Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon Adventures or Digimon 02.

Note : This chapter contains a lot of Digimon Analyzer scenes prior to its introduction.

VENGEANCE

Chapter 08 - Devimon Strikes Back, Part II

by Alforce Zero

"I have to alert Gennai and the Digidestined at once!" Wizardmon decided, and walked down the Zephyr Tower's spiraling stairs quickly. With him he held his sunflower staff which stored the powers from Azulongmon's digi-core to make him digivolve. He emerged from the tower's entrance and met the two centaur guardians of the tower, Centarumon and Sagittarimon.

"There seems to be..." Sagittarimon began, but Wizardmon quickly cut him off.

"I know. Lead me to the communication center now. I need to contact Gennai at Asuka Laboratory."

"Hop on then. I'll get you there in a minute or less." Wizardmon leapt on Sagittarimon's sturdy back as the saggitarius galloped his way towards the communication center, which was a laboratory located somewhere inside Seiryuu City. A week had passed since Chaos Specter's attack on the island, and while a small part of the mountain city was partially destroyed from the attack, most of them were gradually restored. This was done using both magic and manpower, and Wizardmon played a huge role in this. As Mystimon, he managed to use his magical powers to slowly regenerate Seiryuu City part by part. How this was done, he himself could not explain. Only that he had to thank Azulongmon for entrusting him with a portion of his godly powers, which he had put on good use.

True to his words, Sagittarimon managed to take him to his destination within the promised amount of time, with Centarumon racing behind him. They had to evade a few digimons who was strolling around the city, and even nearly knocked on some poor Rookies, but no harm was done. Everyone seemed to try their best to get out of their way, thus making their trip to Seiryuu Laboratory a lot easier.

Seiryuu Lab didn't have the temple-modern lab crossover look like Asuka Lab. It looked like a lab alright, but there was a medieval look that came with it. Instead of white in color like Asuka, Seiryuu Lab was blue mostly, with gray and red metals and lines thrown in good measures. It was isolated from the other buildings, and a small garden was kept in front of the lab. Light blue marble stairs were seen leading up to the entrance, and on every side of the stairs was a Knightmon. Seems like Knightmons were the guards of the labs. A digimon that greatly resembled Wizardmon, but clad in white garment was seen waiting outside the lab, holding a staff which had a blue diamond attached on its upper end. The blue and white colorings of his garments matched the lab instantly, as he was the one who run the lab, like Piximon did on Asuka's.

"Hello, all. What seems to be the problem?" the digimon greeted them gingerly. He had a cheerful, child-like tone in his voice, which totally contrasted with his icy appearances.

"Sorcerimon, contact Asuka now. There ---" Wizardmon was interrupted when thunder rumbled above them. All of them looked up and saw grayish-purple thick clouds were hovering above them. "What the --" he muttered and quickly raced inside the lab. The centaurs, being large digimons, stayed outside with the Knightmons. Sorcerimon was dumbfounded, but followed him inside.

"Will you explain to me first what is going on?" he demanded as Wizardmon stood in front of a large monitor. The insides of Seiryuu Lab greatly resembled Asuka in a lot of ways. Two exceptions though, it was only a one-storey lab without any upper floor or basement, and it was mostly in blue as well.

"I don't know for sure, but those clouds you are seeing now are the reasons. Now will you please contact Gennai for me?"

"Okay, okay, you don't have to ask twice." Sorcerimon waved his staff a little and the computer consoles began to light up and hummed some strange computer sounds. The monitor buzzed a little, and then Gennai's face appeared on the screen.

"Gennai, there seems to be a problem here..."

**************************************************

At about the same time, the Velvet Claw was cruising its way inside the purple clouds Devimon conjured up away from the Eastern region. The clouds seemed to be enveloping nearly all parts of the Eastern sector, but were mainly concentrated above File Island and the islands around it.

Chaos Specter was seen sitting on his throne, with his pet Black Gatomon now completely awake. The black cat was following her master's gaze towards the large viewing screen inside the ship's bridge, also known as the throne room. Behind him were the four tube prisons of the Harmonious Ones and below the fifty steps of stairs stood Chaos WarGreymon and Chaos Piedmon. Chaos Seadramon was curling somewhere beside the left side of the throne, on Chaos Piedmon's side. All of them were witnessing Devimon's display of powers, covering nearly all East sector belonged to Azulongmon, with dark clouds of his. Nearly all the sector was covered in darkness.

"Such strong powers, and he's only a Champion," Chaos Specter muttered in amazement. "It's a shame he's not working for me. Not yet, at least." He snickered evilly, causing his pet digimon to look up to his face with some slight annoyance.

"I'm not impressed." Black Gatomon quipped with a tone of jealousy. She hissed slightly and turned away from the screen, obviously showing her distaste of Devimon. In truth, and Chaos Specter knew it, was that the little Champion was jealous of anyone who managed to have his attention other than her.

Chaos Specter chuckled slightly and patted Black Gatomon's soft, jet-black furred back. "Doesn't mean I love you any less, Catrina." Clearly, Chaos Specter had named his pet Catrina, a very humanly name for a digimon.

"If you just let me fight along with them, I can be that strong as well!" she demanded, and waved her paw towards the three Chaos Generals. "I can digivolve to Ultimate, mind you. Although I still can't master it." Catrina concluded it rather sheepishly; if it weren't for her black fur it would be extremely obvious that she was blushing.

Chaos Specter nodded and fixed his emerald eyes onto Catrina's gold-yellow ones. "Then you will train more until you can retain your Ultimate form for more than five minutes. If you're in a battle, I don't think it's a good idea for you to de-digivolve all of a sudden. Your enemies can easily use this to their advantage."

"But I wanna have some fun!" Catrina whined, and began to pout. It was evident that she was pampered greatly by the dark conqueror.

Unfortunately for her, Chaos Specter was undaunted. "No, and that's final. And don't you dare pout, because I don't want you to get hurt." Catrina sulked and buried her face under her paws, faking a couple of soft sobs. Chaos Specter sighed, knowing that while it looked real Catrina was only pretending. He knew just the thing to say to her however. "But if you promise to be a good girl and practice harder, I promise you'll get to blow up a digimon city someday on your own."

Catrina's ears perked up and she lifted her face instantly. "Really?"

"I promise." Chaos Specter smiled as Catrina leapt towards his face and hugged his neck. "I'll go train now!" she announced and ran all the way down the stairs, nearly knocking over Chaos WarGreymon. The Mega digimon grunted in annoyance as Catrina called out, "Sorry boy!" as the other two Chaos Generals snickered. The cat ran out from the throne room through a large door-less entrance and disappeared out of sight, and Chaos Specter shook his head slowly in mild dismay.

****

Chaos Specter and Catrina's history was rather interesting. It began when he led his Chaos Generals, whom were then only in their Champion forms of Greymon, Devidramon and Seadramon, on an attack to one of the ten alternate dimensions of the digital world. (A/N: Did I mention this before? Oh well...) Chaos Specter had conquered four of the dimensions; all of them were rather easy-to-conquer worlds as they were no Digidestined or any alternate protectors of some sort. Not that easy though, as he spent quite a time to conquer each because while there were no Harmonious Ones or Digidestined, each digital world had some Mega digimons which defended their worlds bravely.

One of the remaining unconquered worlds was where he was now, and already he was facing a hard time conquering it. History wise, Chaos Specter had only the faintest idea, but a prophecy he had unearthed in one of the other dimensions foretold about it, and that interested him enough to pursue it as well.

The other five... one of them was even more secure than the current digital world where he was in, as it had the history of human tempering with it. He had learnt that on that particular dimension, one group of humans had caused the creation of digimons there. Digimons there were exceptionally strong and also were given the ability which none other digimons possessed. It was the power to absorb data from any other digimons. In a lot of ways however, this digital world was similar to the digital world where he currently was. One, it had the same four Mega digimons guarding it, dubbed the Digimon Sovereigns. Two, there was also a group of human children who protected the world as well as being partnered to digimons.

Another was guarded by three Mega angel digimons instead of the four Harmonious Ones or Digimon Sovereigns. This world was definitely off-limits even to him, as it was sealed from any intrusion from any other worlds - protecting both it and its human world counterpart. Chaos Specter knew no other facts of this world.

The third was the infamous Dark Ocean, where all evil digimons were reformatted. However, it seemed to be linked only with the digital world he currently resided in. The fourth dimension was none other than the World of Dreams, which played half the role in creating the digital worlds and digimons. These two worlds were close to impossible to conquer.

The fifth and final dimension was perhaps the most mysterious of all. Chaos Specter had no means of even tracking the dimension, let alone accessing it.

Chaos Specter found Catrina, in her digi-egg form, in one of the worlds where he had conquered. His three servants had destroyed the Primary Village there, deleting all the digi-eggs in sight as well as the digimons who guarded the digi-eggs. One digi-egg however, survived the destruction, being buried underground thus escaping the flames from Greymon and Devidramon, and the ice blast from Seadramon. It hatched into a Snow Botamon, and was almost killed as well if not for the conqueror himself to stop them to take a closer look on the digimon whom had survived. Chaos Specter decided to take her in, making her his pet, and gave her the name Catrina.

Catrina, as a Snow Botamon, grew up under Chaos Specter's care, into a healthy Nyaromon within a month. She had no recollection of what had happened to her in the past, only knowing that Chaos Specter had saved her from total destruction of her home world. Seeing Chaos Specter as her protector, she had grown rather attached to him. This was helped by the fact that Chaos Specter had pampered her a lot. The dark conqueror grown to love and care for her as days passed by, like a father protecting a child. However, being around Chaos Specter for a long time caused Catrina to be affected by the power of darkness surrounding Chaos Specter. Thus, when the time came for her to digivolve to Rookie, she advanced to a viral version of Salamon which was grey in color instead of the usual cream-colored Vaccine type. Later she matured to a Black Gatomon and became Chaos Specter's pride and joy.

As the other Chaos Generals digivolved to their final Mega levels they were gifted with Chaos Specter's own powers, transforming them into the Chaos versions of the regular WarGreymon, Piedmon and Metal Seadramon. Catrina, as Black Gatomon, wasn't prepared to receive the powers as she was only a Champion, but somehow a portion of the power was successfully absorbed by her system, making her able to digivolve to her Ultimate level. But for not being prepared, Catrina didn't manage to handle her Ultimate form well enough for her to retain it. So she remained Champion and trained to allow nature took its place to make her digivolve naturally.

****

Chaos Piedmon looked up towards his master. "What do you suggest we do, master?"

"Do you want us to help him?" Chaos WarGreymon continued.

"But that Devimon is only a Champion! I don't think..."

"Quiet!" Chaos Specter roared and the three digimons shut up instantly. "Looks like we don't have to, for now. Those digi-eggs I gave him should be handy for him. I have other things in mind, though." He rotated the throne, facing the four Harmonious Ones. Azulongmon, Zhuqiaomon, Baihumon and Ebonwumon all glared at him with eyes flashing of pure hatred. Chaos Specter laughed seeing their state.

"If only stares can hurt!" he taunted gleefully. "I believe there's a term for that. Staring daggers?" He snickered. "So, have you decided to tell me about this legendary power the prophecy speaks off? Or you still rather spend your time on another dimension?"

"In your dreams." Azulongmon muttered.

Zhuqiamon's eyes seemed to be erupting with fire. He hated humans, although he tolerated the Digidestined quite well. "Just you wait, human! When I escape this imprisonment, I shall have the pleasure of burning you to ashes!"

"I'll be waiting." Chaos Specter grinned, showing off a set of gleaming white teeth, which contrasted with his emerald eyes and jet black hair. "Besides, I have some alternative means now to unlock that power."

"What do you mean?" Baihumon demanded.

"Oh... it's just a theory, actually. But it might work, so I'll go for it. All of you can stay in imprisonment as long as you like. I'll just keep all of you here to avoid you from interfering with my plans mainly. Also, your powers shall be of great use to me in the future."

"You can never take away our powers, wretch!!" Zhuqiaomon bellowed angrily. The great red sparrow digimon's anger was obvious by the aura glowing from his body.

"The balance of the digital world will be distorted if you ever temper with our powers," Ebonwumon, who was silence all these while, spoke up. Or rather, one of his two heads decided to voice up their two minded opinions. The second head added, "Besides, even if you managed to have all of our powers, you can never handle them. They are too much for the likes of you!"

"We shall see," Chaos Specter simply replied. "For now, I'll leave you be. There's a plenty of time for me to have another wonderful conversation with the great Harmonious Ones later. My current interest now is to see whether this Devimon here has the potential of what I thought he might have. If it's true, than I shall not need your powers to have the prophesized powers." Chaos Specter turned away from the Harmonious Ones, facing his Chaos Generals again. Seeing this, all three of them became alert as they knew their master was about to assign them some tasks.

"Chaos Seadramon, take some digimons and wait for my order. After the Digidestined have set foot on the File Island, they'll be focusing their attention towards Devimon they'll forget about the other regions. That's when you will go and attack some northern part of the East sector."

"Got it." Chaos Seadramon acknowledged.

"Chaos Piedmon, you'll do the same but go south."

"All right."

Chaos Specter then looked towards Chaos WarGreymon. The digimon seemed to be in a grumpy mood nowadays, ever since his encounter with the Digidestined of Light. Chaos Specter wondered what could be troubling him, but decided to let Chaos WarGreymon handle it himself rather than interfering.

"And as for Chaos WarGreymon, you will be assigned on a special task. I want you to go to the Kulon Mines at the North Region. Deep within the mines there is a shrine, and inside the shrine is a particular purple diamond-shaped crystal which I want you to retrieve it for me. The crystal holds a dangerous power within. There will be a lot of digimons guarding the shrine, but you'll be able to defeat them easily as you have surpassed many Megas in terms of power and strength. It should not be a problem to you to perform such a task."

"It won't." Chaos WarGreymon assured.

"I hope so. Now, we wait for the right time."

**************************************************

The alert from Wizardmon instantly brought the Digidestined back to Asuka Lab. All of them contemplated on who was responsible for the current phenomenon on the digital world, and were shocked to see that the clouds enveloping the whole East sector.

"My opinion, Daemon's behind this!" Davis declared and clutched his fist, making punching moves into thin air.

"Yeah, he's the only villain we haven't destroyed yet," Cody supported. "Probably to avenge his defeat before."

"No, I don't think so Davis, Cody," Ken said slowly. "We banished him to the World of Darkness. While he is capable of opening digi-ports between worlds and dimensions, why would he wait for like six months before attacking again? He could have attacked us as soon as I...we banished him there last Christmas."

"Maybe he's bidding his time," Hawkmon suggested. "His fight with us must have tired him greatly."

"Yea, I think he's recuperating all this time, waiting for the right time to strike!" Armadillomon added his opinion.

"What really makes you feel that it's not Daemon, Ken?" Yolei inquired softly.

Ken looked at Yolei. "I don't know, Yolei. Seriously, I don't have a clue. I just don't feel like it's him."

"Maybe he's right..." T.K., who was silent all the while, spoke up. "Maybe it's not Daemon. I think it's someone else..."

Davis crossed his arms and looked at T.K. with interest. "You do? Well let's hear it."

Kari raised an eyebrow. "Davis..."

"What?"

"Nothing. Never knew you would agree to T.K."

"Oh. Well, he has a clue, so I think we should hear it."

T.K. smiled slightly. "This may sound rather odd, but last night I have a nightmare. It's... something of the past actually, something I thought I could finally forget, that I could let go. But, after last night I've been thinking about it the whole time until we get here. I tried to convince myself that my nightmare was just a bad dream, but after seeing what's happening here ---"

Realization hit both Kari and Cody. "I think I know where you're getting at ---" Cody said.

T.K. looked mildly surprised. "Yea, I know you would. My brother told you about it."

"It can't be!" Kari said. "Tai told me that it took Angemon his life in order to destroy him!"

"I know," T.K. replied back. "But he's the only one who was... is capable of doing things like this. For instance, covering the digital world in complete darkness."

"Oh, no! He's back!" Cody exclaimed.

"Who's back?" Yolei asked.

"Devimon!" T.K. answered.

"Him?" Ken asked, his voice staggered a little. He remembered his times as the Digimon Emperor, when he was creating Kimeramon. He'd dived inside a whirlpool, and saw Devimon there. Seeing Devimon, Ken wanted to include his data inside Kimeramon, thus were born Kimeramon's hands with Devimon's data. "Is it the same Devimon we saw last time, Wormmon? When I wanted to create Kimeramon?"

Wormmon thought for a while. "I don't know. It could be, but then again maybe it was not the same Devimon. Like Kari said, Angemon destroyed him."

"He said, beware of the darkness..." Ken's voice trailed off as he felt his knees grew weak. "Is this what he meant?"

"Ken, don't," Yolei said and placed her hands on Ken's arms firmly. She was looking inside Ken's eyes. "It's. Not. Your. Fault."

"Even if it was the same Devimon, Sangamon destroyed Kimeramon remember?" Davis reminded them. "So how could it be Devimon?"

Ken smiled as Yolei helped him up. "Thanks, Yolei. I'm okay. Don't worry."

"We're back at square one." Gatomon concluded.

Gennai, who was watching the Digidestined and their partners brainstorming each other, finally decided that it was his turn to speak. So, he cleared his throat in an attempt to call on their attentions. It worked.

"I think the best way to find out is by going there yourselves."

"I second that," Leomon added. "In fact, I'm going with you. File Island is, in fact, my home."

"Okay then," Davis decided. "Then let's go!"

"Wait!" Piximon stopped them, and glared at Gennai. "Aren't you going to tell them about your recent upgrade on their Diginizers?"

"Oh yeah. I nearly forgot!" Gennai said, and blushed. He proceeded by explaining about the modifications he made on the Digi-Analyzers data stored inside their Diginizers, now complete with power level analyzing capabilities.

"Cool!" Davis exclaimed. "Let's try it out."

"Just hit the second red button on your Diginizers," Gennai guided. "And then aim the Diginizer towards the desired digimon."

The Digidestined did as instructed and heard Gennai's computerized voice telling the details about their partners.

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Veemon
Attribute : Vaccine
Level : Rookie

Attacks : Vee Head Butt
Power Level : 15
Digivolve to : Ex Veemon
------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Wormmon
Attribute : Virus
Level : Rookie

Attack : Sticky Net
Power Level : 14
Digivolve to : Stingmon
------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Hawkmon
Attribute : Data
Level : Rookie

Attack : Feather Strike
Power Level : 14
Digivolve to : Aquilamon
------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Armadillomon
Attribute : Vaccine
Level : Rookie

Attack : Diamond Shell
Power Level : 14
Digivolve to : Ankylomon
------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Patamon
Attribute : Data
Level : Rookie

Attack : Boom Bubble
Power Level : 15
Digivolve to : Angemon
------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Gatomon
Attribute : Vaccine
Level : Champion

Attacks : Lightning Claw, Cat's Eye Hypnotism
Power Level : 22 (w/o Tail ring), 45 (with Tail ring)
Digivolve to : Angewomon
------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hah! You guys, don't ever mess with me!" Gatomon declared happily. "That's a pretty vast change for my power levels, between with and without my Tail ring," she noted as she inspected her Tail ring, which hung on her long striped tail.

"There goes my chance to woo Gatomon for a date," Veemon sighed.

"You never learn do you?" Patamon asked with a slight grin.

"Well... as long as YOU don't stand a chance as well!" Veemon shot back, which earned a laugh for all of them. Patamon pouted and decided to sulk on T.K.'s head.

"Hang it there, buddy," T.K. calmed him.

"Whoa there, Veemon," Davis followed suit. It was quite known that Davis had the hots for Kari, but recently he seemed to be cooling down.

Leomon however, looked stunned. "Hey, how come I don't have that 'Digivolve to' info? And where's the Extra Info?"

"I don't know you can be that observant," Piximon replied. "The extra info is only for particular digimons, like you are once the defender of the File Island, while I am a digimon trainer. The Digivolve To info is only for digimons whom had managed to digivolve to its more advanced stage but didn't manage to keep it. The Digi-Analyzer analyzes all the data inside the digimons to determine whether they can, or cannot, digivolve."

"Nice features and all, but, can we get going now?" Yolei asked irritably. "There's trouble on File Island and, oh, don't mean to sound rude or unappreciative..."

"That's all right," Gennai cut in. "Yolei's right. See whether you can investigate whatever is happening on the island first."

"I'll be joining you as well," Leomon offered.

"Thanks. If there's any trouble I think we're gonna need all the help we can get," Davis said. "Okay guys, I think it's time to go, if there isn't any objection?" he looked around to see whether Gennai or Piximon wanted to explain any other information. "Leomon, hold on to someone." He then touched the third red button on his Diginizer, which functioned as a teleporter. Instantly, both he and Veemon were enveloped by dazzling blue lights, and disappeared from sight. They were teleported to the File Island. Ken, T.K, Kari, Yolei and Cody followed suit, with Leomon holding on to Ken's right hand. All of them changed into a series of black, green, pink, red and yellow lights, teleporting them away from Asuka Lab.

"Good luck, everyone," Gennai whispered.

The teleporter mechanism incorporated by Gennai and Magna Angemon PM into the new Diginizers was able to teleport the bearer of the Diginizers and their digimons to various parts of the digital world in a matter of second. It was based heavily on the speed of Imperialdramon, the magic of Asuka Temple, and the technology of the digital world mainly. The two latter elements were the key of the creation of the Diginizers in the first place. Thus, the Diginizers were far more advanced than the old digivices and the D3s, and were still open for more improvements in future. The five red buttons on every Diginizer were created to execute their functions. The first button to execute digivolution, being it Digivolve, Armor Digivolve, DNA Digivolve, Warp Digivolve or Trans Digivolve; the second button to execute the Digi-Analyzer, the third one to teleport around the digital world (it hadn't been tested on the Real World yet) and also to open digi-port by command. The last two buttons were functionless for the time being, open to any improvements in future. (A/N - I'm writing this to explain the main functions of the Diginizers, because I don't know whether I've explained it in detail before or not. Also, it might help to refresh the memory for readers. )

The Digidestined, their partners, and Leomon were teleported on the shore of the File Island. T.K. recognized it as the place where the first battle between Greymon and Tuskmon took place on their early adventures. It was memorable as it was the first time Agumon digivolved to Greymon. The place now seemed deserted, not even Tuskmon was seen. The raging sea, due to the winds blowing fiercely from the strange clouds, sent violent waves towards the shore where they were currently at.

"It looks like it'll be raining soon," Leomon noted as she observed the sky.

"So we better find some shelter," Gatomon added.

All of them walked into the forests and realized that it was hard to walk around since it was dark, the remaining sunlight which they received while at the beach were blocked by the canopy formed by the trees.

"Any lights?" Kari asked, rather jokingly. "No pun intended." All of them laughed, as they understood clearly what Kari actually meant. She was the Digidestined of Light.

Veemon tugged Davis's jacket. All of them were no longer wearing their Digidestined clothes like they used to, but the clothes they brought from their world. "As Raidramon, I can give some lights from my lightning-shaped horn."

"Oh yeah," Davis agreed. He struck a pose by raising his right hand, tilting the forearm to the left a little. The Diginizer of Courage, which was stored with the information from both the Digi-egg of Courage and the Digi-egg of Friendship, glowed.

"Veemon, Armor-Digivolve to... Raidramon! The Storm of Friendship!"

Raidramon instantly lit up his horn. "You want lights, you got it!" The horn gave out bright yellowish-white light, enlightening their surrounding greatly. "Now we can walk!"

"Lead the way," Hawkmon said.

They continued walking deeper into the forest with Raidramon's shining horn to guide them. Everyone became serious as they would soon face the culprit behind the strange phenomenon. The dark forest was deathly silent, not even the usual forest-based digimons such as Mushroomon or Floramon were seen in sight. Leomon contemplated on meeting his rival-turned-friend Ogremon, and that Ogremon would be able to help them as well.

Suddenly, their surroundings became foggy. The lights from Raidramon's horn became dimmer, and the temperature seemed to drop a couple of degrees or more. The Digidestined felt a sudden chill, and the hairs on their necks shot up instantly.

"Why are there fogs suddenly?" Ken wondered as he attempted to touch the fogs. "Strange, purple fogs."

"I don't like this," Cody muttered. "These fogs are giving me the creeps."

"You and me, Cody," Armadillomon quipped with a shudder.

Yolei frowned as the fogs became thicker. "Ugh, it seems so evil!"

"Don't think about that, Yolei," Davis warned. "It..."

A shrill cackle interrupted Davis, followed by strange laughters coming from all sides. Some sounded maniacal, some were like mere gruff and some sounded taunting and haunting at the same time, but all of them shared the same quality. The laughter's were all pure evil.

"Who's there? Show yourselves!" Raidramon demanded, and he channeled more power to his horn, brightening their surroundings and clearing nearly all the fogs simultaneously.

"Well, well, well..." a shrill voice, sounding like a schoolboy's, replied back. The voice originated about a hundred meter in front of Raidramon. This put the dragon digimon on alert. "What do we have here?"

"More power supplies," another voice which had an icy quality coming from somewhere near the first one, answered the first one.

"The master will be pleased to have all these digimons!" yet another voice, a really annoying one coming from the trees, shouted.

The Digidestined stood closer to each other. "I don't like this," Davis said.

"I don't like any of these!" Yolei cried.

"The voices are everywhere!" Cody exclaimed.

"C'mon guys, make us digivolve now. We'll be able to fight them easily!" Hawkmon implored.

The Digidestined began to see two shadows emerging from the fogs. T.K. felt like blood drained from his face as he recognized one of the shadows. The taller shadow seemed to look like... "Devimon!"

"Who, me?" the tall shadow stopped approaching them abruptly. As their eyes began to readjust with their surroundings, they were able to see more clearly. It was indeed Devimon, but instead of his all-black attire, this one was in white. "You must be mistaken, but I guess it's understandable. I am actually Ice Devimon!"

"Ice Devimon?" T.K. repeated weakly, dumbfounded, and pressed the second red button on his Diginizer.

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Ice Devimon
Attribute : Virus
Level : Champion

Attacks : Frost Claw, Zero Freeze
Power Level : 55

Extra Info : This icy version of Devimon is as cold-hearted as his dark counterpart.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I don't believe this! His power level is much higher than any average Champion digimon!" Leomon exclaimed. Now, he was really worried. "All of you, be careful. His power is almost as powerful as an Ultimate digimon!"

T.K. raised his right hand. "Angemon can handle him, right Patamon?"

"Ready when you are, T.K.!"

[Brave Heart plays in the background]

"Patamon, Digivolve to... Angemon!" Instantly, the small winged guinea pig transformed into the holy warrior Angemon, who stood roughly seven-meter tall. Angemon struck a battle pose, preparing for battle. Pure white lights radiated from his body and wings, enlightening their whole surroundings.

"Fancy digivolution sequence, but still, it's useless as I will emerge victorious!" Ice Devimon declared.

"We'll see what the Digi-Analyzer has to say about that!" T.K. spat back.

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Angemon
Attribute : Vaccine
Level : Champion

Attacks : Hand of Fate, Angel Rod
Power Level : 48
Digivolve to : Magna Angemon (Normal), Shakkoumon (DNA-Digivolution)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Even your Digi-Analyzer agrees with me," Ice Devimon taunted.

T.K.'s face flushed with anger. "Still, you're going down!"

Angemon flew towards Ice Devimon and the two of them took off to the skies to battle each other.

The second shadow emerged from the thickening fogs, revealing to be a wizard-like digimon. The Digidestined quickly used the Digi-Analyzer to check up the information of this new digimon.

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Flame Wizardmon
Attribute : Virus
Level : Armor

Attacks : Fire Cloud, Magic Ignition
Power Level : 58

Extra Info : This wizard digimon is the Armor-digivolution form of Wormmon using the Digi-egg of Courage.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wormmon scowled after hearing this. "I can't believe I'd be like HIM! No way will I be using the Digi-egg of Courage!"

"I refuse to be related to this weak worm!" Flame Wizardmon shouted indignantly.

"That's it!" Wormmon yelled. "You ask for it!" He looked at Ken earnestly. "I'm facing him!"

"Uh.. sure, Wormmon," Ken replied, surprised to see him so angry.

"Wormmon, Digivolve to... Stingmon!" The cute and lovable Wormmon transformed into the fearsome Stingmon in a wave of green lights.

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Stingmon
Attribute : Virus
Level : Champion

Attacks : Spiking Strike
Power Level : 45
Digivolve to : Paildramon (DNA-Digivolution)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Weakling, you're no match for me!" Flame Wizardmon taunted gleefully after hearing the analyzer.

"So what he needs is a helping wing!" Yolei shot back, and Ken sweat-dropped. "What?"

"I've.. never heard of that prose before."

"Oh..." Yolei blushed. "Ready, Hawkmon!"

"You bet! Hawkmon, Digivolve to... Aquilamon!" The little hawk transformed into a larger version of himself.

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Aquilamon
Attribute : Data
Level : Champion

Attacks : Grand Horn, Blast Rings
Power Level : 45
Digivolve to : Silphymon (DNA-Digivolution)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Stupid girl. Don't you know that Data digimons are weak against Virus! Even his power level is weak!" Flame Wizardmon yelled, and cackled again.

"Ohh.. I hate him so much!" Yolei fumed with anger and attempted to claw Flame Wizardmon herself if it was not for Ken restraining her. Suddenly she realized that she was held close to Ken and blushed furiously, causing Ken to let go instantly and turned his attention to Flame Wizardmon.

"Stingmon, Aquilamon, take the battle to the sky as well!" he ordered.

'And now he's ordering my digimon as well...' Yolei thought with a smile. Ken backed away a little, seeing hearts on Yolei's eyes.

A tall and lanky digimon with two sword-sticks jumped from the bushes just as a stout little digimon jumped from the trees above them. One of them they instantly recognized as Ninjamon, but its companion seemed new to them.

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Ninjamon
Attribute : Virus
Level : Champion

Attacks : Ninja Knife Throwing, Ninja Hopping
Power Level : 50

Extra Info : This is the Viral form of the usually Vaccine type Ninjamon.
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----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Yashamon
Attribute : Vaccine
Level : Armor

Attacks : Gordian Knot, Puppet Master
Power Level : 50

Extra Info : This is Veemon's Armor form using the Digi-egg of Sincerity.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm related to him?" Raidramon asked blankly.

"He's a Vaccine type, and yet he's evil?" Davis followed suit.

"Fools!" Yashamon spat, and plunged towards Davis instantly. However he was blocked by Raidramon, who sent a Thunder blast attack towards his evil Armor counterpart. Yashamon was quick enough to evade by capturing Raidramon's Thunder blasts with his wooden swords, successfully avoiding himself from getting shocked.

"This doesn't look good. Raidramon you'd better change to Flamedramon or Ex Veemon, they'll stand a better chance to fight this freak," Davis instructed. Raidramon de-digivolved back to Veemon, and prepared for another digivolution.

"Veemon, Digivolve to... Ex Veemon!"

"Now that's more like it!" Davis cried. "Go, Ex Veemon!"

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Ex Veemon
Attribute : Vaccine
Level : Champion

Attack : Vee Laser
Power Level : 47
Digivolve to : Paildramon (DNA-Digivolution)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'll help you, Davis!" Cody cried. "Armadillomon!"

"Always ready. Armadillomon, Digivolve to... Ankylomon!"

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Ankylomon
Attribute : Vaccine
Level : Champion

Attack : Tail Hammer
Power Level : 45
Digivolve to : Shakkoumon (DNA-Digivolution)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

While Ex Veemon and Ankylomon teamed up together to fight Yashamon, Ninjamon finds himself facing Gatomon and Leomon. The ninja digimon, being small was a match for Gatomon, but the larger Leomon was having a hard time coping with the two digimons.

"Little kitty wants to play?" Ninjamon taunted as he jumped above Gatomon, attempting to grab her long tails to quickly end the battle. Unfortunately for him, Gatomon was smarter than he thought, and quickly lashed her tails on his face. The force from the attack staggered Ninjamon in mid-air, and Gatomon saw her chances to end the duel.

"You asked for it! Lightning Claw!" she slashed her powerful claws on Ninjamon, leaving four red scratch marks on him.

"YAAAAAAAA!" Ninjamon cried in pain. "You'll pay for that! Ninja Knife Throwing!" The attack, which consisted of Ninjamon firing dozens of small knifes towards his opponent, sent Gatomon running to save her from getting slashed. One knife however stabbed her slightly on her right leg, which caused her to tumble on the grounds. Her situation was absolutely vulnerable to any attack, and Ninjamon wasn't going to waste his chance.

Leomon, seeing her in danger, rushed forward to help her. He was however stopped in mid-way by a stocky digimon wearing a shogun attire. His expression fiendish, the new digimon thrust his large saber attempting to stab Leomon who was running, hoping that the lion lost control of his speed and skidded to his doom by the tip of his saber. Unfortunately he underestimated Leomon, because while the lion indeed had no time to revert his way as he was jumping in mid-air, he ...

"Fist of the Beast King!!" .. fired a powerful trademark attack of his towards the saber, deliberately pushing himself backwards. Leomon successfully landed on the ground and glared at the newcomer furiously.

"Quick reflex," the newcomer noted.

Leomon knew this digimon instantly. "Musyamon!"

Gatomon lied on the ground, unable to stand up and run anymore as Ninjamon attempted to fire off another Ninja Knife Throwing attack on her. In a matter of seconds, she'd be gone for good if she didn't move from her current spot. An idea came to her suddenly. Gatomon focused on her powers towards her eyes, and cried out, "Cat's Eye Hypnotism!"

Two rays of spiraling pink energy waves burst from her eyes and entered Ninjamon's eyes. Fortunately for Gatomon, in order to attack her, Ninjamon had to maintain an eye contact with her to focus his attacks. That was all she needed to make sure her attack would be successful. True enough, Ninjamon's expression showed his current state - hypnotized! Gatomon slowly got up and limped her way to Kari.

"Gatomon... are you alright?" Kari asked in concern.

"It'll heal," Gatomon answered nonchalantly. "Don't worry. I'm still up for a fight. Just give me a minute or two to clean this wound." She looked at her right leg where Ninjamon's knife stabbed her. "Uggh... hope it will not scar, I hate to have another one after what Myotismon did to me before." The cut was quite deep, but not deep enough to stop her from moving. Like she said, the wound would heal.

"You poor kitty," Kari said and touched the wound.

"Kari, watch," Gatomon said slyly as she focused her attention towards the hypnotized Ninjamon. The Ninjamon looked at her blankly as Gatomon seemed to be in a trance. Then, he moved slowly towards Musyamon and Leomon.

Meanwhile, Leomon and Musyamon were engaged in a fierce swords battle. Leomon had called forth his Beast King Sword, which he rarely used as he wasn't adept of it. It was evident that Musyamon was an expert as one strong thrust from his saber sent Leomon's sword away. Now weaponless, Leomon stood bravely and prepared to attack.

"Fist of..." Suddenly, a loud cry from Musyamon stopped him. He saw Musyamon's expression, a shocked expression evident from his widely-opened eyes and his mouth forming an 'O' shape. Musyamon stood still for a while before he turned his back, revealing many knives stabbed on it. Leomon was surprised as well, especially when he saw that Ninjamon was the one who attacked Musyamon. "What's going on?"

Gatomon broke off from her trance state. "Quick, Leomon! Finish both of them now!"

"Wha-- ?" Leomon asked, but then he realized that Gatomon must have controlled Ninjamon's mind to attack Musyamon. He inhaled deeply, channeling all his powers towards his right hand to launch another of his trademark attack. "Fist - Of - The - Beast ----" Leomon's right hand began to glow bright gold, and an image of his head formed on it. " -- KINGGGGG!!!" A loud earthshaking roar erupted from Leomon's avatar as Leomon pushed his right hand with all his might, sending a powerful ray of brilliant gold towards Ninjamon and Musyamon. The gold beam enveloped the two digimons instantly, and blinding the others who were in nearby vicinity.

**************************************************

Meanwhile on the skies, a fierce battle between Angemon and Ice Devimon took place. Frequent blasts of gold and white lights were constantly seen being exchanged by the two digimons. T.K. worried for his partner, as Ice Devimon was much more powerful in terms of strength and power level.

Angemon felt sweat trickling on his helmet-covered face. The battle was definitely not in his advantage as he felt himself getting tired. "I have to end this battle fast!" he gasped, trying to channel his powers again to launch another attack. While hailed as the most powerful Champion destined digimon, Angemon's prowess was somehow limited. Ice Devimon seemed to know that, and had actually prolonged their fight to weaken Angemon first. Once the angel was weak, he would be just as strong as any digimon at his level. By then, Ice Devimon could easily claim his victory.

"What's the matter? Tired already? But I'm just getting started, Ha Ha Ha !!" Ice Devimon spread his icy white wings wide, and cold winds began to emerge from the wings. The winds became stronger, colder, and with snows, as he flocked his wings faster. "Have a taste of my Zero Freeze attack while you're resting there, Angemon!" The cold winds became a freezing storm, attempting to blow Angemon away.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon fired his trademark attack. The gold beam shot through the storm generated by Ice Devimon, but the subzero temperature caused by Ice Devimon's storm froze the attack into a large chunk of ice, which Ice Devimon destroyed easily with his sharp claws. The clashing sounds of the frozen attack shocked Angemon, as Ice Devimon stared at him coldly with his icy eyes. Even from the inside of his silver helmet, Angemon could make out the taunting shines on the ice devil's eyes.

"You're weakening..." Ice Devimon realized, a cold smile formed on his light-blue face. "You're even weaker than I thought!"

"I still have enough powers to finish you off!"

"Action speaks louder than word, Angemon, and by judging the current situation I'd say that you can't even cause a single scratch on me. Let alone, destroy me! I know your weakness Angemon, and seems like I get to witness it as well."

"You'd be sorry..." Angemon said through clenched teeth, preparing himself for another Hand of Fate.

"Make me!" Ice Devimon roared, and flew towards Angemon, claws ready to strike. His speed was amazing, and Angemon had barely enough time to dodge as he felt Ice Devimon's claws slashed him on the chest, leaving three long scratch marks on it.

"Arrgggghhh!!!!" Angemon yelled in pain, and instantly de-digivolved in mid-air back to Patamon. A wounded Patamon who was unable to fight, with three claw marks on the white fur on the inferior part of his body. The force from Ice Devimon's attack sent him twirling in mid-air, and Patamon struggled to maintain balance by flapping his bat-like wings. Ice Devimon advanced quickly towards the Rookie mammal digimon.

"Pitiful. I so wish to see you die, so..." Ice Devimon kicked Patamon hard, sending the poor Rookie flying in the sky. The ice devil then readied himself to strike a fatal blow to the helpless Patamon, launching himself towards the Rookie with claws ready to strike when an explosion from the forests caught his attention, coupled with a deafening roar.

**************************************************

"Vee Laser!" Ex Veemon launched his powerful X-beam from his chest towards Yashamon, who countered the attack with his wooden swords. The swords proved to be his major advantage, channeling the powers from his opponents into the grounds, leaving him unscathed. Yashamon smiled smugly, and his ears perked up when...

"Tail Hammer!" Ankylomon's attempt to ram Yashamon with his tail was foiled when Yashamon dodged the attack with amazing agility. His thin figure was a great help to battle the giant ankylosaur, who wasn't anywhere as agile as him. He leapt up to the high branches of the trees to avoid either being rammed by Ankylomon or being blasted away by Ex Veemon. Their combined forces were a match to his higher power level, and Yashamon knew that he was outnumbered. He needed to think of something, something to turn the battle into his favor.

"You've had your fun," Yashamon said as he sat on a huge tree branch. An idea suddenly came to his mind. A brilliant one for that matter. He then stood up immediately and jumped down the branch. "Now, my turn!" Thin, transparent and yet strong threads shot out from his hands similar to the way Arukenimon fired her spider threads. Those threads tied themselves around Ex Veemon and Ankylomon's limbs. "I'm gonna have lots of fun! See my Puppet Master skill!"

Ex Veemon scowled, showing his ferocious teeth. "I don't think so!" He tried to tear away the threads with his teeth.

"Such big mouth for a big baby dragon," Yashamon said, and some threads popped out from his hands, tying Ex Veemon's mouth. "There! This should shut that big mouth up." He then focused his attention on Ankylomon, who was larger and possessed greater strength. However his threads were no ordinary threads, they could control even Mega digimons. They were pretty much based on Puppetmon's strings. Ankylomon struggled hard to break free, but the more he struggled the tighter the threads bound him.

Ex Veemon still had a few tricks up his sleeve, if he had one, and tried to burn the threads using his chest laser.

"No such luck I see," Yashamon noted gleefully as Ex Veemon's laser vaporized even before it could be fired out. "Save your strength Ex Veemon, Ankylomon, my threads are able to withstand even the sharp blades of Musyamon..." Yashamon paused to see how Musyamon was doing. To his horror, he could see clearly that Ninjamon was going to stab Musyamon from the back. "I don't believe it! Musy--AARRGGH" Before he could warn Musyamon, Ankylomon tried to ram him in order to distract his attention. Yashamon turned back to face Ankylomon, and was about to delete the ankylosaur when a blinding light erupted from the battle scene where Leomon, Musyamon and Ninjamon were. Yashamon had to cover his eyes to protect his visions, and because the light was too bright and intense for him to look at. Ex Veemon and Ankylomon closed their eyes as tight as they could, but somehow the light didn't hurt their eyes the same way it affected Yashamon.

**************************************************

Flame Wizardmon was having a time of his own, and enjoying every moment of it. Earlier he had doubted that Stingmon and Aquilamon could pose him a threat as he had single-handedly defeated Ogremon before, but their team-up made them a match to be reckoned with. In terms of power level, Flame Wizardmon had the advantage. But, Stingmon and Aquilamon even up the score with their team-up.

"Strange. I thought Stingmon works well only with Ex Veemon?" he thought to himself. "Looks like separating them from their DNA partners was not a great plan after all. Still, I'm pretty sure I can trash these two easily."

Stingmon hovered near Aquilamon. "Why had he stopped attacking?"

"I don't know. Seems fishy though, better we take the offensive now rather than wait around for our doom." Aquilamon charged forward, spreading his wide wings and sore above Flame Wizardmon. Stingmon followed suit, extending his arm to produce a glowing pink blade.

"Spiking Strike!" Stingmon zoomed towards Flame Wizardmon, aiming to stab him on the chest.

"Blast Rings!" Aquilamon fired spiraling pink blasts from his beak.

Flame Wizardmon cocked his head towards the charging Stingmon. "Ohh.. a double team attack! Well hate to break it up to you, but..." Flame Wizardmon rotated his staff while producing light blue flames on his other hand. ".. take this! Fire Clouds!!!" he yelled, sending out bursts of ice-blue raging inferno towards Stingmon. Looking up above, and aiming his attention towards Aquilamon, he said, "Don't worry, I didn't forget about you as well. Fire Clouds!" The dark wizard's attacks countered Stingmon and Aquilamon's easily, while attempting to envelope them as well.

Stingmon quickly made a back flip in mid-air to avoid the fireballs targeted towards him. One of his insectoid wings was scorched by the fireball and burned a little, causing Stingmon to cry in pain. He staggered a little, trying to maintain his balance. Luckily his three other wings were functioning, but Stingmon could no longer fly as fast as he was before.

However, his condition was considered fortunate if compared to Aquilamon. Being big, the aquila was caught instantly with Flame Wizardmon's clouds of fire, burning every inch of the feathers in his body. Burnt and battered, Aquilamon could no longer hold his Champion form, and de-digivolved back to Hawkmon. He would have fallen hard on the grounds if it wasn't for Stingmon to catch him.

"Are you hurt?" Stingmon asked in concern.

Hawkmon frowned. "Other than a few burnt marks, no... I guess I'm fine. But that Flame Wizardmon really is tough as he said he is. I'm no match for him in my Rookie form."

"Hold on tight," Stingmon said, and Hawkmon quickly clasped his wings tight on Stingmon's left arm, which was holding him.

"What are you going to do?" Hawkmon asked, noticing that Stingmon was flying slowly towards Flame Wizardmon.

"I'm gonna teach this guy a lesson! He's insulted me before, now he'd burned one of my wings and..and.."

"No, Stingmon. It's best if we retreat back to the others. We're no match for him!"

"I'll be fine, Hawkmon. Trust me on this one."

"I know, Stingmon. You will, but I won't," Hawkmon pointed out. "I'm a Rookie now. Besides I think we should go back down there, and you go get Ex Veemon so you can DNA digivolve together to Paildramon and fight Flame Wizardmon."

Stingmon slowed down, thinking over what Hawkmon had just said. He sighed slightly. "I guess you're right."

Flame Wizardmon watched curiously as Stingmon zoomed at him, clearly going to strike when suddenly he paused as Hawkmon talked him out of this. Stingmon complied, and flew down instead without flapping his wings, causing gravity to take over, pulling both him and Hawkmon to the grounds at top speed. A perfect way to escape Flame Wizardmon a lot faster than flying down.

'They're escaping!' Flame Wizardmon realized. "Oh no you don't! I'm not through with you yet!" he yelled, and chased after them.

"He's aftering us!" Hawkmon gasped.

Stingmon glanced behind. "Not for long!" He extended his free hand, which was his right, backward, trying to aim for Flame Wizardmon while zooming down. "Moon Shooter!" he cried out, and from his hand where the usual energy blade was projected, shot out hundreds of small needles, all aimed straight towards Flame Wizardmon. The wizard digimon didn't have enough time to dodge to attack, and was instantly pricked by the needles all over his body. The pain caused by the needles was excruciating, causing Flame Wizardmon to holler in pain.

"That gotta hurt! I don't know you could do that, Stingmon!" Hawkmon exclaimed in surprise.

"Served him right!" Stingmon answered back, . "Now for the best part..." If it weren't for the fact that Stingmon's face was masked, Hawkmon could've sworn that the bug warrior was grinning devilishly. Although he couldn't see what was happening, suddenly he heard Flame Wizardmon let out a sickening howl, a bitter howl sounded full of pain.

"What's going on?" the little hawk asked.

"The needles are poisoned," Stingmon answered matter-of-factly. "And to make it worse, the poison will drain him of his power gradually. The Moon Shooter is actually a secret attack of mine. While it may cause the enemy to fall quicker..." Stingmon's body began to flicker, faint green aura radiated from his body. Hawkmon realized that his friend was weakening. "... well, let's hope that both of us can make it to the grounds before I de-digivolve back to Wormmon!"

**************************************************

to be continued