"We were all impressed with Davis's new crest, except for a few who have been getting a major attitude problem. To make things worse, Sora, TK, Kari, Jun and Joe all disappeared the next day. We split up to search for them, but Ken and I got a little more than what we bargained for. In other words, Lustmon showed up and challenged Ken to face the fear of losing his memory to the dark spore. Sadly, her trick worked and now Ken's joined the ranks in the band of corrupted Digi-Destined!"

Yolei

DIGIMON: THE DIGITAL KEEPERS SAGA

Book Twenty-Three: "Holier Than Thou"

Flashback: The Real World, 16 years ago

…Thud. …Thud! …THUD!

The Ishida brothers were sleeping soundly that night, when they were awakened by the sounds of thunder and vibrations of an earthquake. At first they thought it was just a dream, for when they both opened their eyes, there was a moment of peace. But then, the rumble happened again.

THUD!

"Matt?" muttered four-year-old Takeru.

His big brother's bed wasn't far, for their family was just one of many in a massive apartment complex. And this was in Heighten View Terrace, a city where many families felt safe and secure... until this night.

THUD! ...THUD! ...CRASH!

Young Matt finally opened his eyes; at first he thought the shaking he felt was coming from his little brother's frantic state of fear as the toddler tried to wake him up.

But then Takeru asked sheepishly, "Matt, do you hear that?"

The seven-year-old rubbed his eyes and realized that he did hear it; "It sounds like a thunderstorm," he replied weakly.

Then he felt a rumble; it nearly threw him out of bed. Alarmed, Matt sat up in his bed with a gasp.

Little Takeru started to get teary-eyed as he gasped, "Is it an earthquake? Are we gonna die?"

Matt just scratched his little brother's blonde head and replied, "Don't be silly. Thunderstorms don't kill people, and I'm sure it's not an earthquake... Just try to get back to-"

ROAR!

"...sleep?" blinked Matt in shock.

Takeru also blinked in shocked as he replied, "That didn't sound like thunder."

Together, the two Ishida brothers bravely approached the glass sliding doors that separated them from the outside world. That's when they witnessed something they never even dreamed of.

Two giant monsters- one an orange dinosaur with blue tiger stripes that ran down its back while wearing a brown face mask, the other a giant green parrot with an extra set of talons that acted as arms and claws (which noticeably had on them giant golden rings that acted as bracelets) while bearing a metal plate on its head- were clashing on the street just outside the complex.

Takeru couldn't take his eyes off of the blue eyes of the parrot monster, and Matt couldn't take his eyes off of the red eyes of the dinosaur. And at one instant, the monsters seemed to be looking back at them. Then, the fighting commenced.

The two giant digimon were clawing at each other, and then found their claws locked together as they pushed each other like sumo wrestlers. Parrotmon threw Greymon back and squawked, "SONIC DESTROYER!" This attack came like a flash of lightning that was summoned from the parrot's forehead, and it hit Greymon hard. So hard, in fact, that he went flying and crashed into a nearby bridge.

The Ishida brothers weren't the only ones that were witnessing this battle; there were other children that were awakened by the crashes and roars of the digimon, and those witnesses were also residents of the apartment complex alongside Matt and Takeru.

There was young Mimi Tachikawa, Joe Kido, Sora Takenouchi, and Koushiro Izumi, who were all watching that same battle between two out-of-this-world monsters from the windows or doorways of their own apartment homes. Each one more shocked than the next, but all were glued to the scene as if hypnotized.

There were two others who witnessed the battle, but they weren't watching from inside a house- they were actually on the battleground. They were young Tai Kamiya, and his even younger sister Kari. For the majority of the battle between Greymon and Parrotmon, they were using the bridge between the apartment complex as a shelter. But now that Greymon had crashed into it, they were in more danger than ever before.

But they weren't afraid for their own lives, but rather Greymon's... because they knew him rather personally. It was on that same day, in the earliest of hours, when Greymon came to them as a digi-egg and had since begun evolving into a bigger, badder creature. So when they saw their big "friend" get the stuffing knocked out of him by the opposing Parrotmon, they grew sympathetic.

"Koromon!" cried out the four-year-old Kari.

(Koromon was the only name that the children knew him by. (Author's Note: this reference is taken from the original Digimon movie))

Her brother Tai added with tears, "Come on... Get up! ...You just gotta get up, Koromon!" The dinosaur Champion didn't answer.

But then Kari had a plan; she had been wearing a small toy whistle around her neck, and thought that if she tried hard enough, she could make a noise loud enough to wake up the Champion.

Her brother watched as she bravely climbed up Greymon's face to reach his ears, and proceeded with her plan. She took one deep breath after another and blew into the whistle as strongly as she could. After three or four tries, she was already growing weary, but on she tried.

Finally, a red eye opened up, followed by an unpleasant growl; Kari's plan seemed to have done the trick.

Greymon slowly got up on his feet, while Parrotmon watched with curiosity. Though he was going up against a digimon whose growth level was higher than his, Greymon had somehow been blessed with more power than he ever had before.

"NOVA FLAME!"

WHOOSH!

And that ended it; Greymon's fire breath blew Parrotmon away in a flash. Minutes later, Greymon would disappear as well, without a trace.

That was the very first digimon encounter the human children had ever experienced. And though it certainly would not be the last, it was perhaps the one encounter that had the most lasting effect on the Digi-Destined.

End Flashback

"Jun... Jun, it's me! Davis! Don't you remember me?"

"How could she forget? ...How could she forget her own brother?"

That was the thought that was running through Davis's mind, as he and his traveling buddies ran into Jun and Penguinmon in the middle of nowhere. They had been searching for their missing friends for some time now, but now that they found Davis's sister, their welcome did not seem to be a pleasant one.

Both the young lady and the purple penguin stared at Tai, Agumon, Davis and Veemon with pairs of empty, dark eyes. Davis took it as a sign that his sister didn't even know him, and it was scaring him utterly.

"Jun," Tai began to ask as he took a bold step forward, "what's wrong? Why the silent treatment?"

Jun's silence was beginning to disturb Agumon as he gulped, "Be careful, Tai. I've got a bad feeling about this."

Veemon nodded, "Me too, Davish."

His partner blinked in worry, "I got it too, Veemon... but that's my sister. How could she creep us out so-"

He was about to finish with "much," when Jun and Penguinmon finally spoke monotonously in unison: "You fools. How dare you show your faces here."

"What?" gasped Davis.

Again, Jun spoke darkly, "I came out here to get away from you and your violence, Davis. You and your friends have done nothing but wage war on digimon, and each time you have, you've brought nothing but destruction on this world."

Penguinmon added with an equally dark voice, "We've already lost a good friend and most of Gaiamon's realm, all because of you."

Taken back by their comments, Davis backed up and exclaimed, "What're you blaming me for? It's not my fault we're in this war; it's the Sin Digimon and their Keeper's fault!"

Just then, Tai cut in to say, "Easy, Davis. I think this is some kind of trick."

"It's no trick," replied Jun and Penguinmon.

Then alone Jun said, "Take a good look around you; this is one of the last portions of the digital world that have been untouched by you war mongers. It's a peaceful and tranquil land, and it was a perfect place for Penguinmon and I to go to get away from all the tragedy that you've caused."

"But Jun-"

Jun interrupted her brother; "But since you've come here, that could only mean one thing: you want to fight me now."

"No!" Davis replied with a tone of concern; "We don't wanna fight you, sis; you're one of us."

She then narrowed her dark eyes at him, "You think I want to join you in your crusade of senseless violence? Think again!"

Penguinmon added, "We may have run away scared before, but since you're challenging us now-"

"We're not challenging you," argued Agumon, but the duo of tainted heroes seemed to disagree.

Jun and Penguinmon then hissed, "Don't think we're foolish enough to believe your lies. We know you want to fight; fighting is all you ever do. So if that's what you want, then that's what you'll get!"

Then Jun and Penguinmon did something that no one could have been prepared to see; their eyes began to glow red. It sent chills up and down the spines of Tai and Davis, while their digimon partners gasped in shock.

"Sh-she's lost her mind!" gasped Davis in horror.

Tai replied, "Stay calm, Davis! The Sins must be behind this; I'll bet they brainwashed our friends."

Then Davis's goose bumps came back, but this time they were summoned out of anger; he growled, "Grr... If that's true, then they'll be sorry they ever got near my sister!"

Veemon noticed Davis balling his fists, as if he was preparing for battle. The little blue dragon gulped, "Does thish mean... we're gonna fight them, Davish?"

His human partner nodded solemnly, "We have no choice, Veemon; she's asking for it. Besides... if there's one thing I learned from all my adventures, it's that sometimes the only way you can get through to your friends is to fight them."

Jun and Penguinmon took this as an acceptance to their challenge; they nodded, "It's on then."

Then Jun made the first move: "Penguinmon, digivolve."

Before their eyes, Tai and comnpany witnessed the innocent-looking penguin transform into a giant black bird (with and unusual pair of furiously red eyes) named Saberdramon.

Then he summoned his "Black Saber," a move that was already formidable to most digimon, but this time it seemed to pack an even bigger punch that knocked its enemies off their feet.

Yolei, Hawkmon and Wormmon had to take a minute to absorb the fact that their good friend Ken had been transformed by the Sin digimon, Lustmon. They were still in the Sin's garden, staring at the new Ken, along with the Sin digimon herself, who seemed very pleased with the results of her recent plot.

Minutes earlier, Ken had gone through her test to see if he could withstand the effects of his dark spore while experiencing amnesia, and he had failed. Now he was a much darker, unpleasant version of his former self; he wasn't quite the Kaiser, but he wasn't quite Ken either.

He stared back at his former friends blankly with ice-cold eyes, in battle gear that was already dark and menacing before but now it had a touch of evil (no pun intended) to it.

Then Yolei broke the silence, "Ken? ...Ken it's me, Yolei. I'm your friend, remember?"

The young man just stared at her silently.

Nearby, Lustmon scoffed, "Haven't you learned anything, dear? The Ken that you once knew is no more; meet the new improved Ken! Now he cares for nothing except himself, which is just how it should be. Right, sweetheart?"

She gave the young man a wink, hoping that he would react to her in a positive way. But he reacted by giving her the same stone-cold glare he gave Yolei.

"I guess he doesn't like you either!" retorted Yolei.

Lustmon then crossed her arms and huffed, "Just you wait! My Master promised him to me, and as soon as those Digi-Keepers are gone, I'll have what I want!"

Yolei and friends gasped, "Digi-Keepers?"

That's when they realized that Lustmon's plot had much more complexity than it seemed; she wasn't just after Ken, she was after Gaiamon, Oceanamon and Polarimon too.

"That's right," grinned the ghostly, lavender Sin; "as long as you Digi-Destined are no longer a team, the Keepers will have no power, and my Master could just pluck them right our of their environments!"

Wormmon, who had been by Yolei's side along with Hawkmon, asked, "But what'll that do to the digital world?"

Lustmon replied with confidence, "This world will lose just about all of its natural resources; but don't worry, it won't be completely destroyed. We're just going to get things ready for Lord Daemon to take over!" Then she let out a devilish chuckle.

Hawkmon did the math; he knew that Daemon already had control over the world that was once ruled by the kraken Dagomon; but to strip this world of its three Keepers... "That will give him two worlds."

"Oh good," teased Lustmon who overheard the little eaglet, "you've done your homework."

Yolei shook a fist at Lustmon furiously; "You won't get away with this!"

The lavender Sin replied by rolling her eyes in boredom; "You kids really need to get yourselves some new catch phrases... But seriously, how do you expect to get Ken back? Just so you know, the dark spore was only de-activated last time thanks to the destruction of Chimeramon. But now that he is no longer a factor here, de-activating the spore will be that much more difficult!"

"She's right," gulped Wormmon; "If we don't find a way to get Ken's memories back, then we may never get him back to us."

"Well," warned Lustmon," you better think of a way soon, 'cause he's getting away now!"

She was right again; Yolei gasped in worry as she realized that Ken had flown the coop, darting out of the garden like a bat out of hell.

"Come on, you guys!" she ordered her digimon friends; "We can't let him get away!"

With that, she led the charge out of Lustmon's garden; the Sin, meanwhile, watched as her enemies flew after the lost soul.

To herself she Sin sighed with a smile, "Hmm... For a second there, I almost wished them luck. They'll certainly need it."

As fate would have it, Cody, Izzy and their digimon had crossed paths with another set of tainted heroes on their journey through a valley. But they didn't know that their friends were tainted at first; all they saw were Kari, Joe, Gatomon and Gommamon standing in their way.

"...Joe. Kari," muttered a stunned Izzy; an equally stunned Tentomon added, "Gommamon! Gatomon!"

Then Cody blinked at them, "How did you guys get here?"

At first there was no response other than a gust of wind that carried dust and leaves in the air.

But then in a dark voice, Kari spoke, "It doesn't matter how we got here. What matters is that we're not leaving... Not without those Sin hearts you have."

Cody then stepped forward with a look of distrust in his eyes; "I don't understand; what do you want with the Sin hearts?"

As the conversation went on, Izzy paid close attention to what was being said; Joe replied with a mean glare in his eyes, "You have no use for them, so you might as well give them up anyway."

The smallest Digi-Destined stood his ground and replied sternly, "We can't just pass these hearts around, you guys; they could be worth something. And besides, there's no telling when the Sin digimon will try to take them from us."

"That's the point," Joe replied coldly; "If you're so concerned about them, then why are you acting like you don't trust us?"

Izzy then muttered to Cody, "Something is wrong here; I can feel it."

"I can feel it too," nodded Tentomon, "and here I thought it was just from that grapefruit I had earlier."

Armadillomon stood by Cody's side and narrowed his eyes, "Let's get outta here, Cody; this doesn't look good."

Then Kari narrowed her darkened eyes and asked, "Where would you go? There's not a single place on this planet that we can't follow you to."

"Why do you want these hearts so badly?" asked Cody in a slightly harsh tone.

Joe replied, "We're taking them to where they'll be put to good use, and that's all you need to know."

There was a brief pause, but then Gommamon broke the silence with, "Oh, so you really don't trust us."

"Of course they don't," replied a monotonous Gatomon; "They've realized that we're the stronger and more advanced digimon, and resisting us will be completely futile."

"Okay," muttered a nervous Armadillomon as he took a step back, "now they're starting to scare me." That, of course, was the point.

Izzy was the most still and silent of the travelers; he was too busy listening intently and staring curiously at the eyes of his would-be friends. Their voice tones were chilling enough, but what was even creepier was the loss of emotion and color in their eyes. It was enough to make him conclude, "We can't trust them, guys... They're not themselves."

Then he took a glance at Joe who curled a wicked grin on his face; "We knew it; we knew all along that you were weak and useless."

"Now," added Kari, "we'll just have to do things on our own. Not like we care."

"Gomammon."

"Gatomon."

On command, the summoned digimon poised themselves for battle, and as they did so, their eyes flashed red for the first time ever. Then, they digivolved.

"GOMMAMON, WARP-DIGIVOLVE TO... PLESIOMON!"

"GATOMON, WARP-DIGIVOLVE TO... MAGNADRAMON!"

"Plesiomon, Magnadramon," Joe darkly commanded, "take those Sin hearts by force if you have to." And just like that, the two Mega digimon lunged at the Rookies and their partners.

At that point, there was only one plan that Izzy could think of: "RUN!"

After barely missing the attacks of Plesiomon and Magnadramon, the heroes tore across the plain in a frantic state of panic. But not long after that, Tentomon digivolved into his bigger and faster Champion form, Kabuterrimon.

Izzy and the others jumped onto his back, and off into the air they took. Though he was fast, Magnadramon was even faster, and she tried once and once again to shoot down the giant insect with her "Fire Tornado" attacks.

And just when they thought they had lost Plesiomon, Kabuterrimon and company were shocked to find him waiting for them in a lake as they zipped further into the valley. "SAD WATER BLAST!" he roared, which was followed by a massive torrent of water from his jaws.

Kabuterrimon darted away from the attack, but couldn't escape without taking some of the attack. Soon enough, his wings were clipped and he was forced to make a rough landing near the lake.

Plesiomon and Magnadramon were closing in on their former friends, when Izzy tried to shake Cody and Armadillomon out of their stare of dizziness.

"Guys!" he pleaded; "Wake up! They're still after us!"

Cody forced his eyes to open as he mumbled, "Hmm... wha?" The young boy then winced in pain, realizing that the crashed caused a sharp pain in his shoulder.

"Cody," panted Izzy as he reached into his backpack, "...Here." With that the older Digi-Destined pulled out from his bag the yellow topaz heart of Gluttonymon.

"Izzy," gasped Cody, "what are you doing?"

The redhead placed Gluttonymon's heart into the young boy's hands and explained quickly, "There's no time. We gotta split up, and no matter what happens, don't let them take this heart!"

Kabuterrimon struggled to get to his feet, but it was no use. His human partner knew he was in danger, and moved as quickly as he could; "Quick," Izzy blurted out, "digivolve into Mega Kabuterrimon. We gotta outrun them somehow!"

"Okay," winced Kabuterrimon, and had accomplished his mission in digivolving into the next level.

After that, Armadillomon shook himself awake and with Cody he jumped off of Kabuterrimon's back just as he was digivolving. Once the little Rookie touched ground, it was his turn to change:

"ARMADILLOMON, WARP-DIGIVOLVE TO... VIKEMON!"

Now he was a towering beast of a Mega, with newfound strength within himself. "Now Cody," he warned with a growl. He scooped up his tiny human partner in his gray paw just as Plesiomon tried to reach down and ensnare Cody into his beak.

Then the chase resumed, but this time the teams split up. Plesiomon continued his pursuit on Vikemon, while Magnadramon flew after Mega Kabuterrimon.

Cody tried to pay attention to the direction in which Mega Kabuterrimon was going, so that he could try to relocate his friends in the near future. But that was the least of his problems; Plesiomon might have been built for the sea, but in his state of pure rage and hatred, his body was fast even on dry land.

The last thing Cody could remember hearing was that unfriendly voice behind him screaming, "SAD WATER BLAST!" Then, a FOOM!

There seemed to be no peace in the digital world, not even where Matt and Mimi were. And they were in the middle of a temperate forest, surrounded by fresh pine trees and dense fog that made the atmosphere cool and moist as a spring morning.

But they were in no condition to enjoy the view, or even breathe in the fresh cool air, because out of nowhere appeared Sora, TK, Birdramon and Angemon. But they were obviously not themselves, because before they were even made visible through the fog, the glow coming from their red eyes came out of hiding first.

Mimi, Palmon and Gabumon were definitely shaken by this, but perhaps Matt was the most shocked; after all, this was his love interest and his little brother staring him down with dark, unfriendly eyes. And their digimon seemed even scarier, for they were already prepared for battle.

Mimi blinked with trembling eyes, "Sora! ...TK! W-what's going on?"

The darkened Sora replied coldly, "Look at you, Mimi; you can't even control your own composure. No wonder you're so weak."

"What're you talking about, Sora?" asked Matt with narrowed eyes.

TK replied, "We always knew you guys were the weaker half of our team; that's why we decided to split from you. All this time, you were just holding us back. Especially you, Matt."

This made Matt's heart jump with fear; he gasped, "Hey! ...That doesn't sound like you at all, bro."

TK hatefully narrowed his darkened eyes, "Well, you're just gonna have to get used to it, 'bro.' You'll have to face the fact that I don't need you anymore!"

"That's right," agreed Sora; "Before we can go on to take out the Sin Digimon, first we'll have to take out you losers.

Birdramon."

"Angemon."

"Attack!"

And so they did.

Jun and Saberdramon seemed to be unstoppable. Even when going up against two Champions, the giant black bird was definitely in his element as he flew circles around Greymon and ExVeemon.

He had dodged one attack after another, and then would come back with one of his aerial attacks. And when he did, they felt the full force as did the earth at their feet; apparently, Saberdramon's power was doubled (or even tripled) due to the evil force that was behind his and Jun's brainwashing.

Davis was getting particularly frustrated; he was getting up from being knocked to the ground by one of Saberdramon's attacks just seconds earlier when he balled his fists and growled, "We have no choice, Tai; we gotta make our partners digivolve even further!"

Tai was still lying on the ground when he overheard Davis and replied, "I agree..."

"You'll do no such thing, you fools!" This came from a nearby Jun, who took to a hilltop so that she could oversee the battle at a safe distance. She added, "My digimon is now twice as powerful as yours, so nothing you do will be able to stop him! The madness that you've started will end tonight!"

"Jun!" cried out her brother in desperation; "You gotta wake up! We're ot your enemies, we're your friends!"

Tai was then getting to his feet when he suggested, "Maybe if we try to get to her, we could slow Saberdramon down."

Davis heard this and gasped, "Wait! You're not suggesting we fight Jun, are you? She doesn't have battle gear!"

"I know," replied Tai in a weakening voice, "but I'm not suggesting we fight her.

"Listen, Davis; I've been in this situation before. In our first adventure, we had to face off against good digimon that were turned bad by Devimon. He used these things called Black Gears to turn them evil, but we didn't have to destroy them in battle. If I'm right about this, then we can get the old Jun back without even laying a finger on her."

"Use our crests?" repeated Davis, trying to make sure he heard Tai correctly.

"Yeah," nodded his mentor; "I'm sure it'll work! We just gotta get close enough to her..."

But Jun had other plans. She huffed, "You boys better leave now while you still can, or I'll pull out my ultimate weapon."

When she said "ultimate," she meant it quite literally... But the boys weren't paying attention to her warning, which vexed her. So then Jun narrowed her dark eyes and said, "Fine... Saberdramon!"

The black bird glanced at her as she said, "By the power of my Crest of Humility, I order you to digivolve into your Ultimate form!"

"Ultimate form?" gasped the young men on the battleground. They were clearly unprepared for this moment, as were Greymon and ExVeemon. Saberdramon, however, was quite prepared and as his partner commanded, he began to change.

"SABERDRAMON, DIGIVOLVE TO..."

A black cloud appeared out of nowhere and covered up Saberdramon completely. Then it flashed lightning from all sides, and as it did, the lightning became part of the giant bird's transformation. He who was once a giant black bird was becoming an even bigger bird; one much more colorful, and then some.

He had mostly green feathers, with touches of red and yellow ones on his wings, tail and head. He was also becoming biped, with an extra pair of talons that made up a new set of arms and hands. Those arms also had on them individual sets of silver bracelets. And to top it off, his forehead looked a bit cybernetic, as it was crowned with a metal plate.

Once the smoke cleared, he announced his new name: "PARROTMON!"

It was a name that Tai was all too familiar with. All at once, his eyes bulged and the doors of his oldest memories flung open in his mind. Yes, this was one of the first digimon he ever saw... and this one was Jun's partner?

"...I don't believe it," he muttered softly.

While Tai was struggling with his shock, Davis on the other hand was in awe at Saberdramon's new form, "Woah," he muttered; "...Doesn't look as threatening as he seems, huh Tai? ...Tai?"

Tai had to snap out of his brief state of shock to reply to Davis, "Uhh? Oh... yeah. Uh, don't underestimate him just yet, Davis."

Davis looked back at the giant green parrot and wondered, "What's he gonna do, throw a giant cracker at us?"

"SONIC DESTROYER!"

"...Worse," gulped Tai in terror.

CRA-A-ACK! BOOM! -A great burst of lightning came to Parrotmon's calling and scraped the earth, taking Tai, Davis and their partners with it. Soon enough, the ground was left with a great, half-mile-long ditch.

As the boys and their digimon paused to try and dig their way out of the dirt they had been buried under, Parrotmon retrieved himself back to Jun, who congratulated him with, "Good. They should be in Dreamland by now."

But her hopes were doused by Davis, who was the first to crawl out of the dirt pile as he moaned, "Ugh... Did anybody get the number of that truck?"

Jun also noticed that Tai, ExVeemon and Greymon were all starting to recover slightly from the attack; she hissed, "Now they're just asking for it."

"This isn't working," panted Tai as he started to dust himself; "He's too strong."

"Yeah," Davis agreed; "we can't even get near Jun; not with that oversized lightning rod of hers."

Just then, Tai was struck by lightning- of the mental kind. He blinked, "I think I just got an idea... It's crazy, but it might work."

"Well, spill it, Einstein!" demanded Davis.

Tai explained, "I've seen Parrotmon before, and I know I'm not the only one. We gotta get outta here and find the others. But we also have to make sure Jun and Parrotmon follow us."

"Why?"

"Just trust me..."

Davis glanced over to the exhausted digimon Champions for their opinions; Greymon replied, "Well, Plan A's not working; what've we got to lose?"

"Yeah," agreed ExVeemon as he rubbed his clobbered head, "let's regroup or whatever. I don't think my head can take much more!"

So the deal was done; Greymon made the upgrade to Metal Greymon, then with their human partners in tow, the winged heroes took flight in haste.

Jun crossed her arms and chuckled as she watched them flee; "He-heh... This is just too easy. Come, Parrotmon; let's crash their party."

The giant bird picked her up into his hand-like talon, and off into the sky they took. They didn't know it, but they were taking Tai's bait.

Matt and Mimi and their digimon were getting hammered for a good twenty minutes. Half of the temperate forest they were in was leveled and burning, thanks to the dark powers of Birdramon and Angemon. As much as it hurt them to do it, Garurumon and Togemon fought back, but their powers paled in comparison to that of their former friends.

But just when all hope seemed lost, the fighting suddenly stopped. By then, Matt and Mimi were hiding in a ditch near the battlefield, and were bruised and covered in dust.

Matt was the first to open his eyes and take a look around in reaction to the sudden stillness in the atmosphere. "Uhh... wha?" he mumbled in curiosity.

He peeked out from his hiding place to see Birdramon and Angemon standing over the unconscious duo of Garurumon and Togemon. They probably could have finished them off right there, but for some reason they were as still as statues.

Matt turned to face his corrupted human friends, Sora and TK, who were hovering in the air in their dark battle gear.

Then he heard Sora say, "This was too easy."

"Come on," TK then said, "there's another fight with our names on it." And then just like that, the four of them- Sora, Birdramon, TK and Angemon- vanished without a trace.

This was the perfect time for Matt to crawl out of hiding and awaken his friends. He first ran over to his own partner, the giant wolf-like Champion named Garurumon, and starts to shake him as he gasped, "Come on! Guys! We gotta get outta here!"

Garurumon slowly opened his yellow eyes and winced in pain; "Errr," he moaned softly.

Then Mimi quickly got to her feet and moved toward her giant cactus friend; "Togemon!" she blurted out. "Are you alright?"

"U-ugh," replied the dazed cactus with boxing gloves; "Did you get the number of that truck?" She then paused to rub her prickly head with her right glove.

Matt glanced over to them from where he and Garurumon were and asked loudly, "Are you girls okay?"

The giant cactus sat up and replied, "Yeah, but... we're really confused! I mean, why would our own friends attack us like that?"

"I don't know," Matt gave a frown; "...I'm willing to bet that the real bad guys are behind this. We gotta find them and... and get them back somehow."

"But how?" Mimi softly asked; she was obviously shaken from the battle, as they all were, but the shakiness in her voice gave away her fear. "Matt, I don't wanna fight our friends; they could get hurt. ...Or worse."

"Mimi," replied Matt in a much more stable voice, "I don't wanna fight them either... But what if we don't have a choice?"

Hearing this made Mimi's skin crawl; was what Matt said true, she wondered? Would the fighting amongst friends get even worse? Then she banished all further negative thinking from her mind.

The next thing Mimi knew, Matt's, hands were on her shoulders; it made her jump slightly in surprise. "Listen, Mimi," he began to console, "I know how hard this is; it's hard for me too. But we can't let them get away with this- and by them, I mean those Sin Digimon! If they used their powers to turn our friends evil, then we'll just use our own powers to make them good again."

"What?" blinked the confused Mimi; "I don't understand..."

Then her friend explained, "Look. We got these new battle crests; they're just like our old crests, only stronger! I know we can use them to bring our friends back."

Then Mimi understood, and all at once her fears and worries began to vanish. She clutched tightly onto her new Crest of Sincerity and nodded, "You're right, Matt. We should use them."

"Then let's get this show on the road!" That was Garurumon talking; he had been recovering from his injuries while the humans were conspiring. Now that he was on his feet, the big tiger-striped wolf was ready to go.

"Good," replied his human partner.

Then the humans mounted onto their Champion friends, who soon became their Ultimate counterparts, and took off in a flash.

At a time when the digital world was facing a great imbalance of nature, Cody and Armadillomon were at peace. This was about an hour after they were attacked by their friends Joe, Kari and their digimon partners.

The land around them was damaged more badly than they were, as they laid helplessly in a ditch made by Plesiomon's last attack. But as the dust had settled, there were no more disturbances in the area, and therefore the two heroes were allowed to sleep peacefully.

...But in time, they woke up and realized that they weren't alone. Floating in the air above them with his golden pendulum in his chained arms was Slothmon, smiling down at them with lazy black eyes.

Cody winced as he forced himself to regain full consciousness, and upon seeing the ghostly Sin he moaned. Slothmon blinked, "Well, well. For somebody so young and small, you've sure got a lotta spunk. ...That goes for both of you." When he said that, he glanced at Armadillomon, who was weakly starting to crawl out of the ditch.

"...Sloth-mon?" Cody presumed weakly as he started to push himself upward. The Sin smiled and bowed, "The one and only." "What do you want?" narrowed the eyes of Armadillomon.

Slothmon replied, "What I want is not that uncommon to what you want."

"What do you mean?" winced Cody.

Slothmon explained, "What you had just gone through was just a taste of what's to come. Your so-called friends are on my side now, and it's only going to get worse from here... But if your luck is as good as it always has been, then you'll get them back. But you have something that I want back; my brother's heart."

"Your... brother?"

"Heh-heh-heh... We Sins are not as heartless as you'd think, Cody Hida. We were all born under the same program, and therefore we Sins are like family. So it's only natural for me to make sure that Gluttonymon's heart is returned safe and sound."

The little armadillo growled, "And what makes you think we'll just hand it over to you?"

The Sin narrowed his black eyes, "I'm giving you a chance to escape with your lives, and all I ask for in return is my brother's heart! Is that not an act of justice? Isn't Justice what you stand for, little one?"

"We can't just give it back," replied Cody with a stronger tone of voice; "You'll just use it to bring back Gluttonymon."

"You want your own friends back, don't you?" asked Slothmon, as if he was preparing a bribe.

But Cody was relentless in his resistance; "I can get my friends back without your help... I'm sorry, Slothmon, but just because you share a kinship with Gluttonymon doesn't mean he's worth saving!"

Then Slothmon's eyes bulged wide open- wider than they ever had before. He was insulted... and now he was mad.

He growled, "I offered you a chance; my brother's heart for your lives. Now you leave me no choice..."

Then the ghostly Sin floated higher and higher in the air until he had enough room to pull from out of nowhere his massive golden pendulum. It unleashed its two double-edged blades before he gripped onto its middle like a baseball bat. Then as he prepared to swing it at them, Slothmon hissed, "If you will not give me that heart, I'll take it by force!"

He swung it.

SHING! -CRACK!

For once, Slothmon was too fast for his own good…

"NO-O-O-O!"

Cody was prepared for Slothmon's attack, and just as the pendulum was swung at him, the preteen shielded himself with the heart of Gluttonymon, which was beforehand kept secretly under his shirt. And by the time Slothmon had realized what had happened, the damage was done.

Slothmon continued to wail in horror as Cody and Armadillomon took the chance to scramble out of the ditch. While they did so, Cody cunningly grabbed onto a small piece of the shattered topaz heart, knowing fully well that even if Slothmon were to recover all of the pieces, he would need all of them, and one missing piece would make all the difference.

By the time they got to their feet at last, Slothmon glared his black eyes at them with a look of fury in his whole face. He roared, "You... How could you? Now I will make you suffer!"

With that, he swung his giant pendulum at them again, and this time he didn't miss his target. Cody and his partner were thrown back by a force of wind that came with the pendulum's swing, and crashed roughly into a brush. The rest of the earth that met with Slothmon's pendulum was erased.

Slothmon then hovered in the air toward the brush where the human and the Rookie digimon were last spotted; they were now hidden in bushes. Still driven by his anger, Slothmon raised up his weapon again and hissed, "Now you will see why I like to do things nice... and slowly..." He swung the pendulum again...

But this time, it clashed with a giant red insectoid's claw.

"What?" gasped Slothmon in surprise; his attack was blocked by Mega Kabuterrimon, who seemed to have come out of nowhere. Or perhaps the others were so caught up in their little scuffle, they didn't pay attention to his return to the valley.

Slothmon flew himself backward to retaliate, while Izzy looked down at his earthbound friends from atop his partner's massive shoulderline; "Hey, guys! Are you alright?" he yelled.

"Izzy," coughed Cody; "...Where... How'd you get here so fast?"

The redhead explained quickly, "I was being chased for about an hour, and then all of a sudden Magnadramon just disappeared! I came back as soon as I could."

"You've arrived too late," hissed the ghostly Slothmon, who shook off his shock over seeing Mega Kabuterrimon.

The Ultimate insect himself then asked, "Why do you say that?"

The Sin replied with a grin, "Your so-called friends are gathering their forces for an even greater battle. Soon they'll take out all your remaining allies in one fell swoop, leaving you two at the mercy of my brethren! Heh-heh."

"Where are they?" Izzy demanded to know as he narrowed his eyes at Slothmon.

Slothmon replied, "Patience... You'll know where they're going soon enough. But as for you two, I have unfinished business..." He was of course talking about reclaiming the Sin hearts, for as he spoke, his pendulum's scythe blade extended itself magically.

"Sorry," Izzy apologized, "but I dropped Wrathmon's heart somewhere in the wilderness while I was being chased around."

Cody nodded, "And there's no way you can get Gluttonymon back, because his heart- pardon the pun- is broken!"

The Sin hissed again, and as he did he showed his true nature as an evil being by having his eyes flash white for an instant.

But then he calmed down and sighed softly, "Ehh... So be it then. I'll look for Wrathmon's heart as soon as I gather up all the pieces of Gluttonymon's... And if you're as wise as you'd like to believe you are, you boys will leave while I'm preoccupied!"

Cody paused for a minute to contemplate Slothmon's behavior; this lazy Sin proved himself to be a formidable opponent earlier, so why didn't he just finish them off? "...Could he have been serious when he said he cared about his 'brothers?'" he wondered to himself. Perhaps there was much more to these so-called Sins than it seemed.

But Izzy took Slothmon's advice almost instantly; "Come on, Cody!" he insisted; "We gotta find the others before it's too late."

"Right," nodded his friend. Then Mega Kabuterrimon gathered up his little friends, Cody and Armadillomon, into his arms, then fled into the air as quickly as he could.

Meanwhile, Slothmon watched them leave and began to do as he said he would do; gather up all of the shattered pieces of his brother's shattered heart. Little did he know, there would be one piece missing.

Time was quickly slipping away like sands in an hourglass; still, Yolei and her friends had to move fast. They had lost sight of Ken a while ago, but they were sure that they were on the right track. It was only when they had reached the very edge of the continent in the far West that they had stopped.

Yolei, who in her battle gear while leading Aquilamon and Wormmon, paused to stare blankly at the ocean that had been laid out ahead of her on the beach. A storm was obviously brewing, for the sky was pitch black and there was thunder rolling in the air. But what was even more disturbing to her was the fact that the sea itself was black and stormy. She could have sworn she was seeing a tornado of seawater rising above the waves.

"Yolei," gasped Aquilamon in mid-air, "what is that?"

"It looks like a hurricane," gulped Wormmon, who acted as Aquilamon's passenger.

The young lady gulped in reply as fear crept into her eyes; "It's worse than that... I think what Lustmon said is already coming true..." And she knew what that meant; the digital world was losing control of its elements. The Digi-Keepers were weakening.

The young lady then turned to her friends and said, "Guys, we're running out of time! We gotta get the word out to the others about this!"

"About what?" Aquilamon asked.

"Don't you remember?" Yolei replied; "The Digi-Keepers can't hold off the darkness without us, so we gotta get the gang back together! And I think I know how to do that..."

She then wasted no time in reaching for the Crest of Faith that hung around her neck like a piece of jewelry. With all her heart, she concentrated, thus falling into state of meditation.

The digimon watched intently as a warm blue light started to wrap around their human friend like a halo. Then like a beacon, the light emerged into the sky, acting as a signal that was meant for all to see.

And as it turned out, many had seen it. Matt and Mimi saw it from miles away due North, and far off in the distance, Davis and Tai saw it on their way from the East. Both teams confirmed amongst themselves that it was a call for help, and without wasting another moment, they took off for it in a hurry.

And speaking of Davis and Tai...

"Remind me again why we need Parrotmon to follow us!" pleaded Davis to Tai, as he was being carried by Paildramon while Tai was being carried by Metal Greymon. They were speeding through the air at great velocity, and for good reason.

Tai's mind was already made up, and it was too late to turn back at that point. He knew that he would not have been the only Digi-Destined to be taken by surprise by Parrotmon's appearance; that was all part of his plan.

"Because!" answered Tai loudly; "It's a little complicated, and I would explain it more, but right now you're just gonna have to trust me!"

"Oh, I trust you!" nodded the younger Digi-Destined nearby.

Then, ZAP! Paildramon and Metal Greymon were being shot at by lightning bolts caused by the giant green bird that was hot on their tail.

Then Davis gritted his teeth in reaction of narrowly escaping doom; "It's the overgrown Polly behind us that I don't trust!"

Once they realized how close Parrotmon was to them, Paildramon and Metal Greymon had no choice but to fly faster than before. And speed up they did, toward the bright blue beacon they saw in the sky.

Well, it wasn't quite the "Bat signal," but Yolei's crest did give off an impressively strong beam of sky blue light that touched the blackening sky of the digital plain she and her friends were at. It was the only light that would be seen in the sky, for by this time there was no longer a sun.

Yolei was hoping that her power of Faith would draw her friends to her, but at the same time she feared that it would also attract her enemies. She just had to take that risk.

Hawkmon watched guard from atop a sloping hill when he finally spotted a few dot-sized figures soaring in the air; he jumped, "Yolei, someone's coming! Your light's working!"

"Good," smiled his nearby partner; her body started shaking, which was a sign that she was putting just about all of her energy into this signal.

Hawkmon then took a closer look at who was arriving at the scene, and his eyes picked up the sight of thunderbolts. He blinked with shock, wondering if a terrible storm was coming their way.

It would be much worse than a storm; it was Parrotmon.

Tai and company were nearly at their destination, just a few miles from Yolei and company, when a great thunderbolt from Parrotmon singed Metal Greymon's backside. The cyborg-dinosaur roared in pain as he was forced to skid into the ground, taking Tai with him.

"Tai! Metal Greymon!" gasped Davis, who made ExVeemon pause in mid-air to watch their friends crash.

This crash caught the attention of Yolei and friends. "Oh no!" gasped the young lady; "Quick, you guys! We gotta go help them!"

"Right," nodded Hawkmon, then he quickly digivolved into his Champion form, Aquilamon.

Wormmon was left to remain a Rookie, so Yolei scooped him up into her arms as she mounted her oversized partner's back. Aquilamon launched himself into the air, soaring as quickly as he could to the place where Tai and Metal Greymon crash-landed.

The area in which the crash took place was already being made into a crater, thanks to the battle heating up between Parrotmon and the now-digivolved Paildramon. One attack after another vaporized the already-dried up and crusty earth.

Then just as Parrotmon ensnared Paildramon's neck with his right talon, Aquilamon intervened with, "BLAST RINGS!" The circular laser beams slammed into the parrot's back, knocking him off balance and leaving him stunned.

Paildramon was released, giving him and Metal Greymon a moment to breathe. That's when Aquilamon made a soft landing nearby.

"Yolei!" cheered Davis, who with Tai ran to his human friend; "Great timing, girlfriend!"

Yolei gave Davis a friendly high-five as she replied, "Thanks!" Then she curiously glanced over to see the new Ultimate digimon; "So, who's that?"

"Parrotmon," replied Tai; "He's actually Penguinmon's Ultimate form."

"No way!" gasped Yolei; "Does that mean… they're ALL bad now?"

"…All bad?" blinked Davis; "Whaddya mean?"

Yolei narrowed her eyes in frustration to Davis; "Didn't you hear my monologue in the beginning?"

Davis then gave her a look as if she were growing a second head; "…What?"

"Nevermind," she sighed as she straightened her glasses. Then she explained, "When we found Ken, he was turned evil by Lustmon. We tried to get him back, but he disappeared."

Tai gulped, "That means we gotta end up fighting him, Jun, and all the others that ran away!"

"No kidding, Sherlock." This was Jun's voice, coming out of nowhere.

The trio of earth-bound Digi-Destined glanced around in curiosity, before they realized that Jun was now standing atop Parrotmon's claw. The two of them were now in mid-air, and with them appeared nearly every other corrupted Digi-Destined; Sora and Birdramon, TK and Angemon, Kari and Magnadramon, and Joe and Plesiomon.

Sora then grinned at Yolei with evil eyes, "Thanks for the beacon back there, Yolei; now we can all get together and have an all-out melee."

Yolei grimaced, "That's not why I did that! I thought we could reason with you guys…"

"You thought wrong," TK frowned. "There's only one way to end this, and that's if we fight!"

Meanwhile, atop a plateau not too far off in the distance, a few of the Sin digimon- Pridemon, Greedmon and Lustmon- had turned up to witness for themselves what could have been the battle of the century; the battle to end all battles.

Elsewhere, in yet another remote part of the wasteland, a lone Ken was settling down on a hilltop to watch the battle in curiosity. He had no idea who these warriors on the battlefield were, or which ones he was supposed to root for. All he knew was, it was going to be a thrilling battle.

But Tai had other plans; there was going to be a battle, alright, but not the one everyone was expecting. He balled his fists as he said to his friends, "Guys, clear the field. Get as far away as you can."

"What?" Davis blinked; "But why?"

"Just do it," commanded his leader in a stern tone.

How were Davis and Yolei to argue with that? They took to their digimon partners, and took a flying leap into the sky.

Angemon and Magnadramon tried to cut them off, when they heard Kari say, "Let them go… This should be interesting." She then glared intently at her earth-bound brother; she knew he had a scheme hatching, and seeing it fall to pieces would have been most pleasing.

Tai and turned over to his crippling partner and asked, "You ready, Metal Greymon?"

The bionic dinosaur shook off the pain he received from Parrotmon's thunderbolts and growled, "I'm ready."

"Now… De-digivolve!"

"WHAT?" Davis and Yolei couldn't believe their ears. Did Tai just command Metal Greymon to weaken himself?

Metal Greymon did just as he was told; in a flash of white light, he shed his silver armor and whatnot to become Greymon, a mere T-Rex with a bony brown face plate as his only shield.

"Idiots," mocked Jun; she then turned over to Parrotmon and commanded, "Wipe the floor with him."

Her partner then gently set her onto the ground before charging toward Greymon at full force. Once their claws locked, the ground shook violently.

Parrotmon's force was enough to push Greymon back a few feet; his claws dug into the ground and scraped it like a massive rake. Greymon wasn't quite the pussycat that Parrotmon expected him to be, for within seconds, the dinosaur buckled down and stopped himself from being pushed any further.

Then he grabbed Parrotmon by the arm faster than Parrotmon could ever anticipate, and threw the Ultimate over his shoulder like a pro wrestler. When the giant bird hit the ground, it quaked.

Greymon then tried to pick up the giant green bird in an attempt to slam him into the ground again, but Parrotmon spread his wings to escape the dinosaur's clutches. Then he whipped himself around to face the dinosaur head on and scratched at him aggressively.

Greymon tried to back off, but not before one of Parrotmon's swipes got him in the chest. Ironically, it was in the same area he was previously plated as Metal Greymon.

Neither the corrupted Ultimate nor the benevolent Champion would dare use one of their special attacks; this was a noble one-on-one battle, a true test of strength and endurance. The only way they could save their energy was to take as many light yet effective hits as possible. They would tussle like this for a few moments longer, when Tai's plan finally started to take shape.

"Stupid fools," hissed the nearby Sora, who stood atop her Phoenix-like Champion with content at her former friends. "You think a little wrestling match is gonna-"

And she stopped there. Her mind had suddenly frozen, as if lightning had struck it unexpectedly. Her blackened eyes were now beaming with familiarity that was just too powerful to ignore. As she stared hazily at Greymon and Parrotmon throwing each other around, Sora's sense of awareness started to grow.

"Wait… I know this. …I've seen it before."

All of a sudden, TK, Kari and Joe were all mimicking the same shock as Sora, as they too were beginning to experience an unsettling deja-vu. There was something strangely familiar about the fight they were witnessing, and it made them stunned.

"That's it," muttered an Earth-bound Tai, as he smiled up at his corrupted friends. "Come on guys, think! Remember, these were the first two digimon we ever saw. We were just kids back then, but we never forgot about it! That was the night that changed our lives forever! You have to let it sink in that we're all a team!"

Pridemon, as well as her present "siblings," winced with worry. This was something they weren't counting on seeing; their plan, it seemed, did have at least one loophole to it, and Tai Kamiya was exploiting it. Together with Lustmon and Greedmon, she watched with gritted teeth as their grip on the corrupted humans was slowly starting to slip.

But Tai's plan wasn't without its glitches; he knew that the witnesses of the '98 duel could possibly snap out of their hypnosis… but there was one corrupt Digi-Destined who did not witness the age-old duel, and that was Jun. And she just happened to be Parrotmon's partner.

Jun's eyes were darkened with a sense of pure hatred and rage; "What are you waiting for, Parrotmon? Hit him with everything you've got!"

Usually, Davis wasn't one to think so quickly; however, he knew what was about to happen, and he wasn't going to let it. "Jun, NO!" With that, he darted toward his sister, while an orb of golden light began to form around him, indicating that he was about to summon his Battle Gear.

Blinded by his loyalty to Jun, Parrotmon obeyed; "SONIC DESTROYER!"

But Greymon was prepared to counter-attack: "NOVA BLAST!"

CRA-A-ACK-BOOM!

It was as if a nuclear bomb went off on that battlefield; the scene was suddenly erased by a blinding light which followed the explosion. Then there was almost complete darkness, thanks to a suffocating blanket of smoke that was created from the vaporization of precious earth.

Within a matter of minutes, the cloud of smoke that covered the scene gave way, revealing two beaten and unconscious Rookies, Agumon and Penguinmon.

Those that were near them on the ground- that would be Tai, Yolei, Aquilamon, Wormmon and Paildramon- were thrown for a loop and a half due to the impact, and were now several feet away, halfway buried in dirt. Paildramon and Aquilamon had reverted back into their Rookie forms, as Agumon and Penguinmon did.

Those who were hovering in the air with their digimon partners at the time of the explosion were still in the air, only now they were all distracted and disoriented by the cloud of smoke that nearly suffocated them.

The first of these former heroes to awaken from her shock was Kari; while placed atop the head of Magnadramon, she rubbed her eyes open to see if Greymon was still there. To her dismay, it was Agumon who resided in his place. But still, there was within her a strong need to blow a whistle, or call out his name, to wake him up.

As for Davis and Jun, they were now safe in the air as well, thanks to Davis's Battle Gear. He had summoned it just in time to scoop his sister up into his arms and take flight, thus finding a relatively safe place to avoid serious damage from the explosion. When the smoke finally cleared, Davis opened up his red Imperial Dramon-like wings to check on his dazed sister.

"Jun?" he blinked worriedly; "You okay, sis? …Come on, now's not a good time to be playin' around. Speak to me!"

Jun fluttered her eyes open with a peep, "Uhh… Penguin-mon?" She was obviously affected by her digimon's clash with Greymon; her eyes weren't as dark as they were moments before.

This was the opportunity Davis had been hoping for; "Hang on sis," he said softly, "it's gonna be alright. Just trust me this one time."

"…Davis?"

"Nobility's light, energize!"

Davis's Crest of Nobility shined like a flashlight, giving off a warm golden light that could have been mistaken for sunrays. As it did once before, to Wrathmon's Power Spine, the crest unleashed its power on Jun, giving her an angelic halo for a few moments before disappearing into thin air. Then Davis had to make a quick landing back on earth, for his power was almost completely lost already.

Tai, Agumon, Yolei, Hawkmon and Wormmon were all waking from their moment of unconsciousness just in time to see Davis lay Jun down on the ground to help her recuperate.

Tai was the first to make speed toward them; when he finally reached them he panted, "Is… is she okay?"

Before Davis could even answer, Jun sat right up and slowly rubbed her head with a moan. She then opened her eyes widely; they were brown again. "…Tai? Davis?" were her first words, and for once her voice sounded as it did long before she underwent the terrible change of heart.

Davis saw the difference in his sister's face and eyes; he knew she was the old Jun again. He cheered, "Jun! You're back!" Then he couldn't help but give her a big hug, one that took her almost completely by surprise.

Just as Jun was regaining her old self, so was her chubby little partner Penguinmon; he too was sitting up at this point, rubbing his own head with a flappy flipper for a hand. As his eyes rolled around in confusion, he moaned, "Ugh Doctor, aspirin makes me all drowsy."

He was then welcomed by a smiling Agumon, who was as dusty and dizzy as his penguin friend; "Hey, buddy! Welcome back." Penguinmon replied with a humble smile.

Then Tai heard these words coming from above, "Koromon? …No, that's… not him. Where is he?"

He looked up, and there was his sister Kari, still torn between her true self and the dark influence by Pridemon. She started to hold her head in frustration as she muttered, "No, it's not him! It's not my Koromon, he's gone!"

"Kari," blinked Tai in surprise. He realized then and there that his plan, though not for everybody, had actually worked.

"He's gone!" she shouted to herself.

"Kari!" Tai shouted, "Hold on, I'm gonna get you back!" Then he held up his own battle crest, aiming it toward his sister, and shouted, "Courage's light, energize!"

"No!" growled an enraged Pridemon from just a few miles away. She and her present siblings watched as yet another one of their victims was purified by the light of a battle crest. "Not again, not another one…" But it was too late.

In seconds, the Kari and Gatomon that everyone knew and loved were back to the way they were, before Pridemon's influence took over. As Kari's partner de-digivolved back into her Champion form, she and Kari herself floated downward, back onto the ground. They were then greeted by their old friends, who were all too happy to see them. Respectfully, Tai and Agumon were most happy.

But three darkened souls and three fierce-looking digimon remained, and they were Sora, TK and Joe, with Birdramon, Angemon and Plesiomon. Tai's plan only worked on them for a few short moments, but now they had reverted back into their hypnosis.

Greedmon turned to his elegant sister and frowned, "We better get out of here, before they spot us."

Pridemon sneered at his sudden need of retreat and hissed, "No! We're not finished yet; I will not lose another servant!"

And with that tone, she raised her outrageously long-fingered hand in the air and from her hand sparked a ball of black electricity, which was actually an essence of pure evil. Then she launched it in the air as if it were a baseball; like a comet it soared, soon to collide with the Digi-Destined that remained airborne. Once it did hit them, they reacted as if they were struck by lightning.

This caught the attention of the heroes bound to the ground; "What is that?" gasped Yolei, who seemed to be the first to spot something wrong.

Kari looked up and saw that her friends, those she stood beside just moments earlier, were now being engulfed by what seemed to be black electricity. She gasped in horror, "Oh no… It's happening again, they're becoming evil again!"

How right she was; once the black zapping series was over, Sora, TK and Joe awoke with black, unfriendly eyes. And their digimon looked even more wicked; their eyes were now glowing red, and even their body colorings were darker in tone.

"Now," said TK in a tone of voice completely unlike his original, "prepare to feel a wrath unlike none you've ever seen! Angemon, warp-digivolve!"

"You too, Birdramon," commanded Sora.

The earth-bound heroes watched helplessly as their former digimon friends then dark-digivolved before their eyes. Originally, Birdramon would become Phoenixmon, and Angemon would become Seraphimon. But this transformation was much different; this one involved dark fire and blue lightning.

Davis gulped, for he and the others would soon see that Birdramon had now become Black Phoenixmon, and Angemon had become Shadow Seraphimon. Both of these new Megas seemed alike when compared to their counterparts, except that these two were obviously darker and meaner. They were now completely taken over by the forces of evil, just like their human partners.

"No," Yolei muttered with sad eyes, "it can't be!"

Kari frowned, "Just look at them! Those are our friends…"

Jun then hung her head in shame, "And to think that was us just a minute ago."

But then Tai spoke up and said, "Okay, there's no time to feel sorry; we gotta use all the power we've got to get these guys back!"

"Not a chance," hissed TK, who now stood beside Joe on the back of a darker and fiercer Plesiomon; "Your pathetic jewelry can't do anything now; we're on the side of darkness, now and forever!"

"NO!"

Tai blinked in shock; that was Matt's voice! Sure enough, he and his friends glanced over to their far right, and there in the sky was Metal Garurumon. On his back rode Matt, Mimi and Palmon. They must have been flying at great speed from the forest region to this now barren wasteland.

"It's Matt and Mimi!" cheered Yolei.

Metal Garurumon landed quickly to let Matt, Mimi and Palmon jump to the ground. There was no time for warm welcomes, for Matt was too focused on seeing what his little brother had now become.

Matt stepped forward and looked TK right in the eyes; "…TK," he whimpered, "what happened to you?"

Coldly, TK replied, "Oh, I'm just fine, 'bro.' In fact, I'm even better!"

"Look at you! …Look at your digimon! You've both turned into monsters. You've got to stop this-"

"Save it, Matt! You were given your chance to feel what it's like to have true power, but instead you've proven to be too weak and unworthy!"

"Wait… is this about the tests the Sins gave us?"

"That's right, and you failed yours miserably!"

Meanwhile, Kari looked to Tai for answers; "Tai, isn't there anything we can do now? Can't we use all our crests this time?"

Tai replied, "We can try, Kari, but it might not be that easy."

But Matt's brother hissed at them, "Fools; that trick will never work again. It's all over for you. Finish them, Shadow Seraphimon!"

The Mega digimon who would be an angel, now a fallen version of his former self, performed his own version of, "STRIKE OF THE SEVEN STARS!"

This attack was normally made up of seven gold orbs of light; now they were orbs of darkness, and their power would be as effective as that of small meteorites upon the earth. That's just what they did too; everyone on the ground had to scatter before they were bombarded by small black meteorites.

There was only one team who stood their ground at that moment, and that was Matt and Metal Garurumon. The giant robotic wolf shielded his human partner from the attack; luckily the wolf took very little damage.

Tai, Davis and Yolei and their digimon were soon pursued by Black Phoenixmon, while Jun, Kari and their digimon were being chased by Plesiomon. This series of chaotic attacks would cause a series of craters and even an earthquake that was enough to make even the far off Ken and the Sin Digimon run for cover. But this madness would come to a halt very soon.

"TK," warned a frustrated Matt as he and Metal Garurumon dared to stand their ground against TK and Shadow Seraphimon; "I'm warning you, don't push me to fight you! 'Cause if that's the only way I can get to you, then so be it!"

"Finally," snickered TK, "I've been waiting for this."

The two of them then instantly summoned their Battle Gear; just as Seraphimon's new form was dark and fearsome, now so was TK's Angemon-based Battle Gear. Matt's WereGarurumon armor, however, remained as it always was.

TK made the first move by dive-bombing Matt, who used his newfound dexterity to jump as far back as his Ultimate counterpart could. While Matt's Battle Gear had only claw-plated gloves for weapons, TK had a staff and a whip-like sash at his disposal, plus he had torn wings that were capable of flight. Already, the fight was one-sided.

Meanwhile, Shadow Seraphimon and Metal Garurumon had their own battle going on; both Megas could fly, but Matt's partner was at his own disadvantage because he wasn't as agile as the humanoid. While the robotic wolf had to accurately aim his missiles, the fallen angel could simply float around at lightning speed and drop-kick the wolf in the back, and so on.

But then Metal Garurumon had it; "That's it," he growled. "You wanna piece of me? Here, try this: ICE WOLF BITE!"

This attack was a series of heat-seeking missiles that could never miss their target; this would be the one and only attack that Shadow Seraphimon would suffer from. In fact, it even caused him to crash land.

At the same time, Matt used his intense agility to grab hold of TK's snake-like sash and wrap it around TK's own neck in a counter-attack. Matt then reeled his brother in like a fish and grabbed tightly onto his arms.

"Alright, lil' bro," Matt said with gritted teeth, "you asked for this…" Then he attempted to purify his own sibling as Davis and Jun had theirs as he began to say, "Friendship's light-"

"Never!" roared TK. With that, a black halo glazed over him, followed by a static force that shocked Matt right off kilter. Matt went falling onto his back after being pushed a few feet back by TK's sudden burst of energy.

Aside from Metal Garurumon, all of Matt's friends were far off, making him all too vulnerable to what fate had decided for him. Matt dared to get up, but his corrupted brother had suddenly pinned him down with a drop kick. He was at TK's mercy.

"Now, Shadow Seraphimon," commanded the fallen angel's master, "finish him for good."

The fallen angel took flight immediately with newfound strength, and did just as TK had told him to. He raised his arms in the air and summoned his orbs of pure darkness, and this time they were aimed at the fallen Digi-Destined. "STRIKE OF THE SEVEN STARS!"

They were launched.

"Matt! No-o-o!" howled a scratched-up Metal Garurumon.

He had just enough strength to dive-bomb toward Matt, thus shielding his partner from harm.

FOOM!

There was a moment of silence before Matt finally peeped, "Uhh… M-Metal Garurumon?"

There was no response from Matt's partner, not at first.

"Garurumon!" Matt yelled louder this time.

"…Matt," he finally heard; Metal Garurumon's voice was unusually weak and soft. He was hurting.

"No," Matt whimpered, as he scrambled to get up. But it was no use; he was accidentally pinned at the knees by his shield for a partner.

Matt sat up and looked more closely at Metal Garurumon's injuries; the Mega's body seemed faint and out of focus, like a television channel with a poor frequency. It was a sign that the robotic wolf would not be able to take much more abuse.

…But he would have to.

"Now!" TK shouted to his fellow fallen ones; "While he's down, hit him with everything you've got!"

"CRIMSON FLAME!"

BOOM!

"No, stop it!" Matt pleaded.

"SAD WATER BLAST!"

WHOOSH!

"Stop it, you're KILLING HIM!"

"STRIKE…"

"TK, please."

"OF THE SEVEN…"

"Don't do it! Please!"

"STARS!"

FOOM!

By the time Tai and the others had finally arrived in hopes to stop the massacre, it was already too late. Metal Garurumon had taken one massive attack after another, and all at the hands of his former friends. And as if that weren't heartbreaking enough, the first and last of those attacks were at the hands of his partner's own brother. It was hard to tell which was suffering more, Matt or Metal Garurumon.

At least for Metal Garurumon, the suffering wouldn't last much longer, for his body was already beginning to deteriorate. Like all data in a computer, he was digitizing into nothing. He was being deleted.

All those who cared deeply for the beaten digimon watched with heavy hearts, as Matt finally found his way out of Metal Garurumon's grip. He crawled up the big wolf's claw to look him face to face, perhaps for the last time.

"Matt," he weakly purred, "…I'm so sorry. I failed."

Matt was fighting back tears while he gulped, "Please… Please don't give up. I need you. We all need you…"

The wolf fought to keep his eyes open so he could stare at Matt; he murmured, "It's okay, Matt… I'm sure I'll be back… someday."

"You can't! You can't leave me, you're…" He sniffled, "you're my best friend."

"You're my best friend, too… That's why… I did…"

"Garurumon?"

"……"

"GARURUMON!"

But there would be no response left from Metal Garurumon; he had spent his last breath. In a strange and bright fizz, he was vaporized into the air.

While the heroes began to grieve in silence, the corrupted ones quietly congratulated themselves before finally disappearing. It seemed as though the only ones that remained were the Digi-Destined and their remaining partners.

Everyone gave Matt his space so that he could mourn his loss, and mourn it he did by slamming his still clawed fists in the ground and howling, "NO-O-O-O! …This can't be happening! …Not Gabumon…" Then he started sobbing.

Then a cold chill filled the air, the kind of chill that would fit a more haunting scene, such as a graveyard on Halloween night. It was the sign that things were changing; the digi-world was changing.

One loss in the Digi-Destined family was all it took to knock nature itself off balance. There would be seas turning black, forests robbed of their leaves and grasses, and skies ravaged with tornadoes and sand storms. Digimon everywhere tried to flee for their lives, knowing a certain doom was engulfing the world, but they had nowhere to go, for nowhere was safe.

Digimon and Digi-Destined alike were now facing the hard fact that the Digi-Keepers, Gaiamon, Oceanamon and Polarimon, had lost all their powers. And the digital world as they knew it was coming to an end.

TO BE CONTINUED