Author's Note: Sorry for waiting so long to post this. Well, 24 hours for an update is never a long wait, but I could have posted this earlier in the day. I wanted to wait because my last chapter update was still on the first page when sorted by Update Time, and it seemed like a waste to update again when only ten stories were updated between my updates. Horrible reason, and I won't do it again. So, here's the next chapter!

Davis groaned as he crashed into the ground. Honestly, he was getting sick of just being randomly transported all throughout the Digital World just because of Daemon and his lackeys. It was starting to feel like when he first started travelling to and from the Digital World and smooth landings were impossible. Shaking the memories out of his head, he started taking in his surroundings. Scattered across the ground were ExVeemon, Willis, Turuiemon, Gargomon, and Rei. Davis let out a sigh of relief. As bad as it was being split from the rest of the group, at least he and Willis still had their partners, and the one person who didn't have their own Digimon had been lucky enough to end up in the same group as the one person who had two Digimon. Everybody started picking themselves up, but Rei suddenly gasped in shock.

Turning to see what she was looking at, Davis thought she might have been underreacting. Standing in the sky above them was what appeared to be another DigiDestined, doubtless one of Neo's allies or Aliases or whatever they were called. The multitude of random zippers across his shirt betrayed his status as a newcomer to the Digital World, but what he was standing on more than made up for that fact. Davis recognized the giant white knight, and finally gained an appreciation for what Diaboromon and the Demon Lords must have felt. He was facing one of the strongest Digimon the DigiDestined could muster, and this one wasn't going to be friendly. He turned to Willis, who seemed to be having the same thoughts. How could the two of them, who couldn't even reach the Mega level yet, defeat an Omnimon?

Aquilamon grumbled as he nursed his injured wing. After the latest involuntary travelling, he had barely managed to get up off the ground before Stingmon suddenly crashed into him, getting his claws caught in Aquilamon's feathers. It didn't result in any major injury, but the slight pain was enough to add to all the annoyances this journey had caused and put the Giant Bird Digimon in a foul mood. Still, annoyances aside, the two Digimon quickly began searching for their partners, only to find Ken sprawled out on top of Yolei in the middle of a cluster of bushes.

Seeing the situation the DigiDestined were in, Stingmon could only moan "Not again…" Aquilamon turned to the insectoid Digmon. "What do you mean, again? Actually, I don't want to know. Yolei, Ken, this isn't exactly the time for… whatever it is you're doing." The two DigiDestined immediately sprang up, blushes on both their cheeks. Yolei quickly exclaimed that it wasn't what it looked like, while Ken weakly made the excuse that he had just so happened to land on top of her after Sigma had sent him here. Stingmon tried aiding his partner by saying it did look a bit different from the last time he saw them in a similar situation, but this only mortified Ken and Yolei further. They had thought their secret make-out sessions had been, well, a secret, but apparently Wormmon had witnessed at least one. They almost were glad when what appeared to be a dragon made of red flames shot over their heads. After all, a fight might be the best way to ignore the embarrassment.

Turning to the source of the flames, the DigiDestined saw what appeared to be a blue, nine-tailed fox with its legs and tails covered in orange flame. However, the more notable figure was what appeared to be a blond woman currently petting the Digimon. Ken and Yolei both stared in incredulity at the outfit this woman was wearing, which could only be politely described as revealing, though the term skanky was probably closer to the truth. Which was in direct contrast to how she talked, which gave off a vibe of something between a ditzy cheerleader and an overexcited toddler.

"Hi, my name's Mari Gotokuji. I'm one of Neo's Aliases, Alias II to be exact, but I'm not really sure what all that means. All I know is Neo said he was going to become king of this world, and then he'd make me his queen! Isn't it great? I've always dreamed of being a princess, and I'll get to be a real queen! It's perfect for somebody as pretty as me, don't you think? But before I can do that, Neo said I'd have to fight against some people called the DigiDestined. I'm guessing that's you? I mean, I've played the Digimon games before, but I wasn't very good, and now everything is so real it's sort of confusing. I wasn't sure the best way to start this fight, so I just had this cutie here launch his attack over you. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't introduce you. This is Youkomon, a Champion level Digimon. Isn't he the cutest?"

Yolei couldn't help but cringe a little bit inside. She knew that she could be a little spastic, but this Mari person seemed to take that to a whole new level. For one of Neo's recruits, Mari didn't seem to have anywhere near the level of competence Yolei was expecting. Neo had his Infinite Jogress trick to perpetually have a full-strength Ultimate and most likely had stronger tricks up his sleeve, Sigma had Piedmon and his strange dimension, and this girl was coming at them with a Champion. Not exactly the most threatening opponent. As if to prove the point, Youkomon launched his Fire Ball attack towards Aquilamon, who merely used his Wind Breath to send the ball back towards the fox. Mari squealed and dove out of the way as Youkomon was hit with his own attack.

After taking the hit, Youkomon began running in the opposite direction of the battle. Mari stared flabbergasted at the burnt patch of vegetation where the fox used to stand before bursting into tears. "Waaah! Why'd you have to scare Youkomon away? Wait, I know. I can stop him before he gets too far. Come on out, Rosemon!" Yolei and Ken almost fell over in shock when the Digimon they recognized as Mimi's partner at the Mega level suddenly shot out of a nearby bush. They quickly reached for their Digivices after the much stronger opponent suddenly appeared, but before they could do anything Rosemon loudly yawned. "What's the matter, Mari? I was having such a nice nap."

As the DigiDestined and their partners continued to stare in shock, Mari quickly started blubbering to the Mega level. "Those big meanies scared away Youkomon! You have to do something to stop him from getting away. He is just too cute to let him go!" Rosemon stretched, seemed to give the matter a moment's thought, and then started jumping up and down. "Ooh, ooh, I have an idea. Let's try this! Rose Velvet!" She materialized one of her thorn whips and slammed it into the ground, causing a sea of thorns to erupt all around her, trapping the DigiDestined and Mari but missing Youkomon entirely. Mari sighed. "Rosemon, you missed! Come on, let's go after him!" Rosemon eagerly jumped into the air and shouted "OK," but Mari didn't move for a few seconds. She seemed utterly confused by this, before she started crying again. "Waah! Rosemon, you got thorns all over the soles of my shoes. I can't move!"

Rosemon once again seemed to think a few moments before jumping up and down once again. "I know, why don't you just take off your shoes?" Mari's eyes lit up. "That's a great idea, Rosemon. You're the best!" She slid her feet out of her black boots and took a step, only to immediately start hopping around in pain as her bare feet hit the thorns. Of course, each time she jumped into the air, she had no choice but to land in the thorns, repeating the cycle. Yolei and Ken almost fell over from the sheer ineptitude on display, and then started chuckling that this near-fall onto the thorns was the closest to any real danger that had come from this fight. However, they then noticed a Ninjamon suddenly burst out of the thorns and go flying towards Mari with its sword outstretched. Their shock at the sudden appearance and attack was quickly outclassed by Mari's response. She went from hopping around crazily to suddenly still, and managed to swat the Ninjamon aside mid-lunge. Rosemon then immediately wrapped the Champion up in her whip, and Yolei and Ken realized everything had just been an act. They quickly pulled out their Digivices and their partners began to Digivolve as Mari gave a sadistic laugh.

"It's funny. I could have sworn we deleted you earlier, yet you still insisted on making trouble. I guess I can understand using the element of surprise, but even with your 'excellent' plan you couldn't even touch me, let alone Rosemon. Normally, I'd delete you for that, but I have bigger issues to deal with. Rosemon?" Rosemon gave a nod before sending her Beauty Shock attack to leave Ninjamon unconscious. Turning back to the DigiDestined, she continued to smile with a cold look in her eye, compared to the warmth and innocence that had been in her face earlier. "The plan was really just to stall you for a while, but I guess I don't have a choice now. Get them, Rosemon!"

Davis and Willis had finally managed to gather themselves and prepare for a fight. Luckily, their opponent hadn't made any move since they had gotten here, allowing them the time to Digivolve their partners into AeroVeedramon, GoldRapidmon, and Rapidmon. They knew they had no hope matching the Royal Knight in power, so they were hoping they could keep the advantage in speed and maybe pull off a victory. Luckily, their opponent seemed about as respectful as Omnimon Zwart had been when the others had fought him in the Dark Ocean, as he hadn't done anything until they had finished Digivolving. Now that the wait was over, Omnimon started flying towards the three Digimon with his sword ready, but as soon as he got closer, Rei suddenly asked, "Hideto?"

A look of shock crossed the Alias's face as he heard her. "Rei, is that you? How did you get here? And how are you…" He trailed off for a little bit before hopping off of his partner. When he resumed speaking, it was in a much friendlier tone. "I didn't think anybody who didn't have their own Digimon would be able to come here. Or did Neo finally convince you to start playing?" Rei let out a small laugh. "Nope, despite the best efforts of each of you, I never could really get into that game. It was fun enough just to watch, but I couldn't get serious enough about it to actually play. I ended up just getting sucked into here from my computer. Why are you here?" Hideto immediately took a more serious tone. "I'm here to help Neo with something. If you want, I can take you to him. It probably isn't safe for you to just be wandering around like this- it might be calm now, but this whole area is basically a warzone."

Rei nodded and started walking towards Hideto, much to Davis and Willis's shock. They could only stare for a few seconds, but while everybody else was distracted, AeroVeedramon launched his V-Wing Blade at Omnimon. AeroVeedramon knew that attacking in this situation wasn't exactly the most honorable thing to do, but if he was going to have to fight somebody as strong as Omnimon, he had to make use of any opening he could find. However, for all the good the attack did, he may as well have not used it at all: the Royal Knight didn't even flinch, and after the glow of the attack faded he didn't have any damage on him. As AeroVeedramon took a few seconds to stare in shock- he hadn't expected the attack to do significant damage to Omnimon, but he expected to at least do something- Davis finally snapped out of shock and tried to stop Rei from walking right into the Alias's hands. "Rei, don't go with him. You don't know what he could do. He's working for Daemon and trying to destroy the Digital World!"

Rei merely pulled away from Davis. "Don't worry, Davis. This is Hideto. He's one of my best friends, and has been for years. He wouldn't do something like that." A brief flash of regret crossed Hideto's face, but he was quick to hide it. "Relax, I won't hurt her. I'm just taking her to see Neo. Omegamon, let's go." At this command, the Omnimon, clearly named Omegamon, reached out his arms and placed Hideto and Rei on his shoulder behind the shield on his WarGreymon arm. As Omegamon began to fly off, Willis quickly came up with a new strategy. Rapidmon picked up both humans and began flying after the fleeing Royal Knight, while GoldRapidmon and AeroVeedramon flew ahead to engage in battle. Davis called out for his partner to be careful not to hurt either Hideto or Rei, but AeroVeedramon's Magnum Crush attack only managed to collide with empty air as Omegamon vanished to reappear beside Rapidmon. Hideto gave the slightest hint of a smirk. "You don't have to worry about being careful. You won't be able to lay a finger on Omegamon. And even if you did, you couldn't hurt him."

GoldRapidmon tried to make use of the opening to land an attack, but Omegamon merely swatted him away with his MetalGarurumon arm without so much as looking. AeroVeedramon angrily charged back into the fray, but he met the same fate courtesy of the WarGreymon arm. Seeing this, Rei turned to Hideto. "Do you really have to fight them? They helped me out earlier, and seemed like nice people." At this, Hideto gave a genuine smile. "Don't worry, we're barely fighting back. I was supposed to stall them for Neo, but now that you're here I'm changing the plan. I just have to convince them to give up on trying to stop us." However, at a series of beeps from his Digivice, he quickly returned to a serious mood. "Man, Neo wasn't kidding about the power of ancient types. I haven't seen an overwrite this powerful before."

The cause of this shift was made clear when AeroVeedramon burst back into the air, covered with a light blue glow. Davis clenched his fists in worry: this could only be AeroVeedramon's overwrite power. It might finally give AeroVeedramon enough power to stand up to the opposing Omnimon, but at what cost? The power was a double-edged sword, and Omegamon seemed aware of the risks as he brought his Transcendent Sword to a ready position, seemingly abandoning attempts at punching AeroVeedramon down and going for a more decisive strike. Not backing down, AeroVeedramon channeled his energy into the blades on his arms, and dashed in with his Twister Saber attack. The attack collided head on with Omnimon's Transcendent Sword, and Davis was shocked to see the result was a stalemate. True, AeroVeedramon seemed to have expended a lot more energy than Omegamon in the clash, but before now Davis would have sworn only something like Armageddemon or Imperialdramon Paladin Mode could take a slash from an Omnimon without taking severe damage.

However, AeroVeedramon wasn't content with merely canceling out his opponent's attack, and immediately disappeared from view. Omegamon glanced around trying to find his opponent, only to take a Magnum Crush attack directly in the middle of his back. AeroVeedramon had used Omegamon's cape to hide his approach, and landed the second solid hit on the Royal Knight. While Omegamon's only reaction to the sudden attack was to quickly spin around and knock AeroVeedramon away, Hideto gave a short gasp of shock. Turning back to Rei, he quickly started apologizing. "I'm really sorry about this, Rei, but I'm afraid I'll have to fight seriously. That Digimon is using an unbalanced power that's letting him stand up to somebody well beyond his level. It's strong enough that I have to take this seriously, but it's also tearing him apart. If I don't stop him soon, he'll kill himself trying to fight me. I wish there was some other way."

Before anybody could say anything else, AeroVeedramon shot back into the sky, glowing so brightly it was hard to look at him. He was clearly pushing the limits of the overwrite ability, and charged directly towards the Royal Knight. From the ferocity of the charge, it was clear that he was no longer concerned with the safety of Hideto or Rei, and was consumed with only one purpose: destroying his latest enemy. Hideto quickly called out, "Omega Sword!" and Omegamon once again brought out his Transcendent Sword, only this time it was covered in flames. AeroVeedramon began growling "Dragon IMP—," but before he could finish calling his attack Omegamon had darted forward and struck him with the Omega Sword attack. The Royal Knight turned his blade at the last second in order to strike with the flat of the sword, preventing AeroVeedramon from being deleted on the spot. However, the blow still caused AeroVeedramon to crash into the ground like a meteor, leaving an unconscious Chibomon in the middle of a flaming crater.

Hideto breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever that last attack had been, it clearly would have been dangerous for him and for Rei. Luckily, Omegamon could handle it, and he hadn't even been forced to destroy his opponent. As the kid with the goggles ran to recover his partner, Hideto turned to talk to Rei, only to see that she was gone. Before he could even wonder how this had happened, he suddenly felt himself being carried away from Omegamon, and was roughly dropped onto the ground. GoldRapidmon took a second to address the Alias after the quick snatch. "Now, be nice and stay here. My brother and I have to fight your partner, and we'd really appreciate not having to worry about you getting caught in the crossfire." As GoldRapidmon flew back to the battle, Hideto saw the green Rapidmon had set Rei down next to the blond kid and flown back into the fight as well. Apparently they had used AeroVeedramon's attack as a distraction to get any humans out of the way, and were now planning on teaming up to defeat Omegamon. Hideto smiled as he stood up, and sent a simple command to Omegamon: "Have fun."

Both of the Rapidmon variants started by using their Rapid Fire attacks to unleash a torrent of missiles at the Royal Knight, who responded by unleashing a freezing blast from his MetalGarurumon arm, creating a wall of ice that trapped all the missiles before they could detonate. The move caught the attacking Digimon by surprise, but they quickly retaliated with a combination Tri-Beam attack. Omegamon lazily flew around avoiding the golden beams before he suddenly disappeared from the sight of the two dog-like Digimon. It was only when Willis called out a warning that Rapidmon turned around and saw his opponent standing calmly behind him, almost appearing to be bored with the fight. The Android Digimon didn't like being mocked, and punched the larger Digimon directly in the face. Omegamon didn't so much as blink, and waited a full second before retaliating with a punch so strong it sent Rapidmon flying into GoldRapidmon and caused both of the brothers to revert, with Rapidmon falling as far as Gummymon while GoldRapidmon, who had taken less damage and had the Digimental of Destiny's power protecting him, only reverted to Lopmon.

Willis groaned as his plan was thwarted. He hadn't honestly expected his two partners to be able to beat Omnimon, but he had hoped they would last long enough for him to pick out some exploitable weakness behind Hideto's strategy and use it against him. GoldRapidmon was supposed to have taken most of the damage, since he would be able to Digivolve to Antylamon after reverting anyway. Still, from what he had seen, Willis only knew that Omegamon was too fast for Antylamon to hit if he was going at full speed, too strong to take much damage from Ultimate level attacks even if they hit, and too powerful for Hideto to even need to apply any real strategy. Now, AeroVeedramon and Rapidmon were both out of the fight, and Antylamon had no information he could use to hopefully snag a victory, as he wasn't fast enough to exploit the blind spot caused by Omegamon's cape. Still, Willis had learned his lesson six years ago, and wasn't going to run away just because he didn't think he'd be able to win in a fight. He grabbed his Digivice and focused on activating his Crest, but the ensuing glow was much brighter than he had anticipated. As he shielded his eyes, he heard Lopmon exclaim, "Lopmon, Warp Digivolve to… Cherubimon!"

When Willis looked back at his partner, he wasn't surprised to see the rabbit-like Cherub Digimon. After all, while he had seen the evil purple version for a longer time, his partner had briefly assumed this pink Mega form after being purified of the virus. Considering Antylamon's appearance, he had been expecting Cherubimon to show up once he managed to unlock the Mega level- or at least, once his Crest decided he was destined to unlock the Mega level. Davis seemed to be echoing the last thought, as he came up with Chibomon cradled in his arms. "Hey, Willis, not that it isn't cool that you've unlocked the Mega level and everything, but why did you wait until now to try? I mean, this could have been helpful back when you still had both of your partners in the fight."

Willis rolled his eyes. "If I could have done that, don't you think I would have? My crest is the Crest of Destiny. Not exactly the easiest thing to express. After all, do you have any control over when you cause a miracle to get a Digivolution? I've just been basically waiting for it to decide to activate itself, which seems to happen at convenient times. I was hoping it would happen before Rapidmon got taken out of the fight at least, since Lopmon would have been ready to go regardless of how much damage GoldRapidmon took."

Davis suddenly looked thoughtful. "Wait, is that what your Golden Digimental does? Mine is almost the opposite- instead of preventing damage from carrying over, it heals it. Or at least, it can take an exhausted DemiVeemon to a full-strength Magnamon. Never tried it on Chibomon, but I guess we don't have anything to lose here, right? Golden Armor Energize!"

As the golden Royal Knight appeared overhead, Davis noticed his partner give a slight wince. He quickly asked if he was okay, and Magnamon managed to give a pained chuckle. "Well, let's just say I think even Miracles have their limits. Don't worry though, I'll be fine. Cherubimon, let's do this together. We've got a rogue Royal Knight to debase." The Cherub Digimon nodded, and the two Digimon rushed in to continue the fight.

JewelBeemon barely managed to parry Rosemon's charge, using his spear to block her Roses Rapier attack. However, Rosemon merely smirked and reverted her spear-like vine back into its whip form, used it to grab JewelBeemon's spear away from him, and then cut her opponent's weapon in half with her other vine. Before JewelBeemon could even express his surprise, Rosemon immediately transitioned into her next attack, calling out "Rosy Cradle!" The thorn patch left behind from her Rose Velvet attack bloomed into a rose garden, causing a heavy scent of roses to permeate the air. As soon as JewelBeemon was caught in the scent, he fell from the sky, having been knocked asleep. Luckily, Silphymon had been further away from the attack, and had enough time to use his Airfield attack to create a tornado and blow away the sleeping gas before it could affect him, Yolei, or Ken.

Rosemon was once again quick to launch a follow up attack, but Silphymon managed to get lucky and hit her with his Static Force attack before her Ivy Hug could ensnare him. The attack forced Rosemon to drop the whip in her right hand and sent her flying away, though it didn't seem to do any significant damage. Pressing the opening, Silphymon launched his Astral Laser, but Rosemon was overcome by a pink glow before the attack could connect, and the energy duplicate ended up exploding harmlessly on a swirling vortex of rose petals. Silphymon quickly found himself resorting to his Airfield attack yet again in order to protect himself as Rosemon switched into the attacking variation of Forbidden Temptation. The tornado managed to redirect all the projectiles harmlessly into the ground, and Silphymon breathed a sigh of relief. He may not have been able to do much damage to his opponent, but at least he could defend against most of her attacks.

Shortly after having that thought, Silphymon felt a sharp pain in his left paw, and noticed a giant thorn protruding from it. Almost as if Rosemon had heard his thoughts and was emphasizing that he could only defend against most of her attacks, she followed up the Thorn Shoot attack with her Beauty Shock, using her remaining whip to shoot a blast of electricity at the injured Wind Guardian. Silphymon crashed into the ground, and Rosemon started laughing. "I'm amazed at how often this happens. You get a Wind Guardian who thinks he's fighting just another flowery Jungle Trooper who couldn't possibly match the power of the sky, only for them to forget that the forest is always full of surprises. And if you think the electricity from my left whip was fun to handle, wait until you get a taste of what the right whip can do." She slammed her right hand into the thorns remaining from her opening Rose Velvet attack, which she used as an extension to connect her to the previously dropped whip that lay at Silphymon's feet. Before Silphymon could do anything, the whip became electrified and wrapped tightly around him, causing his body to go rigid as his mind went completely blank from the shock.

With Silphymon taken out of the picture and JewelBeemon still asleep, Mari sighed and lowered her Digivice. She had been expecting a better fight out of the DigiDestined that Neo had talked about too much, but she guessed with just two Ultimates they hadn't been able to handle Rosemon. She started walking towards her defeated opponents, and inwardly chuckled as the guy ran off to try and wake up his partner. At least it was better than the usual male reaction upon seeing her, but it was still pointless: once something got hit with Rose Cradle, it stayed asleep for a few hours. Oh well, that just left one person to talk to.

Mari walked up to Yolei, who immediately assumed what looked like an exaggerated martial arts stance. "I'm warning you, I've got a friend who's a master at kendo, judo, and a whole bunch of other martial arts. You may have beaten Silphymon, but you still have to deal with—"

"Do you ever notice how your partner ends up reflecting yourself?" Yolei was thrown off by Mari's interruption: not only was it a strange question to ask after a fight, but Mari's tone was something completely new: it wasn't her overly cute act, or her flirty or sadistic voice, but it almost sounded… sad. It wasn't enough to make Yolei trust her, but it sounded genuine enough that Yolei was curious to see where Mari was taking this. Plus, it wasn't like she had any other options: sure, she had picked a couple of things up from Cody over the past few months as all of the DigiDestined had been trying to learn self-defense, but even if she could fight Mari and win it wouldn't do any good with Rosemon still capable of fighting. Mari seemed to take Yolei's silence as an invitation to continue with her talk.

"Take Rosemon for instance. She's beautiful and can look completely harmless, and then she whips out all the thorns and electricity. She can outright destroy opponents in battle, but her specialty is completely taming others to her own will. Perfect match for somebody like me: definitely got the sexiness down- and considering the size of my online following that isn't just me bragging- and can look like I'm completely harmless, but underneath it all I can be a complete bitch who's just as good at manipulating others to get what she wants. Then look at your partner: not quite sure whether he's supposed to be a bird or a cat, good at stirring up a lot of hot air, and has some flashy moves but not enough to get the job done when it counts."

Yolei fumed. "Don't you dare insult Silphymon! Sure, what you said about me might be true- I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be, I talk a lot more than I probably need to, and I haven't exactly been the best asset when it comes to fights. But that doesn't give you any right to overlook Silphymon's most important characteristic: his heart! He is always trying to do the right thing, and that's something I learned from him. So, I'd much rather have him is my reflection than look at myself and see somebody so shallow that they would work to destroy a world just to become a queen."

Mari rolled her eyes. "You know, next time you bust out the whole 'you're a horrible person' speech, it would probably work better on somebody who didn't already identify themselves as a bitch. And did you honestly believe all that 'queen of the world' crap? That was just part of the act. I'm in this for the exact same reason Neo's doing this: to get a fresh start. I've done a pretty good job of ruining my life, and Neo found a way to fix the problems of the world. All we have to do is get rid of this world temporarily so we can create a perfect world without disease, injury, or any other problems. We can even bring back everything we kill in order to make that world when we're done, so can you really say I'm just a shallow murderer?"

"Don't expect me to pity you. I can't tell you how many times I've heard evil Digimon say they were improving the world by trying to destroy it. No matter how many pretty words you dress it up with, what you're doing is wrong. And you can bet Ken and I will be right here to stop you, along with all of my other friends."

"Whatever. But since you brought up your little boyfriend over there, I suppose I should give you some more advice: get rid of him. That whole partner reflection thing we were talking about? From what I see, you've got a guy who looks good, is willing to jump right into anything to be some sort of knight in shining armor, but not much else. He doesn't seem like he'd actually be helpful to you, and beneath the shiny appearance he's just another insect."

If Yolei had been angry before when Mari had been speaking out against Silphymon, she was absolutely furious now. "You can insult me all you want. If you want to insult Silphymon for things that are a reflection of me, then I guess I can't complain about that either. But you have absolutely no right to insult Ken! Sure, he has his flaws- and believe me, I've seen him at his absolute worst- but he is the kindest person you will ever meet, and the same goes for JewelBeemon. And what I said earlier about not knowing what I want to be in life? Well, you can say all you want about getting to be a queen, or having a fresh start, or just being super popular, but I don't care about any of that. If I don't amount to anything in life but I get to stay with Ken, then I will have absolutely no regrets. There's only one thing I want, and that's him!"

Mari almost felt the need to gag on the pathetic amount of sap in this last rant, but when a bright magenta glow consumed both the DigiDestined and her partner, Mari went right back into business mode. Rosemon's whip was sent flying away from the captive Silphymon as the Ultimate level began to Digivolve. When the glow faded, Silphymon hadn't changed too much: he still looked like a humanoid bird, though the cat-like features had disappeared. His body was now completely covered in white feathers, and he had a strange golden bird perched on his arm. It was clear that this new form was a warrior, as he was wearing a suit of armor, had a crossbow slung across his back, and a sword and quiver of arrows hanging around his waist. Mari scanned the data of her newest opponent, and couldn't believe her horrible luck.

"Great, Valkyrimon. A Mega level Warrior Digimon known for gale like speeds and frosty attacks. As if I wasn't at enough of a handicap in this mission without Mask-Boy's little pocket dimension or Hideto's Omegamon, now I have to deal with somebody who's faster than Rosemon and has an elemental advantage. Oh well, I've probably bought Neo enough time. Let's just try to have fun with this, shall we Rosemon?" Turning towards her partner, Mari got ready for the upcoming battle. Now that she didn't have the level advantage, Rosemon would need the help of her Tamer in the upcoming fight.

From the start, it was clear Valkyrimon would have the advantage. Knowing Rosemon had managed to extend the range of her attacks using the vines remaining from her initial attack, he drew his Fenrir Sword and began flying about faster than the eye could detect. The vines were easily cut away, and the extreme cold of the cursed blade killed them as effectively as a harsh winter. After he had removed all the vines from the vicinity of both himself and his friends, he finally turned to Rosemon, prepared to begin the real battle. Knowing Rosemon had a major disadvantage in close range combat, Mari sent a command for Rosemon to use her Beauty Shock attack, but Valkyrimon countered with his Punishing Storm attack. Much like Silphymon's Airfield, this conjured up a tornado, but on a much larger scale. Not only was the tornado strong enough to block Rosemon's electrical attack, but it also came chasing after Rosemon, who barely managed to get out of the way. In the effort it took to dodge the tornado, she didn't notice Valkyrimon's following attack until it was too late to fully dodge, and only managed to contort herself so the incoming arrow struck her shoulder instead of her chest.

Mari ground her teeth in frustration. While Rosemon hadn't seen the attack until it was almost too late, she had seen Valkyrimon launch his Aurvandil's Arrow attack- into the air in the complete opposite direction as Rosemon. If Valkyrimon had some form of magical, perfectly accurate arrows, she couldn't afford to keep the fight long range, as Valkyrimon would be able to dodge while Rosemon wouldn't. She had been hoping to avoid getting near the Fenrir Sword, but it looked like she had no choice if she wanted to win this battle. She sent her plan over to Rosemon, who seemed to understand what was needed. Now all Mari could do was sit back and hope for the best.

Rosemon immediately fired her Danger Thorn attack in Valkyrimon's general direction. Normally an attack designed for multiple opponents, it was basically an enhanced Thorn Shoot attack that was an area of effect attack instead of a single target attack. Still, with an opponent as fast as Valkyrimon, this version was far more likely to produce any sort of success. And it did force Valkyrimon to put just enough effort into dodging that Rosemon could move into the next step of the attack plan unhindered: she began charging directly toward Yolei. It might not have been the most honorable method, but it was the only surefire way Mari knew to pin Valkyrimon down to a small enough area that Rosemon could engage in close quarters combat. If it seemed their Tamer was in danger, any Digimon- or at least any Digimon with a somewhat caring partner- would rush in to defend their partner. Sure enough, just as she had predicted, Valkyrimon flew between Rosemon and Yolei, and clashed his Fenrir Sword against Rosemon's Roses Rapier.

Valkyrimon fully expected his Fenrir Sword to eliminate Rosemon's weapon just as easily as it had taken care of her other vines. When the vine actually survived, it took him a second to see why: Rosemon had the blade constantly charged with electricity. While it wasn't the perfect defense, it did counteract the effect of frost for long enough that Rosemon would have time for one attack, and Valkyrimon had left himself open. Gathering pink energy in her left hand, Rosemon blasted Valkyrimon, and let out a sigh of relief as the Warrior Digimon became encased in a pink glow. Rosemon felt herself slowly get stronger as her Fascination attack ran its course. While the binding power of this attack wasn't quite as powerful as that of her Thorn Whip, this attack still immobilized an enemy as it slowly drained their life force. It wasn't exactly Rosemon's favorite tactic to use, but Valkyrimon hadn't left her with many other options. Now, she just had to wait as Valkyrimon's energy slowly transferred to her, and this fight would finally be over.

Just like Rosemon, Mari was breathing a sigh of relief. This fight had been a lot closer than she had been expecting. It wasn't very often that Rosemon wordlessly agreed to any plan involving her Fascination attack, as she hated using that move. It had initially been one of Mari's favorite techniques, but ever since meeting Rosemon in person, she had deferred to the Fairy Digimon's wishes. Still, with Valkyrimon in Rosemon's clutches, this fight was over. Not that victory or defeat mattered in the long run: she had already stalled the DigiDestined, which had been all she needed to do on this little assignment. Before she could think any further, however, Mari was distracted by a grunt of exertion. Turning to the source, she saw that JewelBeemon's partner, who she had completely forgotten about by this point, had picked up half of his partner's broken spear and flung it towards Rosemon. It wasn't the most elegant of tosses and had no chance of causing severe damage to Rosemon, but it was such a strange maneuver that Mari was too surprised to even give Rosemon a warning.

As Rosemon felt something hit her across the back, her Fascination faltered for a brief second. The lapse in concentration wasn't enough for Valkyrimon to completely break free, but it did allow the golden eagle to fly of off its perch. Before Rosemon could react, the eagle flew at her face, and by protecting herself from its beak and claws, she lost the ability to continue her Fascination attack. Not wanting to waste his newly-obtained freedom, Valkyrimon dealt Rosemon a savage blow with his Fenrir Sword, causing a trail of ice to form over her body as she plummeted toward the ground, flickering on the verge of being deleted. Turning back to his eagle, Valkyrimon said, "Thank you, Freyr, for saving me." Freyr gave a slight nod of acknowledgement before returning to his perch and resuming his usual duty of watching for danger.

Unfortunately, while Valkyrimon was busy congratulating himself on winning the fight, Rosemon was falling directly towards Mari. The Alias seemed to be planning on catching her falling partner, but Ken quickly realized that wasn't a good idea- Rosemon was falling too fast, and if Rosemon's mass was anything comparable to the mass of a similarly sized human, the force of the impact would be too much for a human to survive. At least, using real-world physics the collision would be fatal. In the Digital World, it was pretty hard to predict any results. Still, Ken was only thinking these things as he was already running over to get Mari out of the way- the DigiDestined of Kindness couldn't let somebody put themselves in danger for a stupid reason if he could stop it. He could only hope Yolei would end up forgiving him for re-enacting a scene from one of her favorite romantic comedies with somebody else. This was not a case where the guy realizes he's dating the wrong girl by saving another girl's life.

Ken tackled Mari out of the way, and as soon as he hit her he was blinded by a flash of lilac-colored light. He began to worry that he had actually been sucked into a bad romantic comedy, until he remembered that color was the same as his crest. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he stood up and helped Mari to her feet. "Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not doing this because I like you in any way. I saved you because I could, nothing more. I've had too many lives end while I just stood by already."

Mari shook her head. "I know I accused you of trying to be a knight in shining armor earlier, but I wasn't being serious. Now, I'm going to assume that giant bug holding Rosemon is your partner?" Turning to look at what Mari was talking about, Ken saw Rosemon was being held in the hands- well, the most hand like appendages on the end of the middle set of legs- of a large black beetle that bore a strong resemblance to an Okuwamon. However, it was larger than an Okuwamon, it had orange hair reminiscent of Stingmon's, and looked much fiercer, with sharp claws on all of its legs and a large spike jutting out from the back of his head. However, while he looked like a fearsome being, Ken could tell from the look in his eyes that this was just Wormmon in a new form. As further proof, the large insect gently set Rosemon on the ground, showing he maintained his kind nature despite his evil appearance.

Mari wasn't really concerned with how the insect was acting, as her focus was exclusively on Rosemon. Acting quickly, she used her Digivice to send a healing program to Rosemon. It was far from perfect, and she would have to spend more time ensuring her partner would make a full recovery, but as emergency first aid it at the very least healed Rosemon enough that she stabilized and no longer flickered on the verge of deletion. Mari started to head toward Rosemon to begin more extensive healing, when she suddenly found herself restrained by one of the newly Digivolved insect's hands. Mari's only reaction was to sigh.

"How about we just cut the crap already? You may have beaten me in this fight, but what do you honestly expect to do now? You won't kill me or Rosemon because you're so confident that killing is wrong, and you can't expect to keep us prisoner. Daemon can just summon us away from you, and there's nothing you can do about it." As if to prove her point, she and Rosemon started flickering in the manner consistent with being dragged to the Dark Ocean instead of being deleted. Acting quickly, Mari worked her arm free and managed to beam something over to where Ninjamon was lying unconscious, causing the Mutant Digimon to begin stirring. "Still, you did beat me so you earned something. I was only supposed to stall you while Neo amassed an army to storm Holy Angel Castle. If you hurry, that red ball may be able to lead you there before it's too—"

Mari's words faded away as she vanished along with her partner. Seeing the fight was over, Wormmon's new form blinked in surprise. "Wait, is that it? You mean to tell me I Digivolved into GranKuwagamon for no real reason? I never even got to show off my attacks! My Dimension Scissors can cut through space itself, and I don't even get to demonstrate it. Let alone my Catastrophe…" As GranKuwagamon trailed off, Ken couldn't help but wonder what changes Wormmon had gone through. Ever since he had first Digivolved into Shadramon, all new forms he unlocked were much more brazen and confident than he had been as Wormmon or Stingmon. Still, he supposed it was only natural. After all, Ken had had his crest for months, yet Wormmon never Digivolved in that time. After all that time of being held back, it was only natural he'd want to demonstrate what his Mega form could do.

While Ken was busy musing about his partner, Valkyrimon had flown over, grabbed Ninjamon, and brought him over to the others. When he woke up, he started hyperactively ranting about delivering a message, but the sight of two Mega level Digimon seemed to shock him enough to calm down. At least until he guessed that the two he was looking at were responsible for defeating the Alias that had prevented him from delivering the message, at which point he introduced himself as Igamon and swore undying servitude to the two DigiDestined. Ken and Yolei were taken aback by how over the top Igamon was, but didn't have time to argue. They merely asked Igamon which way to go to reach Holy Angel Castle, as they hoped to get there before Daemon's army could destroy it. Hearing this, Igamon seemed to deflate a little, as his mission had been to deliver warning of the army to the castle and now it didn't matter as these two already knew and were going to announce it for him.

Not wanting to depress their guide before he even gave them directions, Ken came up with a new idea: he gave Igamon a new mission. Since he and Yolei were taking care of his mission of alerting the castle, Igamon could take care of their mission to find and regroup with their friends. This seemed to cheer Igamon up, and after Ken described the other DigiDestined to the mutant Digimon, he gladly pointed the way to the castle before scurrying off on his new task. With that crazy encounter behind them, GranKuwagamon grabbed the DigiDestined and started flying towards Holy Angel Castle alongside Valkyrimon. Ken could only hope they wouldn't be too late, and that GranKuwagamon would be able to demonstrate his skills while stopping the forces resisting Daemon from being annihilated.

Since Magnamon was still struggling with the aftereffects of AeroVeedramon's overwrite ability, Cherubimon took the lead in attacking Omegamon. He launched his Lightning Spear attack, but the spear travelled too slowly to hit somebody as quick as the Royal Knight. When he dodged, Magnamon tried blasting him with his modified Magna Blaster attack, but he couldn't seem to gather enough energy to do anything other than strain himself from the effort. Seeing this, Omegamon focused all of his attention on Cherubimon, who was clearly the biggest threat. He charged in with his Transcendent Sword, avoiding another Lightning Spear that Cherubimon tried to hit him with. Trying to do something to help his friend, Magnamon managed to successfully launch the missile variation of his Magna Blast attack, which didn't seem to do any damage but at least caused Omegamon to stop his charge. Seeing an opening, Cherubimon began glowing with a blue energy. Raising his hands to the heavens, he called out, "Just try to dodge this! Heaven's Judgment!"

As Cherubimon brought down his hands, the sky rained down countless bolts of blue lightning. The strikes covered a wide area around Omegamon, leaving the Royal Knight no room to dodge. As the Royal Knight disappeared within the glow, Cherubimon allowed himself a moment of relaxation after using his strongest attack. Unfortunately for the Cherub Digimon, Omegamon didn't seem to share his need to take a break. With a simple swish of his cape, he dispelled the lightning strikes, and then used rushed in with his Ultimate Uppercut attack, sending Cherubimon skyward. Before Cherubimon could recover, Omegamon used his Sword of Ruin attack, dealing an explosive slash that caused Cherubimon to revert and sent Kokomon flying to the ground.

Willis managed to catch his falling partner, but Davis couldn't stop his spirits from falling. He hadn't expected the fight against an Omnimon to be easy, but he didn't think it would go this badly. As a whole, the DigiDestined couldn't say they won all of their battles, but when it counted they always found a way to unlock a new power needed to win. In this fight, they had made use of the Golden Digimentals and unlocked a new Mega form, but Omegamon had taken their best attacks without so much as flinching and quickly dispatched their strongest forms. Now, all that was left was Magnamon, who had taken so much damage, both from his opponent and his own overwrite ability, that he couldn't even use his full range of attacks. This didn't seem to deter Magnamon, who put all of his remaining energy into a Magna Punch attack and charged at the other Royal Knight. Still, despite Magnamon's enthusiasm, Davis knew there was no way such an attack would succeed. As Omegamon moved forward with his Transcendent Sword to intercept Magnamon, Davis closed his eyes, and prepared himself to do something he wished he would never have to do: surrender a fight in order to save his partner's life.

Before Davis could even say anything, however, somebody else called out, "STOP!" Surprisingly, both Magnamon and Omegamon immediately complied, stopping their charges and turning towards the unexpected source of the order: Rei. Unused to bystanders ever playing a big role in the middle of a battle, the fighting Digimon and their partners were taken aback enough that Rei could finish her message without interruption. "I know I don't really have any right to get in the way of business involving Digimon, but you don't have to fight. I have to go with Hideto. Neo is… he's my brother. Whatever is going on, I have to see him. Please, don't keep chasing after us and getting yourselves hurt!"

With that, she quickly turned away and ran towards Hideto. Omegamon retracted his sword and grabbed the two before flying away from the scene. Davis and Willis were just glad the fight was over before their partners could be hurt any further, and Magnamon didn't have the energy to complain, as he quickly reverted back to DemiVeemon and passed out. As Davis scooped up his partner, he started thinking about what to do next. This may have been a thorough defeat, but they had all lived to fight another day. Maybe Rei would be able to talk her brother out of destroying the world, but if she failed, he'd have to be ready to fight Omegamon again.

Author's Note: And there we have the next chapter. I hope it wasn't confusing skipping between the two fights, but I wanted to do that to show they are both happening at the same time. Technically, all of the fights against the Alias III are happening at the same time, but the fight against Sigma didn't fit into this chapter without making it unnecessarily long. Besides, Piedmon is basically just jumping around avoiding attacks and laughing his head off, so that would be boring to see the whole thing. Next chapter cuts in pretty far into the battle so I can at least make it interesting.

Speaking of making fights interesting, what did you think about the battles here? I wanted to incorporate a level of strategy not usually present in fights now that there are human partners on each side capable of viewing the battle from an outside perspective. Even though Mari lost, I'm hoping she seemed like a really big threat, and obviously Hideto is a huge one, being able to do what so few can and actually BEAT the DigiDestined in a fight. Which isn't surprising, considering who his partner is. While none of them have had their partners for as long as the DigiDestined have, the Alias III and Neo have actually spent a lot more time engaging in battles, which carries over from the game into the real Digital World. So, I hope it isn't strange that their partners are actually stronger than their counterparts with the DigiDestined. Still, I want to know what you all think about them. So, while I always ask for feedback, I really hope someone will actually respond this time and tell me how I handled this. Or, if you have any feedback whatsoever, that's good to. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it, and I'll post the next chapter sometime tomorrow!