The thick metal door creaked opened loudly as JD shoved Manny inside the dark, cold chamber behind it. Despite the latter's large stature, JD was evidently stronger and a little taller, thus he had no problems in doing so. Add that to the fact that Manny didn't even attempt to resist at all, the shove seemed to be done nearly effortlessly.

"In you go, loser!"

"OOFF!"

Thrown off balance, Manny fell into a pile of straws which covered the chamber's floor face-on with a loud thud. He'd closed his eyes immediately by instinct, but could still feel the straws poking his eyelids. His right elbow felt slightly scratched against the uncovered surface of the floor, and Manny felt a sting coming from there. He then heard JD laughing mockingly at him as he turned his body around. From his back, Manny felt two pairs of small hands assisting him to a sitting position. Glancing by his shoulders quickly, he saw Penguinmon, and a smaller, unfamiliar lilac feline with sky blue eyes. The feline looked injured, a little – its right eye was bruised, and there was a gash on his back. Hearing the snicker from JD, Manny quickly turned back to look at the blonde teen.

"You shouldn't have betrayed Karatenmon," JD said, his eyes flashing crimson. They then turned to eerie green, before resuming the irises' original green-blue hue. The villainous teen smirked wildly as he revealed Manny's Digivice and D-Terminal. "Just so that you know, I'm taking these as well to add up Karatenmon's collection of DigiSpheres."

Manny's face fell; without his Digivice and Blue DigiSphere, he'd be powerless and unable to digivolve Penguinmon, or initiating the Shadow Access power to become Samudramon.

"Yeah, I took 'em so that you won't get the chance to escape," JD said with a smirk. He eyed Manny with a somewhat-bemused look crossing his handsome features, arms crossed against his chest. "You know, you're much better when you're evil; that cold demeanor that you've gotten suited you even more than the spineless act you're putting on right now. It's downright nauseating, I think I'm gonna lose my lunch!"

"JD, you've gotta snap out of this," Manny pleaded, speaking for the first time since his capture. "You're under a spell. I did too, but I broke it. You can do it too…"

"Bullshit!" JD retorted. "I've never felt better."

"It's all a trick! Come on, JD…you're stronger than this. The real you wouldn't want anyone messing up your mind now."

JD's face turned ugly. "Quit talking like you know me! The real me would love to see what the general has in store for you."

"What…what do you mean?"

"Oh, you'll see. Or rather, maybe you won't. I don't know." JD shrugged, and turned away from the three prisoners. He walked out from the prison cell and closed the door. "Guard them." His voice was heard giving order to someone. A cold chill emanated into the cell from the barred window on the thickset door as another voice murmured out agreement.

"I was sent here to guard the other cell," the new voice added, in a tone that sounded like an argument. Manny instantly recognized the voice belonging to IceDevimon.

JD had muttered something else in reply, but it was done in a low tone that no prisoners managed to catch what was being said.

The spiky-haired teenager sighed, and looked at his fellow captives. He was glad to see that Penguinmon was unhurt; the stout avian rookie had a stoic expression plastered on his face. His eyes had a slight off-put look, which baffled Manny. Wasn't his Digimon partner glad to see him? Penguinmon returned Manny's stare but didn't utter a word at all. Sighing, Manny's russet eyes then fell onto the lilac feline, who looked somewhat battered. The left side eye was bruised, and there were scratches evident on his body. Nevertheless, the Digimon was beaming and Manny suspected that it was directed at him. He didn't recognize this Digimon, who was floating at his eye-level.

The cat Digimon smiled. "Emmanuel. I'm glad to have finally met you face to face, despite the circumstances we're in right now," he greeted eloquently.

"Uh…who are you?" Manny asked, bewildered that this Digimon knew his full name.

"I am TobuCatmon. I'm the mentor of the DigiWira."

"Oh…" Manny nodded, recognizing TobuCatmon's name immediately. He had heard the mentor's name from the ransom note JD had left to Adam and Liu Ying, and mentally berated himself for not making the obvious connection. "It's…nice to meet you too," he replied, and lowered his gaze. "You can call me Manny," he added with a mumble.

"And I'm Penguinmon, rookie Digimon, bird species, data type…all that jazz…" Penguinmon added as he rolled his eyes. His voice was slightly shrill as his eyes shone. "I don't know what's going on or who you two are; one moment I was training with Birdramon on how to fly and all then suddenly an Aquilamon came and attacked us without no good reason, then I tried to fight back, and the next thing I know there was that Flarelizamon who stood in front of me as I got my feathers burnt by his putrid breath!"

Manny looked at Penguinmon oddly. "You don't know me?"

"No," Penguinmon said flatly. "Should I?" he added, with an uncertainty. The blue-furred penguin was now frowning. "You look familiar, and something inside of me said that I should know you, but truth be told, I don't." Upon seeing Manny's face fell, Penguinmon snorted and held his head up high. "Look, all I know that you're human, and your name is Emmanuel, or Manny, or whatever..." Penguinmon made a motion with his head towards where TobuCatmon was at. "PussyCatmon here told me before you came along, that I'm supposed to be your partner Digimon and all, and that you're a DigiWira, blah, blah…I didn't really understand much."

TobuCatmon scowled. "It's TOBUCatmon!"

Manny sweatdropped; he didn't remember Penguinmon being this bold and talkative. But then again, Penguinmon had been under Karatenmon's spell too. As a result he didn't speak that much. And it did look like while Manny retained his memories after breaking the spell, Penguinmon didn't.

It struck him, now that he had seen Penguinmon's true personality, of how different the two of them were. Manny was somewhat introverted, while Penguinmon was his exact opposite. Of course, Manny had his few bold moments during his tenure as a villain, but now that he was brought back to the side of good, his temperament too reverted back to their old one.

"Well…I don't know how and why I'm being partnered with you...but I guess I'll go along with it," Penguinmon said gruffly, snapping Manny out of his reverie.

Manny shook his head; he'd deal with Penguinmon later. Right now, he had a more pressing issue to think about.

"Manny?"

TobuCatmon's gentle call brought the boy's attention to him. Manny looked at the champion feline Digimon questioningly.

"Manny, have you met the DigiWira?"

"I have." Manny then realized that TobuCatmon probably didn't know what had happened to Gayathri, and how exactly their situation was for the time being. He took a deep breath and began telling TobuCatmon and Penguinmon about everything that had taken place within the last twenty-four hours. TobuCatmon listened to the teen intently, his face paling upon hearing that Gayathri had been involved with an accident but relaxed when Manny told him that Gayathri was alright. The reformed ShadoWira then proceeded to tell him about how Adam and Liu Ying had found out the identities of both Red and Blue ShadoWira and the ultimatum they had received from JD.

"…and I decided to turn myself in so that you'll be freed. It's what I deserved after all I've put them through," Manny finished glumly. He sighed and leaned against the nearest wall, and shuddered as the coldness of the wall stones crept through the material of his uniform. "I never thought that JD would back out of their deal."

"No use crying over spilt milk," Penguinmon snorted. He looked around the cold, dark dungeon and shivered. "What's done is done. Right now, we've got to figure out how to get out of here."

"Penguinmon's right," TobuCatmon said. "If I know the DigiWira, and I do, they probably are planning to rescue you now as we speak. We cannot let them enter Black Peak Mountain; Karatenmon would only capture them and if that happens, all hope will be lost. We are the ones who must break free from this dark place."

Manny shook his head sadly. "IceDevimon is guarding the door. If only I have my Digivice and Blue DigiSphere, Samudramon will have no problem defeating IceDevimon."

"Right now, all we have is me, a rookie, and you, a champion Digimon," Penguinmon supplied as he cocked his head towards TobuCatmon. "Think you can beat IceDevimon?"

TobuCatmon sighed and shook his head slowly. "Unfortunately, I am not a fighter, but I do have some tricks up my sleeve. IceDevimon is very powerful for a champion Digimon, but with your help and Manny's, perhaps we can outsmart that ice demon instead."

Manny gazed at the lilac cat as Penguinmon clucked excitedly. "What do you have in mind?" he whispered.

xxx

xxx

Karatenmon smiled coldly as he watched the dark figure in front of him. He stepped down from the small stone podium where he usually stood, and circled around the newcomer. Satisfaction radiated from his yellow eyes as he examined the creature in front of him. The Digimon, shrouded within the darkness of the cave, could only be seen by Karatenmon, whose vision was well-adapted to the scanty amount of light inside the Cave of Solitude. The only thing that was obvious about the Digimon was the fact that it was an avian humanoid with glowing crimson irises. It stood at Karatenmon's equal height, and gave off a cool, menacing aura.

"Like looking in a mirror," Karatenmon whispered.

xxx

xxx

WIRA DIGITAL

- ShadoWira Unveiled, Part IV –

Chapter 19 – Redemption

xxx

xxx

"Are you sure that this would work?" Adam asked with hesitance as he held up his cell phone.

"Not really," Liu Ying answered bluntly. "But what else can we do?"

"Why can't Jackie just go to Manny's house and tell his parents that their son's been kidnapped? That was what he did when I got kidnapped."

Liu Ying snorted. "Listen to what you've just said, Adam. Manny's parents would freak out if we go and tell them straight out that Manny's been kidnapped. Neither of us likes doing this, but I think this is the best thing we can do for now. It would prevent any intervention from his parents for the time being, and we need as much time as we can in order to work out a plan to save Manny."

Adam was about to argue when Jackie immediately interrupted him. "Besides, Adam, we've chosen to tell your sister straight out because mainly I think she could handle the news. She has very sound knowledge in I.T., which made explaining about Digimon and the Digital World a whole lot easier. And back then, we didn't exactly have a choice other than telling your sister the truth. We couldn't possibly come up with this kind of plan as you were the only male DigiWira at that time."

Adam sighed and had to agree with both Liu Ying and Jackie. He then turned his attention to a teary-faced Gayathri. The said girl had been struggling hard not to cry, but to no avail, after Adam and Liu Ying returned from the Digital World with news that Manny had been captured by JD.

"Gayathri, do you have Manny's house number?"

"Look in my handphone, I have it stored under 'Manny'," Gayathri answered as she wiped the tears away with the white blanket she was gripping.

Adam retrieved Gayathri's cell phone from the bedside table and began scrolling the list of names in Gayathri's address book before finding the right number. He began dialing the number on his own cell phone and held his breath in anticipation when he heard the dial tone. Somebody from Manny's house then picked up the phone after the second dial tone.

"Helloooo…?" The voice from the other side sounded childish, belonging to a little girl.

"Um, hello. Can I speak to…uh…Mr. Abah?" Adam inquired.

"Daddy's not home yet…" The little girl from the other side murmured. "Who is this? Can you tell me your name?"

"Oh. Sure. I'm Manny's friend Adam. Who's this?"

"Oh, you're Abang's friend. My name is Deborah, but people call me Debbie. You can call me Debbie. Are you looking for Abang? He's not home too. He said that he's going to visit his girlfriend who's at the hospital. I wanted to go too but Abang didn't want to bring me along. That was really mean of him; I really am worried about Kak Gayathri… "

Adam face-faulted as he listened to Manny's little sister's complaints, wondering whether there was any way for him to stop Debbie's talking to get to his point. Adam had no experience in dealing with younger children; he'd been the youngest in his family.

"…I heard that she was involved with an accident yesterday…" Debbie then stopped when Adam interrupted her with a fake cough. "Um…Abang Adam? Are you sick?"

"Um, no, not really," Adam said, confused of the inquiry. Then he realized that he'd just left an opening for Debbie to ask another question, and immediately interjected with an inquiry of his own. "Debbie, can I speak to your mom?"

"Um…no, you can't."

Adam sweatdropped. "Uh…why not?"

"I'm not supposed to say."

"But this is really important," Adam insisted. "I really need to speak to her."

Silence.

"Um…hello?"

"I'm still here."

"Good. Well, Debbie…can you tell me why I can't speak to your mom?"

"I told you, I'm not supposed to say."

Adam rolled his eyes, getting somewhat annoyed with the little girl. He sweatdropped upon meeting the questioning looks from the others inside Gayathri's ward. With a sigh he held his cell phone away from his mouth, and closed it with one hand as he gestured for Gayathri to take the phone from him.

"Gayathri, you talk to her. She doesn't want to tell me where her mom is."

"Who? Debbie?" Gayathri asked. A brief smile flickered from her sad face. "Um…if I talk to her then she'd be asking me a lot of questions and I don't think I can hide from her the fact that Manny's been kidnapped…so no. You talk to her. Try guessing what her mom is doing."

Reluctantly, Adam nodded and held his mobile phone back to his right ear. "Hello…Debbie?"

"Yes…?"

"Now can I speak to your mom?"

"Um…no…not yet."

"Not yet? Is she busy?"

"…I suppose."

Adam detected a somewhat hesitant tone coming with the answer, and raked his brain for a possible explanation. Debbie and Manny's mother was indeed at the house, but was somehow unavailable at the moment. Was she cooking? Adam didn't hear any noise in the background, so it was either the kitchen was far from the phone or there was indeed no activity at the kitchen. Debbie had sounded so hesitating, yet at the same time so adamant of keeping what her mother was doing as a secret.

An inspiration suddenly struck him, which caused him to grin slightly. It was something that Alisha had asked Adam to do countless times when there was a phone call for her while she was…

"Debbie, is your mom in the toilet right now?"

A gasp was heard but no answer came from Manny's sister. Adam assumed that he'd guessed it right, as Debbie would only deny if he'd guessed wrongly.

"It's ok, then. I can't wait long as my credit is running low. Can you do me a favor and pass a message to your mother? It's from Manny."

"Ok…"

"Ok then. Can you tell your parents that Manny will be spending the night at my house today?"

"Umm, ok. I can do that. But why didn't Abang call the house himself?"

"Uh…because he's in the toilet right now?" Adam said the first thing that had crossed his mind. "And because his phone credit is all used up. He's been calling his girlfriend a lot, I think."

Gayathri immediately scowled upon hearing the remark and threw her pillow towards Adam. Seeing that coming, the boy had successfully evaded the pillow, only to collide with Liu Ying, who with an exasperated look on her face, helped the boy straighten back up.

"Oh…ok. So he won't be home today?"

"Yes. He'll be at my home. Tell your mom that he's sorry that he doesn't call the house himself. Don't worry; he'll have dinner at my place and he can wear my clothes for the night. Then tomorrow after school he'll go back home."

"Why is he spending the night? I thought he's gonna come home after seeing Kak Gayathri?"

"Um…because today's homework is so hard and he couldn't do it himself, so I offered to teach him. And since I have problems with my own homework, your brother decided that he can help me with that too. It's really a last minute plan. Don't worry; I'll make sure that Manny will be home tomorrow." Adam was surprised to hear the lie coming out fluidly from his mouth, and how convincing it had sounded. Well, convincing enough for a little girl.

"Ok!" Debbie said, apparently satisfied with the explanation. Adam doubted that she really listened to him, but he'd done his job. Now it was time to take his leave.

"Ok, Debbie. Make sure you tell your mom what I've told you after she comes out from the toilet, ok?"

"I didn't say that mummy's in the toilet!" came the indignant reply from the little girl.

"Ok, ok. But make sure you tell her that Manny's with me, ok? We don't want your mummy and daddy to be worried."

"Ok, I will."

"Well…goodbye Debbie."

"Bye-bye, Abang Adam."

Adam sighed in relief as he heard the click sound coming from the other side of the phone. He was relieved mainly because Debbie didn't ask him for his contact number, so at least while Manny's parents would be in the impression that their son had spent a night at a friend's house, they had no way of contacting him. Adam hoped that he didn't sound so fishy to Debbie, and that the girl would be able to relay his message to her folks.

"Way to go Adam," Liu Ying murmured.

"So what do we do now?" Adam asked. "We managed to hold off telling Manny's parents about him being kidnapped for at least one night."

"That means that we only have one night to come up with a plan to rescue Manny," Liu Ying said. She sighed and looked at the clock on the wall. "Somehow I don't think any of us will be going to school tomorrow…unless somehow Manny escapes tonight."

"The Cave of Solitude is hard to escape from," Adam said, shivering upon recollecting the time when he was captured by the ShadoWira.

Gayathri looked at her fellow teammate thoughtfully. "You know Adam…you never really told us what was it like, being imprisoned there."

"Let's hope that neither one of you have to experience it," Adam answered evasively.

The other DigiWira looked like they wanted to press Adam for more information, but they were forced to keep silence when a knock on the door was heard. The door swung open slowly and Dr. Abu walked in with a nurse.

"Visiting hours is over for non-family members," the doctor informed with a regretful smile. "And we need to check on Gayathri's vital signs."

Jackie nodded as Liu Ying and Adam picked up their 'stuff toys' which they had placed on the bed with Gayathri. That earned them curious looks from the doctor and the nurse, but thankfully nobody said anything. They thanked the medical staffs and bid goodbye to Gayathri, promising explicitly to keep her updated with any news. As it was already 6.00 p.m. they guessed that they had better head home.

xxx

xxx

Less than thirty minutes later, Adam arrived at the apartment complex where he was staying. He nodded at the security guards at the guard booth, recognizing them easily as he'd been staying there for almost a year already. He increased his pace, wanting to reach home quickly. The day was beginning to turn dark, with half an hour more before dusk, and all around the apartment complex was rather quiet that day. Adam thought that it was strange, as usually this time children and teens would be bustling about around the small playground and game courts.

Suddenly, without warning, a tall figure streaked towards Adam from behind a tree. Adam jumped a little, surprised as a familiar person blocked his way.

"I've been waiting for you for quite a while," JD said sinisterly. He was still dressed in his school uniform, but unlike Adam his white shirt was not tucked in and the first two buttons of his shirt were undone. To other people, JD looked pretty much normal if they discarded the fact that JD's eyes were glowing with a slight greenish tint, giving him an aura of evil.

Adam tensed and took a step back. "What do you want, JD?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just curious of seeing how you're handling today's turn of events. Me being your enemy all along, Manny's capture, you guys losing," JD said, shrugging. His voice was laced with mocking tone with each uttered syllable, and he had made it plainly obvious for Adam and Patamon.

Adam wasn't intimidated. "You're a jerk, you know that?" he muttered.

Patamon, who'd been playing the stuffed doll act, blinked twice before glaring at JD. "You sickened me," the rookie Digimon spat. He didn't need to elaborate further, as JD got the hint.

JD guffawed. "You don't scare me, rodent."

"ADAM!" Suddenly, to their surprise, Liu Ying's voice rang out. Adam turned around, seeing the girl running towards him with a worried look on her face. She was clutching her yellow and white Digivice, and she halted instantly upon seeing JD standing merely half a meter away from Adam and Patamon. She resumed her paces instantly, standing right beside her teammate, and glared at JD with a hateful look that resembled the one Patamon was giving the blonde teen.

"Well, well…if it isn't the Miss Perfect Prefect," JD chuckled.

Liu Ying didn't look amused with the comment as she took a step forward, standing between Adam and JD. Instead of ignoring JD's comment like she usually did, this time she gave JD a somewhat fake-looking smile before unexpectedly slapping him hard on the cheek. Her smile vanished, replaced by a hard look etched on her fair features. That one moment, she looked as intimidating as JD was, despite being on different sides. Both Adam and Patamon gasped in surprise, but JD merely rubbed his right cheek, which reddened considerably from the tight slap Liu Ying had given him.

"You stay away from us," she warned. "Any of us."

"Or what?" JD challenged.

"Or I'll call security, for starters," Liu Ying shot back. "There are three of them by the gate; you can't fight them no matter how good your skill is."

JD scowled lightly as his eyes darted back and forth between the DigiWira and Patamon. He could see that Liu Ying meant serious business, and Adam didn't look like he was against her idea. He shrugged easily and backed off from Liu Ying, turning his body towards the direction of the gate.

"Fine. I'll show my way out." With that, he slicked away with a chuckle. However before he was out of the DigiWira's sight, the blonde teen turned back to face them. "While you have it easy now, don't expect the same tonight. There's something huge planned out and I'm sure you won't miss it for the world. Not when we're holding a trump card in this battle."

The DigiWira didn't reply to his comment. JD took this as his cue to continue.

"Pretending not to be curious? Have it your way. But I'll say this much: you should've sent letters to the school this morning saying that you won't be able to attend school anymore starting tomorrow. After all how can you, when you'll be destroyed!"

With that, the Red ShadoWira laughed loudly and walked away, leaving the DigiWira stunned for words.

xxx

xxx

IceDevimon stood against the cold walls of the inner caverns of the Black Peak Mountain, bored out of his wits. Karatenmon had instructed him to feign obedience to the Red ShadoWira for the time being, until tomorrow when the digital solar eclipse arrived. And the Red ShadoWira had ordered him to guard the prisoners.

The ice demon snorted. He had powers beyond normal champion-level Digimon. He had once leveled a whole village of fire Digimon into a dead zone of ice. He had given Grademon a decent challenge before the golden warrior imprisoned him. And now, he had been reduced into a mere prison guard. It didn't bode well with his reputation.

He had been there for three hours now. Although it was hard to tell, IceDevimon could easily guess that it was already night time in the Digital World. And so far, there was no noise coming from inside the prison. However, IceDevimon was not too bothered by it. Perhaps they were just asleep or were simply too tired to talk. He had heard conversations between the prisoners right after the Red ShadoWira stepped out from the prison, and that was three hours ago.

BAAAAAMMMMM!!

IceDevimon started slightly. The noise was least unexpected. It sounded like something crashing against the rigid prison walls.

"Manny! Penguinmon! You…tried to kill me?" IceDevimon recognized the defeated voice belonging to the feline Digimon whom he, along with JD and Agumon had captured earlier.

"No offense, TobuCatmon, but you're starting to get on my nerves. If we all gonna rot in this cell, we might as well do it as less-annoyingly as possible, and your incessant questions are a danger to my sanity. Manny might be too polite to point that out, but not me!"

"You tell him, Penguinmon."

IceDevimon became interested to hear more about this new development between the three prisoners. He held his breath; it was too hard to believe, but apparently the pressure and the thought of being imprisoned there forever had started to get to them.

"You two are evil!" TobuCatmon was heard screaming. "I can't believe that I trusted you two!"

"Nobody asked you to believe in us," Penguinmon retorted. "See you later…not! Endless Slaps!!"

Furious sounds of slapping were heard, followed by cries of pain. IceDevimon chuckled gleefully as he continued listening in the conversations from where he stood.

"Ha! I thought you're a Champion! But you're too weak – I'm a Rookie and I could give you a good beating. How about that!"

"Don't underestimate me, Penguinmon! I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Flying Phoenix!!"

A flash of gold light was seen coming from the barred square 'window' on the heavy door. Apparently, TobuCatmon had unleashed his special attack against Penguinmon. The light became brighter before a defeated squawk was heard. As the light dimmed down, an audible thud followed. A panicked shout was then heard coming from Manny, laced with rage and sorrow at the same time.

"You…you killed him! You'll pay for that!"

Faint blue lights escaped the barred window as a sound resembling a flowing river was heard, rapidly changing into the pressurized sound of a waterfall. It seemed that Manny was summoning his hydrokinetic ability to use against TobuCatmon. A loud splashing sound ensued and some of the water escaped the prison via the barred window and the space underneath the door. IceDevimon merely smiled; Karatenmon would love to hear about this. The renegades and the feline were practically killing each other inside the prison. This would make everything a lot easier.

A low whimper soon followed after the flow of water stopped. Then, everything became still after a low plopping sound was heard.

IceDevimon waited for five minutes, and nothing else was heard.

"They've killed each other off!" he exclaimed, and laughed. Then he took out a large, bronze key from his belt. "Better make sure before I report this to Karatenmon."

He unlocked the door and left the key at the hole, and pushed the heavy door open. Poking his head through the gap he could see total chaos inside the prison cell. Manny could be seen sprawled on one corner of the prison, head on the floor. On the opposite corner was TobuCatmon, lying on his back, eyes closed. Penguinmon couldn't be seen anywhere; he could either be obscured by the lumps of haystack strewn about the cold prison, or had been deleted by TobuCatmon's attack earlier.

"What a sight," IceDevimon commented. He pushed the door open wider and walked in, attempting to check on Manny and TobuCatmon. The icy demon approached Manny cautiously, and used his right leg to turn Manny over, so that his face was looking up. "My, my…" IceDevimon murmured.

Suddenly, Manny's eyes fluttered open and his body sprang up, grabbing both of IceDevimon's thin legs. IceDevimon gasped, but before he could response a figure jumped out from one of the lumps of haystack and delivered a furious flurry of slaps on his face, followed by a sharp jab on one eye from the attacker's beak. IceDevimon shrieked in pain and felt liquid flowing out from the injured eye, and instantly his vision field seemed to have halved. He could see Penguinmon, looking triumphant, jumping away to a safe distance. IceDevimon would've retaliated, but he was too overwhelmed by the searing pain from his injured left eye – he realized then that he was now half-blind.

"I'm a rookie with attitude!" Penguinmon exclaimed as Manny let go of IceDevimon's legs, rolling away as IceDevimon jumped about as he hollered painfully.

Then a bright golden light emanated from the opposite corner of the cave, and an ear-splitting screech of a bird echoed all over the prison. IceDevimon had barely turned his head sideways when he saw a raging firebird streaking across the prison cell in rapid speed. He attempted to move away from the firebird's path but with he was not used to seeing things with only one eye. His sense of judging direction was altered; he didn't move completely away from the bird of flames' path. The demon then shrieked in pain as the firebird flew through his large wings, resulting in two large holes on both wings, with flames threatening to spread from the corners of the holes.

Manny grabbed hold on Penguinmon and sprinted towards the open door. The firebird streaked behind them before the fires dissipated and it slowly shifted into a lilac feline right after Manny and Penguinmon exited the cell. TobuCatmon plopped onto the stone floor outside the cell as Manny and Penguinmon worked on pulling the heavy door to close the cell. Manny then locked the prison door and pulled the key away from the keyhole.

"You can't do this to me!" IceDevimon shrieked; his voice a mixture of surprise, anger and pain.

"Funny, I thought we just did it! Bye now!" Penguinmon replied. "Nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh!" The blue penguin then blew raspberries towards the imprisoned IceDevimon.

The icy demon glowered at the avian rookie angrily, but there was nothing he could do. The prison cell was laced with a spell from Karatenmon which prevented it from a break-out. It was the main reason why Manny, Penguinmon and TobuCatmon had to trick IceDevimon into opening the prison door with its designated key in the first place, apart from the fact that neither was strong enough to force open the door on their own.

While Penguinmon continued insulting IceDevimon, Manny knelt beside TobuCatmon. "Are you ok?"

"I've used too much power, weak," TobuCatmon whispered feebly. His eyes drew to a close; using his attack technique was too taxing for his body to handle. It was why he'd chosen not to fight unless really necessary; and fighting IceDevimon was necessary.

Manny lifted the mentor of the DigiWira gently and cradled him on his arms. He turned towards Penguinmon, who was enjoying himself taunting IceDevimon. "Uh…Penguinmon? We better go now. We still have to look for my Digivice and Blue DigiSphere before escaping this place." He began to head towards the stairs.

Penguinmon huffed and blew raspberries towards IceDevimon before following Manny. "I'm coming, I'm coming…"

xxx

xxx

"It's time, DigiWira. Let's get this show on the road. Karatenmon's waiting and I'm not going to miss all the action as well. Signed; JD."

"How convenient; he'd forgotten to mention where exactly he wants to meet us," Liu Ying grumbled furiously.

"Yeah," Adam murmured, looking around the darkened Green Meadow. He shivered as the cold night winds brushed past his hands and face, messing up his hair. His body was however kept warm by the suit Jackie had designed for them. He looked up and observed the full moon, whose pale light was the only source of illumination that night. The sky was strangely cloudy and no stars could be seen.

After JD had left them with the ominous warning that afternoon, both Liu Ying and Adam had been on their guards. For almost three hours they had been on edge. It was only lucky for them that their family members knew what they were up to. Granted, except for Adam's sister nobody else knew how serious the situation had become. From their world, both Alisha and Jackie were also on high alerts, monitoring what they could from their own houses. Their source of communication with the DigiWira however was Liu Ying's D-Terminal.

"It's rather cold tonight," Centarumon commented, floating beside his DigiWira partner. His voice carried a guarding tone as he cautiously eyed his surrounding. He made sure to stand near Adam, knowing that unlike Liu Ying, Adam hadn't his special digital ability for the time being, and it was his responsibility to make sure that his human partner was safe from any impending harm. Not that he could see anything that posed as a threat to the DigiWira, but it was best to be careful. Unexpected things had been known to happen and the last thing Centarumon wanted to happen was to have his human partner whisked away from his sight.

"Strangely cold," Youkomon concurred.

"Cold, huh? Not that I want to help you, but I can fix that!" A familiar voice shot out from nowhere. Rippling sound could be heard nearby, and suddenly the dark meadow was brightly illuminated by a flaming dragon man Digimon as the temperature around them suddenly rose a few degrees. A cocky smile could be seen from the lower half of his face. Beside him was another familiar figure, a dark avian humanoid Digimon.

"Satriamon!" Adam gasped. "And…and Karatenmon!"

"Smart of you to figure out that we'd be meeting here," Satriamon sneered. "Looks like you're ready."

"I shall take care of the fox and her human partner," Karatenmon said coldly and brandished his twin swords from out of nowhere. One of the swords unexpectedly slipped from his hand, but Karatenmon managed to catch it before it hit the ground.

Youkomon's eyes twitched, catching the sight instantly. She paid closer attention to Karatenmon, remembering how powerful the Mage General was from their last encounter. It took a joint effort between her and Fairymon just to provide an opening for escape during their mission to rescue Adam from the Shadow Realm not too long ago. The slip-up didn't really mean anything; Karatenmon was a threat to them and Youkomon needed all her power in order to beat him.

'Karatenmon does not strike me as a clumsy type,' the champion-level kitsune thought silently, her sharp ice blue eyes never leaving Karatenmon.

"Fine. I'll play around with the little boy and his stinky horse," Satriamon smirked, shifting his green eyes towards Adam and Centarumon.

"Adam, run!" Centarumon ordered, and immediately took a defensive stance.

"I don't think so." Satriamon leaped from the ground and immediately turned into a humanoid magma with flames ignited all over his body as he soared higher and higher towards the sky. "There's nowhere to run now, losers. Flaming Torch!!"

His teleportation ability lost due to lack of DigiSphere, Adam could only rely on his physical swiftness in order to evade Satriamon's incoming attack. He could feel the burning aura of Satriamon's fireball attack coming his way as he ran, and could hear Centarumon's panicked cry as he attempted to block the attack. A loud crash was heard and Adam halted when he saw Centarumon's body being flung across the paddock, crashing onto the stones nearby the lake. His body was scorched all over and Centarumon no longer looked like he was fit for a fight.

"Centarumon!"

Adam turned towards the left, the intention to run back towards the safety of the magical Forest Sanctum forgotten. He now darted towards the unmoving body of his Digimon partner. His heart was thumping fast, Adam felt as if it would burst out of his chest anytime soon.

Behind the DigiWira, Satriamon slowly descended onto the ground. He had claimed an easy win with Centarumon, who was no match for his ultimate firepower. And now, he would take his own time to finish them off once and for all. With an amused, yet evil-looking grin, he walked easily towards his running pursuit.

There was no point in rushing. The victor had been decided.

"Y'know," Satriamon began, pausing midway. "You've never even said that goodbye to me. So I'll say it." He smirked and pointed his gauntlet-clad arm towards Adam. "Goodbye."

Adam closed his eyes. "Someone help us…"

In the meantime, Youkomon and Liu Ying were both kept busy by Karatenmon. Youkomon had decided not to waste her energy, channeling all of her powers to initiate her new astral projection power. Trusting Liu Ying to keep guard of her physical body, Youkomon's yellow-furred astral body faced off against Karatenmon. Without wasting any time at all she launched herself towards Karatenmon, turning herself into a blazing blue spectral dragon as she attempted to ram Karatenmon.

However, Karatenmon was quick to stop the attack. He flapped his wings swiftly and generated a dark-aura based hurricane which blew the spectral dragon off course before she could even reach his body. Pure with dark energy, the hurricane was enough to incapacitate the spectral Youkomon. Then as the major threat had been taken care of, Karatenmon made a beeline towards Liu Ying, seeing the unmoving physical body of Youkomon.

Liu Ying panicked upon seeing Karatenmon. Reflexively she flicked her hand towards one stone, sending it towards Karatenmon but the avian general merely slapped the stone away effortlessly. Liu Ying tried again and her effort was once again thwarted by Karatenmon. Knowing that her telekinetic power wouldn't work, she decided quickly to take things to a higher level and summoned her telekinetic barrier ability. She held up both arms and instantly a disc-shaped barrier made out of semi-transparent yellow aura was formed.

"Simple trick such as that won't suffice against my great magic, girlie!" Karatenmon guffawed, and struck the barrier with both swords.

A deafening clang was heard and with a shriek Liu Ying was thrown backward. The effect of Karatenmon's attack however rebounded and the Mage General was pushed away himself, albeit so slightly. It stunned him momentarily, as what he had deemed to be a simple trick had managed to push him backward. With the corner of his strangely dark eyes Karatenmon saw Liu Ying struggling to get off her back with a look of pure determination affixed on her face.

"Give it up, DigiWira," Karatenmon sneered. "It's not everyday that good triumphs over evil. I'll prove you just that, by destroying your partner's physical body."

"NO!!" Liu Ying screamed as Karatenmon released a blast of dark energy towards Youkomon. The kitsune's body was flung in midair, and mercilessly Karatenmon unleashed his twin swords towards the blue fox while she was still in midair. The swords slashes through Youkomon's tails over and over again, moving as if having wills of their own, until all of Youkomon's nine tails were severed. The white tips were all gone, and liquids flowed out from the injuries.

Liu Ying panicked when she saw that the astral form of Youkomon, immobilized by the dark hurricane of energy released by Karatenmon earlier, flickered dangerously. Every time her physical body received a blow, the astral form was the one who cried out in pain. It hurt Liu Ying deeply to see that there was nothing she could do to help Youkomon. Liu Ying's efforts to thwart Karatenmon's attacks with her telekinesis failed time and time again; Karatenmon being an ultimate Digimon and a powerful sorcerer was somewhat immune to her digital ability.

In that dire moment, Liu Ying pleaded for a miracle to happen.

xxx

xxx

"I think we're here," Manny panted as he leaned against the stone wall, as he stepped up the topmost stone staircase.

"You think?" Penguinmon repeated indignantly. The rookie Digimon was several steps behind from Manny, and was panting even more heavily than his human partner.

Manny shook his head and looked towards the left. There stood a wooden door with no barred window at all, making it obvious that it was not a prison cell behind that door. At the end of the narrow dark corridor, which was lit with several candles hung on brass candleholders affixed on the sides of the corridor, was another set of staircases leading up towards the peak of the Black Peak Mountain.

"Do you think this is where your Digivice and D-Terminal are being kept?" TobuCatmon, cradled by Manny, asked excited.

"We're already here. It's worth checking out." Manny placed TobuCatmon down on the floor and approached the door. He tried the doorknob. "It's locked. And I don't think the key we have here matches this one; the keyhole's too small for it to fit."

"Back away," TobuCatmon said. Slowly, but gradually, the feline's body flared with orange fire and his small quadrupled figure began to shift into an astral-like firebird who then let out a fierce screech as it sailed towards the door. The wooden door staggered as it crackled with yellow magical bolts – clearly the door was enchanted as well. However, phoenix-TobuCatmon pressed on until he began to fade back into his physical feline form. At the same time, the bolts died down and the doorknob melted away. The DigiWira mentor plopped down onto the floor and was knocked out once again. This time, it was more evident that TobuCatmon was severely weakened.

"What are you waiting for? The door's not gonna open for itself, Manny!" Penguinmon crowed impatiently. But at the same time the door moved inwardly, causing the rookie Digimon to sweatdrop as Manny chuckled in amusement. "Of course, I could be wrong!" Penguinmon snapped, and trotted into the well-lit chamber behind the door gingerly.

Manny picked up the unconscious TobuCatmon and followed his Digimon partner. "You know, I feel…strange." He looked around the chamber in confusion, noting that it was better lit than the corridor outside. There were more candles inside this chamber, nearly twice as much as the ones outside. After scanning the chamber his eyes were drawn towards a white stone pedestal located at the end of the chamber. On top of the pedestal was a small treasure chest, with a bronze key affixed on its keyhole. He looked at Penguinmon, and despite the bird's protest he set down TobuCatmon on the rookie's reluctantly-stretched wings before approaching the chest, somehow feeling something drawing him towards it. Deep within the boy's heart, he didn't dare to believe that he was about to find the items he was seeking.

Once reaching the pedestal, his hands quivered as he touched the dark maroon treasure chest. Manny took a deep breath and clasped his hands together, noting in dismay that his palms were somewhat sweaty due to his nervousness. Immediately he brushed them against the leathery-vinyl materials of his ShadoWira suit before placing them on the chest again.

"Here goes nothing," Manny said hopefully, and turned the key towards the right to unlock the chest. The chest lid sprang open and Manny's eyes widened. He gasped.

Inside the chest, laid on a velvety cushion were two prominently glowing spheres and several devices. One sphere was blue, the other was white. Beside the white sphere was a D-Terminal, while the blue sphere was placed in between another D-Terminal and a Digivice. Manny immediately took the Digivice and clipped it on his belt, before touching the Blue DigiSphere. Instantly, he felt the familiar sensation of power coursing through his veins, like a flowing river. He took the blue-and-black D-Terminal and used it to digitize the Blue DigiSphere for safekeeping.

"Adam's White DigiSphere," Manny said in awe and quickly took it as well as the silver-pale blue D-Terminal beside it. He did the same thing with the White DigiSphere as he'd done with the Blue DigiSphere before moving away from the pedestal.

"Now that we've gotten the DigiSpheres and your Digivice, let's get out of here!" Penguinmon said eagerly and headed towards the door.

"Not so fast!" a voice barked, which caused both Digimon and ShadoWira to jump.

A dark shadow loomed against the doorway, which was soon replaced by a chilly figure thereafter, blocking the doorway.

"ICEDEVIMON!!"

"Do you really think that prison cell could hold me?" IceDevimon spat harshly. His left eye was swollen, and closed. Stains of liquid could be seen trailing down his pale left cheek, glistening against the chamber's light. His good eye stared maliciously towards Penguinmon and Manny, who began backing away from him. "I'll make you pay for blinding my left eye!"

"Manny, digivolve me now!" Penguinmon hissed.

Manny nearly smacked his head, nearly forgetting that he'd just recovered his Digivice. Then he remembered that he also had his Blue DigiSphere.

"Let's not take any risk, Penguinmon. We should do this together." Manny took out both his Digivice and Blue DigiSphere.

Penguinmon put down TobuCatmon on the floor and smirked. "You've just read my mind, partner."

"SHADOW ACCESS!"

IceDevimon paled (or became paler than usual) upon setting sight of the magnificent creature born from the fusion of Manny and Penguinmon – a sleek merman Digimon within a water cyclone, brandishing a silver trident on his left hand, looking poised and ready to attack at any moment's notice. IceDevimon could feel power radiating from Samudramon; the merman clearly was on par with Satriamon, and IceDevimon knew with surety that he could only hold his own against Satriamon within a very limited amount of time.

Samudramon pointed his trident towards IceDevimon. "Move aside, IceDevimon," he said coolly.

The icy demon knew that he didn't stand a chance. He was severely weakened by TobuCatmon earlier, and was injured by Penguinmon's pecking on his eyes. But to give way for Samudramon to escape meant that he would just be at the receiving end of Karatenmon's punishment, and IceDevimon knew that Karatenmon didn't like to be double-crossed. Giving way to Samudramon was an act that meant treason.

"Either way, I'll perish tonight," IceDevimon muttered. He glared towards Samudramon with pure hatred and held his long left arm up, pointing his crimson claws towards Samudramon. "If that's the case, I'll go down fighting!"

"Suit yourself," Samudramon said. "Deep Ocean Submerge!!"

Waves of water rained onto IceDevimon, who immediately froze the water. He however instantly realized his folly upon seeing a smirk coming from Samudramon, who didn't budge from his original posture. The trident was still pointed towards him, and was now crackling with blue electricity.

"Thunder Storm!!"

A powerful blast of electric bolt was released from the trident and sailed towards the semi-distracted IceDevimon. It hit the ice demon evenly on his chest, causing IceDevimon's body to shook violently before exploding into bits of data particles. The demon's screams echoed within the chamber until several seconds passed by.

Samudramon sighed in relief and bent down to take TobuCatmon. "Now what do we do?"

Suddenly, orbs of light materialized all around his body and with a bright flash the merman Digimon vanished from the chamber.

xxx

xxx

"Dragonforce….HUH?"

Adam opened his eyes, surprised to hear Satriamon's cry of shock. He was immediately blinded by a shower of white light, which immediately caused his heart to thump faster. The light gave off a strangely familiar vibe; Adam himself had experienced it before. He shielded his face with both arms and dared himself to peek through in between his crisscrossed arms. He could see a tall figure materializing from the light; the figure's back was facing him only about five meters away from him. It was a merman with regal blue fishtail, light torso armor and flowing aquamarine hair.

The DigiWira had seen this Digimon only once, but recognized him instantly. "Samudramon…?"

The lights died away and it was indeed Samudramon, the fused form of Manny and his Digimon partner. Adam couldn't believe his eyes as he lowered his arms down, while Samudramon turned around to face him with a smile on his face.

"Adam, I think we have something that belongs to you," Samudramon said with his echo-like voice. He took out a device from his belt, and Adam nearly gasped upon seeing it.

"My D-Terminal!" He immediately retrieved the silvery device from Samudramon and flipped it open. Displayed on the D-Terminal's screen was the digitized form of his White DigiSphere, ready to be used again. The digitized sphere glowed and instantly a warm feeling radiated within him; Adam recognized it instantly as being a sign that he was now reunited with his teleportation power once again. "But how?" Adam asked, looking up at the twice-as-tall Samudramon.

"Let's just say that I was at the right place at the right time," he replied.

Adam nodded gratefully. "Thank you…"

"Don't mention it, Adam." Samudramon then turned back to face Satriamon, who was watching them with a lopsided smirk. "You help your partner and Liu Ying…I'll handle Satriamon."

"Got it." His eyes immediately were drawn to Liu Ying…who was in danger of being at the receiving end of Karatenmon's vicious assault. He had attempted this before…it was time to see whether he could do it with two persons instead on one. That decided, Adam quickly stretched out both arms towards his friends. "LIU YING! YOUKOMON!"

Karatenmon was about to slash Liu Ying and Youkomon with his swords when suddenly, both of them vanished in magnificent flash of bluish white light. The astral form of Youkomon also vanished from the entrapment he had placed, which enraged the Mage General. His dark eyes were brought to the DigiWira boy, who had a triumphant look on his face as the DigiWira girl rematerialized in front of him, holding a pale looking Labramon.

"Wretched cretins," he cursed angrily.

As Adam kept a careful eye on Karatenmon, Liu Ying bent down to look at the condition of her Digimon partner. Labramon was badly injured and Liu Ying knew that the injuries were not the only thing she needed to worry about. The strain of using the astral projection power had greatly weakened the Labrador rookie as well. As Adam used his newly-regained power to digivolve Centarumon into Sagittarimon, Liu Ying pulled Labramon towards the stones nearby the lake for cover from the great battle that ensued between Sagittarimon and Karatenmon, as well as the titanic combat between Samudramon and Satriamon.

"Liu Ying…I…hurt," Labramon whispered weakly, and regressed into Shaomon. Still, the small body of Shaomon shimmered with pale yellow light.

Hearing the ragged voice of her partner and witnessing her dedigivolution, Liu Ying knew that Shaomon was in danger. It looked like Shaomon was about to dedigivolve once again, and Liu Ying knew that if she did, she'd be in her Baby form. Shaomon had never been in her Baby form during the time when she was partnered with Liu Ying.

"Shaomon…hang in there," Liu Ying croaked as her vision began to blur. A tear escaped her right eye and dropped directly onto the puppy's forehead.

The girl didn't see it, but on Shaomon's forehead – where her tear had dropped – a small Yin and Yang symbol began to emerge. It shone softly with yellow light, and Shaomon's body stopped glowing. The Yin-Yang image began to become clearer and clearer, and to Liu Ying's surprise Shaomon began to hover in midair.

Liu Ying's Digivice shook violently and escaped from the belt where it was placed on. The Yellow DigiSphere too emerged from Liu Ying's D-Terminal and hovered close to the Digivice and around Shaomon.

"What's going on…?" she wondered.

A loud cry was heard and Liu Ying saw Sagittarimon's body crashing onto the ground. Karatenmon flew above the armored centaur with a triumphant look reflected from his evil eyes. On the other part of the meadow, the battle between Samudramon and Satriamon was still in stalemate; neither could beat the other as their powers cancelled each other's out.

Adam was teleported Sagittarimon away from Karatenmon's assault path, but it was Patamon who reappeared back within his grasp. Liu Ying knew instantly that Adam and Patamon couldn't fight the Mage General anymore, but they could avoid from being attacked.

Chiming sounds were heard as a feeling of warmness radiated from within Liu Ying. She looked down on her hands, and was flabbergasted to find them in a kaleidoscope of yellow shades. From pale yellow to gold to light oranges, they were glowing. Her whole body was glimmering with light, her uniform no longer visible yet there was no sign of skin as well. Shaomon too was experiencing the same phenomenon. Before she could comprehend of what was going on, her body dissolved into a mote of yellow light and merged with Shaomon.

The resulting flash of gold light was so bright that it stopped everyone else from fighting. Both Samudramon and Satriamon stood transfixed, while Karatenmon hovered over the night sky with bewilderment as Adam and Patamon fixed their gazes over the lake…where a tall, slim, womanly figure materialized from within the yellow brilliance. She had long hair, and no bodily profile could be made out from her as her whole body was shining with radiant yellow hues. Her eyes however could be seen as the color of the midnight sky, sparkling with intelligence and nobility.

"Who is that?" Patamon wondered.

Adam looked around, unable to find the ones he was looking for. He then stared at the newcomer suspiciously. "Can that be…?"

The glowing woman spun around above the surface of the lake as ribbons of gold light began wrapping themselves around her body. Dark blue bodysuit materialized on her body and extremities, covering every inch of her skin with the exception of her hands and feet, and her face. The ribbons then enveloped her legs from knee downwards, forming two glittering yellow high-heeled boots with dark blue linings. The same ribbons then shifted upwards towards her forearms, forming leather gloves of yellow with blue accents, before spiraling around her shoulders and torso, forming a sleeveless kimono-style beige robe which extended down towards her knees. The robe was fastened close to her body with a dark blue sash, and the seams of the lower half of the robe parted along the sides to allow free movements of her legs. Accents of light blue linings and darker blue flowery embroideries decorated at every lower corners of the robe, while writings in Chinese letterings appeared on the sides of her upper robe. On her face, a yellow fox-shaped mask covered the upper half of her face as her lips were painted with periwinkle-blue shade. Her long hair, now revealed to be pristinely ebony, was tied in two long ponytails, with each ponytail having prominent yellow and dark blue highlights and fastened with white ribbons.

Finally, to complete her transformation, the Yin Yang symbols were emblazoned on the middle of her ribbon-belt, and on every upper corner of her gloves and boots. Then a short golden baton appeared on her right hand, with intricate designs all around the shaft. From the upper end of the baton, thousands of fine ribbons in pale green colorings erupted – the woman's weapon of choice was unconventional as it appeared to actually be a kind of a feather duster. Yet the woman wielded this weapon with grace and fluidity, there was no doubt that she was a deadly opponent with it.

"Protector of earth and magic, I am Xianamon!" the woman declared with a strong, dual female voices.

Adam recognized the voices instantly – they belonged to Liu Ying and Labramon. Apparently they had also merged in a similar fashion as Samudramon and Satriamon.

"Awesome!" he said delightfully.

"She's quite a looker," Satriamon whistled. "But looks aren't everything. I bet she's just a pretty face."

"Don't count on that," Samudramon muttered.

Xianamon waved her hand calmly and instantly levitated to Karatenmon's level. She appeared very calm and collected as she stared at Karatenmon. There was no sign of fear coming from her; she was radiating with an aura of confidence.

"You don't scare me," Karatenmon spat, and released thousands of feather-shaped projectiles from his black wings.

Xianamon smiled a little and waved her feather duster towards the incoming projectiles swiftly. "Jade Needles!!"

From the pale green ribbons on the feather-duster, suddenly thousands of silvery projectiles in forms of sewing needles shot out. They collided with Karatenmon's projectiles and upon collision both of them combusted into data particles. Xianamon then raised a telekinetic barrier to stop the other feather projectiles from injuring her, while her own needle projectiles sailed towards Karatenmon, piercing through his feathery arms, wings and light armor.

The avian Digimon screamed agonizingly and felt his body weakening in an instance. "What is this trickery?"

"There is no trickery," Xianamon answered calmly. "My Jade Needles are all laced with the venoms of the deadliest bees. That is all. You can not survive after an hour, but I have no intention to wait that long. You have caused enough grief; it is time to put an end to all of this."

"Wait!" Karatenmon cried, but his plea fell on deaf ears as Xianamon raised her feather duster while chanting an incantation. "Can't we talk about this?"

Xianamon didn't reply. A platform of disc-shaped Yin and Yang symbol materialized from beneath her as Xianamon landed directly on the middle of it. She made a wave to the right with her weapon, then a wave to the left. At first those movements were made slowly but gradually increased in rapidity. Chiming sounds were heard coming from out of nowhere as the Yin-Yang symbol began to shine with yellow lights.

"Diamond World Mandala!!"

Multiple waves of yellow and dark blue energy beams shot out from the Yin-Yang symbol, forming furious whirlwind of pure energy. Xianamon gestured with her feather duster towards Karatenmon, and the energy waves were all lambasted towards the Mage General. Xianamon didn't hold back her power; she summoned the power of her Diamond World Mandala attack wholly, intend on defeating Karatenmon off once and for all. The agonizing screams from Karatenmon were drowned by the musical chimes that were emitted with the attack, giving a soothing feeling towards Xianamon and her allies while causing fear and anxiety towards her enemies, as evident by the way Satriamon trying to guise his slight tremor upon witnessing the attack. Samudramon, TobuCatmon, Patamon and Adam however felt invigorated as the energy waves passed over them; similar to Lilymon's Flower Wreath attack the Diamond World Mandala also had small healing properties, but lacked the dark spell eradication power.

After a long minute passed by, the energy waves dissipated and to the good guys' delight Karatenmon slumped onto the ground, unmoving.

"We have done it!" Xianamon declared. "We have beaten Karatenmon. The evil is defeated."

To their surprise, they heard Satriamon snorted from the distance. "Heh, you'd think so, but not quite."

"What do you mean?" Samudramon demanded.

"See for yourself. I'm outta here!" With a flick of his arm, a portal opened behind the fire knight and sucked him in before disappearing.

The DigiWira all watched as Karatenmon's body writhed and stretched in a rather haphazard way before dark smokes escaped from his eyes, beaks and from the tips of his wings. His body shimmered with purple aura before they...separated into two very familiar figures. One was a lanky bird-woman, and the other was a wizard in white.

"You two!" Adam gasped. "But…how can this be?"

Both Sorcerymon and Shutumon looked around bewilderedly. Judging from their expressions they seemed to have no idea of what had happened to them; their eyes reflected confusion and anxiety of having two Ultimates staring towards them. Shutumon got back up on her feet first, and flung an arm around Sorcerymon before taking off towards the sky in panic.

"We've got to stop them!" Samudramon began, and dedigivolved back into Manny and Penguinmon. They were about to give chase when Xianamon's slender arm blocked their path.

"Never mind. Leave them for now. They are not the major threat that we need to worry about." Xianamon then regressed back into Liu Ying and Labramon.

"Man, I thought we've finally defeated Karatenmon once and for all!" Adam complained. He then turned his attention towards Liu Ying. "Wow, Liu Ying, Labramon! You two were amazing out there! I didn't know that we too can use that fusion thingy. Xianamon is awesome!" He averted his eyes towards Manny. "Manny, thanks again…for recovering my DigiSphere. How did you manage to teleport back here?"

"I'm not sure, but I think it's your White DigiSphere's doing," Manny answered. "You're actually the one with the power to teleport, Adam. You tell me."

"Perhaps, you had summoned for something, Adam," TobuCatmon pointed out. He had been unconscious earlier, but the healing waves from Xianamon had nurtured him enough to awaken him. He was now being held by Penguinmon.

"I remembered calling for help," Adam admitted. He shrugged a little. "It worked before, back at the Megalith Coliseum."

TobuCatmon nodded, smiling. "And so it worked again, because the White DigiSphere was in the hands of good once again. The sphere was able to hear your call, and recognized Samudramon and myself as being good, so it teleported not only itself back to you, but us along the ride. Had it been JD or Karatenmon, the White DigiSphere might not able to respond to your summon."

"Wow, you were right, Manny," Adam said. "You were at the right place at the right time! I don't know how I can repay you for this favor."

"You don't have to," Manny assured. "I've done a few things that I'm not proud of while under Karatenmon's influence. Now that I'm back being good, I think this is the right way to start showing you guys that I'm on your side now."

"You've already showed that when you rescued Gayathri," Liu Ying said, smiling. Her smile faltered when she remembered their current situation. "Why do you suppose we were given a fake Karatenmon to battle with?" Her obsidian irises were locked into Manny's russet orbs, knowing that the former villain would probably have an insight of her question.

And he sure did. "Knowing Karatenmon, perhaps he wanted to test you first, before battling you for real," Manny answered thoughtfully.

"When do you suppose we're gonna battle the real Karatenmon?" Adam asked.

Manny's face turned grim upon hearing the inquiry. "Tomorrow, during the digital solar eclipse. It's when his power is at its peak. We really have to be extra-careful." The spiky-haired teenager sighed with worry. "It'll be good if we manage to get JD to our side. With Satriamon's power combined with Samudramon and Xianamon, maybe we can stand a chance against Karatenmon."

Adam's face darkened while Liu Ying frowned. Both however were quick to disguise their disgust, especially upon seeing Manny's somewhat despondent look on his face.

"Look, I know JD isn't really your favorite person in the world right now, but…please remember that he's also under a spell, and with my betrayal the spell on him probably has been strengthened ten-fold, to a near unbreakable point. He has no control of his action, despite how natural it might seem to be," Manny reasoned.

"Why he's been specifically targeting Adam and not us in general?" Liu Ying asked.

"Actually, it could be either you or Adam, since…I was targeting Gayathri back then," Manny answered, lowering his eyes on the ground in shame as he recollected his time as the evil ShadoWira. "He would go after both of you, but as far as I know, he had decided that Adam would be an easier pawn than you, so he went with that."

"What did you mean by that?" Adam demanded.

Manny shook his head. "I don't know myself. JD had been awfully confident that he was able to get to you. He did say something about him already did his homework. I suppose he managed to get a background check on you, but not on Liu Ying, so he used that information against you."

Liu Ying looked somewhat puzzled, but Adam seemed to understand what Manny had just said, and didn't respond. Instead, he grew quieter and a forlorn look was affixed on his face briefly, before that look was wiped away with a somewhat calm exterior. The dark brown-haired DigiWira then shrugged quietly and looked away, not offering any respond to Manny's explanation.

"Satriamon is very powerful, I noticed," Liu Ying noted, trying to change the subject. "We will have our hands full fighting him and the real Karatenmon tomorrow."

"Adam, Liu Ying…JD might be evil and powerful now, but one day you'll be glad that he has all that power," Manny said.

"We will…when he stops using his power against us," Adam muttered dejectedly.

An uncomfortable silence passed for a brief few seconds before Liu Ying looked at the time displayed on her D-Terminal. "It's getting really late…we better go home now. It's almost midnight!"

"Oh no," Manny gasped. "I should be home by six. How am I going to explain this to my parents? They're sure to yell at me when I got back home." He immediately made a beeline towards the jungle that protected the Forest Sanctum, but Adam was quick to clutch his forearm, stopping him from walking any further.

"Actually, I've taken care of that earlier. But it would be better if you spend the night at my place tonight."

"Huh? Why's that?" Manny asked.

Adam grinned. "Um…because I've told your sister, and asked her to tell your parents, that the reason you weren't able to come home today was because you're going to spend the night at my place for me to help you with your homework, and you with mine. So unless you'd rather go back home and explain why you changed your mind…"

"No, I suppose not." Manny smiled back, looking absolutely relieved. "Thanks, Adam. You saved me there."

"Eh…let's just say that we're even," Adam replied. "After all, you brought back my D-Terminal and White DigiSphere. And I bet right now you must be famished. Believe me, I'd know; after all I've spent some time as a prisoner in that Cave of Solitude as well…"

As if on cue, Manny's stomach growled loudly, earning a round of laughter from the others. Manny's cheeks colored, but then he joined the others laughing. It felt good, having finally broken free from Karatenmon's spell, did some things for the DigiWira as acts of redemption, and being accepted as one of them. The guilt he had been feeling after breaking free of the abhorrence spell placed on him was finally beginning to fade.

"I am a little bit hungry," he admitted finally.

"In that case, let's go home," Liu Ying beckoned.

xxx

xxx

Author's Notes:

It's been quite a while since I've updated. Sorry about that, but things have gotten a lot busier in real life, with school works and assignments and some other stuffs. That and the fact that I have been on a Digimon Savers marathon didn't really help much with this story's progress. I found myself downloading one episode after another via YouTube until the most recent subbed episode (Episode 26).

Anyway, this chapter has been written during the course of my absence. I've written a lot more stuffs in this chapter but after completing it I found them to be unnecessary and had to cut them off, or put them on hold for future updates. The battle scenes were shortened too as not to make them redundant, as this chapter features two major subplots – one being Manny's redemption and the second was Liu Ying and Labramon's merging into Xianamon.

And speaking of Xianamon…

Name pronunciation: Tsia-Na-Mon

Name derivation: Xia – from Wuxia, which means martial arts hero/heroine in Chinese. Na – from China. Xianamon literally means a heroine from China monster?

Appearance: A cross between Taomon and Sakuyamon, with Sakuyamon Kabuki Mode's weapon.

And, last but not least, WIRA DIGITAL is now one year old! Yippee!