Amethyst Blizzard: {runs into a tight corner while screaming loudly} CLAY MANIA! It's coming for me! Save me my faithful readers! {looks around} Um…please?

Floramon: {sings "Invisible"} What did ya say, Amethyst? Save you? Nup!

A/N: Fine, I'll just save myself, then – with a disclaimer of my rights. Anything that I own in this story is mine, but other than that, everything belongs to its rightful owners…I don't own a lot, huh?

To con2020tran – Shit…in a good way? Well, you learn something new everyday…Thanks for your review! I always look forward to reading your reviews :)

To DigiqueenTMIM – {steals back details} Kinda need them, but feel free to borrow them…;) Clay fic's coming along…sorta. I will probably do "Run To Me", just cause that's the easiest. I have a few ideas for it, but it's harder cause it's in Ryo's perspective...guys are so hard to understand…Anywho, thanks for ya review!

To Digifreak03 – You're reviewing again! Yay! I've missed your reviews :) Thanks for the comments and encouragement

Okies, time for another chapter in the history of my fiction writing. Enjoy!

Devil's Advocates

Chapter 16: Together

-" My heart is broken, I'm lying here
My thoughts are choking on you my dear
On you my dear, on you my dear"-Together – Avril Lavigne

They had forgotten about Calumon when they had entered the Digital World…and yet they were still about to Digivolve with ease. It wasn't impossible to Digivolve without the little Digimon's help, but not as frequently as they had before. The partners' bonds had not been strong enough for such an energy rush, and yet they had still been able to Digivovle. Then another thought hit her, and she turned her attention to Takato and Henry, who had been standing there the entire time.

"Where's Stacie?"

Henry and Takato stared dumbfounded at Rika, as though she was speaking another language. She repeated her question, more forcefully this time, in the hope that one of them would snap out of their demeanour. They didn't, just looked around the surrounding area with blanks looks present on their features. Finally Henry turned back towards Rika with a confused look on his face.

"She must've been blown back some distance if we can't even see her."

Rika shifted nervously where she sat somewhat uncomfortably on Kyubimon's glistening back, Calumon peering up at her with curiosity. "I hope she's not in any trouble…"

Kazu looked up, confused. "Shouldn't you hate her? I mean she did kiss Ryo, after all…"

"Shut up," Rika flashed an irritable glare at her comrade, warning a notion of pain if he persisted. She thought with clarity that perhaps Stacie had been flown farther away than the rest of them, but Rika was sure Stacie had been standing right next to Ryo a moment ago.

Kenta stepped back a pace to look evenly up at Rika. "She's probably around here somewhere. Do you want me to look for her?"

Rika stared incredulously. Since when had she become the leader of the group? She stuttered a response. "No, don't. We should stay together," she glanced a look up at the unfathomed bird sitting perched on the large cliff face above them. Consternation flickered in Rika's features. How were they going to defeat such a powerful and untouchable enemy? "If it even is the enemy," she whispered out loud.

Kazu flinched at the recognition of what Rika meant. His eyes roamed around the surrounding area, then they finally landed on Ryo's own deep crimson ones. Kazu stared, pondering whether or not Ryo was conscious in that body. After all, it was next to impossible to register the fact that such an unspeakable…evil had completely taken over him. And for what? What was the gain in that for Mephismon? The Digimon had said himself that Ryo was the most countable host for the Phoenixmon, but why did the legendary Digimon have to have a host? Was it to control itself under the influence of Mephismon, but a mere Ultimate in this game?

Ryo's own host looked evil. No, not evil. Misguided. Evil was only ever spored from misguidance. Misguidance. Kazu decided to try the word with his own lips, and he liked the way it sounded when it rolled off the tip of his tongue and lingered in the growing silence between enemy and defender. "Misguidance."

He repeated it, over and over as if defending all evil and replacing the notion with 'misguided'. After all, that was all evil really was.

Henry stared hard at his friend. Kazu was right. Everyone, whether good or bad, thought that whatever they were doing was in the end justified. Mephismon himself had said that all he was doing was paying the humans back by invading his world. He believed that what he was doing was right, for the humans had wronged him before. So in the end, it was karma; humans would be paying the price for all they had done to the Digimon and Digital World alike. It wasn't a conspiracy; it was justification.

The Phoenixmon stirred, bored with the incredibly unintelligent notions of the humans. It could hear, hear all that was being said, inside and outside of the humans' minds. It wasn't karma that Mephismon was trying to bring about; it was fear. Humans had the absolute right to fear what they had essentially created, of their own free will. They had to fear the things that they didn't understand. No human understood any of what a Digimon was really about.

With a flick of one tail feather, the bird sent a wailing gust of wind down to where the Tamers stood, causing them to cower and hold on to one another for support. With the equivalent of a sly grin, the Phoenixmon dug its claws into the soft ground of the cliff and with a mighty haul, lifted itself up off of the rock formation. Opening its beak slightly, it let out a wail of a screech, calling…

Growlmon snapped his eyes open, growling deeply and shifting into a standing position. Forcing his gaze upon the open range, he at once felt the tremor of true power and unquestionable law. Phoenixmon. Resisting the urge to stare fully at it, Growlmon lifted his gaze to where Takato stood, next to Henry and Kyubimon, with Rika and Calumon sitting snugly on top. Takato's D-Power activated immediately, sending out sirens of alerting and flashing red flickers on the screen. Grinning at his partner, Takato felt the immense swell of power in him and took the flashes of red as an invitation. Taking a card from his pocket, he willed it to become a shade of blue. And where there's a will, there's a way.

"DigiModify! Matrix Digivolution activate!" Slashing the card through his D-Power, sparks flew rapidly from the metallic device.

Calumon's insignia shone like a beacon in the midst of the small of Kyubimon's back. The tiny Digimon let out a yelp of struggling power and the power within shot out through his triangle crest.

"Growlmon Matrix Digivolve to…" Growlmon was consumed immediately in a bright crimson sphere, while his data began rearranging itself. Calumon's insignia came to rest forcefully on the top of his snout, while his skin began peeling off with the vigour of the transformation. Growlmon's leg began to bulge and became sturdier, while large scythes grew in the place of his arms. Thick armour began to construct on his heavy shoulders, and with it came the boosters, which rested neatly on top of the shoulder blades. Metal resurfaced on his face and snout, covering most of the red skin that lay across the simmering data, swimming deep beneath the layers of heavy façade. His tail swam out from beneath his legs and whipped the air as it came to rest behind his spiny back. "WarGrowlmon!"

Suspended in the air, Beelzemon smirked and shifted his weight. "Now that's more like it, Pineapple-head! Work with me here!"

Beelzemon turned to the side and pointed his large gun directly at Mephismon on the ground below him. Pink energy swirled inside the barrel and the Mega glared hard at his target, while WarGrowlmon readied himself for his own attack. Atoms joined together on either side of his large chest and formed two great spheres of yellow energy.

"Corona Blaster!"

"Atomic Blaster!"

The two sweeping energy formations glided through the air towards their intended opponent and at the last second, swirled together to create one single entity of energy. The blast resembled a screw of some sort, with the two colours combining and contrasting against each other. It hit straight through its directed target, with little time for Mephismon to scoot out the way. However, the Ultimate Digimon did nothing to dodge the attack, and when the residual smoke cleared through the area, sure enough he was standing tall, his head bowed and his antlers raised towards the crimson sky.

Takato cringed at the futile attempt and wondered fleetingly whether Mephismon had set up a shield of some sort. 'That should of worker; there was no reason for it not to.'

Mako shifted from his stance and knelt slightly next to Kyubimon, Ai ever faithful at his side. They held hands and silently cried together, though they knew they shouldn't give in that easily. They were strong. Calumon saw their pain and jumped off Rika's lap to conform.

Rika silently watched the two young Tamers and wondered bleakly whether they were strong enough to handle what pressure lay ahead of them. Somehow she knew there would be not a lot of reasoning between them and their enemy. Mephismon had his mind set on revenge, and he would not stop until he was satisfied. However, the Phoenixmon's role in this confused her. Why would a powerful enough Digimon like Mephismon need to resurrect such a monster? Why did he need it? If Mephismon wanted to take over the world, couldn't he just do it instead of toying with them? Or…did it go deeper than that?

Sighing, Rika cast a glance over at Ryo and Monodramon, who seemed to be staring statues. What was their role in all of this? Collecting her balance, Rika propelled herself against Kyubimon and landed amongst the crimson dust on the ground. Walking purposefully towards Ryo, she heard a sinister laughed and turned around without another glance at Ryo, or what once was Ryo. Wistfully, she glanced towards Mephismon before staring up at Beelzemon.

It was Mephismon who had laughed. "Don't you Tamers get it?! I am what they call invincible; you can't beat me!" He gave another short snigger before turning towards the Phoenixmon. "And so is this magnificent creature…"

"If it's so invincible then why doesn't it fight us?" Beelzemon aimed his fingers at Mephismon once more before they morphed into a giant black gun.

Mephismon cocked his head to the side while staring dead at Beelzemon. "If You think you can stand up to the almightily Phoenixmon when you can't even aim a gun properly at me then you have another thing coming. And in any case, the Phoenixmon doesn't fight." Mephismon said this as though Beelzemon were crazy for suggesting such a thing, as if everybody knew that the Phoenixmon did not fight its enemies. Then what did it do?

Rika looked about her at everyone's confused looks and found the answer within her own consciousness; it was not programmed to fight! She didn't know where this thought came from, but somehow it made sense to her, or a part of her that knew exactly what was going on. Feeling something carefully pulling at her waist, she looked behind her and saw Ryo slowly snaking his arm around her, pulling her close. For a time she was mesmerised and remained close to the boy, sucking in her breath and feeling a tinge of excitement run through her. A creeping shiver ran down her spine and up her arm as Ryo breathed her in. Suddenly Rika was snapped back to reality with an electric jolt and immediately pulled away. But Ryo was too strong for her. He held her in place with his arm that roughly gripped around her wrist.

Feeling a snap of rage, Rika lifted her arm and swiped blindly at Ryo's chest and arms. "Let go, Ryo!"

Ryo's face feigned confusion. "Isn't this what you want?"

This stopped the girl, her features shocked and her voice lost for words. Her mind was racing, her heart pounding against her ribs. What was that? What she wanted? How did he know what she wanted? And more importantly, how did he know he was right? She looked into his mocking eyes and felt a rage she had never known before. He was laughing at her, just laughing. Then she remembered Stacie kissing him, and the rage grew substantially. Her mocking dream of him, him kissing Stacie, him laughing at her…it all seemed like he was just playing her, sucking her in, making her believe that he really did care.

With a forceful pull of her arm, his hand fell loosely to his side, her wrist finally free of his restraints. Glaring hard at his mocking features, she pulled her arm back and leveled it with Ryo's face. Driving her clenched arm forward, her punch connected with Ryo's nose, hitting the intended target full-on. The punch made a dull thud, and consequently heads turned to see what the commotion was. What they saw was Rika's arm slowly recoiling back towards her waist while a satisfied smirk formed indignantly on her face, and Ryo's nose slightly squashed with a trickle of blood slowly seeping from his right nostril.

Standing close to the boy, Rika glared hard into his informal crimson eyes, promising more pain, this time verbally. "If you ever, ever try that against, I swear I will do more than just break your nose." With her voice dripping venom, she gave him one final look before turning on her heel and striding back towards Kyubimon, once hand dipping into her pocket to retrieve her D-Power. 'Ah…the famous Nonaka death glare. Always works.'

Stopping right in front of her partner, Rika held up her D-Power, well aware of the stares she was receiving from her comrades. "Kyubimon, time for an upgrade."

Willing herself a blue card, she dived her hand deep into her pocket and pulled one out, as if by miracle. "DigiModify! Matrix Digivolution activate!"

Calumon closed his eyes and waited for the emission of the needed power from his forehead. His insignia shone once again and the red energy blasted from his body with an immense force.

"Kyubimon Matrix Digivolve to…" Kyubimon was devoured at once by a blue sphere, her data collecting itself and rearranging within her body. Her body was pushed upright by an invisible force and her hind legs grew thicker and sturdier. She was cloaked in a silky attire, her paws soon becoming impossible to see as they were consumed by the sleeves of the cloak. Her nine tails closed in and were encompassed in a bright light that soon cleared and uncovered once single, brush-tail. Calumon's insignia rippled through the air and came to rest atop of the Ultimate's forehead. Behind her in the blue sphere, the sun appeared, with the moon soon gracefully overlapping it when the transformation had been completed. "Taomon!"

Taomon's kitsune figure became a beautiful silhouette against the blood-red sun, and set a radiant glow over the area. Rika smirked from where she was standing, glancing quickly towards Ryo. The two shared a mutual smirk for a moment before Ryo shimmered out of existence, leaving Rika to stare confusedly at where he had just been standing.

Yamaki typed rapidly while Jeri just stared at the computer screen, transfixed in whatever the man was doing, leaving Alice to blow slightly into her coffee. Fixedly, the blonde-haired girl stared deep into her boss' back while warming her hands on the hot coffee mug. Jeri glanced at her friend worriedly before turned back to the riveting screen.

Plucking up the courage to ask the man in front of her something of importance, she realized at once that it was a mistake. "Who entered the Digital World, Mr. Yamaki?"

Yamaki turned a distracted face towards the teenage girl before turned back to his computer. "You all are in really deep…"

"Yeah, yeah, we know. So who entered the Digital World, or don't you know that yet?" Alice knew the answer to her own question. Ever since the Digimon had returned to the real world after Takato had found the portal, each Digimon had been 'tagged', or scanned into the computer's references, so that they would never be without a trace.

Yamaki resigned a sigh and stood up from his chair. "Impmon…and Ai and Mako. They're ion the Digital World now, there's nothing we can do to help, other than to call your parents…"

"No, no parents! Keep the parents away! Telling them will only cause unnecessary mayhem, and we don't want that," Alice stood up as well and faced her boss with practised courage.

"But don't you think they have a right to know what's happening to their children?" Yamaki countered, with more concern than what he really felt. After all, he was partly responsible for what was happening to the children, so calling parents would just cause unnecessary mayhem.

"Yes, they have rights and all that, but do they want to know what's happening to their children?" Alice said, quite a lot forcefully this time. She knew what it was like to be so worried about someone that no rational thought surfaced the conscious mind. She felt that way for Henry right now, though she didn't let it show. She buried herself in other matters to occupy herself.

"But you just said-"

"Forget what I just said! Trust me, parents don't want to know these things!" Alice cut Yamaki off with ease, knowing he wouldn't really reprimand her for not showing proper respect, not right now anyway. There was too much at stake to risk an outright argument between the two.

Jeri looked monotonously across at the two other occupants of the room each time the other spoke, but she sidled over towards her good friend. "Alice, just stick to one lie and keep it at that," she whispered.

"You just don't want them to know you ditched school," Yamaki glared at Alice, finally catching onto the fleeting chain of thought.

"No, I'm not that shallow, Yamaki. I don't want to worry them. I don't want that constant edgy tension that appears every time someone worries about someone. I don't want anyone to be hurt by this," Alice said softly with more emotion than she initially intended. Ever since she had lost Dobermon, she had been extremely monotonous, keeping most of her emotions suppressed, but now she just couldn't help it.

"All the more reason to call your parents," Yamaki reasoned, knowing that there would be no way in hell he could explain what had gone on if something were to happen to the children.

"What do you think that'll do? Do you think that will help our cause, knowing that we've upset several adults by violating their wishes? We're already in the shit with ditching school, but they'll never let this go if they find out they've left this plane of reality," Alice sat back down on the chair and looked up at the computer screen when it bleeped. "Let's just see what happens before notifying out parents."

Jeri, who was closer to the screen than Alice, read out loud the pop-up message that had appeared on the screen. "'The anomaly known as Monodramon has become unreachable.'"

Staring at the blank spot, Rika could only wonder what had happened. Had Ryo become afraid? Certainly not. But why had he just disappeared like that? And where had he disappeared? Sensing someone behind her, Rika spun around…only to find Takato staring down at her.

Takato's crimson eyes stared worriedly at her, while his hand came to rest on her shoulder. "I saw what happened," his broken voice said quietly, his eyes concerned. He knew what she wanted to do. "I'll take over here, if you want. Go find him."

Rika hesitated, not sure whether looking for Ryo would do any good, though she was suddenly reminded how easily Ryo had broken through her own evil demeanour, so maybe this was the right thing to do. "Thanks," she spoke quietly, levelling Takato's own strange soft voice.

Looking towards Taomon, Rika gestured to her partner to follow. Giving Takato one last look, she gave him a warning. "Be careful; this doesn't feel right."

She was right. Nothing about this strange apprehensive atmosphere felt anything near comforting to anyone, especially Rika. The backdrop to the apprehension also added to the strange tension among the group. The blood-red dust-covered sky reflected the burning motion of the equally crimson sun and the dusty mist that had settled amidst the area seemed to cloud the visions of the Tamers, and their Digimon alike. Nothing seemed right, nor to their advantage.

Takato nodded and looked towards Henry, who seemed to be kneeling down next to Gargomon, who was slowly waking to unconsciousness. Looking back at Rika's receding form, he smiled slightly. "Be careful, Rika."

With that, he ran back towards the strangely obscure group, and with a glance up towards the large firebird, he called to WarGrowlmon. "Hey, boy. Let's fight this one, ok? For everything."

WarGrowlmon took his position near the cliff, readying himself for a fight. "Okey dokey, Takatomon."

Kazu nodded and set his gaze towards the Phoenixmon. "Finally a good fight."

Guardromon walked humbly to where WarGrowlmon stood and took up his place next to the Ultimate. "Ready, Kazu."

Kenta clenched his fist and grinned, allowing MarineAngemon to be drawn to the magnetism of the battle. "Go MarineAngemon. I'm rooting for you!"

Ai and Mako held up their D-Power with a hand from either Tamer, their eyes locked on Beelzemon. "We're ready, Impmon!"

Finally, Henry took his place next to Takato, D-Power held steadily in his hand. "Go Gargomon, time for an upgrade!" Taking a random card from his pocket, Henry swiped it without looking at it, knowing exactly what it was. "DigiModify! Matrix Digivolution activate!"

"Gargomon Matrix Digivolve to…"

Calumon, standing in front of both Ai and Mako, knew what was coming and braced himself for the power rush. His insignia glowed bright red and the power from it suddenly shot from his forehead, and flew out towards Gargomon, who was enveloped in a green bubble, his data forming anew. Gargomon's body was dramatically transformed, his torso becoming nothing more than a metal bar, while his abdomen formed a solid green armour. His middle and arms sprouted from the metal bar and his head sprung from his armoured shoulders. His arms were essentially missile launchers, and when the transformation was complete, Calumon's insignia placed itself with force upon his forehead. "Rapidmon!"

Rapidmon took his place on the other side of WarGrowlmon and steadied himself heavily on the earthy ground. "I'm ready to kick some bird-butt!"

Henry chuckled slightly at Rapidmon's comment and inwardly thought how glad he was to have his partner back in the game. "For once, I agree with you," he whispered to the wind.

Takato heard his friend's comment and smiled warmly at the blue-haired boy. "Here goes nothing…"

Meanwhile, Rika shivered and brought her hands up to her upper arms and rubbed them vigorously. She was cold, though there was no icy wind, no snow, no nothing to imply the coldness she felt seeping into her bones. "Where are you, Ryo?"

She wasn't too far away from the others, but already she felt distant. She could still hear the low growls of the Digimon readying themselves for battle. Taomon hovered not so far away, giving Rika a little distance to do what she had to. To bring Ryo back, Rika would need to tell him exactly how she felt, starting from the beginning. It was going to be a long journey, but she knew that somehow she would bring him back.

She tried taunting him, daring him to appear to her. "What happened, Ryo? Huh? Were you scared you me, was that it? Why did you run away?"

Her questions echoed eerily, making them sound more surreal in the strange atmospheric tension. 'Just adding to the creepiness of the situation…'

She heard a noise behind her, and spun around, aware of the prickly sensation down her spine. But all she saw was Taomon, floating with her eyes closed some distance behind her. Nothing, but she could sense someone. Sense Ryo, smell his deep ocean scent. She knew he was here, she just had to find where. When she turned back around, there he was, staring at her with laughing eyes, mocking her.

Heart pounded abnormally fast, Rika thought fast and decided not to let fear motivate her to run away; she would win this, one way or another. Ryo, however, had other plans. Snaking out his arm, he wrapped it securely around Rika's waist, pulling her once against closer to him. Without resisting, all Rika could do was stare, stare at his incredibly unreal crimson orbs, stare at the professional way he pulled her in using only once arm. Was he still under a spell, or was she the one under a spell? His spell?

"Don't fight it, Rika," Ryo whispered with an entrancing voice. Any girl would be crazy to resist.

Rika snapped her head around when she heard a noise in the background, and glanced past a concerned Taomon to look at the group of Tamers in the distance.

Takato resisted a glance behind him and placed his clenched fist out in front of him, visible to all the Tamers, bar two of course. "Tamers ready?"

Henry placed his own cupped hand on top of Takato's, followed quickly by Kazu, Kenta, Ai and Mako. "Ready!"

The battle had begun.

A/N: Yeah, Joss Stone is fun to listen to when you're writing. Just thought I'd tell you that for some useless information crap ;)

Floramon: Yep, another filler chapter that was strangely long for just a filler…

A/N: Reviews are appreciated people as well as chocolate bunnies…ah…fake chocolate bunnies of course…

Peace for now,

Amethyst