21: Greetings Earthlings! It is I, the21stMartian! :)
Sponsor: and why are you so happy?
21: Because I got this chapter done relatively quickly, and it's still good O_o
Sponsor: We'll see about that...
21: A couple of things to take note of. First, for those of you who are a little confused right now, I updated Chapter 9 last week to include the 2nd half I hadn't written when I first posted it. As a result of some, unexpected developments, I renamed the overall Chapter 'Of Light and Darkness part 1' Also, I just reuploaded the chapter since I had found a lot of mistakes while re-reviewing it, so yeah those are fixed now (hopefully). Second, this chapter is the product of late nights and listening to WAY too many 'Weird Al' polka medleys, so it may seem a little...strange in places. However, I've read through it a few times and it seems to flow well to me. (Review to let me know if you think I should continue this type of writing process or ditch it.)
Sponsor: Can we get on with it already?
21: One more thing of consequence. Both this chapter and the 2nd half of the previous chapter (the segment known as 'The Hunt for Helltower') actually came out very differently from how I had originally imagined them. Basically, I was led by my typing fingers, and actually liked what I saw, so I continued writing.
Sponsor: Why on earth should anyone give a rat's ass about that?
21: Well, as a result of this, I have to revamp my progressing ideas about this time line a little, so my next update probably will be slightly delayed.
George: Is that all? Can we eat now? I'm starved :(
21: Very well, I will have a few further notes at the end of the chapter, but to post them here would be *SPOILERS* so I'm not going to.
21 and George head off to order foodstuffs.
Sponsor: Finally, we can get a move on. The21stMartian does not own Digimon...and now, here's his latest bit of trash, namely...
Episode 10: Of Light and Darkness part 2: Unholy Alliances
(George): "Last time I revealed the story behind my history with Ken. Afterwards, the younger Digidestined and I attempted to capture Ken in his apartment. Unfortunately, he was one step ahead of us, and had escaped to an unknown dimension while causing his computer to explode. In the process of saving everyone else, I found myself trapped and blind in the alternate dimension. Meanwhile, Kari began to get really sick. Just when things seemed like they couldn't get any worse, the ruler of this universe showed up, and he's angry because the Crest of Power used to belong to him…I believe I am royally screwed.
"Surprised to see me Mr. Helltower?" asked the cloaked figure as the sky continued to darken, "I must admit to being surprised to see you. I never thought you'd come here of all places."
"Ken must have trapped me in the realm of Darkness," said George quietly, "and now he's here to reclaim his Crest…"
The cloaked figure raised his arms. Almost instantly, several dozen more of the small shadowy figures rose up from the depths of the ocean.
"You've already met my minions the Shadowmon," said the dark lord, "these aptly named digimon may only be Champions, but their Phantom Crush attack packs quite a punch."
Backed up against the rocks of the wasteland, blood leaking from the recent wound to his head, George had no choice but to stand his ground.
"This isn't good," thought the now powerless warrior, "without that Crest, I'm only as powerful as a Rookie…if that."
"Any last words Helltower?" asked the evil tyrant.
"Yeah," said George defiantly, "drop dead Daemon!"
The evil digimon held a hand over his heart in a mocking gesture.
"Oooh that hurts," he said sarcastically, "and here I thought we were such good friends."
Slowly but surely, like web footed zombies, the Shadowmon advanced. Daemon was clearly relishing his position to exact judgment on the one who stole his Crest.
"Do you know how many years I've had to spend here in this exile?" snarled Daemon, "all thanks to you and those lousy Sovereigns. Well, I'm pleased to say that soon I will become the least of their worries."
"You mean?" began George.
"Yes," said the cloaked demon, "I meant it when I said I would open a portal back to your dimension, but instead of sending you through it, I shall bring back the Child of Light, and you know what will happen next."
The evil tyrant began laughing sinisterly as he said his next sentence.
"My good friend Lucemon shall be released from his eternal prison," he said.
"No…" breathed George, whose eyes were widening. Ken had accidentally placed the Digital World in a lot more danger than intended…or had it been on purpose. Was it possible that Ken was in league with the Demon Lords? That would explain how he'd been able to open a portal here and then escape…
"Fortunately for you," continued the tyrant, "you'll be long gone before Lucemon is freed."
"Forget it Daemon," said George standing tall, "you'll have to get through me first!"
"A tempting offer," said the demon, "but unfortunately, I cannot expend any undo energy yet. I am still recharging my batteries after being depleted for so long…"
A bolt of lightning struck the evil digimon and he remained within it, the bolt getting bigger and bigger as Daemon absorbed the viral energy emanating from the Crest of Darkness.
Meanwhile the army of Shadowmon loomed ever closer.
"How the hell am I going to get out of this one?" thought George.
Having transported Kari to the Digital World, the remaining Digidestined remained at a constant vigil by her bedside.
She lay in a spare bed in Gennai's home under the lake, shivering and mumbling about the coming of the Darkness.
"Do you know what's wrong with her?" asked Tai frantically shaking Joe.
"I'm sorry Tai," said the med student, "I have no idea…"
"That's not good enough Joe!" said the elder Kamiya sibling, slamming his fist down on the nightstand, "she could die for all we know!"
Gennai walked into the room.
"I believe I might be able to shed some light on this situation, if you'll pardon the pun," said the old man.
"Well spit it out then!" shouted Tai.
"First off," said the old man, "Sora, could you calm your boyfriend down a bit?"
The redhead walked over to Tai and grabbed hold of his hand.
"It'll be okay Tai," she whispered into his ear, "everyone will do their best to help save Kari."
Although still grumbling and nervous, Tai calmed down…slightly.
"Go on Gennai," said Sora, "I believe you were saying something of consequence."
"Indeed," said Gennai, "I know what Kari's condition is, and if I'm right, then I also know where George is."
"How do you figure?" asked Izzy.
"Kari is reacting to the appearance of the Crest of Darkness," said Gennai, "as the bearer of the Crest of Light, she is most sensitive to the presence of her opposing force…"
"Wait," interjected Cody, "isn't the Crest of Darkness."
"The corrupted version of George's Crest of Power," finished the old man, "indeed you are correct…almost."
"Huh?" said Mimi, "what do you mean almost?"
"In reality, the Crest of Darkness came first," said the old man, "long ago there was an evil digimon named Lucemon who, with his demon companions, terrorized the Digital World. This was before the original Digidestined had been chosen, in fact, this is how they were chosen. Several heroes rose up among the residents of the Digital World. These digimon all had distinguishing characteristics, for example, Alphamon, who was the first Royal Knight Digimon, was a very honorable digimon. During the final battle, these heroes trapped the evil demons in an inescapable prison at the cost of their lives. In their honor, and as a result of the battle, the original seven Crests were formed, each one representing a characteristic of the digimon it symbolized, like the Crest of Honor to symbolize Alphamon. Unfortunately, not all of the demons had been defeated. The evil Lord of Wrath, Daemon, remained. In order to escape defeat, he had taken some of his essence and trapped it into a small stone, which became the Crest of Darkness. This malevolent Crest was quickly discovered and brought before the Sovereigns. Together, they transformed the Crest from the Crest of Darkness into the Crest of Power, and kept it under heavy guard, away from the other Crests. Shortly thereafter, five of the Original Digidestined were summoned, and their corresponding Crests were scattered about Upload Island, including the Crest of Power, which had been designated for George Helltower."
"How did such a dangerous Crest become designated for anybody?" asked Cody, "wouldn't that be dangerous?"
"Indeed," said Gennai, "the Sovereigns were skeptical at first, but they couldn't argue with the Digital World's decision…and, as usual, the Digital World had chosen wisely."
"What do you mean?" asked Yolei.
"Shortly after the departure of George's comrades, Daemon broke free from his prison, and he was angry," said the old man, "he attacked the Sovereigns and began tearing the Digital World apart looking for his Crest. In the end, there was a showdown between Daemon and George, which George won handily, and banished the evil tyrant into the dimension of Darkness, and there he has remained."
"…so if the Crest of Darkness is now appearing," concluded Izzy, "it likely means that George is in the dimension of Darkness…and Daemon has stolen his Crest!"
"I can confirm this theory," said Crocmon as he slowly walked in.
The tiny reptile digimon had seen better days, his scales were falling out, he looked like the walk in from the kitchen exhausted him, and he was very thin.
"I am becoming depleted of energy," explained George's partner, "if George still had his Crest, even if it became corrupted, it wouldn't affect me, but if he doesn't have the crest…"
"You both become powerless," concluded TK, "which means that there isn't much time! We need to get to the world of Darkness now and stop this evil digimon!"
"Hold it kid!" exclaimed Gennai, "going there is the last thing you'd want to do, especially with Kari. That beast likely has other plans which would involve her!"
"How do you figure?" asked Hawkmon.
"Lucemon, being a fallen angel digimon, can only be freed from his prison when the sources of Light and Darkness are brought together," replied the old man, "Daemon is likely trying to open a portal here to capture Kari."
"I won't let him!" exclaimed Tai.
"I'm afraid it may be out of your hands Tai," said Gennai, "if Daemon truly has the Crest of Darkness, he'll be a formidable opponent, and without your own Crests…"
"The situation looks rather dark as well," finished Cody, "but perhaps we can reason with Daemon."
"You can't reason with evil," countered TK, "we need to go in there, and go in there digimon blazing!"
"What's lit a fire under his ass?" wondered Davis.
"TK isn't very fond of the forces of darkness," whispered Tai.
"Under ordinary circumstances, I'd suggest we find a way to open a portal for George to come home," said Gennai, "but even if we rescue George, Daemon is still going to have the Crest of Darkness…"
"What do we go now?" asked the concerned Gatomon.
All eyes turned towards Tai.
"I-I-I don't know…" said the gogglehead, "there seems to be nothing we can do."
"Phantom Crush!"
Several ghostly hands flew out of the now nearby Shadowmon; they flew towards George trying to strike him.
"If I let those touch me I'm in trouble," thought George, and then he almost chuckled, "not that I'm not in trouble right now…"
As the weakening warrior dodged the incoming attacks, his reactions got sloppier and sloppier, partially due to fatigue, and partially because he couldn't really see the incoming assault.
"There must be something I can still do," thought George, "what have I got on me? Of all the days to not wear my trench coat…"
The fallen warrior mentally ran through an inventory of his possessions he had 'on-hand'.
"I've got my sunglasses," he thought, "but they're busted. I've got my clothes…for all the good they'll do defending me from the attacks."
George reached into his pocket, and his fingers brushed against his digivice.
"Ah ha!" he thought, "how could I have forgotten about that!"
The fallen warrior whipped out his digivice and aimed it in the direction the attacks were coming from. Instantly, the nearest Shadowmon were enveloped in a bright white light and dissolved.
"Jackpot!" thought George, sparing a glance towards the ever-increasing aura surrounding Daemon, "I'd better make this quick. He'll be ready soon…"
"Well we can't just stay here!" shouted an exasperated Davis, "George needs our help, not to mention the entire universe!"
"Against an opponent like this, it would be suicide!" cautioned Gennai,
"Davis is right though," said Tai, "if Daemon succeeds, it's all over and we die anyways. If I've got to die, I want to at least die trying to stop the forces of evil!"
"If any of you want to opt out, nobody will think any less of you," said Gennai.
Nobody said anything (other than Kari who was getting more and more delirious).
"I thought so," said Gennai smiling, "very well, this way then."
The old man hit a button on his bookcase, and it swiveled around revealing a secret room.
"What's in there?" asked Cody.
"One of the only known operational interdimensional portals got buried in the lake after a battle long ago," replied Gennai, "I built my house here so as to safeguard it."
"But wait!" exclaimed Tai, "if we all go, who will protect Kari?"
"Kari will be as safe here with me as she would anywhere else and with anyone else," replied the old man, "when Daemon completes his portal, there's not much anybody can do to stop it."
Grumbling about leaving his sister alone, Tai continued down the hall with the others.
Eventually, they came to a large set of doors similar to those the older Odaiba Digidestined had encountered in Myotismon's castle.
"I'll set the controls," said Gennai stepping up to a control panel.
A few moments later, the last remaining member of the Order stepped back from the controls, and the doors began to open.
"Just walk through there and you'll be in the universe of Darkness," he said, "I can't guarantee that you'll be close to the action, but you'll be there…"
"Let's move out!" shouted Tai.
"Charge!" yelled Davis, as he ran towards the doors.
The other Digidestined and their partners followed suit, and soon the doors were closing.
"Good luck," whispered Gennai, as the doors slammed shut, "you'll need it."
The old man then turned his attention to the single Dark Ring floating nearby.
"Well Ken," he said, "I hope you're happy with yourself…"
Ken Ichijouji, alias the Digimon Emperor was, in fact, not happy with himself. Somehow, his airtight plan to eliminate Helltower had gone horribly wrong and placed someone else in a better position to take over the Digital World, and, from what Ken had seen and learned, even he could not defeat a Demon Lord by himself. The Emperor ground his teeth in frustration.
"I hate to admit it," he thought, "but I need help…"
George swung his digivice around like a portable laser, causing it to disintegrate any Shadowmon that strayed too close. Daemon was still powering up, the dark aura had completely blocked all light in this vicinity aside from the faint light that the aura itself emanated.
"Phantom Crush!"
Caught off guard watching Daemon, George didn't notice the attack coming his way.
After an unforgettable ride, the Odaiba Digidestined and their partners (sans Kari and Gatomon) landed in the Realm of Darkness.
Endless seas of gray wastelands surrounded them. There was no sign of any other living beings as far as the eye could see. Above them, the sky was a dull gray, although no clouds could be seen. Just on the edge of their vision was an area that seemed darker than the rest of the world.
"What a desolate place this is," remarked Izzy.
"Yeah, but where's George?" demanded Davis.
Suddenly, the D3s began glowing and vibrating. Curiously, the younger Digidestined quickly pulled them out and examined their tiny screens. On it, a strong signal was coming from George's digivice, however, instead of the usual lightning bolt shaped symbol, there was a skull and crossbones.
"Uh oh," said Yolei, "does that mean what I think it means?"
"No," said Izzy, "the signal is coming from the Crest of Darkness. Wherever George is, the Demon Lord is that way."
(Izzy pointed in the direction indicated by the D3s.)
"It's fairly likely George is there too…if he's alive," remarked Sora.
"Why 'if?'" asked Cody, "surely he's alive."
"At this point Cody," explained Izzy, "all we know is that George was, in fact, here and that Daemon stole the Crest of Power from him. Knowing George, he certainly put up a fight."
"…and given the fact that Daemon had a score to settle," began TK.
Silence followed that statement for a few moments before Davis got pissed.
"I don't know why we're standing here!" he said, "even if George isn't currently fighting the evil digimon he'd want us to!"
With that, the young gogglehead began walking towards the darker area with Veemon following. The others slowly followed suit, knowing full well that this could be the last day of their lives.
The Emperor quickly realized that the fastest way to get to the Realm of Darkness was through Gennai's portal, so he swallowed a little of his pride and flew to Gennai's house via Airdramon express. As he touched down, the stairs appeared in front of him descending into Gennai's house, and the old man himself appeared at the bottom.
"I've been expecting you Mr. Ichijouji," he said, "you require my portal to get to the universe of Darkness, do you not?"
"That's right," said the Emperor coldly, "now let's get moving. I've got to stop those Demon Lords from taking over my world!"
As he led George's former protégé down the hall to the portal, Gennai couldn't resist a final comment.
"…looks like blowing up your computer wasn't such a good idea after all eh?" he said smiling wryly.
"Shut up old man!" shouted the Emperor, "don't push your luck!"
"Whatever you say Ken," said the old man, as they arrived at the portal.
Immediately, Ken ran towards it and pulled out his digivice, and Gennai went over to the controls.
"I don't need your help old man," said the Emperor, "my digivice can open the portal to wherever I want in that realm. It's a lot more efficient than anything you can do!"
Gennai shrugged and sat back. In moments, Ken had passed through the portal and into the unknown…
As the Digidestined ran towards the signal, they noticed that the darkness pervading in the area ahead suddenly disappeared.
"That can't be good," thought TK, "especially since the signal is stronger than ever."
As the blast flew towards George, the fallen warrior had a sudden upsurge of power. He backhanded the attack right back at its source, and glanced down at his chest, which felt like it was burning. The familiar lightning bolt symbol had appeared there.
"Wha-?" thought George, "this doesn't make sense. Daemon took the Crest of Power and yet here it is…"
"Silly George," said a reverberating voice within his head, "the power is within you, not a piece of plastic."
"Who are you?" asked George.
"I am…your author!" said the voice.
"NOOO! …wait what?" asked George.
"I'm the guy in charge of writing this stuff, and I say it's time for you to have powers…so I gave them to you," said the almighty author, "but only temporarily."
"…so now what?" asked George.
"Kick his ass!" commanded the all knowing author.
"Yay!" said George as he charged at the remaining Shadowmon.
"My work here is done," said the all powerful author, and he retreated back into his own continuum.
The recharged Helltower made quick work of the Shadowmon, and turned to where Daemon had been charging. Unfortunately, the Demon Lord was not there…which meant.
"Well, well, well, Mr. Helltower," said Daemon, as he appeared behind the Warrior of Power, "it looks like you will still give me difficulty after all."
"Oh you have no idea," said George smirking.
As he had finished powering up, Daemon had transformed into a much more hideous form. Gone was his cloak, and beneath it was a skeletal pair of blue shins, above which was a pair of black shorts with a red stripe. The bottom part of his torso was thin and green, but the upper part was beefed up and blue with red designs. He wore black shoulder covers and wicked looking gauntlets, but the upper part of his arms was bare revealing the pure muscle underneath. Each of his hands and feet ended in metallic claws. His head was disproportionately small in comparison to his large torso; it was blue with tow horns sticking out of the top. His most noticeable features however, were his gigantic blue wings. Connected at the top to a gigantic skeletal frame, each massive wing looked like a giant blue flame dancing in the wind.
The two powered up beings floated into the air preparing for their final showdown. One of them would not be getting up when this fight was over.
The Digimon Emperor materialized at the original coordinates where he had left George.
"It's best to begin my search here," he thought, walking down to the beach, "but I have no idea which way he—"
The Emperor's thought process was interrupted by a massive shockwave which sent him flying backwards at an alarming rate.
The Emperor found himself facedown on the edge of the rocky wasteland. As he stood up, he realized that there were others nearby.
Cautiously, he reached for his digivice, but he quickly realized that these were the people he was looking for, the Digidestined.
"If it isn't the Digimon Emperor," said Cody coldly, "have you come to help your friends the Demon Lords?"
"They're not my friends!" exclaimed the Emperor, "they are my rivals in conquest, and I must destroy them!"
"Hmph," said the 4th grader, "no honor among thieves I see…"
"I was never allied with them in the first place!" shouted the Emperor, "now then, if you don't mind, I'm heading off to face the Demon Lord of Wrath."
"Wait!" exclaimed Davis, "to go in by yourself is suicide!"
"Let him go," said Matt, "it's not like we need to care about him. Besides, this whole situation is his fault in the first place!"
"We can't just let him go," protested Davis, "he may be our enemy, but no one deserves death…"
"Given the chance," said TK, "he'll become a bigger problem than the Demon Lords."
"Hmph!" said Cody, "for once I agree with Davis."
Everyone turned towards Cody in shock, especially the Emperor. Nobody had expected him to come to the Emperor's aide.
"Nobody deserves death," continued the 4th grader, "so instead we'll capture him now, and deal with the Demon Lord ourselves!"
"Ha!" laughed the Emperor, "you fools really think you can handle a Demon Lord by yourselves? You can't even deal with me!"
"…he has a point," acknowledged Izzy, "we are unable to defeat Daemon by ourselves."
"Are you actually suggesting that we team up with this monster?" asked Cody in shock, "have you lost hold of your senses?"
"On the contrary," said Izzy, "I realize this isn't going to be easy for either side, but with the fate of the universe in our hands, even Ken will do his best to save it…even if it is so that he can rule it later on."
"Our motives might be different," said the Emperor, "but our goals are the same; defeat Daemon at all costs!"
"No," said Cody, "we will not kill him!"
"Get with the program shortstop!" shouted the Emperor, "if you don't kill him, he'll come back and make your life a living hell later. The only way to permanently deal with Daemon is to destroy him!"
"There must be another way…" said Cody quietly, "why should we trust what you say?"
"Because it's true Cody," said Tai sadly, "some digimon cannot be reasoned with, and it's a matter of either killing them, or the Digital World being destroyed."
"So, we'll partner up just this once," said the Emperor, "as neither of our parties has the capability of dealing with that demon by itself."
"Agreed," said Tai, making the executive decision, despite Cody's protests, "however, we will be keeping a close eye on you."
As Tai and the Emperor were about to shake hands to seal the deal, another shockwave rocked the nearby beach.
"Let's go!" shouted Davis, already running off in the direction of the signal on his D3.
"After you," said Cody, gesturing coldly at the Emperor. There was no way he'd let that tyrant out of his sight.
"Evil Inferno!"
"Data Bomb!"
Once again, a gigantic fireball collided with a white energy blast causing yet another shockwave to rock the beach. The ground below had already become a giant crater into which water from the endless ocean was flowing. (Think the crater after Goku's Spirit Bomb hit Frieza.)
"Damn!" thought George, "if I could just slide digivolve this would have been over already!"
Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond even the author's capabilities (AKA canon), even slide digivolution was prevented by Control Spires, and George had still not managed to knock down, or even locate, the lighthouse.
As the two combatants charged at each other again and again, they collided at high speeds as they each punched, kicked, or otherwise attacked their opponent.
As time lagged on, Daemon decided he'd wasted enough time, so he decided to finish the battle.
"Chaos Flare!"
As before (see the end of Episode 9) Daemon unleashed a wave of darkness from within him. The darkness completely engulfed George, swallowing him completely.
Although nothing could be seen within the cloud, George's scream of pain could be heard from miles away.
"What the hell was that?" asked Davis as a particularly loud scream was heard by the advancing group.
"Oh nothing," said Cody pointing, "just that."
The others glanced up at where the 4th grader was pointing to see a ball of darkness free falling at high speed towards the ground. As it fell, the ball was enveloped in fire. The flaming spheroid collided with the ground not far from where the Digidestined and the Emperor were standing, causing a massive earthquake upon impact.
The Digidestined and their partners went flying. Only the Emperor, who had latched onto a nearby rock using his whip, remained [relatively] static.
"Hmmm," said the Emperor glancing upwards towards the origin of the ball, "someone's started the party without us…"
When they finally regained their footing, they began to edge towards the crater that had formed because of the collision. Davis looked over the lip and immediately recoiled at the sight that met his eyes.
At the bottom of the crater George was laying perfectly still, his limbs sticking out at odd angles, and blood still seeping from his head wound. His eyes glanced upwards sightlessly.
Joe immediately slid into the crater and checked for a pulse. Amazingly, it was still there, faint, but present.
"He's alive," said the med student, "incredible though it may sound, he's still breathing!"
George began mumbling something unintelligibly.
"He's saying something!" exclaimed the med student.
"What?" asked Tai.
Joe leaned in, and looked rather confused.
"It sounds suspiciously like 'damn you author', but that doesn't make any sense," he said.
"He's probably a little delirious," said Sora, "understandably so."
To everyone's surprise, the Emperor, upon glancing into the crater, didn't look very happy.
"I've been waiting for this moment for what seems like an eternity!" he exclaimed, "and now that it's finally happened I didn't cause it!"
Ken Ichijouji slid into the crater next to Joe, and, before anyone could stop him, leaned over George and placed his hand against George's forehead.
"Stand back," he said, prompting Joe to take an involuntary step backwards.
"What are you doing?" demanded Cody as a blue-green aura began to surround George and Ken.
"Swiping some of his power," said the Emperor, "which will also speed up his recovery process."
"Explain," said Cody, pulling out his digivice, "and I'd better like what I hear."
"Right now, George has too much power flowing through his body for it to be in a state like this," replied the Emperor, "as such, it flows freely with no purpose. If I take some of it, there won't be an excess so his body will register that it is damaged."
"You really expect me to believe that?" demanded Cody.
"Let me put it to you this way," said the Emperor, "if I wanted to kill him, I would have already done so. I have no desire to kill George right now. There is no challenge in defeating someone who is already beaten. It is therefore my prerogative to get him back on his feet as soon as possible."
"…so that you can kill him right?" asked Cody.
"In a word, yes," replied the Emperor, "but that's neither here nor there right now. For now we must concentrate on the Demon Lord."
As Cody prepared to retort, Tai placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Unfortunately, the Emperor is right Cody," he said, "we may not like it, but we have to work with him now to defeat Daemon. After this one battle, we can go back to being enemies."
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the crater, Ken completed the transfer, and George was beginning to regain consciousness.
"Well, well, well," he coughed, "look who's back. Did you really miss me that much?"
"Humorous to the last," said the Emperor mockingly, "honestly, how is it an idiot like you could have been given the Crest of Power?"
"What can I say?" said George coughing, "it must be my charming personality."
"If you weren't already nearly dead, I'd kill you for that," said the Emperor, his eyes flashing dangerously behind his sunglasses, "so mind your place old man."
"Ouch," said George, "kids these days have no respect for their elders…"
"If you two are done bantering, we do have work to do," said Cody, not liking how chummy George was with the Emperor.
"Right you are," said George.
Slowly, the Warrior of Power reached out and poked Ken's ankle.
"Don't you waste that power you borrowed," he said, "I'd like it back…"
"Tough luck," said the Emperor, kicking away Helltower's hand, "let's get moving! Those who can armor digivolve come with me! Those who can't stay here and guard this idiot…not that you weaklings can do much good, but I figure if he gets here he'll have killed us so it won't really matter now will it?"
"Wouldn't it be easier just to destroy the Control Spire here so that we all can help you?" asked Izzy.
The Emperor looked surprised.
"There's no Control Spire here," he said.
"…so why did George say there was?" asked Sora.
"He must have been mistaken," replied the Emperor, "I can't transport Control Spires into other dimensions…" ("Yet," he mumbled.)
"Then how did you get your servants to obey you here without one?" asked George.
"Search me," said the Emperor, "I had no idea they would still obey me after I left. They were here just to keep you busy while I left. That's why I didn't bring any with me when I came here…"
"So maybe we can digivolve after all?" asked Agumon.
"Let's try it!" exclaimed Tai taking out his digivice.
Unfortunately, neither Agumon, nor any of the other of the older Odaiba Digidestined's partners, could digivolve.
"Amazing," commented the Emperor, "this universe is like one big digivolution dampening field…I must remember to study this."
"May I remind you that while you are admiring this universe, there's another evil digimon who is trying to take over our world?" asked Cody.
"Right," said the Emperor, "let's get a move on then!"
While the Digidestined were standing by the crater, Daemon had been making preparations for his portal. The Demon Lord stood gathering his internal power into his hands, which he would use to rip apart the fabrics that kept each dimension separate. His hands began to glow as the power built up within them. Soon he would complete his task and Lucemon would be freed, and then the Digital World and those obnoxious Sovereigns would pay for trapping them.
"Almost done," grunted the Lord of Wrath, "Once more the Demon Lords shall rule the world, and this time there will be no one left to oppose us!"
Ken inspected the troops. Flamedramon, Halsemon, Digmon, and Pegasusmon stood before him ready to go.
"Alright," he said, "Daemon is somewhere up there. We've got to stop him before he opens that portal or it's all over!"
"Then why are we hanging out here?" asked Pegasusmon.
"…There's a slight problem," said Flamedramon.
"Not all of us can fly," elaborated Digmon.
"Bah!" shouted the Emperor, "useless! I don't know why I ever thought you miserable fools could help me…"
Not wanting to waste any more time, the Emperor used his newfound powers to fly off towards the location where George had fallen from. Pegasusmon and Halsemon quickly followed him with apologetic looks on their faces as they glanced at their comrades.
"Ken can fly now?" asked Davis, "that's not good…"
"It's only temporary," spluttered George, "but if Flamedramon and Digmon come here, I can grant them the power of flight temporarily as well."
The armor digimon walked down the crater to George. Carefully and slowly, the broken warrior placed a hand on each of them and concentrated. A smaller blue-green aura surrounded the trio.
Exasperated, George pulled back gasping for air. After a few moments he regained the ability to speak.
"There," he said, "you now not only can fly, but you have a little of my power as well. Use it wisely, it's only temporary…"
With that, the Warrior of Power's body decided that it was once again time to shut him down for extensive repairs.
Flamedramon looked at Digmon; Digmon looked at Flamedramon. Slowly, they both began levitating off the ground. Suddenly, they shot into the air like a cannon.
"YAHOO!" shouted Flamedramon.
"What was that?" wondered Daemon, "I could have sworn I just heard someone scream…"
Suddenly, something came rushing at him at a high speed. The Demon Lord didn't have time to react before the object in question, namely the Digimon Emperor, collided with him painfully and launched an energy blast at point blank range causing the Lord of Wrath to go flying.
"Nobody kills George Helltower but me!" he exclaimed.
"Ah," said Daemon intrigued, "the infamous Digimon Emperor. We meet at last."
"Yes," said Ken, "and it shall be the last time, because I'm going to kill you!"
"Oh I highly doubt that this is the last time we'll meet my dear Emperor," said Daemon, "I have plans for you…"
"Well you can shove those plans up your ass," shouted the Emperor charging up for an attack, "because I'm about to tear you apart!"
"If your master couldn't do it, what makes you think you can?" asked Daemon.
"George Helltower is NOT my master!" exclaimed the Emperor, launching a barrage of energy blasts at the evil digimon.
Daemon flapped his massive wings, which completely deflected the attack.
"The point remains," said the demon, "George is a more capable warrior than you can ever be, and he couldn't defeat me. Be gone, before I decide you're not worth the effort invested in you!"
Before Ken could ask what the Demon Lord meant, the armor digimon arrived.
"Are we too late?" asked Flamedramon, showing off his flight capabilities by performing the infamous 'barrel roll.'
"No," replied Daemon, "nobody is ever late for their date with oblivion!"
The armor digimon and Ken all launched their respective attacks, but the Demon Lord simply dodged them all, while still gathering energy into his hands. The very air surrounding them began to distort as the Lord of Wrath came closer to achieving his goal.
Gennai and Gatomon were watching over Kari caringly. Although Kari had remained ill, she was still there, so, at least, that was a sign that Daemon had not yet been allowed to complete his portal.
Gennai sighed. He had witnessed the last battle between George and Daemon millennia ago. It had not been easy for the Warrior of Power then, and now, even if he wasn't killed when Daemon had stolen his Crest, it would be even harder.
"It'll be alright," thought the old man, "and if it isn't who cares because we'll all be dead…"
As the Emperor and the armor digimon continued to charge and attach Daemon, he continued to dodge and kick at them. Occasionally, he'd bash one of them with his massive wings, but, Ken noticed, he never used his hands.
"Strange," thought Ken, "it can only mean one of two things. One, he's toying with us, or two, he's going to create the portal by ripping through the dimensions with his hands."
The Emperor took a closer look at the demon's hands and saw the distorting space, which confirmed his second theory.
"Aim for the hands!" he exclaimed, "if we hit them, we'll disperse the energy there and stop him!"
"Gold Rush!"
"Star Shower!"
"Fire Rocket!"
"Eagle Eye!"
"Data Bomb!"
The five attacks headed straight for Daemon. As the evil digimon prepared to dodge, Digmon crept up behind him and pinned his wings and head.
The Lord of Wrath began to thrash wildly.
"I could use some help here," exclaimed the drill-nosed digimon.
Quickly, Flamedramon and the Emperor dived in and helped pin down the tyrant.
Just as the attacks were about to hit his hands, Daemon revealed another ace up his metaphorical sleeve.
"Algol's Flame!"
A gigantic ball of fire erupted from Daemon's mouth and canceled out the incoming attacks, but it didn't stop there. The fireball collided with Pegasusmon and Halsemon, causing them to lose consciousness, fall to the ground, and dedigivolve into their In-Training levels.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Ken, "I never knew he could do that!"
"I think we're in a spot of trouble," said Digmon.
"Then let's kick it up a notch using the power George gave us!" exclaimed Flamedramon, as a blue-green aura built up around him.
Digmon and the Emperor followed suit, and soon, they too were surrounded by George's blue-green aura.
"Whoa!" said Flamedramon, "I've never felt so awesome in my whole life!"
Digmon whirled his drills menacingly.
"Let's get crackin'" drawled the yellow digimon.
The three powered up warriors rushed the Demon Lord, who attempted to blow them away using his wings. Unfortunately for him, Digmon was too aerodynamic thanks to his drills, which cut through the gale.
Cody's partner glowed brighter than ever as a new attack was born.
"Rock Blasting!" shouted Digmon
Instantly, his five drills shot out of his arms and nose. At point blank range, Daemon couldn't dodge, and as the drills impacted, they began to explode.
Daemon was consumed by a massive exploding fireball, but it wasn't over yet.
Flamedramon, also glowing brightly, launched his own new attack.
"Napalm Barrage!"
Instead of the usual medium sized fireballs, Flamedramon launched several white hot torpedo shaped fireballs, which streaked towards the already enveloped Demon Lord causing more explosions.
"It's not over yet!" shouted the Emperor as he charged up George's signature attack, "Pentagram Laser!"
The Five pointed star shaped laser also impacted on the fireball consuming Daemon, causing one more massive explosion to occur. Nothing could be seen through the thick smoke.
"…I think we did it!" exclaimed Flamedramon, panting.
"Whew," said Digmon, "'bout time too. I'm more tired than a—"
Exactly what Digmon was more tired than, they would never find out, because the two armor digimon were each sent flying towards the ground by powerful kicks, courtesy of a certain Demon Lord, who was not as incapacitated as they had believed. In fact, he was completely unharmed, so they had failed at even slowing down his portal making.
"How?" asked the aghast Emperor, "we threw everything we had at you!"
"Simple," said the Lord of Wrath, "I protected myself using my wings."
Daemon lowered his wings and revealed that they were slightly charred.
"I must admit," said the demon, "that if that attack had hit me anywhere else, I would not be in as good condition as I am now…you three are bothersome, but it is of no consequence, for soon my friend Lucemon shall be freed, and the world will be ours!"
"…you mean?" asked the Emperor.
"Yes," said the demon raising his arms, "I have completed my preparations. It's time to make my portal!"
Flamedramon and Digmon slammed into the ocean at a high speed. Luckily, it cushioned their impact. Unluckily, the bizarre waters caused them to dedigivolve into their In-Training levels on the spot.
As Davis ran to rescue them from the vast ocean's depths, one thought, one dreadful thought, occurred to Cody.
"It's all up to the Emperor now," he thought.
"Because I'm a nice guy I'll give you one last chance to back down Emperor," said Daemon, "if you do, perhaps I can see fit to give you a portion of the Digital World to rule as your own."
"I'm sorry Daemon," said Ken, "but that's unacceptable."
"Stubborn fool!" growled the Demon Lord, "your fate is on your own head now!"
Electricity crackled in the air as the barriers between dimensions began to tear.
"It's now or never," realized the Emperor, as he began to power up.
The aura surrounding him became larger and larger until its light shined brightly in the sky, a break in the otherwise monotonous gray.
"YAAAAAAAAAA!" shouted the Emperor as he charged at the unsuspecting demon, who panicked
"Chaos Flare!"
The dark void attempted to engulf the Emperor, but, as he was evil as well, it had no effect on him. The human tyrant breezed through it like it was mere fog, and slammed into Daemon, causing him to falter midair. The Emperor reached up to try and grab one of Daemon's hands, but got knocked on the head by one of the demon's wings for his troubles.
As Ken tried to regain his senses, Daemon continued to tear through the dimensions searching for Kari Kamiya.
"I'll find you Child of Light," he said, "and when I do, it shall be the end of the world as you know it!"
Back in the Digital World, things were far from dandy. Gatomon had noticed it at first, but Gennai could not see it as well. Kari was beginning to fade. At first it had just been her colors. She had become a pale gray, but now her very body seemed to be fading into oblivion, becoming more and more transparent with each passing second.
"What does it mean?" asked Gatomon fearfully.
"It means that the others have failed," said Gennai, "and that Daemon is now searching through the multiverse for Kari."
"…if the others failed," began Gatomon.
"They're either dead, dying, or will soon be dead," finished Gennai sadly, "the Demon Lords have no mercy…it will take some time before he can find her though so we still have a few minutes."
"Minutes?" asked the exasperated Gatomon.
"Yes," said Gennai, "and we need to make some preparations before then."
The Emperor suddenly snapped back into reality. Although he was still slightly dazed, he began to launch several volleys of energy blasts at Daemon.
"I'll show you what real evil is!" exclaimed the young tyrant as he fired blast after blast at his opponent.
Daemon had to admit, the Emperor was certainly a tricky one.
He tried to blow away the blasts with his wings, but only succeeded in getting his wings more fried than they already had been.
"You use Helltower's power well," commented the Lord of Wrath, "but you must realize your situation is hopeless."
"I don't think so," said the Emperor as he flew away from Daemon.
"Where do you think you're going?" asked the Demon Lord.
"Straight through your miserable body," said the Emperor as he turned to face his adversary once more.
"Huh?" said Daemon, as the Emperor shot at him like a cannon ball.
"Take this you miserable simpleton!" exclaimed the dark Digidestined.
Not wanting to get punched through, Daemon, who didn't have time to think straight, once again protected himself using his wings. At the last minute, however, the Emperor fired off a point blank Data Bomb, which hit the weakened portion of the Demon Lord's wings, and cut through it. In retaliation, the Lord of Wrath kicked Ken Ichijouji in the head, rendering him unconscious as he plummeted towards the ground below.
Hovering unstably with his torn wing, Daemon spared a moment to boast to his unconscious opponent.
"I must admit, no one has managed to damage a Demon Lord this badly since your former master, but as you can see, it is futile to resist us. We are all powerful!" he proclaimed.
With that, the Lord of Wrath was left uninterrupted to complete his portal.
Ken Ichijouji crash landed not far from the crater where his former mentor lay. Immediately, Joe ran over to see what condition he was in, but before he could, the Emperor stood up and brushed himself off.
"Fool," he muttered as he took off again, "don't write me off just yet."
As he approached Daemon, the Demon Lord spotted him.
"Back for more eh?" he said, "I must admit I didn't expect you to get up…but it matters not. I still have the upper hand, if you'll pardon the pun."
"Bullshit," declared the Emperor, "I've seen your battle style and have adapted to it. Now, whatever you do, you're playing into my hands!"
"Smart…for a human," Daemon said, "but I have an ace up my sleeve."
The evil digimon's red eyes began glowing, and suddenly, the nape of Ken's neck began burning…at least it felt like it was burning.
Screaming in pain, the Digimon Emperor thrashed around, the pain causing his eyes to tear.
"Algol's Flame!"
Once again, the gigantic fireball emerged and engulfed the twitching Emperor.
Once again, Ken Ichijouji fell to the earth…this time he didn't get up.
"We're ready," said Gennai, "if Kari does get sucked into the Realm of Darkness, she won't get sucked in alone."
"Right!" said Gatomon, "I know the plan!"
"Good," said Gennai, "you won't have long, and it's a one in a million chance, but given that the others have failed, it's our only hope of defeating Daemon!"
"I understand," said Gatomon.
Gennai looked over at the sleeping Botamon that he had placed onto Kari's bed. (Crocmon having de-digivolved to his baby form to conserve what little energy he had.)
Suddenly, Kari, Gatomon, and Botamon faded completely.
The old man sighed.
"It's in your hands not Gatomon," he said, "for everyone's sake you cannot fail!"
The sudden lurch had surprised the feline digimon, but she immediately knew what was happening. Daemon had managed to complete his portal, and was sucking Kari into the Realm of Darkness.
"…so the others have failed," thought Gatomon dismally, "I'll see to it that their sacrifice won't be in vain!"
As Gatomon began to feel herself getting rematerialized, she realized that she had to make her first move. It wouldn't do to let Daemon know that Kari hadn't come alone.
"Let's go Botamon," she said, as she twisted herself and the Baby digimon out of the portal a little earlier than Kari.
Joe was kneeling beside the comatose Ken, shaking his head.
"Severe burns and a concussion," he said, "not to mention several broken bones and various lacerations…he's in bad shape."
"What now?" asked Yolei, "he was our last hope…"
"Whatever shows up next," declared Tai, "we'll fight it to our last breath!"
"Agreed," said Sora, "it's our job as Digidestined!"
The others nodded in agreement, and glanced skyward, looking at the telltale signs of a portal that had begun to form in the air above.
"…so he's finished the portal," said TK.
Suddenly and unexpectedly, Gatomon appeared amidst them.
"Guys!" exclaimed the feline digimon, causing many of them to jump in shock, "you're still alive!"
"Gatomon?" exclaimed Tai, "what're you doing here?"
"Gennai sent us here," said the feline digimon, "he's got a backup plan that just might succeed."
"Us?" asked Izzy.
Gatomon lifted her paws revealing the still sleeping Botamon that she was carrying.
"…so what's the plan?" asked Tai anxiously.
"Who's still able to fight?" asked the feline digimon.
"Just the Rookies," said Joe, "look around."
Gatomon took in her surroundings. She saw Tokomon, Poromon, Upamon, and DemiVeemon all lying around in a similar state as Botamon. She saw the craters where George and the Emperor had fallen, and took in their mangled bodies. The fur on the back of her neck stood on end and she began hissing.
"This isn't good," she said, "but if all goes according to plan we should be able to heal them…"
"What are you planning to do?" asked Davis.
"When he tries to tap into Kari's energy, I'll use that energy to digivolve," explained Gatomon.
"But the Realm of Darkness prevents digivolution," said Matt, "that's why we couldn't help the others!"
"…unless Ken was lying to us," remarked Cody.
"He wasn't," said Gatomon, "but by accessing the powers of Kari's Crest, I can negate that effect."
"Standby," said TK, "it looks like the portal is opening!"
Daemon looked on in triumph as his prey appeared within the portal.
"Excellent," he thought, "soon I shall use the powers of light to with my own powers of darkness to free Lucemon. Then the whole universe shall feel our wrath!"
As the portal closed behind her, Kari was deposited from it straight into the hands of the Demon Lord.
Daemon's eyes glowed bright red, as he attempted to access the dormant energies within the Child of Light.
"She's glowing!" said Yolei.
"Well something is glowing," said Izzy, "and I'd be willing to bet that it isn't our demon friend."
Gatomon closed her eyes and started to glow as well.
When she opened them again, she was radiating in pure white light.
"It's time," she said.
Daemon looked down confused. Something was responding to the Child's glow…was this supposed to happen?
"Damn it!" he thought, "why don't Digidestined come with user's manuals!"
"Gatomon digivolve to—Angewomon!"
Gone was the small white feline, only to be replaced by the eight winged angelic archer.
Immediately, she flew off to confront Daemon accompanied by cheers from the remaining Digidestined.
"Let her go you fiend!" she exclaimed, as she approached the Demon Lord.
"What's this?" asked Daemon, his eyes widening, "a holy digimon here? How is this possible?"
The Lord of Wrath looked at the glowing Kari within his arms.
"No!" he yelled, "it can't be!"
Kari glowed brighter than ever, as Daemon was forced to cover his eye to avoid being blinded.
Angewomon used that opportunity to dive in and save her partner from the Lord of Wrath's clutches. She quickly flew down to the others and deposited Kari into her brother's arms.
"Keep her safe," she said softly, "I'll take care of Daemon."
"…by…yourself?" asked the aghast Tai, "even George was no match for this guy."
Angewomon laughed.
"Never alone," she said, "I have all of you here."
With that, she flew up to confront Daemon.
Davis whistled.
"Wow," he said, "not only is she smoking hot, but she's Kari's partner too."
"Shut up Davis," shouted Tai, "now's not the time!"
Daemon finally recovered from the blast of light, and he was angry.
"You cannot hope to defeat me when all of the others failed," he said as Angewomon confronted him, "it's pointless to fight."
Angewomon cocked her head.
"Maybe," she said, "maybe not."
"Heaven's Charge!"
"Shit!" thought Daemon.
Back on the ground, the Digimon all began to glow brightly, those who weren't in their Rookie state, quickly digivolved (including Botamon). From within the two craters came two rays of light.
"Yahoo!" exclaimed Veemon, "talk about getting fired up!"
"Indeed," said Hawkmon, "I feel like I could take out Daemon with one wing tied behind my back!"
Armadillomon yawned.
"I still feel tired," he drawled lazily, "but I cain't seem to fall asleep."
Suddenly, everybody's digivices began glowing.
"What's going on?" asked Yolei, as the whole area became bathed with light.
"Awesome!" exclaimed Davis.
"Tai," said Agumon, "I think we can digivolve now."
"Yeah!" exclaimed the gogglehead, "let's kick some demon butt!"
"Agumon warp digivolve to—WarGreymon!"
"Gabumon warp digivolve to—MetalGarurumon!"
"Biyomon digivolve to—Birdramon digivolve to—Garudamon!"
"Tentomon digivolve to—Kabuterimon digivolve to—MegaKabuterimon!"
"Gomamon digivolve to—Ikkakumon digivolve to—Zudomon!"
"Palmon digivolve to—Togamon digivolve to—Lilymon!"
"Patamon digivolve to—Angemon digivolve to—MangaAngemon!"
Davis stared at Patamon's digivolved form with tears streaming down his eyes.
"Angemon and Angewomon," he said sadly, "it's just not fair…"
"Right!" shouted Yolei, "let's not get left out!"
"I agree," said Cody.
"Veemon Armor digivolve to—Flamedramon: The Fires of Courage!"
"Hawkmon Armor digivolve to—Halsemon: The Wings of Love!"
"Armadillomon Armor digivolve to—Digmon: The Drills of Knowledge!"
From the depths of the second crater, the Emperor climbed out and brushed himself off…things had certainly changed for the better while he was out cold.
Somehow the others had bypassed the realm's anti-digivolution properties, and were preparing to facedown Daemon with a veritable army of powerful digimon.
While this was beneficial for the time being, the Emperor realized that if they had managed to digivolve here, they'd be able to bypass his Control Spire's signals sooner or later, which would certainly complicate things.
"Let's get 'im!" shouted Tai, pumping his fist.
"Right," growled WarGreymon, "I'm about to kick some demon butt!"
With the courageous warrior leading, the Digidestined's digimon and the Emperor charged back towards Daemon.
The Lord of Wrath looked down at the glowing coast.
"This isn't good," he thought as he noticed the army of digimon coming after him.
Surprisingly, as the cavalry arrived, Angewomon stopped them.
"This is my fight," she said, "if you want to help, you can give me your energy."
Remembering their fight with Myotismon, the older Odaiba Digidestined's partners nodded and immediately launched their strongest attacks into the vortex that had appeared over the holy angel's head. (Almost halo like.)
"Terra Force!"
"Metal Wolf Claw!"
"Wing Blade!"
"Horn Buster!"
"Vulcan's Hammer!"
"Flower Cannon!"
"Gate of Destiny!"
Not to be left out, the armor digimon followed suit.
"Tempest Wing!"
"Rock Blasting!"
"Napalm Barrage!"
As the attacks flowed into the halo, Angewomon began glowing brightly as she absorbed her comrade's energy. Her comrades all de-digivolved back into Rookies and began to fall towards the ground (except for Biyomon, Tentomon, and Patamon who could fly), but they were caught by a mysterious half mechanical half biological warrior. His organic armor is bluish green scales and his inorganic armor is gray metal. The metal covers his arms and claws, one of his legs, and half of his head. His wings are also made out of metal and the Crest of Power is emblazoned on his back just below the wings and on the wings such that when they are folded behind him they form one complete crest. He has a tail that is partly covered with metal plating.
"Who are you?" asked Veemon.
"CyborgDragonmon," replied the warrior, "the Mega form of Crocmon. My enemies know to fear my Electrical Flame and Nova Barrage attacks!"
"Good catch CyborgDragonmon!" called Angewomon, and then she turned toward the Digimon Emperor, "and now, I shall take the power you stole!"
The Halo hovered above the Digimon Emperor, the blue-green aura that surrounded him began being sucked up by the vortex.
"No!" exclaimed the Emperor, "you can't do this to me!"
"That power wasn't yours to use," said Angewomon.
As the last of George's power got sucked out of Ken, he too began falling towards the ground. As CyborgDragonmon flew towards him, he held out a hand.
"I don't need your help," he said as he performed a perfect flip and landed softly on the ground, with CyborgDragonmon moments behind.
With the Rookies safely on the ground, CyborgDragonmon made his contribution towards Angewomon's energy reserves.
"Electrical Flame!"
Putting all of his power into that single attack, CyborgDragonmon dedigivolved all the way back to DemiCrocmon, but it had the desired effect. Angewomon was bathed in a golden light as the power and energy flowed through her.
"Angewomon digivolve to—Ophanimon!"
In Angewomon's place, there was now a green armored and ten golden winged, angel. The armor left her stomach exposed, and under the lower armor was a white skirt. Her eyes were covered by a green helmet that had a yellow cross on it and a red tassel hanging off the back. On her left arm was a green shield with a yellow horse's head depicted on it. In her right hand, she carried a long lance that was taller than she was. The grip of the lance was surrounded by an outer circle that had wings coming out of it. Her long blonde hair fell well below her waist, and would be nearly touching the floor if Ophanimon had been standing on the ground.
"Whoa!" said DemiCrocmon, "that's Ophanimon, a Celestial Digimon. Her Eden's Javelin attack is said to strike terror into even the most evil digimon!"
"Daemon," said the holy angel, "you have tried to utilize the powers of light for your own selfish reasons. You have also attempted to reclaim that which no longer belonged to you and to take over the Digital World. For that, there must be judgment!"
"You don't scare me!" said Daemon, even though he was shaking in his boots.
"Perhaps not, but this will…Eden's Javelin!"
A beam of purifying light shot out of the tip of Ophanimon's javelin and shot towards the Demon Lord.
"Chaos Flare!"
Daemon's signature dark void was completely overwhelmed by Ophanimon's light, and the Lord of Wrath found himself engulfed in the holy light.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed, "IT BURNS!"
Completely drained, Daemon crashed to the ground, out cold, but not dead.
Ophanimon landed next to him and dedigivolved back into Salamon.
Salamon walked over to Kari, who was just awakening.
"How do you feel?" asked the Rookie digimon.
"Great!" exclaimed Kari, "…now would someone tell me where we are and what's going on?"
As the Digidestined brought Kari up to speed, the Emperor was scheming. With the defeat of Daemon, he had officially dissolved their partnership and was now their adversary once again, and he intended to act as such.
Slowly, so as to avoid any unwanted attention, he began walking towards Daemon's comatose form. Having gotten there undetected, the tyrant reached down and took the Crest of Darkness from around the Demon Lord's neck.
"Now I'll be the most powerful being the Digital World has ever seen," he mumbled darkly.
Much to his surprise, he felt a strong hand on his shoulder. The Emperor spun around punching, but his fist was deflected easily by his adversary's palm.
"I do believe that's mine Ken," said George, referring to the Crest.
"It's mine now Helltower," said the Emperor, "it won't do to leave it here where that buffoon can take it again."
"Leave it here?" asked Davis, "but George would be taking it."
"My point exactly," said the Emperor who now had everyone's attention, "you all aren't going anywhere. You're trapped here with no way out! In one fell swoop I've dealt with the Demon Lords and the Digidestined!"
The Emperor began laughing evilly as he reached for his transportation button.
Just before he touched it, however, George grabbed the Crest from his hand.
"You know what they say Ken," he said, "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I knew you'd double cross us, and this time, I was a few steps ahead of you."
"Fine, keep the blasted Crest," said the Emperor, "a fat lot of good it'll do you here!"
With that, the Emperor hit his transport button and disappeared.
"He's stranded us here!" snarled Cody, "I knew we couldn't trust him!"
As the others began to panic, George remained perfectly calm.
"It's fine," he said, "Gennai will pull us out of here."
"But how will Gennai know to pull us out?" asked a panic stricken Yolei, "I could waste away my whole life here. No more video games! No more candy! No more cute boys!"
"Enough!" said George sternly, "Gennai will know to extract us because of the Emperor's return. In his haste to leave us behind, the Emperor forgot that he came from Gennai's portal."
"He came from Gennai's portal?" asked Izzy, "but why?"
"His had broken his own computer, so my guess is that was the quickest way," replied George.
"And how do you know that that's where Ken came from?" inquired Cody.
"A little digimon told me," said George, gesturing in the direction opposite DemiCrocmon, but everyone was so relieved that they were going to go home that they didn't notice.
Soon, they were all engulfed by a strange ray of light, which pulled them out of the Realm of Darkness and returned them to the Digital World. Gennai was smiling at them.
"You have no idea how good it is to see you again," said the old man, "I'd thought you had died!"
"We're alright Gennai," said Tai, "thanks to you and Gatomon!"
George pulled out a beer and started chuckling.
"You know," he said, "before this adventure I thought that the scariest thing out there was a mad helicopter mom. Now I know better."
"…so what do you think is the scariest thing out there?" asked Mimi curiously.
"A pissed off female angel," said George, raising his bottle in a toast to Gatomon and taking a swig, "an excellent performance Gatomon."
The feline digimon blushed at the compliment.
"Thanks," she said.
The Digidestined laughed and returned to the real world, leaving behind George, DemiCrocmon, and Gennai.
"That was a close call today," said George wiping his sweaty brow, "…it was nice to have Ken fight on my side again though."
"You do realize he was fighting for all the wrong reasons though," remarked Gennai.
"Yes," said George, "but it's a start."
Back in the Realm of Darkness, Daemon awakened. The Crest of Darkness having been removed, he was back to his powered down, cloaked, form.
"Curse you Child of Light!" exploded the Lord of Wrath, "you haven't seen the last of me!"
"Temper, temper Daemon," said another, calmer voice, "you have not completely failed."
"Lucemon?" asked the startled Demon Lord, "but how? I didn't get to use the power of the Light."
"True," said the voice, "but since it was here, a tiny crack has formed in my prison. It will take time, but I shall be freed, and when I am, we will have our revenge!"
Narrator: When will the Demon Lords Strike next? What will the Emperor do now that he has decided to stay in the Digital World permanently? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!
21: Not too shabby eh?
George: But I though according to canon Kari's Angewomon was supposed to digivolve into Magnadramon?
21: I'm glad you mentioned that. First of all, this isn't canon. If it was, I wouldn't be writing it. Second, in my time line, Willis doesn't exist, therefore that whole movie arc is null and void. Third, why in the hell would Angewomon digivolve into a goat dragon? Who on Earth would think that's a good idea? So, I used my 'outside of canon' powers and made a little aesthetic change. Given that most people who read Season 2 rewrites are pissed off with the canon anyways, I think I can get away with it...
George: So, if I might ask, how did you originally envision this sequence going?
21: I hadn't originally intended to bring in the Dark Ocean at all. Originally, you were going to be transported into one of the Emperor's territories and get beaten around for a bit until the Digidestined found you or you escaped. It was only supposed to last for about 1/2 a chapter. This was never supposed to be a two-part arc. Even when I started writing about the Dark World, I had originally intended for Dragomon to be the final boss of the area, and to end the arc with chapter 9, but nope, my fingers betrayed my true thoughts and wrote something that, I think, is much better. (Plus we actually get to see some of the older Odaiba Digidestined's digimon digivolve past Champion a little earlier in this time line as an added bonus.)
Sponsor: Can we please just go home now? It's almost midnight!
21: Ah yes, I'd have posted this sooner, but FanFic's document uploader was giving me a little trouble, so I couldn't upload chapter 10.
Sponsor: FINE I DON'T CARE! I WANT TO GO HOME!
21: One last thing, those with careful eyes will notice I plagiarized my description of CyborgDragonmon from D0: The Terrible Three (but it's okay since I gave myself permission to so do...).
George: Hey 21, I've just figured out who our Sponsor is!
21: Who?
George: With a temper like that, he must be Daemon!
Sponsor: I AM NOT DAEMON! I AM A NORMAL HUMAN BEING...NOT LIKE YOU TWO!
21: Right, well, we'll see you whenever I update next.
21 and George leave, locking the Sponsor in the building.
Sponsor: HEY! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! LET ME OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!...guys?