The Digidestined all took a step back, their Digimon not moving an inch, it was their time to do their job.  Catherine had immediately clung to Davis, and was holding on tight.  He could sense her mortal fear, and had his own, but he had to push it back and be strong for the both of them.  Mimi was still right next to Matt, holding his hand tightly.  Sora was beside Tai, and was also holding his hand.  They were all really afraid now, but he was not making any moved.  Tai could feel a sensation in his head, near the horn area, and knew that it had to be a reaction to Odin's presence.  He was not sure what to do now, but he was fairly certain that Odin had come for him, and he was not about to give in.  Feeling his courage rising, he stepped forward in front of Sora, and next to Agumon, who was in a ready position.

"What do you want?" he snarled confidently.

"What a silly question, surely you must know by now, or didn't the old fool Ramuh tell you.  I've come for what is ours, and I intend to get it.  If you don't give up willingly, I'll just kill all of your friends, and take you by force."

"You take one more step forward, and you'll live to regret it…  No, I take it back, you won't live at all."  Tai said, his voice filled with rage.  An aura erupted around Tai, but it was not the same flaming red colour as it had previously been, it had a soft touch of orange to it, and did not burn him, but rather it warmed him. Comforted him.

"Ah, such confident words, from such a pathetic being.  You insult me with your challenge.  I think I'll dispose of your worthless friends, starting with the one behind you, seeing as you protect her so valiantly."

"Tai, keep cool, you're glowing again," Davis said concerned at what he could only presume was engulfing Tai was rage.

"Davis, I'll be fine, while I take care of this hate filled evil."  Tai ran forward and threw himself at Odin trying to tackle him from the neck and bring him to the ground.  He had used all the strength he had, and what was coming from the aura, but he still only managed to push Odin back slightly, while he himself fell to the ground.  Agumon leapt forward,

"Tai!" he yelled.  The all familiar light of evolution engulfed him, and the process began.

"Agumon DIGIVOLVE TO…  Greymon!"

The now large and formidable dinosaur stepped forward toward his partner, and shielded him from the swordsman.

"Veemon, I think you're up," Davis said affirmatively, taking a step toward where Greymon and Tai stood.

"Right,"  they light now engulfed Veemon, and the change begun, "Veemon Digivolve to… Exveemon!"  the giant dragon type leapt into the air, then floated on his wings.

"Right, time for take two, now that you're really here, I'm gonna make you sorry.  V-laser!"  the orange beam gathered it's strength on Exveemon's chest , glowing brighter than ever before it protruded from his chest in a powerful array of energy.  Greymon had since given Tai the opportunity to rise to his feet, and they had been lucky to move out from it's corse.  The beam rocketed toward Odin, himself only just having recovered from the blow Tai had inflicted, even if it was not the damaging one that he had intended.  Odin looked upon the beam of pure energy, and a slight look of fear entered his eyes, the group watching on in hope.  They watched desperately as the beam reached Odin, who had almost braced himself for it's arrival, but their hope had now only turned to despair, as they observed the beam travel right through his being and obliterated the nearest tree.  Debris from the blast rained down on the rock out crop, and the Digidestined covered their eyes.  As the dust settled, they saw the undisturbed Odin, now looking overconfident, and almost cocky.

"Haha, you fools, you really thought you could defeat me with these creatures, they're nothing to me, and they never will be.  Now just sit back, and accept your fate."

"How could that be, we hit him, it went right through him.  Alright, so energy beams won't affect him, how about you show him a smash to the face, huh Veemon?"

"That's just what I was thinking, XV-Punch!" Exveemon roared as he plummeted his fist toward Odin at full pace.  Odin looked head on at the fist without an inch of fear in his eye now.  Again the group watched on as Exveemon's fist proceeded right through Odin's head, followed by his entire body, leaving him on the ground behind Odin, open to attack.  This is exactly what Odin had planned.  He readied his sword and closed his eyes, steamily concentrating deeply.  This was exactly what he was doing, he pushed all of his energy into the blade, and it begun to glow, a deep black aura was surrounding it's well-sharpened edge.  He lifted his head now, and looked toward Davis, and smirked.  This sent a distinct shiver down Davis's spine, knowing what was to come next.

"BLADE OF ANGUISH!" Odin scowled as he swung round violently.  He swivelled on his vertical axis and struck Exveemon in the chest directly.  His skin was tough to resist the main force of the blade, and he went flying backward.  As he ricocheted back, it could be seen that the blade had made a horizontal incision across a large part of Exveemon's chest, and blood was beginning to show.

"Veemon, no!" Davis yelled, he ran after his partner, but Odin cut him off directly.

"Not let's see, doesn't the saying go, 'like partner, like Digimon'?" Odin cackled, even more smugly than before, as he raised his sword in Davis's direction.

"You. . . I'll kill you where you stand!" Davis yelled, infused with rage.

"Huh, how will you do that?  Fool, you can't even touch me," Odin replied, now laughing.

"You've threatened me, my girlfriend, and my friends.  Not only that, you've hurt the best friend I've ever had!"

"That weak creature, please… Look at him, lying incapacitated on the floor.  That's not a being, it's just target practice."  Davis yelled in rage, taking a dive much like Tai had, only Davis flew straight through the mighty swordsman.  He landed in much the same spot that Exveemon had.

"Davis!" Catherine yelled.

"Huh, I told you and yet you throw yourself at me." Odin bellowed. "You're courage is admirable, and friendship is grand.  But as it has been shown, this cannot save you, so the time has come to dispose of you."

"Davis, NO!" Catherine yelled.  Odin only laughed, bowing his head, and entering the concentrated state he had before.  The group watched on as his blade began to glow, and it was Izzy who was the first to unfreeze from his prior fear,

"Guys, I think that 'united we stand, divided we fall' applies right about now?" he said suggestively.  This struck a cord in Matt, and he decided to translate the motivation Izzy had just given,

"I think what he meant to say was it's our turn to fight, we're not letting him get away with this," Matt announced.  Odin now lifted his head, blade glowing furiously,

"And what makes you think you can do anything.  Haven't you seen it enough, you can't harm me, but I can harm you, and I plan to."

"Matt, do you think we should digivolve?" Gabumon asked from the ground below.

"I don't know what we should do, but we have to do something."

"I need more than that, I can't do it without your energy," Gabumon continued.  Catherine couldn't wait, she sprung from he position and ran toward Davis, but was too far away to make it in time, but still she ran, not even knowing what to do when she got there.

"Your time has come feeble being, take a last look at the one you love.  BLADE OF ANGUISH!" Odin let out his roar, but simultaneously to this a rod came rocketing down from the sky at lightning speed.  It cut through the air and plummeted down into the ground, and hit right through Odin's chest, stopping his sword right before it cut Davis's body.  Davis lifted his head to see the blade right in his face, and was not comforted.  Catherine had stopped her running when the rod landed, and was now very afraid - especially being all alone - but was glad that it had come, or else Davis would have been a goner.  The rod was embedded in the ground, and had made it's way right through Odin, with it's top end sticking out above Odin's heart.  The group, including Tai, Davis and Odin looked up into the sky, where above them an encloaked figure flew.  He was enshrouded in cloud, and his body was pulsing with lightning, pure energy coursed around his body.  They saw the blue glow of the lightning glowing, and the clouds around him darkened, and soon the entire sky was clouded.  The group could not see much, but they could make out that he was now raising his right hand into the air.

"Judgement Bolt!" he spoke out, as if he were preaching to the clouds.  They seemed to reply as electronic activity could be easily sensed, and the could soon see it growing in the sky.  Out of one cloud a large amount of energy gathered, and Odin was now attempting to get away, but the rod had rendered him immobile.  Out of the cloud a mighty beam of light rocketed to the ground and hit the rod with precision accuracy.  A flash brighter than any of the Digidestined had ever seen followed, and they could here the screams of anguish coming from Odin.  The light faded and they now saw the last of his electrocution, and then a pause.  In this pause an eerie silence filled the air, nothing stirred.  It ended in fantastic fashion, as Odin exploded where he was fastened.  His body turned to pure spiritual energy, and dissipated into the air.

With Odin gone, the group were in awe of what power had struck.  Both Exveemon and Greymon devolved down to their rookie forms.

"Veemon," Davis yelled, he leapt to his feet and rushed to his Digimon's side, Catherine following behind him.  Davis ran and practically collapsed at Exveemon's side.  He lifted his head gradually and looked up at Davis,

"Da-vis…" he said slowly, speech slightly slurred.  It was now that his energy level was critically low and he devolved back into Veemon, the slash across his chest still present.   Greymon also devolved, Tai and he joining the others.  Blood was now readily coming out of the wound, and Davis was distraught.

"I'm… sorry, I… cou-ldn't protect you…" he continued, his head dropping to the floor.

"Veemon, NO! I'm not losing you buddy, hang on," Davis yelled.  Catherine was now at his side, she had her arms round him, trying to comfort him.  He brushed her arms off his body, then looked at her with an apologetic look in his eyes, then rapidly brought his attention back to Veemon.

"Hold on, I'm here," he said softly in a comforting tone, leaning down right next to his partners head.  He pulled himself upright, then dumped off his jacket.  He pulled off his shirt, slightly ripping it in the process.  He took it in both hands, and mercilessly ripped it in half, the put it over Veemon.  The rest of the group were all surrounding them, watching on.  Joe was particularly impressed with the way he was handling the situation, he seemed to know what he was doing.

"Veemon, this is probably gonna hurt, but I have to," he said almost remorsefully.  He put his arm beneath Veemon, and pulled the shirt under his body until it had come out the other side, then gently placed him back on the ground.

"Davis, do you want some help?" Tai offered.

"No! Let me handle this, it's my fault.." Davis replied coldly.

"I think that maybe it would be better for--" Izzy started, but he was interrupted by the enraged voice of Davis.

"I said NO!" he snapped, now facing the group directly.  This was a side to Davis that Catherine had not seen before, and it was a particularly scary one for her.

"Okay Davis, we understand, remember, we are all friends here.  Besides, you're doing fine," Joe said consolingly.

"Sorry," he said quickly, looking at his Digimon, the tears forming in his eyes.  The shirt was now showing the blood, and Davis was getting more and more worried.

"You okay?" he said softly, in a gentle tone.

"…Yeah…" Veemon replied in the same manner.

"Okay, I'll just tighten this, tell me if it hurts, okay?"

"Mmm," Veemon responded.  Davis slowly tightened the make-shift bandage, until Veemon grunted softly.  He pulled it a little tighter, then fastened it in a know.

"I'm sorry, but I had to make sure it'd stay on."

"It's, okay."  Davis leant back and grabbed Catherine's hand, just to let her know he was okay, even if the tears now rolled down his face.  She moved closer to him and put her arm back around him.

"I'm gonna pick you up now, do you wanna move?"

"No, I'm fine Davis," Veemon replied, his speech was still slow, and it was still difficult for him, but he was trying to sound okay.

"Alright."

"Is Catherine okay?" Veemon asked.

"I'm right here, and  I'm fine." She whispered from beside him.

"Good."

"Veemon, I'm sorry, this is my fault, I shouldn't have made you fight like that, I pushed you," Davis blurted, his speech was slurred too, but from the fear in his heart.  He knew that Veemon was incredibly weak, and the only reason he was still in this form was because it was his natural form in the digital world. Tai took a few steps forward, and placed his hand on Davis's shoulder, trying to show respect and to comfort him.  Davis looked up at the winged boy, glad to see that he was okay.

"He'll be fine, just needs some rest."  It was now that behind them the heard a scratching sound on the ground, as if something had landed.  This was the truth, it was the figure from the sky, who was now clearly Ramuh.  He started walking over to where the group was gathered.  As he neared the moved to either side of his path, clearing the way for him.  Davis quickly stood and rushed to him, leaving Catherine at Veemon's side.  He looked the spectre in the eye, paused, then rushed back over to Veemon's side.  Ramuh followed and leant down next to Davis.

"May I have a look?" he asked.

"Please," Davis replied urgently.  Ramuh put his hands over the wound, and closed his eyes.  He sat like this for a few seconds, the grunted and drew back.

"What is it?" Davis questioned.

"I can feel, his evil.  It is as I had feared when I saw him use his blade, this is not going to be easy for you though," Ramuh said worriedly.

"Just tell me what the problem is?" Davis demanded.

"He ahs been struck down but an non-mortal blade, so the wound is not one a mortal would survive easily.  Also, the spells on the blade prevent healing on the wounded, and so there is little we can do for him."

"No!  I don't accept that, I won't accept that.  You'd better tell me something useful."

"As I was going to say, even if it is a non-mortal wound, you happen to know some non-mortals," Ramuh said smiling, then continued, "And we know our own spells.  But I'm afraid they won't work here, and I don't have the strength to preform them now anyway,  I think the time has come for you all to go into my realm, where we can hopefully settle all this, one and for all."

"Okay, I'm all for it, but how do we get there?" Tai said positively.

"I'm afraid that too will not be easy, you'd be the first mortal beings to exist there in eons.  You have to understand that the very thread of reality there had augmented to suit beings such as myself, and my kind, and hence I just don't know how it is going to be possible for you all to get there."  Davis now looked very lost, and depressed, "But we'll find a way," Ramuh continued affirmatively.

"Okay, great, but when… and what exactly do we do until then?" Matt asked.

"I don't know, I can't travel back there, I wouldn't have the energy to return, and I wouldn't want any of Odin's friends showing up while I was gone either.  I think I'm going to have to try and communicate with my allies from here.  I think it best if you all just rested, the journey to my reality is going to be very strenuous."

"Okay, c'mon guys, let's give them some air," Tai suggested.  He took Sora's hand, and Matt took Mimi's, and the group walked over to where they had been seated earlier.  Catherine and Davis's didn't budge, Davis was too concerned for Veemon to even move.

"Come on Davis, stop worrying, you heard him, I'll be fine," Veemon said reassuringly.

"I can't help it, I look at what I did to you…"

"Davis, were you holding the sword that did this to him?" Catherine asked firmly.

"No, I wouldn't…"

"Then you didn't do it to him, so don't think like that.  I know he doesn't, and he'd tell you that if I hadn't."

"Yup," Veemon added.

"Alright, enough third degree, but I'm not going anywhere," Davis said, now almost smiling.

"Do you want some water?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah," Veemon replied.

"'Kay, I'll get some," she said, she looked at Davis, the stood up and started walking over to the pool.  Davis thought Veemon looked cold, and kind of alone.  He leant over and picked up his Digimon, placing him gently in his lap, even if he felt uncomfortable doing so, it was the closest they'd really been.  Veemon grunted a little when Davis moved him, but he really did feel better sitting closer to Davis.  He smiled as the maroon-haired boy lay him gently down, his head held upright against Davis's chest.

"I wanted to ask you, why did you call me Veemon when I was Exveemon?" Veemon asked interestedly, he had thought Davis had somewhat lost the plot in the heat of battle.

"Oh, well, I figured that you're you, y'know?  What I mean is, no matter how much you change, you'll always be Veemon, even if you're Exveemon on the outside.  It's like when I come here, my clothes change, but I don't, so I thought it was just appropriate."

"Well, I suppose it is… thanks."

"Hey, remember it's me that owes you, not the other way around."  They both smiled now.  Catherine walked back over to them, and sat to the left of Davis,

"Um, I didn't really think that through, because we don't have anything to put the water in, but I've got a handful."

"That's okay," Veemon said.  He opened his mouth, and she poured the small amount of water in.  he swallowed it, and felt better.

"Hey, if you start feeling pain or anything, just let me know."

"Okay, I'll complain a lot for you," he responded smiling.

"I'll make sure you're okay, I'm not gonna lose you."

"Hey, I know that, that's why I'm not worried, I think you're the one who needs to relax a little."

"I'll try, okay, but how about you get some rest?"

"Yeah, just lean back and close your eyes, and before you know it'll be time to go to Ramuh's world," Catherine added positively.

"I suppose I could use some sleep, just wake me when it's time."  Veemon completed his sentence, then rested his chest on Davis's muscular abdominal muscles.  He looked down upon the creatures now peaceful face, watching and feeling his breathing, knowing how close his life had been to ending, how close it still was.

"Hey, take it easy huh, you'll get him through this," she paused while he moved even closer to him, "We'll get him through this."

"Thanks Cat, it means a lot that you're here for him too."

"Hey, he said he'd protect me, I should try to do the same."

*******Meanwhile, with Ramuh*******

Ramuh had taken a seat with the others, and was resting before he tried to contact the other dimension.

"So Ramuh, do you think that Odin's friends will really come to get revenge?" Tai asked.

"I do not know, I presume so, but I am hoping that we will not be here when they do," he responded.

"Well, you sure did teach him a lesson," T.K. said optimistically.

"I was lucky, he was very weak, as am I.  He had to focus a lot of his energy to be able to make physical contact, and that is probably why the blow was not fatal, as it stands."

"That brings me to my question, is Veemon going to… survive?" Tai asked, not a very easy question for him to pose, but one he felt was necessary.  He knew that Davis looked up to him, and he wanted to look out for him, make sure that Davis's trust was not misplaced.

"If we can get to my allies in time, he should make a full recovery.  But there is one thing you must understand, those spells are incredibly powerful, more so than the caster, that is why I am not sure how he got them to work here, by all means they shouldn't have.  But so long as they are in place, your friend's condition will not improve, only deteriorate, and there is nothing of this world that can change that.  I know it is not easy to accept, but it's what you may have to."  This brought back the sombre feeling to the group, and a feeling of great depression.  "Don't look so worried, I will try and make contact now if you wish."

"I think that would be best," Agumon replied.

"Just one thing, how are you going to contact them?" Izzy asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think we may have a loophole here.  You see, we are very in tune with our environment there, and our intellect has surpassed that of humans, we gave up physical speech a long time ago, and went for a  more direct approach.  We project our thoughts across into the consciousness of those we want to communicate with, this way our messages are private, with no fear of interception."

"And you're going to try and do this from here?" Izzy presumed.

"Exactly, I figure that I should be able to project my thoughts strong enough to reach my dimension, but it's going to take a lot of strength, so I must not be disturbed.

"Got it," Matt said assertively.  The rest of the group nodded in agreement, then moved away from him, just so that he had some breathing room.  Ramuh lowered his head, closing his eyes.  The group could see an intense look donning his face, and could almost feel the tension in the air, such that the sharpest knife could not do so much as to flake it.  They watched as he sat there seemingly idle, as if he were sleeping.  A definite paradox to the truth of the moment, as his mind was racing like the thunder he had obliterated down upon Odin.  Inside his head was a complexity of thoughts, feelings and memories of events that were forever embedded into the quilt of time, the past.  Inside the mind of the great spectre, his thoughts flew across the thread that linked dimensions together.  A journey incredibly difficult, and one that was straining his to the very edge of his capabilities, a journey that was killing him.  He tried at his greatest to picture his comrades, even seeing them meant he was one step closer to getting into their minds.  Slowly but surely he could feel the aura of one such being emanating from one corner of the thread network.  He navigated his thought signals toward it and soon a mental picture began forming.  In the midst of the thread, an image of one of Ramuh's fellow spectres began forming.  The being was  a beastly figure, with fire emanating from it's fists.  It had two large horns extruded from the top of it's head, and eyes the were black as the darkest night.  His body was muscular, and he stood on two hoofed feet.  Ramuh stretched out with the last of his metal might, and entered the being's thoughts.

"We need you here now, something has happened and they need to make the journey before we had anticipated," Ramuh projected.

"I'm on my way," the being replied.  at that Ramuh exited his mind from the network, then collapsed on the floor.  Upon seeing this the group moved in closer to him again.

"Ramuh?" Tai said softly.

"I'll. Be. Fine." Ramuh replied.  they took his word and left his laying there shortly.  After a few minutes he had regained his breath ant sat upright.  They could all see the sweat across Ramuh's forehead, and were now sure that it had not been easy for him.

"Did you get through?" Izzy asked.

"Yes, he's on his way," Ramuh replied, with the little strength he had.

"So when is he gonna get here, can you tell?" Matt questioned.  As he finished his line of inquiry, a symbol fire yellow appeared on the ground behind them, it emitted an intense glow.  It was an intricate pattern, and seemed to burn the ground.  As the were turning around to see what then source of the light was the ground burst open and the beast from Ramuh's mind appeared.  The group was stunned by his appearance, and how suddenly he had arrived.  They assumed he was the spectre they were expecting.  The noise had made Davis and Catherine turn around to see the source of the noise, even if Davis could only really rotate his head.  When he saw that it was the spectre, he was immediately relived.

"Are these the ones who are to make the journey Ramuh?" the being beamed.

"Yes," was the only word Ramuh could utter.

"I'm not sure if they will survive, they seem feeble and weak," the being continued.

"We'll get there," Tai replied violently.

"I don't think that you will, but it is your decision to make.  If you truly want to continue, you must at least rest."  Meanwhile Davis had decided that they should get up and go over to the rest of the group.  He turned his head back to Veemon, noticing that he had not woken from the noise.

"Veemon?" Davis said softly, but he did not stir.  "Veemon, wake up!" Davis now shouted, moving him a little, but to no avail.  Catherine was not sure what to do now, but she just held his hand.  Hearing what was going on in the background, and assuming the worst, Tai stepped toward the being,

"We're going, and now!" he said assertively.

"VEEMON!" Davis shouted desperately to wake his Digimon, but nothing happened.   All that followed was silence.

Hey d00ds and d00detts.  Well, that was a fun chappie then, nice n cheerful?  Lol, but I had fun with it, exploring new territories.  There are big debates on the "can digimon bleed" thing, well, my views are clear.  I was gonna change to the jap terms (evolution instead of digivolution) but PP said no, so I won't.  Hey to all my regs to, Deathstar, Anthony, and yoyo, it's really great to see you always coming back.  Becci, well, nice to see you reading the ficcie, perhaps I shall have to return the favour?  And crystal, nice to see a n00b to the fic, thanks an I hope ya like it.  Konami-chan, are you there?   Email me!!  I haven't finished off chap 16 yet as I normally would have, but I really did need to get this up, and I want to test out review alerts.  I'll have it up soon enough tho, I have  lot of free time right now.  Thanks heaps for reading it guys, you all rock!!