Digimon : Non Tamer 2 : Terror of Chaos

by Digital-Warkiller

A month after their last adventure, Kylee and Riza suddenly find themselves in a new one of tragic lengths when Regan unexpectedly returns...without his partner! But...not alone...For Kari Kamiya appears with him! Yet more evil is on their tracks...

12. An odd ‘tail’ and knights

"I must say how often I have used many others in my life, yet I am I not insensible to what I cause to them. And right now, I had a complicated situation on my hands.

Many times, there have been many things which I had been the true responsible behind a situation…
And the threat to the lives of the two Tamers was no exception…
Still…There had to be a way…"

Chapter 12 : An odd 'tail' and knights

A rather dark moody rain was now covering the entire Phoenix City as the night was slowly coming, people all returning to their homes...

For Regan, Kari and their digimon, they simply remained tranquilly resting at home, calmly watching the rain falling outside. It had a nice peaceful effect to it...

Their friends the Tamers had went back to their respective homes since a while now. So for now...the Digidestined really had nothing to do...

"You know, I'm kinda glad the end of that day didn't go without any sort of weird thing happening..." Regan said as he stood in front of the window, watching the rain and the coming night. He had a tired expression on his face, considering he and Kari had been through today, along with their friends while in the Internet.
And considering that they didn't get any sort of messages from Krasus about the blood analysis probably meant it was going well...

---

While the rain was falling upon the streets, there was one who rather ignored the extremely faint sound of the rain he could hear from being underground...

Krasus remained sitting in his throne, fingers tapering together as he thought deeply about his truly complicated problem. Darius had left him since a while, and he was grateful of that, for the wizard needed to be alone.

And now, he was bearing guilt upon himself once more...
Since now, he would be soon being responsible for the possible coming deaths of Kylee Henke and Riza Ryuzaki, the two Tamers. Krasus had discovered that their blood had been infected with digimon cells from their respective partners...but also from cells belonging to Regan and Kari.
The mage was estimating that in two days...they would no longer be humans...or worse.

Yet, there existed a cure that could save the two Tamers. It is the same cure process that both Kari and Regan are currently undergoing.
But the problem...was that neither Kylee nor Riza were able to use the cure...
Even with the cards he gave them, Krasus had doubts they could succeed...

The mage then thought back about the cure...and how both Regan and Kari had been able to use the process for it...
In both cases, it had been a rather desperate situation that triggered it...along with an unexpected stronger link between the digimon and the human.

Theoretically, there could be a way...although...

"Troubled, are we, wise Krasus?" a dreamy female voice then spoke to him. Krasus slightly jolted, realizing he had started to doze off. It had been some time since he hadn't slept...

"Indeed...Ysera..." Krasus answered to the empty air.
"So sad..." the voice of Ysera replied with a sigh before a green glow appeared slowly some distance in front of Krasus and a beautiful tall woman dressed in a long green gown, with green hairs and a slight tinge of green to her skin, along with keeping her eyes closed, appeared, 'gazing' at Krasus on his throne.

"Surely you know now the dilemma I currently have, great Ysera." Krasus then spoke. "But you surely can understand how troubling it is..."

Ysera nodded, her face turning more serious. "Yes...It would not be truly...fair...that these two children suffer such a possible coming fate..." the woman answered with a slight frown. "Considering what they have done for us, me especially..."
"I know..." Krasus replied. "Recently, there has been many troubles that appeared, becoming stronger with time, thus the reason why I created and gave those new cards to the Tamers...but right now, it does not seem that a new problem is coming...and if it were to be the case, it could be very problematic, considering that the next evolution step for their digimon is the Mega level. In this city, a fight between Megas could cause many casualties..."

"Perhaps it would be appropriate to search for other troubles elsewhere in this world?" Ysera pondered slightly.
"I had already considered that, which is why I expanded my scrying spells all around the world, so to be warned in the case of something unexpected..." Krasus replied.
"Or perhaps...it could need a little bit of our guidance..." Ysera suggested.
Krasus remained silent for a little while, staring at the green woman. "You would suggest of creating a fake threat?"
"Or at least attract another one somewhere here..." Ysera said.
"...It could be risky...

But perhaps it may be worth it..." Krasus answered after another moment of silence.
"Perhaps we can see to this threat, and obviously it should not be here in this city, we are already agreeing on that detail..." Ysera added.
"I think we are getting an agreement..." Krasus answered.

---

Eyes opening slowly, Regan let out a wide yawn as he slowly got out of the couch bed in the living room of his and Kari's 'hideout'. Regan started to get out of the bed when a familiar voice greeted his ears.

"Good morning Regan..." the voice said...Krasus' voice...

Surprised, Regan raised straight out of the bed to see Krasus sitting at a chair in the dining room.
"Geez, you could at least waited until we had really waked up and taken some breakfast..." Regan said with an annoyed groan.
"Does it really matters right now? I only want to say some things, that is all." The gray cloaked mage replied.
"Okay, you got my attention...so what is it?" Regan asked, taking a seat at another chair in the dining room.
"I have extended the range of my scrying spells to see if there might be any other sort of dimensional anomaly elsewhere in the world. Of course your digivices would not have as much range as my spells, so this is why I wanted to inform you I might have found something farther in the south. I intend to go there to verify whether what I found truly is another threat or something else..." Krasus explained.
"And you'd want us as backup eh?" Regan continued.
"Indeed. Although while I am searching for it, I think that you and the others could manage to get some free time as it can be possible..."
"Wait a minute...you said free time?" Regan asked, raising a hand and looking rather confused and suspicious. "This isn't usual for you to want to give us some sort of vacation Krasus..."
"I do realize I have pushed all of you quite far..." Krasus replied, the hooded face slightly lowering. "All of you have great talent...however all of you have been subjected to extreme pressures recently. And I think you have often considered many of my actions as unsuitable...Perhaps even for those of my kind.
In better upholding the beliefs of my kind, I would want to give you some help, as I have always done."

Regan was a bit surprised. He had never expected that kind of considerate acting from Krasus. Although a part of him was saying that it might hide something else, it was true that Krasus had pushed him and many others a lot. And besides, Regan knew that Krasus wasn't guilt-immune. The mage really, really hated to feel guilty, as far as Regan knew. He probably was feeling guilty somehow, so to manage to relieve it off a bit, he wanted to 'offer' some little vacation to them.
It could be that, or it could be something else.
Regan did hoped Krasus hadn't some sort of plot in what he was saying to him right now...
"Fine Krasus." Regan answered. "We'll come along. Can the Tamers come as well?"
"Of course." The elder wizard answered before rising. "Oh, and I think you will need to pack some bathing suits as well."
"We bought one for you Regan when we had been shopping, Kylee and I." Kari suddenly interrupted, still in pyjamas as well. Obviously she had been listening since a while. "And of course, Kylee got me one too..."

" Very well. Tell your friends about my offer and I will return after you should have finished breakfast." Krasus said before vanishing.

"Well...didn't thought he'd offer some vacations to us..." Regan said.
"But you're thinking there could be something else right?" Kari asked, a bit worryingly.
"Yeah..." Regan answered. "And so does you too..." he added, knowing she was rather thinking the same as well...

---

"Hello?"
"Kylee?"
"Yeah, it's me."
"It's me, Kari."
"Oh, hi Kari! What's the matter?"
"You probably won't really believe it...but the Elder is offering us some...vacations..."
"You're serious?!?"
"Yeah. A lot suprising huh?"
"You're sure telling me...Anyway, where it is?"
"Just come to our hideout after you're done with breakfast if you haven't eaten yet. Make sure to pack a bathing suit too."
"Got it!"

Kylee put back on the phone as Impmon came up to her. "Who was it?"
"It was Kari. She says that the Elder is offering some vacation to all of us!"
Impmon's eyes widened before one of them twitched. "You're sure we're talking about the weird creepy tall guy that's always in a gray cloak?" he asked.
"Yeah, it's indeed him..." Kylee answered, though thinking about what Impmon just said made her wonder why that strange man was offering them a vacation.

"Anyway, I should hurry to pack up what I'll need." Kylee added before hurrying to her bedroom.

---

With another call made to Riza as well, the two Digidestined also hurried to prepare what they would need. At least Regan was satisfied with the red swim trunks the two girls had bought for him during their shopping trip.

Still, he was troubled about why Krasus was offering them a vacation trip in the south. Was that really out of some desire of forgiveness, or was there really something else the mage had in mind?
With Krasus, Regan had rather learned that he should expect virtually anything with the powerful wizard...

---

Both Riza and Kylee, along with their digimon, met each other along the way to the Digidestined's hideout, both of them hefting bags on their backs.

"Nice to see you guys are coming along." Kylee said to her friend.
"Hey, I think we all deserve a vacation for what we did, right?" Riza asked. "And with the school still out, its fine for us!"
"Although...I kinda wonder about the Elder...Why would he give us a vacation like that?" Kylee asked.
"Yeah, I wondered about that too..." Riza added, his expression darkening a bit.

Climbing up the stairs after entering the old building, the two Tamers finally met up with Regan, Kari, Lizomon and Gatomon who were waiting inside their apartment, bags ready.

"Hi guys." Kari said with a smile as she saw the Tamers and their digimon coming in.
"Hey there." Kylee replied.
"So...any news about the Elder coming soon?" Riza asked.
"He should be there very soon." Regan answered, checking his digivice.
And as an answer, the tall gray cloaked man suddenly appeared out in the room. "Are you all ready?" he asked as he looked at the children.
"We sure are!" Kylee replied.
The Elder raised a hand...in some sort of warning. "I would like to specify that I am bringing all of you along with me considering the fact I need to make some investigations in the south. However, if possible I would like to have your aid as backup. So, be ready in case I may need your help if something goes wrong for me." He said.
Riza frowned. "So this wasn't only for a vacation eh?"
"I apologize for that, but at least I wanted to offer some rest for all of you, yet I still hoped you would be willing to aid me should troubles arise..." the Elder added.
"Yeah, yeah...We kinda understand you..." Regan replied, sighing as he rose up from the couch. "You're just doing out a lot of things by yourself, and often doing things without others' consents, so you kinda want to apologize for that now, right?"

"...You may have summed it rather well..." the Elder answered after a little while, seemingly uncertain.
"Anyway, are we going soon?" Lizomon asked.
"Indeed." The Elder answered. "You have everything you need?"
"Lunch, bathings suits, towels and other things. We got them all." Gatomon answered.
"Like the digivices. If Krasus will want our help, we'll need them." Kari thought.
"Very well then. Let us go." The cloaked man answered before raising his hands slightly and unleashed a great flash of light that engulfed everyone around him in the room before it faded, leaving no traces of anyone.

---

"Is everything ready as he hoped?"
"Yes it is. I will personally see to it."

---

At a beach, which obviously looked much farther in the south than Phoenix City, a flash of light appeared before it faded, revealing the two Tamers, the Digidestined, their digimon, and Krasus.

"Yay! We're there!" Kylee let out with a smile.
"Ugh..." Riza fell on his knees, holding a hand to his stomach and showing a sickened look on his face.
"Uhm Riza? Are you all right?" Veemon asked worryingly. All the others looked worryingly at him, although Krasus has a darker concerned expression...

And a barfing sound was then heard moments after...as Riza let out some previous lunch out of his stomach and in the sand.

"Ewwww..." said both Kylee, Impmon, Gatomon and Lizomon. Regan and Kari were a bit disturbed though as well.

"How much had you eaten previously before I teleported all of us?" the Elder suddenly asked.
"Well...a lot..." Veemon answered while thinking about all that Riza had eaten for breakfast.
"It explains it. With his stomach so full, it clearly was hard to bear during the teleportation." The Elder added.
"Yeah...that teleporting really felt weird..." Kylee added, holding a hand to her stomach, making sure and hoping she wasn't going to do the same as Riza, though it didn't seem that she was going to do so.
"Unlike that previous one in the city, this one had a far greater range, thus a greater movement was required." The cloaked wizard explained.
"Anyway, I think I should take Riza to a bathroom, because I don't know if he's ready to bring out even more food." Regan said with a little uncertain laugh as he went to Riza and helped him stand up.
The Elder pointed a hand in a direction to his right and farther back in the lands. "There is a suitable place there to take care of Riza's little 'problem', and to allow you to change into something more suitable for the place." He replied.
"Yeah, talking about that, after all it's kinda hot here." Kylee replied, taking off some little sweat off her face.
"As for you, appropriate cabins and bathroom are in this direction." The Elder added, pointing to his left instead of right, while looking at the girls.
"Okay then." Kari replied, hefting her bag again. "We'll see you guys later then."
"Later then." Regan answered as he took both his and Riza's bags.

As the girls went toward their cabins, followed by their digimon, the boys went toward their own, accompanied by Lizomon and Veemon.
As for Krasus though...he remained unmoving until all of them had left his field of vision.
"Now...to begin with my work..." he muttered before vanishing suddenly.

---

A little while later, the girls started to get back at the beach, both now wearing bathing suits. While Kylee was wearing a two pieces light teal bathing suit, Kari had a one piece pink bathing suit. Kylee had tried to get a two piece for Kari, but the Digidestined had clearly denied about it.

"The boys aren't back yet?!?" Kylee said with a disappointed huff.
"Well...considering that Riza had problems with his stomach..." Kari replied while putting her towel and bag in the sand.
"Oh...yeah...Never thought that kind of thing could happen with that. You've ever seen that before?" Kylee asked again.
"No, but the feeling that my stomach seemed to bounce everywhere did hit me once." The Digidestined girl answered, making a little face in the end. "That kind of thing with magic isn't always easy to handle when you got a weak stomach..."

"Hem, let's stop with the stomach thing girls, okay?" Impmon asked.
"Right…" Kylee answered before putting down her bag and towel in the sand before going for the water. "Come on in! It's a lot warm!" she added with a smile toward the others.
"No thanks for me…" Gatomon replied, sitting in the sand and crossing her arms.
"It's alright, we can understand with you Gatomon." Kari replied with a little smile, putting down her towel and bag near her digimon, then started going for the water.

However, only after making a few steps in the water did Kari started to feel something wrong…or rather something cold everywhere around herself, but especially coming from the water.

A cold feeling that was familiar...
And by gazing further up in the waters, Kari's expression suddenly turned frightened.
Kylee, noticing the strange acting of Kari, called out to her. "Kari! What's wrong?"
"Behind you Kylee!" Kari replied, stepping back while she pointed her hand at whatever was behind the others.
Kylee and Impmon turned to look...and saw some strange humanoid forms behind them. They looked rather humanoid...but seemingly completely made of darkness...

"W-What the heck are you?!?" Kylee spoke at the strange figures, stepping away from them.

"Child of Light...please come with us..." one of the strange figures asked, completely ignoring Kylee's question.

Kari only looked more afraid as she started to step back even further away, although Gatomon quickly charged in the water before jumping to punch one of the creatures in its face.

"Kylee, they're Scubamons!" Gatomon said as she pulled back from one of the dark digimon.

"Scubamons?" Kylee asked. It was a familiar name, but where did she heard it?
Then it came back to her : The Digimon episode "His Master's Voice"...where Kari had been dragged into a dark ocean world by some strange digimon...The Scubamons...

"Badaboom!" Impmon yelled as he threw a fireball at another Scubamon's face. "Kylee! Go get your digivice!" the imp digimon quickly said. "We can't let them get Kari!"
"Right!" Kylee nodded, and quickly started to run out of the water, hurrying to get her digivice.

But just when she had only started to make a few steps away, that a large sound suddenly caught her attention...or rather everyone's...
As a huge wave of enormous size suddenly rose from the sea, standing drastically higher than everyone...before it came down crashing on all of them. The Scubamons...Gatomon and Impmon...Kari and Kylee...everything...

And when the wave retreated back into the ocean...only Gatomon and Impmon remained, face against the sand and completely drenched in water.

Gatomon started to push herself out of the sand, coughing several times before looking around herself. "Kari! Kylee! Where are you?!?" she shouted worryingly as she stood up.

Impmon also let out a cough, followed by the spill of water out of his mouth before talking as well. "...And where are all these Scubamons?"

Soft footsteps in the sand quickly warned the two digimon that someone quickly approached...but looking toward who it was clearly showed it wasn't anybody...
The Elder...

"Gatomon, Impmon, are you well?" the cloaked wizard asked.
"Y-Yeah…But where's Kari?" Gatomon asked.
"And Kylee!" Impmon added. "Where are they?"

"This is a more complicated situation that it might be, and I would prefer to wait for Regan, Riza and their digimon before I shall explain…
But I doubt I will be very long now…" Krasus answered, looking behind him as he saw the two boys in swimsuits, running toward them, hefting their towels and bags, their digimon close behind…

---

A hard headache was the first thing Kari was able to register as she slowly started to regain consciousness from the fact she felt numb. As she opened her eyes, her vision was still rather blurry, until finally started to clear, she saw mainly…blue…
She was underwater!
As soon as panic flowed in Kari, she gasped…and realized that she heard her own gasp extremely clearly…which meant she could speak underwater…even breathe somehow!
Then, as the numbness in her body finally started to fade, she also started to feel something strange with her legs…
She looked down…
And it took her all her efforts not to scream...

---

"Just what the hell happened to them?" Riza asked loudly.
"Honestly…what just happened?" Regan asked, his expression rather dark.
"Hold on. Let Gatomon and Impmon explain themselves first." Krasus answered.
"Well, we came back to the beach and we started to get in the water before Kari started to act a bit weird..." Impmon started.
Gatomon shot a slight glare at Impmon before continuing. "It was...Scubamons."
Lizomon frowned darkly as Regan looked more worried and concerned.
"The Scubamons appeared out of the water and asked Kari to come with them. Obviously, Kari didn't wanted to, and I quickly went to fight them, Impmon joining in. But only moments after...a huge tidal wave came out of the sea and crashed on all of us...
And when Impmon and I managed to recover...neither the girls, nor the Scubamons were here..." Gatomon added, looking down in the end.
"...And what do you have to say in all of this?" Regan asked toward the gray cloaked man.
"That the force I had been looking for around here was possibly the Scubamons...or possibly something else..." Krasus answered.
"Something else? Why's that?" Riza asked.
"Because not only I felt a disturbance caused by the coming of the Scubamons, but I also felt a very powerful force influencing in the tidal wave...
And the essence of the Scubamons and the power in the tidal wave are completely unrelated. They are completely different, thus it was not the Scubamons who caused it."
"What?!? How's that possible?" Regan asked.
"You noticed anything odd when the wave happened?" Lizomon asked.
"Yes." Gatomon answered. "When we all looked at the wave, I saw the Scubamons do the same...and they seemed as surprised as we were..."
"So...it is something else indeed...but who or what?" Veemon concluded.
"Buster, that's not the point! What about Kylee and Kari?" Riza interrupted.
"Perhaps you were able to do something, Elder...didn't you?" Regan asked.
"Yes...although you may not appreciate it." The Elder answered. "The power in the wave prevented me from being able to shield Kari and Kylee from it, and I was also unable to teleport them closer to me...

So...I did the opposite...I 'amplified' on the wave instead, and thus managed to teleport Kari and Kylee very far in the ocean instead."
"W-What?!? But if that's the case...then this means they might have drowned in the water!" Riza said, starting to panic and get angry after the Elder...
"If the Elder really wanted to kill them I'm sure he would have done it way earlier and surely he wouldn't be telling us he killed them." Lizomon interrupted. "You must have given them some sort of magical enchantments as well, right?" the dragon digimon asked.
"Indeed." The Elder answered simply.
"What do you mean Lizomon?" Veemon asked.
"He means that Krasus put some spells on Kari and Kylee so they would survive in the water...something like being to breathe underwater I guess." Regan answered.
"I had to put on something more complex in that case though...something rather in relation with my field of expertise." Krasus then added...which made Regan's expression darken even more.
"Hem Regan? What's wrong?" Riza asked. "What does he means by 'field of expertise'?"
"He means what he's really good in..." Regan answered with a dark mood. "You obviously know that the Elder is a really powerful wizard, but there's something in which he's even better : Shapeshifting, or shapechanging...
The Elder is extremely skilled in magic to alter or change appearance. He could easily look younger, older, or as a completely different man..."
"Or even take the appearance of a woman!" Lizomon interrupted with a slight morbid smile.
"Anyway, the Elder can change himself, but he can change others too...And he's not limited to only changing to other human-like forms...he can change others into something else...Depends on what he has in mind at the time..." Regan finished, ignoring Lizomon's interruption.
"...So you mean that he...changed Kylee and Kari...into something else?!? But what?!?" Riza asked, looking desperately at the Elder, along with Gatomon and Impmon.
"I rather inspired myself out of mythology for this one...
I believe you would usually call these creatures...'ningyo'...or 'γοργόνα', 'nixe', 'sirenita' or even other terms, right?
"..." Riza remained silent, partly because of the Elder's unexpected skills in foreign languages, but also wondering about in what had he changed the girls into...
"Damn it!" Regan cursed angrily.
And at that moment...Riza realized in what the wizard had changed Kari and Kylee into...
"You don't mean...you changed them into..."

---

Kari was still in shock from the discovery she had just made...
She no longer had legs anymore...but a long pink coloured fish tail instead. And her bathing suit had changed as if she had been wearing a two-piece instead of her one-piece.
And the fact that she still felt a faint headache clearly confirmed that this wasn't some weird dream...
In other words…she was a mermaid…

Of course, for one such 'stunt'...there probably was only one person capable of doing that...
Kari's thoughts were interrupted as she heard a slight moan and noticed Kylee floating close...with a light teal fish tail instead of legs.
"She isn't gonna like that, oh no..." Kari thought as she started to move closer to Kylee and took hold of her.
"Kylee, do you hear me?" Kari asked, putting herself close enough so that Kylee wouldn't automatically notice her tail.
"Uhhhh...Kari?" Kylee answered. "W-What happened...and where are we? God...I have one heck of a headache..."
"Well..." Kari started. Better to go a bit straight to the point. "We're underwater."
Kylee's eyes burst wide open as she then clearly started to gasp...and her expression slowly changed to surprise and confusion...
"Hold on...we can talk...and breathe underwater?!? How's that possible?!?" Kylee asked confusedly. She then started to look more worried. "And...Why do my legs feel strange Kari?"
Kari sighed. Now that would be the part where she would panic...
"You shouldn't really look at them...but then...you have to...But you really won't like it..." Kari answered before moving herself a bit sideways from Kylee.
With a gulp, Kylee uncertainly looked down...
And a scream then followed out of her mouth.

---

"Damn it Krasus! Why did you have to do this?!? You really take pleasure of using us like pawns, don't you?!?" Regan asked angrily.
"Krasus?" Riza asked.
"That's the Elder's real name." Lizomon answered. "I guess it's time to drop a bit more of your act Krasus."
Krasus crossed his arms before letting out an annoyed sigh. "I understand your concerns and thoughts on this subject, but you can be certain that I do not like this as much as any of you do.
Still...we should focus on the subject now, or at least one part of them : The Scubamons." Krasus replied.
"That's true..." Veemon replied. "If I remember well...the Scubamons were from the digimon show...in that episode..."
"'His Master's Voice'." Impmon added. "It was an episode with lots of 'Takari'." He added with an unexpected smirk.
"No wonders why you seem to remember that episode so well..." Lizomon commented. "Do you have any ideas why there are Scubamons here Krasus? I'm really thinking that they actually are the same ones that Kari met in the Dark Ocean."
"I agree." Krasus answered. "And I suspect that they may have been able to track her when she entered their world recently."
Hearing that, Regan's thoughts went about that day...where he and Kari had been forced into a date...
Honestly, he couldn't really say if he truly liked or hated that...Which only made him more angered.
"Anyway, we have to do something for Kylee and Kari!" Riza said.
"Indeed. You will have to go after them, the digimon included." Krasus answered.
That made the two boys and their digimon start.
"Hold on...you mean us going in the ocean...like the girls?" Regan asked a bit uncertainly.
"And indeed I will need to make the appropriate changes on you two as well." Krasus finished, looking at Regan and Riza in particular. "Although in the digimon's case, I will need to proceed with different spells, mainly water-breathing and better mobility in water. Shapechanging a digimon is something I have never attempted, and I would prefer not to do so at the moment."
"Not that we'd complain about that..." Lizomon replied.
"Also, Regan, take this." Krasus added, taking out something from inside his cloak : a small pendant made of a sturdy gold chain and a red gem held in its middle.
"It will allow me to be able to communicate with you should it be needed." Krasus explained as Regan hesitantly put the pendant around his neck.
"And Riza, take these as well. I have ensured that they will be water-proof too." Krasus added, handing something else to the shorter boy :
Mega/Warp Digivolution cards...and Mode Change cards
"Mega Digivolution cards and Mode Change cards?!? How did you managed to get these?!?" Riza asked, completely astonished.
"I think it'd be better not to know how..." Regan muttered in Riza's ear.
"Ah yes, about the transformation spells on you two." Krasus added, seemingly ignoring Riza's question. "Should a Bio-Merge is triggered the spells will adjust and change you back to human along with adding a water breathing spell. I doubt that attempting a Bio-Merge as a 'mer-being' is a wise thing to do..."
"You didn't do that for the girls?" Impmon asked.
"Sadly no. I did not had enough time to do so." Krasus answered.
"Well...makes a bit of sense since you were surely in a hurry." Veemon pondered.
"Anyway, we shouldn't forget these too." Lizomon said, picking something in the sand and throwing it at Gatomon and Impmon : their partners' digivices.
"Are you ready then?" Krasus asked.
"Well..." Regan started, feeling a bit uneasy about that... One look at Riza and Regan could easily see that he shared a similar expression...but they didn't had that much choices anyway...
"We're ready..." Riza finished.
"Very well. Stand still while I will begin my spellwork...
And also...Good luck..." Krasus answered before starting to hold his hands toward the two boys and the digimon. He started to mutter under his breath as his hands began to glow...

---

"Gyaaaaahhh! What the hell's happening?!? I'm a fish?!?!?" Kylee yelled, waving her arms around.
Indeed...she wasn't taking it too well...But Kari knew that she needed to calm down if they ever hoped to have some chances...
Sighing, she raised a hand...before slapping Kylee in her face.
Kylee stopped, eyes wide as she registered the slap on her face, holding a hand to her cheek. "W-Why did you do that for?!?" she asked.
"So that would calm down..." Kari said with a more serious glance. She sighed again before her expression turned more worried. "We need to get some order if we'd ever think of having a chance to get back to normal." She explained.
"Get back to normal? Kari, are you sure we can even be human again?!?" Kylee asked.
"I'm really sure about that Kylee. I'm sure that Krasus could change us back to normal." Kari answered with a certain gaze.
"Krasus?" Kylee asked confusedly.
Kari then realized she had accidently let something slip up her mouth...
Oh well, sooner or later, Krasus' name would have to be revealed to the Tamers...
"Krasus is the Elder's real name." Kari explained. "And I think he could change us back."
"What makes you so certain?" Kylee asked with some doubts, her tail slightly twitching.
"Because I know that Krasus isn't only a really skilled wizard, but his real speciality is transformation magic.
Heck, he might be the one that did that to us...probably to save us from that tidal wave..." Kari finished.
Kylee remained silent for a while. What Kari said made a lot of sense. Maybe Krasus had indeed done that to save their lives...although Kylee hoped the wizard hadn't pulled some sort of weird prank...
And considering Kari's suggestion...they didn't really had other choices or other ideas for now...
"So...what now? If we want to go back to the beach...where should we go?" Kylee asked uncertainly.

---

Elsewhere, a bit deeper in the water, a small flash of light appeared before revealing out several figures floating in the water...which turned out to be multiple digimon...and two human forms...their upper halves that is...

Regan opened his eyes, feeling rather dizzy from the strange light caused by Krasus' spell only to feel something odd about his body...specifically to his legs...
Already knowing what it would be, Regan started down...to see a red fish tail having replaced his legs. And clearly, Regan felt disturbed by that...
"Ugh..." A moan distracted Regan as he looked toward the source, being an awakening Riza with a blue fish tail instead of legs. Regan saw him open his eyes, although they widened in surprise, then he looked down toward his own legs...to see they were gone. And he clearly looked even more surprised now.
"Weird huh?" Regan simply asked sourly.
Riza looked at him, although more specifically at the Digidestined's fish tail. "Yeah..."

"Come on guys, you don't look that bad." A familiar voice interrupted...
The two boys looked toward the speaker who was none other than Lizomon, floating serenely in the water, with a nasty smile on the face as he stared at the two boys.
That only made Regan glare more at his partner. "Just cut it out. The sooner we start off, the sooner we're rid of these tails." He replied.

"Yeah, and that means the sooner we're out of the water and Kari back with us..." Gatomon added, looking a bit disturbed as well, although she clearly looked she wouldn't turn back. For her human partner, she would do anything...

"Hey, don't forget about Kylee!" Impmon interrupted.
"Anyway...shouldn't we start up to go?" Veemon asked.
"Yeah, but where?" Riza asked.

"I can show you the way for now." Another voice, Krasus', echoed around them...but rather came from Regan...or rather the glowing red pendant he had around his neck.

A small beam then jutted out of the pendant, going a bit away and above them before starting to dissipate.

"Well...what are we waiting for?" Regan asked.

---

Elsewhere...at the surface of the ocean...everything was peaceful, undisturbed before two heads suddenly poured out of the water, looking around.

"Great...doesn't look like there's any mark around to tell us where to go..." Kylee said, annoyed.
Kari only sighed worryingly. She knew, or expected well that chances of finding anything useful at the ocean's surface were rather dim. And unfortunately, there was indeed nothing around to help...

"Well...let's go back underwater...there's no point in staying at the surface anyway..." Kari said. A good point indeed, it was better to stay underwater right now. Being noticed by a boat might not be a good idea...

Reluctantly, both 'mergirls' returned underwater, tails trailing behind them. At least Kari had to admit that if Krasus had indeed been responsible for their transformation, he had done a good job to make sure they would be able to instinctively swim with the tails.
"But now...what are we gonna do?" Kylee suddenly asked, stopping in her tracks. Her look clearly showed her worries about their situation...

To be honest with herself, Kari too wasn't feeling very well confident, but there was no doubt that if they decided to despair, they would have no chances of ever getting back to normal...So she had to keep up some hope, even if it could be faint.
Hold on a minute...

"Currents..." Kari muttered.
"Huh?" Kylee's worried face turned to confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Underwater currents." Kari stated. "There are many currents and waves that go toward the mainland and beaches, so...if we were to be able to track one of these currents and follow it..."
Kylee uncertainly rubbed the back of her head, her hair wildly floating in the water. "Well...how are we gonna find a current in the first place?" she asked.
"I'm pretty sure that we could feel it somehow." Kari answered, thoughtful.
"Yeah...and just how-" Kylee started, but then stopped, starting to feel something, and Kari too.

A...wind? Or rather something that seemed to feel like a wind breeze, but underwater?
"Of course...that's probably how we can perceive it..." Kari thought.
"A current." Both girls then spoke.
"Anyway, shall we go on?" Kari asked with a small smile.
Kylee returned a more pleased smile.

Hopefully they would now have more luck to soon get out of that odd situation...

---

The two 'boys' and the digimon kept swimming for a while, trying to follow the directions Krasus had given them. But for the moment...

"Doesn't look like any of them are around, do they?" Lizomon asked, clearly mentioning the two girls.
"Hey Krasus?" Regan asked, taking hold of the red pendant around his neck. "Do you have any better idea about where Kari and Kylee might be?"
"Sadly...I have nothing." The voice of Krasus answered rather darkly.
"Nothing?" Riza asked worryingly.
"Hey Krasus, I got an idea." Lizomon stated.
"Go on." the wizard's voice answered.
"Basically, you're the one who made the spells on Kari and Kylee, so you should be able to track your spellwork, right?" Lizomon pondered.
"I will see to it." Krasus' voice answered. Then for a moment, everyone remained silent, waiting for a possible result from Krasus.
"I found them." Krasus added after a while. A small beam then came out of the pendant, arcing in another direction.
"Alright! Let's hurry up!" Impmon yelled.

---

On the beach, the cloaked form of Krasus remained unmoving, staring at the large sea, the wizard's expression deep.
"I must say...Thank you for your aid in this." Krasus suddenly spoke as he started to look to his right...where another figure cloaked in blue stood.
"It is only natural to do so...These humans are important after all..." the other replied with a truly cold voice. "Another thing as well Krasus..."
"Yes?" Krasus asked.
"'They' will still be watching..." the blue cloaked man answered before slowly vanishing away.
Krasus turned his gaze once again toward the seas, resuming his observations.
"Of course I know that they would still do so..." he muttered to himself. "Now what only remains now is how the children will end this..."

---

It was slightly odd right now to 'follow' the underwater current, but still, the two 'mergirls' kept doing so. After all, now that they had a possibly good lead, they didn't planned on giving up now.
"Hey Kari..." Kylee suddenly asked before stopping.
Kari stopped before turning back to look at Kylee who looked worried. "What is it Kylee?"
"Do...Do you think...we'll ever get back to normal?" Kylee asked.
Kari bit her lip, knowing what made Kylee worried concerning that. Even so...
"I'm pretty sure we'll get back to normal thanks to Krasus. Hey, if he's actually the one who did that on us, then there's probably no doubt he can reverse his own work, right?" she asked.
Kylee started to smile, albeit hesitantly. "Yeah, that's probably right...Still..." she replied, pondering.
"Still what?" Kari asked.
"I wonder if that's so much of a bad experience...in being a mermaid..." Kylee ended, looking rather thoughtful, although Kari could notice a smile possibly forming on one edge of the blonde haired girl's mouth.
Kari crossed her arms before holding her chin. "That's an interesting thought indeed..." she pondered. For some reason, she understood what Kylee could mean about that-

A cold suddenly took hold of her...the water all around her dropping in temperature...
And from her looks, Kylee too looked like she felt the cold...
"No...it can't be..."

And from the dark depths, many dark figures surged forth, surrounding the two girls. More Scubamons.

"Child of Light...please come with us...
Now...you are more than able to...You are one like us now...you can join us with greater ease..." one of the Scubamons spoke.

"No!" Kari shouted...although fear was quickly gaining her. "I'll never want to join you! No matter how many times you ask, I don't want to!"

"Please...you must do so..." the Scubamons replied before they started to close in on both Kari and Kylee.
Both Kari and Kylee attempted to keep themselves away but the dark digimons kept nearing...

...until a multi-coloured energy blast suddenly went 'flying' out of nowhere and exploded unto one of the Scubamons, destroying it entirely.

"Strato Cannons!!!" a familiar voice yelled before more energy blasts went flying from the same direction, going for the Scubamons who were forced to pull back.

And from their right and slightly downward...came MetalRyumon, moving in the water as if he was flying in the air, which rather surprised the two girls...although Kari quickly thought of Krasus having clearly sent some rescue after them...

Although what really made her more uncertain...was the sight of Regan and Riza being along with the large digimon, along with Gatomon, Impmon and Veemon.
And although the digimon looked normal...both boys clearly didn't...considering that their bodies ended with fish tails instead of legs...

"Yeah...Krasus..." Regan simply said, trying to look away from the two 'mergirls', with a clearly uncertain and possibly hesitant look. And Riza clearly looked as troubled as Regan.

"Woooow...that maybe nice looking eh girls?" Impmon said.
Now both girls' faces flushed.
"S-Shut up!!!" Kylee yelled.
"Agreed." MetalRyumon suddenly replied. "Things really aren't that well right now..." he added before looking downward, soon imitated by everyone else...

All the Scubamons retreated downward, and Kari quickly noticed some sort of...disturbance deeper in the water...

"Looks like some sort of portal..." Gatomon spoke.
"It must lead to that Dark Ocean! That's where the Scubamons come from after all!" Veemon added.

"We warned you Child of Light...we tried to bring you to our world...but now it is too late...
He is coming..." the voice of the Scubamons came from deeper in the water, close to the dark gateway...

"He?" Riza repeated.

In answer, the dark gateway flared before growing wider, as a massive dark form started to emerge out of it, which slowly revealed itself to be a massive dark blue digimon with many joined tentacles as limbs, a slightly squid-like face with a large maw, and a large reddish fin in its back.

"Dragomon…" MetalRyumon muttered darkly. "The one said to be the ruler of the Dark Ocean…"
"That's the Scubamons' master?" Kylee asked.

"So…You are the one my pitiful servants sought as a new queen…" Dragomon rumbled with a deep voice eyeing the 'mer-kids', especially Kari. Then he glared fiercely toward the Scubamons, who only cowered before his gaze.
"As for all of you, you will truly deserve punishment for this attempt at rebellion." The large digimon continued angrily at his servants.

"Stop it!" Kari yelled, moving a bit forward. "Why do you have to do this? Why do you have to be so evil at them? Surely you could find a better way to-"

"Hah!" Dragomon interrupted with a laugh. "You are truly foolish little one. The Scubamons are born and live only to serve me! They have no other rights and need nothing else! And any attempts from rebelling against my will shall be dealt with!

Still..." he continued, musing. "I think I am beginning to understand their unexpected interest in you, little one...You possess an unusual power...clearly something unusal...And it clearly was this power that attracted them to you...

In fact, why don't you join me? You could easily become my new queen, and thus rule along with me upon my great realm, and these servants' little desires of a queen will finally be fulfilled!" Dragomon continued, a wide ugly grin spreading on its face.

"...No...Never..." Kari answered nearly silently.

"...What did you say?" Dragomon asked, his grin fading, slowly turning into renewed anger.

"I'll never join you Dragomon. I don't want to be your queen, or the Scubamons'. You may ask that as many times you want, but I'll never join you!" Kari replied loudly, now glaring hard at the large sea digimon. "I would never want to be with someone who is so heartless and egoist as you!"

A growl slowly went out of Dragomon's throat as his eyes were narrowing... "If you do not wish to be with me...

Then you deserve nothing but death!" he replied before throwing foward one tentacle arm toward the 'mer-kids' and their digimon.

"Kari!" Gatomon shouted, throwing her digivice at her partner who quickly caught it. As soon as it reached Kari's hand, it began to glow...

"Gatomon...warp digivolve to...Magnadramon!!!"

And from a massive flash of light, a large pink furred dragon with eight pink glowing wings moved in front of the children, slamming Dragomon's tentacles with her right paw.

Dragomon retreated his tentacles as he eyed Magnadramon.
"Well…let's just make them useful…" Dragomon muttered to himself.
"Scubamons! If you do truly want your new queen, then capture her for me!" Dragomon ordered. The Scubamons all jolted before rushing toward Kari with a seemingly zealous fervour however Magnadramon quickly slapped them away with one swing of her long tail.

"Anyway, I think it's time for some heavier power now." MetalRyumon stated.
"Agreed." Regan answered.

"Alright! So that means it's time for my return as the awesome Beelzemon!!!" Impmon said happily, having already handed Kylee's digivice back to her, along with the two cards.

"Anyway let's not lose any more time!" Kylee said as she prepared to swipe the card in her digivice.

"Digi-Modify! Mega Digivolution, activate!" both Tamers shouted, swiping their cards in their digivice.

"Veemon, warp digivolve to...Imperialdramon!!!"
"Impmon, warp digivolve to...Beelzemon!!!"

"You too MetalRyumon!" Regan said.
"Understood!" the metal dragon answered before glowing.

"MetalRyumon, mega digivolve to...UltimaRyumon!!!"

All four mega level digimon stood in front of their partners, glaring defiantly at Dragomon.

"So you keep insisting then? Tentacle Claw!" Dragomon yelled as he threw both arms toward the four digimon, sending his multiple tentacles foward.

"Strato Force!"
"Double Impact!"
"Positron Laser!"
"Fire Tornado!"

All four attacks launched by the four megas went straight for Dragomon's. All struck together, creating a powerful flash which forced the kids and the digimon to shield their eyes…

…only to see after that Dragomon was unscathed…

"T-That's impossible!!!!" Regan said loudly, eyes wide.
"He's supposed to be an Ultimate and he held up four attacks from Megas?" Riza asked, eyes wide as well, as much shocked as Regan, Kylee and Kari.

"Of course…" UltimaRyumon stated grimly. "Dragomon isn't an ordinary digimon…He is the lord of the Dark Ocean…and thus is a far more potent force than he might look like…"
"Then this mean we'll need to throw in some stronger force!" Regan said, a crimson glow briefly shielding him of view before it faded away, revealing him back in human form, with his swimtrunks, before the flash emerged again, overlapping both Regan and UltimaRyumon who returned close to his partner.

"Lizomon, bio-merge to…AtmaRyumon!!!"

And from the red light, a yelling AtmaRyumon quickly charged out at Dragomon, sword and shield at the ready.

"If they can be stronger, then we can do more with our digimon too!" Kylee said.
"And Magnadramon, you're ready?" Kari asked to her partner.
"Hem...Kari?" Riza asked. "Krasus said to us that he's the one who changed both of you…and while he arranged that Regan could Bio-Merge…you can't…"
"Oh…Then you two help Regan and Lizomon as best as you can…" Kari said.
"What about you Kari?" Kylee asked.
"We still need someone to watch our backs should one of these Scubamons would try a low move, right?" Kari said, Magnadramon slowly circling above her.
"Alright then!" Kylee said. "Beelzemon, here we go! Digi-Modify! Mode Change, activate!"
"Let's go for it too Imperialdramon! Digi-Modify! Mode Change, activate!"

"Beelzemon, Mode Change to…Blast Mode!"
"Imperialdramon, Mode Change to…Fighter Mode!"

"Alright! Let's make out a sushi of this huge fish freak!" Beelzemon yelled, swiging his gun with sinister glee before charging down toward Dragomon.
Imperialdramon quickly followed in, although showing a fierce gaze.

"Is he really always like this?" Kari asked with a certain doubtful gaze at Kylee.
"Eh, Beelzemon?" Kylee asked, then only laughed rather uncertainly while bringing an arm behind her head. "Kinda, yeah."

"Thousand Waves!" Dragomon shouted before summoning a massive amount of waves from deep underwater and sending them at AtmaRyumon, who quickly brought up his shield in front of him, shouting "Atma's Protector!" and a large crimson force field surrounded him, completely protecting him from harm, although AtmaRyumon really felt being a bit shaken up in his shield.

Quickly dismissing his force shield, AtmaRyumon quickly hurried even faster at Dragomon before the large sea monster digimon flung one group of tentacles at AtmaRyumon who quickly 'flew' above them before going to Dragomon's right side.

"Positron Laster!"
"Corona Blaster!"

The two beams went straight at Dragomon's face who pulled back slightly, grunting hard from the pain as an even uglier expression spread on his face.

With a loud growl, Dragomon quickly threw more tentacles toward Imperialdramon and Beelzemon, who quickly 'flew' sideways, each in a different direction..

"Positron Laser!" Imperialdramon shouted, pointing his cannon at Dragomon's left side.
"Corona Blaster!" Beelzemon yelled, his large gun-arm aimed at Dragomon's right side.

Both shots aimed true and struck on each sides of Dragomon, creating many steaming bubbles around the large digimon.
Beelzemon grinned at the result, before suddenly moving away as large tentacles poured out of the bubbles, going for him.

"Atma Blade!" Suddenly, the tentacles twitched, before Beelzemon noticed AtmaRyumon having come out below to slash at the tentacles.
"No need to thank me." AtmaRyumon simply said before charging at Dragomon who had focused his gaze.

Imperialdramon on the other hand, obviously was the focus of Dragomon's ire, as the large sea digimon was glaring fiercely at him. The winged digimon quickly moved sideways to evade a series of tentacles before swinging his long wristblades on his left arm at the tentacles causing Dragomon to retreat them. Quickly after this, Imperialdramon aimed his right arm's cannon at the sea digimon, yelling "Positron Laser!" before firing up one large beam at Dragomon, who was struck once more.

And yet despite all of this, Dragomon kept throwing attacks left and right at them, seemingly unharmed.

Magnadramon kept growling as she swung her tail around, slapping away some Scuabmon who tried to sneak in closer to Kari, acting extremely protective of the other three 'mer-kids'.

"There's just no end to this!"

Within the core of AtmaRyumon, in its Digital Matrix, Regan wondered, extremely worried.

"No matter how much we strike at Dragomon, he doesn't seem to be harmed! It's nearly like if we're shooting blanks!" Regan said, starting to lose his cool.
"True…something is clearly odd. I knew Dragomon is a powerful digimon, but to be able to take on so many blasts…" Lizomon's voice answered, keeping the obvious calm a trained warrior would have. "He might have something powering him up…" the dragon digimon then suggested.

And AtmaRyumon looked down.
At the ocean's deeps…where the dark gate from where Dragomon had come through.

"Of course!" both Lizomon and Regan echoed within AtmaRyumon.
"That portal! We got to seal it! But how?" Regan asked.

Farther upward, above the ocean…
And hiding among the clouds…
Beating his large wings…

He watched…
"It is all coming to fruition sssoon…" He spoke, letting out a long hiss in the end…

---

"With Dragomon still trying to hammer out at us, there's no way we can seal that portal Regan! We'll have to send him back in it!" Lizomon stated.
"And just how the hell are we going to do this?!?!?"

A yell suddenly interrupted their train of thoughts as Imperialdramon was suddenly struck by one of Dragomon's tentacles, and the large sea digimon didn't wasted time hammering Imperialdramon's chest with even more tentacles.

"No, Imperialdramon!" Beelzemon yelled, starting to go for the other, quickly followd by AtmaRyumon who suddenly tightened his hold on his sword, focusing hard on it. It then started to glow of a large crimson and white fire before AtmaRyumon threw it at Dragomon's tentacles like a disk.

The spinning sword struck the tentacles, even cutting them, which caused Dragomon to roar in pain and anger as he retreated what remained of them, however the damage had already been done on Imperialdramon as he started to glow and reverted to a damaged Veemon.

"Veemon!!!" Riza yelled, starting to quickly swim after his wounded partner. Kylee tried to go after him too, but Kari quickly held her back

"Damnit!" Beelzemon cursed as AtmaRyumon caught back his sword, although the dragon knight digimon's gaze wasn't on Veemon or Riza…but rather at Dragomon who started to show a clearly ugly grin before the cut tentacles started to grow dark at the ends…before they completely regenerated on their own.

"How's that possible?" Regan said in shock and fear within AtmaRyumon.
"Probably Dragomon's proximity to his own realm make him drastically stronger." Lizomon answered, still sounding calm.
"But…how are we gonna be able to fight him?" Regan asked.
"Because we must." Lizomon answered straightly. "We are the others' shield and sword. We are what stands between our friends and grave danger for them, and since we can do something…it behoves us to do so…

Do you understand?" Lizomon added grimly, sounding even more serious than before.
Regan remained silent, and worried…then tightened one fist…
"So we must keep fighting…because we might be their only hope."
" 'A sword and a shield are only as strong as the true determination that are holding them', Regan Astrasz.
So…is your determination to protecting your friends true?" Lizomon spoke again.
"It will…It must!!!" Regan replied, his fist even more tightened.

And with a sudden yell, AtmaRyumon charged once more at Dragomon, hurrying even faster, sword blazing with crimson and white flames.

And before Dragomon could reach, AtmaRyumon swung his sword straight in the sea digimon's face, leaving out a long gash, and causing yet another grunt of pain from the monstrous enemy.

And although the wound could be seen closing itself, albeit quite slowly, it still remained, even if only for a while.

"Stay true to your heart, Child of Life!" Lizomon yelled to Regan within AtmaRyumon. "Remember that the power we received came with a cost, and we must never stray away, and always remain true to what was passed on to us!!!

After all Regan…

In what do you believe?" Lizomon asked again.

"I believe…
In our potential!!!

Together, we can do anything!!!" Regan replied.

And with another yell, AtmaRyumon swung again at Dragomon, striking hard on the sea digimon's flesh, leaving yet another gash.

And with a loud angered roar, Dragomon was quick to counterattack once more…

"Veemon, hold on!" Riza said, closing on his digimon.
"Uhhh…Riza?" Veemon asked weakly as he saw his partner near him. "Sorry, I wasn't strong enough to really help..."
"No Veemon! Don't belive that! You did great!" Riza said, trying to sound pleased, but wasn't really succeeding.
"Heh...Riza...you're lying..." Veemon started with a slow smirk.
"Huh?"
"I know you're worried, but you're trying to make things better...and that's what so funny..." Veemon answered.
"Well...yeah..." Riza admitted, looking aside in the emptiness of the ocean which weren't occupied by the struggles between Dragomon, AtmaRyumon and Beelzemon. "But...I would want...would hope that you, that you could have done better...

Sometimes...I just wish I could really help you more than that..." Riza added.
"I know...but I also want you to be safe Riza..." Veemon added. "I know you can be careless sometimes, and I want to protect you, to help you...

To do what I failed to do...

...with your dad..."

These last words crushed hard in the mind of Riza. He remained almost shocked for a moment, forgettting completely everything around him and Veemon.

"I'm sorry Riza..." Veemon said. "I'm not even strong enough to protect you from Dragomon..." Veemon said, discouraged.
"No Veemon...I wasn't strong enough as your Tamer..." Riza replied, heart-broken.

"There are many ways to grow stronger...working together to better cover the weaknesses of each and thus reinforcing the strengths..." a voice suddenly whispered in their thoughts, as if it had been part of their minds.

"Stronger?" Riza muttered. "How could we be stronger together?"
"Riza...do you think we could be stronger...together?" Veemon asked weakly.
"Maybe..." Riza answered and turned silent. "Veemon? I would want to help you."
"Huh? What? But you could get injured!" Veemon suddenly replied, eyes opened as he looked worryingly at his Tamer.
"Please Veemon! I want to help you! I'm sure we could do something together to help everyone!
So come on, let's try to do something together!!!"

Only then did Riza barely noticed his D-Arc had started beeping...and that he and Veemon were glowing...

...before the next thing he felt was his fish tail seperating back in legs...

And now he remembered that Krasus had made mention about one thing should their tails turn back into legs...
But all thoughts on that were soon overwhelmed by a massive flash of light that submerged him and his partner.

"Riza!" Kylee yelled, seeing her friend and Veemon suddenly engulfed in a blast of light.
Everyone stopped fighting, seeing the strange light that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"That light...Lizomon...could that be?" Regan asked from within AtmaRyumon.
"Yes..." Lizomon answered.

"Huh?" Kari thought as she gazed at the light...which felt quite familiar to her... "How's that possible?"

---

As he contiuned to watch, his senses picked up the tell-tale trace of what he sought...

"So...it is happening at last..."

---

Everyone continued staring at the light before a voice yelled...

"Veemon...

...Bio-Merge to...

...AmaKaisermon!!!"

And the light finally exploded, breifly causing everyone to shield their eyes before they were finally able to look at the source of it...

A tall humanoid digimon that stood as tall as Imperialdramon Fighter Mode. Although like Imperialdramon, he was clad in armor, the similarities started to end there. His armor covered him from head to toe, leaving nothing exposed. The armor's gauntlets, upper arms and upper legs were all colored of a sky blue color while the lower arms, and legs were colored of a graying cloudy white. The chest part of the armor was colored of a darker blue, although two large whitish bands were crossing across the chest in an 'X' mark, going behind as well. At the center of the 'X' on the digimon's chest, there was a large golden orb imbedded in the armor.

The armored head was colored sky blue as well, although red eyes peered out from two holes in the helmet. A pair of small whitish horns pointing upward also decorated the side of the helmet, marking the place where there would normally be ears.

Along with that, a long flowing white cape was hung from the digimon's back, although the digimon also had a massive wingspan of two sky blue draconic wings.

And...in all of this...the digimon held one long distinctive sword in his right hand. A mostly white sword although with some blue marks on it, but especially a series of golden writings on its blade...

"The Omni Sword..." Lizomon muttered within AtmaRyumon.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Regan asked.
"Regan...that digimon...he is holding the Omni Sword! A weapon said to be made from Omnimon's data! One of the most powerful weapons in all the Digital World!"
"No way!!!"

---

"Huh? What...what happened?"
"Riza? Is that you? What are you doing inside me?"
"Huh? I thought you were the one inside me Veemon."
"Hold on a minute...the body...it feels completely different! I don't even feel wounded anymore! I feel stronger than ever, even without that sword in my hand...and it's the Omni Sword!!!"
"Could we have...Bio-Merged?"
"I think we did...and it feels awesome!"
"You're right! Now let's go deal with a big sea monster that has been harming our friends for too long now!"
"Let's do it!"

---

The digimon suddenly let out a wild yell before chargin down toward Dragomon with quick speed. Dragomon quickly brought up his tentacles as AmaKaisermon raised his sword...and struck through the tentacles...

Dragomon's roar of pain and anger quickly snapped everyone back into the situation.
"Take that!" AmaKaisermon said at the wounded Dragomon.

But as quickly as the tentacles were cut, they regenerated before the sea digimon quickly threw them toward AmaKaisermon...only to be blocked by a speeding AtmaRyumon who brought himself in front of AmaKaisermon, blocking the tentacles with his shield.

"That's a nice move, but we'll need to do better than that to beat him..." AtmaRyumon said.
AmaKaisermon nodded before gazing down...toward the dark gateway from where Dragomon had came forth.

"The gateway! Let's send him back where he belongs!" AmaKaisermon said.
AtmaRyumon looked down breifly before nodding. "Good idea! Thinking of a way to do it though?" the dragon knight asked.

In answer, AmaKaisermon flapped his immense wings back, pushihng himself backward, positionning himself directing far above the dark gateway, and in the middle of the underwater battlefield.

"Beelzemon, Magnadramon! Quickly get your partners, because it's going to get rough soon!" AmaKaisermon yelled.
Not wanting to loose time to ask what the winged digimon knight had in mind, Beelzemon hurried toward Kylee as Magnadramon started to grab Kari tightly.

AmaKaisermon then held his sword high, preparing himself...

"Oh no you won't! Dragomon yelled. "Scubamons, stop him!"
All the Scubamons quickly charged to go at AmaKaisermon.

"Sky Spinning Lance!" AmaKaisermon yelled before starting to spin on himself faster and faster, starting to create large currents around him...before he suddenly burst toward the surface, breaking through it before going high in the air, still spinning...and then came falling down toward the sea...

He struck the surface with a loud bang before penetrating inside, spreading out torrents of wind as the water all around him was completely pushed away, forming a large whirlpool in the ocean. A whirlpool with the dark gateway at its base, which dragged all Scubamons in it as they fell in the currents while Magnadramon and Beelzemon, still holding their 'mer-partners' kept hovering in the air, along with AtmaRyumon and AmaKaisermon, the two Bio-Merged digimon knights.

However, if all the Scubamons were going down, dragged back into the dark gate...only Dragomon remained, fighting the currents to stand.

"Well...he's quite insistant..." AtmaRyumon started.
"Let's show him what we really mean!" AmaKaisermon finished.

Then both flew to 'stand' aside each other in the air before holding their swords tight.
They looked at each other with a determined nod before letting out a loud yell and charging down on Dragomon.

And with spending most of his strength fighting the whirlpool's currents, Dragomon could barely do a thing to attempt to block against the incoming attacks...

"Atma Blade!"
"Omni Sword!"

Both knights shouted as they swung down their sword on Dragomon, striking him with huge force, causing him to plummet down in the large whirlpool, roaring as he finally fell into the dark gate, which started to collapse and vanish.

"You guys did it! You're the bests!" Kylee yelled from Beelzemon's grasp.

AmaKaisermon turned at her and started chuckling a bit hesitantly, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand.
"Yep...it's still the same Riza inside." AtmaRyumon said with a more mocking chuckle. "Still as shy as ever with his 'girlfriend'."
AmaKaisermon's eyes turned wide before he turned toward the dragon knight digimon, steaming with anger. "Cut it out with that!" he yelled angrily.
AtmaRyumon only chuckled in his own way before looking a bit more skyward...before noticing the hint of some unknown large winged form fleeing the area, partly hiding in the clouds as it went away.

"So...he was there..." Regan thought within AtmaRyumon.

---

And it was with more relief that they all returned back to the beach, were Krasus had clearly been waiting for them all along, looking a bit impressed as he saw Riza and Veemon's Bio-Merged form.

However, Regan's relief (along with Riza's) turned to surprise and shock when the girls told they didn't wanted to be changed back…'at least not yet'

And along with that, Regan just felt too tired from the fight to really be able to argue with the 'mer-girls'…although he clearly wasn't approving that…even if surprisingly, Krasus didn't brought up some sort of objection (Regan had actually hoped that Krasus would have put up one).

But for the moment, all four of them were lying down in the sand, the water gently splashing against their feet…or tails…

And in the meantime, the digimon were resting a bit further up on the beach, although Regan was definitively certain that some of them were keeping a careful watch.
Krasus in the meantime had 'gone away' to verify about that dark gate the Scubamons and Dragomon had used to come.
Although Riza and Kylee had been wondering how exactly Krasus would be able to check that, Regan could easily expect how. A wizard can have tons of tricks up his sleeves after all…especially one like Krasus.

Regan let out a long sigh, eyes half closed.
"Peaceful, ain't it Regan?" Kari asked. She layed on her side, looking toward him. Regan turned his head slightly toward her, showing a certain dissaprouvement.
"Well, it ain't completely peaceful in my mind because some persons have decided to make a really weird choice." Regan replied.

Kari only giggled at that, bring herself on her back before pushing herself to a sitting position.
"Aw come on Regan, it ain't that bad. You would have really needed to try it out more." Kari said with another giggle. "Right Kylee?"
"Yup! Sure Riza, you'd be agreeing with us, right?" Kylee said, showing a smile at Riza, who only started to look more hesitant, clearly reacting a bit 'too well' to the 'mer-girls's' 'flirting'…

Regan let out another tired sigh, knowing that in the recesses of his mind, he could feel Lizomon's amusement of this situation.
He could swear that whatever spell Krasus used to change Kari and Kylee into mermaids, it probably didn't just made changes to their bodies, but probably something in their minds too.

Kari then started to look thoughtful, then looked toward the digimon. "Hey Lizomon? Do you know if Krasus' water-breathing spells are still active?" she shouted at the dragon digimon.
"Yeah they are." Lizomon yelled back. "After all, Krasus didn't wanted that something bad might happen to you guys while he's away."
"It's fairly obvious we wouldn't want something like that repeat itself…" Gatomon commented.

"Good!" Kari said with a wide smile.
And before Regan could react, he grabbed one of his foot.

"Hey! What are you-" he started, raising his head.

But Kari quickly pushed herself in the water, dragging Regan along and cutting short his protests.

And one quick look from what the Tamers saw, Riza started to go away, but unfortunately, the blonde haired mermaid quickly imitated Kari's action with Riza, also dragging him underwater.

And seeing that, Veemon sighed. "Lizomon, you really had to say yes?"
"Of course." Lizomon answered, showing a side smile. "After all, the spells are still working…and I could easily guess the girls wanted to have some fun…" he finished, a larger smile showing up in the end.

"Although I doubt that neither of them might like that…" Gatomon stated.
"Heh…" Lizomon chuckled, then rose to his feet. "I ain't gonna miss that." And he quickly ran up to the water before leaping and made a spin in the air before dropping in the water like a small missle.
"Showoff…" Impmon muttered as he saw Lizomon's dive.

"Come on Regan! Underwater can be really fun and beautiful." Kari said, smiling as she swam around in the water, circling multiple times around a grumbling (and slightly blushing) Regan who kept his arms crossed underwater.

Kylee only giggled at that, keeping herself at a close proximity to Riza, who was only blushing at the sight of Kylee and of her constant 'flirtings'.

"Kari Kamiya…might I remind you that right now, you are a mermaid?" Regan started, trying a certain amount of reasoning. "So right now, it's fairly obvious you like the sea, being a sea creature and all…
however, it doesn't mean that I like the sea like you do right now…"

"Oh…but there isn't only the sea that I like…" Kari said on a more stranger tone, one she would have probably been rarely using, as she approached Regan from front, and brought herself quite close to Regan, their face getting close as she brought up a finger to 'hold' Regan's chin.

To that, Regan only partly looked away, blushing more.

"Kari's right. There can be some interesting things that we like that aren't normally in the sea…" Kylee said as she swam very close to Riza, slightly rubbing her fin on Riza's back. The 'poor' boy only blushed more, his face rather turning like a tomato.

Lizomon only snickered as he watched, unable to hold his grins.

"Regan? Lizomon? May I talk to you alone please?" the voice of Krasus suddenly intruded in everyone's heads.

Hearing that, Lizomon only frowned in clear displeasure. "Aww, shucks."
Although Regan let out a long sigh of obvious relief before smiling a bit darkly at Kari. "Sorry, but 'duty calls' I guess."
Kari only pouted.

"Anyway, keep yourself busy Riza!" Regan said as he started to swim out of the water, followed by Lizomon.

"A-As if I wasn't…" Riza muttered, stammering while blushing.

Pulling himself out of the water, Regan looked toward Krasus who was clearly waiting, then made a gesture with a hand, pointing further away from them as he started to walk in the pointed direction. Clearly, there was something serious he wanted to talk about…

Regan and Lizomon briefly looked at each other before shrugging and following the cloaked wizard. Once they got enough away, Krasus looked at them, obviously preparing what he was going to say.

"I have verified whatever remained of the portal's energies, and I have ensured that they will not be able to open another one, giving that with the previous portal's sudden crashing end, it would doubtly be wise for Dragomon to re-open another one." Krasus said.

"Now that's good news…" Lizomon said with a nod.
"Anyway Krasus." Regan interrupted. "What about the girls? Can't you just change them back to normal now?!?" he asked, looking exasperated.
"Is there a problem with their transformation?" Krasus asked, his head slightly tilting to the side.
"Well, I think there's one!" Regan replied a bit angrily. "Krasus, did that spell you did on the girls changed only their bodies, or could it have done 'something' to their minds as well?"
"Well…I suppose we may not push away the possibility that my mermaid transformation spell could change not only the subject's body, but make possible minor changes in the mind as well." Krasus answered.
"'Minor changes'?!?!?" Regan repeated, one eye twitching. "They're flirting with us!!!"
"And is that so much of a problem? At the age you currently are, young teenagers may start to go through some changes, both physically and mentally. Surely you too must have been having those changes sooner or later as well." Krasus replied quite calmly and surprisingly casually.
"Well…I don't think that's exactly a normal change when it's all of a sudden!" Regan replied angrily.

Lizomon only let out a annoyed sigh as he saw his partner and Krasus argue (Krasus remaining calm though).

"Even so, there is something more important I have to notify to both of you, rather than continuing on such petty discussions for the moment." Krasus started, having waved his hand at the same time…probably to have made a sound shield, Lizomon suspected. Krasus now wanted to tell something really important.

Regan only sighed angrily. "Okay, so what is it?"

"I have the results of the blood analysis." Krasus answered…although not completely a truly trusting tone…
That sparked up the curiosity and the worriness of Regan and Lizomon. Something clearly was wrong.
"What is it?" Regan asked, sounding worried. "Something wrong with me…or Kari?" he asked.
"How odd…" Lizomon thought. "Moments sooner, he was actually rather not appreciating being around Kari…and yet now he clearly worries about her…
Boys…No doubt girls can really make them go crazy…"

"No." Krasus answered. "In fact, the extraction process continues to go well for both of you two Digidestined. In fact, that 'pseudo-Digivolution' both of you experienced seemed to have helped improve things.

However…there is something else…

The blood of Kylee and Riza have been contaminated…by their digimon's own data, and samples of yours and Kari's.

Regan's look turned to clear despair. Lizomon too lost a good part of his composure, knowing very well that what Krasus has just said was good as announcing a death sentence on the two Tamers…

"You can't be serious!" Regan asked. "How did that happened?"
"When you fought MetalPhantomon. Krasus answered. "The attack that struck everyone of you did no true harm but minor cuts, however these cuts allowed contamination to spread out.

Fortunately, there is a way to cure them." Krasus added.
"I knew it!" Lizomon said. "If there was anyone who would know a way to quickly cure them before its too late, it had to be you Krasus! After all, you're the one who made Bio-Modify being possible."

"Not that I take much pride in it Lizomon…" Krasus replied, not sounding pleased. "There is a problem about the cure. One use of it will completely cleanse the Tamers' bodies of the digimon data, thus saving them.
The problem though, is that the cure…is Bio-Merge." Krasus added.

Regan's face turned to shock…but it soon turned to anger.
"Krasus…you damn…dirty bastard…" Regan muttered, cursing and glaring hard at Krasus.
"You set this up, didn't you? You probably knew there was going to be a serious problem here, so you wanted that we were here so to give a chance for one of the Tamers to get a Bio-Merge!" Regan yelled, pointing at Krasus.
"Regan…" Lizomon muttered, sounding worried.

"I did what I had to do to save their lives." Krasus answered, starting to glare too at Regan. "It was my fault if they were infected, and thus I had to plan a way to save them…Even so, it is not over.
Only Riza Ryuzaki has been saved now. Kylee Henke still remains." Krasus added.

That started to calm down Regan a bit, but still, it was obvious he now held some hate toward Krasus. "Even then…who knows what would have happened if it didn't worked?"
"Risk is a part of things Regan Astrasz. I know very well about taking immense risks, much more than you can possibly imagine." Krasus replied, showing a truly deep and unusual gaze. One that showed a massive depth of experience and knowledge...

...and undoubtedly of experiences of pain...

Regan held up Krasus' gaze for a while...before looking away...and his expression finally returned to a more worried one.
"Still...what about Kylee?" he asked.
"Normally, they would have at least two days before they would no longer be themselves...but the transformation is bringing out a certain delay to Kylee...thus a reason why I did not oppose myself to giving them back their original form yet.
We cannot keep her as a mermaid as long as it would be needed, she would surely oppose herself to that." Krasus answered.
"So that explains it..." Regan muttered. "Alright...looks like once again, you had been planning things a long way once more...

But now...got any idea how you'll do it for Kylee?" Regan asked, starting to look back toward the beach, seeing Riza getting out of the water rather quickly before seeing Kylee bringing her head out of the water, surely pouting. A laugh that clearly belonged to Impmon could be heard from their position.

"Only time will tell Regan Astrasz.
But in the meantime, it may be better not to tell the Tamers about this.
But also, Regan, there is one little thing I would like you and Lizomon to do with Riza and Veemon." Krasus replied.
"And that is?" Lizomon asked.
"Train them in their Bio-Merge state." Krasus answered. "It is true that they have no achieved a new level of strength, but still, they are little experienced in the ways of fighting in Bio-Merge.
Considering that for the moment, you are the only two who can Bio-Merge, it would only be appropriate that you do so for them."
"Why not?" Regan pondered then grinned. "Besides, I'm sure Riza would really like to do something else than hang out with the 'mer-girls' right now..."
Staring toward the beach, Krasus paused as he looked at a slightly panicked and blushing-a-lot Riza...before showing a slight smile.
"Of that I wholly agree." He replied with a lighter tone.

---

"Hey Riza!" Regan said as he neared back to the beach, Lizomon and Krasus in tow.
"What's the matter now Regan? You look rather happy. Is Krasus going to change Kylee and Kari soon?" Riza asked.
"I have no idea about that...but I do have an idea for doing something else then just staying near them." Regan said, slightly nearing Riza to speak in a more conspiring way.
"And what is it?" Riza asked.
"Train you in your Bio-Merge!" Regan said.
"What?!?" Veemon asked as he approached. "Why do that? We're strong, right?"
"Heh..." Lizomon said, eyes closed and showing a confident grin. "You should leave that to the real fighting master to decide that, kiddo.

We'll do just a mock fight, no need for special attacks, just with the whole body and normal weapons. That's the better way to really fight." He added.
"Well..." Riza started.
"You got something else in mind to do? If not, then I'm sure we could go back in the water with the girls." Regan replied with a small grin.
Not only did Riza's cheeks started to turn a bit red, but other parts of his face started to turn a little more whitish...
"Okay..." he answered.

"Clever words Regan..." Krasus thought as he observed them.

---

"I hope you're ready..." AtmaRyumon stated as he stood on the beach, sword and shield at the ready. Both Impmon and Gatomon stood further away to watch while the 'mer-girls' were lying in the shallow water to watch the fight.
AmaKaisermon nodded, although inside, Riza was still a bit worried.
He still remembered the fights of ExVeemon against Ryumon and Paildramon against MetalRyumon...

"Let's do it!" AtmaRyumon yelled as he suddenly charged at AmaKaisermon. As he neared, he quickly swung his sword.
AmaKaisermon quickly reacted, bringing out his sword to parry the blow. "Hey! I thought this wouldn't be a real battle!" he said, a bit worried seeing how quickly AtmaRyumon attacked and didn't look like he would be holding up.
"Nope it ain't!" AtmaRyumon replied, struggling against AmaKaisermon's Omni Sword. "But that's what a real training should be!" he replied before quickly pulling back, showing his great agility despite wearing armor and holding both a sword and shield. With another yell, he charged at AmaKaisermon, before starting to go on the side, but the other digimon quickly opened his wings, taking out to the skies.
"Don't think you can run away!" AtmaRyumon replied, quickly following up his opponent in the air with his four wings. He quickly reached up to AmaKaisermon and their swords once again met.

However, it didn't took long before AtmaRyumon suddenly brought up a knee and struck AmaKaisermon in the stomach. Even with his armor, AmaKaisermon still felt a hard blow from it. AtmaRyumon really wasn't holding back...

And he got another proof of that as he received a full punch straight in the face, stunned and crashing down in the water.

"Come on shorty! You can do better than that!" Kylee yelled.
"Go for it Regan! You and Lizomon can really show him who's the expert!" Kari cheered.

AmaKaisermon was rather stunned, yet still anger stormed out of him hearing the word 'shorty'.
"You're gonna be okay?" AtmaRyumon asked as he hovered down near AmaKaisermon in the water and handing down a free hand to help the other lift himself up.
"Yeah...I'll be okay..." AmaKaisermon replied before taking AtmaRyumon's hand...

...and throwing him in the water before he started to laugh.

"Hah! Now how's the expert react to that eh?" AmaKaisermon asked, laughing.
"Oh...so now you wanna do it that way eh? Okay then...the brawl's fully on!" AtmaRyumon said in the water before flinging himself straight at AmaKaisermon with a loud roar before making another swing with his sword, which got parried again, quickly followed by a strike from all side by all four of his wings, and finished up by throwing yet another punch in poor AmaKaisermon's face.

As AmaKaisermon crashed on the ground, he raised himself before shaking his head.
"Come on Riza! Show me what you can really do! Or did that fight with Dragomon was only a dumb beginner's luck?" AtmaRyumon asked with a sly grin.

Farther behind, Krasus kept watching as he saw AmaKaisermon leaping out from the sand and going for AtmaRyumon, their blades meeting up before he quickly retreated back and flapped his wings extremely hard, sending out a wide and powerful blast of air at AtmaRyumon before rushing forward and giving out a punch of his own in AtmaRyumon's face, although the dragon digimon quickly recovered and prepared to counterattack.

They were doing fine. And honestly, it was a really good thing they were proceeding that way...

"Well...it looks like it is solved with one...what about the other one?" a cold voice asked from behind Krasus : The blue cloaked 'stranger'.
Krasus didn't even turned back to look at the other one. "We will see what tomorrow holds for all of us.

But still...I thank you for having dealt with creating this dimensional fragility so that Dragomon and the Scubamons could come." Krasus answered.
"It was no problem...And of course, we quickly restabilized the dimensional barriers after Dragomon was sent back to his world."
"Thank you again...Lord Malygos...The Spellwaver..." Krasus said.
The blue cloaked stranger called 'Malygos' let out a cold wry chuckle and made him sound rather suspicious. "Well...if it wasn't from Ysera that insisted on that detail, it is doubtful I would have truly helped...
Still...you do not need to call me by such title...It is not my true name after all...like that name of yours...Krasus isn't it?" the blue cloaked one said.
"Indeed..." Krasus answered. "Still...I believe I should show respect to such a mighty one like you, for having been willing to aid me."
"The debt I have to you is quite immense after all...If it wasn't for you...I would still be in an empty cavern of ice...locked in my own madness..." 'Malygos' replied before vanishing away, leaving out no traces.

"Indeed...Indeed so...Great One..." Krasus muttered.

---

Although, in a sense, Kari felt she had a lot of fun having been a mermaid, she started to have second thoughts about having been one for so long...

Considering that right now, she really felt out of balance on her legs, having troubles to stand up even in the apartment.

"Okay...maybe I really shouldn't have been a mermaid for so long..." Kari thought with a slightly hesitant smile as she held a hand to a nearby wall to help keep her balance, obviously trying to stand correctly again.

She let go of the wall, successfully standing on her legs.
"Whew...not so bad after-" Kari thought as she started to walk, but her thoughts were quickly cut off as she once again started to lose her balance, and the sight of the floor started to approach...

And a gloved hand quickly caught up on of her arms, causing Kari to slip on the side, and fall on her 'pride'.

"Heh...not so good in walking again eh Kari?" Regan asked with a smirk as he looked at Kari on the floor.

She chuckled hesitantly, her arm still held by Regan. "Yeah...maybe so...
Would you uhm...mind helping me get back up?" she asked a bit hesitantly.
"Sure." Regan replied casually before lifting Kari up and she finally started to stand up normally again.
"Thanks Regan." She replied, and started to turn to go for the main window...

...but Regan didn't let go of her arm.

"Hem...Regan?" Kari asked a bit hesitantly as she looked at her still held arm.

Instead Regan pulled Kari closer to himself, grabbing her other arm and forcing her closer to him.

"You know Kari...I got a question for you..." Regan asked with a slightly sinister grin.
"Hem...what is it?" Kari asked, a slight blush coming on her face.
"Do you find me cute?" Regan asked.
Now Kari's eyes started to open more and her face started to redden even more. "H-Hem...w-well...a-ac-tually...hem..." she started, completely stammering and mixing herself up in her words, only to blush even more.

"Hey, I'm sure I must be a cute boy, right Kari? I'm sure you must have found me a quite attractive one. You did seem to be interested in me a 'while earlier'..." Regan spoke, still grinning rather sinisterly.

"Hum...well..." Kari said, looking a bit aside, still blushing.
"Come on Kari...you can say it...

Heck...you could even say...

'I love you Regan'..." Regan added.

Now her face turned completely red and she remained frozen, her mouth wide open.
Only then did Regan let go of her and started to turn away.

"So...did you liked that taste of your own 'medicine'?" Regan asked with a smirk. "Man...Lizomon, those tricks you told me were really awesome!" Regan said more loudly.
"No problem Regan!" Lizomon replied loudly from the bedroom.

"W-W-Wait a minute!!! W-W Where you bluffing with me? You were...flirting with me?" Kari asked loudly, flailing her arms a bit as she looked completely in shock and confusion.

Regan looked at her before starting to laugh, holding his side.
"Yep! That's it!" Lizomon said as he came in.

"Regan! That's not funny!" Kari said, her fists tightening in anger, and yet still in shock as her face still remained red.

"Oh sure! You think I had been liking it eh?" Regan asked, wiping off a tear from his face. "Man...Your look was so priceless!" Regan said, still trying not to laugh even more. "Too bad we didn't manage to get something from that."

"I wouldn't say that..." Lizomon said as he showed up...Kari's camera in his paws.
"H-How did you got it?" Kari asked.
"I kinda helped..." Gatomon replied, showing a slight smile as she was leaning up against a wall farther away.
"G-Gatomon?!? Why?" Kari asked, looking confused, having discovered her partner had even 'back-stabbed' her.
"Well...I had to say...that look on your face was priceless Kari..." Gatomon replied.

"Owwww...don't you guys ever do that again!!!" Kari yelled in anger.

That only caused Regan and Lizomon to laugh again.

"Seriously though Lizomon...you really took pictures about it?
I'm not really sure I'd like you to have these..."
"Oh really eh?"
"...You did took some...right?"
"Yup!
They could make awesome blackmails, you know?"
"..."

---

As Krasus had of course re-arranged everything with the girls and all the other details, he had returned to his underground hideout, sitting in his large stone 'throne', pondering yet again.

The aid of the 'others' had been of great use for that first case...but Krasus rather had some doubts about repeating that, in a different way even.

He raised up from his throne, going for his instruments on a nearby table, thinking about new ways to detect any other possible dimensional incursions.
Maybe some newer ones might have escaped his current spells...

A sudden and massive wave of vertigo and headache suddenly struck Krasus, causing him to nearly topple over the table, but he managed not to fall, by miracle.

On the table, several of the instruments started to glow wildly and even make screeching sounds, painful to hear.

Krasus gritted his teeth, fighting off the sudden reaction before rising up and glaring hard toward all of his instruments that were going 'haywire', focusing his powerful mind on them...
And it didn't took long before they all 'calmed down'. Krasus brought his hands on the table, leaning a bit as he stared at his instruments.
Although Krasus had been using instruments to verify dimensional incursions, his true ways of detection had been a truly efficient array of spells he had established...

And once again, those spells had proven their usefulness...
Krasus stared harder at his instruments...although his focus went inward...in what he had felt...

There was no mistaking it...

He then took out a small red crystal out of his robes before holding it tightly.

"Regan Astrasz, Kari Kamiya, Lizomon, Gatomon...

He has finally arrived...

Parallelmon is here..." he spoke toward the crystal, having sent a message to the Digidestined and their digimon.

Indeed...

There was no mistaking the disturbing presence...

Of Regan and Kari's original attacker in the Digital World...
And now, he was here to finish his work...