"Sir Alphamon! It's ready." As Duftmon spoke those words the rest of the knights stopped their bickering. Knowing that he was the center of attention he pulled out a metal, round object and pushed a red button towards the center. Letting it drop to the floor the object began floating as it once again rose and reached eye level.

"How exactly does it work?" Asked AlforceV-dramon.

"It would take me too long to explain the mechanics, but if you wish to know how it is used, let me explain. The computer the humans had was full of data on certain species of Digimon, most notably the ones they deemed a threat. Of course the computer only had data on the digimon who made themselves visible, thus there are several missing profiles. However, they did have the one we're looking for, the one called OuRyuumon."

"So he does exist in this world." Everyone turned to Alphamon as he spoke. "Go on."

"As I was saying," continued Duftmon, "they had extensive data on him, including where he is more then likely to be at. But that is not the pièce de résistance, far from it. The computer actually had small pieces of their make-up, thus allowing us to find him quite easily. This thing," he pointed to the floating object, "will follow his trace. We should be able to find him before the day is gone."

Alphamon looked at Duftmon with an apathetic look. "You have outdone yourself, Duftmon."

"Thank you, sir." Duftmon respectively bowed.

Acknowledging Duftmon's gesture Alphamon turned to AlforceV-dramon. "You will be in charge of leading this one."

AlforceV-dramon seemed somewhat surprised. "But sir, you are in no condition for combat. If you were to be attack..."

"Relax," Alphamon responded. "I believe that two should be enough to handle him. I am just sending you because I know you will not let me down. The question now is who to send along side you? Duftmon, since you created the machine, perhaps it would be best for you to go as well."

"Pardon my rudeness, sir." Duftmon responded. "But I feel that my services will not be all that important in the search."

Alphamon saw right through him. "I am guessing that there is something you would rather be doing than accompanying him. Am I correct to assume this?"

"It figures that the great Alphamon, our supreme leader, would see right through my deception. Yes. After the incident with Sleipmon I feel obligated to fix what I wronged. I know that I am close in figuring out the proper way to make it work, but I will need some time."

"Duftmon, you know how I feel about your experiments and their results."

"I know, sir. It is just that I strongly believe that with this on our side the digimon will continue fighting. They all have the spirit to fight forever, but the body can only last so long before it gives out. I feel that this will give us the advantage in defeating them."

"But after what happened to Sleipmon..."

"It is but a mere price to pay, I assure you, sir. I will not use it on any of the other knights, just others standing around."

"I do not consider putting the life of my men a "mere price,' as you so boldly put it. Either way, others will get hurt."

"I assure you, sir, the only reason Sleipmon turned out the way he did was due to his injury. Had he been in perfect health when absorbing it he would have turned out fine." Alphamon remained silent. "I have never once let you down, Sir Alphamon. Even with this new strength the odds of winning the battle at home are still slim. All the remaining digimon have the spirit to fight on forever, but they lack the strength. Sir, I will allow them to push themselves until they die. I will give them that missing strength. They will never tire out! Our numbers will seemed infinite to the enemy; we will overcome them with our will spirit and our want to continue living."

"Enough!" Alphamon shouted. "While your intensions may be noble, and even just, to a certain degree, I cannot allow you to continue your experiments. If you must continue, then do so elsewhere. I will not have any unnecessary innocent blood on my hands."

Duftmon once again bowed with respect. "Thank you, sir." Leaving the area where the rest of the knights were at he made sure he was not heard. "I'll show you, Alphamon! I'll show you how I've truly outdone myself," he said softly.

Oblivious to what Duftmon had said Alphamon was still trying to find somebody to accompany AlforceV-dramon. Before he even said anything Dynasmon stepped up. "Allow me, sir, to accompany him on the mission." Though Dynasmon wanted to prove to Alphamon that he could control his anger, the main purpose in wanting to be part of the mission was, simply put, to test out the limits of his power, something he had not done since acquiring them.

"Dynasmon," Alphamon responded, "your valor and loyalty know no bounds. But, at the moment, I cannot be assured that your anger will be kept under control. I am sorry, but I have to say no."

Dynasmon wanted to rebuttal but he knew how it would look. Instead, he accepted his decline. "It is okay, sir, I understand."

Alphamon looked at the tallest of the lot. "Craniummon."

"Yes, sir!" he eagerly responded.

"We are not fully aware of the strength that OuRyuumon has, so perhaps it would be best to send out the unbreakable shield to fight. After all, you might even get a chance to use your new acquired strength."

"Understood, sir! Though I would have gone even if I did not have Avalon with me."

"Then I wish the both of you luck on this journey, but first, I need to speak with you." Alphamon pointed to AlforceV-dramon. All the remaining knights, excluding the one who was told to wait, left the area. When they were gone the two spoke freely.

"About the human that Dynasmon and Examon saw, I would figure that there might be others like him. Some of them might even be here after the attack on the real world."

"Should I proceeded to a kill on sight basis then, sir?" asked AlforceV-dramon.

"No. I do not think that it would be necessary. However, if they do attack I want you to observe their relationship with their digimon."

"Is there a reason for this, sir?"

"Just want to see where our world went wrong. That is all."

"Understood. However, is there another reason that you wanted to speak with me? The context of this conversation was not something that would qualify for my ears only."

"You are right. The reason I wanted to talk to you in private is that, during the battle we will have upon reaching home, there is a good chance I will not make it out alive, regardless of the power I posses."

"I have suspected as much, but what does this have to do with me?"

"Just in case, I want you to take charge."

"Me, sir? But why?"

"You are the one that I trust the most. All the others, while they have their merits, do not exhibit the kind of trustworthiness you portray."

"But I can only get them to listen while you are around. They know my weakness."

"But they respect you. Some may not show it, but it is there. I am sure that has some validation from them."

"They respect my power, nothing more. Wouldn't surprise me if I died at one of their hands."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I would leave this group to you even if they had a personal grudge against you. Not that any of them would."

"Sir, truth be told, I do not feel comfortable leading them after you. After your accomplishments as leader I would simply be a footnote in history."

"A knight should never care about what other think about himself, he should only worry about doing what is right."

"...If you do not mind, sir, I think I would like to take my leave now."

"As you wish."

Kneeling before Alphamon, AlforceV-dramon walked out of the area, approached Craniummon, and flew out. Watching them both leave, Alphamon silently gave his best regards.

Feeling the floor shake below himself Touma opened his eyes. Looking around, it took him a while to realize that he was on his father's personal plane. However, what surprised him the most was the sight of his left arm in a cast.

"Huh? What happ... Oh, right. Now I remember." Thinking back, he recalled just what had happened at the lab. Dynasmon had beaten him to near death all because he wanted that disk. But, as he continued to search through his memories, he remembered how he had injured his sister. "Relena!" he shouted. "Relena! Where are you?"

Upon his voice being heard, Relena, Miss Haider, and his butler came running in. "Big brother, you're awake!" Without even waiting for Touma to respond Relena embraced her brother in a hug. "I was so worried when I found you unconscious, with blood all over your body." Touma could tell that she was trying her hardest to hold tears back. While he was happy to see that she was okay, and ignoring the pain she was causing from embracing his injured body, he could not help but noticed that one of her wrist was bandaged up.

"Relena, are you okay?" He said not trying to sound too worried.

"Yeah," she said in a soft tone, trying to hide her bandaged wrist.

"Your wrist? How badly is it?" he asked.

"It hurts," she said, holding her wrist with her other hand. "But it should heal if I do not use it."

Without asking, he reached for his younger sister's wrist and examined it himself. When it came to his sister's health, he had a habit of wanting to do everything himself. After examining it, he let go of her and looked around.

"May I ask where we have landed?" he asked.

Miss Haider stepped up. "If you recall, you wanted to have lunch here. Since the plane was already scheduled to come here, I felt I would try to keep my job by fulfilling what I am paid to do."

Attempting to stand up Touma found that it required more energy than he was use to. "Allow me to help you, master." Said his butler as he hoisted Touma up.

"Thank you," Touma said. Knowing that he was going to have trouble walking he wondered if he would be getting in the way more than being useful. But, knowing what had happened, he decided to ignore those thoughts and do what he had to do. "Get the car ready."

"Big brother, where are you planning on going?"

"Back to work."

"I'm sorry, Takato, but I couldn't fend them off?" Gotsumon was disappointed in his inability to defend his newly found friends. Though he had managed to defeat Yanmamon by evolving to Icemon, soon after that event, they had been ambushed by a group of Sorcerymon. Since they had just finished a tough fight, and he had not learned what exactly he did to evolve, they did not stand a chance against five adult level digimon.

"It's okay, Gotsumon," Responded Takato. "If me and Guilmon had managed to learn how to control our digisoul then this whole thing could have been avoided."

At the moment the three of them, Takato, Guilmon, and Gotsumon, were tied up and being dragged by a few Sorcerymon. Not sure where they were heading towards Takato attempted to find out where they were heading. "Excuse me, but where exactly are we heading?" They did not respond. As they continued walking they eventually stopped when they reached a lake that seemed to go on forever. However, what caught Takato's attention more than anything was that the lake had a strong current, making it appeared to be more of a raging river than anything else.

Arriving at the riverbank the Sorcerymon stood there, motionless, staring out towards the river. Takato, not wanting to talk to the Sorcerymon, decided to see if Gotsumon knew where they might be. "Hey, Gotsumon." Takato said.

"Yeah?" Responded Gotsumon.

"Where are they taking us?" He asked.

"Well I've heard rumors that there is suppose to be some sort of paradise across the river, but since no one can actually confirm it, it's a mystery."

"But if there is suppose to be a paradise out there, then why are they dragging us over there while we are tied up?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, it is not your fault."

As they continued to wait, they saw a small boat approaching, being driven by another Sorcerymon. As it reached them on the land the Sorcerymon dragging Takato pushed him near the boat. But, before he even entered, the Sorcerymon on the boat stretched out his arms with an open palm. Before Takato could say anything the digimon dragging him put his hands into his pockets and took out three coins labeled '500.' As the Sorcerymon on the boat took the coins he let Takato and his company enter, though unaccompanied by the other Sorcerymon.

"So they charge us for a ferry that takes us to a prison?" Takato was dumbstruck by this discovery. "And they still haven't told us what we did wrong!" As the boat departed Takato was surprised that they were not feeling the effects of the water. In fact, it was rather calm. But the uneasiness he was feeling would soon be confirmed, as he got closer to the island.

"Get in there!" As he was tossed inside a cell Daisuke did not get a chance to see who it was that put him. Standing up he saw that the cell was full of other Digimon who were just waiting.

"So what are you in here for?" Asked Daisuke to a nearby Ogremon.

The Ogremon, who was currently lying down with his eyes closes, answered. "They said I had no damn permission to be here. But if this place were a safe heaven, as they say, then they would allow all of us to come here without having some dumb permission! I mean, I paid the damn toll to cross the river. So you?"

"Paid the toll." Answered Daisuke. "Then some Knightmon came and got me. Next thing I know I'm here. Guess we all have the same story, eh?"

"You said it, bub." As the Ogremon got he up he got his first look at Daisuke. Upon seeing him the Ogremon let out a scream that got the attention of many of the Digimon inside the cell, including some of the guards outside.

"Hey!" Said Daisuke. "I may not be good looking but you're not one to judge."

"You're... You're one of them humans!"

"Oh! So it's going to be one of those conversations again, huh?" Frankly, Daisuke was getting tired about people making a big deal about him being a human. "I'll just go over there, and sit down by that sleeping, hungry-looking Monochromon." But before he had a chance to walk away he was grabbed by Ogremon and dragged close to him.

"If you are a human then that must mean you work for DATS. And if you work for DATS then that must mean you have a digimon capable of evolving at any time. Am I right?"

With how Ogremon had dragged Daisuke close to his body, he could not help but feel a bit uncomfortable with there being little distance between their bodies. But, since he was not attempting to kill him due to some prejudice, he decided to go with it. "Well to answer your questions, I do have a digimon but he ran away due to me needing somebody on the outside, don't know what DATS is, and, at the moment, I seem to be able to get my digimon to reach ultimate."

"Let me see it!" he demanded.

"Um, see what?"

"Your digivice. You know, that little gizmo thing that allows you to evolve your partner."

"Oh, that." The digivice was still being held in his hand. Since he did not think that Ogremon would kill him Daisuke decided to show it to him. "I got that sometime before arriving here. I've only used it once before, though."

"This is the same one that belongs to DATS. How can you have something that belongs to DATS without working for DATS? I don' like liars... Say, what was your name again?"

"Daisuke. Motomiya Daisuke. And, like I said earlier, I got that digivice before I came here. I've never heard of DATS before. Sorry."

"Guess I got a little carried away there, huh?" Ogremon handed him back his digivice. "There is a rumor going around that Anubimon wants to capture and kill all DATS members. But before that, he wants make them answer to what they did. Since they're human you obviously got typecast into a member of DATS."

"I see." Turning on his digivice Daisuke looked up Anubimon hoping to find information on him. "A vaccine ultimate digimon. Is he the one in charge of this village?"

"Yep. They say he built this paradise to escape the persecution of humans, but the thing is that many of the digimon come here to escape harm from other digimon. From what I understand, Anubimon refuses to acknowledge this and continues to blame the humans, even though it's been years since then."

"Years since when?" Daisuke asked.

"Several years ago humans attacked the digital world. Many digimon died during that invasion and I'm not just talking about being reverted back into digitamas. No, they were permanently deleted, bit the big one! Some years after that they came back again, even went as far as killing Mercurimon, plus several others. When the Royal Knights went to invade the real world they formed a truce, but Yggdrasil was never seen again."

"There was a digimon who told me something about that, though he instead just attacked me." Daisuke said. "But who exactly is Yggdrasil? I've heard his name before."

"Yggdrasil is, in simple terms, the God of the digital world. After the battle he was never seen again. Since it was his word that kept the world in order his disappearance caused an abrupt disturbance. Funny, he never did talk, or was involved, yet his disappearance was something that shook the world."

Daisuke was curious as to what had happened to this world to lead it down this current path. However, he wanted to escape from the prison but he knew his odds were slim, as he was stuck on an island. But, from how Ogremon talked about the rest of the world, he was not sure where it would be safer. But he had been summoned to help this world so he knew he had to be out there, fighting. "I have to get out of here, Ogremon."

"Ha! Even if you escape from here you're still stuck on this here island. Just hope you get called out to the coliseum and die a heroic death."

"The coliseum? Wait a minute, is this place directly under it?" He asked.

"Yeah. When it is quite down here you can actually hear as the bodies fall to the floor for the final time. Though you only get to go to the coliseum if you're lucky. Heck, I've been here a while and not once have they given me a second look. Bunch of cowards, if you ask me!"

"So how does one go about being part of it?"

"Who knows? Though since you may or may not be a DATS agent you might soon be next. And speak of the devil."

Turning around Daisuke saw a Pidmon, a digimon who resembled Angemon, was approaching. The only difference between the two was the amount of wings and the color. "Your presence is needed." Without waiting for Daisuke to respond Pidmon pushed Daisuke and lead him outside. Before he left for a known fate he could hear Ogremon cheering him on.

"Give 'em hell, kid! Give 'em hell!"

As Duftmon flew above a large, green forest he knew that, if he wanted to cover as much ground to find specimens, he would have to walk through the forest, rather than fly easily above. Landing on the soft ground he shrank back down to a human size, as to not attract too much attention, and examined the forest.

I cannot hover through this and cover as much ground as I want. He saw that the forest was far too big to walk across. Guess we will have to do this my way.

"Duftmon, mode change to... Duftmon Leopard Mode." In Duftmon's place now stood a four-legged, black leopard. Though his appearance was similar to his previous form his wings, that were, at one point, on his shoulders, were now located on the side of his legs. Closing his eyes he was able to feel the forest and knew where he had to go. Taking one second to prepare himself he soon dashed forward at an incredible speed, easily dodging any trees that appeared before him.

Heh. I am able to easily feel the incoming tress before I even see them. Navigating through this forest shall be easy. Now all that is left to do is to find are those digimon in the distance. I just hope that they are not a disappointment. Continuing to run through the forest he noticed that some areas of it were destroyed, as if a battle had occurred in isolated areas. However, looking out further, he saw what appeared to be a well-hidden fortress ahead of him. Well hidden, in deed, but not for my eyes. Something that well hidden is bound to be hiding something.

Running towards it he eventually made it to an open meadow. Upon entering he felt something moving and, listening to his senses, he jumped out of the way. His gut was right because, as he looked to where the attack landed, he saw a large arm made of wood. Looking to see whom the attacker was he saw that it was Jureimon.

"This is a private meadow that belongs to me," he said, boldly. "I suggest that you leave here."

Duftmon looked at him, with amusement. "And who died and made you in charge, if you don't mind me asking."

Jureimon took offense to those words. "Mercurimon left me in charge of here along time ago. His death, however, does not relieve me of this position."

"Oh! A dead friend." Duftmon sounded amused by that. "Tell me, woody, who is it that lives up there, trying to be enclosed from the world?"

"That would be Mercurimon's old castle, not that you have any business going there."

"First you tell me to leave here and then you prevent me from going up there. I need to have some fun around here."

"You have no respect for those you kill, don't you?"

"Who? Me? Do you insult me by calling me a emotionless bastard."

"Why have you taken the place of the defenders of this world?"

"So it appears my little charade did not fool you. I hope you do realize that now you have to die."

"I've survived through worst." Said Jureimon, preparing himself for battle.

Inspecting the coliseum V-mon saw that the only way he was going inside, short of being captured, was to power his way through the guards. As he continued to try and find a way in he saw that several of the digimon from the island were assembling inside the coliseum. Continuing to watch he saw a Digimon who might be able to help him out, Kamemon.

V-mon ran towards the digimon that had helped them earlier, hoping to figure out what was going on. "Kamemon, where were you at?" he asked. Rather than responding Kamemon just pointed towards a winged figure in a balcony above the coliseum. "Who's that?"

"That's Anubimon, and he is in charge of this place." V-mon was amazed by Anubimon's appearance. The figure that stood in front of him was an impressive dog-like, human sized figure with magnificent wings on his back. Judging from what had happened earlier V-mon knew that the odds of Anubimon being a benevolent leader were slim. "Your friend's fate will be decided by him."

With the coliseum full Anubimon finally spoke. "Citizens of De tranquillitate animi! As many of you know, there was a human who found our village today. Fortunately the Knightmon who police this city captured him. Though his threat will soon be ending, this human had the smarts, intelligence, and cunning to figure out the clues in finding this village. Truly, we are dealing with some sort of genius detective."

"Is he talking about Daisuke?" Asked V-mon.

"He must pay for the crime his people have committed!" Continued Anubimon. "Let him face the punishment of this coliseum!" As he finished talking the audience screamed with excitement.

Beneath the coliseum Daisuke was walking to the battlefield, still being dragged by the Pidmon. He was not tied, or shackled up, but he knew perfectly well that if he attempted escape Pidmon would apprehend him soon after. But what was making him worry most was the sound of the crow above him, as their screams were causing the ground to shake a little.

"Say, don't I get some sort of last request?" Pidmon just ignored him. "Not even a last meal?" Seeing sunlight coming in trough a door ahead of him he knew that he was almost there. But before he reached the exit he saw something that surprised him; another human. Being dragged by another Pidmon, he was walking in the opposite direction he was. "Hey!" He screamed. But before he could even see if he responded Pidmon pushed him, signaling him to continue moving.

Finally reaching the coliseum Daisuke was amazed at how many digimon there were. For some reason, the battlefield looked much bigger from this point of view. From his perspective it probably extended about two football fields put right next to each other.

"Behold! The one who wishes you harm will be no more!" Said Anubimon. As soon as he stopped talking the digimon in the coliseum began cheering for Daisuke's death. "However, I have a surprised for you all. Though I only promised you one, we have, as of now, two members of DATS captured. Now bring out the other one!"
Turning around Daisuke saw that the same boy that he had seen earlier. As Takato continued to walk inward, Daisuke thought that, if they worked together, they might have a chance to escape. But without the help of their digimon their chances were slim. "Hey!" As Daisue attempted to gain his attention Anubimon stopped him in his tracks.

"Behold! Their slaves!" On that order, a platform rose across from the balcony where Anubimon was. On that balcony were Guilmon and Gotsumon, tied up.

"Guilmon!" Takato screamed.

But Anubimon was not going to give them an opportunity to even discuss a plan. "Now, release Callismon!" Hearing the sound of gears turning a section of the floor began opening. Something was coming up, and, judging from the noise and size of the hole, it was something big. Soon a large, purple, bear-like digimon came out. Equipped with a three-barrel gun on his right arm Callismon's figure shadowed the battlefield.

"Callismon?" Stuttering his speech, Daisuke pulled out his digivice to get information on the new digimon. "What? Grizzmon? But how can the digivice have wrong readings?"

Before his question could even be answered Callismon aimed his barrel gun in Daisuke's direction and fired a few bullets. Barely dodging them Daisuke made an attempt to try and get Takato to focus on getting out of there.

"Somebody, stop them." Shouted Anubimon pointing towards the platform where Guilmon and Gotsumon were. Looking up Daisuke and Takato saw that untying them at the moment were V-mon and Kamemon. As they were freed the four digimon walked towards the edge and jumped into the coliseum.

"Guilmon!"

"V-mon!"

As both humans were glad to be reunited with their partners, Gotsumon killed the moment. "Um, guys, Callismon is still here."

Seeing Callismon about to fire on them the four of them found enough time to dodge the bullets. With V-mon by his side, and his digivice at hand, Daisuke found the confidence to stand up to both ultimate level digimon. He pointed straight up to Anubimon. "Hey! You weird cross between a dog and bird, can't any of you people-hating digimon have some originality with your motives?"

"You think you're funny, don't you?" Anubimon looked angry at Daisuke's attitude.

"Not only are you some weird mixture," continued Daisuke, "but so is this whole damn village! You have a Greek style coliseum, your village has some sort of Latin name, buildings here are a rip-off of something from a jungle village, and this city's leader is something from Egyptian mythology. That is messed up!"
"Callismon, destroy them!"

Hearing Callismon roar Daisuke was having second thoughts. Knowing what had caused Callismon's uproar Takato approached Daisuke."Do you think it wass wise to anger them more?"

Daisuke laughed at what the stranger said. "Relax, me and V-mon can take out this overgrown grizzly." Holding out his digivice his confidence returned. "Okay, V-mon, time to evolve!"

"Right!"

Daisuke placed his hand above his digivice. "Digisoul charge! Overdrive!" But, like what had happened to Takato earlier, he was not able to summon his digisoul. "Why aren't you working again?"

"My digisoul also stopped working after the first time I used it," responded Takato.

"How do you know this?" Asked Daisuke.

"I tried practicing a few times after the fight. Didn't you try to, also?"

"Um? I sort of figured it would work out when I needed it."

"Takato," screamed out Guilmon, "dodge!"

Seeing Callismon running towards them the six of them moved out of the way. But, due to Callismon's size, he continued running towards the wall on the opposite side. As the audience saw him coming they began moving out of the way. Seeing him fall into the stands, Daisuke noticed that he fell right above where the prison was. Continuing to see him struggle to get up, Daisuke noted that his struggling was damaging the stadium, and then he was barely able to make out the cages underneath being destroyed. Finally finding his balance Callismon stood up, only to have several digimon jump on top of him. Recognizing that they were the same digimon from the cells, Daisuke knew that they now had a chance to escape.

"Come on! Let's get out of here!"

"Hey kid!" Turning around Daisuke saw Ogremon attacking Callismon. "Thanks for breaking us out! Now get the hell out of here."

Climbing the stands the six escapees began their climb, reaching the top after a while. "Wait!" Daisuke ordered as he grabbed a rope. "We'll need this later." Running across the village Daisuke, with the experience of having been captured attempting escape, knew that they should run towards the ocean.

Takato tried to find out what Daisuke was planning. "Hey, um." Takato realized he had not even gotten a proper introduction from him. "What's our plan?"

"We steal a boat." Daisuke pointed towards a Sorcerymon on a ferry, about to depart. Tying the rope into a lasso he aimed it towards the Sorcerymon, threw it, and managed to tie him up on the first try. "Got him!" With the Sorcerymon tied up Daisuke pulled in the rope, thus dragging the digimon into the water. "Now get on."

As the six of them climbed aboard they began rowing, hoping to escape the island. However, once reaching the section with an actual current, their ferry began to shake uneasily.

"Wasn't this ride a lot smoother before?" asked Takato.

"I thought so, too." Responded Daisuke. But as they went further and further into the river their boat was being tossed among the small waves. Eventually their boat jumped due to the current and when it landed on the harsh river it broke, sending all six riders falling into the water. "Crap!" Daisuke yelled as the water dragged the six of them into the unknown.

Signed: The Two-One-Five

Word Count: 5417

August 27, 2008 3:09pm PT

What, what, in the butt? Over a month since I've last updated? That can't be good! Sorry about that, folks, but irrelevant IRL drama prevented me from getting into writing. For that, I apologize.

On a related, yet unrelated, note, I've made some unimportant formatting changes to the previous chapters. Nothing too big just did it to make it friendlier. That is all and, while waiting for the next chapter, I hope you review.