William froze at the sight in front of him. One second, he was getting ready to fight whatever evil digimon the rebel was about to unleash, the next second he was back in the digital world. Watching as a DeviDramon ripped through Betamon and the other five rookies who his fellow digidestined had just met.

It had come close to beating them and making meals out of all of them. If Monodramon hadn't digivolved into Airdramon, they never would have survived.

He tightened his grip. He wasn't the scared child he'd been all those years ago. He was stronger now, and his bond with Seadramon was stronger than it had ever been. He hadn't even been able to reach champion at the time.

That happened the next day.

But before he could defeat the monster before him, he needed to save the idiot who'd unleashed it.

"You have to get out of there," he yelled out to the Rebel who stayed irritatingly still. "Dark digivolution makes the digimon berserk. If you don't run away, it'll kill you before it does anything else."

He'd seen it before, Airdramon becoming Megadramon and opening fire on him and his friends. All of it fueled by Ray's fear and hate towards the digimon who'd destroyed the gate to the human world, and their chance to go home along with it.

The rebel merely stared at him through his stupid motorcycle helmet. William froze up as Devidramon slowly turned around to her former partner and raised one of her hands up. He looked away as it brought it down, like swatting a bug on the table.

He heard a crash, and forced himself to look back, if just to confirm what happened to the rebel. Devidramon slowly raised her hand to reveal…

The rebel standing with his arms crossed, right between the red fingers of Devidramon.

"That enough proof for you?" Devidramon sneered as the rebel walked up to the edge and began to speak.

"Dark digivolution fueled by dark emotions, but there is a difference between allowing those dark emotions to control your judgment, and using them to fuel you," the rebel lectured as though he was the one who'd known about digimon for years, "I won't lie, both of our hearts are filled with rage and pain. But unlike others, we have chosen to use them to change the world for the better."

He unfolded his hands and stretched them out, as though to revive something massive. His cape bellowed and spread out from the motion of the action.

"This, is the true dark digivolution!"

William narrowed his eyes at the rebel's announcement. If there was anything which could convince him the rebel was too dangerous to keep around, this was it.

"Seadramon, I leave it to you," he jumped off Seadramon and watched as his partner let out a roar and launched himself towards the monster before them.


I'd heard legends of Devidramon before. A powerful demon digimon who served as messengers of dark gods. A beast that stalked the night and took young digimon who snuck extra rations. Or who snuck out of camp once night fell, or whatever other bit of mischief I'd done that day.

And now here I was wearing the form of my nightmares. I got my hand off the mesa, glad Gabi had trusted me enough for us to pull off that little unscripted stunt.

I stared down Seadramon, looking so much smaller now. The combat data of the new form flooded my mind as Seadramon sprung at me.

I raised one of my new long arms up and felt the power building in my calw.

"Crimson Nail!" I shouted swinging down as four red waves erupted from my claw. Seadramon snaked through the slashes and opened its jaw.

I brought my arms back just as it let loose a torrent of ice. I made it just in time to block any of the ice from reaching my face or chest. My arms felt cold, but it was nothing I couldn't handle.

I flexed my new muscles and broke free of the ice just as Seadramon landed in front of me. I brought my claw back up and tried to swing it down again.

"Death…" The attack got cut off as Seadramon surged forward and started running up my leg. I took a deep breath as I quickly found myself in his grasp. I had one arm stuck in the air and the other down by my side. No way to attack with those.

We locked eyes as he opened his jaw, intending to freeze my face point blank. Big mistake.

"Red Eyes," I whispered as I felt the flesh around me relax and the face in front of me freeze. I smirked, showing off my new rows of sharp teeth, before jumping back onto the mesa. I touched the edge and jumped off again, my wings bursting free from Seadramon grip as I took to the sides.

I only needed to fly for a few seconds to come to the realization it was probably my new favorite thing. The absolute freedom as my feet left the ground and the air under my wings carried me forward.

It was a complete mess. My wings were weak, and I needed to flap like crazy to stay airborn. Despite my effort I was slowly dropping in altitude anyway. Of course that could have more to do with my passenger slowing me down.

Speaking of Seadramon, he looked just about ready to break out of the daze I'd put him in. Time to get him off this flight. I turned and made sure to fly over a couple more cacti and spun.

It was a messy and slow stunt, and I almost fell out of the sky near the end, but it was enough. Between Seadramon's muscles relaxing, me opening up my limbs, and the spin being in the opposite direction of the coil, my passenger slid off me.

I watched as Seadramon fell into the metal maze below as an explosion rocked the night. Without the extra weight on me, I could actually pick up some altitude. I cleared the cacti and reached the walls of the website. I put my arms and legs out and dug my claws into the wall.

I glanced back and spotted the blond guy running towards his fallen digimon as fast as he could.

William charged forward, trying to get past the few cacti left before reaching the clearing. Seadramon was there, heavily injured but still awake.

"Are you okay?" William knelt down next to Seadramon's face as the giant eye turned to him.

"I'll be fine, but I don't think we can win like this," Seadrmon shuddered, "that initial blast took more out of me than I thought."

William grit his teeth as he remembered the first blast. Seadramon had taken the hit to keep him safe, but it looked like it had done more damage then either of them had thought.

He glared at the monster watching them while clinging to the wall. It was clear that the power boost a digimon got when they had a human partner was present and active. Time to kick things up a notch.

I got out my digivice and reached deep into myself to find the power I'd earned. The crest which had burned itself into my heart and would help Seadramon reach greater heights. The Crest of Reliability.

I pointed my digivice at Seadramon as I thought back to all those moments I'd shown others how reliable I could be. Those times I'd needed to be honest and act as a dependable rock. Those times I'd been a guiding light in the dark.

My digivice sparked to life as… nothing happened.

"What?" I muttered as I looked at my digivice, it was still white instead of the dark gray and blue it should have been. My hands shook as I felt a sudden emptiness inside.

My crest… where was it?


"Well, looks like this whole thing's finished," I said as I the blond guy knelt next to his quickly shrinking digimon. Devidramon tore herself off the wall and flew back over to me. Despite the gloom around us, I could just make out the huge smile on her face as she approached.

Guess flying was as fun as every piece of media ever made it out to be. She landed right in front of the mesa and I needed to brace myself in order to not fall over.

"Have fun with your new wings?" She smirked as she folded her arms over the edge of the mesa. Instead of answering my question, she just spread her wings out as far as they could and flapped once. "Alright I get it, mind helping me down from here?"

"Sure thing," she uncrossed her arms and placed her open palm in front of me. I stepped on it and steadied myself as she lifted it into the air.

She walked for a few steps before closing her palm a bit, giving me a few walls. I grabbed onto one of her fingers as we got closer to Seadramon and Blond Guy. I looked down on them as Devidramon put me down. I jumped off her hand and watched as the Blond Guy picked Betamon up in his arms.

"You didn't win," his glare was intense as he slowly backed away from us, "I don't know what trick you pulled to stop us from reaching ultimate, but it's the only reason you're walking away. Megasedramon would have frozen you both solid."

And with that, he reached the edge of the website and took his leave.

"Well, do you think this ended it?" I asked as Devidramon began to glow purple. I stood back a few steps as she suddenly shrank back into her regular size. I saw a familiar set of rabbit ears just as she started leaning over.

I raced back and put my arms under her just as Gazimon collapsed and fell into them.

I took a few deep breaths as I waited for her to do… anything at all.

"…this once," I just barely heard her mutter.

"Gazimon, are you alright? What did you say?" I asked as I flipped her over so she was face up.

"I said, I'll let you carry me just this once," she groaned as she reached down for her stomach. "Ugh, just until I can get some food in me."

I stood there for a few seconds, my brain processing until I started shaking. It got stronger until Gazimon forced one of her eyes open.

"Gabi, you there?"

I couldn't help it, I burst out into laughter. All that worrying and she was just hungry. Guess it made sense. She always seemed hungrier after a fight and going from the height of my stomach to a building probably took a lot of her.

"Hey, why are you laughing," Well it wasn't like I could explain myself. Not with how much laughter bursting out of me. Instead I just settled her into my arms and started carrying her out of there like the princess she was. We had a long walk until we were back home.


Sarah stared out her window again, hoping that every light of an incoming car was a sign her brother was coming home.

Ever since her older sister Emma got caught stealing from that store, her life had been nonstop chaos. Her parents were always fighting and her brother had just seemed distant, even more than usual.

And then the day of the trial had arrived and things had gotten even crazier. Her sister came back a free woman, but her brother was missing and no one would tell her anything about what had happened. Not even Emma, and she was always willing to talk to her when everyone else around her thought she was too young for whatever was happening.

Now when she asked, Emma just got this weird look on her face before making an excuse to leave the room. It was enough to make Sarah crazy.

All she wanted at this point was to go back, to before William disappeared that one summer and came back a colder person. Back to when he'd been that fun older brother who always had time for her, instead of the stuffy boring brother who forced her to do all her homework before she did anything else.

"Sarah… over here," she jumped as her brother's voice called out from behind her. She spun around to find him. How had he…

She froze as she spotted her brother, or at least his upper torso. It was sticking out of her smart TV with an arm reaching out.

"Sarah, we have to get out of here, before it's too late."


"…and after we finish the first four courses, I demand a chocolate cake, one as tall as I am."

She had spent the whole trip like this, just naming off food she wanted to eat once we got home. She knew there was no chance she was getting all of it, but the least I could do was indulge her a little by pretending otherwise.

Plus some of what she was asking for wouldn't be that hard to get my hands on. Dryden was on the coast, so it wouldn't be too hard to find some fresh fish for her second demand.

"And would we be allowed any of that cake?" She grinned before letting out a haughty laugh.

"Well of course Roxie can have some. As for you and Francis… maybe if you both beg."

"Thank you Gazimon," Roxie called from the satellite, "I'll start looking for a cake that size right away."

"Really?" I had to fight back a laugh with how fast Gazimon's eyes sprang wide open.

"Sure thing," there was a slight pause as I felt something building, "now all I have to do is get a cake the size of a Pagumon."

"Hey, that cake needs to be Gazimon sized," she pretended to get annoyed as we finally reached the exit. I let myself get pulled out of the PC, expecting to feel Gazimon shrink in my arms as I reentered the material world.

She didn't.

"Ugh…" Roxie droned on as I stared down at my arms.

Gazimon slowly looked at her claws before looking down at the rest of her body. She took a deep breath before turning to Roxie.

"So what were you saying about a Pagumon sized cake?"