Author's Note: Coming up on the end of the story. And it's a big chapter to take us into the finale! We've got the Alias III vs Neo. Well, I guess it won't be spoiling anything if I say Mari won't contribute much, seeing as Datirimon is a bit out of her weight class in this fight. So, mostly Piedmon and Omegamon vs Arkadimon, in a fight that is crucial for the rest of the story. Hope you enjoy it!

Neo began laughing as Arkadimon faced off against Piedmon and Omegamon. "Arkadimon, take care of them!" The Mega level quickly rushed out the hole Omegamon had punched in the wall, with Neo viewing Omegamon as the greatest threat at the moment. The Royal Knight was a bit surprised at how fast Arkadimon could move with only four small wings to carry his large body, but after fighting AeroVeedramon this wasn't any form of speed that Omegamon couldn't handle. He managed to counter Arkadimon's rush with his WarGreymon arm before knocking the mindless Digimon away with his MetalGarurumon arm. However, the blows didn't seem to do any damage, and Arkadimon twisted the tentacles that formed his fingers into a point, creating a rudimentary spear. He began rushing towards Omegamon faster than he had before, catching the Royal Knight off guard. Mari called out to Omegamon trying to warn him, but Piedmon intervened with his Clown Trick attack. The multi-purpose attack created a ring of fire that bound Arkadimon before the beast could cover half of the distance to Omegamon.

With Arkadimon currently immobilized, Hideto decided to go directly for the kill shot. "Omegamon, shoot right through him. Use Omega Cannon!" Omegamon immediately complied, firing off what was essentially a single-shot version of his Omega Howling attack. Arkadimon seemed to disappear in the icy blue blast for a second before it went flying into the ground. Keeping a close eye on where Arkadimon had landed, Hideto could only make out a cloud of dust and fog from the aftermath of Omegamon's attack, and hoped the fight was now over. However, he wasn't about to claim victory against something as unpredictable as Arkadimon, so he wasn't surprised when Neo started laughing. "I've collected my data now. Arkadimon, you can go ahead and attack."

Sure enough, the fog from Omegamon's attack cleared, revealing an apparently unharmed Arkadimon. Hideto wasn't impressed with the act, as he had Omegamon trained to act uninjured at all times, but Mari let out a gasp of shock. While she didn't have a partner capable of joining the battle at the moment, she had decided to help by constantly scanning Arkadimon to keep track of everything the Super Ultimate did and hopefully find a weakness Sigma hadn't been able to decode yet. As such, she was keeping an eye on Arkadimon's stats, and she did not like what she saw. "This is impossible! Arkadimon didn't take any damage at all- it's like Omega Cannon didn't even hit!"

This caught both Hideto and Sigma off guard. There wasn't any way that Arkadimon could have dodged that attack, which gave only one option: it somehow had the defenses to negate the damage from Omegamon's attack. Considering an individual blast of Omega Cannon was actually stronger than each constituent blast of Omega Howling, this meant Arkadimon had effectively shrugged off the strongest attack they could possibly dish out. Neo laughed at the other three Tamers standing with him on the balcony that had once been part of the laboratory. "I believe I already told you that Arkadimon was in a whole other league compared to any monsters you know. Now do you see how hopeless this fight is?"

Sigma had a hard time believing what was going on. "Impossible… there's no way this thing can't be damaged… what on Earth is Arkadimon?" Hideto was merely stunned into silence, but Mari wasn't about to let the one time she decided to finally do the right thing end so easily. "So Arkadimon can shrug off Omega Cannon. Regardless of how powerful that thing is, it's still a Digimon. If it has health that means it can lose health! We've managed to hit it before, and we'll hit it again!" This was just what Hideto needed to hear to get him back into the fight. "She's right. Sigma, let's try hitting him with a combination." Sigma nodded, and Piedmon and Omegamon rushed together at Arkadimon. If Omega Cannon had failed, they weren't going to bother trying other long range attacks, but that didn't mean they couldn't try melee combat. Omegamon was using his Omega Sword attack, while Piedmon had grabbed two of his swords and used a variation of his Ending Snipe attack to charge them with lightning.

Arkadimon stood still in the face of the charging Digimon until the last second, where the Super Ultimate executed a quick spin and sent both opponents flying with a simple blow from its arms. As Piedmon and Omegamon were sent flying in different directions, Arkadimon once again ignored Piedmon in favor of attacking Omegamon. From this, Sigma gathered that Neo was discounting Piedmon as any threat, something he would pay for dearly. Sure enough, Piedmon managed to once again trap Arkadimon with his Clown Trick, giving Omegamon an opening to attack. Not wanting to waste energy with his Omega Sword just in case Arkadimon managed to break free and counter once again, Omegamon resorted to a powerful punch with his MetalGarurumon arm. Keeping her eye on her Digivice 01, Mari noticeably brightened. "That did some damage! Keep it up, Hideto!"

Hideto didn't even need to relay her command to Omegamon, as the Royal Knight repeatedly punched the immobilized Arkadimon. Watching Arkadimon's health continue to drop, Mari began to celebrate. Hideto, meanwhile, only gave Omegamon one order: "Finish it!" Nodding, Omegamon brought out his Omega Sword yet again and prepared to impale Arkadimon. Unfortunately for the Royal Knight, Neo took this as his cue to send his own order to Arkadimon. Within the span of a second, the Super Ultimate had broken out of Piedmon's Clown Trick, punched Omegamon in the gut hard enough to send him flying away, and then repeated the same thing to Piedmon knocking the clown into a newly-made crater.

As Sigma gasped at seeing his partner take that much damage, Neo looked up from his computer. "It's almost sad, really. Piedmon isn't even good enough to test Arkadimon's strength. Why don't you just run back to the real world, Sigma? No monster you raise will ever be anywhere near a worthy opponent for Arkadimon." Sigma seemed to shrink into himself, only for a pained voice to cry out. "D…Don't underestimate us, Neo!" Everyone turned to the source, only to see Piedmon hunched over yet floating up to Neo's level. "Sigma is… a wonderful Tamer… much more than you could ever be! I won't let you… or anyone… make fun of him!" Sigma merely quirked his eyebrow, wondering if Piedmon was trying to be threatening despite the fact that he was heavily wheezing throughout his speech.

Luckily, Piedmon wasn't planning on talking Arkadimon to death, and he launched his Masks Square attack. As all combatants were transported to Piedmon's new dimension, the clown took the time to continue addressing the opposing Tamer. "Neo… you've seen this attack before, but this isn't like those times. I'm not… going to waste any energy… warping myself or anything else around. Here, I have… absolute power. It is a small matter… to ensure Arkadimon… can't move. Omegamon… you'll have to… be the one to kill that thing." While Piedmon was busy talking to Neo, Sigma noticed a new message pop up on his computer. "Sigma… I'm not sure how long I'll be able to hold him. I'm also severely warping the flow of time here. Your computer should be able to run through all of his data at ten times its normal speed, and even analyze what Arkadimon is doing faster can he can do it. Good lu"

Piedmon's message ended abruptly, and it wasn't hard for Sigma to see why. It was almost like Arkadimon was somehow drawing Masks Square into its own body, shattering the attack. This was the last thought that crossed Sigma's mind before he and Piedmon both passed out. As Masks Square was an extension of Piedmon's being, when Arkadimon had destroyed the entirety of the dimension Piedmon felt as if his very being had been shattered. Unfortunately for Sigma, the connection between himself and Piedmon within Masks Square allowed him to feel the exact same situation. The trauma wasn't as intense for Sigma as it was for Piedmon, but he still collapsed to the ground, barely remaining conscious. The same could not be said for Piedmon, whose response to the immense psychological trauma had been shutting down completely and passing out.

Suffice to say, this was not a situation Hideto and Mari had ever hoped to see. While Mari went to check and see if Sigma was okay, Hideto forced himself to focus on Omegamon and Arkadimon. He wasn't about to leave an opening for Arkadimon to easily win the fight now that Piedmon had collapsed. Neo seemed to sense Hideto's anger and turned to his former best friend. "Now let's finish what we started back then, Hideto." Hideto glared at Neo, but managed to ask what he was talking about. Neo shook his head. "Don't you remember? The battle that we stopped because of Rei's accident. You wanted to beat me, didn't you? Well, now we have your Omegamon facing off against one of my monsters that is well beyond the capacity of a Mega level. Apart from the identity of my monster, everything is exactly as it would have been back then."

Hideto let out a cold smirk. "You're right. I'm going to put an end to everything right now. Our battles and your plans!" With this, Omegamon rushed forward and tried to punch Arkadimon yet again, but Arkadimon merely blocked with one arm and stopped the Royal Knight in his tracks. Neo started laughing. "Even with a handicap, nobody is a match for Arkadimon! Not even someone as strong as your Omegamon!" Hideto laughed right back. "So, you acknowledge Omegamon's strength? Well, the jokes on you. He's more than just Omegamon, he's Warg and Melga!" Omegamon reacted to this proclamation by flipping over Arkadimon's arm, causing his cape to get in the mindless monster's eyes. Using the momentary opening, he kicked Arkadimon in the face and sent the Super Ultimate crashing into the ground.

Hideto turned to a surprised Neo. "What do you think, Neo? These are the same monsters you told me to delete because they were weak! Well, we've learned from all of our defeats, and they've only made us stronger. That cape trick was courtesy of our first fight with AeroVeedramon, and that was only the beginning. Now you'll see what happens when you bother to befriend your monsters instead of deleting them as soon as they lose a fight!" Neo had quickly recomposed himself and responded by rolling his eyes. "If you're done with the friendship speech, can we get on with the battle? I have no intention of taking back anything I said." As he finished talking, Arkadimon rushed back towards Omegamon, making the "Gi" sounds that usually indicated Arkadimon was acting out of hunger rather than Neo's orders.

Hideto kept his eyes on Neo. "If you want me to end the speech, then fine! It's over right now. Warg, Melga, go!" He uploaded a quick order to Omegamon, who began charging his Omega Cannon. Within Omegamon's thoughts, Warg and Melga had a conversation. "Neo made fun of us, but Hideto raised us nonetheless…" "… We've got to live up to his hopes!" The glow from the cannon intensified, and Arkadimon stopped from a combination of the light and Neo's order to prepare for the attack. Sigma finally managed to stand back up, allowing Mari to return her attention to the fight. She saw what Omegamon was doing and called out for Hideto. "Why are you doing this? We already know Omega Cannon doesn't work, and at that range…"

However, Mari's objection was cut off as Omegamon seemed to vanish within the glow. Then, the glow faded entirely, revealing nothing but empty space in front of Arkadimon. The beast almost seemed confused at the disappearance of its next meal, only for Neo to quickly send it an order to look up. There, floating above Arkadimon with a flaming sword held aloft, Omegamon charged forward to slay the abomination threatening the Digital World. The Royal Knight swung the enchanted blade in an arc, and Arkadimon's attempt to block only resulted in the Super Ultimate losing an arm.

Mari was certain this would end the fight. Using Omega Cannon as a distraction, Omegamon had managed to attack with Omega Sword from Arkadimon's blind spot. The monster hadn't been able to react in time to avoid a hit that carried all the power of a Royal Knight. Arkadimon was left falling to the ground, missing an arm and sporting a flaming scar across its chest. However, something else hit the ground first, immediately causing Mari and Hideto to fill with dread. There, impaled in the ground, was half of the Transcendent Sword. Omegamon could only stare in shock at the remains of what had once been the supposedly indestructible blade extending from his arm. He continued to stare as Arkadimon flew back up to his level, not even noticing that the flames on Arkadimon's chest had gone out revealing no real injury. Even the lack of an arm barely seemed like a hindrance, as Arkadimon grew a series of tentacles from its shoulder and twisted them into a giant black spear that glowed with a strange green energy. Neo called out "Exile Spear!" and Arkadimon plunged the spear through Omegamon's chest.

Hideto begged his partner to get away, but Mari could see it was a lost cause. Omegamon's health was down below the threshold where he could Partition, and Exile Spear seemed to have another effect that interfered with Omegamon's energy, to the point where the Royal Knight wouldn't be able to move, let alone counterattack. She wished it wasn't the case, but the numbers didn't lie: Arkadimon was too powerful even for Omegamon and Piedmon working together. Seeing Arkadimon's strength, Mari couldn't believe she had had a hand in unleashing this monster. And in this case, she meant monster in the traditional sense, not the Digital one.

Neo didn't seem to care at the obvious danger Arkadimon presented to everything, just laughing at Hideto's defeat. "Is this really the monster they call a Royal Knight? I can't decide whether he's even worth deleting. He certainly isn't worth absorbing." Hideto didn't seem to hear Neo, and he just continued to quietly plead for Omegamon not to die. Seeing this, Neo continued chuckling. "Are you still letting your emotions get the best of you, Hideto? He's just a monster, after all." This finally inspired a reaction from Hideto. "He's not just a monster! When I strayed from the right path, he led me back! He's my best friend!"

Neo let a smug grin cross his face. "Friend? Please. A monster who's lost has no right to live. All a Tamer needs is his monster's strength!" Hideto shook his head. "Just strength? That isn't all that binds a Tamer and his Digimon. If you can't understand that, you don't deserve to call yourself a Tamer!" This seemed to strike a nerve in Neo, as he quickly sent a command to Arkadimon. While one of his arms was still occupied with Omegamon, the other unraveled into a mass of tentacles that bound Hideto by his arms, legs, and neck. As Hideto struggled for breath, Neo addressed him with a cold edge to his voice. "What was that you said? I couldn't quite hear you. Now, if you want to help Omegamon, then all you have to do is say, 'Master Neo is the best Tamer ever'!"

Hideto didn't exactly have enough air to say anything, and Mari and Sigma were appalled at how far Neo was willing to go to validate his ego, but Neo didn't listen to their protests. It wasn't until a voice called out, "Stop it, brother!" that he seemed to react at all. As Rei stood in the entryway to the lab, Mari and Sigma both called out in surprise, but their reaction was nothing compared to Pal and Pul, who were flabbergasted that Rei had bothered to leave the safety of the air vent to run into Arkadimon's attack range. Neo didn't seem to react beyond a slight flinch, but he still had Arkadimon let Hideto go. Rei ran over to her friend and asked if he was okay, though she could obviously tell he was in pain from his recent ordeal. Moving past the standard question, she asked how he had ended up in this situation.

Hideto was still short of breath, but he tried explaining. "I tried to change Neo's mind, but it's useless… what are you doing here, Rei?" Rei sadly shook her head. "Don't feel bad. I tried convincing him too, but it didn't go so well. He locked me in a room, but I managed to escape. I couldn't let it end there, so I had to try again… maybe if I just talk to him and figure out what he's thinking, I could finally convince him…" Turning to Neo, she confronted her brother. "Why are you doing this, Neo? I thought Hideto was your friend! We were always together- if we just go back to our world, we can all have fun together again. You don't need to destroy this world for that to happen!"

"Our world? Why would I ever want to go back? This is my world now. Or at least, it will be soon!" Seeing Neo was even worse than her last conversation with her brother, she knew she couldn't let the conversation end there. "Listen, you've been deceived by Daemon… I heard you were just being manipulated by a monster named Daemon!" Neo waited a while before responding with a chuckle. "You think a monster could manipulate me? How did that manipulation work out for Daemon? He's long since been made a snack for Arkadimon! I am the master of his castle now, and soon I will be the master of this world!"

He started a stereotypical evil laugh, only to be cut off by a small voice from Mari. "Yeah, you're totally above being manipulated by monsters…" Neo immediately stopped laughing, and turned to his former Alias. "What did you say?" From the tone of his voice, Mari knew she was on dangerous ground, but she hadn't exactly been safe ever since she decided to go against Neo and Arkadimon. "Well, just look at the facts, Neo. What happened before Arkadimon absorbed Daemon? You went out of your way to save Rosemon, even if it meant weakening Arkadimon and leaving Holy Angel Castle outside of your control. All these things went against your current goals, and yet you did it anyway because you wanted to help a friend. After Daemon, you imprisoned your sister and just tried to kill Hideto. So, are you absolutely certain you aren't being manipulated?"

Hideto and Rei saw that this seemed to be getting through to Neo, and they decided to press the one advantage they had in this argument. Rei took a verbal approach, drawing on examples throughout her life where Neo did things that showed him to be completely different from how he was acting now. Hideto decided to work off of Neo's own pride as a Tamer. "If you need any more proof that you aren't being yourself, just ask yourself one question: if you saw a way to make your monster stronger, would you take it or ignore it? Because Omegamon and I have a power you could easily take as your own, yet you refuse to acknowledge it."

Neo scoffed. "Yes, because Omegamon clearly has an impressive power that's allowing him to sit paralyzed on Arkadimon's spear. He has no energy left. It's hopeless!" Hideto merely smiled before calling to Omegamon. The Royal Knight seemed to regain consciousness at his partner's call, and began to speak. "Neo… it's true my energy is gone… but there is something left… as long as Hideto and I are together, there's still a possibility to do anything! The bond between partners gives rise to the energy of hope… THAT'S OUR STRENGTH!"

With a mighty shout, Omegamon managed to break Arkadimon's spear with his MetalGarurumon arm. While he was far from being in fighting shape, he was now at least able to move freely. He went and landed in front of Rei and the Alias III, and all of Neo's former allies fixed the elder Saiba with a determined glare. Rei took the role of delivering the final argument. "If you raise a monster with love, it will respond in the same way- and that bond between a Tamer's heart and their Digimon is what leads to real strength. Sigma and Piedmon share that bond, allowing him to bond to such a level that they both run Masks Square. Mari and Rosemon had that bond, being able to constantly read and adjust to each other's moods. Hideto's bond with Warg and Melga allowed them to Digivolve into Omegamon. And from what I remember, you had that bond once too. You deleted so many monsters, but there was always one you kept even after you viewed it as a failure. Is it any surprise that that one monster has always been your strongest?"

Seeing all of his friends gathered against him and unable to argue with their latest point, Neo felt the first shadow of doubt cross his mind. Almost immediately, he came down with a splitting headache, and barely avoiding collapsing to his knees. Not fully aware of his own actions, he sent a command to Arkadimon, causing the Super Ultimate to fly over, pick him up, and then fly off in a random direction. After finally seeming to get through to Neo, the remaining humans weren't happy to see him fly off, but with Omegamon barely standing and Piedmon unconscious they couldn't do anything to stop him. At least they had managed to survive the confrontation, which was a blessing considering how bleak the situation had looked when Omegamon had lost the battle. Realizing what he needed to do, Hideto took charge of the others.

"Listen everyone, we may have gotten through to Neo now, but whatever he's fighting against inside will probably take over soon. Before that happens, we need to get out of here. The DigiDestined should all be meeting at Holy Angel Castle soon, and we're going to need their help. Beating Arkadimon might be the only way to really save Neo, and they've proven to be strong enough to beat us. If we work with them, we'll stand a much better chance of winning." Knowing asking for help was their only option, everybody quickly agreed with his plan. Omegamon assured everybody he could at the very least carry them to Holy Angel Castle, so everybody climbed on to the Royal Knight's shoulders right away, with the exception of Sigma who stopped to store Piedmon in his Digivice 01 after placing him in another healing pod. However, just before Omegamon could take off, Rei gasped.

"Wait, hold on a minute!" Hideto turned to the girl next to him asking what she was doing, but she had already hopped off of Omegamon and started running back to the lab entrance. Catching sight of the two Tiny Devil Digimon, she smiled. "Pal, Pul, would you like to come with us? You're more than welcome to, and I don't want to leave you here if Neo comes back. I'd hate for some friends of mine to get hurt." Both PetitMamon's faces lit up at having a human call them friends, but to Pal's surprise Pul shook himself out of it and refused Rei's offer.

"It's not that I don't want to go with you, but you all inspired me so much! Instead of just getting your autograph, I want to be brave like you. So, I'd like to stay here for a while. This castle has a lot of secrets, and some of those might end up helping you in the fight." Hearing her brother's words, Pal sighed. "Well, I can't leave this dummy here by himself, now can I? Don't worry, I'll look out for him, and we'll find all the secrets this place has to offer. After all, this place has been around since ancient times, and Daemon only moved in a few months ago. There has to be something good buried here. Just, promise you'll come see us again before you head to the human world, okay?"

Rei nodded. "If you two think this will help, I'm sure it will. And don't worry, I promise I'll visit as often as I can when all this is over. After all, it's the least I can do after you two busted me out of prison. Just watch out for each other, okay?" As the two PetitMamon agreed to her terms, Rei once again hopped up on the shoulder of Omegamon's WarGreymon arm next to Hideto. With all of his passengers accounted for, Omegamon slowly took off, starting the long flight to Holy Angel Castle.

Davis tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep within the infirmary of Holy Angel Castle. With what was about to happen, he knew he needed all the sleep he could get, but it just seemed to elude him. He supposed he was just lucky to be at Holy Angel Castle with everybody else. After Hideto had left, he had meant to follow his advice and come directly here, but he had forgotten a key detail: they had no way to transport Chibomon's medical pod. Unlike Hideto, they couldn't just store things on their Digivices, and as Baby levels Willis's partners were nowhere near capable of carrying the DigiDestined, let alone the enormous piece of medical equipment. Igamon claimed to have a possible solution and disappeared, mentioning something about calling in an old favor and needing a ton of luck.

The ninja Digimon had been gone for twenty minutes when Davis heard a rumbling in the distance. Within a minute, he had suddenly been forced to jump away as a railroad track appeared right under him, and even with his quick reaction he could have sworn he only missed being hit by a giant living train by a few feet. Nonetheless, Igamon quickly hopped off of the train and urged Davis and Willis to quickly load Chibomon on. They barely had time to comply and then board themselves before the train sped off towards Holy Angel Castle. Igamon took the time to explain the situation. Apparently, the train was a GranLocomon that Igamon had once saved when he had been derailed as a Locomon. Much like Igamon, this GranLocomon had a deep sense of honor that obliged him to pay off his debt. However, like all GranLocomon he had an obsession with speed, so he had been racing around the Folder continent all this time, only staying so close because of Igamon. Igamon had been lucky enough to find him, and now GranLocomon was repaying the debt.

Though Igamon had been incredibly brief, he had still struggled to finish the story before the supersonic train arrived at its destination. After quickly unloading Chibomon, all the passengers could only wave goodbye as GranLocomon sped away to parts unknown, no longer having a debt to keep him from speeding throughout the entire world. Then, Chibomon had quickly been shuttled to the infirmary, and Davis got a chance to see everybody who was left at Holy Angel Castle.

In addition to all the DigiDestined and their partners, there were a few familiar faces. Doctor Jijimon and the soldiers from Hospitown were all present, as were a Gabumon Cody introduced as Gabo, an Ikkakumon Michael introduced as Gon, and the pitiful remainder of HolyAngemon's army after Neo's first attack. Other than that, the only Digimon present were a bunch of Baby and In-Training levels that were too young to take part in the battle. Shortly after Chibomon was put into Jijimon's care, the DigiDestined finally got some good news, as Leo and HolyAngemon both finished their recovery. However, as soon as they were briefed about the situation, the two guardians of the castle merely sent out orders to all remaining troops to retreat to Holy Angel Castle in preparation for a last stand. HolyAngemon explained that he hated abandoning the rest of the continent, but he would need everybody here in order to stand any chance of defeating Arkadimon and Neo's army and finally free Server from Daemon's lingering influence. With that, the two had disappeared into a training room of the castle, giving careful instructions that they were not to be disturbed until Neo's army arrived, as they needed absolute focus in order to prepare for the upcoming ordeal.

Knowing what they were in for in the near future, all of the DigiDestined decided to check their partners into the infirmary so they could be in as close to top condition as possible in the upcoming fight. Then, Davis and Willis had been forced to quell a minor panic as Omegamon was seen flying towards the castle, but after a quick explanation the others quickly agreed that they could use all the help they could get against Neo. As Omegamon and Piedmon were both added to the list of Digimon getting medical attention, the DigiDestined could only listen in horror as they got a first-hand account of Arkadimon's power. With the story finished, everybody but Sigma eventually tried going to sleep, while the masked Alias tried to finish analyzing Arkadimon's data.

Davis eventually drifted off, only to be shaken awake a few hours before dawn. HolyAngemon and Leo must have returned from their training, as they were present in a war council with the DigiDestined and the Aliases. With everybody awake, Sigma began explaining his findings. "Unfortunately, I was unable to scan all of Arkadimon's data earlier. Whatever that thing really is, it isn't like a normal Digimon in how it configures its data. Regardless, I at least have something on the nature of Dot Matrix. When Omegamon fought Arkadimon, he appeared to shatter his Omega Sword on Arkadimon's body. However, analyzing that moment, the sword never made contact! In addition, in that brief moment, Arkadimon's energy dropped radically for one instant before returning to normal after the sword broke. This is because of his Dot Matrix attack! It invisibly reducing anything digital in nature to its component data, and then absorbs it. What it hits disappears instantly, and it even restores Arkadimon's power. That's why he can seem to be hit and take no damage- he absorbs the attacks just before they connect, so he never actually gets hit in the first place!"

HolyAngemon frowned. "An instantaneous attack that strikes invisibly, is unblockable, and has zero drawbacks. I never should have allowed this abomination to see the light of day!" Sigma understood the archangel's feelings, but he tried to calm HolyAngemon down. "There was no way of knowing you wouldn't be able to stop him as a Champion. Besides, Dot Matrix isn't perfect. Arkadimon has to fire it from somewhere, and there is a slight lag between when the attack fires and when it takes effect. A very small window, but if we can figure out where he attacks from we might be able to dodge within that window."

Any further briefing was interrupted as an alarm sounded throughout the castle. Knowing what this meant, all available fighters went to the entrance of the castle, to see the remains of Daemon's army approaching the gates. Arkadimon was nowhere to be seen, but with the vast number of Digimon Neo might not have needed his trump card to win this fight. Apart from Veemon, all the partner Digimon had been restored to full health, and the DigiDestined all reached for their Digivices before Leo called for them to stop. "Listen, don't Digivolve just yet. This is just the advance force. We'll need to save the bulk of our strength for as long as possible in case Arkadimon shows up. You can all reach the Mega level, but you don't have the endurance to last through this whole fight. Leave this to us for as long as possible."

The DigiDestined all began protesting, but HolyAngemon quelled any argument. "This is a war on our homeland, and we know the best way to fight it. Only those of you who have reached the Mega level naturally may join us now. With Omegamon and Piedmon, that leaves us with four Megas to counter the four monsters Neo has leading the army. My army will handle the rest of the forces for as long as possible, and only when they are overwhelmed may you join the battle."

Yolei quickly spoke up. "Fine, but what do you mean, four Megas? Even if Omegamon were to split into Warg and Melga, that's only three with Piedmon." HolyAngemon merely smirked. "You don't think Leo and I were sitting around doing nothing, do you? We both managed to unlock our Mega forms. Well, he managed to unlock his Mega form, and I managed to unlock an alternate Mega form considering Arkadimon absorbed the data that allowed me to become Seraphimon. Of course, much like my problem with Seraphimon, we had to seal away our power when not in battle for fear of disturbing the little ones. Now, shall we begin the final battle?"

Hideto and Sigma nodded as they stepped forward. As Piedmon stood at the ready, the DigiDestined watched as their allies began to access higher forms.

"Warg, Melga, Jogress! Omegamon!"

"IceLeomon, Digivolve to… Regulumon!"

"MagnaAngemon, Digivolve to… Dominimon!"

Author's Note: Well, suppose it isn't too surprising that Arkadimon managed to win that fight. Can't exactly have the villains defeated with four chapters left in the story, can I? Still, even though neither side suffered any losses in this battle, this is the fight that probably shapes the rest of the war. Now that they know about Dot Matrix, the DigiDestined can at least plan for it and not get massacred as we move into the final battle of the war. So, the second battle of Holy Angel Castle is about to begin! Please leave any feedback, and I'll update again soon!