Disclaimer: The only thing I own in this is the ideas...and my OCs. That's all.

Pairings: Takuya/Kouji

Chapter 4

The group walked in awe. They could see the shining barrier that surrounded Seraphimon's castle. Sure they had seen the castle before, but the last time they were there, they were under attack by the Royal Knights so they didn't get to really take in the sight. As they approached the barrier in front of the giant front gate, the teens saw a familiar face waiting to welcome them. "Sorcermon!" The group hollered out, quickening their pace to a run. "Greetings children- well...I guess you aren't children anymore, now are you? Still, I bid you greetings, once again, to Lord Seraphimon's castle." The group all gave him a warm smile as Izumi spoke up, "It's good to see you again Sorcermon!" "Yeah, I thought the last time we saw you would be the last...forever!" Tomoki added. "It would've been so...if the Digital World wasn't in danger yet again." The wizard replied. "What's going on here, Sorcermon?" Kouji asked, solemnly. With this, the guardian's eyes showed sadness. "I think...that's a question for Lord Seraphimon to answer. Let me take you to him." He raised his staff and a hole in the barrier appeared, just big enough for them all to enter and once through it, he waved his staff and the hole was filled again.

The door to the castle opened on it's own as they approached and the group walked down a long hallway to the right walking through a couple doors on the left and finally making it to the big glass/diamond room in the center of the castle, where they'd found Seraphimon frozen in their previous journey. There, sitting on a throne across the room was Seraphimon, himself, who arose to greet the six teens. "Ah, young ones, it is good to see you once again. And I must thank you for coming, yet again, to save the Digital World." Seraphimon said, bowing slightly. "No need to thank us, Seraphimon. We're glad to help!" Takuya exclaimed, and the whole group nodded in agreement. "The Digital World is lucky to have such caring saviors...now, we must get down to business! The sooner you can get started, the better off you'll be." The Celestial digimon walked over to a window that was just outside the door and the teens followed. "I'm sure you all noticed the purple clouds as you entered...that is the problem we're having." "Bad weather? And just how are we supposed to stop that?" Junpei asked. "It's not the weather that's the problem; it's what's causing it. Did you ever stop to wonder why it was me calling you all here rather than Ophanimon, like last time?" The group thought for a second. "I hadn't really thought about." Kouichi answered and the whole group agreed. "Well, the reasoning behind that is: 'Ophanimon' per say is no longer with us. She has fallen from her grace...been corrupted by evil...much like Cherubimon, last time." The kids all gasped. "So then...what happened to her?" Takuya asked, hestinantly. "She has become a Demonic Lord...the 'Goddess of Darkness' is her new title. She is Lilithmon."

There was a brief moment of silence while the teens tried to absorb the information they'd just been given. "But...how is she changing the weather of certain areas of the Digital World?" Tomoki asked, still confused by it all. "Evil or not, she was still originally Ophanimon. Lilithmon now governs her powers of life and love. Just her mere presence in an area can convert weak digimon to her side. And her 'Darkness Love' attack can control just about anyone else. All of those dark clouds hang above areas of the Digital World that are completely under her control, meaning there are no good digimon there at all." "So that means...we'll have to purify them all to get them back? But that's a lot of digi-eggs and a lot of areas of the world that will be empty!" Takuya shouted, not believing what he was being told to do. "I never said that, Takuya. It is true that you will have to defeat the digimon in the areas...but they won't be turned back to digi-eggs. No digi-code will appear around them at all; they'll just be knocked unconcious. Once all of them are out, a dark code will appear around the city. You will each need to be there to scan the data and purify the area. Once that's done, the clouds will disappear and the digimon will awaken, not knowing what happened." The teens were all still a little uneasy about attacking innocent digimon, but they understood what they had to do, and all nodded to show it. "Good. Now, I have a couple things for you all before you head out." Seraphimon said, walking back into the center of the castle, teens in tow. "Hold out your D-Tectors and point them all at the ceiling." Seraphimon ordered. The group did as told and lights beamed out of the D-Tectors, reaching the ceiling. Following the beams came down the spirits. The four for each, Takuya and Kouji, and the two each for Junpei, Kouichi, Tomoki, and Izumi. "But...wait. Seraphimon, where are the spirits of Water, Steel, Earth, and Wood? Takuya and I can't become MagnaGarurumon and EmperorGreymon without them." Kouji pointed out. A deep, rough voice answered him, "I think I can answer that, Wielder of Light." The group looked behind them to see the familiar, good face of Cherubimon standing behind five other teenagers, four of whom had spirits also floating above their heads.
"Allow me to introduce your new teammates..."

"This is Rei, she will be wielding the spirits of water, Ranamon and Calmaramon." Cherubimon pointed to a girl with hair as blue as the sky running down to her shoulders with bangs as blonde as the sun brushed off to the right just above her eyebrows. She had deep blues eyes, like the ocean itself. She was rather skinny and stands about 5ft 5in tall. She had on pearl earrings, skin-tight blue jeans, a white v-neck shirt with a black button-up over shirt that was halfway buttoned and white sneakers.

Cherubimon moved his hand to point to the next in line. "This is Russell, he will be wielding the spirits of steel, Mercurymon and Sakkakumon." He was pointing to a guy with short beach blonde hair and sky blue eyes. He was skinny and on the tall side, standing about 6ft 3in. He was wearing a green t-shirt, black jeans, a black windbreaker, with black steel-toed boots.

"This is Zack, he will be wielding the spirits of wood, Arbormon and Petaldramon." Cherubimon moved his hand to point the teen in the middle of line who was a guy with ear-length dirty blonde hair brushed to the left so it wouldn't cover his grass green eyes. He stood about 5ft 7in. He was muscular with bold legs, a thick chest, and big upperarms. He wore a sleeveless white shirt with an unbuttoned short-sleeved brown shirt, some jean shorts, and black tennis shoes.

"And this is Cameron, who will be wielding the spirits of earth, Grumblemon and Gigasmon." He was pointing to a guy with finger-length dirt brown hair that looked like an organized mess and was spiked up in the front. He was tanned, had brown eyes, was a little on the muscular side, and had broad shoulders. He was wearing a midnight blue t-shirt that fit rather tightly, some blue jeans, and some black shoes with a white stripe. He was about 5ft and looked about the same age as Tomoki.

The group then looked confusedly at the last teen standing in front of Cherubimon. He had no spirits above his head and as they knew, there were only 10 Legendary warriors...so what was he doing there? As if he could read their minds...or just the confused looks on their faces, Seraphimon spoke up. "The last young man standing in that line is being given a special privilege. You see, with this new threat, we weren't sure what was going to happen. So me and Cherubimon took it upon ourselves to give you all a better chance at victory, in case you need it. So we created another set of spirits." And just like that, four spirits appeared above the teen's head. This time, Cherubimon spoke up, pointing to the teen...

"This is Jay, he will be wielding the new spirits of magic, Magemon and Dracanomon, as well as the fusion spirit Mysticmon and the unified spirit ArchSagemon." He was pointing to a guy with short, blonde-streaked red hair and deep blue eyes. He stood about 5ft 10in and was on the skinny side. He wore a white t-shirt with a Yin-Yang symbol on it, a black windbreaker with a white stripe running down the sleeves, black track pants, and white sneakers with a blue outline to them.

With this done, the spirits went into the D-Tectors, and they all joined to one big group and faced the Celestial digimon who were now both side-by-side in front of Seraphimon's throne. "Now, you must get started purifying the areas of the Digital World. You all know what to do, are there any questions?" Seraphimon asked. Almost instantly, the entire group answered, "No." "Good. Then go, the entire Digital World is counting on you." Cherubimon said. "So, no pressure..." Junpei said and the whole group laughed as they walked out of the castle, escorted by Sorcermon, who opened the barrier for them. They were now on their own. The adventure had officially begun.