Disclaimer: I don't know all the parties that own Digimon, but I'm certainly not one of them.
Mimi just could not believe her horrible luck. Why wouldn't the fighting ever stop? It seemed that every time they thought they beat an enemy, they just came back more powerful than ever. Etemon had been absorbed by the Dark Network, then came back to get blasted by MetalGreymon, then came back again as MetalEtemon before getting killed by SaberLeomon. Myotismon had also survived his death twice to come back stronger than ever. Now, it seemed this whole villain immortality was extending to Tai and Matt's Digimon, too. They had had them on the ropes and were about to win, and then they just Digivolved to Ultimate. With that, they were once again completely outmatched. Lilithmon was fighting Magnamon herself this time, but it was clear from the fact that she was winning without using any of her attacks that she really didn't care about this new development. Meanwhile, the other battles were not going well at all. SkullGreymon had hit Shadramon with his Curse Breath, completely taking Wormmon out of the fight and leaving Kari fighting alone against her brother. The other fight, if possible, was going even worse. Devimon and Saberdramon had been safe when fighting BlackGarurumon, but as soon as he Digivolved they lost that advantage, shown when ShadowWereGarurumon had leapt into the air and taken Devimon out with just one hit of his Shadow Claw attack. This left Saberdramon alone, but she was not doing well. She had managed to withstand further claw attacks by countering with her Black Saber, but it was clear that each clash was damaging the Champion level without harming the Ultimate in the slightest. With Palmon, Wormmon, and Patamon all unable to keep fighting, they were down to three Digimon all fighting opponents much stronger than themselves.
As if to demonstrate the vast difference in power, Lilithmon seemed to grow bored of just fighting Magnamon and decided to continue taunting the DigiDestined. "Oh please, is that really all you are capable of? After all the times you've triumphed over insurmountable odds, have you really become this weak in a time of peace? If I had known this was all you were capable of, I wouldn't have spent so much time getting Tai and Matt here to work out their Crests. You have no idea how long it took to convince Tai to rush into situations where his friends would get hurt without caring. He fought me well enough that I couldn't even force him to attack until just now. I had been hoping to get you as soon as you all came back, but his tenacity earned you a few hours. Matt was a bit easier. I just had to trap him in his memories of when he confronted Cherrymon and selectively erase any contrasting emotions. Of course, he still fought, but the darkness had already gotten to him before, so he couldn't resist as easily as Tai could. In the end, he embraced my power."
Hearing this, Sora couldn't contain her anger anymore. "Don't you dare talk about Matt like that! You think you're so great because you force others to do your bidding? Please, it took you hours to get Tai and Matt to corrupt their Crests. If you really wanted to see something special, you should see what they would do to protect the ones they love. And believe me; I know a thing or two about love- the good and the bad. But here's the thing," she said, as her crest started to turn black, "if I have to become jealous and possessive to save my boyfriend from the thrall of some she-devil, I have no problem doing it. Now get your claws out of his head! He's mine, and nobody else can have him!" The red heart symbol on her Crest glowed brightly in stark contrast to the blackness of its surroundings, and her the buttons on her Digivice turned red as the rest of her Digivice became pitch black. A purple glow surrounded Saberdramon as she hovered in the air over ShadowWereGarurumon. The large bird was obviously shrinking down within the glow, but no other details could be made out. However, before the glow even faded away and Saberdramon's new form was visible, ShadowWereGarurumon was blasted off of his feet by a flurry of glowing projectiles. It wasn't until they had hit the ground that the nature of the projectiles was revealed: they appeared to be nothing more than black feathers.
"Oh please, I can't believe you thought I wouldn't attack until after everyone could gawk at my new form," Sora's partner taunted. Saberdramon had shrunk down from a large phoenix into a humanoid crow warrior wearing purple armor. She landed on the ground and drew her two golden swords before assuming a ready stance. However, she quickly spread her wings and shouted "Feather Flare!" as soon as ShadowWereGarurumon sprang to his feet, once again hitting the werewolf with a barrage of feathers. "This fight is almost too easy. Since I Digivolved to Karatenmon, I can read your heart to know exactly what moves you are ready, or not ready, to make. Now, be a good boy and go bring your master over to Sora, or I might be forced to put a shock collar on you." Hearing this, ShadowWereGarurumon snarled and ran at Karatenmon, clashing his Shadow Claw against her Harmony Swords. The two then began a heated contest of claw against blade, with ShadowWereGarurumon's ferocity keeping Karatenmon from being able to land any lasting hits despite her ability to read his heart.
Seeing the newly Digivolved Ultimate keeping up with the evil Digimon and berating herself for losing hope so easily, Mimi went up next to Sora in order to congratulate her on being able to Dark Digivolve to Ultimate. "Wow, Sora, looks like you went from being the last to figure out your Crest the first time around to being the first this time. I mean, I know you were actually the fourth person to Digivolve to Ultimate, but TK, Joe, and I all had moments where we really learned our Crests when we rejoined the group, and Kari could use her Crest right after she got it." Mimi suddenly winced as Karatenmon managed to land a hit on ShadowWereGarurumon's eye and then let out a menacing cackle. "Still, I think you might want to rein in Karatenmon a bit. I don't know about you, but I don't think it's right that Biyomon can go from being so sweet to being sadistic like she is now."
Sora responded to the suggestion with a glare. "What, does it matter? That mangy animal is standing between me and that man-stealing witch. If he wants to get in between me and my boyfriend, it's his own fault if he gets hurt." There was such malice in her voice that Mimi had a hard time recognizing it as coming from her friend, who usually couldn't speak without a motherly, loving tone. "Sora, what's gotten into you? You know Matt and Gabumon are like brothers. If you tear apart his family just to be with him, do you really expect—OW!"
Mimi's lesson was unfortunately interrupted in the form of Veemon flying into her and knocking her over. Luckily, she had managed to avoid being hit by his horn, but the impact still knocked the wind out of her and sent her crashing to the ground. TK, Ken, Kari, and Davis all ran over to her, with Davis collecting the very woozy Veemon while the other three worked together to carry Mimi away to safety. By the time Mimi had gathered enough breath to ask what had happened, she was a fair distance away from the action: close enough to still see and hear most of what was going on, but far enough away that she would no longer be in the direct line of fire. Ken, TK, and Kari had all gone back to get their partners, as Patamon and Wormmon had regained enough strength to insist they would be fine if TK and Ken went to go help Mimi. Davis was left with the daunting task of explaining exactly what had happened to Mimi.
"Well," he started, "do you remember how Lilithmon was fighting Magnamon without using any attacks? Turns out, she's strong enough to take Magna Punches and Magna Kicks and dish out just as much hurt. She hit Magnamon so hard he reverted to Veemon and crashed right into you. Are you okay? I know Veemon's got a thick skull, so I'm hoping he didn't do too much damage."
"I think I'll be fine," Mimi answered, her breath still coming in gasps, but not nearly as badly as it had been earlier. "But I'll complain about my bruises later when I have a bit more breath in me."
Seeing as she had time for an attempt at humor, Davis knew she was going to be fine. However, this small victory didn't change the fact that the DigiDestined were even worse off now than they had been at the start of the fight. While they had Karatenmon on their side as an Ultimate, she was being a little too brutal and Sora a little too supportive of that brutality to know for sure if they were actually on their side or not. Even if Karatenmon didn't turn on them, they only had her and Gatomon left fighting against ShadowWereGarurumon, SkullGreymon, and Lilithmon. Sure, Karatenmon had the upper hand in her fight, but Gatomon was only lasting this long in her fight because SkullGreymon had been spending most of his time either standing still or simply trying to step on the smaller Digimon. However, after Karatenmon had started beating ShadowWereGarurumon, Lilithmon seemed to lose a bit of control of the skeletal dinosaur, causing him to kick Gatomon away from him before finally using his dreaded Dark Shot attack. However, instead of launching the attack at Gatomon, he instead launched it directly towards TK and Patamon. With Patamon still unable to Digivolve due to his recent defeat and Karatenmon too busy torturing ShadowWereGarurumon to bother worrying about the safety of anybody other than Sora, only Gatomon was in position to save the two. She bravely stood between the two and the incoming missile, yelling for TK and Patamon to run before preparing to stop the missile by whatever means necessary. TK was forced to watch as Kari's partner prepared to sacrifice her life in order to save him, torn between running away to help Patamon or trying to grab Gatomon and then trying to outrun the missile, as he didn't want Kari to experience what he had to go through with Patamon's death.
However, before TK could decide, he saw Gatomon glow with a purple light, and then a wave of bats flew out to meet the missile. The wave of bats collided with the missile and caused it to harmlessly explode in midair. After the explosion died down, TK beheld Gatomon's new form, and couldn't stop himself from smiling a little bit. His prediction had been completely accurate, as Gatomon's new form was the very same Fallen Angel Digimon that had been Angewomon's nemesis in their catfights. However, seeing as how Karatenmon had become all too brutal after Dark Digivolving for the first time, TK wisely decided to wait to say "I told you so" until after the fight was over. Sure enough, LadyDevimon began fighting immediately. She used her Black Wing attack to transform her arm into a spear, and then flew in to engage SkullGreymon at close range where he wouldn't be able to hit her with his Dark Shot attack. Deciding to put some distance between himself and the brawl, TK grabbed Patamon and started running towards Kari in order to thank her for saving him. Before he could form the words, however, he noticed she was currently kneeling on the ground in obvious pain. Immediately forgetting about anything else, he sprinted to close the distance between the two. When he finally arrived at her side, he skidded to a stop and placed his hand on her shoulder. When she didn't react to his touch, he worriedly asked, "Kari, are you okay? Answer me!"
Kari finally seemed to notice his presence, and her eyes actually brightened at seeing him. She started to say, "TK, you're o—" before she collapsed into a coughing fit. As TK tried helping her, he noticed her Crest had gone from its usual pink coloring to black, with only the pink star glowing in the center. In addition, her D3 had changed, with the center portion turning from white to black, creating a much greater contrast with the pink grips, which were now glowing brightly. Deciding getting Kari away from the fight safely was the top priority, TK picked her up off of the ground and began running towards where Mimi, Davis, and Ken were all gathered. Of course, between carrying a barely-conscious Kari and having a similarly weakened Patamon clinging to his head, he did not make nearly as good of time as he normally would have, and before he managed to get halfway toward the group Lilithmon's dark figure materialized before him. Patamon bravely launched a Boom Bubble at the Demon Lord, but the only reaction he got for his effort was a bemused look.
"Not that I don't give you credit for trying," Lilithmon spoke as if she were a mother explaining the obvious to a particularly young child, "but you'll have to do a lot better than that if you want to do anything to me. In your current state, you won't even be able to mess up my hair. Maybe if you were at full strength that attack would be enough to dishevel my robe, but unless you Digivolve that's the farthest you'd ever get. Now, how about we go for—" Lilithmon interrupted herself with a sigh before striking out with her right arm, catching LadyDevimon's Black Wing attack on her Nazar Nail. "Bit of advice, girlie. Next time you want to launch a sneak attack, come at your opponent from behind, and try to be quiet about it. Did you honestly expect me to see and hear you coming only to think 'gee, she's trying to impale me: I should just stand here and take it?' If I had wanted to, I could have easily disintegrated you by using my Nazar Nail attack instead of just blocking your attack. However, I want to see exactly how well the Child of Light handles the powers of Darkness. It's definitely not an easy transition. And since getting rid of you gets rid of that connection, I guess I'll just have to keep you around for a while."
"Yeah, well, I guess it's just my lucky day then," LadyDevimon countered. "You don't want to destroy me, but I have absolutely no reason not to destroy you. You stole my partner's brother, turned his partner into a monster, and then he went and tried to destroy my partner's best friend. When you disrespect my partner and her friends, you disrespect me. And you know what they say about the fury of a woman scorned. And since I know how well this next technique works from using it to beat SkullGreymon, I guess you can be its next victim! Now, Darkness—"
However, before LadyDevimon could finish calling her attack, Kari let out a shriek of pain. Immediately stopping her attack, LadyDevimon flew down to TK and Kari and asked, "Kari, what's wrong? You have to tell me so I can help you." TK never thought a LadyDevimon could speak with such a caring tone, and Kari seemed to recover to the point where she was no longer crying out. However, before anything more could be done, Lilithmon gave an audible sigh. "Well, I guess she isn't quite ready to handle the darkness. It's a shame, really. I sensed some great potential in her. But, it looks like she's just getting hurt by all the dark energy she's putting out for you to use. So, I guess this puts you in an interesting predicament, doesn't it? You can't protect your partner without attacking me, but you can't attack me without hurting your partner. So what are you going to do?"
LadyDevimon paused for a second before laughing. "So, any time I use dark energy for attacks, I end up hurting Kari? Well, I guess I'm just lucky to have a bit of experience fighting without attacks, aren't I? I'm going to make you sorry you ever messed with the DigiDestined. BINTA!"
LadyDevimon flew up to Lilithmon and slapped her across the face, and it took a second for TK to realize LadyDevimon had actually called out the name of one of her attacks, which happened to be a simple slap, instead of insulting Lilithmon. The two fallen angels started a cat fight that put any of Angewomon's and LadyDevimon's fights to shame, but TK decided getting Kari to safety was much more important than watching the two go at it. Bringing her over to where everyone was gathered around Mimi, he set her down gently and looked at the state of the battle. Patamon, Veemon, Palmon, and Wormmon were all too injured to fight, but they would recover eventually. With Kari and Mimi also hurt, the DigiDestined only had LadyDevimon fighting without her partner and while Karatenmon and Sora formed the only complete team. Luckily, Lilithmon's side had also suffered losses with SkullGreymon having reverted to an unconscious, black version of Agumon. Then, Karatenmon appeared to grow bored with torturing the wounded ShadowWereGarurumon, finally forcing him to revert to a black version of Gabumon with a final Harmony Swords attack. Karatenmon then joined the fight against Lilithmon and Sora began running towards Matt, but at this moment, Lilithmon began flickering with static, shortly followed by Matt, Tai, and their partners. Sora's outstretched arms closed around the space where Matt had been a second ago, but was too late to stop her boyfriend from being taken to the Dark Ocean yet again.
With the enemy no longer in the area, the DigiDestined and their Digimon all went to regroup at Sora's location. However, Sora didn't seem to notice their presence and was engaging in a long, profanity filled rant against the absent Lilithmon. Mimi went up and placed her hand on Sora's shoulder, only for Sora to quickly spin around and start yelling at her instead, forcing Mimi to take a few steps back.
"What, do you want to steal Matt from me too? It's obvious you don't want me to have him since you didn't help in the fight at all. I think it would be best to just get rid of all of the competition so he'll never leave me again. Karatenmon, take her out!" Karatenmon drew her swords, but before she could make a move LadyDevimon had flown in and grabbed her arms. "Uh, guys, can you please snap Sora out of whatever funk she's in? I don't know how much longer I'll be able to maintain my LadyDevimon form, since Kari is starting to put out a lot less energy, and I'd really hate for Karatenmon to get turned loose on all of you when you only have some exhausted rookies to protect you."
While everybody agreed that this would be the best course of action, only Mimi had any idea of how to best get about this. She walked back up to Sora and slapped her across the face. Sure enough, the shock of the slap cut off the dark energy she had been using, turning her Crest back to its usual coloration and causing Karatenmon to shrink back down into Yokomon just a second before LadyDevimon also reverted to Salamon. Sora groggily rubbed her cheek before looking around and noticing she was surrounded by her friends with no sign of Lilithmon, Matt, or Tai. Unsure of what had happened, Sora began questioning her friends.
"Why is everybody looking at me like that? And what happened in the fight? Last thing I remember, Saberdramon was fighting ShadowWereGarurumon, and then I started yelling at Lilithmon. Did she do something to knock me out or something? And where is—Yokomon!"
Sora finally saw her partner, and quickly ran to where the small pink flower was laying on the ground. Even though Yokomon wasn't conscious, she was at least breathing, so Sora returned to the group and asked what exactly had happened. Mimi decided to be the one to fill her friend in with the details.
"Okay, you want the short version? You went into a massive rant at Lilithmon and got Saberdramon to Dark Digivolve to Karatenmon, who was basically a crow samurai. She fought ShadowWereGarurumon in a long fight, but she was basically toying with him. Anyway, while those two were going at it, you were getting a bit too jealous and possessive, and wanted to kill ShadowWereGarurumon just because he was between you and Matt. I almost got you to snap out of it, but then I got interrupted in the form of Lilithmon knocking out Magnamon and turning Veemon into a Mimi-seeking missile. Anyway, while that was going on, Gatomon Dark Digivolved to LadyDevimon, beat SkullGreymon, and started fighting Lilithmon. Karatenmon beat ShadowWereGarurumon and then Lilithmon, Tai, Matt, Agumon, and Gabumon all flickered out of existence. You didn't take that very well, and almost attacked us before I slapped some sense back into you. Now, I'm a bit banged up, Kari is just about out for the count from the dark energy, and our Digimon have all seen better days. How about we head back home to get some rest?"
Due to the state of the Digimon and themselves, the DigiDestined all agreed that this would be the best choice of action. As they headed back to the TV to open a gate, they all couldn't help but feel like they hadn't accomplished anything other than wasting one of the few days remaining until Lilithmon's plan advanced to a point where they wouldn't be able to save the world. While they had unlocked four new forms, they had barely forced Lilithmon into a retreat, and there was no guarantee she wouldn't come back stronger than ever the next time. While they could benefit from a few days' rest, they all knew they would have to come back tomorrow and try again. With this thought in mind, a somber mood settled over the group as they headed back to Earth.
Lilithmon sighed as she felt herself get pulled back into the Dark Ocean. Daemon would only have drawn her back in order to keep the plan moving. Currently the plan only had two stages: ensuring all seven Demon Lords survived until such time as the Gate was ready and simultaneously attempting to capture the DigiDestined of Hope and Light to speed the process along. However, since she had never been in any real danger, Lilithmon knew that the reason she had been pulled back this time would fall under the category of Daemon believing she had endangered the plan by toying with the DigiDestined instead of capturing them right away. Sure enough, she materialized on the grey beach and saw Daemon in his snarling bestial form. Immediately, the Demon Lord of Wrath began to launch into an angry tirade.
"What is the meaning of this, Lilithmon? You had a simple task to complete: capture the DigiDestined of Hope and Light. Instead, you find yourself facing half of the DigiDestined, none of whom can Digivolve beyond Ultimate, and decide to play around with them long enough to lose the only backup you thought to bring? Need I remind you we need all seven Code Keys in order to unlock the Gate? If you lose the Code Key of Lust, you will have completely ruined all chance of success, and you better hope Lucemon finds you before I do, because I will ensure you are tortured for eternity for failing us!"
Lilithmon could only roll her eyes at her companion. "Sheesh, what's got your Code Key acting up? So I wanted to have a little fun, it's not anything to get angry over. Or are you just upset that I get to play with the humans while you're stuck talking with Barbamon and Leviamon? Envy is much more becoming of that crocodile than it ever will be for you."
"Why would I be jealous of some insignificant humans? The DigiDestined have never been anything other than a hindrance, and you insist on toying with them, allowing them to continue to interfere with our plans."
"For your information," Lilithmon countered, "my 'toying' with them has forced the Children of Light and Hope to turn to darkness in order to save their brothers. She has unlocked the Ultimate level while he has only unlocked Champion, but they seem to think the only way to stop me and release my control of Courage and Friendship is to turn deeper into the darkness. By giving them time to fight, I am causing them to willingly give in to the darkness. If they go too far, they'll join us of their own free will without having to get our hands dirty. I get to have fun watching the show, the children of Hope and Light turn to darkness, and we even get Love and Sincerity out of the deal. What's not to like? You won't think the DigiDestined are so insignificant once they join us." Lilithmon started chuckling before adding, "Then again, you didn't ever really appreciate humans anyway, not even when the Legendary Warriors saved your existence after you were smart enough to kill yourself with your own attack."
This last taunt caused Daemon to snarl and light his fists on fire. He swung them at Lilithmon's head, only stopping his Double Dust attack a millimeter in front of her shocked face. "If you think being destroyed by my attacks is so funny, maybe you'd like to try it. After all, we only need the seven Code Keys, not the seven Demon Lords. Why shouldn't I just kill you and claim mastery over your Lust?"
Lilithmon instantly regained her composure and sarcastically replied, "Wow, that's a great idea. I wonder why nobody else has thought of that. Oh that's right, they all have. Do you really think anybody would think twice about killing off either of us if they could get away with it? The only thing that stops people from messing with you or me is they know we'll back each other up. Since they'd have to take on two of us, they don't try starting a fight. Kill me off, and before you know it, Lucemon or Barbamon will try to do you in. The only thing that has kept the Seven Demon Lords together for all this time is the knowledge that any move against one results in the others moving against the instigator. And, of course, his Majesty wouldn't exactly like for his children to squabble, now would he?"
Daemon still seemed furious, but at least let the flames around his fists die out. Taking this as her cue to leave, Lilithmon began walking away, only to be stopped when Daemon once again began addressing her. "Don't take my lenience as a sign that you can continue playing around with these humans, Lilithmon. You may continue to use Courage and Friendship to turn Light and Hope, but be warned that you best have results by the time all seven of us gather. After all, Lucemon has quite the history of killing his allies at his own whim. You don't want to repeat the mistakes the Royal Knights made, do you? And while we are reminiscing about the good old days, I came across a rather interesting discovery while you were away."
Lilithmon turned to face Daemon, a look of curiosity in her face. "Oh, and what was that?"
Daemon gave an evil smirk. "Well, like you said, the Legendary Warriors proved to be valuable allies in the past. So, in trying to further strengthen our forces for the impending takeover of Earth, I decided to try to find the spirits and turn them to our cause. After all, we left all twenty spirits with Cherubimon right before we became Demon Lords, and for all of our old friend's qualities, he was never too great at executing complicated plans, so I knew I'd be able to track them down even after all of these years. I eventually managed to trail the data for the spirits to an abandoned castle on the Folder Continent, but when I arrived, all 20 spirits had already been removed. I managed to recover enough data to recreate two warriors, but they are only fragments and not the most stable of beings. It was obvious the spirits themselves had been there recently, but something must have removed them. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?"
Lilithmon took an instant to repress the guilty look that had flitted across her face before replying. "I don't have any idea who could have taken all the spirits. It's a shame- I miss having the Legendary Warriors fight alongside me. Those were certainly happier times, back when it was the three Celestial Digimon who watched over the world. Still, guess we'll just have to make due with Barbamon's army when we need additional forces. Besides, that greedy lout being forced to share ought to be fun to watch, don't you agree? Now if you don't need me, I'll be seeing if I can't whip these two boys into shape. After all, it's always more satisfying when your help takes it to the next level, and I think I might be able to pull out the Mega level with a bit more time."
Daemon gave an ominous chuckle. "Oh, I do know how much you enjoy playing with your toys. But just be careful you don't let your nostalgia for better days get the best of you, or I might just have to lock you back up in the light cage Cherubimon used on you. And if the spirits of the Legendary Warriors are locked away with you, who would come to save you this time?"
With this, he disappeared in a column of flame, laughing as he did so. Lilithmon felt a small part of her relax before realizing exactly what Daemon's overly dramatic parting meant. First, there was the issue with the missing spirits. While it was not as bad as it originally seemed, the fact that eight spirits were completely missing could be very bad news. Hybrid Digimon could be the most dangerous foes, as their lack of an official level meant it was almost impossible to predict their strength. However, a more pressing issue was Daemon's final statement, which was a clear indicator he believed her to possess at least a few of the spirits. While he hadn't confronted her directly, Lilithmon knew she would have to tread carefully around Daemon in the future- he had a short temper at the best of times these days, and her warning that he needed her alive for protection against the other Demon Lords applied to her needing him alive as well. She would have to be very careful from now on if she wanted to survive long enough for her plan to succeed.
Yolei, Joe, Izzy, and Cody all sat together in the Light area after clearing the last round of tests. While splitting up had allowed them to clear through the next three tests, it had taken a toll on all the Digimon. Yolei and Joe's first opponent had been an Arukenimon fought in an overgrown forest. Arukenimon had begun the fight by using sound waves to control insectoid Digimon, much like the Arukenimon created by Oikawa had done the first time the DigiDestined had fought her. Luckily for the DigiDestined, the only two insect Digimon they had were taking a different test, so it was a simple matter for Zudomon and Aquilamon to hold out against the swarm of Mothmon, Butterflymon, and Dokugumon and wait for an opening. This opening occurred when Zudomon used his Ice Lord Bump attack, sending out a wave of ice that froze many of the enemies solid. Given a bit of space, it was easy for Aquilamon to fly in and launch his Blast Rings attack at Arukenimon, cancelling out her sound based attack and forcing her on the defensive. While Arukenimon tried to counter with her Spider Thread attack, Aquilamon merely grabbed the webbing and used it to throw Arukenimon onto the ice from the Zudomon's last attack. The lack of traction cost Arukenimon dearly as she was unable to avoid being crushed by Zudomon's Vulcan's Hammer. With their fairly easy victory, they returned to the Light Area before Izzy and Cody had the chance. Pegasusmon had congratulated them on passing the test of Wood before offering to bring in food for the Digimon. The flying horse noticeably avoided looking at Yolei when a Nefertimon brought the food in, but the Digimon paid no attention and happily tucked into the meal before deciding to head on to the next test.
While Joe and Yolei had effectively breezed through their first test, Cody and Izzy had faced a much greater challenge. Their test had taken place in the digital equivalent of the arctic, complete with a driving blizzard and icy terrain that made the simple task of moving difficult. Unfortunately for them, this impediment was not shared by the guardian of this area, a giant werewolf that had no profile on Izzy's Digimon analyzer, but introduced himself as Lycamon. He was able to blend into the blizzard around him, making ranged combat all but impossible as Tentomon and Armadillomon wouldn't be able to see Lycamon until he was right next to them. Relying on close-quarters combat was the only option, but even that didn't go too well: the deep snow made it extremely difficult for Ankylomon to move, and Lycamon was capable of perfectly countering MegaKabuterimon's horn with his sword. Lycamon even outmatched MegaKabuterimon in their grapples, but he succeeded a little too well: he sent MegaKabuterimon flying into the ground, scattering the snow drifts and revealing an icy lake. Seeing this, Izzy immediately came up with a plan for victory and had Ankylomon break a small hole in the ice. Ankylomon quickly reverted to Armadillomon before Armor Digivolving to Submarimon and diving into the lake. MegaKabuterimon then lured Lycamon over the lake, and managed to keep the wolf busy while Submarimon used his Oxygen Torpedo and Submarine Attack to weaken the ice. Soon, the ice was too thin to support Lycamon's weight, sending the wolf sinking into the lake. Submarimon quickly left the water, and MegaKabuterimon used his Electro Shocker attack to send a ball of lighting straight into the waterlogged wolf. This weakened their opponent enough for MegaKabuterimon to finish him off with a Horn Buster attack, but even with the victory MegaKabuterimon reverted to Motimon, apparently as a result of being severely weakened by the constant beating and extreme cold. As they all returned to the Light Area, Izzy thanked his partner for maintaining his Ultimate form for so long despite all the damage, and promised a good rest as Pegasusmon and Nefertimon once again provided food for the DigiDestined and their Digimon. Pegasusmon congratulated them on passing the Test of Ice before informing them that Yolei and Joe had already passed the test of Wood and were currently taking the test of Earth. Seeing as it would take a little bit for Motimon to be ready to fight again, Izzy and Cody decided to wait until the others returned before continuing.
Motimon had returned to Tentomon by the time Yolei and Joe returned from their test with a battered Bukamon and Poromon in tow. In the Earth Area, they had squared off against Callismon, a Mega level bear Digimon. Using his Deep Forest attack, he was able to cause small earthquakes and send fragments of the many stone pillars dotting the landscape hurling towards Zudomon and Aquilamon. When Aquilamon tried flying over the carnage to attack from above, Callismon unleashed his Rodeo Bullet attack and fired a swarm of homing projectiles that hit Aquilamon and reverted him to Hawkmon. This caused Zudomon to become the main target of Callismon's abuse. The giant walrus warrior put up a valiant fight, using his hammer as well as his Horn and Tusk attack to try to counter Callismon's claws, but the effort was futile as Callismon repeatedly damaged Zudomon. Callismon was about to finish off Joe's partner when he was suddenly hit in the face by a large blast of wind, revealed to have come from Halsemon's Mach Impulse attack. Yolei had managed to Armor Digivolve Hawkmon while Callismon was distracted with Zudomon, and Halsemon now prepared to attack their foe again. Seeing himself once again attacked by a flying foe, Callismon launched a second Rodeo Bullet attack, only for Halsemon to charge straight through with his Tempest Wing. The tornado surrounding Halsemon served to deflect the bullets away from him slightly, allowing him to pass through them harmlessly and hit Callismon directly in the chest. While the attack did next to no damage, it served a greater purpose: the homing bullets had been following Halsemon the whole time, and now that he was immediately next to Callismon, it merely took a last second dodge to have the bear be hit with his own attack. While Halsemon wasn't directly hit by the attack, the ensuing explosion still weakened him enough to revert him to Poromon, but it did much more damage to their opponent. Callismon had taken enough damage for Zudomon to easily finish him off with a combination of Ice Lord Bump and Vulcan's Hammer before Zudomon himself was reduced to his In-Training form. With the fight finally over, the DigiDestined then returned to the Light Area, regrouped with Izzy and Cody, and shared their stories.
Seeing as Tentomon was ready to fight again and Armadillomon hadn't taken significant damage in their last fight, Izzy decided it was time to continue with the tests. After all, whatever Lilithmon was planning would be happening soon, and the entire point of this exercise was to figure out what that plan was and stop it before it started. While he fully expected to have to take breaks for eating and even sleeping if the tests were arduous enough, he didn't have the luxury of wasting time when he was fully capable of fighting. He wished Joe and Yolei luck before going with Cody through the next eyeball-shaped gate, hoping all these struggles would not be in vain.
Author's Note: Well, just moving right along with the story. We have the first Ultimate level Dark Digivolutions for the good guys in Karatenmon and LadyDevimon. With Gatomon having Digivolved, we've now seen every Digimon that will Dark Digivolve in this story do so. Of course, we aren't done seeing Digivolutions, Dark or otherwise. After all, Lilithmon now has every reason to push forward and reach for the Mega forms now that her closest ally Daemon is suspicious of her. So, I hope you keep enjoying the story, and feel free to review/message me with any questions or comments!