Disclaimer: I don't own any of the anime series, games, or Japanese classics involved.

I do, however, own the Blackhearted, the ADI, Otaku, and Lord Diabolus.

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UNITED WE STAND AS ONE

Gumming Along

"I still can't believe the Blackhearted were actually able to infiltrate our base and attack from within," said Takuya as he and a few other stone holders and ADI staff doused the controls of the transporter room with CO2 fire extinguishers.

"Not to mention that while we're stuck here they could be doing anything to the worlds out there," Daigo added.

"Ugh, don't remind me right now," said Kai as his extinguisher sputtered and ceased functioning. Tossing it into the large pile of used extinguishers, he grabbed a new one from the large bin that had been wheeled in and continued working.

"I still find it almost hard to believe who the bearer of the Chaos Stone was," Squall tossed in.

"Sephiroth," Takuya muttered, "the most powerful enemy of all the Final Fantasy games."

"You've played them too, huh?" Kai asked.

"I never imagined you to be the type to play video games."

"People need to have fun from time to time."

"I see your point." Takuya tossed out his fire extinguisher and went to get another one only to find out that Kai had used the last one in the bin.

"More here," said Richie as he entered bearing a cart full of new extinguishers.

"About time. We just ran out," Squall said.

o o o

While fires were being put out in the transporter room, the others were doing whatever they could to repair the damage Sephiroth and Yami Bakura had inflicted on the base.

"That Man-Eater Bug was one nasty time bomb," Trunks commented as he examined the fragments created by Bakura's monster after it had latched itself onto the doors and blown itself into oblivion, taking the doors with it.

"Sephiroth's done his fair share of damage, as well," Ashitaka added as he examined the deep gashes left in the wall by Sephiroth's masamune.

"What I'd like to know is where Kite, Jim, and Sora are," Ryo said.

o o o

"So the transporter's completely out of commission?" Otaku asked as he looked at the three ADI officials who were standing in front of his desk.

"Destroyed," said Jim, "There's nothing we can do about it."

"So what are you planning to do about it?" the leader of the ADI questioned.

"Jim and I have been working on something for just such and emergency," said Sora. Otaku turned to the Keyblade master and cocked an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"We didn't tell you because we haven't completed the project. We've only got about 80% of it finished," said Jim.

"Well, you might as well tell the others anyway. And finish it ASAP," Otaku ordered.

"Yes, sir," said Jim.

"Uh, I hope you don't mind me asking but why is Kite here?" Sora asked.

"Well Kite thinks he might have the solution to creating a new transporter," said Otaku.

"It's all right here," the blue-haired Twin Blade said as he took out a book. He opened the cover and a hologram of a spinning circular portal appeared. "It's called a Chaos Gate. In 'The World', they're used on every server to access different areas."

"By modifying the Chaos Gate's program, we can use it to access different worlds in much the same way Kite claims one can access areas in his world," said Jim.

"I see," said Otaku as he leaned back in his chair, "And approximately when do you believe you will be finished by?"

"Next Tuesday," Kite answered.

"Alright. Until we can get the Chaos Gate up and running, I want everyone to use the backup transport system for inter-world travelling," Otaku ordered.

"Yes, sir!" the three ADI staff members chorused.

"By the way," Otaku added, "what exactly is the backup transport system?"

o o o

"What do you suppose this is about?" Rokusho inquired as he and all the stone holders followed Ryo down the corridor.

"Something about an alternate mode of interworld transportation," the Legendary Tamer answered. They reached a sealed door and Ryo input a code, which gained him and the stone holders access to what lay inside. On entering, everybody's gaze fell upon a series of odd-looking ships.

"What are these?" Ashitaka questioned.

"They're Gummi Ships," replied Sora as he slid down a ladder on the side of the wall and landed on the platform, "We used to use them to fight against the Heartless."

"Sora, wasn't it just you who did that?" Ryo asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Whatever. Anyway, you guys will need to learn how to pilot these things. We can start as soon as we've finished construction," Sora finished, "Any questions?"

"How long until they're finished?" asked Li. Sora turned around and looked down at the Gummi ships below.

"At least two hours," he replied.

o o o

Takuya was sitting cross-legged on his bed in his quarters reading a copy of Gummi Ship Flying for Dummies. Right after the visit to the Gummi garage, Ryo had taken the stone holders to the library where he gave out copies of various manuals and "How To" books regarding piloting a Gummi Ship. The bearer of the Pyro Stone flipped through the pages carefully, reading every single word trying not to miss a single thing. It wasn't just because he thought the Gummi Ships were cool; it was also because he knew that they were his only hope to finding and helping his friends. Many of the other stone holders were also reading their books, but some decided to train for the upcoming battles that would ensue.

o o o

Yami Malik knelt before the ominous silhouette of Diabolus with Zirconia, Dr. Meda-Evil, and Cherubimon on either side of him.

"Lord Diabolus, the task has been completed. The ADI's only means of interworld transportation has been destroyed," the ancient spirit reported.

"I am aware of that," the dark overlord replied, "for it was I who sent the one that destroyed it."

"The Warrior of Chaos," Yami Malik muttered.

"Return to your duties, the four of you," Lord Diabolus ordered. The four villains bowed before rising to their feet and leaving the chamber.

"You may approach." Riku stepped out from the shadows and walked towards the intense flames that displayed the demon's image.

"You knew all along, didn't you?" he asked with a slight accusatory tone in his voice.

"Indeed," replied Diabolus, "The Chaos Stone is, by far, the most powerful stone of all. Its legendary powers are very real and only one of equal power if not greater can bear it." Having said his piece, the demon disappeared and the flames returned to normal.

"We'll see," said Riku before he turned and walked out.

o o o

The stone holders sat around inside the Gummi training room awaiting the results of their simulator tests.

"Well, most of you have done fairly good," said Sora, "However, some of you aren't quite cut out for the job. Anyway, let's get you guys on board. We've just received word of four new Blackhearted attacks." Sora led everyone down to the Gummi garage, where four completed ships sat awaiting departure. Squall was already there waiting along with Otaku.

"Stone holders, keep in mind that this method of transportation is only temporary. It's extremely dangerous in interworld space," the leader of the ADI said, "You mustn't let your guard down at any time. Now, Sora and Squall will assign you to your ships."

"Before you guys go, take these." Sora reached into his pocket and produced four Summon Gems. He gave a fiery orange one to Takuya, an electric-yellow one to Ami, a steel-grey one to Rokusho, and an icy-blue one to Ashitaka.

"Now, time to get you to your ships," said Squall. In the end, Takuya, Kaiba, and Meta Knight were on one ship. Daigo, Rokusho, and Li occupied another one. Ami, Yomiko, and Shinji sat in the third ship. The last was occupied by Trunks, Link, and Ashitaka. After checking to see that everyone was in place, Squall headed up to the control tower where Jim was standing by while Sora remained on the hangar floor with two glowing tubes in his hands. (A/N: The ones they use at airports to direct air traffic on the tarmac. I forgot what they're called.)

"All systems ready," said Jim, "Highwind, Valefor, Eden, and Sylvia ready for launch. Proceed to the launch bays."

"Roger," Sora answered into the headset he was wearing. He directed the Gummi Ships over to four of the launch pads. Takuya, who was sitting in the pilot's seat of the Highwind, took in a sharp breath and eased forward. The ship hummed softly as it moved towards the indicated launch pad. Daigo, who had experience flying GUTS Fighters, taxied the Sylvia into place. Shinji was a nervous wreck as he moved the Eden to launch pad three and Trunks seemed to have no trouble getting the Valefor in place.

"The Gummis are in place," Sora said into his headset.

"Roger. Preparing for launch," Jim replied, "Launch shaft is clear. Highwind, you are clear for take-off." The engines on the Highwind roared to life and the ship shot forward into interworld space.

"Highwind has left. Valefor clear for take-off," Sora reported.

"Roger, Sora. Valefor, launch!" Jim pressed a button on his console, giving Trunks the green light. The Z-Fighter started the engines and the ship shot forward.

"Valefor has launched. Eden ready for take-off," said Sora.

"Understood. Eden launch." Jim gave Shinji the okay and the young Eva pilot flew the ship out.

"Eden's launch was successful. Sylvia standing by."

"Sylvia clear for launch." In time, the last of the four Gummi ships had taken off, leaving the Gummi garage empty.

"Well, there they go," said Sora.

"You do realize they'll end up getting to the worlds a little later now," said Jim as he came up to Sora.

It's better than them not getting there," the Keyblade master replied, "Besides, we gave them basic training. What could go wrong?"

o o o

"He said to go left!" Kaiba shouted.

"Well when I asked you if I should turn left, you said right!" Takuya argued back.

"I meant right as in correct!"

This will be a very long flight, Meta Knight thought to himself.

o o o

"We're approaching our destination," Trunks announced, "Our target area is a large forest region." The Valefor flew down and zipped past several treetops before finally making a landing.

"I know this forest," said Ashitaka, "This is my world."

"Somehow I think Otaku planned this intentionally," said Trunks.

"Since this is your world, Ashitaka," said Link, "where do you say we go to now?" Ashitaka thought for a moment and then spoke.

"Iron Town," he replied. Trunks and Link nodded in agreement before Ashitaka led them through the forest towards the said destination. Before long, they had arrived at a large lake with a wooden fort built next to it. Smoke could be seen rising from the center of the structure.

"It's under attack!" exclaimed Link as he drew his sword.

"Don't worry. That smoke is just from the manufacturing of iron," explained Ashitaka.

"Well unless hundreds of little black creatures roaming around the area is part of the process, I say we should go now," said Trunks after observing several Blackhearted surrounding the factory. The tree of them quickly ran towards Iron Town as quickly as they could. Before they could reach the gate, though, several Air Raiders appeared and began attacking the stone holders. Ashitaka was the first to act. He quickly loaded an arrow into his bow and fired. The arrow sailed through the air and impaled three of the flying Blackhearted. Meanwhile on the ground, Soldiers had just arisen and Link was taking his Master Sword to them. Trunks flew up and began smashing his fists into any Air Raiders that came towards him.

"There's still too many of them!" shouted Ashitaka.

"Let's try the summon gem!" Trunks suggested.

"I've got it!" Link took out the summon gem and held it up. The crystalline sphere began to emit an icy-blue glow and a frigid gust of wind blew by. A large glacier rose up from the ground. Inside, the stone holders could just make out the form of a woman. Suddenly, her eyes opened and the glacier shattered. Her light-blue skin glistened like ice as she got up and shook out any snow from her sapphire-blue hair, all while wearing almost nothing at all. She was Shiva, the goddess of ice.

"Shiva, defeat these Blackhearted!" Link commanded. Obeying, Shiva dashed towards one of the Soldiers and delivered a kick to its chest, destroying it immediately. She then held out her hands and cast several ice spells, destroying even more Blackhearted. Immediately, she pointed one finger towards the sky and a large piece of ice dropped down and crushed the remaining minions.

"Let's go!" Trunks called. Accompanied by the newest summon creature, the three stone holders pushed the gates of Iron Town open and went inside only to be stopped by a Dark Armor like the one they had faced in Reedington.

"Shiva," Link turned to the ice queen, "Diamond Dust."

Shiva nodded her acknowledgement and stepped forward. She raised her arms over her head and spun around. Her movements sent a chilling wind at the giant suit of floating armor, forming frost all over it. Her hands began to glow with a mystical ball of energy, which she drew back before thrusting it in front of her. The energy ball sent forth a freezing beam, which struck Dark Armor and trapped it within a solid block of ice. Shiva admired her handiwork for a moment before raises her hand and then snapping her arm back down. The ice prison shattered and Dark Armor instantly fell to pieces.

"Let's go!" said Ashitaka as the three swordsmen moved forward while Shiva disappeared in a blizzard of ice. They hurried into Iron Town and found several of the workers dead from the Blackhearted onslaught.

"It's a downright massacre," said Trunks as he surveyed the area.

"Isn't there anyone that's still alive here?" Link asked. Ashitaka walked over to one of the bodies and checked it over.

"These men weren't just slaughtered," he said, "They were poisoned."

"Poisoned? By what?" asked Trunks. As if to answer his question, a massive leg appeared on the side of Iron Town's wall and a gargantuan black spider flipped over it and roared. Emblazoned on its abdomen was the Blackhearted insignia overlapping a red hourglass.

"A Black Widow!" Trunks exclaimed. The gigantic arachnid roared as leapt off the wall and landed in the center of the iron refinery. It spun around and turned to face the three swordsmen.

"Can we defeat it?" asked Ashitaka.

"There's only one way to find out," said Link. Holding his shield out in front of him, he brought back his sword and waited. The massive spider charged towards the Hero of Time at full speed. The moment it came within striking range, Link unleashed a Spin Slash that knocked back the Black Widow. Ashitaka quickly followed up by firing several arrows into the giant spider's hide. Then Trunks flew in and severed its legs with his sword. He landed on the other side of Iron Town and re-sheathed his sword as the behemoth fell to the ground.

"That takes care of that," said the half-Saiyan warrior.

"It seemed too easy," said Link.

Suddenly, the Black Widow twitched and new legs sprung out from its body while the dismembered limbs transformed into smaller versions of the Blackhearted arachnid.

"Split up!" said Trunks. Ashitaka and Link nodded and the three stone holders went off in separate directions. A Mini-Widow leapt up at Trunks and bared its fangs, but the Z-Fighter kicked it away. A second one shot webbing from its abdomen Link. However, the Hylian hero jumped to the side and shot an arrow at the minion. Ashitaka chopped down the Mini-Widows one-by-one with his sword as they leapt up at him. Eventually, all the smaller spiders had been vanquished, leaving only the original Black Widow.

"Okay, let's make it a rule not to sever off parts of its body," said Trunks.

"Agreed," said Link, "which means that we'll have to kill it with one strike."

"I call upon Pegasus!" Trunks' Lunar Stone started to glow and the Spirit of Moon from within emerge and neighed. The winged horse flew as high as it could go and then came charging down onto the Black Widow with everything it had. The spider reared back and roared as the spirit struck its target. Pegasus then reared up on its hind legs as hits horn began to glow. It neighed loudly and swung its head forward, casting down a large orb of gravity energy onto the Black Widow. Its task complete, Pegasus returned to the Lunar Stone.

"Looks like it didn't do much," said Link.

"I'm going to try something else," said Trunks. He thrust his hands out in front of him and then moved them around rapidly and repositioned them in front of his body.

"Burning Attack!" A powerful energy blast shot out of Trunks' hands and blasted a hole through the center of the Black Widow's abdomen. The massive spider roared and shook it off like it was nothing.

"Even with a portion of its body gone, it still lives!" Ashitaka exclaimed.

"Ashitaka," said Link, "Your stone his glowing." Ashitaka took the Spirit Stone out from under his shirt and looked at it. It was, indeed, glowing.

"This presence I'm feeling seems familiar," said Ashitaka. A brilliant light shone out from the Spirit Stone and from it emerged the spirit of a large white wolf.

"The spirit of the Spirit Stone is a wolf!" Trunks exclaimed.

"That's not just any wolf," said Ashitaka, "It's Moro!" And indeed it was. The wolf spirit of the forest had been transformed into the spirit dwelling within the Spirit Stone. Moro raised her head into the air and let out a long howl before she pounced on the Black Widow. The spirit and the Blackhearted rolled along the ground as they fought.

"Quickly! We need to assist the spirit," said Link.

"I brought along a second summon gem for emergencies," said Trunks, "Dragoon!" The half-Saiyan held the blue crystalline sphere over his head and it shone brightly as the majestic blue dragon emerged from it. Dragoon let out a mighty roar before flying in and slashing the Black Widow with its claws while Moro tore into its hide with her fangs.

"It's time to finish this!" said Ashitaka. Gripping his sword in both hands, he charged forward holding his blade next to his chest. With both Moro and Dragoon restraining the Black Widow, the Blackhearted monster was wide open to attack. As soon as he came within range, Ashitaka thrust his sword forward and plunged the blade into the spider's underside. The Black Widow twitched violently and roared as its body slowly dissipated into darkness until nothing was left. The moment the last remnant of the dark arachnid had disappeared, the Blackhearted in the rest of the forest suddenly disappeared. Ashitaka stood up straight and walked over to where Moro stood.

"Thank you," he said. Moro bowed her head before returning to the Spirit Stone and Dragoon returned to its summon gem. Re-sheathing his sword, Trunks pulled out a communications device Ryo had given him and switched it on.

"Trunks to ADI headquarters, mission accomplished," he said.

o o o

Daigo, Rokusho and Li stood atop a tall hill overlooking Riverview. The entire city was overrun by Blackhearted, as well as members of the Rubberobo gang.

"What a mess," said Li.

"So, this is what has happened to my hometown," said Rokusho.

o o o

Elsewhere, Shinji, Ami, and Yomiko stood amidst the ruins of the city that had once been Tokyo. All that remained was a large black spiked tower and a dark cloud overhanging above the city.

"There's a lot of negative energy here," said Ami as she scanned the area.

"Oh, I don't like the looks of this," said Yomiko as she held up a few sheets of paper while Shinji just hung near the Eden.

o o o

Takuya looked on in horror at what remained of the Digital World. Areas where there had once been land were now occupied by massive canyons as a result of data absorption. Blackhearted roamed everywhere and occasionally they would be seen chasing a random Digimon across the barren land.

"The state of this world is terrible," said Meta Knight.

"I just hope my friends are alright," said Takuya as he recalled the day he had become the bearer of the Pyro Stone of Fire.

"It's no use staying here wondering and hoping," said Kaiba, "Let's go. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can leave." The CEO of Kaiba Corp walked past the other two stone holders and proceeded through the wasteland.

"He is right," said Meta Knight, "If you are concerned about your friends, you must go and save them."

"You're right," said Takuya. He pulled the Pyro Stone out from under his shirt and looked into its fiery red structure. He hopped off the hood of the Highwind and ran after Kaiba with Meta Knight right behind him.

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NEXT TIME:

Takuya must face the fallen Great Angel, Cherubimon in order to save his friends. But is it too late already? And what will happen when one of those friends is turned against him? The fate of the entire Digital World rests with Takuya and the Pyro Stone of Fire.

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And there you have it. Please remember to drop off your reviews in the review box on your way out.