VENGEANCE

Chapter 25 – Catrina's Grand Entrance

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It was a day out for the Digidestined today. TK was still in France, spending another week at his grandfather's house. Cody was busy training with his Kendo for an upcoming state tournament, while Davis spent the day with his soccer buddies, reviewing techniques and strategies to improve their team. Kari just used the day to have a rest. She after all, hadn't had the chance to do so; upon her arrival from Hokkaido she was immediately being asked to assist the other Digidestined in battling Chaos Seadramon.

And as for Yolei and Ken, they had decided to use the free time to go out for . . . their first date!

Huh? Well, back when Ken and Yolei had gone to the Cave of Illusions in order to revive the frozen Wormmon, Yolei had given Ken a kiss as a token of good luck and wished him a safe journey before he entered the cave. And that got Ken thinking just after the whole ordeal with the cave, Chaos Seadramon and Gennai's revelations were over.

They had gotten a lot closer after their last battle with MaloMyotismon, and all the while, Yolei had been very supportive and helpful towards him. She had attended nearly all the soccer matches he had taken part into up until the arrival of Chaos Specter. And when he had decided to become a tutor for the younger, ex-Dark Spore kids-turned-Digidestined, Yolei had offered to help him out with the job. Free of charge, and no questions asked.

That had made Ken wonder once in a while; did Yolei want to be more than just friends?

With Wormmon's support, Ken braved himself and called Yolei via telephone that very night, and blurted that he wanted to ask her out for a date.

Yolei had practically screamed in surprise upon hearing the request, and was momentarily dazed. Here he was, Ken Ichijouji, the one whom she used to have a crush on, was asking her out for a date. At first Yolei had thought of her crush as merely a passing one, and she had once hated the boy prior to learning that he was the Digimon Emperor. But when Ken had turned over a new leaf, she found those feelings resurfacing, but kept it to herself, dismissing it as the feelings of friendship.

In fact, what made it more shocking was the fact that this was the first time anyone had asked her out for a date, if she counted out Cody, whom she had been best friends with for years.

So needless to say, she practically cried out her agreement.

And for the next couple of hours, the two of them chatted via the instant messenger, planning their first date. Of course, they would not officially date as a couple yet. Firstly, they were too young. And secondly . . . they weren't old enough. They would settle for now as extra-special-best friends, as Yolei had worded it via the IM.

So, how would they spend their first date? Ken had suggested watching a movie, while Yolei had thought of visiting the mall. No, they had decided. Something was missing, something to make it extra special.

That was when Wormmon and Hawkmon both decided to pitch in their two cents. They came up with the idea for the two Digidestined to have their first date at the Digital World. It would be memorable; not everyone had the chance to go to the Digital World. And as for a place to eat, what place on the Digital World served good food, if not Digitamamon's Diner?

Both Yolei and Ken brightened up upon the suggestion. As Yolei would have said, "Perfecto!"

The digimon then practically invited themselves to tag along. "What if something happen? You'd need us to protect you," Wormmon had reminded.

So, the decision was made. The digimon were allowed to follow them, but they had to be in their best behavior.

"Hey, what did you mean by that?" Hawkmon had asked indignantly. "Of course we'll behave!"

However then came the argument between the two digimon, much to the Digidestined's amusement. Hawkmon had wanted to go to the diner in front of the lake, while Wormmon preferred the Chinatown's diner. Ken then pointed out that he and Wormmon hadn't had the chance to go to the diner by the lake yet, and the decision was made. They would go to the diner by the lake.

And so the next day, the four of them met up at the park by the morning. Each noticed that the other had taken a great amount of effort to make him/her looked presentable.

Ken was wearing a neat light blue button-up short-sleeved shirt tucked inside a pair of khakis. And for once, Yolei noted, he had applied gel to his dark blue hair, and combed it neatly backward.

Yolei on the other hand, opted for a more casual outfit. She had chosen a pair of light blue jeans which ended just below her knees, and a simple red T-shirt. But what was surprising for Ken was that she had applied a light make-up, and wore a pink headband over her head. Ken had to say that she looked simply stunning, and Yolei graciously accepted the compliment while commenting that Ken looked good too.

Then, they opened up a Digiport to Asuka Laboratory first, to ask Gennai whether it would be alright for them to go the East Sector where the diner was. Upon arrival they noticed that the lab was particularly empty, save for the Piximon crew.

"So is it OK for us to go there?" Ken asked, after explaining to Gennai about the date.

The young digital man chuckled lightly. "Of course, and I'm sure Digitamamon will be glad to have you around."

"What if there's trouble?" Yolei inquired. "As far as I remember, the Tree-top Village still was under Chaos Piedmon's hand."

"Don't worry about it," Gennai replied assuringly. "All of you kids deserve a break once in a while. And as for the Tree-top Village; GrapLeomon, Piximon and Jewelbeemon had gone off earlier this morning to check out the situation. All the angels are downstairs, and Doumon is in the gym, training."

He then keyed in the coordinates of Digitamamon's Diner inside the computers and opened up a Digiport which would lead them there. "Have fun!" he said, with a wink.

Ken, Yolei and their digimon then entered the Digiport and were brought straight to their destination.


Digitamamon's diner was still pretty much remained the same. Located on a small island at the East Sector of the Server Continent, in front of a crystal clear blue lake and surrounded by lush green forest, it was an ideal spot for the two Digidestined to spend their time together. The diner was a large one storey building painted in white with brown roof. For the whole Digidestined group, two memorable events had occurred at this very place.

First was when Joe and Gomamon found their way to the diner, and decided to have a meal there. They couldn't pay for their meal, and ended up washing the dishes as compensation. Matt and Gabumon found them later on, and they lent Joe a hand with the dishes. Unknown to them, Demidevimon, who was a servant of Myotismon, was there causing all sorts of accidents that would put the blame on Joe. Then Digitamamon provoked an attack towards Joe, Matt and TK, but was defeated by the timely digivolution of Garurumon into WereGarurumon. It was revealed that Digitamamon was under the influence of the Dark Masters, which was the reason of his nasty attitude.

Three years later, the new batch of Digidestined, sans Ken, went over to the diner for a meal. Currency issue caused the problem, when Digitamamon demanded dollars when all the kids had were yen. This time around, it was Michael and Mimi who saved the day when Michael produced dollars to pay up for the meal. Later, Digitamamon was caught on with the Dark Spiral, and it took all five Armor digimon, with the newest being Shurimon, to destroy the spiral which was buried deep inside Digitamamon's inner eggshell, returning him to his usual self.


As the four of them entered the restaurant, they were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a familiar face.

"Hi! Welcome to Digitamamon's Diner," greeted a young girl pleasantly when she heard the entrance bell ringing. She had messy black hair and a pair of shining grayish-black eyes. She was wearing a cream colored T-shirt and brown shorts under a pink apron, and a matching pink cap. When she saw the incoming customers, she grinned wide. "Ken! Yolei!"

The two Digidestined smiled upon seeing the enthusiastic girl. "Hello, Noriko," Ken greeted warmly. "We certainly don't expect to see you here. What are you doing here?"

"I work here," Noriko answered with a grin. "Me and my partner, Penguinmon; both of us work here." She turned around to face a plump penguin-like digimon with dark blue skin and white patch of fur in front of its body. The digimon had a pair of reddish brown eyes, and its yellow beak was striped with black at the upper-front part. This was Penguinmon, Noriko's partner. "Penguinmon, come and say Hi to them!"

"Hello! Nice to meet you," Penguinmon greeted.

Ken and Yolei returned the greetings, while Wormmon and Hawkmon said, "Hi!" Ken and Yolei had already known Noriko as Ken had offered to tutor the ex-Dark Spore kids during the holiday, and once in a while Yolei had helped him. The two of them were popular with the younger kids due to this.

"You work here?" Yolei asked, surprised. "You mean, Digitamamon actually paid you to work here?"

Noriko grinned sheepishly. "Well . . . not exactly. Actually, we're working off our bills."

A vein nearly popped out from Yolei's forehead. "What?" she hissed.

"Is there something I can do for all of you?" a gruff voice asked from somewhere behind Noriko and Penguinmon. They jumped slightly and turned to face an egg-like digimon with green reptilian legs protruding out from below. Those legs ended up with magenta talons, and on the surface of the diamond-hard egg there was a portion of it that was cracked – revealing two small pairs of yellow eyes against a pitch black background.

"Digitamamon!" all of them said in unison.

"Yes, it's me alright. I'm pleased and all to meet you again, but I've got a business to run and customers to tend to," Digitamamon replied in his no-nonsense attitude. He then glared at Noriko and Penguinmon. "You two – into the kitchen pronto! Veggiemon, Keiko and Salamon are having their hands full and they could use your help."

"Yes, Mr. Digitamamon," Noriko mumbled and sauntered off towards the curtained doorway near the counter, with Penguinmon following her closely from behind.

"Now," Digitamamon turned back to face Yolei and Ken. "Can I do something for you?"

"Did you force Noriko and her partner to work off their bills?" Yolei demanded.

"I heard you said that Keiko and Salamon are also here," Ken said.

"Yes, since they have no dollars to pay up for their meals. It's only fair if they work here momentarily until the four of them have covered the cost of their bills. No freebies. Besides, it's none of your business. The girls and their partners seem to have fun here, as I can see. And don't worry your head of about them – I treat my employees fairly."

Yolei was about to retort when Ken stopped her. "No use arguing. We'll ask Noriko and Keiko to explain to us later," he whispered.

The lavender-haired girl nodded sullenly. Then, a loud screech was heard from the kitchen and both Noriko and a girl with brown hair tied in ponytail stepped out from the curtained door. She was wearing the same hat and apron like Noriko, over a pair of light-yellow dress. Both Ken and Yolei recognized this other girl as Keiko, another one of the Dark Spore kids.

"What have you done this time?" Digitamamon demanded with a slightly weary tone.

"Sorry, Mr. Digitamamon," Keiko apologized. "We've accidentally broken another plate."

"Veggiemon chased us out of his kitchen," Noriko added.

"That's three more days for you to work here!" Digitamamon snapped. "Now, please do something right this time and point our guests to their tables. You certainly can't do that wrong, can you?" He said skeptically and went into the kitchen to inspect the damage.

Then, Noriko and Keiko led the two older Digidestined towards one booth located at the farthest end of the diner. Ken and Yolei could see that as it was still morning, the diner was still empty. A Tapirmon was seen wiping one of the glass windows inside the diner, and another Tapirmon was hovering near the counter. Ken and Yolei then sat on one booth, while their partners sat on another.

"What will be your orders?" Keiko inquired, and giggled. She handed them the menu. "I've always wanted to say that."

"First of all, both of you . . ." Yolei said and pointed towards the two girls. "Take a seat, and spill the whole story."

The two girls obliged and each pulled a chair from the corner of the counter.

"Well . . . it was actually two days ago," Noriko began. "The four of us have come over here to spend the day at the Digital World. The Digiport brought us here, and we were hungry. So we came into the diner and ordered some food; we thought that we could pay the bills in yen."

"I think I know where this is going," Yolei said understandingly, and told them about her first encounter with Digitamamon. Even Ken was listening, as he wasn't present back then. "It was lucky for us that Michael and Mimi showed up and helped with the bills," she finished.

"I wouldn't say working here as unlucky," Keiko said cheerfully. "Both of us really enjoyed working here."

"I'd say that it's a nice experience . . . now being summer holiday and all," Noriko added, nodding. "But our partners don't seem to think so. Yesterday, Penguinmon had accidentally spilled over a drink on a customer, and Salamon had mixed up an order – causing a few customers to complain to Digitamamon. As a result, we now have one week worth of working here. Not that we're complaining, of course."

"Yeah, we actually managed to learn a lot of things from Veggiemon and Digitamamon," Keiko said. "New recipes and all . . . Veggiemon told us that it was supposed to be a secret between him and Digitamamon only, but both of us saw how he prepared a meal and figured it out ourselves."

"Anyway, we better take your orders now or Digitamamon will blow another fuse," Noriko quickly cut in, and took out a small notebook and a pen. Keiko moved to the other booth to take Wormmon and Hawkmon's orders. The older Digidestined and digimon gave their orders and the two girls then took off to the kitchen to start preparing the meals.

"Do you have the right currency to pay for the meals?" Yolei asked worriedly. "I don't want to work off my bills like them."

Ken grinned. "Don't worry about it. I have things under control."

"So . . . our first date, huh?" Yolei asked, and glanced around nervously. She really didn't know what else to say.

"Yeah," Ken replied, also loss of words. They fell in silence, and managed to hear their partners talking animatedly from the booth beside them.

"They seem to be enjoying themselves," Yolei noted dryly, trying to start a conversation from a new topic.

"Yeah, I guess so," Ken said, still nervous. "Stupid Ichijouji," he mentally scolded himself.

Yolei sighed. "Oh this is silly!" she said suddenly. She then looked straight into Ken's eyes and said, "I've been meaning to ask you this for a long time. Why me? I mean . . . you're popular, good-looking, smart, and there are a lot of girls prettier than me who've been dying for even a chance to speak with you. So what do you see in me?" Then, the girl blushed furiously and forced herself to stare at the table.

Ken's mind jolted instantly upon hearing the question. This was the opening he was waiting for. "Yolei . . . I see a lot of things in you. You're brilliant, beautiful, and most importantly, sincere and true to your heart. You're never afraid to speak your heart, and that's what I like most about you. Also . . . "

And needless to say, the conversation between the couple kicked off instantly.


Wandering around the throne room of Velvet Claw, Catrina was practically bored to death. No one was there to entertain her. Chaos Specter had gone off to Protocol Ruins to assess the condition of the Devidramon he had, Chaos Piedmon was at a village somewhere she didn't have a clue of, and Chaos Seadramon simply didn't want to be disturbed while resting in his private chamber.

The BlackGatomon was jaded. If only she wasn't still asleep she would be already going with her master to the ruins. Chaos Piedmon in the meantime, only thought of her as a mere nuisance and refused to bring her along to the village he was going, despite her threatening the general that she would report it to their master.

As uninterested as she had been, Catrina had been pacing agitatedly all around the empty throne room for nearly an hour by now.

"I'm BORED!" she screamed, to no one in particular. "Isn't there anything exciting happening around here? Chaos AI, show me anything that would interest the master. Maybe I can find something to do."

"Affirmative," replied the female computerized voice of Chaos AI.

The big main screen inside the throne room flickered, and showed Catrina a white building located in front of a lake.

"What's this place you are showing me?" Catrina demanded.

"Sensors have located two of the twelve targeted Digidestined inside the building shown on the screen. Two targeted digimon are also in their company, along with five unregistered digimon and two unknown humans."

"Really?" Catrina asked excitedly. "Digidestined? Here? Now's my chance to shine. Cut the talk, and just show me the Digidestined and their partners!"

"Affirmative." The screen then showed the images of Ken and Yolei, chatting excitedly. Then, it shifted to reveal Wormmon and Hawkmon, contently eating their meal. Then the scene switched to inside the kitchen, showing a Digitamamon, a Veggiemon, a Tapirmon, a Salamon, a Penguinmon and two human girls whom Catrina didn't recognize.

"Are those two humans Digidestined as well?"

"Sensors have detected two D3 signals coming from the humans."

"Okay, and tell me, is any of the digimon shown here, by any chance, an Ultimate?"

"Affirmative." A soft buzzing sound was heard for a while, and Catrina tapped her feet impatiently. "Sensors have detected one Ultimate digimon among the digimon present inside the building. Initiating Digimon Analyzer now."

A holographic image of an egg-shaped digimon then appeared in the middle of the throne room, projected by a beam of yellow light that was coming from a circular metallic podium on the floor. The podium was the only place which wasn't covered with red carpet. The hologram spun around slowly, giving Catrina a good view on all of the digimon's dimensions.

Chaos AI's voice echoed all over the throne room as it cited the attributes of the analyzed digimon.

----------DIGIMON ANALYZER-----------
Digitamamon, an Ultimate level digimon of Data type. Its attacks are Nightmare Syndrome and Hyper Flashing. Power Level is 55.

"What a joke!" Catrina laughed airily. "I can take him on while in this stage."

"Sensors have also detected one digimon with the ability to digivolve into Ultimate level. Initiating Digimon Analyzer now."

The hologram changed into a small green caterpillar. As the properties of the digimon were given, the hologram of the caterpillar turned into an insect warrior, and then changed again to reveal a more fearsome insectoid fighter.

----------DIGIMON ANALYZER-----------
Wormmon, Rookie level digimon of Virus type. Its attacks are Silk Thread and Sticky Net. Subject is known to be able to digivolve into Stingmon – Champion, and Dinobeemon – Ultimate. In Ultimate level, subject is detected to have the power level of 78.

Catrina gulped. "This Wormmon is really strong. I'm gonna need somebody to back me up if I want to fight him."

"Affirmative."

"I don't ask for your opinion, knuckle-head!" Catrina snapped irritably, but then an idea came to her mind. "Hey, computer, show me an Ultimate, VACCINE digimon we have in our command. If I'm going down there, I better bring in somebody that can take care of that fish-bait first."

"Affirmative. Scanning . . . Scanning completed. Initiating Digimon Analyzer now."

Wormmon's holographic image disappeared, and was replaced by a dark-skinned humanoid digimon, with two pairs of hands, a muscular body, and a three-faced mask. Fire seemed to be blazing around the shown digimon.

----------DIGIMON ANALYZER-----------
Asuramon, an Ultimate level digimon of Vaccine type. Its attacks are the Fire Fist of Shiva and Multiple Faces. Its power level is 65.

Catrina nodded in satisfaction. "He'll do. Chaos AI, analyze me too. I wanna know my chances against them."

"Command affirmed."

----------DIGIMON ANALYZER-----------
BlackGatomon, a Champion level digimon of Virus type. Its attacks are Lightning Claw and Cat's Eye Hypnotism. Subject is known to be able to digivolve into Bastemon – Ultimate. In Ultimate level, subject is detected to have the power level of 62. Subject is known also to be able to perform a mode change; whilst in this form subject's power level increased to 67.

"Purr-fect!" Catrina squealed delightfully. "Now, it's time for the alluring, the beautiful, the gorgeous CATRINA to make her grand appearance to those good for nothing Digidestined. I'll finish off two Digidestined in one go, and master will so going to be pleased with me."


At the Protocol Ruins, Chaos Specter was with Datamon analyzing the development of Devidramon. As glad as he was to see that the Demidevimon he had captured earlier digivolved, the intergalactic Digital World conqueror couldn't help but to feel slightly impatient.

"How long will it take for Devidramon to digivolve into Kimeramon?" he demanded to Datamon.

Datamon considered upon the inquiry, making quick calculations in his brain. "Ascending to Champion level is considered as relatively easy for digimon, but the same thing can't be said for those who want to digivolve further. What Devidramon need is more power."

Chaos Specter nodded. "I know that." He glanced to the tube which contained the unconscious Wargreymon, who was originally one of his Chaos Generals. "Haven't you started transferring Wargreymon's power to Devidramon?"

"No, I haven't," Datamon replied. "It would be too risky for Demidevimon to take on too much of Wargreymon's powers while in his Rookie stage. But now, perhaps Devidramon is ready to begin receiving the power."

"Good. Do it, now!"

Datamon complied, and pressed on the buttons of the console machine. The screen then showed the outline of Wargreymon, with the inside colored red. Then, the same outline imagery for Devidramon appeared beside Wargreymon. The image had grey outline against the black background, and the insides were black as well.

"Begin power transfer now."

The two tubes holding Wargreymon and Devidramon glowed with yellow lights, and the water inside of the tubes bubbled. In his unconscious state, Wargreymon convulsed as his power was drained.

Red color began to fill in Devidramon's formerly black image, as it began to diminish inside Wargreymon's image. As the amount of color increased in Devidramon, it was also decreasing inside Wargreymon simultaneously. The process continued for about half an hour, until the red color inside of Devidramon had been half-filled. The yellow glow from the tubes dimmed gradually, leaving a limped Wargreymon and an energized Devidramon.

"Devidramon now has enough power to digivolve into Ultimate," Datamon announced.

"Don't do it now," Chaos Specter warned. "The tube will break if he digivolves."

However, fate had other plans for the two experimented digimon.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

The alarm from the computer suddenly blared all over the ruins. The echoing sounds were deafening, and Datamon panicked as he begun pressing on the buttons on the console furiously, trying to stop the alarm. Nothing he did could stop the alarm from emitting the noise, and he gave up instantly. Chaos Specter saw that both tubes containing Devidramon and Wargreymon begun to glow with deep red lights. Both digimon opened their eyes, and to his surprise both digimon had glowing red eyes.

An announcement made by the computer amidst the blaring sounds of the alarm surprised Chaos Specter even more.

DE-DIGIVOLUTION

"What in the blazes?" he wondered.

His pondering was answered when Wargreymon's body begun to grew in an alarmingly quick state. All his body was enveloped with deep crimson lights, and the tube containing him smashed upon the forceful pressure from Wargreymon's enlarging body. Water spilled out from the tubes as Wargreymon hovered outside the tube. He then grew in size, taking a form of a massive winged grey dinosaur-like digimon with cybernetic implants on some parts of his body.

It then dawned to Chaos Specter what was exactly happening, as a viral MetalGreymon resulted from the transformation. As some of Wargreymon's power had been transferred to Devidramon, he could no longer maintain his Mega form – thus reverted into his Ultimate form to accommodate the less amount of power he had.

MetalGreymon's eyes flashed bright crimson as he eyed Chaos Specter. He then advanced a few steps closer silently towards Chaos Specter, while not taking his eyes off the human.

The Zeed Crystal, earlier embedded on Wargreymon's armor was now attached in the middle of the two missile launchers on his chest. The crystal began pulsating, as if it was MetalGreymon's heart. With every pulse it let out waves of alternating blue and red energy. MetalGreymon then turned to face Devidramon, which was still contained inside the cylindrical glass tube. Roaring loudly, he focused the waves from the crystal towards the dark dragon. The waves enveloped and penetrated the glass barrier of the tube, causing the tube to begin cracking.

Then, the computer made another announcement.

DIGIVOLUTION

With aid of the powers from Wargreymon and the blue-and-red energy waves, Devidramon's body began to increase in size as well, shattering the tube containing him. He was undergoing a digivolution, and a ball of black energy enveloped him. Wings of Airdramon and Angemon materialized on his back, and the hands of Devimon, SkullGreymon and Kuwagamon replaced his claws. His whole body then changed into a Greymon's body with Garurumon's hind legs. His head morphed into that of Kabuterimon, complete with the helmet, and MetalGreymon's hair sprouting out from the helmet. The ball of black energy exploded, revealing a grotesque monster known only as . . .

"Kimeramon!" Chaos Specter exclaimed. "Finally!"

Kimeramon stood still as a statue, not moving one bit. His head had barely reached the ceilings, and he had to hunch in order to accommodate his massive size and height. The mutant digimon growled in displeasure and looked around him in confusion.

The red and blue waves from the Zeed Crystal then formed two hydra-shaped specters with the same colors as the waves had been. After that, the blue hydra surrounded MetalGreymon's body while the red hydra did the same thing with Kimeramon. An ominous laughter was heard coming from out of nowhere, filling Chaos Specter with dread. He didn't recognize the laughter, but it sounded purely evil and Chaos Specter couldn't help from feeling intimidated.

The swirling hydras then broke apart into bits of data, and went into Kimeramon and MetalGreymon's bodies without the digimon willing it. Both digimon could feel their power increasing, and instantly the red glow from their eyes disappeared.

"What was that all about?" Chaos Specter contemplated with himself. However he didn't have time to think much longer, when . . .

"Heat Viper!"

"Giga Destroyer!"

Suddenly without any provocation, Kimeramon released a jet of flames from his wide-opened mouth, while MetalGreymon unleashed his missiles. Both attacks were aimed solely towards the machines Chaos Specter had set up inside the ruins. Seeing as they were in the path of the attacks, Chaos Specter and Datamon immediately jumped out of the way, and watched in mixed feelings of surprise and horror as the attacks struck all over the machines, destroying it with a single loud explosion.

The entire structure of the ruins shook as the result of the explosion. The floor cracked, while the roof was beginning to collapse. Electrical charges resulted from the ruined machines were beginning to catch up with the waters from the destroyed tanks. As the water was everywhere, Chaos Specter realized that he was in danger of being electrocuted.

"What in the world!" he yelled, and immediately produced his cobra staff. Quickly, he covered himself just in time before the electrical charges made contact with the water. He turned around to save Datamon, but to his horror the little machinery digimon had been brutally electrocuted. His eyes widened upon hearing the screams coming from Datamon before it was deleted.

Kimeramon and MetalGreymon in the meantime had lifted themselves up into the air, breaking up the ceiling even more in the process. MetalGreymon then fired a series of Giga Destroyer towards the ceilings, tearing up a hole leading outside. Kimeramon followed up by unleashed his Heat Viper and widened the opening. As the constitution of Protocol Ruins collapsing, the two digimon flew through the whole and escaped. They cast a glance behind, and saw Chaos Specter being buried alive underneath the rubbles. They cackled upon seeing Chaos Specter's predicament and set off to the sky.

Suddenly the two digimon were intercepted by a Megadramon and a Gigadramon, both were assigned by Chaos Specter to guard the aerial region of the Protocol Ruins. Seeing Kimeramon and MetalGreymon, the two dragons quickly fired their attacks, thinking of them as the enemies. Kimeramon growled impatiently as he evaded the attacks and let loose his Heat Viper again. The raging flames enveloped Megadramon, deleting the dark dragon effortlessly.

MetalGreymon found himself facing the larger, greyer Gigadramon. Gigadramon had used his Gigabyte Wing attack to shower MetalGreymon with numerous missiles erupting from his wings. MetalGreymon intercepted the missiles easily with his Mega Claw, before firing a well-aimed Giga Destroyer directly on Gigadramon's chest, deleting the shadowed dragon instantly.

Then, both of them began to make their way up north, away from the half destroyed ruins.


As two hours had passed, Ken and Yolei were still inside Digitamamon's Diner. After their initial conversation had kicked off, they found more and more topics to discuss, and were happily exchanging thoughts, ideas and some of their funniest and most embarrassing stories with each other. They didn't even notice how the time had passed as they were too engrossed with their conversation.

It was their digimon who got bored, and they implored for their partners to get them desserts. Ken complied, and ordered eight ice-creams. Digitamamon was confused, seeing that there were only four of them. Both Ken and Yolei explained that they wanted for Noriko, Keiko and their partners to join them for desserts. After all, throughout the two hours they had been here, they saw how hard the two girls had worked. More customers had come over in the past two hours, either for eating there or for a take-away.

"Cut them some slack, Digitamamon," Yolei pleaded. "After all, they deserve a break after slaving themselves to all the customers for two hours."

Digitamamon blushed slightly. "Do you really think that I made the girls work too hard?"

Yolei crossed her arms. "Like, DUH!"

"Besides that, think of how you've managed with their help today. I'm sure you'd never been able to manage it as efficiently as you did today, considering the crowd," Ken pointed out. "Is it always like this everyday?"

"Well, today is weekend," Digitamamon replied. "Business is always better during weekends. And you're right; the girls do deserve their breaks. I'll go and call the girls and their partner. And as for the ice-creams, they're on the house."

"Thanks!" Yolei said gratefully.

"I thought you said no freebies?" Hawkmon asked in confusion. "And now you're giving free ice-creams?"

Digitamamon glared closely at the hawk digimon. "Don't push it. Of course, if you want to pay, then by all means."

Hawkmon gulped. "No thanks. I'll take the ice-cream as free as it is."

Digitamamon then went off to get the desserts. And just then, two humanoid customers stepped into the diner, immediately drawing the attention from everyone inside the diner. One of the customers was obviously female, who seemed to have the qualities of a cat on her. She was a beautiful digimon indeed, with red hair flowing down her back and was dressed in a yellow pants and a red top which left her shoulder bare. The female had dark brown fur covering her skin, and her face was veiled. She wore an assortment of jewelries on her hands, legs and tails.

The other digimon was a fearsome, muscular black-skinned digimon which resembled an Indian deity. With two pairs of muscled hands and three faces, covered with blue, red and yellow masks, the red-haired digimon looked foreboding indeed. He was nearly naked, save for a strategically-placed long scarlet loincloth secured by a white belt. He wore gold bracelets on all four wrists, and gold boots which flared with red fire. On his back was something that looked like a large golden crescent statue, with crimson flames erupting all over.

"They sure look like a matching couple," Yolei whispered to Ken, and giggled.

"I've never seen such digimon," Ken replied. "Hold on a sec while I scan them with the analyzer. . . . . Okay, I've got it. They're Bastemon and Asuramon, both Ultimate level digimon. Bastemon is a Virus type, while Asuramon is Vaccine."

Digitamamon scurried over the newly-arrived customers and greeted them. However, the digimon known as Bastemon raised a clawed hand to stop Digitamamon from speaking.

"Rrrooww . . . we're here for the Digidestined," the Bastemon said with a high-pitched voice that sounded so much like a cat's purring. Her tone sounded cold, although it also had a velvety flow in it.

Ken and Yolei tensed slightly upon hearing what the Bastemon had just said. Were the two digimon up to no good?

"I am known as Catrina, and I'm here to destroy the Digidestined, rrrooww," she added, confirming what Ken and Yolei had suspected earlier.

"Oh no, you don't!" Digitamamon retorted back. "Not in my restaurant!"

Suddenly, both Noriko and Keiko came from the kitchen, each carrying a tray with four bowls of ice-creams on it. Their partners, Penguinmon and Salamon, ran along behind their partners. They set the trays down on the counter and approached Digitamamon.

"I thought I heard somebody mentioning something about the Digidestined?" Noriko asked, and looked around.

"That's us," Keiko declared, and giggled. "We're the newest batch of Digidestined!"

"Here are our partners," Noriko continued, motioning towards Penguinmon and Salamon. Both of them were not aware that the two digimon they were meeting now were on the opposite side.

Ken and Yolei slapped their foreheads morosely, but continued watching from their booth, which was hidden from Catrina or Asuramon. They wanted to know their motives first before revealing themselves. Wormmon and Hawkmon were eager to go out and battle, and had to be restrained by their respective partners.

Catrina twitched her nose slightly. "Rrrooww, I don't remember seeing you two before. But you have partners, so you are Digidestined too. Prepare yourself, brats. I'm here to destroy all the Digidestined."

Noriko and Keiko both gulped. "Uh-oh . . ."

"Not here! Not in my diner!" Digitamamon cried. "Take whatever battle you want to have outside!"

"Look, we don't want to battle you," Noriko tried to reason. "We've never fight anyone before."

"Can we settle it in a peaceful way?" Keiko asked hopefully.

"Nuh-uh-uh . . . you don't exactly have a choice, rrrooww," Catrina said silkily, while brandishing her claws. She began approaching the two girls with claws pointing forward. She had an evil grin plastered on her face as she raised a hand.

Digitamamon, Penguinmon and Salamon immediately jumped forward the two girls and glared towards Catrina.

"I'm warning you," Digitamamon said venomously. "I won't tolerate anyone who fights in my establishment. And I won't let you harm my workers."

"Oh, is that so?" Catrina asked sweetly. "Then you'll be deleted as well."

Ken and Yolei couldn't stand seeing this anymore. Whoever this Catrina was, she was clearly looking for them, not Noriko and Keiko, and certainly not Digitamamon. With that in mind, both of them revealed themselves.

"Hey! Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" Yolei yelled.

"Don't harm them! It's us you want!" Ken declared. "We're the Digidestined you're looking for."

Catrina saw that the Ken and Yolei had Wormmon and Hawkmon with them. She smiled evilly.

"Well, let's come outside and we'll settle this, rrrooww," Catrina said, and exited the diner. Asuramon merely grunted and followed Catrina's lead.


Outside, the atmosphere began to tense. Most customers of the diner, to Digitamamon's dismay, had left the diner in a hurry. What really irked him was the fact that they hadn't paid up for their meals, which caused him to lose some of the day's fortune. To vent his anger, he offered to fight alongside the Digidestined as well.

"Just before we start the fight, let me introduce myself first, rrrooww," Catrina said, and raised her head proudly. She then told the crowd of her relation with Chaos Specter, and how she was favored by the Digidestined's new enemy. How she was a lovable pet to the feared inter-dimensional Digital World conqueror, and the higher personal rank she had compared to the Chaos Generals. Then she proceeded on by listing on all her qualities, abilities . . .

" . . . I'm also beautiful, alluring, gorgeous, enchanting, pretty, attractive, smart . . ." the Bastemon droned away, causing the others to sweatdrop in confusion. This digimon sure was vain, they thought.

"So you're his vain pet," Ken interrupted, causing Catrina to stop talking. "Big deal. You're not his partner. A partner is a friend . . . a pet, can technically be defined only as a favored domestic animal to a human."

Catrina's face flushed instantly upon the sarcastic remark. "Rrrooww, take that back! Don't you dare compare me to a mere beast!"

"But you've just said so yourself; you're his lovable pet," Ken pointed out, smirking.

Catrina groaned, and pouted. She tried to think of a perfect retort when again, she was interrupted. This time, it was by the other Digidestined.

"Let's get the battle started!" Yolei said impatiently, and held up her Diginizer of Love. She cast a slight glance to Ken. "So much for a perfect date," she mumbled under her breath.

Ken smiled apologetically, having heard of the silent comment but didn't reply to it. Instead he took out his own Diginizer of Kindness.

Together, they summoned, "Diginizer, Energize!"

"Hawkmon, Digivolve to . . . Aquilamon!"

"Wormmon, Digivolve to . . . Stingmon!"

Both digimon then took to the air, knowing that their opponents didn't have the ability to fly. Thus, they were at the advantage.

Catrina looked at Asuramon with a feisty grin. "Go!"

"Yes, mistress," the muscular deity replied and bowed before he went to battle.

Asuramon raised all of his palms into the air, and summoned red-hot fire from it. Upon command, flames erupted from his body and Asuramon focused the flames to his four palms. The fire, wielded by their master's command, swirled around his palms which had been closed up into fists. Shouting loudly, Asuramon launched his first attack.

"Fire Fist of Shiva!"

Four jets of streaming fire blazed the air towards Aquilamon and Stingmon, and hit them with pin-point accuracy before they could avoid it. Stingmon's armor was scorched slightly, leaving black marks on the otherwise green armor. Aquilamon had few of his feathers burnt, and he felt burning pain all over his body. Their enemy was indeed strong.

Stingmon then decided to take the offensive. "Moon Shooter!"

Rays of poisonous needles showered Asuramon, inflicting the deity with deadly venom. Asuramon tried to stop the needles, and generated a flame wall in front of him. The flames managed to burn off some of the needles, but some had found their way to prick his exposed chest. Asuramon roared in pain as the venom began to spread inside of his body.

This was the perfect opening that Aquilamon had been waiting for. "Blast Rings!"

Aquilamon's attack however was successfully countered by Asuramon when he crossed all four hands over his torso. The golden bracelets he was wearing proved to be a potent shield as they deflected the pink spirals.

But this didn't mean that Aquilamon had given up yet. His horns flared with yellow aura and he began looming towards Asuramon . . .

"Grand Horn!"

. . . And rammed heads-on onto the black deity. Asuramon was knocked off his feet by the sudden force exerted by Aquilamon.

"Score!" Yolei cheered.

Asuramon quickly got up on his feet and assumed a meditating stance, with all palms clasped together. "Multiple Faces!"

After summoning the incantation, his three masks glowed with their respective color, enveloping the black deity with blue, red and yellow lights. Blue aura covered the deity, and the flames around him turned to azure as well. Then the aura and the flames became yellow, before finally resuming its red color.

"Hah!" Asuramon exclaimed triumphantly, and separated his enclosed palms. "Rejuvenation is always a wonderful feeling."

"Oh no!" Ken exclaimed. "According to the analyzer, Asuramon possesses limited healing ability by using his Multiple Faces."

"That is correct, Digidestined," said Asuramon calmly. His voice had an echoing quality which made him more intimidating. "And . . . take this! Fire Fist of Shiva!"

Once again, he unleashed the dreadful attack and aimed it solely towards Aquilamon. However this time around, instead of being red, the flames were now deep purple in color. Aquilamon tried to evade the attack, but the streaming fire then separated into needle-sized mini-flames. They followed the eagle at close range before jamming themselves all over his body. Aquilamon cried in pain and slumped onto the ground.

"Aquilamon!" Yolei cried worriedly. "Are you alright?"

Aquilamon merely moaned. "I feel like I've been pricked by hundreds of poisonous needles."

Ken frowned as something familiar crossed his mind. "That can't be right." He then called on the Digimon Analyzer again, and groaned.

"What is it?" Yolei asked.

"I'm afraid Aquilamon's right . . . Other than minor healing ability, Asuramon can also momentarily duplicate his opponent's attack to use it for his advantage. He must have used Stingmon's Moon Shooter against Aquilamon."

"I'm so sorry, Aquilamon," Stingmon apologized.

"It's not your fault, Stingmon," Aquilamon groaned, and he de-digivolved back into Hawkmon.

Noriko and Penguinmon looked at each other, and nodded.

"Penguinmon, you've got to help Stingmon out there!" Noriko held out a D3 with light brown trimmings towards her partner.

"I'm on it," Penguinmon said confidently, and she was showered with white lights coming from Noriko's D3.

"Penguinmon, Digivolve to . . . Swanmon!"

In place of the stout Penguinmon was now a graceful, pink swan-like digimon who was about the same size as Aquilamon. Under her long neck, Swanmon wore a silver metallic chest-plate as armor.

Keiko also took out her D3, which had orange trimmings. "Salamon, you better help out too."

"Let's do it, Keiko," Salamon replied enthusiastically.

"Salamon, Digivolve to . . . Maildramon!"

To everyone's amazement, the tiny puppy-like Salamon had digivolved into a gigantic, armored horse-like beast. She was twice as big as Swanmon, and was covered with shining grey armor. Her helmet was made of gold, with blue hair coming out from it. Maildramon had a pair of golden metallic wings growing out from her body, and her feet all ended up with golden talons.

Digitamamon stepped forward. "Count me in, too! These nincompoops have made me lose nearly a day's profit! I'll make them PAY!"

Asuramon merely let out an amused leer after seeing the assembly of digimon in front of him. "Let's see here . . . a bug, a duck, a horse and an egg. Could things get any more ridiculous?"

"Hey, I'm not a duck!" Swanmon protested, and took off to the air. She flapped her wings furiously. "Down Tornado!"

The swan digimon released a whirlwind of white energy towards Asuramon. To her dismay, Asuramon merely brushed away her attack.

"This isn't working! I'll try another one. White Marie!"

This time around, she pointed her wings down towards Asuramon and fired jets of feathers which act like darts. Asuramon tried to brush away the attack again, but Swanmon managed to manipulate the feathers to fly around Asuramon and blast him on many sides. While the attack didn't do much harm to the powerful deity digimon, it did give Maildramon and Digitamamon an opportunity to attack.

"Iron Press!"

Maildramon took off to the sky, and loomed down over Asuramon, tackling him down. Asuramon tried to wriggle free, but Maildramon's weight pressed on to him even harder. Then, Asuramon's yellow mask glowed, and he launched his fiery attack in form of a tornado, deliberately copying Swanmon's earlier attack. The tornado managed to throw Maildramon off his body.

"Nightmare Syndrome!"

But before he could regain his stance, a powerful shadowy energy rammed on his back, making him quiver as nightmares erupted within his mind. Asuramon shook his head and his blue mask glowed, healing him from the attack.

"Fire Fist of Shiva!" he roared, and sent out even more powerful streams of flame towards Digitamamon, Swanmon and Maildramon.

Digitamamon immediately retreated inside his shell for protection, while Maildramon and Swanmon weren't hurt as Armor digimon were better in defense. Besides, Maildramon's armor pretty much protected both digimon from being hurt.

Catrina clicked her tongue in disgust, and darted towards the two Armor digimon.

"Look out!" Stingmon warned, seeing that Catrina was close to Maildramon and Swanmon.

"Rrrooww! Too late! Helter Skelter!" she yelled, and spun around the two armored digimon with by performing a sequence of dances. Her claws and talons were energized with dark energy, and she slashed her opponents mercilessly with them. Swanmon and Maildramon, despite protected by their Armor, were overwhelmed with the intense dark energy generated from Catrina's attack, and reverted back into their Rookie forms after receiving some heavy blows from her. Both Penguinmon and Salamon were badly bruised by the time Catrina had finished with her attack.

"What happened?" Noriko asked in confusion. "How come they have de-digivolved so soon?"

"That's the beauty of my Helter Skelter curse, rrrooww," Catrina replied smugly. "It's got the ability to de-digivolve any digimon. All of you can NEVER stand a chance against the attack, rrrooww."

Stingmon then realized that he was now on his own. Hawkmon was hurt, Digitamamon had retreated into his shell, and the two younger digimon were out of commission. There was only one other option. He had to go further than Champion level to beat Asuramon.

"Hey Stingmon! Let's kick it up a notch," Ken suggested, holding up his Diginizer.

"You've read my mind," Stingmon replied. Beneath his mask, he was grinning.

:: Transdigivolution ::

"Stingmon, Digivolve to . . . Dinobeemon!"

The younger Digidestined watched in awe as Ken and Stingmon had merged together to become Dinobeemon. They had never seen Transdigivolution before, but had heard of it from one of their friends' encounter with Kari and Gatomon.

"Hiroshi was right!" Noriko said excitedly. "They CAN fuse together . . . to become one!"

"Amazing," Keiko agreed, and looked at her partner. "I wonder when we can do that."

With Dinobeemon, an Ultimate digimon, finally at hand, the situation seemed to be even. The dragon-insect warrior stared towards his two opponents and prepared for another round of fight.


Back at the half-demolished Protocol Ruins, an armored hand emerged out from the rubbles of the collapsed roof. A loud scream was heard as a black armored figure emerged from the stones. He was Duskmon; apparently Chaos Specter had managed to turn into his digimon form before the whole roof collapsed on him. He pushed out the stones and pulled himself out.

Duskmon grunted in annoyance as he kicked away a few rubbles that got in his way. He was furious for having his hard-thought plan ruined by Kimeramon and MetalGreymon. He would have expected this kind of reaction should Devimon's digital DNA prevalent inside Kimeramon. But no, it seemed that the devil's data remained dormant. Something else seemed to be taking over the two digimon.

"It's that Zeed Crystal," he murmured, and slashed on a stone angrily, cleanly splitting it into two symmetrical halves. Stopping himself to think, Duskmon remembered how two hydra-like spirits emerged from the crystal. One had entered Kimeramon, and another had entered MetalGreymon. He tried putting two and two together, and saw what was happening.

He reverted back to his human form, and smiled sardonically.

"So, Milleniumon, you want to play a little game now? I'll play, but we'll do it MY WAY!"


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Author's Note:

This chapter is actually longer, but I've decided to take out some parts for the next chapter. The inclusion of Noriko, Penguinmon, Keiko and Salamon are meant for filler, just like Hiroshi and Biyomon are in the fifth chapter.

Thanks for the reviews, all of you. I really appreciate them.

Custom Magnum – Yeah, I'm currently planning for their Transdigivolution scene now. It's quite hard, considering Yolei is the first Digidestined to be partnered with a male digimon (Hawkmon). I've already think of the explanation possible, which I'm sure is mentioned somewhere in Tamers.

Quinton Notwen – I actually have to look for the meaning of "usurping" for a while (English isn't my first language). Anyway, to me the Digital World of the Digidestined, Tamers, and Frontiers are three different Digital Worlds. I'm guessing that what you mean is that how I'm going to explain Duskmon and Velgamon's existence without violating the concept in Frontier? If that's the case, I already have an explanation set, but it'll be revealed in the end of Vengeance. Stay tuned.

Digi fan – I have the idea for Tamers to make a cameo, but whether they'll make it into the story or not will depend on the way the story is progressing. But there's an idea to include them in the currently-planned sequel, which will be a 02/03 crossover. I can't really say yet for Frontiers, as I haven't watched it yet.

Lodis Lord – Not familiar with Ryo? I'm glad that the previous chapter has given you some insight to the most enigmatic character in Digimon. Bear in mind that some of the stuffs are purely made up, although they are based on some facts stated in the series. There are a lot of good Ryo sites I have come across while doing some research on him.

J.D. Guy – A double review from you! Thanks! The idea of including the ex-Dark Spore kids is just purely meant for fillers, but I do want to include them as they are already Digidestined by the end of 02. But they will not be the major characters in Vengeance. And I'm sure I've answered your question with this chapter.