Chapter Four: Tamer's Tales part 1: Demon Lord

DISCLAIMER: Listen up, ya'll cause I'm only saying this once. I. Do. Not. Own. Digimon. I never have and I never will. If I DID I would rewrite the season 02 ending so it was good, like I'm going to do with this story! I do not make money off this story. This story is by no means canonical and is meant for entertainment purposes only. The characters and events depicted are fictional. Any resemblance to any person or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. All Digimon is copyright Toei and Bandai. There. Now leave me alone

Through me the way into the suffering city,
Through me the way to the eternal pain,
Through me the way that runs among the lost.

Justice urged on my high artificer;
My maker was divine authority,
The highest wisdom, and the primal love.

Before me nothing but eternal things were made,
And I endure eternally.
Abandon every hope, ye who enter here."

The Divine Comedy; the Inferno; Canto III-Dante

"I should probably start by saying that we're not from this world…"

Rika's statement had the same effect as if someone had started a story with the phrase, "I should probably start by saying that I am the ghost of Mary, Queen of Scots and the lizard people of planet Xanadu have commanded me to tell thee of the Squirrel People's dark plot against humanity…"

"So you're from the Digiworld?" Patamon asked, curiously. "You don't look like Digimon to me…"

"We aren't. We're regular humans from the human world. Just not, this human world…"

"I don't understand…" Yolei sighed.

"Neither do I." Rika confessed. "But I'll do my best to explain." She took a deep breath. "You know how the Digiworld is divided into four quadrants?" everybody nodded. "Well, you guys have only experienced one of the four: Azulongmon's quadrant."

"But there are other quadrants run by other Sovereigns." Henry picked up. "Our Digiworld is in the third quadrant. Zhuqiaomon's Quadrant."

"We should also say why the sovereigns divided the Digiworld to begin with." Rika stared across the flickering fire. "What do you know about the Seven Demon Lords?"

The Digimon exchanged a look. "Elecmon used to tell us stories when we were babies." The still digivolved Magnamon said. "They were mostly like the boogeyman. He would say things like "Don't be lazy or you'll turn into Belphamon!" or "If you brag a lot, Lucemon will get you!" Mostly trying to scare us into being good."

"I see…maybe a little Digi-History is in order…" Henry said. "A long, long, long, long time ago when the digiworld was young, Azulongmon and the other Sovereigns foresaw a great evil rising to threaten peace in the Digiworld. Back then, there was only one quadrant and the Sovereigns ruled over it together. So, Azulongmon told his servant to fashion nine seals and fix them to crests of power. The nine he picked were picked for the Sovereign Virtues, the virtues Azulongmon prized the most. Courage, Friendship, Love, Sincerity, Knowledge, Reliability, Hope, Light and Kindness. For ages, the crests stood as watchful guardians against the forces of evil."

"Then, not too long ago, an evil rose up that threatened the safety of the crests and by association, the safety of the Digiworld. So Azulongmon bound the crests to nine Chosen Children." Henry said, nodding at Tai. "I believe you are all familiar with what happens next."

"How do you know all this?" Kari asked. "This is the first time you've ever been to our world."

"The legend of the Nine is an old story in our Digiworld. Most people think it's a myth. Besides," Renamon said, looking at Henry. "We know people with intimate knowledge of how the digital world came to be…" Henry blushed and blundered on

"But see, not all of Azulongmon's angels were on board with his plan. One of his most trusted servants, Lucemon the Light Bringer, argued that humans could never personify these traits purely since he claimed we were ignorant, arrogant and cruel. He thought that the humans would use the crests to seize control of the Digiworld and subjugate the Digimon. Azulongmon, for this reason, assigned Digimon to not only protect the Nine but to serve as moral compasses for the children so as they would not be tempted."

"Four years after the darkness faded, Lucemon's prophecy came true. A human tried to seize control of the Digiworld, ignoring his Digimon guide and sought to dominate the world."

Without warning, Ken stood up and left the fireside. Yolei cast a worried look after him before getting up to follow.

"We'll wait for them to get back…" Henry said quietly, looking at Ken as if he understood. Tai looked at the young Tamer, wondering how he could possibly understand the pain Ken had suffered. He looked back behind him. Yolei had pulled Ken into a hug, his face buried in her hair, shoulders shaking.

"So there's a Tokyo in your world too?" Mimi asked, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah. Us four live in the Shinjuku district."

"Four?" Cody asked.

"Two of our friends got lost when we entered this world." Rika said, looking at her D-Arc sadly. "We haven't found them yet."

"Momentai, Rika!" Terriermon said. "Your boyfriend is more than a match for a lousy clump of Mephistomon!"

"Will you shut up about Takato!" Rika yelled, to general laughter. "He's not my boyfriend!"

"Hey, I didn't say anything about Takato!" Terriermon giggled. The rest of the Digidentined roared with laughter. "Aww, I think its sweet, Rika!"

"Shut up, Bunny Boy!"

"A Queen and her Knight" he sighed, batting his eyelashes. "How romantic…"

"Put a sock in it, Terriermon…" Rika growled dangerously.

"I guess marriage is out of the question, since he's a commoner and all…"

"Terriermon…"

"But you can always marry King Ryo and you two could be secret looooovers"

"I'm warning you, you make one more crack about Gogglehead and I'll…"

"He can be your Anne Boleyn! Your Rennitte Poission! Your Madame de Pompdour! You can meet for moonlit walks on the beach! He can be your mistress!"

"That's it!" Rika screamed. "Renamon! I order you to kill, Terriermon. Kill him and load his data so he can't come back!"

"Why?" Renamon asked. "I've done enough, fighting for today, wouldn't you say, Magnamon?"

Rika smirked, glancing at Magnamon. "Or else I'll tell everyone that I'm not the only one with a crush on a Royal Knight…" the words left Rika's mouth before she could stop them

"Ah, HA!" Terriermon crowed with glee. "A CONFESSION!" By now everyone was dying with laughter, even Ken and Yolei who managed a watery chuckle here and there. "You're all witnesses! She said it! Plan the wedding! Call the caterer! Reserve the Reception Hall!"

"Okay, okay, enough you two," Henry chuckled, getting between Terriermon and a fuming Rika. "Are you alright, Ken?" Henry asked. Ken nodded, squeezing Yolei's hand. "Then we'll continue."

"After a new group of humans turned the wayward human, Lucemon again pleaded with Azulongmon to cast the children out and let the Digiworld be for Digimon only. His cries fell on deaf ears and Lucemon grew more and more disillusioned with his master. One day, while sulking in the gardens, a sympathetic Ophanimon and Seraphimon came to his aid and together, the three plotted mischief against Azulongmon. The three fallen angels revived four horrible demon Digimon and the Seven of them bound Azulongmon and the other Sovereigns in chains."

"All went well and the Demon Lords, including a changed Lucemon, began to set their plans in motion. They would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for a group of meddling kids and their crests." Tai couldn't help but smile.

"Azulongmon flew back to heaven, mad as all hell and threw the Seven Demon Lords down into the darkest depths of the digital world. The Ophanimon and Seraphimon became Lilithmon and Barbamon while Lucemon became Lucemon Chaos Mode. The Sovereigns sealed them with seven Dark crests, representing a sin that they had committed."

"For Leviamon, a fiendish monster who desired to be held in the same regard as the angels, the Crest of Envy was burned into his flesh"

"For Belphamon, who wanted to conquer so that an eternity of leisure would be his, the Crest of Sloth was burned into his skin and a heavy chain placed around his neck."

"For Beelzemon, who craved food and drink above all else, The Crest of Gluttony."

"For Daemon, who sought revenge for past wrongs, the Crest of Wrath."

"For Barbamon, who desired to control all the world's riches, the Crest of Greed."

"For Lilithmon, who craved earthly pleasures instead of deep feeling, the Crest of Lust."

"And for Azulongmon's Light Bringer, the angel that had taught Digimon the way of reconfiguring and digivolution, who had illuminated so many dark corners with his truth, was transfigured and burdened with the Crest of Pride."

"The Sovereigns decided to divide the world so word of the evil of the Demon Lords would never spread. But when they divided the world, they somehow bridged the reality gap and crossed over into our reality. It was four years ago that Digimon first appeared in our world."

"Three of us, Takato, Rika and myself with the help of friends like Ryo, defeated evil Digimon and saved our city from destruction. For four years after that, we had a time of peace for us and our Digimon."

"Then…Daemon attacked." Rika said softly.

"What?" Tai cried. "How? When?" Why didn't we hear about it?"

"The Demon Lords had help." Rika muttered. "Someone let them out and into our world where they found themselves trapped by the Sovereign barriers. So they did the best they could to try and break into our world. Meanwhile, Beelzemon was killed in our world and was reborn; this time on our side."

"Well that's a relief…" Davis sighed. "So now we only have Six demon lords?"

"I looks that way…" Henry said thoughtfully. "Unless Lucemon…" Henry shook his head. "Nah. So where was I…oh right: Daemon."

"He just appeared one day with a choir of Mephistomon in tow and blew Odaiba half to hell." Tai felt a shiver of fear go up around him. "He practically sunk it to the bottom of the bay."

"No way." T.K sighed. "I don't believe you…"

"Believe it or not, Sunshine, it happened. I saw it." Rika said, staring into the fire.

"You could be lying…"

"T.K" Tai said gently.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?"

"You want proof?" Rika dug a hand into her pocket and pulled out a small camera. "Here's your proof." She flicked to a building. "Here's Fuji TV" She flicked to a twisted heap of blackened metal. "Here's Fuji TV after Daemon." She flicked to show a busy bridge. "Rainbow Bridge." She flicked to scrap metal floating in the harbor. "Junk." She flicked to a busy performance hall. "Zepp Tokyo." Crater Shot. "Gone. The Miriaikan; Gone. Shiokaze Park-"

"Okay…that's enough…" T.K murmured, eyes glazing over.

"But that's not the worst part." Henry was talking again. "After he was done and everyone was dead, he started sifting through the rubble, looking for something." Henry sighed.

"We think that something was someone. And that someone is you. The nine original crest bearers."

Silence

"Us?" Izzy finally said. "Why would he want us? We gave up our crests to free Azulongmon."

"What you gave up was only a physical manifestation of what was already inside you." Henry explained. "You'll always carry your crest with you, no matter what; its essence is always with you. That is why you are important to the Demon Lords. The power of your crests could be enough to cause the downfall of the Sovereigns and the beginning of a dark age, ruled by demons. We followed them through the gate they made and wound up here. They're looking for you" Henry chuckled. "We're lucky we got to you first. We can keep an eye on you and…" Henry trailed off, looking at the downcast Digidestined. "What?"

"We're not all here…Matt and Sora are lost out there still" Tai said quietly.

"Great…Rika murmured. "Just great." Rika stood up. "We need to find them; who knows where they could be?"

"I knows…"

Everyone whipped around to see a boy with spiky brown hair, battered and bruised, wearing a shaky smile and followed by a snarling dragon Digimon, licking his wounds.

"Ryo! Cyberdramon!" Rika and Henry looked back to see Ken on his feet, eyes wide with shock.

Ryo squinted. "Ken Ichijoji, is that you? Long time no see man…how'd that whole Millenniumon-Dark Spore thing work out?"

"Ryo, what happened?' Henry asked, looking around. 'Where's Takato?"

"I-I don't know." Ryo said, shakily. "He went after a Lilithmon when she captured a girl we were protecting."

"Girl?" Tai grabbed Ryo by the shoulders. "What girl, what did she look like?"

"I…my head's still kinda fuzzy…"

"Answer him, Ryo!" Rika demanded, eyes wide. "What did she look like?"

Ryo looked at Tai for a moment before turning back to Rika, speaking quietly. "Red hair, blue shirt and kakis. Her name was Sora." He looked back at Tai. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry."

"Lilithmon's got Sora." Henry echoed, grimly. At these words, there was a flurry of gasps behind him. Tai sank to his knees, eyes devoid of any emotion, jaw slacked slightly.

"Ryo…how did this happen?" Rika moaned, grabbing his hair and shaking him angrily. "What happened, Ryo? Tell me! What the HELL happened?!"

AN: DUN DUN DAHH!! Short chapter but it was just to get the backstory out of the way. I NEED DIGI-MODIFYS!! Does anyone remember what the Crest Cards did in the Card game? I want to work those into the plot but I don't remember what they did. If I can't remember, I'll just make it u. So submit a review with any cards you remember and I'll be sure to thank you in the next chapter