Wira Digital

by Alforce Zero

The story of the Malaysian Digidestined, chosen by an ancient warrior to wield his mystical DigiSpheres to combat the forces of evil that transpired in the Digital World.

54. The Wild Wipeout, Part I

'It's…about your tattoo. I…I've found something about it, and I think you should know.'

'Midnight, Digital World, Azure Cove. I'll tell you everything.'

Manny's mysterious words kept replaying themselves in JD's mind while he pretended to be busy playing computer games. He didn't want to let Adam or Patamon see how worried he was; he could keep his game face on for only so long. The burden of keeping the cursed tattoo as a secret got to him sometimes, and his cousin had always seemed to be an easy target, although JD had never snapped at him. Throughout the whole week since their return from the 1500s, he usually would vent his pent-up anger by a series of rigorous workouts and long showers afterward, and it usually worked. The fact that the pain was no longer plaguing him, thanks to Hang Tuah's mysterious powers, was also a plus, although he knew well that Tuah's power only blocked the pain out – the curse remained etched on his chest, serving as a painful reminder every time he caught sight of it. And every now and then, Adam's inquiries of whether he was alright didn't make things better for him. Yet, he persistently kept this out from his younger cousin brother. Agumon was against the decision, and Manny and Penguinmon too opposed of him keeping this as a secret, but JD could not be deterred. He didn't want to make Adam, Liu Ying and Gayathri worried too much about him period, plain and simple.

'If Adam knows about this, who knows how he'd fare against those Puaka Generals,' JD thought silently, his hands moved fluidly across the keyboard and his eyes kept burned onto the monitor. 'Knowing the lil' guy…he'll be distracted, like how Ophanimon did when she found out about her being Aizad's partner. Man…'

He glanced back towards his bed, where Adam was sitting with a glum expression on his face. The dark-haired boy was watching the news on the television, wanting to know about the aftermath of the titanic battle the Wira Digital had against Belphemon and Daemon. The reports all claimed that the losses were astoundingly high in terms of damages, and there were casualties, some of them fatal. JD shook his head; Adam was still coping with Ophanimon's death and now he was watching the news that was telling him of more death. Depressed was an understatement; Adam looked like he was going to launch a full-scale bereavement.

JD wondered where could Adam's skill in suppressing his emotions be right now; the boy was so adept in concealing his emotions before, there was not even a hint that Adam was silently grieving for his parents and brother's deaths for years, before Aldiyamon's first appearance. He had fooled everyone; even Alisha didn't realize that Adam had never moved on.

Now, however, he thought that Adam was becoming more and more like Gayathri – both of them wore their feelings on their sleeves, although Adam also seemed to show some restraints as well, perhaps influenced by Liu Ying and Manny's calmer personalities. Yet, when he brought this up to the others, all three DigiWira had adamantly pointed out that Adam was actually projecting his persona, though made a great deal milder, but all four of them agreed that their young leader was no longer keeping his emotions hidden. JD remembered Adam telling him about Grademon; how the warrior had advised him to not keep secrets from those who were close to him. In a way, he was glad for the change, for this enabled him to read Adam like an open book.

Ironically, it was now JD who was keeping secrets about his ill fate from his friends, despite him wanting Adam to open up to him. The four DigiWira were the ones who had managed to get through him, and thus he treasured their friendships greatly and deep down, while he never showed it so obviously, he cared about them, perhaps a lot more than he was willing to admit. As the eldest in the team he had felt that it was his responsibility to look out for the younger ones, and how ironic could the situation get when it was the leader who was the youngest, and also it was the leader who was his family? He didn't want the situation reversed – where people would look out for him instead. It didn't bode well for him. For all the troubles he had caused them, the last thing he wanted was for them to worry about him, when they already got bigger worries to attend to – saving two worlds from evil.

It was clear to him that Adam didn't need to hear about more deaths tonight, if not ever. Sadly, he thought of how Adam and the others would react if he couldn't find the cure; when the Blight of Bastet would take full effect on him. JD hated the possibility of having to leave his family and friends so soon, and in such an awful way, but Persiamon had made it painfully clear that he was going to die. D'Arcmon had confirmed this when she told him about her visions while Rosemon had told him that the tattoo was a fatal poison.

He brushed the thoughts off quickly. His fate was not set to stone yet; he didn't want to make them fret unnecessarily. Within three weeks, he might be able to find a cure for the curse and rid it off his body, and he would be alright. He wouldn't die. The others wouldn't even realize his predicament, and he'd be able to casually mention it when all of them were old.

If he were to die in three weeks, then it would be because it was his time. Not because of the curse.

Grunting, he got up, went to the TV and switched it off.

"Go to bed," he instructed firmly, watching as Adam blinked in confusion. His eyes trailed towards the clock; it was twenty minutes to midnight. Manny had told him to meet him at the Digital World at midnight. 'Oh well, he'll have to wait. I can't go to the Digital World when Adam's still up.'

"But, I wanted to know about…" Adam's protested was immediately interrupted by JD, much to his annoyance.

"What for? They're depressing, and you've gone through enough today. You'll know about them tomorrow, after a good night sleep, and you'll be able to cope better. Don't argue with me. Sleep. Now."

Adam contemplated on JD's words, and decided that there was no use arguing. Throughout his time staying with his cousin, he had come to know that there were times when JD would shift into his big-brother mode – apparently enjoying it since he was the youngest in his family, and now he had someone younger to command – and when that moment came there would be no use trying to reason with him. Besides, JD meant well – there was no reason why Adam should not follow his instruction. Nodding, while also barely containing the urge to sulk, Adam slipped off JD's bed and climbed on his own. Patamon was already sleeping since they had gotten back from the battle – Adam had teleported everyone out of the ravaged KLCC park right after the reporters and rescue teams starting to swarm in, getting all of them back to their respective houses with his now-refined teleportation power, thanks to his advancement to Juara Mode.

And as if trying to show how tired he was, Adam involuntarily let out a yawn as he felt fatigue seizing him just as his hands brushed upon the pillows. That only earned him a smirk from his cousin.

"See what I mean?" JD crossed his arms over his chest and jerked up an eyebrow. He switched off the light and went back to his computer. "Night, cuz."

No reply came back to him, but he heard ruffling sounds of the pillows and the comforters. Then the reply came, soft and somewhat muffled from under the comforters. "G'night Josh."

JD knew that he would not have to wait long before Adam would be out like the lights. Adam was more tired than he appeared; the strain from battling the Puaka Generals earlier was showing itself in many ways. The clock struck midnight, and JD waited. Agumon, who had been lying on the big cushion in front of the TV, quietly got back up on his feet and went to JD, knowing what the blonde boy had in mind.

"Josh?" Agumon's inquiry was barely a whisper.

JD nodded and clutched his Juara Digivice from the computer desk. He closed the game he had been playing, and softly said, "Digiport Open!"

The pair ended up at a dark secluded cove, the darkness washed over them due to the looming stone walls around the cove. The night was slightly chilly at Azure Cove, the sea winds blew softly against them, causing JD's hair to flutter a little. Sounds of soft waters pouring over the sands could be heard, and JD generated a flickering flame with a mere twist of his hand, using the orange light to guide him around the dark beach. Instantly he saw two shadows standing near the beach, gazing at the three-quarter-full moons. He cleared his throat, and the humanoid shadow turned around.

"You're here." Manny's tone was grim, as well as exhausted. His eyes however looked alert. When JD got close enough to the other tall boy, his nose detected a strong coffee smell from the younger teen.

"You look like you need sleep," JD remarked.

Manny shook his head. "I can't sleep until I tell you what I know."

JD nodded. "Waited long already? We're a bit late, since I've got to wait for Adam to sleep first. I had to force him to get to bed actually; he was busy distressing himself with the news."

Manny's smile only added to the grimness he was projecting. "It's okay. I haven't been here long enough as well. How's Adam anyway?"

His question indicated JD that he was stalling the inevitable, but JD didn't mind too much. He had a feeling that he didn't want to know of what Manny was going to say. If it was good news, Manny would be jumping of joy, or probably smile widely which was what he was more likely to do – jumping of joy was more of Gayathri and Adam's thing. Manny's grimness only indicated that he had bad news, and bad news was the last thing JD wanted to hear.

"Quite well, actually, considering what he's been through previously. His eyes were horribly red when he got out of the showers, but otherwise he seemed to be doing okay."

"Oh…"

JD cleared his throat again. "You wanted to see me," he stated matter-of-factly. "Something about the tattoo?" His hand subconsciously went to his chest, where the tattoo had been inflicted.

Manny nodded and indicated for JD to sit on the sands. JD blasted a few dry wood sticks with flames for warmth before sitting by the flames, across the other boy. Agumon and Penguinmon got settled beside their respective partners, both were silent. Penguinmon kept shooting looks at Manny, as if to tell his partner to just go ahead and spill the news, while Agumon nervously played with his claws.

Then Manny looked directly at JD's face, looking ready to begin what JD suspected to be a long tale.

xxx

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WIRA DIGITAL

Chapter 54 – The Wild Wipeout, Part I

xxx

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Manny sighed as he observed the calm waves of the Digital World's ocean from a tall cliff. It was Saturday morning, and Manny had decided to come here to clear his minds.

'One week's passed, and still no clues of how to get rid off the cursed tattoo from JD.'

Since returning from the 1500s, he had tried his hardest to look for a cure for JD's curse tattoo, but was stumped in many ways. It didn't help matters that he was the only DigiWira who knew about this, while the other three DigiWira were blissfully unaware of the dark burden carried by JD. It was the blonde's wish for them to not know about it, and while Manny wanted to question JD's logic in keeping this as a secret, he knew well of the reason why JD wanted it to be a secret.

Of course, a tattoo could be removed by laser nowadays, but Manny doubted that it would work with the curse tattoo. One time, he had casually asked his father whether he would know of a way to get rid of a tattoo – Mr. Abah didn't take it well, thinking that Manny was considering getting a tattoo. Manny had to profusely assure his father that there was no way he would be getting one, and that the question was asked by another friend. In a way, it was the truth.

He had also tried quizzing TobuCatmon about it – together they had tried searching for a way inside TobuCatmon's many books. He'd come to know about Ophanimon's inability to alleviate the curse tattoo from the grand angel herself, as well as the fact that the tattoo was severely poisonous by Rosemon, and the fact that it would kill JD from D'Arcmon. TobuCatmon's healing potions, which had worked wonders on curing the injuries sustained by the DigiWira during their past battles, also did not work.

'What should I do?' Manny thought sadly, as the winds blew against his short spiked hair, hardly moving them for they were hardened by the amount of gel he'd used on them. He could see various avian Digimon flying about over the sea, chirping merrily, and wished that he could enjoy himself. But with the task of finding a cure in his hands, how could he? It wouldn't be right for him to enjoy himself while JD was counting his days. 'It's not fair. JD should've told the others too – that way all five of us could work together to look for the cure.'

Penguinmon watched his gloomy human partner silently, not knowing what to say to ease up Manny's worry. While the two of them occasionally enjoyed bantering against each other, Penguinmon's loud nature was the total opposite to Manny's more reserved demeanor, now was not the time to do it. Through Manny, Penguinmon had learned to be more considerate, knowing when to express himself and when to keep silence, thus enabling him to get along better with the other DigiWira partners. He sighed as well; what would one do when they learned about a friend's going to meet his doom, and not be able to do anything about it?

Suddenly, a strange phenomenon happened right before their eyes. The waters, formerly calm, began to rage. Winds picked up and caused waves to fluctuate. The sky grew dark and thunderclaps ensued as pillars of waters emerged from the sea's surface.

"What's going on?" Manny quickly got up on his feet, scanning the sea for any possible culprit. "This isn't normal…"

"I have a bad feeling about this," Penguinmon muttered.

Over the sky, the avian Digimon cawed fearfully as the water pillars blocked their paths, making escape difficult. One pillar of water was about to collide with a flock of Hawkmon, and Manny quickly raised his hand up. His hydrokinesis power worked in stalling the water pillar, enabling the Hawkmon to escape before his power faltered and the water pillars continued pursuing the fearful Hawkmon. There was only one way left to do; Manny took out his Digivice and together they transformed into Samudramon.

Eyeing the frightened Hawkmon, who were screaming as the water pillar threatened to consume them, their lives depended on how fast their small wings could take them, Samudramon said softly, "Hang on, help is on the way."

Samudramon jumped into the sea and summoned his enhanced hydrokinesis power, and instead of stopping the water pillar he managed to calm it, causing it to splash back onto the sea. The Hawkmon fluttered away safely, followed by the other birds as Samudramon nullified the other water pillars.

'Yeah, you're welcome!' Penguinmon snorted, as the Hawkmon had left without saying thanks.

Samudramon chuckled. "It's quite alright, but what was that all about?" the merman wondered, beginning to relax as he headed for the shore.

"Don't leave yet, as that was only for warm up!"

Surprised upon hearing the familiar voice, Samudramon turned around as a tornado of water erupted from the waters' surface. A humanoid shadow could be seen within it, before the tornado subsided and the glowering form of Shawujinmon, the Kappa General of the Darkshadow Brethren, stared upon him. His black Demon Quelling Staff was held closely in his grasp.

"You!" Samudramon growled. With a flick of his hand, his Atlantic Trident materialized before him, and Samudramon quickly grabbed it.

Shawujinmon snickered as he spun his staff, which was emitting dark purple aura. "Not in the mood yet for a fight, Samudramon, but here's a trick I learned from Lucemon's Nine Negations Dark Arts!" He shot several purple beams towards Samudramon, none of them actually hit the Wira Digital, but Shawujinmon didn't look too bothered about it. He kept on firing purple beams around Samudramon, and soon the waters where Samudramon was at began to bubble. The bubbles multiplied as a circular purple ring was formed around Samudramon.

'What is that toad-face up too?' Penguinmon snarled.

'I don't like this either,' Manny replied in his mind.

Samudramon looked down as the bubbles began to engulf him. He tried moving, but was horrified to find himself unable to move. "What's going on?" he demanded.

Shawujinmon laughed and backed away. "Let's just say, I won't have to worry about one meddling aquatic Wira Digital anymore, from this day on!"

The ring of purple aura then morphed into a pillar which contained Samudramon within it as it shot all the way towards the sky, cutting through the clouds. Samudramon felt his body becoming lighter. It felt almost like being teleported by Adam, but there was no warmth that Adam's light orbs usually provided. Instead, everything about the purple pillar of light screamed something sinister towards him. Samudramon soared higher and higher towards the sky, all the way towards the dark clouds before an earsplitting thunderclap erupted. The close proximity between him and the thunderous sky nearly made the experience extremely deafening. Several thunderbolts struck the purple pillar, causing it to explode, along with Samudramon within it. He was forced into dedigivolving back into his composite forms before the thunderclaps subsided. Manny and Penguinmon, both unconscious, plummeted back towards the still-raging sea.

Manny's eyes snapped open when he felt waters rushing all around him. Instantly the saltiness of the seawaters caused his eyes to burn, and he was forced to close them again. He flailed around helplessly; the memory of himself nearly drowned inside the sea when he was ten invaded his mind. All these years, despite having taken various swimming lessons until he emerged as a swimming champion back at his old school, Manny had never perfectly able to conquer that horrid memory, especially when he couldn't see where he was at underwater. Swimming at the pools was a different matter; he had goggles and the waters weren't too harsh on the eyes as the seawaters. Having to close his eyes he instantly lost his sense of direction while underwater, and the memory began to overpower him once again.

'Help…'

Something plump and feathery suddenly appeared under his body, supporting his body from below as both of them made their way towards where it was calmer. Manny could feel his rescuer struggling with his weight, and soon snapped out of his fear. He regained his senses and soon with his champion-level swimming skill both he and Penguinmon made their way towards the shores. By the time they arrived, the sea had already calmed down back to the way before Shawujinmon had appeared.

Manny crawled out of the beach and plopped down weakly where the sands were dry. Penguinmon sat beside him, heaving his breath.

"I thought….you are a… champion…swimmer!" Penguinmon demanded in between his gasps.

"Sorry…" Manny said, heaving for breaths as well. He didn't need to explain; Penguinmon knew of his past, as they had shared their thoughts when they were Samudramon. "Thanks, Penguinmon."

Penguinmon shook his head. "Don't mention it." He looked around him warily, as if expecting Shawujinmon to appear any time soon. "I wonder what that toad-face was up to."

"Other than making us dedigivolve, we weren't even hurt that much," Manny said, inspecting his body. Indeed, other than being drenched from head to toe, Manny wasn't injured at all. The same was true for Penguinmon. Then Manny sneezed loudly and flinched. The waters might have calmed down, but the winds were steadily picking up. He was chilled to the bone. "Okay…other than going to give me a nasty flu or pneumonia if I don't get changed soon," he amended.

Penguinmon clucked his beak in distaste. "Let's head back to the Forest Sanctum then."

xxx

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Along their journey back to the Forest Sanctum, both Manny and Penguinmon noticed that there was a vast difference between the Green Meadow they was familiar with and the Green Meadow where they were at right now. For starters, the barren, blackened land with dead obsidian trees did not fit to be called Green Meadow. All around them there was no hint of vegetation; save for a black forest located at a place where Manny remembered housed the Forest Sanctum. A strong suffocating stench of wet grass burning emanated all around them. The air was nauseous both to the smell and sight senses. The sky above them was not clear blue as it usually was, but rusty red with fumes hovering, blocking out a major portion of the sunlight. The lake not far from the forest was severely polluted; there was a layer of what seemed to look like petrol coating the lake, and occasionally bubbles of fumes plopped on the surface.

"What happened here?" Penguinmon wondered, wide-eyed.

"This can't be the Green Meadow," Manny whispered in shocked disbelief, halting himself from walking any further. He looked around him.

"But we followed the same way we've used to go to the beach," Penguinmon pointed out, equally astounded of the bleak atmosphere of the once-beautiful and lush Green Meadow. He blinked his eyes repeatedly, trying to see whether he was dreaming. His beak hung open. "We knew this place by heart now. No way could we have taken a wrong way back."

"If that's so, how do you explain all these?" Manny gestured towards their surroundings. "Changes these big can't happen in such short period. We've only been at the beach for two hours – three hours tops. Not more than that."

"Maybe the Darkshadows attacked? I wouldn't put past them to be able to put a waste on this place in a blink of the eye," Penguinmon suggested, sounding unsure at the same time. He looked around him, remembering very well that this must be the correct place. He had been here countless times, way before he became Manny's partner. They hadn't taken a wrong way back, but Penguinmon hated to think that a beautiful paddock such as the Green Meadow could be reduced into this hellish ground, almost similar to the Shadow Realm where SkullSatamon dwelled.

"Let's find out," Manny decided. They stepped into the forest cautiously, navigating their way inside, where they could hear noises. "It's the other guys!"

"Manny, wait," Penguinmon said sharply, grabbing Manny's jacket. The noises were very unfitting for the Forest Sanctum. "Listen carefully."

The duo halted and perked their ears. Indeed there were noises, as well as laughter – male and female – but there was something remarkably odd about them. There was loud music echoing the sanctum with various musical instruments played so severely together that they did not form a coherent song, those kinds of song that could give Manny a migraine despite him not having one. Manny had never heard any kind of music being played inside the Forest Sanctum. While TobuCatmon didn't actually disallow them to do so, the DigiWira had always thought of the sanctum as a serious place, their base of operation, so having music there would be very inappropriate. Yet, now he was hearing trash music echoing all around the forest, so loudly that it could give Gayathri's supersonic scream a major competition.

"Freaky…" Manny said with a frown. This was too odd.

"Way, way freaky," Penguinmon concurred with a click of his beak.

Closing their ears, they resumed their journey slowly towards the sanctum. When they reached the heart of the forest, where the marbled sanctum was constructed, their jaws nearly fell all the way to the ground, for the sight that greeted them was severely sore and strange. They had enough sense to keep their presences from being known and hid behind a tree as they watched the other DigiWira. His eyes first fell on Gayathri, and immediately he blushed before looking away in embarrassment.

'What in the world is she thinking?' Manny thought, for the Gayathri he had just seen was not the Gayathri he was familiar with, and adored. And so were Liu Ying, Adam and JD, whom all looked so different from how he remembered them, and he had just seen them the previous day! 'What are they DOING?'

Both Gayathri and Liu Ying were wearing tight leather bustier and black leather pants and boots that clasped tightly around their legs, their outfits accentuated their figures. The bustier they wore was dark pink for Gayathri, and brownish yellow for Liu Ying. Gayathri's hair was no longer curly brown, but was dyed shocking pink, super-straightened and cut into a stylish side-swept bob. She was a lot slimmer than Manny had remembered; her face was actually somewhat gaunt. Willowy Liu Ying's hair was still straight and in the deepest shade of purple streaked with bleached blonde, and tied into a chic ponytail. Both wore dark makeup around the eyes, and their lips painted black.

Their new images astounded Manny to no ends. They did look entrancing, but all the more terrible as well. They didn't act like themselves at all, laughing so loudly that their laughs could be heard against the blaring noise. And that wasn't the only difference; Manny would know, for the two girls would never clamor against the two male DigiWira like that.

Speaking of the guys, Manny saw that they too were starkly different. Mild-mannered, sweet Adam looked terribly dangerous in his all-black gothic outfit – black sleeveless top showing off a pair of toned arms and black leather trousers. His hair was dyed so black that nothing could be blacker than it, vastly contrasting his very pale skin which looked so bloodless that he could pass off as a vampire. Black eye-shadow was painted over his eyelids, enhancing the gothic image even more. His hair was also longer than how Adam would usually have, the ends brushing past his nape; the hairs were impossibly spiked in various directions that they had defied gravity. This boy looked way older than the Adam Manny knew, despite having the same youthful body size. To his anger however, this Adam had his hand around Gayathri, but he restrained himself. He took a glance at JD, and had to admit that while the others looked odd, JD was by far the strangest of all.

Manny had always known that JD loved his hair to be long, so it was very weird to see JD as a skinhead. Thick silver stud earrings were worn on both ears, and the devil-may-care lopsided smirk that usually made the JD he knew looked ruggedly handsome only made this JD appeared like a crook. A spiked black choker was worn around his neck, and a deep crimson leather vest hung on his body, he wore nothing else underneath, showing off his lean, muscular body. Similar to the others he also wore black leather pants. Manny couldn't see the dreaded cat tattoo on JD's chest, but rather, across his chest was tattooed a fiery black dragon, and this JD looked extremely proud of showing this tattoo off. A simple thin ring was pierced at the lower left side of his lower lips, enhancing the thug image he was carrying. Contrasting the vampire-like Adam, JD was more tanned than the JD he remembered. And what was more surprising to Manny was the fact that this JD was so casually giving Liu Ying kisses as he grabbed her from behind, and Liu Ying seemed to be enjoying it, shrieking in a banshee-like laughter as JD kissed her neck.

Similarly, Adam and Gayathri acted the same way, but it was Gayathri who initiated the bolder actions while Adam went along with it, looking somewhat bored but not actually resisting her.

The Liu Ying he knew would have slapped JD hard for doing so, which made Manny even more confused than ever. Gayathri would never do so either – Manny had seen her reacting so violently when Garudamon called her a trollop during the battle at Batu Caves, and when the criminal Riley Lau addressed her the same way – but this Gayathri was acting just like one. Manny was willing to bet a million Malaysian Ringgit that Adam would rather hide himself away from actually going along with what this Gayathri was doing to him; that he knew from the other DigiWira in regards to how Adam and Dina acted when meeting each other face to face. As for JD, Manny felt guilty for thinking that there was a chance that JD could act this way, given his reputation at school, but he also knew that the JD he was familiar with treated his fellow DigiWira with respect.

"I thought that the kids are odd, but check out the 'mon!" Penguinmon muttered, gesturing towards a group of Digimon.

Manny forced his eyes away from the four delinquent DigiWira and stared at the Digimon in wonder.

Patamon was dark purple instead of orange – Manny remembered this species as Tsukaimon, a viral cousin to the data type Patamon. Phelesmon had disguised himself as Tsukaimon when he and Mephistomon were playing that horribly cruel trick on Adam two months ago.

Agumon was black all over with crimson claws – Penguinmon mentioned that there was a subspecies of Agumon known as BlackAgumon, the viral cousins to the Agumon family.

Labramon, originally beige with pink accents, was now dark brown with purple accents with more defined claws.

Floramon, familiar for her green scales and pretty flowers, now looked disgusting with muddy-green-scaled with wilting orange flowers, mud dripping down her scales.

The Digimon Analyzer identified the latter two as ChaosLabramon and Manuramon, corrupted viral forms of Labramon and Floramon.

The four Rookies were sparring against each other as opposed to their partners, who were dirty-dancing against the blares of the speakers hung on four corners of the sanctum. TobuCatmon or the three sacred ladies were nowhere to be seen. The sun staff wasn't around as well, and the television where the DigiWira used as a gateway between the Digital World and their home world was broken.

"They're going to kill each other!" Penguinmon gasped, seeing how severely the four Digimon fought against each other. Tsukaimon was launching volleys of energy spheres from his mouth towards BlackAgumon, who countered with black fireballs. ChaosLabramon launched a bark so loud towards Manuramon, who countered with her black pollens. After using their special attacks they launched against each other, fighting physically with claws, kicks and vines, as if they were out for a kill. "What the hell are they doing?" Penguinmon almost shouted.

"It's time to put a stop on this, right now," Manny said, his tanned face blushing crimson upon witnessing the actions of his four teammates. They were still dancing, as if they didn't care that their partners were tearing each other apart. "Hey!" His exclamation remained unheard despite him stepping out of his hiding, which began to annoy him. "HEY! CUT IT OUT, ALL OF YOU!"

Still, his shouts remained unheard, drowned by the blaring noises. Seething silently, Manny aimed both hands towards the speakers and blasted jets of water upon them. The speakers fell from the branches and combusted upon hitting the marbled floor. The noise died down, and loud protests were heard from the occupied misfits-DigiWira before one by one their attention fell on Manny. The four of them looked terribly surprised at first; Gayathri let out a shriek after spitting out some curse words that Manny wouldn't ever expected to come out from her mouth. Liu Ying looked at him appraisingly, her face etched in doubt. The gothic Adam didn't look so surprised at all; his face remained emotionless, bloodless even. JD mimicked Gayathri's reaction, as if mocking her from the way he imitated her, exaggerating on her squeals before shooting Manny a suspicious glare.

Manny didn't pay attention to how they reacted; he was terribly disappointed with how they – his friends – were acting, that he didn't want to do anything else but scream at their faces. But he had never lost his temper to them, so what he finally managed to get out from his mouth was a shivering hiss: "What in the world are you all doing?Have you no shame?"

JD whistled. "Look who's back from the dead," he snickered.

Manny and Penguinmon blinked in confusion. "Dead?"

Liu Ying laughed as she twiddled with her fingers. "Yeah, aren't you like, killed, by that Kappa General yesterday?" Her nonchalance while speaking those words unnerved Manny – she sounded like she didn't care whether Manny was alive or dead.

"What do you mean?" Manny asked, as the four 'DigiWira' approached him slowly.

"Looks like that goody-two-shoes toad didn't make sure that he's dead," Adam muttered, his eyes flashing dangerously. His hand went to his back, and Manny gasped when he saw Adam holding a jagged blade when he brought back his hand to the front. The vampire-like Adam twirled his obsidian keris, his eyes never leaving Manny's before a dangerous smile graced his pallid face. "Damn that Shawujinmon, always too righteous to even kill his mortal enemies. Looks like I'm gonna have to do it myself."

"Ooh, do it Adam. I've told you last night, I was so glad that he's out of the picture," Gayathri cackled, shooting Manny a mock-sympathetic look. "What's with the weird goody-goody fashion? How did you grow your hair so quickly? You had that Mohawk do yesterday."

'Mohawk? Me?' Manny was confused now more than ever. He did have an encounter with Shawujinmon a few hours ago, but why were they saying that they had thought that Shawujinmon had killed him yesterday? He and Penguinmon had survived from the freak storm Shawujinmon had created, and it wasn't actually so deadly for them since as Samudramon they had thunder and water elements at their sides.

Did the other DigiWira think that he and Penguinmon died because of the accident? Was that why they had changed overnight?

But this was all so strange. He could have sworn that he had encountered Shawujinmon just hours ago. Yesterday he'd spent the afternoon with Gayathri for tea, and she looked fine then. This Gayathri however, with her femme-fatale image and shocking pink hair, was totally a different person. The warmness was absent in this girl's eyes. The sincere smile that he liked so much about her wasn't there, replaced with an ominous grin instead. Her words were all laced with venom.

"Since when did Manny have a Mohawk?" Penguinmon blurted out.

"Oh, look…the fat bird's turned into a vaccine version of himself," Manuramon spat – the horrible remake of Floramon hooted with laughter.

"Fat bird? Why you…" Penguinmon didn't like being called fat, and was about to charge towards Manuramon when Tsukaimon, BlackAgumon and ChaosLabramon flanked Manuramon, staring daggers towards Penguinmon, as if daring him to take another step. They might have torn each other apart not too long before, but now they looked ready to join forces with Manuramon against Penguinmon. The blue avian Rookie gulped and took a few steps back.

"Why, Emman… you looked so squeaky clean…" JD's taunting voice invaded Manny's ears. He approached Manny and walked around him, his eyes sizing Manny up and down, an unreadable sneer crossed his face.

'Emman?' Manny wondered incredulously – since when did he use that shortened name? It was always either Emmanuel or Manny; he had never been called Emman before. He shivered nervously upon meeting JD's sharp leering eyes – why was he looking at him like that? He had seen JD using that same gaze towards Liu Ying just moments ago.

"I think I heard the bird calling him as Manny now, what a babyish name," Liu Ying said with a mocking simper. The girl didn't sound like her usual collected self at all – since when did Liu Ying mock other people? Manny had been her classmates for months and had never heard her belittling other people. It didn't bode well with her personality, but not this Liu Ying. She was the exact opposite of the Liu Ying Manny knew and somewhat looked up to.

"Enough," Adam said, his voice cold. JD smirked and backed away from Manny, back to hugging the forever-giggling Liu Ying. The vampire-like boy played with his keris before approaching Manny again, his pale face looked pure evil hidden underneath a calm exterior – Manny had seen this expression only from Lucemon. "All the talking is getting on my nerves. Let's just kill him and be done with it!"

With that said, Adam yelled and plunged the keris towards Manny, aiming straight towards the heart. Surprised, Manny activated his hydrokinesis power and blasted Adam away with a stream of high-pressurized water, throwing Adam against a marble pillar. Realizing what he had done, Manny quickly willed the water to stop, but the damage had been done. It wouldn't be able to kill, but it would definitely injure Adam, from the way he collided with the sturdy pillar. The boy was writhing in pain, muttering curses while rubbing his back.

"What the hell?" JD snarled, the leering gaze he'd fixed on Manny was gone, replaced by a shocked look. He backed away from Manny, back to Liu Ying. "When…how the hell did you learn to do that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Liu Ying calmly ran her hand up and down JD's body, easing the furious teen. She then shot Manny a chillingly malevolent look. The giggles were gone. "My suspicions are correct all along," she said slowly, retracting her hand from JD and crossing her arms over her chest, leaning her back against the boy in a very sensual manner. "Emman and his partner did betray us for the Brightmoon Brethren. That rotten toad, Shawujinmon…he must have taught Emman that water skill. Where else could he learn water-based techniques?"

Manny was further dumbfounded; what in the world were they talking about? They were calling him with the wrong name, and they were surprised of his hydrokinesis, as if not knowing that he possessed the skill at all. And they were accusing him of allying with the Brightmoon Brethren. He didn't even know what the Brightmoon Brethren was, but since Shawujinmon the Kappa General was said to be associated with it, Manny suspected that the Brightmoon Brethren was in fact the Darkshadow Brethren guising under a different name.

Gayathri's shrieks snapped him out of his reverie, and to his surprise the girl had launched a sharp kick on his belly, sending him flying. The fact that she wore very high-heeled boots added more force to the blow. Then to his surprise, Gayathri took out a black whip from her back and smacked the marbled ground once with it, her expression deadly.

"Gayathri's pissed off now," JD observed with a cackle, he was back to hugging Liu Ying from behind. "I've always thought that there's an interesting love triangle between the three of them. What about you?" he asked Liu Ying as he rested his chin on the corner of the girl's neck.

"Doesn't really concern me," Liu Ying stated simply.

Gayathri's eyes flashed as she struck Manny with the whip, but was stopped half-way when Penguinmon jumped in to protect Manny, ending up getting whipped himself instead. The penguin was thrown towards a tree, a red gash evident on the white tufts on his chest. To Manny's horror Penguinmon was barely moving; Gayathri's assault on the Rookie avian was severely ruthless.

"Gayathri, what are you doing?!" Manny screamed. It began to dawn into him that something was terribly wrong here. His friends weren't acting like themselves.

"What am I doing?" Gayathri swirled her hand, her black whip glinted when it caught the light, all the more making her look menacing. "Sending you two back to your maker, that's what I'm doing."

"You…you can't be serious!" Manny sputtered and backed away as Gayathri advanced closer, whip ready to strike.

"Well, they say seeing is believing, so watch me." Gayathri raised her hand, ready to deliver another lashing. An ugly sneer graced her heavily made-up face. She looked dead serious. "You can either stand there and cower, or fight back with that water magic of yours. I don't care. But if you don't fight back, you'll end up as chubby over there." She laughed evilly. "So what's it gonna be?"

"I don't want to do this, but you leave me no choice," Manny said sadly, and blasted Gayathri with pressurized water before she could attack him, throwing her off her feet.

Seeing their comrade fallen, JD took out a black and red metallic nunchucks and Liu Ying a deadly-looking purple metallic Chinese fan, both of them advancing towards him. With a grunt Liu Ying threw the fan towards Manny like a boomerang, and unfortunately Manny's water-based counterattack didn't work on it – the fan simply cut through the waters towards him. He quickly scrambled back to his feet and flexed his body backward just as the fan sailed above him, nearly grazing him – missing him barely as the fan cut the upper strands of his already short hair. The fan spun towards the trees and sliced through a couple of branches cleanly before heading back towards its mistress, who caught it without difficulty.

Manny was just about to recover his bearing before JD advanced at him, slashing his nunchucks towards him while letting out a growl. He quickly raised an arm to protect himself, and yelped when the red stick of the nunchucks struck his wrist soundly. Many jumped away, rubbing his throbbing wrist. JD snickered and withdrew his nunchucks, before pointing the black stick of the nunchucks towards Manny.

"Dance for me, Emman," he sneered, and black laser shot out from the black stick.

Manny gasped and leaped away from the black laser, the beam hit the ground and caused the tile to explode. JD laughed and thrust out the red stick of the nunchucks, and fiery torrents were unleashed from it. Manny avoided the flames by back-flipping away, before letting out a blast of water to counter the flames. For a moment there was a standstill as Manny's waters and the fires pushed each other back, before Manny exerted more strength and the waters began overpowering the flames, much to the punk JD's shock. The waters successfully quenched the flames before they slammed upon the nunchucks, throwing the weapon off JD's hand. JD swore vehemently and leaped towards Manny, fist ready to strike, but the latter was quicker in shooting another jet of water straight onto JD's chest, throwing him a good deal away from himself and Penguinmon. Then, seeing that Liu Ying was going to attack again with her deadly fan he quickly showered her with more of his water power, catching her in surprise. The girl however was able to resist him. Looking down, Manny saw a weak spot and changed his tactic. Targeting the pointed heels of her boot Manny shot a jet of water towards them, causing the girl to lose her balance and slipped onto the wet floor.

"We have to get out of here," Manny wheezed nervously. If the four fallen DigiWira decided to attack him simultaneously, there would be no way for him to escape. They might not have their special powers, but they seemed to be much deadlier opponents, especially with their weapons. The way they attacked Manny showed that they didn't care that they would kill him. In fact, they looked like they wanted to get rid of him thoroughly. Saddened, he wondered what he had done to earn such hatred from them.

From the corner of his eyes he saw the four Digimon charging towards them with the intention to kill. He showered them with water torrents once again, successfully pushing them back as he made way towards the injured Penguinmon. Picking the plump bird up and securing him under his armpit, Manny began retreating into the forests, before breaking into a run. Angered shouts were heard; the DigiWira and Digimon were giving chase and Manny ran as fast as he could until he reached out of the black forest. But Penguinmon's weight was deterring him; he lost his balance and fell onto the ground by the polluted lake.

Ungodly roars were heard all of a sudden and the forest erupted with concentrated black lights, before four great giants emerged out from the canopies of the forests. Manny gasped in shock; he didn't recognize any of them, but realized that these must be the digivolved forms of the DigiWira's partners. One was a black-armored humanoid with long ears, making it look like a rabbit. Another was a horrible creature with mismatched body parts – a chimera was how Manny would describe it. The other two were identical serpentine creatures, one looked organic and the other cybernetic. He hadn't the time to use the Digivice to analyze these Digimon – he couldn't even get back up on his feet, paralyzed with fear upon seeing the four monstrosities hovering above him.

All of a sudden an earthquake took place. The ground cracked, and pillars of fresh blue water erupted from the fissures, blasting the four evil Digimon away from Manny and Penguinmon. Manny didn't have time to comprehend what was going on, before a familiar figure in white garb and green hide, with blue hair and wielding a black staff streaked towards him.

"You!"

Manny gaped upon seeing his rescuer, but the figure wordlessly grabbed him and slung him over his shoulders before picking up Penguinmon. Then the rescuer flew away at top speed, while from the corner of his eyes Manny could make out another three familiar figures ready to strike at any moment notice; they seemed to be covering for his rescuer. Manny wanted to protest, but soon found himself fatigued by his rescuers' rapid flight and succumbed to unconsciousness as the roars of the four giants faded away, his vision slowly drowned in inky blackness.

xxx

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Author's Notes:

First thing's first: this chapter is basically based from an episode from Power Rangers Ninja Storm, with the same episode title; where the Blue Ranger is accidentally sent to an alternate dimension where her fellow rangers are evil and the evil space ninjas are actually the good guys. In this chapter and the next, the alternate DigiWira are made so different from their counterparts, they actually scared the heck out of me when I imagined them in my mind. Probably a bit risqué as well, yet I do have fun writing them as villains and might have gone over the top with their descriptions. Adam donning a gothic vampire-like image, JD as a skinhead thug, and Liu Ying and Gayathri as two sexy badass chicks – creepy are they not?

As for their Digimon – you know Tsukaimon, and BlackAgumon is a canon Digimon, but ChaosLabramon and Manuramon are my creations as corrupted forms of Labramon and Floramon. The name Manuramon is derived from manure and flora merged into one. The four digivolved forms they have taken are all canon ones, and I think they are all easy to guess, and according to Wikimon all of them are also canon evolutionary forms for Tsukaimon, Agumon, Labramon and Floramon.

The post-opening part of this chapter takes place before the battle with the Puaka Generals; this is Manny's recollection to JD, but I've typed it out in a regular chapter format.