DISCLAIMER: I do not own Digimon, but I do own the plot and the concept of DRAGOON.

Digimon Continuity

Quest For The Digimon

Chapter 28

Who'd Have Thought?

:. Digital Plane – Sovereign Plane Ruins of Zhuqiaomon's Palace

"FINAL ELYSIUM!"

As Dukemon fired off his most powerful attack, he heard Justimon fire off his Blitz Arm attack as well and then saw the orbs of lightning that were the result of the attack fly forth.

Their attacks hit the D-Reaper spectacularly. However, like before, the D-Reaper suffered no damage whatsoever from the attacks.

"Darn it!" Takato mentally cursed. Regardless of how hard they had hit it, the D-Reaper just sat there and ate their attacks with no effect. His confidence in their makeshift plan dropped several notches. What on earth was he thinking, believing that he could just charge in and save everyone like that? The last time, that tactic only worked after loads of backup from the adults on the technicalities that Takato and the others could not quite comprehend. All in all, without the adults, he would not have been able to rescue Jeri back then nor would they have been able to subdue the D-Reaper, that much he was certain.

"Snap out of it, Takato!" Guilmon encouraged, seemingly hearing his thoughts, even though he did not voice them, be it within their shared connection or out loud.

"But…" Takato protested. Before he could go on, Justimon cut in with a sharp warning.

"Dukemon! Watch out!"

Dukemon skidded to a halt, dug his feet in and turned around with his shield up, ready to tackle anything that came at him.

Only to find himself staring down a very, very big mass of energy headed his way.

"Duck!" Guilmon called and Dukemon threw himself to the ground, feeling more than hearing the ridiculously large energy attack surge over his head. Dukemon could feel the power of the attack from just the proximity by how it made Dukemon's data tingle and shiver as though in terror. Dukemon then heaved a sigh of relief at the close call.

Looking behind him, he only barely caught a glimpse of the attack making contact with the D-Reaper before an earth shattering explosion resulted, carrying a screaming Dukemon away with the shockwave that came with it.

"What kind of attack is that!" he cried out as his battered body was flung bodily like a discarded rag doll away from the D-Reaper and the explosion that encompassed it. The pain that surged through his body's every limb seemed to intensify ten-fold and Dukemon thought his back broke when the heavy armoured body made contact with the cold hard ground. While he was surely exaggerating the severity, he knew it could not be far off as the pain was so incredible that he could hardly move a muscle.

Dukemon laid there and let the pain fade to more manageable levels before he cracked his eyes open again, staring at the alien sky of the world he was in. A shadow flicked through his vision, coming and going too quickly for him to discern details. However, a sharp flash of light reflected on the shadow, causing Dukemon to wince in pain again as a headache materialised from abruptness of the flash and he squeezed his eyes shut.

When he at last opened them again, he was faced with what he thought to be a gigantic humanoid bee, the yellow stripes on the black so bright to his eyes that he almost squeezed his eyes shut again due to their brightness.

"I didn't realise that there were other Megas who survived save the three of us," the humanoid bee commented nonchalantly in a conversational tone. However, Dukemon could tell that the digimon was still on high alert given how often his head turned to scan the area and how his eyes always seemed to lock on the D-Reaper's direction. Dukemon wondered what the digimon meant and voiced it out loud.

"Ah, then you must be a recent survivor who had evolved into this stage. I do not care to figure out how you did so, but your presence might be helpful to us," the digimon concluded, his words as cryptic as his initial ones. Still, Dukemon's ears propped up at the mention of help and he used his spear to force himself to his feet.

The humanoid bee offered no assistance, only continuing to glare at the D-Reaper's direction with what Dukemon thought to be disgust.

"Do you know that other Mega?" The digimon asked after Dukemon had stumbled unsteadily to his feet.

"Yes," he gasped seeing the digimon pointing to Justimon. He leaned on his lance as he tried to shake off the giddiness and splitting headache from the battering his body had taken.

"So, can you ask for his aid to work with us? We may have a plan."

"'Us'?" Dukemon asked out of reflex.

"Yes," the digimon replied. "Us. Me and my allies."

"Who's 'us' exactly?" Dukemon proceeded to see elaboration, looking around for the 'us' he was referring. All he saw was plains, plains and the D-Reaper.

"Wait, what's that?" Guilmon asked inside of Dukemon.

Squinting his eyes, Dukemon spotted what seemed to be the same shadow that he saw before attacking the D-Reaper with a sword. That somehow seemed simultaneously jaw-dropping and hilarious at the same time, though Dukemon expressed neither.

"So, will you aid us then?" the digimon asked, not answering his question, "You can go about doing whatever it is that you do after we have dealt with the Chaos. Is that agreeable?"

Dukemon tore his eyes from the simultaneously magnificent and impossible sight of a digimon slashing at the digital blob and turned back to the yellow and black stripped digimon. "Okay then."

The digimon nodded in response. "I don't know if you have data analysis capabilities, but as a note, you can call me by my species name, TigerVespamon. I would say it is a pleasure, except the occasion is far from pleasant."

Dukemon did not have, of course, 'data analysis capabilities', as TigerVespamon termed it. However, Takato realised he recognised the digimon from the card game. It was one of the newer cards that were recently released. He just didn't link the two until TigerVespamon mentioned his name. Logical, given that he was dealing with a killer of a headache at the moment.

"So, who is this guy? Ryo's voice called out in Dukemon's head, spiking yet another headache, though more subtle, just as Justimon landed right beside Dukemon. Justimon then straightened up and stared down TigerVespamon. To his credit, TigerVespamon didn't flinch.

"He's here to help," Dukemon replied out loud, more for the benefit of TigerVespamon. "He calls himself TigerVespamon."

Justimon nodded in response. "So, do you know that guy who's busy attempting suicide?" Justimon asked, jerking a thumb towards the figure with the sword.

TigerVespamon nodded. "Sadly, I do," TigerVespamon confirmed, offering no other elaboration. "So, you will help then, Justimon?"

Justimon simply nodded, not asking any questions about this unknown digimon who suddenly popped out of nowhere and asked for help. However, if this digimon and his friend had actually been the ones who released that ridiculously large attack that was no doubt supposed to have done an equally ridiculously large amount of damage, Dukemon did not want to get on their bad side. So, Dukemon hoped that this temporary alliance with TigerVespamon would last beyond this battle.

"Good then," TigerVespamon said. "I have a plan."

:. Real World - Japan, Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Towers Main Control Room

Why didn't he think of it sooner?

Yamaki felt like someone had pulled the rug from under him when Shibumi pointed out something that he did not notice that would have taken any serial drama fan only seconds to. That may have well been due to the fact that he did not follow such dramas or the government conspiracies some tended to have. Not to mention that he was himself government, thus perhaps inducing some bias. Of course, all this had reeked of the intervention of the higher ups. However, Yamaki had forgotten to take into account that a few years ago, the existence of digimon had been largely an unknown. Naturally, the government would have wanted to know more about these unknowns. And, who would be more familiar than the creator of the digimon merchandise himself?

So, if Yamaki followed this line of thought, it was highly probable that kid was 'extracted' by the higher ups to 'enquire' about the digimon. Then, the entire cast of the digimon show would have likely been 'extracted' as well, just on the possibility, however small, of them knowing anything about the digimon.

They may not have disappeared to the Digital World that had been shown in the show, as Yamaki initially believed. They might have disappeared altogether due to the fear of the unknown that this world had.

If so, if so…

Then they would have hit a dead end at this junction.

Yamaki let out a sigh. After all, if it was a dead end, there may be no point in chasing this lead anymore. Even though there was still a possibility that the Chosen Children may be at their Digital World that was depicted in the show, like he had initially thought, that probability itself was far too small.

Just when we thought we would learn something new about the digimon and the world that they live in, it ends up that this chance was crushed by our own destructive hands.

Yamaki was pulled from his thoughts by a hand touching his own, and looked up to see Shibumi staring at him. Frowning, he lowered his gaze to Shibumi's hand, about to ask why the latter had placed his hand on his own, when he realised that Shibumi had stopped his hand from clicking his lighter. He must have subconsciously begun clicking his lighter again without really thinking about it.

"It is a bad habit, you know," Shibumi noted, smiling slightly. "I should know. I have a fair few myself, even though I am trying to break free of them."

"Yeah, I do know," Yamaki replied, putting the lighter back into his pocket, only to feel the Digivice that Impmon's Tamers had given him. An idea then struck him, one so brilliant that he was quite annoyed that he didn't think of it sooner. It was risky, but quite workable. He must have been preoccupied with the wild goose chase that the Chosen Children had presented to him. However, the latter was no excuse to have chucked aside the matter of the Digivice inside his pocket.

While she did intend for it to be given to Impmon after he returned, there's nothing wrong with getting it to him before he returned.

"What is it?" Shibumi asked, reading him somehow even though he should have not given off any physical ques. "You seem to have something on your mind."

"That's right. I have an idea," Yamaki said, putting in the lighter and in turn taking out the digivice. "However, I don't know whether it'll work."

"Then let's hear it. What is it?"

Smirking, Yamaki told Shibumi of the Digivice in his pocket and what he intended to do, as well as how he thought it could be done.

"Basically, I think we can use the data packets that you used that time to send messages to the digimon. Except this time, we send this digivice instead to Impmon. That might help considerably. After all, if I recall the data correctly, Impmon apparently cannot digivolve without the aid of his Tamers."

Even as he told Shibumi of his idea, he saw the glaring holes that needed to be addressed to ensure a higher probability of success, which Shibumi proceeded to voice out.

"Well, that is a good idea," Shibumi said, holding a hand to his chin, his tone slightly sceptical. "However, the question is how do you plan to do that? After all, this is an actual solid device," as he said so, he plucked the digivice from Yamaki's hands and hefting it as if to prove his point. "Not like the data which could be recorded in the studio that we sent. In order to put this in a data packet and send it, we would need to digitise it somehow."

"That's simple. We can use the portal. We would be able to track it properly from here if we can install the relevant programs from the server. I'm sure one of the digital trackers which we used to use for Wild Ones will suffice."

"Well, that can be done," Shibumi responded, his tone still sceptical but slightly less so. "What about getting it to Impmon then? I don't think that we can get it to him effectively, even with using the digivice's tracking properties. After all, it is far too hard to use that complicated program for a data packet. The digivice itself, if we could digitise it, would already be allocated much of the data packet's memory."

Yamaki had thought of a solution to that while Shibumi was still talking. "That's simple. We can add the program for tracking DRAGOON. Impmon would likely be nearby after all. I'm sure that it would be easier to simplify and place into the data packet as well."

Shibumi considered the plan for a few moments. "Still, it is a very risky move. After all, we may lose the digivice if this goes wrong in anyway. We aren't even sure that this would work."

"We have a problem, boss!" Tally suddenly called from above. "We just lost all contact with DRAGOON and the Tamers! Riley thought it was a system problem at first, but we double-checked and found that there was nothing wrong with the system. There's something going on and we're cut off!"

Yamaki nodded to her to let her know that he heard and turned to Shibumi. "Perhaps you're right, Mr Mizuno. However, I don't think that we have much of a choice. The kids are in danger. I think the potential loss of one digivice may be worth it if this actually works."

Shibumi, still holding the digivice, considered Yamaki's words. "Well, I wanted to make sure that you knew what you were doing and the risks involved," Shibumi said, choosing his words with care. "If you already know and still wish to proceed with it, then you know that we'll do our very best to make this work."

Yamaki nodded. "Please do."

:. Digital Plane – Sovereign Plane Ruins of Zhuqiaomon's Palace

"Is that your plan?" the Justimon asked TigerVespamon with obvious sarcasm, gesturing over to the purple Virus Mega smashing the Lord's holy weapon against the Chaos like it was just disposable sword. "Because if so, it doesn't work very well."

"No," TigerVespamon hissed with irritation. "That is not my plan. I can't very well say the same for Darkdramon over there. He is truly a burden sometimes."

"Sounds like you don't get along very well," the Justimon said coolly. TigerVespamon glared at Justimon through his visor for a moment before putting the latter on his blacklist.

The Dukemon also glared at the Justimon, as though to impart a similar message, before turning to him. "So, what is it?"

TigerVespamon nodded to the Dukemon before starting to explain.

"While Darkdramon remains busy with distracting the Chaos," TigerVespamon begun, waving a hand at the aforementioned digimon. "We can use the sword I'm carrying to drive through the Chaos' outer layer into its inner one. Inside, we should be able to find the core and destroy it."

"Hold it there," Justimon interrupted. "For one thing, none of our attacks can pierce the outer skin or deal any damage at all. What makes you think that your sword will do any different? Furthermore, what makes you think that there will be a core inside at all?"

TigerVespamon felt his irritation rise at this digimon and pushed the Justimon further down his blacklist and up his execute-as-soon-as-possible list. He wished that he could get rid of him now, but every Mega would be useful as another distraction for the Chaos while they attempted to get close. He could just hope that this Mega was deleted in the upcoming battle or delete him personally later. With the Lord's weapon, it should be easy.

"Well, as an answer to your first question," TigerVespamon explained, clamping down on his irritation for the moment. "This weapon is not like any other weapon. It'll take too long to explain, but trust me in that it will penetrate the outer layer."

While it was partially true that it would take slightly long to explain (particularly about how the Saviour came about, and as a consequence, his sword) to a digimon out of the loop, it was more because TigerVespamon did not feel like explaining it to someone he already considered beneath him and a pest.

In fact, the Justimon's next words boosted him even higher up the execution list.

"Indeed, I am finding it very easy to trust you now."

The Dukemon glared at the Justimon again, but the latter simply shrugged. The Justimon was clearly enjoying this.

"It is not like you have another plan. If you do, let's hear it," TigerVespamon said, smirking.

"I'm trying to provide constructive criticism," the Justimon said, shrugging yet again.

TigerVespamon snorted and returned to the explanation of his plan. "As for the core, all digimon and digital life have cores, even something as disgusting as the Chaos. It is your Elementary 101. However, from what I have heard, the Chaos has a more…material form for its core. As destroying the core would result in the structural collapse of its entire body, we will be able to cripple the Chaos by doing as such. Furthermore, since it has a material form, it would make it all the more easier as it can be deleted by anyone at all and not just digimon with data deletion abilities."

"From what you've heard?" the Justimon snorted, his tone mocking, seeming to focus on the subtle stuff in his words and ignoring the rest.

"He is a reliable source," TigerVespamon replied in a monotone. He wished he could but it would be too time-consuming to explain to this half-brain the Saviour's exploits and his first-hand experience in dealing with the Chaos. Sides, TigerVespamon had little desire to do so anyway, as the Saviour didn't need another half-wit to deal with after all. "You just worry about what you need to do inside the Chaos. I'll worry about getting you in."

"Whatever you say," Justimon shrugged. "What do you mean by 'you' though?"

However, TigerVespamon didn't get a chance to reply as Dukemon interjected. "Justimon, please stop wasting time. Have you forgotten?" Dukemon said with a hint of anger in his words, his pose suggesting he would like nothing more than to club his spear over the Justimon's head. The Justimon fell silent.

"Well, by 'you', I meant 'us'," TigerVespamon said, annoyed, though he was still enjoying the moment. He had a feeling that Dukemon did not like Justimon much as well, but had probably put up with him due to the power he wielded as a Mega. Still, it was clear who was in charge here. Justimon must be a subordinate of sorts. TigerVespamon vaguely wondered just who this Dukemon was leading if this was so. He had not spoken much, so it was hard to tell.

"Hmm… it seems like a good plan," Dukemon finally said. TigerVespamon was glad that the Dukemon was agreeable, but waited for the inevitable rebuttal from the Justimon.

And sure enough: "I don't think so."

TigerVespamon turned to Justimon. "Well, if you're so good, you have a better idea?" TigerVespamon repeated. These kinds of digimon probably argued just for the sake of arguing, but never really contribute anything.

Thus, TigerVespamon was quite surprised when the Justimon actually nodded. "Well, for one thing, we don't need to pierce in from the outside. If what you say is correct, then all we need to do is get in, right?"

"That is correct," TigerVespamon said, feeling his irritation rising.

"Well, then all we need to do is to let the Chaos –as you call it– capture us," Justimon finished in a matter-of-fact tone.

"What do you mean?" TigerVespamon said in exasperation.

"'The Chaos' had captured Zhuqiaomon and some of our friends already," Justimon said, his words causing TigerVespamon to prick up his ears. "So, if you're right, then after getting captured, it should be easier to pierce its inner layer to its core, though I really don't see how that'll work, given that even a Sovereign like Zhuqiaomon is still stuck in there and he is more powerful than all of us combined."

TigerVespamon smirked, but it was blocked from view by his faceplate. "Well, trust me when I say this sword has abilities that not even the Sovereigns can match. It'll do what it needs to do. Although I will agree with you in that I believe that getting inside your way first before heading towards the core is a good idea," he grudgingly admitted.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Justimon said, disbelieving.

Oh you will see, alright. You will see.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Justimon said, putting as unconvinced a tone as he could muster.

"Ryo, please, can you just be nicer?" Takato said inside Justimon's head for what seemed to be umpteenth time for the past few minutes. "He is offering us his aid!"

Ryo already knew that. However, Ryo just could not find a way to trust this guy the way Takato was doing when his instincts were screaming an alert at him. Following his instincts had kept him in one piece for years already. He was not going to stop anytime soon.

Thus, he tried his best to remain objective of the plans of this 'TigerVespamon', not accepting everything he told them at face value or trying to find loopholes in anything that the Mega was saying. It was going to be hard for Takato to do the same should he learn of Ryo's suspicions, given how Takato could not act or put on a false front at all. Should Takato enter a game of poker, the other players would read him like an open book flipping its own pages and screaming the words written on it.

Okay, maybe that's over-exaggerating. Still, the point stands. So, I can't tell Dukemon anything.

As a result, to Takato, Ryo just seemed more an ass than ever before to what he probably perceived as an ally. Since Ryo did not provide any explanation for such whatsoever, Takato just pleaded with him to be nicer or not so harsh. Ryo tried. He really did. Of course, it was probably not nice enough.

"We need his help to save the others!" Takato continued in anguish. "And why aren't you telling him about them?"

That was actually because he did not want to trust this guy too much. Telling this guy as such would mean he had a hold over them, which would not be good should he end up not being as nice a guy as he portrayed himself to be. Furthermore, while Takato probably forgot the previous attack on them not too long ago in the heat of battle, Ryo had not. Someone had attacked them. There was thus a possibility that this guy was with them or maybe even in charge. It was better to thus keep mum about the troubles of their friends.

Of course, with so much to keep quiet about, Ryo requested that Takato keep silent, albeit in not very nice terms then, due to the urgency of the situation. After all, Takato was a motor mouth that could potentially say something that would put them in jeopardy. Ryo was, however, surprised that Takato had agreed to his request, even with the frustration that he was probably facing right now.

Thus, this resulted in him shouting his protests through the 'wireless connection' that they shared.

"I have my reasons, Takato. Just trust me," Ryo told the boy simply.

"Are you ever going to tell me?" Takato sighed.

"Perhaps later, after all of this is over."

"I'll hold you to your word then," Takato said, and then the connection fell silent.

However, Takato was right about the stuff he mentioned earlier. They needed this guy's help to deal with the D-Reaper, or, as TigerVespamon called it, the Chaos. Ryo was careful to use the term he used, which he had heard used before by other digimon to describe the D-Reaper.

For some reason, his instincts were telling him to keep up the illusion that they were native digimon. He was not completely sure why. While he had several speculations, that were all they were.

Just speculations.

Regardless, this was what he had chosen to do. All he could do now was stick with it and see where this was headed.

And then, make another choice from there.

So, for now…

"Well, what are we waiting for then? Time for the D-, I mean, Chaos to grab a snack."

"Ryo? Why do you call the D-Reaper Chaos?" Guilmon asked suddenly.

Ryo just smiled.

Actually, I never really had plans to continue this fic until I finished the others. Or at the very least, Mystery. However, when it came down to writing my chapters, I found that this one was the easiest to do, though it of course does not mean any decrease in quality (hopefully).

So, the title was sort of tribute to that fact, and then some. Regardless, it seems now that the only time I can find to actually type anything would be during the bus rides home, which I have found to have granted me the focus to write I have seemingly misplaced all these months. Life's still as heretic as usual, but I hope that this helps to show to everyone that I am far from dead and am still updating, despite the disgustingly slow rate (which I too don't like).

Hopefully, after the end year examinations, I can finally get to work to continuing all my fics again, properly. Meanwhile, I shall do my best to sneak in a few hundred words every bus ride that I can. Who knows, maybe I might get another chapter out within the month or so.

So, apologies to everyone. I know that my apologies don't make up for anything, but I hope this chapter in some way does, however little. So, I wish thanks to all who have stayed throughout (special mention to Crazyeight, who has to beta read all my inconsistent chapters) and the new ones who keep coming everyday.

Okay, now, actually, I added Ryo's scene at the back rather than putting it at the head of the next chapter because I thought that some people might be wondering why Ryo was acting the way he was, which is not shown from TigerVespamon's point of view. Also, I think it is probably a tradition now to add one scene from back on Earth into every chapter. As another note, for those that don't understand what Yamaki is referring to when he mentioned the data packets bit, go check out the CD Drama (which has been translated by Onkei-kun): [.com/2009/06/24/os-message-in-the-packet/]. In fact, you can check out all the digimon related stuff translated by Onkei-kun as well if you haven't.

Right then, hope you'll review! Oh, and I never really asked for content of review before, but I hope you will help me point out any spelling errors that I and Crazyeight missed as well as any advice you would have for future chapters, not to mention any ideas you wish to contribute. God knows I need more inspiration.

Until next time then!