. . . Madison . . .

They walked for what must have been almost an hour, passing down various halls and descending more than one staircase. This enormous gothic palace was like a maze, she found herself silently wondering how Myotismon seemed to know exactly where they were going, but kept all thoughts and questions to herself. All she cared about was finding Tsukaimon, and getting out of here.

Finally, they came to a set of massive double doors. The sound of talking and soft music could be heard within, like there was an entire crowd gathered. Based on the sheer size of the walls in front of her, Madison had a growing anxiety they were entering some kind of great hall.

Sure enough, as Myotismon pushed the doors opened they were greeted with many questioning faces, dazzling hanging chandeliers, tables lined with fanciful foods. And even a faint music in the air, melancholy and strung out across violin chords from some unseen player. Silence fell over all Myotismon stepped forward, beckoning for Madison to follow.

She swallowed dryly, suddenly the center of attention for many digimon. They came in various shapes and sizes, one looking like some kind of jack-o-lanturn digimon, a few humanoid girls dressed up like crimson witches, one looked like a man made of blue fire, at one table she even saw a woman in red that looked entirely human along with her gangly friend in blue sitting around and sipping drinks. There were more that she couldn't make out in the dim lighting, but she soon turned her focus to the throne at the far end where no doubt the so called "Dark Lord was waiting.

He came into view quickly, sharp eyes staring down at her, he towered over even Myotismon. Even sitting he must have been almost twenty feet tall!

With a goat-like face, two long horns and great black wings resting behind him. He had long arms with strangely thin forearms ending in larger hands. His expression was calm, but the closer they got, Madison could see his visage curling into an amused grin.

"As requested, the human." Myotismon said, giving a proper bow to his lord.

"I can see that," He nodded slowly, his voice deep and powerful. "Excellent work, as always-"

But Madison wasn't going to sit through formalities, clenching her hands into fists and biting back her fear. "Where is my partner?" She demanded, raising her voice. "What did you do with Tsukaimon!?"

The response from the crowd was hushed whispers, murmurs about the uppity human standing before them. While the Dark Lord himself shifted in his seat, leaning forward a bit as his unnerving gaze landed on her, "How very rude," He pointedly remarked, a deep chuckle rumbling from his throat. "And here I'd been lead to believe you were a kind human, young Madison Morales."

Her body visibly tensed up as he said her name, "How... How do you know my name?"

"I know many things about you," He leaned back in his throne slowly, "Unlike my unfortunate ally Dragomon, I spent my time gathering information on you impudent humans, through agents like Devimon here." He shifted one hand over to the nearby shadows, and out of the darkness stepped the tall and lanky form of that tatter winged devil.

"Proudly at your service." He said with a bow.

Surrounded by these twisted smiles, demonic digimon, Madison felt herself starting to sweat. "Why?" She asked, looking back to the Dark Lord. "What do you want with us? With Tsukaimon?"

"With you? Nothing, you are simply bait and a bargaining chip, you'll probably end up luring the other chosen fools here to their demise and your survival keeps my true prize in check." He said, shrugging his large shoulders. "The prize in question, being Tsukaimon, or rather what she carries inside of her."

Madison bit back any insults or demands, "And what is that exactly?"

"A seed of darkness, a fragment of a once great and terrible demon that fell in battle long ago." He was quite forthcoming with the information, "She has tried to fight it, but knows she can't deny her true nature."

Madison had a hard time believe her precious little Tsu could be some kind of horrible demon, but after seeing Devidramon she supposed anything was possible. "So that's it? This is all about power? Forcing her to be something she doesn't want to?"

Earning an amused chuckle from the dark lord, a chuckle that slowly spread throughout the other observers of their meeting. The mocking laughs making Madison feel so much smaller. "Ah, I forgot how foolish and sentimental you humans are... It isn't about what she wants or doesn't want, its about what she is." He corrected, "Its coded into her very being, nothing will change it, that darkness will always be inside of her, I'm simply helping her use it to its fullest potential."

Madison clenched her fists tightly, narrowing her eyes up at him. "And what then? What happens when you've got your demon?" He'd been watching her and the others, he might not have attacked as directly as Dragomon but he was clearly up to something.

He quirked an eyebrow, "Then? Well, once I've gotten rid of all you pesky children..." Trailing off as he closed his eyes, a deep, low chuckle emanating from him once more.

In that moment, Madison felt something. Like an aura of malice that filled the air around her, a terrible pressure. On the edges of her vision, she could see the lights around the room starting to dim. While other members of the gathering seemed to shrink, despite not even being the target of his hateful intent. But for some reason, Madison was unaffected.

"You hate us." She said bluntly, "Not humanity... But the chosen specifically..." There was something else too, watching as his fingers dug into the arm of his throne. "You're... Terrified of us."

The room suddenly dead silent, his menacing aura shattered in an instant, you could hear a pin drop as the Dark Lord digimon opened his eyes. "Excuse me?"

Of course, it all made sense! "Why else would you go through all this trouble? Spying on us, trying to turn one of our own against us," She shook her head, staring back at him, holding his hateful gaze without an ounce of fear in her own. "You're afraid of what we might be able to do!"

If looks could kill, Madison would be dead a dozen times over. As this evil digimon's gaze burned into her, just when it appeared he might actually rise from his throne and punish her for saying something so insulting, a familiar voice sounded.

"My lord," It was Myotismon again, appearing beside Madison. "Do not let this ignorant creature stir your temper, she knows nothing of the depth to your inscrutable plans." He scoffed, "Allow me to return her to her chamber, or the dungeon if you prefer."

The tension in the air dissipated as the great evil digimon snorted in annoyance, "Yes, remove this brat from my sight."

He bowed to him, before guiding Madison back out the way they came. Silently leading her away from the main hall, "Mind your tongue, he will not be so lenient a second time." He said sharply.

Madison narrowed her eyes up at him suspiciously, "And why do you care?"

"I don't," He scoffed in response, "But everything will go much smoother if you remain alive."

Of course, they needed her to keep Tsukaimon from misbehaving, Madison was sure. She hated to think what her partner must be suffering through just to keep her safe. That monster, he caused all of this, he was the source of her partners suffering, after all this time Madison could put a face to the abuser she'd suspected for some time now. But that was only half of what she wanted, "Who is that digimon anyways?"

"The Dark Lord."

She stopped in her tracks, folding her arms over her chest as she glared up at him. "I want a name." Something to fully direct her anger at.

"..." He hesitated momentarily, before nodding. "His name is Mephistomon, and as it stands he is the most powerful digimon in this Sphere of the Digital World."

. . .

. . . Kai and Kotemon . . .

Kai had followed Morphomon around the village, letting her show him the way things worked around here. He even met a few more digimon, like Kiwimon, Mushroommon and a little yellow dinosaur digimon with a sword calling himself BushiAgumon. Many more who's name's he had trouble remembering, as he took in the sights and all this information. Like how Digimon have no real idea of family other than their close friends, or how they somehow grow meat out of the ground to eat, that was probably the biggest shocker.

But finally, as they neared the end of the tour, Morphomon made good on her agreement and lead him towards the center of the town. "The story wall is down here." She explained, leading him through the arches of the old stone temple.

Though Morphomon referred to it as a shrine, it reminded him more like a Greek temple with its tall pillars and open layout. They would soon come upon a staircase that lead down underground, the pathway lit by faintly glimmering stones along the walls. They must have been walking for almost ten minutes before the narrow stairway opened up into a larger underground chamber.

"Whoa..." Kai breathed out as the stones along the walls began to brighten, depicting carvings in the stone, images written along the walls showing figures he had to assume were digimon. "So these are your stories?"

Morphomon nodded with a smile, "That's right."

"And..." Kai slowly approached a portion of the walls, where he saw a group of children. There had to be at least seven of them, but the old markings were faded so it was somewhat hard say for sure. "Is this some kind of history for the Digital World?"

Morphomon shrugged, "I'm not sure, as far as I've heard this chamber was here before the village was built, so maybe." She explained, "But I've never heard of the stories here anywhere else."

Kai nodded slowly, before looking back at her. "Can you tell me the story?"

"Sure!" She replied eagerly, walking over to the starting point on the wall nearby. "So, the story goes that once upon a time, the Guardians of the Digital World had grown weak, and couldn't protect the world from an evil that was growing stronger every day." She began walking along the images and stopping at the children. "Then one day a group of children came to the Digital World, and became friends with good digimon, their bonds creating the very first digivices." There was a crude depiction of a digivice on the wall, but it looked nothing like the one Kai owned.

He absentmindedly clenched his own device between his fingers. "Their bonds created them?"

"Yep," She nodded, "And then, those kids went on to defeat many evil Digimon, they even awakened sacred crests that made their partners even stronger!" She stopped before a section of the wall lined with strange symbols, ones Kai couldn't recognize but he knew it was different than the Digital Language he'd seen so far. "Their adventures continued, until they'd defeated the greatest evils of the Digital World, saving it from destruction time and time again..."

"And then?" Kai questioned, quirking an eyebrow. "What happened after their adventures were over?"

Morphomon paused briefly, before shrugging. "It doesn't say."

"Excellent... Have I simply traded on forced destiny for another?" Kai wondered, before shaking his head. "Alright, thank you for showing me this." He said with a polite smile, "I think I'm ready to join Kotemon and get some rest."

"Oh! Before that!" Morphomon gasped like she'd remembered something, "It's almost sundown, you've gotta see the beach!" Grabbing his hand without warning, and running, forcing Kai to follow behind her.

Figuring it would be best not to upset the excitable little fairy digimon, Kai went along with it. Letting her drag him along all the way back up to the surface, before they started heading for the shoreline at the edge of town. There wasn't really much here so they hadn't come by earlier, evidently digimon didn't get food from fishing. And considering what ocean dwelling monsters he'd seen already, he couldn't blame them.

But as they reached the shore, Kai saw that they weren't alone. A number of other digimon were there as well, watching the sun setting on the horizon. The waves were glittering a way unlike anything he'd seen before. The colors mixing in unnatural light, creating a shimmering effect along the surface he couldn't take his eyes off of.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Morphomon asked, seating herself on the edge of the sands as she stared out over the waters.

Kai nodded, smiling faintly. "Yeah, it really is..."

Morphomon remained uncharacteristically quiet for a moment, before opening her mouth and asking in a lower tone. "You're... Going to take care of Kotemon, right?"

Taking Kai off guard, the way she worded it. "Yeah," He nodded, "You're worried about him, huh?"

Morphomon nodded slowly, never taking her eyes off the waves. "He's got a big heart, and I'm afraid it's going to get him into trouble."

Earning a chuckle from Kai, "It may already have... But, I promise I'll take care of him." He assured, "We're partners, after all."

Even if he didn't like the idea of walking a path someone else had laid out before him, playing along to a script he had no hand in writing, he would do what he felt was right. To both help others, and protect those close to him.

"Thanks." Morphomon smiled up at him, "That means a lot."

"Of course." Before something caught his eye in the distant waves, a ripple in the water. It could have just been a sea breeze but- "It's coming this way, fast!" He looked to the others, shaking off his wonder. "I think there's something in the water!"

"What?" Morphomon blinked, looking towards the waters as well. She must have spotted the same thing he did, because she tensed up instantly. "Everyone get away from the beach!"

The waters erupted with a violent roar, a serpentine beast similar to one he'd seen during the invasion loomed over the beach. Though unlike the serpent from before, this one had deep red skin, stripes, and a golden helm with a jagged horn on it. "HRaaagh! WHERE ARE YOU HUMANS!?" It demanded, voice thundering over the village.

"Everyone run!" Kai ordered, Digivice in hand already. "Kotemon we need you at the beach NOW!"

"Run? From this goon!?" A hearty voice sounded from the crowd of Digimon, as a massive rabbit wearing jeans stepped forward. His hands looked like gun barrels, and they were already spooling up! "Get clear everyone! Gargo Pellets!"

The thunderous roar of gunfire sounding as he opened fire on the massive serpent. The impacts making him recoil, snarling in annoyance before his horn began to spark with electricity, "You little pest!"

Before lightning arced through the sky from his horn, striking Gargomon and creating an explosion of sand and dust. Smaller Digimon crying out and running back into town, desperately searching for cover while Kai shielded his eyes from the billowing winds.

"There you are!" Kai's eyes widening as he looked up to see MegaSeadramon looming over him. "Dragomon said to return you alive, but I'm sure he won't mind if you're missing a few limbs!" Opening his maw wide, but just as he clamped down to try and snatch him up, something tackled him out of the way. Causing him to tumble across the sand with his savior.

"What was-" He stopped as he realized it was Morphomon that had saved him! "Whoa, nice save."

Morphomon nodded, "Anytime, now lets run!"

"Kai!" The human turned to see Kotemon running towards them fast, "Sorry I'm late!"

"With Kotemon, and everyone else here!" He held up his digivice, "Hope you got enough rest partner!"

"I don't need a full night sleep to beat this goon!" Kotemon replied, jumping forward. "Lets GO!"

Digivolution

His armor shattering as his body grew rapidly, blade splitting in two, a new mask forming over his face.

Yasyamon hit the ground running, fully digivolved by the time his feet hit the sand. He charged forward at full speed, "You think you can attack my friends and get away with it!?"

While Morphomon stared in awe, "That's Kotemon!?"

Gladimon had arrived as well, huffing and panting heavily. "A-And I'm here too! Wait-" Before laying eyes on Yasyamon, "WHY IS HE SO MUCH TALLER THAN ME!?"

"Out of my way rat!" The sea serpent snarled, lashing out at Yasyamon with his tail. But the champion level jumped over it with ease, landing in the sands before MegaSeadramon rained down another bolt of lightning, blasting him the same way he had Gargomon.

"Yasyamon!" Kai cried out, watching him get engulfed in the smoke.

"I'd worry about myself if I were you!" The serpent wasn't wasting any time, lunging for Kai once again. "GAH!" But his attack was cut short as Yasyamon came flying out of the smoke below him, his body charred and covered in burns from the lightning, but he was still fighting. His blades raised, he had driven them into MegaSeadramon's underbelly! "Hrnngh! You'll pay for tha- Ngh!"

Kai blinked in surprise, as MegaSeadramon seemed to freeze up. Staring past them all towards the village itself. Before a deep voice rang out, drawing all eyes.

"You trespass in my domain," Turning, Kai was greeted with the sight of a massive Knight in shining armor. He must have stood at least twenty feet tall, with a mighty shield on his back and an enormous sword he carried with one hand. And behind him was an even larger Digimon, a massive armor clad Pegasus creature. "This is your only warning to depart, or your life is forfeit, servant of the Deep!"

"He's here!" Gladimon beamed, "Knightmon is here to save us!"

"Hrrnngh..." MegaSeadramon snarled, slithering back slowly towards the waters. "Fine... Take your cheap victory, but know that this land will never be safe so long as it harbors humans!" Turning and beginning to make his way back into the waters.

But that was when Knightmon struck, leaping from his position and swinging that massive blade of his. MegaSeadramon turning too late, no time left to react as Knight cleaved him in half with that massive blade, the sea serpents body destroyed in an instant. "Hmph, hollow threats." He grunted, walking back up towards the others.

Kai watched his assault with a mixture of awe and fear, before turning his eyes to Yasyamon. Who was picking himself up from the sands, badly injured from just that single attack, and the nearby Gargomon who'd been completely knocked out. Not to mention the damage to some of the nearby buildings from the explosion, "That Digimon was strong, another Ultimate level maybe?"

"Wh-Why did you do that?" Yasyamon asked, looking up at the knight. "You were letting him go..."

Knightmon quirked an eyebrow down at him, "Do you think that MegaSeadramon would have offered you the same mercy?" He scoffed, shaking his head. "So, you return Kotemon." Knightmon spoke, completely ignoring Kai for the moment. "You've digivolved, and brought a human with you! This is indeed an interesting day."

Kai could tell Yasyamon was still troubled by Knightmon's actions, but the smaller digimon still showed respect by bowing to him. "It's been an interesting few weeks, I would love to catch up, but we need help."

Knightmon nodded, "Of course, there is much we must discuss, but that can wait until tomorrow." He added, noting the damage around them. "I must help clean this up, both of you get some rest, and I'll send someone for you in the morning."

Kai wasn't quite sure how he felt about being treated like a third wheel in this conversation, "Right, thank you, sir." But he was probably right in assuming he'd made Kotemon feel the same way in the human world, so he wouldn't complain.

He had to wonder though, knowing that this Knightmon was the Lord of this land, if he held the same kind of power that Dragomon did.

Especially after watching his dispose of that serpent so swiftly...

. . . Kokuwamon . . .

Kokuwamon was lead into the factory under guard from the Tankmon, behind the walls and through steel doors leading deeper into the metal structure. He passed by many digimon on the way in, mechanical types like Hagurumon and Guardromon. They were either patrolling or working, assembling parts or managing large blocks of data on assembly lines. Where it was all going, Kokuwamon couldn't tell, somewhere deeper in the facility no doubt.

Finally, they came to a central chamber. Ahead there was a tall set of stairs leading up to some kind of control center, it was here that Kokuwamon could see where the data was flowing. Various conveyor belts dumping it all into a massive pit just beyond the control center. For what purpose, it was hard to say. But the walls were marked in various places with a strange symbol, like three hollow triangles intersecting with one another.

"We've brought you the intruder," One of the Tankmon said, "A machine, Kokuwamon."

"A machine?" Sounded a new voice, as a tall figure rose from the chair. It was both cybernetic and organic, metal plates with some exposed pieces of pale skin. Turning to them, the tall humanoid began to descend the stairs, "Then this is no intruder, but a new ally!" He exclaimed with a big grin, "I am Andromon, welcome to the DumDum Factory, my domain."

Kokuwamon blinked in surprise, "Uh, nice to meet you sir." He nodded, noting how polite he seemed. "He seems... Nice?"

"Where did you come from?" He asked curiously, "I thought all the machine types in this land had already joined us."

"O-Oh I- well," Still, he didn't trust him enough to reveal Thomas. "It's sort of a long story, I got kinda lost in the net right after I was created," Technically not a complete lie. "I wasn't able to find a way back until I digivolved!"

Earning a laugh from Andromon, "Well that must have been scary! But you're safe now," He assured with a smile, "I'm glad you've found your way home, we can use all the help we can get these days..." Waving for him to follow, as he started making his way around the room towards another door.

Kokuwamon took the hint and followed, "Help? Help with what?"

As they passed through another door, into a long hallway, Andromon explained. "A demon, a violent beast of a digimon from the primal lands, he threatens all machine digimon on this side of the peaks."

"That's horrible," Kokuwamon replied, wondering if this was something he and Thomas could assist with. "So is this fortress your way of defending against him?"

Andromon nodded, "Indeed, it is both our salvation against him as well as our best weapon to defeat him."

"So you've got a plan to fight him?" Kokuwamon questioned, getting a little ahead of himself as they reached the door at the end. "Let me help! I can- Ngh!" He yelped as Andromon suddenly grabbed him, lifting the little Digimon up.

"Oh don't worry, you will." He nodded, before opening the door. Shedding light on a dark room, massive in size. The only lights coming from sparks emitting from the walls where Kokuwamon could see something horrible.

"Th-Those are..." More Kokuwamon, hundreds of them! All restrained by wires and chains, cables attached to the electricity emission points on their bodies. "What is this!? What are you doing to them!?"

"To fuel the our defenses, we need energy." Andromon said simply, carrying him along, past patrolling Guardromon. "It bring me no joy to make your kind suffer, but we must all make sacrifices to ensure victory." He found an open space, and threw Kokuwamon into it, between his drained comrades.

"Agh! H-Hey! Let me go!" He cried out, as the wires began to move against him, ensnaring his body into place before cables latched to his head prongs. "AAAAAGH!" He cried out, as his body was forced to discharge electricity. "Nngh! Y-You can't do this!"

Andromon sighed and shook his head, "Worry not, you'll all be freed as soon as the enemy is destroyed."

Kokuwamon could only watch as he began to walk away, fearing what he'd gotten himself into as the machines forced him to release more power. Using him like some kind of living battery! He could see that same symbol on the floor, it was massive compared to the ones upstairs, and for some reason it made him think of Thomas.

"I won't give up," He told himself, clenching as the machines did their work. "I believe in you Thomas! You'll figure this out!"

. . .

. . . Thomas . . .

Thomas had been making his way through the drainage pipes for some time, glad that whatever refuse was being produced here wasn't that smelly. It was an oily silage, that he was forced to crawl through as he went. All the while doing his best to keep his bag and laptop clean as he went, not to mention his digivice.

The slow trudge felt like hours, but logic told him it had only been close to one... Hopefully.

But up ahead he could see an opening, strangely enough, where he'd expected to find water or some kind of machine creating this biproduct but instead it appeared to be some kind of junk yard. Mechanical parts all around, broken robotics of some kind? This was sort of what he was looking for, bits and parts he could salvage to try and make a signal booster but... Something felt off about this place.

"It's like a scrap pit..." He muttered, brushing through the debris of a nearby pile. His hands grazing over some kind of chassis, at least that's what he thought it was. Until a piece of metal shifted and suddenly there was an eye staring back at him. "AGH!"

"P-Please," A weak, raspy voice replied beneath the mountain of scrap. "Don't... Th-They'll find... Me..."

"Who will find you?" He questioned, lowering his voice and ducking behind the scrap for cover. His hands working to try and uncover the trapped creature more, revealing a glass headcase filled with sensors and motors.

"The scrappers..." The digimon responded, struggling to climb out as his body was fully exposed. He was a small digimon, walking on four little legs with long arms. Well, a single long arm, the other had been destroyed just below the shoulder. As soon as the Digimon was free, it slumped against the pile, too weak to stand for more than a moment. "I'm... Datamon," He introduced, though his eyes were on the ceiling not Thomas. "What kind of digimon are... You?"

Thomas swallowed nervously, "Uh... I'm uh... Humon." Hoping that would slide with the clearly exhausted and injured machine before him. "What is this place? What happened to you?"

"I-I used to run the DumDum Factory," He explained weakly, "Alongside my friends, many powerful cyborg digimon... Before he betrayed us..."

Thomas flinched down as he heard more metal shifting, peaking just over the top of the pile to see a couple of Guardromon digging out a heavily damaged Tankmon from the scrap. Its body was almost completely destroyed, missing an arm and its entire lower body. Even so, Thomas could see his open eyes, the Tankmon was still alive, and they were taking it away to... God knows where.

"What happened?" Thomas questioned, "Who betrayed you?"

"When... When that burning demon attacked, our strongest fighters went to destroy it in its lair in the mountains... But, only Andromon returned, with all their Digital Cores... I tried so hard to find a way to protect everyone..." Datamon continued weakly, "I turned this place into a fortress... A safe haven to protect those poor machines displaced by Lavogaritamon's wanton destruction... But," He cringed in pain, his exposed arm sparking a bit making Thomas wince. "But I was so focused on looking for a way to save everyone... I didn't realize Andromon saw a way to use this place as a weapon..."

"As a weapon?" Thomas repeated worriedly, fearing what his partner might have gotten into. "What did Andromon do?"

"This factory was once a creation point for machine digimon," He stated, finally looking Thomas in the eyes. "Junk data from beyond the Digital World flows through the center of the factory, that junk data can be harvested and converted... The Factory's purpose was to create new life in the form of machine digi-eggs... But Andromon realized that he could skip the need for growth and evolution."

"N-No please!" Thomas' eyes darted back over the mound, watching as badly damaged Guardromon, missing both his arms, was dragged away by his comrades. "Don't send me back!"

"By feeding the remains of active machine digimon into it," Datamon finished, confirming Thomas' fears. "He's created a loop on endless soldiers, sending them again and again to attack that monster, only for them to be destroyed and salvaged... Returned here, the survivors that aren't able to be repaired are scrapped for data to speed the evolution of others... He tried to do the same to me, but when we fought I fell into the pit, was able to hide myself for awhile... But I was buried under a mound of scrap until you found me."

Thomas had broken out into a cold sweat, imagining what horrors might have befallen his partner, and realizing that all this scrap around him was in fact the remains of other fallen Digimon.

But there was something else too, an anger in his chest he'd never felt before. It wasn't just rage, it was pure indignation. "Datamon..." He clenched his fists tightly, "I don't know how, but I'll find a way to fix this!" He promised, before looking around the chamber, "I just need to find Kokuwamon..."

"K-Kokuwamon?" Datamon coughed roughly, "Last I knew, we had volunteer Kokuwamon, they were powering the factory in the Hall of De-" His words cut off sharply as he coughed roughly, lurching forward. Oil and a few wires falling from his mouth, "J-Just a few floors up... You can probably use the vents to get there... If they're still there, you'll find the Kokuwamon."

Well, Thomas wasn't looking for just any Kokuwamon, but it was something to go off of. "Alright, thank you... I'll be back for you I promise." He added, before rising to his feet. He spotted a large vent cover deeper in, attached to the wall, he crouched and started making his way towards it.

"G-Good luck... Humon."