they're only children."

Koji rose his eyebrow. By the sound of it, he expected other humans. And how would he know they were only children if the digital world had never seen humans before?

"Yes! But there also Legendary Warriors." Bokomon stood up for his companions. "And if not for them, you'd still be stuck to the ceiling."

"Legendary Warriors? Impressive." Seraphimon had to admit. They did not look like they had it in them.

Takuya, finally done with being left out of things, spoke up. "Hey, listen, just what is going on here?" he asked, a little more aggressive than necessary, but what did you expect? "We've been led all over, getting our snot kicked out, and we don't even know why we were brought into this crazy world!"

"Yeah, someone owes us some answers." Zoe wholeheartedly agreed.

"And I think you're that someone. So tell us what's going on!" Koji demanded off the Celestial being.

"Um… Please?" Tommy asked, trying to remain nice towards the ruler of the digital world.

Seraphimon, however, seemed to take no offense to the rude way the children demanded answers from him. It was as Takuya said, they were brought here with no idea as to why, and led into a world of problems that shouldn't be theirs. He could see why that would frustrate them.

"Very well, brave ones I shall tell you. If you want answers, you will have them." Seraphimon's wing shone, creating a visual of digimon fighting in the humans' mind. "The story begins long ago when Human Digimon and Beast Digimon warred against each other. Their battle laid waste on the Digital World, befouling what was once beautiful. But Lucemon appeared and brought an end to the fighting." A being covered in light descended down upon the fighting digimon, stopping their battle. "For a time he ruled in peace. But soon he was corrupted by his own power."

"My, this story sure sound familiar." Bokomon interrupted, much to the warrior's annoyance.

"The Ten Legendary Warriors arose to free the oppressed and abused Digimon." Visuals of different kinds of digimon fighting the one covered in light flashed before them. Some noticed the similarities they shared with their Spirits. "They battled valiantly, but Lucemon proved stronger than expected. That is until they were joined by two other brave warriors, who were given their honorary title as Legendary Warrior later on." Two other feminine-looking digimon appeared, landing a few more blows to this Lucemon character. "After a fierce struggle, they were able to defeat the tyrannical Lucemon!" With a final, destructive blow of all warriors working together as one, Lucemon was defeated.

"After peace was restored to the Digital World, champions were chosen to protect that peace; Cherubimon, Ophanimon, and myself. But as before, our time of harmony was short-lived. Cherubimon wanted to control the Digital World by himself, and so, attacked me." The visuals finally stopped playing in their minds. "You know the rest of the story, thanks to Sorcermon. Ophanimon rescued me and brought me to safety here, where I have slumbered and regained my strength until I was awakened by you, Legendary Warriors!"

"Luckily you came just when we needed Seraphimon most." Sorcermon spoke up. "The Digital World is in a crisis as you can see."

He held out his wand which, after a few seconds, showed a hologram of the digital world in ruins. Huge chunks of earth were missing, there was hardly any healthy green color anywhere on the planet, it just… It didn't look good.

"Man, the Digital World looks like Swiss cheese!" Takuya mussed. Was this why they were called here? To save it, to restore it to what it once was?

"If it keeps up like this, soon there won't be a digital world left." Koichi pointed out. And how were they supposed to save something that didn't exist anymore.

Sorcermon nodded. "And the future looks even more bleak. You see, Cherubimon has sent his minions to destroy it."

Even more?!

The Celestial digimon didn't like the looks of it at all. "It is even more serious than I'd imagined. We must find Ophanimon at once!" he demanded.

"Yes, my lord. Your combined might can truly defeat Cherubimon. And of course, you'll have my help." Sorcermon's comment surprised the great leader. "While you slept, it felt as though I had too, and I've only dreamed of fighting at your side against that evil creature."

Sorcermon… "Dear, brave Sorcermon. You are a true friend. Thank you. Your courage gives me strength."

"I am as you taught me."

Seraphimon turned to face the humans again. "And I must thank you for your courage. All would be lost were it not for you. But now I must ask that you do one more favor for me." Of course! Anything! They were happy to help now that they better understood what they were fighting for. They would happily stand by his side to battle that evil Cherubimo- "Before the fighting begins, go back to your own world." Say what? "Your task is done, and it's too dangerous for you to stay."

"But, we're Legendary Warriors." Takuya argued.

"Yeah, we can't just walk away now." Zoe told him. It didn't even matter that she didn't have her Spirit, she is still a Legendary Warrior and she won't leave.

Before Seraphimon could fire any counter-arguments, the door behind the warriors burst open with a loud crash. Grumblemon had caught up with them again and used his hammer to break down the door! And this time it seemed he brought some friends with him.

Grumblemon snickered. "Oh good, whole brat brigade here."

"And ready to fight!" Takuya said, striking a fighting position already.

"You better be." Grumblemon said, still smirking at the warrior children. " 'Cause me introduce other digimon who defeat you. Ranamon"

The feminine digimon on the right side of Grumblemon waved smugly. "Charmed, I'm sure."

"Arbormon."

The brown digimon on Grumblemon's left spoke up next. "You're in for it now, right."

"And lastly Mercurymon."

The last digimon, the metallic digimon with mirrors on his arms, stomach and face gave them an unimpressed look. Odd seeing as he had no face. "So these be the whelps who hast given thee so much trouble? Pathetic!"

The evil digimon went back and forth taunting each other as well as the human warriors until Seraphimon put an end to it with one simple demand. "Tell me where Ophanimon is! Now!"

"Me no care about her. Me just want Beast Spirit back, so give it!" Grumblemon rose his hammer into the air as he said this, ready to attack.

But the warriors were ready too, stepping forward with their D-Tectors in hand. "Why don't you come get it, buddy."

"EXECUTE! SPIRIT EVOLUTION!"

"AGUNIMON!"

"LOBOMON!"

"BEETLEMON!"

"KUMAMON!"

"LOWEMON!"

"SONAMON!"

Everyone stood strong in front of the digimon lord and his servant. They were about to prove them just how strong they could be! Just watch Seraphimon!

The evolution alone already had Sorcermon in awe. "The Legendary Warriors have returned."

Yeah, well… All except one (or two). Zoe stepped back behind Sorcermon, away from the fight. "If that big doofus hadn't stolen my Spirit, I'd show him a thing or two."

Grumblemon just grinned at the reminder. "Yeah? Well, did and now I show you thing or three!"

Challenge accepted. Agunimon slammed his fists together, building up power for his attack. "You sure you don't wanna get warmed up first?" he asked. "PYRO PUNCH!"**

Unfortunately the group of evil warriors dodged his attack, splitting them up. Lobomon went for Ranamon, aiming his howling laser at the Southern lady. But she was fast and just dodged again. Same for Arbormon when Beetlemon tried to hit him with a thunder fist. Even Grumblemon avoided Kumamon's crystal freeze. Lowemon and Sonamon mixed their attack together for Mercurymon, but he too managed to avoid the combination of sonar boom and shadow meteor.

"Thanks for the overwhelmingly underwhelming lesson in combat." Ranamon mocked their lack of experience. "Now let me show you how it's done." She put her hands together, creating a dark storm cloud that headed towards the warriors. "DRAINING RAIN!"

Her attack sapped all strength and energy from the warriors, making them more vulnerable for what came next.

"ROUNDHOUSE PUNT!" Arbormon disconnected his foot from his body to hit Lobomon and Beetlemon with a long-range kick.

Agunimon was send flying into the wall by Grumblemon's hammer, right next to Kumamon, who's gotten thrown against it by Ranamon. Lowemon and Sonamon were also lying beaten on the floor, former having been hit by Arbormon's kick and latter having been struck with Grumblemon's hammer as well.

The evil warriors smiled wickedly at their defeated opponents. That was almost too easy. "Go get your Beast Spirit, rock head. Fetch~" Ranamon mocked the warrior of earth. Really… Losing his Beast Spirit to these weaklings?

"Be careful or you get smashed next, Ranamon!" Grumblemon warned as he raised his hammer, ready to smash those pathetic humans to pieces.

From the sidelines, Sorcermon's eyes widened. No! "Grumblemon, no! You cannot do this!" Ignoring Mercurymon's 'I beg your pardon', he stepped forward. "You shall not lead us down the path of ruin. I've waited a life time to see peace restored to the Digital World, and you're not going to stop it from returning!" He rose his staff, aiming at Mercurymon, who's been keeping him from interfering. "CRYSTAL BARRAGE!"

It didn't faze Mercurymon, though. "DARK REFLECTION!" He simply absorbed the attack in his right mirror, sending it back twice as strong and corrupted through the other mirror.

The stronger, corrupt crystal barrage broke the crystal on Sorcermon's staff, breaking the source of his power. And although he was barely hit by the actual attack, the loss of his power-source felt as if it might as well have.

Seraphimon caught his dearest friend before he hit the ground, worried over his safety. Mercurymon thought this to be the perfect moment to strike. He charged, but Seraphimon noticed the movement, taking flight before he came close. The Celestial digimon landed before the warriors, trusting them with the safety of Sorcermon, and turned around to face the corrupted warriors.

'I apologize, dear friends.' "STRIKE OF THE SEVEN STARS!"

Seraphimon's attack split up, hitting the warriors of earth, wood and water which send them crashing into the ceiling with a loud explosion. Hopefully they weren't going to recover from that too soon.

"Please, I ask again that you return to your world and leave this to me!" Seraphimon pleaded with the young warriors.

"There's no way we'll leave!" Kumamon argued.

"Yeah!" Beetlemon agreed. "Even if we wanted to, we don't know how!" Not a very strong argument there, buddy…

"We can help you restore peace. We may look weak to you, but with our strength combined-"

Lowemon's argument was cut short. "I can't fight them and keep you safe! You must go!"

"Are you kidding?" Agunimon looked at him as though he was crazy. "You can't fight all those guys by yourself! I mean, come on! You just woke up!"

"You need us!" Lobomon chimed in.

"Why will they not leave? They are mere children. Not even the warriors of old were this young."

Sonamon's eyed widened. 'Warriors of old… The tree!'

"And what about the previous warriors, then?" Sonamon decided her luck. "The previous humans! Did you object to them this much as well?"

"EEHH?!"

Ignoring the confused shouts of her friends, she continued to stare the Celestial digimon down. "And don't pretend that they don't exist. I saw them. The TV-forest? The original twelve trees?" No answer. "If they could do it, so can we!"

"That was different!" Seraphimon finally replied.

"Please, stop!" Sorcermon interrupted. "We should be fighting them!"

Turning their focus back to the evil warriors, they stood ready to defend themselves. The evil warriors charged their attacks, and so did Seraphimon.

But what no one could have seen coming was Mercurymon. Right at the moment Seraphimon launched his attack, Mercurymon appeared in front of them out of thin air, using his mirror to absorb the attack, just like before.

"DARK REFLECTION!"

The newly corrupted attack was send back at Seraphimon, who had no time to dodge. His own attack, made twice as strong now, was more than enough to bring the Mega to his defeat. Mercurymon happily absorbed Seraphimon's data, much to the horror of his most loyal follower, and was turned into nothing more than an egg.

Mercurymon smirked wickedly. "How ironic." He laughed. "Seraphimon sought to defeat Cherubimon, but now his Fractal Code shall be used for our end!"

Too distraught by these events, Sorcermon didn't even acknowledge the taunts. His lord… "No! It can't be!" He was turned into a digi-egg… "The hope of the Digital world is gone!" How were they to succeed now? How was he to fight by Lord Seraphimon's side, if Seraphimon was no more?

"No it's not!" Zoe jumped into action, sprinting past the evil warriors, who seemed to have forgotten she was even there, and grabbed the egg before it could float away. The data-covered egg received a sturdy shell in her arms. "Maybe we can bring him back if we have his egg! Right, Sorcermon?"

Of course! "Yes! We must protect that egg at all costs!" The warriors took a defensive pose as Zoe came closer. Like they weren't already planning on protecting it. "If we can get the egg to Ophanimon, she may be able to revive Seraphimon."

Zoe, Bokomon, Neemon and Sorcermon took cover behind the warriors. No one but them was gonna lay a hand on Seraphimon's egg! They stared each other down, as some useless taunting went back and forth, wondering which side was gonna strike first.

Apparently… Neither. "Arrogance shall be your downfall." was all the warrior children heard Sorcermon say before the crackling of glass was heard.

A bright light shone as the crystal covering on the wall behind them shattered! While the evil warriors were blinded by it, Sorcermon pulled the other warriors with him to the secret door. While running down the huge flight of stairs, the warriors de-Spirit evolved back to their human forms. Ranamon's draining rain, as well as the rest of the battle had finally caught up to them, leaving them low on energy. But running on adrenaline worked surprisingly well too.

An explosion from behind didn't waver their escape. They had to keep following Sorcermon, or else it was going to end badly for them. At the end of the hallway was a door with a big, red button next to it.

Sorcermon pretty much punched that button to open the door. "You may escape through here." Was all he said as the doors opened, revealing a yellow, get-away Trailmon. It was small, almost too small for their group, but it would have to do.

They ran for it, Takuya and Koji jumping up front while the others took the compartment in the back. Zoe shrunk in on herself to make place for the wizard digimon. Though, when she didn't feel or hear anyone else jumping on after JP, she got curious.

'Wait… Where's-' She looked back towards the door. He was still standing there! "Sorcermon! Hurry up!"

Though, the digimon remained where he stood. "I'm not coming." What? Why not? "The egg is all that matters now. I must insure its safety. Now go! There isn't much time."

"You don't stand a chance!" Takuya exclaimed, almost gasping when he saw the evil warriors approach. The others saw them as well. Takuya and Koji had to use all their willpower to not jump off Trailmon and Beast-Spirit evolve.

"Take care of Seraphimon. He's our last hope."

But they couldn't rush in. Not now. Not anymore. With one last nod of confirmation, Sorcermon closed the door and Trailmon took off.

Tommy gasped, almost sprinting toward the exit if it hadn't been so crowded. "No! We won't leave you!" he yelled. His eyes never left the door, that small hope that Sorcermon would change his mind was still there.

Though, when the sounds of fighting came to an abrupt end with a pained shout from an all too familiar voice, that hope was diminished.

"Sorcermon!" Tommy cried.

"Tommy, that isn't helping anyone." Zoe snapped, though ineffectively with the tears in her eyes and all.

Sophia pulled the kid into a hug, both with tears streaming down their faces. This was crushing. Utterly crushing.

Zoe dried her own tears as she finally sat down near the doors. "I can't believe this is all that's left of Seraphimon." A big, strong digimon, the shared ruler of the world… reduced to a small, fragile egg… She hugged it even tighter to her body. "I'm never gonna let this go."

"D-don't worry, Zoe." Sophia tried to smile at her, but it was strained. "Digimon always get reborn."

"Yes, but as long as those wicked warriors posses Seraphimon's data, the egg won't hatch anytime soon." Bokomon said. "If ever."

Sophia glared at him. "I was trying to stay positive, Bokomon. But you had to ruin it, didn't you?"

"I'm only telling the truth, rather than spread false hope."

"Well, sometimes the truth isn't what we wanna hear!"

"Knock it off, both of you!" Takuya demanded. "That egg may be the most important thing in the Digital World right now. It's its last hope, and you guys think it's a good time to argue?!" Murmurs of apologies came from the two. "All of Cherubimon's forces are going to be gunning for it, but no matter what happens, we've gotta protect it. We can't let Sorcermon's sacrifice be in vain!" Right… Sorcermon… "I hate to say this, but it's up to us now, guys."

"Time for us warriors to get serious!"

*If you've watched Harry Potter you'll know what I mean.

**You can NOT convince me that this attack was supposed to be pyro darts! Why is pyro punch the attack with the most dubbing errors?!

Thanks for reading!