"Poor Gommamon got sent to the ocean by our latest enemies, the Shadowmon. Most of the group sent out to find them- including myself, despite my inability to swim. On land, Cody and the others met a Penguinmon who claims to be the digimon of the thirteenth Digi-Destined. He had the Crest of Humility as proof, but he couldn't find his photo of the human, so he ran off to find it. Gommamon found a lot of things in the water- our crests, Seadramon, AND a mermaid who might likely be Oceanamon herself. Could our search finally be over?"

-Joe

DIGIMON: THE DIGITAL KEEPERS SAGA

Book Eight: "The Megas Shall Rise"

The day after Gommamon found it in the ocean, Matt proudly wore around his neck his renewed tag and Crest of Friendship. He took a seat at an open bar that stood several feet away from the shore, and held in his hand at this moment Ken's black D3. He finally put to use the newly-added walkie-talkie part of it, and called Tai.

"Yeah..." he spoke into the D3 while gazing at the clear blue sea; "we got 'em. All three of them: Friendship, Knowledge and Reliability." Speaking through to the receiver was Tai's voice: "That's great! At least you guys were successful with something." Matt frowned, "You can't find the other crests?"

"No, we can't," replied Tai, as he held onto Birdramon's right talon- Sora riding the other. At the time, his group was flying through the air, via Aquilamon, Lilymon, Birdramon and Angemon. Tai spoke into TK's green D3: "And that's not even the worst part. Even as we speak, the Shadowmon cloud is gaining up on us."

"Shadowmon cloud?" Matt's voice asked. Tai explained, "There are hundreds of Shadowmon in the air right now, in the form of a black cloud. No matter where we go, it covers us and makes it hard for us to find Polarimon. We're trying to out-run it right now!"

"No way!" Matt gasped. Tai's voice sighed sadly, "Yeah... You got any more good news? 'Cause we need some." Matt then smiled, "Gommamon says he might've seen Oceanamon."

"You're kidding!" Tai exclaimed, making Sora wonder, "What'd he say?" Tai turned to her and replied, "He says they might've found Oceanamon!" Tai's company broke out into cheers and applause, as Tai went back to the D3 and asked, "...That is what you said, right?"

Matt scratched his head a bit nervously; "Uhh... Well, even if he did see her, she didn't stick around." "...What?" Tai's voice muttered; Matt explained, "Look Tai, we got our crests now, so we at least have a bigger advantage over the Shadowmon. Let's just focus on that right now..."

Tai briefly looked to the sky, and sure enough the Shadowmon cloud was gaining up on them. Matt's voice said: "Maybe there's a reason why the Digi-Keepers are no-shows. Maybe they're just waiting 'till the coast is clear, know what I mean?"

Matt continued, "Look, there's a city on a hill not too far from here called Metal-tropolis. It's packed with digimon, and it's even got a non-stop carnival of some kind. I think it's the perfect place to set camp!"

Tai listened carefully as Matt's voice concluded, "If you can't find Polarimon, or the rest of the missing crests, then come down here and rejoin the rest of us. At least we know Oceanamon is nearby." "I got it," Tai agreed; "Thanks, Matt." "No problem," Matt's voice replied.

Tai turned off the D3 and announced long and clear, "Guys, this plan is obviously not working! The others are closer to Oceanamon than we are to Polarimon. So let's hit the beach and diss this Shadow-cloud!" "YEAH!" cheered his friends, and the flying digimon sped faster.

The Shadow-cloud, as Tai put it, listened carefully to the guiding voice of Pridemon: "Wherever they're going, follow them. Don't let them get away."

Pridemon herself stood on the tip of a nearby mountaintop. She can oversee the heroes racing the Shadowmon cloud, and loving the sight of them losing the race. She snickered with eminent cruelty, but then sighed with a frown; "...Sooner or later, they'll reach the boundaries of my territory. Then I will no longer be able to stop them from reaching Oceanamon's realm."

Suddenly, a dark figure faded in from behind her. An evil, yet prestigious voice hissed, "Oh... That's too bad. Perhaps I can keep them at bay." Pridemon grinned, and turned to the demon behind her. She smiled to him, "Yes, Mephismon. You shall be the first I send." The creature she was speaking to had a goat's head, a disfigured humanoid body, and torn bat wings. He smiled back, "It will be my pleasure." Quickly, Pridemon gave him a fair warning: "But just remember... You're only getting one chance."

Birdramon led the team, charging through the air, where mist attempted to blind them all. "...This mist is getting stronger; I can barely see," she cawed. Sora, with her hand over her eyes, agreed, "Maybe we should stop, and not risk crashing into something." "Good idea," replied her Champion partner, who at that point was lucky enough to find a mountaintop perfect for perching on.

As soon as they landed, Sora called to her friend, "Hey, Kari? Can I borrow your D-3 for a minute?" "Sure!" Kari called back from atop of Aquilamon's back. She dialed a set of numbers; "I think this is Davis's code," she muttered to herself, and then tossed her pink D-3 to Sora.

RI-I-I-I-ING! RI-I-I-I-I-ING!

Davis halted, just missing the volleyball that was passed to him by Ken. He heard the beeping sound coming from his blue D-3. He smiled, "Hey... Could that be Kari calling for me?" "Dream on," scoffed his nearby buddy, as Davis ran over to the desk where his D-3 was. He picked it up and in a debonair-like voice, he grinned, "Hello?" "Davis?" called the other line. It was definitely a female voice, but to his dismay it was not Kari's. "Sora!" he exclaimed. The sound of her name was picked up by Matt's ears; he was eating lunch at the time with Gabumon.

Davis continued, "Wha.. What's going on?" Sora's voice explained, "We're lost. There's a nasty fog over here, and we can't see a thing. I was thinking... Could one of you guys come over here and try to guide us?" Davis chuckled, "Gosh, that'd be kinda hard, but I think we-"

Suddenly, Matt interrupted, "What does she want?" Davis answered, "They got lost in a fog." "Oh really?" Matt raised an eyebrow; "They just keep coming up with tricks, don't they?" "Who?" Davis blinked; "The bad guys," Matt replied.

Sora started to hear Matt's voice on the other end. That's funny. They were barely speaking to each other these days, and now all of a sudden he's worried? She spoke, "Is Matt there? Is he gonna help us?"

Matt suggested to Davis, "Tell her I'll bring Garurumon; he can adapt to cold weather and mist." Davis talked into the D-3, "Matt's coming, and he's gonna bring Garurumon."

Sora smiled, "Oh, that's a relief. Tell him to come soon. Okay?" At this point, the others were close enough to hear this conversation.

Davis smiled to Matt, giving him the thumbs up; "She got the message." Matt smiled to himself and out of nowhere he replied, "I love being the guy that saves the day."

Sora heard that. She replied, "Uh.. You're a big help, Matt, but you know we're a team, right?"

He suddenly whisked the D-3 right out of Davis's hand and talked into it himself; "What? Of course I know that!"

"Gee," Sora answered a bit harshly, "You just seemed a little over-confident back there." "I wasn't being over-confident," his voice said defensibly; "I was just saying-" She argued, "You were just saying that you and Garurumon are our only hope." Matt's voice gulped, "We are!... Aren't we?"

Tai knew what was coming. He muttered, "Uh-oh..."

Sora's voice was now loud and clear enough for all of Matt's friends to hear; she said, "Maybe I was wrong to ask for your help. I'm sure Ken or Davis could easily help us. After all, their digimon can fly." Matt argued, "But they'd be as blind as you are right now."

"Blind?... BLIND!?" she roared, obviously taking that the wrong way; "How dare you! I'm not blind, you two-faced jerk; I see what

s going on quite clearly!"

Matt was beside himself; he blinked twice, "W... What?... What're you talking about?"

This was it. Time to finally get it off her back. Sora growled jealously, "I've seen you... How you looked at her, and thought how beautiful she was."

"...Who!?"

"Gaiamon!"

"GIAMON!?" Matt yelled; as did the others in an echo of shock.

"Yeah, that's right! Oh, she may be less than a human NOW, but she's still got that human-like physique to her, doesn't she Matt?" Before he can reply, she added, "I'll bet you're gonna go goo-goo over Oceanamon next! Am I right Matt? Huh? AM I?"

Davis muttered, "Oh man..." as Matt grew all the more insulted. He argued, "...Wait a minute! You and I agreed that we'd like to see other people, didn't we?" "Digimon don't count!" Sora's voice replied.

Matt lashed back, "Weren't you the one that got all mushy over Gennai when he was reformatted to his younger form?" Sora's voice said, "No, that was Yolei!" Ken blinked, "...What?"

Sora took a breath and said, "...Okay, maybe we did agree to see other people... But to tell you the truth, Matt, I really don't feel like it. Look... This is hard for me to explain-" "No!" his voice replied harshly...

"I think you've explained it quite clearly... You're jealous of a digimon! No, wait; A Digi-Keeper! And furthermore-" "Okay, okay!" her voice hollered from the other end; "I may be a bit jealous, but it's better than being a DENDRO-FELIAC!"

"OOOOOOOHHHHHHH!" howled Digi Destined from either side. Matt blinked, "...What's that mean?" Sora's voice explained, "Someone infatuated with trees!" Izzy was trying not to bust out laughing, as Davis gently elbowed Matt; "She got you there, pal."

"Get off me," pushed Matt, who was now furious. He hollered into the D-3, "Listen, you! I don't have to take that from somebody who's not brave enough to say that to my FACE!"

Sora hollered back, "FINE! How about we never speak to each other AGAIN!?"

"That's fine by me, as long as it's fine by you!"

"It's fine by me!"

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

FINE!!"

And they both hung up.

From where she was, Sora clutched onto the pink D-3 like her life depended on it, whispering, "fine..." then tossed it back to Kari. From where he was, Matt handed Davis back his blue D-3, with narrowed eyes and said, "Thank you for letting me borrow your D-3, Davis." Davis took it back, smiling, "My friend, the pleasure was all mine."

Izzy muttered to Tentomon who was floating beside him, "Looks like their relationship went from rocky to rock-bottom." "I couldn't agree more," replied the beetle-like Rookie.

Gabumon bravely tapped Matt's leg; "Uh, Matt?" Matt barked, "What?" Gabumon backed up nervously, "Ugh... I- I'm sorry." He had that pitiful look in his eyes that copied a sad puppy dog. Matt swallowed his anger and pride and frowned, "...Oh, I'm sorry, Gabumon." "...I understand," his partner replied; "...I was just wondering if you wanted to help our friends, like you promised." "Oh, you bet I am!" Matt smiled; "I'll prove to Sora how unselfish I really am."

A few minutes later, Sora and Birdramon secluded themselves from the group, while the others talked amongst themselves. Tai kicked back and sighed, "...So now all we do is wait for Matt or somebody to come pick us up."

TK glanced over to where Sora were, and frowned, "She really didn't mean to talk to him like that, did she?" Tai scratched his nose; "I dunno... Sora's always been the emotional type, but I've never seen her like this since the hairclip incident... In fact, this is worse than that! Poor Matt's gonna have a lot on his hands now."

TK looked up to the sky; "...Still black as night up there..." And it was all thanks to the Shadowmon.

"Awww... Why so melancholy?" whispered a deep, mysterious voice. Tai jumped to his feet; "Oh no... Not again!" He looked around and complained, "...I'm starting to get really annoyed by all these mysterious voices!" Everyone agreed, as they looked just as paranoid.

Then to their surprise, a dark shadow emerged from the darkness. It was a digimon... One they've never seen before. Tai glared at it; "Who are you!?"

------------ Digimon Card: MEPHISMON ------------

Level: Ultimate

Attribute: Virus

Type: Fallen Angel

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Mephismon, a devoted fallen angel of Darkness. My attacks include 'Death Cloud' and 'Black Sabbath.' Sounds exciting, doesn't it?"

-Mephismon

--------------------------------------------------------------

Tai clenched his fist; "We're not scared o' you. Right guys?" The other humans got to their feet and cheered, "Right!" The goat-faced monster grinned, "Oh, how nice. I was hoping you were up for a battle. Now..." He unfolded his wings and said, "Let's begin." With that, he took to the air.

Birdramon took off first, with Aquilamon close behind. The two bird-like Champions tried to attack Mephismon, but he was too fast for them. Not to mention the fact that it was still foggy made it hard for them to see. Sora cried out, "Birdramon! Lookout!" Yolei added, "Be careful, Aquilamon!"

Aquilamon came closest to hitting Mephismon with a charge attack, but once again the villain was too quick. Birdramon saw through the mist a small shadow; she guessed it was Mephismon, and attacked with "METEOR WING!" Her fireball attacks just missed her friend Aquilamon, who squawked, "Watch it!" "Oh... Sorry," Birdramon apologized.

Just then, BAM! Mephismon rammed into the two of them with one great thrust of his foot. The birds went flying, and crashed into a mountaintop. Angemon then had a shot at Mephismon; he unleashed, "HAND OF FATE!" the attack did in fact hit Mephismon in the back... but there seemed to be no harm done.

Mephismon shot an ugly look at the angel-like digimon, and charged at him. Angemon thought he could block him, but all that ended up happening was Mephismon pushing Angemon right into a mountain wall.

Mimi looked to Palmon, holding her new Crest of Sincerity; "You ready?" Her plant-like friend nodded, "Fire me up!"

------------ Vision: Digivolution- Champion and Ultimate ------------

"PALMON, DIGIVOLVE TO............................................. TOGEMON!

TOGEMON, DIGIVOLVE TO............................................LILYMON!"

------------ End Vision ------------

Tai and Agumon weren't about to be upstaged. Tai held up his new crest and smiled to his little dinosaur friend; "You ready, buddy?" Agumon smiled back, "Yeah!"

------------ Vision: Digivolution- Champion and Ultimate ------------

"AGUMON, DIGIVOLVE TO.............................................GREYMON!

GREYMON, DIGIVOLVE TO..............................................METAL GREYMON!"

------------ End Vision ------------

"Now the odds are even!" Tai cheered. "Not quite," softly replied the enemy as he zipped by. He then crossed his hands together, summoning up his energy. Then, turning to the on-coming Ultimates, he unleashed, "DEATH CLOUD!" This black cloud seemed to be like mist... until it came in contact with the Ultimates Metal Greymon and Lilymon. It was ten times worse than smog; it was making them cough and gag... They were suffocating.

"Hang on, guys!" roared Aquilamon, but then Mephismon came from behind and drop-kicked him. Birdramon dove into the smog, so that she can pull her friends out of it. But it was now strangling her as well; "What... is this?" she cawed. Birdramon's wings were flapping like crazy to elude the smog, but it was useless.

The humans, from where they stood, gasped and muttered, "Oh no..." with horror. Sora was already upset with Matt, and now the agony of seeing her digimon in danger made it even worse; "...Birdramon!" she cried. Mephismon cackled, "...My Death Cloud attack can never be penetrated. Your friends are doomed."

That's when Aquilamon released his "BLAST RINGS!" attack, and shot them at the smog. Angemon added, "HAND OF FATE!" Since the attacks were pure light, they figured they had a chance at beating the darkness. They were only partly right. But it was enough for Metal Greymon to peek through the smoke, coughing and wheezing. Mephismon saw this as a challenge; he grinned, "Go ahead, come on out and face me if you dare." With that, the smoke lifted for only Metal Greymon to come out. Once freed, he roared, "GIGA BLASTERS!" His torpedoes homed in on Mephismon, and he let them hit his chest.

"YES!" Tai cheered; "We got him!....... HUH?"

Mephismon appeared unscratched, and to make things worse, he aimed his hands at Metal Greymon, and growled, "BLACK SABBATH." A great, black laser shot from his hands, and knocked Metal Greymon for several loops. Tai gasped, "Oh, no WAY!"

Metal Greymon fell from the sky, and would have taken a nasty fall to the ground, had not Aquilamon and Birdramon caught him in time. But then Mephismon turned to the leader of the human gang, and grinned, "Oh... It gets worse..." Tai blinked, "huh..?"

The creature then raised his hands, and allowed a thick black cloud to surround and then cover him completely. Everyone watched, confused and frightened. What could he possibly be doing now? ....He wouldn't be.... digivolving... would he? It was everyone's fear. Everyone was right.

The cloud lifted, revealing a giant centaur-like monster, with bull horns and grappling claws. Weirdest part of all, it has a mouth placed in his stomach region.

------------ Digimon Card: GALFMON ------------

Level: Mega

Attribute: Virus

Type: Demon Beast

sarcastic, of course "Oh, GREAT! That's what we need; a new evil Mega! This adventure just gets better and better."

-Tai

------------------------------------------------------------

The centaur overlooked all enemies, and without uttering a word, he charged at the closest one. Lilymon. In one hit, the fairy-like Ultimate was knocked right through a mountain. "LILYMON!" Mimi cried out, but it was useless. Her friend seemed to be completely out of commission. Furthermore, she di-digivolved back to Palmon.

Furious, Mimi screamed at Galfmon, "YOU BEAST! YOU HAVE NO HEART! HOW DARE YOU PICK ON POOR DIGIMON LIKE THAT!" Kari had to hold her back... much to her surprise. "Calm down, Mimi," she tried to coax, but Mimi was already overrun by emotions.

From where she stood, Gatomon looked down to her claws and hissed, "...If only I could digivolve to Angewomon..." Kari bowed her head; "Even if you could, it'd be hard to beat him.. He's a Mega now." Yolei muttered, "And none of our digimon can do it..." "No," TK shook his head; "It has to be done. We've got to try." Yolei had her doubts; "But how? We can't even make our digimon become Ultimates."

Kari then looked up at the cyborg dinosaur and blinked, "We can't... But Tai and Mimi can." TK looked to Kari and gasped, "Do you think maybe they can warp-digivolve?" "No..." a teary-eyed Mimi shook her head; "Palmon can't.... Can she?" From where she stood, she can see her little plant-like friend struggling to move. Mimi sniffled, "I've never tried warp-digivolving before.... It always used to be Matt, and Tai... And then Ken and Davis shared Imperial Dramon..."

Without warning, Galfmon attacked Metal Greymon with a series of scratch attacks. It was enough to make his opponent di-digivolve back to Agumon.

Tai took a step forward, glaring at Galfmon. He said, "The power of our crests is all about keeping this world safe. We already saw that when we used that power to revamp the digital world... But now thanks to the Digi-Keepers, that power has gotten stronger..." He turned to his friend; "Mimi, I think it's worth a shot." "But look at her!" she argued, pointing to the very weakened Palmon; "She can barely move." "Have faith, Mimi," encouraged Tai.

For a moment, The Brave One and the Sincere One stared at each other, as if their conversation moved from verbal to mental. Everybody knew for a fact that two Ultimates just weren't enough to beat this new Mega. It was either try to warp-digivolve... or run. They nodded on it.

Tai clutched onto his Crest of Courage, which started to glow with a warm orange light. As Mimi did the same- her crest was glowing bright green- Tai took a breath and called out, "Never a better time to show courage!" Mimi glared at the dark centaur and added, "And I sincerely hope that guy gets what he deserves!"

"Not so fast!" called out the centaur. The strange mouth in his center opened up, as he roared, "DEAD SCREAM!" It unleashed a massive attack, wide enough to aim at both Agumon and Palmon.

"AGUMO-O-N!"

"NO-O-O-O!"

------------ Vision: Digivolution- Warp Digivolve ------------

"AGUMON, WARP-DIGIVOLVE TOO.......AGUMON ..........GREYMON ......... METAL GREYMON..............................................WAR GREYMON!"

"PALMON... WARP DIGIVOLVE TO...... TOGEMON ....... LILYMON ........................ROSEMON!"

------------ End Vision ------------

Everybody- even Galfmon- stood in utter surprise. There stood WarGreymon, a humanoid and heavily-armored version of his dinosaur form. To his far right stood a being similar to Lilymon, but much bigger- older, seemingly- and she was decked out on long green vines, a sleek red one-piece outfit, long green boots, a long white, leaf-fashioned cape, and atop her head was a dazzling red rose. Mimi's eyes twinkled, "...Wow..." That was all she can get out.

Rosemon smiled as she balled her fist, "Alright, I did it! I finally did it!" The golden warrior to her far left in curiosity, "...Rosemon, eh? Kind of fitting." She smiled, "I really couldn't think of anything more original than that. But thanks."

"Enough of this," hissed their enemy, as he backed up to prepare for his next attack. The two Mega heroes readied themselves as well. "BLACK REQUIEM!" hollered Galfmon. War Greymon and Rosemon dodged the attack with great ease, and even greater speed.

The humans nearby were cheering them all the way, as did their digimon friends.

Rosemon was obviously waiting for a long time for a moment like this, for she started kicking and hitting Glafmon like there was no tomorrow. WarGreymon hit him to the side at one point, and Glafmon himself was slammed into a mountain. "HA!" Tai yelled; "HOW DOES IT FEEL?" Mimi jumped up and down, "YEAH! Take THAT you big... I can't think of anything to call you right now! I just love seeing your butt get kicked!"

Galfmon was getting annoyed- at his opponents and himself. He charged at Rosemon, catching her off guard. War Greymon then attacked with his "dramon killers," which were those oversized, clawed arm pads of his. But Galfmon was not a dragon-based creature, and blocked all of the attacks. He was distracted; Rosemon pulled out a new weapon: "THORN WHIP!" She lashed Galfmon's back pretty hard; he even yelled in pain.

WarGreymon then raised his arms in the air, as a giant ball of energy seemed to come out of nowhere. He roared, "TERRA FORCE!" and threw the ball of light at his enemy. The attack was enough to wipe out the mountain that once stood behind Galfmon. It also made a great amount of mist- oh great; they were all blind once again.

Just several miles from where the battle was taking place, Garurumon- with Matt riding bare back- was dashing as fast as the wind. Matt could barely see in the mist, but he heard noises... like explosions from far away. "What's going on over there?" he asked, squinting his eyes. Garurumon replied, "I don't know... But I got a feeling we're gonna be more needed than we think!"

He was right.

For one brief moment, the heroes thought their troubles were over. The mist was still hard to see through, but the disintegrated mountain should have been proof enough that Galfmon was destroyed. Yolei, with closed eyes and clasped hands- as if for prayer- said to herself, "I used to be so ashamed of hurting other digimon... I know some of them are bad, but to kill another living being..."

Kari rested her hand on Yolei's shoulder; "I know how you feel, Yolei... But Tai once said that sooner or later, we must face that task. It doesn't make us as bad as those bad guys that have absolutely no regard..." Yolei gave a solemn nod, "I understand that now..."

Then, there was a rustle. Everyone looked up, seeing the mist cleared. There was no mountain. But there was still a Galfmon. Tai's jaw almost dropped literally; "no..... there's no way....no....way...." The beast was straining; he took that hit pretty hard, and he had cuts and bruises to prove it. But he was still alive. He took a moment to pant... Then he started to lift his head... He was pissed.

"You...little fools... I am among the most powerful digimon of all... How dare you challenge me in the first place... I still have enough energy to finish you all off... Starting with you." He was pointing to War Greymon; "I've heard a great deal about you... You think you're so tough... We shall see..."

"What about me?" Rosemon called out; "I just GOT here!" with that, she pulled out her Thorn Whip and lashed at Galfmon. She was able to lasso his arm, much to his annoyance. War Greymon saw this as another opportunity to attack, and he took it.

He prepared his attack again; "Terra-" Just then, Galfmon pulled his arm strong enough to pull Rosemon right in front of him- he was going to use her to shield himself from War Greymon's attack! "WAR GREYMON, DON'T!" Tai yelled; Mimi called out, "YOU'LL HURT ROSEMON!" The warrior stopped just in time.

Galfmon giggled evilly as he grabbed Rosemon's arm; this was now a hostage situation. The evil beast grinned, "There. I just discovered your true weakness. Having a heart." Rosemon was struggling, but his grip was stronger than it looked. "Let her go," growled War Greymon. "I think not," Galfmon muttered; "This will be a glorious victory indeed, and I owe it all to-"

"METAL WOLF CLAW!!" was all they heard next. And before he knew it, Galfmon was attacked from behind by a great force of energy... no, it was a missile. Galfmon was knocked for a loop, releasing Rosemon in the process. Everyone was beside themselves. They recognized that attack, and more importantly, that voice. He came shooting out like a rocket, from behind the crater that was once a mountain. And he had a human on his back. Matt. Tai looked to the robotic version of Garurumon and cheered, "METAL GARURUMON!"

Indeed it was.

Galfmon, who was now on his knees- all four of them- struggled with his weakness. Three Megas... This was not what he anticipated at all. As he slowly got to his feet, the three heroic Megas lined up. Matt jumped off of Metal Garurumon just in time, qnd he finally got a good look at the newest member of the team, Rosemon. He blinked, "Woah!... Is that Lilymon?" Rosemon smiled, "Not quite..."

Galfmon was now on his feet; he hissed weakly, "Go ahead... Hit me with everything... I will show you just how powerful I am..." He stretched his arms out and welcomed whatever it was that they were going to throw at him. So they did.

"TERRA FORCE!"

"ROSE RAPIER!"

"ICE WOLF BITE!"

A ball of energy, a massive sword slash, and dozens of missiles, all fired at once. The ground tossed and turned; there were nearby mountains that become unstable- so unstable that the Digi-Destined had to be carried away by the giant bird digimon, or else they'd fall.

Minutes went by, and three digimon- Tamemon, Koromon and Tsunomon- surveyed the damage. A giant hole in the ground. They looked at Galfmon, who was still alive but knocked out cold. "Can you believe it?" Tsunomon said; "All that damage, and he's still here." "Yeah," Koromon replied; "He is pretty strong!"

Tanemon blinked, "I don't want to fight anymore. Not like this. Look at all the damage we've done- it's like we were in that 'Dragonball Z' show or something..." "Yeah," Koromon agreed, even though he had no clue what "Dragonball Z" was; "and besides, this guy can't attack us. He's out for the night!" "Let's sneak away," suggested Tsunomon. And so they did.

The mist cleared ever since Galfmon was (sort of) defeated. Matt proudly led the way on Garurumon's back, as his friends followed him from the air. They would soon enough cross over from Polarimon's territory, to Oceanamon's. No one has spoken very much since the arrival of Matt. Sora said nothing at all...

Meanwhile, Galfmon was coming to. He blinked a few times, and even rubbed his head. His eyes wandered around for a moment to see where he was. Wherever it was... Pridemon was there! He jumped up in surprise... She didn't look all too happy. In fact, she frowned, "That was the saddest defeat I have ever seen." Galfmon sweat-dropped; "I-i... It wasn't my fault. There were three Megas... THREE of them!"

Pridemon turned her head and huffed, "I've seen lower-level digimon take out more. And you call yourself a warlord." Galfmon was already starting to regain strength, as he growled, "They will never get by me again!" Pridemon then looked back to him and smiled wickedly, "...No... They won't."

She then extended her pointer finger and aimed it at his heart. "Wha... What're you doing?" Galfmon nervously asked. His commander explained, "I already told you once, you were given just one chance... And you blew it." He knew what she was about to do; he pleaded, "No.. No!.... NO-O-O-O-O-O-O!"

Poof. He was gone. One touch... was all it took.

She witnessed his data disappear and smiled, "...Better luck next time..." With that, she vanished.

TO BE CONTINUED