Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. (I'll give my crew of characters a break this time!)

A/N: Well, not much to say here other than the fact that the pieces of the puzzle and the mystery surrounding the past are going to start coming together. This is just a first little glimpse! Oh yes, and you must review today! It's my birthday and I want some nice gifts! And this chapter is my present to all of you!

Following the Footsteps of Destiny

Chapter 183: A Glimpse of the Past

DarkAngelicmon

File Island, Eastern Hemisphere, Digital World

Lifting his face to the sun shining brilliantly in the distance, DarkAngelicmon frowned thoughtfully at a passing cloud, its pure white, fluffy surface immediately capturing his attention, and upon gazing at the cloud a second time, instead of merely looking like an indistinguishable mound of cotton candy, it began to resemble what looked remarkably like the wings of an angel.

And not just any angel.

Lucemon...Even if the Ruler of Darkness were to succeed, even if everything I've worked so hard to achieve finally becomes a reality, instead of being merely a fantasy or a dream, will you never cease to haunt me? I have failed you, my old friend, but perhaps with the powers of a mega, I will finally be able to protect you...

Shaking his head at his own confusing thoughts, DarkAngelicmon turned slightly to gaze in the direction of the forest, and sensing Lucemon's presence, he felt a small shiver race down his spine.

Such sad eyes...

Despite his efforts to ignore the prickling sensation in his spine, he could almost feel Lucemon's pale blue eyes watching him from the forest, and nervously fluttering his wings, he felt something begin to stir ever so slightly within the depths of his heart. It was something he couldn't explain, and yet the feeling was so powerful, it almost overwhelmed him.

Could it be? Is that what I had been trying to do? Lucemon, had I been trying to...protect you? But...if so...from what? Who would want to hurt an innocent rookie?

"Angelicmon, please don't do this! I'm begging you!"

"We have no other choice. You know better than anyone how powerful Daemon is. For the sake of the entire Digital World, we must defeat him!"

"But..."

"Do you not see what is going on? If Daemon succeeds in his quest to achieve what his master could not, the efforts of the Digidestined who have come to this world to help us will have been in vain! They worked so hard to protect our world and if we fail them..."

"I know, but...Angelicmon, the World of Darkness is a dangerous place! To fight behind the Wall of Fire...If you don't come back, I...I'll..."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"No! Don't you see? The World of Darkness...it changes humans and digimon alike. If you go there..."

"Luciamon and I have made up our minds. As the leaders of the resistance, we must stop Daemon's forces before they manage to break free completely."

"Wait! If you're going then I'm coming with you!"

"Out of the question."

"Nothing you say is going to make me change my mind!"

"To become one of them? Is that what you want?"

"No! I...please, let me fight by your side!"

"Lucemon..."

"I couldn't bear staying behind. Please! I...we should have asked Gennai and the Four Guardians for assistance..."

"It's too late for that now."

"All this to protect the Digidestined? All this to protect me? Angelicmon, I..."

Jerking up straight in surprise, DarkAngelicmon let out a small gasp, his right hand coming to rest gently against his heart.

I remember now! Daemon had a master, a master whose plans had failed. During the war, Daemon tried to resurrect his master's old plans. In the end, he even went so far as to threaten us by claiming he would set his master free. The Ruler of Darkness. It all makes sense now! The digimon Takahiro Kuroki, his partner Kibomon, and his friends defeated...The first digimon to have ever come out from behind the Wall of Fire. It was GranDracmon, the Ruler of Darkness. The King of Vampires. And his plan, Daemon's plans...The Seven Demon Lords...So...that is the secret behind your past, Tal...How could I have not seen it before? It was so obvious. The name, the Ruler of Darkness, it was the key the whole time...

Which meant, his suspicions from earlier were correct. The digimon Tal defeated and the digimon now claiming to be the Ruler of Darkness were indeed not the same digimon because, as DarkAngelicmon knew only too well, his master's true name was not GranDracmon.

And if my master isn't the original Ruler of Darkness then...who is he? Where did he come from? I can't remember...

"Honestly, humans are so slow. How long does it take to climb a mountain?" BlackWidowmon complained, her sudden outburst shattering the silence that had descended upon the peak of Infinity Mountain. "And we're just waiting for them to reach the halfway point, never mind the top! At this rate, it'll be a whole week before the humans finally manage to reach the Spirit Chip!"

"Quit your whining," Jestermon cackled, juggling his set of black spheres in a lazy arc above his head. "Waiting is half the fun. We don't want the game to be over too quickly. It would make stealing the Spirit Chip hardly worth the effort."

"This isn't a game!" Vampiramon snapped, glaring angrily at the court jester. "I must admit, though, BlackWidowmon does have a point. The Digidestined are taking rather longer than necessary to reach the halfway point of the mountain, which doesn't bode well for us. I would've thought DemiDevimon would be back by now with some information for us."

Indeed, something about this situation seems...out of place...

Feeling suddenly uneasy, DarkAngelicmon quickly made his way over to Takara's side, and crouching next to the female Digidestined he said quietly, "Kara, may I see your D-Coder?"

For a moment, Takara merely stared at him in silence, her bottom lip trembling and her hazel eyes sparkling with fear, and placing her D-Coder carefully in his hand she whispered, "It's bad. Oh, Dai..."

Gazing at the glowing dots twinkling back at him on the screen, DarkAngelicmon couldn't help but nod in agreement.

Daichi Motomiya's shining red dot appeared to have separated itself from the rest of the group, and not only that, it looked as if the rest of the Digidestined had separated themselves into approximately three groups.

In other words, they were in serious trouble.

Daichi, you disappoint me, but I figured something like this would happen. Now you must rely on your friends, as I suspected all along would be the case. The question is, will you listen to their words of wisdom or will you give in to the darkness that plagues your heart and clouds your judgement?

"DarkAngelicmon, what's going on?" Vampiramon snapped, appearing suddenly by his left shoulder, nearly causing him to jump in surprise.

"Something is wrong."

"What do you mean there's something wrong? Answer me!"

Lifting his chin to gaze up at the female mega he said quietly, "It appears Spritemon has failed us."

"What?" Vampiramon snapped, snatching Kara's D-Coder out of his hand and frowning suspiciously at its glowing surface. "You don't mean..."

"See for yourself."

Gazing incredulously at the glowing dot representing Daichi Motomiya, she said in disbelief, "Has he completely lost his mind? What is that fool trying to do? He can't seriously think he'll be able to beat us, rescue the girl, and get his Spirit Chip all on his own!"

"Even if you are right, you don't have to put it like that," Takara sniffed, glaring indignantly at the vampire digimon.

Knowing instinctively what needed to be done, DarkAngelicmon quickly leaped to his feet, his hand reaching out to snatch Takara's Digivice from Vampiramon's hands, and glancing once more at the D-Coder's glowing surface he quickly handed it back to the female Digidestined, earning himself a grateful smile from the young human at his feet and a nasty glare from Vampiramon.

Returning the female Digidestined's smile, he quickly turned on his heel, his gaze coming to rest on Vampiramon, and frowning at the female mega he said firmly, "This situation must be resolved. Wait for me here. Once the problem is fixed, I will return immediately."

"And just where do you think you're going?" Vampiramon demanded, her hands on her hips. "In case you've forgotten, I make the orders around here! You're not allowed to so much a breath unless I say so!"

Ignoring the female mega, DarkAngelicmon quickly moved towards the edge of the cliff, intending to launch himself into the air, but before he could even spread his wings, a pair of small human arms suddenly flung themselves around his waist, stopping him in his tracks.

"No! You can't leave!" Takara wailed, burying her face against his lower back. "Please, don't leave me here with them!"

"Do you want Dai to succeed in overcoming the darkness in his heart, or not?"

"Of course I do!"

"Then I must leave. I do not know what has become of Spritemon or DemiDevimon, but your friends may need help. If Daichi drifts too far way from them, all will be lost."

"But-"

Turning to face the female Digidestined, DarkAngelicmon gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile, and gently patting the top of her head he said quietly, "You will be safe here for the moment."

"How can you say that? They want to kill me!" Takara mumbled, hiding her face against his stomach.

Letting out a deep sigh, DarkAngelicmon gently disentangled himself from the female Digidestined's arms, and leaping into the air he said seriously, "Not if they want to survives themselves, they won't. I'll be back shortly."

"How dare you!" Vampiramon shrieked, trying unsuccessfully to grab onto his foot. "Get back here right now, you fool!"

"In time. For now, I must be going. There is work to be done."

"Then you leave me no choice! Our master is going to hear about this and when he does you're going to be in serious trouble!"

Ignoring the female mega, DarkAngelicmon quickly fluttered out of reach, and leaving the peak of Infinity Mountain behind he proceeded to make his way towards the leader of the Digidestined.

Vampiramon

File Island, Eastern Hemisphere, Digital World

"Look at that! When angel boy gets an idea into his head he doesn't let anyone stand in his way! Not even our great and powerful master, the Ruler of Darkness himself!" Jestermon cackled, hopping up and down excitedly on his feet and nearly disrupting his juggling in the process. "This game has just gotten much more interesting."

"I must admit, he certainly has a way of capturing your attention. I like a digimon who knows how to get the job done," BlackWidowmon commented, nodding her head in approval. "Such style and flare. You could learn a thing or two from him, Vampiramon."

Idiots!

Glaring at the two megas lounging near the circle of rocks behind her and tugging angrily on her skirts she snapped, "If you two are done with your love fest over there, pay attention! DarkAngelicmon cannot be allowed to just do whatever he wants, and it's time he learned his lesson! I'm going after him."

"Huh? You are?" Jestermon said stupidly, dropping his black spheres in surprise.

"Good luck finding him," BlackWidowmon snorted. "If there's one thing DarkAngelicmon can do well, it's knowing how to disappear when it's convenient for him and not so convenient for us."

"Even so, he must be stopped before he completely ruins our entire plan to steal the Spirit Chip! You two will remain here, and if any of the Digidestined reach the top of the mountain, capture them and detain them until we can get our hands on Daichi. If he somehow slips past myself or DarkAngelicmon and reaches the peak before the Digidestined, do not let him go anywhere near the Spirit Chip until I return. Understand?"

"We're on it," Jestermon replied, giving her a salute.

"And for goodness sake keep an eye on the Kamiya girl!"

Scowling, BlackWidowmon snapped, "You don't need to tell us that. What do you think we've been doing this whole time?"

"Not much, obviously."

"What about Spritemon and DemiDevimon?" Jestermon asked curiously.

"I'll deal with them later. That is, if they haven't gotten themselves deleted. If I don't meet up with Spritemon and she returns here, make sure she doesn't go running off again the same way DarkAngelicmon did."

"As you wish," BlackWidowmon replied, frowning slightly.

Turning on her heel, Vampiramon quickly changed herself into her bat form, and diving over the side of the cliff, she proceeded to make her way back down the side of the mountain.

Lucemon

File Island, Eastern Hemisphere, Digital World

"Lucemon? What is it, Lucemon?" MarineAngemon asked anxiously, concern in his voice. "Why do you have such a funny look on your face?"

Gazing intently at the peak of Infinity Mountain, Lucemon suddenly felt a small stab of fear in his heart, and leaping to his feet he gasped, "There's something wrong, MarineAngemon, I can feel it. I don't know exactly what's going on, but...we need to hurry."

"What? But...Lucemon, I thought we were supposed to stay out of sight."

"There's no time for that now! Angelicmon, his presence...It feels...different somehow. Something has changed. I can't say what, I don't know if it's good or bad, but I feel it. Come, MarineAngemon, I believe we have reached a turning point."

"W-wait! Hey, Lucemon, wait for me!"

Staying as low as possible to avoid being spotted by Hawkmon's group, Lucemon quickly made his way towards the base of the mountain, and glancing up towards the peak, he felt a small shiver race up and down his spine.

Although, from his position, he hadn't actually spotted anything out of the ordinary, he just knew there was something big happening, and whatever it was he had a feeling it was going to change everything, perhaps foretelling what was still to come and which way the tables would turn in the battle against the true nature of evil.

Not to mention he was pretty sure Hawkmon's group had seen something, since they had a different view of the mountain than he did, which would explain Gotsumon's cry of despair, which had been loud enough to reach the edge of the forest.

Angelicmon...What's happening to you?