Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any of the main characters in this fic except for Rime and Phloem.  I also came up with the idea of 'weremon.'  Most Digimon that appear in this fic I looked up at Sora's Digimon Palace Digidex.

Chapter 13: Dark Destroyers (Part 3)

Phloem spotted Vahn flying below him towards the castle where all of the fighting was taking place.  Swiftly, he sent his spirit-body down until he reached his friend. //Vahn!// he called, and Vahn glanced towards him.  The Lucemon-weremon nearly tumbled in his flight when he saw the 'ghosts' of Phloem and Tapirmon.  Phloem smiled reassuringly.  //Don't worry; I'm fine.//

Vahn looked dubious, but hopeful.  "You look like a ghost," he said.  "Are you sure that you're not dead?"

//He's not,// Tapirmon said firmly.  //We were just temporarily separated from our bodies.//

"How did that happen?"

Phloem smiled and shrugged.  //I don't know.  It's good to see that you're okay.  I was worried about you.//

A light blush spread over Vahn's face.  "I was worried about you, too."  His eyes met Phloem's.

Amused, Tapirmon watched them gaze at each other for a moment before mentally coughing to get their attention.  //I'm sure that right now would be the perfect moment for you two to get mushy, but our friends are still in danger.//  He hated to break into their little moment, even if their friends' lives were on the line.

Phloem blushed.  //I almost forgot!// he exclaimed.  //I'll check up on how they're doing.//  He extended his sixth sense into the distance.  A wave of emotions from the fighters hit him.  PainCourageAngerFearHopeHateWorryDespairSadnessLoyaltyFaithDesperationLove.  It filled his mind; he couldn't think at all.  He felt like he was being torn apart; like his very being was being ripped into.  He let out a mental scream of agony.

"No!  Phloem!" Vahn yelled when he saw Phloem's spirit convulse in pain.  The scream in his mind was so painful.  "What's happening?!"

Tapirmon began to glow.  //His spirit is being torn apart by their strong emotions.  Without his body to anchor it, their feelings are tearing him into pieces.  I'll make sure that his soul isn't destroyed.//  As he said that, Phloem's spirit split into several small spheres and shot off towards his friends.  Tapirmon's spirit soon followed him.

"Tapirmon?  Phloem?!"  Desperately, he sped off in the direction that the spirit orbs had.  'Don't die on me!' he silently pleaded as flew.

********

Sweat trickled down Relaina's face, but she didn't allow herself to be distracted.  Marcus was too quick with his scythe to ignore for even a moment.  But a worry tugged on her heart as she felt and saw Garurumon get hurt.  The Ultimate-level Giromon was just too strong for a Champion to handle.  'If only he could Digivolve… If only I had the strength to help him.'

A voice inside of her answered, 'You do.'  The voice was somehow familiar, but it was also different… like it wasn't part of her mind.

'No, I don't,' she replied as she dodged another strike from the scythe.

'Yes, you do,' the voice insisted.  'It's all inside you… Use your D-Seed to give it to Garurumon.'

'But… how?  I don't know how!'  And suddenly, she did.  A fierce grin appeared on her face.  "I'm going to win!" she announced with surety, and then she began to attack Marcus with renewed energy.  Her D-Seed glowed brightly.  'Garurumon!  I really do care about you, my best friend.  We'll win together.'

Alan watched from behind the rock as Killey speared the last illusion through.  'He'll see me next, and then I'll die,' he thought despondently.  'But I've been hiding, while ExVeemon…' ExVeemon let out a cry of pain as another of Panjyamon's attacks hit it.  'He's so injured, but I can't do anything!'

Another voice spoke up inside of him.  'You can!  Don't give up!'

He was so worried that he didn't notice that it wasn't his thought.  'If I could win my fight, it would help ExVeemon win his.  If he could win his, I could win mine'

'If you fought, maybe you could win,' the voice interjected.

He attributed it to an overactive conscience, but he still paid attention.  'I don't want this to be an unfair fight.  If I… If I managed to kill him that way, I'd feel guilty about it for sure.  But he's stronger, so…'

His 'conscience' sounded semi-annoyed.  'You're the smart one.  Don't be backhanded about it, but distract him!'

'I must be insane,' he decided as he stood up.  'Otherwise, this wouldn't be happening.'  "Hey, Killey, I'm over here!" he shouted at the man who been staring in surprise at the empty space where the illusion had stood.  Killey had really thought that the last illusion would be the real Alan.

"I'm going to kill you, pipsqueak!" Killey shouted in frustration and rushed towards Alan.

'I can do this,' Alan thought as he nervously held a defensive stance.  'I have to.'

The voice in his head seemed amused.  'Of course you'll do it.  And you can help ExVeemon win at the same time…'

Alan was about to say that he didn't know how, but out of nowhere, he understood what he needed to do.  He focused on giving ExVeemon energy, and his D-Seed burst into light as Killey came closer.  The bright light made him lose his concentration, and…

Kurai hastily dodged dagger after dagger that Sierra threw.  The twisting, jumping, and flipping that she was pulling off was making her muscles ache.  'I hope I can pull this off.'

'You can win,' said an inner voice with complete certainty.

She winced as a slow reaction allowed a dagger to slice open her arm.  She kept on dodging despite the pain.  'Yeah, right.  How am I supposed to do that?'

'Fight with BlackGatomon.  Act like partners.  Synchronize.'  That made no sense at first, but then…

'Synchronize?  I think I understand.'  She glanced at BlackGatomon, who was recovering from the hypnosis that Bastemon had put her under.  She was jumping around quickly to dodge any attack.  'If I teleport rapidly, she can't control my jumps.  Just like BlackGatomon's jumping is getting her closer to the enemy.'  Kurai smiled grimly and prepared for a final attack.  The knowledge of how to help BlackGatomon came into her mind.  'I know what to do now.'  Her D-Seed began to glow.

Tatsu dodged Shiro's punch and struck back at him with one of the halves of the staff.  It didn't land a blow, and the battle was back to a stalemate.  Neither could make a move that the other couldn't dodge or counter, and it seemed that Tatsu was actually worse off.  Strikedramon was definitely picking up more damage than GrappLeomon.

'How can I win this fight?' Tatsu wondered as yet another blow missed its target.  Pain from Strikedramon's injuries was slowing him down.  It was becoming harder to dodge.  'If I lose…' There was so much he hadn't told Sakura; so many secrets he now regretted keeping.

An inner voice spoke up.  'Do you have wings or not?'  He tried to explain that it wouldn't be fair and that he'd be fighting on unequal ground.  One part of him wondered why he was arguing with himself.  'Is it fair that you're fighting with a wooden weapon while he's fighting with a metal one?'

The voice had a point there, Tatsu conceded.  However, he knew that he wasn't able to use the wings to fly.  The wings were there because of his bond with Strikedramon, but Strikedramon had not evolved far enough yet for the wings to be more than eerie ornamentation for Tatsu.

'I can help you with that!  Just don't give up!'  His D-Seed's bright light made Shiro pause for just a second in his fight.  That was enough time for Tatsu to throw off his cloak and spread his Cyberdramon wings to their full extent.

Pixie struggled in the confines of her own mind.  To her, it appeared that she had been stuck in a round white room with no way out.  She pounded futilely against the walls, but nothing happened.  Her mental body's 'hands' felt sore and transparent from pounding against the confining substance that kept her captive.  She started in surprise when she felt another presence intrude.

Her eyes widened at the sight of a very ghostly Phloem and Tapirmon.  "What…?"

"I'm here to help," he explained.  "Pixie, you can still win this fight."

"But-" She gestured helplessly at the walls around her.  "I can't break them."

He sighed.  "Yes, you can," he said with exasperation.  "Your strong point is your mind, your telepathy.  Use it."

She looked at her aching hands.  "I don't have enough strength left," she said quietly.  "There's no way I can win or help Veedramon to win."

Phloem smiled mysteriously.  "Yes, there is," he said simply.  "Put your mind into the D-Seed, and the rest will come out fine.  He might be able to block your control of your body, but a mind can never be destroyed so easily."  She hesitated for only a moment, but then she reached out with her mind past the confinement and mentally touched her Digivice.  The walls cracked; she was back in control of her body.

Inside her mind and out of her knowledge, the spirit of Phloem began to slowly disperse as the D-Seed glowed.

The colossal strength of Gen and Bulbmon was slowly wearing away at Sho and IceDevimon.  'We can't keep this up,' he realized with a dark certainty.

A too-cheerful voice spoke in his head.  'Yes, you can!'  It was Phloem, but Sho didn't know that.  He grimly blocked the ax again, but his sword was truly beginning to break now.

'I can see myself winning any second now,' Sho thought sarcastically.  If IceDevimon could evolve, then neither of them would win.  'But I wish that I could at least help my partner.  He is closer to me than anyone else.'

'You do have the power to win,' the voice said stubbornly.  'Just try!'  With nothing else to lose, Sho did… and was surprised to feel himself re-energized.  His D-Seed burst into light.

Even as a Meramon, Sakura was slightly burned by Tir's fire.  'I guess I'm too tired to hold up against him,' she thought as his flaming glaive clashed with her metal one.  Then he knocked her back, and she landed in her normal form – that is, a girl with Gatomon ears and a Gatomon's tail.

"What kind of freak are you?" he said venomously as he attacked her while she was still down.  She hastily rolled out of the way as the glaive pierced the ground where she had been.

She didn't reply.  'Am I going to die?'

'Don't give up,' said a quiet, but sure, voice inside her head.  'You have the power to win.  You have the power to help Gatomon defeat WaruSeadramon.'

'How?' she wondered.

'Your own will… Or, perhaps, a miracle.'  Light came from the top of her D-Seed, and strong energy coursed through her body.  She got up, suddenly refreshed.

Magnus's fight with Cleo was a stalemate.  For every injury one gave the other, the other got back with something just as bad.  They stepped back from each other for a moment to catch their breath.  'Not too bad… I'm not sure whether I'll win or lose.'

'What about Growlmon?  Can he win against JewelBeemon?' asked a voice inside of him.  Magnus couldn't answer.  'You can help him.  He can win.  You can win,' the voice continued with surety.

He was about to ask how, but then, he knew.  His eyes shining with new hope and energy, he prepared to attack Cleo one last time.  "Are you ready?" he asked.

She nodded, and they both brought up their swords.  As he rushed towards him, adrenaline pumping through his veins, his D-Seed began to glow and new energy filled him.

Brian slashed again at Haven, and Haven again teleported out of the way.  Neither was winning or losing.  Every time Brian predicted where Haven was, Haven would teleport, and Brian's hit would miss.  At least his precognition was preventing Brian from being hit also.

'I need to win soon,' Brian thought desperately as he sensed Piximon slowly gaining an edge over Angemon.  'He won't last if I don't.'

A calm voice spoke up in his mind.  'You can win.  He can win.  Have faith.'

'But how?' he asked it as there was another clash of swords.

'Believe…' The voice became softer, but Brian felt strength fill him.  He knew what to do now, he realized as his D-Seed lit up.

Vahn looked around the scene below him desperately.  His Lucemon body easily floated in midair, and though the Lady Haven watched him, she did nothing.  He couldn't see Phloem or Tapirmon.  'Where are they?  Are they dead?  I hope not…'

A clear voice spoke inside of him.  'I'm inside of you and everyone.'

It had been Phloem's voice!  'Are you dead?!'  Worry filled him.

Phloem thought, 'No, but I soon might be…'  Then the D-Seeds of every Digidestined began to radiate a pure golden light.  'This… This is taking to much energy on me…'  The mental voice sounded strained.

Suddenly, Tapirmon's thoughts intruded on Vahn's worried ones.  'Use the link with the part of Phloem in your mind to send out energy!  Hurry!'

'But if I release energy through him, then… He could die from an overload, Tapirmon!' Vahn thought at the presence in his mind.

'He'll die if you don't!' Tapirmon retorted with worry and strain.  'Do it!'

Hesitantly, Vahn released all of his power through the link that Tapirmon showed him.  The Lucemon's natural golden aura grew even brighter as the holy energy relieved some of the strain on Phloem's split spirit…  It had very nearly disappeared from the strain of giving each Digidestined enough power to let their Digimon Digivolve.  The new energy brought the soul back from the brink of fading away for good.

With the new power, the Digimon also blazed with a golden light as they Digivolved.

"Garurumon Digivolve to… WereGarurumon!  Wolf Claw!"  WereGarurumon jumped up towards the machine Digimon, ready to attack.

"ExVeemon Digivolve to… Paildramon!  Desperado Blaster!"

"BlackGatomon Digivolve to… LadyDevimon!"  By now, the former cat Digimon had gotten to point-blank range.  "Darkness Wave!"

"Strikedramon Digivolve to… Cyberdramon!"  The two android Digimon clashed.  "Desolation Claw!"

"Veedramon Digivolve to… AeroVeedramon!  V-Wing Blade!"  AeroVeedramon flew into the air, finally able to come close to Karatenmon in his element.

"IceDevimon Digivolve to… BlueMeramon!  Cold Flame!"  The blue flame instantly overwhelmed Bulbmon.

"Gatomon Digivolve to… Angewomon!"  She instantly formed her own attack.  "Celestial Arrow!"

"Growlmon Digivolve to… WarGrowlmon!  Atomic Blaster!"

 "Angemon Digivolve to… MagnaAngemon!"  He drew his glowing sword.  "Excalibur!"

All of the newly-Digivolved Digimon used a powerful attack and blew the opposing one away.  There were only mere trickles of digital data left.

Relaina's sword cut through Marcus's scythe and pierced his neck.  Blood sprayed from the severed artery, and his eyes turned blank in death.  She coldly cleaned her sword on the grass near his body before sheathing it.

Alan and Killey both looked surprised as Killey, having been distracted by the Digivolutions of the Digimon and the destruction of Panjyamon, found his chest pierced by Alan's spear.  He numbly grasped the end of the bloody spear and pulled it out, faintly surprised as he passed out.  Air hissed through the wound.  Alan took one look at the still body in front of him and was violently sick.

Kurai threw one of her own daggers straight at Sierra.  The older girl blocked it with her own arm, and the dagger pierced straight through the flesh.  "I yield," Sierra said sadly as she looked at where Bastemon had been destroyed.  "You have won."  Kurai stared at her in surprise as tears ran down her face in tiny rivulets.

Tatsu flew up into the sky and awkwardly dove down with his broken staff.  There was a brief clash with Shiro, and then Shiro's body fell down with his neck twisted unnaturally.  But he was still alive.  Tatsu, now on the ground again, looked at the pitiful sight of the half-dead body.  It would be a mercy to kill him in the condition that he was in, but, out of battle, Tatsu wasn't sure if he was up to killing Shiro.

Pixie looked at Luc with confusion.  She was still unarmed; he still had his bow and arrows.  The boy sighed and dropped his bows and arrows before holding his hands up in the air.  "There's nothing else I can do.  You've won."  He heaved another sigh.  "I just wish that Karatenmon did not have to suffer for it."

Sho's sword clashed again with Gen's ax, and this time the sword finally broke.  The main part of it flew through the air and pierced through Gen's right eye.  It was a freak accident, but blood still poured out as Gen fell over in death.

Sakura ducked under Tir's burning glaive and slashed him with her family's sword with as much strength as she could.  He let out a gasp of surprise, his flame dying out, as the sword split him in half from his chest to his gut.  He let out one rattling breathe before his soul left his body.  Sakura turned away, looking pale and shaken, from her fallen foe.

Magnus disarmed Cleo by twisting her sword away between his shield and his knife.  He held the knife to her neck.  "Do you give up?"

She met his eyes defiantly.  "I'll never give up, though I will no longer fight you."  She looked over at the now-fallen body of the Lord Haven.  "There is no need."

Brian's sword had beheaded him.  The sight of the head separated from the body was not one that Magnus wished to ever see again.

Magnus took the knife away from Cleo's throat.  "Your death would have been needless in any case," he said as he sheathed it.

Sho didn't want to admit it, but the feel of so much death and pain around him was making him sick.  'It must be that healing power of mine,' he decided, so he let the power free.

In a tranquil, wave-like blue, green, and gold light, it spread across the ground and over all of the living in the castle.  Whatever power had not been used for the Digimon to Digivolve went into the healing.  Shiro's broken neck straightened itself; the hole in Killey's lung healed.  Whatever injury, no matter how small, the Digidestined had, it instantly sealed itself and vanished.

It was nice to be able to help like that, Sho decided as he looked around at the results.

Vahn watched from above as Lady Haven looked at the results of the battle and screamed in rage.  "Digidestined!  I will kill you for killing my husband!" she shouted, and then she transformed into the spider form of Arukenimon.  Beside her, the illusion of Piximon faded and the Bakemon Digivolved to Phantomon, and they prepared to leap down upon the Digidestined and attack.

"Grand Cross!" he called out, and he used whatever power he had left to stop Arukenimon from hurting his friends.  She was blown back, and Phantomon was completely destroyed.

The Digidestined looked up at him as he floated down to the ground, and they all walked away from their opponents and towards him as he landed near the hole that held the corrupted data.  "Hello," he said, his eyes focused on where Arukenimon had been.  She had already disappeared.  "The false Lady Haven is gone, but I don't think she will be back anytime soon."  He sighed with relief.  "It's over… for now."

Bits and pieces of light came out of everyone and formed into two separate balls that hovered over the hole where Phloem, Tapirmon, Sorcerymon, and Rime had fallen in.  There was a flash of light, and then the hole was gone.  Where it had been, the four who had fallen were standing.

Phloem blinked in surprise.  "I'm back together again."

"You're also," Rime said dryly, "in your body again.  Do you know how creepy it was to be stuck in that corrupted data with your body?"

"Do you know how easy you had it down there?" Phloem countered.

"Easy?  Do you call seeing every single one of your friends caught in a fight to the death easy?  I couldn't even do anything to help when Kurai…" He turned red and corrected himself.  "When they all looked like they were going to die."

"But we won," Phloem interjected with a smile around the coliseum.

"They won," he agreed, "but what are we going to do about the Dark Destroyers who are still alive?"

Someone cleared his or her throat, and everyone looked towards Cleo.  She was standing with Sierra and Luc, as well as with Shiro and Killey, who were still unconscious.  "We're going to be leaving.  For now, we have no more business with you.  We may yet meet again."  Her eyes widened slightly for a moment in surprise, and then she continued evenly, "In fact, I'm almost sure we will."  Then they began to glow red, green, blue, gold, and white, and they disappeared.

Brian spoke up.  "This leaves a lot unsolved, but we've accomplished something, at least.  We didn't lose, and now Rime can be the emperor."

"It's not over yet," Tapirmon said flatly.  "We're just getting a small break."  He looked worried.

Vahn turned back into his human self and put an arm around Phloem's shoulders.  Phloem blushed, but looked happy.  "We can take the small break, then," Vahn said.  "Why don't we go tell the townspeople that the Haven's are gone?  I'm sure that they'd be more than happy to hear it."

It was a happy, but proud, group that left the coliseum.  Not a few glanced back with an uneasy feeling at the bodies that they had left behind, but Tapirmon was the only one to look with concern at the spot where the dark data had been.  "Sometimes, history repeats itself," he said softly to himself as he hung back behind the rest.  "But it's not the one who killed me, so could it be…?"  He didn't finish the thought before hurrying to catch up with his friend and partner.

~To Be Continued…~

Chibigreen's Notes: Um, the deaths got slightly bloody, huh?  ^__^;;;  It's partly because, hey, they did die, and partly because someone at my school told me the substance to the storyline of Silence of the Lambs.  *shudders*  I am so glad that I haven't seen that movie or its prequel and sequel.  I had to shut him up by bribing him with some Halloween candy.  Oh, and the scenes are partly because of the recent small surgery I went through, where I had a mole removed that the doctor's thought might be cancerous (it wasn't).  After seeing my ex-mole floating in a jar of liquid and the hole where my ex-mole had been being stitched up, I had sudden inspiration for a gory story…  (And the stitched itched/ached/hurt like crazy, too!)

I'm glad that I finally got my Dark Destroyers part of the story out of the way.  Anyway, a few people (like me) have been drawing pictures of their characters.  Steel Knight drew a picture of his new, improved Sho, Tatsu-no-Houou drew a few pictures of Tatsu, and I drew one picture of Rime and another of Phloem.

Steel Knight – The picture of Sho was really interesting!

Tatsu no Houou – Ah, in this fic, Tatsu is just a Cyberdramon hybrid, even if he does have really strange eyes.  I would love to make him into a non-human, but… There's only humans, Digimon, and various levels Digimon-human hybrids in this story.  And you might've not said that Sakura was very good with a sword, but, hey, she kicked her opponent's butt and practically sliced him in two… I figured that she was pretty good with a sword if she carried one around.

ChibiSora – Don't worry, I didn't take any offense from you saying that you wanted the next chapter up quickly.  ^__^;;;  I didn't mean anything mean by my remark about your remark.

Takeru and Hikari – Phloem's a blushing type of person.  ^___^  I have a few cute Vahn/Phloem scenes planned for the next chapter, or maybe the one after that.

PrincessKitty-Chan – Calm, calm.  You don't need to get so excited.  Like I said, I got stitches because I had a mole/benign tumor removed.  It's just that the stitches were annoying.  And if you think in Spanish in Hebrew school… Well, I can't help you there.  Creo que tú eres muy loca.  ^___^

Red Wolf – Revolutionary Girl Utena was a very scary movie because it was so crazy.  It's just insane.  And my writing isn't long.  Lots of people write more than I do.  I don't think I write enough.

So, you want to click that little button below this, right?  ^___^