Evil lurks and exists in many forms. Ragnarok is only one incarnation of evil in the universe. A dangerous evil in his case. His defeat was necessary, despite the cost...
There are many other evil beings, which is why the task of the Core Chosen is crucial...

Chapter 18 : The Day the Sky rained Fire...

Kylee started to open her eyes...and felt a feeling of 'Déjà Vu'...

Although this time, as she tried to rise up, she felt waves of pain in her body.
"Urrgh..."

"Don't try to overdo it Kylee. Your body's been in a rough state. You wouldn't want to make it worse, would ya?" a familiar voice said.

Kylee blinked before she saw Lizomon...sitting right in front of her, on the bed she was lying in.

"Li-Lizomon?" Kylee asked.
"Yep, it's me. Expecting someone else?" Lizomon said, tilting his head slightly.
"Hem, well, more along the lines of Impmon or Riza..." Kylee replied.
"Riza's coming back...as for Impmon...he's sound asleep, right next to you." Lizomon said, smirking slightly as he looked to his right. Kylee looked at her left, to see Impmon having fallen asleep on her bed, while waiting.

Taking that into account, Kylee also noticed how the room seemed darker than usual...until she looked around herself to realize it wasn't a hospital room...

"H-Hold on a minute. Where are we?" Kylee asked.

The entire room was made of rock...or rather, it was a cavern dug in the rock. And around her were two other persons in bed, still unconscious.

Regan and Kari. And Gatomon was at Kari's bed, looking concerned after her partner.
"We're in Krasus' hideout." Lizomon said.
"His hideout?" Kylee repeated.
"Or more like...the Black Spear's old hideout place..." Riza said, a bit darkly.
"H-huh?!? The Black Spear's?!?" Kylee said as she noticed Riza being there.
"Yeah..." Veemon said with a somewhat troubled expression. "Never thought he was using this place as his hideout."
"Well it was the perfect place for him. After making sure he had routed out everyone who might have been here, he took control of these underground caves. They were perfect for him, so he could conduct his investigations." Lizomon said. "And yes, I know about this place that you guys don't really have good memories of this place...but Black Spear's gone now. Krasus saw to it."

"Yeah...I really hope it is over..." someone else said. Impmon, who had woken up, yawning.
"You guys..." Kylee started, hesitating. She looked uncertainly at everyone else still awake, as they all looked at her...
Some of the others also looked a bit uncomfortable.

Lizomon sighed. "Impy, Vee, Gatomon, let's go see Krasus." He said.
"Hey, don't call me like that!" Impmon replied angrily.
"Do what he says." Gatomon suddenly replied on a rather intimidating tone.
"Yes ma'am..." Impmon grumbled angrily. Veemon only sighed somewhat as he followed up the other digimon...leaving Kylee and Riza alone, while Regan and Kari were still unconscious.

And for a good while, only an awkward silence reigned in the air...

"...It's my fault..." Kylee said, tears forming in her eyes.
"N-no...don't say that..." Riza said.
"If I hadn't been careless...Ragnarok wouldn't have been in me...and we wouldn't have been in this mess...Or that any of you would have been hurt..." Kylee said, slowly starting to cry.

"Kylee...no one could have guessed what happened...It isn't your fault..." Riza said.
"But...But I could have stopped him...when he was inside me...and I couldn't...I wasn't strong enough..." Kylee said, sobbing.
"W-Well...could we really be sure you'd be able to stop Ragnarok...when he was inside you?"
Kylee remained silent for a moment, saddened. "...I...I don't know..."
"Hey, it might have been normal if you couldn't stop him...We're humans after all..." Riza said a bit sheepishly.
"Geez...I think you guys forgot that humans can be a lot stronger, you know." Another voice suddenly added. Kylee and Riza jumped, before looking back...to see Regan and Kari, sitting in their beds, looking at them.
"H-How long were you awake?" Riza asked, a bit uncertain.
"A little while..." Kari said somewhat of a light smile.
"And we heard a bit." Regan said with a smile of his own.

Then his smile faded somewhat. "I understand you guys about that and how Ragnarok used you Kylee...No one could have guessed he would have done that. He barely seemed to be possessing anyone anymore..." he added.

"So...you mean Ragnarok did that before on other Digidestined?" Kylee asked uncertainly.
"No, not really...but he did possess some innocent digimons during a time, for 'survival'. As far as we know though, Digimon don't seem to make good hosts for him, because their data gets too corrupted and damaged after a while..." Kari said.
"Which gives out a pretty ugly end to those poor digimon...but it's not like we can change up anything now...

...At least now...it's over...Thanks guys..." Regan finished with a smile.

"Well...no problems...We're friends after all, right?" Kylee said.
"Although, are you guys feeling okay?" Riza asked with some concern.

"Well...I could have been better...but I don't think I've been any worse than before..." Kari said, holding a hand to her stomach, with somewhat of a smile on her face.

"Everything's fine except that my head is still spinning..." Regan said, with somewhat of a sarcastic tone instead.

Every four of them all laughed lightly.

---

It was called the 'Underworld'. A refuge and lair for the criminals of many types among Phoenix City. Darkened alleyways, buildings and other sinister places, of many types of criminals, both human and digimon alike.

And now, a tall and dark figure walked among those living in that damp place. It seemed even darker than the shadows cast around in this place.
The figure paused for a moment, glaring around, before it went into another direction, turning into an alleyway.

But as soon as it entered it, several figures, both in front of him and behind, appeared, blocking off its exits.

"Hey there big boy. Think you got any coin to spare up for some who would be in need of it?" one of the other figures said with a dark chuckle, showing out a gun out of the shadows.

The tall figure remained silent and motionless for a moment. The others took it as submission.

A fatal mistake.

Terrible cries and bloodcurdling screams erupted from the alleyway, along with terrible other sounds of fighting...or more of a massacre. Guns were fired, but it didn't seemed to stop what was happening...

Then silence came...

And the tall dark figure continued on...blood dripping down from something connected to its wrists...along with blood dripping from its teeth...

And from what was barely visible of that 'mouth'...it smiled...

---

"So it means...it's finally over..." Kylee said.
"A lot of things sure happened, right?" Riza asked.
"You can say that again..." Lizomon commented.
"You know...it really ain't gonna be the same thing with you guys gone now..." Impmon said.
"Yeah...things sure will be quiet...Well, as long as Kylee doesn't start a Digimon battle that is." Veemon added.
"Hey! Digimon battles are fun, so what's wrong with that?"

The others laughed.

"It's true. It won't exactly be the same now." Regan said.
"We've been through a lot with you...and it's obvious, we've all become good friends. We've grown out and learned out from each other..." Kari said.
"It's true. We made up strong bonds between ourselves." Gatomon commented.
"The strongest ones might be those between Regan and Kari..." Lizomon quickly added with a dark smirk.

"LIZOMON!!!" Regan yelled angrily, which caused mostly everyone else to laugh, although Kari did with some slight blushing.

"Well, maybe you guys should suit back up, and then we can go tell Krasus we're finally ready to leave." Lizomon went on, looking completely unfazed by his partner's yell.

It was with some uncertainties, and reluctances, that each of those who had been treated, went back in several small chambers to change back up in more normal clothes before they went back together,

Then, the four children, and their four digimon partners went back toward a larger cavern, the main one Krasus had been using...

However, as they neared, they heard voices...

"These are indeed some quite disturbing reports you are showing me...And indeed I believe this may not be something out of any normal circumstances on this world." The first voice said...which was Krasus'...

"Yeah, that's kinda why I went for you. Really seemed way too freaky and weird to have been any of the normal cases around the place..." the other voice said...

...and it was dreadfully familiar too...

Hearing it, all four children and four digimon rushed straight out of the corridor, exiting out straight into the large cave.
Indeed, Krasus was there, sitting in his large stone throne, speaking to someone else. He started to look toward the Digidestined and Tamers as they arrived.

The other person also looked at them when they showed up too. He looked, on the other hand, a bit unsure as he faced the children...and there were no mistaking who he was.

"Darius Duke?!?!?" Riza and Kylee said.

Indeed, it was the black haired boy they knew well...the one that had apparently died, yet he stood alive before them, as they encountered him several times on other occasions.

"What are you doing here?" Regan asked, somewhat darkly. He certainly hadn't forgotten that he and his criminal gang had captured Kari a while ago. If Darius was somehow here, then it had to be suspicious.

"I see that you know each other well, as it was the case..." Krasus said, catching the Tamers, Digidestined and their digimon with some surprise.

"What?!? What do you mean by that?!?" Riza asked.

"Krasus. Tell us everything you know about Darius. I don't get it why he's here...talking with you." Regan spoke seriously.

Krasus let out a slight sigh. "I will try to make this short : Darius Duke was the leader of the Black Spear criminal gang, until he died by both the hands of Ragnarok and Regan. But in his death, She Who is Life was willing to give him a second chance, and thus returned him to life, for a certain price however.
If he is now alive, he is no longer a member of Black Spear, but now he instead works for the Aspects, as one of their many servants spread throughout realities." Krasus said.

Both Regan and Kari's eyes widened a bit. They knew well of Alexstrasza's immense power over Life and Death, but while they could easily guess she could do such a thing, they didn't thought she'd actually do that.

Kylee and Riza on the other hand... "W-W-What?!?!? You mean that Alexstrasza resurrected you?!?" Kylee said, pointing straight at Darius.

He looked away, a bit down. "Yeah, I was kinda hoping you guys wouldn't have to hear about it. All I had to do was just to fake ignorance, as if I was someone completely different so that you guys would never really think I was the same guy all along, the one that had kidnapped the two of you girls.

So...yeah...I kinda have a new life...and turned over a new leaf too...
So...sorry Kari for...'that' before...Guess you do look better with that new boyfriend of yours." Darius said with a small apologizing smile.

"Uhh, boyfriend?" Kari repeated, her cheeks heating up. Oh...she probably believed that Regan and she were...
Regan wouldn't take that well.
"Hey! I ain't her boyfriend!" Regan suddenly yelled back angrily.
Yep, he wasn't taking it well...

"But then, what about that date you guys had? Kinda got surprised to know about Kylee and Riza dating each other too..." Darius said, a bit curious.
Lizomon and Impmon only snickered at this. It was clear Darius didn't knew that the 'date' back then had been an attempt to 'cheer up' Regan and Kari. And that Kylee and Riza had gotten involved to 'help out'...

"Maybe we should focus on the more urgent matter at hand now, children." Krasus spoke as he fortunately stopped short any discussion on 'that' kind of subject, much to the ease of some of the children indeed...

"Why are you here anyway Darius?" Kari asked, a bit hesitantly.
"Well...I came here because there was something I needed to tell the old man...Krasus? That's how you called him?" he said, looking at the wizard who made a nod at him.
"Yeah so, I'm here because there's been some weird problem in the Underworld, and I thought that Krasus should hear of it." Darius went on.

"The Underworld?" Kylee asked. That wasn't something she knew of. Neither her nor Riza knew of anything that would be called that way.

"Some sort of place where criminal, both human and digimon are wandering around, here in this city." Krasus explained. "You see, Darius also acts as a bit of a double-agent, using his skills to infiltrate the Underworld and report back suspicious information."

"Good thought there Darius. More than enough to repay for what you did." Riza said.
"Anyway, what is it about?" Regan asked.

"Well...it looks like there has been some sort of murder in the Underworld...but that can happen from time to time...

...although this time...well...you can guess it doesn't seem to be normal at all..." Darius explained.

"Normal?" Impmon asked. "What'd you mean by that?"

"It kinda looked like the digimon and humans that were killed were kinda...ripped apart.
Some even looked half eaten...
No one ever saw anything like that. I got some photos, but it ain't pretty to see." Darius said.

"Let me take a look." Lizomon interrupted as he went to Darius, taking one of the photos from his hand, and looked at it before making a bit of a face. "Yeeesh, I see what you mean. That ain't a sight for young eyes, that's for sure." Lizomon commented.

"You said...that the victims were eaten?" Kari asked uncertainly.

"Kinda, yeah. Whatever killed everyone at in the alley where it happened seemed to have eaten large parts of both human and digimon. And whatever data there remained of the digimon just got so damaged there's no way to repair it. Just format it back into some new digieggs." Darius explained.

"You're sure that whatever did that ate parts of the humans and digimon there?" Veemon asked, a bit troubled.

"I'd say that was the case." Lizomon interrupted, still looking at the pictures, expression grim. "Whatever killed those humans and digimon did it brutally and painfully. And there's no way a human could have done this."

"But...what kind of digimon would actually eat humans and digimon?" Riza asked, troubled.

"There is one..." Regan spoke darkly. "There's one digimon that actually enjoys eating human flesh and digimon data.
The Chaotic Berserker."

"...hold on a minute...you don't mean..." Kylee stated.

"ChaosRyumon." Lizomon stated. "Ragnarok's 'partner'. He's the only digimon who could have done that."

The others went silent at hearing that name. Regan's face only darkened when Lizomon confirmed his thoughts.

"I don't get it. What's he doing then?" Kari asked. "Ragnarok has been destroyed, right?"
"Which now leaves ChaosRyumon master-less. So he now does whatever he want?" Riza asked.

"Nah, that wouldn't be it." Lizomon said. "If ChaosRyumon really was without master now, I'm pretty sure that he would just go out on a rampage. But looks like he might have something else in mind...maybe some sort of command from Ragnarok."

"Hold on a minute. You mean Ragnarok would have left ChaosRyumon to do nothing, and if he were to die, then ChaosRyumon would have to act?" Gatomon asked.

"I don't know, but whatever is the case, ChaosRyumon is now roaming the Underworld, for some reason we know nothing about. And we better find him quickly.
Because if he succeeds in whatever he's going to ultimately do, then I'm pretty sure a lot of people will be screwed..." Lizomon stated.

No one else could argue with that.

---

The large digimon kept going on in the Underworld, undeterred and easily clearing his way in front of him, as few sought to intrude in his way. It was perfect. Everything would be going smoothly; everything would go as it should...

He entered a nearby building, which clearly served as some sort of store for some various...'unallowed' things...

The gruff man at the shop's counter just snorted as he saw the large form approaching. "So, what'd ya want?" he asked.

The large digimon neared the counter, before he pointed straight at one of the various items the man sold. As the man took it from its place, the digimon continued to gesture at other various devices, obviously intending to get more than one item here...

When the man put on all the items on the counter, he asked again, in a gruff voice. "So, how you'll pay for those?"

...

A few minutes later, a bloodcurling scream erupted from the shop, followed by an explosion.

---

The somewhat darkened alleys and other ways around the place were putting Regan a bit on edge. And it was obvious Kylee was too.

Both she and him, along with their partners had come into this 'Underworld' with Darius, in order to track down infos on ChaosRyumon, or possibly find the mad digimon before it was too late. But they had to be cautious.
Which explained why Kylee had no choices but to wear a cloak upon herself, the hood covering her face, while Regan was keeping the hood of his own cloak on. And both their partners were in Mega form, UltimaRyumon and Beelzemon walking aside their partners.

Krasus had disagreed that Riza and Kari would go on in the Underworld with them, due to the fact of their partners being Vaccines. They probably wouldn't be getting a good eye from the locals.
That certainly wasn't a problem for the now darkly-dressed Darius, and his Cyberdramon. And considering Beelzemon was a powerful Virus digimon, no one would rather look at him with a wrong eye, but undoubtedly more of an awed and respectful one. Although UltimaRyumon was a Vaccine too, the thing remains that he's not a known digimon at all. Who would know he's a Vaccine anyway, besides his close friends? Other than that, he just kept a fierce and intimidating expression, his heavy sword slung over his shoulder, carrying it with one hand, further demonstrating his massive strength.

Now the group had come nearby the area where ChaosRyumon was suspected to have caused his first victims.

"That was him indeed." UltimaRyumon stated as he sniffed the air around, glaring even harder. "I can smell his stench here."
"Darn it, so it really means that berserk freak is back?" Beelzemon asked.
"We'll make sure to take him down as soon as we get him." Regan said darkly.
Kylee said nothing, although a bit concerned, and frightful. She still remembered her first encounter with that digimon...

Darius on the other hand, was holding up a cellphone to his ear, talking with someone. "Mmm, got it. I'll be there soon." He replied on the phone.
"Got something new?" Regan asked.
"Yeah, a whole shop seemed to have been blown up. The owner was found sliced in pieces."
Kylee gulped. "In pieces?" she repeated.
"I think there's just that Chaos freak to do that." Beelzemon said.
"Let's go instead of talking. We shouldn't waste time." UltimaRyumon stated.
With that, they quickly went off, led by Darius.

---

"Understood. I'll inform the others. Give us new information as soon as you can." Krasus spoke, looking at a globe of blue light in the palm of his right hand before closing it. He had just been in contact with the other three in the Underworld, who had reported out a new place where ChaosRyumon had struck.

"What happened?" Kari asked.
"ChaosRyumon apparently struck at a shop, exploding it along with killing the owner. We will get more details when they shall arrive there." Krasus answered.
Riza made a face. "That guy never stops killing doesn't he?" he said.
"Hardly would. Remember that he was created by Ragnarok only to kill. The desire of destruction is the only thing that seems to animate that beast." Krasus replied.
"Let's just hope we can get to know what ChaosRyumon's planning..." Gatomon said.

---

"My god..." Kylee muttered as she saw the ruins of the destroyed shop.
It was indeed a total wreck.
"Hold on, I'll get us closer." Darius said as he went forward to speak with some of the...'authorities' of the place.
Regan frowned a bit, pondering. How Darius seemed to have changed now. He never thought the guy would have been so much helpful. Well, maybe the fact that he died brought up quite some thoughts in his head...

A few minutes later, Darius came back. "Okay, looks like some big cloaked guy went in the shop, apparently asking for some stuff. After that, well we don't really know, but the owner got killed." Darius said.
"Would you know what got stolen by ChaosRyumon?" UltimaRyumon asked.
"I got a list right here." Darius said as he brought up a paper note.
"Let's transmit that to Krasus. Maybe he'll be able to guess something out of this." Regan said.

---

"...and that's all there was that apparently was missing from the shop." Regan concluded, appearing out as a small image floating above Krasus' hand as he spoke in his digivice.
"What do you think ChaosRyumon could do with that?" Riza asked.
"It could be anything...but if ChaosRyumon is acting on some sort of order from Ragnarok, then it probably will be something very harmful." Kari said.
"You think it could be a bomb?" Gatomon asked.

"Maybe..." Krasus suddenly spoke.
"What?!? You think so?" Riza asked.
"A bomb?!?" Kylee's voice said in the 'holographic' communication.
"It would not be a type of bomb you are familiar with, but something far different." Krasus added.
"What do you mean?" Regan added in the holographic communication.
"Judging from the materials ChaosRyumon stole, he could create a unique type of bomb...One that doesn't damage the physical world...but rather space and time itself.
In other words : A bomb capable of damaging the very barriers between the Human and the Digital World.
I believe some would call such thing a 'space-time oscillation bomb'." Krasus explained.

"Space-time oscillation bomb..." Kari repeated worryingly.
"However, from the looks of it, ChaosRyumon doesn't have all the necessary materials to complete the bomb yet, but no doubt he's already searching for the remaining components. " Krasus added.
"To break the barrier between the two worlds...this might be the plan Chaos was given to execute..." UltimaRyumon commented. "If the barrier were to be broken..."
"The two worlds would enter on a collision course, and destroy each other upon impact." Krasus direly finished.
All the others, both on Regan's side and Krasus', went silent.
"Then we gotta find that creep and quickly!" Beelzemon yelled out.
"Of course." Krasus answered. "Darius, I am sending you another list of materials that ChaosRyumon should be after. If you know the location of such items, tell us where we can find them so that you can go and intercept ChaosRyumon at those locations before it's too late." He added, making a slight motion of the wrist.
"Okay, I got it now, let me check..." Darius answered...

---

"So? You got anything?" Regan asked after a while.
"Yeap, and it's not good." Darius answered. "If that Chaos guy is as rough as you'd say, then he won't have too much trouble getting all the remaining items he needs for his bomb."
"But we need to stop him before he gets them all!" Kylee said.
"Hold on...there might be one thing...That one." Darius said, pointing up to something on the list.
"Some sort of crystal?" Regan asked.
"Not exactly. A crystal made in the Digital World, and these are apparently made only in places with a huge amount of dimensional ambient energies. It's called a 'Nexus Crystal'." UltimaRyumon rectified.
"That would be a power source he needs?" Beelzemon asked.
"Dunno, but he obviously musn't get it." Regan said. "Where can you find it?"
"Well...that is a really rare thing...and as far as I know...only the 'Big Boss' got one as part of his collection."
"The...'Big Boss'?" Kylee asked.
"Pretty much the ruler of this Underworld, kinda a mafia leader if you like." Darius answered.
"So that would be he'd have a fairly strong defense. But it probably won't be tough enough to face someone like ChaosRyumon." UltimaRyumon said.
"Where is that guy's place?" Regan asked.
"...You really want to go after him?" Darius asked, a bit uncertainly.
Regan only stared strongly.
"We have to Darius." Kylee said. "Otherwise...we might lose everything..." Kylee said.
"...Fine." Darius said.
"Transmit that to Krasus too." UltimaRyumon said.

---

"Very well. I shall send Kari and Riza there to help you." Krasus stated as he received the coordinates and information required.
"So we're going now?" Riza asked.
"Indeed. Make sure to stop ChaosRyumon once you get there." Krasus stated.
"Don't worry, we will." Gatomon said.
"But hem...aren't you coming with us?" Veemon asked.
"It's okay if he doesn't..." Kari suddenly said. Both Veemon and Riza looked uncertainly at her for a while, before hesitantly nodding.

"Let's go. The others will be waiting. And no doubt ChaosRyumon won't wait for us." Kari added.

---

It was a large mansion with a similarly large garden surrounding it. A rich man's house no doubt. But guarded by men and digimon on all entrances.

But they wouldn't be enough. They were only ordinary men and digimon of this world...
It wouldn't stop him...They were nothing to him...
Only insects...and food...

A sudden movement of shadow came from the skies, coming down upon one of the entrances, and directly upon an unsuspecting human guard.

The soldier barely had time to react when the large shadowed form completely engulfed him. The others could barely do a thing as they only heard a terrible bloodcurling scream, followed by several crackling sounds...before a large amount of blood spilled out on the ground, away from the shadow.

One of the human guards started shooting with a machinegun, but the shadowed form quickly crouched and moved away, before lunging forward, then suddenly disappeared.

The soldier looked around, panicked, seeking where the shadow had gone...
...But had failed to miss the sudden increase of darkness right behind him.

The other guards nearby only saw their fellow guard being swallowed, no...eaten by the shadowed form, before red glowing eyes looked at the remaining digimon and human soldiers with a sinister gaze.

One of the digimon, a Skullsatamon quickly charged forward with blinding speed, but was suddenly halted when his 'Nail Bone' attack was blocked with sudden ease.

"My turn..." a dark voice spoke from the shadows.
Twin wicked wristblades came out of the shadows, stabbing the undead digimon right in its chest...before the blades went upward, ripping all the rest of the body that was in the way, including the head, into two pieces, which started to dissipated into data with the rest of the body.

"Who's next?" the shadow asked with a sinister pleasure. Then without warning, it lunged at a digimon. The digimon tried to run away, but it was quickly caught up by the shadow, which proceeded to grab and devour the unfortunate digimon.
As the remaining soldiers heard the terrible tortured scream of the dying digimon, one of them suddenly snapped up, and took something out of its weapon belt. It looked like a small metal ball, but when it landed close to the shadow, it exploded into a powerful burst of light.

A roar was then heard as the soldiers shielded their eyes for a moment from the explosion of light...and when they could see again...they saw...

A large human black draconic figure as tall as a WarGreymon, with red eyes that hungered for destruction and more...
It was covered in a large amount of armor all over its body, yet it still allowed him a clear and immense amount of mobility. Oddly enough, the armor looked damaged and scrapped everywhere, along with many traces of blood. A red blood-soaked and scrapped scarf covered its neck. Pair of wicked and sharp-looking blades were attached on the wrist parts of the digimon's armor.
And still holding the dissipating remnants of its latest victim, with blood and data dripping from its teeth and maw, the black digimon simply sneered darkly.

ChaosRyumon...The Chaotic Berserker...

It quickly charged at the remaining soldiers, hands now glowing with dark power.

"Chaos Breaker Force!!!"

---

The sound of an explosion and smoke rising some distance away was darkly significant as Regan and Kylee quickly noticed the first signs of ChaosRyumon's work as they neared the 'Big Boss''s mansion.

"Hurry up!" Regan said as they ran. "We've got to-" he stopped his sentence short as they suddenly halted at the gates...

...as they saw the remains of a bloody massacre upon the grounds of the mansion's gates.
Many humans, clearly dressed in some soldier-like attires, that had been torn apart as if mere toys, some of them with limbs that had either been lying further away, or simply completely missing at all.
And slowly dissipating remains of severely damaged and data-corrupted digimon that were dying, torn in similar manners to the soldiers. It has been way worse than any sort of natural cataclysm could have ever done.

Regan could feel his stomach stirring at such a sight, feeling extremely troubled, but he steeled himself. He couldn't let himself panic now. And he had already seen a good share of truly disgusting and horrifying things.
UltimaRyumon only frowned at this. Having been a soldier, mutilated corpses were nothing new to him. Only it made him saddened that now even more innocents had been taken by the twisted plots of Ragnarok.
While Beelzemon on the other hand, clearly looked distraught of such a horror show, yet was still able to hold on, Kylee remained there, eyes wide, pupils shaking.
"Enough watching. We need to move on." Regan said darkly, slightly turning his gaze away from the corpses.
He heard a faint thud behind him before Beelzemon gasped. "Kylee!"
Both UltimaRyumon and Regan turned to see Beelzemon moving to Kylee, who seemed to have fell down, and had ceased moving.
"Kylee! Answer me!" Beelzemon said.
"She's in shock." UltimaRyumon said, taking look of her eyes. "The sight of those corpses was too much for her to bear."
"Gee...ya think?" Beelzemon said on a darker, more annoyed tone.
"I think it's more than that..." Regan said, looking at Kylee within the arms of her partner. "I think that seeing what ChaosRyumon just did here...reminded her...of her first encounter with Ragnarok, and his partner." He added on a darker tone.
Beelzemon remained silent, darkly remembering those terrible events. How Ragnarok had appeared before them, confident and taunting them, before he let loose his partner on Kylee, who took sinister pleasure in slowly torturing her to death.
And if Impmon hadn't managed to digivolve that day...

"Go on." Beelzemon said.
"What?" Regan asked.
"I said 'Go on.' kiddo. Didn't heard me? I'm gonna stay to watch over Kylee. She can't be doing much like that. Besides, someone has to slow down that Chaos freak while the reinforcements will be coming." Beelzemon said.
"...Fine. Make sure to protect her Beelzemon." Regan said.
"Heh, you can count on that, Regan." Beelzemon said with a determined smirk.
"Ultima?" Regan said before he turned toward the mansion and ran. His partner quickly followed smoothly, rising up again and turning to quickly catch up to him, his sword in hand.
"I was afraid of this..." UltimaRyumon said.
"That she would...?" Regan asked.
"Yeah. Can't say she had a good start with Ragnarok to begin with..." UltimaRyumon simply said.

---

"Kylee! Kylee! Snap up, come on!" Beelzemon yelled as he briefly shook Kylee around.
"H-Huh...Huh, wha-what?" Kylee shook her head a bit, looking around confusedly, and troubled. "Beelzemon?"
"Come on Kylee, we gotta hurry up! Regan and Ultima went without us because you dropped on us!"
"I dropped?" Kylee asked.
"Yeah, you just stood there, not moving, then you just fell on the ground like a doll! And Regan said you acted like that because those corpses were reminding you of...the first time we met that Ragnarok freak..." Beelzemon then said, slowly a bit at the end.
"O...Oh...S-Sorry..." Kylee muttered, lowering her head sadly.
"Hey Kylee..." Beelzemon slowly started. "...you know...If you want, we could go back, and just wait around to intercept ChaosRyumon if he escapes..."
For a moment, Kylee remained silent...then she spoke. "You'd mean...that we would just stand on the sidelines, and do nothing again? Run away like a coward?"

"We can't do that Beelzemon! This time, we have to help, no matter what! Lots of lives might be at stake, for all we know, Ragnarok will want that ChaosRyumon would plan to kill all of us! We can't let him do that! We'll have to go, and face him."

Beelzemon smiled. "Now that's the Kylee I know of. Always want in to charge and help out others. So then, you're ready Kylee? Because even for the champions, that's gonna be a tough one."

"That's not gonna stop us from trying, right Beelzemon?" Kylee asked. "Let's go!"
And with that, the two charged toward the assaulted mansion.

---

"Okay, now where we going now?" Regan asked. Having entered the besieged mansion could be an easy thing...but what about directions once inside?
Having arrived in what looked like a library, Regan looked around, with UltimaRyumon right behind him.

"Perhaps you could use your digivice to-MOVE!" UltimaRyumon suddenly said, pushing Regan in a corner of the room, just as he leapt on the opposite side.
Moments before that, gunfire rang into the room.

"The mansions' guardians no doubt!" UltimaRyumon yelled through the gunfire.
"But they should be after Chaos! Not us!" Regan tried to yell back, before he ducked as a hole in the wall was made by a bullet above him.

Snorting, UltimaRyumon yelled. "Attention all of you! We're not here to attack you or your boss! We're only here to help against the digimon that's attacking this place! Stop firing or we'll be forced to neutralize you!"

A small part of the wall near UltimaRyumon's face went exploding in debris from a bullet passing in it, just as the digimon noticed yet another series of bullets burying in the wall that Regan was using for cover.

"Well, guess that's it then." UltimaRyumon muttered. And he suddenly leapt back in the path of the shooters before he made a powerful swing of his sword, sending out a powerful blast of air from the swing, right at the shooters, knocking them off their feet.
Regan then heard the sound of quick, yet strong hits being delivered, before silence came...

"Ultima?" Regan asked.
"All clear." UltimaRyumon calmly answered.
Regan came out of his hiding spot to see all the shooters lying on the ground. Seeing the concern in his partner's face, UltimaRyumon quickly spoke. "Don't worry, I just knocked them all out. I wouldn't be killing them."

"...Let's just go." Regan said. Even though they hadn't killed them, these soldiers were still innocents in this...Innocents that UltimaRyumon had harmed...Although it was to protect Regan's life...

---

While Regan and Lizomon had already started getting into some problems of their own, Kylee and Beelzemon hadn't encountered opposition in their way so far...until...a stench arose in the air...

"Ew, what's that smell?" Kylee asked.

The answer came only a few moments later, in the following corridor.

The entire way was stained and sprayed with blood and other bodily fluids all over the walls, the floor and the ceiling. Some parts of humans and digimon were also present, either lying unmoving on the floor...or stuck in the walls or ceiling...Not to mention the many tears and cuts present in the walls and everything else in the way...

Kylee's eyes just widened, as she held her hands to her face, in sheer horror. Never before she had expected ChaosRyumon to be capable of such violence. Even when they had first fought him seemed so little in comparison to now...

"Kylee...Are you gonna be okay?" Beelzemon asked.
"...Y-Yeah...I'll be fine...We got to move on. He's close..." she answered, hesitantly.

And slowly, they went on in the bloodied hallway...

---

The door in pieces, blood sprayed on their remains, as he entered the room of the so-called 'Boss'.

Blood mixed with data dripping from his wristblades and teeth, ChaosRyumon slowly entered the room, glaring hard at the cowered somewhat fat man that was hiding in a corner of the room.

"The Nexus Crystal. Where is it?" ChaosRyumon asked with a growl. "TELL ME!"

The man remained silent, scared and hesitating.

ChaosRyumon quickly rushed toward the man, before he slashed straight at one of the man's sides. A yell of pain then came from the man.

"I want the Nexus Crystal, NOW! Tell me and I will spare your pitiful existence!" ChaosRyumon replied, looking very angered.

Shaking, and holding a hand to his wound, the man then pointed toward a painting on a wall. "Be-Behind it..."

Sneering, ChaosRyumon turned and started walking toward the said painting, his smile growing more and more as he closed the distance between he and the painting.

"Hold it right there, Chaos freak!"

ChaosRyumon stopped, and looked toward the source of the voice. He sneered as he recognized them : Beelzemon, who had spoken...and his tamer, Kylee Henke.

"Kylee Henke...It has been...some time..." ChaosRyumon said, showing a toothy smile. "Recovered well from our...very first encounter?" he added with a greater grin.

Kylee shivered, and stepped back slightly at those words and the grin. But Beelzemon only glared, and make sure to move himself a bit more in-between him and Kylee.

"Beelzemon, still so blindly following your little girl?" ChaosRyumon asked, now sneering at the biker digimon.

"So what about it? You're jealous?" Beelzemon replied instead, in a more taunting way.

ChaosRyumon smirked. "Foolish of you to dare stand in my way."
"We know what you're trying to do Chaos..." Kylee said, surprising herself at being able to speak that way when she did so. "We know you want to make a space-time oscillation bomb."

ChaosRyumon let out a very slow laugh. "Yesss...The Master's Will shall be done."

"Your master is dead, freak beast!" Beelzemon yelled. "Why the hell should you try to cause so much chaos anyway then?"

"Heh heh heh...You are foolish, all of you...
The Master never die. He is eternal, inevitable. You believe you destroyed him, but even then, he will always return.
In fact...He had expected you to succeed. He knew he would suffer this minor 'defeat', in order for his proper plan to be executed.

Righteous Retribution shall be enforced upon this pitiful reality. You will all pay for having dared to stand against the Master." ChaosRyumon said, eyes now holding a more fanatical glow.

At first, Kylee had really imagined that ChaosRyumon was but a mindless beast that blindly obeyed Ragnarok...But hearing him speak like that only made her realize that the truth was far worse.

ChaosRyumon seemed to be very smart and cunning. Which might be little surprising considering that he is based on Lizomon's own data.
The only obvious difference about ChaosRyumon's acting is that he obviously held a fanatical loyalty to Ragnarok, probably instilled by Ragnarok himself...along with that desire and hunger for human flesh as much as digimon data...
More ways to make ChaosRyumon literally be the perfect killing machine...

"We just beat Ragnarok! And even if he somehow survived, Krasus just destroyed him with his magic! No way Ragnarok could have survived that!" Kylee said, reminding herself very well how Ragnarok had originally survived their encounter.

"Yesss...The old wyrm has great power. But even then it has not destroyed the Master.

My Master is Death. Death Incarnate to his enemies and those who foolishly stands against him. I even recently faced a foolish boy that seemed to consider himself as 'death', or some avatar of it.

My Master has showed him his foolish errors, showing how that pitiful boy was nothing but an instrument for my Master. And I gladly enforced His will upon that foolish boy." ChaosRyumon said, grinning wildly.

Kylee looked unsure. She certainly didn't knew exactly what ChaosRyumon was talking of, but the first thing he meant seemed that he claimed that Ragnarok had survived even Krasus' spells, and was still alive.
But, that thing about that 'boy'? She certainly didn't knew what he was talking of. But from the looks of it, it seemed that ChaosRyumon had killed the boy under orders of Ragnarok.

"You...killed that boy?" Kylee asked, a bit afraid.

ChaosRyumon slowly chuckled. "He escaped." The dark digimon said, smiling despite saying such unusual news. "And when he escaped, the Master sent Parallelmon after him.
And ironically, that boy actually led Parallelmon to the True Digital World, where my Master's enemies were. But after that, Parallelmon was easily able to find and absorb that pitiful boy and his 'non-existent' partner.

Although, no doubt he was released when you managed to destroy Parallelmon.

But even then, he never escaped the Master despite all of this. The Master has now Marked him as His. Soon...that boy shall become one with us. He shall soon become willing to agree and bow to my Master's will." ChaosRyumon said, now grinning wide once more.

Once again, Kylee didn't understand all of ChaosRyumon's words, but she still understood a good part of their meanings...

Whoever was that boy had actually unwillingly led Parallelmon to Regan and Kari! If whatever that 'True Digital World' ChaosRyumon had just spoke of was indeed the Digital World as it should be, then it made little doubt on how exactly Parallelmon went after Regan and Kari!

She was worried and relieved about how this boy probably was freed from Parallelmon when the digimon was destroyed...but those other words from ChaosRyumon troubled Kylee.
What exactly did he meant by having 'marked' the boy? Hold on a minute...

"Ragnarok...He had marked Parallelmon too...didn't he?" Kylee uncertainly asked.

"Yes!!!" ChaosRyumon replied, grinning wider. "He was the first that was drawn to the Master, and the first to become Marked by Him! With Parallelmon, my Master acquired many opportunities, many ways. My Master has laid out his plans well before he sent Parallelmon after that foolish boy called Creed Wiseman. The boy was Parallelmon's first target, but his priority targets were my Master's two main enemies. The foolish 'Wiseman' led Parallelmon to them when he accidently arrived into their world!
No one can escape the Master! No one!"

It confirmed indeed her fears...When ChaosRyumon meant that Ragnarok had 'marked' that boy, apparently named Creed, he had laid out his means...to corrupt that boy.

Just like he had corrupted Parallelmon. If a digimon as powerful as Parallelmon fell to Ragnarok's corruption, then the chances that a human fall to it would probably be dreadfully high!
Kylee shivered at those thoughts.

"Enough talk now! I shall fulfill my Master's will now! And your pitiful reality shall meet its end!" ChaosRyumon then said.

And with that, he rushed toward the portrait.

"Oh no you won't!" Beelzemon yelled as he went for ChaosRyumon.

However, as Beelzemon neared him, ChaosRyumon slashed with one of his wristblades in the biker's direction, sending out a dark energy wave, but actually missed him...

...Until Beelzemon realized who Chaos was aiming for : Kylee.

"Kylee!" Beelzemon yelled as he saw her froze, seeing the energy wave nearing her.

There was a quick blur as Regan leapt out from the doorway, grabbing unto Kylee as he held out his right hand opened toward the energy wave, instantly summoning his crimson shield, which received the attack with a strong sound, and a loud grunt from Regan.

"You're okay Kylee?" Regan asked.
Kylee took her breath, barely realizing all of what had just happened in only a few moments. "Y-Yeah...Thanks..." she replied.

"And keep your attention too kiddo!" Beelzemon reacted at the sound of UltimaRyumon's voice, before he looked toward ChaosRyumon, only to see Ultima's massive sword blocking Chaos' blades. Obviously, ChaosRyumon had attempted to make a move on Beelzemon while he would be distracted at Kylee, hoping to kill two birds with one stone.

"Enough games now Chaos. It's over." UltimaRyumon simply said, glaring at his dark counterpart.

"Hah!" ChaosRyumon quickly pulled back before he swung at the ground below him, causing it to explode, before he made a run straight for the portrait, taking advantage of the distracting blast.

With one swift move, he slashed at the portrait, ripping it apart, and revealing behind it a large glowing white, purple and blue crystal, large enough to be held in two human-sized hands, but small enough to easily fit in one hand of the larger ChaosRyumon.

With a crazed grin, the dark digimon quickly wrapped its hand on the crystal, before pulling it, just as UltimaRyumon's sword went flying right at him, thrown by its owner.

"You're too late to stop me now! Retribution is at hand!" ChaosRyumon yelled, before he went straight for the nearest wall.

"You ain't gonna go that easily! Darkness Claw!" Beelzemon yelled, charging and ramming straight into the dark digimon before he slashed at him. ChaosRyumon however, raised his free hand to hold back Beelzemon's claws, before he rammed a knee in the biker digimon's stomach.

ChaosRyumon only grinned madly before rushing for the nearest windowed wall, and broke through it as if nothing was in his way. However, just as he stepped outside the building, his escape went short.

"Positron Laser!"
"Fire Tornado!"

The two attacks struck the ground, awfully close to where ChaosRyumon would have started to run to, causing him to halt, and glare toward his newest assailants.

Magnadramon and Imperialdramon Fighter Mode. And standing on their respective digimon partners were Kari and Riza.

"We won't let you escape, Chaos!" Kari shouted.
"Hehehe, just TRY, little girl!" ChaosRyumon taunted, before he held the Nexus Crystal foward for all of them to see...before he opened his maw and swallowed it up.

"Wh-What? He ate it?!?" Kylee said, having came out through the hole along with Regan and their partners.

ChaosRyumon slowly chuckled. "Heheheheh...You hadn't wondered where I was keeping the bomb's materials, hadn't you?

They are all in me. And thus...

I am the Space-Time Oscillation Bomb."

"You're crazy?!?" Beelzemon yelled. "Hold on that. You always were crazy. But anyway, you really gonna blow yourself up?!?"

"I will do what my Master commands, and even if I perish in his name, I too am like Him. I too will return, as He shall raise me to existence once more." ChaosRyumon said, grinning darkly. "So what now 'heroes'? Will you attempt to destroy me? Who knows if it will cause the bomb to be triggered..."

They all stood uncertainly. They were all surrounding him, yet ChaosRyumon seemed to hold a terrible advantage over them.

UltimaRyumon briefly looked toward his partner. "Regan. We have to fight him." he mentally spoke, sending his thoughts at Regan.
Regan was in shock at this. "What?!? But what if he explodes?!?"
"Maybe that's what Ragnarok wants us to think. That if we fight ChaosRyumon, he might explode. And so if we hesitate, he'll be able to run away to find the perfect spot where he should blow up the bomb." UltimaRyumon mentally replied. "We have to incapacitate him. If we do knock him out, I'm sure Krasus will be able to extract the bomb."

Regan remained silent, uncertain. Then, he slightly nodded.

The hesitation was then broken.

UltimaRyumon rushed straight toward his dark counterpart. ChaosRyumon barely turned his head before he leapt sideways to evade a large sword swing.

"Bold move..." he commented before he leapt and ran away. The others looked in shock at UltimaRyumon's actions.

"We have to go after him!" Regan said.
"But what about that bomb?" Riza asked.
"If we let him run away, he'll just go find the perfect place to blow it up, making things WAY worse! We have to stop him, and neutralize him. I'm sure Krasus could remove that bomb afterward!" UltimaRyumon said.
"You can't be serious..." Kylee muttered, very worried.
"...I think Ultima is right...We'll have to take that risk..." Kari said, lowering her head.
"Alright then. Let's go. We got a running bomb to catch up." Beelzemon said. With that, he fired two gunshots in the air, bringing down the Behemoth motorcycle from the skies.
"Let's hit it now!" he yelled. UltimaRyumon gave out a nod before looking at Regan.
"Let's go everyone." Regan said.

With that, the others nodded before Magnadramon and Imperialdramon took off to the skies, toward where ChaosRyumon had fled. UltimaRyumon crouched himself, letting Regan climb on his back before he took up to the air as well, remaining at a lower altitude than his other flying counterparts.

"Let's go Kylee!" Beelzemon said.
And uncertainly, Kylee walked up to the motorcycle before climbing behind Beelzemon and grabbed unto him.
"And to say I swore to myself I'd never go back on that..." she muttered right before Beelzemon crushed the gas pedal, sending his bike into a mad rush after their target...

The streets were bustling with activities...only to be replaced with sudden chaos as ChaosRyumon rushed right into the streets, with the other digimon hot on his trail.

People scattered as the dark digimon stomped the ground, charging into the cars, before he literally bowled them over, knocking them out of his way.

Coming soon behind were Magnadramon and Kari first, soon followed by UltimaRyumon and Regan, before ImperialDramon and Riza came forth, with Beelzemon and Kylee in the end, the former pair unto the Behemoth bike while the others flew in the air.

"Get him Beelzemon!" Kylee yelled, holding her partner tightly at the same time, hoping not to fall.

"That ain't easy with so many people and cars all around! You think it'd be easy to drive AND shoot at once?" Beelzemon replied as he swerved, evading a few of the crashed cars.

ChaosRyumon only slightly looked behind him, seeing the group of Digidestined and Tamers that were after him, before snorting.

He suddenly leapt in the air, his free arm held high, before he fell down upon the nearest car that was in the way. His fist ripped through the car's cap and through the engine, just as its driver ran out of the car.

With a dark grin, and his fist still through the car, he raised and hurled the car right into the air, at the nearest of his pursuers : Magnadramon.

Magnadramon was a bit caught off-guard by the hurled weapon, however, she quickly flew upward to evade the thrown obstacle...until she received a second car in the stomach...quickly followed by a "Chaos Breaker Force!" from ChaosRyumon, aimed straight at the car.

The dark energy ball struck the car, causing it to explode, and whatever energy that hadn't been taken by the car struck Magnadramon.

The impact sent Magnadramon hurtling backward, heavily destabilized. However, for Kari, hanging upon her partner's back, things went worse : As the car struck and exploded, sending Magnadramon in disarray, Kari clutched the digimon's fur tightly...

...but to no avail...as her grip failed...and she found herself hurled in the air, before gravity started to take its toll on her...and she started falling.

"Kari!!!" yelled all three children at once as they saw their friend fall from the skies.

And just as she fell, another reacted. ChaosRyumon leapt in the air, hurtling himself straight toward the falling Kari, murderous intent in his eyes...

"Darn it!!! Ultima! We got to do something!!!" Regan yelled to his partner.
Silent, UltimaRyumon only pushed harder, seeking to close the distance between him and Kari more quickly...However, ChaosRyumon was still the closest to his target.

Out of the corner of the eye, Regan could easily see Magnadramon starting to recover, and clearly intending to reach out to her partner, but she would be far too late to reach her before ChaosRyumon.

"Ultima! There's gotta be something we can do!" Regan yelled again.
"I think there might be one thing...but you're gonna have to react quickly on your own!" UltimaRyumon replied...before he suddenly grabbed Regan on his back with his free arm...then threw Regan straight at Kari.

Regan panicked for a moment, before he quickly registered what UltimaRyumon had in mind...

And in a burst of data surrounding him, Regan propelled himself faster, in his own Mega Bio-Modify form. "Kari!!!" he yelled, trying to get her attention. "Bio-Modify!"

Kari glanced at him, as best as she could while falling, then briefly made a panicked nod, realizing it might possibly save her life.

"No little 'evolution' trick will save you from me now!!!" ChaosRyumon roared as he neared closer and closer to Kari.

As the dark digimon inched close now to Kari, she suddenly started to burst in a sudden flare of light, which caught the dark dragon by surprise, but only for a moment, as he urged closer to quickly finish it.

However, as he brought down his claws upon the shining Kari, she suddenly moved with unexpected swiftness, still glowing...before a large burst of flames was unleashed from her, striking down ChaosRyumon.

"Kari!" Regan shouted as he got closer to her. She slowly ceased to glow, until her appearance was finally visible.

Not one pair of wing, but rather 4, glowing pink ones. Her entire body was covered in pink fur, and a very long tail hung from behind her, along with long horns coming on the sides of her head. And yet she still kept her trademark hairs.

"Kari...you...changed..." Regan muttered, looking in amazement at Kari's new form. It then became obvious to Regan what had just happened : She had Bio-Modified to Mega form. The form of Magnadramon.

"I...I...I don't know how..." she started, looking with astonishment at herself, and Regan could also easily distinguish claws on her hands.

"As much as I could potentially understand as why you would like to gaze at her lithe, 'clothes-less' form..." UltimaRyumon started, giving a slow, nasty grin at the end of his sentence...which made Regan realize, that indeed, Kari didn't had any sort of clothes now...except if you counted the fur that now covered every inch of her body, although it did little to hide her form. And no doubt Kari realized this, although if she was blushing, the fur was making it impossible to see.

"We got more to focus on, UltimaRyumon!!!" Regan angrily(and blushingly) yelled toward UltimaRyumon. This time, the digimon's face returned serious. "Yes, Chaos is escaping again."

They looked, indeed to see that the dark dragon was indeed flying away, this sudden evolution from Kari having also given him an additional escaping chance.

"We have to hurry!" Kari said. With a nod, they quickly went on the chase, still followed by Kylee and Riza, who they too, had seen the unexpected transformation.

"Regan, I think I may have some good news." The voice of Krasus suddenly echoed in Regan's mind.
"Huh? What news?" Regan thought back. He really wondered what could Krasus had found out.
"I believe I have found the place where ChaosRyumon seeks to detonate the bomb. Pheonix City's Central Park." Krasus replied.
"Where is that?" Regan asked.
"The place where you fought Ragnarok the first time you were on the world." was the answer.
Now it struck Regan. How he remembered well of this place, and the time it had happened...with the enormous portal Ragnarok had made...
"The barriers at this location are far weaker due to Ragnarok's work there once. The bomb will have more effect there." Krasus added.

"Guys!" Regan yelled out to the others. "We got to go where we first fought Ragnarok! Krasus says it's there that ChaosRyumon will blow up his bomb!"
"Makes sense..." UltimaRyumon stated. "The barrier would be weaker at this place, considering Ragnarok had created a gigantic portal to the Digital World there..."
"Then let's hurry there!" Beelzemon yelled.
"We should keep an eye on ChaosRyumon as well too! We can't take any risk!" Kari added.
"Then we've got no other choice but to keep on the hunt..." Regan muttered.
And with that, they went on, wings flapping and tires squealing, the minds of these children and digimon all geared toward a common goal : Stop ChaosRyumon and save this world...

It was quickly decided. Regan and UltimaRyumon immediately went for the central park while the others would keep on the hunt.

"UltimaRyumon, I'm not sure to understand. How can this Nexus Crystal be so powerful and dangerous?" Regan asked as they waited.
"The Nexus Crystals are very powerful elements Regan. They literally are self-sustaining generators. Even a hand-sized shard is way more potent than some of the strongest man-made reactors. Heck, that large crystalline array that is at the base of the Draclios Fortress is made of Nexus Crystals, used as the prime energy source of the base."

The Draclios Fortress. The name of the ancient floating fortress that served as the Ancient Guardians' base of operations back in the time when the Digital World was invaded by a terrible evil.

No doubt it surely had been been a great symbol of hope, freedom and life for the Digimon back then...but today now...Things aren't as they were...

The Guardians vanished altogether countless years ago, sometime after the war was over. And with them, so did the Fortress vanish. But while no Guardian has ever returned save for Lizomon, the Draclios Fortress however, reappeared. Or rather, it was summoned back into existence...by Krasus.

The Fortress had remained hidden in a dimensional pocket for centuries. Until the wizard brought it back into existence.

Once no doubt the Fortress had been a symbol of glory, life and freedom...but for the Chosen, at first...it had been one of pain and horror.

As they were forced to confront against a terrible threat at that time...
It was then that Regan discovered the terrible truth...about what he really was...

Even though, the crisis that erupted at the Fortress was over, the Core Chosen still held some uncertainties toward the ancient domain sometimes...

And that was indeed something Regan wasn't forgetting...

"Regan! He's getting close to the park now!" the voice of Kari suddenly yelled out from his digivice.

"We're on it." Regan said, snapping out of his dark thoughts, as he peered to see the incoming digimon.
"There." UltimaRyumon, pointing to their right. Regan looked, and he saw indeed ChaosRyumon that was nearing.
"Let's go." Regan said, and his partner nodded.
And both leapt in the skies.

As they came down, ChaosRyumon rocketed out of the buildings, nearing the grounds of the park, avoiding his pursuers...until two swords fell unto him, sending him spiralling on the ground, sliding off several feet before coming to a stop.

"It's over Chaos." UltimaRyumon stated, his sword mere inches from his dark counterpart's face, as everyone else neared them, surrounding their target.
It was unsure how ChaosRyumon was reacting to his failure, although his eyes seemed to grow wider.
"Never, NEVER!" he yelled, before jolting up in an unexpected boost of strength.

UltimaRyumon didn't hesitated. He swung his sword.

And just as ChaosRyumon started to leap in the air, the large sword went cutting through his armor and flesh, leaving out a terrible cut and the armor broken.
Yet, despite that sudden wound, ChaosRyumon completely ignored it, flying through the air, straight up.

"No!" Regan yelled, as he took off to the skies, followed by UltimaRyumon.
Regan strained, pushing harder on his wings, seeking to catch ChaosRyumon before it was too late. It just seemed it would take forever to reach him...

When suddenly, the dark digimon yelled.

"RETRIBUTION HAS COME!!!"

"Down!!!" UltimaRyumon suddenly shouted, and grabbed Regan's leg before throwing him downward, with obvious intent to protect him.

As Regan tumbled downward, the next thing he knew was light.

A giant flare of light blinded his eyes, followed by an unknown sound, although it almost seemed like the rush of wind and dozens of screaming voices.

His thoughts were cleared as he struck the ground.
"Regan! Are you okay?!?" spoke the panicked voice of Kari.
"Yeah...what happened?" he asked, rising up.

"We failed..." was all that UltimaRyumon said. "The bomb has detonated."

And looking upward, Regan's heart sank.

A gigantic hole in reality had been torn apart.
But something wasn't right...

"This isn't the Digital World..." Regan said.
Kylee and Riza frowned worryingly at him.
"He's right." Kari said. "The Digital World shouldn't look like that."

"Then...what is it?"Kylee asked.

And they all looked upward. The sky was now covered in dark clouds...and in the middle, right above them stood a gigantic hole...But as Regan and Kari said, it wasn't the Digital World on the other side...

It was greenish. And clearly unearthly. Something terribly alien and unknown.

"This isn't right..." UltimaRyumon muttered. "That bomb didn't even broke the barriers between the two worlds...

...It opened a rip to somewhere else..."

"But...where?" Beelzemon asked, nervously.
UltimaRyumon himself was unsure what to answer...
...as it seemed dreadfully familiar...

Until a sound came...and the dragon knight's eyes widened.

"RUN!" he yelled. And pushed on everyone else away.

No one else was able to understand. The rush and yell was too sudden, as they did the one thing they were ordered to : run.

Then the ground shook, sending most of the kids and digimon to the ground.

Regan and the others looked back, having fled the outskirts of the park now...but he looked upward, and was only more worried, just like everyone else.

He saw greenish meteors falling out of the giant gateway, striking the city's grounds at various places with powerful force.

"No..." UltimaRyumon muttered.

And for the first time...
Regan actually registered...fear...in his partner's voice...

"It's just...just like that day..." UltimaRyumon continued, eyes fixed in the skies.
No one else spoke, all seeking the upcoming answer...however dreadful it might be...

"...The Day the Sky rained Fire..." UltimaRyumon spoke. "...and the enemy came among us..."

Regan's eyes widened. Now he believed he knew what his partner was speaking of.
Perhaps indeed the worst thing ever to happen...

---

Back in his sanctum, Krasus had been watching, somewhat helplessly, and unaware as ChaosRyumon acted in a different manner than he had thought.

And now seeing the meteors falling from the skies...
...he gritted his teeth...a hand clenching...

---

"What...what is it? What enemy?" Kylee asked uncertainly.

UltimaRyumon turned dark. "The Legion." He spoke.

"The Burning Legion...

It has come to this reality...to eradicate it..."

And as he finished speaking, terrible unearthly, monstrous screams started being heard all around the city...

...as the demonic invasion began anew...from its last attempt...thousands of years ago...
And this time...there might be no stopping them...