Disclaimer: I don't know if anybody bothers reading these, but I feel the need to say it anyway: I don't own Digimon.
Kari groaned as she slowly started to wake up. Feeling that she was on a bed, she tried to remember exactly how she had ended up here. The last thing she remembered, she had been fighting against BlackWarGreymon and BlackMetalGarurumon. Puppetmon and Ornismon had both been defeated, then TK had fallen on top of her and-
As soon as that memory returned to her, Kari suddenly bolted upright in her bed. However, the unfamiliar color of the walls made her quickly realize she wasn't actually in her own bed. Looking around trying to piece together where she was, she noticed Yolei sitting in a chair by the door, smiling at her. "About time you woke up, sleeping beauty. Did you enjoy your little nap?"
"Yolei, what are you doing here? For that matter, where exactly is here? I don't remember anything much after the middle of the fight."
"Hey, take it easy for a bit. You probably would know where you are if Mimi, Sora and I hadn't cleaned out two weeks of trash out of here. We're at your brother's apartment. We're having a meeting later to go over all the details of what happened, so I'll skip over all of that for now. Anyway, we got back from meeting with Minervamon just as Davis and Ken managed to get everyone to a gate back to Earth. Now, we had four unconscious Digimon and two unconscious humans, so we obviously needed a place to go where we wouldn't get questioned too much. So, Sora used her spare key to let us in to Matt and Tai's place since her roommate was still using her room and we wouldn't all fit, while the guys are all staying at Joe's place. I'm not sure if your parents fully bought the stories we told them about you and TK staying with us, but they eventually let it go. So, now that you're finally awake, I can call in Mimi and Sora. We've got some things we really need to talk about before the meeting."
With that, Yolei left the room, quickly returning with Salamon, Yokomon, and Tanemon. As Kari saw the looks on her three friends' faces, she couldn't help but swallow a bit of apprehension. Noticing Yolei's Digimon was missing, Kari quickly asked if Hawkmon was okay. Yolei just smirked. "Oh, he's just fine. He's just getting everything gathered up for us to go to the meeting. We're supposed to head back to the temple as soon as you wake up, but we really needed some girl time first. Now, can you just imagine my shock when Mimi and Sora told me you spent an entire fight holding hands with a certain blond DigiDestined? Add that to the fact that your parents asked if TK was still sleeping over when we called to tell them about you staying with us, and I can't help but feel like I've been left out of some important information. Now, we are going to spend some quality time talking about this new development…"
By the time the girls arrived at the temple an hour later, they found everybody else sitting in a circle in the courtyard, discussing the latest happenings amongst themselves. With the additional wait, all the Digimon except Tokomon and Salamon had returned to their usual forms. As Yolei greeted the group, Kari noticeably tried avoiding eye contact with anybody. TK went up to her to ask if she was okay, but when all he got for a response was a blush and a quick "I'm fine" followed by giggling from the other three girls, he thought it would be best to give her a little bit of space. Luckily, Izzy managed to stop the situation from becoming too awkward.
"Hey, Sora or Mimi, could I borrow one of your Digivices? TK said he kept blacking out at the start of the fight, and I wanted to see if that could have been caused by one of the Digimon." As he said this, he pulled out an ancient looking yellow laptop, causing Yolei to interject. "Wow Izzy, could you get a more obsolete computer? That thing must be ten years old. I know you love computers, but why do you still have that?"
"Yes, Yolei, it is very old. I've had this since our first trip to the Digital World. Believe me, most of its abilities are far surpassed by my new laptop, but this one was modified by Gennai to be able to analyze Digimon anybody else has seen. Sure, I've got a more advanced analyzer on my current computer, but only this old computer has a hookup to interface with a Digivice. I can't exactly make a new computer compatible with a Digivice on my own, since I deal more with software than hardware. It's the same reason we all keep our D-Terminals despite far better technology being available now. Of course, being that old does have the drawback of being designed to communicate with the first generation Digivice, so I couldn't just scan TK's D3 to see everything. Hence why I need Mimi or Sora's Digivice."
With his explanation out of the way, Sora handed over her Digivice, allowing Izzy to start the scan. Seeing the list of Ultimate and Mega level Virus Digimon, Izzy couldn't help but gasp in shock. Sora cut him off before he could start exclaiming anything about the list, telling him that most of the forms were actually on their side before directing him towards NeoDevimon, as that would be the most likely source for a problem that was only affecting TK.
Getting over his brief surprise, Izzy pulled up NeoDevimon's file, and immediately was able to determine the cause of TK's strange symptoms. "Well, this explains everything. NeoDevimon is supposedly an artificially augmented Devimon. Think the equivalent of MetalGreymon to Greymon, but in NeoDevimon's case, something must have gone wrong. According to this, NeoDevimon was too powerful and too destructive, so it was altered to wear a golden mask to contain its power and completely sap its will. Some of that loss of will must have bounced across to TK due to his connection with NeoDevimon. From this, it's amazing that Kari managed to get TK to return to his senses at all."
This last statement elicited another blush from Kari and chuckles from the other girls, leaving Izzy confused as to what exactly he had said. Seeing Kari's embarrassment, Ken decided to step in and change the subject. "Okay, so that settles one question. What were some of the other Digimon present at the fight? I didn't arrive until the very end, and we were more focused on getting out of there than paying attention to everything that was going on. It'll be good to know what forces the enemy can command if we're going to be attacking them soon."
Izzy nodded and returned to his list. "Right. Judging from the fact that TK succeeded in Dark Digivolving to NeoDevimon and everybody else was also working on the Ultimate level, I think it's safe to assume the profiles in here for Devimon, NeoDevimon, LadyDevimon, Saberdramon, Karatenmon, Woodmon, and Cherrymon were actually on our side. That still means Lilithmon attacked with the help of BlackWarGreymon, BlackMetalGarurumon, Puppetmon, Ornismon, Wisemon, and Daemon. How exactly did you four manage to hold out against six Megas and an Ultimate with only four Ultimates?"
Mimi suddenly jumped up with excitement. "Oh, we had a very good reason to survive. Palmon, how about we show off our new trick?" Palmon smiled in agreement, and Mimi's Crest and Digivice both began to glow black with green accents. Palmon began glowing a deep purple before calling out, "Palmon, Dark Warp Digivolve to… Puppetmon!" At the appearance of the Puppet Digimon, Izzy and Joe could only gasp in shock, while Mimi began laughing. "Wow, if you two could only see the looks on your faces. You don't have to worry; this Puppetmon is still on our side. Palmon and I actually don't have any issues controlling our Dark forms. It's a bit rougher on the other three, though. Sora can also go to Mega, though Biyomon can't quite control herself as Ornismon." With this, Puppetmon began glowing again and shrank back down into Tanemon. "Really, the only issue we have is we haven't quite gotten the hang of going back to Rookie whenever we finish. That will probably just be a time thing, though, since it took WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon a bit to reach that stage too. Anyway, back to the battle, the only enemies we actually fought were BlackWarGreymon, BlackMetalGarurumon, and some weird robed guy who I'm guessing is Wisemon, since he was too small to be Daemon. And now that I think back, Lilithmon and Daemon were never even there. You must have pulled up some of the wrong data."
"No, that can't be right. According to this, Daemon and Lilithmon were scanned between Ornismon and Imperialdramon. Since I'm looking at the files in chronological order, that means Lilithmon and Daemon had to have shown themselves in between when Biyomon went to Mega and when Imperialdramon came in to save you. Was there anything unusual that happened in that time frame that could have distracted you and caused you to not notice the brief presence of two Demon Lords?"
This time, it was Sora's turn to respond. "Well I guess we could have missed something when TK and Kari started—wait a minute. That all fits! TK and Kari started Digivolving to Mega and released a surge of dark energy much larger than Mimi or I did. Right when that happened, this Wisemon guy attacked instead of sitting back like he had for the rest of the fight. It was like he totally freaked at what TK and Kari were doing, which makes sense if he was working for the Demon Lords and they were about to call out two of them!"
While Mimi agreed with Sora, everybody else just looked confused. Finally, TK had to just ask the question that was on everybody's minds. "What exactly are you talking about? I don't really remember much about NeoDevimon Digivolving, and after that I was unconscious, so I'd appreciate it if you could tell me what went on. I'm sure everybody else who wasn't there would like to hear the whole story anyway, and then we need to hear how the meeting with Minervamon went, so why don't we get started. We probably can't afford to waste too much time here."
When everybody gathered agreed to his proposal, Mimi and Sora began telling the story of their battle against Wisemon, with Kari and TK helping out for whatever parts they could actually remember. Yolei noticed some key details missing, but decided now would not be the best time to bring them up. After they had finished their story, the other group took their turn, with all of them recapping the trials on the journey before turning the floor over to Izzy, who did his best to give a brief recap of Minervamon's story.
After Izzy finished his recap, Davis immediately took charge. "Okay, I may not have followed that entire history lesson, but it sounds like we have to hurry up and stop the Seven Demon Lords from opening this gate thingy and unleashing the source of most of the darkness in the Digital World. So, we need to get into the Dark Ocean as soon as possible and destroy at least one of the Demon Lords. That should take away one of the keys and then the gate should stay shut."
However, Ken brought up a few issues with this. "That's all good in theory, but it has a few major problems. From what we've seen so far, the Demon Lords are all able to absorb data. Even if we blow a few of them up, their stray data might be absorbed by one of the others, including the Code Key. We either need to destroy all seven or somehow capture one and destroy them as far away from the others as possible. Of course, none of that even matters, since we still aren't sure how to get into the Dark Ocean. And even when we get in, we'll have to fight against seven opponents who are all about as strong as Lilithmon, and in case you didn't notice, she's been trouncing us this entire time."
"Hey," Davis responded, "give me a little credit here. Did you honestly think I didn't have a plan? Sure, Lilithmon has beaten us without even trying, but that was either before we knew what she was capable of or when we weren't up to full strength. Now, we won't be surprised when she stops us from Digivolving and we can be careful to avoid her other attacks. Plus, we are a lot stronger than we ever were before. If all of us go to our strongest forms, she won't stand a chance. The way I see it, we'll go at her with Imperialdramon, Plesiomon, HerculesKabuterimon, Puppetmon, Ornismon, Aquilamon, and Ankylomon. As for your point about how we can get into the Dark Ocean, I direct your attention to the two Digimon I haven't mentioned yet. Now, from the Digimon Analyzer's info on the last battle, Patamon and Gatomon both Dark Digivolve into Demon Lords at the Mega level. Now, Minervamon said the Demon Lords could draw other Demon Lords too them across dimensional boundaries. Maybe we can use that against them. If TK and Kari can handle Dark Digivolving, it might give exactly the push we need to cross from the Digital World into the Dark Ocean just like the other Demon Lords can get from the Dark Area to the Dark Ocean."
"That sounds great in theory, Davis," TK interrupted, "but aren't you betting a lot on our ability to control our Mega levels? Now, Gatomon did a very good job handling the Ultimate level, and the only issue was Kari getting hurt, but Kari has that worked out now. So, she should be able to handle the Mega level just fine. However, I didn't fare nearly as well. When Patamon became NeoDevimon, I couldn't do anything on my own. I'm not even sure I'll be able to get to Mega, let alone control whatever happens."
Davis wasn't dissuaded. "I realize that, but I really don't think we have any other options at this point. Unless you've got some magical portal to the Dark Ocean you haven't told us about, we can't get in. And if the Demon Lords are as close to succeeding as Minervamon said they were, I don't think we have the option of waiting for them to come to us. Either we attack them, or we sit back and wait for the end of the world. As for controlling yourself, we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there. We can't afford to think too much about this. We just have to charge in and hope for the best."
TK rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Davis. I bet you've been planning that line for this entire speech. Anyway, I guess you are right that we don't really have any other options here, but we will have to wait a little bit. I'm not sure how Salamon is feeling, but Tokomon will need a bit of a break before he's ready to try Digivolving again. So, we may as well use the time to work out a bit of a plan. After all, if Kari and I do manage to open the gate, we don't want to get sucked into the Dark Ocean with nothing but Rookies and get hit with Black Requiem before can do anything about it."
"Relax, I got it covered. We'll all Digivolve right before you two do. That way, we'll have Fighter Mode and all of our Megas standing by for when you two go and open the gate."
Sora quickly interjected. "Sorry Davis, but I've got a small problem with your plan. You said you wanted Ornismon, but Biyomon and I haven't quite gotten that under control yet. If we're going as soon as TK and Kari are ready, I don't have time to practice either. Since Biyomon and I are stuck at Ultimate, I think we'll go with Garudamon since we have more experience with that form. Do you think you and Ken could get Imperialdramon into his Paladin Mode to cover the difference?"
This time, it was Ken who answered. "Unfortunately, Sora, we've tried to do that and it didn't work. Apparently the energy required to Mode Change to Paladin Mode is way too high for Davis and me to get on our own. We only managed to do that against Armageddemon because Omnimon transferred all his energy to us. Since we need Matt and Tai for Omnimon and we don't have either of those two at the moment, Fighter Mode is as high as we can go. Looks like my Crest of Kindness won't really be much help this time around…"
Davis was quick to console his best friend. "Hey, don't worry about it Ken. We went through way too much work sifting through that desert to find it for it to be useless. Besides, we've managed to do some serious damage with Fighter Mode before, so we'll be just fine. Though, thanks for pointing out that issue now Sora instead of waiting until later. Does anybody else have anything they'd like to say that could make us adjust the plan slightly?"
Mimi answered this time. "Well, it's nothing major, but you said you wanted Puppetmon in this fight. Don't worry, I agree that Tanemon and I should do that because even with our inexperience Puppetmon is still stronger than Lillymon, but we'll have to wait a bit. If I had known we were going to fight so soon, I wouldn't have shown off Puppetmon like I did. Tanemon will need a bit of time to recover her energy before she can go back to her Mega form so quickly."
Tanemon shook her head. "Hey, don't worry about me, Mimi. It's not like I really did anything as Puppetmon anyway. I didn't lose that much energy. Just give me little time and a snack, and I bet I'll be ready before everyone else."
Davis nodded. "Tanemon has a point. We've only got a little bit of time before the fight, so everybody do what you have to do to get ready. If you need a snack, a rest, whatever, do it now since we won't have any time later."
Everybody agreed with this plan, and they each went their own separate ways to get just a little bit of space to mentally prepare themselves for the upcoming battle. Of course, they stuck within earshot of each other so they would be able to hear when everybody else was ready, yet each took some time to quietly deal with their nervousness on their own. After all, they weren't used to receiving prior notice with a battle this large. They had always either actively sought their enemies or been suddenly thrown into a battle, and rarely had to sit and wait. The only time they had done this previously was when guarding the Destiny Stones from the first BlackWarGreymon, but that hadn't gone particularly well. So, the DigiDestined were taking the time to conquer their own nerves and mentally prepare for the fight while their partners readied themselves physically.
Kari took advantage of the lull by going off on her own for a little bit. After all, she didn't have any memories between attempting to have LadyDevimon Digivolve and her conversation with Sora, Mimi, and Yolei, so she just needed time to rest her mind before jumping into the next difficult situation. Also, being alone finally allowed her to escape her own embarrassment, as she hadn't really been able to avoid the looks on Sora, Mimi, and Yolei's faces whenever she so much as looked at TK. Luckily, she would now be able to—
"Hey, Kari, are you okay? You've looked like something has been bothering you this whole time." Sure enough, TK was walking right up to her, sending any chances of quietly gathering her thoughts straight to the Dark Ocean. Just imagining how the other girls would react if they saw her and TK alone in the woods was enough to embarrass Kari, which TK unfortunately noticed. "Kari? What's wrong?"
Hearing the concern in his voice, Kari quickly recovered enough to answer him. "Oh, sorry about that TK. It's just so much has been going on, and now we're planning on barging into the Dark Ocean and I'm just really nervous and—" Oh, get a hold of yourself, Kari. I'm sure looking like a scared little girl is exactly what you want to do right now. And the babbling really isn't helping your cause. He'll probably figure out why you're nervous in the first place at this rate. As her mind finally caught up to her mouth, Kari quickly stopped talking, only to realize that cutting off mid-sentence was probably worse than her babbling. However, TK didn't seem to notice it, as he seemed preoccupied as well.
"Okay, I guess that makes sense. After all, this can't be easy on you. This is going to be what, your third time in the Dark Ocean?" Yeah, smooth move there, TK. Why not just bring up some horrible memories when she's feeling down. That has to end well. "Not that it's really your fault you've been there before. At least this time you haven't been kidnapped." Bit of advice: don't try getting out of a hole by digging down. "Sorry, that didn't come out right. What I meant to say was you were being very brave by doing this on your own. I don't know if I could do the same thing. Even now, I'm worried about how I'll handle this instead of how you will." So, telling her you aren't worried at all about her? You could save a lot of time and money by just hitting yourself in the head with that shovel you used to dig this giant hole. "Not that I don't care about you. I just know you're strong enough to take care of yourself. I care about you a lot." WHACK! "I mean, not like, uh, well, I do, but… this talk really isn't going that well, is it?"
Kari couldn't help but start to smile at his antics. "Hey, it might not have been the most elegant way of saying something, but at least it made me smile. Besides, you're really cute when you're nervous." Oh why did I just say that? Why did I just say that?! It took all of Kari's restraint to stop herself from slapping herself, but TK actually looked relieved to hear her say that.
"Thanks, Kari, that's nice to hear. I guess I must be really cute right now, since I've been freaking out about this whole thing." Wow, that sentence was really manly. Good job! "Uh, anyway, the main reason I've been worried is what we have to do to even get in the Dark Ocean in the first place. I'm sure you'll manage to go to Mega just fine, since you mastered Ultimate so quickly, but I haven't even managed to do that yet. And of course, I just happen to lose my free will when Patamon becomes NeoDevimon, so the only way I can think of getting beyond that is having you snap me out of it. Guess we'll just have to hold hands again." Did you really just make holding her hand sound like a horrible thing? "Not that that's a bad thing, but it will be weird doing it in front of everybody else. It was actually really nice holding your hand last time." Yeah, you notice that you're starting to sweat? That's probably because you've dug yourself a hole so deep that you're about to hit the center of the earth. "I mean—"
TK took a deep breath and realized he really didn't have anything more to lose, so decided to just say what was on his mind now instead of waiting until after this was all over. "Look, Kari, I know this isn't really the best time to bring this up, but when this is over and we end up winning this, would you, maybe, want to catch a movie sometime? Well, wait, we always do that together anyway- what I mean is, would you want to go out with me?" TK winced as his voice awkwardly cracked on the last three words, and the look of shock that crossed Kari's face certainly didn't help him. Kari managed to stammer out, "Did…you…just…ask…me…out?" before TK began furiously backpedaling. "It's fine. I understand. The world's about to end, our brothers are kidnapped, it could ruin our friendship, there's plenty of reasons why that's a bad idea. I'm sorry I—"
Finally, Kari managed to shake off the shock and interrupt him. "I never said no! I'd be happy to go out with you. In fact, I was planning on asking you out after our nice relaxing week of vacation in the Digital World, but that obviously didn't work out so well. Of course, I wasn't sure exactly how to do it since we already go to movies and concerts with just the two of us that I couldn't think of a way to make it obvious I was asking you out on a date instead of just hanging out together. I guess I finally figured out why everybody else says we were practically dating. Oh my gosh, everybody else! Sora, Mimi, and Yolei pretty much interrogated me about you this morning, and if they find out that we actually have a date set up, what will they think? Oh, who cares? We're going on a date! Why am I still talking? You probably think I'm just babbling. I really need to stop that."
However, TK didn't seem to notice her babbling, as one question kept coming to his mind. Finally, he had to voice it. "Wait, did you just say yes?" Not trusting herself to answer verbally without taking up a full minute, Kari simply nodded. TK's eyes suddenly lit up much brighter than Kari could ever remember seeing, "Wow. Just…wow. That's great! So, what times are you free, and what do you want to—"
However, before he could finish his sentence, TK was interrupted by Yolei's voice yelling from the original meeting place. "Hey, TK and Kari! Palmon, Patamon, and Gatomon are all ready to go. Would you two lovebirds hurry up and get back here?"
TK blushed at the interruption. "Well, I suppose we really need to get back. Also, lovebirds? What was that about?"
Kari smiled. "It's a long story. Now, how about we go save the world so we can plan out that date?"
Davis couldn't help but notice something different about TK and Kari as they went to join the group. Earlier, they had been scared about the upcoming mission to storm the Dark Ocean, with only an obviously fake layer of optimism hiding their true feelings. However, now they almost seemed eager to start the mission, and couldn't keep genuine happiness off of their faces. He was curious over what could have caused the change, but decided he wouldn't ask questions right now. Seeing as TK and Kari were essential for the upcoming raid, he was just glad they were willing to help and wouldn't tempt fate by questioning them. He also decided now was not the time to question Yolei's shocked expression and urgent mutterings with the other two girls, and was glad to have Joe and Izzy here so he wasn't the only one out of the loop on what everybody else was thinking. However, he didn't have time to whine about this, as he was about to lead the DigiDestined on his most dangerous mission yet- he was about to invade the enemy's territory, and this enemy featured seven Digimon who were all as powerful, if not more so, than MaloMyotismon. He couldn't afford to lose focus.
"Alright, now that we're all here, let's get this mission started. Everybody remember what to do? We all go to our highest forms except TK and Kari. Then, they go to Mega through Dark Digivolution and hopefully open a gate that pulls us all into the Dark Ocean. Then, we fight like crazy until we save Matt and Tai, beat the Demon Lords, and stop them from unleashing an ancient being of darkness. Now, I can't say where exactly in the Dark Ocean we'll end up, but we could very well be in the middle of all seven Demon Lords as soon as we get there, so we'll have to be ready for anything. I suggest we all get in a circle with humans in the middle and Digimon on the outside, since that will give us the best protection we can have."
Everybody nodded and pulled out their Digivices. Soon, all the Digimon except Patamon and Gatomon were glowing as they achieved a higher form. After numerous form changes, Plesiomon, HerculesKabuterimon, Puppetmon, Garudamon, Aquilamon, Ankylomon, and Imperialdramon in his Fighter Mode were enclosed in a partial circle around the DigiDestined, leaving some space for Patamon and Gatomon when they achieved their Mega forms. With everyone else ready, TK and Kari focused on trying to reach the Mega level. At first, they both stopped at the Ultimate level, and Kari had to grab TK's hand to stop him from spacing out completely. Ignoring everybody else's stares, the two began thinking back to the last time they had achieved Mega and replicated those feelings. LadyDevimon was immediately enshrouded by a deep purple glow, and a shockwave of dark energy spread from her location as a green symbol began appearing where she had been standing as well as on Kari's Crest. A few seconds later, the same thing happened to NeoDevimon, with the only difference being his orange symbol was slightly different than her green symbol. As a second shockwave lanced out, the two masses of dark energy crashed against each other, seeming to create a vortex in midair. Ken was uncomfortably reminded of the Dark Whirlpool, but what happened next made his discomfort seem minor in comparison: the entire group was suddenly sucked into the vortex and sent hurling through an inter-dimensional portal. Surprisingly, the portal itself no longer looked dark, with strange columns of blue and green light surrounding them as they flew towards the exit, represented by a small white dot within a large black circle. However, Ken didn't have much time to enjoy the tunnel, as the sudden feeling at the back of his neck told him he was heading directly towards the Dark Ocean once again, and this time he would not be able to escape by defeating one Ultimate Digimon.
Lilithmon was shocked to suddenly feel the same pull on her she had felt right before Wisemon had returned from his battle with the DigiDestined. It felt as if she was suddenly in two places at once, which was seriously unnerving. However, before she could begin to wonder what this all meant she was suddenly blasted with a massive blast of orange fire and sent crashing into the ground. Recognizing this attack, she was quick to address her attacker.
"Wow, Daemon, I must say you've gotten really good at hiding your power. I didn't even feel you coming. Of course, you seem to have forgotten to actually use that power when you attack. Your Evil Inferno should be able to destroy me, yet this barely singed my robe." Picking herself up, Lilithmon began flying out of the flames. "Still, I'm quite partial to this robe, so I'll have to ask you to kindly stop attacking your ally, or at least let me take it—what?"
Lilithmon had finally managed to clear herself from the flames, but seeing who attacked her brought much less clarity than she had hoped. She had correctly pegged her attacker as Daemon, but the real shock was not that her ally had betrayed her, but the current company he was keeping. Behind him was a pile containing all the members of the DigiDestined, whose partners were all in their highest forms and picking themselves off the ground. However, when the Garudamon regained her footing, Lilithmon saw something even more shocking- a second Lilithmon. Suddenly everything clicked into place.
"Wow, I really have to hand it to you humans. From the looks of things, you've somehow managed to create a portal to the Dark Ocean and attack just before our plan moves into its final stage. Five of you even unlocked the Mega level since the last time I saw you. Still, it's a shame, because you being here completely ruins the purpose of sending them to your world."
Lilithmon gestured upward, and the DigiDestined couldn't help but gasp in shock. Flying overhead was a veritable army of Digimon, many of which were too small to identify. However, Izzy managed to pick out some of the larger forms as belonging to Devidramon and Airdramon before they began shimmering out of existence. Seeing their reaction, Lilithmon couldn't help but grin. "Yes, quite impressive, isn't it? However, this force was designed for the sole purpose of keeping you busy on Earth while we entered the most vulnerable stage of our plan. It's mainly low level pawns, but they still would have kept you busy as they attacked all over the globe. An utter shame you won't be there to stop them. I guess they'll just have to satisfy their bloodlust on the other humans they encounter, won't they?"
Hearing this, the DigiDestined couldn't help but express their anger in various ways. For most of them, it took the form of glares, but TK skipped that step and immediately ordered Daemon to attack Lilithmon. Seeing this, Kari sent her own partner after the evil Demon Lord, and the two newly achieved Megas struggled with their enemy. Using the distraction this caused, Izzy quickly came up with an adjustment to the plan. "Listen, Davis, I know you are in charge here, but I'm afraid we won't be able to stick fully to your plan. If Lilithmon is telling the truth and that army is heading to attack Earth, we'll need Imperialdramon back there to help control the damage. Unfortunately, we'll need to keep the majority of our forces here since we have to stop the Seven Demon Lords now before they open the Gate. So, follow that army through whatever portal they are using and find a way to work with the other DigiDestined to repel the threat."
Yolei suddenly cut in. "I should probably head back too. Remember back when we first met Michael and he asked me out? Well, I got some contact info from him back then, and I haven't gotten around to deleting it. I might be able to get in touch with him. He said he was trying to communicate with all of the international DigiDestined and get them prepared for an attack when this mess started, so hopefully he worked together some form of communication network that we could use so we only have to send Imperialdramon wherever he's needed. Besides, Aquilamon may be great, but he's still just a Champion level. He would be of much more use on Earth than he would be here."
Cody also nodded. "I'll go too. I've become friends with many of the people who got implanted with the Dark Spores the last time a Demon Lord fought us, so I'll be able to at least get in touch with them and set up a defense force for Japan. That should free up Imperialdramon to only deal with threats beyond the Champion level. Since nobody on Earth can go beyond that, it'll be up to him to stop any Ultimates and Megas that show up anywhere on Earth."
Hearing this, Davis nodded. "Fine, looks like it's up to you six to take care of this mess. Do me a favor, will you? Free Matt and Tai from their brainwashing, and then reenact your first adventure and save the world as the eight of you. We'll hold down the fort on Earth. Now, who's ready for the World Tour Version Two?"
Ken couldn't help but smile at his friend's enthusiasm, despite the situation. Agreeing to the plan, Aquilamon and Ankylomon both reverted to their Rookie forms before they boarded a recently Mode Changed Imperialdramon Dragon Mode along with Davis, Ken, Yolei, and Cody. Imperialdramon then rocketed into the sky to chase after the army heading towards Earth, eventually entering a well-disguised portal and flickering out of the Dark Ocean, leaving the first group of DigiDestined as the only humans in the Dark Ocean. However, there wasn't any time for sentimentality, as Daemon and a Lilithmon were suddenly blasted into the ground on either side of the remaining group. Upon hearing a voice addressing them from the now-smoldering crater they had flown from, it became obvious that the injured Lilithmon was actually Kari's partner.
"As one Demon Lord to another, let me give you some advice. It is very impressive that your partners managed to unlock your current forms without going completely insane. However, even though you two are Demon Lords, I am one of the Seven GREAT Demon Lords. Your power is insignificant compared to mine. You are channeling the Wrath and Lust of your partners. I have the Code Key of Lust providing me with a constant flow of dark energy. Add this to the fact that the Child of Light is so despicably innocent, and your Lilithmon is not even a tenth as strong as I am. At least the Child of Hope has somewhat decent anger to work with, but your Daemon is around 15% of my power. You can't hope to beat me with only those two."
Glancing to the rest of the DigiDestined, she noticed Imperialdramon's absence and couldn't help but add in a chuckle. "So, the new kids all took the bait and headed back to Earth, did they? Not that it really matters. That trap really was too brilliant to fail. Either you ignore it and focus on attacking us, or you split your group to cover both threats. One option results in you weakening yourself with doubt over whether you can really stand abandoning your planet to be ransacked by our forces, while the other results in you weakening yourself by cutting out your advantage in numbers. Either way, it helps our cause. Still, with you six left, you might just have enough power to defeat me. I might just have to call in some help. After all, we're only missing two members from your original group, aren't we? It'd be a shame for them to miss the reunion."
Suddenly, she snapped her fingers, and Tai and Matt appeared from a dark portal next to her. However, it wasn't the sudden appearance of their friends that startled the DigiDestined the most, but rather how they appeared. Instead of standing on the ground, they were standing twenty feet in the air on the shoulders of a knight like Digimon. Though this Digimon was completely black, the distinctive WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon heads that formed its arms left no doubt in anyone's minds who this creature was. This was the Digimon that had singlehandedly wiped out an army of Diaboromon after only one of the viral Digimon had thrashed WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon in a combined effort. Now, he was an enemy, and Izzy suddenly wished he wasn't as intelligent as he was. Everybody else could hope against the odds to somehow win this battle. However, Izzy couldn't help but calculate the odds in his head, and the numbers kept pointing the same direction: the combined forces of Omnimon and Lilithmon wiping out their entire team.
Author's Note: Well, we're rushing towards the finale of this second arc. We've got plenty of Megas on our side now, but that doesn't seem to be helping. Power wise, I've always viewed fused Mega forms, like Omnimon, to be roughly equivalent to three Megas. With the Code Keys, the Seven Great Demon Lords are approximately on Omnimon's level. That might make the fight seem even, but with TK and Kari being new to the Mega level, Puppetmon being a fairly weak Mega in terms of combat ability, and Ornismon still not being able to control herself, let's just say Izzy's doubts are highly justified. Unfortunately for you, I'm going to be taking a break from updating for the football games, so I might not update the end of this fight until late tonight. Until then, feel free to review!