"There's a moment." Shoutmon started. "When you look back on everything you've done for the past week, and think, 'Wow, I sure didn't do a lot!'"

Akari nodded her head slightly in agreement.

"But looking back now, it's like..." he blinked. "Wow, We sure did a whole lot!"

Akari smiled slightly. "Yeah."

A book slammed down onto the table. "Tell us." Terezie growled at SlashAngemon. "Why have you been so heavy on the death penalty?"

"I..." SlashAngemon, beaten and battered and looking like a sorry excuse for a president, could only put his head in his hands. "I don't know."

Gargoylemon snarled. "It's like he's lost all of his memories all of a sudden."

"But really." Shoutmon leaned back to stretch his back out. "I just can't believe how much we've done these last few days!"

"I know, I was just thinking that the other night." Akari agreed with a sigh. "It's all going so fast..."

Revolomon rolled his neck. "Okay then..." He pulled out a wrench. "Let's make sure you're still in working order."

Ballistamon said nothing but his usual "N'Gah" as Revolomon opened up his front panel and started tuning the parts inside.

"Geeze...All that sand started to block up your gear box." He sighed. "If I clean it out, it'll probably last another few months, but I'd rather not risk it."

It had been eight days since they'd started: "Taiki came; Then we fought off The Leomon brothers and saved Island Zone; then arrived in Magma Zone freed the prisoners, fought off the mad general then headed to Lake Zone; we fought off Lilithmon and IceDevimon, then headed to Sand zone and fought her and her stupid pet." She sighed. "Now we're here in Heaven Zone."

"We spent almost all of yesterday wandering about." Shoutmon nodded. "Then we took care of Slash Angemon this morning."

"I'm glad they're having Lucemon's inauguration tomorrow." Akari smiled slightly. "It's been a while since we just sat back and relaxed."

"Well, technically." Shoutmon rolled his eyes. "You're lying down in a bed while I massage your back."

Akari cast a glance over her shoulder. "Are you complaining?"

"It's not that!" Zenjirou sighed. "But we didn't get to do anything at all this morning!"

Lila shook her head. "At least you got some info out of that girl yesterday."

"Yeah. She's from America." Zenjirou rolled his eyes. "It's not like that's anything special."

"Isn't 'Sparrow' an odd name for someone in the first place?" Lila asked.

"I'll have you know that 'Sparrow' is a perfectly legit name, by the way!" Sally remarked in reply. "There have been plenty of people in history with the last name Sparrow!"

Taiki mused for a second. "I can think of one from a movie series..."

"Movie series?" A Monitamon questioned. "Why are they talking about movie series?"

"Who knows." A second Monitamon replied. "Just as long as I get my cable bills paid."

"You should switch to wireless!" A third monitamon cheerfully offered. "Then you won't have to pay for equipment rentals!"

"Really, though." Revolomon groaned. "If this thing breaks down on us before I can replace it..."

"I know." Ballistamon replied grimly.

"Ch. If only we hand't started working with those stupid two-bit hacks in the first place." Revolomon thought to himself. "We wouldn't be in this mess."

"We wouldn't be in this mess in the first place," Gargoylemon started, "if you would just tell us why you started levying these idiotic laws!"

"I DON'T KNOW!"SlashAngemon sobbed hopelessly.

Terezie sighed. "This guy's been hitting the Sopor slime too much, me thinks."

"TAKE THAT!" Problem-PawnChessmon grinned as he pretend fired his key at some birds that were flocking in a bird bath.

"YEAHHHA!" The RedPickmon flung his keyring into the bird bath, actually scattering them to the four winds. "And don't come back!"

Dorulumon sighed. "Why is it we got stuck babysitting them again?"

Hangyomon rolled his eyes. "Because it's more entertaining than watching paint dry."

"Yeah!" Haruhi the Pucchiemon beamed as they finished tweaking the final notes to "X4B THE GUARDIAN!" "That was great!"

"That worked out great!" Dondokomon nodded. "Now we'll be able to cheer them on properly the next time they use that Xros!"

Beelzebmon, watching from afar, simply paled. 'Why...Why did I get my own insert theme?'

Petsula smiled slightly as she watched Lucemon work furiously on a small speech he was preparing for tomorrow. "You'll break your pen if you keep going like that."

"Well, I wasn't expecting the elections to finish for another month." Lucemon laughed nervously. "Who would've thought things would work out like this, Huh?"

"Yeah..." She looked down at the floor sadly. "Who would've...?"

*cue SUBTITLE*

"The Dark Knight Makes His Move!"

THE NEXT MORNING_ _ _|

"LUCEMON!" Shoutmon called out. "LUCEMON!" He sighed. "Damn, where is that guy?"

"Maybe he got lost or something?" Lopmon offered. "It is a big place here."

They were inside a Library, next to the announcement plaza a few buildings over. Petsula had said that Lucemon had gone over to look for a certain quote to make sure he said it right.

("He wants to make sure he quotes our Zone's first president to a T." Petsula had said with a sad smile. "I wish he'd just give it up already and spend his last few pre-presidential hours with me..."

Akari had blinked. "Eh? Why's that?"

Petsula sighed. "He's going to be so busy with things once he becomes president... I worry I'm not even going to be able to see him some times.")

"I doubt he's lost." Cutemon remarked. "He's lived here his entire life. You'd think he'd know the way around by now."

"Ehh...True." Lopmon scratched her one ear absentmindedly. "Maybe..."

"He fell asleep?" Shoutmon jabbed his thumb over at a near by bench where, sure enough, Lucemon had fallen asleep, surrounded by a pile of books, a majority of which were open. "Oi! Lucemon!"

With a start, the boy shot up into the air by a good five feet. "I'm up! I'm up! Where's the Flamon?"

Shoutmon paled slightly. "Er, it's almost time for your inauguration?"

"Oh right..." the Boy Angel sighed. "I must've fallen asleep when I couldn't find the right book after the thirtieth try..."

"Did you get any sleep at all last night?" Lopmon asked.

"Er..." He paled. "No. I didn't..."

"Man.." Shoutmon thought to himself. "He's so dedicated that he'll only rest when his body forces him to!"

"Anyways, we've got to go!" Cutemon started. "The others are waiting on you!"

"Okay! " Lucemon descended to the ground. "Lead the way!"

"When I become King one day, I hope this guy'll give me lessons..."Shoutmon smiled to himself.

The walk was a short, but brisk, one. And once Lucemon was there, a different group of Pucchiemon took him off into wardrobe and makeup.

Xros Heart fixed themselves at a spot on stage next to where Lucemon would be inagurated, while those from the Zone itself took a spot opposite them.

So, as the minutes drew closer for the president-elect to be made President, Petsula grew nervous.

"Are you okay, Petsula-san?" Jade asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She smiled at the Pucchiemon.

"How come I'm up here again?" Sally and Lila remarked simultaneously, arms crossed, and leaning slightly against the wall in identical manners.

"Because Lucemon asked us to be here, so we're here." Zenjirou answered them both.

Terezie the PawnChessmon yawned slightly. Not from boredom, mind you, but instead from an all night interrogation. "Jeeze, If he hadn't asked for us to all be here, I'd be catching some Z's right now..."

"Were you up all night?" Dondokomon asked.

"Yeah." She nodded. "That SlashAngemon guy cracked, but not in the way we wanted." she shook her head. "He's nothing but a blubbering wreck now. Something broke his mind, and I don't think it was That "Chaos Flare" attack."

"'Broke his mind'..." Sally narrowed her eyes slightly. "That sounds familiar for some reason..."

The Ceremony began a few minutes later than planned, due to Shakkoumon, the walking teapot, needing to retrieve the Bracelet that marked the President of the Zone from the Police impound.

Lucemon was then brought out on stage, dressed in a sort of business like suit that (apparently) was traditional for the inauguration ceremony. He said a short speech, and the audience applauded with glee at it's conclusion. Finally, everyone thought, things were looking up!

And so, as Shakkoumon placed the bracelet onto Lucemon's wrist, everyone cheered.

Lucemon held his arm up into the air, a smile on his face, and waved to the audience. Then, while he had their attention, he motioned for them to stop. "Ahhem. Everyone, I've got something else to say and since I was planning on doing this today anyways, I guess now's a good of a chance as any." He turned to his girlfriend. "Petsula-chan, could you come over here for a moment?"

She jumped slightly when he called her out by name. "S-Sure." She walked over.

A few members of the audience could tell where this was going and "ooh"ed in preemptive glee, even The princess Bastemon, let loose a small squee.

Sure enough, Lucemon pulled out a small box from his pocket and got down onto one knee. "Petsula..." As he went through a different speech (the one he'd actually been working on since the previous night), and the Audience 'aww'ed at the heart warming things he said, a very serious tone overtook Akari and Shoutmon.

"Do you feel that..." Akari whispered.

"Yeah." Shoutmon replied, fingers twitching.

It was an ominous feeling. Something dark and demonic. Approaching quickly from...Somewhere. Soon enough, The other Xros Heart Digimon began to feel it as well, even Sally could feel it.

"I know this..." she whispered to herself.

Regardless of all this, Lucemon finished his lead-in with the traditional "Will you marry me?" and Petsula replied with a very happy and immediate "yes!"

And so, as they kissed, and the audience cheered- all those trained for fighting felt it. Dorulumon even more so than the others. "Something bad's about to happen."

It was instantaneous.

A Massive, dragon like shadow suddenly roared into existence, emerging from Petsula's own shadow, and diving over into Lucemon's shadow.

Somehow, over the course of the day, the Creature that had possessed SlashAngemon had worked it's way across the Zone, possessing random people and Digimon as it worked it's way closer and closer to the future president of the Zone.

And finally, it had managed to get into Petsula, and from there, it would now possess Lucemon.

No, This creature didn't care that- in the split second it took for it to hop from Petsula to Lucemon- it was visible.

In fact, it was even amplifying it's form into something horrific, just to shatter the perfect moment.

And now- as Petsula collapsed to the ground from the shock of the creature leaving, and Lucemon's body went stiff as the creature possessed it- Sally Sparrow knew what this was.

"Shademon!" she cried out in horror. "It's a Shademon!"

The creature- No. Shademon!- Pulsed a massive wave of psychic energy that bound everyone to the very place they stood. Despite this, the audience screamed in horror.

Lucemon's blue eyes flared out in a flash of golden light, and the creature started laughing through his voice. "Heh. Heheh. HEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"What's A Shademon?" Taiki asked as he struggled to reach for his Xros Loader.

"It's a creature made out of shadow." Sally explained. "They made it in the same place they made all of those black market experiments!"

Revolomon's eyes widened. "You don't mean...?"

"Yes. Yes she does." Lucemon's voice sounded like it had been fed through a shredder, and echoed multiple times. "I have been the true ruler of Heaven Zone, not that pitiful SlashAngemon." he scoffed as he started walking towards them. "Every mis-step that fool took was MY doing. Not His!"

("That wasn't what I meant at all!" Revolomon groaned.)

"So we didn't take out the true enemy!" Akari growled as she reached for her Xros Loader as well. "But why reveal yourself to us? Why now?"

"Oh!" He laughed. "Because it was FUN!" he laughed more. "I haven't had that much fun possessing someone in YEARS!"

Sally narrowed her eyes. "There's more to it than that. You could have waited until they were alone to switch hosts!"

"Oh how right you are." Lucemon-No. Shademon- Rolled his eyes. "Quite honestly, I think I'll let my master do the rest of the talking, actually."

"Master?" Dorulumon's eyes narrowed. "Bagura?"

"As if I would ally with those buffoons." A Suave, dark voice replied from beyond the audience.

Everyone turned their heads, surprisingly allowed by the Shademon, to see a tall, armored warrior, standing proudly behind a very familiar girl.

"Nene!" Taiki's eyes widened. "What are you doing here?"

Sally was asking herself the same questions. "Get away from that creep!" She ordered.

"Why should I listen to you?" Nene asked. "I've never seen you before in my life."

Sally growled under her breath.

"Listen to us then!" Shoutmon growled. "That perverted rascal is no good!"

Nene rolled her eyes as she pulled out a Black Xros Loader. "I'm his General. He does as I say."

"What!" Everyone's eyes widened.

And with that said, a beam of purple energy lanced out of the tip of DarkKnightmon's spear, smashing into Shoutmon, and pushing him into a nearby wall.

CRACK.

The poor digimon collapsed to the ground, twitching in pain.

"Shouto!" Akari cried out.

"The center of every Digi-Xros you own has been taken out." DarkKnightmon stated, then turned towards Shade-Lucemon. "With him taken care of, you can now begin the process to free your brethren..."

"As you wish, my master."Shade-Lucemon suddenly glowed a violent, dark purple in color as his body shifted, and corrupted.

What emerged from the flare of darkness would typically be classified as LUCEMON: Falldown Mode.

Another of the Seven Demon Lords.

Shade-Lucemon held up his bracelet, and recited a string of Latin words, roughly translating as: "Faked Attack Breaks Hardened Rock."

There was a groan, and a crack, and suddenly, the entirety of Heaven Zone split into two.

The Zone inhabitants held in place by Shademon's psychic powers who found themselves on the split were lucky enough to find that the zone broke so that they would remain on something solid.

As the Heaven Zone split apart into two pieces, a smaller, hidden temple raised itself into the sky, spitting out a small, golden item- The Code Crown- As it Ascended.

Shade-Lucemon caught the Code Crown and smirked. "Heaven Zone's Code Crown." He tossed it over his shoulder, into the void beyond. "Worthless."

"Anything Born in the Digital World is classified as a Digimon: A Digital Monster. Although Just Data, They Live, They Laugh, They Fight- They're just like us! They're our very special friends!

"Follow us on our grand journey across the Digital World, to rid it of the Bagura Threat!"

"DIGI XROS!"

*cue: NEVER GIVE UP! (tv size)*

For a moment, Nobody spoke.

First, Shoutmon had been blasted into a wall, then the Shademon possessed Lucemon just threw away the Code Crown.

Finally, Akari broke the silence.

"Damn you!" she growled.

Shade-Lucemon chuckled. "Well, I suppose we'll take that as a compliment."

"Shademon." DakrKnightmon started as he lifted Nene up onto his left shoulder. "Make sure these buffoons don't get in the way." With that, DarkKnightmon jumped up into the air, soaring towards the ascending building.

"Hmm.." The Shademon mused. "What shall we do first?"

SMASH!

"Perhaps a bit of Wrestling?" The Demon easily sent Dorulumon flying into the wall next to Shoutmon with a single kick. "No. That's no fun."

KRASH!

With a laugh he picked up Ballistamon, and flung him over his shoulder. "Maybe we'll play some card games?"

SMACK!

With that, Revolomon went flying into the stunned audience. "Or how about I tell some embarrassing secrets from all those I've possessed? I think that will be MUCH!" He kicked One of the PawnChessmon after Revolomon. "MORE!" He spun around and sent Akari flying towards Ballistamon with a push of psychic energy. "FUN!"

The Shademon jumped down into the audience, and approached a Unimon. "This fellow here happens to be scared of his own shadow. How about that?" he laughed. "Here I am, a creature of pure shadow. I suppose his fears are justified now, aren't they?"

He whirled around, then jumped across the gap in the Zone.

"This one!" he jabbed a finger at a girl. "Is cheating on her boyfriend with a Pegasusmon because of a HORSE fetish." The poor girl's eyes widened in horror. "You disgust me, and yet amuse me at the same time."The Shademon laughed.

He jumped back onto stage, and placed his hands on one of the Wardrobe Pucchiemon. "This lad here happens to have a problem taking orders. Every time his boss tells him to do something, he imagines putting him through the most devious of torture methods possible!" Shademon lowered his voice slightly and lowered his mouth right next to the Pucchiemon's ear. "Running his wife through the back with a sewing needle? I Must commend you for your creativity!"The Pucchiemon's body tensed up and started shaking in shock.

Shade-Lucemon jumped across the fissure, then crouched down next to a boy at the front of the audience. "You secretly want to join the Bagura army." the boy tensed up. "You want to join so you can become a high ranking general and gather several slaves under your command!" A smirk. "All so you can get revenge at your sister for running away with some Fish faced mollusk and joining a traveling circus!" with a whisper, he added. "Honk Honk."

The boy screamed in terror. "H-How did you know?"

"I'm Glad you asked!" Shademon took to hovering over the audience. "You see, my kind was created several years ago in an experiment to make submissive soldiers. However." a smirk formed on his face. "We were not the expected result: Shademon are creatures of shadow! Pure energy!" He floated backwards ever so slightly. "We can possess in two ways, subtly, or directly." he pointed out towards the audience. "Those of you I've just exposed all your deepest, darkest secrets of were those I subtly possessed after my last host, SlashAngemon, was arrested." He pointed to himself. "This is a direct possession! I have complete control of his every body movement."

A Slight sigh, and he hovered across the room. "When I subtly possess someone, they don't know I'm even there. When I directly possess someone, I break their minds."

Sally's eyes widened. "That's where I heard it before..."

"But you see, our creator, Mummymon, before his untimely demise, sold me and my sister to DarkKnightmon, the only one interested in purchasing such a creature as us, and buried the rest of my brothers and sisters along side the Code Crown inside that chamber you see above you." He pointed up.

"Master DarkKnightmon, in all his foresight, implanted me inside the President of Heaven Zone soon after our Creator was killed." he laughed. "I subtly influenced him at first, then, over the course of several months, I worked my way into a full, Direct possession."

Terezie growled. "That explains why SlashAngemon's mind was as broken as it was..."

"But now, I've rambled about my self long enough." he landed next to Petsula. "I'm going to reveal what I've saved for last!" He picked her up by the front of her dress and held her up for all to see. "This one here has been a SPY for Bagura this entire time!"

Several people gasped, but he wasn't finished yet.

"Her orders were to befriend the future president of Heaven Zone, and then steal the Code Crown after he was inaugurated." he scoffed. "But this little brat decided she wasn't going to do that. No. She was planning on cutting off all communication with Bagura. Lucemon's little 'proposal'-" he seemed sick at the thought. "Only sealed the idea in her mind to do it this very evening. She was even going to turn her self in, had you Xros Heart fools not removed my former host from power!" he smirked slightly. "That's not going to do her any good now, however."

With that, he floated over the gap between the two halves of Heaven Zone, and... And let her go.

"Petsula-san!" the Pucchiemon band cried out in horror as she fell.

A few moments passed, and the Shade-Lucemon winced. "Damn, even after saying all that, this Stupid boy still cares about her." he forced a smirk. "Regardless. What's done is done."

He turned to face Xros Heart. "Now then, time to get rid of you all!" he summoned two giant spheres of energy, one white, one black. "DEAD..." he threw the two spheres at the army who- for the most part, were frozen still. "OR ALIVE!"

The two spheres combined mid flight, and continued sailing on as they formed a glowing sphere of rapidly changing symbols.

Mentally, Shade-Lucemon counted down until detonation. "Three..."

The Sphere drew closer.

"Two...!"

Those still standing there could feel the heat from the sphere approaching.

"ONE!"

...

...

...

Nothing.

Shade-Lucemon blinked. "What...?"

The sphere had stopped moving- Simply opting to float in place.

"How...!"ShadeLucemon's mouth was as wide open as a fish.

"You wanna know?" Came a voice. "Do you really want to know?"

Everyone looked towards the bottom of the sphere, to see a certain red Digimon holding it in place with his Mic-stand.

"I'll tell you how..."

It was then that the Shademon realized that his psychic grip on the audience had fallen the moment he'd seen his attack stopped. Everyone he'd knocked down was getting up!

"It really hurt being blasted into a wall like that." Shoutmon Smirked. "But then you said all those stupid things and then dropped Petsula down into the void after that code crown and I got really mad." the smirk widened. "And you know what?" He crouched down slightly, letting the sphere continue forward ever so slightly. "All those things piled up on top of each other got me so pissed off that the pain just went away!" His smirk reached an almost insane level. "So you know what?"

*cue A Comeback Win*

And then...

"RIGHT BACK AT YOU!"

...Shoutmon wrenched his mic-stand forward in an enraged swing, sending the "Dead or Alive" Attack back at Shade-Lucemon.

Most everyone was too surprised to react to the sudden "return to sender" move, but most importantly of all of them- Shade-Lucemon.

"W-WHAT?"

F-THWAM!

The ensuing explosion sent the Shademon reeling, as it momentarily lost control.

"Gah!" Lucemon gripped his head. "Get out of my head!" he roared as he tried to fight the creature.

"Akari!" Shoutmon called out. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Akari and Ballistamon stood up from where they'd landed.

"N'gah!" Ballistamon nodded.

"Hey, Dorulumon." Shoutmon turned towards Dorulumon. "You up for some Ghostbusting?"

"Are you joking?" Dorulumon actually grinned."Of course I am!"

"Starmon? Pickmons?" Shoutmon called out.

"We're ready for some major demon busting, Brother!" Starmon grinned.

"Let's Break all his Health Bars!" The Redpickmon cheered.

"Yokay!" Shoutmon grinned. "Let's give it our all!"

*cue: KOUGEKI KAISHI*

"Shoutmon!" Akari held up her Xros Loader.

"OKAY!"

"Ballistamon!"

"N'GAH!"

"Dorulumon!"

"ROGER!"

"Starmon!"

"HAIII!"

"Pickmonz!"

"YEEEEAAAAH!"

"DIGI-XROS!"

"DIGI-XROS!"

With a clang, The Star Sword leveled itself as it's wielder cried out it's name: "Shoutmon: XROS FOUR!"

And as per usual, there went that same ol' music rift.

Simultaneously, the Shademon regained it's controll over Lucemon. "Bah! You think that same old Digi-Xros would be enough to stop me?"

"Let's find out!" Xros Four lept into the air, Sword glowing. "BURNING STAR SLASHER!"

Shade-Lucemon ducked his head down to avoid the attack, but Before he could do more than flee downwards, Xros Four was on his tail.

"HIGH ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE!"

And I mean that semi-literally- This attack came from Dorulumon's tail-drill, whirling into action, and creating a multi-colored version of the "Dorulu Tornado" attack.

The poor Shademon didn't know what hit him.

"Look at him go!" Akari grinned. "I didn't even know he had those attacks!"

"Shout-onii-san is so cool!" ChibiKamemon watched in awe.

"Yeah yeah yeah!" Zenjirou threw a few imaginary swings. "Get him get him!"

"THREE IMPACT!"

A super powered punch hit Shade-Lucemon's face, sending him reeling, and temporarily knocking the Shademon loose.

"Urgh..." Lucemon groaned. "What hit me...?"

"Sorry 'bout that." Xros Four apologized as he landed on the edge of a nearby roof. "But this guy's not giving me any room for error here!"

Lucemon shook his head as the Shademon regained itself. "Guh, you think a few simple hits'll take me down?"

"Nope!" Xros Four grinned under his helmet. "But then again, are we doing anything more here besides stalling?" He laughed, then lunged for Shade-Lucemon. "BURNING STAR CURSHER!"

Suddenly, Beelzebmon flew out through the crack across the middle of the Zone. "Oi! What'd I miss?"

"Beelzebmon!" Taiki and Akari grinned- not just because of his appearance, but of what he was carrying: The unconscious Petsula and the Code Crown.

"So, anyone mind telling me why, when I'm going on a simple flight to clear my head, I see the Zone crack open above me, and get a Code Crown and an unconscious girl for my efforts?" Beelzebmon asked as Lila and Akari helped Petsula down to the ground.

"Long story short, Lucemon got possessed by a digimon working for Nene-san," Zenjirou explained quickly. "Now Shoutmon and the others are fighting to break him out of it!"

"Nene...?" Beelzebmon shrugged at the name. "Never heard of him."

"Her." Zenjirou corrected.

"Meh." Beelzebmon shrugged.

"Anyways." Taiki coughed. "We should probably upgrade to Xros Four B."

"Oh, right." Beelzebmon nodded then took off towards the fight.

Dondokomon turned towards the Pucchiemon band. "Get ready everyone!"

"Un!" they nodded.

Xros Four was actually doing fairly well at holding off Shade-Lucemon, even with his holding back on attacks.

"You know, that voice really doesn't suit you!"

"RAHHH!"

...Well, I mean holding back on the physical attacks. The mental ones, however, were going at full speed.

With a sword swipe Xros Four flipped over Shade-Lucemon and delivered a cut to his back, in between the wings.

Lucemon once again gained a momentary lapse in control. "Gah! That hurts!"

"Sorry!" Xros Four appologized.

Lucemon clutched his head, then growled. "STOP DOING THAT!"

Suddenly, to add insult to injury, a stream of green energy bolts blasted into his back.

"GAAA-HHH!"Lucemon regained controll mid sentence. "What just happened?"

"Beelzebmon!" Xros Four started. "Nice timing!"

"What's the situation?" The Warrior asked.

"Mostly a friendly game teasing the demon." Shoutmon replied.

"More like 'Stress the demon', I think." Dorulumon cut in.

"Meh." Shoutmon shrugged.

Beelzebmon blinked. "Talk about split personalities."

"Indeed."The Shademon groaned.

"Oh, By the way." Beelzebmon launched another energy blast out of his cannon, sending the Shademon reeling again. "Taiki thinks we should upgrade to X4B."

"Sounds like a plan!" Shoutmon nodded.

With that, Beelzebmon launched a shot over towards the direction he came from.

*Cue X4B THE GUARIDAN!*

As soon as they saw the Shot, Taiki and Akair held up their Xros Loaders. "Shoutmon Xros Four!" Akari called.

"Beelzebmon!" Taiki added.

"DIGI-XROS!"

"SHOUTMON XROS FOUR!"He leveled his sword.

"BEELZEBMON!" he aimed his cannon.

"DIGI XROS!"

With that same chior remix of that ever-so-familiar music rift "SHOUTMON X4B!"Entered the field of battle for the second time.

In this world filled with swirling ambitions,

"That again?" Shade-Lucemon narrowed his eyes. "I won't fall for the same tricks again!"

Malevolent power runs astray.

"We'll see about that!" X4B smirked, then charged.

When the undying warrior's spirit blazes up,

Shade-Lucemon brought up his arms to block, only a second too late to realize that he was no-longer SlashAngemon, who had swords for arms, but instead was Lucemon- Whose only defensive powers included dodging. "Oh Cr-"

"BURNING STAR SLASHER!"

The Iron Horse scatters everything about!

Shade-Lucemon, hit full on by the attack, reeled backwards once more, and- for a split second- his form flickered between the "Falldown Mode" and two separate forms, Lucemon and the Shademon. "GAH!"

Oh! X4B THE GUARDIAN!

"Did you see that, brother!" Starmon gasped from inside the Xros. "We almost split them!"

Use your sword to pierce through the darkness!

"That means this form of his is nothing but energy." Dorulumon reasoned. "If we can deal enough damage that we can get them to split apart for long enough, we might just be able to grab Lucemon from inside!"

Oh, Gallop towards the future!

Shade-Lucemon sneered at them. "As If I'll let you- Gah! Take your shot!" Lucemon broke through again. "Kill me if you have to! You've got to stop DarkKnightmon! He's-STOP THAT!"Shademon took over again.

Bringing love to the just, Bringing Judgement to the villainous,

"Lucemon!" Shoutmon's eyes widened slightly. "He wants us... To kill him?"

"It doesn't matter! As long as I can keep you lot here, then Master DarkKnightmon will be able to rescue my kind from imprisonment!"Shademon growled.

The unmatched Guardian!

Lucemon forced himself into control again. "You've got to stop them! They'll enslave the whole Digital World if he gets his hands on those-I SAID STOP!"

X4B stood there for a few seconds, at an impass. They were trying to rescue Lucemon, but now he wanted them to stop DarkKnightmon...?

No. They wouldn't kill him, Shoutmon decided then and there. They would knock him away as far as possible, then go take on DarkKnightmon.

Even when the tears dried, I continued to fire.

"STAR BLADE..." X4B's guns powered up, and began to fire as he charged inwards. "CELESTRIKE!"

I suffered through the Nightmare that was yesterday!

Shademon dodged. "NO! I will keep you here! You will not stop my master!"

When misfortune destroyed this body of mine,

"Shoutmon." Beelzebmon started. "If he wants to sacrifice himself, we should take any opening he gives us."

I saw a friend on the other end of the light!

"He's got too much at stake to just die!" Shoutmon countered. "Just by Xrossing, we all know you saved Petsula-san! He's got someone to live for!"

Oh! These are the new wings of freedom!

Lucemon gasped slightly. Petsula was alive?

The Battle to atone is within the path of justice!

"That's why..." Energy began to build at the mouth of the "Death The Cannon" as Shoutmon resolved his motivation for this fight. "That's why he WILL Live!"

OH! X4B THE GUARDIAN!

"CHAOS..."

Unleash that flame to the darkness!

Lucemon forced his control over his body long enough for X4B to get a solid Lock.

OOh! Raise a battle cry and dance across the heavens!

"FLARE!"

Bringing love to the Just, bringing Judgment to the villainous,

The energy sphere launched forward, and...

The Unmatched Guardian...

"DEAD OR ALIVE!"

...Shademon barely just managed to force Lucemon down again in time to block the energy blast.

The two spheres of light and dark collided with the energy blast of X4B, canceling each other out in a deafening explosion.

"I. WILL. NOT. STAND. FOR. THIS." Shademon growled. "First you capture my old host, and now you prevent me from completing my Master's orders!"

"Tough luck!"

"No. I Will END THIS." He summoned two giant spheres, and threw them. "DEAD OR ALIVE!"

Then, two more spheres.

And then Two more...!

Now, Let's go friends, to the next world...

"STAR BLADE CELESTRIKE!"X4B caught the first sphere with his sword, holding it back, even as the other two combined spheres joined them together. "You Just won't give up!"

The Goal we are reaching for is one...

"CHAOS..."A new blast of energy built up at the cannon's mouth.

OH! X4B THE GUARDIAN!

"BURNING..." The Sword glowed with a secondary attack. "...STAR..."

Use your sword to pierce through the darkness!

"FLARE CRUSHER!"

Oh! Gallop on towards the future!

The Lazer V of a sword slash combined with the high impact round of Death the Cannon combined to push into, puncture, and carry through all of Shade-Lucemon's dead or alive attacks.

Bringing Love to the just,

Shade-Lucemon could only stare in shock as his own attacks, plus that of two more, came flying back at him.

Bringing Judgment to the villainous,

And, with the Shademon's control at a loss, Lucemon forced himself back into controll to allow the attacks through.

The Unmatched Guardian!

K-FWHAM!

X4B THE GUARDIAN...

X4B could only smirk slightly as, through the resulting explosion, he saw a humanoid form flung out of the smoke cloud into the distance.

Always Bringing Love to the Just, Bringing Judgement to the Villainous,

"Now let's go!" Shoutmon ordered. "We've got to stop DarkKnightmon!"

The Unmatched Guardian!

Suddenly, X4B landed next to them.

"Shouto!" Akari started. "Where's Lucemon?"

"I Had to send him on a round trip flight." he started. "But we've got to get up there and stop DarkKnightmon!"

"Sally already went up there!" Akari started. "She used that hover board of hers, and Taiki went with her!"

"How long ago?" Beelzebmon asked.

"Just after the first verse!" Dondokomon threw in.

"There's still time then!" X4B grabbed Akari in one hand and jumped up into the air. "We'll be back!"

As the sudden rush of air from his departure died down, Zenjirou sighed. "They forgot us..."

"Again." Lila sighed.

"Let's just hope that nobody got hurt." Revolomon wished.

Several Minutes earlier...

A single bullet smashed through the first window they could find.

Sally maneuvered her hover board inside. "Okay, get off." She turned to Taiki.

He did so, but only as he asked "Why?"

"Nene didn't recognize me before." She explained. "And that's probably because I've never shown her this form before." She narrowed her eyes. "So...I'll rectify that now."

Taiki was about to ask what she meant when, all of a sudden, a bright golden light over took Sally and her hover board.

"Mode Change!"

When the light vanished, a certain yellow digimon remained- Sparrowmon. "Ugh. That's always a pain." she rolled her neck. "Now get back on so we can find Nene."

"That light." Taiki started as he climbed back onto the now empty board-top. "I've seen it before..."

"That?" Sparrowmon looked back at him as she started off through the passageways. "That was just the light of an evolution- Or a Mode Change in my case."

"Evolution...?" Taiki's eyes narrowed.

"BA'ALMON SHINKA!"

Taiki snapped his fingers. "That's it?"

"What is?" She asked.

"What's 'evolution' to a Digimon?" Taiki asked.

"Eh?" Sparrowmon blinked. "You're asking me?"

"You are one." Taiki countered.

"Eh...good point." she narrowed her eyes. "It's a legendary process under which a being can specifically change from one form into another." She explained. "Some digimon are locked into one form their entire lives, others can evolve from one set form to another as a part of their natural life cycle."

"Ba'almon evolved into Beelzebmon." Taiki noted.

"Ba'almon usually don't have other forms, so he's a special case."

"How so?"

"Sometimes, if a digimon has more to do in life, but if they're on the verge of dying, they'll evolve to a new form to continue living."

"Hmm." Taiki frowned slightly. "What about Digi-Xros?"

"What about it?"

"You said that what made you into this was a type of warped Digi-Xros."

"Yeah." She narrowed her eyes. "He used a Darkness Loader."

"Darkness Loader?" Taiki asked.

"It's a dark Xros Loader." She replied. "If I remember right, It's blueprints were stored with all those Shademon at the center of this place..."

Speaking of, they finally found DarkKnightmon's entrance to the temple- The entire wall was smashed in.

As was every hallway beyond that in a straight line.

Finally! They'd caught up!

"This way!" Sparrowmon rounded the corner and began to increase her speed.

"Okay, next question." Taiki continued, sensing that his time for answers would be soon cut short. "I've heard Akari and Lopmon say 'Xros Shinka' when they DigiXros, and MetalGureimon at one point too. Is that a type of evolution?"

"DigiXros is an ancient power, just like Evolution." Sparrowmon replied. "It's almost exactly the same in that it progresses one Digimon along to a further stage, but that's where the similarities end."

"It's temporary." Taiki reasoned.

"That and it's infinite." Sparrowmon continued. "You can keep DigiXrossing digimon onto the center, and keep coming up with a new form every time. That's why some of the Bagura commanders use a less competent form of DigiXros on their subordinates."

"Okay, I understand that part." Taiki nodded. "So why say 'Xros Shinka'?"

"DigiXros is a substitute for evolution in certain cases." She explained. "Akari is essentially providing a temporary step for Lopmon to become Turuiemon. Same with MailBirdramon providing a step for Gureimon."

"So, Lopmon could become Turuiemon on her own?"

"Most Lopmon I've met never live past that form." She said. "But some, on occasion, do evolve into Turuiemon, and even fewer beyond that."

"I see..." Taiki nodded. "I think I've finally got this figured out!"

"Great, any more questions?" Sparrowmon asked. "Because we're about to find ourselves in the center of this place!"

"Why is it called a Darkness Loader?" Taiki asked. "What sets it apart from a normal Xros Loader?"

"Anyone can use it. It lacks the voice recognition software normal Xros Loaders have." Sparrowmon replied. "And you can force anyone to Xros together, regardless of their thoughts and feelings. You could even Digi-Xros humans with inanimate objects permanently." she scowled at that. "But the major difference is you can use it on yourself."

"Eh?" Taiki glanced at his Xros Loader. "So that means..."

"If Akari tried Xrosing herself with Lopmon, it wouldn't work." Sparrowmon replied. "Thats why she and Shoutmon always trade off."

"Voice recognition?" Taiki mused. "I said my name when I got this, is that what set it to me?"

"Probably." Sparrowmon growled. "Now are you done with the questions? Because we're here!" And with that, they flew into the center chamber, engines screeching to a halt.

"Sparrowmon!" The Monitamon gasped in surprise.

The room was centered around a glowing sphere of dark energy, which Nene was loading into her Xros Loader.

DarkKnightmon was nowhere to be seen.

"Nene!" Sparrowmon started. "Drop the Xros Loader right now!"

The girl looked over her shoulder. "Sparrowmon? When did you get here?"

"Please, Let go of the Xros Loader!" Taiki tried "You don't know what's inside that sphere!"

"Don't listen." DarkKnightmon's voice came from the pure black Xros Loader in Nene's hands. "They simply wish to have this power to themselves."

"Nene!" Sparrowmon growled. "Stop listening to him! He's nothing but a jerk!"

"You left me to take care of your own business." Nene shot a cold look at the Digimon. "I'm simply doing the same."

Sparrowmon shuddered. 'That look...That's the same look...!'

"Hmf." DarkKnightmon scoffed. "If you won't leave..."

Suddenly, a Digimon materialized from the Xros Loader- Duskmon.

"Then I''ll just have to make you."

Duskmon's twisted, blood red blades emerged from their gauntlets. "Hello, Sparrow."

"Duskmon!" Sparrowmon's eyes widened. "But how...?"

"You know him?" Taiki asked.

"He's...!" Sparrowmon was cut off as Duskmon launched the first attack.

"DEADLY GAZE!"

When X4B approached the temple, the sounds of battle were all but prominent.

"Damn! I hope we're not too late..." Shoutmon grimaced.

"Taiki..." Akari frowned. "Stay alive, okay?"

They quickly found DarkKnightmon's entrance, but X4B was simply too big to enter a hole that size.

"We don't have time for running anyways." Dorulumon reasoned. "Let's head directly for the center."

Sparrowmon was forced to shift back into her human form as Duskmon pressed his attack.

"You've been working for DarkKnightmon this whole time?" Sally gritted her teeth as she blocked his swords with her guns.

"Well so have YOU!" Duskmon roared as he launched another "Deadly Gaze" attack.

"But I only did it to protect Nene!" She countered as she jumped back to fire at him.

Duskmon scoffed as he blocked the bullets with a few well timed sword swipes. "Protect? Just like you 'protected' me?" He charged towards her. "Just as you 'protected' MIZUYA!"

Sally blocked the sword swipe with her 9 mm. hand guns again. "You know I couldn't do anything!"

All the while as this was going on, The Monitamon watched in shock and awe. "Who knew Sparrow-san was a hybrid?" One asked.

"Who knew That the lower chambers janitor was someone from her past!" another Monitamon asked.

Nene... didn't seem to even notice there was a battle going on, and Taiki found that odd. But, whenever he tried to get close to her, a random stray attack from the duel would block his path.

"This isn't like you, Koichi!" Sally quickly shifted into her Sparrowmon form and took to the air.

"Oh But it IS!" Duskmon launched another "DEADLY GAZE!" laser barrage.

"RANDOM LASER!"Several ports on the back of the hover board slid open, and a blast of blue energy lashed out of each- smashing into the laser attack from all directions and canceling it out.

"You failed to realize what you went through was just the tip of the iceberg!" Duskmon pointed his blade at her. "I was there for YEARS!I was sold off like a slave and you didn't do a thing!"

"Koichi..." She started.

"DON"T CALL ME THAT!" the shadow warrior roared. "MY NAME. IS. DUSKMON!"

"But..."

"De. Yu. Es. Kay. Em. Oh. En." He spelled. "Is it THAT HARD to say?"

"Koichi..." Sparrowmon started again.

"WHAT DID I JUST SAY."without even calling the attack, a "Deadly Gaze" Beam ripped through the air, smashing into the poor girl, and sending her crashing into a far wall, reverting back to her split form almost immediately.

Duskmon huffed, then extended his blades as he walked over to her. "I'm going to make sure that you die a painful death."

Suddenly!

"BURNING STAR CRUSHER!"

The entire Roof exploded into a massive...burning explosion of dust and debris.

Duskmon was suddenly buried under a small chunk of roof; Taiki had to sheild his eyes from the dust; Sally was unconscious; and...

Once again, Nene seemed oblivious to her surroundings, not even blinking as the sudden shift in air currents blew her hair from side to side.

X4B dropped down from the sky, all four feet causing the floating temple to shake due to his weight. "Yo! Taiki!"

"Taiki, you idiot!" Akari jumped down from off of X4B's shoulder.

"Er...Hi...?" Taiki blinked.

"Woah, What happened here?" X4B asked.

"RAAAAAAHH!" Duskmon burst out of the roof chunk that had pinned him. "You will PAY!"

"He did," Taiki pointed at Duskmon. "While he tried to kill Sally."

"Grrr..." Duskmon growled as he readied his swords.

"Hey, Buddy!" X4B leveled his sword. "Care to try that again?"

They were at a stalemate.

Now, as much as this chapter seems to keep going and going, trust me when I say that we're almost done here. Almost instantly, Nene let loose a startled squeal as something clattered to the floor.

"Nene!" Taiki wheeled around to see the cause of the...

Oh, Hey, It's Shademon, still possessing Lucemon, and now holding Nene Hostage with a strangle hold. "Hmf, so it seems my master isn't up for freeing my kind after all, but instead imprisoning them in yet a different cage!"

"I need to evacuate them to our base." DarkKnightmon started. "The only way to do that is to..."

"SILENCE!"Shademon growled.

X4B tightened his grip on his sword. "Why won't you go down?"

"Ch. The Most you did with that finisher attack was render my host unconscious." Shademon smirked. "Now I have no-one to oppose me inside my own body."

"Damn!" Shoutmon cursed.

Shademon laughed. "Now then." he pressed the edge of his foot against the dial on Nene's Xros Loader. "Reload my family."

"No." Nene started.

But that wasn't the answer Shademon wanted, so he started to squeeze his arm tighter around her neck. "I said: RELOAD THEM."

Nene stared down at the Xros Loader, then relented.

"Reload: Shademon-tachi."

Suddenly, the dark flare of light that burst out of the Xros Loader revealed a massive, pulsing, writhing mass of dark shadows.

Shade-Lucemon smirked, and started to talk when Nene continued.

"DIGIXROS!"

Suddenly, the XrosLoader flared into action once more, transforming the Shademon who had been inside the Xros Loader into a beam of energy that smashed into Lucemon's chest.

"Grk!"his possessed eyes flashed their golden color again, and did so again, and again, and again as each consecutive Shademon caused the first Shademon's body to pulse, and mutate.

Eventually, the mass of all those fused shademon began to work like a magnet, pulling The Shademon hidden within the sphere of dark energy into the net pool. Nene, still held hostage by Shade-Lucemon, was pulled in as well.

Everyone stared in horror, even DarkKnightmon; although his shock was more along the lines of an exasperated "Oh dear."

When the writhing mass of dark energy finished, it pulsed, and suddenly warped and twisted itself into a massive form- a form which would have easily shattered the roof had X4B not already done that.

When the energy finally settled itself, a towering beast remained-

This would be the final form of Lucemon- Shadow Lord mode.

And it was nothing more than a dragon carrying a sphere of dark energy in place of it's chest.

And it was Hungry!

"RRRROOOOAAAARRRR!"

TO BE CONTINUED!

Next time:

"Lucemon's got to be stopped!"

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you where you stand!"

"The ultimate power of the Demon Lords."

"We've got to save him!"

"This is it, EVERYONE!"

"Finalist Keitai! XROS FIVE!"

"Next time: Digimon Xros Wars; 'Sky Dancing Hero! Save Lucemon!'"

"METEOR BUSTER... ATTACK!"

KARAOKE ZONE SING OFFS: PART FIVE! GO GO GO GO!

Dondokomon gazed up at the stage in awe. "It's so amazing!"

"Yeah!" Terezie the PawnChessmon nodded. "So many great songs going on tonight!"

One of the Pucchiemon, Rose, smiled. "I agree, it's been great so far..."

"Hmm..." Dondokomon grinned. "We'll just have to do a song next!"

"Sounds great!" The PawnChessmon smiled.

"But what song should we do?" The Pucchiemon asked.

"Well...!"

Sadly, we won't be hearing them singing in this segment. Maybe the next chapter?

No, instead we'll focus on a character who isn't even in this episode arc...

Kiriha placed his hands on the bar as he glared at Astamon. "Next slot."

"Oh?" Astamon raised an eyebrow. "You're actually going to sing?"

"Against my better judgment." Kiriha sighed. "Yes."

"Heh." Astamon laughed. "So, what'll it be?"

"Something classic." Kiriha smirked.

There was a moment of silence as Kiriha hopped up on stage, and started fiddling with the provided microphone.

"He's going to sing?" Shoutmon blinked.

"Guess so." Akari blinked as well.

Kiriha tapped the microphone. "Test? Testing? One two three..."

Astamon gave a thumbs up.

"Okay then."

The stage lights cut, and, after a few moments, a very interesting track began to play.

It's also very familiar, and, for those who couldn't place it at first, the female vocals already pre-set into the track starting up gave it away in a second.

_GHOSTBUSTERS!_

"If there's something strange, in your neighborhood." Kiriha started singing as the lights came back on. "Who ya gonna call?"

_GHOSTBUSTERS!_

"If there's something weird, and it don't look good." He continued. "Who ya gonna call?"

_GHOSTBUSTERS!_

The music track cut to a bit of something slightly more upbeat for a bit as Kiriha took a breath.

"I ain't afraid of no ghosts." He sang as he tapped his foot and shook his head to the beat. "I ain't afraid of no ghosts."

"If you're seeing things, running through your head." he continued. "Who can ya call?"

_GHOSTBUSTERS!_

"An invisible man, sleeping in your bed." he winked at the audience. "Oh Who ya gonna call?"

_GHOSTBUSTERS!_

"I ain't afraid of no ghosts." Kiriha continued on. "I ain't afraid of no ghosts!"

"Woah." Lila's eyes widened. "That's some fancy singing."

"Yeah." Akari nodded.

"Who ya gonna call?"

_GHOSTBUSTERS!_

"If ya all alone, pick up the phone, and call..."

_GHOSTBUSTERS!_

As the song hit the 2:00 minute mark, the song shifted tones slightly.

"I ain't afraid of no ghosts. I hear it likes the girls." Kiriha sang. "I ain't afraid of no ghosts! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" A few more beats, and then he continued. "Who ya gonna call?"

_GHOSTBUSTERS!_

"If you've had a dose, of a freaky ghost, baby, ya better call..."

_GHOSTBUSTERS!_

Dondokomon grinned slightly as the song entered a drum heavy portion. "Yeah! Drums!"

Terezie and Rose facepalmed, X2 combo.

"Lemme tell ya something." Kiriha whispered the first part, then took in a deep breath. "Bustin' makes me feel good!"

He tapped out the beat. "I ain't afraid of no ghosts. Oh I ain't afraid of no ghosts!"

Mark: Three minutes, ten seconds.

"Don't get caught alone, Oh no!"

_GHOSTBUSTERS!_

"When it comes through your door, unless you just want some more." Kiriha pointed elsewhere. "I think you'd better call:"

"GHOSTBUSTERS!" Terezie and Rose sang.

"Who ya gonna call?" he pointed to the audience.

"GHOSTBUSTERS!" Konata cried out.

"Who ya gonna call?" he pointed elsewhere.

"GHOSTBUSTERS!"A random PawnChessmon cheered.

"I think you'd better call:"

"GHOSTBUSTERS!"

"So who ya gonna call?" he motioned for everyone to join in.

"GHOSTBUSTERS!"several digimon threw in.

"I Can't Hear You!"Kiriha sang. "Who ya gonna call?"

"GHOSTBUSTERS!"A everyone started getting into it now.

"LOUDER!"Kiriha ordered.

"GHOSTBUSTERS!"Indeed, the audio level of the cry raised a bit.

"Who ya gonna call?"

"GHOSTBUSTERS!"

"Who Can ya call?"

"GHOSTBUSTERS!"

"Who ya gonna call?"

"GHOSTBUSTERS!"

With that final cry, the song came to an end.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the zone...

A small dagger smashes into a table, burring itself to the hilt, the first around the dagger's handle uncurls and it's owner snarls. "So they're trying to take the Code Crown?"

"Yup." Deuce nods.

"I think we should let 'em take it, Slick." A female voice starts. "Then we can take it from them."

"Droogs, do you even know how much of a stupid idea that is?" A fourth voice starts as he looks up from his magazine. "They're Xros Heart! We wouldn't stand a chance at taking the Code Crown!"

"Boxcar's right." The dagger owner, Slick, growls as he wrenches the dagger out of the table. "If we ever stand a chance at getting that Code Crown, it's tonight."

"Why do we even want the Code Crown anyways?" Deuce asks. "Seems silly to me."

"Well, Deuce." Droogs started as she hopped off of the table she was sitting on. "We want it 'cause then we can kick those stupid pool guys outa town with it!"

"Bagura scum!" Slick threw his dagger into the table again.

Deuce sighed. "Okay, I get it."

"We'll make sure they'll regret ever trying to move into our town!" Slick wrenched the dagger out again. "The Midnight Crew'll make sure of that!"

TO BE CONTINUED ALSO!

A.N.: WOW. That... That was a lot of writing. I Honestly WAS going to work on a different chapter, but this came out instead... 0_0

So... Yeah. LOTS of plot development here today. And it's also the last chance all of Xros Heart will have to relax within the next...oohh, I'd say about the next two or three months in-universe? Well, anyways, this was fun to write. Fun note, BTW: Petsula's name comes from a corrupted form of "Petulance," whose Latin name is spelled something like "Petulare" or, "Pe-Tsu-La." Clever eh? I got it from my spelling list like...Months ago. XD Let's see how many words this chapter has once I save it, (10,540), I'd say that's a lot! XD

_DTC