Digicross: California Nightmares

by Patrick O'Shea

Written by Alan Wilkinson, Kyle Evanick, and Trey Miller. Rated TPG 13 for violence, some language, and implied mature content. All commentscriticisms will be forwarded to them.Rating may change depending on proposed checklist.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon (well, duh). Rated PG-13 for language, rampant Mary-Sueing, character near-deaths and mature subject matter.

Oh yeah, and LOTS of violence.

Continuity Note: This is the California section of the Digicross World Tour.

Digicross TV Movie 2:

California Nightmares

By Kyle Evanick and Alan Wilkinson.

Digicross Series Concept by Patrick O'Shea

Lansdale, USA

"Come on! When have I ever steered you wrong?" Tsukaimon asked.

"Is that a trick question? Remember the Monochromon? You called the leader a tub of lard that couldn't get a date if his life depended on it. We were running for an hour before we lost him!"

Tsukaimon waved one of his paws, "Oh details, details."

A girl about 4 years older than Kyle with dirty-blond hair stood before them eying the exchange. "You guys be careful, all right?"

"We'll be fine, sis." Kyle responded.

Kyle raised his hand to a computer screen as the girl interrupted them. "Oh, and Tsukaimon... Tell me if my brother gets engaged to that Casey girl I've been hearing about."

Kyle smacked his head in exasperation, "Nicole, I'll be FINE! And Casey isn't my girlfriend, OK?"

He said under his breath, "Nosy little bat, I ought to... Sigh Digiport Open!"

Pallet Town

The pair came out of a computer in Professor Oak's lab. "You mind telling me what we're doing here?" Seth complained. His partner, Wizardmon, cast a quick spell to prevent the Digiport Kyle and Tsukaimon had just used from closing.

"Nice to see you too." Tsukaimon remarked.

Kyle sighed, "Transportation, Seth. We need some flying Pokémon to get us across the U.S. in a hurry. We can't risk the Digiports right now."

"At least we could port here without any trouble." Wizardmon noted.

As the quartet walked into what Seth had dubbed 'the corral', they were surprised to see a familiar purple-haired Digidestined and a small yellow bug as well as a miniature bear with a bandana covering his head and young man of 14(estimate) with spiky brown hair next to them.

Wizardmon glanced at the bear. "That's a Digimon. I'm guessing that boy is Bearmon's partner."

Kyle winced at the name. "Bearmon? That's a COMPLETELY unoriginal name. He should've been called Kumamon or something."

The girl and boy overheard him as they came over. "So I'm guess these guys are the Digidestined you've been telling me about, Bearmon?"

The Digimon nodded. "Yeah. Kyle and Tsukaimon have been doing this for over four years now, just as long as the Japanese Digidestined. Seth's a newbie though."

Seth frowned at Bearmon's words. "I have more experience than you, whoever you are!"

Bearmon growled softly. "I'm the great Bearmon, fighter extraordinaire! Oh, and this is my sidekick the great Gary Oak."

Gary shook his head amused. "Since when was I the sidekick? You couldn't Digivolve without me."

Bearmon waved his left arm. "Details, details. I'm sure you guys remember Casey Sparks, right?"

"Unfortunately." Kyle murmured under his breath.

"I heard that!" Casey hollered at him.

Wizardmon moved between the two before a fight could be broken out. "If I may interject, we DO have two worlds that need saving, so can we focus?"

Gary shook his head amused at the pair. "And how do you plan on getting to California anyway?"

Kyle answered. "We were going to ask the professor if we can borrow a couple of Flying Pokémon to get to Los Angeles, California."

Gary grinned. "No need to ask Grampa, I got all the Pokémon you need. What do you need: Fearow or Pidgeot?"

"Fearow. They'll have more endurance during long flights, at least that's what Ryo said."

Casey interrupted. "Before we go, I'll sing the Electabuzz Fight Song for good luck!"

"Wait a second. You like the Electabuzz?" Gary asked.

"Yes. Why?" Casey asked.

"The Electabuzz always lose to teams like the Starmie and the Magikarp. They haven't won in years!" Gary pointed out.

At this, predictably, Casey got angry. "Not THIS year! They're going all the way!"

Kyle cleared his throat. "I'd hate to interrupt but we DO have a Spire that needs wrecking." Muttering under his breath he added. "This is going to be a LONG trip."

Los Angeles, California, Real World.

Even though they had gone for the slower option, the group still managed to beat the setting sun, arriving with easily half-an-hour or so of daylight remaining.

As the group flew into L.A. airspace they were unaware they were being watched...

The group landed in the middle of the city. Kyle was a tad intimidated at seeing the large buildings as Gary recalled his two Fearow. "Whoa."

Gary nodded. "I know. Saffron and Goldenrod City were the only places I've seen that come close to the size of this city. This is huge!"

Bearmon gaped. "Sure you don't mean tall?"

"Excuse me." The group turned to see a girl about Caryl's age - about 11 or 12 - wearing bright green gloves, long brown hair, and in a sort of cowgirl outfit. "Sorry to interrupt, but are you Digidestined?"

"Who wants to know?" Casey demanded.

"Oh, sorry. My name's Tatum from Ireland, and this is my partner Tsukaimon."

A small flying gerbil(or pig or bat) flew in front of Tatum. "Hey! Another Tsukaimon! Cool. What's up?" Tatum's partner asked in a female voice.

"A girl Tsukaimon?" Kyle asked as his Tsukaimon greeted the other.

"My name's Tsukaimon, and this is my sidekick Kyle." he said. "You new to Earth? I'd be glad to show you around. I bet you Digivolve to an angel."

The other Digimon blushed. "No, I Digivolve to Airdramon."

Kyle just shook his head. "Trying to win points with her? Looks like it might actually work THIS time."

Kunemon nodded. "Guess not even Tsukaimon can strike out every time."

Tatum chuckled. "Why don't I show you where the other Digidestined are."

Seth nodded. "Sure."

As they walked into the center of the city, they saw four people with Digimon. One was an Agumon, one turned out on closer inspection to be a Charmander, the other two were unfamiliar. The two were female, one resemble an Agumon made of Legos, and the other looked like a small purple imp wearing gloves of the same color. There were girls around the two female Digimon, one about 15 with long blonde hair wearing blue jeans, and blue t-shirt with a pink heart with the former and a girl of 14 with green hair and wearing jeans and red shirt. Kyle stared at the blonde girl. -You've got to be kidding me...-

The blonde girl looked at them amused. "So Tatum, you found them huh? Intro time, I'm Dori Langton originally from Lansdale, Pennsylvania; now from Miami, Florida. And this is Toy Agumon."

Toy Agumon grinned. "Jason never told us there were so many cute boys and Digimon partners. Now who to pick..."

"Toy Agumon..."

"But... Cute boys..."

Dori sighed. "Sometimes I don't know how to deal with you..."

Kyle shook his head, turning to the owner of the Charmander, a boy of 12 (who had nearly had to bite his tongue to keep from suggesting 'Cash Rental'). "Hey, Wes."

"Eric." The other boy quipped back. The others saw he was wearing green jeans and a black t-shirt. They shook hands. "Gary. Hi."

"Alan. Man, I haven't seen you in... what, two years?" He looked down. "How are you doing Tommy?"

"Fine." the Charmander shrugged. He glanced up at the second girl. "Your turn."

"Well, I'm Duplica Imitae, and this is Impmon." Quickly, she changed to an outfit looking like an exact copy of Gary down to his voice, hair color, and clothes. Impmon morphed into an exact likeness of Bearmon.

"That was... odd." Seth said.

"No kidding." agreed Kyle.

Kyle looked at the young man with an Agumon who had remained silent throughout this exchange.

Kyle's Tsukaimon looked at him. "Does this guy speak or what? I mean is he mute or does he hold up signs like Wile E. Coyote?"

Kyle glared at Tsukaimon. "Not all people are annoyingly social like you are, Tsukaimon."

Tsukaimon shrugged and floated over to the young man. "Hello? Do you say anything at all or am I going to have to get you to talk?"

The Agumon standing nearby instead addressed Tsukaimon. "I apologize on behalf of my partner. He doesn't talk much with people he doesn't know. I'm Agumon and this," pointing to the young man, "is Mr. Sunshine himself, Josh Johannesen."

Josh glared at Agumon. "Be quiet, Agumon."

Agumon looked back and said, "What? I'm just telling the good folks the truth."

Josh continued his glare. "Nobody asked for your opinion, Agumon."

Tsukaimon looked at the two of them go at it and said, "Well, at least now I know that Josh can talk."

Josh looked for a moment at Tsukaimon. "Don't count on much more conversation then this. I don't know you. You don't know me. Therefore, I have no obligation to speak with any of you."

Josh and Agumon distanced themselves from the group and began to argue once more about the amount of conversation Josh was (or rather wasn't) carrying on.

"Friendly guy..." Seth remarked sarcastically. "He makes Kyle seem downright sociable."

"Don't let it get to you, Seth. If it wasn't for you and Michael I'd probably be the same way." Kyle remarked.

"I help where I can, but you can only do so much across dimensions." Alan put in. "After this, you want to get caught up?"

"Sure." Kyle shrugged. "It HAS been a while since you and I were in the same place."

Casey shot a glare at Josh. "Well, that guy had better be more social with us or ELSE."

Kunemon pleaded. "PLEASE, Casey! Don't do anything rash."

She shook her head. "No more than I normally do, Kunemon." At this everyone sweat-dropped.

Alan put a hand on Casey's shoulder. "Leave him be. He's go..."

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME, PERVERT!" Casey yelled, smacking his hand away and glaring at him.

Alan's return glare could have cut through steel. "I'm not the one who nearly got arrested for streaking."

Casey squirmed as all eyes turned on her, many of the others trying to hold back laughter. "Casey, you didn't?" Gary asked.

"She did." Kunemon confirmed.

Casey sighed. "It was Corey DeMario's first game in nearly a year and he won us our first game after 10 losses in a row. I just kinda got over-excited."

Before anyone could inquire further, a sound of someone clearing their throat was heard ahead of them. They looked around to see a man that looked like Gennai. "What took you so long? We have Digimon that need to be dealt with immediately!"

Tsukaimon looked at him. "Hey, Tatum. Who's Obi Wan over here?"

The girl shook her head amused. "That's Jason, the local Gennai clone."

Turning to him, Dori said. "Toy Agumon was chasing after guys again."

"And Casey was showing Josh how to make friends and influence people." Kunemon added dryly. Josh looked rather alarmed at the idea.

Jason nodded in understanding. "Very well. A Knightmon, Bastemon, and a Megadramon have been spotted as well as a large group of wild Champions."

Kyle and Seth blinked. "Three Ultimates?" Seth asked. "We may have trouble..."

"Between Digimon and Pokémon?" Alan asked. "We'll manage."

Kyle nodded. "Let's get started. Tsukaimon!" Seth's Wizardmon watched as a brilliant light shined down on the other seven Digimon...

"Tsukaimon, Digivolve to... Wizardmon!"

"Kunemon, Digivolve to... Yanmamon!"

"Toy Agumon, Digivolve to... D'Arcmon!"

"Tsukaimon, Digivolve to... Airdramon!"

"Impmon, Digivolve to... Witchmon!"

"Bearmon, Digivolve to... Gladimon!"

"Agumon, Digivolve to... Tyrannomon!"

A pair of Wizardmon, wizards. Yanmamon, a large green and yellow insect. D'Arcmon, a female sword-wielding angel. Airdramon, a large Chinese dragon. Witchmon, a red clad witch. Gladimon, a small knight-like Digimon. And Tyrannomon, a large red dinosaur.

"No sense in waiting." Kyle commented as he and Casey held their Digivices up.

"Yanmamon!"

"Wizardmon!"

"DNA digivolve to... Wolfmon!"

"That's it?" Alan asked, incredulous.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Casey demanded.

Alan glanced at Tommy. "Digi-Armour, Energize!"

"Charmander, Armour Digivolve to... Wolfmon, Swordsman of Light!" identical to the Frontier Wolfmon, except for a few differences in markings – ed

"I think we've just been upstaged." Yanmamon noted from inside their Wolfmon.

Seth looked at Kyle. "What's the plan?"

"Why're you asking me? Do I look like Davis?"

"Someone has to be leader." Alan pointed out. "And you have more experience here than any except for the original Japanese Digidestined."

Kyle groaned. "Fine. Casey and I'll get Knightmon. Seth, Josh and Dori you'll round up the Champions and deal with the spire."

"Hey, Seth." Gary said "Take these with you." He handed Seth three Pokéballs. "Just in case. Don't worry, Gramps says they know you."

"Thanks." Seth said, taking them.

"Let's get this over with." Josh sighed. The three moved off.

"Alan and Tatum you'll deal with Megadramon." Kyle continued.

"Got it." Alan nodded. Tatum helped him onto Airdramon and Tommy jumped on too.

"Gary, that leaves you and Duplica to handle Bastemon." Kyle finished as the Chinese dragon flew off.

"No problem." Duplica said.

"Just don't make us bail you out." Gary joked.

"Myotisdramon." Kyle replied simply.

Gary cringed. "Never gonna let me forget that are you?"

As it would turn out, Duplica couldn't have been more wrong...

"So what's up with your Digimon?" Gary asked a few minutes later, as the quartet looked for Bastemon. "I wasn't aware they could learn Transform."

Duplica sighed and began to explain…

Months Earlier...

Duplica watched as two creatures battled. One of them overpowered the other and knocked it flying. It hit a tree and reverted to it's real form, a small pink blob.

"Ditto!" Duplica ran to her Pokémon, only to shriek and fall on her knees as a blast of electricity struck her in the back. Wincing in agony, her body tingling from the shock, she managed to turn around and face the creature – she was increasing certain it wasn't a Pokémon – that had been attacking her Pokémon and was now targeting her. It looked like a meter tall navy blue beetle with a very large horn on it's forehead officially 'KoKabuterimon', but I think 'DemiBlitzmon' suits it better – ed.

Duplica shifted and felt her bra slip off under her shirt and land near her lap. That and the orchestra of pain that was her back indicated that the blast had seared a large hole in her clothes and burned her skin. Frankly, it was a miracle she'd lived for the few seconds longer she had.

Were those spots starting to dance in front of her eyes?

"Help..." she whispered.

Behind her, Ditto's eyes snapped open. "Ditto, Reformat to... Impmon!"

Duplica barely had time to notice a dark purple creature leap over head and not enough to connect sight to sound before she fell on her face, unconscious.

Present day...

Gary's face had gone pale. "What happened?" he forced himself to ask, directing the question at Duplica's partner.

Witchmon shuddered. "I was just too angry to think. I blasted the Digimon to pixels. Then I morphed into an Abra and teleported us both back to a Pokémon Center we'd been in a couple of days before."

Gary had to bite his tongue to keep from asking why Witchmon hadn't taken Duplica straight to a hospital. He looked at the girl, feeling incredibly sorry for her.

"But she recovered, right?" Gladimon asked. "I mean, she's here, so she obviously got better."

"Not easily." Witchmon replied quietly. "It was three days before she finally recovered consciousness and in that time she died twice. The second time, they had to use one of those machines to restart her heart by shocking it." She snorted. "Ironic."

"Oh Kami-sama." Gary breathed.

Gladimon shook his head. "Hell of a way to become a Digidestined. I'm amazed you didn't hit Ultimate, Witchmon."

Witchmon barked a humorless laugh. "We didn't even know what a Digi-destined was. In my panic, I didn't notice her Digivice and it got left behind." She shook her head. "It was a fortnight before Duplica's back was healed enough for her to leave the hospital..."

"Still hasn't, completely." Duplica spoke up, causing Gary and Gladimon to wince. "A few days later, we were approached by a man calling himself Evan. At least, he looked like a man, maybe in his twenties, but he had..."

"Old eyes." Witchmon supplied. "Really old eyes."

Gary frowned. "Ebonwumon?" he suggested after a moment.

"Maybe." Gladimon agreed. "No reason why Baihumon would be the only one able to fake human."

"You've lost us." Duplica said.

"Ebonwumon." Gladimon said. "One of the four Guardians of the Digital World. Mega Digimon, looks like a giant two-headed turtle with a forest on his back. Would make a good Mega-Jogress form for Venasaur and Blastoise, come to think of it."

"Anyway, what happened?" Gary asked, getting back on topic.

Duplica shrugged. "He asked us about my Digivice, I didn't have it and we realized it had been left behind. But he told us something of what a Digi-Destined was, what they did, that sort of thing."

"Naturally, by the time we got back there, the Digivice was long gone." Witchmon said. "It took a month of asking around before we finally tracked it down. Had to battle for it, too."

"Against an Electric-type, of course." Duplica said. "And lately I haven't even been able to look at a Pichu without wetting myself."

"I'm not surprised." Gary said gently. He frowned. "But what did you mean 'Ditto, Reformat to...'. I thought reformatting was what happened when a Digimon... well, died. I hadn't heard of a Digimon being reformatted while alive."

"I have." Gladimon said. "It doesn't happen often, but every now and then a Digimon really needs to Digivolve, but is too inexperienced, too injured or for some other reason incapable of reaching the next level. So instead it permanently changes into a stronger Digimon of the same level and the old form is lost." He shook his head. "As I said, it doesn't happen often, but..." He trailed off.

"But?" Gary prompted after a moment.

"I think something like it happened to make Kyle and Casey's Wolfmon."

Speaking of whom... –ed.

"Do you feel that?" Kyle asked.

"I feel... weird." Casey said.

"Exactly." The Wizardmon half of their Wolfmon said. "Something's about to happen."

Kyle raised his head, trying to work out where the sensation was coming from. Almost sniffing the air, his eyes fixed on a single point in space... an instant before that point of space was ripped open with a –crack-, creating a jagged hole in reality.

Casey vomited as her brain's sense of reality went haywire. Kyle just gazed at the rift, transfixed, for much the same reason. Wolfmon, themselves unaffected, kept shifting his gaze between the rift, Casey and Kyle, both halves of the DNA Champion trying to decide which of his partners to be more worried about.

"Ew, gross." Casey muttered. Wiping her mouth on her sleeve, she looked up in time to see the rift expel three small monsters, a blue fish-like creature, an orange chick and a green lizard. The lizard shook his head, saw Wolfmon and both humans, got up and ran off. The other two just lay on the ground and moaned.

"You don't see that every day." Yanmamon remarked through Wolfmon's mouth.

The rift snapped shut with a second –crack-, releasing it's hold on Kyle. "That was... interesting." he said, dropping onto his knees.

Casey skirted around her vomit, kneeling down next to him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm not sure." Kyle admitted. ""Feels like my brain has been put through a paper shredder. Was that...?"

Wolfmon nodded. "Digiport. Things are DEFINITELY screwed up around here."

"What about these two?" Casey asked. "They look like Pokémon." She pulled out her Pokédex.

"Torchic, the Chick Pokémon. Torchic sticks with its trainer, following behind with unsteady steps. It breathes fire of over 1,800 degrees F, including fireballs that leave the foe scorched black. Give it a hug and it will be glowing with warmth."

"Mudkip, the Mud Fish Pokémon. Using the fin on it's head to sense movements of water and air, Mudkip can determine what is taking place around it without using its eyes. If it is faced with a tight situation in battle, Mudkip will unleash its amazing power - it can crush rocks bigger than itself."

Hearing their names, the two Pokémon stirred. Torchic spotted Wolfmon and promptly hid behind Kyle. Which, Wolfmon reflected, was better than Mudkip's reaction, which was to squirt the Digimon in the face with a Water Gun. Then laugh.

"Aren't they adorable?" Casey asked, moving closer to Mudkip in order to get a better look.

Any attempt Kyle might have made to maintain his dignity was somewhat derailed by his amazement that Casey even HAD a "cute animal" setting. "Isn't the toad thing your mortal enemy? It IS a Water type."

"Don't be silly." Casey chided him. "How can an enemy be that cute?"

"You thought Myotisdramon was cute."

"Gary was right." Casey said absently, as Mudkip blew a Bubble attack in her face, making her giggle. "You DO bring that up way too often."

"He covered me in barbecue sauce and tried to cook me. It's not the sort of thing you forget."

"I like him. He's silly." Casey whispered to Mudkip. "But don't tell him I said so."

She'd forgotten about Wolfmon's ears. "Blackmail material?" Yanmamon asked quietly.

"Oh yeah." Wizardmon agreed. Out loud he said. "We need to get going."

Kyle bent down and picked up Torchic, which made a surprising amount of protest: None at all. "Agreed. We need to find Knightmon."

"Guess so." Casey admitted. She regarded Mudkip. "Do you want to come with me?" Mudkip yipped happily. Casey got out a Pokéball and put it on the ground between them. Mudkip tapped the ball with a paw and was sucked inside.

"Can I borrow one of those?" Kyle asked.

Casey stared at him. "Why do you want a Pokéball?"

Given the short time they'd known each other, Kyle and Torchic's irritated looks were amazingly similar. For me, you idiot. Torchic snapped.

Despite not speaking the language, Casey got the gist, giving Kyle a bemused look. "You're trying to take advantage of my good mood, aren't you?"

Kyle approached her and bent down. "Look at him. Would you let this little guy be attacked by Knightmon?" Casey frowned and glanced at Torchic... who, for a bird, could do a damn good Puppy Dog Pout...

Megadramon laughed as he blew up another building. His orders were to create as much mayhem as possible and he always obeyed orders. Besides, this was FUN!

He glanced behind him to see an Airdramon approaching, carrying a Wolfmon and two humans. -Enemies- he thought.

On the Airdramon in question, Tommy the Wolfmon patted the scales. "Keep them safe." He requested.

"Got it." Airdramon replied. Tommy nodded and jumped off.

"Wolfmon, Digivolve to... Charizard!" Confused yet? –ed

"He can do that?" Tatum asked in surprise.

Alan nodded, checking to make sure the Digi-Egg of Light had returned to his D-Terminal. "He's got enough XP that he could stay as Charizard if he wanted to. But he takes up a LOT less room as Charmander. Besides, he can't Armour Digivolve as Charmeleon or Charizard. We've tried."

"That's another thing. Where did you get an Digi-Egg? I thought only the Japanese Digidestined had them."

Alan's face darkened. "Long story." he said quietly.

"Not too long, I hope." Airdramon said (though something in the boys tone suggested it was neither a short story or a pleasant one). "I'd like to be able to Armour Digivolve."

"How about Courage?" Alan asked jokingly. "Tommy's learned all he wants from Agnimon..."

Tatum glanced at the D-Terminal and sweat-dropped when she saw that Alan had 4 Digi-Eggs. Then she noticed that one of them had the Kanji for Darkness and really started to wonder...

"Wolfmon, Digivolve to... Charizard!"

Megadramon blinked. He'd never heard of a Charizard. Was this one of those Pokémon he'd heard about? And if so, why was it registering on his scanners as a Vritramon?

Tommy, for his part, was more worried about preventing any more damage to this part of the city. Plus the further away he could get the evil dragon from Airdramon, the better.

Kicking in his Agility, Tommy flew in circles around Megadramon, trying to hit the vulnerable points with his Flare Blaze (an attack that was similar to Flamethrower, but could be stronger or weaker depending on the user's link with his trainer). Megadramon twisted in the air, trying to catch the much smaller dragon and/or avoid his attacks.

Once Megadramon was thoroughly dizzy, Tommy saw his chance, appearing behind Megadramon's head and powering up, his body seemingly consuming itself in fire. "WILDFIRE TSUNAMI!" he called. Megadramon whipped around... just in time for the firestorm to strike him right in his right eye. He screamed.

Tatum flinched. "We're not sending him back, are we?"

Alan gestured around at the destroyed buildings. "No."

Unlike Megadramon, Knightmon didn't bother destroying everything. Having appeared and sent the locals scattering, he'd been content to wait out his opponents, except for waving his Berserk Sword in the direction of a few reporters for whom 'go away' was apparently too complex a statement. Sensing a presence, he turned to see Wolfmon, accompanied by two humans. -Hmm. Interesting.-

"There he is!" Kyle growled, almost sounding like a wolf himself.

"Ah, Kyle Evanick." Knightmon greeted. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. Congratulations on defeating Darkrisamon, by the way. My master was most impressed."

"Yeah? Well, who is this 'master' of yours?" Casey demanded.

"Ah, the buffoon." Knightmon drawled, otherwise ignoring the question.

"GWAH? What did you just call me?" Casey ripped the bell from around her neck and lunged for Knightmon. She ended up running on the spot, as Kyle had grabbed the backs of her jacket and shirt. He sighed, shaking his head.

Wolfmon sweat-dropped. "Sorry about that." the Yanmamon half said. "She's... er..." He tried to think of an appropriate word, then gave up.

"I quite understand." Knightmon assured him.

"Sending you back wouldn't do any good, would it?" the Wizardmon half asked.

Knightmon shook his head. "Even if you knew where to send me, it would just be delaying the inevitable."

Casey stopped trying to attack as this sank in. "You weren't sent by Demon?" Kyle asked.

"No." Knightmon said simply. He drew his Berserk Sword, which looked more like a long-sword instead of the huge Claymore most Knightmon used. "Are you ready to battle?"

"One moment." Wolfmon said in Yanmamon's voice, holding up a finger. He pulled out one of his sabers but didn't ignite it, instead throwing it to Kyle, who caught it smoothly. "Keep her out of trouble."

"Wha – Why don't I get one of those?" Casey demanded.

"Because the last thing this world needs is a Sith Lord." Yanmamon retorted. Knightmon barked a laugh and Wizardmon was unable to resist a chuckle... which made Wolfmon look like he was laughing at his own joke.

"Sith Lady." Kyle corrected, shuddering at the image of 'Darth Electrabuzz' not a typo – ed.

"Details." Wolfmon, having made Yanmamon's final remark, turned to his foe. "Licht..." he began, raising his arms into the air, saber in each hand. "...Sieger!" He crouched sharply, arms dropping to his sides, sabers igniting.

Casey expanded one of her Pokéballs. "Megani.."

"No." Kyle said firmly, catching her arm. On what was about to become the battlefield, Knightmon saluted with his sword. Wolfmon nodded in acknowledgement.

"This is a duel between swordsmen." Kyle told Casey. Wolfmon charged and Knightmon stepped back to receive it, battle joined. "Meganium would just be in the way."

"I... I see what you mean." Casey murmured, mesmerized by the ballet of laser and steel.

"Where are they?" Josh asked with a growl. He blinked when he realized Dori was standing right next to him.

"Just so you know, we're not all as bad as Kyle's Tsukaimon." she told him.

Words failed Josh, suddenly finding himself unable to think of something cold to say. "Um... Thanks." He managed finally, before moving away as quickly as he could. Tyrannomon shot Dori a smile.

"I think that boy likes you." D'Arcmon pouted. "No fair..."

"How much further, Wizardmon?" Seth asked.

"Not far." the Digimon responded. He pointed at a nearby fire escape. "We might be able to get a better view from the top of that building."

"Guess it's time to get high." Josh remarked. Seth and Dori couldn't help but chuckle at that. Tyrannomon reverted to Agumon as D'Arcmon picked up Dori from behind. The girls flew up beside the stairs, keeping pace with the others as they ascended the hard way, Wizardmon leading the way.

Upon reaching the rooftop, D'Arcmon set Dori down and reverted to Toy Agumon. The group ran to the other side of the building and looked over the edge, making sure not to be seen.

"My God." Seth breathed. "'Large Group'? This looks more a small army."

"Agreed." Wizardmon said. "Worse, I think we're expected."

"At least they're all in one place." Toy Agumon joked weakly.

"And we've found the spire." Agumon noted.

The 'large group' turned out to be an impressive force, including half a dozen Golemon and about the same number each of Honeybeemon, and Chameleonmon. Plus...

Dori blinked. "Are those Magnemite?"

"Six Magnemite and one Magneton." Wizardmon confirmed. "Very odd. But who are those last four Digimon? They seem to be the leaders."

Seth dug out the Pokédex Professor Oak had obtained for him and switched to the Digimon directory. "Ok. All four are Armour level. The garden gnome with the big nose is Grottomon of Knowledge... the green metal guy is Mercuremon of Loyalty... the female is Ranamon of Reliability... and the one that looks like the cousin of a Woodmon is Abormon of Sincerity."

"Rare company." Wizardmon remarked.

"So what now?" Dori asked. "We're kind of outnumbered."

"They're expecting us, right?" Agumon asked.

"I suspect so, yes." Wizardmon said.

"Then let's not disappoint them. Josh, give me a boost."

"He's kidding, right?" Dori asked as Josh got into the classic 'stirrup' pose, back facing the awaiting army. After a short run-up, Agumon placed his foot in the stirrup, pushing off with the other foot as Josh provided the requested boost, catapulting him into the air.

"Agumon, Digivolve to..." The entire army looked up as he was encased in a red bubble, which promptly rocketed towards them, expanding sharply, landing among them with a deafening crash and an ear splitting cry of "TYRANNOMON!", knocking the ground-based troops to the ground and scattering the fliers. A Golemon tried to attack and was promptly Fire Blasted into unconsciousness.

"I don't know about them, but that surprised the hell out of me." Seth remarked, impressed.

"Please tell me he's single." Toy Agumon pleaded to Josh, who just shrugged.

"We had better go help him." Wizardmon said.

Toy Agumon shook her head to clear it. "Right. Nobody messes with my boyfriend!" The others kept their faces carefully straight. "Toy Agumon, Digivolve to... D'Arcmon!" She flew down, managing to draw the attention of the fliers.

Wizardmon shook his head. "Stay here." He said, before using his magic to follow the other two.

"Did you teach your Agumon how to do that?" Dori asked.

"No." Josh replied flatly.

Dori pouted. "Don't tell me you're not talking again." Seth had to bite his tongue to keep from pointing out the logic flaw. Josh blushed and, indeed, said nothing.

"Excuse me..."

Duplica heard the sudden voice coming from behind them and lost control of her bladder. The two humans and two Champion Digimon spun round and saw Bastemon, her back against the wall, gazing at them thoughtfully. -My God, we walked right past her.-

"...are you Digidestined?" the cat Ultimate asked. "I admit, I wasn't expecting you to be so easily startled." Duplica blushed in response.

"Bastemon." Gary growled. "I challenge you to a battle!"

"Gary Oak, how quaint." Bastemon mused. "My sister is such a big fan. Very well. We shall each use two monsters. My first monster shall be... well, me."

Gladimon and Witchmon exchanged worried glances, both wondering how Bastemon planned to use a second monster after she herself had been destroyed.

Gary just smirked and expanded a Pokéball. "And I'll choose... Nidoking!" The purple Poison-type materialized in front of them with a roar. "Ok pussy, come get some!"

Bastemon responded by charging claws outstretched. Nidoking caught her paws in it's hands, the claws managing to bite into it's skin. Both monsters tried to force the other back. "Nidoking, don't be beaten by a girl!" Gary called, ignoring the death glare Duplica gave him as a result. Nidoking shot a look back at his trainer and grinned, then lifted Bastemon above his head, throwing her away from the others.

Bastemon crash-landed and rolled to her feet with a cat's customary grace, gifting Nidoking with a look of surprise. -Can it be?- "He's as strong as an Ultimate." she murmured.

"I didn't get my reputation by being a slacker, you know." Gary chuckled.

"No, you got your reputation by being a git." Bearmon grumbled, he and Impmon devolving as it became clear they weren't going to be needed any time soon.

"Quiet, you." Gary admonished, before turning back to the matter at hand. "Nidoking, Nova Blast!" Nidoking opened his mouth as wide as he could, vomiting a massive fireball which enveloped Bastemon and exploded.

Bastemon screeched. That had hurt! "How can a Pokémon use Greymon's attack?" she demanded.

"Talent." Gary quipped.

Duplica glanced at Bearmon, who shook his head. "Later." The Rookie replied simply.

"HELTER SKELTER!" Bastemon unleashed an attack of her own, an energy blast which Nidoking was too slow to dodge. "Any more surprises, little boy?"

"Not for now." Gary said. "Lets try a few of the classics. Earthquake, Lock On, Dynamic Punch!"

Nidoking stomped his foot, causing shockwaves which forced Bastemon to dance wildly in order to keep her footing. After a moment, Nidoking charged for her, arm spinning as it charged with energy. Bastemon leapt high. Shaking his head, Nidoking completed the Dynamic Punch by backhanding Bastemon in the gut on her way back down.

It's called 'Lock-On' for a reason. he commented. Bastemon, of course, didn't understand him.

Gary, Duplica, Bearmon and Witchmon moved round, keeping Nidoking in between Bastemon and themselves. "This could take a while." Bearmon remarked.

Back at the Spire...

... things where not going well. Horribly out-numbered, the three Digimon where proving very effective at knocking out their opponents. However, they were so far unable to do so fast enough; Tyrannomon had already had to fight the same Golemon three times as their previous targets woke up and rejoined the fight. It probably didn't help that D'Arcmon's mind wasn't entirely on the job at hand.

"Will you go out with me?"

"What, now?" Tyrannomon shot back, blasting the Golemon into unconsciousness again.

"No, silly. Later." D'Arcmon clarified, clubbing a Magnemite with the flat of her blade.

Tyrannomon sighed. Life really wasn't fair sometimes. "I can't. Josh... well, I can't go into details, but he's going through a lot right now. As his partner, I need to be there for him; no matter what I might want, that has to take priority over EVERYTHING else"

"I understand." D'Arcmon replied, disappointed yet truthful. "It terrifies me thinking what could happen to Dori sometimes." She clubbed a Honeybeemon across the side of the Knowledge Armour's head, then frowned. "Wait, what..."

Throwing a Chameleonmon by it's tongue into a couple of it's brethren, Tyrannomon saw her look and managed to spare time for a smile. "If I could, I would. Promise."

"Are you quite finished?" Wizardmon grumbled, getting decidedly nauseous. It was his turn to frown. "Not that I'm complaining, by the way, but how come the Spire didn't block your Digivolutions?"

Tyrannomon glanced at the Spire and grimaced. "Possibly because it's made out of cardboard."

Startled, Wizardmon fought into a position that allowed him a better view. He groaned when he saw the large hole in the obviously hollow structure, a few scattered flames nibbling the hole's edges. "I'm going to kill Jason. Slowly."

"I'll help." Tyrannomon agreed. He blinked when he heard a 'thump' behind him. Turning, he saw a newly unconscious Golemon. "Thanks." He remarked, looking up at D'Arcmon.

"You watch my back, I'll watch yours." She replied.

"Your front's the better view." he teased, making her blush. "Listen, when Josh's life is more settled, I'm going to ask YOU out."

"Really?" D'Arcmon asked, gazing at him with sparkly eyes. She knocked out Magneton without actually paying attention.

"Really and truly."

"Wouldn't a relationship with a Toy Agumon be...potentially painful?" Wizardmon asked, phrasing the question carefully.

"I'm soft in all the right places." D'Arcmon replied with dignity.

"Jealous?" Tyrannomon asked.

"Unlikely to eat anytime this year, the way you two are going." Wizardmon replied.

"I do not foresee that being a problem..." A surprisingly refined voice remarked. Wizardmon turned to see Mercuremon (the speaker) and Grottomon.

"...because you're gonna be lucky to survive the hour." Grottomon completed. "Snake Eye Break!" Hammers in hand, he lunged at Wizardmon, forcing the small champion to back-pedal.

"Oh really?" D'Arcmon asked, launching an energy attack... which Mercuremon caught on one of his shields.

"Really. Offset Reflector!" The now demonic attack launched from the other mirror, blasting D'Arcmon into the fake Spire, obliterating it. She glowed and reverted to Toy Agumon.

"NO!" Tyrannomon roared, seeming to explode into flames. An instant later, SkullGreymon towered above the battlefield, stepping on the Magneton and crushing it underfoot without noticing. Most of the combatants took one look and immediately dived for cover. "DARK SHOT!"

"How many lightsabers has he got?" Casey asked incredulously.

"Not enough." Kyle replied soberly. Knightmon had just destroyed Wolfmon's fifth saber, despite Wolfmon's best efforts to take the blows on the blade, the futuristic handle no match for solid steel or chron digizoid. Whatever –ed. As Knightmon had commented, sometimes high tech was no match for low tech. Kyle looked down at the reassuringly solid handle in his own hands.

In fact, Wolfmon had to create his swords with his own energy... which was running very low. His scarf was a lost cause, chopped off at some stage in the fight. Several gashes and cuts covered his body.

To be fair, Knightmon wasn't exactly undamaged. Wolfmon had managed to get past the Ultimate's defenses on several occasions. However, with Knightmon's heavier armor, the results basically amounted to scratches.

"Give up." Knightmon said.

"Would you?" the Wizardmon half of Wolfmon responded. He attacked with his remaining blade. "Strahl!" His eye lasers snap-fired, surprising Knightmon and managing to blind him. Wolfmon spun and kicked, knocking Knightmon's sword from his hand. A second spin ripped open the armour, striking horizontally across Knightmon's chest. The next strike went diagonally, the third across the gut, forming a 'Z' shape.

"Yay! Home Run!" Casey cheered as Knightmon sank down to one knee.

"I guess you've got to give our Digimon points for style." Kyle allowed, mentally reminding himself that, in Casey's mind, baseball metaphors really did refer to baseball. He frowned. Something felt wrong.

Knightmon raised his head, regarding Wolfmon. "A valiant effort..." he allowed.

"WOLFMON, GET AWAY!" Kyle yelled.

"... but futile. Knightmon, Digivolve to..."

"Aw nuts." Casey groaned as Wolfmon was blasted back by the sudden surge of light and energy. The DNA Champion struck the ground and flickered, the Digivolution only barely holding.

"Dynasmon!" anyone spotting a theme yet? – ed

Bastemon was beginning to wonder what Gary put in his Pokénip. Nidoking was beating the crap out of her, though she'd managed to get some good blows in, as the bruising on her paws attested.

Gary frowned. Nidoking was easily his toughest Pokémon, even compared to Blastoise, but he'd already been fighting for a lot longer than he'd normally have had to.

"VAMPIRE DANCE!" Bastemon lunged into a final attack.

"Tail Slam!" Gary ordered. Nidoking twirled and smashed his tail into Bastemon. She spun away and collapsed. "Had enough?"

Bastemon looked up and grinned. "Not exactly. Allow me to introduce my second monster. Bastemon, Digivolve to... RhondoKnightmon!"

Melee Central...

Not stupid enough to try to absorb the giant nuclear missile, Mercuremon leapt back. The missile detonated, the shockwave knocking him back further as he absorbed as much of the explosion's force as he could.

The effort nearly killed him.

Two Honeybeemon, three Magnemite and a Golemon weren't so lucky.

"Ok, ok, we won't try to make you talk any more." Seth promised.

"Wasn't me." Josh replied, equally stunned. "He did that on his own."

"He must really like Toy Agumon." Dori realised, crying silently. "I hope she's okay."

"Taika!" SkullGreymon snapped, forcing himself to devolve back to Tyrannomon before the Dark Ultimate form drained all of his energy. He wasn't going to be much use to anyone as Koromon.

"Not bad." A voice spoke. Panting, Tyrannomon turned to confront... Abormon? "I'm impressed that you managed to halt your devolution part-way."

"It's a talent." Tyrannomon snapped. "Look, do you have a death wish? You're made of wood and I'm a fire-type in a really bad mood."

"You're exhausted and I've only just started fighting." The Sincerity Armour countered. "Try it."

"Fire Blaze!" Tyrannomon snapped, blasting away. Abormon jumped, the fireball passing harmlessly underneath.

"Machinegun Dance!" Abormon's arms and legs loosened from his wrists and ankles, attached to strings.

Tyrannomon ducked one of the hands and caught Abormon's left foot by it's string. "Come Over Here!" he intoned as Abormon's strings retracted, pulling the wooden warrior down on an intercept course with Tyrannomon's fist, stunning him. Twisting, Tyrannomon threw Abormon into Grottomon.

"Thanks." Wizardmon said. Something caught his eye. He looked over... and his face paled.

"WATCH OUT!" he cried... just as the absorbed force of the Dark Shot came back double. Tyrannomon managed to avoid a direct hit, but was still partly caught by the resulting explosion. He howled in pain and fury before reverting all the way down to Botamon.

"To paraphrase a human writer," Mercuremon said, "'Revenge is a dish best served unexpectedly'."

Somewhere near the Hollywood sign, Tommy grabbed Megadramon by the tail, spinning the cyborg dragon around and throwing him high in the sky, then following.

Megadramon finally managed to stop somewhere in the upper atmosphere. Immediately he glared earthwards. He remembered now. And for something that was supposedly equivalent to only a Champion level, it was proving to be a MAJOR pain in the anus. Spotting his target, he growled and dived.

"SPLIT FORM!" One Charizard became two, one of which passed Megadramon. Assuming that his foe was using a variant of Wizardmon's Magical Game, Megadramon ignored it, instead concentrating on the other, which his scanners told him was charging up for an attack.

"PYRO TORNADO!" A fiery vortex burst into life around Tommy and expanded in Megadramon's direction. Laughing, Megadramon reached the top of the tornado and dived in, weapons at the ready. He spotted his target near the bottom and locked on.

"DARK SIDE ATTACK!" The missiles flew from Megadramon's arms and struck Tommy head on, the resulting explosion destabilising the bottom of the tornado, which mixed the explosion and fed it.

As the resulting mass of explosive force roared towards him, Megadramon grinned in satisfaction and turned to leave... only to spot the remarkably solid looking 'illusion' above him.

"WILDFIRE TSUNAMI!"

"Crap."

Like the explosion before it, the Tsunami fed off of the tornado on the way down. Unable to escape, Megadramon screamed in pain as the flames burned him. Then the Wildfire Tsunami met the Dark Side Attack explosion coming the other way and the whole thing went BOOM!

"You think he's ok?" Tatum asked.

Alan didn't answer.

Megadramon shook his head. That blast had taken a very sizeable chunk out of his energy levels. He looked around for his opponent.

As it happened, Tommy hadn't been able to completely escape his own combination in time. As Fire types simply didn't have the same resilience as cyborgs, he'd ended up losing 90 of his energy levels from the blast's shockwave.

And that pissed him off.

"Tommy has learned 'Volcanic Fury'." Alan's Pokédex chirped. Volcanic Fury Rage Fury Cutter –ed.

With a bellow of rage, the fire dragon used the last PP of his Agility to lunge for the larger dragon at maximum speed. Barely enough of Tommy's consciousness remained to keep him from staying in one position as he hit Megadramon with a series of claw strikes all over his body. The first one was painful. The fourth nearly knocked Megadramon's head off.

'Impossible' Megadramon thought, unable to understand. 'How is such an insect doing this to me?'. As the fifth and sixth blows continued to intensify, Megadramon suddenly feared for his life.

"NO!" He bellowed. A lucky hit knocked Tommy away. "I won't lose! Megadramon, Digivolve to... "

"Crap." was all Tommy could think to say before a gigantic purple claw knocked him from the sky.

"BEHEMON!"

Behemon was the original name for Lucemon Satan Mode. This one doesn't have Lucemon Larvae Mode or the Globe containing same – ed

"Dear Gods, no..." Jason whispered. Three Mega Levels? The other two where bad enough, but it was the massive gold-masked purple dragon that seemed the most terrifying.

Do not worry yet Mewtwo's voice commented. Ebonwumon picks his servants well

'Yet?' was all Jason managed to think in sarcastic reply.

The unconscious body of a Charmander was about an inch away from hitting the ground when the capture beam struck and returned him to his Pokéball. Almost immediately, he was released again into his trainers arms.

"Is he ok?" Tatum asked.

Alan nodded. "He'll be fine. I just wish I'd thought to bring that Max Revive with me. But no, this was supposed to be simple." Setting Tommy down on Airdramon's back, Alan pulled his backpack off and started looking for a Potion.

Then they heard the roar. They looked up... and Airdramon had to move very quickly in order to escape the blast of crimson flame, which instead impacted on the Hollywood sign, obliterating both it and the hill it stood on. Alan had to twist and hastily grab Tommy before the Pokémon fell off Airdramon's back.

"What was that?" Tatum asked. They looked up to see a spot of purple which quickly became recognizable.

"Again?" Alan demanded, startling the others.

"You've fought one of those before?" Airdramon demanded.

"Humans." Behemon intoned. "Die." It loosed another blast of fire.

Alan grabbed a Pokéball and threw it at the blast. "Kendrix, Confusion!"

Behemon was understandably surprised when his fire did an about turn and smacked him in the face. He retreated skyward, howling in pain. Kendrix, Alan's Fearow, pursued.

"Disable!" Alan ordered.

Done was the calm reply. Behemon tried to use it's fire attack and was justifiably surprised when nothing happened.

"What's going on?" Tatum asked.

"Disable prevents the use of attacks." Alan explained. "So Behemon can't use it's fire breath anymore."

"You've seen it before?" Airdramon asked, partly repeating her earlier question.

"Once, back during the whole mess with Alphabii."

Tatum nodded, remembering the story Alan had begun telling everyone before Kyle and the others had arrived. "What happened?"

"Long story short: It killed an entire team of Digidestined - ten of them – and the local equivalent of the Digimon Emperor." Alan replied. "We barely got out of that dimension alive."

"How come they couldn't fight him?"

"Because Behemon are Mega level..." Alan explained, holding up his D-Terminal. "And all they had were Armours."

Higher in the sky, Kendrix had discovered Behemon was too big to Disable completely like on the cartoon –ed. and resorted to Tommy's Hit-And-Run tactic, using a combination of Agility and Faint Attack to strike at various parts of the giant dragon's body. While she was proving little able to damage him, hurting him was another matter entirely; Behemon screamed in agony as Kendrix Drill-Pecked him in the privates. Naturally, Behemon moved to protect that area... leaving himself vulnerable to a Psybeam to the head.

"Can she beat him?" Tatum asked.

"A Stage-1 Pokémon against a Mega Digimon?" Alan asked. "Not a hope in hell."

"Don't you have any other Pokémon?"

"Only one that can fly. And I'd rather save him in case we need to make a run for it."

"Maybe I should go up there." Airdramon said.

"Unless you can Warp-Digivolve, it wouldn't make much difference." Alan pointed out.

"Not like there's a better plan." Tatum pointed out. "Maybe we can find a weak spot."

This sank in.

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Alan yelled. "The entire point of us staying here on your partner's head is to keep us out of danger."

Tatum snorted, frustration showing on her face. "That's rich coming from someone with a Courage Digi-Egg." she replied.

Alan snarled, holding his D-Terminal up to her face. "And the reason I've got it is because the previous owner did exactly what you're suggesting."

"Are they married?" Behemon asked (The argument was quite audible even at their height).

I was just thinking the same thing. Kendrix replied, laughing.

"Alan." Airdramon said quietly. "I don't want anything to happen to Tatum any more than Kendrix and Tommy do you. But we can't just stay here and do nothing."

Alan sighed. "Fine." he said. "But if you end up as Skull Veedramon or something, don't blame me."

Airdramon flew to one of the nearby buildings. "Is it okay if I drop you here? I won't be agile enough with both of you on my back."

"Besides, it'll give you chance to take care of Tommy." Tatum added.

Alan nodded. "First Rule of Slaying." he said softly.

Tatum nodded. "We'll do our best."

Alan jumped off, Tommy in his arms. Airdramon curved away, Tatum nestled in her shoulders and headed towards the battle. "'First Rule of Slaying'?" the dragon echoed, puzzled.

"'Don't Die.'" Tatum explained.

"Good advice."

"Bastemon, Digivolve to... RhondoKnightmon!"

"Nidoking, Return!" Gary called, recalling his Pokémon. Though the Poison type Stage-2 could quite happily keep up with an Ultimate, Gary had yet to encounter a Pokémon that could face a Mega, especially when tired.

"Now what?" Duplica asked.

"I'll take him." Impmon said.

"On your own?" Bearmon asked, aghast.

"Don't worry, she's good." Duplica grinned.

"By all means, feel free to help her." RhondoKnightmon offered. "It won't make a difference."

Gary shuddered, remembering his first encounter with Mewtwo. "Bearmon, go!" he called, pulling out his Digivice.

"Bearmon, Digivolve to... Gladimon!"

Duplica pulled out her own Digivice. "Impmon, show this poser your true power!"

"Impmon, Warp-Digivolve to... Crusadermon!" The new form was almost identical to her opponent, except while RhondoKnightmon was bright pink with yellow ribbons and shield, Crusadermon had somehow retained Impmon's color scheme, with dark purple armor and red ribbons and shield.

"WHAT?" RhondoKnightmon paled. "HOW? There is no way you can be as powerful as me!"

"Try me and find out!" Crusadermon replied.

With a howl, RhondoKnightmon launched herself at her mirror image. "SPIRAL MASQUERADE!" she called, lashing out with her ribbons. Crusadermon was faster, the ends of her ribbons wrapping around the tips of RhondoKnightmon's as she leapt over her opponents head. RhondoKnightmon grinned and moved to attack Gladimon... realizing only too late what was going on.

The moment RhondoKnightmon's feet left the ground, Gladimon began to run. A couple of moments after Crusadermon's feet touched the ground, Gladimon somersaulted over her, drawing his knives. RhondoKnightmon managed to land on her feet... and Gladimon sliced, severing RhondoKnightmon's ribbons about an inch from her head.

"Why you!" RhondoKnightmon snarled, attacking... and was promptly whacked upside her jaw by Crusadermon's shield, snapping her head back. Both heroic Digimon ran past her and she gave chase, screaming bloody murder in graphic detail.

"What do we do now?" Duplica asked.

"Take notes?" Gary suggested, pulling out two Pokéballs. "Virgil and Daisy, Go!" His two Fearow materialized. "Get on!" Duplica mounted Daisy as Gary took his place on Virgil. "Alright, you two. Follow that swearing!"

"NO!" Josh yelled.

On the ground, Wizardmon tried to get to Botamon, but was promptly dragged back by Abormon, ending up in combat with both him and Grottomon.

Mercuremon looked down at Botamon. Remarkably, the Baby Digimon didn't even look remotely scared, seemingly trying to glare the Loyalty Armour into deletion.

"Defiant to the last." He mused. "Well, goodbye." He raised his foot.

A sudden pain in the side of his head made him pause. He looked around, trying to see where his attacker was... then he looked down and saw a small green creature at his feet, Botamon in it's arms. "Treecko." it told him.

'A Pokémon.' Mercuremon realized. 'As strong as a Rookie, judging by the force of the blow.' The Treecko took advantage of this moment of thought to run between Mercuremon's legs, dodging past several Digimon. Mercuremon watched in amusement as it bounded up the side of a building via the windowsills.

"Magnemite, Honeybeemon. To me." he commanded, quietly. They assembled around him. "Kill the humans." He pointed at Treecko, disappearing over the edge of the building's roof. There was a collective shudder at the instruction, but they obeyed.

Treecko vaulted onto the rooftop to discover three humans, one girl and two boys, one of them crying on the girl's shoulder. Botamon squeaked and practically pounced into the crying boy's arms. To Treecko's bemusement, the crying actually intensified.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Josh repeated, over and over.

'Well, I've got time now.' Treecko thought. He fell on his rear, unable to suppress a cry of pain as he clutched his foot.

"He's hurt." Dori realized out loud. Hearing this, Josh managed to get control of himself... mostly. Botamon hopped out of his partner's arms, freeing Josh's hands so he could examine Treecko.

"Seems to be broken." he said. "How'd he manage that?"

"He kicked a Steel Digimon in the head." A voice replied. They looked up to see the Honeybeemon and Magnemite looking down on them. "Damn good kick, too." added the Honeybeemon that had spoken.

New speed records were set as the Digidestined backed away from the enemy Digimon, Treecko in Josh's arms, Botamon bouncing at his feet.

"Give up." the lead Honeybeemon said. "You can't stop us from killing you."

"Is it my imagination," Josh muttered, "or don't they seem happy about that?"

Seth nodded agreement. "You haven't beaten us yet." he said out loud. He held up four fingers on one hand. In between those fingers were three Pokéballs.

"More Pokémon?" one of the other Honeybeemon asked.

Seth nodded. "Gary Oak says hi!" he announced, then threw the balls, which expanded and released their cargo.

As one, the enemy paled. "Nidoqueen, Arcanine and Blastoise?" the lead Honeybeemon asked, shocked. "What are you, his boyfriend?" Seth ignored this.

Blastoise cracked his knuckles, which sounded like a shotgun battery going off. "What you have to ask yourselves is... 'Do I feel lucky?'" he quoted in a deep voice. Nidoqueen and Arcanine, either side of him, nodded agreement.

"He talks?" Josh asked.

Seth shrugged. "He is Gary's Starter."

The Honeybeemon and Magnemite gave Blastoise's words due consideration. "That's it." one of the Honeybeemon said. "I'm quitting." The others seemed to agree with this and everyone relaxed.

"What about the rest?" Seth asked.

The lead Honeybeemon shook his head. "You need to understand: None of us are from your Digital World. All we wanted was a home. But the Golemon and Chameleonmon? They're the personal guard of Grottomon and Abormon."

Blastoise looked at Seth. "Down or Out?"

Seth sighed. "Out."

It was then that Josh asked a very good question. "Where's Dori?"

"Owww." Toy Agumon moaned as she recovered consciousness. "Did anybody get the number of that Locomon?"

"Sorry, hon." one of the Chameleonmon replied. Toy Agumon looked round to find she was surrounded. "I've been trying to get his number for years."

"We keep telling her he's gay, but will she listen?" Ranamon asked rhetorically, shaking her head.

"What do you want?" Toy Agumon asked.

"Somewhere to live, mostly." Ranamon said. "That and maybe find out what my Ultimate form is. Always wondered about that."

Toy Agumon and the Chameleonmon all winced. "Calamaramon?" Toy Agumon guessed.

"Eww. I hope not." Ranamon replied, cringing at the thought. "I couldn't look at Mom without puking." She shuddered, remembering. "She didn't like that."

"That must have hurt." Dori said.

Ranamon blinked at the human standing between her and Toy Agumon. 'Where the hell did she come from?'

"Knightmon, Digivolve to... Dynasmon!"

"We are so anally fucked." Casey grimaced, startling Kyle. Wolfmon caught his gaze and shrugged.

"You did well." Dynasmon told Wolfmon. "But now it's over."

"Wanna bet?" Casey challenged. "Meganium, batter up!"

Dynasmon rolled his eyes at the appearance of the Plant-type. He was suitably stunned when Meganium used her vines grab the sword Knightmon had left behind and bonk Dynasmon on the head with it.

As Pokémon and Digimon fought, Kyle and Casey made their way to Wolfmon's side. "Are you ok?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah." Wolfmon replied. "Don't think I'm getting up anytime soon, though." He looked at Casey. "Don't suppose you brought Weedle with us?" the Yanmamon side asked.

Casey scowled, irritated about being reminded about her ex-lover yet again. "I only brought you and Meganium. None of us were expecting to run into anything this strong."

"Well, we've got it now." Kyle noted.

Casey glanced at Dynasmon and sighed. "Besides, I don't think Weedle's Poison Sting would get through that armor." She looked at Kyle. "What do we do?"

"I don't know." Kyle admitted. "And Meganium won't hold out forever."

Even as he said it, Dynasmon was trying to wrestle the sword from Meganium's grasp. In desperation, Meganium fired a Razor Leaf at point blank range. Dynasmon staggered back, scratches all over his armor... and the sword in his hand.

"Meganium, fall back." Casey called. As Meganium obediently back-pedaled, Dynasmon grinned and advanced.

With a pop, Mudkip appeared. Seeing Dynasmon stalking towards Meganium, Mudkip fired a Water Gun at the ground in front of Dynasmon. Dynasmon stepped in the resulting puddle and slipped, falling on his back. Meganium took the opportunity to grab the sword as it fell from Dynasmon's hand. Kyle, Casey and Wolfmon could only stare as Mudkip ran over to Meganium.

"Well." Dynasmon growled, standing. "It appears you two will be of some amusement."

Casey and Kyle exchanged grins as Meganium and Mudkip assumed fighting stances. Maybe this would work after all...

"DRAGON'S ROAR!" A large dragon's head of energy appeared over Dynasmon, then dived at the two Pokémon.

Without needing prompting from Casey, Meganium grabbed Mudkip with a spare vine and leapt high and back, the energy head blasting a crater where they'd been standing. At the peak of her jump, in full view of the setting sun, Meganium began charging. As Meganium landed, Dynasmon charged at her. "BREATH OF..." he began, bringing his hands forward...

Meganium fired first, the Solar Beam deafening as it blasted from her mouth. Wolfmon's last saber in his hand, Kyle was suddenly reminded of the Death Star's Super Laser as the beam enveloped Dynasmon, the blasts forming in his hands firing by reflex and passing either side of Meganium to explode somewhere behind the Pokémon. Watching this, Kyle and Casey missed it as Dynasmon was thrown back by the beam, crashing to the ground.

Meganium charged, sword in vines, Mudkip riding on the back. Raising the sword as she neared Dynasmon, Meganium slashed diagonally across Dynasmon's chest, then across the waist. Kyle and Casey were delighted to see gashes in the armor. Shallow gashes, true, but when you're fighting a losing battle, you take what you can get.

"HOW?" Wolfmon asked in shock. "Even with Knightmon's sword, how can she do that much damage? She's... what, an Ultimate, tops?"

"Stage-2 Pokémon." Casey corrected, with a more-than-slightly-insane grin. "Whole other story."

Dynasmon lunged at Meganium, punching. Repeating her earlier tactic, Meganium leapt back, firing a Solar Beam as she landed. However, Dynasmon was too smart for this to work twice and took to the air. "DRAGON'S ROAR!" he yelled, launching his more powerful attack as he dived, following the energy head down.

"I hate to point out the obvious," the Wizardmon side of Wolfmon said and boy, am I running out of ways to say that! – ed, "but Dynasmon seems to be able to take a lot more than Meganium can provide. Even the Solar Beam didn't do much more than wind him."

"But it did damage him, however slightly." Casey countered. "One of the things you learn as a Pokémon trainer is that every Hit Point counts. Even if we have to essentially nibble this guy to death, we can beat him with enough time and luck."

Kyle's eyes flicked over to the sun, which was getting very low in the sky. "Is that all?" he asked, sighing.

Meanwhile, instead of retreating as Dynasmon had expected, Meganium charged forward, the energy head exploding behind her. Dynasmon cursed and swooped round for another attack. Mudkip (who had been hanging onto Meganium's neck leaves for dear life) hopped down and fired a Water Gun in Dynasmon's face. Taking advantage of the distraction, Meganium lashed out with her vines, dropping the sword to do so. One vine lashed up to strike the left wing, the other lashed down to strike the right wing. The combination of the two was enough to throw off Dynasmon's balance and he dropped, crashing to the ground. He got up, only to be hit by another Solar Beam, this one accompanied by a Water Gun stream spiraling around it. The resulting explosion drew a scream from his throat and sent smoke billowing around the battlefield.

"Got him!" Casey cheered.

"No." Wolfmon said. "I can still sense him."

Hearing this, Meganium – sword once more in vine - and Mudkip advanced cautiously, trying to make out a shape in the smoke.

They weren't cautious enough. A 'Dragons Roar' energy head blasted out of the smoke and smashed Meganium off her feet, the edge of the blast enough to knock-out Mudkip and send the Basic level flying, only for Casey to jump to catch it, several pounds worth of Water Pokémon slamming into her gut. She skidded as she hit the ground, turned away from Mudkip and was sick.

Meganium, meanwhile, skidded back from the force of the blast, but somehow managed to keep her feet. Dynasmon picked up Knightmon's sword (causing Meganium to scowl; she hadn't noticed when she'd dropped it) and charged. Meganium lashed out with her vines, which wrapped around Dynasmon's ankles and yanked him off his feet, spinning him around and throwing him into the wall of a nearby building. She charged another Solar Beam, her strongest ever, and let fly. As the beam shot towards Dynasmon, it was met by a 'Dragons Roar' coming the other way. Both combatants were knocked flying by the resulting KA-BOOM, as were the spectators. Every window within about two miles shattered explosively, a sound quickly followed by a rumbling crash as the building Dynasmon had smashed through collapsed on top of him.

"That did it." Casey decided as she and Kyle slowly got up, the sky turning orange. "That had to have done it." She cringed as Meganium got up; the Pokémon's left side was one massive bruise from being slammed into a pile of rubble that had until that point been a wall.

"Wolfmon, can you sense him?" Kyle asked.

"Fire bad, tree pretty." Wizardmon's voice replied roughly. The explosion had robbed the fused Digimon of what little strength he'd managed to recover.

Wolfmon was spared the need to regain his senses as the rubble detonated, pieces of stone flying everywhere. In their wake, Dynasmon stood, panting heavily.

Oh, come ON. Meganium complained.

The evil Royal Knight smirked. "You think you're all that," he told the Grass-type, "but you're not."

Casey sagged, defeated. She knew there was no way Meganium still had enough power to continue. With a heavy heart, she expanded Meganium's Pokéball. "Meganium, Re..." Before she could press the button for the capture beam, her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she fainted briefly, falling forward. Kyle caught her and lowered her to the ground. "I'm sorry." Casey whispered. "He's too strong."

Dynasmon spread his wings and took off, flying low to the ground as he closed in on Meganium for what everyone knew would be the final time. Knowing she didn't have enough daylight left for another Solar Beam, Meganium greeted Dynasmon with a Razor Leaf barrage. Leaves battering at his armor, Dynasmon opened up with a series of punches to Meganium's head and neck. Meganium countered with a Stomp attack, her front legs catching Dynasmon in the chest and forcing him to the ground, the back of his head bouncing as it struck the tarmac. Thinking quickly, Dynasmon grabbed one Meganium's neck leaves, then aimed the palm of his other hand.

"BREATH OF WYVERN!"

Casey shit her panties, screaming as her first and most beloved Pokémon was struck at point-blank range and blasted off Dynasmon to collapse on the ground as she crash-landed. The neck leaf he'd grabbed still in his hand, Dynasmon howled in victory... and then once more in sheer frustration as Meganium staggered to her feet. "Fall, Damn you!" He growled. "FALL!"

"Mega..." Meganium replied, stepping forward, "...ni..."

For an instant, Casey allowed herself to believe that Meganium was about to evolve. Instead, the Pokémon's eyes glazed over as she finally collapsed into unconsciousness.

RhondoKnightmon had come to two conclusions.

Firstly, her opponent, regardless of appearance, was NOT a Mega Digimon. RhondoKnightmon had fought another RhondoKnightmon one-on-one previously and had taken a lot less damage than she should have done in the time the battle had so far taken. Against two Champions, it was surprising she'd taken as much damage as she had.

Secondly, what both Crusadermon and Gladimon lacked in raw power, they made up for in sheer annoyance factor. Despite above-average skill for their level and some very inventive battle moves, the two Champion's were basically trying to erode her into data through sheer enthusiasm. It was like fighting Scrappy Doo.

Then again, she'd done that before too and still had nightmares about it. Some people should never be allowed to own automatic firearms...

Up above on their two Fearow, Gary and Duplica watched as Crusadermon fought the Mega, Gladimon sneaking in an attack when he got a chance.

"Have you been teaching her Judo?" Gary asked.

Duplica shook her head. "She knows it because RhondoKnightmon knows it."

"Eh?"

Duplica looked at her fellow trainer. "Witchmon's using an attack called Dark Twin, a more powerful version of Transform. Basically, anything her opponent can do, she can, plus her own skills as well."

"Ah." Gary said, understanding. "But at her own power level?"

"Yeah." She frowned. "Can we beat her?"

"RhondoKnightmon?" Gary asked, smirking. "We have beaten her. We just need to keep her busy and let nature take it's course."

"Do you have any idea how we're going to do this?" Airdramon asked.

"No." Tatum admitted. "But he must have a weakness, right?"

What do you think I've been doing? Kendrix inquired in their heads.

"Any luck?" Airdramon asked.

Not so far.

"Well, maybe we'll find something together. Two Champions are better than one, right?"

Against a Mega? Kendrix asked, then sighed. I am grateful for the assistance, but we need a better plan.

"Wait." Tatum said. "Airdramon, remember that move you learned fighting that Kyubimon?"

"Of course. Why?"

"Kendrix, can you get us a clear shot down his throat?"

Maybe. What do you have... never mind. I think I get the idea. You HAVE lost your mind.

"We're out of sane plans here." Tatum pointed out.

That's just prime. Kendrix groaned. Alright. I'll try to keep him distracted, but no promises. Just try to come out alive.

"As you said, 'no promises'." Airdramon replied.

"Are you all right?" Alan asked as his Starter finally recovered consciousness.

"I'll live." Tommy replied, wincing. "What hit me?"

"Our old friend Behemon." Alan replied sardonically. "Well, actually it's probably not the same one, since it didn't recognize us, but..."

"Hey, it's ok." Tommy said as Alan started to shake. "We're stronger now."

"Not strong enough to take on a Mega." Alan replied. "Kendrix is up there now and Tatum and Airdramon have just gone after her, but..."

Tommy followed Alan's gaze. "What do we do if they can't stop him?"

Alan sighed. "I don't know... Mercuremon? He's the one who lasted the longest before."

"Maybe." Tommy agreed. "If nothing else, we might be able to keep that thing busy long enough for Jason to get Imperial Dramon or Phoenixmon here." He cocked his head at his partner. "You like her, don't you?"

Alan snorted. "I like most of the girls we've met. It's infuriating. I even caught myself admiring Casey's ass earlier... and you know how much she annoys me sometimes."

"Good thing she didn't catch you." Tommy quipped.

"I could take her." Alan pointed out. "Besides, Tatum's spoken for, remember? She said so on the way here."

"I wasn't paying attention." Tommy admitted. He frowned. "I think I'm strong enough to Armour-Digivolve."

"Agnimon?" Alan asked. Tommy nodded.

If she lived a thousand years, Casey would never forget the sight of Meganium collapsing, near death. Her throat raw from screaming, completely ignoring Dynasmon, Casey ran to her Pokémon's side.

"Meganium, wake up!" she pleaded. "Wake up." But Meganium just lay there, unmoving. An image flashed through Casey's mind of her Beedril, emerging from his Pokéball during a battle with another trainer, promptly falling lifeless to the ground, never to move again; an image she would carry with her to her grave. Heart failure, the local Nurse Joy had said. Casey still couldn't figure out what she'd done wrong.

"No, no, no, no." she repeated, ripping her backpack off and digging through, ripping out every Potion, every Berry, anything that might save her favorite Pokémon.

"That won't help, you know." Dynasmon told her. She didn't hear him.

"Shut up." Kyle snapped.

Dynasmon snorted. "Please. You know it's only a matter of time before I finish off that annoying plant. I admit it proved of some challenge, but I'm a Mega Digimon and a Royal Knight. Face it, Kyle Evanick, your time is up..."

Kyle glanced at his DNA partner, who was tearing the top off of a Hyper Potion. "Casey." he said and, to his surprise, she actually stopped at the sound of his voice. "Try some water first. It might make it easier for her to swallow." Casey froze for a moment, considering this, then mechanically reached for the water bottle.

"I'll look after them." Wolfmon said. Nodding, Kyle tossed him Torchic's Pokéball and his Digivice, then turned to face Dynasmon, moving to put himself between the others and the Royal Knight.

Dynasmon barked a laugh. "You have to be kidding me. You're their last defense? No mere human can defeat me."

The memory of Casey's scream echoing through his being, Kyle felt something inside him shift. Something new, something different... and it felt good.

"You go no further." he growled. "Licht Sieger!" He ignited the blade and held it up, face bathed in green light, staring coldly at Dynasmon.

Dynasmon was disturbed by this. –Green?- he thought, moving to collect Knightmon's (his) sword, which had somehow survived everything that had occurred. –All of Wolfmon's sabers were blue...-

"Very well." he said, assuming fighting stance. "If you are that eager to die, let's begin."

"Konicchiwa." Kyle replied sagely.

And, in the orange light of the setting sun, for perhaps the last time, battle was joined.

Mercuremon was perhaps more surprised than he should have been when Blastoise and Arcanine dive-bombed over the side of the building, the water turtle Withdrawn into his shell and the cat-dog riding on top.

Grottomon and Abormon never stood a chance, Hydro Pump obliterating the former and Fire Spin igniting the latter. Arcanine jumped off as Blastoise came out of his shell, landing with surprising gentleness. "You ok?" he asked.

"I'll live." Wizardmon replied.

"Get back to Seth and the others. Arky and I will handle this."

Mercuremon frowned. This simply wouldn't do. "Golemon, Chameleonmon, destroy them!"

Dori was faintly relived when the Chameleonmon vanished in response to Mercuremon's command. One Armour Digimon was quite enough.

"Move aside." Ranamon said.

Dori shook her head. "Who are you?"

Ranamon hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. "We're a scout party, sent by our master."

"Why are you here?"

"To find a new world to make our home in."

"What was so bad about your old one?" Toy Agumon piped up.

"If our master has his way, it won't exist."

It wasn't even a workout. Blastoise was more than a match for the Golemon, which practically dissolved when faced with his might. Arcanine had a slightly harder time with the Chameleonmon, but their usual Hit-and-Run tactic was useless against a Pokémon with Extreme Speed.

"How many of you ARE there?" Mercuremon growled.

"Enough to deal with you." Blastoise replied. He fired a Hydro Pump... which Mercuremon quickly absorbed. "Ah, hell."

"Generous Mirror!" Mercuremon replied, launching a return shot which missed Blastoise by a good meter...

Too late, Blastoise realized where the shot was going, the doubled force blindsiding Arcanine and knocking him unconscious. Mercuremon was annoyed to see that only one of the Chameleonmon remained.

Blastoise snarled and began a Rapid Spin, launching himself at Mercuremon. As Pokémon reached Digimon, Blastoise's right arm shot out, not for a Dynamic Punch or even a Mega Punch, but a good old fashioned right hook (Gary had dubbed this a 'Spin Hook' attack).

It missed, Mercuremon leaping high to avoid the blow. Blastoise came fully out his shell again and quickly spotted his foe. "Get back here!"

"Catch me if you can!" Mercuremon jeered.

"Move aside." Ranamon repeated. "Move aside so I can delete your pet."

-And that- Toy Agumon thought –takes the award for 'least convincing threat'-

"I can't let you hurt her." Dori said.

"Why?" Ranamon asked bitterly, gesturing at the heart on Dori's t-shirt. "Because you love her?"

"It's a partner thing." Dori shrugged, regarding her foe. "You seem so lonely."

"DAMMIT, STOP TRYING TO SYMPATHISE WITH ME!" Ranamon snapped, in both senses of the word. "RAIN STREAM!"

A dark cloud formed above Dori's head. With a yell, Toy Agumon pushed Dori out of the way, becoming the victim herself as the rains gushed down from the cloud. "I won't let you hurt her." She gasped, eyes half closed from the pain.

"Silly little Rookie." Ranamon replied. "It was you I was after."

"Toy Agumon!" Dori scrambled back to her partners side, wincing at the acid burns evident on the plastic. "Are you ok?"

"I think so." Toy Agumon replied.

"Get out of the way." Ranamon told Dori, distaste in her voice.

Dori looked up at Ranamon, tears in her eyes. "Why are you doing this?"

Ranamon hesitated. "The others." She began. "Mercuremon, Abormon, Grottomon... they're my brothers." She managed a faint smile. "and what kind of Reliability Armour would I be if I let my family down?"

"I'm sorry." Dori said quietly.

Ranamon followed the human girl's gaze, to the spot where Abormon and Grottomon had met their end. "I... I know."

Toy Agumon looked up at Ranamon. "You don't want to do this." she said with certainty.

"She doesn't have a choice." Dori replied. Even at a whisper, her words were deafening. Ranamon began to cry.

Toy Agumon's eyes went wide as her partners word's sank in. "That's horrible."

"I SAID STOP IT!" Ranamon wailed, tears streaming down her face. "RAIN STREAM!"

This time, neither Dori or Toy Agumon had the presence of mind to move as the cloud formed above them. The rain came down...

And Ranamon's vision filled with pink light. Shielding her eyes, she managed to make out the image of her rain being deflected by... something, running down the sides like... well, like rainwater running down glass.

"What's happening?" Ranamon asked.

"Toy Agumon, Armour-Digivolve to... "

Ranamon's rising shock was matched by the winds, which swirled around Dori and Toy Agumon's position, forming a cyclone. Ranamon barely noticed as her cloud was discorporated. With another surge of pink, the cyclone died away, revealing Dori still on the ground and, above her...

" ...Fairymon, Tornado of Love!"

"Tornado of..." Dori shook her head. "I have got to get my mind out of the gutter..."

"Oh good." Ranamon remarked. "Someone I can hurt."

"You wish." Fairymon chuckled. She shot forward. "ARIDO ANCA!" Twisting around, she smacked her backside into Ranamon's face. This didn't accomplish much. However, Fairymon then followed through with a knee to Ranamon's face. Which did.

"Oh, sweet mother..." Seth breathed, unable to take his eyes off the two Armour girls.

"Please tell me someone has a camcorder." Josh muttered, equally entranced.

"Way ahead of you." One of the Honeybeemon said, recording away.

"I'm fine, by the way." Wizardmon muttered, collapsing at Seth's side.

As the last of the water spilled from the sides of Meganium's mouth, unswallowed, Casey began to cry, cradling Meganium's unmoving head in her arms. She barely felt it as Wolfmon put a hand on her shoulder.

"She's alive."

That got her attention. Casey looked up into Wolfmon's eyes, daring to hope.

"She's very, very weak." Wizardmon's voice told her. "But there is still a spark of life left. And that spark is fighting."

The Border between life and death.

"You're a cute one."

Who are you? Meganium asked angrily, glaring at the black clad girl with Myotismon pale skin, exuding an impression of such Mary Poppins sweetness that Meganium was getting toothache. Above and behind the girl were two Gengar, gazing down at Meganium with their typical perpetual grins.

"I'm Death." The girl replied. Which wasn't entirely accurate, but it got the point across.

No. Meganium said firmly. It didn't take Izzy to figure it out where this was going. Casey needs me.

Death shook her head. She'd expected this. It happened a lot. "I'm afraid so. Your fight with Dynasmon was a valiant one, very brave. But you used up all of your body's energy, too much of it to be revived. Only a miracle could have saved you."

No. Meganium repeated. It's a very simple concept. I'll wait for that miracle.

Death shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said, meaning it, "but there are no exceptions. I have my duty. It's time to go." The Gengar tensed, ready to fight.

I. Said. NO!

Meganium's willpower spoke, as a Solar Beam.

Death finally crashed to the ground several relative miles away, landing in the likeness of a desert. Though it is quite true that you can't kill Death, her clothes and Gengar bodyguards had been vaporised by Meganium's determination to live.

Getting up, idly brushing sand from her private parts, Death chuckled to herself.

-Perhaps that miracle isn't so unlikely, at that.-

Back in life...

With nothing better to do, Casey and Wolfmon watched as Kyle dueled with Dynasmon (Meganium's head resting in Casey's lap), amazed at the speed and ferocity the teenager was showing. The two Digivices were forgotten, pulsing in time to a rapid beat.

"How is he doing that?" Casey asked.

"He's using the Force." Yanmamon's voice replied. Casey shot Wolfmon a disbelieving look. "No word of a lie."

"I think most people call it something else." Wizardmon's voice countered dryly. "Casey, do you know what Ki Energy is?"

Casey nodded. "It's the stuff that helps Son Goku go Super Saya-jin. It's the energy that permutates all life." What? You thought Davis was the only otaku in Digicross? –ed

"Right. It's the Digital World's particular brand of Ki that - channeled through the Digivices, Crests and so forth – allows Digidestined to Digivolve their Digimon to their higher levels and empower them in battle."

Magnetically, Casey's eyes were drawn to the Digivices, still pulsing rapidly. Transfixed by the strobe effect, she became aware of a rapid thumping noise that was somehow bypassing her ears, pounding in time with the flashing. –Hey, cool. I can hear my heart beat. She put her hand to her chest, then frowned. –No, wait...- "Kyle's heart?" she asked aloud, eyes wide.

Wolfmon's gaze flicked to her, then down to the Digivices. "That makes sense." Wizardmon's voice agreed. "Interesting."

Logic flicked a card. "Don't you need that energy?" Casey asked. "We don't need you getting any weaker."

"Don't worry, we're not." Wolfmon said, after a moment. "If anything..." he (they) trailed off.

"What?" Casey prompted.

It was Yanmamon's voice that answered. "If anything, I think we're getting stronger."

There was a long moment.

Slowly, Casey lowered Meganium's head gently to the ground, then picked up Kyle's Digivice and placed it on Meganium's body, roughly above where she figured the heart was.

"Can't hurt." Yanmamon's voice mused.

"Face down." Wizardmon suggested. Wordlessly, Casey complied. Then, returning Meganium's head onto it's former place on her lap, she placed her Digivice on her Pokémon's head, rapidly flashing screen facing the brain.

It is said by some writers that heated fury is not the most destructive. Rather, it is those capable of colder fury that are the more terrible.

Kyle's temper, by this point, was pretty much arctic. 'Angry' wasn't the word; There simply wasn't (if you'll forgive the computer term) enough run-time for that. All that existed was a cold determination, every fiber of Kyle's being focused to wiping Dynasmon out.

Dynasmon, for his part, was fighting off shock. Meganium had actually done quite a bit of damage, but even at roughly half power, Dynasmon would have expected to be able to defeat any Ultimate, let alone a human. Yet Kyle was striking with a terrifying barrage that Dynasmon was struggling to defend against.

"In your own words; fall, damn you!" Kyle snarled, his tone emotionless despite his words and the terrible expression of his face. "Fall!"

Dynasmon's eyes flicked over Kyle's shoulder at the full moon, suddenly put in mind of a rabid wolf. He was surprised Kyle wasn't foaming at the mouth. "What are you?" the Royal Knight asked, frustrated.

"I am Terror." Kyle replied in the same cold, flat tone. "I am Justice. I am Vengeance. I am the Light."

Dynasmon blinked. "I think you got your quote wrong."

Kyle's mind found time for a moment of brief irritation. "Just die already." He snapped, as his blade spun, twisted, sliced. Dynasmon brought his sword up to block...

...and, energized by righteous fury, the laser cleaved the metal blade in two.

"What?" Dynasmon gaped, backing up a step. Kyle spun, his sword describing a circle as it rose. As the blade passed it's peak and accelerated, a primal scream ripped from Kyle's throat.

KA-POW!

It was a blow any Power Ranger would have been proud of, ripping diagonally across Dynasmon's chest and unleashing the full energy of Kyle's fury into the Royal Knight's data and form, the sudden blast of light and sound startling Casey and Wolfmon. Knightmon staggered back, shaking his head to try and expel the ringing noise from his ears. –Whoa, Tweety Birds.-

"Huh?" Kyle asked, his focus broken by his opponents sudden change in form. Realizing this, Knightmon kicked out, knocking Kyle on his ass. The sun chose that moment to finish setting, which Wolfmon couldn't help finding ominous.

"Foolish." Knightmon drew his sword and threw it into the air. When he caught it again, he was Dynasmon. He saw Kyle's sword lying beside him and destroyed it with a quick blast from his hand.

Then Kyle stood up. "What?" Dynasmon asked, a question echoed by Casey and Wolfmon. Their shock only grew when a new sabre appeared in Kyle's hand.

Kyle lowered the handle to his waist and ignited it, the green blade pointing behind him.

"HOWLING WAVE!"

As the words tore from Kyle's throat, the blade slashed though a horizontal arc, creating a crescent moon of green energy which, an instant after it was finished, lanced forward and struck Dynasmon in the gut, knocking him off his feet. It was the Royal Knight's turn to land on his ass.

"How?" Dynasmon asked. "No human has that power."

"You don't get it, do you?" Kyle asked. "Why we're going to kill you?"

Something about that question bothered Dynasmon. "Enlighten me."

Kyle's gaze became distant. "We Duel Monsters players know it as the Heart of the Cards, but it's not restricted to that game. Hell, Seto Kaiba once used it in a chess match and he doesn't even believe in it."

"Your point?" Dynasmon asked, bored.

"Simply this. The Heart of The Cards requires two things: belief and need. The greater the amount of both, the higher the chance of victory. I believe we can defeat you; Better Digimon than you have tried and failed. And we must defeat you, both for what you've done and for what you'll do if we fail. Between the two, you're finished."

"Words." Dynasmon replied. "But I sense you are certain of them. So I ask you this: I have taken on all you could throw at me. Your fused wolf, your plant, you. And I'm still here. As I have said before, I am a Mega Digimon and a Royal Knight. What makes you think any of you can stop me?"

"Because we can." Wolfmon replied, standing. "You face us and yet you fail to comprehend who we are."

"Oh?" Dynasmon asked. "And who are you, that you could accomplish my demise?"

It was Kyle that answered. "We are goodness personified. We are teamwork itself." He felt something within himself emerging, traveling up his arm. He held up his hand, palm facing his foe.

Dynasmon watched as a golden string formed between Kyle's fingers. Attached to the string was a golden tag. Within the tag was the Crest Of Light.

"We're the Digidestined."

"Wolfmon, Mega-Digivolve to... Beowulfmon!"

Kyle gave Dynasmon a feral smile. "Thus endeth the lesson."

"Stand still already!" Blastoise yelled, panting.

Mercuremon had guessed right. While Gary had managed to train Blastoise in the use of the Rapid Spin technique to the point where the spinning was no longer mandatory, the technique still had one major flaw: It was really bad at sudden turns. All Mercuremon had had to do was to dodge rapidly and often and Blastoise was left unable to bring his physical power to bear, expending his punches on empty air Oops, a rhyme. Sorry about that – ed. The setting of the sun hadn't helped matters for either of them, forcing them to rely more on sound than sight.

–It's only a matter of time.- Mercuremon thought.

"DOPPIO PERFORARE!" Fairymon called, kicking various parts of Ranamon's body.

Ranamon fell back, dazed slightly by the assault. "JEALOUSY RAIN!" she countered.

Purple clouds covered Fairymon, burning. She managed to break free, realizing there were several small holes in her clothes. "What, I wasn't naked enough already?" she joked.

"Shut up." Ranamon replied, blushing. Angered, she lunged forward and punched Fairymon in the gut, driving the breath from her lungs and the food from her stomach. Ignoring this, Ranamon followed up with a right hook, splitting Fairymon's lower lip. A round house kick finished the combination, sending Fairymon crashing to the ground.

Wiping Fairymon's puke from her breasts, Ranamon tried to get her breath back. "I've been at this for years." she informed her opponent. "What makes you think you can beat me?"

"Because you're not the only one fighting for family."

The words were better than any blow, nearly knocking Ranamon off her feet. Fairymon rose, wiping blood from her lip. "Dori is my sister, my soul-mate, my destiny. And yeah, we love each other."

"And that's enough?" Ranamon asked.

"That, and that we know we're doing the right thing."

"What?" Ranamon took a step back.

Fairymon shook her head. "Typical Reliability Armour. Always thinking about others, even at your own expense. It's sad really."

"Shut up!" Ranamon snapped, lunging, but Fairymon flew back, just out of range.

"You're so determined not to let your family down that you'll do anything for them, but..." and Fairymon held up a finger, flying closer and tapping Ranamon on the forehead, "you've got a conscience in there somewhere. And it's telling you that what you've all been doing is wrong."

"Shut up."

"And it's tearing you up inside."

"SHUT UP!" Ranamon screamed, shoving Fairymon away. "You're no better! Obeying your partners wishes like a pet."

"This and that are different." Fairymon replied, shaking her head. "All of me wants the same thing. You can't say the same, can you?"

"SHUT UP!" Ranamon shrieked, her anger such that storm clouds were gathering in the sky. "Once and for all, SHUT UP!"

Lightning crashed to the ground where Fairymon had stood, the Love Armour just barely dodging. She looked up just in time for Ranamon's foot to connect with her face.

-Well, that helps us see, anyway- Mercuremon thought as he continued his game of keep-away.

"Oh hell." Josh breathed, looking at the lightning storm.

"This is why I never piss off girls." Seth said, shuddering.

Hey! Treecko yelled at the Magnemite. Any chance you guys could give us some cover?

We're hungry. the current leader replied.

I think that's a 'yes' Nidoqueen laughed as the swarm of three moved into position.

"Laughing Nidoqueen at night. Very disturbing." Josh commented. Nidoqueen stuck her tongue out at him.

"How are you still filming?" Wizardmon asked the Honeybeemon who was still taping the Fairymon/Ranamon fight, which had kicked up several notches in intensity.

"Special camcorder."

"Remind me to buy you an anorak."

Finally, Blastoise's frustration overcame him and he fired a Hydro Pump. Gleefully, Mercuremon caught the attack on his arm mirrors. "Offset Reflector!" he intoned. A twin blast of Thunder bolted at Blastoise. The Stage 2 Pokémon closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

An instant before the attack could connect, the last Chameleon materialized and took the blast, the electricity coursing through his body. He dropped to the ground, smoldering.

"Why?" Blastoise asked.

The Chameleonmon looked back at him. "Because I was sorry." Then he deleted.

"Idiot." Mercuremon sighed, with genuine regret.

Blastoise advanced. "Now this ends."

"Yes, it does." Mercuremon agreed.

A bolt of lighting crashed down, striking Blastoise's right cannon. The Pokémon collapsed, knocked out instantly.

Mercuremon blinked.

And blinked again.

"Um, okay." He said, deciding not to argue. He looked over at the fight between the two Armour girls. Logic told him that Ranamon was probably alright... but Loyalty told him 'probably' wasn't good enough. Also, he could not remember Ranamon ever being this upset. Which worried him. A lot.

Ranamon?

Little busy here, bro.

Do you need my help?

NO! Ranamon snapped. This bitch is mine!

I had to ask.

Ranamon's mental voice softened I know.

I love you.

Love you too.

Feeling better, if still very worried, Mercuremon glanced at the unconscious Blastoise, then turned his gaze towards the roof. He smiled wistfully.

-As he said; Now, it ends.-

It had to happen eventually if only because we need to get on with the story –ed. As Gladimon attacked, RhondoKnightmon managed to grab him, taking the opportunity to throw him into Crusadermon. The pair crashed to the ground, stunned. RhondoKnightmon took a moment to finally regenerate her ribbons, then lashed out with them, whipping both Champions repeatedly.

"Hey, ugly!" Gary's voice called. RhondoKnightmon turned and saw the two Fearow flying at her at ground level. In all of the Pokémon tapes her sister had made her watch, she couldn't remember a battle where two Trainers on the same side had both used Fearow (and certainly not with both Trainers riding on the backs of their Pokémon), but she knew an attack run when she saw one and she figured she was ready for anything the birds could throw at her.

"Golden Noose!" Gary Oak and the girl commanded in unison. As the two Fearow approached, their talons began to glow. They began to fly away from each other, then suddenly reversed direction, crossing paths, a golden rope forming from between the two sets of talons. The two Fearow used Agility to pick up speed, flying past RhondoKnightmon before she could react, the Noose catching her just under her chest. The two Fearow crossed each other again, then went past RhondoKnightmon in the other direction.

Glancing over at RhondoKnightmon as she was lifted off her feet, Gary was pleased to see that they'd managed to restrain her ribbons as well. "Climb!" Duplica nodded, then Virgil and Daisy turned skywards by 80o, swooping high into the air.

Gary and Duplica had just experienced the unpleasantness of having their ears pop when RhondoKnightmon finally got loose. She was just about to exact vengeance on the irritating birds when a pair of Hyper Beams, spiraling around each other, encouraged her in the strongest possible terms to return to the ground.

"Can we go back down, please?" Duplica asked. "It's freezing up here."

RhondoKnightmon landed, the two Hyper Beams punching her into the ground, blasting a crater in the street. The Royal Knight staggered out of the crater and saw the black armored figure in front of her. "Oh, you have to be kidding me..."

"Supreme Cannon."

Confusion. Kendrix intoned, using her powers to prevent the approaching Airdramon from becoming visible to Behemon. She found herself wondering how successful it would have been against the cyborg Megadramon.

"SPINNING NEEDLE!" Airdramon called. Kendrix used Faint Attack to vanish from Behemon's sight. So when the needles struck, Behemon fairly understandably thought it was Kendrix that had hit him. Together, they flew around the giant dragon, peppering him with attacks as Tatum waited for her opening.

Then the Disable wore off.

"BURNING HELL!" A gout of crimson flame blasted from Behemon's mouth, hitting Kendrix by sheer accident, fainting her instantly. She fell from the sky and Behemon roared in triumph.

"GO!" Tatum called.

"DRAGON WHEEL!" Airdramon dove for Behemon's open mouth, Kyubimon's signature attack turning both the dragon and her passenger into pure flame. Behemon finally noticed them just as they flew into his mouth.

Behemon screamed, writhing in agony as Airdramon tore through it's body, emerging via the rectum, upside-down. Tatum lost her grip and fell...

As she neared the ground, Tommy the Charizard (energy as restored as there'd been time for) flew up to meet her, deliberately overshooting and then looping back over, allowing Alan to catch her gently enough not to break her neck from the sudden stop. "Gotcha!"

Tatum's first response to this timely rescue was to vomit all over her shirt. Her second was to ask "Where's Kendrix?"

"Here." Alan said, pulling his arm out form under her thighs and showing her Kendrix's Pokéball. "We retrieved her just as you were going in."

In their hurry to reach the battle, Alan and Tommy had left Alan's backpack behind. Now, an object worked it's way out, blazing with red light and shot towards it's owner.

Behemon whirled round, intent on destroying it's foe. It saw Airdramon, still pure fire, hanging in the air... and recoiled from the energy emanating from the Champion Digimon in waves.

"Look!" Tommy said as a red light appeared, racing towards them.

"A Fire Stone?" Alan asked as it reached them and dropped into Tatum's hands.

Flashback (Movie 1)

Sora started to protest again, but stopped. A Clefairy was offering her a small moon stone. "I'm sorry." she said sadly. "I appreciate it, but Biyomon's a Digimon, not a Pokémon."

The Clefairy nodded, as several other Clefairy joined her, forming a circle around the two. Placing the stone in Sora's hands, they started chanting 'Clefairy, Clefairy, Clefairy' over and over. As they did, their hands started to glow.

Present

'Clefairy, Clefairy, Clefairy'

Behemon looked around, trying to figure out where the chanting was coming from. Then it noticed it's opponent had gone.

'Clefairy, Clefairy, Clefairy'

The Fire Stone in Tatum's hands shifted shape.

"A Crest." Alan realized, recognizing the symbol for Courage.

"Airdramon, Digivolve, to..." They looked up to see Airdramon, still aflame, hovering in front of them. She began to change shape, becoming humanoid. The flames cleared, revealing a woman the size and shape of Angewomon, but with scarlet red hair and only two orange wings, which looked similar to Birdramon's, only neater. She was dressed in a dark green one-piece swimsuit, with the same style boots and gloves as Angewomon, but in the same green color. A golden bird-mask covered her face, but not her eyes, unusual for an Angel Digimon. Completing the look was a sword, scabbard worn ninja-style across her back. "...Pidwomon!"

Tatum grinned as Alan's nose started to bleed. "You really do Digivolve into an angel." she said.

"Guess so." Pidwomon flew down to them. "Can you give me Kendrix's Pokéball?"

Alan, still trying to stem his nose-bleed, nodded and tossed it to her. Catching the ball, Pidwomon concentrated for a moment. Then, the ball opened, revealing Kendrix, fully reenergized. Thank you. she said.

"You're welcome." Pidwomon said. "Sorry," she added to Tommy, "But if we're gonna beat Big Purple up there, that's all the energy I can spare."

"Don't worry about it." Tommy replied. "I've got enough strength left for this."

Tatum shifted so that she was sitting on Tommy properly, then froze. "Alan?"

"'It's my sidearm, I swear. No giggling.'" Alan retorted, shooting Tommy and Kendrix looks which quite clearly said 'you too'.

"Here he co... uh, he's headed this way." Tommy said.

Alan wrapped his arms around Tatum's waist. "We're ready."

BlackOmnimon (as Duplica had taken to calling him) crashed into one of the nearby buildings and lay still. -Just need to get my breath back- he thought.

"I knew it!" RhondoKnightmon crowed, shaking the fist of her one remaining arm. "I knew you weren't an Omnimon!" it was a great fight. I'd describe it more fully, but I'm way past at least three deadlines here – ed. "Even three of you couldn't beat me. She turned to face the two Fearow...who had already prepared Hyper Beams.

"So how did they manage that, anyway?" Gary asked, referring to their Digimon's current form.

"I'm not sure." Duplica admitted as the Hyper Beams struck their target. "Maybe that's RhondoKnightmon's next form. Not that she has a next form at this point."

Gary snickered. "You know, I figured Gladimon would DNA Digivolve at some point. I just expected to be around to watch."

"But you felt it, right?" Duplica asked.

"You couldn't afford me." Gary retorted. "But yeah, I did."

Duplica, strictly speaking, turned out to be incorrect. Bastemon picked herself up slowly. –Oh good. I've got my arm back.- she thought. She vomited, then looked up at the six Fearow in front of her and tried to remember if her sister had ever mentioned Gary Oak having two brothers.

"What's happening?" she wondered.

"It's Poison." Gary told her.

"Poison?" Bastemon echoed. "How..." Then she remembered Nidoking.

"Ever hear of a girl named Casey?" Gary asked. "She once took out an Ultimate Digimon with a Weedle. It took half an hour for him to die."

"Mercy." Bastemon pleaded.

"Do you really think you deserve it?" BlackOmnimon asked. Bastemon turned to look at him and then he shifted into his true form, a swordsman clad in purple and red, armored in white.

"What's that?" Duplica asked. "Celtic Magician?"

Gary chuckled and held up his Pokédex.

"Mystimon. Ultimate level. The evolved form of Wizardmon, this Magic Warrior is as good with a blade as he is at pulling rabbits out of hats... perfectly cooked rabbits, it must be noted."

"Who writes those?" Duplica wondered, shaking her head.

"Mercy." Bastemon repeated.

Mystimon shrugged and glanced at Gary.

Gary shrugged and glanced at Duplica.

Duplica paused, glanced at Mystimon... and nodded.

"Blast Fire!"

"That was the corniest speech I have ever heard." Casey commented as Kyle sat down next to her.

"True." Kyle admitted, glancing at the battle between Beowulfmon and Dynasmon as the two battled back and forth. "But it worked."

"No kidding it worked." Casey snorted as Kyle slipped his tag around his neck. "We just skipped the Ultimate level!"

"Wolfmon are known for it." Kyle commented. Casey gave him a confused look. "I asked Gennai." he said. "Wolfmon are very strong for Champions. Some of the more experienced ones can happily keep up with Ultimates."

"Like Ellison's Scizor?"

Kyle shook his head. "No. Remember, Tracey's Scyther has Tentomon as a pre-evolution. I think Scizor actually is an Ultimate, at least for evolution purposes."

"ZWEI-HÄNDER!" Beowulfmon called, the giant spectral wolf lighting up the night sky.

"DRAGON'S ROAR!" was the inevitable reply, Dynasmon's attack colliding with the pouncing wolf. The noise from the explosion had barely had chance to fade before the two Mega's lunged for each other once more, swords clashing.

"Anyway," Kyle said, removing his fingers from his ears, "I think part of the reason we got Wolfmon as our DNA Digimon is because they're strong enough fight Ultimate Digimon. Newly Digivolved ones, anyway."

"And we didn't get a real Ultimate, why?" Casey asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Because of Kunemon." Kyle said. "Don't forget, he'd only reached his Champion form minutes before. He simply didn't have the XP or the energy to achieve a DNA Ultimate form."

"So where did they get enough XP to skip the Ultimate level just now?"

Kyle chuckled. "Tsukaimon and I aren't exactly newbies, you know."

Casey blushed. "Right. Sorry." She glanced down at Meganium and sniffed.

"How is he?" Kyle asked gently.

"I don't know." Casey admitted. "Wizardmon says he's alive but..." She started to cry. On instinct, Kyle pulled her into a cuddle. "I'm scared, Kyle. I already lost Beedril. I don't want to lose Meganium too..." That said, she buried her head on his shoulder and cried.

"Dynasmon will pay." Kyle assured her.

"Really?" Casey asked through her tears.

"Any second now."

"LICHT ANGRIFF!"

The blow was telling, reverting Dynasmon back to Knightmon. "Good Fight." he allowed, knowing he was finished.

Beowulfmon smiled faintly. "Good Night." he replied. Knightmon laughed, then spread his arms, waiting.

One final Zwei Händer and Knightmon exploded into data.

Behemon closed in on his targets. "So, you are all still alive. Annoying, but easily remedied."

"Let's get him." Tatum declared, Tommy shooting forward, Pidwomon and Kendrix either side.

"BURNING HELL!"

Confusion!

"FLARE BLAZE!"

"PYRO FORCE!" Pidwomon twirled her arms, doing her own version of Sylphimon's 'Static Force'. Kendrix's Confusion grabbed Behemon's attack and turned it back on it's master, the Flare Blaze and Pyro Force joining it, the three attacks spiraling around each other before combining into a single strike. Together, they knocked Behemon back, sending him twirling head over heels.

"Flame Saber!" Pidwomon drew her sword as Tommy and Kendrix drew back. "HEAVEN'S..." Pidwomon concentrated and her blade ignited, the flames expanding to create a giant sword.

"BURNING HELL!" Behemon righted himself and vomited another blast of fire, which struck the giant sword... which, in turn, blocked it. "What?"

"...WRATH!" Pidwomon lunged forward, swinging. Behemon screamed as the holy energies forced him back into his Ultimate form. The strike sliced Megadramon in half. Pidwomon struck again vertically, cleaving the cyborg's head in two.

"DOPPIO PERFORARE!" Fairymon called as she swooped down, feet first.

Ranamon leapt and grabbed Fairymon by the ankles. Before Fairymon could react, Ranamon's leg shot out, kicking her opponent in the fanny. Fairymon dropped from the sky with a scream, visor shattering as she hit the ground.

"Don't give me any lectures about fighting 'fair'" Ranamon admonished, landing on her feet. "I don't think either of us could keep a straight face."

"He's coming up!" the Honeybee-camcorder-mon yelled as Mercuremon bent down and leapt, rising high into the sky. Lightning crashed down at him.

"Generous Mirror!" he called, absorbing the energy. His leap continued uninterrupted, the occupants of the roof pulling back rapidly as he landed in front of them, kneeling as he did to kill his momentum. A moment's pause, then he rose slowly, mirrors glowing with stored power.

It was an entrance so good, they very nearly applauded.

Ranamon sighed as Fairymon tried get up. "Haven't you given up yet?"

"I'm still Armoured, aren't I?" Fairymon asked, emerald eyes defiant.

"That's debatable, sweetie." Ranamon replied dryly. "JEALOUSY RAIN!"

Fairymon winced as the clouds did their work, but managed to stand. As she did, her top fell to pieces, finally giving in to the abuse it had suffered during the fight.

"Um..." Ranamon said, bringing up a hand up to cover her suddenly bleeding nose. Her angry mood broken, the storm dissipated.

Lightning lashed out from Mercuremon's arm shields, three Steel-types quickly intercepting the attack.

Mercuremon was surprised to see a Magneton among those before him. –One of the Magnemite must have evolved.- he thought.

"I'm disappointed in you." he commented.

"So are we." The Honeybeemon said. "We should have done this a long time ago."

Mercuremon nodded. He couldn't say he was surprised; he'd seen this part coming for a while. "Very well then. It is time for the Shuuen."

"Let's finish this." The Magneton stated in a electronic sounding voice. Everyone was stressed enough that this did not come as a surprise.

"I was wrong."

Ranamon nearly jumped out of her skin. "How the hell do you do that?" she asked, whirling to face Dori.

Fairymon regarded her partner. "You're right. You were wrong."

Magneton and the Magnemite fired first, all their stored energy lashing out as three Thunder attacks which spiraled around each other as they combined into a single strike.

"Generous Mirror!" Mercuremon howled in agony as his mirrors tried to absorb all of the power being fed into him.

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Ranamon demanded.

"You do have a choice." Dori told her. "If you're willing to make it."

As the flashes from the electric attack faded from everyone's vision, the three Steel Pokémon fainted, their power exhausted. Mercuremon was on his knees, his body smoking from the overload. But his mirrors were glowing once more.

Seth blinked as the camera was pressed into his hands.

"Take this." it's owner said. "Don't touch the controls. Just keep it pointed at Mercuremon."

That said, as one, the Honeybeemon attacked.

"What are you talking about?" Ranamon demanded. " Haven't you been listening to a word I've been saying?"

"Yes." Dori replied. "But I've also been listening to my partner. And you know something? She's got a point."

"No she doesn't!" Ranamon insisted.

The Honeybeemon swarmed around Mercuremon, striking from all sides.

With a scream and a crack of ozone, Mercuremon released some of the power within him, wildly. The Honeybeemon, despite their best efforts at dodging, were quickly knocked out.

"Be selfish, just this once." Dori suggested. "What do you want, really?"

Ranamon grabbed Dori by the front of her t-shirt. "And what if what I really want is to rip off your partner's head and stick it up your ass?" she demanded.

"I'll chance it." Dori replied softly. "Is that what you want?"

"Magical Game!" Wizardmon unleashed a flash of fiery light which struck Mercuremon in the face mirror, blinding him. The Loyalty Hybrid's head jerked back as he roared in pain.

Nidoqueen took her chance, lunging forward and Mega Punching Mercuremon in his stomach mirror. As Mercuremon's head jerked forward again, the others could see that his face mirror had been destroyed, leaving only bare green metal.

"No." Ranamon admitted, her gaze dropping to her feet.

Wait... stomach mirror? –ed.

Mercuremon didn't bother calling out an attack, simply channeling the power Nidoqueen had hit him with into his fist, instinctively adding enough of the remaining electricity he had stored to make his fist crackle with power. He struck, a right uppercut which connected with Nidoqueen's lower jaw, knocking her head back and forcing her to retreat a step, her body beginning to seize up.

"Mercuremon has learned 'Thunder Punch'." Seth's Pokédex commented to no-one. "Nidoqueen is now Paralyzed."

"And the bad news?" Josh asked sarcastically.

"Look at me." Dori said.

Ranamon looked up, realizing the human girl was mere inches away, and met her eyes, amazed at the compassion she saw there. "What's your name, anyway?" she asked, vaguely remembering Fairymon mentioning it.

"Dori." she replied. "What's yours?"

Ranamon hesitated. She didn't even let her brothers use her real name. "You'll laugh."

"Try me."

"Um..." Ranamon sighed. "Ariel."

"That's sweet." Dori assured her.

Blushing, Ariel felt her heart skip a beat as Dori leaned closer, wondering if the other girl was going to kiss her.

"What do you want?" Dori whispered.

Trading blows with Nidoqueen, his face currently looking out from his stomach mirror, Mercuremon was glad that the Pokémon was paralyzed, unable to control her body anywhere near as well as she usually could. Because when her fists did connect, they hit hard.

Finally, the Loyalty Armour managed to back-up and aim his arm-mirrors. "Offset Reflector!" Since using this technique on Blastoise's Hydro Pump had resulted in a burst of Thunder, it made perfect sense to him when unleashing the remaining electricity inside him resulted in twin streams of water, which picked up Nidoqueen and threw her back. Seth and Josh dived out of the way as Nidoqueen flew past them, the blasts sufficient to send her hurtling over the side of the roof.

"NO!" the two boys exclaimed, just before they heard the crash.

"I just want it to end."

The moment Ariel said it, she felt all the weight lift from her shoulders.

Nidoqueen! Treecko yelled.

I'm okay! came the faint reply. CNN broke my fall...

"He's going to kill them."

Dori and Ariel turned to look at Fairymon, then followed her gaze towards the building where the other battle was taking place.

Mercuremon almost laughed. His body had managed to adapt somehow, permanently retaining part of the charge. How he had longed for a proper offensive technique.

He drew on the energy, using it to regenerate his head mirror.

"No." Ariel decided. "He's not."

"Botamon, Digivolve to... Koromon!" The pink head looked at Treecko. "Need a ride?"

Treecko nodded and Koromon used his ears to place the Grass Pokémon on his back, Treecko gently taking hold of the In-Training's Digimon's ears. His foot hurt like hell, but they had bigger problems.

Mercuremon, his face back at his head, snorted as Koromon bounced at him, his rider firing Bullet Seed. "Don't waste my time." he said, dodging the attack before backhanding the pair into Wizardmon, knocking out all three. "And then there were two."

Seth and Josh looked at each other. "Look after them." Josh said, pressing Treecko and Botamon into the other boys hands (the camera on the floor somewhere, forgotten). Then he stood, stepping towards his doom.

"You really think you can beat me?" Mercuremon asked softly as the boy moved between him and the other boy.

Josh shrugged. "Guess I'll just pretend you're my dad." he muttered, quietly enough that Seth didn't hear him.

There was silence for a moment.

"What's your name?" Mercuremon asked.

"Josh."

"Very well, Josh." Mercuremon said. "Goodbye."

"Flower Cannon."

Two humans and one Armour Digimon froze. –That voice.- Mercuremon thought as they turned to look up at the newcomer.-She evolved?-

"Lillymon." Seth's Pokédex chimed. "The Plant Fairy. The evolved form of Togemon, Lillymon is considered one of the prettiest Digimon, though some of her detractors consider her eyes 'a bit freaky'."

Josh was just about to tell Seth where to stick his Pokédex when Mercuremon fell to his knees, his data already starting to break down around the edges. "Why?" he asked.

Ariel looked down at her brother, tears running down her face. "Because I was sorry."

Mercuremon laughed, startling her. He looked up and she saw a smile on his face.

I love you. he thought.

Ariel was unable to hold back a sob. I love you too.

She closed her eyes, unable to watch as he deleted. Dori and Fairymon arrived just as Ariel floated down to the roof. Dori pulled Ariel into a cuddle, letting the Digimon cry on her shoulder.

Kyle, Casey, Poyomon and Pabumon looked up as the rest of the Digidestined descended on their position. Pidwomon landed and let Tatum put her feet on the ground before reverting to Tokomon. Charizard did the same for Alan before reverting to Charmander. "I really need a pre-evolution." he muttered, exhausted.

Gary and Duplica touched down, riding Virgil and Daisy, carrying Punimon and Kiimon in their arms. Fairymon, Ariel and Arcanine arrived at the same time Seth, Wizardmon and Josh having caught a ride on the Fire Pokémon's back; Nidoqueen and Blastoise in their Pokéballs –ed, the Honeybeemon and Magnemite just behind them. All eyes were quickly drawn to Meganium's unmoving form.

"What happened?" Dori asked as her partner set her down and reverted to Kapurimon.

"So that's where that went." Alan commented absently as a pink light vanished into Dori's pocket.

Kyle sighed. "Knightmon happened. He and Wolfmon beat the crap out of each other, but Knightmon had a Mega form in reserve, Dynasmon. Meganium tried to fight him, but..."

Making a decision, Alan knelt down next to Casey and reached for Meganium.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Casey yelled, twisting in order to aim a slap. Alan had been attacked often enough (albeit mostly by non-humans) that it was second nature to grab her forearm as it swung at him, the others wincing as flesh struck flesh. Kyle was half expecting Alan to strike Casey in return; instead he grabbed her other arm, preventing her from using that one as well.

"Let go of me!" Casey snapped, struggling to free her arms.

"Casey." Alan said, trying to get her attention.

"I said let go!" she repeated, wishing she could kick him.

"Casey Quickly Sparks." Alan said severely.

Casey scowled, annoyed at the joke. Kyle starting to laugh didn't help. "Shut up." she told her DNA partner, then turned back to Alan. "Well, what?"

"I can help her."

"Really?" Casey asked, any further annoyance blunted by a surge of hope. "You can really help her?"

Alan let go of Casey's arms and leaned forward to kiss her forehead, making her blush. "Watch me." He told her.

After a moment, Casey lifted up Meganium's head and let Alan take hold of it. Her D-3 slipped off Meganium's head and she hastily grabbed it. Then she moved back, letting Alan take her former position, kneeling with Meganium's head in his lap.

A long moment passed, then Alan whispered three words, inaudible if not for the total silence that had descended.

"Hand of Fate."

"Um..." Toy Agumon began. Then Alan's hands began to glow, energy slowly flowing into Meganium, who shone with the same glow.

The longest minute of Casey's life passed, each second an eternity. Nobody moved, transfixed by the event.

Finally, Alan's hand's stopped glowing and he began to fall back. Casey lunged and managed to catch him. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, thanks." Alan replied, unable to suppress a yawn. "That just really takes it out of me."

"Did it..." Casey's question died in her throat as the glow surrounding Meganium faded and her eyes answered the question. The bruise which had covered half Meganium's body was gone, the missing neck leaf had grown back, all the cuts and bruises she had sustained healed. It was if the fight with Dynasmon had never happened.

But still, nobody moved for a moment. Then Meganium's eyes fluttered open. "Meg? Meganium?" she asked, looking around.

"You're alive!" Casey cheered, wrapping her arms around Meganium's neck.

"Casey, don't strangle her!" Alan laughed.

Casey let go of Meganium, only to throw her arms around Alan himself, nearly crushing him with the force of her hug. "Thank you." she whispered, crying with joy.

"You're welcome." Alan whispered back, hugging her back, but rather more gently.

"Hey Kyle, Alan's hitting on your girl." Gary joked. He was ignored.

"How the hell did you do that?" Josh asked, amazed.

"Had a bit of a misunderstanding with an Angemon." Alan replied absently, clearly unwilling to elaborate further. "Kinda don't want to make a career out if it. I'm starting to actually WANT coffee."

"That's bad." Kyle quipped dryly. "Hey, Seth." he continued, picking up the opened Hyper Potion. "Give that to Arcanine. He looks like he could use it."

There was a pop and Mudkip appeared, curious to know what all the fuss was about. Spotting Alan, he fired a low powered Water Gun directly in the boys face, soaking Casey in the process. She shrieked, and leapt to her feet.

"Um... thanks, I think." Alan said, admittedly more awake.

"Mudkip, don't DO that!" Casey scolded. Seth waited until everyone had finished killing themselves laughing before feeding the Hyper Potion to Arcanine.

"I see you got one too." Josh remarked, holding up Treecko.

"Me too." Kyle said, holding up Torchic's Pokéball. "I see Seth did too." he added, noticing the small blue creature at Seth's feet.

"Yeah." Seth said. "We spotted this little guy on our way here. Analyzer says he's a Bagon."

"And that lot?" Duplica asked, eying the Honeybeemon and Magnemite.

"They're with me." Ariel said.

"And you are?" Alan asked, curious.

"She's a friend." Dori said. "A traveler looking for a new home."

"Who's is the sword?" Gary asked, pointing.

"It was Dynasmon's." Kyle said. "He must have dropped it when I knocked him back to Knightmon."

"When you what?" Seth asked, as everyone stared at Kyle.

Blushing, Kyle called up a saber and then dismissed it. "He pissed me off." he said lamely.

"Awesome." Alan grinned.

"Well, this is ours now." Casey grinned as Meganium snagged the sword with a vine.

"Looks like we all got souvenirs." Tatum remarked, pulling out her Crest. Kyle grinned evilly and pulled out his own. "Oh, come ON!" she moaned.

"Sorry." Kyle lied. "Where'd you get yours?"

"My Fire Stone." Alan replied, a little sadly. "You?"

"I'm not sure." Kyle replied, shrugging. "Not complaining, though."

"I know that Crest." Wizardmon said thoughtfully. "I recognize the emanations."

"How?" Gary asked.

"It used to be Kari's." Wizardmon replied. "It must have come loose from the barrier Gennai made."

"Because that barrier has been doing such a great job." Kyle noted dryly. "Kari isn't going to want this back, is she?"

"No." Everyone looked up as Jason arrived. "If you received it, it's yours now. Kari would understand that."

"What about my Crest?" Tatum asked.

"It looks like yours is new." Jason commented. Wizardmon nodded agreement. "Looks like the Clefairy started a trend."

"I thought I could hear them..." Alan noted, nodding.

After everyone took a little time to finish comparing notes, the question arose of how to get home. Jason pointed out that Imperial Dramon would be along in another couple of hours, but only Tatum seemed interested in waiting for him, professing a need to get back before her boyfriend started worrying. The others decided to risk the Digiports and headed for Professor Oak's Lab.

It wasn't quite the welcome Ash Ketchum had expected.

They'd finally made it back to Pallet Town, Ash practically bouncing at the Johto League Championship Trophy under Brock's arm (the former Gym Leader having been selected as carrier so that the Trophy didn't get broken) and Deliah trying to stare at Professor Oak without being noticed. The mere thought of being Gary's Uncle would keep Ash amused for months. Yes, Pokémon fans. Series Continuity is officially out the window. Don't blame Pat, blame me. –Alan.

Deliah Ketchum had invited Tracey and Tentomon over as well for what had turned out to be a very nice dinner. A more comprehensive victory party was going to be scheduled for the following week, so that some of the invitees (like Ritchie) had chance to actually get to Pallet Town.

Since lab work was complete for the day and Ash's Bulbasaur was quite capable of looking after the other Pokémon for a few hours, the 'boys' had, at Deliah's suggestion, commandeered the television while she rearranged the mantelpiece to accommodate the trophy and Mr Mime (of course) did the washing up.

They'd just finished a friendly argument over what channel to watch when there was a scream from one of the bedrooms.

"Misty!" Ash exclaimed. He, Brock and Tracey practically warped up the stairs, Tentomon shifting into Scyther as he and Mr Mime followed. They broke down the door without realizing it was there and stopped dead at the sight of Misty partly buried under a tangled mass of bodies.

Deliah popped her head round the doorway and sighed when she spotted the picture of three entangled Horsea on the screen. "Misty, what have I told you about looking for porn on my computer?"

"So this is your place?" Gary asked as Misty's face went red. Deliah and Ash nodded. "Eh, close enough."

"'Just checking my email'." Brock drawled.

"Shut up!" Misty snapped as everyone finally got up... except Alan, who just turned over, snoring.

"What happened to him?" Tracy asked.

"It's been a very long evening." Kyle sighed.

Half-an hour later, Alan and Tommy sleeping away on the downstairs couch, the remainder of the group relocated to Professor Oak's lab, so he could check up on the various Pokémon... and Kyle.

"Do I have to do this?" he complained.

"It's either me now, or Izzy later." Oak replied.

Fearow squawked as it was sucked into the Pokéball.

"Hey, Uncle."

Ash grinned faintly. "I wonder who's going to ask who?"

Gary, Umbreon at his feet, moved to stand beside his former rival, a rather smug-looking Bulbasaur at the younger boy's side. "What are you doing out here?"

Ash shrugged. "I couldn't sleep, so Bulbasaur and I decided to take care of some unfinished business." The light on the Pokéball turned green and Ash walked over and picked it up.

"Why Bulbasaur?" Gary asked, following.

"She was the only one awake."

"Ah." Gary glanced up at the stars. "I wonder: Will he take her name or will she take his?"

"I don't know." Ash shrugged. "You?"

"Me? Well, not that I'd mind being 'Gary Ketchum', but the Oak name is the more famous."

"True." Ash agreed, then grimaced. "Then again, 'Ash Oak?'. Maybe a little too wooden?"

They started laughing. Being a git by practice rather than nature, Gary saw what was coming a few moments before it did. Ash's knees gave out and he sagged to the ground. Gary knelt and pulled Ash into a hug, allowing Ash to cry himself out on Gary's shoulder.

Flashback

One Week Earlier, Johto Silver Conference

"Pikachu!" Ash cried as his first Pokémon collapsed to the arena floor, skidding as he landed. Quickly he glanced up at the board. The good news was, both he and his opponent were on their last Pokémon. The bad news was, the Pokémon his opponent had on the field still had all it's HP (where had the girl gotten a Dark-type Pikachu?) and his Pikachu's current HP Total was...

1.

That's it. Ash thought. No way we can win this now. He didn't mind. Second was still one hell of an achievement, after all. The silver trophy would look great on his mother's mantelpiece.

"We surr..." he began.

DON'T YOU DARE! Pikachu roared, staggering to his feet. Don't you dare give up now!

"Pikachu..." Ash gaped, then pointed at the board. "It's..."

I DON'T CARE WHAT THE MONKEY-DOODLING BOARD SAYS Pikachu roared back. I SAY WE CAN STILL WIN THIS!

You're delusional. the creature most people involved in the Silver Conference had dubbed DarkPikachu snorted.

Pikachu turned to his opponent. Yeah? Because Ash and I have spent two goddamn years working up to these finals AND I'M NOT GOING TO LET US GET BEATEN BY A STROPPY BASTARD LIKE YOU!

Ash's Pokédex, which had been beeping continuously to indicate Pikachu's low health, chose that moment to go completely crazy. "Warning! Warning! Pikachu, Limit Break!"

Both competitors opened their mouths, the words 'What's a Limit Break' on their lips (and, indeed, the lips of most of the audience)...

Then the sky fell in.

"What's going on?" Misty asked, a shudder of fear running throughout the stadium as storm clouds gathered in a heartbeat. Seem familiar? Of course, Ranamon wasn't an Electric type... –ed.

"Pi..."

"Cover your ears!" Brock ordered. The stadium as a whole did just before the world's biggest thunderclap, at least a dozen different lightning bolts striking down simultaneously, all of them changing course mid-flight for a certain electric mouse.

Pikachu absorbed it all.

"...ka..."

Ash understood now. Pikachu all had certain built-in limits they gained when evolving from the Pichu stage to prevent them from shocking themselves. -This is going to be big.- He moved to protect his ears, then realised he was already deaf.

As the ozone level on the battlefield plunged, DarkPikachu stepped back.

"...CHUUU!"

Pikachu unleashed all the stored up power within him in one blast of deafening sound and blinding light, which picked up DarkPikachu and threw him through the back wall of the arena.

"Pikachu has learned 'God Thunder'." Ash's Pokédex chirped, unaware no-one could hear it. "Pikachu is now Paralyzed."

Unnoticed by the other audience members (an easy feat at that point), Mewtwo extended his Psychic Powers, accelerating everyone's healing factors to prevent permanent damage to their senses.

It was a good ten minutes before anyone could see or hear. When everyone had recovered themselves, the referee's next words were inevitable.

"DarkPikachu is unable to battle. By a margin of 1 Hit Point, the winner of the match and the Johto Silver Conference 2002 is Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!"

End Flashback

"You ok?" Gary asked as the tears finally abated.

"Yeah. It... it just finally hit, you know?"

"How is Pikachu?" Gary asked softly as Ash pulled away.

"He'll be ok." Ash said. "But he shocked himself so badly, the only thing that's going to cure his paralysis is time. By Nurse Joy's estimate, it's going to be at least a week before he's mobile." Which, he remembered, hadn't stopped Pikachu from raising hell until Nurse Joy had allowed Ash to carry him in the championship ceremony.

"That's scary." Gary said. "But there won't be any permanent damage, right?"

"No. But... I think I'm going to take a break for a while. I don't think I could take another fight like that. I need to go back to school sooner or later anyway, so it might as well be sooner."

"If you say so." Gary paused a moment. "Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"Do me a favor. Don't give up on your dream completely. In a few years, if you try again, you could really do it. You could be a Pokémon Master. Hell, you're at least halfway there already."

Ash managed a smile. "No promises, but thanks."

"What are you gonna do, then?"

"I hadn't decided." Ash grinned. "Maybe I'll ask Misty and Brock what it takes to be a Gym Leader. Much less stressful."

Gary laughed, then stood up. "We'd better get back."

"I guess." Ash stood up too. "I told Mom where I was going, but you know how she worries. What about you?"

"huh?"

"What are you gonna do?"

Gary was silent for a moment "Have you ever heard of Hoenn?"

Then they noticed the Spearow. The entire local flock, hovering in front of them.

"Bulbasaur!" Ash's Bulbasaur snapped. To Ash and Gary's surprise, the flock drew back slightly. Bulbasaur and Umbreon glanced at each other, confused.

"Bre, Umbreon?" Gary's Pokémon asked. One of the Spearow replied back with a rapid squawking that neither Ash or Gary could keep up with.

Then both Umbreon and Bulbasaur started laughing. Ash frowned at his Pokémon. Bulbasaur wasn't laughing. He was... cackling?

"Oh that's rich." Umbreon chuckled.

"She talks?" Ash demanded. "How many talking Pokémon do you have?"

Gary tried not to look smug. He really tried. "Two." he confirmed, stroking Umbreon behind the ears. "Nidoking and Nidoqueen have always been my best students, but Blastoise and Umbreon are my favorites. I guess it shows." He noticed Ash's expression and shrugged. "Hey, overachieving git, remember?"

"You've never let me forget." Ash groused, but there was no real bite to it. "So what's so funny, anyway?"

"Well," Umbreon said. "Turns out that since you and Bulbasaur defeated Fearow, Bulbasaur is now the leader of the flock."

"How come?" Gary asked, ignoring Ash as the other boy joined in the cackling. "Bulbasaur isn't a Fearow. He isn't even a bird."

"Turns out they found out about Ash winning the Silver Conference." Umbreon said dryly, giving the boy in question a pointed look.

"We might have mentioned it once or twice, yeah." Ash admitted, settling down.

"I gathered." Umbreon drawled. "Anyway, they're willing to overlook certain physical details in order to follow the Pokémon of such a great trainer."

"Cool." Ash grinned, pleasantly surprised at the complete lack of sarcasm in Umbreon's voice.

"Ash? Gramps is going to kill you." Gary said slowly.

"Mom wouldn't let him." Ash chuckled. Then he looked up and laughed as a large shape briefly covered the moon. The shape landed, revealing Ash's Pidgeot.

"I've missed you." Ash told his second caught Pokémon. After a brief conversation between Pidgeot and the Spearow flock, Pidgeot bent down so that Ash and Bulbasaur could climb on. "You coming?"

"We'll walk, thanks." Gary said.

"Ash?" Umbreon asked. "Pidgeot says that if the Spearow aren't going to threaten the Pidgey flock anymore, she'd rather stay with you."

"I'd like that." Ash said.

Pidgeot took to the night skies, the Spearow flock following behind. Chuckling, Gary and Umbreon began to make their own way home.

Not yet willing to split up any further, the Digidestined (and Ariel) spent the night at the labs. The Ketchums, Misty, Brock, Alan and Tommy showed up in time for breakfast, which ended up being a picnic affair in the back garden, with most of the discussion concerning the Johto Silver Conference the previous week, Ash and Alan regaling the others with stories of their experiences.

Though Gary couldn't help noticing that no-one brought up the grand final...

"So where will you go?" Dori asked, as everyone gathered to see the Digimon off.

"I don't know yet." Ariel said. "I'd kind of like to be a trainer, but I don't think they'll let a Digimon train Pokémon."

"Sadly not." Oak said (which hadn't stopped him giving her Pokéballs to keep the Magnemite and Magneton in). "I think you'd be good at it."

"Thanks." Ariel blushed. "Anyway, I figure we'll just find somewhere quiet and keep out of sight for a while."

"Yeah." one of the Honeybeemon said. "We've had quite enough of battles."

"Thanks for your help." Dori said.

"I'm the one who should be thanking you." Ariel said. She leaned forward and kissed Dori. The others hid smiles at the look of surprise on Dori's face. Then Dori pulled Ariel into a hug.

"Let us know how that recording comes out." Toy Agumon said.

"We will." The Honeybeemon with the camera assured her.

Then everyone watched as Ariel and the Honeybeemon flew off for parts unknown.