[Welcome back to another fantastic episode of The Crest of Corruption. At this point, I feel it appropriate to let you all know that I've decided on a title for this whole series of fics, and that title is… Digimon: Legends. I can tell you're all so impressed that you nearly pissed yourselves, but I just knew that I couldn't keep going without naming the series, so there you have it. The title pages of The White DigiEgg and The Crest of Corruption will be altered to reflect that. In other news, I'd like to officially welcome all of my more recent reviewers, and for The changer of ways, I appreciate your offer, but the Destroyer is already designed (and in my humble opinion, magnificent). And now, without any further hesitation I give you, chapter 31…]

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By that time, all of the other DigiDestined had finally arrived at their destination: the Shinjuku Skyscrapers. They recognized the landmark easily enough, but as to what exactly they were doing there they had no idea. The vans pulled into the underground parking garage, followed closely by eight digimon. The vans quickly found parking spaces next to the freight elevator and everyone got out. Yamaki instantly started speaking into his radio and headed for the elevator, while the DigiDestined reconvened. Tai, Matt, TK, Sora, and Jack all seemed rather disoriented. Despite repeated attempts by Izzy and the others to ask about what was wrong, the five of them were unresponsive.

"Come on, guys," Joe insisted. "What could be the big deal?"

"Interesting little thing…" Sora finally said. "You know how the Sovereigns mentioned there being more than one Earth?"

"Yeah, go on," said TK.

"Well Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," said Sora.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Willis.

"We're not on our Earth, anymore," said Matt. "Unless of course we happen to be a huge media franchise and nobody told us."

"Was there a carbon monoxide leak in that van or something?" asked Yolei. "Start making sense!"

"How to put this…" said Jack. "On this Earth, we're a TV show. There's a digimon card game, digimon action figures, digimon clothes, digimon video games… basically enough merchandise to make us all rich off the royalties, or at least you guys. Apparently, I'm the only one of us that no one seems to have heard of."

"This is most unexpected," said Cody.

"I assume you have some proof," said Izzy.

"Duh!" Kazu exclaimed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out an odd assortment of cards and folded papers. "Check it out!"

Kari took the cards and she began to look through them with everyone staring over her shoulders. Sure enough, each card held the picture of a digimon and its statistics for a card game.

"And look at this!" said Kazu, unfolding two of the pieces of paper, revealing them to be posters.

The DigiDestined lost all interest in the cards, their attention quickly shifting to the posters. Things had just gotten creepier. One of the posters featured an assortment of pictures that included the group as they appeared four years ago, back during their first excursion to the Digital World, and written across the top was: "Digimon Adventure". The second poster was clearly more recent, showing Davis, Ken, TK, Kari, Cody, and Yolei as they were now. Across the top, it read: "Digimon Adventure 02".

"Well, this is certainly surprising," said Izzy.

"Gee, I guess I really overdid it with the pink back then," said Mimi.

"My hips are NOT that big!" Yolei huffed.

"Um, Kazu?" Kenta whispered. "Were you carrying those posters this entire time?"

"Yeah," Kazu whispered back.

"May I ask why?" whispered Kenta.

"They were in with my cards by accident," Kazu explained.

"Ah," said Kenta.

"Hey, I'm not on here anywhere!" said Michael.

"Me neither!" said Willis.

"Well, neither of you guys really had enough screen time to be on the posters," said Kazu. "I think you two were kind of gypped."

"As fascinating as all of this is, we really should be moving," Yamaki insisted.

"Alright," said Tai. "But don't think we're done with this yet."

"Um, can that elevator support all of us?" asked Metalgarurumon.

"Now that I think about it, I have my doubts," said Mr. Wong. "Why don't you, Wargreymon, Diaboromon, and Bahadramon come up after the rest of us?"

"Sounds fine to me," said Wargreymon.

"As you wish," said Bahadramon.

"Acceptable…" grumbled Diaboromon.

So the humans, along with Rosemon, Valkyrimon, Magnadramon, and Seraphimon, all boarded the large freight elevator. One of Yamaki's men pressed the button for one of the uppermost levels. The elevator began to ascend with a jolt.

"You know, Rosemon," said Mimi after a few seconds. "We were kind of in the middle of a battle and whatnot for a while there, but now we finally have some time to talk, and I just want to say that I absolutely LOVE your Mega form! You're even more beautiful than you were as Lillymon."

"You think so?" asked Rosemon, quickly giving her petals a little adjustment.

"Oh definitely," said Mimi. "Your fashion sense just keeps getting better as you digivolve!"

"Oh, stop," Rosemon said modestly as she blushed.

"You're not half bad yourself, Valkyrimon," said Yolei.

"It's about time I got a little recognition," said Valkyrimon. "I don't walk around like this for my own good."

"All of our digimon are really at the top of their games," said Cody. "I've never seen Armadillomon… er, Vikemon fight like that before. It was… kinda' scary."

"What's on your mind, Cody?" asked TK.

"It's just…" Cody started. "Do you ever feel like Patamon becomes completely different when he digivolves?"

"Well, a little," said TK. "He sure gets tougher and a lot cooler when he digivolves."

"Why, thank you," said Seraphimon.

"No, it's more than that," said Cody. "It's started to feel like Vikemon completely changed when Protomon helped everyone to warp digivolve. It's like he doesn't need me anymore, like he's outgrown me or something."

"Cody, listen to me," said TK. "No matter how much Armadillomon digivolves, he's always going to be your partner. He'll always be the exact same lovable glutton in his heart. No matter how far Patamon digivolves, he's still my best friend, and I have no doubt that it's the same for you and Armadillomon."

"You really think so?" asked Cody.

"I know so," TK replied. "I'm sure Armadillomon would tell you the exact same thing if he were here."

"So guys…" Henry whispered to Kenta and Kazu. "Did you manage to get anything out of our 'guests'?"

"As far as we can tell, they're the genuine article," said Kazu. "And believe me, we're the ones that can tell you for certain."

"Well, I'll trust them for now," said Henry. "But it all still seems pretty fishy to me."

"Hey Jack?" asked Kari. "How are you holding up?"

"Fine," said Jack, a very serious expression on his face.

"You don't look like it," said Kari.

"I said I'm fine!" said Jack.

Kari was taken aback. She shrugged it off after a moment and started talking to Magnadramon. Jack felt a twinge of guilt over his shortness with her, but he had more important concerns for the moment.

Elsewhere, in the middle of a dense urban area, Takato stood looking out through what remained of a train car onto the hellish form of NightmareOmnimon as Wargrowlmon, Guilmon's Ultimate form, approached the monstrosity.

"Get him, Wargrowlmon!" shouted Takato. "Make him pay!"

"With pleasure!" said Wargrowlmon.

Wargrowlmon held his dangerous-looking arms out in front of him and began to channel the energy of his atomic core through the blades, causing them to phosphoresce with intense blue light.

"Plasma Blades!" yelled Wargrowlmon as his boosters kicked in.

The propulsive force launched Wargrowlmon forward directly toward NightmareOmnimon's broad chest-plate. Wargrowlmon slammed his arms into NightmareOmnimon, but despite his incredibly sharp claws and blades, the dark digimon was left without as much as a scratch. Frustrated, Wargrowlmon began to punch as fast as he could, but he was still doing more harm to himself than NightmareOmnimon. His blades began to lose their glow as Wargrowlmon powered down the attack and backed of from his colossal opponent.

"Takato! This is not good!" said Wargrowlmon.

"We can't stop now!" said Takato. "Don't let up for a second! Keep going!"

"Alright! Take… THIS!" yelled Wargrowlmon. "Atomic Blaster!"

A red glow began to emanate from the dual barrels on either side of his chest. The glow grew more intense by the second until each weapon could hold no more, and finally discharged the stored energy, dumping out a massive dose of high-intensity radiation on NightmareOmnimon and searing his armor with the heat of a nuclear furnace. And yet, despite the valiant effort, the great evil digimon remained unimpressed. Having grown weary of this fight, if it could even be called that, NightmareOmnimon lashed out with his Infernal Sword. Wargrowlmon was lucky to see it in time to begin dodging, but he just wasn't fast enough to avoid a hit all together. The very tip of the sword made a deep gash in Wargrowlmon's leg, siphoning off a surprising amount of data and robbing Wargrowlmon of his Ultimate status.

"Guilmon!" screamed Takato, watching as his digimon reverted to his Rookie form while still being thrown to the ground.

Guilmon smacked into the concrete, skipped once, hit again, and rolled several times until he slid into the side of a building.

"Hang on, boy!" Takato yelled. "I'm coming!"

Takato looked around desperately for any means available to him to get down from the elevated train and back to ground level. Takato quickly spied a strip of elevated grass with a tree in the middle of it between opposing lanes of highway. Although the top of the tree was still about four feet below and about a yard away from where Takato stood on the precipice, leaving a nearly twenty foot drop below that, he knew it was the only way open to him.

"Alright, Calumon," said Takato, grabbing the small digimon. "Geronimo!"

Takato took a flying leap from the twisted remains of the train car and dove for the tree. He felt a strong urge to close his eyes, but he was smart enough to know that that would cost him dearly. He just remained focussed on the tree; he was fully intent on sticking the landing.

Meanwhile, the DigiDestined had all arrived in a brightly-lit office area with enough electronic equipment to keep Izzy busy for the rest of his teenage years. Of course, most eyes were either focussed on the coffee machine or the plush, leather furniture in the rest area just to the left of where they entered. After a moment of drooling, they sprung into action. Tai, TK, Michael, Willis, Mimi, Jack, and Yolei all dived for the luxurious furnishings, but the only problem was the fact that there were only two couches and a single chair arranged around a coffee table, and everyone wanted to lay down and stretch out. Matt, Joe, and Sora made a beeline for the coffee machine the instant they saw it, and now they were busily pouring themselves something to keep them going. Kari and Cody showed a lot more restraint, preferring to hold back and simply watch the action, while Izzy had too many questions to be bothered by something like rest.

"It's mine!" shouted Tai, grabbing TK in a headlock and yanking him back from the couch.

"Not a chance!" said TK, wrestling with the older boy.

"And he steals home!" said Jack as he slid onto the couch that the other two had been fighting over.

"I don't think so!" said Tai and TK simultaneously and grabbing Jack.

"Say it's mine!" yelled Willis, who had fish-hooked Michael's mouth and held his hair with his other hand.

"No!" shouted Michael, who had solid grips on Willis' right leg and left wrist.

"This chair's not big enough for the two of us!" yelled Yolei.

"Only because you have such wide hips!" screeched Mimi.

"That does it! IT'S GO TIME!"

"Hey! You're spilling it!" said Sora.

"Save some for the rest of us!" said Joe.

"Jeez, maybe you two should try some decaf instead," insisted Matt as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Just hurry up!" said Sora.

"Yeah! Other people are waiting!" said Joe.

Kari just sighed and shook her head. A few seconds later, things began to calm themselves. Jack, TK, and Tai settled down on one couch together, all of them trying to get as comfortable as possible without putting their feet directly on top of each other. Yolei and Mimi had parted as soon as they realized how to turn an overcrowding problem into a favorable solution, and Mimi soon sat in the chair with Michael and Yolei sat with Willis on the couch. Matt, Sora, and Joe all had their coffee, looking as content as babies that just needed their bottles. Cody and Kari strolled over once the carnage had settled and engaged the others in casual conversation. Rosemon, Magnadramon, Seraphimon, and Valkyrimon stood around their human partners. Even though the door had been a tight squeeze, they were perfectly comfortable in the large, open room. The other digimon were still coming up the elevator. As for the Tamers, Kenta and Kazu still seemed stunned by the fact that they were actually in the same room as the DigiDestined. Suzie clung tenaciously to her father's leg with Lopmon at her side, and Henry also kept close to his dad, his Terriermon sitting on his shoulder. Izzy stuck with Yamaki and Mr. Wong as they walked toward a long row of cubicles.

"What's all the noise out here?" an attractive blonde woman with short hair and a lab coat asked as she stepped out of one of the cubicles. "Oh! Tao, you're back! You won't believe some of the readings we've been getting while you were away."

"Oh, I think I will, Daisy," said Mr. Wong. "I'd like you to meet some new friends of ours."

"My name is Koushiro Izumi," said Izzy very politely, using his full name as he rarely did. "But everybody just calls me Izzy."

"A pleasure to meet you, Izzy," said the woman. "You may call me Daisy. Hey guys! We have some guests!"

A group of four other adults came out from their cubicles. They all seemed rather tired.

"So I see," said a black man with a shaved head and dark sunglasses.

"That's Babel," Mr. Wong explained.

"I was wondering what all the noise was," said a kindly Indian woman.

"Alright Tao, what exactly happened out there?" asked a balding redheaded man with glasses.

"Those two are Curly and Dolphin," said Mr. Wong. "The last one there is Shibumi."

"Hi there," said a blonde man with a mustache and goatee.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," said Izzy. "You may call me Izzy."

"I suspected as much," said Shibumi with a little smile, apparently aware of something that the others were not. "So tell me, how exactly did you and your friends manage to find your way to our world?"

"I'm afraid we don't have the luxury of time to discuss that," said Mr. Wong. "We have a very serious problem here."

"Problem?" asked Dolphin. "What is it?"

"We haven't detected anything to suggest a big problem," said Curly.

"It would seem that our little virus is on the loose," said Mr. Wong. "The Genocide Virus is here."

"What?!" asked Shibumi. "No, it can't be!"

"I'm afraid it is," said Mr. Wong. "And judging from what Izzy here has told me, it's evolved just like the digimon."

"Has it taken on a form?" asked Babel.

"Izzy tells me that it's inhabiting the body of a digimon," said Mr. Wong. "And it's no ordinary digimon either; it's evolved even beyond the Mega level."

"The virus…" said Shibumi. "It must be bolstering that digimon's strength a great deal."

"Hold on just a minute," said Yamaki. "This virus wasn't in the report on your research. I want to know exactly what this thing is and what it's capable of."

"Okay… we'll tell you," said Shibumi. "But I should warn you, the very knowledge of its existence may have terrifying consequences for all digimon."