Author's Note: Don't know if I have anything special to say heading into this, so hope you enjoy it!
Cody gritted his teeth as he prepared for his upcoming battle. Suffice to say, this was not what he had been expecting on what was supposed to be a routine patrol. He had bumped into Michael and Willis, got transported into the middle of a fight with Daemon, and then roughly transported again into a barren wasteland. After making sure that Armadillomon was all right, he had immediately pulled out his D-Terminal and tried to communicate with everybody to find out how they were doing. Davis, Ken, and Yolei all responded that they were fine, but Cody didn't get any response from Michael and Willis. Not that he had really been expecting any- since neither of them had their own D-Terminals, he had been forced to email Willis instead of using real-time communication, and Michael might not have had any way to receive his email. When Cody tried sending a message to Joe and the others back on Earth to let them know about the situation, the messages had all come up with an error and couldn't be sent. With no other obvious choice of action, Cody decided to do the only thing available to him: wander around and hope he ran into somebody that could help him or at the very least see if he could get into range of somebody else to pick up the signal from their Digivice.
Luckily for Cody, he didn't have to wander long before he ran into a couple of Digimon, at least informing him he was most likely somewhere in the Digital World. However, the Digimon in question were a Tortomon that was attacking a Gabumon. When the Gabumon pleaded for help, Cody had Armadillomon Digivolve, and after a brief scuffle, Ankylomon knocked his opponent unconscious, allowing Gabumon to finally explain what was going on. Gabo (as the Gabumon introduced himself) was apparently a messenger for Holy Angel Castle, the main base for the resistance against Daemon. He had been carrying out his duties when he had been attacked by Tortomon, who seemed to be the latest in a long line of Digimon on the Folder Continent to fall under Daemon's influence. While he hadn't known anything about the other DigiDestined or the communication problems, Gabo at least gave Cody a basic idea of where he was and what was happening. However, it was the next visitor that provided Cody with a next course of action.
Almost immediately after Gabo had started talking with Cody, a sound reminiscent of microphone feedback interrupted any further attempts at conversation. The source of this was soon revealed as a Digimon resembling a monkey suit came riding in on a Monochromon. As soon as he saw this, Cody couldn't help but suppress a groan. After all, he had heard all about the first time the DigiDestined had faced an Etemon. This one also seemed to act like a villain who couldn't be taken seriously, yet he would probably pack just as much power as a typical Ultimate level. However, this Etemon seemed to want to talk more than fight. He introduced himself as Etemonkey and claimed to have orders from Daemon to kill all DigiDestined. However, he claimed such a task was beneath Daemon's top lieutenant, so instead of killing them right away, he decided to play a little game. Apparently, he had placed an Ultimate level Digimon to guard five tags scattered around the continent. At first, Cody had no idea how any of this pertained to him, but Etemonkey seemed content to explain everything. The only way to access Daemon's castle was to collect the five tags, and the only way to collect the tags would be to defeat the five Ultimate levels. Etemonkey then rode off, loudly congratulating himself on anticipating the DigiDestined's plan and countering it.
Cody and Ankylomon had a hard time believing what had just happened. Usually, people working for whichever villain was trying to take over the world would show up, attack as flashily as possible, and only go away when they were defeated. Now, a top lieutenant had rode up, told him everything he needed to do, and then ran away, congratulating himself on anticipating the moves Cody would have never made in the first place. Still, he guessed he should just be thankful he at least knew what to do. Going back to his D-Terminal, he alerted everybody he could about the necessary steps to gain access to Daemon's stronghold before suggesting Holy Angel Castle as a rendezvous point. It seemed to be a well-known location, and as the base for the resistance against Daemon it was the only place that would for sure be friendly. Having at least cemented a plan of action, Cody felt better about the current situation.
Cody sighed after the latest battle. The Ultimate level was nowhere in sight, meaning there was time to take a slight break. After running into Etemonkey, Gabo had agreed to lead the DigiDestined toward the nearest tag. As such, they had arrived at a shallow pond fed by a waterfall in an area called the Valley of the Dragon. Almost immediately, they were attacked by a DarkTyrannomon and a Deltamon. While Ankylomon was strong enough to handle either one of them on his own after months of training, the combination of the two had pushed him further than he would have liked considering he would be fighting an Ultimate level soon. While Ankylomon eventually won the fight and took very little damage, Cody was not pleased with the final result: both his opponents had been destroyed. Ankylomon had managed to knock DarkTyrannomon unconscious, but a wayward shot of Deltamon's Triple Force attack had struck the fallen dinosaur and reduced him to data. Then, Ankylomon had been forced to destroy the Composition Digimon when its skeletal arm tried to eat Cody well after its main body had been knocked out. Cody knew there was nothing else that could have been done, but he still wished a fight against Daemon didn't have to involve the death of any other Digimon.
Before Cody could muse any further, a series of rumbling steps from behind the waterfall shook the ground. Three red and black horns poked out of the waterfall, followed by a giant green triceratops. Cody cursed his luck: Triceramon, like Ankylomon, was a Digimon that focused more on defense than offense. In the current situation, Digmon and Submarimon were next to useless, as the pond was too shallow for Submarimon yet still deep enough that it would flood Digmon out of any tunnel in the ground. This meant Ankylomon would be the only form available to battle, but without any strategic advantage defeating a higher level foe would be much more difficult.
Just as Cody feared, the battle between Ankylomon and Triceramon became a war of attrition, with neither side seeming to gain any noticeable advantage. Triceramon had managed to shrug off Tail Hammer and Megaton Press attacks without seeming to take any damage, while Ankylomon had managed to avoid Triceramon's Tri-Horn Attacks by using his Rhythmical Knock attack to shift the ground beneath his opponent as he charged the attack. While this allowed Ankylomon to avoid being hit, the blasts still carved out massive sections of rock leaving Cody no doubt that Ankylomon would lose if he took a direct hit. Of course, just because he was avoiding Triceramon's main attack didn't mean Ankylomon was avoiding every hit. He had been hit by his fair share of Mega Dashes and Tail Slaps, one for every successful attack he landed. The Champion level was clearly showing more fatigue than his opponent, but Cody wasn't sure how to change the situation.
After what seemed like hours of fighting, but what must have been only ten minutes, Ankylomon managed to catch a little break. He caught Triceramon in a crevasse after another Rhythmical Knock, which gave him a little bit of time to catch his breath. As he stood there panting, he started to talk to his partner. "Hey, Cody, I don't know if I'll ever be able to finish this guy off. His defenses are just too strong for me. I miss sparring with Gesomon and MarineDevimon- at least in those forms, Gomamon still took damage."
"I know it looks tough, Ankylomon, but we have to keep trying. Eventually, something has to give. As long as we never give up, that something will have to be him. Now—what?" Cody was suddenly forced to shield his eyes. Triceramon had freed himself from the crevasse, but in doing so he had collapsed a portion of the rock wall, revealing a bright white light. The light began floating towards Cody, who instinctively reached out and grabbed it. Curious to see what it was, he opened his hand to reveal a metal triangle with a red border that must have been the tag. However, before he could wonder what had caused this to happen, the tag suddenly changed shape into something he had only ever seen on the original eight DigiDestined: a Crest Tag, complete with a white crest decorated with a symbol that appeared to be a leaf sticking out of a flat landscape. Cody could only gasp in shock before Ankylomon began glowing with a white light. "Ankylomon, Digivolve to… Shakkoumon!"
In the few seconds it took Cody to process what had just happened, Shakkoumon unleashed his Kachina Bombs attack, blanketing Triceramon in explosions. As his enemy reeled back, Shakkoumon addressed his partner. "Well, this was unexpected. Looks like we just unlocked the Ultimate level on our own. That must mean the tag was actually your Crest this entire time. Strange how that worked out. Still, at least now I can win this fight, and I don't even have to worry about adjusting to a new form. It is a bit weird not sharing a mind with Angemon when I do this, but at least I know exactly what to expect."
However, at this time, Triceramon got back up, forcing Shakkoumon to turn his attention back to the battle. The Dinosaur Digimon finally showed some signs of damage, but he was nowhere near defeated. He launched another Tri-Horn Attack, and this time he finally struck his foe. Shakkoumon was blasted backwards, lamenting the fact that he no longer had an attack like Rhythmical Knock to avoid such a hit. Triceramon tried finishing off his foe with another Tri-Horn Attack, but this time Shakkoumon was ready and countered with his Justice Beam. The red and green beams clashed, but the green beam seemed to be overpowering the red. Seeing his partner about to lose the beam struggle, Cody clenched his Digivice and Crest tightly before shouting encouragement at the Mutant Digimon. "Shakkoumon, don't give up. We can still win this. Just keep pushing, and we can knock him back. You can do this!" With this, a surge of energy shot from Cody to Shakkoumon, seeming to recharge the Ultimate level. With the newfound energy, he managed to slowly push back Triceramon's attack until it exploded right in the dinosaur's face.
Shakkoumon no longer had the energy to stay hovering, so he came down to rest on the ground. Panting after the exertion of the fight, he turned to Cody. "Thanks, partner, if it wasn't for that last burst of energy, I'd be a goner right now. I'm sorry he ended up destroyed, but there wasn't any other way to—" Before he could finish his sentence, Triceramon burst out from a pile of rubble. He gave an angry roar, but it was clear that he wasn't holding together very well after the last attack. He would occasionally flicker, like his data was on the verge of splitting apart. However, he didn't seem like he cared, as he snarled out one last message to his opponent. "Did you honestly expect to get away from here so easily? I might have gone down, but at the very least I'm taking you out with me. Mega Dash!"
With this, Triceramon's entire body glowed a bright green before he launched himself at Shakkoumon. The Mutant Digimon didn't have enough time to dodge the attack, so he did the next best thing: he reach out his arms and grabbed the charging dinosaur by his horns. Shakkoumon was plowed backwards, but he merely dug his legs into the ground and with a Herculean effort managed to throw Triceramon aside, where the Dinosaur Digimon reverted all the way to a Digi-Egg. Before Shakkoumon could feel any relief at surviving his opponent's suicidal attack, he himself reverted all the way back to Tsubumon and immediately passed out.
Cody rushed over to pick up his fallen partner. While Tsubumon didn't wake up, he was at least breathing, which meant he would be okay after a long rest. Deciding on his next course of action, Cody called out for Gabo, who sheepishly came out of hiding. Cody then grabbed Triceramon's DigiEgg and told Gabo to lead him to Holy Angel Castle. Tsubumon wouldn't be ready to fight anytime soon, so it made more sense to go to the meeting point rather than try to collect another tag. Besides, if all the DigiDestined gathered together, it would be much easier to take the fight to Daemon. In the short time he had been here, Cody had already seen three Digimon be destroyed. The quicker they stopped Daemon, the quicker such pointless deaths could come to an end.
Yolei let out a scream of frustration. Why did stuff like this always happen to her? Okay, getting suddenly yanked into a battle with Daemon and then sent on another bumpy ride happened to everybody else too, but none of them had to deal with this. After she got Cody's messages, she had decided to set out in a random direction hoping to come across some sign of Digimon life. Of course, after twenty minutes of walking, she just had to find this. True, it meant something had once been here, but a digital graveyard wasn't exactly the welcome she had been expecting. However, there was a castle in the center of the graveyard that had lights glowing in the windows, meaning they would have to walk through the graveyard to run into anybody that could possibly point them in the direction of a tag or this Holy Angel Castle. Piece of cake, right?
"Hey Hawkmon, why would there even be a graveyard in the Digital World? I mean, usually Digimon come back as eggs, and the only exception to that is if a Demon Lord destroys them, where they get trapped in the Dark Area. This just has to be one of those weird, unexplainable things that show up here, right?"
"I don't think you have to worry about anything, Yolei. Sure, there are a bunch of stories of Digimon being improperly deleted and sightings of a mysterious entity known only as Shademon, but those all sound like the kind of thing a Bakemon would make up in order to scare people away. If you ask me, this place shouldn't be any scarier than any other area in the Digital—eep!"
Hawkmon suddenly jumped in fright and cowered behind Yolei's legs. Yolei was about to make a sarcastic comment about her partner being scared of this area, when she suddenly heard a piteous moaning from behind the nearest gravestone. Swallowing back the rising panic, Yolei cautiously went to investigate, only to breathe out a sigh of relief when the source of the sound turned out to be a Patamon cowering in fear. After Yolei convinced Patamon that she wouldn't hurt him, he started explaining everything. Apparently, this area had once been a normal village, until a cursed monster moved into the area. The villagers became possessed by an evil force and had started destroying each other, and the land itself started to change its shape. Hearing this, Yolei promised not to leave Patamon alone, and asked him if he knew anything about the tags or Holy Angel Castle. The smaller Digimon's eyes lit up, and he offered to lead Yolei to a tag if she promised not to leave him alone. Yolei and Hawkmon quickly agreed, and started following as Patamon lead them towards the castle in the center of the graveyard.
Yolei couldn't help but feel a bit suspicious at everything that had just happened. She was in a castle in the middle of a graveyard, and there was supposed to be a horrible monster in the area. It didn't take much to guess this monster would be the Ultimate Daemon was using to guard the tag. However, she had just waltzed right in to the seemingly abandoned castle and claimed the purple-bordered tag from a glowing pillar of light. The closest thing to a guard she had come across was a lone bat. Which, while startling, hadn't done anything threatening other than fly away. Something definitely wasn't right here.
Sure enough, no sooner had she finished thinking this than the room suddenly filled with clouds of a strange yellow gas. Yolei thought she heard a strange laugh, but quickly passed out. When she came to, she saw that Patamon and Hawkmon both seemed to be fine and worried about her, but Hawkmon had a strange look in his eyes. Chalking that up to an effect of the mystery gas, she asked exactly how long she had been out, but Hawkmon revealed she had only been unconscious for less than a minute. After all the strangeness in the castle, Yolei was almost glad when all the candles in the chandelier came to life and revealed themselves to be Candlemon before attacking. At least this was more of the straightforward fighting she had been used to. While Hawkmon could easily handle one Candlemon in a fight, six would be more of a challenge, so Yolei grabbed her Digivice and had Hawkmon Digivolve.
As soon as Aquilamon appeared, he launched his Blast Rings attack, easily destroying the wax bodies of his opponents. The ease of destruction came as a complete surprise to both Yolei and Aquilamon, as they had never seen that happen before. While they hadn't had much experience destroying any real Digimon, they still knew Digimon fragmented into data instead of just falling apart. Either those Candlemon weren't real, or something about this castle really messed around with the structure of a Digimon. Patamon seemed shocked at Aquilamon quickly destroying the attackers, but Yolei quickly came to her partner's defense. Even if the Candlemon had been normal Digimon, and she explained her reasons to think they weren't, it wasn't exactly Aquilamon's fault they had been destroyed. That attack had been used before on low level Digimon, and it never outright destroyed them. So, he hadn't exactly been trying to do that kind of damage. At worst, it was just an unfortunate mistake that would only result in the Candlemon being reborn somewhere other than a haunted castle.
However, after explaining this, Yolei noticed Patamon was behaving oddly. He hadn't seemed all that surprised when the Candlemon attacked, but now that she had finished explaining everything, he seemed completely at a loss for a reaction. Now, if he had been relieved the fight was over or even outraged that somebody would try justifying such a degree of violence, she would have at least understood why he acted that way. Something was off about the whole situation, but before Yolei could ask Patamon anything he gave a quick sigh of relief that was followed by a cry of pain from Aquilamon. Turning to check on her partner, Yolei saw that he had been attacked by the wisps of flame. They looked exactly like the flames that had been on the heads of the Candlemon, making Yolei realize she had spoken too soon when she talked about the Candlemon being destroyed.
Aquilamon recovered from the surprise attack and retaliated with his Wind Breath, easily extinguishing the little wisps of flame. Now that the battle finally appeared to be over, Yolei was quick to apologize to her partner for not paying closer attention. While Aquilamon seemed a little bit angrier than he usually would be given the situation, he still readily accepted the apology. With that taken care of, Yolei returned her attention to Patamon to ask him what was going on, but the little Digimon was merely staring at them with its jaw dropped. In fact, its jaw was dropping much more than should be possible for a Patamon to manage, but the reason for this was revealed when the shape of the Mammal Digimon slowly shifted into a floating ghost. Yolei resisted the urge to slap herself for falling for this- she had seen Bakemon shapeshift all the way back to her first month as a DigiDestined, and six years later she hadn't considered it when she noticed a Digimon acting strangely. Still, at least it wasn't too late to fix that mistake.
"Alright, Bakemon, I think it's about time you told us what's really going on here, and if you don't give any good answers, you'll see what Aquilamon can do when he isn't holding back." However, the ghost Digimon didn't really seem to register Yolei's words at all, as he was too busy mumbling to himself. In a tone that told Yolei he really wasn't meaning to say these thoughts out loud, the Bakemon complained about something called a Nightmare Wave that apparently hadn't worked.
However, before Bakemon could explain any further, he suddenly let out a horrible shriek and what little color was present on his body completely drained away. He began piteously moaning, "Wait, Lord Vamdemon, I promise I can fix this. Just give me another chance…" Yolei quickly spun around to see what the ghost was talking about, and beheld a vampiric Digimon wearing a red mask and a cape. While she hadn't seen this Digimon personally, she had heard way too much for her liking. The Myotismon merely let out an evil chuckle as he faced the DigiDestined. "No, Bakemon, I don't think you can fix this. Grisly Wing!"
Aquilamon groaned as he regained consciousness. Myotismon's swarm of bats had been bad enough, but then the vampire had blasted him with a Nightmare Claw attack. That was the last thing he remembered until waking up just now. He slowly opened his eyes, only to be greeted by a gentlemanly voice. "Ah, so you're waking up already. Good, the experiment can now begin." Snapping back awake at the sound of the voice, Aquilamon found himself in a vast room staring at a smiling Myotismon. There was no sign of Yolei anywhere, but there was a massive army of Champion-level Digimon surrounding the Giant Bird Digimon. However, it took Aquilamon a second to notice that something was unusual: the army consisted entirely of Data and Vaccine types like Meramon, Unimon, and Kabuterimon. The typical Virus types like Bakemon and Vilemon were completely absent. Myotismon took note of his captive's wondering gaze and smirked.
"I see you've noticed my personal army here. No doubt you're thinking it strange that I don't have the typical soldiers you've seen before. Why would such good-natured Digimon consort with such a clearly malevolent fellow as me, known far and wide as the terrible Vamdemon? Well, it's quite simple. I—"
"I don't really care about your life story." Aquilamon interrupted. "Where's Yolei?" The Myotismon, apparently named Vamdemon, sighed at the interruption, and then formed a bright red whip in his hand. "You know, it is incredibly rude for a guest to interrupt his host when he's speaking. If you must know, your human partner is fine. I dare say she is even having the time of her life. Now, if you'd like to keep it that way and not have me test what a Crimson Lightning attack does to a human being, I suggest you listen." Aquilamon knew better than to trust any enemy Digimon, but decided to comply with his captor's wishes. After all, there wasn't much he would be able to do against the Ultimate anyway, especially in this condition. He was barely managing to maintain the Champion level. When Vamdemon seemed content with his captive's silence, he continued his story.
"Now, as I was saying before I was interrupted, I appear to keep some unusual company. The reason for this is quite simple. Among Ultimate Digimon, Myotismon is probably the most feared and powerful. However, I have always failed to live up to that caliber of strength. As such…"
Aquilamon silently rolled his eyes as Vamdemon went on to tell an incredibly long and pointless story detailing exactly how his life had lead up to this point. Sometimes, Aquilamon wished evil Digimon would just get straight to the point instead of trying to talk an opponent to death. He didn't particularly care about how Vamdemon was constantly laughed at by his peers, and thus spent countless hours practicing his Nightmare Wave attack. Still, Vamdemon seemed insistent on revealing he had advanced this one attack to the point where he could completely force his will on the mind of any creature instead of just causing visions of betrayal. Sure, that detail explained why the entire population of the village appeared to be serving him, but Aquilamon didn't really care since the knowledge wouldn't help him out of the current situation. Vamdemon seemed to notice the boredom rolling in waves off of his 'guest', causing the vampire to let out another exasperated sigh.
"Why doesn't anybody ever appreciate a riveting history? I see you won't listen if I talk any further, so I may as well skip to the part that involves you. You see, you are the first being to ever resist my Nightmare Wave. Lord Daemon warned me that the DigiDestined and their partners possessed a power beyond what most Digimon could comprehend. I wish to see exactly what this power that scares even him is like! So, I had to ensure you still had that bond in order to see exactly what makes it work. You may have shrugged off the wave when it was channeled through Bakemon, but how will you handle it with an entire room full of transmitters? NIGHTMARE WAVE!"
Aquilamon squeezed his eyes shut at the impending attack. However, after a few seconds, he noticed a distinct lack of any unpleasant feelings. Wondering what exactly was going on, he opened his eyes to see some form of magenta energy field protecting him from the electric blasts. However, Aquilamon didn't really care about that as much of the sight of Yolei standing behind Vamdemon. Clutching at a glowing Crest, Yolei decided to announce her presence.
"Hey, Myotismon, next time you want to get me out of the way, I suggest you try something other than trapping me in an illusion that fulfills all the shallow desires I have. That didn't work when a MaloMyotismon tried it six years ago. Now, Aquilamon, get him!" With this, Yolei held out her Crest and Digivice, and Aquilamon felt the rush of energy that could only signal one thing: a Digivolution. Getting caught up in the moment, he proudly shouted, "Aquilamon, Digivolve to… Silphymon!" With that out of the way, he decided to take advantage of Vamdemon's shock and launch his Astral Laser attack. The energy duplicate carried the Nightmare Wave attack along with it, causing Vamdemon to scream as he was blasted with his own attack. Pressing his advantage, Silphymon launched a Static Force that slammed into the vampire and destroyed him, leaving nothing behind but a red mask.
Yolei was quite surprised at how quickly the fight had ended. She had heard all the stories about the first fight with Myotismon, and there was no way a Digimon that had shrugged off six Ultimates would fall so easily to one. Something just wasn't adding up here. Yolei stared at the symbol on her new Crest trying to see if she could find an answer, but the spiral inscribed in a heart didn't offer up any explanation. Eventually giving up, she and Silphymon went around to all the Digimon who seemed to be recovering from their stint as Myotismon's thralls. After a few minutes, all the Digimon seemed to be recovering fine, so Yolei and the newly-reverted Poromon asked for directions to Holy Angel Castle. The two then went on their way, with Yolei sending an elated message to all of her teammates she could still contact.
Daemon snarled as he witnessed Vamdemon's defeat. That marked three tags in the hands of the DigiDestined. What was worse, the tags apparently had been created from Crests, meaning the one bit of good fortune he had had in facing the DigiDestined incapable of reaching the Ultimate level was rapidly disappearing. Still, there was nothing that could be done about it. This stronghold on Folder had been his fallback plan during the debacle in the Dark Ocean months ago, meaning he hadn't been able to move his forces to this location and had been forced to rely on the troops of the local virus Digimon. Clearly, Etemonkey had exaggerated the competence of his own followers.
However, Daemon knew that some of the blame extended to himself. He had resorted to banishing his foes with Dragomon's ability before he had fully mastered that aspect. As such, he had left their destination up to fate, and this in turn seemed to carry them right towards their destined Crests. He strongly desired to go out himself and engage the DigiDestined in order to rectify that mistake, but such open behavior would pretty much guarantee Lucemon would find him before Daemon could obtain his trump card. Though he loathed admitting it, Daemon knew he was far too weak to survive an encounter with Lucemon unless the conditions were exactly perfect. As such, he would have to control himself for just a little longer. Not that the plan didn't allow him plenty of opportunities for entertainment. Smiling, he turned to the easier of Dragomon's powers to control, and summoned Etemonkey into his presence.
The Puppet Digimon seemed nervous at the unexpected summons, but before he could ask any questions, Daemon silenced him with a raised hand. "Now, Etemonkey, I've summoned you because of some disturbing information I've received. Three tags have already been claimed by the DigiDestined, and the remaining two only remain under our control due to sheer luck that the two nearest them have been distracted by other matters. Now, I seem to recall you ensuring me on your position as lieutenant that your forces could protect the tags. So, it seems you are no longer worthy of your position. Normally, I would destroy you for such a failure, but circumstances have me feeling a bit lenient at the moment. As such, I shall give you the opportunity to fight for your life against the aspiring candidates for your position."
Etemonkey visibly sagged in relief. After all, he had been the strongest Digimon among all the virus types here until Daemon had taken over. He would be able to handle fighting against anybody else, so long as Daemon didn't attack. However, when he saw the two monsters he would have to fight emerge from behind Daemon's throne, he quickly went from relieved to insulted. He was second in command of the army, and Daemon thought an Ogremon and a Devimon could replace him? If this was the level of standards Daemon had, maybe the Demon Lord wasn't nearly as strong as he appeared.
"Alright, fine, I'll admit I haven't done my fullest to stop the DigiDestined. Probably because they actually seem like I could have some fun if I hung around with them instead of you. Still, don't think you can get rid of me this easily. If you are going to rely on two Champions to replace me, you're more pathetic than I imagined. You'll see that you needed me much more than I needed you. Dark Network!"
Etemonkey launched a sphere of dark energy at each of the Champion level Digimon, injuring each of them to the point where they wouldn't be able to fight. However, such a display only seemed to amuse Daemon, who couldn't hold back a chuckle. "You're probably thinking you just earned your job back, aren't you? Well, they weren't exactly the ones you were competing against." However, it was the second voice that Etemonkey heard that sent shivers down his spine. "Ultimate level Puppet Digimon. Virus type. Special Attacks: Concert Crush and Dark Network. Average in-game lifespan: 105 hours. That's Etemon: nothing more, nothing less."
Etemonkey turned to the source of this new voice that sounded even colder than Daemon's. To his shock, the speaker wasn't some new Mega-level Digimon, but rather a human with white hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a white vest over a black t-shirt with white peace signs on the sleeves, white pants, and a white scarf draping over his shoulders like a cape. His arms were covered in bandages from the end of his sleeves down to his wrists, which were hidden in his pockets. As Etemonkey stared slack-jawed at the new arrival, Daemon burst into laughter. "What's the matter, Etemonkey? Did you honestly think after all my battles with the DigiDestined I wouldn't do something like this? For some reason, working with a human partner enables a Digimon to fight at its full potential. As such, I called Neo here to the Digital World in order for him to raise the Super Ultimate into the perfect monster!"
Etemonkey was still taken aback. Sure, Daemon's explanation made sense on the surface, but there was a major problem. Daemon had made it clear he was planning on invading and subjugating the human world once he had the power to take over the Digital World. Why would this human work with Daemon when it would doom his own world? He wasn't even a child to be easily manipulated, as he was clearly older than the DigiDestined Etemonkey had encountered earlier. However, before Etemonkey could articulate his surprise, Neo gave a cold smirk and pulled his hands out of his pockets, revealing a Digivice 01 on each wrist. The sight finally knocked Etemonkey out of his stupor.
"Listen, kid, you don't want to do this. Honestly, I've only been working with Daemon because I'd have a chance to go to the human world. I've always just wanted a chance to play with humans, and I have no desire to destroy them. But Daemon's different. His goal is the utter eradication of all humans. This isn't just some video game where you can just reload from the last save point. He's going to kill everybody in your world!"
Neo's only reaction to this was to start chuckling. "You seem to think that I don't know about that, and that I care what happens to the human world. It's the opposite. I know exactly what Daemon is planning, and I don't care. Speaking of knowing and caring, I know this isn't a video game, where everything is reduced to a simple statistic. So, my analysis of you had an incorrect lifespan. I don't care how long you've lived up until this point, but I know you won't make it another minute." With this, he slammed his fists together and shouted, "Jogress! SkullSatamon!"
Ogremon and Devimon were reduced to gridlines before they spiraled together, forming the Ultimate level Undead Digimon. Before Etemonkey could do anything, he was blasted into data by his opponent's Nail Bone attack. Daemon could only smirk at the cruelty of his new lieutenant. His plan was coming together perfectly. Now, it was time to see how the DigiDestined fared when they were competing against a fellow partner Digimon.
Author's Note: And there we have another chapter. Since things are progressing so much more quickly than they did in the manga (amazing how that can happen when you have six DigiDestined instead of only one) Daemon is forced to speed up his plans and call in his trump card. Neo probably sounds like the second coming of the Digimon Emperor, but I'm basing him on his manga self, only older since he still has to be a couple of years older than Tai, who is 20 here instead of the 11 he was in the manga.
As for the other fights, I hope they were fine. Cody's was probably the hardest to write, seeing as I view Armadillomon's Digivolutions as being more defensive based. Going up against someone like Triceramon who bragged about his defense, I know it wouldn't be the most exciting to read. Still, it fits with his Crest, so I hope it works out. As for Yolei's, the fight with Vamdemon was just too perfect to pass up, giving her a bit of a shot of redemption after MaloMyotismon. And it also fits with her Crest too!
You are probably annoyed with all this mystery over the identity of their Crests, but I promise I'll reveal it soon. I just didn't want them to automatically know the history of something they just found. Still, I'll give a bit of a hint: all of the Crests have a basis within a canonical source to the Adventure universe. If you have any guesses or any feedback at all, please leave a review or send a PM!