"Azulongmon, Zhuqiaomon, Ebonwumon, come here," the Digimon Emperor commanded. The Eastern, Northern, and Southern Slaves came to rest in front of their master. Zhuqiaomon's stomach clenched, they were in the Western Quadrant, and there would be only one reason why the boy would be calling them. Azulongmon accepted what was about to come, he didn't like fighting the other Sovereign, but it was the only way to make them see. So he would fight them. Ebonwumon found everything easier if he didn't fight his Master's orders. He hadn't had this much power at his beck and call in centuries. "You three are the only three powerful enough not to be effected by Baihumon's Konguo. Ebonwumon, you are a Vaccine type and have the smallest direct damage move pool—you will stay back and hedge Baihumon in. Azulongmon and Zhuqiaomon, you two will be my first line. Zhuqiaomon, follow Azulongmon's lead. As a Virus and a Fire Digimon against a Data and Metal, your attacks will be the most effective. I don't want that wasted because Baihumon's guard was up. Oh and Zhuqiaomon? No talking except to name attacks until Baihumon is in my service."
Azulongmon nodded, seeing the logic in the plan that would take Baihumon down fast and with minimal casualties. Ebonwumon bowed and ambled into position, setting himself up across the field from the other two. During the fight, this would be behind Baihumon, the best place for a support strike. Once Ebonwumon was set, Zhuqiaomon unleashed a Zanka, creating an amphitheater of flames whose walls were a solid quarter mile thick and two miles high. Behind the wall of flames, Ebonwumon and the rest of the Emperor's Army positioned themselves—just in case. The Emperor himself had had one of the Unimon in his service fitted with black plate barding, bit, a saddle, and champron made of the same material as his rings and would watch the fight from above on the Champion's back. From there he would direct his Slaves.
Azulongmon and Zhuqiaomon took their places. The Emperor's digivice summoned the Fourth Sovereign, the capture had begun. Before Baihumon could even say a word, the Dragon Slave struck with a Lightning Whip. This futile struggle had already gone on too long between him and his counterparts, it would end. Baihumon dodged the first, but that left him open to a Blazing Helix. One. "What is the meaning of this?" Baihumon called to his counterparts. "Zhuqiaomon, what have you done?"
The Southern Sovereign's indignation rose; that fool automatically assumed he was responsible for this mess? Zhuqiaomon found himself less resistant to the next strike he would deliver. The Bird Slave moved to enter Baihumon's blind side and the Tiger tried to keep his eyes on both opponents. This time Azulongmon used a Raijin-no-Mai which the Southern Slave obediently followed up with a Sonic Zephyr. Two. Now the Slaves could feel their orders change. It was time to end the fight.
Baihumon moved to the center of the circle of fire. Azulongmon moved from directly behind him to slightly on the Western Sovereign's left and softly landed, any noise that he did make was drowned out by the flames behind him, sinking his chains into the earth.
As Baihumon was expecting Azulongmon to lead the attack as had been done twice before, he was surprised when Zhuqiaomon took the initiative. The Western Sovereign should have seen the trap. It was another Blazing Helix, directed to hit just in front and to the right of the Tiger. So naturally, the Data Attribute jumped back and to the left, right to where Azulongmon was waiting. Before the Tiger could land, chains exploded from the earth and entangled themselves around the airbore and velnerable Baihumon. The proud fighter was pinned prone to his side, and could not free himself. Two final lengths of chain muzzled him and made the White Tiger bare his neck.
The flames died. Baihumon could see a figure on a black Unimon's back coming down as if from the heavens themselves. Baihumon could not react. The figure produced a collar and threw it towards him. Baihumon could not protest. It grew to the correct size for his neck. Baihumon understood, this battle had been lost and he himself was the prize… and now to the victor went the spoils. The collar closed, the chains released, and the Western Slave returned to his feet to bow to his Master.
The other three moved to the correct positions and waited. "Come," the Emperor said. "You four must be presentable for when we challenge Fanglongmon." The reactions of the Four Slaves were each unique. Azulongmon internally sighed in relief, it was almost over. Ebonwumon grimaced before smiling in his head, it would be difficult, but for no one else would the idea even be possible; but then again for the Master his victory was probable, if not inevitable. Zhuqiaomon did suck in a breath of air, unwilling to continue; but he had no say in the matter so he would go on even if he was… reluctant. Baihumon was startled, but then this was the first sentence that his Master had spoken that he had heard. But if he could actually pull it off… perhaps losing wasn't such a bad thing. "And one more thing, this is a special ceremony, no talking until it is over."
The boy's mount began to move and his Four Slaves followed, from the West to a realm that they before feared to tread, the Dark Ocean. Even here bowed to the whims of the Digimon Emperor. The Unimon stopped just before the shoreline, the Four stopping far enough back that they could all have an unimpeded view of the proceedings. The Emperor gracefully dismounted, and turned to face the four Megas. "Welcome to a part of my realm. This place holds a very special importance to me for it was here that I gained the tools I needed to get where I am today. And now here we are, on what might just be the eve of my completely uniting all Digimon under one banner into a utopia, and now you will pledge your loyalty to that dream. Today you bind yourselves unequivocally to me. Now I could tell you how you will do this… or I could show you."
The boy smirked and raised his black digivice. The Unimon stepped into the water until it was knee deep. Then it bent its head down and the Voices explained "Drink deeply of this water, this is the Master's command. Swallow six times—one for each of your Rings' virtues. Then Swallow six more times—once for each vice that must be purged."
Once the Unimon had done that it ran into the water until it could no longer be seen. "Submerge yourself in this water and let yourself become what your Emperor wishes you to be."
Time mounted and the four Mega on the shore could see nothing of what had become of the Champion, but the Emperor did not seem discouraged. He raised his digivice higher and out from the water came what had once been a Unimon.
The equine Champion's natural coat was now as black as its armor. Any straps or "extra pieces" needed to hold the armor in place now was melded into the muscle. The original ring was only noticeable because the digimon had six digicode symbols tattooed on its neck that shown in a glowing red. Its wings, which before looked almost stapled on, now naturally grew out of a small groove in the saddle to accommodate for them. They were like a set of correctly proportioned raven's wings. It trotted happily to the Emperor and offered the human its reins before kneeling down so that the boy might more easily climb on its back. Azulongmon saw the future, Ebonwumon saw the only path forward, Zhuqiaomon saw an abomination, Baihumon saw the Master was marking them as his property.
The Emperor's smirk grew wider, it was their turn. Azulongmon stepped somberly forward first, as silently ordered. Had he not been the paces might have even been… giddy. The East Dragon walked as far into the water as he could before beginning to swim further out, because he was so long.
Once at a satisfactory distance Azulongmon took six intoxicating gulps of the Dark Ocean's water before pausing for breath. As he did he felt his Rings begin to react, anticipant. He began to drink again and as he did the twelve Digi-Cores that he bore began to turn red. Two cores for each swallow. Upon the sixth gulp, Azulongmon threw himself into the waters of the Dark Ocean. He could feel the changes, running up and down his body like electricity, energizing every point of his body at once.
The Eastern Slave could not tell how long he had been submerged, but he knew at once when the changes stopped. He wistfully wished to linger, but his Master was calling; that was more important that his desires. He erupted from the Ocean, the black sea water cascading in rivets from his serpentine body. The Eastern Slave left the Dark Ocean to present himself to his Master. What once had been Azulongmon did not bother to look himself over, his only concern was that he was satisfactory to his Master.
The Emperor looked over his Slave with pride. Where once the Dragon had been blue he was now a transparent black. His mask had turned a sleek black, but had kept the lightning motif, trading yellow for red. His beard was tied at the ends by bands of black silk. The Slave's chains were now actual Mega-class Rings, the same caliber the Slave still wore. And speaking of the rings… around each of the Slave's ankles was a Mega class Ring, engraved with three of the Slave's twelve Digi-Cores. From each of the cores one of the ring's characters shown, black against the red light emitted by the jewel. Azure no longer fit as a moniker, and the Emperor would not go digging through the Romantic Languages for a substitute. No, instead he'd pick something more… local. His Slave would be named… "Rise, Molongmon." The newly dubbed East Dragon raised his head to its full height before returning to his place among the others.
As Molongmon approached, Ebonwumon began to move forward, passing the East Slave, eyes locked on the water. The Turtle repeated the process, though it took the Northern one much longer to submerge fully. The moments passed, and the ones on shore began to wonder if the Northern was trying to in an eternal struggle with the currents to surface when Ebonwumon's head appeared. The others waited for the rest of him to appear as he neared, though only a small island appeared towed by the Turtle. It was then that they realized Ebonwumon had undergone massive changes. The Turtle Slave slipped through the waters, far faster than any of the others had ever seen him move.
Once Ebonwumon was able to get his feet onto the land below the water did they begin to see just how much of the Ancient Turtle had changed. No longer did the Northern Slave seem feeble, now the Digimon seemed to be in his prime. Ebonwumon's unprotected skin had drifted from a deep tan to a dull black, his second head and neck had disappeared, but only one ring was round his neck, studded with six jewels. The other ring had altered its shape to conform to the boundary of his shell, the remaining six allocating themselves to the correct positions. The shell was the largest change, no longer from it grew a massive tree large enough to be an old growth forest on its own. Instead each separate black patch contained at least one spike and seemed to model an area of the Digital World. No longer would it take the Emperor two minutes to order one slice of the world to his tasks, now it would take thirty seconds for a hemisphere. Only one small section of Ebonwumon's shell was grey—the area where Fanglongmon resided. That problem would be remedied soon enough.
Ebonwumon returned to his place beside Mòlongmon, but instead of Zhuqiaomon beginning the trek to the Dark Ocean, it was Baihumon. The Western Slave's face was grim as he cautiously entered the black waters. As the Tiger lowered his head he caught a flash of what he was to become. Had he the choice he would have paused in shock to study it. But his orders were to drink, not to stare into the waters, so he did.
The Western Slave kept his eyes open as his fur turned violet. He kept his eye open as the water built a black metallic cage around his body. To avoid looking only at the black void of the Dark Ocean he watched his forepaws change. He watched and felt his claws elongate and turn the same shade as his fur was becoming, the same held true for the other claws and his fangs as well. He watched as the words on his bracers changed. Even though he wasn't used to reading upside down he knew what they said, he actually appreciated the bluntness… "Western Slave." The twelve Digi-Cores that lined his collar pulled him in the correct direction. The Tiger calmly tread out of the black waters. He calmly accepted his new moniker of "Huihumon." That was probably a pun, but he had not been ordered to care.
As Huihumon returned Zhuqiaomon took wing for his own part. Not for the thousandth time since he had met the boy did Zhuqiaomon wish to incinerate him extremely slowly. Not only did the boy know that he was forcing a Fire Digimon into Water, specifically a type of water that Zhuqiaomon wouldn't go near if he had been promised all the power of Fanglongmon and Lucemon themselves, but he had also intentionally sent him last to give him more time to dread what was to come and, slightly, hope for a miracle. There would be no miracles for him today, or any day after. He alighted on the water, and sunk in to the top of the Sovereign Class Ring around his neck. He wished to yell out in shock but he had been ordered to be silent. Another reason to hate the boy he was forced to bow to. There was a dark laughter in his head, something about a "bird bath," and he growled internally even more—Number two on his "Immolation List." Mechanically, he fulfilled his orders to the letter, drinking six deep gulps of the putrid waters, pausing, taking six more, and immediately thrusting his head into the Dark Ocean. He could feel his beak shorten and twist, into something more jagged and predatory. He could also tell that the wings which bore his talons and the other two Sovereign Class Rings twisted and morphed into bare legs. He waited for his mind to alter but it did not, if anything he felt far madder than he at his Master than he had been before!
He walked far enough to be able to spread his wings and lift himself out of the waters. Dutifully, he presented himself though he would have rather crushed the boy beneath his new feet. He regally waited as he was inspected like a common thing to be sold at first convenience. However, as the Emperor looked about his quickly snuck glances at his own form. Most of his feathers had turned varying shades of black, though where he was once yellow he was now red. He silently bore the indignant remark of how the rings on his legs had grown into tethers, though only the parts around his legs had been gifted with his Digi-Cores. He knew that each of his Rings which could no longer ever be removed, or even damaged, bore four of his cores. He didn't even blink through the remark that he was now the Emperor's "…little hunting Bird, my little… falcon." He even managed to give off a false pride when he was redubbed, "Shengumon."
The Dark Ocean had not broken him. He might never be freed, he might never be able to repay his Master for every slight that was sent to him, but he would never willingly serve. And they both knew those things, but for Zhuqiaomon who now answered to Shengumon, that was not the point. The point was that those facts existed.
To the Guest who reveiwed: First thank you for the first three reviews for this story. It's actually the largest amount of reveiws for the entire series of fanfics which this is a part of. Second, sorry but the entire idea behind this world is that it is one where Ken wins... utterly. This world's Zhuqiaomon will forever bare the Rings that bind him to the Emperor's will and answer even in conversation with the other Sovereign to the name that the Emperor gave him-it will also be the one he introduces himself as, if he ever has to- just as the other Sovereign will. This story can stand alone from Prelude to Infinity-and I might just make a completely different world with this as the model-but if you wish to know where the Digi-Destined are... your answer's in there.
Also I imagine Huihumon looks something like the Liger Zero from Zoids, just differently colored and under the metal is an organic body.