Okay First I have to appologise this should have been up sooner. I had a different version done but that didn't save. Then I lost my flashdrive with the story on it. Even after that well it just sat half done for a few days until I just did it. But this is proving my point on why I wait to upload until I am done.

Upon returning to his base the Emperor took his new favorite to his main lab for study. It had taken four Mega level Rings to obtain the Mega and he needed to know why. Analysis showed that the twelve Digi-Cores outside of the Mega's body radiated power of the virtues of the Digital World. The combination made it very hard for his rings to have their full and intended effect. Had he used his original rings or his spirals they would have done nothing!

During this time he had also learned that his slave had retained sense-of-self, a trait that was not obvious at first if a slave had. Some digimon did, others did not. The Emperor had yet to determine why, he had taken multiple slaves at a range of species and power levels and tested for things like the strength of the device used, placement, or the digimon's own power or will. The results had been seemingly arbitrary: power and will played some role, but he had taken two digimon of the same species and same power and placed equal strength rings on the same place and one became mindless, the other did not.

Azulongmon, despite wearing four Mega Rings, had maintained his sense of self and in truth it seemed joy his new servitude. The digimon answered any questions that the Emperor had and told him many things that no other being would know. For example, there were not four Sovereign but five. Fanglongmon, Sovereign of the Center, was the leader of the Sovereign and more powerful than the other four combined. Also, Azulongmon was also a member of the Great Dragons a group that was much less well known and the other two members even more reclusive than the other Sovereign.

Ken looked at this as a great opportunity to learn about his future conquests. Azulongmon told him that though the four directional Sovereign were roughly equal in power Baihumon had the highest raw power but least experience, and Zhuqiaomon had a Attribute advantage, thus Ebonwumon of the North who had an Attribute disadvantage would be the most logical choice. The Emperor was pleased with such information but he needed to know Azulongmon's powers inside and out as well as having made a ring powerful enough to control a Sovereign. So he would hold off on his conquests for now. As it turned out Azulongmon had powers that had never truly been documented and that the digimon itself had not fully tested out. The only part of his body that was in the realm of solid was his mask, and the chains and beard connecting to it, and that was actually just a clever trick of magnetism. As they already knew Azulongmon could change his size at will as he was practically pure energy.

Should the mask be placed upon any normal digimon regardless of level Azulongmon could easily possess them. But the Emperor and his dragon knew that the real test would be whether Azulongmon could possess digimon of roughly equal power. Ebonwumon would be that test. Even if he could not do it fully the distraction should be enough of an opening for the Sovereign Ring to take him. Testing it with Azulongmon, they found that it worked though Azulongmon preferred the four Mega Rings, when asked why he simply answered that he felt like they were his- a part of him.

Azulongmon knew the general location of the Two Headed Turtle and Ken and the surviving members of the raid team that took Azulongmon, with a number of replacements, and the dragon itself moved into the less than familiar territory.

The Digimon Emperor also decided to bring spare Sovereign Class Rings with him in case the first was destroyed or there was an anomaly in the data. He only had one data point for comparison after all.

Conquering as they went Ken spent most of his time searching for a signature similar to Azulongmon's Destiny Stones. After about half an hour, he got a hit. However it was three areas hence. Over Mountains. Having nothing better to do though, he ordered his troops to make a direct line there. Three hours later they had made it and it was time to prepare the area and his plan before resting. It would not do to yawn as he fought a Sovereign after all such lapses in concentration could result in the unraveling of his perfect plan.

Before turning in the Digimon Emperor made sure that the battlefield was set to his liking- challenger's prerogative after all. He chose the battlefield and time so he got to set it up as he pleased.

Ebonwumon's entrance was not as grand as Azulongmon's- of course objectively, there was more that programmers could do with a Dragon that was responsible for the Spring and wielded Lightning than there was for the Winter and Wood based Two Headed-Turtle. That and, possibly because he had seen something similar so there was less shock factor. However this one was someone to be extremely wary of- Azulongmon had seen him in battle before and while Ebonwumon did not boast the greatest power it was a skilled illusionist. While his Mugen would not debilitate most of his slaves as they had already lost their will, it would be frustrating for them to miss constantly while in the throws of the illusion; and should it hit either Azulongmon or himself the effects would be devastating. "What's the meaning of this?" Ebonwumon's right head asked. "Trouble's brewing," the Left head answered scanning over the assembled forces.

For that and the fact that Azulongmon had a special mission instead of fighting his fellow Sovereign up front, Azulongmon would slip around from behind and bind one of the heads down. For that the excess amounts of Data and Vaccine Attribute should prove useful in providing a distraction.

'Does Ebonwumon have two consciousness's?' the Emperor briefly wondered, 'If it did that might complicate things.' But he was not truly worried- in his mind he was prepared for any eventuality.

"Heat Viper"

Ahh, there was Kimeramon the Ultimate was a reliable frontline fighter even if he had to be restrained and disciplined now and again.

"Kokuhyo" 'Black Hail,' Ken grimced, 'not the most ferocious attack in the digimon's arsenal, but frustrating- the bad weather would make putting a ring on the Turtle more difficult. Hopefully Azulongmon would complete his part of the operation soon.'

Speak of the digimon, Azulongmon had dropped onto the left head and pierced the ground with his chains before pulling the head down.

The hail stopped.

"Azulongmon? What-" Ebonwumon's remaining head asked. But it did not get to finish what it had begun to say, a Sovereign Ring clasped around the neck. It instead turned to Ken and asked, "What is your will?"

He laughed and instead of answering looked to the Eastern Dragon. "Has anything changed?"

"No, it is exactly the same as before," Azulongmon told his master.

The Emperor nodded acknowledging the statement. So each head had a separate personality after all. "Keep it tied down," he said and took out another Sovereign class ring. Ring Toss, he reflected, really was his favorite game.

Now with both heads under his control, Ken allowed Azulongmon to remove himself. His Dragon complied and the left head grunted waiting for orders. Now that was odd, Ebonwumon was both mindless and self aware- how novel. This would need to be studied.