Chapter 20: Blizzards of Change

"Where are they?" The Chinese lieutenant rode alongside his men as they marched into Odaiba. Following behind were regiments of French, German, and Russian troops. The city seemed deserted as they slowly walked down the streets. "I thought reconnaissance had them crawling all over the place." The soldier looked down the street through a pair of binoculars, looking for any sign of life. As he looked, the radio installed into the jeep cracked to life.

"Bzzzt… Att..on all fo… Co…iti… …eet… …oyed! Rep…t!" The signal was distorted and broken; only garbled sounds could be made out. The lieutenant picked up the receiver and spoke, lowering his binoculars as he did.

"Please repeat that last message."

"Coa… fl..t dest…ed!" The lieutenant was about to ask the person on the other end of the line to repeat again, but the soldier driving the jeep cut him off.

"Sir, look!" The soldier pointed ahead in the road. "Somebody is in the distance!" A human-like figure stood in the street ahead of the steadily marching army. It was cloaked so that it couldn't be identified. The column of troops continued moving until the front man reached the figure. The lieutenant quickly rode up to the front.

"Identify yourself!" The lieutenant stood up in the jeep and shouted at the figure, aggravated at his poor reconnaissance. He had been told that digimon swarmed the city and that all humans had been killed.

"Why have you come?" The figure spoke with a cold, monotone voice, only enraging the lieutenant.

"Answer my question: Who are you and what are you doing here!?" The figure chuckled under his breath. As he raised his hand and snapped his fingers, the lieutenant realized what was happening, but it was too late.

"IT'S A TRAP!!!" At the sound of Myotismon's signal, Bakemon poured through the walls of the buildings beside the troops while Ogremon jumped out of the windows. Myotismon threw off his disguise and attacked the lieutenant.

"Crimson Whip!" The whip cut into the lieutenant's neck, slicing it clear off. It and the rest of the body broke into data, which Myotismon absorbed while he dispatched the driver the same way. The soldiers quickly repositioned themselves, aiming at either the sides of the street, up, or straight ahead at Myotismon. Men poured out of the trucks that they had been transported in as Ogremon landed on them, crushing them beneath their clubs as they landed. Searing bullets flew about, ripping holes in the Ogremon and destroying some before they even hit the ground. However, the shots flew clear through the Bakemon, who began to wipe out as many troops as they could. The troops further back who hadn't yet reached where the attack was taking place broke formation and organized into small squads, moving quickly towards the buildings alongside the road to take cover. Once ready, they opened fire as well. A Russian Major ran up to a French counter-part as his squadron set up behind a bus stop.

"Where the hell is the bombardment?" The Russian's French was broken and sloppy, but the other Major understood enough of it.

"Didn't you hear? The fleet was destroyed!" A Bakemon cut the conversation short, charging through the two troops, ripping off limbs as he went. Meanwhile, Myotismon mocked the troops firing at him as he knocked away bullets with his whip.

"You call that a weapon?" A bullet finally made it past and hit him in the knee. The bullet bounced off, but left a mark. "Ow, the pain, it's unbearable." Myotismon mocked sarcastically. "Let's see you shoot through this! Grizzly Wing!" Myotismon opened his cape and a mass of bats screeched down the street. They bit and tore at the soldiers, disorienting them and throwing the fight into complete chaos. Troops fired into the cloud of winged devils, sending blood and dead bats down onto them. As they were pelted, Myotismon marched through, swinging his whip about and sending troops into those behind them and into the air.

"Am I too late to join?" I landed a few yards behind Myotismon and he turned around, leaning his head slightly to the side. A bullet whizzed by and ricocheted off a streetlight. His eyes widened at my new appearance.

"You… digivolved?" A smirk came across his face. "I assume that the fleet is gone?"

"Completely, as well as a digidestined and two of their partners." Myotismon clapped and led me around a corner so as not to have to worry about stray bullets that the bats didn't block.

"So, what do I call you now?" He leaned against the building for a moment.

"Fuzenmon, or King of Nightmares; either one is fine really." I began to say something else but the sound of motors and clanking metal emerged over the gunshots, screams, and roars. A moment later the corner of the building Myotismon was leaning against blew away, sending him flying into the building on the other side of the street.

"What… was that?" He stood up and glared down the street.

"Tanks." I watched as two tanks rolled through the sea of Ogremon. There were more behind them. "You go and get the rest of the troops and I'll take care of these."

"No, you go, I'll destroy them." Myotismon stepped forward and buckled a little. He grabbed his shoulder, mangled somewhat from the blast. He looked at me for a moment and turned around. "Fine." He broke into a run, bullets flying past him as he ran. I ran out into the street, drew my staff, and opened my wings wide as two shells flew at me.

"You would shoot a child?" I knocked the shells back one at a time with my staff and watched them impact the two lead tanks. The shells drove deep and ignited the fuel inside, blowing the steel contraptions apart. "That isn't very nice." The wreckage now created a roadblock for the tanks behind them, forcing them to go in reverse to the last intersection and take another street. Soldiers on foot dashed past and around the flaming ruin and stopped at the sight of me.

"What are you?" One soldier got the guts to ask me while one beside him wet himself.

"I'm every nightmare you've ever had. Doom's Requiem!" I held up my hand and a cloud spread out from it. It was wispy and billowed over the men as if it were a dust cloud. Suddenly, I could see the thoughts of each soldier as he or she screamed in fear. As the cloud lifted, they all were shaking violently on the ground, stuck in visions of their fears and despair permanently. That is, unless I decided to release them, like that would ever happen. Soldiers coming in from behind them fired over their incapacitated comrades. I blocked the bullets, quickly spinning my staff about. The bullets ricocheted off at various angles, hitting the ground, buildings, or troops that had shot them. Blood splattered on me and I laughed. I marched slowly forward and continued spinning my staff, watching the human troops, as well as the Ogremon, get mowed down. The Bakemon had also begun to be injured and destroyed while they absorbed data, becoming solid as they did so.

Myotismon ran down the street holding his shoulder, a bit of blood trickling down it. He cursed under his breath as he ran through an intersection. Suddenly, an arrow flew from the side and skimmed his back. He fell forward and growled in pain, turning about to see what had shot him. "You, I guess Fuzenmon didn't get rid of you."

"Apparently not. Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon fired another arrow, but Myotismon quickly jumped out of the way and countered.

"Crimson Whip!" As it came down, a golden staff came down and shattered it. Angemon landed and kicked Myotismon in the chest, sending him back to the ground. Kumamon rolled out from the door of a building and crouched in the street, aiming at Myotismon.

"Blizzard Blaster!" Snowballs hit Myotismon furiously, but did nothing. Myotismon jumped up and reformed his whip, cracking it at Kumamon as he jumped into the air. Kumamon was knocked away and fell on his back.

"Little Brat! Crimson Whip!" As the whip came down Davis ran past and dragged Kumamon out of the way. Myotismon missed completely and dove to the ground to dodge the angels' attacks. When he landed and looked up, Exveemon and Stingmon were looming over him.

"Vee Laser!"

"Stinging Strike!" The two digimon fired on Myotismon, but he simply blocked and rolled out of the way of more attacks from Angewomon. He rolled beneath her and cracked his whip at her, knocking her out of the air. He jumped up and stopped the attacks of the champion digimon altogether as he stood over Angewomon, whipping her again.

"It's about time you had a taste of this." CRACK! "You've been one large thorn in my side ever since you betrayed me." Angemon flew down and tried to knock Myotismon away, but he simply knocked him away with the backswing of his whip. It came down on Angewomon again. She screamed in pain.

"Pick on somebody three times your size!" Metalgreymon stood menacingly down the street. "Giga Blaster!"

"She's not the only chick around here with wings you know!" Arashimon flew down and aimed from the other direction. "Fujita Cannon!" The two shots flew at Myotismon and he jumped up, grabbing hold of Angemon and throwing him down and Angewomon. Instead of hitting Myotismon, the attacks hit Angemon and Angewomon.

"Thank you for finishing the job!" Myotismon landed on the ground in front of the battered and bleeding Angels. TK and Kari ran out of a nearby building towards their partners. Myotismon heard their cries and picked up Angewomon by her hair, holding her in front of the two. They stopped in their tracks. "You all will do as I say." The attack stopped and everybody waited for Myotismon's demands. He felt the pain in his shoulder and back raging; he knew he couldn't keep up the fight.

"What do you want Myotismon." Megakabuterimon shouted at the vampire as he landed on the building behind him. The massive bug had been about to attack a moment before.

"If you all come with me I can guarantee that you will all live, for at least a little while."

"Yeah right, like you're telling the truth." Ken lashed out at Myotismon. "Why should we believe you?"

"Because you don't have a choice." He punched Angewomon in the back and she screamed, breaking apart into data a little, but then coming back together. She was teetering between life and death.

"Yes we do." Tai stepped out from a restaurant behind Myotismon and grabbed hold, jerking Myotismon back and causing him to drop Angewomon. "NOW!!!"

"Fujita Cannon!"

"Giga Blaster!"

"Horn Buster!" The three attacks came at different angles and hit Myotismon and Tai. Tai was thrown back and into the restaurant while Myotismon struggled to hold himself together. He turned around and saw Tai breaking apart and coming back together; he had taken more of the blow than he thought he would. Myotismon quickly ran over and picked him up by the back of his collar. Kumamon ran into the restaurant just in time to see Tai thrown against the side of the building. A memory flashed through Kumamon's head of how Myotismon had done the same thing to him—he could feel the impact of those cold, iron bars again.. Tai broke apart and Myotismon absorbed him, laughing the entire time.

"NO!" Kumamon ripped out his bazooka and fired. "BLIZZARD BLASTER!!!" Snowballs pelted Myotismon to no avail.

"Crimson Whip!" Kumamon ducked as the whip whirled about, sending tables everywhere.

"He risked himself to save us and I won't let you take him like this! Blizzard Blaster!" More snowballs spattered against Myotismon until piles began to obstruct Kumamon's view. His digivice glowed brightly from behind the headband it was held in. Finally, it erupted in blue light as Kumamon aimed again.

"Kumamon digivolve to… Polamon!" Energy from the digivolution sent debris out of the windows and blew against Myotismon, who had cleared the snow bank Kumamon had made. The other digidestined ran in as the light cleared, thinking that Kumamon had been destroyed. Instead, a slightly taller, stockier bear with glittering dark blue fur stood in Kumamon's place. The headband, now black, had lowered slightly and small snippets had been taken out of the bottom to give Polamon's eyes some space. Instead of the picture of a bear, a picture of three ice crystals shined on the black headband. The other garments of clothing were also black. A metal plate was attached to Polamon's back with what looked like pairs of gun barrels attached at odd angles: two pairs aiming up and one pair each aimed down to the left and down to the right. Gears were attached to the bars that held the guns in place. Two daggers were attached to the belt and nearly hung down to the floor; Polamon was taller than Kumamon, but only a little. Myotismon cracked his whip at the digidestined behind Polamon, but the bear out a dagger and cut it. Then he pulled out the other and slashed them in the air.

"Slashing Snowstorm!" Two boomerang shaped blasts of light-blue energy flew at Myotismon, with a mass of freezing wind and snow behind them. They bore into Myotismon and threw him back across the room. Polamon ran up to him while the other digidestined looked for Tai; they didn't know Myotismon had him yet. Polamon caught sight of Myotismon as he pushed himself up from the floor. "Oh no you don't! Hailstorm!" The gears cranked to life and the barrels shifted over Polamon's shoulders and on each side of him, aiming at Myotismon. An incredible barrage of ice flew at Myotismon, pummeling him back into submission. The ice fired at an unbelievable speed as the gears on Polamon's back spun madly. When the attack stopped, Myotismon struggled to push himself up.

"You… still think… you've won?" Myotismon laughed. "If you… kill me he… will die too." Polamon realized he was right. If he destroyed Myotismon and absorbed his data, he would be absorbing Tai's along with it, and he didn't know how to reconfigure things.

"I'm not letting you leave here alive." The gears began to speed up again on Polamon's back.

"How about this, you let me live, and I'll reconfigure that goggle kid for you." Polamon thought about it and agreed. Myotismon pushed himself up and stumbled outside and into the street. Polamon had his guns aimed at Myotismon the entire time.

"Now reconfigure him." Polamon's voice was a little deeper than Kumamon's too. Myotismon grumbled a little and held out his hands facing each other. An orb of data began to form between them.

"It won't do any good. I'll still get my revenge." Everybody else now watched the spectacle. If they didn't know better, they would have thought a digiegg was being created. The orb finished forming and Myotismon hesitated. "You know… I could destroy this data right here, right now."

"You wouldn't dare!" Sora cried out from Birdramon's talon as they flew over Myotismon.

"I think I will." Myotismon began to focus and the orb of data glowed brighter, becoming unstable. Polamon aimed. "Don't shoot or you'll destroy it for me!" Myotismon stopped for a moment. "I think I'm just going to leave you all with this out and ready for me to make use of. Devolve, all of you." Everybody did as he said, unwilling to risk the life of another Digidestined. "Now you stay right where you are while I go get my troops."

"They are already fighting, Myotismon." I flew down and landed behind the vampire. "You never brought them so I had to stop and get them. You haven't the slightest idea of how annoying MIGs can be when you are busy with an entire armor division."

"Fuzenmon! It is good you are here. You can finish them off for me." Myotismon turned around and looked at the digidestined and their partners.

"I don't think so." I spoke coldly.

"Wh… what? What do you mean?" Myotismon was shaken by my sudden change of mood from when he had left me earlier.

"I mean you are a weak, worthless digimon who has to hold data hostage in order to escape from battles you can't win. You're pathetic and I've decided to put your data to better use." I quickly swiped up at the orb containing Tai's data and it shattered. I absorbed it before the data could go anywhere and looked back down at Myotismon. Everybody watched.

"You… you can't do this. I made you what you are! Daemon will kill you for treason!" Myotismon was in full panic now.

"No Myotismon, I made myself what I am. I will decide what to do with my power, not you, not them, not even Daemon himself. I am the jury, judge, and executioner. Zero Fist!" I slammed Myotismon in the gut, but he didn't move, only slowly broke into data. "I find you guilty of dishonorable forms of combat, as well as abusing the little power you had."

"You… traitorous… bastard…" Myotismon choked up his last words as I absorbed his data.

"Damn straight." I breathed deep. "Now, considering you…" I stopped talking and looked up.

"They are mine James." Daemon swooped down towards the digidestined and produced a scythe. Gomamon and Biyomon turned around at the sound of the dark being's voice, only to meet Daemon's attack head on. They broke into data and Daemon sent it at me. I absorbed it without trying, as if it had forced itself into me. The other digimon and digidestined scattered. "I have been waiting for too long for you to destroy Myotismon." Daemon flew after Palmon, Gatomon, and Patamon, disposing of them quickly and forcing their data into me. "I felt I could not trust him to stay with my cause." I watched as Daemon shot across the street, slicing through Joe, Mimi, Sora, TK, and Kari in one swipe as they ran down an ally. I felt like I was about to explode as their data came to me. My senses sharpened, but when I tried to move, I couldn't. Some unknown force held my legs to the ground.

"What's going on!?" I roared at Daemon as chains formed from my own dark energy and bolted me to the street. I flapped my wings and pulled as hard as I could to break the chains, but to no avail.

"I have noticed that each time you absorb one of these children, you inherit their abilities and traits." He flew in front of Exveemon and Stingmon.

"Vee Laser!"

"Stinging Strike!"

"Pathetic." Daemon swiped and destroyed the digimon. More data forced its way into my chest and pain shot through my body. "You have become more and more confident, independent, and ambitious with each level of power you reach; this is unacceptable. I began to lose my trust in you." He swiped again and I watched in horror as Davis and Ken were destroyed. Wait… why did I feel bad about this? "Then you digivolved from merging with that Devidramon." He rocketed down the street and caught Yolei and Hawkmon; more data. Then he turned to Izzy who was holding a long piece of wood.

"Get out of here stupid! You don't stand a chance!" Izzy didn't listen; he tried to attack Daemon and quickly met the same fate as the others.

"But then you finally destroyed Myotismon. True, he was untrustworthy but bound to me no matter how much he hated me." Myotismon turned to Kristen, Joey, Chris, and Jennifer who hid in the restaurant along with Tentomon and Agumon. "You feel you are more powerful than I, and must pay the price. I never really expected to find you as a general, but you had much power, so I scrapped my original plan for you. But since you are too powerful for your own good, I'm returning to plan A." He floated into the restaurant. "Do you remember the King of Corruption?" He turned a corner and out of sight. A few moments later everybody came running full speed out of the restaurant. Jennifer however stopped as she passed me, instead gazing into my eyes. I couldn't stand it—the look bored into me like a drill, but it was so warm…

"Your eyes… they're… brown…"

"RUN!!!" As Daemon flew behind her and began to swipe, she turned around and threw up her hands. Before Daemon attacked, the Crest of Love blasted red light out everywhere.

"Damn crests, I hate them." Daemon's scythe began to come down.

"NO!!!" I ripped forward with waves of black, white, and red energy raging around me, flew up in an instant, and tackled Daemon. It didn't hurt him much, but knocked him away from Jennifer. "GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!" My digivice came to life and glowed a mixture of white and black. Daemon came at me with his scythe. I pulled out my staff and stopped blocked it a few inches from my face. I pressed as hard as I could against it, holding out against the dark god.

"Damn you! What do you think you are doing?" Daemon pressed harder on his scythe. I slipped out from under it and flew into the air, aiming my staff at Daemon.

"I won't let you harm her! Dark Lucent!" The beam tore through the air, but Daemon dodged it. He came at me and we began to fight weapon to weapon. His scythe and my staff clanged against each other as we flew about charging at each other. I finally jabbed him and he flew back, landing on the top of a building. "You are powerful no longer Daemon. It's time to use the evil you created to destroy you once and for all." My voice was booming and my digivice was still shining a sort of negative light. "Dark Lucent!" The beam shot at Daemon as he slowly got up from the roof of the building. He didn't move, but simply held his hand up and stopped the shot in mid air. Something was glowing beneath his robes. He reached his hand in them and produced a digiegg.

"You think you can kill me with that power? James, I am pure evil; only one can match my power and he lays waiting in the digital world." He threw the digiegg at me and it bore into my body, forcing me to absorb it. I fell out of the sky and landed on the building. "I originally planned to use your pain to resurrect Lucemon, but you didn't have quite enough. But now…" He lifted his hand and I floated into the sky. Anguish ripped through my body. I looked down and saw everybody coming towards Daemon, all digivolved to Ultimates. Chris and Kristen rode on Metalgreymon's and Megakabuterimon's backs.

"No… please… get away…" A final surge of power tore through me and I fell to the ground. There was same feeling I had when I merged with Devidramon, only in reverse—I was falling out of it. I landed on the building and felt my arm break. I yelled and held it, but as I did, I realized I wasn't Fuzenmon anymore. I was wearing my khaki shorts and white t-shirt again. My shades were resting on my head, pushed up over my hair which was also short again. I looked up and saw a massive field of data and dark energy rippling in the air.

"Meet the King of Corruption, James: Lucemon." The field collapsed on itself and a massive explosion rocked the area. I was blown off the building and into Polamon, who was standing in the street watching. We all fell back against buildings across the street from the one Daemon was over. When I opened my eyes, I could see Lucemon floating in the air.

"Finally, it is good to be back, Daemon. Thank you. You truly are a wonderful servant."

"Eh?" Daemon laughed. "I believe you have it wrong Lucemon. You are now a servant to me."

"Oh really?" Lucemon flew down at Daemon, but he quickly knocked him into the building. Lucemon crashed though to the first floor of the structure and struggled to get up.

"Your power is diminished Lucemon. You are my general now, and don't forget it. I do not know why the reconfiguration link between us hasn't told you that yet but it doesn't matter." Daemon flew down and picked up the unconscious fallen angel and took off into the sky. A portal opened in the sky and the two flew in.

I thought about getting up, but felt exhausted. Blood trickled down my face and got in my eyes, making it hard to see. My broken arm throbbed in pain. Finally, my vision faded, and I fell unconscious.

"James? James, can you hear me? Hey! Doctor, come quick, I think he's waking up!" A familiar voice shouted from over me as I rolled my head. "I opened my eyes and saw Kristen leaning over me. A bandage was wrapped around her head and she was in crutches. A dull light lit the room, but I could see clearly. A doctor jogged up and looked at me.

"Hello young man, did you sleep well?" I tried to sit up, but couldn't; it hurt too much. The doctor saw what I was trying to do and held me down. "Don't try to get up, your ribs are broken so you'll be in the bed a while." As my senses slowly came to me, I began to feel the pain. It hurt to breathe as my wrapped chest rose and fell on the broken bones. My arm throbbed and my head felt split open.

"What… where am I?" My voice was hoarse.

"We're in a military hospital. They found us after they won the fight with Myotismon's army." Kristen slowly lowered herself on my bed and got off her crutches.

"Where is everybody else? Where's Jennifer!?" I began to breathe faster, bringing more pain. I winced as I began to panic.

"Calm down son. All of your friends are okay, but they're still unconscious." The doctor was looking at the machines beside me and recording things down on a chart. I calmed down. Jennifer was okay; that was all that mattered. I began to think.

"Um… Kristen. What about…" I began to ask about Tentomon and Agumon, but she cut me off.

"They're just fine, I guess." Kristen sighed a little.

"What do you mean?" I tried to sit up again and fell back down in pain. The doctor glared at me disapprovingly.

"Well, the doctors are having a field day over them. They keep doing X-Rays and other things on them, trying to figure out what makes em' tick, but…" She smiled and laughed a little.

"But… what?"

"Digimon physiology isn't exactly like human physiology. The X-Rays just come back completely white. The data messes them up." She laughed again. "You can imagine all the questions I've been getting."

"So how long have we been here for?" I turned to the doctor.

"It's been four days since we found you. It's amazing how far you all have healed. We thought you all were dead when we found you." I shifted about and realized my digivice wasn't attached to my belt loop like it had been. My eyes widened and Kristen laughed. The doctor realized what I was worried about and reached over to a bedside table. "I swear; you kids get all worked up over these things." He waved the digivice over my head and put it back on the table. It was black and white again. "Well, other than the broken bones and the gash on your head, you're fine." The doctor stood up and I realized he wasn't Japanese.

"Wait… you're American."

"I thought you would never notice." The doctor smiled. "I came with the land force because they would need more doctors than the fleet. I'm glad I did." He walked off and I sighed painfully. I had been the one that destroyed that fleet. I tugged on Kristen's arm and she leaned over.

"You didn't tell him about Fuzenmon, did you?" I felt nervous.

"Shhh, no. Don't say anything about it though. This isn't a very safe place to talk in secret. Just get some rest." She grabbed her crutches and got off the bed. I closed my eyes and relaxed. "Oh, and one more thing." Kristen faced me, leaning on the crutches.

"What?" I didn't open my eyes.

"It's good to have you back James. Don't worry about what you did, it wasn't your fault."

"Thanks Kristen."