Previously on Vengeance: Chaos Seadramon is killed by the ruthless Milleniumon, forcing Chaos Specter and the remaining generals to leave. The DigiDestined arrive at the scene and battle Milleniumon as well, but with his time manipulation ability Milleniumon gets the upper hand and forces the Transdigivolved DigiDestined to devolve. The Dark Deity of Time then makes attempt on Ken and Wormmon's lives, but is stopped when a mystery figure decides to intervene. It's Justimon – who is actually Ryo Akiyama and his partner merged. Justimon distracts Milleniumon, allowing the DigiDestined to retreat. In the meantime, Catrina finds out the truth about her origin and leaves the Velvet Claw after confronting Chaos Specter.


"I can't believe we got beaten like that!" Davis said moodily as he took a sit on the medic-table after Cody. He thrust his fist in the air in frustration.

"Easy, Davis," HolyAngemon said gently, and raised his palm. White aura shimmered brightly from HolyAngemon's hand and enveloped Davis's wounds, beginning to heal them.

The heroes and their new ally, Justimon, were about to be destroyed by Milleniumon's fatal blast when in the nick of time, Gennai managed to track their coordinates and teleport all of them back to the safety of the Asuka Laboratory. Half an hour had passed since then, and HolyAngemon took the duty of healing all of them one by one.

Ken and Wormmon were sitting at the corner of the lab, where the plush sofas were. Ken was talking with a tall, tan boy with spiked brown hair. The boy was wearing a grey shirt and army green trousers under a leather-brown weapon holder strapped around his waist. His right shoulder was protected by a metal shoulder pad, and a metallic arm guard armored his lower arm. A red bandanna was strapped around his neck. Beside the older boy, a tall Digimon armored with grey and black from top to toe stood by silently. The Digimon had a draconian look, judging from the shape of his head and his long tail. He had two pairs of tattered crimson wings. He was growling softly, but it was enough to make Wormmon wary of him.

"How long have you been here, Ryo?" Ken asked.

Ryo thought for a while before answering. "I've been tracking Milleniumon here for a couple of days now. Cyberdramon can sense Milleniumon's signal all the way from our world." Noting Ken's questioning look, Ryo immediately continued, "It's because he is actually… part Milleniumon."

Ken and Wormmon exchanged looks momentarily before looking back at Ryo. Those were looks of understanding, not bewilderment, which surprised Ryo.

"You don't seem to be surprised," he noted curiously.

"We've heard the whole story. I think your idea is brilliant, trapping Milleniumon inside a Rookie Digimon."

"Well, it did have some repercussion to get used to, but we've gotten the hang of it. It's a whole lot easier after we Biomerged, as Cyberdramon's no longer as feral as he was before."

"Biomerge?" Ken asked, confused.

"Isn't that what they call it here?"

"You mean, merging with our Digimon? It's called Transdigivolution here."

Ryo shrugged. "To each his own…"

Both were silent for a moment. The truth was, while they were best friends several years ago, many years had passed and Ken had experienced many other things. Ryo was his first friend, and they were as close as brothers could be, but three years had passed ever since. Now that they met again, both felt rather awkward with each other. For Ken, it was the suddenness of the situation. And for Ryo…Ken was no longer the young child he used to know.

Seconds passed in a hanging silence before Ken cleared his throat. "You know, we didn't even get to say goodbye before. When I woke up, you were already gone."

Ryo's calm look faltered instantly. "I wanted to stay longer, Ken…but…."

Ken raised a hand to interrupt Ryo, and gave him a reassuring smile. "It's alright, Ryo. I know the whole story."

Ryo looked a whole lot relieved as he leaned back a little against the plush sofa. "But you know, if I could stay until you wake up, I would. I wanted to thank you for saving my neck that time. And I still do," he insisted. He looked at Ken intently. "So…was everything ok? Did the spore hurt you or anything?"

Ken considered momentarily for an answer. The Dark Spore had changed his life forever. It was the trigger that led him to slowly succumb to the dark side. Meeting Duskmon, trapping Jewelbeemon inside the Cave of Illusions to obtain the prophecy of time, donning the Digimon Emperor's garb, Kimeramon, and destroying hundreds of Digimon's lives…he shuddered as his eyes met Wormmon's. Deleting Wormmon was the most awful experience, but it was also the trigger to turn him back to the side of light.

But the Dark Spore's upshot spanned even farther than that. Both Daemon and Myotismon then went after him for the spore's power. Myotismon manipulated Yukio Oikawa to make copies of the Dark Spore and made him insert the spores inside innocent children to gain powers in order to ascend into his true Mega form of MaloMyotismon and to dominate both the human and the digital worlds. Daemon and his minions went all the way to get to Ken personally, wiping out every obstacle that crossed their ways. However, Daemon's true motive of wanting the Dark Spore still remained a shrouded mystery.

"Your welcome; and it's really quite a long story," he said finally. "But the spore has already been extracted." Ken decided to keep the rest of the story from Ryo in order not to worry him.

Ryo studied Ken for a brief moment, deciding whether to believe him or not as Ken looked hesitant before replying. He decided not to pursue the matter. "What's important is that you are ok. I don't think I could forgive myself if anything bad happened to you from that Spore. You took the blow that was meant for me."

Let's hope that you'll never find out, Ken thought grimly. "Don't blame yourself; it wasn't your fault to begin with. So don't worry about it, ok?"

Ryo didn't answer. Instead, he turned to look at Wormmon. "I see that you've done some heavy-duty activities all these while. Your Ultimate form is, well…intimidating. But it's cool, in a way."

Wormmon beamed. "Oh…well, I owe it all to Ken for believing in me," he said happily. Then, he added, "You know, I always knew that we'd meet again, Ryo."

Ryo smiled and ruffled Wormmon's head. "Still the same ol' Wormmon."

"Umm…guys?"

Interrupted, both Ryo and Ken turned to see Gennai, with the other DigiDestined behind him, peering at them curiously. TK waved at Ryo and the Tamer waved back. Kari merely looked down and merely acknowledged Ryo with a nod, uncharacteristically shy to meet his eyes. Davis, Yolei and Cody were interested of getting acquainted with the handsome Digimon Tamer, but before they could ask anything Gennai was quick to cut them off.

"Ryo, DigiDestined…you all can get acquainted tomorrow. But for now, it's important for you to have your rest. I suggest that you spend the night here, but if you'd rather go home…"

"I won't go back until Tai and the rest are saved," Kari said quickly.

TK nodded. "Same goes for me."

"We'll ALL stay for the night, until we rescue our friends," Davis declared, with Yolei, Cody and Ken nodding.

Ryo stood up. "Cyberdramon and I will be here until we are sure that Milleniumon's gone. Until then, we could really use a place to stay. Free-of-charge is always a plus."

Gennai nodded with a brief flicker of smile. He was used to Ryo's casual manner back when the boy was younger, and was glad to see that he hadn't change. "Then it's settled."


Vengeance

Chapter 36: Power Play

…..

…..

In a vast arid region unknown, the land was dry and barren. Cracks could be seen all over the rocky ground, indicating that there was no water in the nearby vicinity. No plants or vegetations grew from the land. And within the dark sky of the morning where splashes of red and blue decorated the horizon, two streaks of white light darted across the sky and landed on the ground, revealing none other than Catrina the Bastemon, and her tiny companion Nanomon.

"Where in the worrrld arre we?" Catrina wondered out loud. She stepped a few paces gingerly while noting the dryness of the land.

"If I am not mistaken, miss, we are currently at the western quadrant of the East Sector," Nanomon replied quickly. "It was the last thing I saw on the Velvet Claw's control panel when I have finished typing some random coordinates. I thought that this place is far enough from the master."

Catrina sighed. "Verrry well. This is as far as it gets forrr now. Let's go find us some drinks now. I am thirsty."

"Certainly, miss. I detect that there is a small tavern several meters east. I can also detect some Digimon being present there, despite the earliness. We can probably get some drinks for us, though I wonder whether they have any oil for me."

Catrina laughed. "I doubt it. But let's go there."

The two of them walked towards the direction pinpointed by Nanomon, and true enough after a couple of minutes walking they saw a small tavern, with some cacti growing at the back of the old western-looking building. The windows were lit dimly, and pale yellow light came out from the exposed doorway, which was only fixed with the typical saloon type of doors which covered only the middle one-third of the otherwise exposed doorway. Rowdy laughter could be heard emanating through the doorway.

"The Old West Tavern. Proprietor: Digitamamon," Nanomon said, reading the dusty sign spreading above the doorway.

"Sounds like a happy place," Catrina said dryly.

Catrina pushed the wooden door open and entered the establishment while Nanomon merely slid under the door. Immediately the crowd inside went silent, their attentions instantly drawn towards the two Digimon. The abrupt standstill gave Catrina the opportunity to scan her surroundings. On the nearest table sat a group of three scruffy Digimon, each had a glass of liquid with smokes coming out from it. They consisted of a viral WereGarurumon, with brown fur that seemed to be unwashed for a long time. The canine Ultimate Digimon was accompanied by an orange cartoonish-looking dog, who Catrina noted with displeasure, was drooling as it leered towards her. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the other companion of the Shadow WereGarurumon, who was a Black Gargomon. The Shadow WereGarurumon stared at her, obviously recognizing a new face coming into the tavern, while the Black Gargomon was indifferent. The rabbit-dog hybrid merely snorted at his Doggymon companion and bunked him with his Gattling-engrafted arm. Catrina shot the trio a disgusted look which merited a sneer from the vile-looking werewolf. The werewolf then puckered up his shaggy lips to infuriate Catrina even further, causing the queen of the cats to look away in revulsion.

Darting her eyes towards the other table, Catrina saw a Witchmon on her own, playing with her tarot cards. She seemed to be oblivious of Catrina's presence. On the table beside her was a tall white-armored Digimon with an aura of gallantry coming from him, that Catrina felt that perhaps she was not the only one that was out of place. His clear brown eyes, which reflected wisdom, stared at Catrina and to her surprise she felt a sense of warmness creeping up her cheeks. Hastily she drew her glance away towards the opposite side of the tavern, where a group of armor-level insect Digimon were watching her every move with placid expressions – and multicolored chips were scattered all over the table they were occupying. Near the counter, which all seats were currently vacant, was a dusty old piano and a defeated-looking Alraumon sitting on the stool in front of it was definitely the player.

Catrina and Nanomon marched straight towards the counter where a Digitamamon was looking at her expectantly. Catrina helped Nanomon up before sitting on one of the stool. As soon as she sat, everybody went about their businesses once again. And personally Catrina was relieved to hear some piano music mixed with shouts coming from the Armor insects' table – they were obviously gambling and calling on bets on each other.

"So…what do you want?" Digitamamon demanded irritably.

"Now you sound just like a rrrotten egg," Catrina admonished.

"Now see here, I don't usually take cheek from anybody…"

"Ok, ok…just give me the house's specialty."

Digitamamon stared at her warily before replying gruffly, "Coming right up."

"And I'll have…" Nanomon began, but was stopped off her track when all of a sudden Digitamamon jumped on the counter, glaring at her angrily.

"I don't serve tin cans like you!" he yelled before jumping back down, and towards the kitchen. His rudeness surprised both females.

Catrina eyed the kitchen door angrily, "What's his prrroblem? I'm just going to have to give him a piece of my mind! Obviously he's not a morning person but that doesn't give him the rrright to be rrrotten!" She was about to stand up when Nanomon stopped her.

"It is alright, miss," Nanomon said. "As soon as you have your drink we can look for some oil."

Catrina raised an eyebrow, calming down slightly. "Deal."

Suddenly Catrina noticed that the scruffy canine trio which she ignored earlier came up to the counter to join her. Black Gargomon took the third seat from where Catrina was sitting, while Doggymon climbed up the counter and to Catrina's disgust, began drooling again as he peered closer to Catrina. But what shocked her the most when she felt a strong grip on her left wrist.

"What's a pretty little girl like you doing here on this kind of place?" Shadow WereGarurumon said in a deep voice. His yellow eyes reflected menace as he took in Catrina's beautiful features with an evil sneer, revealing his dirty yellow fangs. "You know, you're such a sight for sore eyes. It's not often that a beauty such as you come by this darker side of the sector. How about after you have your drink, maybe you and I…" He smiled suggestively, didn't even bothering to finish his hanging sentence.

Catrina however got the hint. She glared at Shadow WereGarurumon angrily and tried to pull away her arm from the werewolf's clutch, while struggling desperately to block the dour odor that came from him with her other arm. She did one thing that she could think of on impulse; using her free arm she clawed Shadow WereGarurumon's face viciously, drawing blood from the scratch marks. This caused Shadow WereGarurumon to release her immediately, but Catrina's attack didn't seem to faze him. However her action seemed to have once again drawn the attention of the other visitors of the tavern; even the Witchmon was now looking at her serenely with her blue eyes.

"Don't you darrre touch me, rrrowww," Catrina hissed.

"Ohh… a feisty little wildcat now are you? So what if I dare to touch you again? So what? You'll scratch me to death?" Shadow WereGarurumon countered. He wetted the tips of his fingers and wiped the blood with them. "Scratches like these can't hurt me for long."

"What do you want?" Catrina demanded.

"So, the kitty cat likes to play innocent now does she? Well…you know what I want," Shadow WereGarurumon said.

"Yah! Yah! Yah! Kitty cat!" Doggymon shouted, jumping up and down excitedly, spraying drools all over Catrina.

"Ugh! Grrross!" Catrina yelled, and slapped Doggymon away from her, sending the orange mutt crashing onto Shadow WereGarurumon, who easily caught him with one hand.

"Doggymon always give this kind of impression towards others," Shadow WereGarurumon continued, ignoring Doggymon's whimpers. He threw the small mutt towards Black Gargomon and took one step towards Catrina, who was obviously repulsed by him. He inhaled Catrina's scent and inspected her with a snicker. "So, what do you say?"

"Stay away from me!" Catrina shouted, pushing Shadow WereGarurumon away. "Do you know that you smell worse than a Numemon?"

Shadow WereGarurumon looked amused and raised an arm, pretending to smell his armpit. He laughed scornfully. "Well, I am surprised that you know how a Numemon smell…but yes, I haven't taken any bath for twenty years now." At this, Black Gargomon let out a quiet chuckle while Catrina looked even more revolted than before.

"I said, stay away!"

Shadow WereGarurumon caught Catrina's arm again and pulled her from her seat and closer towards him. "You didn't exactly give me the right answer for my question."

Catrina shot a glare of hatred towards Shadow WereGarurumon and pulled herself away by jumping, and kicked Shadow WereGarurumon squarely on the chest. The black werewolf was definitely surprised as he was thrown onto his buddies.

"Well, seems like you're not just a pretty face after all. You are well-trained for fighting," Black Gargomon noted with a quiet voice. It was the first time he spoke and Catrina noticed that unlike Shadow WereGarurumon, who was brash and revolting, Black Gargomon was calmer and his tone was more serious.

"Don't underestimate me. I'm not just any Digimon…I was in the Chaos Forces!"

Catrina's declaration was met with some loud gasps from the other patrons of the tavern. She was glad that her declaration had that kind of effect, although she had vowed not to have any connection with Chaos Specter ever again. However to her dismay, Shadow WereGarurumon merely sneered back at her as he pushed Black Gargomon away roughly. He straightened up and crossed his arms against his chest, looking undaunted at all.

"Was? As in, no longer with that oh-so-famous Chaos Specter?"

At this, Catrina knew that she was at a disadvantage. She had let slip more than she should have. Now her assailants knew that she was no longer under Chaos Specter's mandate, which meant that they didn't have to worry of hurting her. Catrina however was convinced that she could beat the scruffy trio; she was after all well-trained and could hold her own against one Ultimate Digimon. She had fought Mega level Pharaohmon once, and subsequently various Ultimate-level Digimon. Though she didn't win against all of them, but she sure had given them a good fight.

"So what if I'm not, rrrowww?"

Black Gargomon gave Catrina a suspicious-looking smile. "If that's the case, let's dance!" He aimed his Gattling arms towards Catrina's feet and let out a series of continuous shootings on the floor, forcing Catrina to jump in order to avoid the bullets. Black Gargomon followed Catrina's movements by changing his aims to trail Catrina, which forced Catrina to evade the shootings by twisting, turning and jumping up and down.

Catrina jumped onto the counter, and her eyes blazed with fury. "I'll teach you a rrreal dance, rrrowww! Vampire Dance!"

However, the orange bats generated from Catrina's attack were destroyed by Shadow WereGarurumon with his crimson claws. Then, he along with Black Gargomon and Doggymon advanced towards Catrina. Shadow WereGarurumon smiled wickedly as he raised his clawed hands, Black Gargomon aimed both Gattling arms on her while Doggymon became more aggressive by jumping onto Catrina and started to pull Catrina's long red hair while spitting on her head.

"Kaiser Nail!"

"Gattling Arm!"

Distracted by Doggymon's antics, Catrina was incapable of defending herself and was assaulted at close range, sending her crashing onto the counter with Doggymon still clutching on her hair. Doggymon barked madly and began to bite on Catrina's shoulder when Nanomon had enough and stunned the toon mutt with a zap of electricity. Doggymon limped mutely onto the ground, and Catrina kicked the dog away as hard as she could as a way to vent her anger. She pulled herself together and began calling on more of her power.

"Darkness Wave!"

The attack surprised Shadow WereGarurumon and Black Gargomon, as the Darkness Wave was a trademark attack of the LadyDevimon species. They were surprised to see a Bastemon performing the same technique, and were caught off guard by the black bats sent by Catrina. Catrina followed up her initial attack by sending several flurry of kicks towards both of them but Black Gargomon thumped his Gattling arm onto Catrina's head. Seeing as how Catrina began to be disoriented as the effect of the strong blow, Shadow WereGarurumon lifted her up high, and Catrina didn't even put up a struggle. Ignoring Nanomon's protest Shadow WereGarurumon walked out of the tavern and threw Catrina onto the rocky ground. Her head was knocked over a stone which forced her to devolve back into her BlackGatomon form.

Shadow WereGarurumon laughed. "Looks like she's only a mere kitten, instead of a fierce wildcat she's led us to believe."

Nanomon buzzed out from the tavern and attempted to defend Catrina. "Don't you harm her!"

"Out of my way, you tin can!" Shadow WereGarurumon kicked away Nanomon as he approached the lying form of Catrina. Nanomon crashed onto a nearby rock and was damaged considerably.

Catrina tried to stand up to face her three adversaries. She spat on the ground. "So, this is what you three boys do best now, isn't it? Ganging up against a female Digimon?"

Doggymon caught sight of the devolved Catrina, and scurried towards her. He stared at Catrina and immediately stopped drooling. His eyes now filled with repugnance at the sight of the BlackGatomon. "Yah! Yah! Yah! Ugly black kitty cat! Me no like! Yah! Yah! Yah!"

"Ugly?" Catrina shouted. "Take this! Lightning Claw!"

Being slashed by Catrina's sharp claws once more, Doggymon was immediately knocked out unconscious as Catrina kicked him away with satisfaction. However without warning, suddenly she was met with torrents of bullets being fired towards her by Black Gargomon. Catrina avoided the attack easily as she was extremely agile while in her Champion form. However, suddenly she was caught on the neck by Shadow WereGarurumon, who proceeded by planting a foul-smelled, wet kiss directly on Catrina's mouth.

"Am I your first kiss?" the Ultimate asked with a perverted sneer. "How did you like that?"

Catrina was lost for words, but her yellow eyes blazed with utmost fury and hatred for the werewolf. Right then, all of those who were in her 'hate list' – such as Yolei, Hawkmon, Sylphimon, Chaos Piedmon, Chaos Seadramon, Chaos Wargreymon and Chaos Specter – were immediately forgotten. She was now staring into the eyes of the one which she hated even more than the Chaos Forces and Sylphimon put together. She gritted her teeth as she tried to escape Shadow WereGarurumon's clutch, but being a lot smaller than she used to leave her at a disadvantage. She knew she was beaten.

"If you don't kill me now, I swear…I'll hunt you down wherever you go, and I will torture you with the worst possible punishments before I kill you by cutting you up limb by limb!"

Shadow WereGarurumon looked at her mockingly before slapping her twice. "I have other things in mind actually…and to kill such a beautiful creature is a sin."

Catrina didn't cry; instead she spat on Shadow WereGarurumon's face again. The werewolf lifted his claws, attempting to strike at her again, when…

"LET HER GO!" a deep masculine voice demanded.

Shadow WereGarurumon, Black Gargomon and Catrina all reverted their gazes towards the tavern's doorway, where the white armored Digimon Catrina saw earlier was at. His height nearly reached the archway, and he had an imposing aura that neither Shadow WereGarurumon nor Black Gargomon possessed. He was holding a golden claymore on one hand, while his other hand was pointed towards them.

"Oh, if it isn't the knight in shining armor coming to rescue the damsel in distress," Shadow WereGarurumon mocked. "How cliché."

"You werewolves make me sick," the armored Digimon said placidly. "Either let the BlackGatomon go now, or I'll be forced to attack you."

"Pah! I'm not scared of you!" Shadow WereGarurumon snorted. He threw Catrina towards Black Gargomon before taking a stance against the newcomer. "Let's fight this out, wolf to wolf."

"Always a pleasure to beat the chill out of a perverted werewolf," the warrior smirked.

Shadow WereGarurumon then launched himself to attack the white-armored warrior with his sharp crimson claws, shouting and barking insults loudly as he went. However the warrior merely raised his claymore towards the morning sky while locking gaze with the werewolf's eyes.

"Frozen Hunter!"

Immediately a giant white wolf appeared from out of nowhere, standing on fours above the warrior. The wolf gave out a chilling aura as its ice-blue eyes were fixed into Shadow WereGarurumon's terrified yellow ones. With a loud, echoing howl the wolf charged towards the werewolf, and went through him before disappearing. Immediately, Shadow WereGarurumon froze on his track, seemingly paralyzed. Thin beads of frost formed from the tips of his brown fur, and the sound of his fangs clicking against each other was enough proof that the warrior had already, literally, beat the chill out of Shadow WereGarurumon.

The warrior then stared at Black Gargomon. "I trust you to be wiser than your friend."

Black Gargomon didn't need to be told that twice. He released Catrina, picked up Doggymon and carried Shadow WereGarurumon back inside the tavern, with the warrior watching them intently.

The warrior in white then approached Catrina. "Are you alright?"

"Me?" Catrina asked with a slightly high-pitched voice. She regained her composure, but couldn't help but to blush slightly upon her mistake. "Uh…yeah, I'm fine. Although I think that I'll probably need more than a hundred baths now just to get rid of the fowl stench of that Shadow WereGarurumon. But you know, I could've handled those two on my own."

The warrior knelt beside her and looked at her skeptically. "I'll take your word for that," he said with a smirk.

Catrina began to feel that even her raven-colored fur couldn't hide the reddening flush she was having on both cheeks right now. "What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"Nothing," the warrior said dismissively. He looked at Nanomon, who had her glass tube that covered her organic head broken. "Your friend's not that lucky though. She looks like she needs quite a fixing up."

"Oh…" Catrina got up and approached the mechanical Digimon that she considered as a friend, though she only got to know Nanomon for merely several hours. Nanomon was in this state due to her attempt to protect her from the goons. Catrina felt pity for her, and to her surprise, felt sad at her as well. It surprised her as she wiped her glistening eyes. She had never cried before and was not familiar with the new sensation. "Poor Nanomon…"

"I know who can fix her up to be good as new," the warrior offered.

Catrina brightened up immediately. "You do?"

The warrior nodded. "I'll just have to bring her over to a friend of mine. I think he's on his way to my home right now, visiting from the eastern quadrant. If there's anybody that can fix a broken Digimon like your Datamon friend there, it's him. He's a good healer. Not the best, mind you, but good enough to fix up Ultimates."

Now feeling slightly assured, Catrina smiled impishly. "I guess I'll have to take your word for it."

"I think I've heard those words before…" the warrior smiled back. He picked up the unconscious Nanomon and carried her carefully with his large arm. He then looked at Catrina. "Will you be accompanying your friend to my home or stay….here?"

"Are you kidding? Nanomon's my dearest friend! Of course I'll come with her. I wouldn't want you or this friend of yours blows her up instead of fixing her up."

"You're one quick-witted Digimon, though I shouldn't be surprised. All Gatomon species are quite known for their sharp minds. Being a BlackGatomon, I suppose you are much more cunning and witty than your white-furred cousins."

"Why thank you," Catrina smiled. She was beginning to like this warrior. "Oh, and I'm not just a BlackGatomon. I have a name too. I'm called Catrina."

"Catrina, huh? That's a beautiful name. I think I've heard someone mentioned that name to me a long, long time ago, but I don't really remember," the warrior said thoughtfully, before continuing, "Well, while I don't have a specific name, everyone around here knows me as Beowulfmon."

"Beowulfmon? That sounds…heroic," Catrina said sincerely.

Beowulfmon laughed. "Heroic? For that, Catrina, you get to ride shotgun. You look like you could use one." He offered his other free arm. "Hop on. It's a long journey back."

Catrina jumped on and settled herself on Beowulfmon's armored arm. She smiled serenely for the first time. "You know…I'll just have to take your word for it."


The day passed by quickly and soon it was already close to afternoon on the Digital World. The DigiDestined barely had a good night rest, considering previous night's event. Not to worry the parents, each of them merely sent a message that they were needed in the Digital World for the time being. They had no problem convincing the parents of the older ones, but the younger ones' parents required a much more believable story before they were allowed to stay. TK got off the easiest as his mother believed in him to be independent. Cody didn't have much trouble either as his grandfather and mother always encouraged him to do what he thought was right. Ken's parents had gotten over their paranoia of losing Ken, and let him off without much questioning. Kari simply was allowed to be at the Digital World as her parents thought Tai was with her. It was Davis and Yolei who had to really type long e-mails telling their reason without really being too specific lest their parents got worried.

Now that all of them were refreshed, they were discussing strategies with Ryo at the kitchen table.

"Believe me, you guys will need even more power than your Transdigivolution abilities to stand a chance against Milleniumon," Ryo said calmly as he seeped his warm black coffee.

"What else can we do? We're still quite new in this; none of us can reach Mega level yet," Davis grumbled while buttering his toast.

"But Ryo…you can reach Mega level with Biomerge Digivolution," Ken pointed out.

Ro sighed. "I can, but even Justimon isn't really Milleniumon's match. The first time we fought him, it took Omnimon plus six Ultimates to beat him. The second time around, Milleniumon's own attack backfired when he destroyed the DigiEgg of Kindness. The third, a battle I and ZeedMilleniumon had during the early years of the computers, was won by trickery when I forced him to DNA Digivolve with Monodramon…who eventually becomes Cyberdramon here. You see the pattern here; either we have a greater power than a Mega, or some miracles. The seven of us can go and fight Milleniumon, but we could not beat him."

"What if we have more Mega Digimon with us?" Cody suggested. "Both Doumon and Lilymon have the ability to Mega Digivolve. And don't forget the three angels down there."

"So that gives us a grand total of…four Mega Digimon, and six Ultimate Digimon," Ryo said. "It might work."

Suddenly, the alarm system of the laboratory blared loudly. Immediately all of them forgot about their meals (with some exceptions) and went to the laboratory. All of them were surprised upon watching the screen. The viewing screen was displaying a one-towered metallic castle, built on a mountain constructed out of the spiraling charred ruins of the once-glorious Machine City. They were horrified to see that the city was leveled in just one night.

"When all of you escaped last night, the blast that was meant for you ended up destroying the city," Gennai revealed sadly.

All of them were profoundly stunned. It could have been them that was caught by Milleniumon's fatal attack, and should that happened they wouldn't live to see the light of the day again. And after getting over the first shock, they suddenly remembered about the occupants of Machine City.

"What happened to Andromon and the other machine Digimon?" Kari asked nervously, hoping that she would hear assuring news.

Gennai hung his head down. "There seemed to be no survivors…" At this, everyone gasped loudly. All of them remembered Andromon as a kind Digimon. TK and Kari were affected even more; Andromon had been a long-time ally, helping them against their battle with the Dark Masters. Gennai cleared his throat and continued, "And there's more…I have come to believe that GrapLeomon, Jewelbeemon and Piximon were with Andromon prior the destruction of the city. It seemed that the three of them had replied to Andromon's call prior to the attack on Asuka City."

Everyone was silent as they thought of their friends, but received a rude awakening upon watching several familiar figures flying out of Milleniumon's castle. Two of them were Mega Digimon, and the other four that were with them were Ultimates – Wargreymon, MetalGarurumon, Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon, Lillymon and Zudomon.

"It can't be!" TK exclaimed in disbelief. "I thought only Agumon and Palmon are the ones that still having Azulongmon's DigiCore powers."

"How did the others manage to Digivolve all the way to their highest levels as well?" Kari wondered.

The screen flickered and the scene changed into a dark, metallic hall where Milleniumon stood in the shadows of the darkness of his castle. His yellow eyes shone evilly as he let out a cackle before turning to address the DigiDestined.

"Greetings, DigiDestined. As you can see, yes, they are your friends," Milleniumon began. "I have given them powers that were stripped from them after your first fight with me. Surprised? I should hope not. It is a pity that the complete set of what I term as the dream team is not fully assembled for the time being; I still am missing the DigiDestined of Hope, Light and Kindness. The addition of MagnaAngemon, Angewomon and Dinobeemon would make my minions complete."

"What do you mean your minions?" Gennai barked. "Those are the champions of good, not your slaves!"

"Let them go at once, Milleniumon!" Ryo shouted.

"Ah…Ryo, my so-called partner. I shall let you know that I am still nursing some hope that you, one day, will join me."

"Oh yeah? Well you can forget it, Milleniumon. I already have a partner, and I wouldn't dream of having any other."

"This is an unpleasant surprise," Milleniumon replied calmly. "Are you saying that you would rather be partnered to that tub of lard…that Monodramon, rather than me, a powerful Mega Digimon?"

At this, Cyberdramon growled angrily. "Watch what you say, Milleniumon."

"I shall say what I want, Cyberdramon. And let's not forget that a part of me is still within you. I suggest that you better not get on my bad side, lest I am able to call on that part of me, and make you turn against your precious partner and the other DigiDestined. All it takes is just some focused thought…"

"That's utter rubbish!" Ryo retorted. "We've been able to keep that half of Cyberdramon in check, and after we got the ability to Biomerge, the Milleniumon-half within Cyberdramon's gone!"

"Would you really like to risk finding out later for yourself?" Milleniumon asked with glee. "Do not forget that a part of me is within Cyberdramon…I would know if it's still there or not. And as of now, I think there is. How do you think that your tubby partner is able to maintain his Ultimate form like that? Should there be just a tiny speck of my data inside Cyberdramon now, I shall be able to control Cyberdramon, and you are as good as helpless to the DigiDestined."

Ryo smirked cockily and raised his D-Power Digivice. "Well, there's one way to prove it now isn't it?"

Milleniumon too, raised his long arm, fingers ready to make a snapping motion. "You shall regret your insolence, Ryo."

"Ryo…?" Ken called nervously.

"Don't worry Ken…I know what I'm doing," Ryo said, eyes fixed on the screen.

Milleniumon sneered. "Your overconfidence shall be your partner's undoing." He was about to snap his finger…

…As Ryo raised his Digivice high. "Biomerge Activate!"

At the same moment, Milleniumon snapped his fingers.

Biomerge Digivolution

Ryo and Cyberdramon glowed with navy blue lights, and were about to Biomerge…

"Cyberdramon….Biomerge to…."

…when suddenly Cyberdramon's eyes glowed with neon green lights. Ryo was pushed away instantly and was sent flying across the lab before crashing on the plush sofas. His Digivice hung in mid-air, pulsating with blue lights while Cyberdramon's eyes flashed green. Cyberdramon growled loudly and while his body attempted to resist whatever that was controlling him, it seemed like something was resurfacing from within himself that was gaining dominance on his mind. A familiar presence…which caused Cyberdramon to let out an ear-splitting howl as he trashed about before finally, the green lights in his eyes died out. Cyberdramon glowed with grey-blue lights and turned into a smaller, stout purple dragon. The Rookie Digimon, Monodramon, slumped onto the floor weakly as from the screen; Milleniumon's maniacal laughter was heard.

"This is a definite, unexpected surprise. It seems that your Digivice is instrumental in keeping that Milleniumon-half in Cyberdramon in check. I was able to control Cyberdramon, but that wretched dragon seemed to be able to resist me. Well, well, well…you know Ryo, while I may not be able to get that half of me back from your partner, I would suggest that you think twice before attempting a Biomerge Digivolution with your partner for the time being."

Ryo quickly stood up and supported himself by holding one of the sofas. He was sweating profusely and his breathings were incoherent.

"Threatening me won't work, Milleniumon. I've stopped you before; I'd do it again sooner or later!"

"Charming," Milleniumon replied gaudily. "You are incapacitated for the time being, I shan't have to worry about the oh-so-heroic Justimon to foil my plan. And as for the DigiDestined…I suggest the six of you to come by and resume our unfinished battle. I have told you previously that should you lose that battle, Machine City would be destroyed. Well, you lost and it was bye-bye Machine City! And as for now, the game shall continue…but at the stake of the lives of your fellow DigiDestined. I expect you to be here within ten minutes. No more, and less is preferred. I know for sure that you all can do that. If should you decide not to show up, I win by default, and…."

Milleniumon left the sentence hanging tantalizingly as he terminated the connection.

"What do we do now?" Veemon wondered.

"We have no choice," Kari answered. "If we don't show up, he'll…he'll..."

"We'll go," TK continued quickly. "We're going to save them."

Gennai nodded. "The six of you will go and I shall monitor you from here and teleport you back should you be in danger."

"But then, Milleniumon will finish off Tai and the rest. I cannot let that happen!" Kari gasped.

Gennai was quiet for a while before replying. He seemed to be deep in thought before his face was set looking extremely determined. "Just trust me on this. I'll make sure that nobody else is going to get killed today."

"Wait a minute," Ryo said. "You said six. Didn't you mean seven? I want to help them as well. If you're gonna listen to Milleniumon's lies…"

"I'm not," Gennai cut in. "Although it might be best if you don't Biomerge for a while. Actually, I have another mission for you, which will be a great aid in the battle against Milleniumon…if you are successful. I've given this quite a thought last night and I'm pretty sure that you can pull it off." Before Ryo or anybody else was able to question him, Gennai quickly turned back to face the DigiDestined. "All of you teleport there first; I'll alert the three angels, Doumon and Lilymon to join you soon."

The DigiDestined agreed and disappeared in a flash of myriad lights. Ryo then turned to Gennai.

"What's this mission you want me to do?"

Gennai pondered about it one more time. "I need you to locate the four Harmonious Ones with your walking-between-dimensions ability. The computers aren't able to locate them, so I'll have to resort to the manual way which I think would be much more effective. And, while away on another dimension, Milleniumon will not be able to track you and your partner, so you are able to become Justimon without any difficulty. This is crucial, as only the Harmonious Ones have the powers to match Milleniumon, whose power is growing as we speak."

Ryo thought about it. "Ok. I'll do it."


Deep inside the Velvet Claw, in the dark secret chamber, Chaos Specter was sitting opposite the main computer, with a glass of green liquid in his hand. He wasn't facing the computer screen; instead he was staring at the Lilithmon hologram, which provided little light to the otherwise pitch black room. Chaos Specter's facial expression was placid and unreadable as it usually did, but his emerald green eyes reflected melancholy. He had been sitting there for hours, ever since after the battle with Milleniumon.

He had lost one loyal henchmen in the battle. He hadn't seen that coming – Chaos Seadramon was a strong Mega Digimon. The DigiDestined couldn't beat him without dire corollary on their side as well. In terms of strength, the serpent might have been the weakest among his three generals, but he was far stronger than any normal Mega Digimon. Chaos Seadramon and Chaos Piedmon had been his two earliest minions before Chaos Wargreymon added to the team of three. He had beaten uncountable Digimon, even taking part in defeating three of four guardians of the Digital World. Yet it took Milleniumon merely a few seconds to finish him off, without making much effort.

And to add to his loss, Catrina had decided to leave him as well after learning the history of her home world. It was a huge blow to Chaos Specter as he had come to love the feline like his own. Catrina had been extremely loyal and had tried hard to impress him (on a couple of disastrous attempts), yet her loyalty wavered drastically after learning the truth, and she'd left Chaos Specter in fury, vowing of never wanting to see him ever again.

"AAAAAHHHH!" Chaos Specter shouted, and threw the half-full glass towards one of the curtained wall. The curtains were pushed aside slightly before the glass shattered upon hitting the wall…which was actually a massive bronze-framed picture. Chaos Specter, intrigued upon something that he hadn't see for a long time, got up from his seat and walked slowly towards the wall. Pushing the curtains obscuring the picture aside, Chaos Specter stared at the picture that was displayed in front of him.

It was a picture of a pleasant-looking young woman, with shoulder-length brown hair framing her face. The woman was smiling happily, and her blue-green eyes sparkled with life. She wasn't strikingly beautiful, but had a sweet face that bore hints of premature wrinkles at the sides of her lively eyes that were covered with light make-up. The woman's skin was slightly tanned, and her hair looked slightly sun-bleached, but somehow they only accentuated her qualities. Wearing a matching set of violet tank-top and headband, she had an arm slung over the shoulders of a taller, rebellious looking, raven-haired teenage boy who was dressed in a black tank top, which stood out against his pale skin. The teenage boy would've looked handsome if it weren't for the fact that he was scowling at whoever that was taking their picture. He looked rather moody, which was brought out even more by the way he crossed his arms across his chest and the silver chains he wore on his wrists and around his neck.

"Kit Kat moment," Chaos Specter muttered slowly, his earlier frustration forgotten.

His eyes then trailed down to a smaller photograph that was pinned at the lower right side of the picture. It showed a group of five people – two teenagers and three children. Four of them were males donning blue birthday party hats, cheering on the only girl who had on a pink party hat, and was posing to cut a birthday cake. All of them however were seemingly looking at him with happy grins and smiles.

Chaos Specter didn't say anything, but ran his hand behind the right side of the bronze frame. His hand caught on something, and he pried the picture towards him, revealing a small compartment. Inside the compartment was a curious looking article, shaped like a trophy made from the finest onyx. It was glowing slightly with dark purple aura, and when Chaos Specter touched it the purple light became brighter, emanating the whole dark room. Chaos Specter felt raw power coursing through his veins, and for a moment he hesitated. His finger which touched the egg-shaped article was drawn away, but the power from the article willed, persuaded, and tantalized him to embrace more of its power. Brushing away his earlier inhibition Chaos Specter grabbed hold on the article and drew it out from the compartment. Images of Duskmon, Velgamon and Veldusmon materialized around him before he raised a hand towards the images. The three images combusted into data and swirled around his form. Chaos Specter's emerald eyes changed color to a deeper violet hue as the power from the article consumed him.

"The DigiEgg of Darkness! Bless me, curse me, grant me, with all of your power of darkness!"


…..

…..

Author's Note:

I've almost decided against including the final part of this chapter in here, for a now-obvious reason. I wonder if it clears up some things or make things even more confusing. It should however shed some lights to where Vengeance is heading. And concerning Catrina's new friend Beowulfmon, I know that the dub's spelling is BeoWolfmon, but I preferred it to be spelled like the original version.

Anyway, thank you for the reviews.

Dark Qiviut –Well, I'm glad that I've managed to surprise you with Ryo's inclusion in the story. And as for TK and Davis's 'rivalry', in my opinion both are growing up and Davis doesn't really seem to be obsessed with Kari after Ken joins the team. The episode Guardian Angel of Digimon 02 shows that they are actually a good team, which I have exploited even further in chapters Revelations, Battlefield: Harmona and The Forbidden Skill. Ah well, both are not going to end up with Kari anyway (as provided by the epilogue) so why bother making them fight over her?

Dark672 – Short and sweet comment, thanks.

DTV – My mistake. I've forgotten that detail as I've never watched the episode Genesis of Evil. I plan to download it sometime soon. Thanks for pointing those out for me. And as for inconsistencies of previous chapters I plan to fix those after I've finished writing Vengeance.

Bluesv20 – Well, not really…as the chapter's tentative name has been in the planning for quite some time. I don't have any plans of making all the Transdigivolution DigiDestined evolve further than Ultimate level in Vengeance, but in the sequel all of them will eventually reach Mega. However, (a little spoiler here to add to the excitement I hope) there will be a Mega Digimon introduced out of the six DigiDestined, but which one…I'll leave it for you to wonder :).

DarkFictionWizard – The hints are everywhere in some chapters, while nil in others…but until they really appear I'll be including more and more hints :)

J.D. Guy – Welcome back! I've been wondering about you, actually. Milleniumon looks like a black Kimeramon, with Machinedramon's cannons perched on his shoulders. Lilithmon is a canon Digimon but so far she's only on the cards, though she is quite popular in the fan fiction world. She is the Mega form of LadyDevimon and Bastemon primarily, as well for other Ultimate Digimon such as Angewomon and Lillymon. As for your idea, I'm glad that you'll keep it to yourself for the time being, as all will be revealed in due time…but actually there's more to what is now obvious.

Yami Vizzini – The Chaos Spirals? Err…no. And as for your theory, my lips are sealed (or rather, my fingers are glued) :) You'll find out soon enough.