Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, Bandai does.

Legend of the Holy Dragon 2

The Fate of the World

Chapter 3

"We shouldn't have done that…" Sacchi said as she ran her hand across Pekomon's fur.

"…It was a really dumb thing to do… I shouldn't have lost my temper…" Kei sighed.

They were sitting in the bubble, zooming towards their next destination: the South Sector.

"What's past is past." Takeshi spoke up. "There's no use regretting it, since you can't change it anyway, just make sure we don't do stupid things like that again."

Rick looker up. " 'Tomorrow is another day.'" He quoted, drawing a smile from both girls. "That's better." He said, smiling himself.

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  Shaulamon looked around. The DigiKnights were all asleep. Quickly, he scuttled to the center of the bubble, as the other Digimon also made their way there, being careful not to wake their partners.

"Well, we're making good progress. We're able to digivolve to Ultimate now." Pekomon said.

Vipermon nodded. "But we still have a long way to go. I barely managed to defeat Siberiamon as Dracomon. There's no way we can defeat Desdemon at our current level."

"Don't worry. We'll be getting plenty of practice." Kangamon said. The other Digimon stared at her. Kangamon sighed. "Trust me, we'll be battling a lot."

The other Digimon nodded. Suddenly, Takeshi stirred. The Digimon exchanged a look, then returned to their partners' sides.

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"I've seen enough pink to last me for the next twenty years." Sacchi grumbled as they stepped out of the bubble into another endless stretch of pink.

"Let's hurry up and get the Crystal so we can turn the Digital World back to its original colour." Kei suggested. The others all agreed, and they set off to find Zhuqiaomon.

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The red phoenix raised its head, its four red eyes glowing fiercely.

A green dragon with large gold horns and six limbs bowed down to it. "My God, eight strangers have appeared in the Realm of the Four Gods. Four of them are humans."

The phoenix flapped its four wings and sparks flew everywhere. "Find them and stop them…"

The dragon bowed again and faded into the background.

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The DigiKnights stood facing a long bridge. "This is the only way to Zhuqiaomon's nest." Kangamon said.

Takeshi was opening his mouth to speak when a green dragon Digimon landed in front of them. "Puny humans… how dare you enter the Digimon Gods' realm…?"

Rick did not miss a beat. Raising his D-gadget, he quickly scanned the other Digimon.

"Majiramon. Data type Champion. Attack: Treasure Arrow."

In unison, the four DigiKnights each pulled out a chip.

"Chip Activate! Ultimate Digivolve!"

Coloured lights flashed as the four Ultimate faced Majiramon. Dracomon attacked first.

"Fire Cannon!" Balls of fire burst out of Dracomon's palms, hitting Majiramon square in the chest. Majiramon roared in pain and counterattacked.

"Treasure Arrow!"

Majiramon flew up into the sky, creating multiple arrows. As Majiramon flew above them, the arrows turned into light and rained down on Marsupimon.

While Majiramon was thus occupied, Metalnekomon and Scorpiodramon took the chance and attacked.

"Cat's Eye!"

"Tranquil Bloodstorm!"

Twin beams of emerald light drilled into Majiramon as Scorpiodramon's tail flicked forwards and injected Majiramon with a tranquilizing poison. Majiramon fought the poison for a moment before falling onto the ground, unconscious.

"Lets go." Sacchi said.

Kei hastily healed Marsupimon before they proceeded carefully across the bridge.

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The group cautiously stepped into the hall. The hall was huge, with red and gold pillars adorning the sides. Fire flickered around the bases of the pillars and lighted up the hall. In the middle of the hall was a large firey 'nest'.

Sitting on top of the nest was the largest bird Digimon the DigiKnights had ever seen. It was a huge flaming red pheonix with four wings and the characteristic four eyes of a Sovereign.

"Zhuqiaomon. Virus type Mega. Attacks: Crimson Blaze, Purgatory Claws"

"So," It said in a deep, slightly echo-y voice. "You have made it past my last Deva… What have you come here for? We do not welcome humans in this Sector."

Kangamon took a step forwards and bowed. Then she explained their mission. She was almost done when an unearthly sound interrupted her.

Zhuqiaomon was laughing. "You humans and your partners think you can take the Crystal just like that? How do I know that you are worthy of the Crystal? Are you capable of defeating Desdemon, who you claim has returned?"

"We nearly defeated Desdemon!" Sacchi said angrily.

"Yes… You nearly defeated Desdemon. Nearly. Do you think you can defeat him now? What if he runs off into the Dark Dimension again? Or what if you actually destroy the Digital World this time?"

"We…" Sacchi started. Rick stopped her and asked.

"How can we prove to you that we are capable of this task?"

Zhuqiaomon turned to look at him. "Ah, yes. A test." It appeared deep in thought for a few moments, then suddenly spread its wings and soared up from its nest.

"Defeat me."

With that, the red phoenix screeched out its attack.

"Crimson Blaze!"

Streamers of fire flared up all over the sovereign's body. With a swipe of its wings, Zhuqiaomon sent the streamers their way.

As soon as Zhuqiaomon had challenged them, the DigiKnights each pulled out their digivolution chips and slotted them. The four ultimate Digimon then proceeded to counterattack.

"Metal Storm!" Wave after wave of silver needles flew off Metalnekomon's tail and hit the streamers of flame. The needles burned red hot and nearly melted, but on event stopped the flames from spreading any further.

"Ray Spike!"

"Draconus Slash!"

Brilliant spikes composed of pure light flew at Zhuqiaomon as four red dragons erupted from Dracomon's blade and spiraled towards it. Zhuqiaomon summoned a burst of fire which dispelled the spikes but had little effect on the dragons. In unison, they let out an unnatural screech and barreled into Zhuqiaomon. The fiery phoenix growled in pain and sent more fire towards the attacking Digimon.

While Zhuqiaomon was thus distracted, Scorpiodramon crept up behind it and attacked twice in succession.

"X Slash! Tranquil Bloodstorm!"

A large x-shaped gash appeared on Zhuqiaomon and before it could close, Scorpiodramon's tail flashed forwards and injected its deadly poison.

Zhuqiaomon growled again, but showed no other signs of being affected by the poison. The Digimon and DigiKnights alike were shocked, but still acted without hesitation.

Each pulling out their chips, the DigiKnights called out.

"Chip Activate!"

Scorpiodramon felt his attribute change from data to vaccine and understood Takeshi's idea. He used Tranquil Bloodstorm again and watched in satisfaction as Zhuqiaomon screeched in pain from the extra damage caused by the type advantage.

Marsupimon attacked as she felt the strength of a mega Digimon flowing through her.

"Ray Spike! Laser Horn!"

Spikes of light once again materialized around Marsupimon, but they were now connected to a long intense beam of light attached to the single horn Marsupimon's nose.

With a toss of her head, Marsupimon sent the spikes flying towards Zhuqiaomon as twin beams from Metalnekomon's Cat's Eye drilled into its side. Zhuqiaomon summoned another burst of fire. Marsupimon growled and the spikes deviated from their course of flight to avoid the flames, before continuing on to slash the phoenix Digimon.

Zhuqiaomon gave a spine tingling screech and counterattacked.

"Crimson Blaze! Purgatory Claws!"

As the twisting flames distracted the four ultimate Digimon, Zhuqiaomon swooped in and delivered its fatal slash.

The cries of pain from the four drowned out all other sounds for a split-second as the horrifying unison of screams were joined by the screams of the DigiKnights as they shared the pain of their partners. No one noticed that the flames from Zhuqiaomon's attack had obliterated a strange looking structure.

Zhuqiaomon flapped its wings almost lazily as it watched the severely crippled team with a strange sense of nostalgia. They reminded it of another team, long, long ago,which had fought just as valiantly. It remembered a boy who had, by pure determination, fought and defeated it.

The same boy who had defeated one of the greatest dangers the Digital World ever faced.

Takato Matsuki.

This new team, the DigiKnights, had the same potential the Digimon Tamers had. It could see the determination and tenacity they possessed. This team were definitely capable of accomplishing great things, and possibly complete the task that Jinlingmon had set them, if they managed to unlock their true potential.

And it would help them as much as it could, even if that meant its defeat.

Rick lay on the ground as pain throbbed through his body. Out of the corners of his eyes he could see the others in the same state.

'Are we going to give up now…?' He thought. 'After we've come so far?'

'No!' Kei and Sacchi's voices yelled. Funny, he could have sworn none of them were in any condition to talk, let alone yell.

'Guys, we can't give up now. If we can't even defeat Zhuqiaomon, we won't have a ghost of a chance against Desdemon!' Takeshi's voice this time. A thought flashed through his mind.

'Are we talking in our heads?'

'What?" The other three asked. From the tone of their thoughts, he could tell they were shocked.

'…Anyway, we have to deal with Zhuqiaomon first. We'll worry about our… telepathy later.'

'Right!'

'Everybody! Let's defeat Zhuqiaomon!'

With that, they all struggled to their feet.

"We'll never give up!" Sacchi said through gritted teeth.

"Never ever!" Kei agreed.

"Because we have many friends here." Takeshi added.

"So we'll never let this world be destroyed!" As Rick shouted this, a brilliant flash of light lit up the area. Four sparkling streams of light erupted from the structure the fire destroyed earlier and floated over to the four fallen Digimon. The light formed a shimmering cocoon around each of the Digimon and faded to reveal four entirely new and restored Digimon.

Instinctively the four DigiKnights scanned the Digimon.

"CyberDracomon. Virus type Mega. Attacks: Crimson Flame, Super Dragon Strike."

CyberDracomon was larger than Dracomon and was purely robotic. His dragon wings were replaced by metallic ones with a booster system. His armour was pure red without the flame designs.

"MagnaNekomon. Data type Mega. Attacks: Crystal Beam, Holy Light."

MagnaNekomon was basically the same as Metalnekomon but her fur was pure white and she had two pairs of angel wings. Her armour was gold. A pair of brilliant green eyes sparkled from under her helmet.

"WarScorpiodramon. Data type Mega. Attacks: Stinging Slash, Poison Spray, Carnage of War."

WarScorpiodramon's armour was black on his claws, back and tail. He was slightly bigger than Scorpiodramon and had three horns of his head instead of the feelers. There was a dangerous aura around him that made him seem much larger.

"HolyMarsupimon. Vaccine type Mega. Attacks: Light Claw Slash, Purifying Beam, Holy Reflection."

Despite the silver armour around her neck, down her back and legs and on her tail, HolyMarsupimon had an ethereal look. Her pale blue stripes were nearly white and her milky white spikes had turned translucent and sparkled with an inner glow.

Zhuqiaomon looked down on the newly digivolved Digimon and was secretly proud of them. 'Now for the final attack.' It thought as it attacked.

"Blazing Helix!"

'What?!?' Digimon and DigiKnights thought in unison as Zhuqiaomon revealed an attack which had not been scanned by their D-Gadgets.

Two huge vortexes of flame formed on either side of Zhuqiaomon and twisted together to form a double-helix inferno. With an echoing cry, the phoenix Sovereign sent the fire their way.

The team acted at the speed of thought.

"Chip Activate! Aegis!" "Titan's Buckler!" "Energy Shield!" "Metal Shell!"

Four huge shields appeared in sequence before the Digimon. The helix of flame hit it with a resounding 'boom' and promptly exploded. A huge cloud of smoke wafted back towards Zhuqiaomon and temporarily obscured its vision. Taking the advantage, the Digimon plunged through the smoke and attacked.

"Crimson Flame!"

"Holy Light!"

"Poison Spray!"

"Purifying Beam!"

A huge blast of fire burst out of CyberDracomon's hands and twisted together with a stream of deep blue liquid poison from WarScorpiodramon and a clear amethyst beam from HolyMarsupimon. MagnaNekomon's fur lit up with a pure white light that flared in Zhuqiaomon's direction.

The four combined attacks hit Zhuqiaomon simultaneously and the shock itself knocked Zhuqiaomon out of the sky. Zhuqiaomon gave out a screech in unearthly tones as it fell, defeated, to the ground.

The Crystal glowed fiery red in the sky and the fire symbol in it burned black. Zhuqiaomon waved a wing and the Crystal split into four fragments which found their places next to the other Crystals on the DigiKnights' D-Gadgets.

"Take care of the South Backup Crystal. Prove that you can fulfill your destiny." Zhuqiaomon said as it opened the portal to the East Sector.

"Good luck, children."

The DigiKnights and their partners waved merrily and entered the portal, which disintegrated into specks of light.

TBC…

Author's notes: Haha! I'm done~~! (does chicken dance) Lol, hope you liked it!

Up next: East Sector and a surprise gatecrasher!