DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon Adventures, Digimon 02, Digimon World 2 and 3.

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VENGEANCE

- Chapter 09 - Devimon Strikes Back, Part III -

by

Alforce Zero

Power of darkness, hear me now

A spell I shall cast

My enemies I shall defeat

Steal what is theirs and make it mine

Bind their powers to my own

Devimon nodded slowly after finished reciting the words, his mouth breaking into a slight sneer as his crimson eyes glinted maliciously. A gust of wind appeared out of nowhere and formed a minute whirlwind in front of him. Soft yellow lights began to glimmer from the whirlwind as strange digital world alphabet characters swirled within it, letting out a faint hum.

"The spell is complete," Devimon said softly to himself in satisfaction, and sat himself back on his throne. The whirlwind then let out a small benign explosion, and transformed into three small glowing black orbs. Devimon was satisfied as the orbs orbit around him, each was radiating with an aura of evil. Each orb was similar to the one Piedmon had inserted inside the back of Gennai's neck during their battle years ago. Devimon then turned his attention towards the hall in front of the throne, where Devidramon was squatting alone. The dark dragon was watching Devimon with pure interest, staring at Devimon intently with his four crimson eyes.

"What are you looking at?" Devimon barked in annoyance.

Devidramon averted his eyes away quickly, staring on the grounds instead. "Nothing, master. I'm just admiring your powers." Yes, this Devidramon had the ability to speak, instead of growling incoherently like most of his species. Being created from Devimon's own digital DNA was the main reason behind that, the six digimons seemed to inherit part of Devimon's intelligence as well.

"Flattering as it may be..." Devimon began, and Devidramon didn't dare raise his head to look into his master's face, fearing to anger him in any sort of way. "... fool! Look up!" Devimon commanded.

"Sorry, master."

"Stop fearing me or I'll blast you away this instant! I only expect my subjects to be obedient, not to fear me!"

Devidramon did as commanded. "I'm so... yes, master Devimon."

"Better." Devimon shook his head slightly. He then flicked his right hand towards Devidramon, telekinetically directing the three orbs to go to Devidramon. "Take these orbs and go with Ogremon to help your friends." At the mention of his name, Ogremon entered the grand hall of the fortress using the main entrance. He seemed to be in perfect condition, considering his near-fatal battle with Flame Wizardmon earlier. However, Ogremon didn't seem to be himself. With a pair of malicious, hungry red blood eyes and an expression ten times more ferocious, it was clear that Ogremon's mind was controlled by Devimon. The digimon walked briskly towards Devidramon, and the sight of something black glinting from his back caught Devidramon's eyes. It was a Black Gear!

"Master," Ogremon said, and bowed slightly in respect.

Devimon nodded in approval. "Ogremon. How nice for you to join us at last."

"It is a pleasure to work for you, master."

"The pleasure is all mine, Ogremon. However, I have one little task for you." Devimon waved his hand a little, and the orbs hovering around Devidramon immediately detatched themselves from their orbit and fell into Ogremon's ready hands. "Listen closely."

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As the explosion of radiant golden lights began to die away, the Digidestined and the digimons were able to open their eyes again to see the cause of the explosion. Those who were nearby the vicinity where the battle between Leomon, Musyamon and Ninjamon took place saw that Leomon had fallen on the grounds, unconscious. However, so were Musyamon and Ninjamon. While the attack didn't delete them, it was enough to knock them out.

Kari rushed over to Leomon, with Gatomon clutched towards her body. Behind her were T.K. and the severely-injured Patamon held tight across his chest, followed closely by Davis, Cody, Ken and Yolei. "Oh no, Leomon!"

Leomon was unresponsive to Kari's call. She, T.K. and Davis quickly turned Leomon, whose face was buried in the soil, upwards. The warrior lion's expression showed that he had used most of his powers to launch the attack earlier. He was still breathing, slow and steady. T.K. managed to feel a heartbeat, although very faint, on Leomon's left chest.

"He's still alive!" T.K. declared, and let out a sigh in relief. Leomon's chest began to move up and down slowly, a sign of breathing. Although very weak, but present nevertheless.

Davis focused his attention towards the fallen Musyamon and Ninjamon. "What should we do with them?"

Gatomon shook herself from Kari and landed on the grounds. "I say we finish them off right now while they are still unconscious!" She brandished her sharp claws, ready to strike.

"Good idea! Who's up to do it?" Davis agreed and looked around. "Not Ex Veemon or Ankylomon I guess, they're still tied up by that Yashamon's threads." He cocked his head towards his left, where the two Champion digimons were tied up. Yashamon however, was nowhere in sight.

"Hey, where's Yashamon?" he wondered.

"Chickened out I guess," Cody replied.

T.K. looked at his beaten-and-battered partner, whose eyes was half-opened. "Patamon is still weak from his fight with Ice Devimon." He grumbled as his expression became slightly fierce. "He's going to pay for what he'd done to Patamon. And if it's really Devimon behind this..." he shuddered a little after saying this as he recollected his dream. "... he's going down as well!"

"I'm ready to fight him, T.K.!" Patamon wheezed slowly, but in the same time full of determination. T.K.'s expression softened a little, seeing his partner in this unfavourable kind of state.

"Not now buddy," he said. "You need a rest."

Yolei and Ken looked at each other. "Not Hawkmon or Wormmon either," Yolei said. "Both of them were drained off their powers from the fight with that annoying wizard digimon! But Stingmon sure got him good with that Needle Shooter of his! I never knew he could do that!"

"It's the Moon Shooter, Yolei," Ken corrected. "Me neither, I myself never seen Stingmon perform that attack."

Wormmon, who was on the grounds beside Hawkmon, looked up towards Ken. "It's my secret attack, which can be used as a last resort to weaken any digimon, but to the expanse of my own power as well. I sure hope I don't have to use that attack anymore, or I'll be draining my own powers everytime I fight."

"Are you still able to digivolve to Stingmon?" Davis asked.

"Maybe, I don't know. I can try, at least," Wormmon replied and glanced towards Ken. "Ken?"

Ken hesitated. "I think it's better for Wormmon to rest for a while." Wormmon looked mildly surprised, but accepted it silently.

"I guess you're right," Davis agreed.

"So it's up to me and Gatomon then," Kari concluded and looked at Gatomon. "Ready, Gatomon?"

"You bet!" Gatomon took her stance close to Kari.

Kari lifted her right hand, where she wore her Diginizer of Light. "Diginizer Energize!"

"Gatomon, Trans Digivolve to... Angewomon!!"

"Oh man, I can never get bored of seeing this!" Davis commented with a slight grin.

Angewomon, the result of the fusion between Kari and Gatomon, hovered in mid air impressively. Pink aura radiated from her, and she looked just like a goddess whom had descended from the sky. However, with eight pure white wings spread out she resembled more of a female arch-angel.

"Hey... let's see Angewomon's profile on the Digi-Analyzer!" Yolei sugggested. From behind the silver helmet, Angewomon raised an eyebrow in amusement but of course, no one was able to see that. Kari could hear Gatomon snicker from behind of her.

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Angewomon
Attribute : Vaccine
Level : Ultimate

Attacks : Celestial Arrow, Heavens Charm
Power Level : 68

Extra info : This Angewomon is the result of Trans Digivolution between the Digidestined of Light and Gatomon, and is more powerful than any regular Angewomon.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

T.K. stared at Angewomon while thinking deeply. 'If it's Devimon behind this, then we're really going to need Magna Angemon real soon. I just hope I and Patamon will be able to digivolve together soon.'

"Her power level is 68?!" Yolei exclaimed in disbelief. "She's able to trash all of them without a sweat! Both of those jokers are both below 60!"

"Unbelievable!" Davis looked at Angewomon with full admiration.

Angewomon hovered close above the unconscious Musyamon and Ninjamon. She spread her hands apart, and the pink aura around her began to glow more intense. "Heavens..." She then clasped her hands in front of her, leaving a horizontal pink line trailing out from her hands and after joining her hands together, a similar but vertical pink line joined the horizontal line. "Charm!!" Angewomon quickly spread her hands back wide quickly, and a powerful vertical line-beam charged down towards the fallen Musyamon and Ninjamon. Instantly, the two digimons combusted into millions of data particles.

"Yeah! Way to go Angewomon!" Yolei cried exuberantly for her DNA-digivolve partner.

Angewomon then turned to face the Digidestined and the digimons. Inside of her, Gatomon's voice again guided her to proceed to the next step. "Are you sure it's gonna work, Gatomon?" she mentally asked. "I've never seen you did it."

"I'm sure," Gatomon chided. "And I've done it before, although back then it wasn't for healing purposes. Remember the first time you got stuck inside the Dark Ocean? After deleting that rogue Airdramon, I freed those fake Scubamons from the Dark Rings. Just do the same thing for all of them. Think about each and every one of them, and focus your powers on those thoughts."

"I'll try," Angewomon answered back, mentally. She raised both hands in front of her, pointing towards her friends. A faint pink beam of light emerged from her hands, showering both Digidestined and digimons with it.

Patamon felt strange sensation from inside of him. "Hey... I feel warm all over."

"Me too. The lights are giving me back the energy," Wormmon added.

"Same here..." Hawkmon informed, but he was cut off when T.K.'s, Ken's and Yolei's Diginizers shot green, purple and red beams respectively towards the digimons. They were given a power boost, which healed all the inflicted wounds and enabling them to digivolve back to their Champion levels.

"Patamon Digivolve to... Angemon!"

"Wormmon Digivolve to... Stingmon!"

"Hawkmon Digivolve to... Aquilamon!"

"This is amazing! There's no way we could lose now!" Yolei said delightfully as she looked at the digivolved Champions one by one. However, her gaze stopped at Leomon, who was still unconscious. "What about Leomon?" she asked.

Angewomon's expression changed a little, although it was blocked efficiently by the helmet she was wearing. However it was still pretty much evident as her face's lower half was still visible.

"I don't know... I thought this would cure him as well."

Cody and Ken studied Leomon's condition. All his wounds were cured, yet he remained unconscious. "He seems okay," Ken told the others.

"Other than unconscious, I'm sure he's fine," Cody added.

"Okay, here's the plan. Now that Stingmon's back, I think that he should go help Ex Veemon and Ankylomon battling that Yashamon. They can DNA-Digivolve together to Paildramon to take care of Yashamon, while Ankylomon and Angemon can become Shakkoumon to take on either Flame Wizardmon or Ice Devimon. Aquilamon and Angewomon will handle the other one," Davis suggested.

"You speak like a born-leader, bro," Ken commented with a slight grin.

"Really?" Davis said. "Thanks!"

"Just don't let it go over your head," Yolei added.

"And no thanks to you!" Davis shot back good-naturedly.

As Davis planned, Stingmon went to help the trapped Ex Veemon and Ankylomon. With Yashamon out of the way mysteriously, Stingmon used his Spiking Strike attack to tear away the strong threads. It took him several attempts, but after ten or twenty times of slashing away the threads, and coupled with Ex Veemon's laser beam the threads were able to be removed.

"Thanks Stingmon! I don't know what would happen if you didn't come along," Ex Veemon said.

Stingmon nodded. "Your welcome. Ready for some DNA-Digivolution now?"

"Always!" Ex Veemon agreed, as Davis and Ken ran up to them, both holding up their Diginizers. The Diginizers of Courage and Kindness shot out blue and green lights which enveloped and energized Ex Veemon and Stingmon.

"Ex Veemon...!"

"Stingmon...!"

"DNA-Digivolve to... Paildramon!" Within seconds, the Ultimate level Paildramon stood tall in front of their partners, ready for battle. Paildramon's head nearly reached the top of the canopies of the trees, and he had to resort to hunching himself a little. However, he still had the difficulty in moving as his wings kept on hitting the trees. Paildramon sighed in exasperation and stopped moving.

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Paildramon
Attribute : Vaccine
Level : Ultimate

Attack : Desperado Blaster
Power Level : 65
Digivolve to : Imperialdramon

Extra info : Paildramon is the result of the DNA-Digivolution between Ex Veemon and Stingmon, when Ex Veemon is the dominant form.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey! Paildramon is nearly as powerful as Angewomon!" Davis cried out, surprised.

"I guess this is why the Trans Digivolution method is introduced. Each Ultimate digimon resulted from Trans Digivolution is as strong as a DNA-Digivolved digimon. I wonder what would be the result if Stingmon should be the dominant form?" Ken wondered to himself.

"Should we make him Mega Digivolve to Imperialdramon now?" Davis asked.

"Not yet I think, we should conserve their powers for later use," Ken answered, and looked at Paildramon. "Okay you guys, Flame Wizardmon should be weakened by Stingmon's attack earlier. Now is the perfect time to finish him up once and for all!"

Paildramon nodded. "We'll do it!" he answered in their dual voice. He then flew above the sky, sending winds blowing towards the other Digidestined and digimons.

Angemon walked over to Ankylomon. "I need to settle some scores with that Ice Devimon, but I'm afraid I can't do this alone. He got me really bad last time. Can you help me and DNA Digivolve?"

"Why of course Angemon, I'll be glad to!" Ankylomon replied. Both digimons then radiated with green and yellow lights from their partners' Diginizers. The powers gave them the necessary boost to make them DNA-Digivolve.

"Ankylomon...!"

"Angemon...!"

"... DNA Digivolve to... Shakkoumon!" The angel and the ankylosaur had merged together to form a vaccine type Mutant digimon who resembled a walking teapot with a pair of white wings behind him.

----------------- DIGIMON ANALYZER ------------------
Name : Shakkoumon
Attribute : Vaccine
Level : Ultimate

Attacks : Justice Beam, Katchina Bombs
Power Level : 62

Extra info : Shakkoumon's armor can withstand even a powerful Mega digimon's attacks
------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Like we don't know that already," Cody said dryly as he observed Shakkoumon. The digimon was even bigger than Paildramon, his head and upper torso were already taller than the canopies. It didn't help much as Shakkoumon also was hovering about two metres from the grounds. Some of the branches of the trees were accidentally broken during the formation of the mutant digimon.

"We'll take care of Ice Devimon," Shakkoumon said with his dual voice, with Angemon's voice being clearer. They immediately rose up higher to meet their adversary.

"I feel so left out..." Aquilamon muttered. Being big himself, although nowhere as big as Paildramon and Shakkoumon, he still had some restrictions in moving. His DNA partner, Gatomon, no longer needed to DNA-Digivolve with him as she could achieve her Ultimate level with the new method of Trans Digivolution.

"Maybe you should power down now Aquilamon, we may need your help later," Yolei suggested. "You can help us out by watching over Leomon here. I think both Paildramon and Shakkoumon can handle the job."

"Good idea, Yolei," Aquilamon replied, and did as his partner had suggested.

Yolei smirked. "That's what you get for having a brains-and-beauty as a partner!"

Hawkmon sweatdropped. "I beg your pardon?"

"Nothing!" Yolei answered back, a little bit shrilly as she noticed the other Digidestined and Angewomon were looking at her strangely. Ken however had a slight smile formed on his face just before he shifted back his attention up, towards Paildramon and Shakkoumon.

Meanwhile, Shakkoumon and Paildramon found themselves facing Ice Devimon and Flame Wizardmon. To Paildramon's amusement, Flame Wizardmon looked somewhat paler than usual. The fiery wizard digimon was hovering close to Ice Devimon. He was cursing silently about being careless to be pricked with Stingmon's Moon Shooter attack. Ice Devimon in the meantime, looked just the same as before. He sneered towards both of them, particularly towards Shakkoumon.

"Hah, what a joke! A walking teapot!" he cackled.

"A joke I may be, but I'm a lot stronger than you to take you down easily!" Angemon's voice retorted back.

Ice Devimon scoffed. "Oh, so the boy angel's back. How nice." He raised his claws high, ready to strike. "Frost..."

"Oh no you don't! Desperado Blaster!" Paildramon intercepted before Ice Devimon could even start attacking Shakkoumon. The two machineguns strapped on either sides of his armor shot out hundreds of energy-based bullets all focused on the icy devil. He was determined to end this battle quickly, and since Flame Wizardmon wasn't in fit condition to fight he decided to assist Ice Devimon instead.

"Katchina Bombs!" Shakkoumon joined in. The center part of the armor covering his groin region opened up its compartments, releasing what Shakkoumon called the Katchina bombs aimed at Ice Devimon too. Being attacked by Paildramon at the same time, there was no way Ice Devimon could counter the attack.

Flame Wizardmon was angered, and felt as if he was underestimated when Paildramon ignored him blatantly. He raised his staff, ready to attack Paildramon when he wasn't looking. Slowly, he lowered himself and crept behind Paildramon. Meanwhile, Shakkoumon saw the chance to end the battle quickly when Ice Devimon seemed to be flustered.

"Justice Beam!" He summoned. Two rays of red beams shot out from his narrowed spherical eyes. The intense heat generated from the beam was somehow overwhelming, and Ice Devimon was pushed backwards several metres.

Flame Wizardmon sniggered as he came closer to attacking Paildramon. "Fire Clouds!!" he yelled, and enveloped Paildramon with dark black and red fiery clouds. The ambush shocked Paildramon as he was blasted with the attack full force. Unexpecting the attack, Paildramon spun his head to see his attacker, only to meet Flame Wizardmon's Fire Clouds blasted towards his face.

"Argghh!!!" Paildramon yelled in pain, and was hurled backwards. His eyes was covered by the smokes, unabling him to see his surroundings. Seeing his advantage, Flame Wizardmon proceeded to attack again, only to be met with an arrow made of pure light striking him from his behind. He spun furiously, and saw Angewomon hovering behind him. It was her who attacked him, and not realizing her presence as he was too busy attacking Paildramon, he saw that he was blasted at close proximity.

"You foul digimon. Two can play that game," Angewomon muttered.

"You'll pay for this, foolish girl!" Flame Wizardmon growled angrily. However, realizing that he was now facing two Ultimate digimons, he knew that he wouldn't stand a chance. Paildramon in the meantime managed to clear out the fire that enveloped him earlier.

"Thanks for the save Angewomon," Paildramon said, fixing his eyes towards Flame Wizardmon.

"Anytime," Angewomon replied back, her attention was still on Flame Wizardmon.

Shakkoumon joined Paildramon and Angewomon with Ice Devimon being hurled towards Flame Wizardmon. The three of them surrounded their defeated opponents, all ready to fire their attacks.

"Give it up while you still have the chance!" Shakkoumon demanded, his eyes letting out crimson lights at the same time, warning the digimons that he would use the Justice Beam attack. Paildramon closed in on the two digimons, ready to attack as well with his blasters, and Angewomon had summoned her bow and arrow.

"Never!" Ice Devimon spat back. "You still haven't win, foolish weaklings! Look!" he pointed his claws towards the direction where Paildramon was facing his back against. Not trusting him, Paildramon kept his gaze fixed on him while Angewomon floated higher to get a better view. She saw a creature resembling a black dragon was on its way towards them. The creature was flying with top speed, and at the same time a loud screeching roar suddenly was heard coming from it. As it got nearer, Angewomon realized what it was.

"It's Devidramon!" She gasped, and squinted her eyes to see better. "And there's something green riding it, but I can't see it clearly to confirm the rider's identity. It looks like a digimon as well." As the dark dragon digimon came closer towards them, Angewomon finally recognized the rider, although she didn't really believe it at first. "Ogremon's on that Devidramon," she said slowly, shocked at the same time. She thought that Ogremon was on their side.

Shakkoumon was perplexed, well the Angemon within Shakkoumon was the one perplexed while Ankylomon was only mildly surprised. "I thought he's on our side?" Angemon's voice came out from Shakkoumon, pretty much voicing out what Angewomon was thinking.

"Your side? Hah, you wish! He's serving our master now!" Flame Wizardmon retorted.

Devidramon loomed towards them and positioned himself beside Flame Wizardmon. "It's about time you show up, Devidramon."

"I'm here under the Master's order," Devidramon said simply. "Him too." Devidramon gestured at Ogremon who was riding on his back. Ogremon was holding his bone cudgel on his left hand, while balancing three black orbs on his right. His eyes were glowing red, and on his back was a Black Gear. Shakkoumon recognized it instantly.

"The Black Gear!" Shakkoumon exclaimed. "That means only one thing. Devimon! And Ogremon's under his control, he's not himself."

"Then we have to knock some senses on him now won't we?" Paildramon asked, and advanced towards Devidramon, Flame Wizardmon and Ice Devimon. "Desperado..."

"Crimson Claw!!" Devidramon yelled fiercely, and slashed Paildramon brutally before the latter could attack him. As if on cue, Ogremon jumped from Devidramon's head where he was standing, and threw one of the black orb towards Paildramon. The DNA-Digivolved digimon was hurled away by force that he couldn't balance himself for a while. Just as he managed to reposition himself, the black orb entered his neck region from behind, and Paildramon was electrocuted instantly by black lightning bolts that came from inside his body.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!!" Paildramon let out a sickening yell.

"Paildramon!!" Angewomon and Shakkoumon cried simultaneously. Turning to face Devidramon and Ogremon, Shakkoumon barked. "What did you do to him?!"

Ogremon, smiling viciously as he landed on Devidramon's outstretched palm, replied. "The same thing that I'm gonna do to you two!" He gathered up force to make another jump, and threw the remaining two orbs towards Shakkoumon and Angewomon. Being large, Shakkoumon was not agile or mobile, causing the black orb to enter his body easily through the chest. He suffered the same fate as Paildramon. Meanwhile, the angel of light was luckier, being small and agile, she evaded the black orb by flying away as fast as she could. The black orb however seemed to have a mind of his own as it gave chase to Angewomon. Finally just as it was about to enter Angewomon by the neck, Angewomon spun around and clasped her wings together to protect her body, forming instantly a circular pink force-field. (A/N: Like she did during the fight with Venom Myotismon) The orb bounced after hitting the shield Angewomon generated, and the angel quickly fired a pink laser beam through her index and middle finger, thus destroying the orb. Thus she was saved from the orb, and looked helplessly at her friends who were yelling in pain.

"The angel escaped!" Devidramon hissed furiously when Ogremon made a backflip in mid-air, landing on the dark dragon's head again. "The Master is not going to be so happy about this!"

"It's not my fault she escaped! I got the other two!" Ogremon growled back.

Paildramon felt himself losing power as he de-digivolved back to Ex Veemon and Stingmon. Strangely, the excruciating pain they had experienced together while as Paildramon had instantly vanished. The two Champion digimons were however bewildered that they didn't de-digivolved straight to their Rookie forms as they usually did whenever they de-digivolved. Luckily both Ex Veemon and Stingmon were airborne digimon, as Paildramon had de-digivolved in mid-air. Unfortunately, Shakkoumon seemed to be less fortunate. After de-digivolving back to Ankylomon and Angemon, the giant ankylosaur immediately was pulled back to the grounds by gravity. Angemon tried to get a hold on his partner, but Ankylomon was much too heavy for him alone. Angewomon rushed to their aid, but in terms of physical strength she was even weaker than Angemon, and was pulled down as well. The three of them zoomed towards the grounds, with Ex Veemon and Stingmon rushing as fast as they could to help Ankylomon from crashing on the grounds.

"You have to de-digivolve to Armadillomon now!!" Angemon yelled desperately.

"I can't! I don't know how! I still have the Diginizer's powers inside me!" Ankylomon shouted back. "Both of you, let go!"

"No!" Angewomon said defiantly. "We're not letting go!"

Ex Veemon and Stingmon then immediately flew past the three digimons, and tried their best to support Ankylomon's weight from the bottom part of the ankylosaur. With four digimons holding him, Ankylomon felt his falling speed had decreased gradually. The five of them supported Ankylomon all the way back to the grounds.

"Hey, what happened up there to you guys? How come you're not in your DNA-Digivolved forms?" Ken inquired as he and the other Digidestined approached the digimons.

"We don't know. We were hit by some strange black orbs up there by Ogremon!" Stingmon answered back furiously.

"Ogremon?" T.K. asked. "I thought he's on our side?"

"That's what I thought too. But apparently he's under the control of the Black Gear, which confirmed that Devimon is indeed back on this island," Angemon replied.

"C'mon guys, you have to DNA- Digivolve again," Davis said, and held out his Diginizer.

"Right!" Ex Veemon said. "Ex Veemon...!"

"Stingmon..."

"... DNA Digivolve to..." Instead of Paildramon appearing, Ex Veemon and Stingmon collided in mid air together and fell back on the grounds.

"Hey.. what happened?" Ex Veemon wondered. "How come we're not Paildramon?"

"Those orbs must be the reason behind this," Angemon concluded. He turned to face Ankylomon. "How about if we try it as well?"

"Okay! Ankylomon...!"

"Angemon...!"

"... DNA Digivolve to..." The same thing happened, only that this time around Angemon managed to back off from hitting himself on Ankylomon diamond-hard skin.

"This day had just gone from bad to worse!" Yolei moaned.

"I managed to destroy the orb which was aimed towards me, so I think Gatomon and Aquilamon can still DNA Digivolve," Angewomon said.

"You're the only pair left," Davis said slowly. "And our enemies are extremely strong!"

"Devimon really had it all planned out..." T.K. muttered furiously.

"Your dream, T.K.," Angemon began.

"I know," T.K. said immediately, cutting off what Angemon was trying to say. "It's not a coincidence."

"What do we do now?" Cody asked.

"Where's Leomon?" Angewomon suddenly remembered. "And I don't see Hawkmon around too."

"I had him to Armor Digivolve to Shurimon to guard Leomon while all of us came here when all of you crash-landed," Yolei replied.

"We can't fight them anymore. We have no choice but to retreat," Davis decided. The other Digidestined murmured their agreements, and set back to meet Shurimon and the unconscious Leomon whom the Armor digimon was guarding. However, something looked very wrong as they came nearer to where the two digimons were. Yolei immediately spotted the colors brown and white which stood out from the bushes where they were. "Oh no! Hawkmon!!" She ran to retrieve her fallen partner, who seemed to be extremely weak and hurt.

"What happened?" Ken asked, shocked to see Hawkmon's condition. He noticed too, that Leomon was gone. "Where's Leomon?"

Hawkmon opened his eyes slowly, feeling somehow relieved to see his partner. "It.. it's an..amb..ambush! Yash..amon... attack... take.. Leomon away," he wheezed weakly, and let out a cough.

"Shhhh..." Yolei said, feeling furious and sad at the same time. She felt her vision blurred by tears.

"Yo..lei, don't...cry.. I.. okay..rea..really..."

Yolei looked at Angewomon, who was standing behind her. "Can you..."

"Yes, Yolei. Please move aside, I will heal him," Angewomon said and kneeled beside Hawkmon. She placed one palm on Hawkmon's chest and tried her best to heal her friend. Pink aura emitted from her palm, and Angewomon willed her healing ability to heal the fallen bird digimon who was her DNA partner. She closed her eyes as she felt herself drained off powers, and when she opened her eyes again, she was no longer Angewomon. The Ultimate lady-angel digimon had reverted back to Kari and Gatomon, while Hawkmon was healed almost perfectly.

"Some bruises around, but you'll heal," Gatomon said with a smile.

"I'm glad you're allright," Kari said. "Sorry we can't fully heal you, we've used all our powers."

Hawkmon inspected himself. He did have some minor bruises here and there, but he no longer felt any pain or weak anymore. "Thank you, my friends." Yolei quickly picked up Hawkmon and hugged him tight.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" she cried happily, crushing Hawkmon in the process.

"I don't think he's going to be okay any longer if Yolei keeps on doing that," Davis said slowly.

"What happened Hawkmon? Where's Leomon?" Ken repeated his questions.

"Yolei... you're crushing me... let go... I'm fine..." came Hawkmon's muffled reply.

Yolei realized what she was doing and let go immediately. "Sorry."

Hawkmon stood on the grounds and looked at all of them. "After you guys were gone to check out the commotion, I was suddenly attacked from behind, which caused me to fall to the grounds instantly. I tried to get up, and saw the digimon who did that to me. It was Yashamon. Before I could get up he beat me up with his wooden swords, and then three digimons emerged from the woods. All of them had glowing red eyes, but I recognized them as a Meramon, a Frigimon and a Mojyamon. However they seemed to have these strange gear-like devices stuck on their back. All of them attacked me at once, leaving me outnumbered. I de-digivolved and was thrown away in the bushes. Then I saw all of them carrying Leomon away before everything became black to me. And the worst thing is... it all happened within five minutes! FIVE MINUTES! I feel so humiliated!"

"Seems like Devimon possessed many other digimons other than Ogremon," T.K. said. "The gears you saw on their backs were the Black Gears, Hawkmon. Devimon created them to control the minds of digimons."

"There's no way you could fight off all of them at once, Hawkmon," Gatomon assured him. "Just be thankful you survived. Then you can have revenge!" Her expression became slightly dangerous as she said this. "I'll even help you. Do you know that we're the only DNA Digivolution pair now? The others couldn't DNA digivolve anymore."

Hawkmon's eyes bulged after hearing this. "Why?" Gatomon proceeded by telling him the whole story.

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

"Everything turned almost the way I expected," Devimon said with grim satisfaction. "Although they missed one DNA Digivolution pair, and destroyed two of my minions, it doesn't matter. I managed to get Imperialdramon out of the way, and the Child of Hope can no longer make his digimon partner advance from his Champion form. It's perfect!"

In the shadows, five pairs of red eyes watched as Devimon performed a ritual which involved some chantings. They'd returned to the fortress upon Devimon's order, although they had the chance to beat the Digidestined for good if given a little more time. However, Devimon had other plans for them and so, they obeyed their master and retreated as well.

Power of darkness, hear me now

A spell I shall cast

My enemies I shall defeat

Steal what is theirs and make it mine

Bind their powers to my own

Two red orbs formed on Devimon's palms, their colors the same as the devil digimon's eyes. Holding the red orbs tightly, he stood from his throne and met the gazes of his faithful minions. Opening his palm, he displayed the two red orbs to them.

"These red orbs contain the power to DNA Digivolve from those digimons struck by the black orbs earlier. It's a pity one of them was destroyed, otherwise we would have three red orbs now with us," Devimon stopped, and stared into Ogremon's eyes. His gaze was enough to scare the ogre digimon.

"I'm sorry master! I didn't expect her to shield herself like that!" he croaked.

"She's not even a DNA-Digivolved digimon, fool! You should have saved the last orb until Silphymon appeared!" Devimon barked back, and Ogremon cowered in fear. "However, you managed to do your assigned task just fine with the other two, so I will not punish you. In fact, you should be thankful that you will even have your reward." Devimon's gaze suddenly became more penetrating as he dropped his voice. "Your eternal reward," he said coldly. Ogremon couldn't think of what to say, so he resorted to nodding in aggrement.

"I'm honored, master."

"Good. Then let's begin the ceremony. You!" Devimon pointed towards Ogremon, and gestured at the unconscious body of Leomon. "Take Leomon's body and stand in the center of the hall. Now!!" Ogremon quickly did as he was instructed.

Power of darkness, hear me now

A spell I shall cast

Bind these two to become one

Bind their loyalties to me

Bind their powers to my own

One of the red orb hovered above Ogremon, who was standing beside the unconscious body of Leomon. The orb then showered both of them with crimson beam of light, which was so bright the other digimons had to close their eyes. Devimon continued to chant the spell over and over again, each time the spell was repeated the rhythm became faster, and his voice became louder until it echoed all over the hall. Thunders rumbled inside the great hall furiously and winds blew in all directions. The candles which were used to lit up the dark hall were extinguished of their flames, leaving the hall to be lit by the glowing red orb. A ghostly image of a huge black ring appeared in the center of the hall where Ogremon stood, and where Leomon was sprawled. Black Gears came from all directions, encircling Ogremon and Leomon from all directions until they became nothing more than black energy balls which both Ogremon and Leomon absorbed. The other digimons, with the exception of Devimon, heard Ogremon cried out loudly in the midst of the thunders, winds and Devimon's chantings.

"Ogremon... DNA-Digivolve to... "

(A/N: Well that's it for now. This chapter is really hard to write, but I've decided to leave it right there, making it a cliffhanger. What form would Ogremon and Leomon took once they DNA Digivolved? Find out next, on Digimon 02 : Vengeance!)