"The danger facing this world is greater than ever before," said Azulongmon.
"What do you mean?" asked Magna Angemon, who still supported Bahadramon.
"Over the years, we've witnessed the increasing evil presence," said Zuqiaomon. "For an entire age, our world was at peace, until one day…"
Back in the lab, Greymon managed to dig his claws into Black Greymon's chest, ushering forth a surge of black blood that splashed against Greymon, covering most of his face and right arm.
"It started in my realm," said Azulongmon. "One day, without warning, a great evil power emerged from behind the wall of flame. Though I didn't know what it was exactly, I knew it was very evil, and incredibly powerful. I dispatched my nine warriors, whom I had established to guard my territory. They quickly began their investigation, but what they found they could never have prepared themselves for."
"What was it?" asked Cody.
"What came out from the flame I could not have predicted," said Azulongmon. "It was one of the few, but fearsome demon-type digimon. Making it worse was the fact that it was one of the most powerful of all such digimon. It was a beast that had been so tempered by its suffering within the flame, that it was nearly indestructible. In fact, the vile thing had gained mastery over the flames themselves, using them for it's own purposes."
"So what happened to these warriors of yours?" asked Davis.
"They were taken completely by surprise," said Azulongmon, who was clearly pained by his memories. "The beast defeated them all one by one, draining their powers away and sealing them somewhere where they could no longer threaten him. Only one of the nine digimon escaped, but he had been greatly weakened."
By that time, Garurumon was tearing at Black Garurumon's ears and ramming the evil digimon into submission. The creature was bleeding more with every blow, but was unrelenting in its bloodlust. It continued to inflict gouges and lacerations whenever it could.
"The situation in the east had grown dire," said Zuqiaomon. "I had offered the use of my Devas in aiding Azulongmon, but he decided to take a path that I believed folly."
"What did you do?" asked Mimi.
"I called upon humans to assist me," said Azulongmon. "They were, much like you are now, DigiDestined. In fact, they were the first. There were ten in all. Five humans paired with five digimon."
"Does that mean… my dad?" asked Cody.
"Yes," said Azulongmon very plainly. "Hiroki Hida was among those first few DigiDestined, as was Yukio Oikawa. They and three other humans endured many hardships in the Digital World, far removed from my guidance. The beast's expanding influence kept me from reaching them myself, but my agents were able to provide some support. They grew stronger with time, and in a short while they had grown very strong indeed, for the beast began to go after them himself."
"You insects!" yelled Geno. "How could you do this to my precious dark digimon?!"
"All too easy," said Greymon, standing over the broken body of Black Greymon.
"You shouldn't mess with pros like us," said Garurumon.
"You've caused my patience to wear thin," said Geno. "Now I'll show you the power of my influence."
"So what happened then?" asked Sora. "Was it a bad fight?"
"Oh yes, very terrible," said Azulongmon. "It raged for hours. The demon digimon would not surrender the power he'd gained, but the DigiDestined had the light on their side. All of their digimon were at their Mega levels, and still the evil digimon resisted. His power was far too great to be overcome so easily. Finally, I broke through his dark barrier to provide assistance directly. I stepped in to fight the beast one on one, telling the children what must be done. They quickly followed my instructions, for as I dueled with the beast, they reached my fallen warriors, who were still trapped in the demon's lair. My warriors were freed, and together, we all managed to conquer the beast."
"But that's not the end of it, lads," said Ebonwumon.
"Indeed," said Azulongmon. "Although the demon's body was beaten and his power shattered, we couldn't kill him for fear of his being reconfigured, and we couldn't just let him live on. I did what had to be done, banishing him to a place separate from the Digital World. I banished him to a place reflecting his mind, a sanctuary of evil. I sent him to what you know as the Dark Ocean. After that incident, I created a dark whirlpool in my own seas so that I could bind all the defeated evil digimon in a place that they could not escape, but where I could also watch over their tormented spirits."
"The dark whirlpool?" asked TK. "You mean that place that Ken…"
"Correct," said Azulongmon. "But even until today I regret the events surrounding that tortured soul I banished to the Dark Ocean… Daemon…"
"Daemon?!" shouted the DigiDestined and digimon who were familiar with the villain.
"Yes, Daemon," said Azulongmon. "He was the one who the first DigiDestined fought against. After he was banished, he began to slowly build his power again. It took him many, many years, but now he is once again at full strength, albeit trapped."
"Yep, yep," said Davis. "He got out for a little while, but we took care of him."
"I know, and I am thankful," said Azulongmon.
"Hey Azulongmon," said Willis. "Who were those nine warriors?"
"They were the predecessors of the DigiDestined," said Azulongmon. "Nine digital humans partnered with nine digimon. Each human was made up of the same pool of data as was used for their digimon, so they were kind of alternate parts of the same being. In short, they were Gennai and his associates, the Guardians."
Geno nonchalantly reached into his jacket pocket and extracted the Crests of Cowardice and Solitude. He grinned evilly as he once again gripped his digivice.
"Black Greymon! Black Garurumon!" shouted Geno. "Fix yourselves up so we can move on!"
Both digimon instantly stood up and their injuries began to heal very quickly. It was all to apparent that the unique healing abilities of the virus would make this fight far more difficult than either Tai or Matt could have anticipated. Within seconds, both evil digimon were restored to full health, and were very much ready to go.
"Now then…" said Geno. "Time to dance."
His digivice began to shake violently in his hand and the two crests began to send out pulses of negative energy. The evil digimon began to resonate with the crests, glowing with a dark light.
"Black Greymon, Black Garurumon…" said Geno. "Dark digivolve."
"Daemon was not the last threat though," said Zuqiaomon. "Some years later, our evil counterparts, the Dark Masters, emerged once again after years of existing beyond our sight."
"They came from out of nowhere," said Baihumon. "Though our power was greater, they overwhelmed us one by one, using the element of surprise to their own dark ends."
"They sealed us away," said Ebonwumon. "We could do nothing to stop them."
"I was their final target," said Azulongmon. "Before they could conquer me, I ordered the Guardians to recruit new DigiDestined to stop them. Even though I was once again powerless to aid them, my servants fought on, trying desperately to do what had to be done. Still, they were eventually overtaken, and their ancient order was shattered. When Piedmon came to this base to destroy the works of the Guardians, Gennai managed to escape with the eight digieggs."
"…And we show up a few years later," said Izzy. "We land on File Island, beat Devimon, and the rest is history."
"And it is still going on," said Azulongmon. "Despite all of your victories, it has only been getting worse with time. The evil digimon continue getting stronger. I'm just amazed you haven't seen the whole truth yet."
"What whole truth?" asked Joe.
"The truth that what has been happening is part of one plan," said Zuqiaomon. "That the evil forces have been playing us for fools ever since Daemon first stepped out from behind the wall of flame."
"All evil digimon are part of this 'grand scheme'," said Azulongmon. "Although most never realize it, they are all drawn to answer a call to evil that courses through their minds every hour of every day. They have all been working towards a common goal, and now we are in the midst of facing a challenge unlike any we've seen before."
"The legends…" said Magna Angemon. "Could they possibly be true?"
"I'm afraid they are," said Azulongmon. "Three terrible evil forces have arisen from the past. The Deceiver, the Corrupter, and the Destroyer have come once again into our lands."
"Who?" asked Kari.
"You've already faced them all at least once," said Azulongmon. "In fact, you faced the Destroyer before any. He was in the employ of the Dark Masters back then. He was nowhere even close to his full potential, and none realized who he truly was, not even him. Still, you had beaten him before he became a real threat to anyone, saving us all a great deal of concern."
"Devimon…" TK said with a shudder.
"When he was beaten his data was sealed away," said Azulongmon. "He was trapped in the dark whirlpool, and as long is he remained so, he could never pose a threat again."
"Well what about the others?" asked Cody.
"The Deceiver…" said Baihumon. "He is the weakest of the three when at his full potential. In fact you've already beaten him."
"No doubt, you mean Myotismon," said Angewomon.
"Yes," said Baihumon. "And judging by how hard it was for you to finally crush his evil spirit, I tell you that defeating the Corrupter will be next to impossible."
"Let me guess," said Hawkmon. "The Corrupter is the virus."
"Bingo," said Ebonwumon. "You're a bright lad."
"So you're saying we're on the last one?" asked Armadillomon. "Sounds like good news to me."
"Far from it," said Azulongmon.
Finally, the dark energies surrounding the evil digimon subsided, and their new forms were revealed. Black Metalgreymon and Black Weregarurumon looked just as savage as ever, but now their bodies had grown vastly stronger. Making it worse was the fact that without their crests, Tai and Matt could provide no counter.
"One step closer…" said Geno. "I can almost taste your fear. It's delicious!"
Black Weregarurumon bent down on all fours and started scratching behind his ear with his hind leg. Black Metalgreymon dug at the floor with his toes.
"You just think you're so tough…" said Tai.
"Wrong," said Geno. "I know I am."
"I'm sure it'll make you so proud to beat us when your digimon are Ultimates and ours are just Champions," said Matt.
"Oh please," said Geno. "You must think I'm a complete idiot if you think I'll fall for this. Face it, you can't win."
The two Ultimates began to move forward painfully slowly, drawing ever closer to the humans and their digimon.
"The threat grows with every day," said Azulongmon. "The virus is incredibly crafty, and it will take every advantage it can get. Right now, we know what it plans, and only when we all act together can we finally stop it once and for all."
"And then it'll all be over?" asked Veemon.
"You wish," said Baihumon. "Thanks to your little friend, the Emperor, there's a much larger threat out there."
"Huh?" asked the whole group.
"The Destroyer lives," said Azulongmon. "When the seal on the whirlpool was breached and Devimon's spirit was extracted for the creation of Kimeramon, he was freed once again. Although Kimeramon fell, the Destroyer survived. That is a common trait among the three; they always survive. Now, the Destroyer is alive, even though he probably doesn't even know what he really is. He's out there, though, and in time he will rise and assume his true power once again. And when that happens, not even the combined powers of Malo Myotismon and the virus could compare to those of the Destroyer."
"So what do we need to do?" asked Davis.
"Simple," said Azulongmon. "Let us take care of things. When we reawaken as Protomon, we should be strong enough to bring an end to the virus once and for all. Once done, we can reassume our vigil of watching over this world, and we will be ready when the Destroyer finally shows his face."
"So that's it?" asked Davis. "You mean we don't have to do anything."
"It's more appropriate to say you don't GET to do anything," said Zuqiaomon. "Once this battle is completed, you humans will be expelled from our world once and for all!"
"What?!" asked Michael. "Azulongmon, is this true?!"
"I'm afraid so," said Azulongmon. "We can no longer have you here. Humans represent a significant variable. They have the potential for both great good and great evil. The dark forces would almost certainly use you to further their own interests, as they have already done with your friends Ken and Jack. Besides, you have your own lives and your own world to deal with. It is beast for everyone if we keep our worlds distinct."
"So we never get to see our digimon again?" asked Sora.
"I'm sorry," said Azulongmon. "I know it is painful, but it is the way things must be. Our judgement is final."
"You've… you've got to be kidding," said Willis.
"There's no sense in dwelling on this," said Baihumon. "Right now, let's try to focus on stopping the virus."
"You are right, my friend," said Azulongmon. "But there is one last thing, children. It seems that another force is actively working with the three great evils, and I believe it is they who are responsible for much of the current situation. This 'Vanguard' is as old as we Sovereigns are, and I fear that they may still seek to interfere in matters. Be wary if you should ever see them."
"Young lass," said Ebonwumon to Kari. "Now is your time to do what is necessary. Now you must hand over the blessing that has been with you all of your life."
"What?" asked Kari. "What about me?"
"Kari…" said Azulongmon. "You have always carried in you a strange power. It is this power which has caused many digimon to seek you out. Now is the time to release that power for the purpose it was designed for."
"What do you mean?" asked Kari nervously.
"Your power, Kari," said Azulongmon. "It is a seed of light. Return it to us, and we can once again awaken as Protomon, and then we can put an end to all of this."
A very tense moment followed. Kari and Azulongmon stared into each other's eyes. All other eyes glance back and forth between the two of them. All was perfectly quiet.
"Alright…" whispered Kari.
She closed her eyes as a gentle white light surrounded her body. Everything was utterly silent as the light spread outward, engulfing everything completely.
Geno was laughing to himself with demented joy as his loyal digimon drew closer and closer to their prey. He was so focussed that he didn't see what was happening behind him until it was too late. In the blink of an eye, someone grabbed the Crests of Cowardice and Solitude and wrenched them from Geno's hands. With perfect aim, the two crests were lobbed across the room, sailing right into the waiting hands of Tai and Matt. Geno spun around in a fury to see what had happened, but all he saw was the Emperor, smiling wickedly at his own treachery to his former master.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
[Well, that's another chapter. I know the last few haven't exactly been action-packed, but come on, REVIEW! Surely you must have SOME thoughts on what the Sovereigns have been talking about. After all, they are spilling a whole lot of valuable plot information. What about Ken? What's up with him? Doesn't anyone have a comment or two? Not to pressure y'all, but if I'm going to take the time to write all this, I'd appreciate it if you wrote a sentence or two in reponse.]