Author's Note: Well, I'm updating this faster than I thought I would, but I just want to hurry this up a bit. Don't know if I'll hear back from my beta reader before this is over since this is the fifth of 19 chapters, but I guess more updates is never a bad thing. Enjoy!
Willis closed his laptop in defeat. He had been triple checking every line of code in the program he had been using to restore the landscape of the Digital World, but he couldn't find anything that would cause everybody to get sent into the middle of a fight with Daemon. Either something else had caused the first transportation in a similar manner to Daemon causing the second trip, or the Digital World just liked to laugh off any attempts at being logically consistent. Giving up finding the answer to that particular question as a lost cause, he looked towards his two partners sitting by the side of the path they had landed on. The two rabbit-like Digimon noticed Willis was no longer buried in his laptop and started cheering. When Willis asked exactly what was going on, they decided to take turns responding.
Lopmon went first. After being reborn without the effects of the virus that had corrupted him, he had developed a very polite and caring personality. The brown rabbit might not be the bravest of partners, but he was always willing to listen and try to help a friend in need. "Well, we knew you were going to be busy checking your program, so we decided to just pass the time with a little game. We're just cheering because you must have figured out what to do next."
"Well, that, and I Spy gets really boring when the only things you can see are grass, trees, a road, and clouds," Terriermon added. Ever since his brother had come back, the doglike Digimon (who insisted he was not a rabbit) had undergone a slight personality change. Before Kokomon had been infected, he had always been a bit of a prankster, but he had repressed that side of him when Kokomon vanished and he had been the only one there for Willis. Now that Lopmon was back to balance him out, he made a lot of sarcastic comments and was more of a fan of brutal honesty instead of being nice. "Besides, you really need to stop spending so much time in your computer. Isn't that why Alex and Taylor dumped you?"
Willis sighed. Another thing Terriermon had picked up in the past few years was a habit of teasing his partner about his love life. Still, Willis wasn't too upset about that. It was just part of their friendship. It felt good to have a more normal life where he actually had real friends, both human and Digimon, and a love life that consisted of more than a couple of kisses on the cheek and a 'girlfriend' who had actually been his babysitter when he was six. "As I've repeatedly told you, they didn't dump me. We mutually decided it just wasn't working out. And don't think I don't know you're rolling your eyes at me as you say that. Besides, I needed to make sure there wasn't a bug in my program. I'd hate it if I messed up anything again."
"Don't worry about that," Lopmon interrupted. "It's not like you meant to do anything wrong, and even if something bad happens, you have both of us here this time. Besides, the program worked perfectly the first few times, so it can't have been anything you did. Though, I am worried about what happened to all the others. Do you think they'll all be okay?"
Willis nodded. "I'm sure they'll be fine. After all, they have a lot more experience than we do. Still, I wish there was a way for us to contact them. For all the good the DigiNet did in helping us stay in touch in the real world, it doesn't work here. Not that any of them would be able to access it anyway. Michael's phone doesn't work here, and everybody else's D-Terminals are half a decade too old to be able to handle that much workload."
Terriermon gave an exaggerated sigh. "And you're supposedly the brightest mind of your generation. Sure, the others can't access your fancy chat, but they still can get emails, can't they? It would be better than nothing. It won't help us find Michael, but if we can get together with Davis and Ken, Imperialdramon would really help the search."
Willis had to resist the urge to slap himself for missing the obvious solution. Pulling his laptop open again, he opened up his email, only to find messages from Davis, Ken, Yolei, and Cody. From these, he learned they were all okay, and had already set a rendezvous point for Holy Angel Castle. In addition, they had to collect five tags, two of which Cody and Yolei had already collected and used in order to Digivolve to the Ultimate level. Now that he knew something about what was going on, Willis wanted to hurry up and take action. After all, this Holy Angel Castle sounded like a good place to get answers. He sent a quick message telling everybody that he was okay before setting off. The road they were on seemed well-travelled, which meant there had to be something important at each end. If they just picked a direction, they were bound to find someone eventually who could give them directions.
Willis, Terriermon, and Lopmon stared at the imposing metal doorway before them. They had followed the road all the way to a large building with a sign calling it the Metal Factory, but apart from the now-paved road and the obviously industrial building, they hadn't found any signs of life. However, there was a strange hum coming from the building, indicating that at least something was going on inside. Normally, Willis would have taken that as a sure indication that he had found somebody, but after his latest experience he wasn't quite sure if he wanted to trust everything to rational thought. Still, he couldn't just walk away from the most promising source of information he had found. The door seemed to be controlled by an electronic lock, but Willis wasn't too worried. He was fairly good at getting around security systems- before he had really learned what hacking was, he had viewed various firewalls and such as just a fun puzzle- so a simple lock like this was quite literally child's play for him. Within seconds, he had cracked the code and the door was creakily swinging outwards.
As the three entered the factory, Willis immediately started to lose hope of finding anybody helpful. While some machines were slowly running, most of them had long since fallen into disrepair, implying the factory hadn't seen use in a very long time. However, even if it had been working perfectly, this factory probably wasn't home to anybody friendly. Strewn along the ground were various mechanical components that looked eerily similar to body parts of machine Digimon. While the gears weren't necessarily from things like Hagurumon, there were arms and legs scattered about that were distinctly like what would be found on Andromon and Guardromon. Still, Willis supposed he shouldn't jump to the worst conclusion. Maybe this factory didn't break mechanical Digimon down, but just built them… though, it wouldn't hurt to be careful. Staring past the disturbing piles of debris, he saw the factory consisted of this one large room with various catwalks forming a second floor of sorts and a bunch of doors that must lead to other rooms. Sticking by his partners, he decided to start searching these rooms, on the off chance of finding someone friendly.
The nearest room was once again locked, but Willis quickly overcame that problem. As the door slid open, a cloud of steam billowed out, temporarily obscuring everybody's vision. Terriermon started commenting on how this place was something right out of a bad horror movie, but Lopmon became much quieter and hugged Willis's leg, something he only did when he was particularly scared. Finally, the steam cleared, only for Willis, Lopmon, and Terriermon all to gasp in shock as they saw a fully assembled Machinedramon glaring at them. However, after a few tense seconds of inactivity, the three let out their breaths. The Machinedramon may have been assembled, but its utter lack of movement showed it must have been deactivated. Still, Lopmon didn't seem satisfied. "Guys, something is really wrong here. We have to go, now." Willis was a bit surprised at the tone of his partner's voice, but Terriermon apparently didn't catch on. "Gee, whatever gave you that idea? Finding the giant monster in the mechanical version of Frankenstein's lab is always a good sign in the movies…" However, Lopmon insisted. "It's not just that. This feels like the virus."
That claim immediately caused Terriermon and Willis to drop any sense of levity and become serious. As an unspoken rule, the three of them never really talked about the time Lopmon had been infected with the virus. If Lopmon himself was bringing it up, this wasn't the time for sarcasm. Some things you just didn't joke about. Immediately deciding to abandon the search, Willis lead his partners back into the main room of the factory, only for both of the open doors to ominously close on their own. Before the three could do anything other than assume a ready stance, a cold voice addressed them from above. "You know, for one of the legendary DigiDestined said to bring out the full potential of Digimon in battle, I was expecting an opponent who wouldn't walk head first into such an obvious trap."
Looking towards the source of the noise, Willis and his partners were shocked to see another human instead of an evil Digimon talking to them like that. While Terriermon and Lopmon were distracted by the strange outfit the new arrival was wearing, Willis couldn't help but notice something familiar about his face. It took him a while to place it, but eventually he remembered where he had seen this person before.
"Wait a minute, I know you. You're Neo Saiba. You won the 2005 Virtual Pet World Championship. You probably don't remember me, but my name's Willis Kennedy. You beat my Piximon in the semifinals with your Megadramon. What are you doing here in the Digital World?"
Neo gave a mirthless chuckle. "You're right, I don't remember you. You were nothing more than a speed bump on my path to the title. And I'm not just the 2005 champion- I've been the champion every year since the game was created. And that's how I arrived in the Digital World- after establishing myself as the greatest Tamer on the planet, Daemon saw fit to bring me here and give me a chance to prove myself with real monsters. I'll be the Tamer to raise the Super Ultimate monster that's about to hatch. To be partnered with a legendary creature never before seen by humans- it's the highest honor a Tamer could have."
Willis had a hard time believing what he was hearing. Sure, he hadn't known Neo all that well, but he still had a hard time believing he would go as far as working for Daemon just to prove he was the best. True, Neo was the kind of competitor who was obsessed with having the strongest monster, but he also had bragged about knowing all the details on every monster in the game while breezing to victory the last time they had met. Someone who did that much research on Digimon had to know Daemon couldn't be trusted. Even putting aside Daemon, Willis was all too familiar with the potential devastation of a previously unknown Digimon, and the Diaboromon affair wasn't exactly a big secret. He opened his mouth to start arguing his case, but Neo cut him off by throwing something at him. Willis managed to catch the object before it hit his face, and was surprised to find himself holding a triangular metal tag. He wondered why somebody working with Daemon would just hand over a tag, but Neo began explaining before Willis could even ask.
"According to Daemon, you and your friends need these to Digivolve beyond the Champion level outside of specific circumstances. It wouldn't be any challenge at all to beat down a couple of champion levels, so at least try to make the fight more interesting for me. After all, I may be the greatest Tamer on Earth, but here in the Digital World, that honor is held by the DigiDestined. I just have to win that title away from you, but I could never call myself the best if I merely relied on having monsters at a higher level than my opponent."
Hearing this, Willis realized he wouldn't just be able to talk some sense into Neo. He seemed to be treating this all as an extension of some game and not caring about the real consequences. There would be only one way of getting through to him: Willis would have to beat him at his own game. Still, Willis couldn't help but give a little smile. Sure, Neo had completely beaten him earlier, but that had been in a simple game. Now, Willis had his two very real partners by his side to fight instead of a crudely programmed replica of a Piximon. Plus, there were some things the real world had that had no counterpart in the game, and Willis had a very powerful example on his side. He turned back to Neo and replied. "Alright, fine. If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get. And even if your Megadramon Digivolved from the last time I saw him, don't think I'll be such a pushover this time around. I've got my friends this time, and Destiny is on my side."
Terriermon and Lopmon instantly understood what Willis meant by that last statement, and shifted their positions so that Terriermon was in front while Lopmon hung back by Willis. However, Neo didn't seem to particularly care about the shift. "Oh, I'm afraid you won't have the chance for a rematch. I stopped using that monster a long time ago. It took away all the skill needed for victory after it Digivolved and nobody could beat it. The world's worst Tamer could win battles like that. No, I'll be fighting you in a way that's more reflective of the difference in our skill, not of the difference in sheer power."
With that, Neo pulled out his laptop, and a door on the far side of the room slid open. A pair of glowing yellow eyes shone out of the darkness, and then a horrible sounding roar forced Willis to cover his ears. As the sound faded, Willis turned back to the source to see Digimon slowly stepping into the main room. Willis recognized it from his experience in the games as a MetalGreymon, but it had a few more mechanized areas and instead of being orange its flesh appeared to have decayed slightly and now had a sickly blue color. As it came closer to him, Willis realized the decay wasn't just a visual difference, as a sickly smell began to permeate the room. Instantly, Willis was overcome with pity. Here was a monster presumably under Daemon's control that spent all of its time in a factory while it slowly rotted away, replacing its flesh with more and more mechanical components. Normally, he wouldn't be in favor of killing any Digimon, but this was reminding Willis all too much of when Lopmon had been infected. In order to get a better life, Lopmon had had to die and be reborn. Hopefully, this MetalGreymon would be born into a much happier life the next time around as well.
Having made up his mind, Willis wanted to get this fight over as soon as possible. Pulling out his laptop, he entered the program that allowed him to materialize the Digimental of Destiny. Wasting no time, he called out "Golden Armor Energize," and Terriermon Golden Armor Digivolved into Rapidmon. The Holy Knight Digimon wasted no time starting the fight and launched his Rapid Fire attack, firing two missiles that were a lot more threatening than the cute faces painted on them would lead anybody to believe. The attack struck the opposing Ultimate, causing him to disappear within the explosion. However, when the smoke cleared, MetalGreymon was still standing, injured yet unmoved. Instead of doing what both Willis and Rapidmon had expected and retaliating with an attack, he instead turned to Neo and started talking.
"Neo! I can win this! I'll show you I'm not the same as I was back then. Revenge Flame!" With this, he unleashed a stream of fire from his claw at Rapidmon, who easily dodged it. Still, Rapidmon wasn't quite used to fighting something that didn't act like a feral animal, so instead of using the opening to launch another attack he asked MetalGreymon exactly what he meant by that. MetalGreymon at first seemed reluctant to give any answer other than launching his Trident Arm attack, but after Rapidmon easily dodged that he seemed to try distracting Rapidmon with the story while continually trying to connect with a barrage of Metal Slashes, Booster Claws, and Megaton Punches. While none of the attacks came anywhere near connecting with the much faster Digimon, the story itself did much more psychological damage.
Apparently, when he was a Greymon, this MetalGreymon had been one of Neo's monsters in the Virtual Pet videogame, but he had failed to win any practice matches. Neo had deleted him as a trash monster, but his data had managed to reformat here in the Digital World. Wanting to prove he wasn't just trash, he had come here to the Metal Factory and mechanized his body in order to gain the strength needed to fight at Neo's side once again. Then, Daemon had taken over and brought Neo back, finally allowing MetalGreymon the chance to prove himself to his Tamer.
Hearing this, Willis started to lose his resolve. When he had first seen MetalGreymon, he had immediately decided to destroy it like it was a suffering animal that had to be put down to stop its misery. However, from this story, it was clear that HE was not an IT and had put himself through all that suffering to fulfill its dream of reuniting with his partner. Destroying him wouldn't be a merciful act, but rather an act of murder. Still, Willis knew he'd have to act quickly. His program didn't allow Rapidmon to maintain his form for more than a couple of minutes, and that time was drawing to a close. Coming up with a quick plan, he turned away from the Digimon and addressed Neo.
"Neo, we don't have to do this. Look at what your partner put himself through just so you'd work with him again. Do you know what that must have felt like? It isn't easy to deal with people who hate you because of who you are. Trust me, it's one of the hardest things I've ever had to overcome, and that includes the time I almost started a nuclear war by accident. Clearly, Digimon have feelings and dreams just like humans. And Daemon's trying to destroy their home before he moves on to Earth and does the same thing there. You can't seriously think that proving you're the best is worth dooming both worlds. Come and join us against Daemon. You can prove your skill by saving both worlds instead of destroying them."
Neo didn't even bother looking away from his computer screen as he responded. "You're making a lot of assumptions here. First, I don't buy into this whole partner nonsense. I've had over a hundred Digimon, and they have all merely been tools. As soon as they lose their usefulness, they are to be discarded and replaced. I've deleted all but one of the Digimon outside the six I currently use, and that's only because my first one became glitched to the point of being impossible to delete." With this, he finally looked up from his computer, and Willis could see the first hints of emotion cracking through Neo's cold façade.
"Second, you seem to think I care about what happens to this world and the Earth. Daemon can plan to do whatever he likes. I have my own goal, and I don't care what devils I must work with in order to attain it. The worlds are both imperfect, yet this one has the ability to overcome that flaw. I just have to get rid of everything here and start over!" Having said this, Neo seemed to regain control of his emotions and turned back towards the fight. "MetalGreymon, I thought you wanted to be useful. I've only managed to scan 60% of his data, and I won't know anything about his defenses unless you actually manage to land a hit. Unless I'll just have to delete some metal trash this time?"
With this, Willis had had enough. Neo clearly needed to learn a lesson. As somebody who had once lost a partner, Willis wouldn't stand to hear someone address their partner in that cold manner. He supposed he wouldn't have been this angry if Neo had behaved toward everything that way, but it was obvious from his little outburst earlier that he was capable of caring about something beyond his own skill, as when he mentioned his goal he finally showed some passion. Still, he was refusing to turn that level of caring towards somebody who was just trying to understand why he couldn't be loved. That struck too close to home for Willis to ignore.
Willis ordered Rapidmon to finish off his opponent, hoping that MetalGreymon would be reborn when Neo finally came around or at the very least would be reborn with no memories of his suffering. Hearing this, Rapidmon launched his Golden Triangle attack, easily destroying his Virus type opponent. He then turned towards Neo intending to give him a piece of his mind, but before he had the chance to move his Digivolution wore off, and he glided back to Willis's side as Terriermon.
Neo didn't seem to care about the glares of his opponents as he closed his laptop and continued to address Willis. "Another assumption you're making is the belief that you've just won. That MetalGreymon was already here working for Daemon as the guardian of the tag. I haven't even started to battle you yet. And you'll regret wasting that special evolution of yours on MetalGreymon. I may not have fully scanned your data, but I know that form you took is a temporary boost that you won't be able to repeat in the near future. Without that ability, I'll give you one minute in this fight."
With that, Neo held out both of his arms, and an Ogremon and a Devimon suddenly appeared, seeming to come out of the strange Digivices he was wearing on each wrist. As the two Digimon jumped down to fight, Willis pulled out his own Digivice. After all, he might not be able to use the Digi-Egg of Destiny for another half hour, but he had other options when it came to fighting against two champions. Lopmon ran forward to join his brother, and then both of them disappeared in the glow of Digivolution.
"Terriermon, Digivolve to… Gargomon!"
"Lopmon, Digivolve to… Turuiemon!"
After assuming their Champion forms, the two Digimon jumped into battle. While Lopmon was typically very timid, he became a much more confidant fighter in his Champion form. It never got quite to the eagerness he had shown in his Dark form of Wendigomon while under the virus's influence, but whenever he became the purple rabbit warrior, he took a new joy in fighting. He leaped towards Ogremon, and began dancing around his enemy's Pummel Whacks while striking back with his Ninja Fist.
In contrast, his brother became slightly less eager to fight upon Digivolving. Not that Gargomon didn't enjoy fighting, but some of the brashness he tended to exhibit as Terriermon disappeared and he preferred engaging foes from a distance until he had a better grasp of the situation at hand. Which worked just perfectly in this case, as Devimon seemed to prefer staying airborne and waiting for an opening before striking. The oddly rabbit-like dog soon had Devimon on the defensive as he repeatedly fired his Gargo Pellets attack, giving the Fallen Angel Digimon no opportunity to attack.
Willis cheered his partners on, but something started bothering him. This fight seemed almost too easy. Sure, he believed in his partners and certainly thought they could win, but Neo had seemed too confidant in his victory for the fight to end like this. Now that he thought about it, Neo hadn't done anything except unleash the two Digimon, and now he was back looking at his computer. For somebody who believed himself the greatest Tamer, there was no way he would fight at this level. He had to have some hidden strategy here, or at the very least he should be giving orders to his Digimon. However, he didn't really have time to dwell on this, as Gargomon and Turuiemon decided to finish the battle off. In an oddly synchronized move pattern, Gargomon leaped into Devimon and uppercut the Fallen Angel with his Bunny Pummel attack at the same time Turuiemon kicked Ogremon upwards before jumping after him and slashing repeatedly with his Gauntlet Claw attack. The twin Digimon gracefully landed on their feet, while their two opponents crashed into the ground and appeared to be unable to fight.
Noticing this, Turuiemon turned to Neo. "Well, looks like instead of you beating us in a minute, we beat you in one minute. Not so tough now, are you?" Neo responded by merely closing his computer and standing up. "The one minute wasn't how long it would take me to beat you, but how much of a head start I was giving you. You may have severely weakened my monsters, but I managed to scan all of your data. And any damage to my monsters is meaningless at this point." With this, he slammed his fists together, shouting out "Jogress!"
Ogremon and Devimon were suddenly reduced to gridlines before they spiraled into each other. Then, in the center of where the two had been lying on the ground, Willis caught a glance of what appeared to be a red skeleton before it suddenly vanished. An instant later, Turuiemon was sent flying and crashed into the wall, and the red skeleton could be briefly seen before it vanished again and Gargomon was knocked to the ground.
With its two opponents defeated, the skeletal Digimon finally slowed down enough for Willis to recognize it as a SkullSatamon. However, this knowledge didn't really help, as even in the Virtual Pet game SkullSatamon possessed a dangerous combination of speed and power that made him difficult to hit before he did serious damage. Judging from how quickly Turuiemon and Gargomon had been knocked out, the real thing was at least as bad as his in-game counterpart. Willis's mind whirred trying to come up with a plan to salvage the situation, but Neo wasn't about to give him the chance. "You know, I'm almost disappointed. Not that I ever expected to have any trouble beating you, but I at least thought a DigiDestined would provide a bit of a challenge. Quite frankly, you're wasting my time. SkullSatamon, finish them off."
With both of his opponents unable to respond, SkullSatamon slowly walked towards Turuiemon and prepared to destroy the rabbit with his Skull Hammer attack. As the Undead Digimon approached his partner, Willis could do nothing but clench his fist and hope that fate would intervene. Suddenly, a golden brown light started shining inside his hand, and a similar light shone from Turuiemon, actually stopping SkullSatamon's advance as the skeletal Digimon tried to shield his eye sockets from the sudden glare. However, Willis didn't particularly care about any of this, as he was focused on the voice of his partner. "Turuiemon, Digivolve to… Antylamon!"
Before the glow of Digivolution had even faded, Antylamon launched right into his Bunny Blades attack, spinning like a tornado and slashing into SkullSatamon. Only after the Undead Digimon was sent crashing into the ground with shredded wings and numerous broken bones did Antylamon stop his attack and finally allow Willis to get a good look at his partner's new form. Or rather an unfortunately familiar form. At the Ultimate level, it was almost impossible to tell the difference between Lopmon's current form and the Ultimate form he had taken under the influence of the virus. In fact, the only differences Willis could notice were this time Antylamon was wearing purple pants instead of white and he also had a purple scarf around his neck. Otherwise, he was the exact same rabbit Digimon. Trying to avoid the bad memories, Willis instead glanced at his hand, which had also emitted the light earlier. Opening his fist, he saw that the tag he still had in his hand had changed, and now displayed the same S-like symbol as the one on the Digimental of Destiny. He must have gotten his own Crest now, just like Yolei and Cody had earlier.
Willis turned back to the fight, only to see Antylamon had turned both of his arms into axes. This must have been the ability he had used the first time to attack SkullSatamon, but instead of launching another spin attack, he seemed to be gathering even more energy and strengthening the blades. Finally, he was ready, and addressed his crippled opponent. "Normally, I don't get too angry in the middle of a fight. But if you attack my family, you're not going to survive long enough to regret it. Arm Bomber!"
With that, Antylamon sprang up into the air, did a flip, and started plunging blade first towards his immobilized foe. Willis was certain the fight would come to an end, but his celebrations were interrupted by Neo calmly calling out "Partition." Willis turned away for a second to see Neo standing with his wrists crossed above his head, but instead of trying to figure out what exactly that meant he turned back to the battle and was shocked by what he saw. Antylamon had his axe blades buried in the ground, and standing unharmed on either side of him were Ogremon and Devimon. The two champions each sprang forward before joining together again with Neo's call of "Jogress," and SkullSatamon struck Antylamon a heavy blow before the rabbit had a chance to free his arms.
As Antylamon struggled to regain his footing, Willis could only watch on in shock. He knew all about DNA Digivolution, or Jogress as it was called in the games, but he had no idea it was possible to split the Ultimate level apart to its Champion components and then refuse them right away. And if real world DNA Digivolution worked anything like in the game…
Neo seemed to guess the direction Willis's thoughts were taking and gave a hollow chuckle. "Well, looks like you weren't a complete disappointment. You forced me to start using my Infinite Jogress. It's really quite simple: when Jogressing two Champions, they combine into an Ultimate at full health. Normally, you could only do that once, but if you raise your monsters the right way, you can Partition them and still have enough energy to Jogress once again. And since Jogress restores energy as well, the cycle can continue forever."
Willis quickly tuned the rest of Neo's speech out as he tried to find a way to turn the fight in his favor. Listening to Neo brag wouldn't help, but Willis hoped he would be able to analyze Neo's infinite loop and break it. However, that would be easier said than done. Antylamon appeared to be on his last legs, and Gargomon was only finally standing up after the initial hit on him. With the current state of his partners, Willis wasn't sure if this fight would last long enough for him to solve the problem. SkullSatamon seemed to have the same idea, as he charged toward Antylamon without even bothering to use his full speed. Glad to finally be able to react to an incoming attack for the first time, Antylamon prepared his Treasure Axe attack, only for SkullSatamon to separate right before he met the attack, fuse again after passing behind Antylamon, and then strike the off-balance rabbit once again.
Antylamon turned back towards SkullSatamon and considered his options. If he didn't do something quickly, he'd revert back into his In-Training form from all the damage, and that was only if he hadn't been destroyed by that time. Still, he might have a way to at least buy some time. When SkullSatamon charged at him again, he once again brought out his Treasure Axes forward as if he were going to attack, but when SkullSatamon split apart to avoid the blow Antylamon immediately used his Meditation Cure attack. By the time SkullSatamon re-fused, Antylamon had healed all of his previous damage. Still, this was nothing more than a stall tactic. Antylamon knew he wouldn't be able to hit SkullSatamon without being exceptionally lucky, and Meditation Cure still used up energy, so he couldn't keep healing himself forever. Best case scenario, he managed to get a lucky shot in at random at some point in the near future.
While Antylamon resigned himself to a long fight of just hoping to land a single hit, Willis and Gargomon were trying to find a way to break the loop that didn't rely on luck. Gargomon wished he could get back into the fight, but he was still a little woozy from the last attack and didn't want to start attacking for fear of hitting Antylamon by accident. SkullSatamon's attack must have done something to mess with his data. Judging by Antylamon, Digivolution would restore that, but it wasn't like… Gargomon almost slapped himself in the face. Why hadn't he thought of that sooner? "Hey, Willis, I know you're probably busy trying to solve this problem, but don't you think now might be a good time for me to Digivolve? At the very least, I'd serve as a much better distraction so Antylamon doesn't have to take all of these hits."
Willis merely showed his Crest to his partner in response. "That's a good idea, Gargomon, but how exactly do you suggest I do that? Judging by the symbol, this is the Crest of Destiny. In order for you to Digivolve, I have to activate the Crest, which happens when I express the trait the Crest embodies. At least, that's how Mimi always explained it. So, how exactly do I express Destiny? Sure, I believe everybody can control their own destiny, but that's not exactly a character trait. Best guess, the Crest will activate when it's supposed to. I don't think there's anything I can do about that."
As soon as Willis finished saying this, the Crest started glowing again, and Gargomon disappeared behind the same golden-brown light from earlier. Willis could only roll his eyes at the horribly coincidental timing, but decided not to bother questioning why this was happening. Meanwhile, Gargomon was just happy to finally get the chance to help out as he started to Digivolve. "Gargomon, Digivolve to… Rapidmon!" Upon assuming his Ultimate form, Rapidmon couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Instead of having a new form, he was basically a green version of the form he took when he Golden Armor Digivolved. He didn't even feel the same level of power, making this new form seem a lot less useful than he would have hoped. However, that line of thought abruptly ended when he saw SkullSatamon make another lunge at Antylamon. Having had enough of watching his brother get beaten around like a rag doll, Rapidmon put on a burst of speed and punched SkullSatamon before he covered half of the distance, sending the surprised skeleton flying back a few feet. With that taken care of, Rapidmon started taunting his opponent. "Not so fun when somebody else uses their speed against you, now is it?"
Willis was glad both of his partners were now fighting side by side, but it was only the first step towards winning. SkullSatamon had stopped showing off, and was now using all of his quickness to attack, leaving Willis unable to keep up with most of the fight. Luckily, Rapidmon was just as fast and could usually stop the Undead Digimon before he did any serious damage to the slower Antylamon. However, while Rapidmon was fast enough to counter SkullSatamon, he didn't have the power to do any actual damage. All of his attacks were long range attacks that travelled slower than Rapidmon himself could, meaning SkullSatamon would easily be able to dodge from a distance. His attacks also weren't suited for point blank range- his missile attacks would hurt himself as much as SkullSatamon, and Tri-Beam took too long to charge and fire for it to be practical.
While Rapidmon's speed didn't help deal any significant damage to SkullSatamon, Willis noticed it had another key effect on the fight: Neo seemed to be speeding up his Jogress commands. Before, Ogremon and Devimon would fully materialize for around a second before recombining, but now each Partition was followed so quickly by a Jogress that the Champion levels would appear as nothing more than gridlines before SkullSatamon appeared once again. This closed off the one opening Willis had been hoping to exploit, but it gave him another idea. He couldn't take advantage of the lag between Partition and Jogress to attack, but the fact that Neo was devoting so much effort into continuing the loop must have meant there was some other weakness he was trying to conceal. Thinking back on all the times Neo had used Jogress, Willis suddenly realized a pattern. And that pattern could lead to exactly the opening he needed to end this fight. "Antylamon, get ready to use your Bunny Blades attack on my signal. Rapidmon, grab SkullSatamon and fly him directly into Antylamon!"
Antylamon and Rapidmon both readied themselves to follow Willis's orders, though they didn't see what good such a move would do. SkullSatamon had managed to Partition out of Rapidmon's hands before, so even if Rapidmon carried him right into Antylamon he could just split apart. Still, they trusted Willis, so they went along with his plan. Rapidmon managed to grab onto SkullSatamon and flew him towards Antylamon, who had his axes ready. Sure enough, SkullSatamon split apart a few feet away from contact, and Rapidmon could barely stop himself from colliding with his brother. However, Willis didn't care about any of that, as he immediately ordered Antylamon to launch his Bunny Blades attack in place. Antylamon immediately started spinning, and to his surprise he managed to land a hit on something directly behind him. Turning around, he saw SkullSatamon lying on the ground, once again having deep cuts all along his body. Thinking quickly, Antylamon slammed his axes into the exposed DigiCore of his opponent, finally destroying the Undead Digimon.
Willis turned and smiled at Neo, who had a surprised look on his face. "Infinite Jogress may seem perfect, but it does have one flaw- whenever you Jogress, the Ultimate level appears in the exact center of where the two champions were. Took me a while to see the pattern, but thanks to you showing me the move so many times, it was all too easy to find. When you Partition, the Champions always end up five feet apart and keep moving at the same speed they were immediately before they separated. Then they join together in the same place every time. Not too hard to land a hit when you know exactly where your opponent is going to be."
Neo lost his surprised look, but actually seemed happy at Willis's statements. "Well, it looks like you're a lot better at this than I thought. I finally see why Daemon seems so scared of the DigiDestined. But don't think this is over. Counting myself, you are the fifth person to exploit the weakness of Infinite Jogress. But just because three other people can beat this strategy doesn't mean those three are better Tamers than I am. I have plenty of other strategies that I can use to defeat you." As Neo finished this, he started flickering, almost like he was a picture on an old TV set. "Well, looks like Daemon doesn't want me sticking around here. Oh well. Enjoy this victory while it lasts. Even if I wasn't using my full power, there aren't too many people who can say they've ever beaten me. I hope all of your friends are as much of a challenge as you were. Being a Tamer is so much more enjoyable when you actually have to try in order to win." With that, Neo fully disappeared, signaling an end to the fight.
Author's Note: And there we have it. Only on posting these did I realize that Michael and Willis each get full chapters for their Ultimate debuts while Cody and Yolei had to share last chapter. Still, I think that's fine, seeing as we saw a lot of Cody and Yolei in 02 while Michael and Willis had a lot less screentime, which meant I had to devote more time to their characters. Plus, Yolei and Cody didn't exactly get new forms, just their DNA forms on their own (which apparently is their Digivolution line- blame the wiki).
Also, I hope it isn't too much of a stretch that Willis can easily get two Ultimates right away for apparently no extra work. Still, I hope it is at least justified. He has the Crest of Destiny, the counterpart to the Golden Digimental he used in the third movie. Since the Digimental of Destiny gives something equal to a high Ultimate/low Mega in power while all other Digimentals (except Miracles) give something equal to the Champion level, I just took the stronger Digimental and gave it a stronger Crest that can handle two Ultimates at once.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll probably upload the next one later tonight. And I know you are probably tired of me asking for feedback, but I'd love to hear it- just leave a review or a PM. Thanks for reading!